#and episode 3 of periphereal

[sunwarmed-ash]

How my freaks doing?

[emeritusemeritus]

I didn’t want to be alone [Eddie Munson X Reader]

Title: I didn’t want to be alone.

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader {Established friendship but deliberately vague, can be romantic or not}. Platonic!Wayne Munson&Reader.

Timeline: Non-specified. There’s a brief mention of ‘trauma’ that I’d originally written as events from ST 1-3 but it could be anything. Insert your troubles here.

Summary: When things in your mind get bad, you know you always have a place to go.

Warnings: Brief mentions of trauma, illusions of mental illness. Sadness/ depression. This is a comfort fic. Wayne looks after us. Wayne Munson being the father figure we all need.

Word count: 3.4k

This is a complete comfort fic that I wrote to try and make myself feel better, a concept I came up with to try and get to sleep one night. My toddler isn’t sleeping, I haven’t slept properly for days and I’m losing my mind- keep me in your thoughts as I drown in coffee.

The last thing Wayne Munson expected to see when he pulled up to his trailer at 4am after his monthly half shift was your car; he especially didn't expect to see you sat stationary within the car, staring blankly up towards the dark trailer home. He frowns as he cuts the engine to his beat up truck, grabs his trusty brown thermos and metal lunchbox before he climbs out of the truck. When his eyes fix on you again, he sees that you haven't moved even an inch, not even acknowledging his approach. Your chin rests on your arm slung over the wheel, body slumped down in your seat with a vacant expression on your face, eyes heavy and pained. He can tell immediately that something isn't right with you, your body language completely thrown off as you stare into the void, unaware of everything around you.

He'd seen you look like this only once before, but Eddie had mentioned in passing that you'd had 'episodes' one or two times before, something about trauma, something that had haunted you from a few years back. Wayne was a simple man and didn't pretend to know what any of that meant, nor would he intrude and ask you about it when you so clearly didn't want to open up about what was plaguing you. He figured better people with bigger brains than he would be the only people that could understand what you were going through, but he'd try his best to help you where he could.

Wayne knows better than to make you jump in your impaired state and so he tried to delicately walk over to your car, putting himself directly in your eye line so that you wouldn't be alarmed once you realised he was there. It takes a minute or so for your eyes to focus on him, flicking over at the slow movement in your peripheral vision. Your shock at seeing him makes his eyes pull tight together in a squint, fighting the urge to frown at your unusual behaviour. 

He walks over to your car door and finally takes in your appearance, the crease lines in his face getting deeper as he frowns once again, seeing that you are in no way dressed appropriately for the bitter cold, wearing only a pair of lounge shorts and an oversized band shirt that he instantly recognises as his nephew's.

You wind the window down as Wayne leans in, careful to be gentle with you as he sees the glassy, pained look still overwhelming your face, even after you'd broken out of your trance.

"What're you doing here girl? Got your key don't ya?" He says, trying his hardest to keep his tone balanced and his voice gentle; not an easy feat for a self proclaimed gruff, southern born hick like Wayne.

Wayne cringes as he feels the low temperature inside your car, the cold drifting out from your rolled down window. Somehow the inside of your car was even colder than the crisp, early morning air outside. Only then did Wayne remember you complaining that the heat and the ac in your car had busted a couple of weeks ago, but you couldn't afford to get it fixed right away on account of your 'full time student and part time waitress' salary.

You stare at him for a lingering moment, not even making a single attempt to reply as you usually would, the only sign that you had heard him at all was a subtle twitch of your eye. You eventually turn to look away, averting your gaze from his concerned eyes to stare back towards the trailer which was pitch black inside with no sign of life.

"I didn't know what to do," you said quietly, your voice timid and weak as you fought to push out your thoughts. "I remembered what you said about coming over anytime I needed to not be alone, but then I remembered the date and that Eddie was away at his gig. Then I remembered you said that Eddie didn't even have to be here, when you gave me the spare key. I got in my car and drove here but then I got stuck, not able to go inside because I'd be a burden but I couldn't leave either."

Wayne was quiet at he listened intently to you, giving you the time you needed to explain, knowing how hard it must be for you to speak your thoughts out loud. He silently nods gently, knowing at least partially what you were feeling as he acknowledges your troubles. He thinks it strange how often you said 'remembered' in the sentence, knowing that your words sounded uncharacteristic but he assumes that it is just you voicing your thoughts as they appeared in your head.  His heart breaks a little at hearing your sad words, knowing that you must have felt real bad to have jumped in your car and drove all the way out here without thought of a jacket.

"Let's get you inside, 'fore ya catch a damn cold," he says gently, wanting to get you into the warmth as he sees goose flesh spreading across your skin and the unmistakable bounce of your leg from your body fighting the cold. He expects to be met with more resistance than you offer as you simply nod and reach for the keys that are still in the ignition. He opens the door for you, juggling his belongings in his arms as he leads you up the concrete steps to the trailer and unlocks the door, offering a tiny smile of empathy at you as he steps aside, allowing you to enter first.

As you step in, you're immediately met with stagnant warm air from the trailer being shut up all day, retaining the last slithers of heat emitted by the old space heater Wayne must have had on before he went to work. The trailer smells like home to you and immediately offers a level of comfort that you could never get anywhere else. There's a lingering smell of cigarette smoke which hangs thick in the air, mixed with a hint of Eddie's cheap cologne and old spice, old coffee and the overwhelming scent of both Eddie and Wayne, their warm natural scents mixing to create the personalised blend of the Munson trailer.

You tentatively take a seat on the couch once offered by Wayne, who immediately sets to turning on a few lamps before boiling some water for a warm drink for you both, throwing down his lunchbox and thermos on the counter in the process. He grabs two mugs from the cabinet, but immediately changes his mind as he thinks of way to cheer you up. He walks past you to reach for one of his many display mugs, grabbing your favourite of the bunch and rinses it in the sink before setting the two mugs aside to make a drink. He begins to pull out the coffee but stops himself, knowing that the last thing you need is a blast of caffeine in your system and so he reached for the small box of tea that he kept in just for you, pulling out your preferred flavour as he makes the drinks.

He takes a look at you as he waits for the water to boil, finally seeing you in the light that he'd turned on as you entered. Your eyes look dark and sunken, dark purple circles formed underneath your once sparkly eyes, telling him that you hadn't slept a wink.  Your hair was haphazardly thrown up into a messy bun, faint smudges of mascara were present under your eyes and overall you looked thoroughly exhausted.

When he walks over to you, he's delicate with his approach, offering the tea out to you with a gentle smile. He notices your eyes widening slightly once you spot the special mug and a small smile tugs at your lips which he's thankful for as it means your coming out of your dark place. You mumble a thank you as you cradle the warm Star Wars mug in your hands, the heat rolling through your cold and shivering body.

"You wanna talk about it?" He says quietly, taking a seat and bringing his own mug to his lips. He sees a frown form on your eyebrows before your eyes close and you shake your head no at his suggestion. He simply nods, respecting your decision and giving you the grace of not asking any follow up questions.

"I'm sorry," your little voice says after a few silent moments.

"Don't ever be sorry, you did the right thing by coming here darlin," Wayne replies sweetly, to which you reply with a kind and grateful smile. "You're welcome here night or day."

Neither of you speaks for a moment, though it's a comfortable shared silence rather than an awkward interlude.

"So how come you ain't with Eddie at his gig?" Wayne asks a few moments later, taking another sip of his coffee. Your eyes flash with angst again and he suddenly regrets asking as your face drops slightly, not realising that his question could trigger you.

"I had an exam, couldn't get out of it," you shrugged gently, not managing to lift your eyes up from their fixed point upon your mug, watching the steam rise from the hot tea inside.

"You do okay?" Wayne asks, feeling a little awkward at asking. Eddie had always been a handful, especially when it came to doing his homework and anything academic, and Wayne's questioning of how projects went or finals or whatever else had fallen on deaf ears many years ago.

You nodded gently in reply, a little apprehensive maybe, "yeah I think so, it was only after when things started to go bad."

Wayne knew immediately that you were referring to your episode earlier, and his heart ached more for the girl in front of him who seemed so broken down, the girl he had grown to care for like a daughter. You fell quiet again, staring into space looking so exhausted you could drop down where you sat.

"Tell ya what, why don't ya go lay down in Eddie's room for a while, take your tea with yer," Wayne suggests, leaning forward slightly as he talked, not quiet reaching out to you but feeling a little closer to do so. "I'll make us some grub once you wake up."

You immediately begin to weakly protest, already feeling like a burden but Wayne shuts it down quickly. "Ain't no different then having Eddie here, 'cept you got a better sense of hygiene and noise control," he joked, earning a chuckle from you. "I'll be right through here if you need anything, ain't sleeping yet and I ain't going anywhere." His voice was still gentle but his words held a level of insistence which meant you couldn't question him, knowing he was being entirely honest.

"Uncle Wayne, thank you," you smiled gently, standing up off the couch and making your way through to the familiar back room, carrying your mug, before closing the door.

Stepping into Eddie's room without him here felt a little odd, but the sight of the room alone was enough to comfort you even more. Cigarette smell lingered here too, mixed with the faint whiff of marijuana, Eddie's cheap cologne and a general boy smell which wasn't entirely unpleasant. His guitar, sweetheart, was missing off the wall, along with two of the three amps that were usually littered around on the limited floor space.

You placed your mug on the nightstand, beside the ashtray, and didn't hesitate to throw yourself down onto the bed, pulling the sheets up high so that you were essentially cocooned in them. The sheets smelt perfectly like Eddie. Bringing them up to your nose to scent him, you felt instantly calmer by the second.

You could hear the faint murmur of the tv in the lounge, knowing that Wayne would probably be watching the 5am news or a repeat of his favourite western, the Comancheros. The knowledge of him being right outside was enough to comfort you even more, knowing that you weren't alone anymore.

For the first time since your episode began, you felt like you could actually finally fall asleep; the comfy bed, the lingering scent of Eddie all around you and the soft comforter all equated to your relaxed, happy state. Your tired eyes closed on their own accord, suddenly overwhelmed by the heaviness that pulled at them and without any hesitation or conscious effort, you slipped into a deep sleep, putting the bad day behind you.

Only a few hours later, early in the morning when Eddie's van roared up the dirt road towards the trailer, music turned down only slightly from its usual blaring volume, until it came to a sharp stop right outside his trailer. He frowned when he saw not only your car but his uncles truck parked outside, not expecting either of you to be there when he got back.

He stepped into the trailer and immediately spotted his uncle lounging in his armchair, a western playing on the old tv, without any sign of you.

Eddie nods to his uncle in greeting, before opening his mouth to question your whereabouts until Wayne instantly brings his finger to his lips, attempting to silence the boy from speaking too loudly. He didn't say anything in the moment, merely pointing towards the closed door leading to Eddie's room, hoping that he'd catch what he was trying to say.

Eddie nods his head, frowning a moment later as he realised what must have happened and that he wasn't here to help.

"You're back early boy," Wayne states, reaching for the tv remote to mute it, reaching out to grab a cigarette from the pack before lighting it, watching his nephew do the same thing only moments behind him after placing down the guitar in it's carrier by the small table.

"Gig was cancelled, burst pipe, never even made it on stage," Eddie mumbled, clearly annoyed at the facts he was relaying.

"There's always next time son," Wayne replies, taking a drag of his cigarette, earning a gentle nod from his nephew. "She's asleep, told her to get down in your room."

At the mention of you, Eddie's eyes flicker to the closed door of his bedroom, a warmth filling his gut at the thought of you sleeping in his room, especially without him there. Though he hated the thought of you suffering alone, disliking the thought of it happening when he wasn't here to help a little too much, the fact that you sought out him and his home gave him a little possessive buzz.

"Thanks Wayne, for, yanno," he couldn't quite get the words out that he wanted to say, feeling a little uncomfortable at the emotional weight in the conversation. Wayne understands, he always does and gives Eddie a nod that tells him everything, the look in his eyes conveying his affection for you, especially the way that it silently says 'I'd do it for you too'.

Eddie puts out his cigarette and with one last thankful look towards his uncle, creeps down the hall to his bedroom and slides open the door, trying desperately not to spook you.

It's dark in the room, the only light peeking through the window is from the street light a few meters away that shines rays of light over you thanks to his broken blinds.

He feels a little creepy watching you sleep but he can't resist, seeing you cocooned in his own sheets looking blissfully peaceful, the demons you carried not haunting your dreams. Your hair is spread across the pillow and there's a brief moment where he is genuinely excited that his sheets will smell like you the next night.

He doesn't fully undress, only throws off his shoes and the jeans that were still heavy and filled with ticket stubs and random change that he'd accumulated on the journey to the venue and then straight back. He's delicate as he climbs into bed beside you, praying he doesn't disturb you or worse, frighten you.

He sucks in a breath when he feels you move, no doubt sensing the presence behind you and for a moment he holds his breath, trying to stay completely still.

"Eddie?" You murmur sleepily, the hopefulness in your voice making his heart beat just a little harder at the sound.

"M'here princess," he says gently, pressing his hand delicately to your shoulder. He lets out a little noise of content when you turn over in bed and snuggle down into his chest, bringing your warmth with you. The pair of you cuddling wasn't entirely unheard of, but Eddie was certain it had never been this intimate before, not that he was complaining.

"Wanna talk?" He offers after a few moments of silence, sensing that your breathing hadn't returned to your peaceful sleep pattern. You shake your head on his chest and try to snuggle further down, secretly inhaling more of his scent as you sought comfort that only he could provide.

"How was your gig?" You mumbled, sleepiness still making you slur your words just a little, feeling as if speaking in full was too much effort.

"Got cancelled princess, s'why I'm back," he explains gently. His ringed hand has started to absently rub back and forth across your back and you wish he'd never stop doing it.

"What time is it?" You ask, sitting up just enough to look at him, though you could only really make out his outline in the darkness. You frown, suddenly realising that Eddie was back much, much earlier than you'd anticipated and his words of explanation slowly sunk in. "It got cancelled, why?"

Once again, Eddie feels like the grinch with his heart expanding in significant increments, feeling it grow and swell at your distraught tone. You actually cared that the gig was cancelled.

"Pipe burst," he says with a shrug, a much calmer reaction to the news than he'd had only a few hours ago when he'd gone ballistic and kicked the tyres of his van.

"I'm sorry Eddie, you were really excited." He smiles down at you, even if you can't see it. Suddenly feeling overwhelming affection for you. He shrugs again and pulls you closer, holding on to you just a little tighter.

"So, do you come here often without me? Think I might be developing a complex here princess." Even in the dark you can hear the smirk in his voice and you use your head to jab him just a little in the ribs at his insinuation.

"Better when you're here," you mumble, resting your head again against his soft body. "Just needed you."

Eddie bites back a smile, knowing that you would never dare say that in the light of day but somehow between the darkness and the late, or early, hour, everything said between you both seems like a secret, your own little world created where nothing is out of bounds.

"How did your exam go?" He asks, still slowly running his ringer fingers across your back.

"Sssh, too much talking," you say with a smile, not wanting to think about the day before. He understands, it was a Munson's best quality after all to know when talking wasn't beneficial; when being arrested, in an argument with your woman and just occasionally when the moment was so perfect no words would be good enough.

"Coffees on me in the morning," he says, his eyes closing as he feels your breathing even out again, your body sinking further into him as sleep begins to take over.

"Mmmm, sounds nice," you say lightly, the tiredness and proximity to sleep so clear in your voice that it makes Eddie smile out into the dark room.

"Donuts too," he adds, kissing the top of your head as it rests on his chest, feeling prouder than he'd ever felt before. You'd found comfort in him and in turn he'd found comfort in you too, both of you slowly sailing off to sleep surrounded by each other, the pains of the day before disappearing entirely.

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[myteavsricochet]

Firstprince fanfics, part. 7

1 2 3 4 5 6

headlines

He’s barely finished reading the headline when he’s exiting out of the browser and dialing a number he’s all but given up on calling. Panic curdles low in his gut as the call rings out; rings and rings and rings just as it always has, no answer waiting for him on the other end. He drops the phone when it goes to voicemail, backing up against his headboard and clutching at the fabric of his shirt over his heart.

How did they get them?

How did this happen?

--

Or, Alex keeps emailing Henry after their breakup at Kensington Palace.

Additional Tags: Angst, Exes to Lovers, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, henry turns alex away at KP, Forced coming out, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort

let them say what they want (we won't hear it)

Henry's hand twitches restlessly on top of the table, and he presses his fingers firmly into the fabric. He sees Alex look in his direction via his peripheral vision, frown pulling down the corners of his lips.

Alex reaches for his hand.

And Henry doesn't mean to do it—it's entirely a reflex that has been hammered into the fabric of his DNA for years and is apparently reborn in the presence of the royal vultures circling around him, ready at a moment’s notice to swoop down and devour him whole.

He yanks his hand away.

---

Or, Henry struggles around his family after being outed

Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Post-Canon, Canon - Book, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Needs a Hug, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Light Angst, Happy Ending

Sunless Dusting Libraries

Henry should leave, he should wait until everyone is asleep and then silently leave, without a trace. As if he never existed in Alex's life, as if he never touched Alex's body, as if he never wanted only exist in his heart and mind.

Because that is what Alex deserves. Alex deserves someone who can love him out and proud, someone who is not shamed for his existence, someone as bright as him, not the pale starlight gleam Henry is.

But lying there on the pile of mattresses they piled together and called a bed- Henry can not even find it in himself to breathe, let alone get up and go. Betrayed by his own existence, once again.

OR

What-If taken by a depressive episode, Henry can not leave the lake house

never been kissed

It’s not that Alex hasn’t thought about kissing Henry before. Alex is bi, Henry is beautiful, and you don’t get through six years of almost dangerously codependent friendship without wondering once or twice what it might be to fall into one another’s bed. But the friendship is more important than anything else, so those thoughts fell to the wayside in favor of cultivating it.

But right now, in this moment, the friendship could catapult itself off the goddamned Grand Canyon and Alex wouldn’t notice because he’s just kissed Henry for the first time and they’re pulling apart when all he wants to do is dive back in. There’s laughter filling the air, crashing against the pound of his heartbeat in his ears, and he forces a smile, slapping Henry on the shoulder as Henry’s gaze slides over the crowd of onlookers, a wobbly smile forming on his lips.

His warm, soft lips. That Alex just kissed. 

Additional Tags: Fluff, Feelings Realization Alternate Universe, Roommates, Idiots in Love

take a little rest (while we wait for daddy)

“Lie down on this pillow, papa," she said, patting the pillow.

Alex obediently follows his daughter and lies down.

“Take a little rest while we wait for Daddy, Papa.”

Alex closes his eyes. Maria is caressing his curls and has started to sing the lullaby Henry always sings to her—to them whenever they can’t sleep.

The lullaby Henry sang to them was the same lullaby his father, Arthur, sang to him when he was a kid. And that is when the realization hits Alex: Maria is doing the same thing Henry does to him whenever he is stressed and needs rest. Their daughter is copying Henry.

Alex is so touched and smiles.

“Papa, stop smiling and sleep,” she reprimands him.

“Okay, I’m sorry, princess.”

The last thing Alex remembers before sleep takes him is Maria’s little hand caressing his hair and a kiss on his cheek.

----

or

Maria, Alex and Henry's 4-year-old daughter asks Alex to take a rest while they wait for Henry to come home

Bloom

It wasn’t that Alex hadn’t considered it in the year and half they’d been dating. It was more that he didn’t consciously consider it until the thought crossed his mind too many times to ignore.

Or

Alex wants to try bottoming.

Additional Tags: Smut, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, Masturbation, Nervousness, Humor, Kissing, Neck Kissing, Fluff and Smut, Love Bites, Post-Coital Cuddling, Cuddling & Snuggling

it's so easy to take care of you

Alex goes out for a night on the town with friends and comes back drunk. Henry takes care of him. That's it, that's the fic

Additional Tags: Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Found Family, No Angst, Alcohol

Somehow It Was Like You Were the First to Listen to Everything We Said

Alex trails off as Nora leans over to whisper something in June’s ear that causes her to laugh and fully turn her attention to Nora.

Pez, upon hearing the laughter of his goddess, also turns to be included in their conversation. Bea takes this time to pick up her phone and look through her notifications, then notes that most of their drinks are empty so she offers to get them refills.

He has, once again, successfully lost his audience.

It shouldn’t hurt so much, not anymore. Alex is pretty used to this.

They’ve never cut him off or spoken over him, it’s more subtle. It’s getting up for a bathroom break or whispering to each other or tilting phone screens to share a meme while he’s talking and should, theoretically, have their undivided attention. It’s always something.

It shouldn’t hurt.

He’s used to it.

It’s not personal, they say.

But it only happens to him.

—

Alex is used to being tuned out by his friends. Then, there’s Henry, all blue eyes and attentive. Alex sort of loves him

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Friends to Lovers, Alex Claremont-Diaz Needs a Hug, Alex Claremont-Diaz Has a Crush on Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Loves Alex Claremont-Diaz, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Getting Together, Tooth-Rotting Fluff

deep in the dreaming of you

Alex isn’t sleeping after a recent breakup. Henry tries to be the supportive best friend, because he knows all too well what it’s like to lose sleep over pining for someone.

.

Or, Alex is pining. Henry is just very wrong about whom.

Additional Tags: roommates au, Friends to Lovers, they date other people for the first 2.5 seconds only, Jealousy, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Getting Together, Explicit Sexual Content, Henry Pov

Fox Mount

Alex Claremont-Diaz, is a successful lawyer, and a great dad. He's been divorced for five years, he's also been single for five years. He was fine with that, there's more important things than his love or sex life. He's completely fine with that taking a backseat, until he stumbles onto his babysitter Henry's OnlyFans account, and everything changes.

Additional Tags: Divorced Alex Claremont-Diaz, Divorced Dad Alex, Babysitter Henry, Henry has an OnlyFans, Age Difference, Alex Drinks too much, Gay Disaster Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Alex is too hard on himself, girl dad alex, Blow Jobs, Masturbation, First Time Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Breeding Kink, Alex likes being called 'daddy'

half asleep (takin' your time)

There was a pleasant haze around the edge of Henry’s vision that made everything feel warm and syrupy. Alex kissed his way down his neck and Henry arched into it, lost in the feeling of having Alex wrapped around him so completely. He skimmed his hand up the length of Alex’s back, tangling his fingers in the soft curls at the nape of his neck.

“Love you,” Alex murmured into his shoulder. Henry tightened his grip and nodded while Alex continued to move inside him.

“You too,” he sighed. “Love you.” He let his eyes flutter shut as he rolled his hips against Alex’s, too tired to do much more but too blissed out to want to stop.

-

or, very sleepy-turned-frantic sex

Additional Tags: Sleepy Sex, very very mild somnophilia, but like consensual, Desperation, Anal Fingering, also blink and you miss it cock warming, Masturbation, Established Relationship, Dirty Talk

pieces of you

5 times Alex saw himself in his daughter and 1 time he saw Henry.

I Don’t Want You Like A Best friend (Be My Lover)

Henry’s expression shifted from amusement to astonishment. “Rock, paper and scissors?” he repeats, his voice a blend of disbelief and curiosity as he tries to grasp the sudden, surreal turn in their conversation. He splutters. Eyes wide, he stares.

The haze of medication is unmistakable in Alex’s suggestion. He nodded, his movements languid and carefree, a clear sign of his interesting state. “Yeah,” he agrees, his voice carrying a detached calm. “Let’s play rock, paper and scissors, but if we both choose the same move, we have to kiss.”

Let it be reiterated: Alex is high as a kite.

An eerie silence descends. Henry blinks. His mouth falls slightly open as he stares at Alex in disbelief. Eyes wide. “Christ,” he murmurs softly, his voice a mix of exasperation and wonder. “What?”

A certain realisation. An appendectomy. A game of "Rock, Paper and Scissors". What can possibly go wrong?

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Social Media, Hospitals, Medicinal Drug Use, Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Appendicitis, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Humor, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Sick Character

sign your name across my heart (& my yearbook?)

Henry has a hopelessly hopeful crush on Alex Claremont-Diaz.

It takes a yearbook signature for him to realize that the feeling is mutual.

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - High School, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Needs a Hug, Fluff, Confessions, Pining, Humor, Crushes

Kennsington

PS, if this is Kensington… I still love you.

Additional Tags: POV Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Alex doesn’t storm the castle, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending

sunburst

Alex doesn’t know if it's his tone, or something in the air, or the fact Alex is calling him when he’s just right up stairs, but he can tell Henry feels something is wrong immediately.

“Alex, what's wrong?”

He cringes, whether at himself or the pain, he’s not sure. “Okay, so don’t get mad.”

“Alex–”

“I need you to come outside.”

He can literally hear Henry’s blood pressure rise. “Why?”

“Okay, so like, I broke my arm.”

“What?!”

or; alex breaks his arm on a trampoline

Additional Tags: Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Kid Fic, Broken Bones, domestic dads firstprince, Trampolines, Alex Claremont-Diaz Being an Idiot, Stubborn Alex Claremont-Diaz

pull me out of the fire, from my lowest take me higher

Henry can’t bring himself to feel shameful about staring when Alex heaves himself up off of the ground, muscles taut and chest heaving as the crowd goes wild around him, chanting Alex’s name and cheering. He shrinks against the noise and the movement but it does him no use to try to hide, every inch of his body prickling with anticipation.

And Alex looks obscene, a filthy grin stretching his lips with his chin jutted into the air and his fist held high in the middle of the ring above his motionless opponent, the blood from his nose staining his flushed skin and a bit of his teeth, his half-lidded eyes locked in on Henry like a fixation: the predator and his prey.

+

Henry finds unexpected solace in the thrill of an underground haven, where status—and who he shares a bed with—doesn't really seem to matter. But the deeper he goes, the harder it is to pull away, and Henry's shocked to discover so much of himself where he'd least expected to find it.

He's not the one inside the ring, but he's only just finding out what it truly means to fight.

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Henry is still the prince, and Alex's family is still in politics but Ellen is not the president, PWAP (Porn with Accidental Plot), Alex is a boxer, Hurt/Comfort, Sexual Tension, Some angst, Character Development, Henry introspection, Protective Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor

[ghostybaby000]

He found you. Again. | Part 3

part 1 part 2 part 4

Paring: Simon Ghost Riley x reader

Summary: I suggest going back to part one to really understand this plot! There’s a link above

Warnings: 18+,blood, violence, stabbing, guns, stalker, symptoms of panic

Word count: 1.5k

(Not fully edited, apologies for any incorrect information!)

Although it sounded foolish you had flashbacks to watching your investigative shows. The shows where situations like this happened in almost every episode, and thats what it should be- just an episode on the T.V. not something that you should be enduring why, why did this have to happe-

‘Are you listening to me Y/N? I came this far for you, don’t you see!’ He had stopped pacing, he was now staring you down, when he finally took a second to see what you held. 

He let out a small laugh, and then his expression turned to stone.

‘Why do you have that Y/N, you don’t need that-you wouldn’t hurt me. The lamp, I can forgive because maybe you didn’t know it was me but, now you do, you can see it’s me and I…’

His voice trailed off, and all you saw was his anger boiling over when he reached to his side leading his hand to rest on a gun.

‘Drop the wrench Y/N. Drop it NOW and I won’t have to hurt you, I would never want to hurt you y-you just need to see that- so go on and drop the wrench….’

He unholsters the gun, shaking and holding it in his hand to his side. He has tears welting up in his eyes and you decide to try and coarse him, as the panic surges inside you and you aren’t quite sure that you can even move. You think back on the shows where you are meant to play into their mind games, and not fight it as it usually didn’t end well. You slowly lower yourself to the floor, forcing your fingers to each let go of your only weapon as you exercise your acting skills.

‘You’re right. You wouldn’t hurt me, never…Y-You’ve looked out for me for so long an-

‘Don’t be sarcastic with me. It isn’t funny and it doesn’t work-‘ The gun now knocking on his bouncing leg, you can see his white knuckles gripping it tighter now as he stands there waiting for your response shifting his weight.

‘I’m not being sarcastic, I’ve known you for so long and you were there that night at my house-‘ You start to take a small step towards him, when he backs away.

‘Don’t play games with me Y/N- I-I’m not in the mood for you to be messing with me- I’ve finally gotten you here all to myself I don’t want to lose it.’ He’s moving the gun between his hands when he moves towards you, making you step back.

‘You really are afraid…you-you don’t see it…you don’t get why I was at your house’ He begins to be refilled again with anger and he’s speaking so loud now he’s spitting at you.

‘You don’t see the struggles I’ve gone through to get to you, you don’t know the years I spent in training and trying to find you. I just wanted to be with you again why WHY don’t you see that!?’ He stops for a moment now only about a foot away from you, you can smell him- a smell that reeks of sweat and desperation. He moves closer to you, staring into your eyes you look away towards anywhere but him furrowing your brows in fear, wrong move. The cold metal of the gun now pushing your head back up to meet his gaze.

‘I want to have you with me, whenever and wherever.’ He was now staring through your sole, and that’s when you saw him. 

In your peripheral vision you saw Ghost, his mask making his identity obvious, a wave of relief waiting now to wash over you. He was inside the door and making his away behind the kitchen, moving the small table out of the way. The same table you now realize would have been in your way had you tried to run for the door. You couldn’t bear to look, knowing that he would probably spin to see what you were looking at and it would only become worse.  Ghost disappeared into another portion of the room behind a wall that couldn’t be seen so you made your move.

You tore from his gaze with the gun to your head, looking at where the front door was. He leans in closer to you, the gun still a dangerous distance from your head as he speaks. 

‘That means, Y/N- that you aren’t leaving. You can’t, it’s so SO simple how do you not understand this, me, why I’m here now for YOU.’ He grabs you by the throat with his free hand just strong enough so that you could tell he was deciding whether to strangle you or not, until you just about pass out. He forces you upright, moving your face to look at him him as he slightly loosened his grip.

‘Do you understand?’ You nodded your head as vigorously as you can while still being held tightly, tears welting in your eyes. Your hands were wrapped around his now, trying to prevent it from further strangling your neck.

‘Say it, say you understand me.’ His stare piercing through you now.

‘Yes, yes I understand you’ You manage to squeak out, hoping that he doesn’t hurt you and will let you go if you play along.

‘Good.’  His grip loosens as you let out a few coughs to clear your throat. He hesitates before letting you entirely go, and decides to hold your upper arm so you couldn’t flee.

‘Now let’s get to bed- I didn’t want to come this late into the night, but it was the only way I could be sure you were alone. It’s late and you have work tomorrow…go- move…’

 You were almost sick then knowing that he had so much information about you, when you had been so careful. You hadn’t seen any sight of Ghost, and thought for a moment that it may have been your imagination trying to tell you that you were saved, still stuck in fight or flight mode you couldn’t muster the urge to speak, and instead mumbled a small ‘Mmhmm’

He walked behind you, not letting go of your arm and leading you to your room, the gun still in his other hand. You try to think about what you can do to get away, maybe once he’s asleep you’ll be able to leave. Maybe you can try to seduce him and then knee him and flee, maybe you had a good enough weapon in the room but when would you find time to get it? 

He’s made the way to the door now closed, that leads to your bedroom. He didn’t notice that it wasn’t closed before and decides to reach past you to open it. Your room was already dark, having not turned on any lights you notice the rampage that had torn your room apart. Standing in the door frame you saw the closet was a mess and there were things all over the floor. You crept towards the bed, just getting out of his arms when it all happens. It feels like milliseconds to you, but in real time it lasted a few minutes. 

Within a second the attacker had been outmatched. Ghost made his way directly behind him, and was pulling him backwards and down to the floor in a headlock. He had been in many hand-to-hand combats with men his own size or larger and given he usually had a gun, he had to make it more personal this time. The gun shot out making you shriek out and scurry towards the closet, your hearing ringing due to being in such a confined space. The attacker now choking and stammering backwards the gun cast aside to free his other hand, clawing at Ghosts arms to be let go of. There was a struggle you heard as boots stomped in the hall and hands were hitting the walls, groans and other noises flooded your still sensitive and ringing ears.

You could tell it wasn’t an easy fight, not that any ever was between two stronger men of similar height, Ghost being slightly taller and you hoped stronger-you peered out in the hall with baited breath. To your satisfaction, Ghost was now on top of the attacker in the office space down the hall, pummeling him with his gloved hands relentlessly. You made a quick inhale and retreat around the corner you were peering from which was enough to distract him from his beatings and slowly back off the man. You backed away further into the bedroom, watching as Ghost paused to checked the man wasn’t moving and then walked towards you. 

You were relieved to have the one attacker off of you, but upon seeing his merciless beating you now also felt nervous to be in his wake. You reach the wall on the other side of your room as he makes his way through the door frame. You started to close your eyes not telling If you were afraid now of him, or of being on the verge of breaking down worse than ever. Within a few seconds he had made his way across the room, his boots giving his location away for being a few feet in front of you.

‘c’mon’ His low accented voice allowed you to exhale. 

[monikashinswife]

I LOVE YOUR STORY SO MUCHIEE YOU ARE THE FIRST MONIKA SHIN WRITER I KNEW !!!

Btw I have like a request, the female reader is part of aiki's crew and no one know her relationship with monika, since no one knew their rs aiki and other crew like noze, leejung were flirting with her and monika as a scary person (if looks could kill) she got jealous with them 🫣 thank you <//3

-

Her Paramour

(Prowdmon Monika Shin x HOOK F! Reader)

・❥・Hullo there anon, thank you saur much for requesting! I apologize in advance for the ending. This is written as an escape because I am reviewing for my midterm but I can't stop thinking about this req and of course our Mon-mon. So anygays, enjoy darling!<3

From the moment HOOK stepped on the battleground, the atmosphere was very intense. The crews were all very determined and there was no denying that it was very tight. You noticed how each crew seems to be very alert and on the ground every time another crew steps in to enter the battleground.

The atmosphere changed when PROWDMON entered the ground. They greeted everyone, almost sarcastically. Their presence was felt, and they were very intimidating. Everyone knows how prominent and how big Lip J and Monika Shin are. You almost laugh at how everyone seems to avoid making eye contact with them.

But once they are settled in, you couldn't help but glance towards their direction. As if it was timed, you and Monika met each other's eyes. You almost melted when you saw her intimidating facade break for a moment to admire you. You catch yourself before you can even smile lovingly at her. But you gave her a polite nod to acknowledge her.

Your interaction was cut when the evaluation video played. And as if in an instant, the tension was back when you all watched it. The anticipation was high, they were all waiting for what the other teams were about to say. You quickly look at Lee Jung and notice how she tense up nervously. And as if she could feel someone staring at her. She looked at you. And smiled at you, in which you return respectfully.

Unbeknownst to you, Monika was watching the whole interaction through her peripheral vision. She chose to ignore it and watched the video again. The video continued playing, with prowdmon laughing and joking. But then the clip showed Aiki's comment about how they lack young energy.

You were shocked when you heard a loud "hey" from your secret lover. And you laughed at how quickly Aiki stood up to apologize to her. Monika approached her, still very much offended by your leader's comment. But you laughed, louder than everyone. Knowing that she was joking.

Monika heard your laugh when she was close to Aiki. So she acknowledged Aiki for a second and went back to her crew with a smile that everyone might think is because of how ridiculous the situation is, but it is because she made you laugh.

Monika's presence was always there. And it exploded into a beautiful beat when she battled. And you being her biggest fan couldn't help but fangirl over your lover.

Throughout the rest of the shoot, you made several contacts with Lee Jung and surprisingly, with Noze. Once the rest of the episode was done. It was time for the class mission. And the interaction between you and Noze started to become more often despite not being in the same class.

You and Noze became closer as you talked and talked to each other. Even help each other with anything such as with advice or which moves look cleaner. And Monika started to take notice of the way you two are becoming closer to each other.

"Hey babe" You greeted her with a kiss on her cheek. And instantly, she melted and wrapped her arms around your waist to keep you close. You nuzzle your face on her neck.

Missing times like this when you're just with each other and resting. You carefully put your bag on her counter. Before you went back to her embrace and talk about what you wanted to do for today.

You were lounging on the couch while watching TV when you suddenly talked about the competition and how it's been crazy. You talked about kinds of stuff and friendships. And when it came about Noze, Monika did a great job at hiding her dislike towards the younger dancer.

But she did not want to ruin the mood, so she chose to stay quiet and she just listened to you with a tight chest because of how fondly you spoke about her. She knew your intentions were pure friendship. But Monika couldn't help but feel jealous.

But knowing better, she chose to keep to herself. But that doesn't mean that the dislike she felt did not grow. But her keeping silent did not completely go as planned.

As Monika is a very honest person but playful. She tried to voice out her concerns in a joking manner.

"If you were so fond of her, go to her then." She said jokingly while stroking your hair. And you immediately stopped talking and sat down to look at her. And Monika just stroked your arms while looking at her.

"Well... I might as well." You said seriously, and Monika was stunned. Her face showed it all. She tenses up but immediately relaxes when you laugh at her reaction.

"I would never!" You exclaimed before kissing her, you assured her without knowing it. But Monika still felt jealous. But she knew that you're hers as well as she's yours.

When the Class mission started, both you and Monika were on edge. Luckily you have each other throughout the mission, even though you are in a competition. You have each other's back.

For some reason though, you and Noze seem to bond. You bonded like you were friends and everyone noticed that. Some teasing you both. But you would dismiss it, respecting your girlfriend.

Monika can't do anything but glare at Noze. Her irritation only growing when Noze was picked as the main dancer and her being unprepared. But Monika, like always chose to be quiet.

But then the evaluation is now and the tension was at its peak. You gulp as you watch the intensity of the situation. You assured Aiki that it's not gonna be her. Being the second oldest meant that you were also the team's strength.

And Aiki relies on you, not only because you're her crew member but because you are her friend. After you console your friend and leader. You carefully look at Noze discussing who is she gonna pick as the "worst dancer" with her members.

She caught your eye and you gave her a small smile and she returned it. Your interaction is noticed by your now furious girlfriend. After that interaction with Noze, you quickly search for her eyes.

You squint when you notice that she is avoiding your eyes. But you didn't budge, you kept staring at her with a small pout as Noze announced who she picked.

And like cold water has been poured at you, you froze. You couldn't take your eyes off Monika. I watch her face for every bit of reaction as her name is called the worst dancer.

All you wanna do is run to her and hug her. But instead, you shiver as her intimidating voice rang all over the room.

"Look at me in the eyes." She addressed Noze. And you almost quiver in fear. And just like that. WayB declared war with Prowdmon. After the scary interaction, you pat Aiki. Knowing that she did well and congratulate her.

You then continued looking for Monika's eyes. Your breath hitched when she looked at you. You communicate with your eyes. Knowing each other so well that you don't need to ask what's wrong.

You knew that you were gonna talk to her about this once you got home. But for now, a war is about to happen between your lover's crew and your newfound friend's crew.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

・❥・not proofread

[jermer10]

hey! :3 could you write some sniper x reader. maybe angst??? thanks <33333

TF2 working it out | sniper x reader

suggestive, gn reader | thank you sm for the ask anon!! <33333

drabbles under the cut :P

"Hey...how ya' been?" Scout awkwardly smiled at you, giving a chaste pat on your shoulder. You, truthfully, had been a mess - hair gone unbrushed, eating little to nothing, eyes red with recent tears. "I've been better." You feigned a smile, it seemed to appease the young man. "Yeah, alright, just take it easy, yeah?" He grinned, smacking your back lightly and strolling off. You were so pathetic. Three weeks ago Sniper had broken up with you after a 3 year relationship, no rhyme, no reason. It had obviously destroyed you, but living in the desert with nine emotionally repressed men gave you no space to work through it. Now, you had them one by one ask you throughout the day if you were alright, Soldier being the harshest, "WISE UP MAGGOT, WE'RE IN THE WAR ON AMERICA!" Engie being the most accommodating, soothingly rubbing your back whilst you cried your eyes out. Everyone else being awkward, but trying to help in their own ways. No sign of Sniper for a week or so, he wouldn't leave the van, wouldn't show up to grab dinner with the rest of the team, wouldn't go for after work drinks. But the battlefield? That was a different ballgame entirely. He was racking up the most kills each match, hiding in places no one could see him, no deaths, elusive, as always. That was the worst part. It seemed like the breakup hadn't affected him at all, he had always been a recluse, and now he was a better mercenary because of it. You could only feel hopeless, accumulating the least kills, dying so often you weren't even bothered to go back into the match at some point, walking off to a quiet part of the map, places where the slaughter had already passed. You sat, legs hanging over the side of one of the many wooden platforms incautiously placed next to steep drops and cliff ends. "I'm so stupid, so fucking stupid." You choked out ugly sobs, the tears burning holes in your cheeks. You had done everything for that man, you cooked for him, cleaned his van, sucked his dick, repaired his weapons, fuck, you had your whole future planned out with him after this god forsaken war was over. Things you didn't have to do. Things you wanted to do. You had tried so hard for him, accommodated him when others wouldn't have even given him a glance. Sniper had thrown it all away, he had thrown you away. You were on a battlefield, no time to grieve the loss of what you thought would be forever, no time to reconcile because he was too gutless to face you after breaking your heart. And what did you have to show for it? Your beat up face from rubbing your eyes so hard they bruised? The not so quiet sobs your roommates could hear from across the halls? You really were stupid. And you had felt worse when you felt a hand grasped shoulder, looking up you see him. "Oh my god, fuck off Mundy." You spat as aggressively as you could muster, though it did admittedly sound more desperate than aggressive. Sniper sat next to you anyway, feet dangling off of the side of the platform. An air of awkwardness hung over him, clearly he had been watching you enough to have slipped away from the fight to talk to you. "I- I'm sorry, y/n," He begun. You glanced at the man from your peripheral vision, he looked off into the distance, seemingly trying to come up with the words to say. His hands absentmindedly fidgeted with his gloves, prodding at the material and shifting himself uncomfortably. The urge to hold him overwhelmed you. The countless times you had comforted him as he suffered from some sort of anxiety attack or depressive episode, the motions were almost routine. "Ya know how I get, I overthink it. Most of the time I don't even think- I'm just- scared." His voice cracked on the last word. He was rambling, you cautiously placed your hand in his own, rubbing your thumb on the back of his. He nervously stared at your hand, and then at you. "Mundy, you really hurt me. You gave me no explanation, you ignore the team and I for weeks, and now you sit here telling me that you’re the one who’s scared? I’m scared too! I’m fucking terrified!”

You begun to cry, “I still thought that we would do this together, both of us, scared as shit and alone, but together.” You stopped yourself from saying anything more, you would have just started blabbering incoherently. Sniper grimaced, wiping away at his eyes from under his sunnies. “I know. I’m so sorry.” He sobbed himself. You looked at him, tears still rushing your face, lips trembling, hair messy, blood splatters from the previous match tracing your otherwise perfect skin.

Sniper saw every inch of you, raw. “I am so fuckin’ stupid.” He breathed out between sobs and huffs, his body language begging you for some comfort. You obliged, leaning in to hug him. He swooped you up in his grasp, breathing in your scent, grabbing in a handful of your hair, drenching your shoulder with his own mess of tears. “Where do you even go from here?” You asked yourself out loud. Sniper answered by peppering your skin with kisses, sniffling between each kiss. “Oh…” You trailed off, heart swelling with sadness, love, and a new nervous hopefulness, maybe you would be alright.

[daydreaming-en-pointe]

the swan and her princess (part 2)

summary: Swan Lake isn’t all beauty and grace, contrary to popular belief. And you experience firsthand that as you wage a one-sided war with your “rival” for the role of Odette.

chapter summary: A pleasant surprise turns out to be possibly not so pleasant after all.

pairing: Gwen Stacy (Spider-Woman) x fem!Ballerina!Reader [aka some sort of a messy Ballet!AU]

word count: 2695

warnings: cussing, ballet terms, creative liberties taken since I’ve never been to Lincoln Center and the research I’ve done may or may not be fully accurate

a/n: :D got a little carried away with this one whoops doing this is much harder than i expected this au is taking up my entire brain pls help

part 1 // part 2 // part 3 (pending)

glossary:

Barre: A handrail used by ballet dancers to maintain balance while exercising. One hand is placed on the barre at all times, and the dancer stands beside it.

Kitri: The feisty and wilful heroine of the ballet Don Quixote. When her father Lorenzo tries to marry her off for money, she doesn’t play the victim, but hatches a plan to marry Basilio, the charming barber who has won her heart, and pursue her own version of happiness. As a dancer’s role, Kitri is athletic and demanding. Kitri wears striking red costumes (look them up, they’re really beautiful) and gestures expressively with a fan in a nod to her Spanish heritage.

Don Quixote: Don Quixote is a ballet in three acts, based on episodes taken from the famous novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes.

Kurta: A loose collarless shirt/dress of a type worn by people in South Asia, usually with a salwar, churidars, or pyjama.

Dupatta: A length of material arranged in two folds over the chest and thrown back around the shoulders, typically with a salwar kameez. Usually worn by women from South Asia.

Right after you set foot in the studio and dropped your bag in the corner, you made a beeline for the cacophonous, eagerly buzzing crowd that had formed around the cast list.

You saw a familiar duffel bag and raised your eyebrows slightly. Surprisingly, Gwen had showed up on time. Miracles really did exist.

Murmurs of disappointment and cheers of satisfaction rippled through the dancers in the room as they dispersed one by one, either wearing an expression of genuine excitement or a mask of disguised regret that they hadn’t tried harder or trained longer.

You pushed your way to the front, your eyes immediately darting to the name next to Odette. Your heart sank as you traced over the curly loops and sharper lines of the handwritten letters.

White Swan/Princess Odette : Patricia Roberts.

Pat…?

Sure, she was good, but she was always a little bit too fast for the pieces. She was brilliant at lightning-quick steps in speedy variations, but couldn’t ‘dance like a flowy fairy’, as your ballet teacher said, to save her life.

And the White Swan was all about being slow and sad and graceful.

Your eyes travelled further down the list, going through the roles of Odile, the cygnets, the general swans, and the royals. Each time, you were disappointed. By the time you reached the end of the list, you couldn’t help but feel a little bit anxious. Your name just… wasn’t there.

You were a part of this, right?

The entire class was taking part in this production. It wouldn’t make any sense for you to not be there. Even if it was just as a regular background swan.

“Can’t find your name either, huh?”

You hadn’t noticed that everyone else had broken off into excitedly chattering groups to start warming up and take their places at the barre, leaving only you and Gwen standing and craning your necks up at the piece of paper that seemed to decide your fate in the studio for the next few months.

You shook your head no, earning a sigh from Gwen that lasted longer than it probably should have.

“Well, we could ask Miss Walker, but she’s not here yet. So…” She shifted awkwardly beside you. You tried to observe her from your peripheral vision without being too obvious. She sounded… tired. Exhausted, really, like she hadn’t slept in a few days and then had to run a marathon around the city. She had done a pretty shoddy job of concealing the heavy dark circles under her eyes — which truly was saying something, because her makeup was usually immaculate.

Fuck. You couldn’t believe it, but for a moment you almost felt sorry for her. Well, maybe not just almost.

“Hey, uh… you good?” You winced at your attempt at a nonchalant tone. Gwen turned to look at you like you had sprouted a third head, slight confusion reflecting in her eyes.

You had never noticed them before, but she had nice eyes, honestly. The expressive kind that could show every little shift in her emotions if she didn’t hide it. And right now she looked like she was about to grin or crack a joke, so you fixed a scowl on your face to ward off any amusing thing she might have been gearing up to say.

The smile in her eyes faded.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Time to poke the bee’s nest. “You don’t sound—”

You were cut off as the studio doors flew open, and Miss Walker, looking extremely hassled, practically sprinted in. Random strands of hair poked out of her unusually-untidy bun, and her glasses were perched precariously on the tip of her nose. She held her phone in one hand and a clipboard in the other.

“Class, pointes on and everyone to the barre right now, please! Finish your second warmup, I’ll be right with you. Gwendolyn, Y/N, may I have a word with the two of you?”

We’re in trouble, mouthed Gwen with a comically scared, wide-eyed, completely exaggerated expression that was very childish and definitely should not have made you want to laugh. You bit the inside of your cheek to clamp down on your smile.

Your ballet teacher led you both over to a corner of the studio, adjusting her glasses right as they were about to fall off. “Okay, so I have some very good news for both of you. You might have noticed that your names weren’t on the final cast list at all, correct?”

You both nodded.

“As it turns out, you’ve been selected by the School of American Ballet to feature in New York City Ballet’s version of Swan Lake! And not selected for just any role — you girls are playing both Swans!”

The words took a few seconds to register in your mind. The sheer improbability of it all was phenomenal — two mere teenagers chosen to perform by the most prestigious ballet company in the world, to dance alongside some of the best professional ballerinas-in-the-making? This was a dream come true; was any of this real?

“You’re joking,” you heard Gwen say beside you. You felt like you were about to lift off and float all the way to the sky when your teacher just gave a broad, proud smile.

Everything after that was surrounded by a hazy glow of euphoric shock — blurred by excitement and lightheadedness and disbelief. You might’ve blacked out at one point, bracing yourself against the wall while you waited for your vision to clear.

Gwen suddenly narrowed her eyes in a wince, squinting as if she had a headache. “I’m so sorry, I have to go,” She mumbled hastily, before grabbing her bag and slipping out of the studio. And just like that, she was gone. Again.

You and Miss Walker exchanged a look of slight confusion, but she shrugged. “Well, you’re dismissed for today, Y/N. They’re expecting you tomorrow. You know where the company is, right?”

“Yes, miss.” Of course you did, which ballerina didn’t? Of all the best aspiring ballet dancers’ dream companies, New York City Ballet was right up there with The Royal Ballet in London, Paris Opera Ballet in France, and the Australian Ballet in Melbourne. In other words: this was a giant fucking deal and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

You’d have to be beyond idiotic to blow it off.

You arrived at Lincoln Center (which housed the New York City Ballet), fresh-faced and a few minutes early. Well, maybe not so fresh-faced, since you could barely sleep because of nerves. Throughout the night, what felt like a million thoughts that were all variations of what if I’m not good enough? and maybe I’m not cut out for this plagued you well into the early hours of the morning.

You felt a tap on your shoulder and turned to see Gwen, looking annoyingly (and most probably effortlessly) put-together and honestly quite fashionable. Did she have to have such perfect eyeliner? Even her hair tips seemed pinker than usual.

“Wow, you’re early for once,” You tried to load snark into your tone but failed miserably, earning you an insufferably relaxed chuckle from Gwen.

You shook your head and focused on trying to find the ballet company’s actual studio. Lincoln Center was comprised of a complex of buildings in a giant neighbourhood that you had never been in before, and the David H. Koch Theater which housed the New York City Ballet was just one of those many buildings spread over 16.3 acres.

You were lucky you two had arrived early, because it took you ten whole minutes trying to find the theater - because, as it turns out, you and Gwen had entered from a separate entrance from the main one. Finally you entered the studio, and for a while the only sounds were that of your shoes squeaking on the shiny wooden floors.

Something that struck you was just how big everything about it was.

The light fixtures that lined the walls cast yellow light all along the hallway, illuminating everything with a soft glow the colour of honeyed amber. Just walking that corridor made you feel like you were approaching a royal ballroom, floating around in a gown that could put Kitri’s costume from Don Quixote to shame.

You finally saw the door to the studio. Someone was waiting outside — a man in an all-black suit with close-cropped black hair and a salt-and-pepper beard. His face broke into a smile as he saw you and Gwen, and without waiting for you to fully make it to the door, he strode forward and clasped your hand.

“Welcome to New York City Ballet! I’m Carlos, the resident choreographer of this company. We’ve been expecting you! Your teacher has informed you of the production we are working on, yes?” He rattled all of this off at full speed in clipped, staccato pronunciations, so fast that it took you a second to register what he was saying.

“Swan Lake, right?” Gwen answered for you.

“Yes, yes. I assume you both know the combinations for both swans?” You nodded maybe a little too eagerly, eliciting a subtle eyebrow-raise from Carlos. “Very good. Come, I will introduce you to Shaoni. She is our support staff, and a former ballet mistress. She taught many young dancers who went on to become famous prima ballerinas. Don’t take her words too seriously; her bark is worse than her bite.”

He gave you a sympathetic smile and pushed open the double doors. Immediately the first thing you saw was a woman wearing a blue kurta with a gold-trimmed dupatta, her dark hair pinned into a bun at the nape of her neck. The thing that stood out most about her was her highly displeased scowl that had her looking like someone had insulted her entire bloodline three times over, spat in her face and then wrecked her favourite tutu.

Forget a simple resting bitch face, this was a prime, next-level display of an I’m-done-with-this-shit-and-I-need-a-vacation expression.

“Good morning, girls. My name is Shaoni Lahiri, you will address me as Miss Lahiri. You’re a bit early; please begin your warmup while we wait for the others. Also, our artistic director wanted to talk to you about your first day, so once he arrives meet him in his office.” Miss Lahiri had just finished her introductory monologue when her phone buzzed in her pocket with a notification.

Her eyes swiped over the lockscreen for a brief second before she tucked it away again, and you could’ve sworn you saw her roll her eyes slightly when she saw the name of the messager. “Mr. Osborn will see you now. The door to his office is in the far left corner of the studio. Try not to get lost, will you?” Even her sarcasm sounded effortlessly annoyed beyond relief.

And just like that, she abandoned you and went over to compare choreography notes with Carlos.

You turned and followed her directions, noticing a polished wooden door near the end wall of the studio. “Hey, wait for me!” Gwen had been busy gawking at the studio and, really, you couldn’t quite blame her. It truly was something else compared to the much smaller one you were used to.

You knocked once and pushed open the door once you heard a voice call out, “Come in!”

The moment the door swung open, you were immediately blinded by the brightest white light you had ever seen. The entire office looked like it had been bleached to within an inch of its life; there were no specks of dust to be seen and everything was neatly arranged in cupboards and on shelves.

“Oh, hello there!” Once your eyes had readjusted, you noticed a man with greying red-brown hair in a crisp suit with a green pinstripe jacket, an orange vest, and black pants. He sat with his hands clasped neatly on the lacquered teakwood desk in front of him, wearing a polite smile.

“You must be the new arrivals, yes? Let’s see, what are your names…” He opened a folder that had been pushed to one side of the desk, flicking through pages. “Gwen Stacy and Y/N Y/L/N?”

“Yes, that’s us,” You answered quickly, feeling slightly giddy with excitement as the truth sunk in properly. This wasn’t a dream, you had really been selected by the fucking New York City Ballet. You would be working alongside some of the best ballet dancers in the area. Better yet, you had more than a fair chance at dancing Odette. Of course, so did Gwen, but you were obviously the better choice… it wasn’t personal, really, just that she barely attended a full class and therefore should probably dance Odile instead.

“Excellent, excellent. Pleasure to meet you. I’m Norman Osborn, the artistic director of this company.” He stood up and shook your hand. He smiled at Gwen, but instead of smiling back, she just dropped her gaze, inhaling sharply as if she had been stung.

“Something’s not right with him,” She murmured to you the moment Mr. Osborn turned his back to retrieve a folder from his filing cabinet. “I can’t explain it, just… please trust me. I think he’s going to be a threat to us.”

You felt annoyance flare up inside you, white-hot maelstroms of anger expanding by the second. “Please excuse us, Mr. Osborn. Gwen and I need to discuss something.” You tried to sound as inconspicuous and well-mannered as you could. You grabbed Gwen’s shoulder and pulled her through the door, closing it behind you.

“Listen here,” You hissed, letting go of her. “I didn’t make it all this way and train for an extra four hours a day for three years just so you could blow this off. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re some sort of a package deal. So don’t you dare make up stuff and tell me this perfectly polite man is a threat. Is this some sort of scheme? You make me get cold feet, pretend like you’re dropping out, then when you convince me to leave the company you swoop in and snatch up the role of Odette? Is that what you’re playing at?”

Gwen stared at you in utter disbelief, rubbing her shoulder where your grip had tightened just a little too much. “What? No, of course not. I would never—”

“Okay, good. Now let’s get back in there and do whatever the hell he wants us to do, because this is the New York City Ballet and we are not leaving till we’re done with this production, got it?”

For a split second, intense desperation marred her features and she looked like she was about to cry. Then, just as quickly as it had come, all the vulnerability displayed on her face disappeared — but not from her eyes. Her mouth and eyebrows were relaxed, cool, but her eyes shone with a feverish light that made her look a bit manic. Finally she took a deep breath and glared levelly at you.

“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Something about her tone would have sent a shiver down your spine if you hadn’t been so pumped up about this whole ordeal. You dismissed it easily, penning it, possibly, as the sullen disappointment of a plotter whose evil scheme hadn’t gone quite according to plan.

You entered the office again, Gwen trailing behind you reluctantly, and gave Mr. Osborn a big smile. “You were saying?”

He passed you and Gwen two sheets of paper and a pen. “Sign this. It’s a contract that officialises your stay at this company for the duration of this production.”

You signed it eagerly. Gwen, who was studying the words intently, noticed your impatience and signed it too.

“Perfect,” said Norman Osborn, giving you a big smile. Was it just you, or did it look more plastic this time…?

Nope, definitely just you. He carefully filed the sheets away and clasped your hand in a handshake once again. “Welcome to New York City Ballet. I’m sure this contract will prove to be beneficial to the both of us.”

Gwen dropped her eyes to the floor. Probably just her odd headaches acting up again.

Taglist:

@hobiebrownismygod @l0starl @therealloopylupin2099 @theprismyyy

[kleftiko]

❦ OUR BITTERSWEET MOMENT

cw: angst

remember the episode where reid and hotch are locked in the room with the serial killer chester hardwick? yea.

PART 2 | PART 3

fraternization was not permitted between employees of the bureau. your heart had already froze when penelope called you to let you know agent rossi interrupted her steamy shower with kevin from the other floor.

imagine how much trouble you would get into if someone found out your feelings for your unit chief then.

you, him, and reid were on the way to cleveland. he had already asked you a few times if you were sure you wanted to come along. this was a killer who targeted women, and while your presence might provoke the inmate to reveal more, your boss put your comfort first.

it made you feel bad to imagine this man’s hands manipulating you the way he was controlling the steering wheel for the entire drive. luckily reid kept the car ride conversation, while you forced yourself to stare out the window.

as if it wasn’t bad enough that he was your boss, and 10+ years your senior, he had a wife and kid at home.

it came as a surprise when you walked into the prison and had to consciously focus on the serial killer in front of you.

maybe you weren’t as comfortable as you assured hotch. too late for that.

chester hardwick did react to your presence, but not in the way your team members hoped. instead he instigated your unit chief, pushing him past his patience.

so when hotch told you to buzz to let the doors open, you didn’t expect the smile on the killer’s face.

your heart stopped when he told you the guards wouldn’t be back for at least another 13 minutes. and it dropped right to your stomach when he held up the crime scene photo, looked dead in your eyes, and told you it took him less than five to accomplish that.

“unfortunately for you,” hotch got up, drawing hardwick’s attention to him while he smoothly put his body between you and the inmate’s. for the spilt second you could, you saw your boss’ eyes harden, jaw locked, before his back turned to you. he started to remove his suit jacket. “i’m not a 5’, 100lb girl.”

from your peripheral, you saw reid’s expression nearly mirroring yours, until your eyes drew to hotch’s dropped tie and you realized he is 100% intent on fighting a serial killer to protect you two.

you blanked out at that point.

you were new on the team, new to being out in the field. of all the cases you seen, majority were against women, you knew that, you experienced firsthand the way this world treats women, but never, never, did you ever think you would be in this situation.

the racing heart and beating in your ears subsided slightly at reid’s interjection. his erratic rambling blanketed by profiling distracted hardwick, letting you realize you were gripping harshly onto hotch’s ironed shirt. you didn’t let go until the guards came.

hotch ushered you out quickly, leaving reid to gather the belongings.

“wait in the car,” hotch told him, “we’ll be there in a minute.”

reid nodded and left.

you couldn’t look up to met hotch’s eyes. you simply listened to the sound of reid’s shoes on the concrete floor subsiding as you relived what just happened.

then, as if in a fairy tale or some other happily ever after, hotch’s hand came to the back of your head, pulling you into his chest. his cologne filled your senses, the heat from his body brought your mind back down to earth, in an instant you brought your fingers back up to his shirt, and let the few tears you could muster fall in silence.

you stood there for a silent moment, only broken when he said, “i’m sorry.”

you didn’t respond. you were an fbi agent, you would work through it, heck, you might even go through worse things, but you let him believe you needed to be comforted for the selfish reason that you knew you would never get this opportunity again. you’d never get to feel him against you again, listen to the pattern of his breathing again. have him hold you again.

that was reserved for his wife.

he was someone else’s man.

[spocksbestfriend]

Here is concrete evidence that James T. Kirk and his first officer S'chn T'gai Spock are soulmates and lovers. If you disagree, fight with the wall.

1. Vulcans kiss with their hands. According to this, Kirk and Spock have kissed many times according to canon. I have included sources to back this up.

2. The creator of Star Trek himself said that he created Kirk and Spock’s relationship to be a “love” relationship and based it off of two gay lovers. I have included the source for this too.

3. Also, just take a look at all the longing looks Kirk and Spock always give each other. Look at how Spock, a Vulcan who has been learning to control his emotions since birth, smiles when he sees that Jim is alive. Also see how Spock touches Jim often even though touch is seen as intimate for Vulcans and so it is rarely used. Read between the lines!

4. Spock literally tells Kirk “I am yours” in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. Don’t forget how Spock tells Jim that he makes him believe in luck, and Jim replies and says that Spock makes him believe in miracles.

5. Also, there’s a scene where Kirk thinks he’s getting a massage from Spock (because he can’t see where Spock really is). It’s actually a female crew member massaging him. He’s enjoying the massage and says “dig it in there, Mr. Spock,” until he sees Spock walk beside him with his peripheral vision. He immediately gets flustered and tells the female crew member that she can stop massaging him. Do I even have to explain this one? This is so gay.

6. Also, in an episode of Star Trek Lower Decks, a picture is shown of an engraving made that says “Kirk+Spock”.

7. As a final nail in the coffin, don’t forget the scene in the one Star Trek movie where Jim leans in to kiss Spock and Spock says “please captain, not in front of the Klingons.”

If you are still in denial that Captain Kirk and Spock are lovers, then that’s a you problem.

https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/52b5je/roddenberry_commenting_on_kirkspock/

[prentissluvr]

i dont have all of my sam thots and dean thoughts just yet but I had to send in this bc I completely forgot about meg! sam

and its a damn shame that we didn't see more of that bc it solidified my stance on being a sam girlie

we got at least 3 episodes of demon dean (i have not seen him yet i've only heard about it) but we got like less than half an hour with meg! sam and honestly we deserved more with him

meg! sam made me feel lots of things LOLL

(i wanted to be jo SO BAD in that episode LMAO)

now i need your thots on him please :p

KJDFSJL NO BECAUSE... NOOO I CANT thinking about the amount of meg!sam edits i've seen in the past few days. thinking about the one saved in my camera roll. thinking about throwing up pissing my pants projectile vomiting and passing the fuck out. i reiterate tho, i'm normal!! i'm so so so normal and i don't feel things about it!!!!!!!

i'm honestly still like borderline unsure about how nsfw i want to get on this blog, but uhhh i'm just gonna start typing and see where my dirty fucking mind takes me!

cw : highly suggestive!! no smut, but still absolutely no minors!! MDNI!! contains condescending/mean/possessed sam, but also sweet sam too <33. use of gendered terms, but it is gender inclusive to fem, masc, and gn as much as i could make it! horrible writing it's genuinely just me going feral :))

sooo basically for me the worst (best) part of meg!sam was his voice! it's so bad (never have i ever heard anything hotter in my life). IDK I DONT EVEN THINK I CAN FORM A COHERENT THOUGHT OVER THIS NOT GONNA LIE. uhm uhhh ummmm uhhhh uhmmmm.

so basically so basically, essentially, wwowowowowowowowifjhshf alright lets focus on one thing at a time.

we'll start with that goddamn voice of his. the way it goes from teasing, condescending to deeper, more gravelly and matter-of-fact and then back to condescending LIKE WHOO IM GONNA NEED TO TAKE A LAP. idk just thinking about his large hand on the back of your head, maybe tangled in your hair if the way you wear it allows for that, and his veiny forearm visible through your peripheral vision as he says "open up.. that's a girl" like he did to jo😭😭😭 (or he's says "thaaat's it" to keep things gender neutral, dragging out the "that's" for an extra second, that extra gravel in his condescending tone).

and while this is in possessed!sam context, he'd definitely say things like that normally, i do personally envision him to be less condescending and more sincere. either way, hot as fuck if you ask me. also this isn't meg!sam, but in season seven he says "good girl" and i do listen to that clip several times a day, i am so serious when i say that and i have no shame about it!! i have daddy issues so i do not care!!! so yeah he also says good girl/boy/whatever variation you enjoy best <3 uhmmm yeah but the main point is his hot as fuck voice, right next to your ear with his breath tickling you sensitive skin. especially with that whisper. oh god the whisper😭 and along with "that's a girl," there's atta girl and he'd use that one too so i'll go die in a hole :))) but yeah he genuinely thinks you're so good for him so expect that praise, whether you want it sweet or mean.

then we also have his facial expressions!! the smirk he uses to rile you up or that he flashes you, all mean and haughty because he knows he's getting to you. the fake pity too!! lord help me, once again the utterly fake pity just falls under that condescending persona that was so hot about meg!sam. i'm just gonna use photo evidence and you can imagine him looking at you like that!! enjoy!

last thing i have to say about meg!sam is manhandling!! ahahaahahahaahahah i'm normal and okay!! (this is a cry for help i need him so bad). um yeah while i hate the context of the manhandling of jo in the episode because it's crossing so many boundaries, i will still enjoy the fact that he is hot. so yeah! have fun thinking about sam whirling you around and pinning you between his chest and nearest surface, hand on your forehead to tilt your chin up and give him full access to the skin of your neck. his other hand is pinning your wrist to whatever surface is behind you, and your own free hand is tangled in his hair and he lays wet, desperate kisses all over your neck and collarbone. that's all hahahahaha :)))) feeling so sane right now!!

[soulc-hilde]

Ch. 02 - No Good Fridays

A/N: Even though the gif would've been perfect for the first chapter seeing as this happened in episode 1, I'll still use it because Jeremy's face is just perfect!

Pairing: Lip Gallagher x Black!OFC

Warning(s): Follows the FX tv show, Shameless, viewer discretion be advised. Depictions of grooming as well as non-consensual acts being mentioned, depictions and ideations of suicide, depictions of drug and alcohol abuse, racial and homophobic slurs, mentions of CPS/CYS and foster care, depictions and mentions of consensual sexual acts, depictions of violence (gun and maybe gang), depictions of mental health, depictions of inherited addiction, and so much fucking more.

Synopsis: All Lip Gallagher ever had was family and despite the praise over his intellect, the health and wellbeing of his people were far more important than him furthering his education. Lecroy was a young girl destined to face abandonment until the Gallagher clan came through. Using her own skillset and connects to build a better life for those she loves, she ties Lip and his family to her hip.

Two of the greatest events in television history will broadcast tonight. One - The UFC pay-per-view and two - The Deadliest Catch Season Finale. Such a big event, that Frank went as far as trying to tie his soiled hair in a ponytail before meeting his little friends at the Alibi. Behind him, two cars pull in at the same time. Steve and Ian jump out the black BMW coupe with bags in their hands while Lecroy follows suit.

As the crew began to set up before the show, Lecroy's once relaxed posture turns fridged at the sight of Karen in the living room with Lip. Rather than greeting the boy, she walks past him and into the kitchen with Ian and Steve to grab the food.

"Burgers comin' through," Ian sings, leaving the kitchen. Fiona turns over her shoulder, "uh, Lip, napkins." Karen takes a step forward, "I can do it," but Lip was already ahead of her. "I got it," he shakes his head.

Fiona raises an interested eyebrow, studying the interaction. Wanting to test a theory, she watches as he goes for the kitchen as well, passing the only - other - positive woman in his life. "Hey, Peaches," he greets with a small smile.

However, he receives a rushed head nod and nothing else. Both of Fiona's eyebrows raise as she bites her bottom lip. Oh, great, a pissed off Murphy and a possibly puppy-eyed Lip, the eldest Gallagher huffs to herself.

"Only ketchup," Steve reads off the order. Debbie raises her hand, "me!" He then reads off the next one, "extra onions, jalapenos." V opens the front door, taking it, "me."

She climbs over the couch, landing beside Fiona just as Carl makes his way over. He tries to grab at her cookies only for her to pull it back, "uh-aht-aht, after you finish your shake and fries."

He sits back with a slight pout. Lecroy laughs, patting the back of his head softly before sitting him in her lap on the couch. "It's okay," she whispers, "I'll get you your cookies, bubba."

He now smiles, happily diving into his sandwich. V turns, catching sight of the unfamiliar blonde in her peripheral, "who's this?" Lip answers, coming back with napkins, "this is Karen."

"Hey, Karen. Nice top," V greets her, "what size are you?" Fiona cuts in, waving her hand, "shh! Shut up." As the narrator of the show begins to talk, Lecroy softly nudges V with her elbow.

The two meet eyes as the copper haired teen bounces her eyebrows before rolling her eyes. V's mouth drops, mouthing an understanding, "oh." In other words, Lecroy reminded the woman that Karen was the blonde neighborly pass around who not only is stealing her best friend, but is just an all round nuisance.

After watching maybe like... 2-3 minutes in? A bloody, pouting drunk Frank returns to the house, slamming the front door closed. Everyone turns, watching him with humor and wonder; mostly wondering who out of every Southside resident had the urge to rightfully punch him.

"You okay, Frank?" Steve asks, face scrunching with sympathy. Lecroy, on the other hand, snickers to herself. "Hey," Ian starts, eyes noticing something strange on his deadbeat father. He follows after the man from his seat. "That my shirt?"

At the question, the boy's father stops and turns in silence. On guard, Lecroy carefully sits Carl between herself and V in case she'd have to launch at the man. "Yeah," Frank nods, stepping towards Ian.

His son slowly steps back, shaking his head, "uh, I'm just asking." Frank nods, forcing his forehead down onto Ian's nose with enough force that the teen flies and lands on the table. Everyone jumps, screaming as Fiona begins asking Ian if he was okay.

"Guy in the bar said to pass it on," Frank explains. Immediately, Lecroy pounces at the father.

Sending a right hook at his trachea, the older man collapses to his knees as he fights for oxygen. Clasping onto his throat, wheezing, his eyes widen with delay as her denim clad knee jabs into his glabella. His body falls back without resistance, comparable to a ragdoll.

Steve and Fiona's eyes widen as they try to pull her away from him. Steve's arms wrap under her arms as he tries to lift her away. Fiona calls out, urgently, "wait, no, don't--" but it was too late. Lecroy's elbow forces down into the man's ribs eliciting a gasp, edging on a whimper, to escape.

"She's so strong," he winces, holding his sides. Keeping face, he turns to glare at the drunkard. "You don't do this to your kids, Frank," he grits his teeth. "What are you, a tough guy, Steve? You think you're a fucking tough guy?" Frank teases.

He steps forward, "because you look like a premenstrual Filipino." He points at a glaring Lecroy who stood beside a wincing Ian. "If anyone's tough, it's that baboon bitch--"

Without hesitating, the girl picks up the tray of milkshakes and hurls it at him. He stubbles back, slightly hissing at the sting, glaring toward the teen.

"What the fuck, Frank?!" Lip belts in outrage, happily watching her mop the floor with him. "What the hell did he just call her?!" V shouts, pushing Carl to hide behind her back.

"You wanna come at me, Babygirl," he teases, "then let's go. Let's see how long you'd sit in Juvie this time. Even better, that might put ya in the loony bin."

She forces him against the wall, gripping him by the collar. Repeatedly, she forces him against it until Steve forces her off without getting hit again. Fiona hops in front of the girl, bending down in hopes catching her eye would settle the teen.

The older woman's eyes water at the dark, dead eyes that seem to stare through her. "C'mon, Le," Fiona quietly pleads, "calm down. He's not worth it, okay? Not again."

She pulls her into her chest, hugging her tightly, "go upstairs and calm down, a'ight. It's okay, it's okay." Feeling her shoulders slacken, Fiona slowly turns her to the steps, not allowing Frank to fall in her sight.

As the teen shuffles up the stairs, silent, like a zombie, Fiona turns to the others. Steve puffs his chest, ready to swing on Frank, but she quickly pushes him back and gets between the two. "Steve, go. Get out. Hey, just go!" She orders.

"Please," she pleads, she points at the door as Debbie softly shows him out with a skillet still in hand. "Come on," Franks yells, "don't go. Come on. Puss, puss, puss."

On the table with napkins trying to stop the bleeding, Ian chokes on some blood that slips down his throat. "Ice," V orders. Frank brushes his hair back, "it's a bloody nose. He's not dyin'."

"Shut the fuck up, Frank," V grits, her mind overworked and exhausted as it bounced from Ian being hit by his own father to the man egging on a 16-year-old with explosive anger.

He goes to walk away before turning to them, "anybody notice that I'm bleedin'?" Ian waves away everyone's hands, marching up the stairs, "I got it. Where's Croy?" Lip follows after him, the brothers now in search of the manic girl.

Lodged in the boys' bedroom, Lecroy sat on Ian's bed with a lit blunt hanging from between her lips. Instead of actively inhaling and exhaling the substance, she simply partook in allowing the smoke to swirl inside her body with every passive breath in and shooting out of her nostrils with every breath out.

Her onyx eyes take a pitch of black that gives her a soulless appearance in the nearly dark room. They stare at the floor with a blank glare, not a thought emerging behind those pretty eyes. Lip and Ian, hell anyone who's a part of the Gallagher's close circle, was no stranger to Lecroy's bursts of rage.

It was as if she was her own Hulk, but without the heroic music playing in the background. She could threaten to tear a building from the inside out and mean it, enjoying the pain that licked at her skin with every hit. To the Gallaghers' it was a part of who she was, who they knew Lecroy to be. In her family, however, this was an unspoken of reality for them; a curse, as her grandmother would put it.

Each Gallagher teen takes a seat on her sides. Lip gently pulls the blunt from her lips, inhaling some for himself as Ian changed shirts. "You should've hi'im' back," Lip opens the conversation.

Ian looks down at him, "if I ever do, I'll fucking kill him." The blip of anger seeps between his teeth as he forces the clean shirt over his head. He nods to the blanked out girl between them. "Besides, Le was ahead on that mission," he scoffs, humorlessly.

"So?" Lip shrugs, "eight to ten for manslaughter. Get laid as often as you want. Tattoos and everything. It's gay heaven, man." Rather than respond, Ian takes his seat beside Lecroy, blotting at the blood on his face.

He takes the offered blunt before passing it back. Feeling her bones come to a settle from the enraged shaking underneath her skin, the girl begins to slowly blink as she comes to reality. Noticing the loss of weed in her lungs, she grabs the blunt from Ian's fingers and places it between her lips.

Lip, who waited his turn in the session, softly smiles and lands a quick peck on the girl's temple. The three musketeers, as always, had won another battle against the world. Rather than going home, she stayed the night at the Gallaghers.

In the morning, she cooks breakfast while Debbie sets off to steal the neighbor's paper in search for coupons and Ian, with the help of V, steals milk and creamer from Conrad, the local delivery guy for all the corner stores. Basically, a regular Friday.

Plating up the food, it was a simple menu of sunny side eggs with toast and bacon. Setting a plate down for every Gallagher, she received the usual thanks -- one of them being a soft pat on the rear by Lip -- as Ian sat a half gallon of milk on the table.

"Don't forget V's coupons," Debbie states. The boy nods, walking back outside. In the meantime, Fiona comes down with Liam and grabs the mail. Lip helps her set him up in the high chair.

As she sorts through the mail, gratefully taking the cup of coffee Lecroy made for her, Ian comes back inside with V's coupons. He looks at his sister, "any pizza left from last night?"

Both Fiona and Lecroy glare over at him. "No pizza. Fruit or juice," Fiona answers. Lecroy then states, "besides I'm making a whole breakfast. We've got eggs, bacon, and toast. Take it."

The two girls smile at his disgruntled yet satisfied look. "OJ's in the top, grape's in the bottom drawer," she directs. Over at the table, Debbie reads off all the coupons they've received.

"Poptarts, Frosted Flakes, Bisquick, Heinz Ketchup, and ooh-ooh! Even got a couple two-for-ones for Tide," the young auburn girl grins, waving the coupon beside her head.

Leaving the fridge, Ian looks over at her, "any coupons for meat?" She nods, "yeah. They got a special on ground chuck at Costco and Hot Pockets." Fiona chuckles, "great. We'll go tomorrow."

Lecroy sits between Liam and Lip, feeding the toddler some eggs and finely crumbled pieces of bacon. As his pouty lips fumble around the tips of the plastic fork, slowly swallowing the egg, Lip watches the two. He sets a sippy cup filled with milk in front of her. She sends him a small smile before giving it to Liam.

"Lip, you seen Frank?" Fiona asks, after reading the postal stamp on a yellow envelope. The teen pauses, swallowing, "uh, no." She hums, "what day is it?" He answers again with a sigh, "Friday. Why?"

Fiona skips up the stairs, searching for him without an answer. A firm knock rings from the back door, Ian sets down a plate in front of Carl before answering. Lecroy side-eyes the boy as he licks at the yolk, shooting a piece of bacon at his forehead.

He glances up at her, a small frown taking over his face. She sends a mocking one back, "eat your food, not disrupt the masses."

From behind him, Steve walks through with donuts and cups from the local coffee shop. "Mornin' campers," he greets them.

"Whoa, what'chu got?" Lip asks.

"Jelly, plain, and glazed," he sets the stuff down, winking at Lecroy, "I even got you a couple bostons saved."

The girl smiles, "and to think, I was gon'a be mad that you interrupted a healthy breakfast. All's good now." The two laugh as he hands her the cup labeled: 'hot chai latte.'

He leans over, watching as Carl continues to lick at the yolk of his eggs as Lecroy was distracted. Quickly, he takes a piece of bread from his plate, quickly tapping it against the yolk as the boy side-eyes him.

"Bet you hate when that happens," he teases. Ian scoffs in disgust, "they're his tits. It's the only reason he eats eggs."

Lecroy shakes her head, "I've stopped the ranting and just started throwing things at him," she leans over, playfully glaring at the boy, "like a dog."

Debbie's face scrunches in disgust, "he just licked that one." Fiona comes down the stairs, slowing at the sight of Steve. She looks down, noticing the donuts and coffee.

"Oh, great," she sighs. "Le and I've been trying to get them to eat a healthy breakfast." Munching on a boston creme, Lecroy mindlessly waves the older woman off.

"I already chewed him out about it, Fi," she pauses mid-chew and side eyes her, "the bostons are mine."

Steve smirks, gesturing to the table, "I bought all the essential morning food groups: caffeine, sugar, lard," he lands a peck on her lips, leaning back with a content hum.

She pulls him to the side, "I'm sorry about last night." He shakes his head, "never apologize for your parents. Believe me, I don't. So you can let go of that." Flustered, she sends him a quick smile before looking at the group with a confused frown.

"Has anybody seen Dad?" She asks once again. Debbie answers, "he was asleep behind the armchair." Fiona sighs, marching for the chair with the others following with curiosity.

Leaning over the back of the chair, her face scrunches as she snatches at the polyester material. "It's a tent," she acknowledges, turning to the others, "why is there a tent in the living room?"

"Oh, uh, drying it out," Ian confesses, "ROTC training in Wisconsin next week."

Debbie bends down, "I thought it was Dad. I left him a cup of coffee LeLe made this morning." She picks up the cup, "I thought I heard him say thanks."

Fiona leaves without a word, most likely going to V and Kev's for answers. Fiona returns with a final declaration, "I think Dad's missin'." Like clockwork, Lecroy and the Gallaghers start calling across the neighborhood in hopes anyone had seen the drunkard.

"Hey, Ted," Lip speaks into the phone, "yeah. Yeah. Since Michael Jackson died?"

Debbie sits on the landline, "hey, John, it's Debbie. Have you seen Frank since last night?"

Laying on the floor in the doorway of the living room and the kitchen, Lecroy is caught up in her own two conversations on two phones. One being with her mother:

"Yeah, has he been checked in at all since last night? This morning?" She pauses, "nah, ma, everything's fine... somewhat. The old bastard done went Houdini."

And the other being her boss, or dad:

"Baba, I know," she huffs as the man falls into a rant, "yeah, you wouldn't let him in the shop, regardless, I just need to know if you've seen him? I don't care if you drove past his body on the sidewalk, it'll count."

Fiona stations herself on the couch, "since last night, at the Alibi."

Ian sat on a phone as well, "sorry about the door. And the window. y-yeah, so, anyways, I was wondering; have you seen Frank?"

"Hello, has Frank been down at the department say last night or this morning?" V asks the receptionist at the Police station.

All of a sudden the landline from her house is snatched out of the window, the phone whipping from her hands. "Shit!" She yells, leaning out the window to see the phone being roped down the sidewalk.

"What the fuck? Motherfucker," She wonders to herself, rushing out of the Gallagher house. Still on the phone, but now sitting up, Lecroy laughs with a shake of her head.

"That's some ghetto ass shit," her smile drops as muffled voices begin cussing her out on both phones.

Laying back down, she blurts out rushed apologies into both receivers, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! No, 'm not shoutin'a' ye'."

Soon after Kev had roped V back to the house, everyone's phone calls came to a stop. "Anything?" Fiona asks, looking at them. They all shake their heads.

Ian answers, "nobody's seen him since yesterday." Debbie whines, her freckled face falling. Fiona consoles her, "hey, hey, don't worry, Debs. We're gon'a find him, okay?"

Her small body falls into small tremors. From behind, Lecroy plants a gentle peck on her crown, softly rubbing her shoulders. Ian leans over, muttering words of comfort.

Fiona looks at everyone, "we split up. All the regular spots, okay? Go."

Everyone splits up. Lip and Karen go together, much to the Murphy's chagrin. Instead, Ian and herself ventured off in her Jeep, pulling off with a screeching. They travel around the block, searching every nook and cranny the piece of shit could possibly hide in.

Even going as far as whipping open port-a-potties until Ian accidentally showcased a shitting man. Quickly, all three scramble to shut the door before the two redheads run off to their next spot.

Rounding corners of junkyards and even the neighbors' backyards, they began dumpster searching for him. It was a great idea until Lecroy loses her grip and front flips into one of the bins.

She leaps out of the stank container with a cry, trembling in disgust as Ian laughs his ass, falling in the alleyway. The duo steals a tarp and tucks it over the driver's seat before returning home. However, things weren't much better there.

Pulling in front of V and Kev's place, they walk in, eyes lighting up at the sight of Fiona and Steve. Stepping deeper in the room, they falter at the sight of Veronica ironing a shirt while topless for the webcam.

Ian smiles at the ridiculous scenery, "hey, V."

The woman's portrayal of some sort of sexy housewife doesn't falter as she greets him back, "hey, Ian."

Lecroy, on the other hand, couldn't snatch her eyes off of the woman's breast, blinking with a deadpan. "God, I love women," she mutters shamelessly.

"Um, sorry, Fiona," Ian changes the subject, "Debbie needs you. It's bad." Lecroy nods, jaw clenching as her focus falls back onto what brought them in the first place.

Back in the Gallagher house, a panicking Debbie sobs as she's surrounded by everyone. "Again, Debbie," Fiona speaks. The girl fumbles across her words, sounding as if she was singing hymns.

"Uh, Holly thought she saw a body under the tracks on Halsted," Ian explains. Fiona looks at him in shock, "what?" Steve denies the false tale, "it's not him, Debs, or the police would've contacted us by now."

Lecroy pats her head gently, "besides, it's Holly, honey. She's been in the third grade for four years." Fiona nearly growls, "I'm gonna deck that little bitch."

The Murphy girl shakes her head, "let me do it. I got a pre-buried hole in my backyard anyways." For a second, Steve pauses and glances at the teen with concern before looking back at Debbie.

"Does that even make sense, Debbie?" He asks, bending in front of her. "Why would your dad be in Halsted when he lives in the opposite direction?"

Lip steps in from behind, "well, depends. How was he lookin' when you, uh, left him at the Alibi Room last night, Steve?" He stands up, called out as Fiona follows. "When?" She asks.

"Uh," the man stammers, "ten? Ten thirty. Went to apologize, bought him a drink, then went home." He begins to light a cigarette, trying to appear collected under the lie.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Fiona asks. The front door opens as Kev walks in, "hey, can I talk to you for a sec?" The elder Gallagher steps toward him to the side.

"They found a body under the L," he says.

Once again, the family races off to the tracks, their hearts pounding against their chests in hopes that the body wasn't their father. Sliding to a stop at the circle of officers, Fiona speaks first.

"Do you know who that is?" She pants. "Stay back, okay? Stay back," the officer orders rather than answering her question.

They watch, silently as the coroner studies the body before flipping it over to reveal some homeless man who was very obviously not Frank. Veronica and the kids squeal with cheer while Lip and the others puff out a sigh of relief.

Wiping his hands down his face, the cyan eyed boy takes a hold of Lecroy's left hand, squeezing it into his chest. She looks at him, gifting a small smile, nodding. It's okay, she mouths to him. He simply returns with a smile, looking at the younger Gallaghers.

Off, behind them, Karen watches with studious eyes, lifting an eyebrow at the slip of affection. Despite the continuous ride on the Thrilling Gallagher Adventures thanks to Lip, she could care less about the boy's obvious yet simple need to involve her in his life.

All she needed was a fuck buddy and he seemed to keep her entertain, much like the rest of her roster. However, that doesn't mean she's willing to give him up and allow him to fall into the Murphy teen's arms. While Karen's... extra-curricular activities were a known fact, not much was known about Lecroy.

Her mother's a nurse, takes care of the Gallaghers and is an advocate for DV, her father owns a small auto shop, her nana runs the neighborhood daycare center, and the teen was a certified hustler.

That was it. Not too detailed. Not too vague. A respectable, working class family. Karen could fucking barf.

Oookay, so, this is probably the longest piece I've written yet and this is just 30 mins of episode 2. The rest will be added into Chapter 3, later on.

As we've slightly touched on Murphy's mental health - specifically -- disruptive behavior disorder, at some point we will take a dive into just exactly what she's inherited from her family and how it affects her daily life.

Don't be afraid to inbox me or simply heart, reblog, comment, and/or follow me for more content! Ask me any questions, my time is yours right here,

Much Love!!

Taglist: @slytherinroyalty16 @v1rgorl

SERIES MASTERLIST

[taintedheartx]

Sleepover ~ Rafe Cameron

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x pogue!reader

Warning: sexual references, age gap, loss of virginity, oral(fem receiving), fingering, p in v, unprotected sex. ends with fluff

Sypnosis: Sarah brings her friend over to spend the night while ward and rose are gone.

Word count: forgot.

A/N: this is my first time doing something like this so I don’t really know what to feel about it and it’s probably really bad, but I hope you enjoy! Also I do not condone or suggest a age gap like one in the story, it’s just simply for the plot<3 also not proofread.

As per usual it was a boiling hot day in the obx so when Sarah offered to just hang at her place for while I didn’t say no. Mostly to take advantage the air conditioned space that was her large room. In this hot sun the memory of her intimidating brother I would usually want to avoid slipped my mind completely..

The fresh breeze of cool air hitting my face in heat like this was nothing short of heavenly when we walked in. “Do you want something to drink Y/N?” Sarah asks.

“Yea sure” I say while my eyes wandered to a picture of her older brother on the wall, a little backstory on you two.

You were fourteen when you first met Sarah which made her older brother seventeen, You didn’t exactly hate him but he was never really that nice to you mainly for the fact that you were a pogue.

Now you were sixteen and he was nineteen.

Snapping out of your thoughts and slowly walking in the kitchen. She opens her fridge revealing soft drinks and other groceries. “What do you want.. we have water, soda and lemonade?

“Uhh lemonade?”I say feeling a sudden presence emerge from behind me.

“Who’s here?”

I feel my stomach drop and feeling suddenly anxious at the sound of his voice.

“Just me and my friend douchebag” Sarah says pouring my drink.

He emerges from the steep hallway and take a look at my face.

His expression was a bit complex like he didn’t want to show it but he was pleasantly surprised to see me. It was quickly covered by his bold demeanor.

“What did dad tell you about bringing your pogue friends home?”

“it’s not a big deal and he’s not even here so calm down rafe.”

I stand still awkwardly before Sarah walks over to me.

She hands me the drink, “let’s go to my room I have something I need to tell you.”

I take a sip of the sweet lemonade and follow her up the stairs, sneakily taking a glance at his devilish smirk before heading up.

Once we make it to her room sit down and get comfortable on her bed.. before she starts talking about what the tea she’s been dying to tell me all day.

She tells me about how only a few days ago was when she lost her v-card to topper. My eyes widen a bit at the bluntness of the words. “I thought you said you wanted to wait.” I question

“Yea but I mean I got really curious…and horny.

We erupt in laughter.

“What about you Y/N?”

The question I was hoping wouldn’t come up came up.

“Uhh no I-I never done it before?” You say eyes shyly meeting the floor.

Sarah’s expression drops into a more serious look.

“Really?”

“Not trying to be mean but you don’t seem that innocent.”

“Yea well I kinda am” I chuckle at the thought and just laugh it off.

“I never knew that”

Unbeknownst to you and Sarah.. rafe was outside the door eavesdropping your entire conversation.

It was now 7:00 and you had managed to watch a few episodes of some random tv show Sarah was trying to get you on.. wasn’t really that entertaining though. You both started getting hungry and the snacks we had that were left didn’t seem too appetizing anymore.

“We should order pizza and watch a scary movie” Sarah says.

“Yea that sounds good.”

Sarah switches the tv to horror options. Then puts her phone to her ear getting ready to make the order, when there’s a knock on Sarah’s door.

“What?” She yells annoyed.

The door opens and reveals rafe although your too busy polishing your nails to notice.

“Are you guys hungry?” You can see him jerk his head in my peripheral now glaring at you.

She points to the phone, “yea we’re ordering pizza.”

“Oh okay pepperoni right?”

“Yea now get out.” She says throwing a pillow at the door. I can hear his footsteps head downstairs indicating that the coast was clear.

Once she’s done ordering the pizza she grabs the remote and begins to scroll down the horror section on Netflix. She suddenly stops what she’s doing and turns to you.

“So I hate to be the one to point it out but no one else will so.. have you been noticing how weird my brother acts when your here?”

You reply with “what do you mean?”

“Cmon Y/N don’t act oblivious now”

“You seen the way he looks at you right?”

“Not really no”

“Let me tell you something what he just did right now he never comes in here when it’s just me to see if I’m hungry that’s how I know something’s up he always tries to find excuses to come in my room when your here.”

“He definitely has a little crush on you.” She nonchalantly says throwing a chip in her mouth, conversation quickly shifting in her favorite scary movie she wanted me to see and clicking on it.

My eyes falter a bit taking in all the information she had just told me. A bit stunned at the thought of rafe having those type of feelings for me. Also thinking back at the other occurrences of you coming to the Cameron house, mentally searching for any type of odd behavior from him.

I shake my head though denying the tension.

Meanwhile rafe was going crazy at the thought of you being a virgin, it was true rafe had a little thing for Y/N ever since Sarah started bringing her around sophomore year. He didn’t want to like her. why would he? She a pogue.

He also was afraid of any type of rejection, but he couldn’t resist anymore he wanted you so bad..and he had a plan that he hoped would work tonight.

7:34

The fancy doorbell echoed through the house and Sarah paused the movie that was to your surprise actually entertaining.

You follow her downstairs and see her pull out a $20 dollar bill from her wallet and pull open the door to get the pizza, while you went to the kitchen and grabbed a few paper plates from her pantry.

You heard rafe’s door open and close upstairs indicating he’s coming down, then suddenly feeling a nervous rush course through you.

Once he comes downstairs, Sarah had gotten the pizza placing it on the table and opening it.

“ I’m so hungry.” She exaggerates.

Rafe comes around her and makes sudden eye contact with you which caught you off guard. Then he goes behind you and grabs a plate as well.

His presence was oddly intimidating and a bit awkward if you have to admit, but that could just be your lack of social skills talking.

He was certainly attractive but you felt like apart of you was wrong for thinking that because he’s Sarah’s brother.

You snap out of your brief daze to Sarah asking if you wanted soda, to which you stuttered yes.

While she turned around to get the soda which was behind a few things, rafe took this opportunity to sneak something inside of the pocket of your jean shorts. He followed that with a soft booty slap.. making sure it wasn’t loud to which Sarah would notice.

A breath of air escaped your lips as he did so, leaving you which your mouth agape in shock as you looked back to him, he tilted his head and lowered his eyes to you.

Which your sure would make any kook girl fold.

You turned your head back to Sarah who was still had her back faced us pouring orange soda in a red solo cup before turning and handing it to you.

“Thanks” you say awkwardly taking a sip while rafe picked up a slice and dropped it on his plate.

Pretending that nothing had just happened was probably the most hardest thing you could’ve done feeling like your nerves were so erratic that they were gonna make you explode.

Not even the ac was masking the heat that radiated off your body in nervousness.

She filled her cup and then picked up her plate, “cmon let’s finish our movie.” She says leading me upstairs.

“Okay.” you say in a soft tone, picking up your plate and taking a brief glance at rafe in the kitchen to see he returned the gaze and wasn’t taking his eyes off of you.

Your eyes retreated to where they were before, and you went on about your business closing Sarah’s door behind you.

You reached into your pocket and pull out a note that you opened fully and noticed the writing in black sharpie that spelled out..

“meet me in my room at 10:00”

Halfway into eating our pizza’s and enjoying the movie we were watching, Sarah turned to me and asked if you’d mind topper coming over for a bit.

You obviously weren’t all for him coming over since it was supposed to be a girl’s sleepover but it seemed like you had no choice now. After all this was Sarah’s house, so you really had no say.

She had called him and turns out he’s coming over in a while.

you finish your pizza, earlier’s encounter still fresh in you mind. Suddenly Sarah got bored of the horror movie because she got off the bed and opened her closet door.

“So Y/N topper had got me this bottle for my birthday.”

As she pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniel’s from the darkness of her closet.

You look up from your phone eyes pleading with her but the look she gave told you that she was gonna drink and you were gonna drink with her. You weren’t going to tell her no either, you had to take your mind off rafe someway.

Before you know it a good two and a half hours past by and you had about four shots. Currently working on your fifth while topper was swapping saliva with Sarah on her bed, you figured going to the bathroom just to give them some alone time because you weren’t trying to see it, but partially being from the alcohol that entered your system slowly making its way to your bladder.

You get up from Sarah’s large pink bean bag instantly feeling lightheaded standing up so quickly, you drunkenly stumble towards her door and glance in Sarah’s direction now she was layed down on her bed, topper on top of her still kissing. “I’m going to the bathroom.”you say knowing she didn’t really give a fuck in the moment. But being drunk made you silly.

You open the door and drunkenly stumble your way down the hall, once you make in her bathroom you obviously go pee and then wash your face, suddenly remembering the interaction you had with a certain someone earlier, and the note.

You feel a heat in your chest as you dry your face with a clean towel.

You pull your phone from your pocket and read the numbers that read 10:08, it was time. you feel a rush of anxiety course through your body.

You muster up all the courage and open the door making your way down the hall towards rafe’s room.

You are so nervous to even think about what’s gonna happen once you walk inside, you hesitate to turn his door knob feeling overwhelming anxious, but once you do you are welcomed to a dim room lit by a lamp in the corner, and rafe standing in the middle of it.

He’s wearing a grey tank top and tan shorts secured by a black belt. He looks quite delicious if you’ll admit.

His hair looks a bit wet so you assume he got out of the shower a bit ago.

He looks over to you when he hears the door creak open, a pleasant grin slowly creeps on his face.

He softly sighs, “I didn’t think you’d come Sarah seems to be on your ass”

“Topper’s here so” your voice fades.

You didn’t really know what to say to be honest. This whole interaction was just awkward. You still don’t even know why exactly he wanted you to come to his room. You being drunk really didn’t help. Suddenly remembering why you are still standing here.. your voice fills the room again.

“So what did you need?”

He gets a bit shy and nervous you can tell from him fumbling with his fingers, still trying to practice in his head what he was going to say.

He leans on the bed, “nothing I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Okay about what” you say slowly lowering yourself on his mattress.

“I-I heard what you said earlier” he says awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

“What did I say?” You reply back curiously furrowing your brows.

Y-You know about you being a virgin.

Your eyes wide a bit at the statement.

You let out a irritated sigh and let the silence invade the room for a few seconds, meanwhile he doesn’t even know what reaction to expect from you.

Your lips smack and your eyes squint, “you were listening” you say slowly.

You slowly sober up due to the conversation and the embarrassment you now felt.

“ yea I mean I didn’t really mean to but-

“Okay so then why am I in here rafe, I mean you really did all this to just make fun of me.. are you serious” you say scurrying up from his bed.

You are not understanding why exactly he’s telling you this, you’re just annoyed at the thought of him going out of his way to just push your buttons.

“I-I’m not trying to make fun of you Y/N”

He gets up and grabs your hand keeping you in place as he explains.

“Okay, so what did you need to talk to me about?” You say taking a deep breath to calm you down.

“Look I was just trying to get your attention, I was thinking maybe If you wanted, I could show you a thing or two..”

“You mean like sex?”

“Yea I mean you don’t have to but yea.”

“Are you joking?” You say eyes meeting the floor.

He chuckles, “no not today”

You repeat his words back to him “not today?”

“Look I know it’s kind of embarrassing for girls to lose their virginity late but you don’t have to worry I’ll show you so you at least know what to expect.” He says trying to persuade you.

But if you were being honest you secretly wanted to simply because he was right and you really didn’t want to be a virgin forever.

Being drunk made you very gullible and any thought of Sarah who was probably getting laid in the next room, didn’t seem to cross your mind at the moment.

After a few seconds of you just looking at one another, you break the silence.

“Um yea okay” you nervously stutter.

“Alright then” he stands up taking you in with his eyes.

“Is Sarah asleep?”

“No she’s with topper.”

“okay then” he says probably knowing that she’s distracted.

His hands move to your waist and in one swift motion he sits on the bed pulling you on top of him so now your straddling him.

One of his hands move up to the side of your neck and the gap is filled between you when he smashes his lips against yours.

You melted into the steamy kiss feeling his soft wet lips brush between yours, it was quick but it felt passionate.

He tastes the liquor that stained your tongue, he goes a bit feral at the taste and kisses you harder, his big hands scrunch the fabric of your blouse.

You feel his bulge below your clothed core twitching underneath you. Which makes you instantly wet. You feel his tongue past your lips exploring the entirety of your mouth.

He breaks the kiss to take off your shirt, panting in anticipation.

kissing you again, you briefly jump off of him to take off your shorts. He doesn’t waste anytime to take off his shirt while your at it.

Once his shirt is discarded somewhere in the room he’s revealed to your figure in just panties and a bra.

His bulge grew tighter in his pants, but he knew he had to be patient with you, to only go at your pace.

You jump back on him kissing him then trailing soft kisses below his jaw.

His breaths go weaker, “Y/N” he whispered.

You move your head back to look at him, he pulls you to the bed beside him by your waist onto the bed slowly coming on top of you.

He continues to kiss you, slowly moving them down the on your neck and eventually to your stomach.

He moves his head up to you, “can I?”

“Yea” you whisper.

He pulls your panties off throwing them on the side of the bed, he takes in the sight of your exposed cunt, and his mouth waters.

He grabs the side of your hips and tugs them to lower his head between your legs, his wet tongue meets your wet slick and you jolt a bit.

His eyes meet yours for a moment before he starts sucking, your legs tense as he feels how wet you are tasting your precum.

His tongue circles your wet folds and you start to softly moan.

Your juices slosh in his mouth and he knows he should speed it up a bit, he slowly brings his middle finger inside of you.

“Fuck your so wet” he murmurs.

You gasp at the feeling as he starts to pump his finger back and forth, you groan in pleasure as he continues to suck your clit driving you crazy.

After a good minute of him doing that and your raspy moans filling the room, the tightness in his shorts starts feeling painful.

He stops what he’s doing which you let out a frustrated sigh, you hear him fumbling with his belt and you look down, seeing he managed to quickly take it off, and his pulls his shorts down, boxers following. You take in the sight of his aroused dick which is bigger than you expected.

He spits in his hand slowly rubbing down his shaft keeping eye contact with you.

He lowers himself on top of you and lines his dick with your entrance, you feel his wet tip rub on your soaked clit.

“Tell me when you want me to stop.”

You nod and he pushes in slowly, you let out a sigh. You place your hands on his shoulders to balance yourself.

He puts his hands on your thighs and lifts up your legs to place them around his hips for a better angle, his hands go on each side of your head while he starts rocking his hips into yours.

It was painful, the stretch felt like it was burning.

You wince at the pain and you feel his tongue brush past your lips, he swallows all your moans.

His dick felt so hard you felt like you were being split into two, but he stayed at a steady pace.

But as you adjusted to his size the pain slowly turns into pleasure as he buried his face into the crook of your neck.

You feel his hot breath on your neck making you shudder, “Fuck Y/N your so tight” he whines.

“Mmhh” you moan.

He sucks on your neck leaving a small hickey behind.

Your moans become a bit louder as his thrusts become sloppier.

The only sounds that could be heard was the slapping of your skin, the shaky breaths and the occasional creak of the bed, that filled the silent room.

He traps your head between his strong arms and your rest your hand on his bicep and the other comes around to his back.

His hips roll into yours continuously hitting your g-spot. You breath shudders as you feel your release approaching.

“Fuck I -I’m gonna cum” you gasp.

You lock your ankles around each other and start to pull him deeper into you.

He lets out a deep groan as his thrusts becomes a bit sloppier and his hips softly slam into yours.

You feel the euphoria of your orgasm come over you and pick your head up to lean in it against his neck breath shuddering in his ear.

It was quite a intimate moment.

You both look at each other for a minute both recovering from your orgasms.

You instantly feel like maybe you should head out now, knowing that rafe was probably not used to having girls hang around after sex.

“I should go”

You scurry from underneath him and grab your underwear quickly putting them on.

After all it had been a good 15 minutes since you told Sarah you had to go to the bathroom.

“What-what about topper” he says.

You had totally forgotten about Sarah having her boyfriend over.

“I’ll go check if he’s still here?” You put your shirt on.

“Fine” he says.

You quickly grab your shorts and put them on.

You crept down the dark hallway into Sarah’s room barely taking a peak at the bed to see topper and Sarah under the sheets together asleep..

You swiftly grab you overnight bag and your charger and return to rafe’s room.

You walked in and he had his boxers on now putting on his shirt. You took a look at scrunched up sheets on his bed, the aftermath of your sex.

“She asleep?” He asks.

“Yea you mind if I crash in here tonight?”

“Yea go ahead”

You set down your things on the floor, feeling the aftermath of sex take its toll on your body.

Your tired and sore, you go into your bag to find your toothbrush and some sweatpants, and you go to his bathroom to change while he fixed the bed.

You brushed your teeth and then jumped into your sweatpants quickly splashing your face with water.

You leave the bathroom and see rafe at his dresser and you make your way to the now tidy bed.

Slowly sitting down, “so was it okay?”

He chuckles and looks at you “it was more than okay you were perfect.”

You grin a bit at the statement, he throws a shirt on the bed beside you, “Here wear this.”

You quickly replace your shirt.

He lays down, you sit down on the bed next to him and search though your messages, and answered your moms text that your forgot to send earlier.

He leans over to you and starts kissing your back and shoulder.

“Come to bed”

You put your phone down and climb into bed next to him, instantly feeling the his warmth under the sheets, you hook your leg on his waist, quickly fall into a sleepy daze.

the rest of the night he cuddled you tightly and peppered kisses down your cheek to the valley of your neck.

[megamindsecretlair]

It's a Little Warm, Part 3

Pairing: Bucky x Black!Fem!reader / Plus Size reader

Warnings: 18+. Minors DNI. You are in charge of your own reading experience. There is some making out, unresolved sexual tension! There's finally smut. Oral, fem receiving. Slight domination. Cursing. Mild age gap. Reader is late 20s and Bucky is mid 30s. Part 3 of 5. Slow burn to smut though. Some sentences are intentional AAVE.

Summary: Sam Wilson is your play uncle and has invited you and Bucky to stay at a cabin with him, Sarah, and the kids. After your episode, you were ordered to rest. Of course, you don't. Your light goes out and you are in the middle of replacing it when Bucky catches you.

Word Count: 2,948k

Read Part 1 | Read Part 2 | Read Part 4 | Read Part 5

A/N: I wanted to include the dinner, but it would've made this too long and I've got some chores to get to. LOL. So enjoy this bit and hopefully I can get to part 4 soon! Any mistakes are mine. While likes are awesome, please consider commenting and reblogging to help support writers!

Okay, so you lied. You said that you weren’t going to get any work done. But you were never good at following your own rules. You know the person who set them and she’s full of shit. So, even though you were supposed to be resting after your little episode and getting ready for dinner tonight, you were on your laptop researching your latest article. 

You hummed as you searched through other articles, the company website, and social media posts. The light above you flickered again, giving you a mild headache. Stupid cabin. 

As soon as you thought that, the light flickered once more and died dropping you into partial darkness. 

“Shit,” you said. You looked up as if that solved anything. It did not. You pushed away from the desk, grumbling to yourself. The ceiling was too high for you to look into the issue right away. The chair swiveled so you didn’t feel comfortable standing on it. You looked around the room for a piece of furniture you could move easily.

You stomped your foot once, letting yourself have one freakout. You took a deep breath. You were a big girl and you could handle this. 

First, you opened the curtain and blinked through the harsh afternoon light. You hadn’t realized that the day had passed you by. You sucked your teeth thinking about how everyone fawned all over you like you were some dainty, newborn lamb. It was low iron. They acted like you had split your head open.

But no, they wouldn’t let you rejoin the festivities until you took it easy and ate. Once you ate, Uncle Sam and Bucky double teamed you, making you go take a nap and relax. Bunch of babies.

The light slanting into the room highlighted dust motes swirling in the air. It was enough to brighten the room but not really enough to continue working by. So you definitely needed a new lightbulb. You figured everyone was still outside enjoying the sun. 

You opened the door, straining your ears for any signs of life in the house. Finding none, you slipped on your house slippers and padded down the stairs. You felt silly sneaking around for a lightbulb. But you’re not an invalid and bothering someone for something so small was unappealing. Plus, you had changed into a long red shirt.

“I am an adult,” you chanted over and over under your breath. Still, you hurriedly searched the kitchen for a spare lightbulb. There was a pantry towards the back. You checked it and found a stash of spare supplies. There was rope, a flare, batteries, and lightbulbs. You snatched a box and closed the pantry door softly.

Your heartbeat thumped loudly in your chest. Sneaking around made every sound too loud, every feeling too big, and hidden shadows creep in your peripheral vision. You ran up the stairs with your treasure, entered your room, and pushed the door with a silent breath. 

Step one done. You still needed a way to get to the ceiling. While you were able to get away with the light bulb, you doubted Bucky’s super hearing wouldn’t have heard the scrape of a metal ladder. 

The nightstands weren’t tall enough. There was a vintage trunk dresser at the end of the bed, but it was too short as well. Crap. Desk it is. You lifted the long shirt you had on past your legs so you had more movement. You pulled on the desk’s leg until it started to move. You thanked your lucky stars for the plush carpet beneath your feet to muffle the sounds.

You pulled it far enough to reach the ceiling comfortably. You climbed on top and removed the bowl protecting the bulb. You bent down low to place it on the desk, next to your laptop. 

There was no rush, but adrenaline still coursed in your veins. You felt like you were going to get caught at any point. “I am an adult. Nobody can tell me shit,” you told yourself. 

You replaced the faulty lightbulb, having to stand on your tiptoes for a bit of it, to make sure that it was screwed in correctly. Satisfied, you leaned over to grab the ornate bowl.

“Hey, doll, just coming to check on you.” Bucky pushed into your room since you never closed the door all the way. You squealed and wobbled on your way to standing.

Bucky called your name and he was there, his hands locking around your thighs like vice grips. You still kind of wobbled but you found your footing. You clutched the bowl to your chest and yelped. 

“What the hell?” Bucky yelled.

“The hell were you thinking?” You demanded. “Why didn’t you knock?” 

“I did!” 

Your heart beat so loudly and you felt dizzy. You almost fell and broke your neck. Anger suffused you. The overbearing prick.

As you breathed steadily to calm your heartbeat, you realized that Bucky still had his hands on your thighs. On your bare thighs. You looked down. Bucky looked at you as if he wanted to strangle you.

But it also occurred to him that he held his hands around your fleshy thighs. His breaths fanned across and as his eyes slowly tracked down to take in every inch of you. 

“Finish what you were doing,” he said, his voice a deep rumble. 

You licked your lips and took a deep breath. You could barely think as you lifted the bowl and twisted it back into place. 

“Get down here,” he said. You squatted down, feeling his hands still on you, getting higher to steady your sides and your lower back. You sat down on the desk and Bucky was there to crowd your space. 

He pushed in between your thighs and got closer. He was on fire. He smelled and felt like outside, as if he brought the heat in with him. He wore a short-sleeved blue shirt and dark jeans. He placed his hands on either side of you, staring into your eyes with furrowed brows and his lips pursed. 

“What the hell were you thinking?” He asked.

“The lightbulb went out,” you said.

“Why didn’t you come grab one of us? Oh wait, you didn’t want to be a bother right?” Bucky answered his own question so you saw no need to answer. 

Yes, you didn’t want to be a bother. You never did. You made a career out of being low maintenance and you weren’t going to change now. But also…

“I am an adult, James. If I need to change a lightbulb, I’m capable of it,” you said. 

Bucky’s eyes narrowed at your use of his given name. If you were rational, you’d recognize that you royally messed up. Irrationally, your thighs began to tingle and your pussy started to throb. You remembered that while Bucky was a good guy, he was still lethal. 

“You wanna run that by me again?” 

You swallowed hard and shook your head. Bucky smirked, but it was not a pleasant one. He brought his right hand up to caress your face. He grabbed your face, pinching your cheeks and making your full lips poke out.

“You want me to stop?” He asked. 

He only gave you an inch to move. You shook your head. “Words, doll,” he said.

“Don’t stop,” you whispered.

“Why did you think it was a good idea to climb onto a desk to change a light bulb?” 

“I’m short, we climb everything,” you said. Now wasn’t the time to be cheeky, but it was the truth. You’d been climbing on top of furniture and sinks and step stools since you were younger.

Bucky leaned forward and pressed his forehead to yours. “What if you fell?” 

“I’ve been doing this my whole life. If I fall, it’s because you startled me.” 

Bucky suddenly chuckled, switching tactics. “I guess I didn’t make myself clear earlier. You don’t have to do everything yourself anymore. You can rely on people to help,” he said.

You rolled your eyes. Bucky rubbed your face from where he held it to let you speak. 

“We’re only here for a week. If it makes you feel better, I’ll ask for help more while we’re here,” you said. There. That was a good compromise.

Bucky licked his bottom lip and smirked at you. “A week is not remotely long enough to play with you.”

“What?” You whined. Your thighs tried to close but he still stood in between your legs. You needed some type of relief. He was driving you crazy and he hadn’t touched you yet. 

“Did you think we’d be done after this week? That you’d go back home and we never saw each other again?”

“No? I mean, I figured I’d still see you when we all got together, but…” 

Bucky leaned forward and kissed you. His lips moved expertly over yours. His tongue rolled lazily around yours. He sucked on your bottom lip before pulling away.

“I’m not giving you up, doll. You’d have to beat me away with a stick,” he said. 

Your tummy flipped and fresh arousal leaked out of you. You throbbed painfully, your pussy clenching and unclenching. He gave you a heart-stopping smile. 

“Bucky, that’s not…sustainable,” you said.

“You let me worry about that,” he said. 

You smiled nervously. “Bucky…” 

He dropped his head and kissed you again. He brought his right hand up to cradle your jaw. He kissed your lips, the corner of your mouth, and then your neck. Your hands came around his shoulders and lightly rubbed him. You giggled. He hadn’t shaved yet and his stubble was rougher and it tickled your neck.

“If the next words out of your mouth aren’t, ‘yes, Bucky’, then I don’t want to hear it,” he said. 

You bit the inside of your cheek, prepared to defy him. He brought his left hand to squeeze your hip, making you jerk.

The movement also made your shirt ride up. You were wearing the same thing you had on last night. When he stopped you from going further. His eyes darkened as he got a sneak at your panties. 

“I can take care of that for you,” he said. He blinked at you, showing off those deep blue eyes. 

Your chest noticeably moved up and down as you grew more and more excited. “Yes, Bucky,” you said.

Bucky grinned. He left your embrace to close the door. He flipped the lock and a thrill of desire shot through you. Then, he stepped back to you, claiming your lips and cradling your head in his hands. He moved you where he wanted. He angled your face to allow him to kiss you deeper. 

He made your head fuzzy from how well he kissed. He pushed in between your legs, rubbing his thick bulge into the core of you. The rough denim scratched at your thighs and you moaned into his mouth. 

He picked you up and you yelped. Your arms came around his neck and held on for dear life. He chuckled at your reaction and licked your neck. 

He tossed you on the bed and you bounced once. He descended on top of you, pressing you firmly into the mattress. He kissed you and your neck, down to your collarbone. He groaned as he palmed your breasts through the t-shirt you wore. 

You moaned and licked your lips, the anticipation driving you wild. He grabbed your legs and pushed them open, revealing your panties in full. Your cheeks warmed a bit. 

“Do you always wear these?” He asked. His voice was a breathless baritone.

“Yes,” you admitted. Your secret weakness was sexy lingerie. Though you didn’t have anyone that would see them, you liked feeling sexy. You liked wearing completely ordinary clothes like jeans, shorts, or dresses but had on something filthy underneath. It made you feel good so you walked tall.

“You had these last night?” He asked. 

“A version. I shower, like a normal person,” you said. Bucky bent down and bit your thigh. Hard. You cried out.

“Smart ass.” He groaned though. Maybe he was thinking of what he pushed away last night. Good. You liked knowing that you were capable of driving him insane. Bucky lowered his head to rest against your lower tummy, his nose right at the center of you.

He breathed deeply and groaned again. “I wish we had more time. I was supposed to collect you for dinner,” he said. 

You tried to sit up but Bucky pressed his left metal arm onto your chest and pushed you back down. 

“No, I’m going to enjoy this while I can,” he said. Before you could ask what the hell he was on about, Bucky dropped to his knees and licked your panties. 

“Oh god,” you said and rolled your eyes. 

He pressed his nose in further, pushing your panties to rub in-between your pussy lips. He moved the gusset out of the way, and rubbed it between two fingers. 

“Oh, doll. And you’re soaked. All for me?” He asked.

“Yes, Bucky,” you whined. 

Bucky growled in satisfaction. He attacked you. His lips suckled your clit and you bucked off of the bed. His left arm pushed you back down, with enough force to leave no room for movement. 

He swirled your clit with his tongue, lapping up every last drop of your pussy juices. He licked one long stripe from your vagina to your clit. Then he really went to town. He flicked his tongue back and forth. His rapid flicks had you seeing stars. You slid your hands into his hair and pulled.

“Pull harder, doll,” he said. 

You pulled harder like he demanded and he growled. He returned to your pussy, licking and sucking. Desire pooled in your lower belly. You felt ready to reach that peak, you were climbing higher and higher. 

Your thighs started to close. Bucky took his right hand and used his finger to tease your opening. You were so slick, you were sure he would slide right in without issue. He dipped his finger in and he cooed. 

“I’m gonna have to stretch this out before I take you, doll,” he said into your pussy. His lips brushed your clit as he spoke. 

Your thighs wrapped around his head involuntarily. You were so damn close. He just needed to keep…going…just…

He stopped. “Wait, no,” you cried. 

You leaned up to look at Bucky. His beard was dripping with spit and your juices. It was filthy and dirty and so fucking hot you almost came from the sight. He gave you that smile you loved so much. 

He kissed both of your inner thighs, leaving sloppy wet kisses there. 

“That’s what you get for being stubborn. For thinking you were going to get away from me after this week.” 

“Wait, please. I’ll do better. Please,” you panted.

Bucky stood up anyway and found your towel. He licked his lips for one last taste and wiped his face. 

He leaned down and teased your lips, getting close to kissing you and then pulling back at the last minute. You smelled yourself on his lips and leaned forward trying to taste it.

“You get through this dinner like my good little doll and I’ll let you come after,” he said. 

“Bucky, please. I’ll do anything,” you begged. 

Bucky only grinned. “Begging doesn’t work on me either.”

He gave you a quick, punishing kiss before he stood up and smacked your pussy.

“Better hurry. You know Sam is greedy as hell,” he said. As he turned to leave, he pushed your desk back where it belonged. And that fucker really left the room. 

He left you there a cold, wet mess. A cold, wet, unfulfilled mess. You dropped your head back on to the bed, staring at the ceiling, not ready to believe what the hell just happened. 

That peak was long gone, snatched from you at the last minute. You got up, not wanting someone to pass by and see what a mess you made. You stood on shaky legs and headed towards the bathroom to get cleaned up. 

You cursed him ten ways from Sunday. If he thought he would get away with that, he was sorely mistaken. You were going to drive him just as crazy. You grinned evilly as you washed up and headed to your room. You heard him moving in his room. The kids were in their room arguing. 

Uncle Sam called out something so you knew he was headed up. You went to your room and closed the door this time. You found the sexiest pair of lingerie you could find in your suitcase. Then, you found a dress you were saving for your girl’s day with Aunt Sarah. The plan was to have a relaxing day away from the boys for a bit. Let them do whatever it was that men did. Spit, fart, and scratch their ass, you guessed.

It was a dark orange dress with giant flowers on it. It was modest enough to wear around the general public, but made your legs and ass look fantastic. As you shimmied into it, you wondered how many ways you could tease Bucky until he caved. Until he couldn’t take it anymore. Until he got that silly little notion out of his head, that he could deny you your release. 

He was going to pay. You put on strappy sandals and fixed your makeup, going for a soft, innocent look. You smiled into the mirror when you were done. Hell, you brought your vibrator. Maybe you’d fuck yourself to climax tonight and make him listen.

Read Part 1 | Read Part 2 | Read Part 4 | Read Part 5

[photogirl894]

"Sun and Rain Part 2: Age of the Empire"

Chapter 29

"All Too Easy"

A "Bad Batch" fanfic!

Pairing: Hunter x fem OC, Echo (more best friend pairing)

A/N: Back again, my lovelies! Another new chapter just in time before Bad Batch season 3 (y'all, I am NOT ready 😫😫)

However, I wish I could say this chapter will be all sunshine and rainbows...but I'd be lying 😅 Cuz you know, we're on Bracca...we all know what happens there. Also, I skipped over a couple parts of the episode for the sake of brevity and cuz I didn't wanna split it into two chapters 😝

Enjoy anyway!!

Taglist: @the-sad-batch , @nimata-beroya , @intrepidmare , @cole-kenxbi , @tech-aficionado , @ladykatakuri , @d1n0-dan , @sammi9498 , @darthzero22 , @scarlettrose9901 , @thebadbatchscyare , @chxpsi , @ilikemymendarkandfictional , @4pplecider , @locitapurplepink , @l-lend , @nekotaetae , @eternalwaffle , @merkitty49 , @avathebestx , @idoubleswearimawriter , @techs-stitches , @fantasyproductions , @sverdgeir

《 Chapter 28

》 Chapter 30

All chapters (Part 2) (Part 1)

Explanation: While still on Bracca, things take an awful turn for the Bad Batch.

Kimber found herself somewhere in the middle of the Bracca shipyard, sitting on an edge and watching the sun setting in the distance. For the first time in a long time, she felt content; like everything was back to the way it was.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a sunset,” said a familiar, nasally voice.

She turned and smiled at Crosshair, who had just seated himself beside her. He was back in his Bad Batch armor, which made her smile even more. 

“I’d imagine. The sun isn’t seen much on Kamino,” she said.

He didn’t say anything and just simply grinned.

“I’m glad we get to watch them together again,” Kimber told him, nudging him lightly with her shoulder. 

His arm came up round her shoulders and he answered, “Me too, sunshine.”

Her smile grew even more as she laid her head on his shoulder. Hearing him call her “sunshine” again on top of him just being there made her happier than she could ever put into words. This was the way things were meant to be; the way they should always have been. 

As the sun got lower, her eyes drifted down slightly and watched the line of the sunlight going down Crosshair’s body. However, as it descended, she noticed something was happening to him. As the sun line passed, his armor was shifting from red and gray to black...changing back into his Imperial armor.  

Just as the realization hit her, Crosshair’s hand that had been resting on her shoulder suddenly moved up and grabbed her roughly by her face, pulling her up right next to his head.

“Did you really think it was going to be that easy?” he hissed in her ear. 

“Crosshair--!” she gasped, but he silenced her by moving his hand up over her mouth. 

“I’m not coming back for you,” he said with a growl. “You’re leading me straight to all of you, which is what I want. You will be Clone Force 99’s downfall.”

She struggled against his hand. “No!” she cried.

There was a rumble next to her ear as he chuckled, amused. “I’ll be seeing you soon…sister.”

Next thing Kimber knew, he shoved her off the edge and sent her falling towards the ground. As she hurtled towards the ship parts down below, she heard Hunter’s voice crying out for her, followed by the sound of a blaster shot and then Omega screaming for Hunter.

Kimber jolted awake with a gasp and it took her a moment to process that she was out of her nightmare and back inside her bunk in the Marauder. It had been a while since her last one. 

The bed shifted slightly and Hunter came into her peripheral vision. “Kimber? Are you okay? Did you have another nightmare?” he asked her, laying a hand on her arm. 

It took her a moment to compose herself and then she nodded.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he then inquired.

Any other time, Kimber would’ve relayed her dreams to him without question, but this was a different situation. Her nightmare had been about Crosshair and in order to explain why, she would have to tell him about the conversation she’d had with him prior…as well as all the messages she’d secretly sent to Crosshair for weeks. Despite not wanting to keep secrets from Hunter, she knew she had to keep this a secret for now. Hunter hadn’t been very receptive to talking about Crosshair for some time now, which was part of why Kimber had to cope with Crosshair’s absence in a different way. If Hunter found out what she’d done, it would not go over well. She just figured it’d be better to reveal everything once Crosshair came and she could explain everything. Hopefully once he and the others knew that Crosshair was going to get his chip removed, they’d be more receptive to him and then everything could go back to normal like they all wanted.

Instead, after taking a deep breath, she just responded to him, thinking it would be enough to deter him, “It’s nothing…I dreamt that I was drowning and being pulled underwater by the dianoga we faced earlier. It just…startled me.”

Hunter seemed convinced and just gently hugged her close to him. “It’s all right, sweetheart. I'm here, you’re safe. Nothing’s gonna hurt you.”

She snuggled up closer, nestling her head in his shoulder and taking in his warmth. “I know.”

Instead of leaving Bracca right away, the Bad Batch had decided they would stay the night and rest and then figure out their next plan the following day. They were all exhausted from the day’s events, so luckily they all rested well. Then the next day, Wrecker and Omega went out for a while because they’d found a thermal explosive and, realizing there could be lots of them throughout the shipyard, Wrecker wanted to teach Omega how to disable an explosive as a precaution and test her.

Hunter and Tech stayed behind at the cruiser while Kimber and Echo went out on their own, as well, to just kind of scout the area as well as seeing what else they could find. 

“Keep your eyes out for any scrappers,” Echo warned Kimber as they walked through the shipyard. 

“Got it,” she answered. 

Though, as they kept going and searching, she kept her eyes on Echo. Something about him seemed off and she couldn’t exactly place why. Maybe he was just still recovering from the surgery and wasn’t quite feeling himself at the moment. Though, she still couldn’t help but wonder if it was something else.

“Hey…are you okay, Echo?” she inquired. “You seem a little…off this morning.”

He stopped and sighed loudly. “I’m fine. I just…I talked to Rex last night sometime before he left.”

“Oh? What did he say?” she asked.

Her best friend looked a little dejected as he responded, “He told me of his plan to find other Clones and get their chips out. Not only that, but he’s hoping to build up a network to resist against the Empire eventually. I just think we should’ve gone with him instead of staying here.”

She then understood his predicament and laid a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve always been unwaveringly loyal to Rex as well as your reg brothers. I don’t blame you for feeling the way you do.”

Turning to face her, he asked back, “Do you agree with me, Kim? Don’t you think we’re meant for more than this? There’s more we could do to fight against the Empire and helping Rex build up a resistance would be better suited for us.”

She gave it thought for a few seconds and replied, “If we were up against the Separatists, I would’ve agreed in a heartbeat…but this is the Empire we’re now facing, an enemy of a much grander scale than they ever were. Not to mention an enemy that’s hunting us specifically. It’s better for us to remain under the radar the way we are now.”

“But think of all the good we can do for the galaxy if we’d gone with him,” he countered.

“I know and I don’t disagree,” she said back. “Perhaps, one day, we will be able to join up with Rex and help him find more Clones, but it’s just not the right time for us at present. That doesn’t mean we still can’t help in our own way, but we have our own problems to figure out first.” 

Still mildly dissatisfied, he turned away, diverting his gaze to the ground.

However, Kimber brought her hand to Echo’s cheek and gently guided his eyes back to look at her. “You’re not wrong for wanting to do more. I understand what you’re thinking, I do. The time for greater bravery will come. We just need to wait everything out until that time comes.”

“I’m just impatient,” he stated. 

“I know you are,” she said, nudging him with her elbow. 

“I don’t want us to have to keep working for Cid. It’s a waste of our time and skills,” he added. “You know she’s just using us to make money and doesn’t care about us at all.”

She rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I know. I don’t like working for that miserable, old dragon lady either. It’s not ideal, but we still have our debt to pay and it’s just what we have to do for now.” Then she muttered, “Though, I’m half-tempted to see if Kida has any family funds she can pull from to just cover our debt and we can get out of it.”

“I’m sure she’d do it,” he commented. “At this point, I’d try anything.”

However, Kimber shook her head and said back, “No, I won’t do that. We’re not that desperate yet.”

Then Echo groaned in exasperation. “You really had me going there.” 

“Sorry to disappoint,” she said with a chuckle. 

He bumped her with his shoulder teasingly, causing her to laugh a little more. 

Just then, Echo’s comm chirped and they heard Hunter’s voice, saying, “Echo, Kimber, head on back to the cruiser. Get Wrecker and Omega, too.”

“Copy that,” Echo replied. 

Putting her hands on her hips, Kimber declared, “Well, let’s go find the two troublemakers.”

The two of them ventured off and didn’t take them long to find Wrecker and Omega as they heard Wrecker loudly yelling, “Too late! Run for it!” in the distance.

“Something tells me Omega messed up on diffusing the explosive and he’s messing with her,” Kimber commented to Echo.

He snickered. “Good thing he thought to use a smoke bomb,” he responded. 

They made their way over through the wreckage until they came to a hill, where down below they spotted Wrecker teasing Omega about being afraid of a smoke bomb instead of a real explosive. Echo called down to the both of them, telling them to pack it in because Hunter wanted them all back at the cruiser. Then both he and Kimber jumped down from the ledge they were on to meet up with the other two.

“How’d the test go?” Echo asked Omega, who looked frustrated.

To further confirm that she was, she looked away and grumbled, “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Cheer up, kid. I failed my first disarming test, too,” Wrecker reassured her. “With my help, you’ll be a pro in no time.”

“I failed my first, too,” added Kimber. Then she smirked up at Wrecker and said, “I think Wrecker’s just a lousy teacher.”

“Ouch, that hurts,” replied Wrecker, feigning pain by putting a hand over his chest before punching her lightheartedly in the arm. “I’ll remember that the next time you want a swimming lesson.”

They all laughed and proceeded to all walk together back in the direction of the cruiser. However, as they were walking, they could see light reflecting off of something in a crevice nearby and realized it was a scrapper watching them. Echo and Kimber then spotted more than one hiding together, watching them.

Keeping casual, Echo muttered under his breath to warn the others, “We’ve got eyes on us.”

“Yeah, I see ‘em,” Wrecker replied quietly.

“How many?” Omega whispered. 

“At least three,” Kimber answered. 

“Stay casual,” Echo told them. Then turning slightly over his shoulder, he asked, “Wrecker, Kimber, you ready?”

Wrecker responded, “Waiting on you.”

“Ready when you both are,” answered Kimber.

They all threw on their helmets and took off running towards the scrappers, hoping to catch them off guard. It seemed to work because once the scrappers saw them coming, they panicked and started running back to their large, round speeder. Wrecker was quick with his blaster rifle and was able to stun two of the three, but the last one managed to dodge the stun blast and got the speeder ready to take off.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Wrecker cried out, grabbing the edge of the speeder to keep it from leaving. However, as he grabbed hold, the one scrapper started to speed away, taking Wrecker with them. “I've got this under control!” Wrecker called over his shoulder. 

“Not good,” Kimber commented. Then she got on her helmet comm right away and said, “Hunter, Tech. We were spotted by scrappers.”

Then Omega chimed in, “Wrecker is in pursuit. He says he has it under control.”

“Kimber, get a visual,” Hunter ordered over the comm.

“I'm on it!” she answered. 

Quickly, she looked around for a good vantage point. The scrapper was driving in circles around the area in an attempt to shake Wrecker off. There was a tall, makeshift hill made of ship parts just a couple yards away that would help her.

“Echo, cover me!” she cried out as she took off towards the hill. 

Without question, Echo followed after her, keeping his eyes out for the scrapper’s speeder coming back around. 

Kimber climbed up to the peak of the hill, getting her rifle ready as she reached the top and crouched down. She raised it up, peering through her scope as she looked for the scrapper.

“Kim, on your left!” she heard Echo call to her. 

As he did, she saw the speeder come around a corner just as Wrecker let go and dropped to the ground into a roll. The scrapper zoomed by, passing just meters in front of her. 

“I don't think so,” she said out loud as she took the stunning shot. 

She hit her mark and the scrapper fell unconscious at the wheel, sending the speeder crashing into a wall and the driver was thrown from the speeder over a ledge. 

As she stood up and rested her sniper rifle on her shoulder, Echo commented, “Nice shot.”

“I still got it,” she replied, giving a confident shrug of the shoulder as she started walking down to join him.

They jogged over to where Wrecker had landed and where Omega was now handing him his things he'd dropped in the pursuit.

Kimber asked him, “Are you okay, Wrecker?”

He took his blaster rifle from Omega and responded as he put it on his back, “I was just waiting to make my move.”

Chuckling, she replied, “Of course, you were.”

“Come on, let's grab the scrappers and then meet back with Hunter and Tech at the cruiser,” ordered Echo. 

After gathering all the unconscious scrappers, the four of them went back to the cruiser just as it was beginning to get darker outside. Hunter told them he wanted to go through the ship and gather as many weapons from inside as they could in order to clear their debt with Cid. Tech also indicated he could gather intel from the ship's central system that could be worth selling, as well. Omega and Wrecker were indifferent to the situation, but Echo didn't fully agree with it, arguing that they were soldiers, not arms smugglers. Kimber understood both sides. Echo was still stuck in the past of being a dedicated soldier as well as wanting to fight more against the Empire, but they were in a difficult predicament with Cid and Hunter was doing his best to try and get them all out of it. They wouldn't, at least, be doing this for forever. Hunter didn't leave much more room for debate as he stated they had to take this opportunity while they could and retreated inside the ship. The others went after and Echo was the last, following reluctantly. 

Everyone was going to the artillery bay while Tech was heading for the bridge to gather the intel as well as getting the power to the ship back online. Kimber decided to go with him in case he needed any help. The bridge was dark inside, save for some natural lighting coming from outside and the occasional sparks that fell from the ceiling. Once they got there, Tech began pushing a few buttons and switches on the central console.

“Will this banged up cruiser still have power left?” Kimber asked him. 

“Most Venator cruisers have rather large power reserves that last a long time,” Tech informed her as he started doing some scans on his datapad. “Even if the ship is out of commission like this one, it's still possible to tap into the backup power.” 

After his scans were done, he began trying his hand at the buttons again until finally, there was a hum that emanated from the console and spread through the bridge. The lights on the switches flashed on and the ones in the room flickered dimly.

He activated his helmet comm. “The power's back on,” he told the others.

“Yeah, we can see that,” Wrecker responded. 

“Nicely done, Tech,” said Kimber. “Now the question is: is there still salvageable intel in the central system?”

“A question I intend to answer momentarily,” he stated as he got to his knees, laid down on his back and inched underneath the main console, getting out his welding pick. 

While Tech got to work, Kimber glanced outside the viewport at the landscape full of crashed ships and wreckage of all sorts. The sky was beginning to get cloudy and dark as evening was falling. Her gaze wandered up to the sky for a moment, wondering when Crosshair would be arriving. After she’d told him where they were, he said it wouldn’t take him long to get there. It was a bit difficult to determine if she was excited to see him again or not. While she was glad to know he was coming back so they could all be together again, she had a feeling the meeting with the rest of the squad wasn’t going to go over all that well at first. Especially with Hunter. Despite that, she was certain they’d be able to get things worked out. After that, they’d get Crosshair’s chip out and then they’d be a complete family again. 

After a short, contemplative moment, she shook her head and brought herself back to the situation at hand. She peeked down at Tech, who was still prodding away with his welding pick. “How’s it looking?” she asked him.

Coming out from under the console, he responded to her, “We’re in luck.” As he then plugged in a cord connected to the console into his datapad, he informed her, “Whoever scuttled this ship didn’t wipe the hardware’s data imprint. I’m transferring the files, but I still need to copy the master drive.”

“I can do it for you,” she offered.

Tech then withdrew a computer spike from his belt and told her the master drive was under a certain panel on the console. Kimber took the spike and was about ready to plug it in when a button on the console started flashing red. 

“Tech, this button’s blinking. Isn’t this the proximity sensor?” she asked him. He’d taught her a couple things regarding ship controls, but it had been a while since they’d last discussed such topics, so she wasn’t entirely sure of what the button was off the top of her head.

He came out from his spot, stood up and walked up next to her. “You are correct. It signals when there’s an approaching vessel. It’s most likely a short circuit,” he answered dismissively.

Right then, they both heard the sounds of incoming ships…and to their surprise, three ships zoomed overhead of the cruiser. 

Recognizing the types of ships they were, Kimber stated aloud, “Those are Imperial attack shuttles.” The Empire had found them! But how?

Immediately, Tech got on his comm and said, “Hunter, we’ve got company.”

Hunter’s voice came through, inquiring, “Is it more scrappers?”

“No…it’s the Empire,” Tech answered. 

“You’d better get up here,” Kimber added over the comms.

“I’m on my way,” Hunter replied. 

Tech quickly unplugged his datapad from the central console and started typing things out on it right away. Kimber went up to the console, got down onto a knee, withdrew her sniper rifle and set it on the console, using the long-range scope to keep an eye on the shuttles. How had the Empire discovered where they were? Had they gotten to Crosshair? Is that how they’d figured it out? She saw Imperial Clone troopers exiting the two shuttles on the sides and forming up in lines outside. The middle shuttle was the last to let its troopers out.

It didn’t take long for Hunter to get to the bridge. Just as he got there, he took out his binoculars and watched the last group of soldiers coming out of the shuttle. “That must be the command shuttle,” he pointed out. 

Just as he said that, a group of soldiers in dark armor dismounted the shuttle with one soldier at the front without a helmet…and Kimber’s blood ran chill.

It was Crosshair. 

Hunter sighed and then said, irritated, “It’s Crosshair, all right.”

Kimber couldn’t move or speak as she watched Crosshair through her scope. No…it couldn’t be. He was supposed to come alone; he was supposed to come back to them. Yet there he was with an entire battalion of soldiers to come after them. Then it all hit her at once what was going on.

Crosshair had used her. 

He had lied to her and, in her desperation to have him back, she’d given him their location, thinking he’d been truthful about his intentions…which now, she realized she should’ve known better. He still had the chip in his head, so why would he suddenly show interest in returning to them? How could she have been so stupid?  

“Oh no…what have I done?” she whispered, her rifle lowering.

Behind her, Tech relayed to Hunter, “He won’t be able to detect us. I’m blocking their scanners.”

“That won’t stop him…,” Kimber told him in a low voice. If she knew her old partner, this was not going to be an easy escape from him by any means.

She felt Hunter’s hand on her shoulder and when she looked up at him, he told her, “Don’t worry, we’ll get out of this. Come on.”

As he turned and ran out with Tech, Kimber had a feeling he was mistaking her reaction for fear at seeing Crosshair there. This was not going to be good. Preparing herself for whatever was to come, she put her rifle back in its place on her back and followed after Hunter and Tech.

They found Echo, Omega and Wrecker already waiting for them outside of the corridor that led up to the bridge. Echo had a cart full of crates--most likely filled with weapons or artillery of some kind--and Wrecker had a proton torpedo resting on one shoulder and another crate slung over the other.

“How many troopers we talking about?” asked Echo as they all came together.

“Three attack shuttles’ worth,” Tech told him. 

“We already got what we came for. Let’s get to the Marauder,” suggested Wrecker.

“Wrecker’s right. We need to move now and fast,” added Kimber.

Hunter stated that they needed a covert way out since Crosshair and the Imperial troops were already on board the cruiser. Echo suggested they alternate corridors as he predicted the Imperials would do a forward-to-aft sweep. With that plan in mind, they moved quickly yet quietly through the corridors. Tech was tapping into the enemy's comms to monitor their movements. At one point, they had to hide in one of the halls to avoid detection as troopers came marching through. Just as the soldiers left, Tech got through into the enemy's comms and they heard Crosshair's voice give his orders: to push the Bad Batch towards the hangar…which was where they were already headed. With that in mind, Hunter told them to cut through the artillery deck instead, hoping to get ahead of the Imperials. 

As they went, Kimber could feel her anxiety building with every step. If they ended up crossing paths with Crosshair here, she was in huge trouble. He would definitely reveal how he figured out where they were. If they somehow managed to elude him, she could easily lie and say she didn't know how the Empire found them…but she knew it would kill her even more to lie and keep such a secret from her boys. Even more so from Hunter. 

Soon, they got to the artillery deck; a long, wide room with several huge cannons aimed through the sides of the walls. Echo, Tech and Wrecker went and peeked over the edge to see the long drop down to the ground. 

“Okay, I'm not going out that way,” Wrecker stated nervously. 

“Hopefully, we won't have to,” Kimber assured him. 

“There they are!”

Doors on all sides of the room burst open and suddenly, the Bad Batch found themselves surrounded by the Imperials. Wrecker, Echo and Tech ducked behind one of the cannons while Hunter drew his blaster and pushed Omega behind him. Kimber pulled out her rifle and positioned herself behind Omega, keeping the girl protected between her and Hunter. 

Then a voice she hadn't heard in person for some time spoke up mockingly behind her: “Tapping our comms to track our movements? So predictable.”

“Blast! He really does know our every move,” Kimber thought to herself. Slowly, she looked back over her shoulder and sure enough, there was Crosshair, standing on the other side of the room with his rifle aimed at them and several Imperials standing behind him, all with their weapons drawn. 

Wrecker scoffed aloud and peeked out from behind the cannon. “Nice to see you, too, Crosshair,” he retorted sarcastically. 

Kimber gulped at seeing Crosshair. She had a bad feeling about this. 

“Look at you all, scavenging like rats,” Crosshair taunted them, his attention on Hunter for the moment. “How pathetic.”

“Why come after us?” Hunter demanded.

“You're traitors,” Crosshair answered, giving the signal to the other soldiers to surround them.

“Crosshair, wake up!” Hunter pleaded. “You're being controlled by an inhibitor chip.”

Kimber’s grip on her rifle tightened. “Oh no….”

Then Omega stepped out and said, “He's telling the truth. The Kaminoans put chips in all the Clones.”

She was about to say more, but Crosshair interrupted her, “I know all about the chip already.”

“What? How? When?” Hunter asked.

There was a small moment of silence before Crosshair gave his answer. Three words that changed everything:

“Kimber told me.”

She flinched at hearing him say her name and she clenched her teeth together, having been dreading this moment. Then she could feel everyone's eyes on her. Then she turned fully around to face Crosshair, ignoring the fact that Hunter was staring at her and glad that she couldn't see the inevitable look of shock and disappointment underneath his helmet. 

“What is he talking about, Kimber?” Hunter asked her, a slight tremor in his voice. 

Before she could answer, Crosshair spoke up in a snide, condescending tone, “Oh…she didn't tell you, Hunter? She's been sending me secret transmissions for weeks, pleading for me to come back. I knew the moment I decided to answer her and play along, she would tell me anything in her desperation to get me to come back...and she gave me everything I needed. She led me straight to you.”

All the Clones’ eyes were back on her. However, Wrecker then cried in defense, “Kimber would never do such a thing!”

“If you don't believe me…ask her,” Crosshair jeered back. 

“Kimber…please tell me he's lying,” Hunter implored her. “Please tell me you didn't do what he said.”

She turned away in shame for but a moment and then looked back at Crosshair, her anger boiling within her. “You used me,” she said, seething. “I thought you wanted to come back. You manipulated my feelings and you betrayed me!” 

“You made it all too easy,” he said back dismissively. 

“A mistake, I swear I won't be making again,” she vowed, raising her rifle up and aiming it at him. 

Crosshair stepped forward. “I suggest you drop your weapon--”

Suddenly, the cannon next to them where Tech, Echo and Wrecker had been hiding behind activated and fired a shot, causing a kickback in the machine that slammed into Crosshair and his troops and knocked them off their feet. The rest of the room trembled from the shot, but the Bad Batch used that to their advantage. They all began firing at the remaining Imperials around them that were still standing. Some of the ceiling began to collapse and they had to jump out of the way of the falling debris. Once it seemed the way was clear, they all ran at Hunter's orders towards the doors on the other side. They were stopped in the doorway by a trooper who shot a jet of flame at them with their flamethrower, but Wrecker was quick to act and he launched his proton torpedo at them, knocking them back.

“Direct hit! Yeah!” he cheered before picking up his other case and running with the others. 

“I've got a plan to get us out of here! Follow me!” cried Tech. 

They didn't stop running until they reached a corridor that they were able to seal the doors behind them so the Empire's forces couldn't pursue them. For further insurance, both Tech and Hunter welded the edges of the door together. 

Once they finished, Tech stated, “There. That should keep the Empire at bay for now.”

Kimber stepped up and stated, “Guys, I can explain.”

“I don't want to hear anything right now,” Hunter abruptly cut her off, simply walking past her. 

Echo then asked, “Hunter, shouldn't we at least hear her out?”

Stopping and turning back, Hunter responded, “Nothing she says will matter if Crosshair or the Empire catches us, so let's get out of here.” Then without waiting, he continued onward.

The rest of the boys looked back at her for a second and then kept walking after Hunter. 

Kimber stood there, watching them walk away and doing her best to fight back tears. She knew she'd messed up big time and now, her boys were angry at her. Hunter, more than the rest…which she'd predicted right away. They all were now paying the price for her mistake. Even if they all made it off of Bracca after this, it wasn't going to feel like a victory at all. 

She felt a hand on her arm and she looked down to see Omega looking sadly up at her. “Don't feel bad, Kimber. I'm sure you had your reasons for doing what you did,” she tried to reassure her.

“I thought…I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was helping him…but he lied,” Kimber replied. 

“He can't help it. It's not your fault,” Omega said. 

“The boys won't see it that way,” said Kimber. 

Omega took her hand and began pulling her along with her. “They'll come around. I'm sure they will.”

Unfortunately, Kimber did not agree with that sentiment, but she chose to say nothing as the two of them went after the rest of the squad. 

They were led into the ion engine chamber of the Venator, where Tech stated it was their ultimate egress off the cruiser. They made their way deeper into the chamber all the way to the other side that led to the outdoors. However, as they came to the edge of the engines, a shot rang out that nearly hit Tech and Hunter had to catch him before he fell out. To their dismay, Crosshair had headed them off and had been waiting for them outside with another shuttle of Imperials. Hunter ordered everyone to double back, but as they did, they felt the whole engine starting to rumble. Hunter surmised that it sounded like the engines coming back online, but he didn't think that was possible. Although, Tech countered saying that it was possible since he'd restored the ship's main power core when he accessed the central system, so the engines could technically still be activated. 

“Crosshair wouldn't do that…would he?” inquired Omega nervously. 

“Honestly…I wouldn't put anything past him at this point,” Kimber grumbled. 

The air around them began to swirl around and get ducked into the engine as the engine continued powering up. They wondered what they could do and couldn't come up with anything right away. Wrecker suggested Plan 7, but was quickly chided by Echo who reminded him that Plan 7 had nothing to do with their current situation whatsoever. Luckily, Hunter and Tech speedily devised a plan to use the explosives from the armory on the cone of the engine to break away before the engine engaged. They each took an explosive and placed them where they could around the ring of the engine. The quaking intensified, which meant that the engine was close to activating and they were running out of time. Wrecker took out the control to activate the explosives and everyone got down to the ground just as he pressed the button. The explosives all went off, severing the cone from the engine with multiple small explosions. Once that happened, the floor beneath them lurched along with them. The cone fell straight down and they had to run along the floor, which soon turned into a wall they had to climb and grab onto to keep from falling. Soon, the engine cone hit the ground and lurched again, causing most of them to fall. Wrecker caught Echo, but Hunter and Tech fell a few feet and landed on a ledge. Omega landed right onto Hunter and he tumbled over the edge, but quickly flipped back and grabbed the ledge with one hand while holding Omega against him with the other. Tech caught Kimber’s hand and halted her fall. 

“Hang on, Kimber!” he called to her. 

The cone began to lean again, prompting them to get back to their feet, but seconds later, it crashed and split down the middle. Kimber felt the ground beneath her jolt and she fell backwards as the half she fell into started rolling. Her body rolled and she was getting tossed about painfully, colliding with the ridges of the cone for a few moments until finally it stopped rolling. It took her a second to get her balance and regain her bearings. Once she got to her feet, she realized that Hunter and Omega were close by, but there was no sign of Echo, Wrecker or Tech. 

Just as she was about to get on comms, Echo's voice came through in her helmet: “Hunter, Kimber, we landed on the port side. What's your status?”

Hunter looked over to see Kimber was with him before answering, “We're by the engine and we've got company.” 

Just then, one of the shuttles flew overhead and shot down at them. Fortunately, it missed, but the shots came close to hitting them.

“Meet back at the Marauder,” Hunter ordered the others as he and Omega took off running. 

Kimber followed them for a few yards until they ducked behind a large metal pillar to stop and catch their breath. 

“Do you think we'll make it back all right?” asked Kimber. 

“You'd better hope we do. You're the reason we're in this mess in the first place,” he spat back.

“Hunter, I'm sorry,” she said with despair, his stinging remark cutting deep.

“Let's hurry,” he said before running again, seemingly ignoring her apology. 

The three of them ran as fast as they could, making their way through all the ship wreckage back in the direction of where they had parked the Marauder. All the while, they kept their eyes out for any Imperial shuttles in the sky. 

They climbed their way up into the area where the ship was and were surprised to see a docked Imperial shuttle next to the Marauder and a few Imperial soldiers…all lying dead around the ship. 

“What happened to them?” Omega whispered. 

Hunter and Kimber stealthily moved forward to examine the closest dead soldier. 

“Someone's here. This wasn't the scrapper's handiwork,” Hunter stated quietly. 

Then another voice; a deeper, alien-like voice spoke nearby, “Wasn't much work.”

All three of them looked up to see someone leaning against the open doorway to their ship. A Duros; a blue-skinned, red-eyed alien with tubes attached to his neck, who was wearing brown leather armor and a wide-brimmed hat. Two blasters rested against his hips in their holsters. Whoever this guy was, he looked very dangerous. Very much like a bounty hunter.

“Omega, get behind us,” Kimber told the young girl. 

The newcomer casually strode down the steps of the ship towards them, being followed by a small boxy Droid hovering on two boosters in its legs. 

He said to them, mostly to Hunter, as he nonchalantly took out a toothpick and put it between his razor teeth, “I've taken down so many Clones over the years. Once you figure out one, the rest are easy.”

“You're in for a surprise,” Hunter challenged him. 

“I doubt that,” the Duros responded. 

Omega then observed aloud, “He's a bounty hunter.”

“Ain't you smart?” the now-confirmed bounty hunter said to her sarcastically. Then he said as an aside to his Droid, “The kid's got it all figured out.”

Kimber took a step forward. “Don't you dare speak to her.”

“Better watch yourself, missy,” the bounty hunter warned her, “or things are gonna get messy real fast.”

The little Droid then taunted them in a higher-pitched voice, “You're in trouble now.”

“Who hired you?” Hunter asked firmly. 

“Son, that's confidential information,” the Duros simply replied back. “Now hand her over.”

He was looking at Omega. 

“She's with us. She's not going anywhere,” Hunter told him, moving forward into a defensive position. 

The bounty hunter also stepped forward, drumming his fingers on his blaster. “That's unfortunate…for you.”

Kimber watched Hunter carefully as he ever so slowly edged his hand just above his own blaster, never taking his eyes off the bounty hunter. The tension in the moment was almost physical; like she could feel it or even taste it. There was no telling how this was going to go, but she was confident in Hunter's abilities. He'd surely take care of this threat without issue. She sidestepped slightly to put herself in front of Omega.

Then everything happened so fast.

Both Hunter and the Duros whipped out their blasters and fired and suddenly, Hunter dropped to the ground, unmoving and with a smoking blaster hole in his chest. 

His own shot had diverted and hit the Droid in the leg. The Duros quickly holstered his blaster without a second thought.

Kimber's heart ceased beating. This couldn't be happening. She wasn't seeing this; it wasn't real. Her Sergeant couldn't have been beaten like this. Flashes of a previous nightmare she'd had a long time ago of seeing Hunter shot in front of her and then her recent one of hearing his voice followed by a blaster shot filled her mind.

“Hunter!” she shrieked in terror. 

In her anger, she went for her own blaster, but then she heard Omega cry out Hunter's name behind and suddenly, out of her peripherals, she could see the young girl running towards Hunter. 

“Omega, no!” she shouted, moving and reaching out to grab her. 

There was the sound of another blaster shot and searing pain shot up from just above Kimber's knee through her whole leg, causing her to fall to the ground with an agonized yelp. Omega halted, calling out for Kimber before looking back at the bounty hunter, terrified. 

“Sorry, little lady,” he said to her, pointing his blaster at her and firing a stunning blast at the girl just as she drew her bow, making her drop unconscious. 

“No…!” Kimber cried through a pained moan. She reached for her blaster, but as she grabbed it, the bounty hunter's Droid swooped in and knocked it from her hand. 

The bounty hunter came over and towered over her, his almost glowing red eyes leering down at her menacingly. “I wouldn't do that if I were you, missy. If you know what's best for the kid…and unless you wanna end up like your Clone friend….” He then raised his boot and stepped down right on her leg where she'd been shot, pushing slowly down on her and eliciting a scream from her. Then he finished his threat with, “Then you'll stay down and not cause a scene.”

She clenched her teeth tight and tears spilled out the corners of her eyes as she fought the agony in her leg. Even if she wanted to risk fighting this bounty hunter to protect Omega, she knew there was no way she'd be able to even stand on her leg, let alone walk or fight. He'd wounded her badly and she knew, to her great dismay, that she was down for the count. 

She watched in despair as the bounty hunter scooped up Omega’s limp form and slung her over his shoulder, calling for his Droid to follow. They got into the Imperial shuttle and before long, the ship lifted off the ground and took off. A yell of anguish, both from the pain of her wound and the pain of losing both Hunter and Omega, ripped itself from her throat. Her nightmare from the night before returned to her mind. She heard Crosshair’s voice telling her she would be Clone Force 99’s downfall…and for once, her nightmare had come true. 

Because of her, everything had gone wrong.

Kimber had failed.

She crawled her way--albeit painfully--over to Hunter, tears falling down her face as she cried his name. He couldn’t be dead…he just couldn’t be. When she reached his unmoving body, she pressed her hand to his neck. To her immense relief, there was still a pulse. Hunter was alive.

Knowing that, she activated her helmet comm and spoke through grunts of pain, “Echo…Tech…Wrecker…help!”

“We hear you, Kimber. Where are you?” she heard Tech respond.

The wound in her leg was throbbing intensely and she moaned again, getting out what words she could, “Marauder…Hunter…and I…been shot. Hurry!”

Then she heard Echo reassure her, a hint of urgency in his voice, “Hold on, Kim. We’re coming!”

Kimber collapsed next to Hunter, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly. “I’m…so sorry, my love,” she whispered, knowing he most likely couldn’t hear her. “I’m so sorry.”

He stirred slightly and she heard a light groan from under his helmet.

“Hunter?” she asked, inching closer to him.

Just then, she heard running footsteps approaching and heard Echo call out for them as he, Tech and Wrecker appeared in front of them. Echo knelt at her side and helped her sit up.

Picking up Omega’s bow that had gotten left behind, Wrecker demanded, “What happened? Where’s Omega?”

“Bounty…hunter,” she answered as she sat up, gritting her teeth from the burning in her leg. “He…shot us…and took her.”

“Hunter has been shot through the chest plate. We have to get him onboard,” Tech informed the others.

As Echo got Kimber to her feet, Wrecker yelled out, “Incoming!” and started firing behind them just as more soldiers came into view. Tech pulled Hunter up and pulled him into the ship while Echo scooped Kimber up into his arms and carried her inside. Once they all were onboard and the door was closed, Tech practically leapt into the pilot’s seat, powered up the ship and they sped away from the planet. 

Wrecker removed Hunter’s helmet and his eyes were open. He clutched at his chest where he’d been shot and then inquired, “Where’s Omega?”

“A bounty hunter took her. Kimber told us,” Wrecker informed him.

To everyone’s surprise, Hunter whipped around and asked Kimber angrily, “You let him get away with her? Why didn't you protect her?”

Echo was guiding her down into one of the chairs and she replied in equal anger, “I was shot, too, Hunter! There was nothing I could do.”

Hunter’s eyes flashed wide for a second at hearing and seeing that Kimber had been hurt, but his own frustration at her and what she’d done was more powerful in the moment. 

“That isn't very fair, Hunter,” Tech stated over his shoulder at him. “Crosshair was one thing, but I'm certain Kimber had nothing to do with the bounty hunter being there.”

“Though if Crosshair hadn’t shown up and chased us around everywhere, we could’ve been off planet before the bounty hunter even got there,” Hunter said back. 

“Hunter, please!” Kimber pleaded.

He spun his chair around with a slight wince of pain and declared, “No! You put all of us in danger and because of you, Omega’s now gone!”

Echo stepped in between and exclaimed, aggravated, “That’s enough! We can discuss everything later, but right now, we need to tend to both your wounds and we need to get out here before the Empire catches up to us.”

Hunter said nothing and simply cast a look of disappointment at Kimber, a look just as sharp as his vibroblade that cut down deep. She didn’t know what hurt more at that moment, her leg or her heart. Her head fell back against the headrest of the chair and she sucked in air through her teeth.

If they managed to evade Crosshair and the Empire, the rest of this flight was not going to be enjoyable at all.

[thegoldheartlocketandkey-blog]

911 Spoilers Season 3: You’ve been warned. 😅Buddie Rewatch

Episode 3 (Part 2)

If you're seeing this post first, I do have Part 1 up. I wrote over ten pages in my journal for Episode 3 alone and that turns out to be more than character limit for text posts. Here is the notes on the rest of the episode as promised.

Buck calls Maddie using a stranger’s phone. As he speaks you can hear how he is trying to hold back tears as he explains to his sister the day he just had and how he lost Chris. Buck sounds completely broken. Maddie is concerned over Buck and if he is injured. Buck shuts that conversation down and is asking for help on trying to find Chris. As Maddie gives him suggestions, he spots Eddie.

Buck makes a run for it and hides behind a tent. He does not know how or if he can look Eddie in the face and tell him he lost Christopher. Maddie tells him that he is going to have to tell Eddie. Buck cannot comprehend how he can tell his best friend that he lost his son. Maddie is trying to reinsure him that it is okay, Eddie is his father, but he needs to know.  She even tells him that she is headed down there to help him.

The 118 make it to the VA hospital with a truck full of patients. Bobby screams out for help; this is when Eddie walks out of the hospital walks toward the truck. This is when Eddie notices Buck in his peripheral. He walks toward him confused and asks him if he’s okay. Eddie asks about Christopher and Buck cuts him off.

Buck looks into Eddies eyes. There is a pause and silence. Eddie begins to scan Buck looking him down. Making note of the cuts and bruises all down Buck’s body. Eddie’s eyes start to look big as he notices Chris’ glasses around Buck’s neck.

“Why do you have his glasses?”

Buck starts to hold Christopher's glasses as he looks at Eddie. He is stammering when he says, “ I took Christopher to the beach” Eddies eyes get big and he ever so slightly steps back. Both men are looking into each other eyes.

Buck removes Chris’ glasses from around his neck, declaring how hard he tried. Not exactly saying the words that Eddie is obviously preparing to hear. Eddie is fighting hard to hold back his tears, he’s nodding at Buck, trying to be understanding, but his eyes fill up with tears. Buck’s voice cracks and he sounds about ready to sob.

Eddie is looking down, trying to fight his tears when he starts to look up and is visibly shocked. He sees the Spanish woman who was carrying a boy in the red sweater. The hoody is falling off the boy and Eddie recognizes that it is Christopher. Buck has his back turned from this sight.

Eddie zones out, he is no longer listening to Buck and just starts walking towards the woman while saying “Christopher”

Buck slowly turns around, following Eddie’s pathing. Eddie loudly yells “Christopher” and we hear Chris yell back “Dad!”

Eddie snatches Christopher into his arms and embraces him. Buck is visibly shocked and processing this moment. It looks like he is trying to cheer but also holding back tears.

Eddie is gripping on to Chris, repeating thanking the woman.  She asks him if he is Buck. Eddie momentarily confused corrects her and states, no I’m his father. She tells him, that he’s been asking for Buck.

Buck is obviously filled with emotions. We here Chimney making his way towards Buck. Chimney holds on to Buck’s arm. Hen is observing him waiting for a response. Bobbie approaches, but Buck is to focused at Eddie and Christopher to communicate anything. Bobby is the one to notice Buck staring at Eddie.

Eddie is staring back at Buck. They are holding eye contact. Bobby turns back to look at Buck and asks, “you too okay?”

Buck breaks eye contact and looks at Bobby. He’s breathing heavy, says, “We are great”. He begins to collapse on to his knees. Hen and Bobby catch him, Chimney helps by guiding them to a bed. Bobby sits next to him. Hen is hold him from above. Buck is resting his head on Hen’s arm and cupping her arm. His mouth wide open, staring at Eddie and Chris.

Montage of the aftermath, while buck is narrating over it. He is explaining how things sometimes goes wrong, and how we are fighting to survive, searching for love and family. Dreams and futures. For those who are lost. How being lost is not knowing how to get to be where we need to be.

He is sitting at his dining room table looking up at the sky. He is trying to process and contemplating his life choices. He is scratched up and bruised. When he hears a knock on his door.

He opens the door to Eddie and Christopher. Chris goes in for a quick hug. Eddie walks in behind him. Buck is visibly confused as Eddie starts to list off all the things he has brought for Christopher.

Eddie roasting his child in front of him by stating he has never made anything that looks like anything with Legos before. It is in a light hearted tone, but damn, even Christopher is not safe from Eddie’s judgement.

Eddie than lowkey roasts Buck by stating he’s not Carla or his Abuela, but he is working out for Eddie as a babysitter. And than roasts Christopher again by stating he is not too fast.

Buck is confused as to why Eddie would trust him with Christopher again, after everything that happened.

Eddie does not blame Buck. “It was a natural disaster, Buck.” “But, I lost him.” “No you saved him.”

Eddie being understanding and explaining that Christopher remembers Buck as a hero. The person that saved him. Eddie wants Chris to help save Buck too. Buck is expressing how he’s failed Chris. Eddie shutting that down by admitting he’s failed Chris too in the past, but that he doesn’t stop trying.

“I love him enough to not stop trying. I know you do too.”

This entire scene has a lot of eye contact and we can really see the height difference between Buck and Eddie.

Eddie places his hand on Buck’s shoulder, while looking deeply into Buck’s eyes and states, “There is nobody in this world that I trust with my son more than you.”

Eddie dropping that bomb, then casually proceeds to say goodbye to Chris. Buck is left standing there trying to process that he just heard.

Let’s go back to season 2, when Eddie openly admitted that he couldn’t trust Shannon with Chris. Eddie could not trust the boy’s own mother, but trust a man he met about two years ago with out a speckle of doubt.

Eddie makes a joke about staying inland this time as he leaves. Buck is standing there still processing what happened and lets out a slight chuckle.

Before Eddie closes the door behind him, he thanks Buck for not giving up. Buck is confused by this moment as well. Buck stares at Eddie as he closes the door behind him.

Buck smirks to himself as he’s processing what just happened. Buck than narrates about small choices and how they can have a big impact in your life and help one be found.

Buck was found by Eddie and Christopher. He knows that they are his found family. He knows this is where he belongs.

Buck walks over to Chris and they laugh together.

Okay, so a lot happens at the end with Eddie, Buck, and Chris. I want to note that although Buck blames himself for the events of the day and Chris going missing, it never once seemed like Eddie was going to blame him. Not even before they find Christopher and they  knew he was safe. I also want to state that this was Eddie’s first official I love you. Eddie of course is not aware that he said I love you. But Buck heard the I love you.

The way Eddie stared into Bucks eyes and Buck stared right back, you can not tell me that their souls did not see each other. That they are now tied together. I would argue that both Buck and Eddie feel the connection. Buck maybe more aware of it.  There is a split second where it feels like he’s processing his feeling towards Eddie. This is arguably Buck’s “oh” moment. Eddie is just in denial and justifies his emotions toward Buck as regular feeling you have for your best friend.

[pencil-peach]

G Witch Onscreen Text: Episode 6

GRAAAHH!! This is part SEVEN in my attempt to transcribe and discuss all the onscreen text in G Witch!! Because I CAN!!! GRAHH!! We're on episode 6, halfway through season 1!! Grah Graaaahh!!!

Click here to go back to Episode FIVE!! Grahhh!!!

Let us begin.

Not text, but during Bel and Prospera's initial confrontation, the building they're in has art pieces on display. Maybe it's some kind of museum?

Not text again, but we don't get very many looks into the common areas of the 3 branches, so here's Jeturk House's. It's really flashy and gold, huh? It also matches the aesthetic of Vim's office.

During the scene with Bel and El4n, Bel consults the data on this monitor when she tells him that he'll be fine piloting the Pharact for the duel against Suletta. We get a couple of shots of this monitor, so I'll do my best to glean what information I can from it.

On the left side of the monitor is a mockup of the Pharact. TEXT: (Top Left) REGISTERED NAME: PHARACT MS: FP/A-77 PMET CODE: P017-0046

(Bottom Left) MANUFACTURER: PEIL TECHNOLOGIES STATUS: IN TEST OPERATION

We see the Pharact's Permet Code here, that being PO17-0046. The 'P' probably stands for 'Peil.' Also, have you noticed the the MS IDs for all of Peil's mobile suits have a '/' in them? The 3 branches all have their own unique naming conventions when it comes to their MS codes. It's obvious, sure, but it's something you might not have noticed unless you were looking at it.

This info here, on the right side of the monitor, is much more interesting. TEXT (Header) No. 4 ENHANCED PERSON >PILOTING DEPARTMENT >ID. NO: KP002 NAME: ELAN CERES

This screen is how we learn that El4n is indeed the 4th Enhanced Person in the show proper.

Underneath the header is this info box and a graph. The box on the left says DECISION CRITERIA D2 ***EXAMINATION

What this box means is mostly speculation on my part, but I believe this is a grading system that evaluates the remaining health/usefulness of an enhanced person. There's a red arrow pointing down, implying that this grade, D2, is worse than the grade from the previous evaluation.

The graph to its right is a bit harder to analyze.

It's exceedingly similar to the graph shown during the Shin Sei Inquiry by Shaddiq, that measured Aerial's Permet Influx, but they probably aren't measuring the same thing.

I think it's probably closer to the little bit of this graph we see in the prologue, that I speculated was a measurement of a pilot's exposure to a data storm.

The graph has no title, it only says PHASE on the header, followed by Sys REC Ver. 2.0, which means this data was either recorded from the Pharact of El4n's body. The highlighted point is labelled CHH.

My BEST guess is it's measuring the amount of Permet radiation his body is suffering from.

Underneath the graph is this subfield TEXT (top to bottom.) PMET LINK COMPATIBILITY TEST TEST CASE: 04 | STATUS PMET LINKED CNS | CONTROLLED PMET LINKED PNS | CONTROLLED PMET-CNS INTEGRATION | NO ABNORMALITY MOTOR FUNCTION TEST | NO ABNORMALITY HEMANALYSIS | NO ABNORMALITY CARDIOPULMONARY FUNCTION TEST | NO ABNORMALITY NERVE DAMAGE TEST | CONDITIONALLY ACCEPTABLE CELL SURVIVAL TEST | CONDITIONALLY ACCEPTABLE

This is an evaluation of El4n's body, and from this we get a really good look into the true danger of piloting a Gundam.

To start, CNS stands for Central Nervous System, and PNS stands for Peripheral Nervous System. The first box is analyzing the status of the artificial nervous system implanted into El4n's body.

PMET-CNS INTEGRATION can thus be assumed to be analyzing its integration with the rest of El4n's body. MOTOR FUNCTION TEST is self evident, an analysis of El4n's motor skills. HEMANALYSIS is an analysis on the chemical composition of one's blood. CARDIOPULMONARY FUNCTION TEST is a test evaluating the strength and health of your heart and lungs.

NERVE DAMAGE TEST and CELL SURVIVAL TEST are self evident, but what's most important about them is that, unlike the rest of his results, they're labeled CONDITIONALLY ACCEPTABLE. If he hadn't been disposed of by Peil, we can see that this is probably what would have killed him. A combination of Cellular Necrosis and Nerve Damage.

We can glean from this chart that over exposure to Permet primarily affects the Nervous, Cardiovascular, and Pulmonary systems, as well as cause cellular necrosis.

Finally, though we unfortunately never get a closer look at it than this, there's this final box here, labeled EEG[???], and contains what i think is a CT scan of El4n's brain.

TEXT: PROPULSION CONTROL SYSTEM HIGH MANEUVER MODE

When Suletta is piloting the Aerial to test out the thrusters, we can see the system and mode being tested.

When talking to Miorine and Nika in their shuttle, we can see SS/O.M is added to the com screen on Suletta's phone. Not sure what it means !

Not text but I love Mio's face here after she finishes giving Suletta the pep talk, but before she responds to Nika. She's like, hm! Helping Suletta felt really good. I hope this doesn't awaken anything in me.

El4n doesn't have anything in his room whatsoever.

When Suletta asks to talk to El4n, they can't get a hold of him directly, so they just do a HOUSE WIDE BROADCAST instead.

TEXT: MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT ID No: KM079 NAME: EARLTON WELLS.

Not important, but one of the two students Suletta speaks to is named Earlton Wells.

During the duel, Bell can tell that El4n isn't doing well because his flight path is jagged, he can't fly straight anymore.

We can't read this error message, but we can read PMET SCORE 4, so its most likely an error related to that.

We can see the alert message on El4n's screen when he's about to run into the meteor. It just says ALERT.

When Suletta is trapped and Aerial increases its Permet Score, we can see little whispy things on the main monitor. Oooohhh..pretty...

So, bit of a mixup here, before, when Suletta defeated Guel in the rematch, it said she had 2 wins, which made it seem like her previous win had been reinstated. That wasn't true! It was just a mistake, because when she defeats El4n here, she still only has 2 wins. Can't win em all !

Here, we can see that time and temperature in Asticassia's simulated environment. It says 26 degrees and is sunny, which means that Asticassia uses Celsius and not Farenheit.

When Bel begs the Peil Witches to reconsider, if you look at the monitor, you can see Elan hanging up in front of the laser. They're watching him die here, and Bel saw it too.

AND THATS IT!!! HUAAAAHHH!!! THANK YOU FOR READING! I NEED TO GO! YOUR FINAL GIFT:

You ever notice how since the beginning the Enhanced Persons were alluded to be like Eri because only 4 and 5 were ever able to see and hear her when they're overloaded with Permet?

Click here to go to Episode 7!

Click here to go to the Masterpost!