#also previous day we lost car keys in field and we found them only when returned there for mirror we forgot there too X)

[sunflowerpieivan]

Day 2 of field adventures

[brilliantt]

Gangster in Distress

Summary: Tommy was only interested in Y/N to seal a deal with her father. He thought she was a spoilt, rich girl... until a mishap with some thieves makes Tommy reconsider.  

A/N: I just rewatched the movie Ever After with Drew Barrymore and let’s just say it heavily inspired this fic....

It was often that Tommy would sacrifice his own family to ensure a deal or stop a war. A key example being when he convinced John to marry Esme, preventing a battle with the Lee family. Tommy was rather good at pushing his family to the forefront of his problems. Now though? Now it was Tommy’s turn. 

Tommy desired to extend his gin business through London and beyond. The only issue being a Mr Walter Brown. Mr Brown ran an immensely successful distillery in the heart of London and Tommy knew striking a deal with him was his only route to a new found fortune. He had met with the man once at his home, the house exceeding even Tommy’s manor. They had spent a long time coming to a suitable deal. The man had no need for money nor protection, although Tommy tried to persuade him. It was a lost cause; the man’s fine suit and multiple men lingering by the door could have told him that. There was nothing the Peaky Blinders could offer him that he didn't already have, Tommy still persisted.

The meeting had lasted three hours before Tommy watched the man stand up and glance out the window behind him, the view obscured from Tommy. Mr Brown rubbed his white moustache and sighed, resting his gaze back on Tommy. He explained to him that he had a daughter who he wished to see married, and to a financially secure man. Of course Arthur and John were out of the question and Finn was too young for the woman. This left Tommy to take the bullet. It certainly felt like a bullet when the daughter had slammed the door, storming out of her father’s study just after she was told the news. Perhaps it would be for the best, he would have some company and Charlie a mother figure. Not forgetting their union would make Tommy very rich. 

The deal was settled and they would be married the next month, giving Y/N and Tommy some time to get to know each other. He made frequent trips to London to become acquainted with his bride-to-be, the two of them left alone in one of the parlour rooms. The first few times she had sat like a petulant child, ignoring his attempt at conversation, and not being afraid to tell him what she thought of the arrangement. Her expensive gowns and shiny jewellery reminding him of the two different worlds they came from. It was on the fourth visit when he became impatient and decided to move their relationship forward and to try and seduce her. His hands on her waist and wandering lips warranted a red cheek and a view of Y/N’s back as she huffed out of the room. 

The next time he came, he made sure to bring Charlie. She would have to meet him eventually and he could only hope she wouldn’t bring up his actions with a child in the same room. It was fair to say she much preferred the boy’s company, immediately grinning Charlie and bringing out a story book to share with him. It was this moment where Tommy couldn’t completely resent the arrangement. Charlie liking her was more important than him liking her. And after Y/N had taken him to the stables to meet her horses, Charlie would barely release the woman. It was there where Tommy had attempted to apologise for his behaviour the previous visit (not really because he was sorry, but more to remain on good terms with her father). It was also here that when Y/N had distracted Charlie with her most beautiful mare, told Tommy if he tried anything again she wasn’t afraid to use the hunting gun and shoot it at his unmentionables. 

---

The wedding hadn’t been anything special to Tommy. He had already had his dream wedding with Grace and Y/N had refused to have a big attendance, although this didn't stop her from wearing a very extravagant dress. The ceremony was limited to only Y/N’s father, Charlie and Aunt Polly.  Polly had returned to Birmingham the same afternoon, after their lunch, with Charlie. Mr Brown had retired to his room which left the newly weds alone. Except their anticipated wedding night consisted of Y/N leading Tommy to a guest room and shutting herself into her bedroom. 

Tommy spent the next few days, finalising some business and plans with his new father-in-law, while Y/N was busy packing her bags to move into Tommy’s manor with him and Charlie.

The rain was heavy on the day they were to drive back. Despite still being angry at her father, she gave him a tight hug before rushing into the vehicle, out of the rain. It was a long car journey back to Birmingham and Y/N had taken to sulking with her arms crossed, staring out of the window for the first hour. 

Tommy sighed and pursed his lips, “We should at least try to be civil, you know.” By the look on Y/N’s face, he knew his words would cause them to argue. He didn't care though, arguing would be better than sitting in silence for the rest of the trip. He also couldn’t take another minute of watching the woman fidget in her seat, he knew she was itching to speak.

Y/N kept her gaze out of the window, “You and my father dealt me off like i’m a fucking horse. I don’t have to be nice to you.” 

Tommy clenched his jaw, feeling desperate for a cigarette. ”Your father wanted what was best for you.” He heard Y/N let out an amused huff.

“Oh and you’re my knight in shining armour? Lucky me.” Tommy turned to look at her before focusing back on the road. He chose not to say anything, “I don't even see why I had to marry in the first place. I was fine staying with my father.’”

This time Tommy felt amused, “Hmm and doing what exactly? Perching on your little pedestal and looking pretty?" He hid his smirk when Y/N turned to look at him with an annoyed expression. He quite liked riling her up. 

“I’m not just some spoiled little girl, so stop treating me like one.” She crossed her arms again and huffed.

“If you didn’t act like one, perhaps I wouldn’t treat you like one.” Tommy retorted.

"Your perception of women is abhorrent. Just because I'm pretty and like to dress nicely, does not mean you can belittle me. And if you continue to do so, we are going to have problems." Tommy raised his eyebrows. "Besides, you ought to tread carefully, you are looking at the future owner of the Brown distillery. My father may have made a deal with you that doesn't mean i can't change it when i'm in charge."

Tommy felt a smile growing on his face, "You would deny your own husband?" It widened when all Y/N did was smirk at him. The silence grew again before Tommy asked, "You think you can handle running the business?"

Y/N smoothed down her hair that had gone fluffy from the rain, "You may think i just sit around, but I am very much involved in the distillery. I'm more than capable of running the business."

Tommy quickly glanced at her again, finding a sense of respect he didn't expect to feel. 

When Tommy didn’t reply, Y/N scrunched her nose up, "I do hope you're not a husband who will deny me of such a job.” Tommy rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Good, because I wouldn't have listened anyway."

"And what shouldn't a husband deny you of?" Tommy questioned in a teasing tone.

"Hmm,” Y/N grinned. “A good husband should let me do exactly as I please. He will let me work, go to the market, run through the garden without shoes, gallop through the field on a horse, or do absolutely nothing all day."

"And, what about a good wife?"

Y/N stroked her chin in thought and looked at Tommy "Well, I guess that's for you to decide."

Tommy didn’t answer her. "You like horses?" He said a few moments later. 

"Love.” Y/N smiled and looked out the window dreamily, the rain still hitting the window. “I grew up with my grandparents in the countryside, they were from my mum's side, who, well, were not rich like my dad’s. We spent all our time on the farm and from the moment I first laid my eyes on the beautiful horses, that was it."

Tommy smirked, "So the city girl is actually a farm girl?" Y/N’s response was a roll of the eyes.  "The horses you showed Charlie were incredible." His words seemed to divert Y/N back into her bratty state, she crossed her arms again and glared at the man, raising an eyebrow at him. "And I had to leave them behind."

Before Tommy could respond, the car jolted. He lost control for a moment before managing to stop the car. Trees surrounded the pair and Tommy recognised the road built through the forest. He wasted no time to jump out and check each wheel, finding the problem on Y/N’s side, a small hole visible. Y/N rolled down the window, "What happened?”

"The tyres burst, I must have hit a stone or something." He stood back up wiping down his suit. "Come on." He opened the door to her side and gestured for her to get out. 

"What?"

"The house isn't far from here, we can go by foot." Y/N looked at him in shock.

"It's raining and muddy!" She made a motion to her dress, to which Tommy rolled his eyes. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out, dragging her to the boot of the car. He pulled out one of the smaller luggage bags and pushed it in her arms before looking at her pointedly, "You said you grew up on a farm." 

"Past tense, Thomas!" She huffed and re-positioned the bag, watching Tommy grab the two larger ones. He led them around the car and they walked barely a metre before a man with shoulder length grey hair came out of the trees pointing a gun at the two. "Don't be leaving so quick now." He let out a whistle and more men came from the trees, all with guns. Y/N gulped and raised her hands in the air, subsequently dropping her bag, the contents spilling over the floor. She heard Tommy curse and watched him put the luggage down more carefully than her. 

"Y/N go back in the car." Not having to be told twice she rushed back to the passenger side. Feeling nervous when the men advanced on Tommy, a fist fight, four on one beginning. 

Before she could open the door, one of the men had grabbed her, making her yelp and shove him to the ground. She tried to hit the next man who made a grab for her but he caught her arm and held it behind her back. It took three men to stop her struggling, pulling her to where their leader stood. They held her there, Tommy a few metres opposite her being held in a similar position, a cut on his forehead and a bruised eye. The two watched as the thieves began rifling through Tommy’s car and her luggage on the floor.

One of them held up a rather beautiful, expensive looking dress adorned in jewels. “Excuse me!” Y/N spat, missing Tommy closing his eyes in annoyance. ”That was my mother’s dress, you give that back!” She felt the men tighten their hold on her. The leader smirked and stalked over to her. He lifted one of his ring covered hands and caressed her cheek. "Feisty little thing.” He whispered. 

Tommy began struggling, "Let her go.” He demanded, voice strong but eyes tired. “Your fight is against me not her." Y/N could only then see that the two men knew each other. The man removed his hand and walked closer to Tommy. He relented and told the men to release her.

Y/N pushed her way out of their arms, shivering from the rain and annoyed at the mud tracing up her skirts. She raised her chin to the leader, "I demand that you give me back all of my things. And since you shot through one of the tyres and have my driver captured, a horse for the journey back." All of the men’s eyes widened at her order. The leader titled his head, and grinned sarcastically.

“Princess,” He spread his arms out in front of him, ”You may have anything you can carry." His men chuckled around them. Y/N raised her eyebrows, a devious look in her eyes as she glanced at Tommy, who was staring at her in disbelief. 

“Do I have your word on that, Sir? She asked.

The man bowed his head, “On my honour as a Gypsy.”

Y/N nodded once. She walked past the Gypsy, staring at him as she passed. Walking straight over her clothes on the floor, Y/N  made her way to Tommy, the men who were holding him backing away. She lifted his arm up and bent down, huffing as she lifted her husband across her back. The Gypsy man opened his mouth in shock, watching as Y/N gave him a sarcastic smile and a slight curtsy before making her way down the road, holding Tommy on her back.

A ruckus of laughter erupted from the group of men at the sight. Even the leader couldn't help but laugh loudly at the daring girl. "Come back!” He paused, chuckling, “You may have a horse."

Y/N sat in front of Tommy on the horse as they rode to the manor. He knew that this reckless but incredibly clever woman would cause him a great deal of trouble, he just couldn’t bring himself to resent it anymore.

I can just imagine Y/N telling John this story and Tommy having to kick him out because of all the teasing... 

[ficsilike-reblogged]

Sunshine City: Five

A/N: We have reached the end, my loves. Thank you for coming along on this little journey with me. Thank you for all the wonderful comments, likes, and reblogs. I owe you my heart.

Pairing: Agent Whiskey x F!Reader (No Y/N)

Word Count: 5.5k

Rating For This Chapter: NC-17 for Whiskey being Whiskey and putting his moustache to good use (female-receiving oral), penetrative unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it, loves), just a whole bunch of mush because I love a sappy happy ending. 

Catch up previous chapters here!

Perhaps learning that it was Agent Moonshine that had set them up shouldn’t have been a surprise. How many times had Jack “taught Moonshine a lesson” about manners—both in and out of the field? Moonshine had apparently been burning for some more-permanent payback and thought getting rid of Jack in the field would regain some of his honor.

Whatever.

Both Moonshine and Alice had disappeared into Statesmen’s holding cells about six months ago and Champ dealt with them. She didn’t ask what happened and she didn’t want to know. All she cared about was that Jack was okay and she knew what it felt like to have Jack’s arms wrapped around her without the confines of the mission and she knew that he liked to smile before he pressed his lips to hers. 

She loved how he kissed. Loved how he held her tight like she was something—someone to be treasured. Loved how he always tried to make her smile even when they were thousands of miles apart or if he had managed to sequester her alone in some room of the Kingsman headquarters, or in her townhouse—or even that one time when he’d managed to get her alone in Champ’s office last week when she was needed stateside for a mission. He stole a kiss then, too, feeling like mischievous teenagers hiding from too-strict parents.

It was…good.

Better than good, actually. It was all much too sappy to say out loud but she felt happier than she had in a long time. Like she had shed some sort of heavy coat made of metal and wool and she could move and breathe without restraint. She would never tell Whiskey—his ego was already insatiable—and she had a feeling he might have an inkling he knew how she felt.

“I’ve never seen you smile like that, Sunshine. Do it again.” As she thought: insatiable. And it felt like they had readily settled into some idyllic relationship that a person could only dream of having. They spoke as often as they could, about anything and everything—Jack even told her about the discussions he had with his therapist and she spoke about the nightmares that sometimes plagued her in the dark. They bickered, of course—they were human, but it was usually few and far between and over trivial things (like which agency had the best tech or Bela’s favorite movie) and over before they really began. It was good. But at the moment, she had just finished a mission in Singapore and expected to hear her phone ring with Jack’s Skype call. They kept tabs on each other’s missions and always called one another when they came home. Bela zoomed down the staircase and leapt on his little legs into her outstretched arms. Her dog-sitter, a Kingsman technician, happily reported Bela behaved himself while she was away before saying goodnight. She pressed a few kisses to Bela’s fur and locked up the doors and windows before pulling her phone from her pocket, ignoring her suitcase for a bit longer. Bela settled on her lap as she pulled up the app and was just about to dial Jack’s number when Ginger’s face appeared on her screen with an incoming call. Ginger was back stateside to assist Statesmen with some sort of kidnapping ring and had been giving Sunny updates every few days. She answered it quickly. “Hey! I’m about to-” “Jack’s been shot.” “What-” “Let me finish,” Ginger said in her usual calming tone. “He’s going to be fine. But he wanted me to tell you that he’s sorry he couldn’t make your usual call.” Ginger’s lips picked up in a small smile, probably trying not to laugh at her fellow agent’s mortified expression. “For a pair of agents, you two are very bad at keeping your relationship a secret.” And then Ginger did laugh. “He’ll call when he’s cleared by medical. Okay?” She pushed out a breath and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.” “He’s fine, Cap. I promise,” Ginger said, old moniker slipping by her lips. A few more words of encouragement were given, mission details were traded, and eventually they hung up. Her appetite gone, she eventually wandered upstairs to her bedroom and simply stared at the ceiling. Bela was asleep on her chest, giving her a little comfort. And she knew Statesmen had some of the best medical team and technology available. She knew Jack would be fine. But it still… hurt. Worry bit at her bones and pressed at her already-buzzing mind. There would be no sleep tonight.

                                                **

Whiskey did not like the smell of the medical wing. He did not like the bright white lights. He did not like the stupid paper gown they insisted he wear after sewing him back up. And he definitely didn’t like watching Champ settle into the chair next to his bed with a frown.

“Ain’t you supposed to be the one leadin’ the charge, Whiskey? Grenadine said you were distracted-”

“I was fine, Champ. I had it handled-”

“You’re in the medical wing. Did you forget that? Or did you hit your head, too?”

Whiskey felt his lip start to curl in a snarl. “My head’s fine and you know it.”

Champ’s frown deepened before he let out a sigh, pulling out a silver flask from his blazer jacket. He grabbed two of the small plastic cups from the bedside table, usually meant to hold medications, and poured two shots of amber-colored liquid. He slid one toward Jack before quickly downing his and putting away his flask. “You’re a good agent, Jack. A fine Statesman.”

Jack quickly grabbed the offered shot and drank it, knowing no conversation that started with compliments like that was ever good.

“But you want more than that.”

“Champ-”

“I’m old. Older than you and I’ve worked my entire life to save the world and the people in it—usually from themselves. And I got squat to show for it outside my big office and nice car. But you-” he pointed a finger, “-you have a chance at something real. Another chance. Those don’t come around every day. And you two have been tip-toein’ around each other for years.”

And, for a moment, Jack Daniels didn’t have a word to say. It was embarrassing to realize that everyone seemed to know they had moved past the fellow-agent relationship. But it was also strangely calming to know that people beside him and his Sunshine wanted them to be happy—together.

“You’ve saved the world enough. I know you’ve been thinkin’ about retiring anyway.”

“I-”

“Give it a little more thought. Visit your lady, yeah?” Champ said as he stood and patted his chest. “Take the next week off. I’ll have Grenadine handle the debrief.” 

“Champ-”

But he was already out the door.

                                                **

She wiped at her eyes, trying to press a bit of exhaustion out of her head with limited success. But Harry had accepted her debrief and then let her go for the rest of the day. “

Mordred, you’ve nearly fallen asleep twice just sitting here. Go home.”

Not her finest moment but she wasn’t going to say no to a nap. Maybe if she was asleep she could ignore that she still hadn’t heard from Jack. Ginger did say he would be fine but it still didn’t sit right with her and-

“Hey, Sunshine.”

She dropped her keys.

There he was, posted up against the side of her house, one foot kicked up behind him on the white-washed wall with his stupid Stetson pulled low over his eyes. She leapt at him and pulled him close, sagging into his grip as he wrapped his arms around her. He was so warm and wonderful and here. His familiar, expensive cologne touched her nose as she breathed him in, laughing at how he pressed his lips against her neck, mustache tickling her skin.

“You’re here,” she said as she pulled back.

He stole a quick kiss with another smile. “I am. Champ gave me some time off. I guess I should get shot more often.”

She quickly grabbed at his face. “No. That’s not funny-”

He kissed her again, smiling against her frowning mouth. “Are you going to invite me in or do I have to hang outside your door like a lost tomcat?” Jack bent and scooped up her keys and pressed them into her hand.

“You drive a hard bargain.” She slipped from his grasp and moved toward the door, undoing the three locks and stepping inside, Jack right on her heels. She closed the door behind him, only just noticing the small bag slung over his shoulder before he kissed her again. She would never get tired of kissing him.

But now was the first time in six months since she was alone with him—six months since Edinburgh. Six months of only stealing kisses and wandering hands when others were around and not having a moment truly to themselves. But work came first. Saving the world wouldn’t stop because she wanted to kiss him and hear his laugh.

And she really loved the sound of his laugh.

But then she yawned right in his face when he broke away from her lips to breathe.

“Now, Sunshine, you truly know how to cut a man to the quick.”

She laughed and leaned her forehead against his chest. “I’m so sorry. I got no sleep last night.”

Jack wound his arms around her and pulled her tight again, uncaring that they were still right beside her front door, barely a few steps inside. “And why not?”

“Ginger told me what happened and then you didn’t call. I was worried.” Her hands found purchase on his shoulders, thumbs rubbing against the buttery soft leather of his jacket. “Stupid in our line of work, right?” Her laugh was soft but sharp with self-deprecation. And she knew it was stupid. Knew that her line of work that nothing really was promised. That her time with Jack, no matter how much it made her smile, was never guaranteed.

“I never meant to-”

“It isn’t you, Jack. It is just… me, I guess. I think I worry too much.” She stepped back as she yawned again. “Sorry, jeez.”

But Jack just smiled. “Tell you what, Sunny. I’m here all week. I’ll let you worry about me all you want.”

“A week? Jack, you know I want to but I have to wor-”

Her phone chirped.

“Shit, sorry.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and frowned when she saw the message. It was from Roxy and it simply said;

Have fun! See you on Monday. ;)

It took a moment, but if finally dawned on her what it meant and she tossed her phone onto her couch with a smile. “It seems that I’m not expected back in the office until Monday.”

Jack let out a holler and all but started to drag her toward the staircase. She had to slap his hands away to lock her door before she let him grab at her sides and strong-arm her upstairs. Her laughter finally woke Bela from his mid-morning nap and he poked his head out of the guest room to let out an indignant huff at their noise before retreating again. Jack knew where her bedroom was, having been there for a total of ten minutes after Scotland, and he basically dragged her inside and plopped her onto her overstuffed mattress, rumpling the blankets immediately. And she happily let him crawl over her and pressed her down into the welcoming softness as he shucked his shoes and jacket. Hers soon followed with fumbling limbs and they both laughed as Jack continued to kiss her lips, her cheek, her nose, her neck—anywhere he could place his lips was quickly kissed. 

She let him pull his shirt off and divest her of her own and they both scrambled with their jeans and trousers before falling back against the pillows in a pair of matching, tired huffs. Maybe she should have been a little more demure about this casual near-nakedness—it was the first time they’d bared this much skin with each other—but all she felt was comfort when he looked at her. Some beautiful, gentle warmth bloomed in her chest as she looked at him.

Jack leaned forward to press a slow kiss against her lips as one of his hands landed on her hip, thumb tracing the lacy edge of her panties.

And she might have let him continue—let herself finally know what it was like to be touched by him in that way—but she yawned again and her eyes caught the fresh scar on his shoulder. Her fingers brushed against it, feeling how the skin was raised and twisted, something even Statesmen’s tech couldn’t stop with some injuries.

Jack’s hand stilled on her hip. “I’m okay, Sunshine. I’m right here with you.” But then he touched the mark across her stomach, the one she’d gained from their time in Italy. His fingers trailed to the scar on her chest and then down to another zig-zagging twist of puckered skin on her side. She shivered at the contact, nerves alight. “And you’re with me, yeah?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m with you.”

“Good.” He smiled, soft and tired-eyed. “Let’s get some sleep.” He reached back and managed to pull her sheets and blankets down enough for them to slide underneath and then slid an arm under her shoulders so he could bring her to his side as she closed her eyes. And she fell asleep to the quiet beat of his heart.

                                              **

She found Jack liked Hyde Park, free museums, and having tea. “It ain’t sweet tea, Sunshine. But it’ll do.”

And he never pressed her for more than a few heated kisses and she never swatted at his wandering hands, even when they seemed to always gravitate toward her ass when they were alone—he did have the sensibility to keep them above the waist when they were outside her house.

Again, she was struck with how easy and domestic it all ways. No one was shooting at them. No one was trying to poison them or use them for information. All they wanted from each other was each other.

It was just her and Jack and Bela and the occasional autumn rain sliding against the windows. And she let herself believe that her life could be like this—simple and fulfilling and quiet. They both had enough money in the bank to live very comfortably if they both wanted to leave—but she was definitely getting ahead of herself. In the grand scheme of things, she didn’t even know if Jack wanted that. What if he wanted to live out the rest of his life as a Statesmen, retirement be damned? Did she want to be in Kingsman for the rest of her life? Those thoughts didn’t stop her from realizing that her house finally felt like a home when he was inside it.

But when Jack’s lips found her neck as she finished drying the last pan from breakfast and his still-damp-from-the-washing hands wrapped around her waist, wetting her pajama shirt, all thoughts disappeared. All there was—was Jack.

“What are you up to?” She asked with a smile, turning in his grip to wrap her arms around his neck. His hair was still mussed from sleep and he had on only his boxers and a t-shirt, but he was handsome—so handsome in the low morning glow.

He didn’t answer but grabbed at his phone on the countertop and pulled up an app behind her back and soon Johnny Cash’s voice started to croon over the small speaker and flood the kitchen. She instantly recognized the tune and had to laugh. “Really, Jack?”

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,” he sang along, letting his fingers trail along until one of his hands was wrapped around her waist and the other was holding her hand against his chest.

She grasped his shoulder and let him lead her in a swaying, mellow version of a dance as the sunlight trickled through her kitchen window and painted everything in a hazy yellow while the air still smelled of sticky syrup and pancakes.

“You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you,” he sang, slightly off-key, the words muffled into her cheek, but they made her heart leap all the same. “Please don’t take my sunshine away.”

“This is a sad song, you know,” she said without making a move to change it.

“Yeah, I know,” he replied. And he sounded sad, too.

And that just about did her in. Well, that and the fact that he was set to be back in New York tomorrow. She pulled out of his grasp and grabbed at his phone, switching to another song with a forced smile. But the smile became real when he laughed at her choice, low and rumbling in his chest.

“Dolly and Kenny?”

“This song is a classic!” She argued, letting him pull her close again and she tried to follow him in an abbreviated two-step jaunt that had her laughing and pressing a kiss to his perfect, single dimple. But the song eventually ended, fading into another and then another. And their steps slowed too, once again simply swaying on her cool tile floor. “I don’t want you to be sad—not with me.”

His next breath was slow but his grip tightened. “I think you make me the happiest I’ve ever been, Sunshine.”

“You make me happy, too.” She turned, murmuring the words into his chest like a secret, like if she said it too loudly it would be used as a weapon. “We really wasted a lot of time, didn’t we?”

“But we turned up exactly where we’re supposed to be.” He turned to press a kiss to the top of her head. “You know I love you, right?”

And her heart sprouted wings in her chest while the smile splitting her face almost hurt. “Yeah.” She turned her head just enough to look up at him, seeing him already looking down at her. “I love you, too.”

Easy. It was so easy. And they continued to sway to the music even as he turned his head just enough to catch her lips again in a kiss that so sweetly stole the breath from her lungs. Her lips were slick and tender from his ministrations but it was an ache she would gladly live with, especially when he gently grasped her face in his hands to angle her face just-so, leading the kiss until she was unmoving in his hold. Her hands circled his wrists and she sighed against his mouth. A different kind of heat was starting to curl in her stomach like perfumed smoke that left her whining when Whiskey pulled back to breathe.

“You look so pretty like this, darlin’. I’ve never seen you look like this before.”

“Like what?” Her voice was hoarse.

“Like you want me to eat you alive.”

Her heart stuttered in her chest at the dark, hungry look in his eyes. Heat took root in her stomach, clenching her muscles and her hands unconsciously fisting the soft material of his shirt. “Oh.” She swallowed the dry lump in her throat. “You…you want to?”

And he laughed and kissed her again—god, she could never get enough of his lips. “You gonna let me?” His warm hands slid down to grab at her hips and he tugged her a little closer. “Huh? You gonna let Jack eat that pretty-”

Her hand pressed against his mouth as she bit back a laugh. “Don’t refer to yourself in the third person if you want to get anywhere near me.” And then she felt him smile against her fingers. “I mean it.” The words were stilted with her laugh which only grew when she felt his lips pucker so he could kiss her fingers.

He reached up to gently remove her hand, the hungry look in his eyes now sparkling with a bit of mischief. “You drive a hard bargain.” His fingers tangled with hers and started to tug her toward her staircase. “But I accept.”

The pair was quiet as they retreated to sun-soaked haven of her bedroom. Warm hands slipped beneath her shirt and dragged it up to just beneath her breasts but then stalled, a quiet question in his eyes that was quickly answered with a swift nod. He pulled her shirt up and over her head and tossed it aside—his shirt quickly followed. He moved to brush a kiss against the scar over her chest as his palm settled over the scar on her stomach, like he was trying to wipe it away. She reached out to cradle his face and pulled him up, smiling against his mouth as he sighed.

“I’m here,” she said as she stretched to brush against the faded scar at his temple. “We’re just fine.” Her skilled fingers curled under the elastic band of his boxers and shucked them down his legs before he shuffled her backward. Her knees hit her bed and he pushed her back to make her bounce on the mattress. It was then that she allowed herself to truly admire him—strong legs and chest, a little soft around the middle, but still very capable. She found herself licking her licks—a little unconsciously—as she eyed his cock as it curved up toward his stomach. “Are you just going to stare?”

“Well, you are such a pretty picture.” But he climbed over her anyway, mouth slanting over hers with a passion and curl of his tongue that had her moaning and delighting in how he almost shivered under her hands as they trailed down his chest. He pulled away from her mouth to let out a groan of his own when her warm hand encircled his hard cock and squeezed. “Don’t be cruel, Sunny. I want to get to the main event before I make a mess.” Jack shuffled back, pressing wet kisses against her throat, her chest, her stomach, before he huffed out a long breath against her sleep shorts and it was her turn to shiver. He slowly pulled them down her legs and he pressed a kiss against the lace of her underwear before he pulled those down, too, tossing them over his shoulder. “So pretty for me,” he murmured, mostly to himself as his hands around her legs to pull her open, exposing her to the warm air of the room and his greedy gaze.

She curled her fingers into his thick hair as he dragged his nose along her folds, breathing her in. He had barely begun and she already felt like she was floating, held down to the bed just by his strong hands on her thighs. His tongue finally—finally parted his beautiful lips and he licked, strong and firm.

And she keened, hips lifting from the bed only to be pulled back down by his unyielding grip. And the bastard had the audacity to laugh and glanced up at her, mustache wet and glistening in the low light.

“Be good, darlin’. I wanna treat you real nice.”

“If you don’t finish-” The next words stalled in her throat as he licked another firm stripe before sucking her clit between his smiling lips. “Fuck!”

And then he truly began—a ravenous mix of tongue and plush lips moving against her and stealing any sort of coherent thought she might have had. He didn’t stop when she thrashed in his grip with her first. Didn’t stop when she tugged on his hair with the second. Didn’t stop when she wailed and panted and pleaded for a bit of a reprieve as the third started to crest and the damp spot beneath her legs continued to grow. But he let it build, continued to let her writhe under his hands until he was drinking her down like ambrosia again.

“J-Jack, please! Enough,” she begged, tugging on his disheveled hair. Her sigh was a little broken in her throat when he finally raised his head, smile glistening. He was such a pretty sight, bracketed between her thighs. A shiver shot down her spine as he pressed a kiss to her hip. “You… are something else, Jack.”

He chuckled and pressed another sticky kiss to her other hip. “I’ve been wanting to know what you tasted like for years, Sunshine.”

She slid her hands down to frame his face, letting her thumb brush against the edge of his mustache letting just a bit of slick coat her thumb before bringing it up to her mouth and sucking. His mouth dropped and a guttural groan pushed passed his shining lips as he watched. The sharp tang of herself was lost to her as he suddenly reared back onto his knees and he climbed over her, legs pushing against hers to spread her wide and hands dropping to either side of her head on the rumpled blankets. The feel of him pressing against the crux of her thighs made her moan, soft and breathy as he loomed above.

“I never thought you’d be a tease.”

“I just wanted to know what the fuss was about,” she shot back, fighting a smile, but it bloomed just as Jack’s did and he laughed before pressing a kiss to her lips and she tasted herself again.

He dropped to his elbows so he could gently cradle her face. “You got one more in ya? Just about did me in like a teenager.”

She laughed and let her hands pull through his hair again. “I think I can try, for you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I wanna know what the fuss is about,” she repeated, smiling into his lips as he bent down to kiss her again with a laugh of his own.

“Be kind to me, darlin’. I’m half-cocked already, finger on the trigger.”

“Oh?” She wiggled her hips and tried to bite back a smile when his eyes fluttered shut as she let herself glide against him. “I think you’re more than half-cocked.”

His hands suddenly grasped at her cheeks and he stole the breath from her lung with a vicious sort of ease despite the smile she still felt him pressing against her mouth. “Mean, baby.”

One hand slipped down and her entire body jolted as she felt him push the tip of his cock up and down, up and down along her folds before catching against her opening. Then, in one slow, delicious push, he slid inside. Her entire body seemed to catch fire as he bottomed out, curls at the base of him scratching against her skin. The stretch burned but she didn’t care—she didn’t care because he was there. Her Jack. And she was so deliciously full. Her hands scrambled to grab at his shoulders again and she barely managed to sigh out a heated “move” before he slipped his arms around her back and was dragging in and out with a slow, harsh thrust that had her choking on every breath while he pinned her down. Every sense was Jack—touch, taste, sound, sight, smell. All of it was him.

And that was sending her careening toward another orgasm at an embarrassingly quick pace. To finally have Jack, the man she’d been in love with for years, made it all the more terrifyingly lovely and erotic.

“You feel like heaven,” he grunted. “Tight, beautiful heaven.”

“Oh please,” she breathed, shaking hands reaching down his back, feeling his muscles flex as he continued to thrust. “Please.”

“I wanna feel ya, Sunshine. Wanna feel ya gush for me. Can you do that?” His slow drag continued and he buried his face into her sweat-slick neck, tongue sliding against her pulse.

“I want to feel you too, Jack.” Somehow she managed to find the words she needed through her buzzing mind. “Give it to me. It’s okay.”

He pulled one of his arms from around her back and slipped it between their tightly bound bodies, finding her clit like he had done it thousands of times and rubbed quick, firm circles that had her crying out and turning her head to kiss him, catching his jaw with her lips. “You first, Sunshine.”

And she erupted, one more time, shaking and shuddering in his grasp as white light flashed behind her eyes. But then she heard Jack’s beautiful, broken groan as his hips stilled, flush against hers, and warmth flooded as he gave a few small thrusts, chasing the last bits of his high. Her lips pressed against his neck, his cheek, finally finding his panting mouth. Her fingers traced his spine as they both tried to catch their breaths, bodies still reeling from the aftershocks. The afterglow was quiet and warm and perfect—sticky, syrupy, sweet. When Jack went to pull away, she tightened her grip on his back the slightest bit, uncaring of the slick she felt trickling down to puddle beneath them. “Stay a little bit. I like how you feel.”

His breath was warm against her skin, smelling of syrup and mint. “I’ll stay as long as you want.”

                                             **

“Call me when you land.”

“It’ll be late-”

“I’ll be awake. Just call.” She tried to press a smile to her lips but she was sure it looked withered. With all the years of subterfuge and espionage she had under her belt, it still seemed like she now couldn’t lie with him. Maybe her heart just couldn’t take it anymore. It refused to go back to pulling into frowns or impassivity.

Jack brushed his lips against hers with a sigh. “I’ll call. I promise.”

She sucked in a breath as her hands pressed against his chest, feeling his warmth and steady heartbeat. “I kinda got used to having you all to myself, Whiskey.”

And then he was quiet, face pulled tight, before he wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her close and pressed a kiss against her forehead. “Let me see what I can do, Sunshine.”

“Jack-”

“Because I got used to being able to kiss you whenever I wanted. I got used to saying I love you whenever I wanted—”

“We just started saying that yesterday,” she grumbled, half-pleased, half-despondent.

“I got used to being able to kiss you any time I felt like it.” And then he stole another kiss. “But I’ll be back soon.”

“Promise?” She whispered.

“I promise that I’m very hard to get rid of.”

She liked the sound of that.

                                               **

Two years later:

“Bela! No!” The corgi had stolen a piece of toast from the counter—how did he even get up there?—and tried to scamper away with the large treat.

Jack had been planning for weeks. His Sunshine had taken an assignment in Prague alongside Ginger Percival and Lancelot and was due back home in just a handful of minutes. He wanted everything perfect. The perfect flowers, the perfect music, the perfect meal (breakfast for dinner was a favorite of hers).

Perfect—until the dog stole a piece of toast.

It had been a year and a half since he had stepped back from Statesman, becoming a consultant for more complicated missions and only stepping into the field for end-of-the-world scenarios. He had shown up on his Sunny’s doorstep with a bag in hand and she had welcomed him inside without blinking.

She was…she was everything. His love. His second chance. His Sunny, filling every part of his scarred heart with warmth like sunlight sparkling on a skyscraper, sending beams of light into every dark corner and alley.

And living with her? It was so easy. His own slice of paradise on this wretched earth. They were a family—him, her, the dog. But he had definitely wanted more and he knew she did, too—they’d talked about it during more than a handful late-night phone calls and when they were wrapped up in each other under her soft blankets. And maybe they could have that. Maybe they could have a little more of this beautiful paradise.

He heard the door open and Sunny greeted Bela. “Hi, baby. Where’d you get toast?” She walked into the kitchen, carrying the corgi who was still chewing on the pilfered toast with his tiny, sharp teeth. She smiled as she looked at him and quickly pressed a slow, soft kiss to his mouth. “Hi, handsome.”

“Welcome home, Sunshine.”

She bent to set Bela on the ground and then gave him another kiss before looking around at the kitchen, seeing the spread of food and the large bouquet of her favorite flowers. “I will never get tired of coming home to you.” She plucked a piece of toast from the plate and took a bite and he watched as she smiled with crumbs on her lips.

For a moment—just a moment—the small box tucked in his back pocket could wait. He wanted to look at her a little longer.

A/N: And that’s all she wrote, folks! Please let me know what you think! Thank you all for reading. I love you. Period. The end.

Beautiful people who asked to be tagged: @spookyold-saintjm​ @honestlystop​ @paryl​  @fioccodineveautunnale @lackofhonor @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​ @chibi-liz05​ @huliabitch​ @iellaren-uodo-rian​ @roxypeanut​ @mrpascals​ @paintballkid711​

[glynnisi]

ShieldShock Holiday Fic 2020       FOR  @ava-rosier      

At Ao3:  Snowbound Christmas

Prompts:

-There's only one hotel room left and it's a blizzard outside and There Is Only One Bed.

-Either at a Mall or an Airport during the busy holiday season, a villain is trying to steal/ruin the holidays and Steve and Darcy, who are both there for Reasons, team up to foil the dastardly plot.

-When Darcy wore her new, risqué Captain America xmas/holiday sweater to work that day, she didn't expect that he would actually...y'know...SEE it.

---

So, it’s been a while since I wrote. Hi, friends!!! :)  But I adore ShieldShock still and will always adore @mcgregorswench and the ShieldShock Holiday Fic Exchange.  I tried to capture the feel of your prompts, @ava-rosier .  I’ve done holiday in the airport before but can NEVAH get too much of THERE IS ONLY ONE BED.  Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday, enjoying seeing 2020 finally end, and that you’ll enjoy your ShieldShock holiday fic gift!!! :)

---

Snowbound Christmas

Darcy startled as the car door scraped open over deep snow and a gust of wind blew in to steal her breath. It was even colder than the previous times. Steve could move fast, but not faster than the blizzard winds. He shook his head as he slammed the door closed behind him, sealing them in the relative calm. The only sound at first was the rustle of her shivering. He turned the car on again and they both savored relief as the air around them warmed.

She shifted position in her seat. “Steve, my friend! No room in the Inn?” Darcy tried to sound upbeat rather than weary. “I’d so hoped the eleventh try would be the charm. I mean, those two were raved over in Google as ‘simple’ and ‘budget’. You wouldn’t think that would draw a crowd.” She continued to watch the snow fall, eyes going out of focus.

Steve shook his head and pushed his snow-damp hair back. “I tried all five places in the village. Cut across town on foot rather than wasting gas.” He frowned. “I’m too stubborn. Should ‘a stopped twenty miles back where there were more possibilities. I’m sorry, Darcy.” He kept his eyes on the road as he started slowly moving. The snow was falling hard, gusting winds whipping it around them with abandon. Even with four-wheel drive, good snow tires, and perfect reflexes- Steve didn’t dare go more than fifteen miles per hour. Driving was hazardous, more by the minute.

Darcy shrugged her shoulders. “The forecast was off. I thought we had more time before it got bad, too. I swear! I only closed my eyes for like twenty seconds. When I opened them again it looked like I’d missed seeing three inches fall. You must be freezing. The other motels are two miles away, aren’t they?” She shivered, both sympathetically and because the car was still warming up.

“I’ll be fine.” Steve sighed again and glanced at Darcy’s phone before staring ahead of them again. “Any other ideas?”

Darcy squinched up her features, “well…” She was glad Steve focused his attention on the road. She worried that her idea wouldn’t be well received. “We could ask the others for suggestions? Surely Tony owns something between here and the City.” Darcy held her breath. She’d seen Steve and Tony clash at the Avengers Upstate Base enough to know that he didn’t want to ask Tony’s help.

Steve reached in his jacket pocket and handed his phone to Darcy, groaning in resignation. “Had the same thought. See if he’s replied?” He steeled himself.

Darcy laughed merrily as she read his incoming texts.

“That bad?” Steve’s frown lines deepened.

Darcy’s lips twitched. “Nah, buddy-o. Tony’s busting your chops about being a damsel in distress. He reminds you that he’s been away from Pepper for a week and has injuries to rest up from. Says to cool your heels at a summer lake cabin of hers. Coordinates and key code provided. And to resist the urge to crash dramatically into the lake as it wouldn’t be very festive of you. Cabin can be drafty, but was cleaned recently. Which, yay! They were going to come up last week for a dating anniversary celebration before the weather changed and he took that mission.”

Steve nodded and blew out an impatient breath. He glanced at Darcy again, “does anyone other than Jane know you’re with me?” His tone sounded wary.

Again, Darcy shrugged and avoided his gaze. “I dunno. If the local mechanic didn’t have sick kids at home, I’d be driving myself through this like I planned. Probably would’ve crashed in a snow drift by now or be caught in the sadly-parked madness on the interstate you were smart enough to skip. Why? I’m sorry that coming for me put you behind schedule. You’re too kind, putting yourself out for little ole me. You probably have plans with close friends, or something.” She trailed off, uncertain if that was a fair assumption regarding Steve. As much time as they’d spent together since they met over a year before, he seemed to always be working.

Darcy frowned, sad for Steve. And for herself. She’d tried in vain to shake the crush she had on the loneliest Avenger. He seemed determined to stay lonely and fill his time almost entirely with work. Whenever he came to Jane’s lab, she struggled not to let her extreme thirst for him show. She ended up babbling most times, griping about stuff and talking nonsense. He came by the lab a lot, so she had many embarrassing memories to cringe about.

“Not really. And don’t apologize, Darcy. I wanted to help you. I’m glad you’re with me rather than stuck, or worse.” Steve chose to ignore part of her question for the moment. “I was just going by Tony and Pepper’s party at the Tower to keep some peace between us. Then I figured I might go to Brooklyn to see the crazy lights they put up there these days, and then maybe head down to D.C. to see Sam. Nothing firm. No big deal.” He turned into a skid and eased up on the gas. Anyone else would have registered alarm at the need to maneuver like that. The majority of drivers would have wrecked. Sleet mixed in with the precipitation.

Darcy nodded, silent. She clicked on the coordinates Tony had sent and turned up the volume on the phone directions. When there was a pause, she spoke up, “still sorry to keep you from your party, lights, and Sam. I’m relieved that you weren’t just planning to ignore the holiday at the Upstate Base again this year, though. No offense, but hearing you did that last year made me mad at you.” She let out an indignant huff and blinked back tears.

He raised his brows, but didn’t reply at first. Finally, not wanting to seem rude, Steve asked, “mad? Why?” He fought against both flickers of hope and melancholy.

Steve tried not to wish for what he believed he couldn’t have. He’d found that Darcy won friends easily, but rarely let anyone get close enough to know her the way he’d like to know her. She kept things light and funny, using her humor as a shield against intimacy.  He admired her ability to deflect when she used it with others, lamented it when she used it with him.

The first day they met, Steve fell hard for the brash, strong-willed, funny, gorgeous dame. And then he met her boyfriend, Ian. Even after that relationship ended, Darcy made it crystal clear that she saw Steve only as a friend. Her emotional shield pushed him back like the strongest of force fields. She bristled if he held a door or pulled out a chair for her. She acted like it was weird if he did anything for her- like bringing her coffee when he was getting some for himself in Jane’s lab.

Also, there was Darcy’s apparent dislike of soldiers. She cursed agents and soldiers as ‘jack-booted thugs’ every time a piece Jane’s equipment misbehaved. He’d overheard Darcy rant to Jane about her sister’s hard life with a military guy Darcy disdained as ‘Soldier Boy’. Steve was a soldier. He'd never regretted it until it came between him and the only 21st century woman he’d met who captivated him.

Her tone as she spoke next brought Steve out of his reverie. “I know that those you love from your time were more like family to you… that you still mourn all you lost.” Darcy avoided looking at Steve, “But, I consider you a friend and I don’t like for anyone to treat my friends bad… especially, themselves. Thinking of you doing busy work and walking echoing halls alone. Imagining you eating frozen dinners and training alone while the rest of the world celebrated? Too sad. Awful. I wish you would’ve let me, I mean, someone, anyone, know that you didn’t have plans.” Darcy swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. She’d held that in for the better part of a year and was terrified that she’d overstepped enough to anger Steve. If her voice sounded brittle, she couldn’t help it. Her feelings for Steve ran deep. She’d taken one look at Steve Rogers and lost her heart irrevocably.

Steve shook his head and joked to offer one correction, “I hardly ever eat frozen dinners.” He cleared his throat. “What did you do for Christmas last year?” Steve’s tone was mild, unreadable. He’d spent a lot of the previous year’s holiday week reliving the pain of seeing Darcy being kissed by Ian under mistletoe. It was a harsh blow since he’d heard rumors that they’d broken up and dared hope for a chance with her. Thinking of that terrible moment still filled Steve with potent jealousy.

Darcy cut a glance Steve’s way. “I went to the usual lame lab holiday party, complete with joke gifts and too much mistletoe. Then, un-fun family time. As soon as I could escape my dumb sister Beth and ‘Soldier Boy’, I got back to Jane’s. I made Thor watch Christmas cartoons while I struggled to explain the pop nuances of them to him. We drank eggnog. I exchanged joke gifts with him and Jane and Erik. Then we all helped serve Christmas dinner at homeless shelter. And I ate too much and fell asleep on the couch at Jane’s place that night. I ‘peopled’.” She glared at Steve and repeated in an accusing tone, “’Peo-ple-d!’”

Darcy frowned as she also remembered Ian cornering her under mistletoe before Christmas. He tried to get back together with her until she threatened to tase him. It had cast a pall over Darcy’s entire holiday.  That was one interaction with people she did NOT look back on fondly.

Steve chuckled weakly, “and you’re mad at me for not ‘people-ing?’”  

“You never want anyone to pity you in any way, but then you do stupid stuff like that! I mean, I was drunk when Thor told me, but it made me CRY.” Darcy shook her head and looked away, frowning, angry. “Sorry. Said too much. Not my business. I know. Sorry.” She hunched her shoulders as though concerned he might offer a rebuke.

Steve's face fell into a sad grin. “No need to… It’s nice that you worry about me, Darcy. Thanks for that.” He resisted the urge to cover her hand with his. “I’m sorry I made you cry.” Genuine distress filled him, that she’d cried and that he had no right to offer comfort. Something in her reaction brought out his deepest protective instincts.

Careful to avoid distracting Steve from driving, Darcy poked his rock-hard bicep. “Pfft. Silly. You’re not alone, even if you try. You have friends. I’m your friend. You know that. Right?”

“Friends.” Steve nodded, grim. “Yeah. Thank you for being my friend, Darcy.” He sighed, long and low.

Darcy nodded, unable to speak around the lump in her throat.

---

 Soon, they arrived at the coordinates. A tiny cabin nestled in the deepening snow. It was dark, but for a dim light visible through its large windows.

Darcy moaned, “finally.”

“I could carry…” Steve’s voice trailed off as Darcy threw her door open and jumped out into the knee-deep snow. She almost fell, but righted herself. The winds swirled snow and sleet all around her.

“Shit! Cold!” Darcy trudged with purpose towards the cabin. “So cold! And, eww, wet. Oh!” She input the code Tony had sent for the front door lock and shoved inside. Darcy kicked off her snow-covered boots and dropped her coat inside the front door. She scurried to the bathroom. “Some of us don’t have super bladder capacity!” Her brief view of the cabin interior was minimal. Dark shapes stood out against the eerie snow light through the windows.

Steve slammed his car door and followed. He shook his head and yelled back, “nobody has that” as he picked up Darcy’s coat, shook snow off, and hung it on a hook. He toed off his boots and set them and Darcy’s boots near the fireplace. Then, he peeled off his snow pants and hung them on a hook near the door. They’d kept his jeans dry.

“Don’t get your tights in a twist. I’m hurrying!” Darcy called from the bathroom.

Brows raised; Steve surveyed the cabin. He flicked light switches and swore under his breath as low, golden light bathed the tight space. The room was dominated by a low bed and floor to ceiling windows. A Christmas tree decorated with lights stood by the bed. There were at least a dozen pillows and a sheer hanging canopy laced with warm string lights over the bed. There was no sofa, only two reading chairs and a small table in front of the fireplace. A kitchenette took space along one wall. It had a well-stocked wine rack.

Mostly, there was the ridiculously romantic-looking bed. Face prickling with heated anxiety, Steve found a thermostat and started the heater. Then, he began to build a fire in the brick fireplace. The cabin was cold and the windows were more suited to airiness than warmth. The back walls were brick, attractive but cold in winter weather.

“Uh, Steve?” Darcy sounded sheepish; voice muffled by the bathroom door. “Can you hand me a blanket or look for a robe or something? I’m sorry to trouble you. My pants are soaked up to the knees and I can’t put them back on. They’re freezing. Wet with snow.”

Steve closed his eyes, still for several seconds. He looked around for a closet and saw instead a wardrobe. He grabbed a black silk robe, frowning at the sheer and gauzy red alternative hanging beside it. The top shelves held baskets of swimsuits, shorts, and other summer clothes. He took the black robe off the hangar and walked to the bathroom. He knocked and held out the robe, eyes averted. Then, he went back to work on the fire.

“Thanks, I didn’t think. Just ran to the bathroom. I…” Darcy stopped as she got a good look at the cabin. “Oh, holy… uh, night.” She cut a careful glance Steve’s way.

Steve shook his head and chuckled. “Something like that. Don’t worry. I can sleep on the floor. I’ve done worse.” He arranged another log in the growing flames and warmed his hands.

“You can NOT! Don’t be stupid. I won’t attack you. Promise. We both need to sleep and there’s room for two if we remove a few hundred pillows.” Darcy’s tone sounded more certain and stubborn as she talked. She rolled her eyes at him. “Make a line of pillows down the middle of the bed as a dividing line if you want to keep me away. Or, I can do it.” She frowned at him, set her jeans near the fire to dry, and moved to the kitchenette. Darcy opened the refrigerator, freezer, and cabinets to see what they had to work with. “Sorry about my coat and boots. I was gonna get them, I swear.”

Steve frowned, disliking her urgent anxiety. “No problem.”

Darcy opened a bottle of water and drank it. “I didn’t dare drink much water while we were stuck in the car, but I still needed a bathroom for at least the past hour.” She offered him a bottle, which he accepted and downed before returning his attention to his work. Darcy moved food from the freezer to the refrigerator to thaw. She opened a couple of cans of soup and put them on to simmer, and sat in a reading chair. “I checked the weather forecast while I was in the bathroom. We’re not getting out of here on our own power before tomorrow night at the earliest.” She tightened the belt on the robe and leaned towards the fire, hands outstretched. “Nice. Getting a little warmth there. Thanks.”

Steve excused himself to the restroom. On his return, he sat in the other chair. He watched the fire’s progress, then turned his attention to the deepening snow visible through the windows all around them. “Quieter now. Slowing down, or a lull before more blizzard.”

“Lull, according to radar. Fresh snow absorbs sound. Something about air between the flakes dampening vibrations.” When Steve gave her an impressed look, Darcy grinned, “I saw it in a meme on the Internet. Must be true.” She winked at him.

Steve returned her grin. “Internet. So helpful.”

“Except when it’s REALLY not.” She made a face, both sad and angry. “Beth met ‘Soldier Boy’ online. And, of course his worst notions get amplified there. Bleurgh.”

Careful, Steve dared, “what branch of the Military is your brother-in-law with?”

Darcy choked on water. “Br... Whaa?” She shook her head, hard. “God, no! Don’t say that. It might come true if you say it.  Eww! Grandma Esther'd roll right out of her grave to beat the ever-living sh… heck… pardon me, out of Beth if she marries that Nazi wannabe.” Darcy shuddered dramatically. “Crud. They’ve been dating more than a year. And, Christmas… You may be right. Ugh.” She spoke as she texted into her phone, “‘If you marry him, I’ll give you kitty litter as a wedding present, used kitty litter. Dumbass. BTW I hate him. He’s awful.’ Ugh. Delete. Delete. Delete.”

Steve digested all this and stayed quiet. He noted with interest that Darcy’s cheeks reddened as though with embarrassment. In his experience she didn’t embarrass easily. Her plush lower lip jutted out in a pout. “Beth’s dating a racist faux-militia-type lunatic. She’s decided she’s Sub to his Dom and overlooks his politics and crazy behavior. It’s nauseating.” Darcy frowned, sad, “I don’t see the attraction. Mom says the sex must be great, cuz she doesn’t understand the attraction, either.” Darcy twirled a piece of her hair nervously on one finger. “Mom thought she had the worst taste in men in the family, but Beth’s making her wonder.” She shook her head. “Sorry. Nothing to you. You don’t know them. Crazy family of a sorta friend.”

“I know you… some. I care more than you think.” Now Steve’s cheeks reddened. He hadn’t meant to say that aloud.

Darcy gestured as though to bump shoulders with him. “Nice.” She arranged the robe over her legs, both from cold and modesty.

Hesitant, Steve ventured, “you never mention your father.”

Darcy’s gaze turned his way. “Nope. Long gone.” Her expression hardened. “Thank goodness.”

After an awkward silence fell between them, Steve went to the stove and spooned soup into two bowls. He returned to his place by the fire. He handed Darcy her soup, noting her mild surprise at being served. They ate without speaking. When they were done, they both took their bowls and rinsed them in the sink.

Darcy walked over to the bed and started moving pillows. “Do you want a dividing line?” She didn’t try to meet his gaze.

“Not necessary. Let’s put the pillows by the windows. They’ll block some of the cold that’s coming in and making it hard for this place to warm up.” Steve pressed pillows along the bottom edge of one window. He glanced back as Darcy slid beneath the covers, still wearing the black robe. The warm light brought out red and light brown highlights in her long hair. She looked even prettier than usual in the golden glow. And he thought she was always beautiful.

Darcy shivered hard. “Sheets are freezing!”

Swallowing hard, Steve sat on the far side of the bed from her. “Want the decorative lights off?”

“N…n..not unless you do. They’re p..pretty. Make me think warmer thoughts.” Her shivers shook the bed.

Steve shifted so that he could lift the covers and lay underneath them. They were icy cold against his pants. He imagined the chill was worse against Darcy’s bare legs. He lay back and closed his eyes, feeling the motion of the bed from Darcy’s shaking. The winds began to wail again, harder than before. He opened his eyes and turned to look out at the raging blizzard. “Wanna lay back-to-back? I run warm.” As she shifted so that she faced away from him, he rolled to his side and moved back against her. He cursed himself as a masochist.

“Ohhh. Fuck, yes!” Darcy swore under her breath and whispered, “sorry. So sorry!”

“I know what you mean and you don’t have to avoid cursing around me. We’re not on a mission communicator in an official capacity. That ‘language’ thing they joke me about is nonsense. I don’t give a damn about how people want to talk in regular life.” Steve closed his eyes again, trying to keep his tone even as Darcy wriggled against his back. He heard her mutter thanks a few times. Making her feel good pleased him.

Five minutes later, Darcy rolled over and pressed her cold nose against his shoulder. She spent several minutes trying to figure out where to put her hands. She ended up crossing her arms over her chest and tucking her hands under her chin. Within minutes, she was asleep.

Listening to the sound of Darcy’s breathing as it evened out and deepened lulled Steve to sleep soon after. His face settled into a small smile.

---

 Steve supposed it was a slight change in the blizzard-muted light of day that woke him next. Languorous, sensual dreams dissipated through his hazy thoughts. Dream images of Darcy, kiss-swollen lips and bared creamy skin, heated his blood.

Then, awareness hit him hard. He and Darcy clenched in a lover’s embrace. Their legs entwined and her head was on his chest. Her sweet, feminine scent filled his senses. Her amazing breasts pressed against one side of his chest. One of her hands was against his arm and the other warmed the skin of his stomach, inside his shirt. It all felt so good and right that it stole his breath. His body’s natural response to his dreams, to her, and to waking was extreme. He was afraid to move lest any friction push him past sanity. A small, low moan sounded in her throat as she shifted against him. He tensed.

Her voice was raspy with sleep. “I know it’s awkward, but I’m way too comfy to regret it. You feel good, Steve.”

“Right back atcha’, Doll,” he whispered. Wishing himself back in his dreams, he kissed her forehead and squeezed her even closer. He wanted her so much he could hardly stand it.

Darcy made another small sound in her throat as she wriggled against him. The realization that he was aroused sparked her passions, but she didn’t dare to presume too much. Maybe it was only an impressive sign of morning. She followed his example and placed a chaste kiss below his jaw. She felt his heart pounding more quickly and closed her eyes again. She flexed her fingers against his ridiculously-cut abdomen and felt him jolt. She debated if any of his reactions had anything to do with her in particular. She wished they did.

Both of them were awake, but neither admitted it.  Each of them savored the embrace and the feel of the other’s body. They each fantasized about the other.  They fantasized about passionate first moves, expressing affection and desire. Want. They became lost in imagining more and more.  Time passed. Their emotions swirled like the blizzard winds that trapped them together.

They lay cuddled and simmering with unspoken desires until Steve’s phone rang. It broke the spell. He moved away from Darcy and answered the phone.

She watched the play of muscles under the back of his shirt and struggled to stifle her lust.  Darcy closed her eyes.  It was futile.  Her lust for Steve had been growing for over a year.  In this circumstance, lust was inevitable.

While Steve talked with Sam, assuring him that he was fine though the storm prevented him reaching the City, Darcy left the bed and went to the bathroom. She snagged her dry jeans on her way there. She took a shower and did what she could with toothpaste she found in the medicine cabinet and her finger. When she came back out, she hung the robe in the wardrobe and put on her Christmas cardigan. She looked through the wardrobe and giggled at the sheer red robe. Then, Darcy took a step back. She buttoned and straightened her sweater by her reflection in the wardrobe mirror.

Steve paused in his conversation, a gob-smacked look on his face, “what…?!”

“Oh! Yeah. I know. Gaudy, isn’t it? Well, last year Tony gifted the ‘ugliest sweater at his party’ winner $10,000. I know what he can be like, so I thought I’d stand a better chance of catching his wallet’s attention if I went a little on the sexy side. And I sewed in lights.” Darcy twirled and turned on the LED lights that adorned the sweater. Her dark green Christmas cardigan had bauble Avenger emblem buttons. A Captain America Shield button strained to hold the sweater together over Darcy's breasts. Silver and gold trim around the hem resembled tinsel. Red and gold lighted and embroidered ornaments dotted the sweater at random. It was a bit gaudy rather than ugly, but sexy most of all since the fabric hugged Darcy’s ample curves. She wore it over a tight red top and skinny black jeans. The ensemble played up her natural assets.

Steve could only nod in reply. He tried to turn his full attention back to his conversation, but didn’t do well.

By the time Steve was off the phone and had made the bed, Darcy found waffles in the freezer and syrup in the pantry. She had coffee brewing and was downing another bottle of water when Steve began stoking the fire embers and adding wood. They shared a quiet breakfast. Steve tried not to look at Darcy’s figure and failed again and again. He tried not to fantasize as Darcy licked syrup from her lips. He failed.

As they finished breakfast, Darcy looked around the cabin. “Aw, man. No TV?”

“Actually, there’s one over the bed.” Steve swallowed the last of his coffee.

“Over?” Darcy gave him a disbelieving look and went over to look up inside the bed canopy. “You’re not kidding.”

He chuckled and shook his head, “at first I thought it was a mirror.”

Darcy lay on the bed, on her back. She looked around for a remote control, finally finding one in the nearby window sill. “Icy remote.” She pointed it up and sighed, “but it works!” Channel flipping and streaming services browsing occupied her for some time.

She hoped rather than believed that Steve was looking at her with lusty interest.

Steve was. The intimacy of their situation and Darcy’s sensual appearance were a potent combination. He could hardly speak. He excused himself to go get a quick shower. He came back out a few minutes later, dressed again but still toweling his hair dry.

Darcy didn’t meet Steve’s eye as she offered, “you’re welcome to join me. Just friends watching television, ya know. I’m watching a silly Christmas movie. ’Scrooged.’ Okay?”

Steve shrugged as he made his way back to the bed. He shuffled, awkward, as he drew nearer.

Darcy shifted towards one edge of the bed, not meeting his gaze. “Plenty of room. Don’t mind me.”

He smiled as he sat on the other edge of the bed and forced himself to speak up. “Sam said that they’re busy helping first responders deal with stranded motorists. Hundreds of them all across the state. A lot of people didn’t have our luck and find shelter. I had to agree with him that it’s more important that they help them than us. I’m sorry you won’t have the chance to win the sweater contest.” He eased onto his back beside her, folding a pillow behind his head.

“Of course, they need to help people who’re stuck!” Darcy shuddered. “It’s super cold out there and the storm got out of hand so fast. I can only imagine. We’re fine here.” She grinned and turned to him. “You really think I’d win?”

Steve was struck by how pretty her green eyes were. He blushed. Her look turned quizzical. He nodded and spoke a thick reply, “yeah. Definitely.” Steve forced his gaze up to the television mounted above them. “I assume that ‘Scrooged’ refers to the Dickens novella?”

“Yup.” Darcy shifted further to the edge and lifted the covers so that she could get under the blankets. Once under there, she groused, “darned lights and ornaments are poking me.” She frowned, and unbuttoned the sweater again and lay it aside. Buttons and lights made a clicking sound on the floor by the bed.

After debating for what felt like an endless time, Steve got under the covers and shifted closer to her. “Can’t let you freeze.”

Darcy rolled up on her side and looked him in the eye. “It would be rude to let me freeze. I’m glad you’ve seen the light.” She winked at him, trying to seem playful. She thought that he was looking at her lips, but dismissed it as wishful thinking.

Steve assured her, “I’ll do my best to keep you from freezing. Wouldn’t want to be rude.” He put one arm around her, hand spanning the middle of her back. “I’m a polite guy.”

“You’re the nicest soldier I’ve ever met. Have I ever mentioned that?” Darcy ducked her head as a blush filled her cheeks. The way his hand covered her whole back made her feel tiny. Did things to her. Made her want his hands on her in other places. The fire she tried to play with was backfiring spectacularly, leaving Darcy breathless with desire.

“No. But I’m glad to hear it.” Steve gave her a squeeze.

There was a loud noise onscreen. Darcy rolled onto her back so that she could see the television again. She hoped Steve wouldn’t notice that her breath was racing.

After a few minutes, Steve nudged her. “Tell me about other soldiers you’ve met? There are good and bad apples in any group, you know.” He felt Darcy tense.

Though she didn’t look at Steve, Darcy decided to answer. She told him about Puente Antiguo and the SHIELD agents and soldiers who took Jane’s research- and their computers and even Darcy’s personal iPod. SHIELD ran a strange, temporary military base near the town and Erik worried about their absolute power. She told him about the shifts in those soldiers’ attitudes after Thor returned to Asgard. First, they were obsequious, but gradually more restrictive. They coveted Jane’s research and tried to control them all. After a long pause, Darcy shared, “some of them reminded me of my dad. He was military, Marine. Not a nice guy, especially to our mom.”

Steve rubbed Darcy’s arm as she talked. He felt that it was a privilege that Darcy was telling him something so personal. He didn’t want to break the spell, rather hoped that she might open up to him more.

Darcy blinked back tears. “He found fault with everything she did. She couldn’t do enough fast enough to avoid setting off his temper. Then he… well, you know.” Darcy ducked her head.

Realization dawned on Steve. “So, he never served her a dish or coffee even if he was getting something? He never held doors for her or pulled out a chair? You never saw him treat her with respect?”

Steve stilled as Darcy sat up on one elbow and stared at him, eyes wide. “Respect? No. No respect.” She grabbed the remote again. “Let’s look for something else. I saw…” Darcy glanced at Steve. “’White Christmas’ is about to start on this channel. I remember liking the dancing and pretty outfits and thinking it’s sweet. The story starts in your time, though. Do you mind?  Will that make you too sad?”

Steve shook his head. “I’ve heard good things about it. I’ll be okay.” He wanted to say that he was more than okay with Darcy next to him, but was too tongue tied.

As the classic channel announcer talked, Darcy shifted closer to Steve again. “I want you to be okay. The 21st century’s not all bad, ya know.”

Again, Steve kissed Darcy’s forehead. “Yeah. Thanks, Doll.” He stroked her hair as they began watching the movie. “This okay?”

Darcy nodded, wondering if he was only being nice because he felt sorry for her or if there was another reason. “Yes. Very okay. Feels nice.” As his fingers trailed down her back, she shivered with pleasure. She wondered if he had any idea what his touch did to her. She savored the feelings, the want and heat, for a long time. Other thoughts ran through the back of her mind while she tried to ignore them.

Most of the way through the movie, the 'pretend-engagement' conspirators confessed to Bing Crosby’s character. Steve commented, approving, “at least they fessed up and set him straight. Too many times in romantic comedies the people avoid saying what’s on their mind until it’s too late. It's silly.” He stilled as Darcy pushed back from him and stared at him again. “What?  You okay?”

Darcy nodded.  “I… yeah. Sorry.” She sat up on the edge of the bed, paused the movie, and grasped her phone. After a moment, she nodded. “I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna make this call before I chicken out. Wish me luck.” She grabbed the green sweater from the floor and slipped it on over her red top again.

“Luck.” Steve got up and walked around the bed so he could sit next to Darcy. She looked up at him with a grateful warmth that transfixed him. He nudged her shoulder to offer comfort as someone answered her call.

“Beth? Hi. It’s Darcy. Merry something or other.” Darcy’s knee bounced, betraying her restlessness. Steve could feel tension fill her frame. After a moment, she continued, “yeah. Fine. I found a place to stay. I’m with a friend. And, Beth?” She took a deep breath, “He treats me with respect. Caring and respect. Even if he were…” Darcy paused. She rushed the next words out all at once, “well, if he was my Dom? He wouldn’t embarrass me or push away you or Mom by making me say ‘Meow’ and only ‘Meow’ to you at his whim. He wouldn’t think that's funny. He wouldn’t call me a ‘dimwit’ or a ‘bimbo’. He… Beth? I’m sorry to criticize your choices. But you deserve better than that kind of stuff. I hate the way Chad treats you, the way he talks down to you and tries to change you. You don’t need changing. I don’t know if it’s just me that Chad can’t stand. But, if it’s not? If he treats you like that in front of other people? I mean, would he demean you in front of your kids like Dad did Mom? Would he hurt you? How much like Dad…? Scratch that. Sorry. He’s not Dad. I’m not trying to be an unfair bitch to Chad, whatever he says. I worry that…” Darcy gasped, “don’t cry! I’m sorry! No! You… what? He what? He didn’t… What?!?” She shook, both in her body and voice. There was a long silence on Darcy’s end as her sister talked and cried. Darcy only interrupted the flow of words to utter sounds of disgust and disbelief.

Steve went to the kitchenette and got more water. He opened a bottle of wine and made thawed meat into fried burgers and baked French fries in the oven. He took Darcy water and returned to work on their lunch. The smell of good food soon filled the tiny cabin. He stayed busy, but most of his attention was on Darcy and her conversation.

Finally, Darcy rasped, “Well, that’s… What?! You’re thanking me? No. What? I thought you’d tell me to go to Hell, not take my call as a divine sign that you should say no and leave him. Oh, thank Baby Jesus!” Darcy laughed through tears. “Yes! I know I’m a bitch and I’m causing you to throw yourself on Mom’s mercy at Christmas. Enjoy her cookies for me. If it makes you feel better, I don’t have baking ingredients. Oh, fine! Hm? My friend? Awesome like you wouldn’t believe. Uh, I don’t know. It’s… pffft. I need to talk straight to him, too. Wish me luck?” Darcy wiped tears from her eyes. “Yes! I love you, too. Now, go. Text me when you’re safe at Mom’s and tell her I’m safe and I’ll call later. Merry Christmas.” Darcy hung up from the call and stared at the phone, rocking in place until she received a text. Then, she collapsed backwards onto the bed and stared up, unseeing.

Steve stayed quiet, letting Darcy calm from her talk with her sister. When the food was ready, Steve returned to her side and offered her a hand up, leading her towards the fire.

Darcy stumbled to a chair. “Thanks. You’re the best.” She drank more water.

“So, did he propose?” Steve began eating again and gave Darcy time to answer.

Darcy ate a bite of hamburger with a few fries and shook her head, “nope. TOLD her she was gonna marry him. Told her!” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Jackass! Good riddance.”

Wry, Steve shook his head. “Not very romantic. Not that I’m an expert in that department, but…”

Darcy only nodded as she devoured the rest of her food and sipped wine. “I had no idea how hungry I was.” She looked at Steve, thinking how lucky she was to be trapped with a good person who exuded calm and kindness. She especially appreciated that after the intensity of her conversation with her sister. Darcy sipped the wine as she focused on Steve. Being with him settled her, made her feel safe. And looking at him was always a delight. Steve Rogers was handsome, to be sure. He’d rolled up the sleeves on his green and blue flannel shirt. Unfair of him to subject her to sexy forearms on top of all the rest. Like every shirt she’d ever seen him wear, this one struggled to cover his muscles. She’d given up trying to think of adjectives that could convey how attractive Steve was. And nice. He didn’t call her out for staring at him like a weirdo, mooning after him. He didn’t even press her to speak up now, when she was sure he must be curious about the ‘straight talk’ she’d mentioned. He gave her the space she needed to regain her equilibrium.

Respect. Steve treated her with respect. She had a wonderful friend who treated her with respect. She ought to be forever grateful rather than daring to wish for more.

Steve finished his glass of wine and poured himself another.

Darcy held her glass out for him to top off, then sipped it again. “This is good stuff. I never spend more than $10 on a bottle. I’d bet the cork on this stuff costs that much,” she giggled, “or even the label.”

“I’ll give Tony money to cover it when we get back to the Tower.” Steve shrugged.

Darcy glanced outside. Snow and sleet fell still. “That’ll be a bit yet.”

Steve nodded, not sure what to say. He felt happy trapped with Darcy, to have a chance to talk with her and hold her close. Even if she only saw him as a friend who kept her from getting too cold. Silence fell between them again.

“Wanna finish the movie? Sorry I shut it off without asking.” Darcy needed more time to gather courage.

Steve nodded, “no problem. Yeah. I’d like to see the ending.”

They took their dishes to the sink and then returned to the bed. There, Darcy took off her Christmas sweater. She threw back the covers and snuggled next to Steve under the blankets. He put his arms around her while she used the remote to restart the movie. Finally, the lovers in the movie sorted out their misunderstanding, kissed, and made plans for their future. Fierce longing overwhelmed both Steve and Darcy. Unconsciously, he stroked her back.

There was no one and nothing to distract them or come between them. Nothing except for their own emotional shields. But it was a day for dropping those.

Cheers and strains of the song ‘White Christmas’ sounded behind the words ‘The End’. Darcy ducked her head so that she didn’t have to look Steve in the eye. “I wish…”

Steve interrupted, “I wish that you didn’t dislike soldiers so much, Darcy. I’m a soldier and I can’t change that, never could.”

Darcy pushed back from him, “what? Change? You? No! I don’t… Oh! No. I only dislike the bad ones. I don’t like jack-booted thugs who steal Jane’s research and my personal stuff. I don't like Nazi wanna-be’s or, well, mean soldiers. I like… I like you, Steve.” She swallowed hard and jutted her chin out. “I wish that your work didn’t take pretty much all your time and that you didn’t miss your good old days so much. I wish…” She blinked back unshed tears. “I really wish you wanted to be here- in this time- with me, Steve. I’m sorry. I know you only want to be friends. And I won’t say anything more to make you uncomfortable, friend.” She smiled a small, watery smile. “Friend. I’ve done that for you all this time. I can keep doing it. I want any relationship we can have, even just friends.”

Confusion filled Steve’s expression. “Is that why you say ‘friend’ to me so much? Because you think that’s all I want?”

���Uh huh.” Darcy nodded miserably.

He inched closer. “And you like me even though I’m a soldier? And you want to be more than friends with me? Darce?” He whispered, “do you… want?”

Darcy looked up at him, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry to make things so awkward when you’re stuck here with me. Yes. I want! I wish that you wanted to be more than fr…Mmph!”

Steve kissed her.

He pulled back and stared at her as he cupped her cheek with one hand. “Sorry. I should ‘a- May I kiss you? I’m crazy about you, Darcy. I’ve wanted you for months and months. Want you so much I can hardly stand it. Not just friends, please. More, Doll.” His eyes gleamed with fervor.

Darcy nodded, stunned.

Steve chuckled, kissed her forehead and kissed her cheek again, with reverence. “Darcy, Doll… can I get a ‘yes’ to me kissing you?” He shifted so that his lips were a hair’s breadth away from her lips. Charged air shook the space yet between the two of them. He waited.

“Yes!” Darcy closed the distance between them and met his kiss with her own. They both trembled into it, a feather-light exploration. They each absorbed the idea that they’d misread what the other wanted. She murmured again, “oh, yes, Steve.”

He grinned as he kissed her again, deepening the kiss. He nibbled at her plush lower lip as he’d fantasized and dreamed so many times. Reality was a million times better. Darcy shuddered against him and groaned with pleasure. Steve stilled and closed his eyes. “Oh, Doll.” Darcy teased at his lower lip and he groaned, “gonna be hard as hell to be a gentleman with you doin’ that.”

Darcy chuckled, “who says you have to be a gentleman?” She shifted her leg to brush against his hardness. “Mmm. You were saying?” She nibbled at his lip again and played with the top button of his shirt.

Steve jolted and cursed under his breath. He kissed her quiet, again deepening the kiss and learning how they fit together. Steve savored Darcy's lips and tongue and throat while also exploring what she liked best. Sensitive spots. Sweetness. Eagerness. It was pure bliss. Darcy was becoming short of breath. Steve lay back and looked up at the next movie that had started while his Christmas dreams began to come true.

Darcy glanced at the Santa onscreen and panted. “I no longer have anything to ask Santa for.” She undid Steve’s top shirt button and kissed at the base of Steve’s throat. “I can think of a few things I’d like to ask you for, though.”

Steve grinned down at her, “same, Doll.”

“Oh?” Darcy undid another button on his shirt and kissed the exposed skin. She looked up at him and held his gaze as she undid the next few buttons.

Steve pulled her up for a long, slow kiss that set Darcy’s every nerve ending afire. She undid another few buttons on his shirt. When he shrugged it off, Darcy stilled, staring at his naked chest. “Holy…”

“Night?” he suggested. She snorted a giggle. He shifted her so that she sat astride him. He asked with his eyes if he could lift her shirt.

She nodded. “I may freeze, but yes. Please do.” She lifted her arms.

He shook his head. “Not gonna freeze. Haven’t you heard? I’m the man with a plan.” His voice tightened as he pulled her shirt up over her head. He shifted another pillow behind him and sat up some, pulling her towards him. He kissed her breasts as he reached around and undid her lacy red bra. “Damn, Doll. You’re a fantasy come true.” As he began to tease at her breasts with his lips and tongue, Darcy shivered and moved on him. He groaned, “here.” He pulled his shirt out from beneath him and helped her put it on, open at the front but warming her arms and back. "Looks much better on you than Tony's robe."

“Ahhh.” Darcy tried to talk, but Steve returned to tormenting her with his insistent lips. “G...good plan. Ohhh.” She squirmed in his lap, grinding against his erection with abandon. He let out a lusty groan that made her proud.

Steve pulled her chest against him for warmth as he moved up to kiss her lips and face again. “You’re shaking.” He looked concerned, but couldn’t resist kissing Darcy again. And again. He plucked and teased at her with his dexterous fingers. He loved the frantic sounds she made in the back of her throat.

“Not cold.” Darcy pulled back, then kissed him again and again. “Just want. Want you. Want so much.”

Steve shifted, rolling Darcy down onto her back. “Good thing, Doll.” He kissed her. Long, slow, passionate kisses that she met with a fervor that lit him up more every second. He palmed her breast and continued his exquisite torment. Darcy arched up against him, writhing. He lowered his lips to her breasts again. First one, then the other. Kissing and nibbling and sucking. She cried out and bucked as he swirled his tongue, hard. Darcy wasn’t sure if she would be embarrassed to come just from his attention to her breasts or impressed. Possibly both. Likely both.

He resumed teasing her nipples with his fingers. He placed open-mouthed kisses all along her belly. Steve took his time. “Beautiful.”

Darcy whimpered and began to shove her pants down. Steve stilled her hands. “I got you.” He undid the snap on her black jeans and kissed the exposed skin. Then he lowered her zipper and kissed her more. Darcy held the covers up with one hand and ran the other covetously along Steve’s shoulder. Steve pulled her pants and panties off and then moved back up her body to kiss her cheek and lips again.

“Pants!” Darcy begged him between kisses.

Steve huffed a laugh and unbuttoned his jeans. Darcy pressed against him, skin to skin. She wore only his shirt and warm red socks. Finally, he pushed down his pants so that he wore nothing.

Darcy’s eyes went even wider. “Oh, my. You go commando?”

He shrugged. “Habit. The uniform requires special briefs.”

She reached for him eagerly and wrapped her fingers around his shaft.

“Fuck,” Steve hissed.

Darcy's grin had a wicked glint. “Something like that.” She kissed down his chest and abdomen until she finally took him in her mouth. Then, Darcy delighted in taking Steve completely apart.

When he’d caught his breath again, Steve gave Darcy a smile unlike anything she’d ever seen from him before. It was both delighted and full of mischief that caused her pulse to race. He again pulled her astride his legs so he could taste and tease at her breasts. He left lingering kisses along the column of her throat and over her wrists. He disappeared under the covers and kissed her thighs and the backs of her knees. Darcy squirmed and unseeingly stared up at the movie. Steve didn’t tire, didn’t cramp- only focused on Darcy's pleasure with single-minded, super-strong drive. He had her writhing with pleasure long before he let her come. Another Christmas movie was playing onscreen and halfway over before Steve came up for air.

Finally, when Darcy begged, Steve slowly slid home. She realized that he’d been prepping her so long because of his size. She felt stretched wide as he twisted to hit her G-spot just right. She came quickly and felt as though she continued coming again and again as Steve pounded into her. He twisted her around so that he could plunge in from behind while rolling her swollen clit between his calloused fingers. After he came, he laid his fingers flat, soothing. He cradled her body tight back against his. Aftershocks left her spasming with pleasure. Steve kissed Darcy’s head again and again, murmuring, “sweet Darcy. Crazy about you.” She dozed in his arms, warm and loved and completely satisfied.

Dinner that night was steak and vegetables from the freezer, paired with an exquisite red wine. As they lay in bed afterwards, cuddling and teasing each other, Darcy felt Steve’s arms tighten around her. He buttoned a few buttons on his shirt to cover her and murmured, “company.” Soon, Darcy heard the sound of Iron Man landing outside the front door of the cabin.

Tony threw the door open and sauntered in, “I’m here to rescue you.” He stared, looked around and saw the open wine bottle and two pairs of pants on the floor by the bed, and shook his head. “Or, not. I guess Pep can stop crying about you being lonely on Christmas again this year, Cap. And I can stop wondering why you’re not answering texts. Nice shirt, Lewis.” Tony was blinking hard, slack-jawed with surprise.

Darcy laughed, “you should see the sweater I was gonna wear to your party. It’s around here someplace.”

“Lights up, sparkles, and hugs her curves to perfection. I’m sure she would ‘a won your contest,” Steve grinned, enjoying Tony’s shocked expression.

Tony smiled, “I bet. Well, Mazel Tov! Thanks for popping Cap’s cherry, Lewis. ‘bout time.” He pretended to wipe away a tear of pride.

Darcy snorted, “no way was that his first time. Orgasm hall of fame. All my Christmas dreams have come true.”

Steve ducked his head against her hair. “Good to hear, Doll. Right back atcha’.”

Tony shook his head. “Good reviews all around then. Well, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays kids. I’d guess you’re all set here ‘til it’s safe to drive again?”

Steve looked down at Darcy and she looked up at him. They both nodded emphatically and turned to Tony, “we’re good.” Tony laughed.

“Merry Christmas, Tony,” Steve beamed. “We’ll see you in a day or two.” He repressed a shiver as Darcy began teasing him under the covers again.

Darcy called out, “Merry Christmas! Thanks for dropping in.”

Tony shook his head and waved back at them as he went out the door of the cabin.

Steve pinned Darcy on her back and began ravishing her again, mock joking, “naughty girl!” He pushed into her again and set a slow pace as he rained kisses over her breasts.

Darcy looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. “Your naughty girl.”

Steve kissed her hard. “And my nice girl. Merry Christmas, Darcy.”

Gasping with pleasure, Darcy answered him, “Merry Christmas, Steve.”

 Fin

[frostedfaves]

To Build A Home (3)

Masterlist

Pairing: Rosa Diaz x fem!reader

Summary: Rosa spent years building a friendship, relationship, and eventually a marriage and home with you. This tale follows your journey together up until her sudden murder. Now that you’ve tracked down her killer before anyone else, will you do the right thing and send him to prison or take care of him yourself?

Warnings: mentions of gun violence and injuries, hospitals, tiny drop of angst

A/N: comments, reblogs, and likes are much appreciated. so excited to hear everyone’s thoughts!! also sorry this one is a bit shorter but the next one is longer to make up for it :)

Previous chapter here

-

Today seemed like any other normal day in the precinct. Jake was currently in Holt’s office, attempting to appear as a detective who was serious enough to be on a task force while making hundreds of jokes that countered his argument. Charles rambled on about some Boyle family event while Gina easily gave her attention to a video online instead. Hitchcock and Scully were asleep at their desks again, and Rosa was finishing a report while waiting for you and Amy to return from the field. Business as usual, until a ringtone pierced the air of her silent workspace.

“Diaz,” Rosa answered, tucking the phone between her ear and shoulder as she continued to type.

“I’m at First Presbyterian. Y/N’s been hit.”

Amy’s voice continues to call out to Rosa, going unheard as she drops the phone, trying to process. Her girlfriend, the one who’d just promised her a lunch date through text an hour ago was now in the hospital.

Her phone was retrieved again along with her helmet and keys, and she rushed through the bullpen to escape to the outside world, mercilessly shoving aside anyone who dared to cross her path. Eyes focused and fists clenched around handlebars as her bike twisted and turned, speeding between cars with rehearsed accuracy. She refused to let a wreck keep her from getting to you as soon as possible.

-

“Where is she?” 

The words were directed at Amy before she was even aware of Rosa’s presence, but she wasted no time pointing her in the direction of your room, following a safe distance behind.

The door opened quietly, and crossing the threshold seemed to be the only force strong enough to finally slow Rosa down. Her eyes raked over your sleeping form as she approached your side, gently pulling your IV-free hand into hers and sitting in a chair beside you.

“What happened?” she croaked, gaze locked in on the cast covering your leg.

“We were looking for one perp and found two. The second one shot at her to give their friend a chance to escape, but luckily their aim was terrible,” Amy responded from the opposite side of you.

“I assume both are taken care of, then.”

“Yep. We had the evidence, just needed to find them. They’re headed to BDC as we speak.”

“Good...for them. It’s safer for them there instead of out here where I can get to them and make it look like an accident.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second,” Amy assured her, taking a deep breath. “I have a feeling you’re not leaving until she does, so I’ll just let Holt know where you are. Do you need me to bring anything after work?” 

Rosa shook her head. “I’m good.” She turned her head slightly, noticing your phone, badge and shirt on a table. “Well, maybe some pants for her to wear out of here. I’m guessing hers got ruined?”

“Yeah, they did. Okay well, just call me when they release her, and I’ll give her a ride home.” She nodded toward the helmet beside Rosa’s chair, causing her to chuckle.

“It was the quickest way to get here!” she defended quickly. “But I will. Thanks, Ames.”

“Of course. Don’t forget to eat something!” she called as she left the room.

Rosa turned her attention back to the gentle rise and fall of your chest, not hesitating to raise your hand to her lips now that you were alone. She allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts while she waited for you to finish sleeping off the pain meds given to you post surgery. Thousands of things seemed to pass through her mind but she only held onto one.

A leg shot was lucky, but it could’ve been so much worse. And she’d do anything possible to make sure you never felt any pain worse than this.

-

“What the hell are you doing?!”

The words caused you to freeze, one hand on the cabinet door and the other gripped firmly onto the edge of the counter. After another few seconds of silence, you carefully twisted your body around and met Rosa’s disappointed glare with a sheepish grin.

“The doctor told me to exercise once in a while.”

“He meant stand up and stretch, not travel across the entire apartment for a snack,” she scolded as she sat the bags she arrived with in the kitchen doorway. “How did you even get over here anyway?”

“It literally took me the entire time you were gone. I just wanted some Cheez-Its.” Your pout shifted into a smile as she approached you, pulling the box down and placing it onto the counter. “Thank you, baby, and I’m sorry. I hadn’t been bad in a while and wanted to misbehave a bit.” Your free hand stroked her arm, and she responded to your smirk with a simple roll of her eyes.

“Nice try, but you’re not going to seduce your way out of this one.” She stepped over to the hall closet and reentered the room with a wheelchair, ignoring your whines and complaints as she helped you into it. “If you do this again, I’m strapping you down.”

“That’s my kink!” you called after her as she left to put her things away, turning back to your snack on the counter with a silly grin. “Worth it.”

You rolled your way into the living room to turn on the television, cradling your Cheez-Its like a newborn. Meanwhile Rosa put the ceiling tiles back in place in the bathroom, hiding one of the things she purchased in the time she was out. Part of her was grateful you had limited use of your legs at the moment. It lessened your chance of finding the ring before her proposal plan was complete.

-

Tags: @gaulty74 @creepingwolfberry @rosadiazswifey @xetherealbeautyx @jay-is-groovy @milkfromhell @marie-03

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 18

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Leo's life is hard (but maybe there's some hope left).

A/N: Yay, time for a new chapter! I decided to make Friday my new posting day so that’s when the future updates will (hopefully) happen.

It's not time to resolve the previous drama quite yet but dw, that's coming! Meanwhile, I hope you'll enjoy this Leo centered chapter. It’s also time to bring Frank in!

Don't forget to let me know what you think! :)

Characters in this ch: Leo, Frank, Georgina, Jo, Emmie

Words: 1700+

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

...

“Maldita sea!” Leo yelled at himself as his wrench flew at the wall, thankfully not causing damage to it. Nothing he tried to fix or build that day seemed to go right. He hadn’t been able to figure out a pretty basic seeming issue in someone’s phone, one of his own inventions had broken and even solving a physics problem that would usually have managed to distract him only felt frustrating.

There was a lot going on in Leo’s head. Well, he’d argue that he always had a lot going on there due to his ADHD, but this time his usual methods to calm himself down didn’t seem to work. He would probably have to quit studying the only field he was truly interested in. He couldn’t do his work. His flatmate for whom he may or may not have started slowly developing some very not flatmate appropriate feelings had apparently had a thing for his friend, which not only complicated Leo’s situation with Calypso but also with Percy. And his mother’s death anniversary was coming, which was always a hard time for him. Leo imagined she’d probably be so disappointed if she saw him now. ‘My son, a failure in every aspect of life’. No, Leo’s real mother had been way too nice to actually say something like that out loud, but he just knew she’d at least think that. And Jo, Emmie and Georgina were counting on him too.

After throwing the wrench, Leo decided to take a break because his hands had started shaking too much to continue working. Taking a deep breath, he leaned against his worktable, closed his eyes and started tapping a rhythm that he had memorized years ago. His mother had taught him Morse code when he was a kid, and this particular phrase was one she had used a lot when he had needed calming down. Written down, the code looked like this:

.. .-.. --- ...- . -.-- --- ..-

I l o v e y o u

He whispered it very quietly a couple of times before looking out from the window and saying aloud:

“Mom. I’m trying to be strong. I really am. But sometimes it just gets too fucking hard. Everything seemed to be fine. Really. My other family is great. I was studying something I actually cared about. My new flatmate… uh, she’s an interesting force of nature. But if she likes someone like Percy… I’d never have a chance. And all my career plans are about to run down to the sewers because I can’t use fire, in any way. Not because of what happened to you. Because of what I... I just feel lost.”

He took a deep breath and rubbed the corner of his eye dry quickly. Saying his thoughts aloud seemed to make him feel a little bit better, and he decided that maybe getting out of the flat and getting some exercise would help with the shakiness. To his relief Calypso wasn’t home either so he didn’t have to answer any awkward questions about why he looked like such a mess. Leo found himself jogging all the way to Waystation, which was several miles from his flat. As he reached the yard, he noticed Georgina with Festus, but even with her back to him he could sense something was wrong. Of course. There was always some way the day could get even worse.

“Hi, hermanita!” he started, trying to sound cheerful even though he didn’t think he was a very good actor. Georgie could probably see right through him. His suspicions were confirmed when Festus didn’t even run to greet him as he usually did. “What’s going on?”

“I tried to call you,” she said, hiding her worry badly. “Moms went to run some errands and something… something happened to him…”

“What do you mean? What exactly happened?” Leo insisted on knowing.

Georgina seemed to grow more and more upset each moment. “I… I gave him a bully stick… but I forgot to put it in a holder even though moms always say you should do that when you give him one because he always tries to swallow them so fast… And then he started feeling sick...”

To prove her point, Festus, who was laying on the ground, made a loud gagging sound. After that he tried to whine but even that didn’t sound like it usually did.

Leo’s ADHD kicked immediately in, in the form of him wanting to act fast.

“We’ll discuss this later, I need to borrow Jo’s car now that I can take him to the vet,” he exclaimed and ran inside the house to get the keys to the car from the spot Jo usually kept them. He picked them and Festus’ leash and ran back, telling Georgina to stay home to tell Jo and Emmie what happened when they’d return.

At least one thing went right that day: the emergency vet clinic was fairly quiet when Leo arrived there. Not long after that, the vet took Festus in. He had an intern with him; a young man who Leo suspected had his roots somewhere in East Asia. He had black, short hair, a bulky body and kind of child like face even though the intern was probably older than Leo. As the vet asked Leo some questions about what exactly had happened to Festus, the student wrote down some notes and occasionally added a short comment as well. When Leo was about to explain why exactly Festus had gotten issues with the bully stick, he heard the intern mutter something to himself.

“What was that?” Leo asked a bit more aggressively than he had planned, having already been stressed even before the issue with Festus had come up. He had to admit, though, that it had distracted him from the other issues.

“Nothing,” the intern quickly said, pretending to focus on his papers again.

Leo didn’t give up that easily. “I heard you, though. You were implying that I had somehow caused this.”

“Well, you did give him the bully stick, didn’t you?” the young man asked.

“I wasn’t even there when he got one!” Leo growled, starting to feel the frustrations from earlier that day flooding out of his system. “My… uh, little sister gave him one when our parents left to run some errands and he kept whining and wanted something to chew! It wasn’t her fault either, she’s a child and she didn’t know that could happen!”

“Mister Valdez, please calm down a bit,” the vet interrupted him, and Leo immediately shut up. “There’s no need to yell. Festus is going to be just fine; I’m going to give him some medicine and fluids to help with digesting the stick and we can watch how he’s doing overnight. And Frank, please don’t make assumptions like that about clients.”

“Yes, sir,” Frank said, to Leo’s surprise actually looking regretful. Then he turned to Leo. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“Nah, I kinda lost my cool there too…” Leo said, the frustration leaving when he saw Frank’s face.

“Kinda,” the intern said, attempting to joke about the situation.

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that;” Leo rubbed the back of his neck.

After that the vet asked Leo a couple of more questions and did some more examinations on Festus while Frank helped him.

“Other than this stick issue, he seems like a healthy dog,” the vet complimented after the check up. “His fur and teeth look good. I think you’ve been taking good care of him.”

“Well, to be honest he lives more with my parents than me because they have a lot more space…” Leo said, “But yeah, we all try our best. Even Georgina, my sister.”

“I’m glad to hear that. It’s a good thing you got him here that fast so he’ll get the best possible treatment,” The vet said.

After that he wrote some notes on the computer and then dismissed Leo who scratched Festus from behind his ear and promised to come back soon to get him. As he was putting his jean jacket on in the lobby, the intern, Frank, approached him.

“About what happened earlier, I really am sorry. It isn’t like me to attack clients; you can even ask my boss about that. I just…”

“Chill, man,” Leo said. “I’ve heard this story before. People assume things about me because I look like a problem teenager. Truth to be told? You’re not entirely wrong. But things have changed. And trust me, Festus is my best friend and I’d do anything for him. I’m sure Georgie has learned her lesson too now.”

“Good to hear that,” Frank said and extended his arm to Leo. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow when you’re coming to get Festus.”

Leo nodded. “Yep, I have a feeling my whole family will want to join me. Anyway, I’m off now. Thanks for the help!”

“I’m glad we could help!” Frank told him before he started walking towards his car.

...

Jo and Emmie had already returned to Waystation when Leo got there.

“Is everything OK?” Emmie asked immediately. “We didn’t really get much out of Georgina… Just that something had happened to Festus and you took him to the vet.”

“Nah, it’s gonna be fine!” Leo reassured her. “He got some digestion issues because he gobbled a bully stick too fast but that’s being taken care of now. Georgie sure remembers to be more careful from now on, won’t ya, hermanita?” he addressed the young girl then.

“I will…” she promised, not even protesting about the nickname this time.

Once Leo had explained with more details what had happened at the vet and it became clear that Festus would be fine soon, the family moved to other matters. Unlike usually, Leo was happy with mostly listening to the others. The incident had reminded him that there were bigger matters than girl issues or his studies and he realized that those things didn’t feel quite as hard to overcome now as a few hours ago. Yes, he still needed to deal with them, and yes, his past would probably never stop entirely haunting him, but when he had people like this around him? It wouldn’t be impossible.

[novelnerdqueers]

Tell Me To Stay - Chapter 5

Summary :  Logan's birthday comes around and he's shocked to find out that this year someone actually not only remembered but also got him a gift.

CW: Brief mentions of nightmares, unhealthy habits

Previous chapter  Next chapter  From the beginning Read on ao3

Chapter 5:  Dinner?... Just The Two Of Us?

They drove in silence for most of the way. Now and again they would exchange glances. They drove up to the building where Logan's condo was. "This is my stop."

"Right, of course. Would you like me to walk you up to your apartment, or are you okay from here?" Roman offered.

"Um well I mean it's not like I really need help finding my place," Logan started. Obviously, he could get back home fine from here. He thought he felt Roman shrink back a little at this. It then hit him that that question probably had subtext. Of course Roman would know he was fine on his own, yet here he was wanting to spend as much time as possible with him. "But," he continued, "I'm not against the company."

Roman smiled and then climbed out of the car, walking over to where Logan was. They started walking, their footsteps matching each other. "Hey, Logan?" Roman asked quietly as he looked around the small area they were walking in absent-mindedly. "Why did you move to our department from your last one?"

"Oh well um... let's just say that not all jobs at the CSI are esteemed in the same fashion. I was the head supervisor of the archives, but no one cares about you here unless you do something on the field or closely related to the field. No matter what I did, or what I accomplished, all I was to everyone was just a pencil pusher. Which hurt because I really truly felt like I could contribute more, but no one ever took me seriously." Logan was starting to get worked up as he continued speaking. "I've been told many times to stop playing Sherlock Holmes and leave the work to the real detectives." Logan stopped walking at this point, they were standing in front of his door now.

Roman watched Logan carefully, listening to him with a thoughtful expression. "Hey," he said gently once Logan had finished speaking. His voice was low and calming as he took Logan's hand and squeezed it, gently soothing him with the grounding touch. "Look... I don't say these things to people often, but actually, you’re a pretty good investigator... A real detective would encourage others to follow in their footsteps, they clearly weren't that great if all they could do was make fun of you. You are a great person to work with and be around... it hasn't been as bad as I thought..." He was very close as he held Logan's cool hands in his own. Logan could smell his musky, sweet-smelling cologne and his comforting expression was at least doing something to ease his mind.

"Why are you telling me this... why do you care so much?" Logan couldn't help but ask. His mind was reeling from Roman's words, his heart was pounding. He'd never felt so... so... valued before, it was jarring to him. His hands felt clammy and yet Roman was still holding them.

"I care about you, Logan," Roman said. "You're a good friend. Though I do believe we got off on the wrong foot. You are a good partner; I feel like I'm not doing all the work for once. It's nice to know there's someone I can work with who I can trust with a job and know it will be done well and with a good amount of effort put into it. You'll try to get it as good as it can be, I appreciate that. You also seem to...balance me out quite well. I suppose this is my way of saying thank you." He smiled, hoping he correctly put his thoughts into words.

Logan managed to offer a small smile back, he was truly touched by Roman’s words. “Thank you, Roman… it means a lot to me to hear you say that.” Finally, he pulled his hands away, the ongoing touch was starting to feel a little too awkward. He looked down for a moment before returning his gaze to Roman’s. “I also really have grown to appreciate having you as a partner. It’s nice to feel like what I do actually matters, without having to change who I am or how I do things for all that.” An understanding seemed to pass between the two of them. “Well, goodnight I guess,” Logan spoke as he took out his keys to unlock the door, “See you tomorrow.”

Roman nodded, "Have a nice evening, Logan." He smiled, waving to him as he headed back to his car.

……………

Over the next couple of weeks, Roman found himself becoming more and more fond of Logan's presence and appreciated his sense of logic in certain situations where his enthusiasm did admittedly become a little too much. It was nice to have a friend who understood and got him the way Logan did. He tried to push away the more troubling thoughts of when he seemed to stare at Logan when he wasn't looking or some of their eye contact that lingered a little bit too long. He didn't want or need to think about that.

Never before had Logan looked forward to going to work each morning. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed the other jobs he’d had before, but he finally felt like he’d found his place within the team. He also had to admit that he really truly enjoyed working with Roman, they made a great team and that was something he’d never really experienced before.

Roman found that every day he was talking to Logan that much more and wasn't even slightly objecting to it, it was great. He felt himself smiling more, being generally happier and found his days a little brighter. The usually long days didn't feel as tedious and he found himself wanting to stay at work with Logan because home for him had a lonely feel to it that he didn't want to think about for fear that he already knew its origin. The loneliness ate away at him, attacking him during the nights. By morning, he was able to brush it off and he had the motivation to take care of himself a little better, it was a very welcome change of pace.

Logan had begun to notice a gradual change in his overall mood. He didn’t feel nearly so anxious all the time when at work and with the others, especially with Roman. Where before he would have happily rushed home the moment his day was done, he found himself hanging back to chat with Roman at the end of work. While not entirely becoming all that much more sociable, he didn’t mind the interactions nearly so much as he used to. He felt more relaxed, more upbeat, Roman’s optimistic energy was contagious and strangely attractive to him. There were even times where he found himself alone at home almost missing that feeling.

…..............

Roman walked into the office. It was a normal Friday morning for anyone else, but Roman couldn't say the same. He wore a barely noticeable frown on his face. The night before, he'd spoken to an old friend and they'd asked him about some sensitive topics. He hadn't realised at the moment, but talking about it as if everything was okay had dug up some things he'd long since buried. It didn't help that when he'd said he'd rather not talk about it, they got offended and asked if Roman still trusted them which made Roman feel bad so he'd given in and told him. As a result, he'd gotten a few hours of sleep, broken up in small intervals of the night because of the nightmares and general uneasiness that loomed over him. He was exhausted.

Logan was already busy on something when Roman arrived that day. As he heard him arrive he instinctively felt his head lift to look up at him. “Hey,” he started cheerily, Roman giving him a smile and a nod. Logan immediately felt that something was off. He’d unwittingly learned Roman’s usual mannerisms and this wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t anything huge, but still, enough that it left him with an odd suspicious feeling, he tried to brush it off. They got to work and the feeling stayed with Logan throughout the morning. Once it got around to early afternoon he just couldn’t take it anymore. He looked over at Roman to see that he seemed lost in thought, his gaze fixed on the wall. “Hey, Roman… I hope I’m not overstepping here but… are you okay?” His words seemed to startle Roman out of his stupor.

"Hmm?" he hummed, looking up at Logan. "Oh, right, uh... I'm okay, I guess, just tired. I had a rather sleepless night." He frowned, his unfocused gaze shifting from his work to look at Logan completely. "I had to have a...difficult conversation with an old friend that I didn't really want to be a part of. I suppose I didn't think it would affect me this way," he shrugged, running a hand across his face and sighing in defeat.

“Oh..” Logan wasn’t quite sure how to respond. He wasn’t exactly very good at being the comforting type. “I’m sorry to hear that. I get it though,” he mused thoughtfully. Tough conversations were a thing he’d, unfortunately, had a lot of experience with. He knew that often they were necessary, but they also left him feeling rather out of it. “I’m guessing the outcome of the conversation wasn’t exactly what you hoped for?”

"I guess you could say that," Roman hummed, taking a sip of water and skimming through his paperwork. It was a summary of the most recent crime scene they'd been to and he was struggling so much more than he usually would be. As Logan made quick work of several piles of papers, he was still stuck on the first few pages and it was almost painful.

Logan could see that Roman’s mind was just not in it today. “Do you want some help with that?” he offered, genuinely concerned at this point.

"Actually, yeah, I'd appreciate that," he smiled gratefully, letting out a yawn as Logan made his way over to his desk and stood behind him.

Logan began looking over the neglected and poor quality work, or at least poor compared to Roman's usual standard of work. Roman knew Logan didn't think lowly of his work because of his mistakes like he did, but Roman always found difficulty in actually giving himself credit when it was due.

While not being terrible, Logan could definitely tell this wasn’t Roman’s best work. “Your ideas are a little all over the place,” he spoke as he cocked his head, trying to see how the elements could be organised. “Do you mind if I take a go at rearranging a few things?”

“Yeah, of course, go for it,” Roman said, letting out a tired sigh and shifting so Logan could stand over his work. Logan then inspected the sheet in front of him, his eyes scanned over the notes. He picked up a pen and grabbed a loose sheet of paper, writing down some numbers, drawing arrows and several small notes for organizing his ideas.

Roman hadn’t quite realised, but in his tired frame of mind, he’d lost focus and was staring at Logan rather than the papers, watching the way his lips moved as he spoke, but not quite computing what he was saying. Noticing the way he held the pen, elegantly moving his hand to jot down a general summary of what he was explaining, but not quite picking up on the words that he actually wrote, being unable to focus on them.

“So yeah it’s up to you in the end, but this might help you give a better sense of direction to your notes,” Logan finished saying as he raised his head. It was at that moment that he noticed Roman staring at him. He couldn’t tell whether he was just spaced out or if he had been intently staring at him. “Hello, earth to Roman,” he spoke, hoping to break his trance. “You okay there?” At these words, Roman seemed to realize what he was doing and his cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.

Roman shook his head, trying to pull himself out of the daze he’d somehow fallen into. “Gosh, I’m sorry, Logan, I’m really not able to concentrate at all today.” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “I really appreciate the help. I’m usually better with my notes, but the reorganisation will really help me to find what I'm looking for faster.”

“Alright then, always happy to help.” Logan strode back to his chair to continue his work. Before doing so he glanced back up towards Roman one last time. “You know, if ever you need some more help, don’t hesitate to ask okay.” He offered him a warm smile then turned back to the papers on his desk.

Roman smiled over at him. “Okay, I won't, thank you, Logan,” he said, looking back at his work. A gentle smile stuck on his face every time he looked over at Logan or thought about his notes or the way he smiled at him. It was nice to know that there was someone like Logan that he could truly rely on.

...............................

Logan’s first few months at the precinct had flown by without him noticing. Before he knew it autumn was rolling around. It was mid-October when he walked into the office one day to a package on his desk. He strode over to his chair, utterly confused as to what it was doing there. Roman was at his desk already working. “Uh Roman, what’s this on my desk for?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” Roman smiled, standing up and walking over to Logan’s desk, a certain spring in his step which was easily recognizable. “It’s your birthday, Lo,” he beamed. “I looked into the files because I remembered seeing your birthday was at some point in October and I wanted to get you something,” he explained, leaning against Logan’s desk.

For a moment Logan was dumbstruck, somehow he’d managed to forget his own birthday. In his defense, he never really did anything for his birthday so it generally didn’t feel different from any other day. He never told anyone about it because he didn’t care for that kind of attention and was never really close to any of his coworkers for it to actually matter. “Oh um, thank you…” Logan could feel himself blushing, he was oddly touched by this attention of Roman’s.

Roman grinned, “You’re very welcome, Logan.” It was obvious now that Roman was waiting for Logan to open his present as he made his way back over to his own desk.

Roman hovered just behind him excitedly, as he slowly took back the wrapping paper which was a simple navy blue. Behind that, neatly placed wrapping paper was a book with drawings, photographs, illustrations and theories about space. Quotes from different astronomers and astrophysicists lined almost every page and it was just a very beautiful gift. He was looking for one online but couldn’t find anything he knew Logan would like. He wanted to be accurate with something Logan would actually appreciate so he’d put one together himself. He’d gotten the idea because his coworker seemed to be obsessed with space, so this gift idea was too perfect to pass up.

Logan was stunned by the present, for something that was clearly handmade it was remarkably well done. He was taken aback at how thoughtful the gift was, he was flattered but wasn’t entirely sure what to think of it. “Wow Roman, I-... thank you.” Logan looked up at him and smiled, “This must have taken you quite some time and it’s pretty good too.” He flipped through the pages, carefully running his fingers over the different images and quotes. The attention to detail was pretty spot on and he could appreciate that. “How did you know that I was such a space nerd?” Logan was slightly confused as to how Roman had known this in the first place.

Roman fought the urge to be slightly disappointed at Logan's reaction. By now, Roman was aware that his partner just expressed feelings differently than he did and Logan did say he liked it...in his own way, which was a plus. He just didn't react the way Roman imagined or was used to when he made something for one of his friends. "Oh, um, there are a few things on your desk that are space-related and you've mentioned something along those lines a few times. Since you seem like the type of person to talk about things you find interesting very rarely I figured it must be important to you."

“Oh, right, yes.” Logan looked towards his desk and had to acknowledge that he did indeed have incriminating evidence of his special interest in space. “I guess I don’t usually notice that kind of stuff.” He had a small moment of guilt at realizing that he wouldn’t have really been able to say what Roman was interested in, despite their being coworkers for a while now. He put the book down and turned to his work.

Roman nodded, with the type of person that Logan was he didn’t expect that kind of thing to be extremely noticeable to him. Roman himself, had always been the type of person to pick up on small things about a person, even very soon after meeting them. However, he could understand that not everyone did that and it was more difficult for some, which he assumed was the case with Logan. As he sat in his chair, finishing the rest of his work, he tried not to feel disappointed at the lack of reaction and instead focused on the fact that he’d still done it. It had actually been fun to learn and teach himself about the topic to get accurate facts.

As they continued on their work for the day, Logan would now and again glance at his bag where he’d placed the book Roman had gifted him. As much as he wasn’t surprised that this was the sort of thing Roman did for people, he hadn’t thought they were close enough to warrant such a personalised gift. The day went on and when the end of the day rolled around Logan gathered his things to go home. “So see you tomorrow Roman.”

Roman smiled, he'd been thinking and throughout the day he decided that a birthday dinner might be more Logan's speed. They could talk and get to know each other a little better, which was something Roman wanted to do since Logan was such an interesting and mysterious person to him. "Uh wait up, Logan," he called, picking up his bag and slinging it onto his shoulder, a slight spring in his step as he hurried to catch up to him. "Would you like to go out for dinner, maybe? You know, because it's your birthday and all?" he beamed, doing up the clasp on the side of his bag and looking back up at Logan, a goofy smile on his face.

Logan stopped abruptly, a blank look on his face. This was a first and he wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. “Um, yeah I, uh, sure ok,” he stuttered out, feeling rather flustered by the prospect. He’d never gone out for dinner with a colleague, much less for his birthday. His mind was in social panic mode but he tried his best not to seem rude, he really did appreciate Roman after all.

At this, Roman's smile softened, his hand going to the cuff of his sleeve to arrange it as he turned to Logan. "Hey, don't worry. There's a small low-tone café nearby, it's nice and I just thought you might like to go out for your birthday rather than staying in. Not that I'm assuming you don't already have plans. You don't have to though, it's just an offer," he smiled warmly. "You're my friend, or at least I like to think we're relatively close, and I'd hate for you to have to spend your birthday alone." he finished, pulling his phone out and checking through it, noticing a text from Patton and a few emails.

Logan would have wanted to be able to protest, but the truth was that he indeed had no plans. He still wasn’t entirely sure why Roman was being so chummy, he really wasn’t the most interesting person to be around. In the end, he really didn’t have anything better to do, so he might as well go along. It would give him something to tell his therapist to get him off his back for not being social enough. “Well thank you, I don’t usually do stuff like this, but I guess it could be fun.”

"It's no pressure, honestly, everyone needs to have fun once in a while," Roman grinned, reaching up and pushing the hair from his own face before continuing to speak. "It isn't like this is a date, Logan," he smiled, lifting his head from his phone and looking over at him.

An immediate flush came across Logan’s cheeks at this remark, he looked away from Roman nervously. Why did he have to say that? Logan had struggled with his sexuality for a long time and he still was rather uncomfortable talking about it. At this point, it was pretty clear where Roman stood on the matter, but he had yet to say anything in that respect. “Um.. yeah.. sure ok,” Logan attempted to chuckle but it was rather half-hearted. Nonetheless, he followed Roman to his car.

**This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, (https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject) which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including: short comments, long comments, questions/theories, constructive criticism, reader-reader interaction.

*** Tag list (let us know if you would like to be added or removed): @crossiantgay

[what-is-your-plan-today]

CSI: Rogers and Barnes- The Serious Cereal Serial Killer

Episode 7- Damp Embers

Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Episode Summary: Oh dear…following every drunken night there’s a morning after. Only on this one someone else turns up dead.

Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (but who between?????Hmmmmmmmm)

NSFW or No Under 18s…

Episode Pairings:  Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark (Yeah, not sure anymore, even we’ve lost track of her hating him or not.)

Song for Episode:  Demons At The Door by Sleeping Wolf

A/N: This entire series contains dark humour (CSI + Brooklyn 99=CSI Steeb) Avengers and Stark Spangled Banner Easter Eggs and jokes. You don’t need to have read the SSB series to understand or enjoy this, but we’ve used the Universe to spin this off from so somethings might puzzle a few of you if you ain’t, but feel free to ask. Also, our knowledge of American Policing and Brooklyn is limited, so bear with us if we slip up, but at the end of the day this is a fiction so we’ll claim any mistakes as creative license!!

As always we live for re-blogs and comments  

CSI Rogers and Barnes Master List 

Main Masterlist 

“I never saw it coming to this, I never thought we could fall so far. Why do we always burn the bridges, and this is how we always, we always fall apart.”

To say he had a wicked hangover would be the understatement of the year. It was more than that, it was a textbook hangover with an extra of headache meets rage, self-flagellation and guilt. All-in-one pack and ready to go. That was Steve Rogers the morning after, or rather the afternoon after, as he looked at his own reflection in the en-suite mirror.

Was it afternoon? Steve thought as he absent-mindedly examined the bags under his ocean blue eyes and scratched the stubble on his face. He was looking forward to growing his full beard again. He would stop looking like he was barely legal at the bars and would regain his Captain stance. Besides Katie had always loved his beard.

Katie.

He winced at the memories of the previous night and decided to wipe them clean before they rotted his brain, or what was left of it. He peeled his boxers off and got into the shower unit trying to decide between soothing his aching muscles and heart with hot water or numb them with cold water.

Cold water it was. And fifteen minutes later Steve stood facing the curtains of his bedroom windows, dressed in washed blue jeans and a grey t-shirt. He hesitated for a second before throwing the curtains open wide with a swift movement followed by a groan as he closed his eyes, still too sensitive to sunlight. Damned hangover.

He took his phone from his night stand and placed it in his back pocket after checking he had no missed calls or messages. Nothing. Radio silence. Was that a good sign? Sure it was, right?

He sighed before leaving his bedroom. Facing Bucky would be as tough as opening those damned curtains, but he needed caffeine and some food. He poured some of the coffee Bucky must have brewed before into his breakfast mug and made himself a grilled cheese sandwich sided with an extra painkillers dose.

“Look who’s back from the dead” Steve heard Bucky yell from where he leaned on the kitchen doorframe.

“Shhh. Keep your volume low, will ya?” Steve practically begged in response.

“The Golden Boy of Brooklyn Police Department is hungover, ladies and gentlemen.” Bucky said after laughing loudly.

Steve groaned and sat on a stool at the breakfast bar to eat his food shooting daggers at him.

“How the mighty have fallen.” Bucky chuckled sitting on another stool facing him.

“Fuck off Bucky, I feel like crap.” Steve glared at him biting his sandwich.

“You sure look like crap.” Bucky shrugged.

Steve saw Bucky squint his eyes at him and open his mouth to speak, but he hesitated for a few seconds and closed it again.

“What? Spit it out.” Steve demanded as he sipped from his mug.

“I was just wondering… Is Wanda here or….?” Bucky asked.

“Bastard!” Steve shouted at Bucky, and he saw a playful cheeky smile on his friend’s face. Steve sighed and shook his head “I’m not with Wanda, nor planning on being with her. You know all too well I only want….” but he didn’t finish the sentence. He couldn’t bring himself to pronounce Katie’s name. Let alone give Bucky any more ammo to continue teasing him on the subject.

“But you kissed Wanda.” Bucky said nonchalantly as he bit a plum he had retrieved from the fridge.

“I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me and I stopped it!” Steve raised his voice.

“Yet you made her believe she stood a chance to do it.” Bucky added. “You were practically all over her sat in that booth.”

“I wasn’t…” “Steve, you had your arm round her.” Bucky scoffed “You were leaning into her, laughing at her. Man, I know you’re an idiot when it comes to women but come on!”

Bucky saw Steve stiffen on his stool and for a moment almost took pity on him before he decided not to. Someone had to try and talk sense into the idiot and he was sick and tired of this stupid dance the pair of them were engaged in. “Look, pal. I’m only saying it’s your fault Wanda made a move on you. I warned you a thousand times and still last night you didn’t stop her until it was too late. So you fucked up and ran.” he said pointing at him with the plum.

“Go fuck yourself Bucky! You know full well I didn’t run anywhere. I sank almost a full bottle of Knob Creek at the bar.” Steve winced at the pounding headache increased at the tension of the conversation and raised voices.

“Yeah, I know. Typical of Captain Slow.”

“Captain Slow?” Steve looked at him.

“Yeah, Sam coined it but it serves you well. You’re the one to blame for Katie leaving with flash fire dude. You know that, right?” Bucky insisted.

“Bucky, just don’t” Steve warned him.

“Don’t what. You don’t want me to tell you to stop being a whiney bitch and go get your girl once and for all?” Bucky said sternly looking directly into Steve eyes before muttering "Or what fire dude has left of her that is…”

“Buck.” Steve said in a warning tone as he punched the table in sheer anger.

“Go ahead, take your frustration out on the furniture. But I’m telling you this, punk. If you don’t man up and do something about it, I don’t wanna hear you talk about Katie again.” Bucky spat at Steve before storming out of the kitchen.

“Jerk!” Steve hollered for Bucky to hear. He watched Bucky leave before he groaned and dropped his head, banging it against the breakfast bar. The problem was he had no argument against anything Buck had said. He had been an idiot. He had indulged Wanda, simply because seeing Katie with that overgrown frat jerk had stirred that green eyed monster and that stupid little kid from Brooklyn had reared his head. And just as he and Katie had been getting back on good terms too.

With another sigh he wrenched his head off the counter, shoving the last of his sandwich into his mouth when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Reaching for it, he took a sharp intake of breath when he saw a photo of him and Katie filling his screen. A photo he remembered taking at Coney Island some 2 years previously. He was pulling a ridiculous face as Katie was reaching up to grab his chin, laughing as she did so. Such an unadulterated moment of pure happiness….

“Hi…” he said softly, bracing himself for what was to come, but to his surprise there was no angry

words, no sarcasm, nothing but professionalism.

“Hey.” she said softly “Look, I’m sorry to bother you but we just got a call about another body.”

“Shit.” Steve sighed “Where?”

“The Baseball field in Sunset Park.” she said. “Found by a guy who was taking his 2 kids to play ball. Uniform went down to check it out and then called us. We’re on our way down there now and Tony’s gonna meet us. I’ve sent Thor’s to come get you. Figured you’d need a lift seeing as you’ve no car”

“Thanks.” he said, genuinely grateful she’d thought of him.

“No problem. See you in a bit.”

He stood up, dropping his plate into the sink before he headed into his room to grab his shoes.

“Bucky!” he yelled as he re-emerged from his bedroom.

“You leaving?” Bucky asked turning towards him from his spot on the couch.

“Yes, Katie called. We have another body. Sunset Park” Steve explained as he put his black leather jacket on.

“Shit. Want me to drive you down there?” Bucky offered.

“No. It’s your day off and Katie sent Thor to come get me.” Steve told him.

“Ok. That’s nice of her considering…” Bucky trailed but stopped seeing Steve shooting him a warning look. Right not the time, Bucky thought to himself, give the man a break, as he raised his palms.

“Are you going out tonight?” Steve asked as he grabbed his wallet and keys.

“Maybe. Who knows? I’ll go with the flow.” Bucky said settling back further on the couch putting his feet on the coffee table in front of him and taking the TV remote.

“Take your feet of the coffee table.” Steve ordered.

Bucky was about to mock salute him when Steve phone’s beeped.

“Gotta go. Thor’s waiting. Don’t do anything stupid till I get back.” he smiled at Bucky and walked away.

“How can I, you’re taking all the stupid with you.” Bucky yelled back and returned his feet to the coffee table when he heard the door of the flat close behind Steve.

******

“Good afternoon, Captain.” Thor greeted when Steve entered the patrol car.

“Good afternoon, Thor.” Steve greeted back buckling his seatbelt.

Steve saw Thor look at him with a frown before asking.

“Are you unwell, Captain?”

“Been better.” Steve just said, not wanting to discuss the events of the previous night with Thor.

“Rough night?” Thor insisted as he pulled away.

Rough last nine months Steve thought to himself.

“You could say that. Woke up with a terrible hangover but I’m feeling a bit better now.” Steve explained.

“Ha!” Thor laughed “Little Stark is also suffering I believe. She certainly had a wild night. Barfed up the remnants of her breakfast bagel before I came to collect you!” A wild night? Great, that’s all he needed to hear.

Steve took a deep breath and looked at Thor. “How come you are never hungover seeing as you drink like a fish?”

“Well, it’s been always like that. You see my father used to give us this mead he brewed himself when we were kids.” Thor explained, his eyes glinting at the reverie.

“Your father gave you alcohol?” Steve asked surprised.

“Yes, that he did. He was like a God to us. It was funny. We played hide and seek and my brother used to play dead.” Thor roared with laughter. “Deceitful bastard!” he added serious now.

“Were you guys close?” Steve asked Thor. His bizarre stories were proving a great distraction from his own drama.

“We had our moments. We grew up together, my sister though…” Thor trailed.

“Wait. You have a sister?” Steve enquired.

“Yeah. But she fled the nest when she turned 16. Father went mad at her and kicked her out. Living with her was hell. She liked to kill my snakes, I love snakes!” Thor said his voice sad now.

“What the…?” Steve was about to ask but let it go when he realized Thor was stopping the car not far from the baseball field in Sunset Park.

“We’re here, Captain.” Thor announced.

Steve nodded and unbuckled his belt. When he stepped out of the car he saw Tony perched by a body lying on the grass, Nat and Katie standing by his side. Steve sighed before beginning to walk towards them. Certainly, his guardian angel had to be mocking him or that was what he thought when he saw Katie was wearing a tan leather belted jacket with those damned matching knee high boots with the small heel. He’d be lying if he denied those boots did things to him.

“You look like crap” Tony said as they approached and for a moment the Captain thought he was talking to him until Katie spoke back.

“Eat shit”

“Mind you I’m not surprised.” Her brother folded his arms “Crawling in this morning at half 2.”

“Ok you’re talking and my hangover is getting worse, see the correlation?” Katie groaned.

“Happy told me he saw you outside the compound, eating Storm’s face…wait till I tell Reed.” Tony arched an eyebrow as Steve’s heart sank.

“Fuck off Tony, I was wasted” she shook her head and Steve could tell she was avoiding his gaze.

Not that she had any reason to, not really, they were both single after all.

“Ok, so what have we got?” Steve asked.

“Male, between 45 and 50” Tony spoke. “Initial examination shows cause of death was the same as the others, blunt force trauma, and there’s been further escalation in the violence as you can see…“

Steve glanced and winced. The victim’s face was covered in blood, so much so it was hard to make out any particular features.

"Just like one huge, red skull eh cap?” Tony said. “I’d estimate the fatal blow was the one to the back of the head but he took a few to the front too.”

“Cereal?”

“Yeah.” Tony held up a bag “I don’t know what kind but I’ll get it back to the lab. And before you ask, I estimate he has been dead approximately 10 to 12 hours.”

“Again no evidence he was dumped.” Nat offered.

“So he was killed here at…” Steve glanced at his watched “some point between 2 and 4 am?”

“Yeah, at a first pass. Sam will be able to narrow it down when he does the PM.” Tony nodded.

“Any identification?” Steve looked at Nat and Katie.

“Nothing on him.” Katie shook her head “but there’s a black sedan abandoned on 7th not for from the school. We ran a check and it’s registered to a Mr Johann Schmidt. Thor sent an officer round to establish whether he is at home or not”

“So like the others he drove here, presumably to meet his attacker.”

“Looks like it” she nodded.

“Any possible CCTV?”

“The school has cameras and we can check with traffic when we get back, see if they’ve got any active in the area” Nat replied.

“A few of my officers are talking to the morning staff at the all night convenience store on 7th” Thor offered “just in case”

“Alright” Steve nodded, but before he could go any further Thor’s radio crackled to life.

“This is officer Barker, 10-1…” “10-4 Barker” Thor spoke.

“Yeah, boss, there’s no answer at Schmidt’s.” the officer, known to them only as Barker spoke as they all listened “No sign of any disturbance or forced entry either.” “Understood. 10-6.” Thor instructed. He looked at Steve “Want me to send them in?” “No.” Steve shook his head “We’ll do the same as with the last 2 victims. Organise a search warrant. In the mean time we’ll need a formal identification. Thor, can you get one of your officers to identify his next of kin and locate them. In the meantime, keep the house secure, make sure no one enters. If anyone shows up I want to know about it. Then stay here, keep the scene clear whilst Tony’s team finish their investigation”

Thor nodded and turned away, issuing instructions into his radio. Steve looked at Nat and Katie “Ok, let’s get back to the station. Start doing some digging on Schmidt.” he then turned to Tony “You find anything suspicious in your search, call it in.” “Will do Cap but, if this is like the others I doubt we’ll find anything.”

“Yeah, I know.” he sighed “But I can remain hopeful, right.” “You know, I always admire your giddy optimism.” Tony quirked an eyebrow and Steve gave a huff of a laugh.

“Take it you need a lift back to the station.” Nat said and Steve nodded.

“Will you give me five minutes? I’ll catch up with you guys, need to sort something out with Tones.” Katie asked. And though the question was directed to both of them, Steve could clearly see she was still avoiding looking directly at him.

“Sure.” Nat said turning to walk towards her car. Instructing Steve, who had now hidden his fists in his jacket’s pockets, to follow her with a movement of her head.

“Sucks being called in like this, sorry.” Nat said giving him a side glance.

“Yeah well, it’s not like it’s your fault and I’m the Captain so it comes with the job.” Steve replied his sight never leaving the ground while walking.

“How are you holding up?” Natasha asked him once they reached the car.

“Woke up with this terrible hangover, not totally over it but I’m getting there.” he answered leaning on the hood of the car, arms crossed waiting for Katie.

“Not what I asked.” Nat insisted as she placed herself next to Steve.

Steve hesitated for a moment. He was pondering whether giving in to Romanoff’s questioning would result in a court martial or she would let him off the hook easily. And, as his mind was struggling to come to a decision, his eyes lingered on Katie who was now waving Tony goodbye and was beginning to walk towards them. When he turned to look at Nat he saw she was staring at him.

“She didn’t spend the night with him. She told me earlier.” Natasha said softly, not looking at him, as if they were making casual conversation.

“None of my business, Romanoff.” Steve said as sternly as he could, but knowing Romanoff he was sure she could read the glint of hope in his voice.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.” she muttered as Katie was now close enough for her to hear them.

“Thanks guys.” Katie said once she had reached the car. “We can go now.”

Just as Natasha opened the driver’s side, Steve motioned to open the right back door for Katie to get in.

“Erm.. Steve… I know you’re taller and the Captain but I really need to ride shotgun or I’m gonna puke.” Katie pleaded.

“Sure sweetheart.” he conceded. God, was there anything in this world he would be able to deny that woman, he thought as he saw Nat raising an eyebrow at him.

“Thanks.” Katie almost whispered, opening the front door and getting in.

“You good?” Nat asked Katie as all three of them buckled their seatbelts and she adjusted the rear window mirror, positioning it so that she could watch Steve reactions or that was what Steve thought.

“You’ve already thrown up your breakfast. Are you pregnant?” Natasha asked Katie, who choked on her water, as Romanoff checked on Steve through the mirror.

“Chance would be a fine thing.” Katie said as she wiped the water she had spat over her chin and pink button down. “I haven’t had a fuck in that long I’m expecting my virginity back in the post.”

Steve didn’t say a word, didn’t bat an eyelid, didn’t move a muscle on his face. But his mind went there, that was the confirmation he needed. Nat had said they hadn’t spent the night together, which he already knew because Tony had said she had returned home earlier that morning, but now Katie was confirming they hadn’t had sex. Back to square one. Wait, what? What was he thinking? But then again Bucky’s words in his head Man up! Do something about it! Yeah, easier said than done, punk.

“It was only December… That’s not that long.” Natasha drawled.

Steve felt the heat crawling from his neck up to his cheeks at the mention of that December night. He must be bright red and he could sense Natasha’s stare on him, so he avoided it and looked through the window. He couldn’t help but look at the outside mirror on Katie’s side just to see she was ignoring him too.

“It’s long enough, trust me.” Katie shrugged.

And with that there was silence in the car for a few minutes. Everyone lost in their own thoughts. Until Natasha spoke up.

“Let’s do carpool karaoke!” Nat quipped as she motioned to switch the controls of the stereo. “Lighten up the mood a bit.”

“Fuck off, Romanoff.” both Katie and Steve said at the same time.

Steve heard Natasha laugh at them and groaned internally. Just what his head needed, two women singing along in the cabin of a car. But just as the voice of Carrie Underwood performing Before He Cheats filled the space he saw Katie still a little before she glanced at Romanoff who looked at her.

“Turn it over if you want…” “No, it’s ok….” Katie said with a shrug, as she began to hum the song. And Steve was thrown back to a karaoke night less than a year ago.

“I don’t believe it… Clint mumbled. Steve turned his head to see what his annoyance was and almost choked on his beer

"Seriously?” he mumbled, watching as Katie walked into the bar, hand in hand with Ward.

“What is she playing at?” Clint looked at Steve “Cap, we showed her the goddamned photos of him with that blonde broad wrapped around him, eating his face and she’s…”

Steve didn’t say anything as Clint trailed off, instead he simply observed Katie from afar as she walked across the room, stopping to say hi to Peralta and Santiago. She looked up, caught Steve’s eye and smiled at him. He smiled back and the smile slipped slightly as Ward dropped a kiss to her cheek and headed over to the bar.

Katie made her way over to him and Clint, holding her hand up in an instruction for them to keep quiet.

“I know what you’re gonna say…” she said, her voice dropping slightly as she cast an eye over to Grant, “And trust me, it’s taken me everything I have in me not to punch the cheating fucker in the face.”

“What are you still doing with him?” Clint practically exploded.

“You’ll see.” she said, and Steve arched an eyebrow as he saw the mischievous glint in her eye.

Steve looked at her and she shot him an innocent look and he snorted. She was anything but innocent.

“No Peggy?” she asked, looking round.

“No.” Steve said, shrugging. Truth be told they’d had an argument before, another one, this time about him leaving the milk out of the fridge. Ridiculous really, but over the last 6 months they’d been arguing constantly over stupid things like that. His last weekly email to Bucky had seen a reply telling him to finish it with her, but you don’t just walk out on the person you love when the going gets tough without trying to work it out. Certainly not in his books anyway, and especially not after 4 years. She was leaving for London in a few months to take up a 6 month placement with the force over there so maybe the time apart would do them some good. And when she came back…well, that’s when he was intending on popping the question. He looked at Katie who was eyeing him suspiciously and he hastily turned the attention back to her. Dropping his voice lower still he gently placed his arm on her shoulder “You ok?”

“Not at all?” she said, shaking her head and he could see she was fighting tears “I found out my boyfriend of 2 years, who moved in with me less than 4 months ago has been fucking someone else behind my back. Nothing about that is ok…”

“Come ‘ere… ” he said, opening his arms but she shook her head, wiping her eyes.

“I don’t want him thinking anything is wrong…gonna ruin my plan.” she said.

“What plan?” Clint pressed again.

“Like I said, you’ll see…”

They didn’t have to wait that long. The karaoke started and Peralta was first up with his rendition of 'Sweet Caroline’, then came Thor and 'Don’t Stop Believing’, which Steve was actually surprised was pretty good. It had them all dancing and cheering anyway. Then a few more, Steve all the time side eyeing Grant and Katie, the man pawing all over her. It was all the Captain could do to not lay him out. At one point he lost sight of Katie as she disappeared for about 10 minutes but the next time he looked for her, she was back, drink in hand, chatting to Natasha. And then to his surprise, Katie’s name was called. Steve and Clint shared a glance, they both knew Katie had a phenomenal voice but she NEVER did karaoke. The only time they ever heard it was in the car or when she was singing to something absentmindedly in a bar or a club. He saw Grant give her a surprised glance and she winked at him, leaning up to give him a kiss before she walked up to the small stage and took the mic.

And then Steve saw the title of the song on the screen and choked on his beer as his attention turned to Grant, whose smug grin had most certainly slipped. As she sang the words to the song, her eyes locked on Ward’s, Clint began to chuckle and Steve couldn’t help the huge grin that spread across his face as she sang. The song couldn’t have been more perfect, talks of cheating with a bleach blonde tramp…it was perfect, and the ultimate way to embarrass Ward, his smooth, composed front was fast ebbing away as the song went on, and as she launched into the final chorus, Steve realised she was changing the words as she sang.

“And I dug my keys into the side, of your pretty little silver Audi A5,

Carved my name into your leather seats…

I took a socket wrench to both headlights, slashed a hole in all 4 tyres,

Maybe next time you’ll think before you cheat…”

Steve saw Ward slip his hand into his pocket, swallowing, and then he glared at the stage. Katie dug into the rear pocket of her jeans and waved his keys at him, tossing them carelessly to the dance floor. As Katie stopped singing, the room fell silent and Ward strode forward, picked his keys up and practically ran from the bar. Katie took a deep breath, raised her chin defiantly and stepped down off the stage as chatter broke out again. Steve strode towards her, the same time Peralta, Clint, Diaz and Nat did, and she waved them all away insisting she was ok. Steve, however, slipped his hand into hers and dragged her to the bar.

“Have you really done his car over?” he whispered as he ordered them a bourbon. She nodded.

“Don’t worry, there’s no CCTV.” she shrugged. “I’ll deny it. Plus, I have a feeling I could summon about 13 different alibis if I wanted. Surprising how many people I will have been with all night whilst here…”

She took her drink in a shaking hand and necked in in one, just in time to hear Ward yelling across the bar.

“Uh oh…” she shrugged, sliding her empty glass across the bar as she turned to face him. “Don’t even try to deny it, Grant. You were spotted. On camera no less.”

Ward spluttered a little, before he took a deep breath. “Katie, honey, listen…”

“No Grant, I won’t.” she said, shaking her head “I told you the last time I wouldn’t take you back a second time…and, well…” she shrugged and from behind her, Steve could see her shoulders start to shake. “How could you?”

“I know, I’ve been an idiot…” he said, gently stepping towards her. He reached to grab her arms but she jerked back and almost fell into Steve.

“I got you…” he said gently as she moved back to step besides him. His arm dropped protectively round her waist and he turned his eyes to Ward.

“i think you better leave.”

“This has nothing to do with you Rogers.” Ward spat “Might have known you’d be there ready to swoop in.” “Oh have you heard yourself?” Katie snapped “He’s my friend, my best friend.”

Ward looked at Steve again, the Captain holding his gaze before Ward turned to Katie. “Kay…”

“You know I hate that name.” she shrugged “But I never bothered about it until now. Go away Grant. I’ve nothing to say to you. Don’t bother coming home tonight either. Your shit will be in bags outside the apartment tomorrow.” she spoke, before her voice took on an almost amused tone “Although you’ll need to collect it in an Uber, obviously…or maybe your blonde tramp can help…” At that Steve saw the anger cross Wards face and he stepped forward again “Now listen to me you little bitch…” He didn’t get any further, Steve stepped in front of Katie and shoved him hard in the chest “Don’t you dare speak to her like that…” “Back off…” Ward said, shoving him back. “This is between me and her…” “And she told you she has nothing to say…” “He’s right.” Katie said from behind him

“So, like I said, I think you better leave.”

Ward drew himself up to full height and for a second Steve thought he was going to punch him, which, would suit him as it would give him an excuse. Instead, he looked round the Captain at Katie who was stood behind him, her shoulder brushing the back of his arm.

“Don’t’ think I won’t; be pressing charges over my car.” he snarled.

She shrugged. “Please feel free, I’ll even take the statement from you myself if you want.” Ward glared at her, than he glanced at Steve, who arched an eyebrow. Ward laughed, bitterly “lemme guess, she was with you the whole time…” Steve merely shrugged, a grin on his face. Ward scoffed, looked once more at Katie before he turned and walked off.

“Fuck you…” Katie called loudly, and Steve turned to see her raised the middle finger of her right hand in the air, not even looking at Ward. About 30 seconds later she broke down.

He’d taken her back to his that night, sat on the couch as she cried and cried, simply holding her, stroking her hair until she fell asleep. He’d then covered her with a blanket, left a glass of water on the coffee table for her and headed to bed. Where he’d had another blazing row with Peggy about the fact he’d brought her home…

“You seen him since?” Steve asked Katie cautiously when he returned to reality.

“You know I ain’t. You were there the last time, when you and Tony kicked him out of my flat and then you changed my locks.” Katie answered her eyes lost on the road her head against the head rest.

“You ok, doll?” Steve asked her softly. He knew Grant Ward was still a sensitive topic even if she denied it.

“I’m fine. It feels like it was a lifetime ago.” she replied pursing her lips, her eyes not leaving the road.

*******

“Cap?”

Steve looked up from where he had been re-reading some notes in his office to see Natasha beckoning him over.

“You got something?”

“You could say that.” she mused. “I just finished the background checks and it turns out our man worked at the German Embassy, something to do with visas, but that’s not important….”

“O-kay…” Steve said, waiting for her to finish, but it was Katie that spoke next.

“Sara Klein was a Translator…and guess where she worked out of?” Katie looked at him her eyebrow raised, excitement in her tone. Steve, understanding immediately looked at her, smiling slightly.

“Another link to the Rumlow case.” he said, folding his arms.

She nodded. “We just need to link Ross to it.”

Steve turned to Natasha “We got anything from Tech on the phone records?” “We won’t until Monday.” she shook her head.

The three of them both fell into silence, all pondering something before Katie stood up, grabbing a few pads of Post Its off her desk.

“I’m gonna go over the stuff in the incident room.” she said, “See if I can find anything…” Steve nodded and watched her go.

“You know Diaz was gonna stab you in the heart last night?” Natasha blurted out once Katie was out of sight. “But, I stopped her. You’re welcome.”

Steve turned, pouting and was about to ask Nat what for but he decided against it when his eyes met her warning stare, it had ‘don’t play dumb with me, Rogers’ written all over.

“I didn’t kiss Wanda, she kissed me.” Steve protested.

“Yeah, I know. But she doesn’t” she said pointing with her thumb to the corridor that led to the incident room. “That’s the only reason she left with Storm.”

Steve sighed, deep down he knew Nat was right and he knew better than to start an argument about his love life with her.

“I hate what you did to her. And I’m not talking about last night.” Natasha said.

“You know…” Steve looked at Natasha. It was more a statement than a question. He knew that she knew, he’d overheard the conversation between the two of them a few weeks ago but he was still surprised that Natasha was admitting to it.

“Yes, she told me. She needed someone to pour her heart out.” she shrugged.

“If it had been me you had ran out on, I would have ripped your head off and used it as doormat.” she said between gritted teeth “But, I want you two together so…”

“Nat, look…” Steve began to say.

“Don’t Nat me, Rogers.” she said between gritted teeth “You two belong together, that I know. So, stop dancing around each other and do something about it. Oh, and not creating chaos while trying would be nice. I’m trying to wipe my ledger, Rogers, help a girl out, will ya?”

Steve nodded smiling softly at her and she nodded back patting his shoulder.

“Look, why don’t you get off.” he said. “It’s getting late and there’s nothing more we can do now.” Nat nodded “Sure thing Cap.”

Steve smiled at her and as he headed out of the office and strode down the corridor. As he walked he felt his phone go and he pulled it out to read a text from Bucky.

“I’m out for the night, Punk. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do…or do do something I woud…read into that what you will…” With a roll of his eyes he slid his phone back into his pocket and opened the door to the Incident Room, Katie was sat on the desk, her legs swinging as she stared at the board he noticed was now littered with coloured post it notes.

“What am I missing?” she sighed “Steve, there has to be something here that links Ross to this, I can feel it I just…” she slammed her hand on the desk and sighed, rubbing at her temple. Steve remained silent for a moment as she frowned and then moved towards the board.

“Bucky and Clint followed up on the whole goat hair thing, right?” she said.

“Yeah…” “Well look at this.” she said, beckoning him over. He crossed the room and looked to where her finger was pointing. It was a line on one of Ross’ Bank Statements.

“Green Bale Animal Feeds…” he frowned.

“Yeah, why would he be buying stuff from there?”

“To feed animals.” Steve pondered, and then his brain suddenly clicked as he looked at her “But we didn’t’ find any evidence of Ross having a farm or animals of his own…”

“Could be a screen for something…” she shrugged.

Steve debated it for a moment before he grabbed a post it, wrote the letters FFI- For Further Investigation- and slapped it on the paper before he turned to Katie “Honey, its late, I just sent Natasha home and I think you should go too.” “Yeah, maybe you’re right.” she said, “Not much else we can do…” “Well get yourself home, I’ll be right behind you once I’ve sorted an Uber.” “Still no car?”

“Got a hire arriving Monday” he shrugged.

She took a deep breath, “Don’t call an Uber. I’ll drop you.” “You sure?”

“Course.” she nodded “What are friends for?”

“Ok, well gimme 5 and I’ll grab my jacket and shut everything down.” he smiled. She nodded and he turned to go, pausing slightly to look back at her before he headed to his office. This was a good sign, right? She’d been ok with him all day and was now offering him a lift home…

Closing his computer down, he turned off the lights to his office and smiled as he looked up and saw Katie at her desk, pulling on her jacket. She paused and rummaged in her drawer, her face frowning.

“Lose something?” he asked, shutting the door to his office. “Yeah my emergency chocolate.” she moaned “Just when I’m ready to tackle food I can’t find anything.” “Well…” Steve began “Bucky’s out tonight…if you want, I mean, only if you want, we could swing by the diner grab some hangover busting junk and slob out at mine…” “Been a while since we did that.” she said after a pause, with a small smile.

“That a yes?” he said, raising his eyebrow, grinning.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, the smile still on her face “Fine, but I’m picking the movie.” ******

After eating all the greasy food their system was able to process on one go and a couple of beers each, they were snuggled on Steve’s couch watching Seven. Katie’s pick, “For research purposes” she claimed, nothing to do with the fact she thought Brad Pitt was hot, at all.

“Tracy Mills looks an awful lot like Pepper.” Steve mused, his eyes on the screen while he rubbed Katie’s back as her head lay on his shoulder.

“Yes” Katie giggled “You know I’ve always thought if they made a film about our lives Morgan Freeman would be a good Fury.”

“Hah, Samuel L. Jackson would play Fury better.” Steve said wrinkling his nose.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Katie conceded with a snort.

“Who do you think would play your part?” Steve asked her kissing the top of her head.

“Kate Beckinsale.” she said totally convinced of her answer and Steve chuckled.

“Possibly, she’s pretty.”

“What about you, Captain?” she said, sitting up and stretching her hand up to scratch gently at the stubble on his face. “Any handsome bearded Hollywood hot actor come to mind?”

“Quite a few now that you mention it…” he said playfully.

Steve saw her looking at him intently while she continued tracing patterns in his stubble and leaned on her hand, considering kissing the hell out of her right then and there.

“Did Wanda like it? Your stubble?” Katie suddenly asked her glance hardening and Steve felt his heart skip a beat.

“What the fuck, Katie?” he asked annoyed.

“Just asking, some women find it a bit rough.” she shrugged.

“I don’t know about that. Did you? Not like it mattered much to you when you were eating Storm’s face outside the Compound” Steve bit back, fed up with Katie bratty outbursts.

“Don’t start Steve…” Katie looked at him, her eyes narrowing slightly “You have no right to lecture me considering the fact you were sat at the bar eating Wanda’s face! Talk about keeping it in-house…”

She stood up off the couch and Steve sighed. “That wasn’t…” he shook his head as he too stood, needing to make her understand “That wasn’t what you think.” “I don’t think anything Steven.” she shot back.

Steven? What the fuck?

“Oh, so I’m Steven now?” he snorted, his hands falling to his belt buckle.

“Would you prefer Captain? Or Rogers? Or ass hole?” she glared back, folding her arms.

“I prefer it when you don’t behave like a fucking brat.” he stared back, and saw her face darken as her eyes flashed angrily.

“Me? I’m a fucking brat?” she scoffed “You’re the one kicking off about me kissing someone else when you fucked me and left me!”

Steve took a deep breath as she continued, her pace and volume increasing as her rant continued

“You had your chance and you blew it, so what is this?” she threw her arms out to the sides bringing them back down with a slap “You don’t want me but don’t want anyone else to have me either is that it? Fuck you Steve, fuck you!”

“Katie, just don’t…”he said, a little wearily. He was tired of going round in this circle. Truth be told she was so far off the mark it was ridiculous.

“What? Truth hurts?” she scoffed. “You’re such a…” she took a deep breath and stopped. She pressed her lips together, shaking her head as her shoulders sagged, almost in defeat “You know what, I can’t…I can’t be here right now. We can’t keep doing this. I need to go.”

She turned to leave but Steve quickly grabbed her arm to stop her.

“Katie…” “Go fuck yourself…” she said, jerking her hand out of his hold “Actually, no, go fuck Wanda, sure she’ll be thrilled…”

“I don’t fucking want Wanda!” Steve exploded, before he could stop himself “I want you.” There was a pause, the room falling silent. Katie’s eyes widened slightly and she swallowed as she stood, frozen to the spot. Steve let out a loud breath and ran his hand through his hair.

“You’re right, we can’t keep doing this.” he said, his voice softer “And I can’t keep hiding the way I feel. I get it, I fucked up, but I’m done looking for forgiveness…”

He stepped towards her, as she remained watching him, her eyes not leaving his for a second. And then, it was like something in his brain took over. He was done, done waiting, done trying to push his feelings down and ignore them.

“And I’m way passed asking for permission…” he said, and with that he grabbed her hips and with a sharp pull he jerked her towards him, his lips crashing to hers. It took her a second but then she reciprocated, her arms sliding up round his neck as his hands wrapped around her back, pulling her closer,  pouring every single bit of emotion and frustration he’d felt over the past few months into the kiss. It was urgent, it was desperate, and he had to bite back the growl of frustration when she put her hand on his chest and pushed him away.

“Steve…” she whispered, her eyes closing as his forehead dropped to rest against hers “Don’t…”

“Don’t what?” he asked softly.

“Don’t start something you’re not gonna finish.” she opened her eyes which were full of tears and looked at him “Because…damned it Steve! It’s you, it’s always been you…” at that she turned her head away slightly, “…and I can’t cope with another rejection and…” “Shhhhh” he said gently, his hands reaching up to cup her face “Look at me…” She turned back to him and he locked his eyes onto hers “Give me another chance, please.” “But work…” she looked at him, as he wiped away the tear that had fallen down her face with his thumb. “What about that? How do I know this is gonna end up any different to last time?”

“Fuck work.” he said earnestly, because he meant it. He damned well meant it. “As soon as this case is over I’ll talk to Fury and we’ll work it out…” “But…” “But nothing! Look…” he cut her off, his eyes boring into hers as he spoke, driving his words home, her face held gently in his large hands. “This is my choice. And I know that I’m like the world’s leading authority on waiting too long but, if you give me another chance, then I swear to God I’ll never let you go again sweetheart.” He paused as more tears fell from her beautiful green eyes and he once more wiped them away as he continued “I should never have let you go last time. Watching the woman I love walk away was… “What did you just say?” she whispered, her eyes widening slightly. He swallowed, as in all honestly he hadn’t meant to say that, but fuck was it true. He did love her, he’d loved her for years and wasted so much fucking time. Well not anymore.

“You heard.” he said, swallowing before pressed his forehead back to hers, “I love you.” Silence…and for a horrible moment Steve thought she was going to push him away. But her hands slid up and wrapped around his neck, pulling him back down to her, kissing him desperately.

“Fuck I missed you…” Steve all but growled in to her mouth as she reached down for the bottom of his t-shirt and yanked it upwards, almost desperately. 

“We spent one night together…” she said back, breathlessly.

“Yeah but it was a damned good night…” he said, his lips back on hers as his hands flew to her baby pink button down. His fingers fumbled on the second button and he broke away to look down. “oh fuck it…”  he muttered giving a harsh tug, ripping it open.

“Seriously?” she looked up at him, he shrugged as his hands gripped her face and he kissed her again, desperately, as his hands moved round to unhook her bra. Tossing it somewhere to the side he pressed hot kisses down the side of her neck, hissing against her skin as she undid his belt and dropped it to the floor. In a quick move that made her squeak slightly, he reached down and grabbed her ass, hauling her off the floor, her legs wrapping around his waist as he backed her up against the door which led to the hallway, her back hitting it a little harder than he had intended, drawing a soft grunt from her mouth as it rattled in the frame.

“Ow…” she said, grabbing a fist full of his hair and tugging harshly so he looked at her. He gave an apologetic grin before his lips gently latched one to her neck again, sucking at the pulse point. She gave a soft sigh as he nipped at the skin before his attention moved down and he traced the swell of her breast with his mouth, his tongue flicking at her nipple, one hand grasping at her hip, the other pressing against the door by her head. She gave a low moan and her hips pushed down against the bulge in his trousers and he pressed into her, giving her the friction she was asking for. Her hands skimmed down his back, fingers tracing his spine as he pushed up again and then he couldn’t take it anymore. He set her gently on her feet and his hands flew to her jeans, undoing the button before he slid them down and she stepped out of them. No sooner had he got rid of them he hooked one leg over his shoulder as he knelt before her, shifting her soaked panties to one side. At the first touch of his mouth she cried out, one hand falling to his head, the other palms slapping against the wooden surface behind her as she pressed further into it, keeping herself up-right as she writhed at his actions.

Her taste was just how he remembered, and he couldn’t get enough. His tongue and lips worked in tandem, un-doing her lap by lap all the time begging him not to stop, which he had no intention of doing anyway until she had come undone. It wasn’t long before her grip in his hair tightened and her leg trembled slightly and he felt her stiffen above him.

“Fuck, Steve…”she stuttered, as his tongue worked her over, and he glanced up as she gave a loud cry, her head falling forward before it fell back again against the wall with a hard thud. She grasped his shoulder as her leg gave way and Steve stood up, catching her easily, a grin on his face as she opened one eye and looked at him, her pupils blown with lust, her thighs once more locked round his waist. He kissed her again, the kiss absolutely filthy as he stepped back and opened the door and walked them down the hall to his bedroom.

She knelt upon the bed, her hair falling over her face as she hooked her fingers into the belt loops of his jeans and pulled him to her, undoing his flies before she slid his pants and boxers down in one full swoop, taking him in her mouth without so much as a warning.

“Shit…” he mumbled, his hands tangling into her hair, guiding her softly as she moved, her head bobbing back and forth before she pulled away to lick along the base of his shaft and he knew then if she carried on he was going to blow his load before he’d even gotten to the main event.

With a gentle shove he pushed her back on the bed, stepping out of his jeans, reaching down for his socks before he crawled over her, pulling her underwear down. He didn’t even give her a chance to say anything before he gave her ankles a soft tug, pulling her down further on the bed, crawling between her legs. He kissed her again, hands on either side of her face as he buried himself inside of her, with a loud groan.

“God you feel so good…”his mouth moved over her jaw to her ear as he praised her, nipping at the lobe, his pace set right from the off as fast, and desperate. Because he was, he was desperate for this woman. Desperate like he’d never been desperate before.

“Stevie…” she groaned, hands clawing at his back, clearly as needy for him as he was her. Releasing one of her hands, he reached down to hook a leg over his shoulder causing her to cry out loud at the change of angle and depth as he continued to drive into her like his life depended on it. He bent over to kiss her, swallowing another loud moan as he did, feeling her sweat soaked skin slick against his.

“Fuck, baby I’m close…” he stuttered, “You close, tell me you’re close…”

“Don’t stop…” she panted, her head falling back further onto his pillow as she grasped his arms whilst he continued to fuck her into the mattress before she gave a low, sultry whimper and her eyes fluttered shut, nails digging into his bicep as she shuddered underneath him, her back arching.

“Shit, doll…” he groaned before he surrendered to the utter bliss, tumbling over the edge of the precipice he had been teetering on. With a final, deep thrust he collapsed on top of her, the room silent bar the sounds of their deep, heavy breathing as they both came down, fighting for control. He felt her hands gently move round to tangle in his hair, nails scratching his scalp and he raised his head, eyes still closed, enjoying her touch.

“Hey…” she said, still slightly out of breath and he opened his eyes to see her looking up at him, her cheeks flushed, hair all over the place and fuck, he’d never seen anything so damned beautiful in his life.

“Hey…” he smiled back, before he leaned down to give her a soft kiss, this one tender, full of love, a stark contrast from the heated, desperate ones that had been shared before. He smoothed her hair back before he pressed his forehead to hers, his nose bumping hers and she gave a soft giggle as he kissed her again before rolling off and landing on his back, eyes closed, his hand rubbing his chest. He was starting to ache a little bit, the bruises from his accident still not completely healed, and if he was honest, he’d probably over done it a little, but did he give a shit? Not one.

“You ok?” Katie asked and he turned his head to look at her, giving her a smile.

“Never been better.” he said honestly, and she smiled, leaning over to give him a kiss. She pulled away and looked at him. “Is Bucky due back?”

“Fuck knows.” he shrugged “Why?”

“Because our clothes are thrown all over the living room.” Steve contemplated that for a moment before he nodded “Good point.”

With a soft groan he heaved himself up and shot into the living room, leaving her giggling in his bedroom as he quickly collected the items along with a bottle of water and headed back into the bedroom. He dropped their clothes in a pile on the floor and smiled as he saw Katie had worked her way under the covers.

“You should have just thrown that shirt out.” she said, taking the water off him with a thanks.

“Yeah, sorry about that…” he said, a little meekly as he slid into the bed next to her “I’ll buy you a new one.” “Damned right you will, that was Ralph Lauren.”  she said, offering him the water bottle.

“Fuck…” he groaned “Trust me to ruin a hundred dollar shirt.” “You telling me it wasn’t worth it?” she pouted and he chuckled, laying back, placing the bottle on his bedside table.

“Sweetheart, I’d ruin a thousand of the damned things if it ended like that each time.”

With a soft laugh she snuggled closer to him, laying her head on his chest. With a soft, contented sigh he dropped a kiss to the top of her head, his hand rubbing at her back as her leg tangled with his.

As they lay in silence, Steve’s hand softly carding through Katie’s hair, a feeling of utter contentment spread across the Captain’s chest. The stress and angst of the last few months had completely ebbed away and as they lay there in their own little bubble, totally at peace, Steve knew he’d never be as happy as he was when she was in his arms.  

Steve woke some time later, with her back pressed to his chest. He realised what had woken him when she gently untangled herself from him to head into the en-suite. It wasn’t long before she came back and snuggled into him, her face pressing into his chest, his hands gently rubbing her back.

“Did you mean it?” her voice broke the silence

“Hmm?”  he mumbled, still drifting in that space between sleep and consciousness.

“What you said earlier, that you love me…” he felt pull back slightly “Did you mean it?””

Ok so that woke him up. He opened his eyes and glanced down at her to see her watching him. He took a deep breath and nodded “Of course I meant it.”

She studied him for a second, her eyes bright before she smiled and leaned up to give him a soft kiss.

“I kinda love you too…” she whispered against his mouth. At her words Steve felt the huge, shit eating grin spread across his face. His hand crept into the back of her hair as he kissed her again before she pulled away, her finger tracing shapes on his chest.

“You’re thinking about something.” Steve watched her, almost nervously “I can tell. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong…not really” she said, before she looked up at him, grinning “I just realised that we’ve had sex four times now…granted 3 of those times were on the same night but, that’s by the by…”

Steve chuckled as she continued to talk. “…we’ve admitted to each other that we love one another…and you’ve not taken me on a single date yet.”

Steve blinked before he let out a soft huff “Yeah, that’s…kinda shameful. And something I’ll rectify real soon…” “Oh will you?” She asked playfully as he moved, rolling her onto her back. 

“Yep.” he nodded, his left leg parting both hers “Thought I could take you to dinner one evening next week.” he said, his lips gently brushing her neck before he placed a single kiss under her ear “we’ll head into Manhattan…” another kiss as he worked his way downwards “Grab somethin’ to eat…” a peck to her collar bone as she sighed, tipping her head backwards “a few drinks…” his nose traced a path up her neck and over her chin “sound good?”

She nodded as a soft sigh escaped her mouth.

“Now, you mentioned something about 3 times in one night?” he quipped cheekily. Her eyes flew open and she gave him a grin as his lips once more claimed hers before he whispered “I can do this all night.”

@momobaby227  @angelofhell-666 @thewackywriter @marvelfansworld  @cobalt-gear  @jennmurawski13  @jtargaryen18 @saiyanprincessswanie  @navispalace @patzammit  @joannaliceevans-fanficblog  @djeniiscorner​  @ayamenimthiriel​  @coldmuffinbanditshoe  @disneylovingal @madzmilllz  @sgtjaamesbaarnes​ @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​  @southerngracela​ @goldenfightergir​ @kellymat​ @official-and-unstable-satan​ @charmed-asylum​

[zoequeenz]

Plain Sight (Part 2)

A/N: Hello! Here is the July post! Hope you enjoy. Just some things to consider and let me know. 1) Should I make these a Y/N insert? I love Percy and I have many ideas for her but character fanfics work better on Wattpad and Quotev (I post this story there as well). I know I like the Tumblr fics I read to be reader insert. 2) I never specify anything about Percy’s looks because I want people to insert how they look for her and have learned from Tik Tok that there are subtle things I put in my story that may keep others from imagining they are Percy. So I will go back and edit those parts and from now on will try my very best to not write anything that may set a certain race or anything else to Percy. I want her to be open to any reader’s looks. I always wanted that and have realized that I haven’t with the small details I put in. I apologize, I want everyone to read this and think they are Percy. Thank you for reading, Zoe.

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MASTERLIST PREVIOUS CHAPTER

3rd Person POV

Marcia Gordon prepares her dinner like any normal day. Unbeknownst to her, her back door is being opened by a hooded figure. They creep in quietly as Marcia continues on with her job. She is then tackled to the ground. She never saw it coming.

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Persephone Chase’s POV

Gideon, Derek, and I were headed to the crime scene with Detective Martin. Gideon and were seated in the back looking through our file while Derek was sitting in the passenger seat.

“This profiling really works?” Martin asks, breaking the silence.

“It’s a tool.” Derek vaguely answers.

“You can tell all about a guy from looking at this scene?” Martin questions further.

“Not all.” I add.

“The scene’s only part of it. We also use victimology, precedent. We can usually get a fairly clear picture of the guy.” Derek elaborates.

“Our guys went over it pretty well.” Martin says.

Derek laughs “I’m sure they did.”

“Local officers aren’t trained to look for the things we look for.” Gideon pipes up.

“What’s that?” Martin questions.

“Hate, insecurity, fear, anger.” Gideon informs.

“That’s all at the scene?” Martin asks, surprised.

“It’s all in his behavior.” Derek adds.

“Know anything about our guy yet?” Martin asks.

“Yeah. He isn’t gonna stop until he’s caught.” Gideon answers.

Martin looks at Derek stunned. Has he never had a case like this before? These guys are everywhere. Maybe that is my BAU brain talking, I never stop seeing this stuff. He may never see it again for the next few years. He’s lucky, I’d give anything to stop seeing all this evil stuff. After what seemed like a long ride, we arrive at the scene. We walk up together and Gideon notices the two police cars driving by.

“You increased patrols in these neighborhoods when the pattern was identified?” he asks Martin.

“After the fourth victim. Bosses cancelled days off, vacations.” Martin answers.

“Neighborhood full of cruisers and he still struck two more times.” Derek adds as Gideon’s phone begins to ring.

“He blends.” Gideon says answering his phone.

We stop walking to see what is going on. Apparently, another attempt had been made but luckily the victim’s husband came home right in time and saved her. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Thank goodness she was okay. As soon as Gideon told us Martin was ready to leave.

“Hey. Hey. Hey. Where are you going?” Derek asks him.

“Over there.” Martin states.

“Well, the units are already heading that way. We can get more accomplished here.” Gideon tells him.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Martin asks.

“No. If there’s an arrest, what we find here will help you prosecute.” Derek explains.

“This scene won’t be pristine forever.” Gideon adds.

“They’re right, it’s better if you stay here and help us find anything that can get this guy.” I say trying to get Martin to understand.

“Guys, knock yourselves out.” Martin says handing the keys to Gideon.

“Hey, wait a minute.” Derek stops him.

“The Unsub went through the back, right?”

“The family room. It’s the window full of print dust.” Martin elaborated.

“Gideon, Persephone, I’m going around the house.” Derek tells us.

I nod in response while Gideon pulls down the tape and cuts open the sticker on the door. I follow Gideon and right as you walk in you are met with a picture of the family. My heart hurts. These poor people just lost their mother, his wife. Gideon goes up the stairs but I join Derek in the family room. He figures that the Unsub needs to be a little athletic to get into the window. Next we head to the kitchen. Derek just continues to voice his thoughts, I look around to see if there is anything the police missed.

“He took the appliances, which are upstairs. Why?” Derek says out loud.

“Maybe he is jealous of them. He can’t afford them and seeing someone who could, made him mad.” I say.

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3rd Person POV

Hotch and Elle just arrived at the newest victims house. It was bustling with people. Some taking photos, others marking evidence, and another big group questioning the victim’s husband. Hotch comments on she was lucky, Elle was quick to follow up with she may not feel so lucky now. The lead detective asks for confirmation on the Unsub’s description then tells his team to get it out to the field asap. It was rare to have an interacial serial sex crime, but not impossible. Elle and Hotch were beginning to doubt the description of the Unsub. Elle notices Marcia’s shaking hand. She’s nervous, no woman who has almost been raped wants to be in a room surrounded by men. Elle approaches Marcia and asks to speak with her alone.

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Persephone Chase’s POV

I continue to trail Derek as he makes his way to the dining room. The china cabinets are wide open. All higher priced things I am assuming.

“I didn’t take it, I broke it.” Derek says out loud again.

“This Unsub has a real anger for luxury items. The appliances, the china, and the silver. He could have come from a high class family but was casted out or was somehow connected to one and was shamed after a break in the relationship. He continues to go for higher class women, maybe a mother figure or a mother of a girlfriend.” I say to myself bouncing off Derek’s words.

“Why wouldn’t she hear me?” Derek asks.

He’s right. This man is breaking numerous things and the victims doesn’t hear a single one.

“Because I did it after.” Derek realizes.

We make our way to the bedroom, Gideon was there. His eyes were glued to the TV.

“She had a workout video on. Step aerobics.” he says.

“Step aerobics? With the platforms?” Derek asks.

“Step up, step down, step up, step down?”

“Where’s the platform?” Gideon asks.

“Did he take it with him?” I ask.

Gideon shakes his head walking to the bed and looking under it. “He spent a lot of time here.” he says.

“What, so he vacuumed?” Derek questions.

“I mean, there’s no marks from the platforms.”

“A lot of time.” Gideon repeats again to get the point across.

“The broken things.” Derek starts.

“She must have been already dead or incapacitated when he did that. Cappuccino maker from the kitchen, dishes, vases, broken jewelry.”

“Could show he has a hatred for the higher class. Maybe that is why he targets these specific women.” I say.

Gideon smiles “Symbols. “Your riches, gold, garments, jewels bright. Your house and land must on new owners light.”

“Her riches.” Derek says.

“Right. You ever feel like there’s something obvious right in front of you, you just can’t see it?” Gideon asks.

“Yeah. Usually right before a woman dumps me.” Derek answers. I bite back a smile, such a Derek answer.

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3rd Person POV

Elle and Marcia sit outside, away from the others and the pressure of telling everything she can. Marcia tells Elle she doesn’t know much, Elle reassures her she doesn’t have to. They are out here for silence so Marcia can collect her thoughts. Elle then gives her space, but before she can leave Marcia spoke up. She didn’t know he was in the house. She then begins to explain what happened. The struggle they went through, the fight she put up. Her husband came right in time, saved her. Marcia couldn’t confirm his race, all she could remember was his eyes. They stared back at her, through a ski mask. Elle tells Marcia she did good as she breaks down in tears.

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Persephone Chase’s POV

After we finished at the house, we made our way back to the police station. As soon as we entered Spency was on our trail with some information. “The versus.” he starts.

“Found something?” Gideon asks.

“Uh, not an answer, a question. I found the full text. He’s pretty much following it to a T, at least the Death side of the conversation.” Spencer explains.

“But?” Gideon asks.

“Why didn’t he leave them at the first three murders? I mean, this ballad is ten versus long just on the death side, he’s got plenty to work with. But if it’s not part of his signature, if it isn’t something that he has to do for an emotional reason, then, I mean, why start?” Spencer asks.

We all look around at each other. Spencer is right, why? Maybe attention.

“JJ, find out when the press ran the first story on this Unsub.” Gideon says.

“When?” she asks.

“After which victim.” he clarifies.

“Yeah, you got it.” she says.

“What’re you thinking?” Derek asks Gideon. “He wasn’t getting enough attention.” Gideon states.

“Police departments sometimes don’t even realize they’re looking at a pattern.” Spencer says.

“Yeah, until somebody tells ‘em.” Derek adds.

“The first story ran the morning after the fourth victim was found.” JJ tells us.

“The increased patrols didn’t begin until after the fourth victim, either.” Derek reads from his file.

“Yeah, the police didn’t realize what was happening, he writes his verse.” Gideon says.

“And everyone knows that he was there.” Spencer finishes.

Hotch and Elle then enter.

“The offender in this new attempt is a black male.” Hotch announces. “Black male? Cross racial doesn’t happen.” Derek says.

“What about Herbert Mullin?” Spencer asks.

“He killed fourteen different people of completely varying ages, races, and creeds.”

“But there was no sexual component to his crimes.” Elle adds.

“And he wore a ski mask. This attacker wore a ski mask.”

“So this is a random attack similar to our Unsub.” I say.

“Tell ‘em we’re ready.” Gideon says.

“For our profile?” Derek asks.

“We’re gonna make Tommy contact us.” Gideon says looking at the various photos of the victims. Then I noticed that all of the victims’ eyes were open. No way this new Unsub was Tommy, Tommy wanted his victims to see him. He wouldn’t wear a ski mask.

NEXT CHAPTER

TAGLIST 

@thesailbells​

[resinatingbeauty]

Instead of doing another infographic, I thought I would tell you a spooky true story instead, one that changed my life forever. It has nothing to do with the history of Samhain or rituals or whatever, but it was the only verifiable experience I had ever had at that point in my life.

Here it goes, link at the bottom of this post for the local news article I ended up finding 8 or so years later as I didn’t think to do so at the time. Note the comment by the apartment’s previous tenant after the fact, describing ‘strange phenomena’.

It was early November, though all seasons seem to blend together when you live in Florida. I was born in St. Augustine, went up north to Illinois and Minnesota, coming back down here to Palm Coast where I’ve lived for over a decade. Full circle.

I was 19 and lacked the confidence to get a job in the fields that I got my certifications in as an Esthetician/Cosmetologist. I just wasn’t the social butterfly that I felt people expected from their hair stylist. I was also stubborn and wanted to do things my way, which I learned to not be eventually, but much later.

Needless to say, I spent the next year or so being a depressed drug addict working at a fast food place. The drug addiction wasn’t fully set in yet, only just beginning at this point. I still had actual friends that weren’t suppliers or people who just hung around because you got high together. One of them was named Cheryl.

Cheryl was in her late fifties and a former queen of the BDSM scene. How did I know that? She told me and, unfortunately, showed me a photo album once that I cannot unsee to this very day. Eccentric, yet worldly and intellectual. I enjoyed listening to Cheryl. She really didn’t give a flying fuck what other people thought of her because she thought she was great. And she really was.

I was driving her home for a while because she had been in a car accident.Hit by a car while riding her bike, as it that was the only mode of transportation she had. I felt bad for her, so I offered to give her rides home when I was working.

Home to Cheryl was actually a resort hotel that was coverted into fully furnished apartments when the European Village went on the decline due to its management being a complete crackhead. The place was well known as a luxury crack den and many people were always hanging around some drug dealer’s door. It probably had, and still does have, the cheapest rent in down. That’s also due to the fact that its had a fair share of overdoses and suicides in the five years total it had been standing at that point. I felt safe with Cheryl, but I was also naive. Thankfully, she wasn’t a junkie and never tried to rob me, kidnap, or rape so that was nice.

One night I didn’t have to close, Cheryl invited me in to hang out because I never felt like going home to my parent’s house. We would chat and she would show me old photos of her dressed as a dominatrix. You know, normal stuff.

At one point, the conversation turned to the spiritual. At that time, I was far from a spiritual person. I had never had much faith in a God and had lost all faith in my various Gods and Goddesses I had been communicating with for years prior, mostly due to be set in the dark pit of despair that was my mind when I was 19. I was, however, still intrigued by the concept of the paranormal.

Cheryl had a dog. The dog had randomly appeared in the living nook where were sitting and spontaneously started barking at the balcony door. I didn’t know Cheryl even owned a dog, so I was shocked immediately when I heard barking. Cheryl just smiled and started telling me about ‘Caroline.’

Caroline was a tenant that had allegedly killed herself on another floor, but rumors circulating around the resort referenced to her known to be abusive boyfriend actually being responsible for her death. She was a drug addict, which meant her death was swept under the rug and hardly acknowledged by anyone other than those who knew her personally or happened to be present during one of the frequent public altercations between her and her boyfriend.

Cheryl gestured to where the little Yorkie was panting excitedly in front of the balcony and told me that every so often, Caroline would come to her on the balcony, like a full body apparition. She said she would hear her voice and talk to her and expressed no fear at all. Cheryl said she knew that Caroline wasn’t a threat, she was just very sad.

I went home that night thinking nothing more about it other than it was interesting and I could only hope to be as privileged as Cheryl was with her ghostly encounters. I didn’t bother verifying the storyline because I had figured if her death had been ruled a suicide there wouldn’t be much on it to find.

The next night at work, I was set up to bring Cheryl home again but also had made plans with a new coworker who I thought was cute, David, that had taken a part time job on leave from the Navy. He was a good sport about making a pit stop at Cheryl’s and they seemed to get along, well enough that Cheryl invited us up to her apartment again but told us that she had to run to the second floor and feed her friend’s dogs who had gone away for a few weeks. After chatting for a bit, no one felt comfortable staying in her apartment without Cheryl there, so we followed her to the second floor, if not out of curiosity to see more of the building itself that was normally locked to those without key cards.

When we arrived on the second floor, I remember stopping at the end of the hallway where we exited the stairwell and feeling uneasy. This part of the floor seemed much darker than the third floor where we were, and when I looked up, I noticed that there was a light missing at the end of the hall right above a boarded up room at the very end, like something out of a movie. Neither I nor David asked about it, both of us could imagine a million reasons why the door would be boarded, but none of those reasons I thought up correlated with what Cheryl had been telling me the night before. I kept staring at the boarded up door at the end, my eyes scanning over the walls around us. What I saw looked like blood spatters on the wall that had long set in there, but I refused to accept that as truth.

I turned to look at David who had been taking in the scene as I had been. We were both tired. It was well past midnight and from the look on his face I couldn’t read what was going through his mind.Then, everything suddenly shifted.

I couldn’t tell if something had walked past us in the hall or something had happened outside to make the lighting change inside, but the entire hallway seemed to lose the dim lighting it had. It became very cold, briefly, instantly- as soon as it occurred, everything was normal again. I thought I heard someone whispering, quickly. I looked at David again and could tell now that he had experienced everything I had just experienced. I stood there for a moment, my mouth hanging open, all I could come up with to say was,

“You saw all that right?”

David nodded. He knew exactly what I meant. There was no question, but the look on his face wasn’t one of fear. I didn’t even feel fear. What I felt was a sense of sadness and dread so profound and consuming that to this day I don’t have the words to describe it. Like being told you were fired, your lover dumping you, and your whole family dying in a car crash at the same time.

Cheryl finally emerged from the apartment and saw us both standing there. We attempted to describe what we saw to her and Cheryl just cracked a small smile as she was locking up.

“That room down there? Yea that’s where Caroline died,”

David had no knowledge of Caroline. He hadn’t been there prior, he didn’t hear any of the stories that Cheryl had told me about this apparition on the balcony of a girl whose death remained a mystery to many of the tenants. I would explain it to him and tell him what Cheryl had told me the night before, wondering if she had mentioned it in passing knowing what room was going to be at the end of the hall, of which she didn’t alert me to. Maybe she had an agenda to prove she wasn’t insane and to insure I would have my own experience with Caroline.

8 years later, I would look up the name Caroline in conjunction with European Village and found this article that doesn’t seem to give much more than the bizarre way she allegedly killed herself. If you wish to read that article and the bizarre comment from the apartment’s newest tenant, click here

Sound familiar? If you frequent /r/no sleep you may have read a version of this story written under my creativity handle, HereInTheNight.

[mca-attack21]

Wolf Moon part 3

Another installment of the Stiles Sis Fic Series, find the rest  here.

The next day, Stiles was surprised to find out that the forensics came back from the half of the body that the joggers had found. It tested positive for the DNA of a wolf. He had wanted to tell Scott, but he hadn’t had an opportunity until Lacrosse practice. Today was the final day of tryouts. This was the elimination game that determined whether or not they would make the first line. Scott didn’t have time to pay attention to Stiles, his focus was on the game and making sure he had his spot on the field. A one on one between him and Jackson soon presented itself, and Scott came out on top every time. It wasn’t long before Coach announced that Scott had made the first line.

Stiles went straight home after practice and began to research any and everything to do with wolves, werewolves, etc. When you came into his room to ask him what he wanted for dinner you were met with a chaotic mess of information. It didn’t take long for him to catch you up to speed and enlist your help in figuring out what exactly was going on. You did however grant him a generous smack in the back of the head for not telling you what was going on sooner. After hours of research, the two of you concluded that the idea of Scott being a werewolf was not so impossible after all. 

“Stiles, you realize that if we are right, we will know tonight,” 

This was the first time that it dawned on him that tonight was the full moon. 

“We have to call Scott and tell him he can’t go on his date with Allison tonight.” 

When Scott arrived, it was just Stiles there as you had already left to help Lydia set up for her party. “You have to see this dude, I’ve been up all night reading, researching, etc.” Stiles started. 

“How much Adderall have you had today?” Scott joked. 

“Enough” Stiles answers before continuing, “remember the joke from the other day? Not a joke anymore...the woods...the bite. I started doing research. Like do you even know why a wolf howls? It’s a signal to its pack. A whole pack of werewolves”.

Scott had had enough of this, “Are you seriously wasting my time with this. You know I have to pick up Allison in an hour,” he said as he walked to the door.

Stiles quickly got in front of him, “I saw you on the field today Scott, what you did was not just amazing, it was impossible”.

“So what, I made a good shot?” Scott objected.

“No” Stiles corrected, “You made an incredible shot. your speed your reflexes. People can’t just do that overnight. Not to mention your eyesight, sense of smell and don’t think I haven’t noticed that you don’t need your inhaler anymore.”

“Okay dude I can’t think about this now, we can talk tomorrow” Scott replied shrugging off Stiles.

“Tomorrow?! Don’t you get it the full moon is tonight!” Stiles exclaimed.

“What are you trying to do? I made the first line. I have a date with a girl that I can’t even believe would want to go out with me. Everything in my life is somehow perfect. You are my best friend, you should be happy for me. But instead, you are trying to ruin it,” Scott fumed.

“I’m trying to help. If I'm right, you’re cursed, Scott. And it's not just a physical transformation. The full moon will heighten your bloodlust.” Stiles answered.

“Bloodlust?” Scott questioned.

“Your urge to kill,” Stiles explained.

“Oh, I’m feeling an urge to kill” Scott groaned.

“Seriously Scott you have to cancel this date it isn’t safe,” Stiles remarked pushing past Scott to grab his phone.

“What are you doing?” Scott questioned

“I’m calling Allison and canceling the date,” Stiles answered. 

Suddenly Scott lost it and shoved him forcefully into the wall ready to punch him. When he realized what had happened he let go of Stiles, muttered an apology, grabbed his belongings, and left. Stiles was in shock but decided that this meant that he would have no choice but to go to the party and make sure nothing happened.

Scott went home to get ready for the party. He went to pick up Allison and was blown away by how beautiful she looked. He still didn’t understand how he managed to get a girl like that to go out with him. Once they arrived, they walked around for a bit before deciding to dance. It was going well, but then Scott began to get this urge. He couldn’t explain it, but he knew he couldn’t stay around Allison. Maybe Stiles was right? Either way, he knew he wouldn’t be able to control himself much longer. He ignored everyone who was asking if he was okay and made it to his car. He then proceeded to race home.

You were right behind him, using Lydia’s car. When you got to he house all of the doors were open. You could hear his shower running. “Scott?” you called from outside his bathroom door. 

“Go away” he snarled, you could tell that he was scared. 

“Open the door Scott, I want to help. Everything is going to be okay” you chimed in trying the door handle. 

“No I can’t, Stiles was right,” Scott grunted.

 “Look, Scott, everything is fine,” you said as you started to pick the lock. “We will figure this out, we always do.” You finished unlocking the door, bracing yourself for what you are about to see. You were reassured when you looked in and it was Scott. He may have had fangs, claws, and yellow eyes, but it was still your Scott McCall. 

“Go Away” Scott cried scared that he was going to do something that he would regret. Before you could do anything Stiles was banging on the door.

“Scott let me in” Stiles yelled. Then Scott remembered the party. “You have to find Allison” Scott begged Stiles. “Dude it’s fine, she got a ride home from Derek,” Stiles answered opening the door. 

“Derek Hale?” Scott questioned starting to freak out. 

“Yeah, why?” Stiles asked noticing the change in Scott’s demeanor.

“Derek is the one who bit me, he is the one who killed the girl in the woods.” 

Before you knew it Scott had darted out of his window. “Okay, I’ll go to Allison’s house and see if she is there,” you called grabbing Lydia’s keys. “You follow Scott and Stiles-” you continued. 

“What?” he interrupted. 

“Be careful” you answered.

You drove straight to Allison’s house. And rang the doorbell. Her mother answered, “Can I help you?” she asked expectantly. 

“Hi, my name is Y/n Stilinski, I was at the party with Allison and Scott called me to tell me that he had to leave unexpectedly. I just wanted to make sure that she got home okay,” you explained, thankful for your bs abilities. Mrs. Argent's grimace turned to a smile. 

“That’s so considerate of you,” she answered, “Allison, there is someone here to see you” she called out to her daughter. You were soon greeted by Allison’s quizzical face. 

“Hi, we haven’t officially met my name is Y/n, I’m Stiles’ sister and a friend of Scott’s. He got sick at the party and didn’t want to embarrass himself so he left. He feels horrible and sent me to make sure you made it home okay.” you explained offering your hand. 

She laughed as she recalled, “So you are the one that Scott and Lydia always talk about.”

“I hope I don’t disappoint” you answered unaware that either of them would have mentioned you. 

“Not at all, do you want to come in? I don’t have anything going on tonight and I’m sure my parents won’t mind,” she said. 

“I’d love to, but first I have to call my brother and let him know where I’m at. I should probably also let Lydia know I have her car,” you explained pulling out your phone and sending a text to Lydia. You then called Stiles letting him know you were at Allison’s house and the two of you would be hanging out together. Stiles had let you know that he had Scott who was shaken up but would be fine. He explained briefly about Derek and the hunters. The two of you had decided to discuss it further the next day.

You and Allison clicked immediately, you discussed the different places she had lived, tv shows, music, and movies. She asked you questions about some of the kids at school. And you gave her your own personal guide to surviving high school in Beacon Hills. Before you knew it the two of you were practically best friends. The next day you had breakfast with her family and they asked you a ton of questions. But it was fine, as they seemed to like you. Allison walked you out as you were about to leave. You took the opportunity to give her one more small push.

 “I know it’s not my place to say anything, but Scott is a good guy. Like he’s the guy who goes out of his way to help people. He is the guy who may see you at your worst, but will only speak of you at your best. He may have screwed up last night. But he really likes you. As in, you are the only thing he has been able to talk about since Monday. So, trust me that you won’t regret giving him a second chance.”

“Thanks, Y/n, for everything. It’s nice to know I have a friend here,” she replied giving you a hug.

 “No problem, if there is ever anything you need, I am only a phone call away,” you replied before getting in the car.

When you got back to Lydia’s house, she was nowhere to be found. You went to her room and knocked (just in case she and Jackson were...you know). With no reply, you entered and found a pink note lying on your stuff. “Y/n- I’m out with Jackson, you are welcome to hang out here if you want. Just leave the keys on my dresser. Love, Lydia <3.”

You smiled because that was your best friend. You soon called Stiles to come  pick you up. He proceeded to go into great detail everything that had happened the previous night. He was excited to do more research, slightly concerned that he would only have a month to prepare. He was such a dork, but you loved him. After all, he was your brother,  it’s not like you had much of a choice.

Monday:

Scott was sitting in front of the school waiting for Allison. All that he could think about is how badly he screwed up. What if he lost her? What if she didn’t want to talk to him? What if?-- 

“So what happened? You left me stranded at the party.” Allison questioned. 

“Yeah, I know, I’m so sorry. I-,” Scott began. 

But Allison cut him off, dropping her fake attitude, “It’s fine Scott, just don’t let it happen again” she smiled. 

“You’re not mad?” he asked face lighting up. 

“I was,” she answered, “but then Y/n explained everything and convinced me that you are worth a second chance”. 

‘Note to self, you owe Y/n a car or something,’ Scott thought. “I promise I will make it up to you.” He was going to say more, but was interrupted by honking. 

“That’s my dad, I gotta go,” Allison said, “don’t make me regret this” she called over her shoulder.

Scott looked towards her, and that’s when he saw him. Allison’s dad. He was one of the hunters from Friday night. The one who was going to shoot him. Ughhh.

@supernatural-pants

[fatathlon]

Race Report: Greater Nashua Sprint Triathlon

My first triathlon of 2019 was a sprint distance race held in southern New Hampshire, called the Greater Nashua Sprint Triathlon. I settled on this race in particular after several months of research, trying to find a race that was both within driving distance and lined up with my training schedule for my 70.3 race. I didn’t know anything about it other than what I found on the website and Facebook page, but it was the 10th annual running of the event, so it seemed likely to be a well-organized race.

Pre-Race

An added bonus to this race was that my wife’s parents and brother live just an hour away from the race location, so we were all able to stay with them and combine it into a family visit. It’s a huge benefit to race day preparations to be in a comfortable location with family before an event, so I’m grateful we were able to have that opportunity. I went to bed at the same time as my kids, and actually managed to sleep through most of the night. I only woke up once, at about 3 AM, and then drifted in and out until about 5, when I got up.

Breakfast was my customary bowl of oatmeal flavored with maple syrup with a coffee. While I had the syrup out, I took the opportunity to fill my gel bottle. I still wasn’t sure if I would even use fuel during the race, because it was so short, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to have it along.

Breakfast

Race Fuel

Nice morning view

I had everything pretty much ready to go the night before, so all I had to do in the morning was load my bike, put my transition bag in the car, and head out. The drive was uneventful. As I got close to Nashua, I started to see more and more cars carrying bikes. It wasn’t long before I saw a fully decked out Quintana Roo on the back of a pickup. Welcome to New Hampshire.

Parking was an absolute nightmare. There was a lot designated for racers, which was the entire area around a local school, but it was already packed to the gills by the time I arrived. I ended up having to park underneath a swing set. I checked the air in my tires at my car, put my transition bag on my bag and rode to the transition area.

Transition was pretty well organized, with everyone having a marked spot on the racks. Once again my bike was too tall to fit very well on the rack. The saddle was too high to easily get it under the bar, and then there wasn’t enough of a hang to keep it on there securely. Not much I could do about it, so I set up my transition stuff and went to get body-marked, check out the transition routes, and wander down to the water.

My transition setup. My rear wheel is basically on the ground.

There were about 15 minutes of announcements before the race, which felt like they took forever. I tried to keep my arms moving, doing some arm circles and such, but mostly just stood around feeling my springs coil. Finally, they started calling waves. Everyone had an assigned wave number, and when your wave was called, you went down to a dock area to check-in and queue up for the start.

Swim

This was my first race wearing a wetsuit. It was also my first race with a wave start. It cheated everyone out of some time, because the timing mat was on the dock and the waves treaded water for a minute or two before actually starting. But at least everyone lost the same amount of time, so it didn’t really matter.

I put some water on the back of my neck just before jumping in, but it felt like a warm bath. I was prepared for a cold shock when stepped off the dock, but it was just balmy. I grabbed the start line rope and floated until the starter gave us the go signal, then I was off.

One of the first waves heading out

Almost immediately, I felt like something was wrong. I wasn’t more than 30 seconds into it and I felt absolutely awful. I thought I might be getting sick. Was I even moving? I couldn’t really tell. My line was way off, too, and I kept veering to the right. I tried to focus on my technique and things got a little better. I decided that whatever I was feeling, it wasn’t getting any worse, so I would just push through it. I had done enough swim training to know that I wouldn’t suddenly drown or anything, especially while wearing a buoyant wetsuit. The worst case was that my arm strength would just give out, and it hadn’t yet. So there was no reason to stop. On I went.

About halfway through the loop, I started catching some people. I have no idea if they were in my wave or the wave before mine, or possibly the wave after mine, having gotten ahead of me at the start. I didn’t try to swim over anyone but I didn’t really seem them coming, either, so some contact was inevitable.

I hadn’t set a goal time for the swim, but from experience I expected something between 10-15 minutes in the back of my mind. When I finally stood up to exit, it felt like it had been twice that, but I figured realistically it was maybe 12 minutes.

I looked at my watch and saw an 8. Suddenly things made a little more sense. I had been going faster — much faster — than I thought. No wonder I felt like my chest was going to explode.

Official Swim Time: 8:49 (.3 mi) – 1:41/100 yd 7/32 in age group; 34/414 overall

T1

T1 sent us up a sandy path through the woods to the grassy area where the bikes were. There were wetsuit strippers waiting for us, which was awesome. I pulled my wetsuit down below my waist, slid into home on the tarp, and my suit was popped off before I even knew what was happening. I thanked the volunteers and headed to my bike.

About to get stripped

I had toyed a bit with leaving my shoes on my bike with rubber bands, but ultimately couldn’t really figure out how to do it so it worked properly, and I was worried about the rubber bands getting caught in my gears, so I decided to just put my shoes on in transition, run the bike out, and clip in. I certainly wasn’t going to try a flying mount, so this was a reasonable option for me. At the last second I grabbed my maple syrup bottle and slid it into my tri suit pocket.

Official T1 time: 3:13 – 91/414 overall

Bike

The bike route was very short, and very flat. I’d only done three previous races before this one, but this was the shortest and flattest by far. I had been doing a lot of mental gymnastics about the bike leg in the days leading up to the race, debating my approach. Overall, I wanted this race to be something of a practice session for my 70.3 — transition logistics, using a wetsuit, etc. I thought about also extending that to pacing, to practice the mental and emotional control required to slow myself down at the start of the bike leg so that I would be able to hold the right pace throughout, and then have enough left over for the run. But as soon as I was clipped in, that decision was made. It was go time.

Because I didn’t have any pacing or power targets, I ended up watching my heart rate most of all while out on the course, followed by my speed. My heart rate was shockingly high compared to the levels I was used to seeing during my training, which is predominantly spent in zone 2. But I knew that wasn’t necessarily a problem. The race was short enough that I could work at or above threshold for the whole thing. They call it a sprint for a reason, after all.

The other fun thing about a sprint is that passing someone on the bike leg is usually permanent. In a longer race, it can often be just the first of two meetings, the second of which being when they come back and smoke you on the run. But in a sprint, they are more likely to run out of road if you go full throttle on the bike. Since it was a wave start, I knew that passing people was not an entirely accurate representation of my place in the field. But it was motivating anyway. So I reeled in as many people as I could, and made sure that nobody passed me. The best part was passing those $6,000 tri bikes on my gravel bike with regular old drop bars.

As it turned out, I was glad to have my maple syrup on board. I took a couple hits, one partway through and one just before T2. It felt helpful, and made me realize that I would probably need more fuel than I had been thinking during my longer race in July.

The bike course covered, I had a clean dismount just at the line, and ran my bike in to the transition area again.

Official Bike Time: 25:45 (9.6 mi) – 22.4/mph 4/32 in age group; 18/414 overall

T2

T2 was my slowest performance on the day, relative to the field. I didn’t deliberately go slow, but I wasn’t rushing, either. I’m pretty particular about how my shoe lace-up feels, and that combined with the socks I use (which are not super easy to get on) probably accounted for my slow time. But I made it out on the run with everything I needed and feeling pretty good, so I wasn’t too worried about blitzing through T2.

Official time: 1:51 – 313/414 overall

Run

I expected to be running fast out of transition, having experienced that phenomenon before. Adrenaline is high and you are excited to just get going, and before you know it you’re running way faster than you expected. I checked my watch after a couple hundred yards and saw I was running close to 7:30 min/mi, which is very fast for me. For reference, I ran all of my sprints last year at around 9:00 min/mi. My first reaction was to feel like I needed to back off, slow down and find a more conservative pace, but then I remembered it was only 3.1 miles. I was able to hold a strong pace through the swim and bike, why not the run? Might as well go for it, and see how long I could hold it before I slowed down. The worst case was that my pace would slow for the back half of the race, but I knew I would finish no matter what. Go time continued.

I focused on my cadence through most of the run, trying to keep the rhythm even and high. That seems to be my key to running fast (such that “fast” is, for me), when I need to. If I think about ‘running fast,’ it’s harder to do, but if I just focus on my cadence, it’s easier for some reason.

The run was also a very flat course, with only a couple slight inclines, when my pace dipped closer to 8:00 min/mi. I was able to hold my cadence pretty well throughout. Two or three people passed me, including a 60+ year old woman and a kid, wearing the race t-shirt. Sigh. But overall I held my pace and I felt strong throughout.

By the time the last half-mile came around, I was starting to feel it, particularly in my hips and my abdominals. I was definitely on the edge, pushing to maintain the pace. There wasn’t much of anything left for a late surge, all I could do was hold what I had through the chute and over the finish line.

Official Run Time: 24:19 (3.1 mi) – 7:50/mi 11/32 in age group; 65/414 overall

Overall Results: Time: 1:03:55 5/32 in age group; 34/219 by gender; 36/414 overall

Post Race & Summary

The race venue had a lot of activities for kids, which was great for when my family arrived. There were at least three bouncy houses, plus a clown making balloon animals, and kid-friendly food. The food was great, and there was tons of it, all of it free as far as I could tell, at least for racers. It wasn’t just bananas and bagels, there was an entire sandwich buffet, flatbread pizza, Italian ice, all kinds of things. The only real negatives for me about the race organization and venue were parking and the lack of a professional race photographer (there were only official volunteers, who took substandard photos and whose coverage was incomplete). Otherwise, it was a well-organized and fun race on a decent course.

As far as my performance goes, I came away a little surprised and with a lot to think about. I had definitely underestimated my potential in the water and on the run. I really didn’t have any idea that I could swim or run that fast over any distance. Almost immediately, I started thinking ahead to July, and trying to sort out what that means for my 70.3. Obviously I won’t be racing at these speeds at that distance. But my personal bar has been raised, there’s no getting around that. Now I have the task of handling that knowledge without it infiltrating my head in a negative way. Expectations for a race are not usually helpful.

I tried to examine whether I could have gone any faster, any harder, improved in any area in order to jump to the 1st-3rd place podium from my 5th place spot. I would have had to be about 6 mins faster to do that. Certainly I was maxed on the swim. I don’t think I was at maximum capacity on the bike, but I was fairly close. The run didn’t have a whole lot of room to give, either. When I look at the actual times between 5th (me) and 3rd, here’s what I find:

PlaceSwimT1BikeT2RunTotal3rd8:202:2525:390:3521:0958:065th (me)8:493:1325:561:5124:191:03:55Difference:0:290:480:171:163:105:49

Clearly the majority of time lost was on the run. That isn’t surprising to me, since I’ve never been a fast runner. But I’m encouraged, because I’m way faster than I used to be. The next biggest deficit was T2, followed relatively closely by T1. The differences on the swim and the bike combined could be easily surmounted by improving just my transitions alone. Or I could have pushed a bit harder on the climbs (such as they were) on the bike and probably wiped out a lot of that time. But most of the improvement work to be done is clearly in my run.

Is this a microcosm of what I can expect at longer distance? It will be interesting to see how the ratios play out there. I’d also be interested in comparing these relative results to my results from last year’s sprints. That is, how much slower — relative to the field — was I in transition vs. the bike leg, or run leg. Maybe that will be a good subject for a future post. You can’t compare races 1:1, but I think you can get a sense of how the relative balance of everything plays out, and what that means for your skill set and fitness level. If nothing else, it’s an interesting diversion.

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[hankguogh]

10 Chinese webnovels I highly recommend

Chinese webnovels are getting popular around the world, this genre of novels is also called Light Novel because of its short chapter size and editing work.As a veteran reader, I have been reading Chinese webnovels for more than 15 years,including most of all genres,such as wuxia,fantasy,romance ... Some of them have really impressed to me,and today I'm very glad to recommend you 10 Chinese webnovels that have been translated to English.I think they are all of pretty good quality.

1.Night Ranger

This fantasy novel has 819 chapters and it is completed now on webnovel.com its original chinese edition has 2.01 million views.

Source:webnovel.com Synopsis: Legendary player Marvin transmigrated to the eve of the Great Calamity. This was the end of the fourth era, all gods joined hands to destroy the Universe Magic Pool. The fourth Fate Tablet had begun maturing and all gods, demons, legends, devils, liches, dragons and other legendary creatures were appearing one after the other. In order to protect his loved ones, Marvin has no other choice but to delve into the shadows. This is the story of a young ranger growing into the Ruler of the Night during the Chaos Era.

2.Godly Stay-Home Dad

This novel has been updated to Chapter 116 on tapread.com (one chapter each day).And now it ranks top 1 among all novels on tapread,very worth reading.

Source:tapread.com Synopsis: After immortality cultivation, he transforms into a daddy. Then he begins to carve out a new field where he opens a restaurant. In his spare time, he would like to compose songs and flirts with his wife ... Let’s see how this immortal daddy plays the city.

3.Martial God Asura

It is an ongoing Chinese web novel by “Kindhearted Bee” with 2900+ chapters. This novel is currently being translated by Yang Wenli (YWL) and flowerbridgetoo (FBT) has translated the first 3 volumes (Chapters 1-1004). On the wuxiaworld website, it is listed in the “Xuan Huan” category and “Eastern Fantasy” as the subcategory.

Source:wuxiaworld.com Synopsis: Regarding potential—even if you are not considered a genius, you can still learn Mysterious Techniques and martial skills. Anyone can be enlightened without a master. Regarding strength—despite having a myriad of artifacts, you may not defeat my army of World Spirits. Who am I? All of the world’s living perceives me as Asura, but I was ignorant to such a thing. I thus ascend to be the Martial God as Asura.

4.Reincarnation - The Divine Doctor and Stay-at-home Dad

This kind of stay-home dad novel is my favorite genre,lol. This novel is also an ongoing one. check it on Tapread.com.

Source:tapread.com Synopsis: As an ordinary human being on the earth, Tang Long was brought to the Cultivation World by a lost immortal, and relying on his amazing talent, he made it to one of the five emperors in that world. However, struck by Thunder of Nine Heavens, he lost his life. It was lucky for him to rebirth in the human world as an intern who was named Qin Haodong. With his excellent medical skills, he became a divine doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and a father of a baby girl, whose mother was as pretty as a fairy. The little girl even asked him to find more lovers. What a cute girl...

5.Trial Marriage Husband: Need to Work Hard

The novel is currently top 1 translation power ranking on webnovel.com now.Highly recommended!

Source:webnovel.com Synopsis: The night before their wedding, her fiancee ran off with his mistress. Out of frustration, she grabbed the man standing in front of the Civil Affairs Office, "President Mo, your bride has not arrived and my groom has run away...May I suggest we get married?" Before marriage, she said, "Even if we were to share the same bed, nothing would happen between us!" After marriage, he said, "If we don't try, how would we know?"

6.The General’s Genius Daughter

Source:tapread.com Synopsis: In her previous life, the woman that her husband cheated on dug out her beautiful eyes, told her that her child was not her husband’s and then tortured her to death. Her six years old son, Tiantian, was harmed by the adulterer while her parents were brutally murdered... Hua Qiyue woke up again and found out that she was now in the body of a famous general’s daughter, who shared the same first name as her. However, she discovered that the body was a useless one as her Qi veins were blocked! Since the heaven did give her another chance of life, she promised herself to destroy the life of her cheating husband, torture the home wrecker, seek revenge and save her son! By accident, she discovered a handsome devil inside her jade gourd and was forced to acknowledge him as her master. What troubled her more was that her first appearance in the public caused her to be surrounded by numerous handsome men such as the cool and mysterious Prince Nan, her cruel but strong master Tianpi, and the kind and graceful Medical Saint... Tianyuan continent was the continent of Qi Art and Spirit Summoning Art... Watch how Hua Qiyue master the two Arts, defeat her rivals and solve one mystery after another...

7.The Love Riots

Very popular on wattpad,editor's choice,the only one in my recommendation list isn't Chinese novel.

Source:wattpad.com Synopsis: Chitralekha Menon, or Chitra as she prefers, is an editor at Delhi Belly, a weekly lifestyle magazine. She lives alone in a flat and enjoys a cosmopolitan life that the city offers. Her days are spent going to the old parts of the town for interviews with interesting but unknown personalities. She loves reading books in her favourite armchair with a cup of cutting chai and discussing Indian politics. One day fate leads her to meet Zahir Hosain, a Political Science teacher, who emanates peace and enigma. She watches him with fascination as he works for an NGO and cares for his students so deeply. However, she realizes that life is not a bed of roses when she has to fight at every turn for her love as the society she lives in becomes more and more radical by the day. After all, does this society have a place for a Hindu woman who has fallen for a Muslim man? Together, Chitra and Zahir embark on an emotional and disastrous journey that takes sudden turns, keeping them on their toes and out of breath.

8.Sweet Chief Secretary

Source:tapread.com Synopsis: The first master in Shen’s refused female secretary to maintain his image. The girl lost her job and crashed into a luxury car of the second master in Shen’s, so she could only work as his secretary to repay the debt. The second master would emerge in the headlines of entertainment news every two or three days due to his gossip!In addition to help him at work, his secretary had to deal with his rotten tidbits?

9.The Medical Guru

Source:tapread.com Synopsis: He was the youngest guru of martial arts as well as the perfect Mr. McDreamy of the most girls. He had mysterious absolute touch, clear-sighted observation ability and various outstanding talents. But now, he was just an ordinary freshman in University of Jiangjing Chinese Medicine, who wanted to learn Chinese Medicine, see patients, and get into a relationship with a girl in a low-key way. However, in a Mid-Autumn Festival party, he was forced to put on a performance, which shocked the whole audience. The shiny and wonderful university life began from then on. In the university, he met a beautiful and smart School Beauty Jiang Miaoyu who shook his heart slightly. But the road of love was never smooth, even to a perfect hero. He also met a kind and friendly teacher Dr. Shen who discovered his excellent technique and gave him a chance to practice. Besides, his three lovely and interesting roommates were indispensable in his life, although sometimes they looked a little awkward. But this young hero’s life was not always full of happiness without a hitch, some trouble still appeared from time to time. The domineering and imperious President of the Students’ Union Li Qingshi purposely made difficulties for him repeatedly. The stubborn and hardworking martial arts practitioner Chen Cong often challenged him in different ways. Just because of these extraordinary personalities around him, this young hero’s road of struggle looked so amazing...

10.Super Urban Master

Source:tapread.com Synopsis: A good-for-nothing man wrote a closed book furiously and ran away from home on the wedding night as he was humiliated by his Kung Fu wife. Unfortunately, he suffered a car accident, but it turned to be a blessing. He swallowed the soul that passed through the outer world, thus obtained superb medical skills and martial arts. Later on，he embarked on the road of counterattacks, and was committed to his great dreams.

Well, above are my recommendations, although some of them didn't get good translations,that doesn't affect its quality at all.As a reader, I'm always passinate about Chinese web novels,and I hope you guys could like my recommendations!

[welcometophu]

Missed Fortunes: Hopes & Fears 1

Twinned Book 2: Missed Fortunes

Hopes & Fears 1

[ Previous | First | Next ]

Even after a week, Carolyn still feels off-kilter. She finally feels rested, but the world still seems dreamlike, and not quite real. It’s strange to be texting with Sam, to have him coherent and home and texting her back. Del has become a constant in her life, sending random photos of her own campus, and snippets about life. They both fit back into Carolyn’s days as if they’ve never been gone.

They have a group text as well, all five of them as if it’s still high school and they’re discussing where to meet for lunch or what prank to pull. Carolyn’s quieter there, not quite ready to interact with Shawn. She can keep Del and Sam as her buffers in that space, at least.

It’s easier to see now, after years have passed, just how set apart Kit is from the rest of them. He chats, yes, but his life seems to have veered down a different path.

Carolyn’s not sure if she’s on the same path as Kit, or if she’s just pushed herself back onto the path with her old friends. Or if she’s found one of her own.

Heather is her rock amidst it all, and Carolyn leans on her in ways she hasn’t let herself since Nikita came into their lives. Nikita doesn’t sleep in their room at all during the week, and Carolyn falls asleep each night with Heather’s hand on her shoulder, lulling her to quiet. It’s peaceful to just let go, and not worry about processing everything. She knows she needs to deal with it, but at the same time, she needs a break. Heather lets her forget about everything else, and put the more difficult emotions in a neat little box, waiting to be opened later.

It won’t work forever, but it gets her through the week. It lets Friday arrive without panic, until classes are done and Carolyn’s sitting in her room with Heather, waiting for Kit and Nikita to show up. Then her phone pings, and Carolyn’s heart starts racing as she looks down at the screen.

We’re here and checked into that same motel as last time. Are you sure we want to do this?

Heather places a hand on Carolyn’s shoulder, and Carolyn breathes in the induced calm. She can almost imagine the lemon scent that Alaric always says Heather exudes, and she exhales slowly. Yes, she sends back. I don’t think it’s that we want to do it. I think we need to. I think you need to hear what Nik has to say, and I know she needs to hear about what Mattie told us. I think the only way we’re going to figure anything out—and keep the bad stuff from happening again—is to share as much information as we can.

And if your friend Nik and I try to drag the entire town into the dreamscape? Del replies.

Heather’s grip on Carolyn’s shoulder tightens.

You won’t, Carolyn types. Nikita’s under control when she’s with Heather. And I’m not going to let you turn into Dream-Del again. We brought you back, and we’ll bring you back again if we have to. No one gets lost.

A knock on the door before it opens and Nikita’s there. Kit stands in the hall behind her, his beanie pulled down low over his ears, and his phone in his hand as he texts.

They’re here, Carolyn sends. We’ll be there soon and we’ll bring dinner.

“Are we walking?” Nikita asks. “How far away is it?”

Kit glances up from his phone, brow furrowed and expression concerned.

“We borrowed Trish’s truck.” Carolyn digs into her jacket pocket to find the keys, brandishing them while attempting to get her jacket on. “Kit, you’re driving. She says I’m too out of it this week, and Heather doesn’t like to drive.”

“I’m guessing I don’t have a say in this,” Kit mutters, catching the keys when she tosses them to him. “You know, I thought about going out tonight. Trying that dating thing.”

“But Rory’s busy anyway,” Nikita points out. “He and Thorne are recording something or other, I don’t know exactly what. Demos, I think. They’re trying to sort out which tracks are going to make the cut for the new album.”

Carolyn hears what Kit isn’t really saying, that he doesn’t want to stay on this path any longer than he has to. “Thank you,” she says quietly. “I think that we’re close to finishing whatever we started, and then we can move forward, right?”

Kit gets an arm around her shoulders when she approaches, squeezes her tightly. He’s only a couple inches taller than her, but it’s enough that he can kiss her temple easily. “I think it’s going to be better when we can start moving forward,” he murmurs. “Even looking back will be easier then.”

Carolyn nods, then motions toward the stairs. She leads the way to where Trish’s truck is parked, and pulls the seats forward so Heather and Nik can climb into the back seat. It takes Kit a little time to find the right settings for the seat—he’s taller than Trish, but her legs are longer—then the truck comes to life with a roar.

Kit drives cautiously, staying far from the cars parked on the side of the road, while also avoiding the oncoming traffic. His jaw is tight and set, and he navigates carefully, parking far from other cars when he reaches the motel lot.

Carolyn has the room number, on the first floor this time, and Del opens the door as they approach.

Heather clasps Nikita’s hand, murmurs something as they walk together. Nikita lifts her hand, and Del waves back just as cautiously.

“I can do this,” Nikita says, and she moves ahead of the others, Heather still connected to her but trailing behind. She reaches Del and holds out her hand. “Hi. Let’s test this and see if we can do it.”

Del looks at her warily. “All I’m going to say is if we end up in a forest or a fragrant field, I’m over it.” She clasps Nikita’s hand and closes her eyes, wincing.

Nothing happens.

Nikita shudders, lets go of Del and moves closer to Heather. “Okay, so, on my part it isn’t easy, but I can hold on. It’s like—I feel this weird sensation over my entire body, like I’m exhausted and wide awake and then I want to explode outwards, and I’m pretty sure that’s power. Maybe we should’ve called Rory, too.”

“Still could,” Kit offers, phone in his hand.

Del shakes her head. “I think we’re going to be okay. I’m a little light-headed, but I can focus. And I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s snowing.”

Carolyn turns around and looks, and there are indeed snowflakes drifting slowly through the air.

“It was supposed to snow tonight,” Nikita says. “I don’t think that’s me.”

Del steps back, pulls the door wide. “Come on in before you get wet, I guess.”

Shawn’s in the way, standing just beyond Del, and Carolyn pushes past him to get to Sam. He already looks better than he did a week ago, and when he captures her in a hug, his grip is strong and sure. “You look good,” she murmurs, her face pressed against his.

“I sent you pictures,” Sam tells her.

“I didn’t believe them.” They only added to the sense of unreality this week, watching Sam change as the week wound on. She touches his face, feels the smoothness of his skin. “I needed to see you in person. I’m glad you came up.”

“Can we get down to business, because I feel like my skin could crawl away on its own, and I’m blaming proximity to Nikita,” Del snaps. She crosses her arms tightly, leans back against Shawn who wraps his arms around her.

“Seconded.” Nikita’s found a spot on the bed, Heather sitting next to her. She has Heather’s hand tight in her grip, so tight that her knuckles are pale and Heather’s fingers are darker. Heather brushes over the top of their clasped hands, and Nikita’s grip eases.

Everyone looks to Carolyn, and she’s not entirely sure how she ended up in charge, but apparently she is. “We need to talk about the split,” she says firmly, even though she still feels like she’s in uncharted territory with the conversation. “And we need to talk about Nik’s dreams, and how the forest intertwines with everything. And how traveling works, and what it means for all of us.” She gestures between herself, Nikita, and Del, “because I think we’re all different aspects of the same Emergent Talent. We were all Mages of some kind beforehand: Weather Witch, Predictive, and Del’s generalized magic. Something’s changed, and I think it’s all tangled together.”

“And we’re probably affecting each other, too,” Del comments. “Especially when we’re together.”

“But it started before we three all met,” Carolyn points out. “For you it started almost three years ago, and for me, who knows when it really started, but it started in earnest just a few months ago. And Nikita changed when she came to PHU. That’s why we need to talk.”

“Fine.” Sam moves forward. “Let’s start with the forest, and the shadows.”

“The shadows are in Nikolai’s world, too,” Nikita points out. “They’re everywhere there, and dangerous to the Talented people. Between them and being hunted by humans, Talented people are in danger, and Nikolai’s on the run.”

Del’s gaze goes sharp. “Okay, no, let’s start with a clearer explanation of that. Who’s world?”

Nikita fidgets, patting and stroking along Heather’s hand. “When my weather magic goes haywire, I’m usually asleep. We thought it meant I was having nightmares, which turned out to be true. I started remembering the dreams recently. And in those dreams, I’m someone named Nikolai, who’s on the run. He’s got this whole life, and I keep seeing him—being him, really—every time he comes back to my dreams. It’s easier, when I’m with Heather. I don’t panic, so I don’t cause storms, but I still dream, and it’s like I’m there.”

“And his world?” Del prods.

“Chaos,” Nikita says. “A decade ago, it was overrun by shadows. They started attacking people with Talent, and that brought magic out in public in front of the humans. And of course, the humans blamed the magical people for what was happening with the shadows, so they started attacking them, too. People with Talent have retreated—at least, I think that’s what’s happened. I only know what Nikolai thinks about, or what he and Seth talk about. But Nikolai and Seth are on the run. I don’t know where they started out, because that’s not something Nikolai likes to think about. But they’re on their own and they’re going from safe house to safe house, trying to find some kind of settlement that I think is near here. Some safe community so they can fight back.”

“So you’re dreaming some other entire life, in another world,” Del says slowly.

“That sounds like it comes from one of the shadow-infested worlds out of the forest,” Sam says. “I saw a lot of those when I was trying to find my way out. More of those than normal ones, but that could have just been the paths I chose.”

“Or it could be that the shadows are escaping out of the split, like Mattie said, and some worlds have more cracks than others to let them in,” Del murmurs.

It sounds logical to Carolyn. And disturbing. “What keeps our world from cracking? How do we know Nikolai and his world are real?” she asks.

“We go there,” Kit says. He sits in the desk chair, swinging it side to side as he moves. He stops, leans forward with his elbows on his knees. “We see if we can open up something to the place, and we go. Just like we did to get to Sam. And just like I did to get to Lora this week.”

“They weren’t in different worlds,” Carolyn points out.

“Don’t know if we don’t try,” Kit retorts. “I think it’s worth a shot.”

“You want to go directly there, not through the dreamscape,” Del confirms. She slumps when he nods. “Good. The split—that’s all the spaces off the path in the dreaming. My space—my field—is safe. And the paths seem safe, if you don’t stray off of them.”

“I saw people disappear into shadow,” Sam confirms. “They were there, on the path ahead of me, then they veered off and—”

“Fell into the split,” Carolyn finishes the sentence. “Which is what Mattie said not to do.”

Sam nods. “Exactly. The thing is, the paths keep getting smaller, and there seem to be more shadows.”

“More people without souls,” Del says. “Why?”

“Do you think that if we can go to Nikolai, I can stop dreaming about him?” Nikita asks, shifting the topic abruptly. She grips Heather tightly again, Heather’s expression drawn and pained. “Because if I stop having those nightmares, my power stops going out of control, and things can go back to normal. So I’m in for Kit’s idea of going there.”

Kit rises, grabs his bag. “Why don’t you and I go outside and talk about the place? I need a good description of it. I was able to get us to the forest after the description I had, and a picture of Sam, so let’s do the same with your Nikolai.”

The door slams as Kit and Nikita exit, Heather following quickly after.

“I don’t think it’s the same thing,” Del says quietly.

Carolyn’s not sure what to think. “I don’t think it’ll hurt anything, and Kit’s got a way to get the sketches done quickly. And maybe we’ll still end up going through the dreamscape. Either way, I think it might take all of us again. Or some of us, and the rest helping. And we’ll need to be ready for it tomorrow.” When Shawn starts to protest, Carolyn shakes her head and cuts him off, “Kit needs time to do the sketches. You guys can rest here tonight.”

“We’ll be fine,” Sam says.

“You could stay here if you want,” Del offers, pointing at the other bed. “Platonically, obviously. Pick whoever you want to crash with, and we could talk tonight.”

Carolyn can’t feel power crawling over her the way Del can, but she still feels jumpy and anxious. “No, I think—” She cuts off, because she wants to spend time with Serina. She wants to see her, let her know what’s going to happen and what they’re going to try. “I need to relax tonight before we do this, and as much as I miss everything from before it all went upside down, staying here won’t be relaxing.”

“I understand.” Sam opens his arms, wraps her into a warm hug. Del does the same after, her braids heavy against Carolyn’s cheek.

When they separate, Shawn stands there, his hands in his pockets, watching her.

Carolyn isn’t ready to hug him.

“Can we talk?” Shawn asks.

Carolyn drops her gaze, turns away slightly. She pulls out her phone and sends a text to Serina. I think I’m about done here. I’m going to walk over to see you. Be there soon.

She puts her phone back in her pocket, keeps her gaze and her tone even when she looks at Shawn. “Okay, sure. Let’s go outside and talk.”

She’s not ready for this, but then, she doesn’t think she’ll ever be ready. And if they can have clear hearts and minds tomorrow, they’ll probably be better off.

Doesn’t mean she’s happy about this conversation, though.

[ Previous | First | Next ]

[ginger-and-mint]

Sleepy stuffing scenario? Or a villain/hero stuffing scenario?

So I started out aiming for “sleepy” but then “hero/villain” themes mixed into my head in weird ways and in the end, I had… this? I am absolutely positive this is not what you had in mind for either of these prompts… but here it is anyway! *jazz hands*

Featuring Theo the Recurring Vampire and his very patient boyfriend Darren. Previous stuff with Theo: [x] [x] [x]

CW: general vampiric blood drinking, nausea, mentions of weight gain (not in a fetishized way), good old-fashioned vampire angst??

“Theo! Wake up!”

Theo jolted awake with a hiccup and a groan. “Ughhhh. Why?” He wiped a bit of blood from his lips and glanced blearily around the moonlit pasture, as though he’d forgotten what they were doing there.

Darren crouched down beside his boyfriend and gave him an encouraging pat on the back. “You’ve still got three sheep left to go, love, come on.”

“Ohh, do I have to? I’m so tired and I’m already so full….”

“You’ve still got room.” Darren poked Theo’s belly, which was big and bulging but still not quite as tight as he knew the vampire could get it. “You have to get your fill now. It’s got to tide you over until next weekend, remember!”

Theo groaned. “All right, fine. Can you bring the next one to me? I don’t wanna move.”

“Getting spoiled, are we?”

“Hey, you try standing up with belly this full and tell me how easy it is!”

“Point taken.” Darren ruffled Theo’s hair affectionately as he got up to fetch one of the woolly lumps slumbering nearby.

Nearly two months had passed since they’d started Theo’s livestock diet. They’d since learned a lot of lessons—one of them being that if Theo snuck up on each animal he wanted and gave them quick nibbles, his anesthetic venom would knock them out. Then they could be picked up and drained like juice boxes. And Theo did drain them like juice boxes.

It was certainly interesting, driving your boyfriend an hour out of the city once a week to watch him gorge himself on animal blood in the dead of the night. Theo had guiltily offered to make the trip alone several times, but even he had to admit that he was pretty useless after he’d fed and needed Darren’s help.

Besides, Darren sort of liked watching.

He deposited the next sheep into Theo’s lap. “Order up! One mutton chop, extra rare.”

Theo buried his nose in the sheep’s wool and took a deep inhale of its scent. “Mmm, thanks Darr,” he purred before biting down.

Darren watched him with a fond smile. It was terrifying but also strangely cute, the way Theo drank with singular predatory focus, one hand on his swollen tummy.

It was also good to see him eat after so many weeks of helplessly watching him starve. Theo looked so much healthier these days. He’d put on weight, regaining everything he’d lost and then some. Privately, Darren thought he was actually getting a bit pudgy, although he never would’ve injured Theo’s vain streak by saying that aloud. It wasn’t a bad look on him—certainly better than that gaunt, wasted look he’d had before.

A snore jolted Darren out of his thoughts, and he realized that Theo had fallen asleep with his cheek pillowed in wool, blood dripping from his open mouth.

“Theo!” Darren shook his shoulder. “C’mon, you’ve got to finish!”

“—Hmm? Oh. Ugh….”

“Have you been getting enough sleep lately?”

“I dunno. It is the middle of the night.” Theo burped and pressed a hand against his stomach. He let out a deep sigh before reluctantly biting back down.

Darren’s brow creased with concern. Something was wrong. Usually, Theo relished every drop, even when he was near to bursting—glutting himself with euphoric abandon and then lying back to luxuriate in his fullness like a sated lion. Now, he sat stiff and stony-faced, finishing off the sheep with reluctant, painful-looking swallows.

He let the drained carcass drop with a groan. “Darren—honestly, I don’t feel very good. Can we just go home?”

“Oh! What part of you doesn’t feel good?”

“I guess my—my stomach is sort of upset.” Theo rubbed a hand over his belly. It sloshed audibly, bloated but not quite tight with blood. “I’ve had enough, I can’t drink any more. I just want to go home.”

“All right.” Darren felt in his pocket for the car keys. “You have to take care of the sheep first, though.”

“They’ll be fine. They’ll wake up in a bit.”

“No, I mean the dead ones, love.”

They had learned the importance of savaging the carcasses early on, after an unfortunate segment on the evening news about the mysterious dead cows that a farmer had found in his fields, exsanguinated but otherwise unharmed. Since then, Theo had made sure the scene could be mistaken for a wild animal attack.

“Oh—right.” Theo glanced down at the sheep beside him. He swallowed hard, like the thought of biting back into flesh was making him feel sick. Then he spoke in a thin voice, “This pasture is pretty far out. A coyote or something will probably get the bodies before the farmer finds them.”

“Let’s just go then, if you’re feeling that bad.” Darren crouched beside Theo and slung an arm around his waist. Theo winced and hiccuped as Darren’s hand brushed his swollen belly, and again when he was hauled to his feet.

Their borrowed Toyota wasn’t far away. Darren let Theo lean heavily on him as they crossed the dark field. Theo often had trouble walking after a big meal, but something was different tonight. He was unsteadier than usual, breathing harsh and uneven.

Suddenly, Theo stiffened and stopped short.

Darren didn’t even have time to ask what was wrong before Theo’s fangs were sinking into his shoulder.

Darren sometimes let Theo take a bit of blood from him, but that was always slow and controlled and intimate, a careful prick of Theo’s teeth on the soft skin at the crook of Darren’s elbow. This was Theo in animal mode—plunging deep and drinking to drain.

“Theo! Stop!” Darren gasped, trying to pull away, but Theo’s jaws only clenched harder. So Darren grabbed him by the hair, wrenched his fangs out, and gave him a rough shove that sent him sprawling onto the grass.

“What the hell?” Darren shouted. “What the hell was that?!”

Theo rolled into a crouch, teeth bared and dripping—and for one petrifying moment, Darren was certain he was about to die.

But then Theo blinked and shook his head. His eyes went wide.

“Holy shit,” he murmured.

Then he retched.

“No, no—keep it down.” Darren dropped to his knees beside him. “You need it, love. You need what’s in you.”

Theo panted weakly and pressed his lips together, eyes squeezing shut.

“Keep it down. There you go. Good job.” Darren wanted to hug him, but was afraid to get close. “Are you… are you okay?”

“I’m so fucking sorry,” Theo croaked. “I don’t know—I don’t know why I did that….”

Darren touched his injured shoulder. His fingers came away damp and sticky. “We can talk about it later.”

“You’re hurt, Darr, you’re really—”

“It’s all right. You didn’t get much.” Darren pressed a hand tight over the wound. “You look awful, Theo. You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

“I guess I’m kinda, uh… I feel dizzy. And too hot….”

“Maybe you’ve caught the flu.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Theo crossed his arms over his stomach. “Ugh, I ate too much.”

“Let me clean myself up and then we can go, okay?”

Darren got the first aid kit out of the back of the Toyota. He gave the twin punctures in his shoulder a thorough cleaning and then taped a gauze pad tightly over. His shirt was stained with blood, so he wrapped it up in a spare plastic bag and left it in the trunk, zipping his coat up over his bare chest.

Theo was waiting for him the front of the car, slumped against the window. He sat up straight as Darren climbed into the driver’s seat.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, eyes wide with anxiety. “I really didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know you didn’t.” Darren smiled, even though inside he was starting to feel the shock of what had happened. “We can talk tomorrow. Let’s just go home and get some sleep.”

They didn’t speak much during the drive. The car was silent except for the cough of the old engine and the periodic rumbling from Theo’s stomach.

“Still feeling sick?” Darren asked after a particularly loud gurgle.

“I’m just… really full….” Theo was half-asleep in his seat. “Kinda got a stomachache.”

“Poor thing. Maybe you’re lamb-tose intolerant?”

Normally, Theo would’ve groaned at the corny joke. Theo always groaned at Darren’s corny jokes.

But tonight, he just said, “Eating sheep didn’t do this to me last month.”

“No, it didn’t.” Darren bit his lip and turned his attention back to the road.

It was nearly three in the morning by the time they pulled up at Theo’s apartment complex. Four flights of stairs later, Darren deposited his feeble boyfriend and his overnight bag on the couch. He kept some things at Theo’s place, but always brought a bag with him on these weekends because a fresh change of clothes was generally necessary after night of blood and animal dung.

“Right,” he said. “You want the bathroom first or should I go?”

Theo was staring straight ahead. He coughed and spoke in a strained voice.

“Darr… I can smell your blood.”

The words hung in the air. Darren felt a chill down to his bones.

“Thought you were full up on sheep, love,” he said quietly.

“I am. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Can you—can you sleep at your place tonight? I really don’t want to hurt you again.”

The chill transformed into sick dread. “Theo, you’re not well, you shouldn’t be alone. I could sleep on your couch.”

“I’ll still be able to smell you.” Theo wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I might get up in the night and—and—who knows? I just want you to be safe….” His lips twisted strangely, and Darren knew his tongue worrying at his fangs, like it often did when he was stressed. In the silence, he heard the two words Theo had left off the end of his sentence: from me.

“Okay,” he relented. “But promise you’ll call me if you need me?”

“Mmhm. Of course.” Theo finally met Darren’s gaze and smiled tentatively. “Sorry to make you drive home at this hour. You’re the best and I love you.”

“It’s fine. I love you too.” Darren met his boyfriend’s smile with an equally shaky one. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

Darren blasted the radio all the way home, hoping it would drown out his thoughts. It didn’t. As soon as he had the car in park, he was fumbling for his phone, opening his messages.

Home now, he typed. You sure you’re okay? You seemed so ill earlier, I hate leaving you alone.

He sat in the darkness and stared at the empty screen for about a minute before sighing and unbuckling his seatbelt. No use being paranoid. Theo had probably fallen asleep, like he’d been on the verge of doing all night.

Darren’s bedroom felt dark and lonely. He tried not to think about it as he stripped down to his underwear and then went to brush his teeth. In the bathroom mirror, he caught sight of the gauze on his shoulder—already soaked through with blood—and gritted his teeth. Vampire wounds were designed to bleed. He should probably redo the bandaging.

A sudden noise echoed off the tile as his phone buzzed against the counter. Darren swiped it up and read the message from Theo:

I’ll be fine. Stop worrying you dork.

- - -

Theo rolled over and pressed his pillow over his head, trying to keep the sound of his own heartbeat out of his ears. His stomach churned, threatening again to reject the unwanted stuff it was so very full of. He groaned and wrapped an arm around it.

Even through the pillow, he could hear it making noises. They were not low gurgles of digestion but sharp, painful growls.

Theo had been a vampire long enough to know that his body didn’t always make sense. As sick and bloated as he felt, he knew the cramps in his heavy, swollen stomach for what they really were.

Hunger pangs.

Please note that I’m not taking any new requests for the moment. Thanks for reading!

[lexinthelibraryofdreams]

Stay with me

So, I’m still alive. Sorry for the long wait. This has been sitting half finished on my computer for a while now and I wanted to finish it. Not sure if I should add warnings to this (and continue to do so in the future), so I hope I can get some feedback regarding this.

Imagine found @thefandomimagine “Imagine Matt holding you close after you are badly injured”

Words: 1848

The harsh light of the neon lights hurt your eyes and you squinted as you exited the train. The quiet buzzing of the lights only added to your already existing headache and you rubbed across your forehead. Usually you were able to filter out everything over stimulating but you did have a really hard day at work, so your mind was overrun by impressions. As you walked up the stairs to exit the station, your heard every buzz of a phone, smelled every bit of perfume and sweat. As you finally reached the loft, you let the door fall close behind you and leaned against the door, breathing in deeply and closing your eyes. The almost soundless shuffle of feet against the floor prompted you to open them again and you looked at Matt who leaned against the dividing wall with a sympathetic look on his face.

“Hard day?” he asked and you rubbed your neck with one hand while the other threw the keys onto the counter. Then you set down your purse and kicked off your shoes while offering only a strained noise. He chuckled and moved closer to you. “Need some help relaxing?” he offered and you agreed with a silent hum. After being kicked out by your previous roommate, you had struggled to get by until you met Matt. Pretty quickly you had realized that the two of you were pretty similar, able to pick up everything going on around you. Your senses weren’t always this sensitive, everything started after a pretty ugly car crash when you were teenager. Living with Matt was easy. He always knew when you were tense and knew what to do. He could easily help you out to block out every unnecessary sensation. Your living situation was also the reason you found out about Matt’s ‘night-job’. After a lot of persuasion, you actually convinced him to train you, since you didn’t want him to go alone every night.

Now you followed him back to the living room area, bare feet tapping against the wooden flooring, before you flopped down on the couch. He sat down at one end, pulling you into a lying position so your head was in his lap. Then, he gently started to massage your scalp and temples. You hummed, completely content with the situation. There never had been awkward situations between you and you were able to get along really easily without any kind of tension, even now, despite the quite intimate pose. You closed your eyes again and started to relax. “How was work today for you?” you asked. He was silent for a moment, before answering, “Fine.” You furrowed your brow and looked up at him. “Doesn’t sound like it,” you responded, sitting up and turning towards him. “So Foggy’s still mad at you?” He shrugged, looking pretty helpless and you took his hands in yours. “Hey, I’m sure he’ll come around, just give him some time. Until then, I’m there, I promise,” you said with a stern voice and he smiled slightly. “Only until then?” he asked and you huffed. “You know what I mean. Now, what do you want to eat for dinner?” you quickly changed the subject to lighten the mood. “Wanna stay in or go out for a change?”

He simply shrugged, leaning back and pulling his glasses off. You looked at him intently, taking in his eyes. Despite being unfocused, it felt as if they were trained at you. It made you felt closer to him, since he rarely took them off, even around close friends. He rubbed the back of his hand across them. “I don’t think dinner is in for tonight,” he confessed and you furrowed your brow. “What’s wrong?” you questioned and he sighed, fidgeting with his glasses. “One of my clients need help. The other kind of help, if you know what I mean. People in her neighborhood get tormented by a gang of some sort, which is not why she’s my client, but I wanted to look into it nevertheless,” he explained and you nodded silently to yourself. “So, how about that: We take care of that matter and then we take home something from that sushi place?” you offered and he smiled slightly and thoughtfully. “Sounds good.”

The two of you approached the storage building silently, gaining access through a second story window. By now Matt had somehow acquired an outfit for you, which you were thankful for. It was way more protective than the one you had worn before and was still lightweight enough to not slow you down in any way. You looked down onto the room, scanning the area. Despite it being dimly lit, you could still see everything without a problem. “Any traps or just the guards?” Matt asked and you looked around, trying to calm your still buzzing mind and filter out the important impressions. “Just the guards,” you responded, adding after a moment, “but they are heavily armed. Can’t tell if they have any hidden weapons but it is highly likely. Hear anything notable?” Despite your heightened senses, you’d still check in with him, since you wanted to avoid any mistakes. He shook his head slightly, hesitating a moment. “Do you smell that? Smells like rotten eggs,” he murmured and you sniffed slightly, picking up the smell instantly. “Hydrogen Sulfide,” you responded and despite his mask you could basically see his raised eyebrow. “I worked in a laboratory, Matt. And that smell is easy to remember, trust me. Don’t know where the smell comes from though,” you continued.

“Well, only one way to find out,” he said and silently slid down to the bottom level. You followed him as soundlessly as possible. After taking a look around, the two of you split up, taking on the task to dispose of the guards as quickly as possible. You took down the last guard, dragging him behind a crate when Matt joined you again. “So, here we are. The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen and his shadow.” The two of you turned around, warily looking at the man in front of you. He was flanked by a group of even more guards that started to surround you and you groaned internally. “Did you know that the people actually gave you a nickname as well?” he asked, looking directly at you but you kept quiet. “They call you the Black Specter, obviously because of your choice of clothing and because you’re like a goddamn ghost. I mean there have been some rumors about you, lady, and if they’re true, then you are more than just a simple human. But that’s not why we’re here, right? Where were we? Ah, right, I wanted to confront you about trespassing my property.”

You heard the movement before you saw it. You ducked down under the swing of one guard behind you, used the movement to turn and connect you fist with the underside of his jaw. The hardened knuckle pieces of your gloves cut into his skin as you set a second hit to his cheekbone. He went to the ground and you immediately turned to the next. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Matt also taking action. The fight got lost in a blur, your mind almost overcharging with incoming information. You didn’t really realize what you actually did as everything was flowing together. You almost took as many hits and kicks as you dealt out.

The sound of heavy breathing filled your ears, accompanied with the clank of Matt’s sticks every time they hit an enemy or bounced off the surroundings. Few bullets were fired, the sound echoing through your skull and sending a searing pain through it. A knife sliced through fabric and promptly hit the ground. Heavy feet on the ground. The cracking of a bone. Cries and grunts of pain and exhaustion.

There were also the smells. The rotten odor of the chemical you had identified earlier burned in your nose. Metallic blood and bitter sweat. Gun powder. The cheap aftershave of the guards, the expensive one of their boss. In all of this, you could also identify Matt’s smell.

Your nerve ends flared and sang, trying to cope with the sensory overload all while you physically fought against the exhaustion of the day and the brutes in front of you. In a small moment of peace after knocking down an especially tough opponent, you breathed, trying to refocus but a blink out of the corner of your eye caught your attention. Despite catching on with it quickly, the thrumming of your head and the burning of your muscles slowed you down and you couldn’t stop the eventual hit. The blade pushed into a seam of your armor, unseen by almost everybody before, and white hot pain shot through your left side, temporarily blinding you. All you could manage was a strangled groan as you tried to breathe but your body simply didn’t respond. Your legs gave in and you crashed to the ground.

You must have blacked out for a moment and when you came back to your senses, the pain was everywhere. Your arms and legs felt as if they were weighed down with cinder blocks, no matter how deeply you inhaled, your lungs didn’t take in enough oxygen, or even air in general for that matter. Still, you knew you weren’t in the warehouse anymore. Suddenly, a soft hand brushed a sticky streak of hair out of your face.

“Y/N, can you hear me?”

Matt. He sounded desperate. You forced your eyes open with every fiber of your will. The colors in your field of vision were dull, washed out. There was worry on his face, his eyebrows knitted together. He seemed to hold you tight against him. You tried to say his name but everything that came out of your mouth was a wet gurgle. So that was it. Your lungs were slowly filling with blood, forcing out all the air. Suddenly you felt incredibly tired and cold. His voice vibrated in your ears as he pleaded for you to stay with him, to fight, to just hold on. He must have noticed your irregular heartbeat and the gurgle of fluids in your lungs.

His hand came up to cup your face. “Come on, stay with me. You’ll get through this, I promise,” he rambled as his eyes glinted with tears. One made its way down his cheek and you wanted to reach up to stroke it away. Your arm simply didn’t respond. To your surprise, you were fairly calm in the face of death. Maybe it was because he was here, holding you and promising it would be alright even though you both knew it wouldn’t. Darkness crept into your vision, closing in from the periphery and quickly taking away his face. You felt him taking your hand, heard him whisper “Stay with me, please,” and then darkness overcame your mind and the pain and the sensation of him next to you faded away into the bliss of nothingness.

So, I’m thinking about adding a part 2, let me know if you’re interested.  Also, always open for requests, not only for the MCU