#UGH sorry for the mishap

[captainsweet]

I am tired of being a bad bitch. I want to see the world in soft colors. I want to be emotional. I want to laugh like I've never experienced hardship, like I'm not aware of everything. Fuck being aware, I want those giggly moments, and sugary drinks, and silly movies. I want those playful and dramatic reenactments, I want those bonding moments over silly things, stupid moments, that childhood silliness but older. Fuck having to be serious, I want to be silly.

[steveseddie]

not so fast

rated: t | cw: none apply | word count: 6,219

tags: steve harrington has a crush on eddie munson, accidental kissing, getting together, first kiss, steve is a Disaster in this

click here to read on ao3

***

Steve is running late for work.

And not just a little late either. More like, catastrophically late.

Like, ‘should’ve left his house ten minutes ago to even hope to make it on time’ kind of late.

Why?

There isn’t just one reason for how that happened- it’s been a series of mishaps that started with his alarm not going off this morning and ended with his car refusing to start.

“Because of fucking course!” Steve groans, twisting the key into the ignition a few more times before giving up.

After a string of creative curses and smacking his palms and his forehead against the wheel multiple times in frustration, he leaves his useless car and goes back to the house. As he crosses his driveway, he tries to think of ways to get himself to work.

First, he thinks of Nancy. He knows she’s giving Robin a ride to work today, but she’s probably dropped her off by now, punctual as she is. He has no way to reach her until she goes back home, and he’s pretty sure she mentioned something about hitting the library after dropping Robin off to do research for one of her articles for The Weekly Streak, so asking her for a ride isn’t an option.

Considering Steve’s only other friends are all fourteen-year-olds with no car and no license, he’s out of any other options pretty quickly after that.

If only he had a bike he could use, but the Harringtons got rid of those years ago. He could call Henderson and ask him to ride his bike here so Steve can take it to work. The kid will probably complain, but he owes Steve for the countless rides to the arcade and to Eddie’s trailer for their nerdy campaigns and-

Eddie!

Eddie has a car!

Eddie is Steve’s friend and he has a car!

After that realization hits, Steve rushes to the phone, dialing the number to the Munson’s trailer, which he memorized at some point during the last couple of weeks.

“Please, don’t be asleep. Please, pick up,” Steve mutters as the phone rings, tapping his foot anxiously against the floor. His eyes flick to the digital clock on top of the TV and he groans. God, he’s so late.

“Ugh, hello?” A sleepy voice asks and Steve sighs in relief. Finally, something going his way this morning.

“Eddie! Oh, thank God!”

“Fuck, man, why are you being so loud this early in the fucking morning?” Eddie grumbles, and Steve feels bad for clearly waking him up. Or he would if he had time to feel bad.

“Sorry, sorry, listen, I need a favor, I need you to pick me up and take me to work, my car won’t start and I’m supposed to be at Family Video in- crap, right now actually.”

“Dude-”

“Eddie, please. I have the keys and Robin can’t get in until I get there and she’s going to kill me-”

“Steve, relax, Je-sus!” Eddie interrupts.

“Please,” he repeats, feeling desperate. “If you do this, I’ll do anything you want.”

Eddie hums. “Anything, huh?” He asks in that low voice that always sends shivers down Steve’s spine. Even now, he can feel them, anxious as he is.

God, he really doesn’t have time for this.

“Munson,” Steve hisses.

“Okay, fine, I’ll do it. I’ll be there in ten.”

Steve winces, but he doesn’t say anything. It’s not like he can ask Eddie to disregard speed limits or traffic lights or other cars just so he gets here faster, the last thing he wants is for him to wrap his van around a tree because of him. “Okay, thanks.”

“Sure thing, sweetheart,” Eddie says before hanging up.

Since Steve has ten minutes before he gets here anyway, he gives himself one to get flustered over Eddie calling him that.

Then he uses the remaining nine to make Robin her favorite snack- peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which she claims taste better when Steve makes them. It’s probably an excuse so Steve makes them for her every time, but right now it works in his favor. She’s going to be pissed when Steve shows up late- he can’t even call the video store to let her know he’s on his way! Not when she’s locked outsid e because Steve has the god-damned keys. He hopes the sandwiches will help soften her up at least.

He’s already in the driveway when Eddie’s van rolls around the corner. As soon as it slows down, he jumps in and tells him to “Go!” without saying even saying hello.

Eddie snorts. “Good morning to you too, Harrington,” he says with an amused half-smile, but he starts driving. Eddie isn’t a slow driver by a long shot, but Steve notices that he still steps on the gas a little harder than he normally would, which he appreciates.

He slumps back onto the passenger seat. “Sorry, hi, thanks for doing this.”

“No problem, man,” Eddie says, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to look Steve up and down. “Looks like you had quite the morning.”

Steve blows out a puff of air, running a hand through his hair. It probably looks like a mess right now because not only did he not have enough time to complete his routine, he’s also been anxiously running his fingers through it all morning. “You have no idea! First, my alarm didn’t go off so I had to rush through my shower and didn’t have enough time to fix my hair, then I couldn’t find my vest, then my car keys, and when I finally found those, my fucking car wouldn’t start!” He drops his hands on his lap with a huff.

“Sheesh, man,” Eddie says, somewhat sympathetically.

“Yeah!” Steve agrees as his hands start flailing again. “And now, Robin is gonna be pissed at me all day for being late, and for leaving her waiting outside the store.”

Eddie reaches over with one hand, squeezing Steve’s shoulder. “I’m sure she’ll forgive you quickly enough, Birdie can’t stay mad at anyone for long.”

“Um, yeah,” Steve stammers out when Eddie’s hand stays there, on his shoulder. “You’re probably right and I brought her PB&J sandwiches to soften her up a bit, so.” He chuckles, a little shakily because Eddie’s fingers are brushing lightly against his neck.

“See?” Eddie asks, giving Steve’s shoulder a little shake. “Give her those and flash those pretty doe eyes of yours at her, and she’ll forget why she was even mad in the first place!”

Steve shoves his hand away- because it should be holding onto the steering wheel, not because having it on him makes his stomach flip-flop.

He clears his throat. “Anyway, how was your morning, Munson?”

“My morning? Well, Harrington, it was just fine, thanks for asking. I was catching up on some lovely much-needed Zs after band practice ran late last night, but then the phone woke me up. Some guy yelling at me to come pick him up.”

Steve makes a face, chuckling softly. “That guy sounds like an asshole.”

“Nah, he’s actually a very sweet guy. Pretty, too.” He tosses a wink at Steve, who flushes pink. “And you know me, I’m so easy for a pretty face. I was already gonna say yes when he promised he’d do anything if I gave him a ride. No way I could refuse.”

“Well, I’m sure the guy is very grateful,” he says, then wrinkles his nose. “And hopeful that you won’t make him regret promising you that.”

Eddie throws his head back with a laugh. “Don’t worry, Stevie, I won’t ask for anything too embarrassing.”

“Ugh.”

The van falls into a comfortable silence, only the radio playing softly in the background. Steve is surprised that it’s not one of Eddie’s tapes playing, he’s always complaining about radio stations not playing any ‘real music’ and Steve’s witnessed, more than once, the way he dives for the glove compartment to dig out one of his tapes before he even starts the van. He can’t help but wonder if the reason why Eddie is listening to the radio is because he was rushing to get to Steve and didn’t even have time to pick a tape.

Whether it’s the truth or not, it makes a dopey smile appear on Steve’s face, thinking about Eddie not wasting any time looking for a cassette tape because he knew Steve was in a hurry. He also didn’t change out of his pajamas or pause to fix his hair on his way out, Steve thinks as he looks Eddie up and down. He’s currently in plaid pajama pants and an old band shirt with holes around the collar that Steve knows he wears to bed, and his hair is sticking out every which way even more than usual.

He looks cute like that, and Steve’s dopey smile only grows because of it.

“You know,” Eddie starts and Steve jumps, thinking for a moment that he caught him staring, but his eyes are still fixed on the road. “If you want I can take a look at your car? Old Al Munson didn’t just teach me how to hotwire them, you know? Maybe I can fix whatever’s wrong with it.”

Steve blinks. “Really?”

He’s sure that there must be hearts in his eyes right now. He was already dreading having to pay for a tow truck to take his car to the mechanic and then pay to fix whatever was wrong with it. That kind of money would really put a dent in his plans to save enough for a place of his own, so Eddie fixing it for him would be a great help.

“Of course, Stevie,” Eddie says, flashing him a dimpled grin. Yup, definitely hearts in Steve’s eyes right now. “I can drive you home after your shift and take a look at it. I’ll bring Wayne’s tools.”

The visual of Eddie bending over the hood of Steve’s car with a tool belt around his tiny waist pops up in Steve’s mind without a warning, making warmth pool in his stomach.

He shakes his head and focuses on the Eddie in front of him- sweet, cute Eddie who is offering to give Steve a ride and help him with his car. Yeah, that’s really not any better than sexy mechanic Eddie from his fantasies.

“That would be awesome, Eds, thank you,” he says, possibly a little too earnestly.

It makes Eddie a little shy. He winds some of his hair around his finger and pulls it in front of his mouth. “Don’t go singing praises at me yet, I might not be able to fix it.”

“Maybe not, but I appreciate it anyway, the ride back home too,” Steve says softly. If Robin was here she would tell him to tone it down with the googly eyes and the mushy smiles, the way she does when the three of them hang out-

Shit. Robin.

He checks his watch and a whine slips past his lips.

Eddie notices and the van takes on speed as he pushes his foot harder against the pedal. “We’re almost there,” he says reassuringly.

Steve nods, but his leg stays bouncing anxiously for the rest of the drive.

***

Finally, Eddie drives the van into the Family Video parking lot.

Steve looks for Robin in the distance, squinting his eyes, wanting to gauge just how angry she looks. If she looks like she’s about to murder Steve, he might just tell Eddie to keep driving.

When he spots her, Steve’s stomach falls. She doesn’t look angry, but that’s only because she has an apologetic look on her face as she talks and gestures wildly to a family of three. Steve can’t read her lips, but he figures she must be explaining to them how her coworker and best friend is an idiot who doesn’t know how to work an alarm clock and that he should be getting here any minute now so she can murder him but not before she sends them on their merry way with whatever movie they’re here to rent and a bunch of candy and popcorn. On the house, of course.

“Fuck me,” Steve mutters, slumping back against the seat.

They never get customers this early on Sundays. Never.

Go fucking figure.

Eddie also squints his eyes through the windshield and scrunches up his nose at what he sees. “Maybe you can bribe them with PB&Js too?”

Steve appreciates Eddie trying to lighten his mood, but all he can muster right now is a slight huff of laughter. He starts gathering his things, ready to jump from the van as soon as Eddie parks.

“What time should I pick you up?” Eddie asks as he starts slowing down the van.

“Uh, I get off at four,” Steve says, just as he makes eye contact with Robin. She manages to glare at him while keeping her polite customer service face on. It’s impressive. “If Robin doesn’t kill me first.”

Eddie sniggers. “I don’t think she’ll kill you, maybe hurt you, or put Nair on your shampoo.”

Steve whimpers pathetically at the thought. The van slows to a stop. With the keys to the store in one hand and his Family Video vest in the other, Steve pushes the door open. He already has one leg out when Eddie says, “Wait!”

Steve half turns in his seat and gives him an impatient look, but it shifts into a grateful one when he sees that Eddie is holding the Tupperware with the sandwiches.

“Not so fast, sweetheart, don’t forget your bribe,” Eddie tells him with a lopsided grin.

Later, Steve will ask himself why he did what he does next, but the truth is, he doesn’t know.

Maybe it’s because he’s in a hurry and his body is moving faster than his brain. Maybe it’s because he had a shitty morning and Eddie swooped in like a knight in plaid pajama pants and a worn band shirt. Maybe he smashed his head too hard against the steering wheel of his car earlier that morning. Maybe it’s Eddie’s dimples or maybe it’s the pet name.

The thing is he doesn’t know what does it, just that something gets his wires crossed somehow, and before he knows it, he’s leaning over the space between their seats and pressing a quick kiss to Eddie’s mouth.

He doesn’t even realize he does it. Not yet.

He just grabs the Tupperware from Eddie’s limp hands, throws a “bye, Eds!” over his shoulder, and shuts the van door.

Robin’s head snaps in his direction as he makes his way across the parking lot, attempting to put on his vest without dropping the keys or the sandwiches. The family is watching him too and luckily they don’t look mad about having to wait- Steve checks his watch- shit, thirty minutes for him to get here.

“Hi, hello, I’m so sorry,” he starts apologizing before he even gets to them. He tosses the keys to Robin, who fumbles to catch them, so he can finish shrugging on his vest. “I’m so terribly sorry I kept you waiting,” he tells the family while Robin unlocks the door and flips the sign so it says Open! “My alarm didn’t go off and then my friend had to drive me ‘cause my car wouldn’t start and I couldn’t find my godda-rn vest!” He corrects himself when his eyes dart to the kid staring up at him. “But none of that matters now! Because I’m here and we’re-”

“Open!” Robin says, sweeping her arm in front of the door with a flourish, kind of like Eddie does sometimes.

Speaking of Eddie, Steve glances over his shoulder and notices that the van is still there.

Which, weird. But right now there’s nothing he can do about that.

Instead, he starts ushering the family inside, putting on his most charming smile. “Come in, come in, we’ll have you out of here in no time!” He says, following after them.

He makes eye contact with Robin over the kid’s head and mouths I’m so sorry, grimacing when she glares at him. But at least she holds the door open for him too, instead of letting it slam on his face, which he probably deserves.

Once inside, Steve helps the family find the movie they’re looking for in record time while Robin starts the computer system. By the time he guides them back to the counter, she’s ready to log it into the system. They give them an extra couple of days to return it, for the trouble, as well as all the Milk Duds and cherry licorice they want. On the house. Then they wave at them as they head out, throwing a “Thank you for choosing Family Video!” for good measure.

When the door closes, Steve spins around to face Robin on the other side of the counter. “I’m so sorry, Robs,” he says with as much feeling as he can muster.

She pokes him in the chest several times with her bony fingers. “You owe me so much! I’ve been apologizing to that family for thirty minutes, dingus!”

“I know! I’ll clean the floors today and I’ll take care of the reshelving and you can take an extra long break and I won’t say anything!”

Robin doesn’t speak, just glares. Steve grabs his Tupperware, his last resort, and pushes it across the counter toward her. “I made you PB&J sandwiches. Your favorite.”

She heaves out a long sigh. “Okay, fine, I forgive you, but you’re doing all of that and you’re letting me pick the movie of the day and you’re watching it with me.” Steve nods profusely. The corners of her mouth twitch up, and even if it’s not a full smile, Steve feels relief flood through him. “Now come on, let’s finish getting this place ready for business, and then we can have those sandwiches and you can explain how you got here so late.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Steve says, giving her a two-fingered salute like he’s seen Eddie do many times.

Speaking of Eddie, Steve squints at the parking lot before following Robin’s lead- turning on lights and straightening cardboard cutouts.

He notices that the van is finally gone, and so is Eddie.

***

“Then I almost left the sandwiches in Eddie’s van!”

Robin gasps dramatically, cradling her half-eaten PB&J against her chest. She’s in a much better mood now, after one and a half sandwiches, more apologizing from Steve and his dramatic retelling of this morning’s events.

“Which would be just my luck today, I swear! But Eddie wouldn’t let me forget them,” Steve says, his smile turning dopey the moment he brings up Eddie. He knows this because he sees Robin rolling her eyes. “So I grabbed them and then I-”

And that’s when it hits Steve. What he did. Almost an hour after the fact.

The fact being- He kissed Eddie.

“Oh God,” he mutters, horrified. “Oh fuck, oh God.”

“What? Are you having a stroke? What is it?” Robin asks, eyes widening in alarm. “Steve?” She waves her hands in front of his face and bread crumbs fly everywhere. Steve knows he’s going to have to clean those, but right now he doesn’t care about that at all.

He lets out a pitiful whimper, his hands flying to his face. “Oh my God!”

“Steve, what?”

“I kissed Eddie,” he says, but the words are muffled by his hands over his face.

He hears Robin let out a sigh. “Steve, my best friend, my platonic soulmate with a capital P. I know we joke about it but I can’t actually read your mind. I’m gonna need you to speak more clearly.”

Dropping his hands onto the counter, Steve’s eyes meet hers, then he says, loud and clear, “I kissed Eddie.”

Robin’s face goes through many different emotions in like, twenty seconds. Shock, confusion, something that Steve dubs her fucking finally, dingus! expression, and then, outrage.

“Wait! So you were late because you were busy kissing Eddie? Steve!” She says on her way to get angry again, but Steve starts shaking his head before she’s done talking.

“No! Robs, I was running late and then I kissed Eddie as I was getting out of the van!”

The outrage disappears and she grins at Steve. “Fucking finally, dingus!” She says, and yup, that’s the one, Steve got it right. She holds her hand up for a high five, but Steve grabs her hand between his instead, shaking his head.

“No, Robin, no, this is bad.”

“Why? You like Eddie!”

“I do! I like him so much, but he was never supposed to find out, and definitely not by me just- kissing him!” He says, shaking his hands wildly and Robin’s too since it’s still trapped between them.

“Okay, first, I need my hand back,” Robin says, extracting her hand from Steve’s hold. “Now, what did Eddie do when you kissed him? Did he kiss you back or did he go like, ahhh and pushed you out of the van?”

“I- I don’t know. Nothing?” Steve tries to remember, but his whole morning was a blur. It’s just his luck that he finally kisses the boy he likes and he can’t even remember it. “He just- sat there. Actually, he sat there for a while because he was still here when we were helping that family. Oh my God, is that bad? Do you think he’s mad? Robs, what do I do?” He drops his head on the counter and feels Robin pat his head. He doesn’t even care that her hand is sticky with peanut butter and jelly.

“You said he’s picking you up later?” Steve makes what’s supposed to be a noise of assent. “Okay, so you talk to him.”

“If he even shows up.”

Another pat. “I’m sure he will and then you just tell him the truth. That you kissed him because-”

“I was having a stroke?” He says, twisting his head to one side so he can look at her.

Robin rolls her eyes. “I said the truth, dingus.”

“But the truth is so embarrassing. So, Eddie, I kissed you because I think you’re cute, I kissed you because you came to my rescue this morning, I kissed you because you called me sweetheart and it might’ve melted my brain. I kissed you because I finally let myself do what I’ve wanted to do for weeks!” He groans pitifully. “What if he doesn’t like the truth, Robin? What if he doesn’t like me?”

“You know what I think about that,” she says and Steve does know. She’s told him that she thinks Eddie feels the same way over and over while trying to convince him to make a move, but Steve doesn’t believe her. “But if he doesn’t, then at least you’ll know. And whatever happens, you’ll have me and an endless supply of romantic movies we can both cry to! And ice cream, lots and lots of ice cream!”

Steve lifts his head fully from the counter and smiles gratefully at her. “Thanks, Robs.”

“Of course, Steve, now come on! I know what movie I’m picking today!” She says, hopping onto the counter and swinging her legs over it, barely missing Steve’s head.

“Ugh, not Children of Paradise again, please.” Steve groans when Robin grabs hold of his wrist and pulls him in the direction of their romantic drama section.

She does pick that one again and Steve has no choice but to go with it, but at least with a two-part movie, he’s distracted for a whole two hours and forty-five minutes so he doesn’t think about Eddie or what he’ll say to him later.

Not that much anyway.

(Okay, maybe he does.)

***

Steve half expects Eddie to not show up, and a part of him wishes he’s right, so he doesn’t have to talk to him yet- or ever.

He’s surprised when, at four o’clock, he sees the van roll into the Family Video parking lot.

That surprise quickly turns into horror and he must make some kind of noise that alerts Robin and makes her follow his gaze.

“I told you he’d come!”

He turns to her with a pleading look. “Please let me hitch a ride with you and Nancy, Robs, I can’t do this.”

“You can, Steve,” she says, putting her hands on his shoulders to guide him toward the door. Steve tries to put up some resistance, digging his heels into the floor, but she puts her whole body into it and manages to get him moving.

“What if I kiss him again?”

Robin snorts. “Maybe try to have a conversation with him first,” she suggests, pulling the door open and shoving Steve through it. “And if it turns out that he wants to kiss you then go for it!”

“But what do I even say?”

“You’re asking me that? Pfff. I’m hopeless, you know that. Just be honest, okay? And call me as soon as you get home to tell me everything!” And with that, she shoves him toward Eddie’s van. Steve stumbles a few steps, thankfully catching himself just before he eats dirt.

When he looks up, he sees Eddie staring at him through the windshield. He probably just saw Steve nearly faceplant in the parking lot- and Steve’s supposed to hope Eddie wants to kiss him after that? Yeah, right.

With a sigh, he starts walking towards the van. He reaches the passenger door sooner than he’d like, and after bracing himself, he opens the door and climbs inside.

“Hey,” Steve says, wiggling his fingers in a wave.

He notices that Eddie’s hands are clinging to the leather of the steering wheel. He gives Steve a smile that looks a little strained. “Hey, Steve.”

An awkward silence falls over them and Steve’s fingers itch to open the door and run away, but he can see Robin chatting with Nancy, the two of them standing next to her car, and he’s sure that if he makes a run for it, Robin will chase him down and drag him back to the front seat of Eddie’s van herself.

So he stays where he is and glances at Eddie, noticing that he looks different from this morning.

“You changed your clothes-” he starts, but Eddie chooses that moment to also start talking.

“Seems like Buckley’s in a better mood-”

They both cut themselves off when the other speaks, looking at each other and laughing a little awkwardly.

Eddie looks down at himself. He’s wearing ripped jeans, a self-made Corroded Coffin shirt, and his hair is pulled back into a ponytail, which allows Steve to see the earrings adorning his right ear. “I did change clothes. I don’t just hang around and do nothing in my pajamas all day. Sometimes, I wear jeans,” he says, making Steve snort. “So, did the PB&J sandwiches work?” He asks, gesturing at Robin across the parking lot. Steve can see her glancing towards the van every couple of seconds. She’s not being subtle.

“They did, but I also had to let her pick this long French drama for movie of the day and let her take an hour-long break. And also apologize like, three hundred times.”

“Damn, Buckley’s tougher than I thought,” Eddie whistles, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “But she let you off the hook?”

“Yeah, we’re good.”

Eddie nods. “Cool.”

Another silence. This one’s less uncomfortable, but it still feels like something is hanging over their heads. No, not just something.

Steve sighs. Might as well get it over with.

“So,” he says.

“So,” Eddie echoes, flexing his fingers around the steering wheel.

“I kissed you.”

There, he said it. It’s out there.

Eddie inhales sharply. “You did.” His knuckles start to turn white with how hard he’s gripping the wheel. “Um, why did you?”

He remembers Robin’s words. The truth, Steve. Just tell him the truth.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I didn’t even realize I did it at first,” Steve says, running a hand through his hair, keeping his eyes on his lap.

“So it was just- what? An accident? You- you didn’t mean it?” Eddie’s voice sounds uncharacteristically small, quiet. Steve risks glancing at him, and when he does, he finds that Eddie has shrunk in on himself. His eyes meet Steve’s for a split second and he looks hurt, like he wanted the kiss to mean something.

And Steve can’t have him thinking that it didn’t. No way.

He turns sideways on his seat, leaning forward, closing some of the distance between them.

“I didn’t realize I did it because I’m so used to thinking about kissing you,” Steve admits. Eddie’s eyes snap up to meet his- wide, hopeful.

“You- you are?”

Steve nods, feeling his cheeks turn pink, but he doesn’t let that stop him. “I’m just usually better at stopping myself from doing anything about it, but today,” He shakes his head, letting out a shaky laugh. “You swooped in to help me and were looking so cute in your pajamas and you were smiling at me with your dimples and I- I just did it, without thinking. So I didn’t mean to do it, but I meant it.”

Eddie’s lip is trapped between his teeth as he chews on it nervously. It’s very distracting, but Steve does his best to keep his eyes off his mouth and on his eyes, which are sparkling as he thinks over Steve’s words. “Holy shit, you did?”

“Yeah, I meant it so much that when I realized what I did, I started panicking.”

Finally, Eddie lets go of the steering wheel, slumping back against his seat, and huffing out a burst of air. “Thought I was the only one who was panicking.”

Steve’s eyebrows knit. “Why would you be panicking?”

Eddie shoots him an incredulous look. “Because! You kissed me and then just- said goodbye like- like you didn’t turn my world fucking- upside down with that kiss, pun absolutely intended. I didn’t know if for you it was like, a friend thing or a mistake or-”

“Not a friend thing,” Steve says, “and not a mistake.”

Eddie lets those words sink in then starts nodding in a way that makes him look like the Chewbacca bobblehead toy he keeps next to his bed. Steve has to bite down on a smile. “Okay. Okay, good, because I want you to do it again.”

“Huh?”

Eddie meets his gaze. “You took me by surprise this morning, but I want you to kiss me again. So I can kiss you back this time.”

Steve’s stomach flips. “Holy shit.” He doesn’t move right away and Eddie looks at him expectantly, not taking it back, waiting for Steve to kiss him again. And what the fuck is Steve even waiting for? “Shit, yeah, okay.”

His hand catches Eddie’s jaw, cradles it with his palm, and he leans over the space between the two seats for the second time that day. Only this time, he moves slowly, committing everything to memory- the way Eddie’s breath hitches when Steve touches his face, the way he goes cross-eyed staring at Steve as he moves closer, the way he whines when their lips brush, not quite touching yet.

And finally, the way Eddie fists the lapel of Steve’s Family Video vest, and in an impatient move, pulls him towards him, crashing their mouths together.

And Steve- well. Steve doesn’t know how he did this already and didn’t remember until an hour later. Because this? He’s never forgetting this.

Eddie’s mouth is warm and soft. There’s a small cut on his bottom lip, no doubt from him chewing on it hard while panicking. When Steve flicks his tongue over it, Eddie yelps, but then he’s tugging Steve even closer by his vest and he’s licking into Steve’s mouth and Steve’s brain goes offline. He gets lost in the kiss. Lost in Eddie. He’s drowning and he never wants to come up for air.

But sadly that’s not something he can do. At some point, he has to breathe so he breaks the kiss but he doesn’t go far. He stays in Eddie’s space, his hand stroking over his jaw. And even if he wanted to move he wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, not with the hold Eddie has on his vest.

“I say this should count as our first kiss,” Eddie whispers, his forehead resting against Steve’s.

“What’s wrong with our actual first kiss?”

“Dude,” Eddie says, and the fact that he’s calling him that while their faces are a few inches from each other after kissing, makes Steve giggle. “The kiss lasted like, a second and you ran away right after!”

Steve’s face scrunches up. “Yeah, maybe it wasn’t my best work.”

Eddie snorts. “It really made me question everything I heard about Steve Harrington’s kissing prowess.”

“My- what? Where did you even hear that?”

Eddie shrugs, making Steve’s hand fall from his jaw to his shoulder where he starts playing with a curl that slipped free from his ponytail. “I used to hang out under the bleachers a lot, and heard many girls gossiping about your mad kissing skills.” He waggles his eyebrows, making Steve laugh. “So imagine my surprise when you go and kiss me like- like my grandma used to kiss me! I thought they had to be talking about someone else.”

Steve’s cheeks go red, but he tries to save some face by asking, “And after that second kiss, do you still think they were wrong?”

Eddie gulps. “Nope.”

“Good,” Steve says with a pleased smile. “Then maybe we can count this as our first kiss, I wouldn’t want my reputation to be ruined when we tell people about this.”

Eddie doesn’t laugh at the joke. He’s back to chewing on his lip, which is significantly more distracting now that Steve knows what those lips feel and taste like, but right now he focuses on the way Eddie’s eyes start flickering all over the inside of the van, not meeting Steve’s when he quietly asks, “This?”

“What?”

“You said this like, what do you mean? What is this?” He lets go of Steve’s vest to gesture between them. “Is it like, just kissing or do you, uh, do you want to be with me? Like, boyfriends or something?”

“Exactly like boyfriends,” Steve says, making Eddie squeak adorably. “If that’s what you want.”

“Steve, God, there’s nothing I want more,” Eddie says with a dopey smile that rivals Steve’s.

Except it doesn’t because Steve is beaming at the thought of being Eddie’s boyfriend. Of Eddie being his boyfriend. Christ. He would be embarrassed about how giddy he feels if he couldn’t tell Eddie was riding the same high as he is.

“Then I guess I should give my boyfriend that ride home that I promised him, hm?” He asks, leaning back on his seat, but not before he leaves a fleeting kiss on the corner of Steve’s mouth.

And God, hearing Eddie call him that makes Steve feel like he’s floating. “Yeah, you should.”

He leans back too as Eddie starts the van. Steve glances across the parking lot before he drives them away and realizes that Nancy’s car is gone. They must’ve taken off around the time Steve kissed Eddie after Robin realized Steve wouldn’t try to run.

“I promised you something too, if I remember correctly,” Steve says, looking out the window as Eddie drives them onto the main street. His eyes flick towards Steve, one of his eyebrows raised. “I promised I’d do anything if you gave me a ride to work, remember?”

Eddie’s eyes widen as he realizes what he’s talking about. He teased Steve about this all morning and now it’s his turn to return the favor.

“And now that we’re together the list of things I can do got significantly bigger so you might want to think about how you want me to pay you back,�� he says with a smirk.

Color starts rising from Eddie’s neck to his cheeks and then to his ears. “I- shit, you want me to think about this while I drive?” His voice goes higher in pitch as he stammers more words out. “Do you want me to crash this fucking van, Steve? Jesus!”

Steve just laughs, relaxing back against his seat. He trusts Eddie not to get them into an accident, but just to be on the safe side, he stops teasing him and reaches for the volume dial on the radio, turning the music up.

He steals glances at Eddie as he drives, thinking how the end of his day did a complete turn from how it started. His morning had been a disaster, especially when he thought he ruined things with Eddie.

But now, Steve is heading home after kissing the boy he likes, and he gets to watch him play sexy mechanic while fixing his car, and he gets to do something about it if he wants- like kiss Eddie stupid against the hood of his car.

So, in retrospect, Steve thinks, his alarm not going off this morning might actually be the best thing to ever happen to him.

[elliesstrapon]

Swan princess

!Asshole Ellie Williams x Princess Reader ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

✧˚ · . Summary: Your parents had you to be wedded by the time you each turned 20, they had you meet every summer until then, but you just couldn't stand her.

✧˚ · . Warnings: Ellie is a douch bag, rough sex, enemies to lovers, slow burn, erranged marriage, drinking, swearing, oral, over stimulation, eventual genuine wedding, Soulmates, Ellie hates you up until your both adults, major flashback, readers bipolar but i feel like this was me projecting, sorry 😭, NOT proofread.

I need all you to know this is pretty fucking long, feel free to take your time or skip <3

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

Your first summer out of the castle when you'd turned 5. Your father held onto your hand reassuringly, pointing out at all the wonderful things you had yet to experience. His words you so vividly remembered along the lines of, "one day, this will all be yours to take care of" so sadly, the frown on his face one of the worst parts from those core memories. The rays of light hit your pearl pink dress, the sparkles shifting as you rode on the horse through what now had been the forest. "Papa, where are we going?" Your head turned back up to look at him, a cheerful smile upon your lips, your teeth crooked and white. "We, my dear daughter, are going to meet the one you shall marry one day." His eyes focused on the muddy path way, as you held onto your perfect dress so tightly in fear of it getting ruined by nature's mishaps. The memory had stopped, where what begun was the hatred between you and Ellie Williams.

For you remembered the look on her face when she'd met you. Your father pushed you towards the tall man with the girl behind him, urging you to say hello. The man'd done the same, an overjoyed toothy grin flashing on his face. "Who might this lovely young lady be?" Your dad inquired, just as happy as the man infront of you, "young princess Ellie, no doubt " He urged you again. You furrowed your brows at him angrily, taking the slightest step forward to the taller little girl who stood infront of you. "I'm Y/n" You gritted through your teeth, biting your bottom lip upsettingly, curtseying at everyone disposal. "It's a pleasure to meet you." You finished, a fake smile plastered on your face, pleading eyes for your father to take you back home. Ellie eyed you disgustingly, uninterested rolling her eyes back, the taller man pushing her forward closer. "Go on" he said angrily. "Joel!" She yelped. "Ellie." He eyed her. She scoffed, her attitude already unbearable. "It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance.. Princess Y/n.... Ellie" she said poorly, introducing herself, her pinky finger digging in her ear, eyeing at it like it was all she had left to do. She turned back before the man flipped her around, roughly shoving her closer, his patience limited now. She sighed, going back to grab your hand, gently, something you hadn't expected from her insignificantly terrible mannerisms, her finger tips soft, she kissed the back of your hand, your heart had fluttered, from what you remembered, only for a slight second before she pulled away, sticking her tongue out and wiping her mouth, "Ugh, gross!" She cried. You rolled your eyes, the moment of whatever romance that'd be destined to start, passing like the speed of light.

The two of you stood there, your father's smiling at the "perfect match." all you could think about was how unpleasant she was, how she wouldn't understand you, how you absolutely despised her existence. The summer growing to be what you thought was the worst of your life span, the constant bickering and her heavy insults. You ran through the halls of her castle. Joel and your father having not understood nor notice the two of you constantly at eachothers throats. Your dress getting caught in the doors, and tripping over your slippers when she'd attacked you. "You're such a goody-two shoes!" She argued, your cheeks burning red from the running. "Shut it, Ellie" you spit at her. Your dress torn at the hem and your pink slippers stained with shoe marks on them from tripping over your feet. The rest of the summer lasted the exact same, every little thing she said annoying you, and every action you took, she wanted to intervene.

Soon enough more winters and summers went by before you were 12, hiding at the top of the tower, in your room dreading this summer. "Y/n! We can't keep Princess Ellie waiting any longer!" Your father called from the carriage at the bottom of the castle. "Ugh, please, she's barley even a princess!" You shouted angrily, eyeing him from the window, your hair tied into a braid and your nightgown hadn't changed. "I haven't even washed my hair nor changed"you gestured to your hair and clothes. "Gives you all the more reason to hurry" you heard the grin in his voice, causing you to smile the slightest. You redid your braid, finishing it off with a blue ribbon at the end, and quickly slipping on one of you're too many owned dresses. You pranced through the long historic hallways, waving small goodbyes to the servants who'd helped around the castle, leaving out the door to the garden. "Are you ready to leave?" Your father asked. "Yes" you sighed sadly, having to see Ellie again making you feel as if the world were ending. "I don't get why you dislike her so much, she's really such a lovely young lady." He frowned, entering the carriage with you. "Sure, if lovelys the word you wanna use." You groaned, "half the time the only thing she's doing is jumping at me every chance she gets to make my life horrible." Your dad smiled at you, saying you were over doing it. The ride to the neighboring kingdom was joyful, the sound of your laughter echoing through the windows. Once you'd arrived, you'd seen Ellie once more, no better than the previous summers, still as horrid as you remembered. "Hello, princess" she rolled her eyes, whispering into the ear of another girl beside her, it so clearly about you. "Princess Ellie." You gritted. "And who's this?" Your father smiled, Ellie's attitude being replaced with the innocent act she'd always put up to make you seem as if the bad guy. "This, is the friend I made last winter" she grinned. "Dina" she introduced her. You nervously waved at her, not earning much in return but a dirty look from Ellie, you clutched your dress, suddenly feeling very self conscious. "Well, what're we waitin' for? Les go!" Joel said with his thick accent, following him back to the all too familiar grand castle, lifting your dress as you walked over the muddy ground. You followed Ellie around the rest of the day, the two girls continuesly looking back at you as you acted like a dog, scolded if you sat out in the permanent room you had here during the summer. The sun reflected your shadows ever so often, "does she have to follow us around?" Dina turned around suddenly, weirdly annoyed with your presence, her red dress swaying with her hips as she turned. Ellie looked back, her ill-fitted dress steady as her shoes stepped on the hems. Tearing it like colored paper. "I wish she didn't, it's a shame I have to marry her" she said angrily, grabbing Dina's hand, pulling her along to show her the tree house that was supposedly in the field behind the castle, whispering about it as if you couldn't hear them.

You followed them to the tree house, far behind, you almost didn't wanna go into the tree house, till you saw it, it hadn't been there last summer. You ran softly on the grass, attempting to catch up to the girls, finally getting to the ladder, it began to float up, realizing the girl with a dark haired messy ponytail was pulling it up. She darted her eyes at you. "Snowflakes aren't allowed up in this treehouse" she said distinctively. "Oh, fuck you!" You yelled. Giving them the finger you walked off annoyed. "What's her problem?" Dina raised her brow at Ellie, "Dunno, she's like short tempered or whatever" Ellie chuckled, watching you storm off.

When you turned 17, you had your first royal ball, "Ellie!" You called, walking to her room at the very end of the hallway on the very last floor of the castle, you turned the door knob, opening the door aggressively to see her in her loose dress as it'd always been, practicing her archery on an ill drawing of you from when you were 10. "Oh, real mature" you said angrily. "Yeah whatever." She stuck her tongue out at you, you walked towards the target of you, your blue and fancy ruffley dress following closely behind you as your heels clicked hollowly against the old floors of the castle. Your hair effortlessly soft. You ripped it off the wall. "Hey!! What the hell's your problem?!" She spat. "You're a fucking child is my problem." You rolled your eyes tearing it. "What do you even want?" She got up angrily. "The ball" you muttered. "That's tonight?" She gasped. "Yes, everyone knew that" you fixed the straps of her dress unconciously, her breath hitched, suddenly flinching your hand away "get out, I'll fix it myself, I wasn't even gonna wear this" she muttered. "Jeez fine, the one time I try being nice and all you ever do is be a total douche." You outed the room, flattening the lacey blue ruffles of your dress, adjusting your gold heart shaped locket and your finished hair. You walked down the hall once more, waiting for your fiance to open her eyes and act like the princess she really was whether she liked it or not. You found yourself at the entrance of the castle, a strongly built woman guarding the gate. "Strong arms, huh?" You smirked up at her, her face flushing, "Princess." She averted her eyes, meanwhile Ellie watching from afar with Dina. "God she's always flirting with those damned guards" she huffed, the giggling of you and the guard filling the room. "Why care so much? What, you like her?" Dina said, brushing the lose strands of hair from her face. "God no" she said annoyed, fixing her new suit. "Sure seems like it" Dina scoffed. "She can flirt with who she wants" Dina defended you. "Whatever" you turned to see the girls eyeing you warily for you had no clue as to why. You brushed your hand off the guards arm, kissing her cheek. "Guys let's go, we'll be late." You waved your arm at them, calling them over as they obeyed. "Alright Papa! We can go" you shouted to the topless carriage outside. "Perfect, darling!" He smiled, patiently waiting, you carefully lifted your dress running to the cart. Leaving Ellie behind. "You like her" Dina teased. "Oh fuck off, I've hated that ‘ Little Ms. Perfect ’ since I was 5, thats not about to change now just because she went from some annoying ugly duckling to a fucking goddess...or.. whatever." Dina chuckled, "like a swan?" She pressed. "Yeah whatever you wanna call it." She walked to the cart quickly behind you now to catch up, smiling at your father. "Took you long enough" you said. "Shut up" she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "We're already to leave!" Your dad called to the people in front, controlling the horses.

You drove up to your palace, the towns people, hundreds, of them cheerfully smiling, waving, throwing flowers from their own gardens, you couldn't help but flash a toothy smile, waving back and holding the hands of the little children being held upon shoulders of their parents, a few sending weird stares at you as Ellie stuck up her two fingers behind your head, mocking you, making some of the kids laugh. "Hey!" You turned, arms over your chest, "will you quit it?! God your frustrating" you sighed, melting back into the leather seats of the carriage.

Soon you'd pulled up at the gates of your castle, the horses in the stable causing a racket, and the ball gowns visible from the windows you'd seen from outside. The dim lights romantic, Ellie exited the carriage after your father, Joel waiting for Ellie to turn and help you down, she ran her hands through her hair annoyedly, grabbing your hand gently helping you down. Your heart fluttering the same the day you'd met when she kissed your hand, despite the hatred you had towards her, your locket glistened under the moon light, and the pins in your hair reflecting the moon itself. "Thank you, but I could've done it myself" you pushed her hand away. Walking alone to the entrance, walking in as the guards at the door opened it for you, you winked at them, the beads of sweat rolling down their heads. "Such a beautiful young women she's becoming" Joel smiled, Ellie turning her head from your direction, the poof of your dress following the move of your hips. "Indeed she is" your dad agreed.

As you entered the ball room, royal families you'd thought close to you came to greet you, compliments being thrown from every direction, the colours of the gowns bright and warming. "So... you and Ellie, huh?" A girl in green said. "Not as charming as everyone thinks" you rolled your eyes. "She's absolutely horrid." Your hands rested in your hips, suddenly warm breath tickling your neck. "Horrid my ass," she came from behind you, aggressively whispering in your ear her complaints. "Attitude problems I tell ya' " she pushed you aside gently. "You would think someone as pretty as her has a pretty personality too, but wasn't raised right... clearly " she sheepishly smiled at you. Your hands fisting the fabric of your dress in the palm of your hand as the girls gawked at her disrespect towards you, throwing shame at your name. "Fuck you" you mouthed to her, walking away annoyed.

You found yourself flirting with the princesses of every country, each one of them better than the last much like the last glass of wine you drank unsupervised. The shawl on your shoulders slipping off, the freckles and goosebumps appearing so clearly. "Look.. I'd give anything to sleep with you, but aren't you betrothed to her excellency, Ellie?" The girl respectfully asked concerned. "Who cares, everyone knows it won't work out." You grabbed her slim waist, suddenly your father tapping your shoulder. "The slow dance, dear." He grabbed your available hand, you measly let go of the girls pink dress, a look of dismay on her face. You internally yelling inside your head at the thought of marrying this woman. Your dad helped you your way to Ellie, her tall muscular build in the center of the room, standing there dreading your hands on her body. "Now don't make a scene, be professional" your dad warned, placing your hand upon Ellies shoulder, taking the empty wine glass from you, "fine... god" you looked up at Ellie, her gaze away from yours as her hands slid down to your waist, holding you firmly. Your hands only placed hesitantly on her padded shoulders.

"Sorry" she apologized, moving her hands gesturing she didn't mean to be weird. "Ellie Williams, THE Ellie Williams apologizing" you teased, her look still distant "would you look at me? No one'll believe your poor excuse of whatever the hell this is" you complained, your hand cupping her cheek, pulling her face to look at you as the band played a soft spoken song. "This is shit" she whispered. "Yeah, well they're all watching, so shut up and pretend you love me for the next annoyingly long 3 minutes of our dumb lives" you said, moving your feet slowly with hers in sync. She looked into your eyes, you realizing just how vivid her green eyes were, suddenly just noticing all the small details of her face, like the mole under her eye, or the scar on her eyebrow, even how uneven her side part was, you almost laughed in her face.

You upside down smiled, cheekily looking away, "what now" she asked, her brows furrowing. "Nothing, nothing" you waved your hand dismissively. "Yeah whatever" softly laughing along with you, not helping herself. For a short period her hands on your hips sent butterflies surging through your stomach, her breath upon your forehead giving you goose bumps as you twirled and spun around the room, your dress swinging satisfyingly as you forgot the crowd of people around you. "You know, your presence currently is... slightly more tolerable than usual." You whispered, "That so true, now?" She widened her eyes, spinning you into a dip on the slow and steady beat of the song. "Surprisingly." You giggled, admiring the equivalent of stars splattered across her scab cut face from training, your heart increasing every so slightly. You almost felt yourself falling for her like a fool. "If you weren't such a massive whore and flirt to every girl you met I might've actually been in love with you by n—"

"Excuse me?" You interrupted her. Angrily, stepping on her foot. "Ow— what the fuck?" She yelped. "'No what the fuck'd you just call me?" You let go of her immediately. The gaze of people returning to just you. "Well I'm not wrong." She admitted honestly. "Oh yeah— as if you don't do the same, Ellie!" You cried, pushing her away, almost tripping over your dress. "Why do you always do this?! What's your fucking issue? Can you not act like a decent human being for once?" You rolled your eyes, crossing your hands over your chest as she stared at you almost fearfully. "The only reason you're fucking dance with me is because if you didn't we'd both get shit for it! To think I almost fell for that shitty act of yours." Your eyes started to swell up with tears glistening in the light threatening to spill. "No fucking shit! Why'd I like you if you're always being like this?"

You scoffed, "Fuck you, Ellie." You pulled your laced shawl back up your shoulders, holding it firmly as you ran to your room.

That night you watched Ellie shamefully leave in her fathers carriage, Dina beside her worriedly holding her hand in attempt to relax her, a frown on your face as you'd waved goodbye, you entered inside, your father calmly rubbing your back. "I want to break off the engagement." You said sternly. "But—"

"No!" You bursted, the tears rolling down your cheek onto your already tear stained ball gown. "I don't care about out legacy— we'll get someone else to take over, I refuse to wed her. Do you not understand the severity of what she said to me, father?!" You cupped your mouth, muffling the sobs, your breaths quick and weak.

"At least just give it another year, my love, please consider" your father frowned, the wrinkles on his face increasing by the years. "Love has it's ups and downs, this is bound to happen through your marriage" he tried to reason. "Not when you refuse to do what it takes to fix it." You wiped your nose. Your cheeks red and your eyes puffy. "I'll give it another summer" you reckoned, "but one more slip up of hers and I'm done for." You darted your eyes, your tone serious.

"Very well, my dear" he hugged you, whispering a low "I love you"

"I love you too" you hugged him back, holding back the frustration tears.

You wanted to lose your mind atleast a hundred and fifty times before meeting Ellie again. The dreaded summer you'd not been waiting for, not by a long shot. Your father repeatedly thanked you, the carriage dropping you at the front gate of the castle with your dad. Joel standing smiling at you, Ellie up in the castle possibly spying on your every move, and if she was, you wouldn't have been surprised. "I'm really, really sorry for the way things endin' " he apologized, hugging you closely. "Don't worry Joel, it was a misunderstanding.. You know.. like Papa says.." you chuckled, the stupidity of last year's events getting to your head. You stepped foot inside the castle, barley missing anything about it but the guards. "Ellies up inner' room if you wanna go.. y'know" he pointed to the grand staircase. Your father gave you the look, where you didn't have to go, but if you didn't, the disappointment would be unbearable.

You went up the steps to the last floor, out of breath your 2 inch heels making you wobble, you found yourself hesitating at the door, unable to turn the knob before you heard the sound of suckling, heavy breaths, and deep sighs, you almost felt you were about to throw up. The anger boiling inside you, you could've just left, slept it out, or argued with her, tiring her out instead. You aggressively pushed open the door, nearly breaking your nails, the sight of a woman on top of Ellie, her nightgown barley even worn on her body anymore and the soft fingers of Ellie's you'd felt one too many times on your body for your comfort on the girls hips. "This just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it?!" You exclaimed angrily. "Fuck." Ellie sighed, her eyes wide as the woman got off top of her, adjusting her lingerie before rushing out clumsily. "What the fuck do you want?" She got up, sitting straight, all left of her, her loose strapped bra. "What do I want?" You mimicked her, suddenly stomping towards a pair of clothes, throwing at her almost bare chest, you grabbed her as she finished clothing, gripping her forearm tightly, you dragged her downstairs, the sound of your loose dress waving in the air and your breaths heavy, you stopped at 2 of the 3 dining rooms until you found your father. "I'm out!" You complained. "I refuse to marry her, I'm done." Your tiara crooked off the top of your head, Ellie gave you a dirty look. Pushing you off of her. "But —" you continued. "I'm not going to marry someone who doesn't love me" you hallored. Throwing her an angry and disapproved look. "I want to leave, and I never want to see her face again unless it's news of whoever she's betrothed to next cause they're in for a rude awakening." You insulted. Not a word escaping her lips, but a few gasps from Joel. His heart along with your father's crumbling to the ground like a shattered plate. "I'm sorry Papa, but I can't." You sighed. "I'd like a carriage to bring us home as early as possible, we have important decisions to make, I'd rather be in the comfort of our castle rather than a scums." You walked to your room. Packing the things you'd left during the winters for the summer, all of it coming to an end. It almost made you upset, you were overjoyed, yet angry, at how you almost fell for her, if she hadn't said what she did that day at the ball, you would've sworn you'd forgotten the rotten history of your past.

The next morning you left, concluding the last time you had seen Princess, Ellie Williams, your ex fiance.

You hadn't seen Ellie in two years, and if you were being honest, your life had become healthier. It was like it'd always been but without the stress of Ellie constantly making your life a living hell, you'd been in a few relationships, none of them lasting and neither one of them being ‘the one’, you picked up on your hobbies, helped your father around the town, rebuilding the castle and re-doing your room, and at the very best making friends of your own.

"Princess" the guards entered the dining room as you read a book, munching on freshly picked strawberries from the garden out back. "Yes?" You smiled, turning your head to look at her. "One of your friends are here, requesting to see you" the guard said. "Oh thank you, tell her I'll be there in a second" you stood up, patting your pink dress of the strawberry seeds, closing your book. "Very well, your excellency" the gaurd rushed away, leaving you adjusting you hair before walking through the halls rapidly to see your bestfriend.

"y/n!" She shouted, waving at you, her pale dress falling beneath her ankles and her cardigan slipping off her shoulders. "Elisa!" Your lips growing into a grin, "I didn't know you were coming!" You ran towards her, engulfing her in a well needed hug, "you didn't get my letter?" She giggled. "Goodness, no." Your arms fell from her waist, playing with her hair. "What a surprise!" You squealed. "No! The surprise is what I have to tell you!" She grabbed your wrists, her smile wide. "I just had to tell you in person!" She said. "Must be important, huh?" You said, pulling her inside the castle, your dresses meshing against eachother. "What is it?" You asked, taking her out to the garden. "Well.." she began, you took your seats at the small table centered with a bouquet of lilies. "The neighboring kingdom.." she began, your heart skipping the beat at the sound of it. "Y'know.. King Joel, princess Ellie.." you scoffed. "Some princess" you rolled your eyes. "No, but, listen!" Elisa waved her hands, "they're hosting a ball, every royal, andd towns people invited she exclaimed excitingly, her, herself just a wealthy towns person. "Oh, goodness," you paused, "in what honor?" You asked curiously, "Princess Ellie hasn't found someone to marry yet, Kind Joel's saying there hasn't been one perfect match since.." she trailed off. "Not surprised." You tucked your hair behind your ear. "What's it to do with me, though?"

"wanna come as my plus one? Just for fun! Of course" she asked overjoyed. "Elisa.. I don't know.. you know how things ended—" you said, resting your head on your hand. "Please! We'll stay away from her at all costs." She begged you. You pondered over the decision, looking for reasons you should and shouldn't be going before deciding it might've been fun. "Fine!" You said warmly, "but if anything goes wrong.."

"I know!" She smiled. "Alright," you agreed "it's tomorrow night, you might want to get ready" she said, getting up quickly. "Now I've got to go get prepped. I'll see you tomorrow?" She pushed in her chair. "Sure will, need me to see you out?" You asked. "Nope, all good, I've been here so many times I know the hallway like the back of my hand...... Sort of" she waved you off as a guard took her away. You stared into the distance, watching the geese and doves fly profusely over the sunset, suddenly feeling like going for a late night walk in the woods outside the town.

You found your way around the castle to your father, asking him for a dress fitting early tomorrow. Afterwards going onto put a long warm coat, white fluff fulfilments along the rim of the sleeves and hoodie, a moon stone as the button that clipped at the top. The coat itself a heavenly blue. You'd left the castle, quietly walking through the town, street lights flickering and the youngest little children running around in packs as their parents watched over them, curstying after you.

You watched the constellations ever so brightly in the sky, everyone of them dusted across the midnight blue, the sparkles of them vividly reminding you of Ellie's freckles, you subconsciously counted them the summers you met her. It made you sick. Moreso the thought of having to see her again rather than counting the freckles new every year. In some ways, you felt crushed by how you so easily could've moved on from the one you were ‘destined’ to marry, break it off, and still not have found love. It was like a curse, thinking of how in every universe, you hated her guts.

You're gaze softened at the lake you'd come to just through the forest , 2 swans tangled in eachothers embrace, their feathers white as snow, a heart lazily untangling as they swam side by side, neither one of them moving further apart than 3 inches from eachother. You sighed. Looking at the locket you'd owned since 15, it heart shaped, a swan engraved on it. "Oh how I love swans" you whispered. You made your way up to the castle a little more than an hour later, the moon fully above, it reflecting off of windows you stepped by.

Once you woke up in the morning, you'd gotten your dress fitting done, choosing a baby blue ball gown, the sleeves falling elegantly off the shoulders, lace and jewels falling across the corset of the dress, pearl necklaces to go with the locket you held so dearly, and glittery high heels. You'd gotten your hair done not far long after, your white and silky house coat sliding against your hair softly, the maid had put your hair in a half up-half down look, strands of hair still lazy left out, framing the shape of your face precisely the way you had liked it, she finished it off with a jeweled tiara matching your gown.

The day'd passed the sunset almost upon you, as you looked into the vanity in your room, your heart beating fast as you slipped on your gown, you maid behind you tightening your corset, tieing elegant bows, you adjusted your sleeves, "Miss, are you alright?" The maid asked, concern in her voice as she massaged your shoulders, watching as your gaze became saddened and saddened the more time went on. "Oh, no I'm fine.. Please, tell the guards to tell Elisa that I'll be down as soon as possible when she gets here." The maid left the room, you put on cherry red lipstick, focusing so quickly on making it perfect, you watched your lips move around blending it out to be softer. "I can't believe I'm doing this" you groaned, slipping on your heels gently, walking out to see Elisa in a bright pink dress, a boa slinking off her shoulders the radiant white fluff falling across her chest, diamonds hanging from her neck and ears. Her hair in a clean bun. "You ready to go?" She said, grabbing your arm as you walked up to her. "You look beautiful" you smiled. Dismissing the question. "Thank you" she blushed. "I was hoping I'd meet someone there tonight, it means a lot you think that" "no of course, I get it" you rubbed her arm with your thumb, circling in the same spot. You hoping you'd meet someone as well.

The carriage drove you through the dark night passing the same lake with the partnered swans, from the night before. "You looking to settle down?" you asked, hands resting on your lap. "I think so, I wanna have children so bad, and I need their future parent to treat them just as well as I would" she stared at her hands "all I really want is a family" the cold coming from her mouth. "I'm betting you'll meet someone amazing" you assured her. The trees swayed in the winds, your hair blowing along with the rhythm of it all, strolling through the ghost town that you'd remembered so full when your enemy wasn't foolishly inviting every person to exist to this horrid ball. You found yourselves at the gate. The castle lit and decorated with bright and gorgeous lanterns. You both thanked the guards.

You shivered walking to the big doors that's been open. Guards greeting every new person to have walked in. "They'll be here all night" you whispered to Elisa. "Sure will" she said, sorry for them.

You walked in the ball room, Elisa disappearing from your arm as soon as you did. "Typical" you sighed. Walking measly around the room, your gown brushing against the others. Feeling small in the crowd. You stood at the food table, eating the crab cakes like your last dinner, stuffing in two at a time before catching a glimpse of a tall build, her hair short, the same hairstyle as you, and her suit dark, a blue rose in her pocket. Talking to a few of the females, the freckles and eyebrow scar unmistakable. You're breath hitched, gulping down the remaining crab cakes, you felt faint, she looked so mature, her smile bright, yet her eyes hiding a subtle hint of pain you'd only notice if you'd known someone for years, regardless how much you hated them. Tucking the loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes suddenly widening before you realized she'd seen you. "Shit" you muttered, she waved off the women excusing herself to walk towards you.

She stopped a few inches from you, averting her eyes from yours as she bowed, a gasp escaping your coated red lips. "Princess" her voice cracked. "Yes— uh, Princess... Ellie" you curtseyed. "You look... Beautiful" she breathed. Gently grabbing your hand to kiss it softly. "Thank you— Did you happen to hit your head or something" you pulled your hand away quickly away from her lips. "You're acting... Strange" you let out a breath you had no clue you'd been holding in for so long. "How so?" She raised a brow. "You're not acting like you hate my guts." You said. "Who said I didn't?" She crossed her arms. "What? So that's changed now cause I'm, ‘beautiful’?" You spat. " 'That such a bad reason?" She scrunched her nose subconsciously, wiping it with her hand. "Get your head out of the gutter Ellie." You stomped away, "fuck" she whispered.

You still unable to wrap your head around when she'd become so.. odd? You flew around the ball room, every 30 minutes seeing her eye you from across the room. As if some kind of snack, you began to feel creeped out, her whispers to an oh so grown up Dina always beginning after she saw your face. Soon you found her asking you to dance. "Ellie, if you're only going to like me because of my looks.. I don't want you to like me at all" you sighed, taking a step back. "Especially considering our history, I mean what is this? 15 years of constant torture and insults being thrown at me for it to just suddenly change? I can't do it Ellie, I really just can't" you said, turning around for a split second, before she hooked her slender hand around your forearm, the slow dance beginning as she pulled you into her, her hand firmly on your waist and the other holding your other hand just above your shoulders. You sighed, "Ellie —" annoyed. "What else?" You said, she held you close, deja vu hitting you like a carriage door, while she span you around the room, the crowd almost not there, you gazed deeply into her eyes. "What else?" She raised a brow confused. "Is beauty all that matter to you?" You asked, pained. "What? No—" she choked on her words. "That's not—"

"Then what else?" You grip on her hand tightening significantly. "I don't know— I mean—" she bit her bottom lip. "No Ellie— save it." You stopped her. "You don't get to do that" you darted your eyes at her, the hatred building up with every step you took, you began to feel frustrated. "Do what?!" She raised her voice ever so slightly, no one heard over the band. "You don't get to like me because I'm fucking attractive now to you. That's just not fair." Before you could react, she grabbed your arm painfully, pulling you of the crowd of people, she dragged you down the hall, unable to free from her grip, you tripped over your gown. "Ellie what the hell!!" You cried, playing with her hand to get you off just before you'd got thrown into the tea room you'd remembered not to fondly, she locked the doors. "Ellie open that goddam door—"

"Would you just listen to me?!" She yelled, you quickly walked up to her, stumbling over your heels as you grabbed the collar of her suit, the blue rose falling from it. "You don't get to have me listen to you! Ellie, I hate you! And you threw this ball so you could find a wife, I am not going to play that roll again, just becau—"

She threw you onto the couch, your big dress wrinkling against it as she pinned you down, her arms caging your head from escape like an animal. You let a gasp escape your mouth. Your heels falling off of your feet in the uncomfortable position. "It's not because of your fucking looks! Y/n!" She confessed. Her one arm falling to her side. "It's the fucking history" her lips trembled. "We spent our whole lives together knowing one day all thats around us would be ours to rule, together." she said. "You know my worst fears, goddamn it, and you threw it away just like that." Your breath hitched. "And I know everything there is to know about you, whether I hate you or not." Her arms at your hips now, subconsciously caging you in again. "Those two years I didn't see you, I thought I missed messing with your fuckin' head and flaring your anger up like I was those 15 years, but I really just missed seeing the one person I spent every summer with up until I turned 18" you felt offended, her back handed compliments confusing you. You sat up warily, watching her gaze turn to guilt as you propped your elbow up against the head of the couch. "What the fuck" you breathed. Her face just inches apart from yours that you could feel her heavy breaths up against your lips. "Ellie—" you groaned. "So what are you saying? You're in love with me? After all that?" You scoffed in disbelief. "Yes!" She cried. Your heart pounded at your chest, the warmth between you suddenly growing hotter. You couldn't understand anything, grasp the situation at hand before you reached your hand up to her cheek, cupping it softly before connecting your lips that were inches apart just a few mere seconds ago. You roughly bit down on her lip, the sexual tension flying off the walls. "What're you doing?" She muffled a moan into the kiss, surprised as she gripped your hips. "Fuck you" you whispered, shoving your tongue in her mouth exploring every inch of her as she delicately whined, her embrace tightening. You lazily pushed her down, hovering above her, "all that shit just for this" you breathed, hooking your lips onto her soft freckled skin, leaving a wet trail across her neck, while you undid her button up, the sounds of her heavy breaths and sighs filling up the room, you sucked at her skin. "Fuck" she whined. Messily gripping a handful of your hair as the sticky path of saliva continued down her collar bone, stationd between her breasts. You abruptly stopped, struggling to undo the bows of your corset. Ellie looked up to you with pleading eyes, "lemme—" she heaved, flipping you over, your clothed ass up on her crotch while you held your hair to your shoulder, her fingers unintertwining the ribbons. You sat on your knees, she trailed kisses down the back of your neck, each and every one rougher than the last, your dress slipping off by the second before she threw it to the ground leaving you with only your panties left. "Shit" she whispered as you turned over, pulling her in desperatly, tugging at her lips between your front teeth. "You're so beautiful" she admittedly whispered between breaks. "Thank you" you, you smirked against her lips. You sat on her lap, sucking at her tongue, her hands roaming your body entirely, she played with your boobs, all the thoughts leaving your mind as you threw your head back. "Fuck, Ellie" you moaned. Her wet kisses filling the room with sinful noises.

Her tongue flicked at your hard bud, it only standing more as she sucked at it, toying with the other one while she still squeezed your plush hips.

"I need you" her lips meeting your stomach, butterflies in your lower abdomen began to scour, the heat between your legs only growing stronger as she praised you, worshipping your body like a goddess. "Why are you like this" your jaw dropped, her hands suddenly palming you through your panties, already soaking, moans escaping from your red stained lips, that matched the pair all over Ellie's neck and jaw.

"Lay down" she demanded, squeezing your ass cheek. You immediately layed yourself beside her, her head stationed between your legs as she looked up at you hungrily, a face you'd never seen her make at you before, she kissed the inside of your thighs, biting at them like dessert as her fingers gently rubbed at your throbbing pussy, your panties still unmoving, "mmh~" you muffled, the hickys between your legs butterfly shaped, she continued to rub at your sweet spot, playing with the tangles in your hair as she kissed you softly. Your heart collapsed in on itself, the gentleness something youd never experienced before. "You're being so... So sweet" you heaved into the kiss, staining her lips in lipstick as she rubbed faster. "You deserve it" she smirked against the kiss, leaving more around the rest of your face. The ball room music faintly heard from outside, your mouth formed an ‘O’ as she lowered her head again. Your conversations severly uncoordinated, responding to questions with only moans and whines. She slipped off your panties, only lowering them as far as your knees, "I'm gonna make you never want to leave this room" she kissed your hickey covered thigh again, before nuzzling your clit with her tongue, you flinched at the contact, an overwhelming pleasure washing over you as your legs shaked, leaving her holding your hips down. You felt your walls tighten, she swirled her tongue, every muscle causing you to tense up, her tongue only deepening. "Oh god—" you reclined back, her teeth softly nipping your pussy. "Feel good, princess?" She said. Rubbing your inner thigh reassuringly as she suckled "fuck, yes, Ellie" you whined. The pressure in your stomach building up, "I'm so... Fuck—!!" She slid against your walls, you cupped her hair, thrusting your hips into her tongue, desperately wanting to release the knot. Your wet folds quivering. "Please, Ellie—" you begged, vibrating underneath her touch. She fingered your clit, eating you out both at once. "Ellie, Ellie, Ellie, Ellie!!" You cried you repeated her name like a god. Giving into your pleasurous desires, the creamy white substance leaking down your thigh "shit!" You cried, all she did praising you through your orgasm, just for her fingers to not lift off once. Still her slender fingers pounding inside of you quickly, the slaps of skin filling the room like paddy-cake.

She sat you on her lap again, grinding your hips over her hand, having you ride her as she moved your waist herself, you too weak, for your second orgasm to wash over you, the couch damp in your liquids. "You're doing so good" she whispered, your fingers digging into her skin like daggers. Your heavy breaths drawn over the music. You came again. Your head falling into her shoulder, she tucked the strands of messy hair off your face, tears staining your Rosey cheeks, and her clothes stained in your cum.

"Oh god.."

PART 2?

I got so lazy towards the end out of fear people would get impatient!! Especially since I promised to post yesterday!! Either way, I will edit eventually if people want me too! I'll be posting part to in the next few days! <33

[princessbrunette]

hear me out: rafe is so daddy when he's spending all his money on ur pretty purses and shoes !! giggling as u make ur way down the strip of designer stores !!! but he becomes dad when he's scolding you for running off with the pogues . and then suddenly he's revoking ur allowance for the month bc u misbehaved and talked back . -🌅

ugh this :/ he can switch it up fast !! daddy is nice rafe and dad is strict rafe yk ?? he’s gotta turn it on sometimes to keep you in check, can’t have you getting out of control 🙄 ugh the idea of him revoking ur allowance is sooo !!

˚₊‧꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

you think he’s forgiven you for your little mishap, running off with the pogues — getting all friendly and going on adventures that he knows his delicate girl can’t handle. rafe has spanked the daylights out of you, lectured you until he’s blue in the face but he needs something else to really keep you in check. something more than physical.

“and— and you know i can’t have you running off on me like that baby it’s not fair on me s’not fair on you…” he rambles, having you perched on his knee all sniffly after your punishment.

“i know.” you shrink sadly, just glad your punishment was seemingly over.

“i gotta show you, baby— show you that i mean business, n’that im not just some bitch who’s gonna let you come in here unpunished after you run out on me. thats fair, right?” he squints, staring at you. you gaze back, face falling slowly in fear of where this was leading. when you say nothing, he jostles you slightly by suddenly reaching into his back pocket, tilting you on his lap making you hold on. he settles, pulling out his black card and holding it between his fingers.

“y’see this? you know this card very well don’t you? yeah… well this is the card that dad uses to put alllll that shopping money onto your card.” he punctuates the ‘your’ by tapping your chest with the card itself. “and all that money, you’ve been spendin’ helping out these pogues. that’s not very nice, is it now sweetheart?”

you continue to stare, glancing between his intense gaze and the card between his fingers. “so m’gonna have to cut your allowance for a little bit.” he smiles faux apologetically, his tone definitive.

“what?” your small voice asks, sitting a little further up his leg. “rafey they needed help, i didn’t need the money so i just—”

“i… didn’t say you could speak right now, baby.” his tone softens as the sentence goes along and you take it as your moment to shut up. “and i’m not cuttin’ you off baby no, i’d never do that. m’good to you, yeah? n’that’s not gonna stop. but if you wanna buy something, you gotta ask me. i’ll buy it on my card. understand?”

“…yes rafe.” you blink, feeling sorry for yourself. maybe you were spoiled, maybe you’d gotten too used to the hefty allowance that rafe was gifting you with each month but you were upset. you hated that you relied on him so much.

“right…good girl. knew she was hidin’ in there somewhere.” he smiles, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

˚₊‧꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

[kazehita]

hi! i noticed your recent post recommending the fic natural satellite and i think i've noticed other isat fics around your blog too. because of that, i was wondering if you had a list of recommended isat fics! i will admit i am not someone who just peruses around on ao3 but i love reading about these characters so if you have any recs, i would greatly appreciate them! thanks and i hope you have a lovely day :3

I love ALL isat fic - each and every one is so special and wonderful - but if I listed the whole archive that wouldn't really help huh... So! Im going to list just some off the top of my head., this is in no way definitive. Isat spoilers ahead - get all the way through the game and the secret before proceeding.

Big recommendation list below:

Additionally, mind the tags for each fic - I wont be specifying the content warnings here.

(don't just read the complete ones!!! Incomplete fic is just as delightful I promise :3)

Complete: Bloom - Level99Eevee Most people know it, it sits at the top of the tag! It's my every wish fulfilled for post-cannon moments.

Memories of defeat - dirtbagtrashcat Stuff in and immediately after the loops, fantastic extrapolations!!!! Very much Loop <33 I find this very grounded and realistic!!!!

Emotion Sickness - dirtbagtrashcat Post cannon fun/trauma with siffrin and the gang.

Memories of Touch - dirtbagtrashcat look i just really like their work sjkdjkfjkasdf its all good go through their profile. This is Isa thoughts.

And if I were not myself, would this be easier? - rabbit_soup Post-game! I love how they flesh out the world.

The Understudy - kittyorange Suuuuch a loop fic I love it to bits. Post cannon loop and the gang stuff.

Star-Speckled Skin - Lora_Blackmane Funn angsty moment, title is very descriptive. Lives in my head rent free.

Clinging to dying embers - Coffeewolf67 Odile's perspective of sif using the dagger. appropriate content warnings apply :)

between the end and a new start - glowingjellyfishtreelights SICKFICCC I had a very funny experience with this one where due to memory mishaps I got to read it for the first time twice! Absolute banger.

What's in a name? - Raaj Explores siffrins love of plays. I have to regularly reread this for my brain to function.

Starstruck - Dusk_Illusionist Isa yearns. The fic. It rocks.

Saturn Devouring His Son (Time Choking on Stone Choking on Blood)- BasilPaste Post cannon moment... I like it...

(Why) you can't let them know by Mayasynth sasasap fic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i like it. i hold it. i like it. UGH theres more but I have already listed so many.. my other favorites... im so sorry.,.. i love you guys too... Incomplete:

How To Rest by rabbit_soup Sequel to "And if i were not myself, would this be easier?" Loop is here and I love violence.

TRY IT AGAIN, CHEATER! by discatded "[Loop returns to their own universe after everything. It's hard.]" - from the summary. Love it love it. I will never get enough of this premise.

To Extend our Reach to the Stars Above by Cinnamin_Is_a_Star "Sif if he was team rocket" and is so fun. Very excited to see this one pan out!

until we move on. by Anonymous (also known as lozy) LOOP MY BELOVED..! loop returns to their universe and promptly looses it like the universe intended. Cant get enough of it.

Natural Satellite by dirtbagtrashcat If a single fic makes me the Most insane its natural satellite if I'm honest.... like bro... It just gets right to me...

Sunder by Miranda_tries_their_best Post-cannon Loop fic!! They travel on their own for a bit (but not forever), and I love it dearly.

Face the Light by Kaimiiru Post-game, I hold it close to my heart.... Ah... It's so dear to me.

These next two are sloop so if that's not your thing you have been warned :]

raconte-moi qu’on puisse crier tout bas by bibliomaniac I'm holding this high above my head so everyone can see it the characterization is off the charts.

To Cut You Open With a Knife and Find Your Sacred Heart by Hexea_Art Changeling Loop fic!! What a fun concept. I am excited to see where it goes. yay! AGAIN... THERE ARE SO MANY I LOVE SO MUCH but im forcing myself not to look through the tag else I'd add everything. Honestly, I do recommend just launching right on into the ao3 tag for ISAT even if you aren't super familiar with ao3. Just be sure to filter out anything you don't want to see!

Consider this a good starting point ^^

[backtotheshitshow]

Wood & Words (part 3)

Woodworker! James Potter X Princess!reader

Warning: ANGST!! Like ugh I wrote it and I’m tearing up. Kinda proof read. Also this is like a long one so…enjoy.

Part1 part2

A small knock caught James’ attention as he was cutting down the legs for a stool.

He immediately stoped what he was doing and truned to the door.

“You’re late.” He said with a smile.

“I didn’t realise i had a preset time to be here.” Y/n laughed.

“No but you’re usually here before nine..” James explained.

“I’m sorry I was with my mother.” Y/n said stepping into the wood shed.

“It’s alright I’m only teasing.” James laughed, he took a quick glance at her while he measured the stool leg. She was wearing a different type of dress today, not the same neckline she tended to favour.

He couldn’t help but take notice of how soft her collarbone and neck looked, and wonder how it might look if he were to simply grab her and leave a few small love marks.

“You seem in a good mood this morning. May I ask why?” Y/n sat herself against a barrel set near James’ work bench.

“Am I not allowed to be happy.?” He turned to her, trying to push away his inappropriate thoughts.

“Oh no. I much prefer the grumpy tradesman persona you have going on. Quite mysterious I would say.” She grinned, as she was taking in how he looked in the morning light she noticed a bandage on his hand. A medium sized patch of red had soaked through.

James began to speak. “I know you think your joking but I know that you-“

“You’re hurt.” She said immediately walking over to him and taking his hand gently, to examine it.

“Oh ah just a mishap with a saw. I’ll be fine.” He said looking down at her with a small smile, she looked adorable with her eyebrows scrunched together with concern. That fact that she was concerned about him made it all the more pleasant.

She didn’t trust that he was being completely honest about the severity of his injury.

“May I see.” She said looking up at him. He wanted to protest and tell her that it was simply and occupational hazard but the look in her eyes was begging him to let her take care of it and who was he to deny the princess of what she wanted.

He nodded allowing her to unravel the bandage.

James’s expression softened as his breath caught in his throat. His face flushed, as he stood still, letting her inspect it.

His expression was almost apologetic, as if her concern was misplaced.

“Really it’s nothing.” He muttered, in the past he would have simply just refused her help all together. But now he was in too deep, this woman had a hold on him, and his mind was telling him to let her have whatever she asked for.

She let out a quiet gasp when she laid eyes on the wound.

“Surely this must be painful, why haven’t you taken care of this properly?” She seemed upset at him for having such little concern for his on wellbeing.

James shifted slightly, embarrassed at her visible concern.

"It's fine, really," he lied as his cheeks grew hotter. James had never been one to complain, and he couldn't stand how upset she was... she was so cute.

He was so used to taking care of himself, so he rarely asked for help. Now he felt his resolve crumbling under this woman's concerned gaze, her gentle words and her soft hands.

“Sit down.” She said nudging him towards the barrel she previously sat on.

James hesitated, his face telling her that he knew he should, but his stubborn nature getting in the way. Eventually he acquiesced to her soft demand, plopping down on the barrel and letting out a sigh.

Y/n grabbed a rag that looked somewhat clean, and walked to the sink in the small part of the wood shed that look like a very old kitchen, running the rag under some warm water.

She can back over. “It’s very careless of you to leave such a deep cut without cleaning it. Do you have no regard for your health?”

James didn’t answer he looked away embarrassed about how angry she seemed at him for ignoring his own needs.

As she took care to clean the wound, James just sat there, staring at her, mesmerized by her every movement. She was so soft and delicate, handling him without force.

She was just about finished wrapping the wound when she noticed his staring and stopped. She couldn’t move under his intense gaze.

“Just…be more considerate of yourself please.” She said in a soft tone as she slowly lost herself in his eyes.

Y/n didn’t know what came over her, she as never this bold, but in all fairness she never did think to straight when he was looking at her.

She kissed him.

James's heart skipped a few beats as the Princess's lips pressed against his.

He'd been thinking about how pretty she was, being lost in her eyes for a split second before the sweet caress of her lips caught him by surprise.

He'd never been one to receive affection, at least not for years now, and certainly not this quickly and unexpectedly. His mind was a dizzying combination of shock, confusion and elation.

“I….i shall see you tomorrow.” She whispered and before James knew it she was gone.

……..

The following day James waited patiently for the princess’s arrival trying to keep himself busy.

It began to get late. James had spent the day organising the shed and sweeping sawdust. He was beginning to get tired.

After the kiss they shared the precious day it was hard for him to get a good nights sleep.

By the time she arrived the sun had already settled behind the horizon, leaving the shed only lit by lanterns here and there.

“Why have you come so late?” James asked. He noted that she was not in her usual bubbly mood the expression on her face looked almost ashamed.

She ignored his question

“I’ve come to apologise James. My actions yesterday were inappropriate.” She said stopping at the door.

James couldn't contain his shock. Was her kiss really a mistake?

"W-what did you say??" he replied. To him it had been a beautiful and romantic gesture, perhaps even a sign that she felt something for him.

But maybe his judgment had been clouded and now she was telling him she'd made a mistake. James felt his heart drop.

“Yesterday when..I kissed you. I’ve given it some thought over night and It was entirely inappropriate and improper. I hope you forgive me.” She looked away ashamed of herself.

James was speechless. He had been expecting an entirely different response. He had thought she felt some sort of attraction towards him and the way her eyes had blazed in the sunlight when they’d kissed had been beautiful and he’d been hoping to do it again.

But it seemed the whole thing was a mistake– a spur of the moment thing she’d probably thought about too late.

“W-wait, you’re sorry we kissed?”

“I…yes I. It was wrong of me to do so.”

James sat stunned for several moments as he processed what she’d said. Was she truly ashamed of kissing him? His eyes narrowed as his stomach dropped in disappointment.

Perhaps she had thought about the kiss afterward and then realized he wasn’t someone she was that attracted to. Was he not someone she found desirable? He bit his lip and felt a pang of sadness he hid behind a wall of anger.

“You wish we hadn’t shared that kiss?”

“That’s- not what I’m saying.”

James narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow. Why was she backtracking if that wasn’t what she’d meant? What had she meant then?

James’s thoughts raced as he tried to read between the lines, trying to guess what it was that she was trying to get at.

“But did you… Did you enjoy it? Did you not like the kiss?!”

“I did, yes of course I did…but it was clearly inappropriate….im sorry I put you in such an uncomfortable situation. Please do not be kind for my sake.” She noticed James seemed to be getting quite upset.

James was taken aback and couldn't help but grimace at her last statement. She didn't want him to be 'kind' to her?

Did she honestly think he was just being kind? He was beginning to grow irritated at her insistence on claiming the kiss was inappropriate.

"What's the matter? Am I not someone worthy of that kind of affection?" He said.

“Oh course you are! I’m simply saying I shouldn’t have put in a situation like that.” She explained.

James's eyebrows furrowed and he felt himself grow angry and frustrated. He couldn't understand why she was so insistent on claiming she was the one at fault. James raised his voice in exasperation.

"I'm not a child! I can make my own decisions about what situations I feel I am or am not comfortable in and you shouldn't be the one deciding such things for me!"

Y/n was shocked at his outburst.

“I’m sorry. I just…..,excuse me” she turned around quickly as she blinked back a tear or two..

The way she was abruptly leaving now was angering James even more. What was she thinking? He felt his emotions boiling over and could not let her leave like this.

"No, you're not getting away that easily." *James grabbed her by the wrist firmly.

"You're not going to just leave and ignore this. You're going to hear me out."

James took a deep breath and tried to rein himself in. He was still seething with anger but knew that yelling more was only going to make the situation worse. He loosened his grip on her wrist.

"Look, I just don't understand why you're claiming it was inappropriate. We're two adults. We're capable of deciding what is appropriate and inappropriate ourselves.

You say you enjoyed it, so I don't see why you're so adamant on telling me it was somehow a mistake or inappropriate." He looked at her with pained eyes.

“Do you not think I am aware that you only tolerate my company due myself being the princess! I may seem bit ditsy but I’m not stupid!”

James's eyes widened and he shook his head furiously. The Princess didn't believe that he actually liked her?

He thought that the Princess was adorable, witty and intelligent and he'd never felt quite this way about anyone before.

To hear she thought he didn't enjoy spending time with her was painful.

"That's not true! I love spending time with you! I enjoy you like I've never enjoyed anyone else before! How in gods name could you think that?!"

Tear began to well in the princess eyes. She was angry and confused and James was yelling at her. She didn’t like him yelling at her.

“I-I-Idon’t know I just thought ….I’m sorry.” A small crack in her voice came at the end of her sentence.

James's eyes widened as he saw the hint of moisture in her eyes. He felt so bad for having snapped at her like that and suddenly his anger melted away to concern. He felt a sudden overwhelming urge to comfort and protect this beautiful girl. The thought of seeing tears in her eyes was unbearable. He moved closer to her and lifted his hand to brush away the wetness in her eyes.

At his touch, James felt his anger and frustration melt away. How could he stay mad at such a delicate and vulnerable girl? Her beauty was truly astonishing but now James realised she was much more than that.

She was also emotional and he could see exactly what she was feeling on her face. She was sensitive and kind despite her title and her beauty and that was more than enough reason for him to want to protect her. He wished she'd realize her worth.

“I-I should be going.” She said

James felt a sudden rush of emotion he didn't know how to handle. But he did not want to let her leave like this. He didn't want her to think he was just being kind to her. The Princess was so wrong about her own self worth and he just could not let her leave thinking that.

“No. You're not going anywhere.” James said firmly and with conviction, wrapping his are around her waist.

to be continued

———-

If you thought this had drama. Just you wait…,*evil laugh*

Taglist:

@valenftcrush

[hazel-eye-coffee-shop-girl-blog]

Just Breathe- Series

Good evening everyone! here is the second chapter in the Just Breathe Series. This series was inspired/prompted by the ask that was submitted by @deans-spinster-witch to read the first chapter click here for the original post. @deans-spinster-witch was gracious enough to lend her skills in ruffing out a few of the mishaps in chapter one, and I will post that updated version at some point and link it, and did the same for this second chapter. 

Here is the original ask for a refresher.

Ask from @deans-spinster-witch:

Tell me about Dean falling in love with a girl who has long covid - maybe they met when he saved her from a monster and they became friends, she occasionally helps him with research or patches him up if he gets hurt.  He doesn’t hear from her for a while, and when he goes to check on her, he finds out she’s in the hospital with Covid - a monster he can’t save her from.  He realizes he loves her, but may lose her.  After she gets out he keeps coming to check on her because he knows she tires easily/has trouble breathing at times.

This second chapter is going to start with a bit of time jump, but don’t worry we got flashback a plenty to fill in the gaps. Multi POV between the main character, Y/N, and Dean Winchester, mentions of Sam Winchester. This is angst, sweet/fluffy, swearing, implied sexy times. Oh and word count is at 7,250-ish, sorry but not sorry. 

Sadly the Winchesters are not mine, but the story is so please don’t steal and post as your own. But likes, reblog, and comments are always welcome. As always any mistakes like grammar, spelling, function is also all mine, so be kind when pointing it out, I do my best. 

I would like to know if you like this chapter would you want to see a third chapter? or maybe a prequel to answer any questions you might have regarding Y/N and Dean? Let me know. 

Thank you again for reading, and you would like to send me a prompted or story idea, send it my way. 

Happy Reading

Time Jump to 4 months ahead. 

Y/N POV

Shit, Shit, Shit! Where the hell are my keys! You yell out in frustration as you move frantically around your house, looking for the one thing that you need to get to your appointment on time. Tossing the pillows from the couch, goddamn it! You were never like this, ever since COVID, your short term memory has been foggy to put it nicely. Resorting to keeping both a paper list and digital one on your phone, is your new normal. Walking into a room to do something, and instantly forgetting what you came for. Case in point, not remembering where you put your goddamn keys! 

You hate running late, you pride yourself on always being early to things, and this appointment was an important one. Walking into the kitchen, you start to look in the not so obvious places. Opening up the fridge, nope not in there. Pull open the freezer next, yep there they are, right next to the pint of mint chip ice cream that you just had to have yesterday at like 11 pm. Only to then be disappointed that you now can’t stand the taste of your once favorite ice cream, fuck you COVID! 

Ugh, seriously, you are going to be the death of me, you think. Grabbing your keys, you push the freezer door closed, and head off to the hospital for your fourth month CT scan. Locking the door behind you, the crisp air of fall hits you. God how you don’t want winter to come any sooner then it has too. Winters in Michigan can be brutal, especially on the coast line. Pulling your light jacket close to you, you quicken your pace and get into your jeep to start up the car quickly, and pull out of the driveway. Not noticing the very familiar black impala parked about three houses down. 

****

You make it with time to spare, as you wait in the waiting room after checking in, you try your best to calm yourself. Fiddling with your phone, you find that scrolling through Instagram is getting you nowhere and your emails have been radio silent for months now. Exhausted, you put your phone away, you look around the room. For mid morning it's not too busy, the daytime talkshow mixes in with the white noise of the hospital. It's so beige, beige carpet, walls, even the uncomfortable furniture is beige. It makes sense, given it's a hospital; money should be spent on actual patient care, not on the latest interior furnishings., But still, at least get some interesting artwork. Looking to the piece across from you: an abstract painting of paint strokes in grays, blues, and you guessed  it, beige.

“Ms. Moore?” The nurse's voice pulls you from your thoughts, and you look up to see her standing at the entryway in blue scrubs, dark brown hair pulled back, with a kind smile. 

“Yep” you reply to her, but you're sure she would have guessed that was you, as your head snapped at attention when your name was called. “Hi”, giving her a smile as you walk towards her.

“Hi,” she replies, “can you tell me your last name and date of birth?” She starts walking down the hallway, looking at your chart, the path was second nature for her. You rattle off your last name and birthday for her, then she stops just off from an open doorway, “right in here.” Letting you walk in first.

She takes a seat at a desk, swiping her badge to start keying in some information. “So, here for your four month CT scan.” she states, but it also feels like a question.

“Umm, yeah, it's my second one.” You reply, still getting used to coming to the doctor more than twice a year. You only ever went if you were feeling really sick. 

“Looks like the first one was clean, but we like to do a few in close succession when someone has had a severe case of covid.” she explains, her eyes are kind, and reassuring, “I am sure this one will be just as good, and then hopefully the doctor will schedule them farther apart.”

She must see the worry on your face. Not sure how to respond, you just nod your head. She takes your vitals, asks if anything else has changed since your last visit, and if there were any other concerns you wanted to discuss today. “No, I don’t think so.” 

Typing a few more things in the computer, and then swapping her badge again to lock the computer. “I am surprised your brother is not here with you today.” 

“What?” You're taken aback by this, brother, does she mean Dean? How would she know about him? Was it in your chart? You don’t remember adding him as your emergency contact.

She can tell you are put off by this. “Sorry, I should have re-introduced myself. I was your nurse when you were in here with covid.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry, I should have…”

“No, it's fine. Honestly, I wouldn’t expect you to remember me.”

Thinking back to that time, she does seem familiar now, “well it's nice to see you again…” struggling to remember her name quickly, but not inconspicuously looking at her badge, “Bridget.” This gets a laugh out of her, and you do the same. “I was happy to see your name on the schedule today, and I thought you were the one with the very cute, and very attentive brother. That's why I am surprised he is not here.”

Ah yes, Dean, not being here. That is a long, long story that you're sure she does not want, nor has the time to hear right now. You give her a forceful smile, “Yeah, Dean, he has something today, so just me.”

Her smart watch goes off, and she looks at the time, “well we should get you down to CT. After your scan, we will come back here and the doctor will be with you to go over the results.” She gets up, and you follow. 

****

The wait feels like forever, and in the small exam room with nothing to look at but an exam table -and beige walls - you were lost in your head. Worrying about what if they found something, what if you developed lesions, or anything that could compromise your health. God, how you wish Dean was here, or even Sam. Someone to hold your hand and distract you from the impending doom and dark thoughts that were creeping in. Dean would distract you with lame jokes, or stories about how Sammy was terrified of doctors. He would get you to smile anyway he could, probably go so far and raid the supplies of tongue depressors and cotton balls, saying something like “they don’t need all of them, do they?”

“Ms. Moore, how are we today?” The doctor's voice breaks up your fleeting thoughts of Dean, as if he was right there, but as soon as the man in the white coat opens the door and steps through, Dean disappears. 

“Umm, good, at least I hope so.” You reply, wanting to keep the pleasantries short, let get to the point so you can get out of here. 

He takes a look over the file, and then pulls up the scans on the computer. He seems to be taking forever, did he not look at them beforehand! Come on man just tell me already! “Everything looks good, I am not seeing any growth of lesions or scar tissue from the tube.”

Relife floods your body, letting out a sight, “oh that great news, so I am done with coming in?” you hope so, wanting to never see this place again, at least for a while. 

He turns to face you, his dark brown eyes are kind, but you can tell right away he is not going to give you the answer you want. “Not yet, but we can push them to every six months.”

Okay, twice a year, I guess that is a compromise you can take, “okay, so I will see you in the spring.” Starting to get up to leave, but he stops you.

“In two months, we can start doing six month visits. I want to see you again one more time in two months. If that scan is clean then we push them to six month visits.” He explains. 

You sit back down in defeat, you're going to be back here in two months, really! You know you can’t take your frustration out on him, he is just looking out for your health and doesn’t want to miss anything. “Okay.” Slightly defeated, wanting nothing more than to curl up on the couch, and sleep for the next two months away. 

Giving your hands a reassuring pat, “two months will fly by I promise. Is there anything else you want to discuss today? Still having some memory issues?”

You know that you should be honest with him, that you think you have gotten worse since Dean left, but honestly are you sure? He did so much for you in that short time, maybe, you were like this before, and he just didn’t point it out. Plus you just wanted to go home, what really could he do anyways? “Nothing new on that. I think I just need to get back to my normal routine and I will be fine.” 

Getting up from his chair, “Sounds good. I will send Bridget back in, she will get you set up for your next appointment. We will see you in two months. Have a good day.” shutting the door behind him. You're back alone in that quiet room.

Alone, you're alone, once again. You can feel the panic start to creep in. Alone, and even though the scan was good, he still wants you to come back. Alone, no one to hold your hand, no one to make stupid jokes. You did this to yourself, you know that, he would have stayed, you pushed him…

“Alright, Doctor says two months humm.” Bridget's voice breaks through. It's light and airy. Trying to make the situation as pleasant as possible. As soon as she sits down, she can tell you're not alright, “Hey, what's wrong?” She asks, setting down the chart, and focusing on you.

Feeling a tear run down your cheek, fuck why are you crying.  “Umm…it's nothing….yeah two months…” You take a ragged breath, pushing all your emotions down, down, down, to the deepest part of your soul where they should always live. You can cry when you get home. Suck it up for two more minutes!

“Hey, talk to me, what’s going on.” She is not letting you wash this away, she grabs the tissue box, and holds it out for you to pull a couple out of the box. “Your scan was clean, the doctor is just being cautious that's all.” 

“I know it's just…I really wish he was here….”

“Dean,” she replies, filling in the blanks. You nod at this, and wipe your eyes and face. “I am sure if you talk to him, he will come to the next appointment.”

Oh if she only knew, but you couldn’t lay this all out on a complete stranger. Again she just wants to do her job, and move on to the next patient, you're taking up too much of her time. “I am sure you're right.” Taking a few ragged breaths. 

She gives you a reassuring smile, and turns to the computer to book your appointment, reminding you that you can always change it to accommodate if Dean can’t make it this time. “I could tell he really cares for you. Even in the short time I saw him, he wouldn’t leave your side for anything. Practically had to kick him out every night when visiting hours were over.” Trying to make the situation light, and hopefully get a smile back on your face. 

Giving her a short laugh, “yeah that sounds like Dean.” You can see it, him waiting until the last possible second. A security guard to escort him out.

Both of you get up, and she walks you to the door, and down the hall towards the exit. Seeing you coming back around, she decides to let you in on a little secret. Stopping you before opening up the door to the waiting room she leans in slightly. “Just between you and me, I knew he wasn’t your brother.”

“What….I mean…no he is….” You stammer out, hoping that she wasn’t going to bust you for…something, you're not sure? But still not wanting to get into trouble.

“Don’t worry dear, it's fine.” She quickly replies, trying to calm your fears. 

You let out a sigh of relief, “How did you know?”

“Two things. One he just pulled on my heartstrings so much that I figured what would be the harm in him sticking around, even if he wasn’t related. Plus, if I was ever lucky enough to have a guy look at me the way he did to you, I would want him to be by my side every second.”

Her smile is contagious, and although you're still doubting that what you feel for Dean would ever be reciprocated, now is not the time to hash it out with her. “What was the second?”

“I may have heard him one night on the phone with someone, saying he couldn’t lose you, that he needed to tell you that he was in love with you.'' She says matter of factly, pushing the door open and waiting for you to walk through. 

*******

Dean POV

He watches as she pulls into the driveway and shuts off the car. He had followed her from a safe distance from the hospital to the store, and then back to her house. She didn’t notice once, even though he had taught her in the past how to spot a tail. Did she get bad news? Maybe it's the COVID that is affecting her hunter instincts? Fuck, if thats the case, what else could she be missing? Is it stupid and desperate of him to be following her, and watching from a distance? Maybe, but also not, if she is not noticing simple things like him following her. What if  Lucifer, or one of his henchmen, came after her? Anxiety just thinking of irrational attacks on you causes his chest to tighten as he pulls back into the parking spot a few houses down.

He should be a man and go up to you, talk to you, and see you face to face. He missed you, your smile, your laugh - fuck, everything about you. He knows he screwed up. As soon as he did what he did, he wished he could have taken it back, but the damage was done. He kept saying it was for the best, that you would forgive him, and move on. But you can’t forgive him unless he stops being a little stalker and owns up to what he did.

Flashback to the night of the big blowup. Dean POV

Standing there, staring down the closed door, you wish right now you had superpowers to see through the door and see if she’s alright. Hell, you don’t need to be a superhero to know she’s not. You're just wondering what brought this on. “Y/N, come on, talk to me” you plead, softly knocking on the door. “I am sorry…I don’t mean to…” your rambling stops when you hear soft sobs from the otherside of the door. 

“Just go away Dean!” She yells between sobs. “I can’t breathe with you here… I can’t…”

You grab the door knob, fear and pressure weighing down on you to get to her, to hold her.  Most importantly, to make her understand that your overbearing protectiveness is coming from a place of needing to be in control, that you care for her, and need to protect her “Y/N, please just open the door, let's talk? I promise I will ease up, I can do better.”

You can hear her give a small laugh at that, you're about to question her on this when your phone goes off. Screw it, let it go to voicemail, she is more important than anything else. “I am not giving up on you, on us. You have to come out eventually.” 

Your phone stops ringing for a second and then starts back up again. What the Hell? “You should answer that, Dean.” She states without hesitation, but  with an undertone of sadness. 

Letting out a sigh, you turn around. “Fine if you want to talk via phone, fine.” Walking away from her door into the living room, you pick up your phone from the coffee table. To your surprise it's not her name across the screen, but Sam’s. “What?” you bark out in frustration, not really wanting to talk with him right now. 

“Dean, back off.” Sam says matter of factly. No pleasantries, just straight to the point. 

“She called you? Why?” Confused as to why she is including Sam on this.

“She just needs some space, Dean, I think it's time you come back. Jody called and…” Sam calmly says, trying his best to diffuse the situation from the other side of the country. 

“No, Sam, I am not leaving her! I can’t lose her again, I won’t… I love her, man…”

Your back is to the hallway, so you don’t notice Y/N standing there, listening, hearing  what you should be confessing to her and not your brother. You don’t see her wondering why can’t you just say what you feel? Why can’t you just let down your guard with her and tell her?

*****

The slamming of a trunk pulls Dean back to the present, and he looks up to see you carrying an arm load of groceries. Of course you would do it in one trip. He shakes his head, remembering that you never like to take more than one trip from the car to the house. Your logic always being, as you told him, I am a single girl, I can do it in one go. He watched as you held the screen door open with your butt, as you switched all the bags to one arm so you could open the door with the other. Looking away once you're inside, Dean notices it’s about 20 minutes since you pulled in the driveway. Had you been sitting there this whole time? You have only gone to the hospital and store, but still your energy must not be back to what it used to be. 

Maybe he should check, make sure you're doing okay. Look in the window really quick. Getting out of the car and walking the short distance, he looks over to your car to see that you still had some toilet paper and paper towels in the back seat. Knowing that you would be back, he decides to help you out. Opening up the door as quietly as possible he grabs the items, and takes them up to the door. Putting them in between the screen door and main door, he turns around to leave.

His eyes look in the kitchen window, to see you putting away your items. Your back is to him, so you don’t notice. You seem lost in your own world, on auto pilot putting things away. Dean takes a moment to appreciate that he can see you up close. His eyes scan the room, noticing the post-it notes all over. He never remembers you having so many of them before. He can’t read what they say, but they are everywhere; on the cabinets, counter tops, table, Was your memory getting worse? 

Panic, and anger - at himself more than anything -  sets in.

*******

Y/N POV

“I love her Sam, I am in love with her…I can’t…no I won’t lose her, I need to tell her how I feel…”

“You don’t love me, Winchester” your voice stops Dean from rambling on the lies that you know, in the end, he doesn’t mean.

Dean turns to see you standing there, your eyes red from crying. But you're not crying now; no, now you  look  pissed, like you want to kick some ass - and Dean’s is the closest one. “Got to go Sam.” Dean quickly says, ending the call. “What do you mean I don’t love you. Of course I do, I….”

You hold up a hand, and stop Dean from saying anything more. “No, you don’t. People like me, we don’t have sexy knights to save us. To fall in love with us, to whisk us away, and want to play house with.” Determine to get this all out, to get your point across and make him accept reality. 

“We are your best friend, the girl you call on Friday nights when your date falls through, or you strike out with the bartender. We are your ‘wing woman’, we pick you up, dust you off, and send you back out into the world. We build your confidence up, while we sit on the sidelines alone.”

“Y/N that's not true…” Dean starts to protest.

“Let me finish, I have to get this out.” taking a breath, you can see he’s hurt, that he wants to argue, to explain his side. “Yes, you care for me, but you don’t love me, and you're not In love with me. You're in love with this idea of a life outside of hunting, you love the idea of playing house.” Closing the gap between you, even though you know better than to get  this close to him. You're playing with fire, but you're desperate to feel him. 

“You're right, I am in love with the idea of an apple pie life. But I want that life with you, no one else.” Dean interjects before you can shut him down, shut down what is going on between you two before it can even start. 

Taking a chance, he grabs your hand and brings it up to his chest and places it over his heart. “Can’t you feel my heart? It’s racing for you. It always has, it always will.”

 Feeling the softness of the white t-shirt between your fingers, you take a breath and inhale the smell of him. “Sooner or later we both know this won’t be enough, that I won’t be enough.” You talk to his chest, not wanting or able to look him in the eye, your voice low and shaky. “You're going to leave me, sideline me, and only blow through town when you need something.”

“That's not true! You have always wanted your own life. I always wanted to protect you as much as I could. The things that Sam and I deal with, the people and monsters we hunt, if anything ever happens…you are a vulnerability that they will exploit. I know it.” 

“Maybe. Even more reason why you have to go…and never come back…” Glancing up to see the gut punch you just delivered written on his face. You try to take a step back.

Dean won’t let you go, bringing a hand around your waist, holding you. “What?! No! I won’t cut you out of my life. I now know I was stupid for ever doing that. For letting you live alone, or at the very least, not in the same state as the bunker.” He practically commands, with no hesitation. How could you think he would ever agree to this?   

“Y/N, I need you in my life. You can’t deny that there is something between us.” His words are sweet, his voice is low as he leans into you. His breath fans over your face, as his hands caress your cheek. “Please, I need you.” 

His lips are so close to yours, that if you lean ever so slightly, you would finally know how soft his lips are. Would they fulfill your fantasies? God, maybe you should live in this fantasy for as long as you can, screw being logical. Let it be a future Y/N problem, present Y/N wants to know what it's like to be wanted by Dean Winchester. “I…Dean…”

*******

 Y/N and Dean POV 

“Dean, what are you doing here?” Your voice pulls him from the memory of that night, and he looks to see you standing at the door, one hand holding open the screen door. 

Oh fuck, well, this wasn’t the plan at all. Giving her a smile, “Hey Y/N, I was in the neighborhood…thought I would…”

“So you're stalking me now?”

“Hehe, no, I said I was in the neighborhood, wanted to see how you are…you look good.” He says, letting his eyes look at you. You did look good, but tired, your eyes didn’t shine like they normally did before; the spark, the hint of twinkle is gone.

“Liar, I look like shit, but thanks.” You quip, knowing that you don’t look good at all. Wearing a ratty hoodie and jeans, you opted for comfort over trying to impress anyone. “Well, thanks for stopping by.” You say, giving him a fake smile and turning to walk back in the house. 

“Umm…Y/N, I could, I mean Sam could use your help with something, he knew I was going to be passing through and wanted me to stop by and ask for some help.” Quickly thinking on his feet, he creates an excuse. He didn’t want to leave yet, this is the most he has talked to you since that night. He would be damned if he was going to let you leave so soon. 

You turn back to look at Dean, trying to gauge if he was telling the truth or not. Sam had your number, and you were still speaking to the younger Winchester - he didn’t break your heart and live up to everything you knew would happen. “Why didn’t he call me?” You question, wanting to make Dean work for it. He wasn’t getting in that easy!

He takes a few steps towards you, “well, like I said, he knew I was in the area.” One step lower from you, his green eyes lock with yours, silently pleading with you to let him in. “He wanted me to pick up a lore book on Pixies, and said you had a copy that we don't have in the library.”

“Fine, come in. I will go grab it.” You reply, turning away from him, letting him catch the door before it slams in his face. 

Dean shucks off his jacket and boots, and looks around while you go back to find the book. He can now see the post-its in detail, reminding you where your keys, jacket, bag should be put. Making his way to the kitchen, cabinets are labeled with what should be in them: dry food, dishes, silverware. Daily schedule on the fridge. “Having fun snooping?” Your sarcastic tone has him turning on his heels to see you standing in the doorway with a book in hand. 

“Umm…sorry…” he says sheepishly, hating  that he got caught. He can see you're not amused, and he is really going to have to lay on the charm to win you back. 

“Yeah, well at least I am keeping the post-it company in business. Here is the book.” You say handing it to him.

Dean takes it, and looks at it, giving it a nod, “Thanks, yep this is it.” 

“Okay, well, you better get going, since Sam is in ‘desperate’ need of it and all.” Your voice is flat, not in the mood to deal with him. “You know where the door is.” You add, just turning that knife even deeper. 

“Look, Y/N can we talk?” Dean can tell you're not your usual self, and he really wants to get you back.

“Oh now you want to talk? You sure as hell didn’t want to talk for four months. Didn’t want to talk when you woke up the next morning regretting that kiss, regretting what we said to each other, the promises you made.” You snap at him, the frustration building in you. Why does it always have to be on his time? God you were just getting over him, right?

“I know. I was a jerk, it was a dick move, and I am sorry.”

“You're sorry, really?That's all you have to say?” Turning away from him, just looking at him and his sad puppy dog face, you want to smack him. Fuck, you want to hit yourself for being an idiot that night. 

******

“Dean…please…I…” You have to keep strong, tell him to go, you know this won’t end well.

“Please Y/N, You're the only good thing I have in this world, I can’t lose you.” Not waiting for a reply, his lips find yours. 

They're soft, perfect, molded to fit yours, and gentle, Dean doesn’t force his way. Pulling away, when your lungs start to burn,you lock eyes with him. Lust blown, his lips slightly pink. No words are exchanged, you silently say everything you need to him at that moment, and he seems to understand. Bringing his hands to cup your face, he goes back in to kiss you more, letting his tongue swipe across your lips. You allow his tongue to dance with yours. 

Fumbling your way to the couch, Dean falls back first, and you do your best not to land on top of him completely, giggling at the state you're both in. Dean looks up at you, tucking a few strands of hair behind your ear, and looking up at you lovingly, “God, I love that laugh of yours.” He says, pulling you down on him. Letting you feel what you're doing to him. 

“Dean, I have to be crushing you.” You protest, trying your best but failing at getting out of the vice grip Dean has on your hips. 

“Nope, You're staying right here.” He says, as he starts to pepper kisses down your neck. 

******

“Dean, I begged you to leave! I knew you never wanted me! And yet like an idiot, I fell for your charm and under your spell.” You grit out, turning on your heels and walking away from him. Fuck, you can’t keep doing this! 

“I did ... .I do ...Y/N look at me” Dean pleads, setting the book down he follows you to the living room, grabbing your hand. “Please, let me explain.”

Turning around, you pull your hand back. His touch, like fire, like touching a hot pan. “You know, I thought for a split second you were telling me the truth. That you wanted me like I have always wanted you.” Pain radiates through you, your voice seems to be stuck behind a lump forming in your throat. God, you want to smack him, but at the same time, kiss him.

Dean’s speechless, trying to work out how best to tell you what he was thinking in that split second when he woke up in your arms that day. For one second he felt total bliss, that everything was falling into place; then reality of his life came back into focus.

“I know, it wasn’t my finest hour.”

You laugh at this, you think!? “What is there to explain? We kissed, had a pretty good makeout, groped each other over and under our clothes, but then we both agreed to take it slow. Right?” You ask for confirmation, even though you remember it all too well.

“Yes, but, Y/N, if you just let me…” Dean stumbles to explain.

“But then, I wake up the next morning alone on the couch with a note that says, ‘Hey, Y/N, Sorry, Sammy needs me, will check in soon.’”

The space between you two is nonexistent. You're trying to find anything in those green eyes of his that will refute anything you just said. Anything to explain that you're overreacting, but there is nothing. He has no rebuttal, because it's all true. He walked out on you, like his father did to him and Sam all the time. The worst part was, Dean had Sam to lean on; you were left with no one.

“Like I said, not my finest hour…” he mumbles out.

“Not your goddamn finest hour?ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!” you yell, slamming your fists into his chest and pushing him away.  It does nothing to move him, and takes all your energy out of you. You stumble a bit, then lean back and sit on the arm of the couch.

“Hey, Y/N, please, calm down.'' His voice is heavy with concern, and he tries to help you up so you can sit on the couch.

“Don’t…touch…me…” You cough out. Needing water, you look to find your water bottle is nowhere. “Fuck….I…” You keep coughing, and try to get up.

“Water?” Dean questions. You nod, and try to get back up. “No, sit, I will go get it.” He tells you and quickly goes to the kitchen, and is back with a glass of water in seconds.

You down about half, the cool water helps calm you and your coughing fits. “Thanks” you mumble, not wanting to give him the satisfaction that he ‘saved you again.’ You don’t look at him as you sit down the glass and avoid him at all costs.

Dean takes this as his opportunity to tell you his side. Sitting on the coffee table so he has direct eye contact with you, he reaches for your hand. “Please, Y/N, I am truly sorry. I know I was a jerk for leaving you like that, and for never calling or coming back.”

You stare him down, not  giving him an out on this one. “Go on. You will hear no objection from me on this one.” You reply.

Dean lets out a small sigh that clearly said fuck, alright here we go. “I was fucking scared, okay? I woke up, saw you in my arms, and for a split second I felt like I was home. My first thought was, this is perfection. No monster, no running the roads, crappy dinner food, and sketchy motels.” 

He leans towards you, putting a hand on your knee, and lightly runs his hands up and gives you a knowing smile. “The perfect, sexy, beautiful, girl in my arms, that I can’t wait to wake up and…”

You stop his hand from getting too close to what both you and him want to touch. “Not so fast  Winchester.” Knowing if he keeps going, you are definitely going to end up in a very compromising position. “No, I bet your first thought was, oh fuck what the hell did I do, and how the hell do I get out of it.”

“No, will you let me talk?. God, I see COVID can take your memory, but not your self-hatred or inability to butt in.” 

You hold your hands up in a fake defense, “Please go on.” You quip back, leaning back into the couch. 

Dean shakes his head, at least you’re sassing back, that is a good sign. “I got up, was going to start coffee for us, and while I was in the kitchen, Sam did call…

*******

“Hey Sammy,”

“How’s everything Dean, you kinda left me hanging? Did you and Y/N talk?” Sam asks, feeling like a schoolgirl catching up on the latest gossip between you too.

Dean takes a quick peek into the living room to make sure you're still asleep. “Yeah, everything is good. We talked and I think we are going to take things slow.” Dean explains, as he starts to make the coffee, he recounts most of the conversation between you two. Not all the details though, he wants to keep the really good stuff just for him. 

Sam lets out a sigh, “That's good, I am happy for you both. But now I hate to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Look, I know you still want to take some time, until Y/N is fully healed, but Jody could really use your help. There is something in South Dakota that is running amuck, and she’s worried that Claire is going to try and tackle it herself.”

Oh Claire, how she reminds Dean of himself sometimes, headstrong and just ready to fight anything that wasn’t human. She is a good hunter, but she is young. “Umm…yeah…I am sure I can make something work….”

“Thanks Dean, I am sure it will only be a day or two, and then you can get back to Y/N. I will call Jody and tell her to expect you.” Sam says.

Saying their goodbyes, Dean hangs up the phone, and has to hold back from throwing it across the room in anger. Fuck! Not two seconds, and he’s already been pulled back into the madness. How is he going to explain this to her? She won’t believe him, she will be heartbroken again, think it's her fault, and say that she told him. 

Seeing no other solution - or maybe it was that he didn’t want to wake you and see that pain in your eyes - he takes the cowardly way out. 

*****

“So you went to help Jody, a friend of mine. And didn’t think I would understand?” You question him, after he explains the conversation between him and Sam. 

“Yes…I guess I figure you would just see it as an excuse I came up with to leave you. Which it wasn’t, by the way.”

“But you said you would call, check in. But you didn’t! You couldn’t have been helping Jody this whole time? And even if you were, could you still have called!”

“I wanted to, but as I was driving away, I kept thinking about what you said, that you felt like an afterthought, that I blow through town whenever I need you. Take what I need and leave you with nothing.”

“So you figure, prove me right by ghosting me? Well, thanks Winchester, real fun.” You spit sarcastically, giving his knee a not-so-playful slap and getting up from the couch. “The door is still where you left it, you can see yourself out.” Fucking asshole. I need to get those locks changed tomorrow. You think, making your way to the kitchen to get some more water, to do anything but sit there and keep listening to him.

“Y/N, please. I am sorry, you're not an afterthought. The more that I kept driving, and the longer I pushed off calling you, it made it harder to call you. Because I knew as soon as I did I would lose you.”

“Funny, because the second you left, you lost me Dean. God, I woke up that morning and was devastated. Do you know how much I hate feeling like that?” Not needing him to answer, you lean up against the counter crossing your arms around yourself. Feeling the tears start to fall, you might as well go all the way. 

“You know, I never wanted to be that girl, who cried over a guy, who refused to do anything but sleep on that goddamn couch for two months because it was the last place I felt safe, and whole, and seen. I could still smell you on the pillows and blanket.” 

Taking a breath, you run your hands over your face. Taking another ragged breath, you work up the courage to tell him what you know he should know, but that you're scared to say out loud. “But the thing I hate the most, the one thing that makes me want to scream…is that I still love you.” You laugh at this. Its fucking absurd. Trying your best  to stifle your laughter, but it keeps bubbling out of you in frustration and disbelief 

Dean’s not sure how to react. On the one hand, you say that you still love him, but on the other hand your laughing like the fucking Joker. “Being in love with me is…funny?” he tentatively asks. Taking a few steps towards you, but not closing the distance. 

Wiping the tears from your face, you admit quietly, “yes, because I know, no matter what, I will always let you back in. I guess I am just a masochist that way. I would rather have you in my life, and be heartbroken, than to not have you and still be heartbroken.”

Shaking your head, in disbelief that you actually said those words out loud, and to Dean no less. You look up to see him watching you, waiting. “God I am pathetic…you really should not have saved me that night…” you mumble the last part to yourself. Pushing yourself off the counter, you turn away from him, to straighten up the non-existent mess on the counter. Shit, should not have said that. 

“GOD DAMN IT Y/N!” Dean’s yell booms, causing you to turn around to see Dean seething with rage.    Taking the last few steps towards you, he pulls you into a vice grip of a hold. “Don’t you ever say that again, do you hear me? Do you?” He commands, shaking with hurt and pain. 

He’s not angry at you, he's angry that you don’t understand how much you mean to him. That you hold your life as something subpar. Pulling away slightly, he lets go so he can hold your face in his hands. “Please don’t ever think or say that I shouldn’t have saved you that night.” His green eyes, glassy with tears about to be shed, bore into yours. “You are the only good thing in my life, and I know I have a lot of work to do to gain your trust back, and that my life is messy and chaotic, but please…please….don’t ever think I would regret saving you that night.”

You nod your head in response. “Okay” you whisper, “I promise.” You were taken aback by his outburst; Dean has never raised his voice to you, or looked this broken. Then again, you’ve never been this broken, or joked about that night before either. It was a topic that neither of you ever really discussed, more of an unspoken bond between you two.

Relief seems to wash over him. His hands fall from your face, his arms wrapping them around your waist, not wanting to leave the closeness of you. “I know I have a lot of work to do, and this may be pushing my luck. But can I kiss you?” Giving you a half smile, hoping that will seal the deal.

“Fuck, there’s that Winchester charm,” you joke, smirking as well. Screw it, it's been four months without those lips. You lean in and kiss him. Letting your lips dance with his for a bit, you pull back, “just as good and I remember.” you say cheekily.

“So, should we go make some new memories on that couch of yours?” Dean gives you a wink, walking backwards towards the living room, his arms still around yours.

You have no choice but to follow him, nodding. You know that you have a lot of work to do getting over your own insecurities and self doubt that Dean will get tired of you, or that he will regret being with you. You need to have faith in him, and in yourself, that you are worthy of a happy life with him; whatever that looks like.

[manderleyfire]

'panem lost a poet panem lost a standup comedian' lmaoooooooo what are your favorite Coriolanus’ unhinged quotes from tbosas?? I cackled so much during that rather dark book, I feel embarrassed, lol

He had to think of just the right way to break the news. But what would that be? 'I love you deeply, but I love officers’ school more?' That wasn’t going to go over well.

Did you tell your best friend his crush was a cannibal? Never a rule book when you needed one.

AH, TRUST AGAIN. ThE aIr WaS fUlL oF iT.

Coriolanus winced slightly. TWO biking mishaps in the same twelve-hour period seemed more than coincidental.

This entrance was for the poor people, Coriolanus thought. Or perhaps not poor. The word PLEBEIAN came to mind. (those history classes did nothing for him)

PASSING OUT SANDWICHES WAS ONE THING, THROWING THE CHAIR QUITE ANOTHER (sorry, i'm in tears, xDDD)

Snow lands on top and ALL THAT. He knew he should be elated at this turn of events and jumping up and down inside while p r e s e n t i n g a modest, pleased front. But what he really felt was jEaLoUs.

THE HERO OF HER LIFE!!!!!!!!!!

The i m p o s s i b i l i t y of being a Snowflake in this postwar world.

And here he was in his uniform, clutching a rose like some lovestruck schoolboy, hoping she would — what? Like him? Trust him? Not kill him on sight?

Good-bye, Lucy Gray, we hardly knew you (biiiiiiitch 🔪)

So now that loudmouth Arachne was a defender of a righteous and just land. Yes, she laid down her life taunting her tribute with a sandwich, thought Coriolanus. Maybe her gravestone could read, “Casualty of cheap laughs.”

BETTER OFF SAD THAN DEAD

Coriolanus did not want to spend the next twenty years listening to them *mockingjays* serenade the local executions.

What was he doing but dressing her up to be a pretty corpse? Perhaps she could strangle someone with the scarf, or stab them with the pin?

HIS OWN FANS HAD A LITTLE MORE CLASS (rich boy™)

The LAST TIME Sejanus had lost his appetite, he’d lost his sanity as well.

Who were all these PeOpLe hanging around on a weekday at the zoo? Didn’t they have jobs? Shouldn’t the children be in chool? No wonder the country was such a mess.

What an ugly place, he thought dully as the train chugged its way through District 9. It didn’t look fit for human habitation.

Coriolanus gave the camera a thumbs-up when they cut for his reaction. He could not believe THIS was his life.

How much bread had they wasted with this nonsense? Oh, no, he starved to death! Somebody get the bread!

CORIOLANUS SNOW, MORE LONER THAN LOVER (whatta slogan for his presidential campaign)

How awful, Coriolanus thought. To have YOU be the first person in the world a baby sees *about dr. gaul*

Why would evil incarnate help his girlfriend?

In rhetoric class, she’d once attributed his inability to decipher the deeper meaning of a poem to the fact that he was too self-absorbed. The irony, coming from Livia, of all people! But actions spoke louder than words. Coriolanus to the rescue, Livia to the nearest exit.

“Of course I liked it, but I’m more open-minded than most" (hahahaha)

Then came confusion. If she had saved his life, he owed her, what? A sandwich and two cookies? That was how he was repaying her. For his life. Which apparently he held quite cheaply.

Oh, a ghost story. Ugh. Boo. So ridiculous.

Ma? Was Coriolanus’s place about to be uSuRpEd by someone who referred to his mother as “Ma”? The cabbage and posca threatened to make a reappearance.

CANNIBALS OVER CUTTHROATS!

several people took the pained look on Coriolanus’s face as sorrow at Arachne’s death, when ironically he felt like killing her all over again.

“That was some good-bye.” Coriolanus just shrugged. “What can I say? I’m irresistible.”

Poor Sejanus. Poor sensitive, foolish, dead Sejanus. (GUNSHOT 💀💀💀)

[sharpfamily]

A Smelly Mishap

The former professor sighed deeply. Finally he managed to scrub the stink off his person. He wasn't sure what exactly went wrong - one minute he was trying to make an improvement on the digestion potion, so that it would lose its nasty side effect of making the user very sweaty upon ingestion, the second he was... Well, smelling like a bloody polecat.

He left his cellar in a fit of coughs, although he did manage to hurriedly vanish the clearly failed potion and cleared the air with a simple charm. His wife looked up from where she was currently in the middle of aiding little Eleazar in putting a puzzle together, and right away covered her nose.

"Ugh, what's that smell?" asked the young lad, also turning his head to Aesop’s direction. "Failed potion," Aesop explained shortly, well on his way upstairs to the bathroom. He received no answer, or perhaps he just did not hear it. He began pulling off his clothes before he even reached their bedroom. He didn't even bother with sending a scouring charm on them, and simply vanished them before they even had the chance to hit the floor. The stink was most likely so deeply sunken in them, it wouldn't come off even if he washed them repeatedly. He just hoped he'd be able to get it off his body.

The tub in their bathroom filled up with hot soapy water, and he wasted no time in climbing in, uncaring whether he got the floor wet at that moment. He started scrubbing at himself furiously, trying to get the repulsive scent off. Luckily, in more time than he would've preferred, he smelled the reek letting up.

After replacing the water, he scrubbed some more until finally, finally, all that filled his nose was the light, pleasant smell of soap. Replacing the water again, he sighed and leaned back. He stared morosely in front of himself for a bit. What could have caused such a catastrophic reaction? Maybe he added too much mint? Or perhaps it was the wormwood? 

There was a knock upon the bathroom door. "Yes?" He called. His wife entered moments after, giving him a small grin.

"Well, you no longer stink like manure, so that's brilliant," she said teasingly, pulling up the stool in the corner of the room, and sitting next to the tub. He gave her a wry smile: "Yes... Sorry about that. I'll make sure to go over the process carefully to figure out what went wrong and hopefully stop anything like this from happening again."

She took the soft washcloth he was using to scrub at his body and dipped it into the warm water. She then started running it over his torso, through the dark hair on his chest. He couldn't help closing his eyes in bliss. His wife made even such a simple activity as cleaning one's body into such a pleasurable experience.

"Mistakes can happen - you work so hard, dear, you not only brew so much, but you try to make improvements on your potions, to make them even better for people. I'm so proud of you," she spoke softly. Aesop smiled warmly and opened one eye: "Even when I stink up the house because of it?"

"Yes, even then. But I admit, I find it way more enjoyable to approach you when you're nice and clean, and now you smell simply delicious."

Her lips pressed against his temple, and her hand holding the cloth dipped below the water to gently rub against his belly, making the first ripples of arousal flow through him.

"Hm, darling... The kids-" he said lowly. "The kids are accounted for at the moment. Besides, it's not like I'm doing anything bad. Just cleaning you, my sweetest," she replied, her other hand coming to run through his damp hair. 

Aesop wasn't able to stop himself, he reached his wet hands and captured her face in them, pulling her for a deep kiss. 

After a few minutes of fervent kissing, she pulled back, grinning: "So much better when you're smelling nice." Aesop gave her a mischievous smirk, and then-

And then he grabbed her waist and pulled her into the tub with him, prompting the young woman to squeal loudly, water splashing absolutely everywhere. Aesop only laughed. Soon, she joined him, even as her clothing got all wet on her body.

"What's going on here?!" Came Maggie's confused voice. The young girl was standing in the doorway, obviously having ran in to investigate her mother's sudden yelp. Ah. It would appear the soundproofing spell on their bathroom was wearing off. Luckily, Aesop was all covered by his clothed wife. Not that it would matter usually, Aesop would occasionally bathe with his children when they were little, but his wife's ministrations didn't leave him exactly unaffected.

"I'm sorry we frightened you, dear," His beloved said a bit awkwardly. "Mummy was bringing me extra soap, and slipped on the water. Luckily I caught her, who knows what could've happened otherwise. Goes to teach me not to splash around so much..." Aesop said, referring to Maggie's habit of leaving water all around the tub when she went to bathe. The young girl blushed under the clear poke at this habit.

"I'll try to not get so much water around next time..." She said quietly, prompting her parents to chuckle. "It's alright, dear, just make sure to wipe it down with a towel afterwards. Why don't you go check up on your siblings, I'll be there shortly - I just have to dry off," (F/N) said lightly, not making any effort to get out of the tub just now. After a soft 'Alright' and the sound of the door closing again followed by Maggie's steps retreating, the woman finally climbed out of the tub.

"Aw," Aesop said, "I was quite enjoying having you here..." His wife chuckled again, using his own wand that was resting on the sink to dry her clothes. "Just you wait at night, you rogue," she warned, "I'll get you back for this!"

"Can't wait…”

---

[Sharp Family Drabbles]

[imagrindylow]

my first anon omg 😭 really just happy to find fellow Leander stans because it was starting to feel v lonely out here lmao I'm dying for more Leander fluff, I wish I had a creative prompt but I trust you to come up with one (if you have the time and/or inclination to do so) KTHXBYYYE

Hi!! Thank you for the request!! I always have the time and inclination to write for Leander! I'm so, so glad he's getting more content recently. Hope you like it!!

Sticky Situation

Leander Prewett / gn!Reader 4.8k Words Summary: In an attempt to save Garreth from getting into serious trouble with Professor Sharp, you and Leander cover for him and find yourself in detention together, which leads to a date the following evening. Content Warnings: Fluff and kissing.

~~~

Garreth was down to his final straw with Professor Sharp when his cauldron started to bubble up dangerously close to the rim of the large steaming pot before him. Sharp had instructed the class to brew Draught of Living Death, which of course Garreth was more than proficient at, finishing the assignment before anyone else and bottling it, setting it off to the side waiting to turn it in until the end of class as assigned, with plenty of class time left over for experimenting.

Professor Sharp was in his office when the iridescent bubbles started to finally spill over the rim, with nothing Garreth could do to stop it at this point. His hands trembled as he adjusted the temperature of his flame with his wand, but the damage was already done. He wiped the nervous sweat from his brow on the rolled up sleeve of his uniform shirt and watched as the bubbles spread and coat his station with sticky residue.

“Bloody hell, I’m done for…” He muttered, burying his face in his hands.

You and Leander were stationed on either side of Garreth, and had been deep in concentration on the difficult brew when his panicked voice drew your eyes to him. Both of you watched with mouths agape as the bubbles continued to spread over your own stations. You and Leander scrambled to move your ingredients to safety, but it was useless, the bubbles continued to rise and soon was spilling over the edges of the table and onto the ground.

“Garreth! What in Godric’s name?” Leander chided in a harsh whisper, brows furrowed.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry…. Ugh I’m going to get expelled! I’m serious. I’ll miss you both, please remember to write me when I’m transferred to reformatory school.” He was pacing back and forth, eyes darting between his mishap and Sharps office door, just waiting for the professor who was already always in a state of perpetual exasperation to come back out.

Leander scoffed, but his expression softened quickly when he recalled a conversation he had with Garreth after the last time he’d gotten into trouble in class for something that was much less destructive than this was seeming to be. Reformatory school might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but Leander didn’t doubt that Garreth would face severe consequences for this.

“Calm yourself, just act natural, if that’s possible for you.” Leander said and quickly swapped places with Garreth, now standing in front of the continuously sudsing cauldron himself. Garreth started profusely thanking Leander, rambling on about how he really owed him one for this.

You had to back away from the workstation to keep the bubbles – none of which seemed to be popping, only accumulating further – from getting onto your clothes. Your fellow classmates started to take notice, looking on with expressions equally split between amusement and disgust. Whispers and chuckles rose from the work stations surrounding yours as the bubbles continued to flow from the cauldron and onto the floor.

Leander didn’t need to put on much of an act in order to appear convincingly upset with the situation when Professor Sharp reentered the classroom from his office. Silence fell over the entire class, all eyes on Sharp as they waited for him to discover the mess.

It was almost second nature to check Garreth’s section first upon entering the room, but none of the previous potion disasters he’d witnessed in the past could have prepared him for this one. The bubbles were quickly spreading across the floor as Sharp waved his wand, casting a silent spell which halted the bubbles’ migration across the stone floor and popped them all at once, a shiny thick goo bursting from every individual sphere, coating yours, Garreth’s, and Leander’s shoes, as students from surrounding potions stations hopped out of the way.

“Mr. Weasley! I believe you were on your final warning after the last time you disrupted your classmates with your antics.” Professor Sharps voice boomed from across the room. He sounded absolutely furious as he strode towards Garreth, getting a better look at the mess surrounding your stations.

Garreth gestured, eyes wide and pleading, at Leander’s pristine cauldron in front of him. “Sir… I didn’t-” Leander cut Garreth off mid sentence, speaking very matter of factly as he explained the situation. “It was me, Professor. I must have miscalculated something, and then-”

Sharp cut Leander off, holding his hand up in an attempt to save Leander his breath as he lied through his teeth. “Do you really expect me to believe that you caused this mess, Mr. Prewett? You, who notoriously takes every available moment of class time ensuring that things are always brewed correctly?”

“I-I…” Leander stammered. He had really wanted to save Garreth from whatever consequences he’d otherwise face, but Sharp was right, Leander was a model student. Leander was at a loss for words, his usually quick wit failing him in the brooding Professor’s presence.

“It was actually me, Professor. I’m sorry.” You spoke up, seeing that Leander’s attempt at saving Garreth from a fate worse than detention was failing. You were known to get up to some mischief with Garreth and with other classmates of yours, not usually in this class, but the story was more believable than Leander being the one who caused the commotion.

Sharp eyes flickered between the three of you, his gaze lingering the longest on you, your head hung in shame, as you acted the part of the culprit. The rest of the class was silent around you as they watched you take the blame, no one daring to say anything to the contrary.

“Is that true, boys?” Sharp asked, his eyes now searching their faces for the truth.

Garreth only nodded after Leander spoke up in agreement with you. “Yes sir. I was attempting to take the blame for MC. It was them. I apologize for not being truthful initially.” Leander backed up your story, the fact that you were now covering for him sitting heavy in his mind. It was a nice feeling, he couldn’t deny. He had to restrain himself from smiling at your thoughtful gesture.

“That will be a detention for you, MC.” Sharp spoke sternly, his eyes piercing yours, his disapproval palpable.

“Yes, sir.” You nodded, accepting your fate.

“And you as well, Mr. Prewett. For lying in the first place, trying to cover for MC. You will join them in detention after dinner this evening.” Sharp said, disappointment clear in his expression as his eyes bore into Leander. “Now everyone, back to work. I expect to see a perfect bottle of Draught of Living Death from each of you by the end of class.”

Leander’s mouth fell open, he hadn’t expected to still be reprimanded after you had covered for him, but, one detention wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. And surely, it was far less severe than whatever punishment Garreth would have been dealt.

~~~

That evening after dinner you made your way to the potions classroom promptly at 7:30 and found Leander already there. Professor Sharp came out from his office and looked on each of you with a stern expression, his arms folded in front of his chest. “The two of you will be scrubbing down the work stations, as well as the entire classroom floor.”

He conjured up the necessary cleaning supplies for the two of you – buckets of hot soapy water, as well as clean water for rinsing, several scrub brushes, rags, and a pair of cleaning gloves for each of you. Of course, you’d both be required to clean the muggle way, hands and knees to the cold, rough stone floor.

Professor Sharp collected both of your wands, and set them on his desk in his office, where he informed you he’d be for the duration of the detention. He retired to his office, closing the door behind him, and you and Leander shed your robes and got to work, starting on scrubbing off the tops of the work stations.

You began with the furthest station from the office door, allowing the opportunity to engage in whispered conversation while you cleaned together. Shirt sleeves rolled to elbows, both of you donned the ugly yellow cleaning gloves and got to work removing the layers upon layers of burned on gunk from the table tops beneath the cauldron stands.

You caught Leander staring at you as you scrubbed at the old wooden surface, a rosy blush spreading on his face when you turned your attention towards him. Just watching his cheeks flush made a heat begin to rise in your own.

“Why did you cover for me?” He whispered, trying to hide the grin on his face as he spoke. “I’m sure with a bit more convincing I could have gotten Sharp to believe it was actually me who caused all that mess.”

You noticed the muscles in his forearms flex as he gripped the table edge with one hand for leverage while circling with the scrub brush in the other. You cleared your throat and brought your eyes back to his as you spoke.

“No way. He could see right through your act,” you said with a quiet chuckle. “I just… didn’t want you to get in trouble. And you seemed set on protecting Garreth, and that made me want to, as well.”

“Mhmm… He really would have been in for it. He’s been on thin ice for awhile and that would have shattered it for sure. He’s a bit of a clown occasionally but he doesn’t deserve to be suspended or expelled for it.” He said and swished his brush in the clean water, instantly darkening it, before dipping it again into the soapy water and carrying on with his scrubbing. “Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for the effort, even though we’ve both landed here anyway. You didn’t have to do that.”

You nodded. You admired his friendship with Garreth and the fact that Leander was willing to put himself in the line of fire for his best friend. Him being so selfless was really what lead you to want to help… Maybe it was simply him you admired.

“I know I didn’t have to… But it’s no trouble.” You told him and moved onto the next potions station, scrubbing it and watching it lighten in color before your eyes. You wondered when the last time anyone actually cleaned the surface was.

You worked on each work station together, quietly chatting all the while. This was probably the longest time you’d spent talking with the boy alone. You always enjoyed being sat with him and Garreth in class but you mostly remained quiet while taking in their banter. Scrubbing down the tabletops was not fun, but spending the time with Leander made it a hell of a lot more bearable. Enjoyable, even. You noticed the subtle way the corners of his lips turned upwards when he’d catch you staring. Your heart raced when you noticed him staring back, his gaze lingering on you a little too long to be considered a passing glance as you concentrated on removing a particularly stubborn mark from one of the table tops.

You were onto the last potions station, the two of you saved the worst of them for last, the station the two of you shared with Garreth. The residue from the mishap earlier hardened to a thick, slightly tacky film that coated the entire surface of the table.

By the time you were done scrubbing the table tops together, your face was hot and red, breaths coming quickly, sweat gleaming on your forehead, and Leander looked to be in much the same state. You couldn’t help yourself from getting distracted by how he looked as he leaned back against a table as he wiped the sweat from his brow on his sleeve, then stretched his shoulders out before moving on to the next half of the punishment.

Cleaning the potions stations was the easy part. Scrubbing the floors was grueling, not to mention painful, your knees beginning to ache quickly as you started working on the furthest corner of the room. Leander started on the other side of the room and you met in the middle when finished, where you both sat to catch your breath, sweating and panting, knees and back sore from your efforts.

“You know, I’m regretting covering for you, after this.” You said between harsh breaths. The grin on your face despite your look of exhaustion let him know you were only teasing, no matter how horrid this portion of the punishment was. You pulled your gloves off and wiped your sweating palms on your trousers, Leander followed suite.

He leaned back on his hands, legs splayed out in front of him. “Merlin, I can’t thank you enough for it though. Can you imagine how long this would have taken me to do alone? It’s taken the two of us hours.”

“I think you owe me one for this,” You said, your grin spreading, your eyes locked on him, drinking in the way his hair fell after hours of manual labor. You let yourself stare shamelessly, the blush on your face from the way the mere sight of the boy in front of you made you feel was hidden by the redness that came with the exhaustion of your cleaning efforts.

“Name your price. It’s yours.” He groaned, letting his head hang back, a long and tired sigh escaping his throat before he leaned back up to look at you. He noted the mischievous look on your face as you thought of how he could repay you. He raised a brow in question while you pondered.

You couldn’t very well come out and say the first thing on your mind – a kiss. That would be much too forward. But this was an opportunity, and you didn’t want to waste it. “A butterbeer, maybe two.”

You watched as his lips parted before he gave you a smile that showed his teeth. What a rare sight from him, usually so serious looking in class.

He thought for a few moments before replying. You could almost see the gears turning. He smirked and said, “You know, that sounds wonderful. But I actually think it’s Garreth who owes both of us a few drinks. I can run it past him when I get back to my dorm later.”

Your face fell at his suggestion to involve Garreth in the outing. Leander wasn’t wrong, of course, Garreth did owe you both for coming to his defense earlier. But you wanted to spend more time with Leander. Alone.

“Something wrong?” He asked, noticing your sudden change in expression, his own demeanor getting more serious, a look of concern crossing his face.

Your face twisted in thought, you pursed your lips wondering if it was even worth mentioning to him your actual intentions when it flew over his head the first time round. You sighed and decided you may as well go for it. Your voice was nervous, and quieter than it had been. “While Garreth certainly does owe us both… I was hoping to spend a bit more time with just you.”

Leander’s eyes widened, that lovely smile of his returning, a rosy pink blush rising among the freckles on his cheeks.

“Oh.” He said.

His eyes darted to the ground and he fiddled with his hands a moment before looking back up and meeting your gaze. “That actually sounds a lot nicer. Are you free tomorrow after dinner?”

“Tomorrow?” You nodded. “I am.”

Professor Sharp must have heard the chatter, and emerged from his office, his eyes scanning the classroom, and finding the pair of you sitting on the floor near the door together, the cleaning supplies surrounding you.

“This is detention, not an excuse to fraternize after hours! Get up! Both of you!” He spat, crossing the room to inspect the potions stations. The two of you got up, Leander to his feet first, he extended you a hand to pull you to yours. You savored the warmth of his touch for the few seconds your hand was in his. The eye contact you held as he helped you to your feet and stood in front of him made your breath catch.

You moved to his side, watching Professor Sharp as he inspected your work, he took his time checking every station, then wandered the room, his eyes at the stone floor, making sure no corner was missed.

“Well done.” He nodded at the pair of you in approval of the job completed. “Grab your wands from my desk and get back to your common rooms immediately. No wandering about.”

“Yes, sir.” You said in tandem with Leander. He ducked quickly into Sharp’s office, grabbing both of your wands, he handed yours to you and the two of you left the classroom together.

“I’ll find you tomorrow after dinner then, and we’ll get those butterbeers. We’ve earned them.” Leander whispered as you headed through the corridors side by side. You nodded in confirmation.

You headed to your common rooms, each of your turning in for the night, both exhausted, bodies aching for the hours of cleaning, and both with a smile on, thinking about spending more time together the next evening.

~~~

Garreth had been fast asleep when Leander returned to the dorms from detention, so it wasn’t until the following morning that he got a chance to ask Leander how it had gone.

“What did Sharp have you up to?” He wondered, plopping himself down on the foot of Leander’s bed at the first signs of the other boy waking.

“Bloody hell Gar, can I not take some time to wake up before being subjected to this?” Leander asked groggily, gesturing at the disturbance that was Garreth’s presence.

“Nah!” He waved his friend off. “Were you cleaning and polishing the cauldrons? That’s a favorite punishment of his.” Garreth said, having done this task several times. “I wish.” Leander scoffed. “We had to scrub off all of the stations, and then scrub the entire floor, the muggle way.”

Garreth looked horrified. “That classroom is huge! It’s no wonder I was asleep when you got finished, that must have taken ages!”

“It did. You’re welcome, by the way.” Leander added, sounded a bit more irritated than he meant to. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. He was a typically a morning person, but his body was sore and he had hoped to soak in the comfort of his bed a while longer.

“Oh yeah… I can’t really thank you enough can I? Wild that MC covered for you and you didn’t get stuck at it alone.”

“Yeah… it was, wasn’t it?” Leander grinned with the thought of his conversation with you the night before, remembering his plans to get drinks with you this evening.

Garreth chuckled and shoved his friends leg as he watched his expression shift. He knew that look on Leander, having been around to discuss many a crush with his friend in the past. “Got a feeling they fancy you. They covered for you, not for me.”

Leander blushed and ran his hand through his hair, getting the strands out of his face from his sleep. “I think… that I have a date with them later…” Leander muttered out sheepishly, trying to keep his composure as he explained the previous evenings conversation, including his attempt to include Garreth in the plans for drinks to his friend.

“Ohhhh, they do! Do you fancy them as well? Are you nervous, excited?” Garreth practically buzzed with excitement for his friend. Out of the two of them, it was Garreth who pulled more dates. He was excited that his friend was getting some well deserved attention.

“Uh… Nervous… But I do, yeah. They’re nice, and cute, and…” His voice trailed off and he sighed as he though of you, zoning out, still tired and easily slipping into a daydream.

Garreth shook the other boy’s leg again. “Snap out of it Lee. Focus. You’ve got this. Don’t be nervous. They like you, too. I know it.”

Leander took Garreth’s word for it, replaying every interaction he’s ever had with you while he finally got out of bed to ready himself for the day. Garreth followed him around, continuing to hype up his friend.

~~~

Just as promised, the following evening as dinner was concluding in the great hall, you spotted the tall red head making his way towards you, a little grin on his face as his eyes met yours. He carried himself a little taller when he saw how you smiled back at him.

You were finished eating and just chatting with a few of your house mates when he filled in the empty spot beside you on the bench, straddling it, not intending to remain in the dining hall much longer. He nodded politely at your friends as he joined, and waited for your conversation to wrap up and for you to turn your attention to him before he simply asked, “Ready?”

“I am.” You said and nodded. You excused yourself from your housemates. He got up from the table first and stood by waiting for you to join him. Nervous as he was, he was still a gentleman. He offered you his arm, which you accepted, earning yourself wide eyed looks from your friends as you left the great hall with him.

The walk through the castle was quiet, his nerves seemingly getting the better of him. Once outside of the castle you chatted about the weather as you crossed the grounds towards the path to Hogsmeade.

It was a chilly fall evening, or at least that would be your reasoning for walking so closely to him, your shoulder brushing him as your hands still clutched the arm he’d offered you.

The contact made your cheeks burn and your heart flutter. You only hoped he felt the same. You looked up at him and he broke out into that smile you’ve seen so much of from him these past few days. “How are you feeling today?” You asked him. “My back has been sore all day.”

“Mine as well.” He replied not knowing what else to say or what he should ask you in return to keep the conversation going.

He shook his head subtly, spiting himself. Why is talking to them so damn nerve wracking? The almost overbearing confidence he displayed around many was lost when it came to you. He didn’t want to put on an act. If he was going to win you he wanted to do it being his true self, even if that meant letting his anxiety poke through.

You were perfectly comfortable in his quiet presence, when it was coupled with the contact of your bodies. With your hands around his arm. His actions spoke louder than his words. He opened the door of the Three Broom Sticks for you, his hand resting on your upper back as you walked through the doorway, and he followed behind you.

The two of you found a small table for two near the back of the establishment near the fireplace. You slid your school robe off and folded it over the back of your chair. Leander pulled the seat out for you to sit before taking his place across from you. He was the very picture of a gentleman. This felt different than any of the times you’d gotten drinks with other friends of yours. You loved how this felt.

Sirona came around to take your order shortly after you’d gotten seated and there were two butterbeers on your table within minutes.

“Cheers.” He said, giving you a soft smile.

“Cheers!” You replied as you raised your mugs before sipping the drinks together.

The first few sips of the butterbeer coated both of you upper lips in sweet foam. You took a napkin to yours, but you appreciated the way he licked his lips quickly after each of his first couple of sips. Your stomach was doing flips. You had to calm yourself, directing your gaze to the fire burning in the fireplace instead.

Leander noticed how you looked at him before you diverted your gaze and he bounced his leg under the table. He loved having your eyes on him and he wanted to make you look at him like that again. He wasn’t sure why you stopped.

He had to swallow his nerves, his feelings while being kept inside were eating at him and he had to let them out. “What is this, MC?” He asked you. “Is this a date?”

Your eyes shot back to his, you were now feeling a fire inside unrelated to the one that you’d been staring into. Your heart wanted his. Your cheeks tinged pink and your heartbeat raced. “It… it can be. I’d like it, if it was.” You gave your honest answer, appreciating that he asked and got the awkwardness out of the way.

A sense of relief washed over him, finally knowing that you felt the same. You wanted it to be a date, you wanted to date him. He felt more comfortable already. “I would like that, too.”

“Well, it’s a date then.” You said, smiling at him and taking another sip of your drink.

His confidence was creeping back in, and it showed in how he took your hand from across the table and held it, his thumb tracing slowly over your knuckles.

Conversation came easily from that moment. You delved into topics that didn’t come up in casual conversations when you were amongst friends in classes. You learned about each other’s families, he talked about his many siblings. You each discussed your plans for after graduating, your hobbies, fears... One drink turned into two, turned into three, you drank each of them slowly, savoring each other’s company, but time flew by all the same. In the back of your mind you knew curfew was fast approaching and you detested the fact the two of you would have to wrap up your evening already. It was going so well.

Upon finishing up your last drinks of the evening, Leander stood and helped you from your chair and held your robe while you put it back on, his chivalry making you blush. He paid the bar tab and held the door for you as you started the walk back to the castle.

Rather than offering you his arm, he took your hand, lacing his fingers between yours as you strode side by side through Hogsmeade. The air had gotten cooler and the two of you kept up a brisk pace to keep warm, walking closely only doing so much in that regard.

Curfew be damned, Leander was set on walking you back to your common room once back inside the castle, and you were not going to deny him, if he so wanted to. The clock struck 10 as you were standing together outside of your common room entry, your hands still in his as he stood in front of you.

“I really enjoyed our date.” He said, leaning down and kissing your cheek softly. “I hope you have a good night.”

You kept hold of his hands, with no intention of letting him walk away before feeling his lips with yours. He smiled when you didn’t let go even after he took a half step back. Your eyes plead with him to stay, just a little longer.

“It’s just goodnight, not goodbye.” He reminded you with a little smirk.

“I know, I just…” You closed the gap between you, letting go of his hands and cradling his face instead. You stood on your tiptoes to kiss his lips.

You could feel him smile into it, before melting into you completely. He wrapped his arms around your back, holding you close and kissing you back, parting his lips and inviting your tongue to move against his. The kiss was slow and deep, quiet hums of contentedness escaping you both as the heat increased. One of his hands ran up your back and into your hair, tilting your head gently as he kissed you harder. You let out a quiet gasp feeling your bottom lip between his teeth. Kissing him was better than you ever could have imagined, and when it ended, you were left aching for more immediately.

“Goodnight.” He whispered to you once more, your face in his hands, his forehead resting on yours as you looked up at him. He kissed your forehead before leaning back, looking into your eyes, an expression of peace on his face.

“One more thing.” You said.

He nodded, grinning. He loved that you didn’t want him to walk away yet, it was a feeling he hoped to get used to from you, the feeling of being wanted. “What is it?”

“I’d like a second date.”

His eyes dilated, he was clearly thrilled at the idea. There was zero hesitation from him at all. “Oh, absolutely. It would be my pleasure.”

You hugged him close and kissed his cheek before finally telling him “goodnight” in return and parting ways to head into your common room for the night.

[imaginethezeldaverse]

Hot Spring Mishap (Yunobo x Reader) - Part 1

I originally started this in an ask but it got so long and I wanted to go another way with it that I decided I wanted to make this a mini series instead. Not sure how many parts yet - probably 2? Definitely will be nsfw later because hello have you seen what I post? Anywho, enjoy. Reader is written female/afab.

This time of year always rendered the hot springs in Eldin rather crowded. You'd been dying for a soak yourself, but found it difficult to get there at a time where it wasn't completely overrun by Gorons or tourists. Being that you lived in Goron City as a merchant made it extra frustrating; it should be easier than it is to get some time to relax! Particularly wound up after your long day, you do your best to try and sprint to the hot springs just a walk away from your home. But to your horror and exasperation, they are, once again full of townsfolk and visitors. "Ugh...I'm never gonna get the opportunity at this rate," you begrudgingly sigh, hanging your head. "Yeahhh, these get pretty crowded, don't they?" sounded a voice behind you. Startled, you whipped your head around to immediately face an axe insignia. You recognized it immediately, belonging to the very Goron who visited you at your shop every day as he handled business in the city. Hand to your chest, you took a deep breath as you looked up to a friendly face, "Oh Yunobo! Whew, you scared me." His hands immediately went up, "I'm sorry! I just heard what you were saying about the hot springs, didn't mean to frighten you." You looked back at the hot springs, disappointed all over again that you haven't been able to sit in one for so long. "Seems like the hot springs have really gained some popularity huh?" you said, trying to hide your disheartened expression. Yunobo hummed in agreement, "But that's why I don't use 'em. The ones higher up on Death Mountain are better." 

Higher on Death Mountain? You didn't know there were hot springs up there! Sensing your confusion, Yunobo explained, "Tourists don't know too much about them, well kept Goron secret, y'know?" and he rubbed at the back of his head, "B-But you've been in the city for quite a while now, I don't mind telling you!" You would come to find that it would take two cart trips up there, but he was right - on the back end of Death Mountain were several smaller hot springs, some even being blocked off by walls of long-cooled magma. What a delight! "Yunobo, thank you for showing me this! I hope it's alright if I come here." He grinned jovially at you, "Everybody in the city knows you well enough by now, you're basically one of us! What's ours is yours." This touched you tremendously. Goron City was very inviting already, but Yunobo had always been exceptionally kind to you. You remembered when you first moved there to start your business - he carried your things for you effortlessly, helped you make connections with people in town and travelers who would escalate your sales, always popped into your shop to check on you as a daily routine. You owed the Goron a great debt - one that he swore never needed repaying. Thanking him, you promised to treat him to sirloin rock roast later this week, your treat. For now, you decided to head home - the knowledge of finally having a place to relax putting you at ease. However, that night you found your sleep restless. Your poor tired body ached for some tension release, making it difficult to rest. All of your thoughts immediately went to the hot springs Yunobo had mentioned earlier that day. Would it really be so bad if you took a dip this late at night?

You gathered what you needed for your late-night soak and headed off to the carts to make your way up Death Mountain. You had to give it to Yunobo, he was a lifesaver. Not a soul in sight up here! Still though, you headed towards the secluded springs - the privacy and quiet sounding heavenly in your mind (plus you weren’t exactly keen on any Gorons catching you naked should that be a potential problem). It was quite steamy in the closed off hot spring, not that you minded. You welcomed the warmth, letting it envelope your body. Just to be sure it wasn’t too hot, you dipped your toes in.

“Ohhhh my goddess” you moaned with joy, the temperature being nothing short of perfect. After fully undressing and carefully keeping your things in the corner of your space, you slowly entered the spring, the soothing heat encasing your body. The shudder that left you was sinful, followed by the tension of your day whisking away at the water’s embrace on you. Your muscles released in your soaking, each minute renewing the vitality you’d had near the beginning of the week. Swimming a bit was your next idea, working out a few kinks in your back and legs as you paddled. A quick intake of breath and you dove under, allowing the spring water to caress your temples and relinquish all the stress your scalp had been holding onto. With you being underwater, the sound of footsteps didn't hit your ears past the surface of the hot spring. You resurfaced with a large splash, your hands weaving into your hair to wring it out as you stretched to your full height. A large gulping sound had your eyes snapping open in its direction. At the entrance to your hot spring was YunoboCo's one and only president, his face as red as a Hylian tomato. It hadn't registered to you why he was so impossibly flushed...until you realized you were completely naked from the navel up, and he was completely without any clothing as well. Your arms immediately wrapped around your body, covering your chest as you tried to avert your eyes,

“Shit! Yunobo, I’m so-"

“I’M SO SORRY!” he screeched, moving to scramble back out of the hot spring entrance. As he did, you took notice of the water that had pooled at his feet from your sudden upheaval. Without thinking your hand shot out to grab his, "YUNOBO, BE CAREF-" You managed to snag his wrist cuff, but not before he was already slipping. The force of your tug and his stumble had him falling clumsily into the hot spring, effectively sloshing you both to the opposite end by the wave of his fall. Back slammed into the magma-cooled rock, you hissed at the impact. Yet almost instantly you lost focus on the pain. Crowding your frame against the edge of the spring was the Goron champion, his arms caging your body between him and the carved rock. Yunobo’s face was contorted in what looked like pain as he collected himself from the fall, while yours was slowly turning crimson. His face was she inches from yours, your chests nearly pressed against one another. Any words or noise you could have possibly made died in your throat with the closeness of his proximity. “Ergh...” Yunbo groaned, shaking his head, trying to rattle himself back to his senses, “I’m incredibly sorry about all this...are you oka-”  Your wide-eyed stare nearly inches from his own paused his sentence. It was then he realized how he had you, confined to the very little amount of space he had created for you. His hands had a grip on the edge of the hot spring, but in stopping himself from careening into you any further, instead he just shoved you into a corner, with his body being the cage. Anyone could walk in at a moment's notice and insinuate just about anything from the way you both looked right now: him with his rigid stature pressed in close and you with your soft eyes wide looking both scared and in utter shock. He absorbed everything at once, and with a shout, immediately jumped backwards. Yunobo backed away from you slowly this time, his entire face the same shade of the red earth that surrounded Death Mountain.  “I-I’m so s-s-sorry” Yunobo stuttered out with a shake, terrified by what just transpired. Surely, you’d think he was despicable after this. He turns on his heel, lifting himself out of the hot spring, snatching up his things and rolling away with a loud “PLEASE FORGIVE MEEEEE”  You stare in stunned silence, your arms still around your body as you watched the hero roll frantically away. There was a heavy flash of guilt in his eyes before that you didn’t like, and it made you feel guilt of your own. He didn’t hurt you...it was an accident. He understood that, right? The remainder of your time at the hot spring is spent in unease, Yunobo was a good friend, seeing him upset at any capacity made you sad.  You would talk to him tomorrow, you decided. 

[mochiponadventures]

Carmine´s surprise Visit

...

Carmine was visiting Juliana, Ogi and Momo today. It was shortly after dinner time when the girl appeared in front of her friends house. Juliana was coming out and was pleasantly surprised to see Carmine there. Inviting her in, Ogi and Momo came to greet her.

Both looked positively happy, albeit Momo looked a little stuffed and visibly more drowsy than usual. "Hi Carmine, what´s up? Want something to drink?"

"Yeah, i would like that. Thank you." A short pause was followed by a snickering sound. "Sooo how are Ogi and Momo doing lately? My brother told me quite a lot about his Terapagos and your little peach here causing all kinds of mischief at daycare!"

"Momo is fine, just a little stuffed from dinner tonight. Ogi too, but as you can see, she is still as energetic as usual!" Juliana answered, stroking Ogi´s head while giving Momo a small kiss on the forehead. The small pokemon visibly relished this and cuddled up to his caretaker happily, nuzzling Juliana. Carmine smiled at that and came closer to them.

"You know, that little runt is quite cute all things considered!" She used one of her fingers to poke one of Momo´s round cheeks. Momo giggled at that and turned towards Carmine, floating over to her, happily bouncing up and down.

"Why don´t you take a seat while i get you some cold lemonade?" Juliana offered Carmine a seat which she took gladly, carrying Momo with her while doing so. He sat on the girls lap, looking up to her, smiling. "Aww just look at you all bouncy and happy, want to play horsey with your auntie? I know Kiki loved that when he was really small..." Momo looked up at the other with a questioning look before letting out a small cry of surprise as Carmine started to bounce him on her lap, up and down and quite fast.

Juliana´s eyes grew in size while watching, knowing Momos body language very well by now. "Uhh Carmine, i wouldn´t do that...you know...Momo just ate quite a lot and he usually has a very sensitive tummy..."

"Nonsense, look at the little ruggamuffin, he´s enjoying himself! Arent you, little one?" Momo´s expression changed from his usual purple hue to a more greenish one as his eyebrows furrowed. Ogi looked at the spectacle and grinned, knowing exactly what would happen any minute by now.

"Pon Pon!!" She exclaimed, tittering like she had heard the worlds most funniest joke. Just as Juliana wanted to get Momo, it happened. It all didn´t even take a minute as Carmine´s face changed from hilarity to utter terror. Because of all the bouncing, Momo´s digestive tract decided to go topsy turvy on him, emptying his stomach right into Carmine´s lap.

"EHHHHHHHHH????" Ogi was on the floor laughing by now, rolling around, cackling like crazy. Juliana took a now whining Momo in her arms, taking a clothe to wipe the poor pokemons face. "I told you not to do that...i am so sorry...here let me get you a couple wet wipes..." She hurried over to the kitchen area, searching for something to remove the stains on Carmine´s lap, all the while trying to calm Momo down who felt no longer happy, but icky and gross.

"Don´t get me wrong, Momo usually loves playing Horsey, just not after dinner..." Juliana explained, helping Carmine to clean herself up. Her face still showed a kind of shocked expression mixed with disgust. "I guess next time i am listening to you when it comes to this...gross...ugh"

"Ogi, stop laughing and help me! Go fetch your Gran Gran, will you?"

Ogi got up, saluting while still giggling, scuttling off and about to find Juliana´s mother. "You won´t hold that against me, right?" Juliana asked carefully, trying to look apologetic. "Of course not...just remind me next time not doing that with Momo right after he ate, okay?"

"Will do" With that, after everything had been cleaned up, the group still had a nice evening without any further mishaps and even Momo got happy again, bouncing around between Juliana and Carmine, already forgotten the incident from before.

[light-lanterne]

I feel like- even tho Hopper is a H U G E mess in cannon, he is, hopefully, redeemable.

However, it is so unfair that Mike, who is a child, is hated more than him, aka a grown ass man who definitely should know better (regardless of the time the show is set in)

ugh, don't even get me started on that,,, i feel like half of the people who despise mike do it because his mishaps tend to revolve around fan favourites (el is the gp's favourite, will is definitely a fandom sweetheart), whereas the other half hate him because he's supposed to be the relatable, self-insert character for a lot of these people and he's just not the perfect character they wish him to be; the version of his character these people would like to envision themselves being (aka the nerd who somehow got this superpowered girl as his girlfriend and she needs him and he's somehow going to save the world (which is not at all what any of the character arcs are supposed to be about, hence their disappointment)).

in both cases it all comes down to people (purposefully or not) misunderstanding mike's character, looking at him only superficially, and getting frustrated when he doesn't act the way they'd want him to, be it in his relationship to other characters or when it comes to the narrative.

now, on the other hand, we have hopper, who is just as complex of a character as mike (which inherently makes him harder to understand, therefore unlikeable to some) and who objectively has a lot of unfavourable traits (mainly, he's a cop e.e)

however, most of hop's mistakes get treated either as comedy and/or classic film tropes, or they get a genuine resolution to them, either by him admitting to his faults (like in s2) or by giving context to his behaviour (like in s4), a grace mike hasn't been bestowed with as of s4. this inherently makes him more sympathetic than mike to a lot of people, as excruciatingly frustrating as that is >.<

plus, hopper is the action hero of the show and people tend to ignore character flaws in favour of enjoying the cool action sequences and heroics, so there's that too x.x

anyway,,, i ended up writing a whole thing even though i said i wouldn't :S sorry about that. just know that i share your frustration (clearly) and that i shall defend mike wheeler forever because his character doesn't deserve all the crap he gets >:(

thank you for the ask ~ again, apologies for going on this random rant x.x i hope you have a great day / night !!

[kiankiwi]

Summer Days and Lullabies

(This was inspired by the post @doll-elvis made about Elvis and the little girl on the set of FTD. I hope you enjoy it!)

It was a good day. Or at least it would be, if not for the screaming baby behind the camera.

Elvis’s latest movie, Follow that Dream, was in full swing. So far, things had been going well; the only problem thus far was that the Florida heat kept making him sweat like crazy, so he had to keep changing his shirts so as to not feel drenched in sweat or stink up the set.

Elvis didn’t really mind doing this movie; sure, the plot was a little odd and he thought some of the song sequences felt a little forced (though usually the Colonel handled that part), but the production team treated him well for the most part, and he got along well with Anne and his other costars, especially the little kids who played his younger adopted siblings.

One of them was a little baby girl named Erin, who played the youngest sibling; she was just about a year old. She was adorable, with little tufts of white-blonde hair and blue eyes, and the cutest chubby cheeks. Moreover, she was a bright and intelligent child, and Elvis loved playing with her during breaks in filming. 

She’d often crawl into Elvis’s lap and babble to him as he made funny faces, cooed to her and played peekaboo with her; many times she’d be pushing at his cheeks, tugging his hair, and trying to stick her fingers into his mouth. None of it fazed him; he had plenty of younger cousins and so he knew how babies were. It also felt nice to him that she didn’t know he was famous; to her, he was just a huge playmate.

Overall, she was normally a very happy and bubbly little girl, which made her display of temper today all the more out of the ordinary. She’d been fed and her diaper was clean, but she still squirmed and cried in her mother’s arms. Elvis, though, had a pretty good idea of what was wrong.

The fact was, the heat today had been much more intense than normal. Because of this, and the fact that doing a film often meant a lot of waiting around between takes to get certain shots right, everyone was getting cranky, especially when the day’s shooting was behind due to everyone constantly needing water breaks and time in the shade. Even Elvis was getting more irritated at the day’s little mishaps and having to change his shirt constantly because of the way it was making him sweat. 

He figured if the heat felt this awful to him, it must be ten times worse for the kids. It didn’t help that some of the production crew (particularly one of the assistant directors) kept being pushy to get certain scenes completed on time and weren’t all that patient.

Elvis was supposed to film one of his singing scenes on the beach to Holly (Anne’s character) and the kids today, but even though they were ready, things kept getting delayed because Erin just wasn’t cooperating. Her mother was clearly doing the best she could to soothe and calm her baby daughter down, but the baby was having none of it.

The assistant director (who was known to not be particularly patient with the kids or child actors in general) started snapping at Erin’s mother. 

“Ugh, for the love of God, can’t somebody shut that brat up? We’re here to make a movie and we’re already behind schedule! Why don’t you just shove a teddy bear in her face or something?”

Erin’s mother, clearly on the verge of tears, apologized. “I-I’m sorry. I’m doing everything I can here, but—!”

“Well, clearly you’re not doing good enough. You think people want to see a red-faced, screaming brat in this movie? NO! They want to see Elvis singing to a cute, adorable, SMILING baby! So shut it up and get it to smile already or—!”

That did it. Elvis normally didn’t like to flex his fame, but this was one of the few times he felt it was necessary. Immediately, he stepped up to confront the assistant director.

“HEY! That’s enough!” He shouted.

The man turned around, the color draining from his face as he saw Elvis striding up to him with a furious look on his face. “Mr. Presley, I’m so sorry for the child’s disturbance—!”

“Disturbance? The kid’s fine. If anything, YOU’RE the one who’s disturbing me!”

“Huh?”

“Yellin’ at a baby?! What the hell’s wrong with you? Mama’s clearly doin’ the best she can here. Look, I get it: We’re all cranky ‘cause of this heat. But at least the baby can’t help cryin’ and throwin’ a fit since she ain’t talkin’ yet. So what the hell’s your excuse, huh?”

“Uh—!”

“Anybody knows you can’t turn a baby’s cryin’ on an’ off like a damn light switch! They ain’t robots, dammit!”

He sighed. “Look, here’s what we’re gonna do; we’re all gonna take a break here for as long as it takes for the kid to calm down. Ma’am, there’s AC in my trailer; just bring the kid’s supplies and she should be fine in there.”

He turned to the assistant director. “And as for you; you are gonna lay off the kids whether or not they’re behaving. I don’t wanna hear any more complaints about the kids crying or whatever, or any threats of firing them. I heard what you were sayin’ yesterday to the twins’ mama when they wouldn’t stop messin’ around.”

“But, Mr. Presley—!”

Elvis fixed his cold, hard stare on the man. “We do this my way…or I walk.” He answered firmly. 

Nobody knew what to do for a minute. Would Elvis Presley really quit and walk off the set of his own movie? Ultimately, they decided it wasn’t worth calling his bluff and potentially losing their biggest star. The film’s director agreed to take a break for a while (over the objections of his assistant director) and Elvis gently guided Erin and her mother to his air-conditioned trailer.

Once they’d gotten settled and Erin’s mother had given the baby a small bit of cool water to drink (as well as splashing a little on the baby’s skin to cool her down), Erin had calmed down considerably, but was still fussy.

Her mother sighed as she bounced the baby on her knees. “I know that cry. She needs a nap. I should’ve guessed since it’s close to her naptime; I guess the heat was just making her too uncomfortable.”

Elvis looked at the mother with concern. “Ma’am, you look exhausted. Why don’t I take Erin for a bit and you can both nap in the bedroom over there? I’ll get her to sleep and then bring her to you. Does that sound alright?”

She looked surprised. “But…wait, isn’t that your room?”

“Yeah, but it’s no big deal. I’ll just stay on the couch if I need to rest. Maybe it’ll have cooled down a bit by the time you two wake up.”

“But what about the movie?”

“Trust me, those guys know they’re on thin ice right now. They ain’t gonna bother us about it right now since they don’t wanna risk losing me. Just get some rest, alright? I think we all need it. And if they start bugging you again, just come to me and I’ll deal with it.”

She sighed. “Well…all right. Thank you for everything, Elvis.”

He smiled and took Erin into his arms. “It’s not a problem, ma’am.” He told her as she walked into his bedroom to rest.

With that, he smiled down at Erin and moved her so she had her head on his shoulder as he started to bounce and rock her, rubbing her back and murmuring, “it’s okay, baby; you can go to sleep now”. 

Soon, the room was filled with the sound of Elvis softly singing the song “Love Me Tender” to the baby as he rocked her to sleep. As the baby drifted off, he gazed lovingly at her sleeping face; he just hoped he’d one day have this kind of moment with his own children.

***

Another wonderful submission from @arianatheangel-girl girl, you’re so talented! I absolutely loved it just like I’ve loved everything else you’ve written! Keep ‘em coming please! 

[yacinthemorning]

Froggy Prince

Summary: A mishap involving tea and potions leads to Tango turning into the frog of his dreams. Now they need to figure out how to turn him back, but Tango isn't too fond of Shelby's method...

Ships: Jimmy/Tango (romantic), Tango & Shelby (friendship)

Warnings: Temporary Death

Author Notes: This was based on an idea by @pixie-mage!

What exactly went wrong she was unsure. Shelby only turned around just in time to watch Tango down half his tea, before an acid green fog burst around his form. She shrieked, dropping her tray of pastries to run to her apprentice’s side. “Oh, Tango! No!” The fog was blown away by the brim of her hat, but there was no longer a Tango in his chair. “Tango?” She cried.

“Ugh, Master Shrubs?” Tango croaked quietly from… somewhere. 

Part of Shelby relaxed – thank Joel he hadn’t exploded! – before a new panic set in. Her head whipped around as she called out with tears in her eyes. “Tango? Where are you? Oh no, are you a ghost? Are you part of The Fog now? Oh, I’m so sorry Tango, I’m so sorry-”

“I’m… I’m down here…”

Shelby paused, and looked down. The first thing visible was her shattered teacup. It was, of course, one of her favourite cups. Little porcelain black kittens lay broken, viciously severed from their brooms, drowning in a miserable red sea. Her very last bag of rose tea…

And then- splat! A little blue webbed foot splashed into the spilled tea, followed by a tiny yelp. Frogs and toads were no strange sight in Shelby’s home, but she had never seen one so toxically vibrant. navy limbs turned to an electric cyan, speckled white and matched by piercing eyes. “Shubble!” It squeaked in an oddly familiar voice.

They stared at one another. And stared. And stared. Finally, her mind’s dial-up connected. Shelby gasped. “Tango!” Immediately she grabbed for him, and he instinctively leapt up out of the way. The little frog landed on her collar with a surprised croak.

“Wha- what happened? What’s going on?” He asked as she collected him, holding him in front of her face so they could see eye to eye. “You got giant!”

“You got tiny.” She corrected. “And amphibious!”

Tango gasped, “I’m tiny?” He tried to stand, but fell backwards, rolling onto his back. Long froggy legs flailed out, which caused him to gasp once again. “And amp-amphibious!” 

“You are!”

“Oh. Oh!” He fumbled around, taking his new form in. “I am! I’m tiny and amphibious!” Awe seeped into his tone, fear easing away into a wide grin. “I’m adorable!”

“You are!” Shelby agreed, standing up. “But what happened? And what are we going to do?” Arms stretched out so Tango could hop onto the table. He hopped up besides the teapot, watching curiously as Shelby lifted it up and took a sniff. Her brow knit together. “Oh no…” 

“Oh no?”

“When I was making potions and tea I think I put the toadstool in the wrong brew.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” Tango folded his little froggy arms. Shelby wished she had a tiny top hat and cane to give him. He tilted his head to the side. “… Does it?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it definitely does.”

“Then I guess I’m a frog now.” He shrugged. The grin returned. With only a brief glance to examine his legs he reared back and jumped. It cleared Shelby with ease, the witch having to crane her neck to watch Tango fly through the air. He landed atop a shelf but only stayed long enough to leap again to a chair. 

Shelby watched him ping-pong around the room until she began to feel dizzy. With a frustrated huff she threw her hands out into his path, “Okay, calm down mister!” She chastised, to which he only snickered. “That’s very cool and all, but this is really bad!”

“What? What’s so bad about this? It’s great!” He cheered, wiggling out of her grip. Something in his eyes went off, like a light bulb. Out of nowhere a long pink tongue shot out towards the table, and suddenly a blueberry from the tarts she spent all morning preparing for her apprentice was in the little frog’s mouth instead. It was as big as his eye. Whatever he tried to say around it was muffled beyond comprehension, but Shelby could tell he was elated.

“First of all, ew, don’t do that.” She grumbled, placing a hand between him and her poor tarts. “Second of all, what if it’s permanent? How are you going to do magic? Or redstone?”

Tango rubbed his little frog chin, interrupted by an involuntary croak. “Hm… You do have a point. As always, of course, wise master. But what do we do?”

Shelby wrung her hands in thought, glancing around her room for some sort of inspiration. There were many books on her shelf, but they were mostly plant indexes, as all her potions were personal concoctions, a little different every time. Maybe there was some information in one of her bestiaries? Or maybe she could craft a spell? She could try that…

Shelby turned to Tango, who had his white-freckled back to her as he also searched the room. Wand raised high she called forth all the magic within her, muttering incantations that were definitely an ancient language probably maybe. 

He turned. “Master Shrubs?”

“Chebubble-shabobble, alakazoo, Tangus-icatorus, de-frogify you!” 

There was sparks, and a squeak, and then a nagging burst of colourful stars. 

Tango was gone. Shelby’s communicator beeped.

Tango went off with a bang. 

“… Oops?” She laughed nervously. Well, at least they knew he had the health of a frog, too…

Tango: Uuuh, Master Shrubs? I don’t think that worked.

Shubble: I’m on my way! Where are you?

Tango: Tumble Town.

Shelby packed up her things, grabbing her broom and food. A shulker was filled with potions, and a second was filled with ingredients and any books that might possibly have helpful information. With a determined nod she set off for Tumble Town.

Five seconds later she landed once again, racing back into her hut and collecting both her and her apprentice’s hats. With a determined nod she set off for Tumble Town.

Five minutes later Shelby dove over a bright cloudy wall down into the dusty western landscape below. At first, she searched for what would have been a very easy-to-spot blue blazeborn running about, before she remembered he would be far too small to see from the skies. It was rare for her to visit, she barely knew which building was what, or which had a bed. To make things worse the town had doubled, maybe even tripled, its infrastructure since she was last there.

Shelby landed atop a very nice train to pull her communicator out.

Shubble: I’m here, where are you?

Tango: I see you! Turn to the left, look for the building with the big ‘R.’

“Why hello there, are you having troubles, ma’am?”

Shelby shrieked, sending a bolt of magic down at the talking train. It burst against the roof, just barely missing a shocked face as it ducked out of the way.

Scar’s head nervously popped back up, a sheepish grin on his face. “Hey, now, that’s dangerous you know!”

“Oh, oh I’m so sorry. You scared the bejeebus out of me.” Shelby gasped for breath.

“No, no, it’s fine, I get that reaction all the time.” He dismissed as he crawled up onto the top of the train with her. “But I couldn’t help notice the conversation in chat. You and Tango seem to be having quite a time.”

“Yes, he’s my apprentice!” She declared proudly, tipping her hat to him. Then, she deflated. “But I kinda messed up some of my brews and now he’s, well, tiny and amphibious.”

Scar leaned forward. “Tiny and amphibious, you say?”

“Yes. And adorable.”

“Well, of course.”

“And dying doesn’t seem to have cured it, so now I’m looking for him.”

“Oh, well, then it’s your lucky day! Scar the Tumble Town tour guide at your service!” Scar backed up so he could bow deeply, holding out his sheriff’s hat, before he stood back up and looked around. “If it’s a Tango of the Tek variety you’re looking for, then he should be at the ranch.”

Shelby nodded, following Scar off the train. “Ranch, right, of course.” She paused. “Um, what ranch, exactly?”

“Why the one Jimmy rebuilt for him, right over there.” He pointed his cane in the direction he was leading. There was, indeed, a tower with a small pen beside it and a large ‘R’ as Tango had described. It was modest, and only a bit confused, placed off in the corner. 

“Rebuilt?” She asked in confusion.

“Well I burnt down the original.”

“Oh…”

“And Grian burnt down the replacement.”

“I see…” 

“So when Jimmy found out Tango was here on a server with no fire tick he rebuilt it for him to stay in! Isn’t that just the sweetest thing?”

“Mhm,” Shelby nodded in agreement, still a bit concerned. Then it clicked. “Oh! You mean in that life game?”

“Yes, yes, of course!” Scar sang. “Tango and Jimmy were soulmates in the last one, you see. Absolutely saccharine, they were.”

“So I’ve heard.” Shelby giggled. It was a shame Tango always changed the subject when he caught himself. It was nice to see him so happy.

Hopping up and down in front of the door to the rebuilt ranch was Tango, still in all his froggy glory. “Master Shrubs! Scar!” He cheered. “My heroes!”

“Be careful, the desert’s no place for a frog.” Shelby warned, ushering them all into the shade of the ranch’s first floor.

Scar crouched down beside Tango, examining his friend’s new form. “Oh my, Miss Shubble was right. You’re so tiny and amphibious.”

“I am, I am!” Tango seemed almost proud. “Man, though, you were right. It’s a real pain to get around and do stuff as a frog.”

“We gotta figure out how to turn you back.” She agreed. Out came her shulkers to create a temporary brewing set-up.

Scar hummed. “You’re looking for a cure? Perhaps I could be of assistance, I know a bit of magic myself.”

“Would you? Oh, that’d be great. I don’t even know what was in the brew he drank!”

“Absolutely, I’ll help in any way I can.”

So, they brainstormed. Books open and ingredients laid out, they at least figured out what was most likely the original concoction. 

The longer Tango was stuck, the more obvious the downsides of being a frog became, until he was whining in frustration at his redstone box. “Why don’t they make frog-sized comparators?” He cried as he slipped down to the floor.

“Oh, I think I have an idea!” Scar suddenly declared.

Tango immediately hopped onto his head, far too eager. “What is it?”

“Well, as it happens, I have an extensive knowledge of fairytales in particular, and there happens to be one tale with quite a similar situation.”

Shelby gasped, clapping her hands with excitement. “Oh, of course! Fairytales works very similar to lore magic. And There’s nothing more powerful than lore magic on this server!”

“Exactly!”

“So then, the cure to this is…?” Tango seemed utterly lost.

Both Shelby and Scar turned to him excitedly, declaring in sync, “True love’s kiss!” 

“Huh?”

Scar threw out his hands in a grand gesture. “True love’s kiss, Tango! It can turn a frog into a prince!”

“But I’m not a prince!” He laughed.

“Not yet, but you could be.”

“And someone would have to kiss me.” 

“Not just any kiss.” Shelby’s finger wagged. “True love’s kiss. It has to be someone who loves you.”

“Yeah, well that just makes it even harder.” Tango leapt between them and plopped down onto his froggy bottom, folding his arms. “Who would want to kiss me, anyways? I'm just a sad little blazefrog.”

Shelby placed her thumb to her chin. Someone who loved Tango, who he could be a prince for… Well, there was exactly one person with her, admittedly limited, knowledge that came to mind. And he even lived quite close by. “What about Jimmy?” She asked.

Tango froze, his froggy face distorting into a Picasso for a brief moment, before he sputtered out. “Wh-what? What?” Shelby didn’t know frogs even could blush.

Scar snapped his fingers. “Jimmy, of course! It’s perfect.” 

“No- no! It’s not perfect! Why Jimmy!” Tango stumbled over both his words and feet in his rush to stand.

Shelby helped him, holding him up by his hands until he could untangle his legs. “You’re soulmates, aren’t you? What’s one more kiss? I’m sure he’ll be fine with the slime.”

“No, we- we aren’t-! I mean, it’s not like-” Tango seemed to crack, and all at once the panic seemed to loop in on itself and die. He spun around, hopping off towards the ladder. “You know what, being a frog doesn’t sound half bad. I’m just gonna, I’m gonna go make things frog-accessibilificated.”

“Tango?”

But he ignored her, hopping up onto the first step like a puppy trying to climb the stairs for the first time. His attempt to reach the second ended with him splatting against the floor. Still, he got up while grumbling to himself and tried again.

Splat.

Scar scooted up beside her, nudging her shoulder until she leaned in. “I'm not sure it was ever like that before they died.” He whispered, with an almost apologetic look on his face.

Shelby stared at him, dumbfounded. Tango either didn’t hear or was ignoring them, continuing his futile ascent.

Splat.

Well, that just did not compute. 

“Then… Then that’s even better, right?” Shelby suggested.

Splat?

Both boys turned to her.

“I mean, the only thing more powerful than true love’s kiss is true love’s first kiss.” She nodded proudly. It was almost guaranteed to work.

Tango slumped against the ladder. “Shubble- that’s not…” He flopped to the floor with a groan, his whole body turning red as he rolled in the dirt. A colour changing frog! Perhaps because of his flames? Shelby took the short spout of blubbering as a chance to jot it down in her notes. Scar gently lifted Tango and brought him back to their setup in the middle of his floor. It took several deep breaths for Tango to pull himself back together. “Me and Jimbo, we’re buddies! Ranchers. He doesn’t- I mean, if I was gonna try kissing Jimmy, then I might as well try it on Scar here, y’know?” 

Scar placed a hand over his heart, “Well I’m very flattered, Tango, but I don’t really feel that way towards you.”

“You see!”

Shelby raised an eyebrow. “That’s a totally different person.”

 “I- I mean, besides. Jimmy and I aren’t even that close.” The little frog threw up his hands as his skin went back to blue, and he began to hop back and forth. “I mean we were soulmates and all that, but that was barely a month! And it was very stressful circumstantials, you know? So it was sorta like, like he had to get along with me then, y’know?" He paused briefly, rubbing the side of his head with his webbed hand. "And it’s not like I was really a great soulmate or anything. And then it's like "poof" and then we're back to our own servers, y'know?” 

“Oh, Tango.” Shelby sighed, giving him a sympathetic smile.

“So, you-? Okay, so maybe, uh…” The pacing slowed, until Tango stumbled to a complete stop beside her knee, slouching down. She picked him up under his arms, holding up the miserable rag of a frog at eye level. He looked anywhere but at her. “Yeah, so yeah. Like, even if, maybe even if… pfft, I mean it’d be pretty weird and lame if it worked at this point even if, right? Kinda pathetic, really.” He let out a poorly faked laugh with a full body shrug. “I mean what sort of loser would still love someone they haven’t even talked to in four months? I mean- hypothetically, if they did to begin with. Which I- they totally didn't. Definitely wouldn’t work. No point in trying.”

His whole body was attempting to liquefy in her grip, little hands sadly plapping against her arm. Scar and Shelby glanced at one another, then Scar winked and got up.

“Then I guess we’ll have to look for some other method.” Shelby said, placing him in her overalls’ front pocket. “Let’s look over the ingredients again, maybe there’s something we missed.”

“Yeah… Yeah.” Tango shook his head and slapped his face. “Okay.”

The two brewed all sorts of concoctions, burning through their supplies. Shelby continued to glance out the entrance while Tango insisted on mixing the ingredients himself, thinking perhaps that might do something. 

A thought occurred.

“You’re a blazeborn, aren’t you?”

“I’m a froggy!” Tango said, then laughed as she booped him over the head with her stirring spoon. “Yeah, why?”

“What if we… If the tea I made before was a transformation tea, and it turned you into a frog because of the toadstool… Then what if we try making it with a blaze rod instead?”

“Oh… Oh, you’re a genius, Master Shrubs!”

“The question is, how do you make tea from a blaze rod?”

They both paused, looking at their brewing stand. Technically, all their brews were made with a blaze rod, and there weren’t many left. Maybe they should powder it? Tango hopped into the shulker, rummaging through until he popped out with a red bulb. “What about this? If we replaced the toadstool with netherwort, and then placed the blaze rod directly into the brew to boil it so it disintegrates into the tea!”

“Both are from the nether, makes sense to me.” She shrugged. If it didn’t work it didn’t work.

And so they had netherwort-blaze rod-rose tea. It smelled utterly putrid, but no one said a witch’s brew would smell good. Hesitantly, Tango took a sip. From the way his face contorted it tasted just as bad, but he bravely drank as much as his tiny frog body could. 

Nothing happened.

She pouted. “Well, that was a bust. What next-”

“Hellooo, I’m back.”

“Uh, howdy?”

Shelby grinned. Tango froze. Before he could reboot and jump away she grabbed him in a tight grip, then spun around to welcome their guests. Jimmy stood beside Scar, full sheriff garb, and a shulker under his arm. Scar stood beside him, a hand on his back and a proud smirk on his face.

“Hello, Jimmy!”

“Scar said you and Tango needed some help? I don’t do much potiony things, but I brought all the ingredients I could find.” He glanced around, eyebrows furrowed. “What’s this about? Where’s my rancher?”

A meep came from her hands. Shelby laughed, holding Tango out. “Funny you should ask.”

“Uh, hi.” Tango waved his webbed hand nervously.

Jimmy blinked. “… Tango?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my gosh…”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my gosh, you’re tiny!”

“I’m tiny.”

“And amphibious!”

Scar nodded, “Definitely amphibious.”

“And… adorable!”

Tango squeaked, but Shelby only held him up higher. “Very adorable.”

“What… what happened?” He mumbled, eyeing Tango like a kid who hadn’t yet gotten permission to pet a stranger’s dog. Shelby could see his hand twitching at his side before he grabbed them to hold them still.

“There was a bit of a mix up at lunch, unfortunately.” She explained, doing her best to keep Tango from running. Thankfully, he had turned into a creature without teeth or claws. “But you’re just in time to help us fix it!”

Jimmy finally dragged his gaze away from Tango. “Me? I mean of course, but what can I do?”

“Well, you see, we aren’t quite sure how to cure him, but we’ve got a bit of a theory.” Scar drawled, resting a hand on the sheriff’s shoulder. “And you can help us test it out.”

Jimmy nodded enthusiastically. “Anything to help my rancher buddy. What do I do?”

Shelby held Tango up. “Kiss him.”

If sheriffing didn’t pan out for Jimmy, he would make a remarkable living statue. In fact, after ten solid seconds of Shelby being unsure if the man straight up died on his feet, he only broke character to turn tomato red. “Wh-Wot?”

Scar explained. “In fairytales, true love’s kiss can turn a cursed frog into a handsome prince. And with all the lore magic around here we figured maybe that would work!”

“Uh, uh-huh…” Jimmy had gone horse, now unable to quite look at Tango. One of his hands had risen to his chest, fiddling with the edge of his vest, while the other rubbed his elbow comfortingly. “S-so, you think someone needs to kiss. Him.”

“Someone who loves him, yes.” Scar agreed.

Jimmy sputtered again, before he gave up trying to speak entirely. Shelby could see his brain running a million miles an hour, face occasionally growing darker as his eyes darted about. “What… And that will for sure work? If I kiss… Kiss him?”

“Well, there’s no guarantee." She shyly admitted in a whisper of a voice. Tango noticeably tensed. "But you gotta at least try and shoot your shot, right?”

“Alright, that’s enough!” Shelby gasped as Tango finally wiggled his way out of her grip. He plopped to the floor and quickly leapt out of the way before he could be grabbed again. He reoriented himself, his glare only somewhat dampened by the red colour he was now turning. “Look, Jimmy, don’t listen to them. If you’re… You don’t have to do that.”

Jimmy paused, and she could see him chewing the inside of his cheek. “But how will you-”

“They don’t even know if it’ll work! It most likely won't, it's just silly. We’ll find another way, don’t worry about me.”

The room fell silent, if only for a moment. Jimmy’s wings slumped, refusing to look anyone in the eye, then straightened back up. “I’ll do it.”

“You will?” Shelby asked, trying not to sound too elated.

Tango hopped forward. “Jimmy-”

“No harm in trying, right? Might as well before you waste any more potion ingredients.” Jimmy looked away, but held out his hands for the frogified man to hop into. There was a determined, almost curious look in his eye. “Gotta at least try and help my rancher.”

Tango hesitated, looking first to Shelby, who nodded encouragingly, then Scar, who backed away from Jimmy’s side. With a deep sigh he leapt up into his soulmate’s palms. “Alright, then.”

At first Jimmy seemed to freeze once again, now that Tango was actually in his grasp. Tango certainly made no move to encourage the other forward, just as stiff. Several seconds past, both looking like deer in headlights. Well, at least Shelby now knew why nothing ever happened. Then, almost painfully slowly, Jimmy began to raise Tango towards his face. 

Shelby felt her body tense in anticipation, unsure if she should look away for their privacy, or monitor for Tango. 

Tango made a few small stumbling steps to the edge of Jimmy’s palms, leaning out. Jimmy nervously side glanced at them. Then, he closed his eyes, leaned forward, and-

Poof!

The room filled with a magical blue haze, which swiftly imploded back into a humanoid shape, tail first whipping free before the rest was released from its hazy grasp.

Where a frog once was, now stood Tango, eyes too-tightly close and mouth held nervously stiff, Jimmy’s hand laid on his upper arms, Jimmy himself staring stunned maybe only an inch from his face. The blazeborn’s eye blinked open in confusion, then blinked again, squinted at Jimmy, then gasped as he jerked back. The sudden movement seemed to snap Jimmy out of his daze, and he too let go of his rancher to back away.

“I’m… I’m back?” Tango squeaked, face still red. He patted himself down. “I’m back!”

It was Jimmy’s turn to blink dumbly. “But… how? I didn’t…”

They didn't?

Then, it clicked.

“Oh!” Shelby smacked the side of her head. “Oh, the tea must have finally kicked in!”

“What?”

“The netherwort-blaze rod-rose tea! You drank so little of it cause you were so tiny, it must have needed a bit to actually take effect!”

It took several moments for the information to settle into everyone’s brain.

Jimmy slumped over a bit, seemed caught between several emotions, “A-ah. I see. Yeah, that- that probably makes sense.”

“Oh.” Was all Tango could say.

Scar clapped his hands together. “Well, that solves that. Isn’t that great?”

“Yeah… Yeah, and now we have both a brew for frogification and de-frogification, too!” Tango laughed, rubbing the back of his head. He was hunched over slightly, swerving his head around until he spotted his apprentice hat. Swiftly, faster than Shelby could even follow, he snatched up the big floppy hat and slammed it down on his head, pulling the brim low until none of his face was visible. “So, uh, problem solved, I guess! Time to get back to training. Sorry for- for bothering you guys!”

With that he was out the entrance. He paused a few steps off, most likely realizing he was missing an elytra, before he full-speed bolted towards the nether portal instead.

Jimmy still stood a bit stunned in the middle of the room, gaping like a fish, before he too pulled up his hat. “Uh, yeah. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.” He muttered. “You can, um, you can keep the ingredients I brought. Like I said, I don't really use them.” 

Shelby smiled, and rubbed his shoulder. “Thank you anyways, Jimmy.”

The three finished gathering up her stuff and cleaning up the mess she and Tango had made. Part way through she got a whisper from Tango, who had realized he left everything behind and apologized profusely. Oh, she had taken on an even bigger disaster of an apprentice than she first thought. Shelby told him it was okay and to just clean up the mess they made of lunch instead.

“That’s the last of it, I reckon.” Jimmy said, a little bit more back to earth now as he dusted off his hands proudly.

“Thanks again for the help, you two.” Shelby nodded. “I’ll try to be more careful in the future.”

“Fat chance of that!” He snickered, joined by Scar. Shelby stuck her tongue out at them before pulling out her broom.

“Oh!” She paused, turning back to Jimmy. “By the way, Jimmy?”

“Yeah?”

“A prince doesn’t have to be a frog before you can kiss them, you know.”

He squeaked, blush creeping back onto his face as his wings curled around him. Behind him, Scar covered his face before his laugh could escape.

She let out a cackle as she floated up into the air, calling out one last time before she departed for good. “Come visit the swamp for tea any time you like, Sheriff!”

[bacon-sandwich-of-dionysus]

Bloodhound. (A Ghost x AFAB!reader fic)

Act One, Chapter Three: Encapture

Literally had to re-upload this because I made such a dumb grammar mistake! Ugh! Anyways, if there are any more, I am so sorry... with the poll added, I can't edit posts and there is so much text to wade through :(.

Also, what the actual heck am I doing with Ghost?! Like, this poor, poor man. This is just turning into 'how far can we push Ghost before he breaks'? This is supposed to be an 'x reader' lmaoo. I mean, 'x reader'?! More like, 'x life-ruiner'.

As for Graves' side... well, uh... Graves has um... a mishap. I really hope these Arcadian Sons come across as scary to you- I'm trying to go for that!

Word count: 11, 570 (the length of this chapter should be a warning)

Warnings: Strong language, violence, gore, mentions of trauma, the sheer length of this chapter and uh... kicks to the groin. (I hate myself.)

You were frozen on the spot, looking at him, one foot ready to take a step forward into the barracks and the other fervent in remaining on the other side of the threshold. Your blood had turned to ice, heat concentrating in your cheeks as you desperately tried to wrack your brain for ideas on how to proceed. However, you had turned to stone under his gaze, thoughts coming to a standstill, unable to form sentences you could understand. This was mortifying, no… this was beyond mortifying. It had been five minutes since your last encounter with Ghost and the image was still fairly fresh in your brain. Your nose wrinkled a little as you cringed slightly, the mere allusion to what you had seen making your stomach twist itself into knots. 

Ghost was paralysed too, staring at you. Oh, how you wanted him to pretend you weren’t even there! Although, you could have sworn you saw a bit of yourself in him, that same frazzled expression in his eyes. You were both locked in a stalemate, only electing to act once the other had moved. The two of you could be here for a while… or you couldn’t- provided that one of you would decide to bite the bullet and do something. 

As Ghost opened his mouth to speak, he watched you let out a noise which sounded vaguely like distress. Then, like you were never here, you spun on your heel and left, quick footsteps sounding your frantic dash away from the barracks and away from him. 

SIghing, the man brought a hand to his masked face. 

Yeah, he was positively kicking himself, I should have locked the door. 

Once you had gained enough distance, you turned and leaned against the brick wall, digging your hands into your face as you let out an exasperated groan. You should have knocked on the door. Whilst this base wasn’t brimming with personnel, it was still fairly busy. People could be found everywhere, taking advantage of every facility they could get their hands on. Moreover, judging by what Laswell had told you about 141’s ‘great big misadventure’, these guys would most likely pounce on any opportunity to have a hot shower. 

Picking your heavy, reluctant feet off the floor, you turn to continue your trek down the corridor, only to be suddenly confronted with Gaz. 

You almost jumped out of your skin. 

“AHHHH!” 

That scream was borderline bloodcurdling.

 “Gaaaz…?” 

A weak smile crept onto your face as you tried to appear as casual as humanly possible, resting some of your weight on the wall by leaning against it on your side as you stuck up a pair of finger guns.

Smooth. Very smooth. 

His brows furrowed together. 

“Are you okay, Y/N?” He asked, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Pffft!” You brushed the question aside with the wave of your hands, “I’m fine, I just got a bit spooked. “

“I can tell. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He remarked, chuckling.

You laughed… a little too hard.

Gaz was a little taken aback by your slightly unnerved skittishness but knew at the same time that, if Laswell was to be believed, you had gone through a lot. He didn’t know the details but then again, he didn’t need to know. He got the idea: Y/N was a typical runaway. Almost cartoonishly typical. He had noticed that you had been constantly looking over your shoulder last night, hurrying to places within the base like you were being chased by someone watching you from the shadows and dark crevices. If he was honest, he felt a little sorry for you. It was clear you had been shaken by something. Something that had dealt a heavy blow, and if the gnarly scar running straight down your lip didn’t indicate that, your behaviour did.  

“Anyways,” Gaz cleared his throat, “I was wondering if you wanted to join Rudy and me for some yoga? I don’t want to be presumptuous or anything, but… I think you could do with a bit of, you know, mindful meditation?”

His brows gave way to slight worry as awaited your decision, subtly chewing on his lip.

You took a moment to reflect on the offer. You hadn’t really done much yoga before, but it wasn’t like you didn’t know anything about it. Besides, it might help with clearing your head of all the shit that was swirling around inside it: the teeth, the claws, the words they hurled at you along with their bullets… and also this morning. 

Yeah. You exhaled softly, It would be stupid to pass this opportunity up. 

He couldn’t help but feel a little warm, fuzzy feeling build in his chest as he watched a genuine smile spread across your face. 

“Yeah.” You nodded, “I think I could do with a bit of mindful meditation too.”

He gestured for you to follow him and you gladly did so, making an effort to not lag too far behind. The sergeant led you down the corridor, one which headed southwards, opposite to the path which had led you to the bathroom of doom. Soon, he stopped, pushing open a set of fire doors and opening the way to the courtyard, where another man turned to wave at him. Presumably, this was Rudy. 

“I see Y/N has decided to join us!” He smiled, “Didn’t you manage to persuade the others?”

Gaz sighed, “Price said he’d rather sit this one out and have a smoke and Laswell is busy with… Laswell stuff.”

“What about Soap and Alejandro?”

“Alejandro’s still finishing up breakfast and Soap said he was good.”

Rudy seemed a bit deflated.

“What did Ghost say?”

“He answered with ‘shower’, pointed in the vague direction of the bathroom and uh… didn’t really say anything after that.”

Rudy wasn’t sure of what to make of that reply but supposed he’d just have to accept it.

“At least we have someone who was happy to give this a shot.” The sergeant major gestured to you, “Let’s hope this CD player works.”

Rudy busied himself with flicking through the various CDs he could find in the cardboard box next to the player, which was precariously placed on a creaky stool, while Gaz began to roll out the mats. As the two got on with setting up, you decided to have a little look around. 

This courtyard was a mess of concrete and struggling plant-life, various weeds trying to break through the cracks in the cement, competing with each other for a spot of sunlight. Despite the lack of floral displays or perfect green lawn, the asphalt garden was still somewhat a garden and with that came this atmosphere of tranquillity. 

“So,” you shyly began, still eyeing your surroundings, “how come you guys decided to do some yoga?”

“Felt like we needed it, I guess.” Gaz shrugged, setting a mat on the floor.

He dusted off his hands, looking up at you.

“And it also makes me feel a little at home. I used to do this regularly, believe it or not.” He smiled, “But then we had… well, Shepherd and… the stolen missiles… But, you know, we have a moment to breathe now so I’m taking it.”

“As am I!” Rudy added, placing a CD into the player, setting the lid down with a click.

“I see.” 

Good on them, you thought to yourself, Good on them!

Perhaps you should make a hobby out of this once you’ve found somewhere to properly settle, eh? You couldn’t help but smile at the thought. 

It seemed you were enjoying it so far, relishing in the ‘downward dog’ stretch, feeling your body sing with gratitude as your muscles made a start in releasing some of the tension. 

Ghost recognised your voice as he walked down the corridor, catching a glimpse of you in the sunlight, laughing as Gaz tried to keep you steady in a paired ‘tree pose’. He had to admit, it was a strange scene before him, the contentment of Gaz, Rudy, you and the instructional tape’s soundtrack of Tibetan bowls contrasting with the backdrop of armoured vehicles and heavy cargo. Ghost couldn’t help but pause and watch you, no real reason forming behind the action, other than it being most likely boredom. 

“Steady, Y/N! You’re going to-”

You and Gaz fell like dominoes, with you landing right on top of him, howling with laughter. Rudy was the only one who remained standing, perfectly balanced, not quivering one bit. A small grin made itself known on his face; even with his eyes closed, he could tell what was going on. Despite you being clearly no good at this, paired poses were most certainly not your thing with how many times you had fallen and taken poor Gaz with you, you couldn’t help but have fun. There was no real weight here to your actions, no real consequence for mishaps, no one scolding you or threatening to cleave your head from your shoulders… errors were allowed to just be. You were allowed to just be. 

Ghost was still watching, hooded eyes narrowing in curiosity. He was still trying to see what you were all about. Yesterday didn’t really give much about you apart from politeness and an eager aim to make a good first impression. Last night and this morning had presented a much more skittish side to yourself. And here? Well, here he was seeing certainly a more relaxed Y/N. You were a cackler, he’d give you that, unafraid to conceal your true laugh. Hearty chortles and snickers left your mouth as Gaz made a comment which sent you and Rudy over the edge, your laughs only intensifying as you watched Rudy lose balance and fall down. This yoga session definitely wasn’t about peace and tranquillity, but it didn’t matter, you guys were having a good time. Ghost chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he moved on to go grab something from the mess hall.

He guessed he just liked the way you smiled. 

As you were settling down, still wiping tears from your eyes, you spotted a figure in the doorway.  Your senses told you this was ‘Ghost’. You felt your heartbeat begin to quicken a little, only to then die down again once you saw him turn and walk away. Like a deer watching a wolf turn back to the forest after a long chase, you completely slackened with relief. He walked on, not even paying you much attention. You followed him with your eyes until he was out of view. 

Did he not care?

Should you not care?

Did you overthink that whole exchange? Did you need to run?

Maybe you’d go apologise. It would be a selfish apology, coming from a need to wrap this whole thing up on your end, mark this situation as officially over, but… maybe he wouldn’t care for any reasoning behind your confession and just take it. Not necessarily accept your ‘sorry’, but you didn’t need that from him. 

The way he nonchalantly moved on, like you weren’t even there, though most likely recognising you along with Gaz and Rudy, was comforting. 

“Okay!” Rudy’s voice broke through your thoughts, “I’ve fast-forwarded it to the… I think it’s called the ‘Shavasana’ part?” 

“Yeah, that’s ‘corpse pose’.” Gaz explained, getting up from his cross-legged position to go listen and assess the instructions.

He turned his head, so his ear was facing the speaker, paying close attention to the CD’s soothing voice. 

“Yeah,” he nodded to himself, “That’s the ‘cool down’ part.”

Then, the sergeant turned to you. 

“I know we’ve been giggly, but I think this part’s going to be better for us if we’re real calm.”

You nodded, trying to get the last of your chuckles out through taking steady breaths as guided by Gaz. You smiled a little, doing your best to focus as Gaz talked you through the breaths.

“In for four.”

You breathed in, counting away in your head. 

“Out for six.”

You exhaled, counting again. 

“Try to breathe from the bottom of your belly,” Gaz placed a hand on his tummy to show you where he meant, “and then fill your chest with air.”

You did as he said, needing a few goes before you mastered it. 

And when you exhaled, breathing out from your chest first, then your belly, it was like a part of you had left with it, dissipating into the air around you. 

“How’s that? Feel relaxed?”

You nodded. 

All three of you lay side by side, getting comfortable on your backs, ready to enter ‘corpse pose’. 

“Now, close your eyes.” The CD instructed, “Place your hands either with your palms facing up to receive or facing downwards on the ground to release.”

Hmm, you pondered to yourself, closing your eyes, Do I want to give or receive?

To let go or accept? 

It was a tough call. 

There was a lot, particularly a lot of pain, you wanted to give up but at the same time, you wanted to receive the privileges of freedom, or at least have the hope to receive them. 

However, if you wanted to receive the boons of your new life, you would first have to properly let go of the restraints of your old one. 

Release.

You placed your hands beside you, facing downwards. 

Soon, you were back with your old friend, your haunted mind. 

In the dark, you could see the formings of your pursuers. Teeth, eyes, claws. Guns, bullets, knives. Body armour tearing, nails rendering your skin. 

You had survived them all. 

In for four. 

They were trying to put you back in the chase, when you were afraid and running from the Red Room. 

Out for six. 

However, you weren’t afraid enough to picture the setting. The pale moonlight, the forest floor, the echoes of howls and the gnashing of jaws… they were all merely descriptions. Just words. No images, no scenes. You refused to make the sights and smells tangible. Words they were and words they shall remain. You couldn’t be scared forever. 

As you lay in your mind, another memory came forth. 

An older lamia, the one you had escaped with… who unfortunately didn’t make it. She… you were both held down by those dogs. Unsupervised, they had decided to take punishment into their own hands. 

You had seen horrible things. People beaten and bloodied beyond repair. And yet, that lamia… she had said something to you that night.

“You will learn to love men again.”

It was strange, but it stuck with you for some reason. 

“You will learn to love men again.”

You had denied it for quite some time, but in this moment of solitude, with it being just you and your thoughts, you decided it was time to acknowledge the apprehension that had been plaguing you the most. You were afraid Laswell’s lot could do what those Arcadian Sons had done. You were afraid they would try something, that they were the same. 

You had denied it. However, the only other company you had ever had before were either Arcadian Sons, the whitecoats which studied them and your comrades from the Red Room. And, as for Arcadian Sons, a lot weren’t kind. Not all. But a lot. 

As shown by that night. 

Unit 4, the ones which had hunted you and your band of escapees, they were monsters. Regardless of what shape they took.

Men like them deserved to be tortured for eternity, put in pits of fire and burned for centuries. Have unspeakable things done to them. You wanted each and every one of those sick fucks to feel your pain, feel the fear you felt. 

Fear often wore the dress of anger. 

You wouldn’t let anyone hurt you like that ever again. You were in control now. 

***

“Oh shit!” 23 smiled, “I got the camcorder working again!”

She held it up, zooming in on the conversing soldiers near the rooftop’s edge. 

“Okay,” she was still grinning, eager to present to her imaginary audience, “so here we have 7418 who you guys know already. Then, there’s 7629, 72’s worked with him, and she says he’s alright. Going ‘round the circle, there’s 7152, he trained some of my roommates. And there, the one closest to the edge, that’s our new packmaster! 7223!”

She panned over to get a good view of him between the gesturing hands and shrugging shoulders of his workmates, only to quickly conceal the camera as she watched his masked head turn to face her. 23 muttered an obscenity as she watched him approach. 

“Have you been recording this whole time?!” He held his hand out for the device, “Gimme the camera.”

23 looked up at him with big brown eyes, her prized possession remaining close to her chest. 

7418 chuckled, placing a hand on Graves’ shoulder. 

“Relax, brother. She likes filming things. Besides, it’s not like she gets to keep what she records.”

Phillip slowly turned to look at him, cocking his head to one side. 

“The Red Room wipes these things. This is a harmless toy for her, let her play whilst we continue planning.”

Graves looked between 23 and 7418. Underneath the mask was a face of confusion. This was most unorthodox, especially for a guy with his experience of covert ops. Nevertheless, he conceded, letting her continue to film, hoping that 7418 was right and that he wouldn’t get any shit if it turned out that 23 shouldn’t even be in possession of that camcorder and its shell of ‘Hello Kitty’ stickers. 

The men stood like gargoyles in front of their twilight backdrop, perched on the rooftop, their faceless heads surveying the streets below, slowly rising to behold the target location: a mansion just beyond the trees, sticking out like a sore thumb. This was tantalising, the target within view. Graves felt his jaw tense, the anticipation for action gripping his body with talons that further and further tightened their hold on him. Out of his periphery, he could see his fellow Arcadian Son, 7152, quiver a little. 

Graves felt his heart skip a beat or two, it felt like only yesterday he was here… with 141 and the Vaqueros. Now, however, he was in a completely different position, with a tighter leash around his neck.

One thing that did unnerve him about this mission was… well, their numbers. Back when he was part of the PMC, he had the security and the subsequent confidence that came with knowing there were people to watch your back and also to be made distractions out of. Right now, on the other hand, there were only six of them, counting the lamias.

“We haven’t got much in terms of numbers,” he sighed, turning around to address his men, “So we’re going to have to make a lot of noise to get people to scram and clear the path for Sin Nombre’s extraction.”

“The girls have got some burning canisters on them, haven’t they?” 7629 suggested.

“That’s a whole villa of people though, of obstacles…” 7418 sighed, “I don’t think the canisters will be enough.”

“Well, 72 and 23 can also make ‘em see things as well. That’s what we did on one of my last missions… just made the poor guys think there were fifty of us when there were only twelve.”

“What do you mean 72 and 23 can make people see things?” Graves asked. 

“Lamias can put people to sleep, make people hallucinate… they mess with people’s minds.” 7629 explained matter-of-factly, “They’re good for small packs like ours, even if it can be a pain takin’ care of them. Never been one for kids, myself.”

7629 gestured to the two girls doing stupid poses, each vying for their spotlight in front of the camcorder and its grainy footage.

7152 rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Takin’ care of them isn’t even the hardest part though. I always find it’s keeping them out of trouble. I’ve seen way too many instances of friendly fire.”

That’s when Graves had a lightbulb moment.

Sift through the herd. 

Like a spider pulling together the threads of its web, Graves gathered the information around him and formulated a plan. This was going to be a fairly easy job… provided people stuck to their stations.

“We need ‘em to think we’ve brought a whole army to one villa, then.” He remarked, before getting their attention, “Look, I’ll have the girls have cut the power off and started fucking with people. Then, I need two guys to help keep folks running around like headless chickens. Whilst they’re doing that, I need one of y’all to lead Sin Nombre to me.”

“Take all the glory for yourself?” 7629 scoffed, “Doesn’t seem fair.”

Graves let out a puff of air through his nose.

“For talking back to me, you’re not going to pick your role. You’ll be on crowd dispersal.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” 7629 turned away, groaning.

“Who wants to be on crowd control too?”

7152 raised his arm.

“Great. That leaves you, 7418, to be the heel-snapper.”

“Heel-snapper?”

“I just made that up. You get the idea.”

They all let out small laughs, shaking their heads. However, soon, their laughter faded into silence, and they returned to staring at the villa once more, ready to spring this plan into action.

Though they did possess the appearance and mannerisms of regular covert ops soldiers, it was evident that all were a hair trigger away from rabid chaos. 

7418 scratched at his neck, hoping to be able to relieve the itch nibbling away at him under the fabric of his baselayer. 

“I haven’t seen Valeria in ages.” He commented as he scratched away, “I used to work for her, you know.”

Graves turned around. 

“You worked for Sin Nombre? How’d you end up here?” He asked, curious.

“She sold me.” Was the reply. 

“What?!”

“Well, she sold my body. I received a fatal wound from a Vaquero. Where one typically sees loss,” he chuckled wryly, “Valeria saw opportunity.”

Graves sensed there was more coming. 

“And?”

“And now she’s stuck with having the Foundation coming back for her services. They let her hide away from the authorities and she has to do us favours. Such is the price of being an ex-employee.”

“Valeria worked at the Foundation?”

“Was a lamia… so I’m told.”

“I see.”

7629 chuckled, taking a deep breath. 

“Can’t wait to get on with this, ‘Commander’,” he exhaled contentedly as he turned to Graves, “I haven’t had a good meal in ages.”

“What’s that got to do with the mission, soldier?”

“You’ll see, friend.” Was the mysterious reply.

A few minutes later, a familiar voice crackled a little, the static trying to break it up the words emerging from the radio on Phillip’s chest.

“7223, this is 23. Do you read me?”

He pressed down on his radio. 

“Loud and clear, 23. What have you got?”

“We’ve made it to the backdoor, sir.”

“Undetected?” 

“Undetected.”

They all breathed sighs of relief, some patting their mates on the back.

“Good job. Pick the lock and get inside. Once you’ve sounded the alarm, we’ll take care of the rest.”

Ssssounded. He cringed at the sound of his own voice. The mouthpiece sitting under his mask, though uncomfortable, did allow him to speak… at the cost of giving him a slight lisp. 

“Roger that, sir.”

23 let go of her radio and squatted down beside her teammate. She could hear the quiet clicks and muffled metal groans as 72 tinkered with the lock on the door. Though the mansion had many, much sturdier reinforcements to keep unwanted guests outside… someone had forgotten to brace the entrance to the kitchen. Not that the Las Almas cartel thought that'd be an issue, they were planning a get-together tonight and easy movement to the bins outside was something they were willing to allow now that they had upped the number of guards on patrol.

Getting one of the guys down here would’ve definitely cocked this whole operation up. Graves had suspected that after her previous capture, Valeria had taken further precaution for her next soiree, seeing as she had this place locked up tighter than a miser’s purse. Her confidence oozed from every manned balcony and every dark corner where she had posted a lurking sicario. Self-assured and as cocky as ever, there was no doubt Valeria would be lounging in her seat at the head of some banquet table, feasting while her organisation continued to infect the streets of Las Almas. 

“Hurry up!” 23 whispered, spotting an armed sicario passing through the gate, looking to be heading to the side entrance- a.k.a. their hiding spot. 

The pick snapped as the words left her mouth and 72 sighed. 

“Don’t rush me. I’m trying to get this open without making it look like an intrusion.” 

“You’re taking too long…” 23 growled, bringing the scope to her eyes once more, “I got eyes on a guard coming this way.” 

“Well, send him the other way.”

23 shook her head. 

“Can’t. Don’t want to risk Sin Nombre detecting us.”

72’s shoulders slumped. 

“Quicken it up, mate. He’s not slowing down.” 

“Shush. I’m trying to focus.”

23 leaned back a little.

“Shush? Don’t you ‘shush’ me. I’m the one watching your back.”

“Well, shut up and keep doing that.”

“You fucking-”

23’s radio crackled. 

“Girls, what’s taking so long?” Graves asked. 

23 rolled her eyes. 

“72’s going at a snail’s pace, sir.”

“And 23 keeps distracting me!”

The younger one turned back to the lock-picker with a face of absolute indignation. 

“Am not!”

“Yes, you are!”

“No! You’re-”

Graves stood on the rooftop, staring blankly into the distance as he listened to the girls’ staticy argument continue in hushed voices laced with petty venom. 7629 couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle, shaking his head.

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Yes!” 

“You bitch!”

At the sound of that word, something snapped in Graves. Immediately, he pressed down on the radio. 

“HEY!” An angry, authoritarian voice burst forth from the small communication devices on 23 and 72’s chests, “Don’t make me come down there. 23, stop harassing your teammate and keep your eyes peeled for anyone who approaches. 72, work faster and don’t talk back to 23, she’s the one keeping both of you alive.”

They both sighed, rolling their eyes, and resumed working in civil silence.

CLICK!

72 did a little fist-pump.

“I’m in!” 

Gently, she pushed the door open, and they both headed inside, closing the door behind them. Once the pair were firmly in the building and still out of sight, 72 pressed down on her radio. 

“7223, we’re inside. Getting our shrouds on now.”

Graves smiled under his mask. 

“Good work. Let me know once you’ve located the fuse box.”

“Copy.” 

Graves nodded to 7152 and 7629. Both men left his side, ready to emerge from the shadows of the streets below and terrorise whatever poor cartel member stumbled onto their path.

Meanwhile, oblivious to the intrusion made by two lamias, Valeria and her men sat around an ornate dining table which almost stretched the length of the room. El Sin Nombre currently had a map in front of her showing all the details of the new Vaquero base. Decisive eyes narrowed as she clicked her pen, digesting what her lieutenants had just informed her of. 

Those British boys were back and had taken to squatting in the new Vaquero base. 

With those wanted men on her doorstep, Valeria knew that someone was going to be crawling to her for her services. Though El Sin Nombre was her official title, the woman wouldn’t have been surprised if someone out there had taken to calling her the ‘Middleman’. It was who she was half the time, the guy who meets you halfway down the line, the steppingstone between Point A and Point B. She was the one who set things in motion. Without Valeria, missiles don’t get moved and people don’t get paid. She was a lifeline to all: for criminals and governments. 

Valeria leaned back in her throne, exhaling. 

“I want to know if they’re planning on moving any time soon. Once they move, we no longer can do business with anyone who wants them, understood?”

“I’ll let the informant know to keep us posted, boss.”

“Good.” She nodded, “I also want to know if Shepherd has-”

Valeria paused and looked up to the ceiling, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Something was going to happen. Something wrong was going to happen.

A split second later and she was buried in shadow. 

“What the-”

“Is it the Special Forces?”

“Boss, what do we do?”

She swallowed hard. 

Shit. 

The druglord ran a hand through her hair, looking about for any signs of movement amidst the murk. Nothing. 

As for the sounds? Very little which stood out to her, everything layering into one, aggravating cacophony of confusion.  

“Get someone to check the power!” She demanded, slapping the shoulder of one of the lieutenants.  

He nodded and yelled for a sicario to do their job. 

Quiet footsteps walked along the hallway, his path lit by torch light as he peered down the length of his gun, pointing it squarely ahead of him. The sicario kept his breaths steady, knowing he had enough ammo to put down whoever the offenders were. 

Cowards. 

They wouldn’t even show their faces. 

 He got to the staircase and turned back, staring at its side. 

The door to the cupboard under the stairs had… vanished. Under the black balaclava, brows furrowed. The sicario could have sworn the door to the fuse box was right here. He squinted a little, hoping that perhaps he’d be able to spot the outline marking its presence once his eyes adjusted to the darkness.  

However, it was gone!

Valeria gritted her teeth. 

“This isn’t Special Forces…” She muttered under her breath. 

Then, turning to her closest and most useful underlings, she yelled in Spanish, “Alvaro! Lucas! Elian! Stay close to me!”

They bunched up together, guns loaded and ready. All she needed now was the first sign of action, then she’d know which direction to run in. 

 “Boys, whatever you do… don’t shoot them unless absolutely necessary.”

 “What?”

 “Just do as I say!”

The men nodded. She sounded like she knew what she was doing, like she had been in this situation before. Experience bore knowledge, and they weren’t looking to question her any time soon. Especially after Diego. After he decided to take matters into his own hands and expose Sin Nombre to the Vaqueros and their gringo friends… Well, the Las Almas Cartel finally got its first taste of near-death. Valeria never wanted that to happen ever again. 

Through the dark, they saw the shape of the sicario return. 

“Ma’am! I can’t find the fuse box!”

“What?” She scoffed, “What do you mean?”

“I could’ve sworn it was the door under the stairs but when I looked…”

“When you looked?”

“Nothing.”

I knew my senses wouldn’t fail me.

She smiled resignedly as she turned back to her lieutenants. It was them, wasn’t it? And they had brought their kid-soldiers with them.

“We do not separate. Understood? We need to be touching at all times.”

Once more, they nodded. 

The last thing Valeria wanted was someone sneaking up on her, let alone a little girl wielding a knife that was clearly made for an adult soldier. Weirdly enough, a mild wave of nostalgia overtook Valeria for a second. She remembered being that little girl, holding the knife of her overseer, wielding it like she knew how to use it. Whoever tripped the power, they should run whilst they still had time. 

A creak sounded overhead. Valeria kept deathly quiet, bringing a hand to her face to dampen her breaths. She advised her men to do the same. Thump. Thump. Thump. Footsteps echoed above. 

Any minute now. Any minute now. 

BANG!

“AHHHHHH!”

Gunshots and screams ensued and the signature drumbeat of someone tumbling down the stairs told Valeria that now it was time to run. 

“7223, this is 72. Sin Nombre is currently holed up in the main dining room on the ground floor. I got three guys here that 23 and I are trying to… ‘convince’ that the whole Mexican army have broken down the door.”

Graves grinned under his mask; the sounds of men howling numbers, which were constantly increasing in order of magnitude, signified that those girls were doing their job and doing it well.

“Roger that. 7629 and 7152 are makin’ some noise to try and disperse the rest of the crowd. Do your best to send her up to me.”

“Where are you?”

“Second floor. Entered via an open window in the study. 7418’s coming to you.”

“Copy.”

“Remember, this goes for you and 23, we want to make as much noise as possible, so don’t try and start any fights. Just clear the way for Sin Nombre. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

The two girls kept posted by the cupboard under the stairs, making sure that every single person who walked past it saw nothing but plain wood and saw that the halls were teeming with soldiers. 23 felt the sound in her chest as someone behind them was thrown down, slamming into the bottom step before landing onto the floor, too broken to even think about getting up. Jogging down the stairs, gun in hand was 7418 as expected. He casually flicked a loc over his shoulder as he hunted around for the girls. 

Sniffing the air, he managed to catch a whiff of something familiar. He turned to face their direction.

Just to make sure, he pressed down on his radio. 

“7418, here. Am I looking at 72 and 23 right now? Are you two standing by the cupboard under the stairs?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay, great. Get out of your shrouds and follow me.”

“Roger.”

He watched the two girls fade back into existence a few feet across from him, the dark hiding their shapes from everyone but him. If 7418 didn’t have his mask on, his eyeshine would be breaking through the dark like two ghostly peepers. 

They made their way to the dining room, hoping Valeria would be there, just as how they had left her. Except, she wasn’t. It wasn’t much of an issue, however, seeing as a door had been left to swing wide open, leading to a study connecting the dining room to yet another hallway. They could hear her distant calls for order as she watched the entire house unravel all around her. 

7418 grinned under his mask. This was going to be fun. 

As ‘heel-snapper’, it was his job to get the prey into 7223’s clutches and that was what he was going to do. He ran into the dining room, girls following closely behind, watching his six. A low growl rumbled from deep within his chest as he pointed his gun around, jumping to aim at any slight sign of movement. 

He caught sight of a man sat in the corner, cowering. 

7418 lowered his weapon, squatting down before the hunched figure.

“Where is Sin Nombre?” He asked in his native Spanish.

The quivering mess shakily pointed to the door leading out of the dining area into yet another hallway, which, no doubt, led back to the main staircase. 

“Thank you.”

With that, he got up and let the guy be.

It was chaos in this mansion: people were screaming, throwing things at walls, hoping to hit non-existent soldiers, while others lay curled up on the floor, muttering nonsense, brains reduced to a frothing, frantic mess under the influence of those two potent lamias.

Valeria pushed sicarios out the way, chucking them down the stairs as she clambered haphazardly up to the first floor. She didn’t dare look back, knowing already that someone was hot on her tail. It was an Arcadian Son, she could sense it, an aura of something drawing nearer and nearer, the stench of iron filling her nose. As the woman made it to the top of the staircase, she readied herself to take a right and dash into the nearest room she could find, hoping to perhaps use an open window or balcony exit to escape. However, that plan was thwarted as a sicario burst from her target room, tripping and landing on the floor with a thud. As he tried to scramble back onto his feet, a Son appeared from the dark depths of that boudoir, the lower front of his mask lifted to reveal a mouth coated in saliva.

They were such beasts.

Valeria shuddered, encouraging her remaining lieutenants to keep close to her and not to look at what would become of that poor sicario.

Not that they needed to look, the sounds of bones crunching and gurgling screams said it all.

The next floor would have to do, she couldn’t afford to waste time looking for another room on this floor.

Her pursuer was still after her and she caught a glimpse of him as she rounded the corner to grab hold of the next set of bannisters. As she saw him, her heart picked up the pace, recognising those reddish brown locs.

Jaime.

He watched her eyes soften.

Why bother? 7418 found this laughable, you are the reason I’m here.

His clawed gloves dug into the railing’s wooden surface as he drew himself up the staircase.

Valeria’s heart was in her mouth, watching the faceless demon draw nearer and nearer, throwing formidable cartel members out of the way like they were nothing but inconvenient obstacles. She was now down to two lieutenants, with Lucas meeting his premature end via a bullet through the eye socket, going straight through his brain. 

“7418 here. Target is heading up to the second floor via the main staircase.”

“Copy. Herd her up to the second floor. I’m moving into the master bedroom now. Found a few guys here that aren’t backing down.”

“Roger. I’m gonna have the girls throw a canister down to clear more of the way, make sure your mask’s filter is on.”

“Copy that.”

7418 gestured for 72 to throw another burning canister onto the ground and smoke out the rest of the floor as they reached the top of the staircase. She did so, chucking yet another metal container into the air, watching it slam to the ground and begin hissing. Another blanket of white smoke had been left in their wake, causing those who hadn’t leapt out of windows to start choking, gasping for air as their eyes teared up. 

23 made sure to keep any rasping victims of the crowd control continuously subdued, gesturing to 72 to continue to be backup for 7418 as she split from the trio. 23 had made the staircase her domain now, creeping over to each and every convulsing body, quickly putting them into a deep slumber with the cold kiss of her mind.

Only the lights from the city outside and the swarming flashlights of bewildered patrons guided her way, pupils constantly switching from being blown out to constricting. Her eyes ached, but not as much as her legs. Her thighs burned, adrenaline fuelling her to keep going as she clawed her way up the stairs to the second floor, hoping to find a quick exit onto the rooftop and maybe then she could disappear into the city. Remnants of the gas from below scratched at the back of her throat, ragged breaths rasping a little. 

“7418, I’m back in the study.”

“Understood. Making my way there now.”

Valeria stopped at the crossroads at the top of the staircase, she could see that the study had an open window, which swung back and forth in the breeze. 

However, there was also the master bedroom and its balcony. 

Decisions. Decisions. 

She looked behind and saw 7418 was still there. 

In the heat of the moment, she did something which she would soon realise was a grave mistake. Valeria grabbed one of her lieutenants and pushed him towards the door to the master bedroom, hoping the sudden movement would distract the Foundation dog long enough for her and whoever was left behind to make an escape.

As expected, though he was playing along, she watched 7418 dive after him, grabbing the lieutenant before he could scramble away. 

She didn’t care to look at what would become of him, dashing into the study and slamming the door behind her, locking it. 

Panting, she took a moment to collect herself and her breaths. 

“Boss! What the fuck?!”

“It was the only way, Alvaro! Now, stay close. Please.”

Shakily, he nodded as Valeria ran to the other side of the room to close the other door, locking it.

She could see the gas starting to seep through from underneath and promptly pulled her scarf over her nose and mouth, gesturing for Alvaro to do the same. Both of them, with their faces covered, rummaged round the study for weapons. With an adrenaline-filled, giddy giggle, Alvaro located a handgun. 

“Great! Okay, let’s-”

Valeria was interrupted as the door to the study, the one she had just locked, was ripped cleanly off its hinges. 

“Hey.”

She drew in a breath, edging towards the window, only for the masked soldier to fire at it, causing her to reel back with a yelp. 

“Don’t.” He spoke with a southern accent, though it was slightly distorted, presumably by the mask’s modulator, “No one needs to get hurt here.”

She scoffed. 

“Sin Nombre, you’re coming with us.”

“Whatever it is the Foundation wants this time… Tell them I refuse.” Valeria did her best to keep her head high.

“You and I both know they won’t be taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

She watched him take a step closer… and she took a step back. Valeria knew she recognised that voice, or at least this one sounded familiar to someone she had met fairly recently. Who was it? Her panicked mind couldn’t quite place him…

“Stand down and come with us.”

Valeria couldn’t. She couldn’t this time. She was sick and tired of these fuckers and their featureless, ghoulish faces.

“I’m giving you a chance here, girl.” Graves’ patronising call for civility made her blood boil.

Whilst Valeria still had some patience left to actually decide if it would be foolish to see if she had enough adrenaline and fear left in her to make a run for it, her remaining lieutenant’s patience had long since run dry. He looked between the two of them, before raising his gun and…

“ALVARO! DON’T-”

BANG!

Graves recoiled, the sound of something shattering like glass filling the room as he clutched his mask. 

“Canister broken. Alert. Canister broken.” An automated voice called out from within his helmet.

He looked down to see, along with the shards of broken canister, red liquid coating his gloved palm, dripping from it. 

“Alert. Canister broken. Alert-”

Valeria looked to her lieutenant, fuming. 

“Idiot! What have you done?!”

“What are you talking about? He was going to-”

Their voices faded into white noise as Graves’ head began to pound. A pain pulsed, seemingly from the back of his skull, moving across to fester behind his eyes. He groaned, holding his head in his hands as the pain only increased in intensity. 

Valeria watched with wide eyes as he staggered forward, red fumes spewing from the broken canister. 

This was her opportunity, she made her way to climb out the window, only for those very fumes to suddenly lunge at her, her throat seizing up. Valeria clawed at her neck, coughing, lowering herself from her perch on the windowsill. 

He could hear his heartbeat drum away in his ears. Something inside him burned.

“Alert. Alert. Alert.” The automated voice drawled on, “Please, remove your canisters.”

With the coordination of a drunk, Graves’ arm sloppily moved to his lower half of his face and twisted. The shattered canister was removed, along with the intact one, both slipping out of his grip and landing on the mahogany floor.

Despite this sudden setback, the mission was still on for Phillip, and he staggered forward, reaching out for Valeria.

Wheezing with the noxious gases of both the crowd control seeping in from outside and whatever was leaking from the soldier’s canisters, Valeria tottered back, trying to make out some clarity through her blurred vision.

Graves’ legs suddenly gave way for a brief second and he found himself slipping, grabbing hold of the writing desk which stood between him and his quarry, using it for support.

 “Removing muzzle.” The helmet announced.

The mechanism hissed and Valeria and her lieutenant watched the lower half of his mask segment. Two triangular pieces pushed forward before moving up, revealing a mouth hung slightly open. Strings of saliva dripped from his lips as he took in deep breaths, sounding like he was struggling to breathe himself. She knew what was happening, she knew, and she needed to act before he did.

Throw and run. Throw and run.

Valeria pushed Alvaro towards the Arcadian Son, watching him catch the man, holding him tightly by the shoulders. Alvaro whimpered, looking at him with a face of confusion and dread. The man squirmed a little, fighting against Phillip’s grip, only for it to tighten.

Graves needed those canisters back… or at least a suitable replacement. The smell. The smell! 

Blood… he needed blood.

His fingers dug into the lieutenant’s upper arms. A certain uneasiness had made itself known. It was like Phillip was falling asleep, and yet, his body was very much awake and working. Conscious thought was beginning to fade. The room was spinning around him. There was nausea mixed with this insatiable need. 

The muscles in his jaw tensed, teeth grinding against each other. 

Hungry… the sensation articulated, Hungry…

Time had come to a standstill. It was just Phillip and the man caught in his claw-like grasp. 

Those canisters… what they had… he needed that. He needed that now!

Hungry… Hungry… Hungry… HU-

CRACK! SNAP! SQUELCH!

Alvaro let out an unholy cry as the monster unhinged its jaw and sunk its teeth into his neck. Valeria’s eyes widened in horror, the bile rising in her throat as she beheld the thing reel its head back, a chunk of Alvaro in its mouth, before spitting out the piece of flesh and diving in for seconds. Alvaro tried to lean back, to avoid the jaws, but its teeth had a sure grip on him, and he was swiftly pulled back to Phillip’s armoured chest.

Again, another screech.

Wet red coated the soldier’s lips as its tongue ran over its teeth, licking up the fruits of its hunt. 

The lieutenant was dead now, hanging limp in the animal’s jaw as it shoved him onto the floor, continuing its feast. 

She was paralysed, the gases slowly clouding her thoughts as she watched it shake its head side to side, grabbing hold on some of the more… resistive tissue. Arteries, tendons, muscles, all were either chewed on or cast aside. 

What was before her was an animal, wearing the skin of a man, and wearing it poorly. She felt her legs give way and Valeria fell to the ground. 

The noise of her fall made the creature stop. It looked up at her. Even though she couldn’t see its eyes thanks to the mask still covering most of the soldier’s face, she knew it was staring at her. It snarled, baring its fanged teeth. She was paralysed, fixed in place, her vision blurring as she watched it rise from the ground and approach her frozen body. She wanted to run, wanted to scream but she was too weak now.

Valeria didn’t know what stung more: her helplessness or her still-burning, fervent desire to just run.

The last thing she saw was the shape of the Arcadian Son squatting down before her, hand reaching out to her face. 

She had succumbed to the fumes of the open blood canister. 

***

You were positively famished. Gaz watched you pile your tray with as much food as you could before you came to your senses and realised any more would be deemed as… excessive. Food was one of the finest pleasures in life and you were not passing up on this opportunity for a hot meal- that was for sure!

Coming back from the kitchens and into the mess hall was a feast for the senses. The sounds of chatter and clinking cutlery, the visuals of many crowded around long tables, hunched over stools, the smells of warm meals and the odd beverage. You couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed, taking it all in as Gaz led you to the table 141 were sat at.

Gaz placed himself next to Price, nudging him as the man turned from looking at Laswell’s laptop to greet the sergeant.

Your heart fluttered a little as you searched for somewhere to sit.

Laswell was sandwiched between Price and Soap.

Rudy’s empty space had just been snagged by his friend, who you heard Rudy address as ‘Alejandro’.

That only left the empty stool next to Ghost.

Ah.

This was fine! No biggie! You’d just set your tray down and begin…

As you made to sit, you saw the man look over to you from the corners of his eyes.

You swallowed hard, sheepishly sitting next to him, trying not to combust under that powerful gaze. It was like his eyes were irradiated; there was just something about them, the way he appeared both uncaring and almost drowsy and yet still very much aware of his surroundings. He was like a sleeping lion.

“Mind if I sit here?” You did your best to be as friendly as possible, hoping to thaw out his slightly… frosty demeanour.

“Well, you’re already sat.” He gestured to you with his cup.

Right, yeah… stupid question.

You chuckled, putting your tray down.

That was when Laswell looked up from her screen.

“Oh?” She remarked, “Hungry, aren’t we?”

You rolled your eyes.

“No! No!” Laswell raised her hands, “It’s good! You should eat up. I’m sure you haven’t had a good meal in a while.”

She smiled encouragingly and you exhaled through your nose… and then began to eat. Although you were incredibly hungry, you still wanted to show you had good table manners and so elected to not inhale everything on your tray. As you ate, you could feel Ghost’s eyes were still on you.

Just get it over with, you supposed.

“Look,” your stool creaked a little as you turned to face him, “I’m… sorry about this morning. I should have knocked, honestly, it was a stupid-”

“No.” He shook his head, “I’m sorry. I should have locked the door.”

Huh? You thought you were the one saying sorry here… Great, now you felt obliged to really say sorry.

You had expected him to just go ‘okay’ or huff or whatever… you thought it would end there.

However, his apology had thrown a spanner in the works.

“No…” You sighed, “I’m sorry. I came in. I saw your arse. My fault.”

Ghost’s eyes narrowed a little. That didn’t sound as apologetic as the previous one. Now, it just sounded like you were trying to assert something here.

“Y/N. It’s fine. I should have locked the door and-”

“And I should have not been so absent-minded. I’m sorry.”

Okay, what is going on here?

He leaned back a little, peering at you quizzically.

“Are you really apologising or are you just trying to prolong this for some reason?”

“No! I’m saying I’m sorry.” You pointed to yourself, looking perplexed by his response.

“Yeah and?”

“And what?”

“Well,” Ghost scratched the back of his neck, “It feels like you’re not saying sorry.”

“But I am. I feel bad about what happened.”

“Yeah, I do too.” He chuckled, “You’re already probably traumatised enough and then you had to see that in the early hours of the morning.”

“Your tan line was pretty stark.” You mumbled.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

Ghost looked like he was about to say something probably a bit too harsh. Hence, he stopped and re-evaluated.

“Y/N.” He began, “What… Okay, what do you expect to get out of this conversation?”

You were very straightforward with your answer.

“I say sorry and I, uh, expected that you would kinda accept it.”

“Yeah.”

“Except that didn’t happen.” You thought out loud, “You ended up saying sorry.”

He nodded.

“And now I’m thinking that I need to emphasise that I’m sorry, so you get the message that I’m sorry because I am sorry, and I didn’t mean to see you naked and-”

“WHAT?” Soap blurted out from across you two.

Now, the entire table was looking at you and Ghost.

Gaz’s jaw was on the floor. Price had paused mid-bite, his spoonful of porridge slopping back into his bowl. Both of Rudy’s eyebrows were raised, whilst Alejandro looked over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off of the two of you as he brought a cereal bar to his mouth. Laswell had a face of both horror and confusion.

“There’s context here, I promise.” You tried to explain, looking back at Ghost to help you out.

“Shower.” He replied.

“I think we need some elaborating there, bud.”

Soap nodded, looking at the two of you with wide eyes and a grimace… which was slowly evolving into a mischievous grin.

“I was in the shower.” The lieutenant explained.

“And were you also in the shower, Y/N?” Someone asked, albeit dreading the possible answer.

“No. I came in and accidentally stumbled upon him.”

Then, you shuddered.

“There was not much left to the imagination.” You said aloud, not realising it was to the whole group.

“Y/N!” Ghost growled.

Only for Soap to burst out laughing, slapping his knee as Price did his best to contain himself. Gaz doubled over, cackling as Rudy just shook his head, sighing. Alejandro covered his mouth with his free hand. Meanwhile, Laswell was doing her best not to join in with the raucous laughter, twisting her face into all kinds of expressions.

Ghost tried to hide, placing his hand on his forehead. Under that mask, undoubtedly, he was bright red.

You were astounded, coming to the revelation that you had just blurted that out.

Oh gosh!

Biting down on your lip, you turned to Ghost.

“I am so-”

“Sorry?” He finished your sentence for you, “You better be, Y/N.”

You had such a large grimace on your face, your insides collapsing in on themselves as your brain wracked itself for a possible solution to this mess.

“They’ve only been here, what, two days? And they managed to see Ghost… Ghost! Of all people! Ghost naked?!” Alejandro shook his head, “Amazing! I have to commend you, friend!”

Oh, how you wanted to just keel over and die, once more!

“Well, I… uh…” You scratched your cheek, “I… didn’t mean to-”

“Honestly, Y/N,” Soap managed to get out between fits of laughter, “You’ve done us all proud. I know you’re not officially part of the team, but you have made 141 history!”

He held his hand out.

You looked to Ghost, who looked to be shrinking further and further away from everyone.

“Soap, they are not going to shake your hand over seeing my bare arse.” The lieutenant sighed.

The sergeant blew a raspberry at him and twitched his fingers, beckoning for you.

“Come on!”

You smiled, politely declining… for Ghost’s sake.

“I swear,” Price couldn’t help but let out a snicker, “Laswell brings in the most bizarrely impactful people I ever meet.”

Kate looked over to him, rolling her eyes.

“I often find highly skilled people are often some of the most… eccentric.”

“Y/N’s skilled?” Soap studied you, curiosity alight in his eyes.

“Oh please!” Laswell returned her gaze to her laptop, dragging something with her mouse, “Don’t even bother sparring with them.”

Soap had other plans, however. He took Kate’s words as a challenge and a hunger to test your mettle was set aflame in him.

“Alejandro and I were sparring before lunch. Maybe after we finish up, you and I could hit the mat?”

“Uh…” Your eyes fell to Laswell, who looked over the edge of her laptop screen, shaking her head.

Bad idea, Y/N. Don’t do it!

“As much as I’d love to, Soap… I think I’ll have to-”

“I got a better idea.” Gaz interrupted, “Y/N and Ghost.”

‘Ooohs’ and ‘aaaahs’ circulated round the table, people nodding their heads in agreement.

Laswell was now boring holes into your skull, shaking her head so vigorously that you thought it might come clean off.

Soap looked to the masked lieutenant.

“What do you say, sir?”

Ghost leaned back in his seat, pausing to think.

Please say ‘no’. Please say ‘no’. Say ‘no’ so then I don’t have to say ‘no’.

“Fuck it.” He sighed, resting his forearms on the table as he brought himself forward, “You placing a bet?”

“Two-hundred-and-twenty-five pesos.” Soap slammed his fist down on the table.

“What is that?” Price stroked his moustache, “Ten quid?”

“Yep.”

“You could buy a lot of bars from the vending machine with that.” Gaz muttered under his breath.

“What say you, Y/N?” Price retrieved his hat from under the table, placing it one his head, “Do you think you could take on the Ghost?”

You looked to Ghost, examining him.

He was a big fella, and you were pretty sure he could snap you in half like a pencil if he wanted to. Yeah, if you were just your average joe, you’d be fucked. However, lucky for you, you weren’t your run-of-the-mill soldier. Maybe you could stand a chance? Or at least, hold your own just a bit longer than the average person?

As you were about to open your mouth, Laswell suddenly spoke up.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea having Y/N fight. I mean,” she seemed to have an unusually nervous tone, “they’ve probably been through a lot already. It wouldn’t be fair.”

The soldiers all turned to face you.

Sure, you were scarred for life but at the same time, you had this really crippling disease called ‘a sense of pride’. As the men had been discussing who would win and once that wager was announced… you sort of… you were getting the feeling… Look, you wanted to win.

Maybe a bit of sparring could help too. The yoga had been could for some much-needed contemplation, but you were undeniably buzzing with energy that needed an appropriate outlet. All that anxiety, all that fear, it needed somewhere to go other than fester inside you.

After all, you were in control now. You could do as you pleased.

In spite of Laswell’s clear discouragement, you decided to take matters into your own hands.

“You’re on.” You said to Ghost.

He let out a ‘hmph’ and picked up his empty tray.

“Meet me in the garage when you’re ready.”

You nodded.

“I look forward to it.”

As you followed Soap to the garage, Laswell grabbed your arm.

“Y/N!” She sounded a little breathless, like she had ran after you, “This is a bad idea. You can’t do this.”

“Why not? I… I want to, Kate.”

“You could seriously hurt him, kid.”

You scoffed.

“Please! Hurt him? The man is built like a goddamn fridge. I think I should be more worried about me.”

Laswell shook her head.

“They’re not Sons. They aren’t gonna hit you as hard you think they will, you can’t counter like you usually would.”

“I’ll be careful, Kate. I promise.”

“You have to be, Y/N. Please.”

You nodded; your face sincere.

Laswell let out a shaky sigh and continued down the corridor to the garage with the rest of the group.

Alejandro pushed the door open to the garage, the sound of the radio filling your ears as you entered.

He whistled to catch his Vaqueros’ attention.

“¡Despeja el área para el combate!”

They nodded and moved their boxes and makeshift workbenches away from the far end of the room. Then, those same men gathered around, forming a small horseshoe which 141 gladly made themselves additions to, sitting on rucksacks or simply on the floor.

Alejandro turned to the group.

“We are staking two-hundred-and-twenty-five on this! Place your bets on either Y/N… or Ghost.”

People took out their money, putting it either Price’s hat to wager on Ghost, or Gaz’s cap to bet on you.

As the hats were brought to Alejandro to put in his wager, he noticed Gaz’s cap was significantly lighter than Price’s hat, which drooped a little under the heavier weight.

Poor kid… he thought to himself.

He did feel bad not a lot of people had faith in you, but with that he had seen and heard about Ghost, regrettably, Alejandro had to put down his money on the lieutenant.

The overhanging lights flickered a little as Laswell watched with bated breath, chewing on the skin of her index finger as she watched you limber up.

“Come on, Lt!” Soap yelled.

You watched Ghost shed the last of his overlayers, so now he was in merely the standard olive-green shirt and his camo trousers.

Yep, you could feel your nerves getting to you a little.

He was built to kill with strong arms, strong legs and well, a strong torso. That man could probably stay in a plank for a century.

You swallowed hard, letting out a sharp exhale, and raised your arms into a guard.

Alejandro stood between you two, his arm dividing your sides of the imaginary ring.

“Ready…”

Come on.

“Three…”

I can do this!

“Two…”

If I can fight off Arcadian Sons, I can fight off this guy.

“One…”

Oh, he looks really scary though!

“Go!”

To Ghost’s surprise, you charged first, striking upwards, hoping to punch straight through his skull. He dodged with minimal effort, hoping to make for a quick jab to your stomach only to then be met with a swift uppercut.

“Ouch!” Soap winched, watching his lieutenant stagger back in surprise, clutching the lower half of his face.

The room had fallen into silence, and you looked around, wondering why.

That’s when you heard laughter.

You turned to face Ghost.

“Nice one.” He said before he swung at you.

You yelped, blocking it, before coming in with a counterstrike.

He blocked with his forearms, easily, and you punched, hitting him hard. He staggered back a little but didn’t drop his guard. Hoping to catch him where he wasn’t protecting himself, you aimed and swung at Ghost once more. However, he was as quick as you, despite what you had initially thought, and swiftly brought one of his arms around both of yours, trapping you in the crook of his elbow.

You squirmed, trying to fight his grip but he was stronger than you.

He spun you around, looking down at you with those piercing brown eyes. You snarled in reply, continuing to wriggle about.

Soap couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched the two of you.

“They look absolutely tiny compared to him.” He commented to Gaz.

“Size isn’t everything.” Was Gaz’s reply.

Ghost could feel himself starting to get a little cocky as you desperately tried to writhe out of his grip. He was just too strong, fixing you in place. He could see there was fire in your eyes, but it was pretty much useless, you were stuck to him like glue.

Again, he spun you around, almost making a display of this.

You groaned, pushing against him with all you could, leaning back as far as your body let you.

“Alejandro,” Ghost hollered, “Come on!”

He gestured to you struggling.

“This is hardly a fair fight!”

Alejandro looked to the crowd, wondering if he should call it quits.

You gritted your teeth and suddenly, like it was nothing, you broke free from him. Then, it was a flurry of fury. You punched him in the face, kneed him in the gut, grabbed him and-

The whole room gasped as you picked up a man, clearly much heavier than you, and threw him to the floor, over your shoulder.

Ghost rolled out the way as your boot landed on the ground, a small quake shaking in his chest from the impact. Being extra careful now, he tried to get behind you.

Now, it was his turn to let the bodies hit the floor.

As you were about to turn and strike upwards, he struck below, grabbing your legs. He lifted you up and dropped you. You fell face-first onto the ground, the wind getting knocked out of you.

Just about recovering, you made to get up. That was when Ghost hit your back. Hard.

“I call that move ‘the bellyflop’.” Soap remarked, eliciting a small chuckle from Price.

Gaz winced, feeling the pain in your voice as you let out a loud groan.

Laswell felt as though something was caught in her chest. This was going too far for her; she was afraid something was going to happen. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

“Okay, I think we’re good.” Kate made to get up, “Alejandro, can we call this off?”

“Come on, Laswell! Give Y/N a chance. We’ve not even been here five minutes.”

She shook her head.

You crawled on your belly, desperately trying to get away from him. You could see Ghost’s shadow approaching.

Panic. Panic. Panic. PANIC!

He was after you. After your blood.

Your breaths grew shallow, and you could feel the adrenaline course through you.

Got. To. Get. Up. Got. To Get. Away.

The shadow of a hand was raised, coming for you.

Your eyes widened.

Laswell, chuckled, though there was no humour behind it.

“No. I think we’ve seen-”

Ghost let out a bloodcurdling scream as you raised yourself and donkey-kicked him… Right in the crotch.

Everyone gasped.

Soap couldn’t even look.

Price felt his soul leave his body.

You turned around and got up onto your feet, keeping your guard up.

Ghost had bent over, hissing in pain.

You were back in the room.

Like you had woken up from a dream, clarity dawned on you, and you realised who you were fleeing from.

What had just happened?

You were… Oh…

You were back in the room.

“Sorry,” you peered at him through your raised arms, “that was a strong kick to your gut.”

“You didn’t… kick… my…” He couldn’t even finish his sentence, a wave of nausea getting to him.

“Medic!” Gaz yelled, running out of the room, “I’m getting a medic!”

His footsteps echoed down the corridor.

You put a hand over your mouth, connecting the dots, and ran to Ghost’s side.

“Holy shit! Holy shit!” Your heartrate had skyrocketed, hands clammy as you hover them over him.

Soap got up and immediately coming to Ghost as soon as he saw the guy was in pain for real.

“What have I done?!” You whimpered, “Shit!”

“You didn’t use all your strength, did you?” Laswell asked.

You shook your head.

“No! No! I’m not stupid. Why would I-”

“I feel like I’m gonna vomit.” Ghost rasped.

“Fucking hell!” Price got up from his seat, “I’m gonna go see if Gaz has got a hold of someone. Keep by his side and don’t make this worse.”

“Let’s lie him on his back.” Laswell instructed.

You all did so, easing Ghost onto the ground. You were properly freaking out, praying you hadn’t damaged anything permanently.

Kate looked so disappointed, which felt worse to you for some reason. You’d rather she’d just jumped down your throat instead of this. This felt heavy. This felt constricting. The very air you were breathing was weighted with what you had just done.

“Hold my hand, sir.” Soap pleaded.

“No… Johnny, I… I don’t need to hold your hand.” Ghost slapped his hand away with a grumble.

“I am so sorry!” You squeaked out.

“You… You… Oh God… Fuck me, Y/N.”

Ghost lay his head on the floor, trying to breathe out the waves of sharp agony and nausea. The room was beginning to spin, and it was so painful down there that Ghost couldn’t even tell what kind of pain he was in. From hot to cold, to burning, to feeling like someone had stabbed him right up there… Oh God… he was seeing stars!

A poor medic came rushing through the crowd, looking beyond fed up.

“You stupid, stupid men!” She scolded you all, “What happened to him?”

“Y/N kicked him in the balls.”

“Oh sweet Jesus.”  She pinched the bridge of her nose.

Then, the medic sighed, “Ghost, can you stand?”

“No…”

“Okay,” she turned to face all of you, “could you give this man some privacy, please?”

They all immediately got up and left.

“I can’t believe this.” She muttered under her breath as she got out her first aid kit.

As you were about to go and contemplate how to avoid Ghost and his inevitable wrath, Soap tapped your shoulder.

“Hey, Y/N. We can wait in the corridor if you like. I’m sure he’ll be fine but, you know, I want to make sure and uh… I don’t exactly want to be waiting on my own.”