#and my dad and i have a rocky as hell relationship

[estellan0vella]

Family Ties Older Brother Sukuna AU HFBU

You sit on the couch in the living room of the home you share with Sukuna and Yuji. Nervously, you fidget with the hem of your shirt, glancing at the clock. Your parents are due to arrive any minute, and your stomach churns with anxiety. Sukuna sits next to you, his arm draped casually over your shoulders, sensing your unease.

"They'll be here soon," you say quietly, trying to steady your breathing.

Sukuna squeezes your shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, babe. We've got this."

Yuji, playing with his toys on the floor, looks up at you with a bright smile. "Are your parents coming, Y/N/N?"

"Yes, Yuji," you reply, forcing a smile. "They're coming to meet you and Kuna."

Yuji grins, but you can't shake the nervousness that's settled in your chest. Your relationship with your parents has always been rocky, and Sukuna knows this, and he's prepared to stand by your side no matter what.

A knock on the door startles you, and you take a deep breath before standing up. "I'll get it."

You open the door to see your parents standing there, your mother with her usual disapproving frown and your father with his stern expression. "Hello, Mom. Hello, Dad," you greet them, stepping aside to let them in.

Your mother barely glances at you as she steps inside. "So, this is where you're living now," she says, her tone laced with judgment.

"Yes, it is," you reply, trying to keep your voice steady.

Your father follows, his eyes scanning the room critically. "It's smaller than I expected."

Sukuna stands up, his presence commanding as he extends a hand. "Sukuna. Nice to meet you."

Your father shakes Sukuna's hand, though he does so with a begrudging look. "I'm Mr. L/N. This is my wife."

Your mother acknowledges you with a slight nod before turning to Sukuna. "And you are?"

"Sukuna," he repeats, his voice firm. "This is my little brother, Yuji."

Yuji looks up from his toys and waves enthusiastically. "Hi!"

Your parents give Yuji a cursory glance before turning their attention back to you. "So, how have you been?" your mother asks, her tone indifferent.

"I've been good," you reply, though you know they don't really care.

Your father snorts. "Still dealing with that epilepsy nonsense, I assume?"

You feel a pang in your chest, but before you can respond, Sukuna steps in. "It's not nonsense. It's a serious condition."

Your father raises an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. "She's always been dramatic about it."

"Yeah," your mother chimes in. "Always making a big deal out of nothing. You'd think she was the only person in the world with problems"

You bow your head, trying to hide the tears that threaten to spill. Sukuna tightens his grip on your shoulder, his eyes blazing with anger.

"Don't talk about her like that," he sneers.

Your father scoffs. "Oh, come on. It's just epilepsy. Maybe she needs some electroshock therapy to snap out of it."

Yuji, who has been listening quietly, suddenly jumps up, his small fists clenched. "Don't say that about Y/N/N! You guys are being meanies!"

Your mother looks taken aback by Yuji's outburst. "What an unruly child."

Your father sneers. "Looks like you're teaching him well, Sukuna."

Sukuna's eyes narrow dangerously. "Watch your mouth."

Yuji, seeing the distress on your face, stomps over to your father and kicks him in the shin as hard as he can. "Get out! You're making Y/N/N sad!"

Your father yelps in pain, hopping on one foot. "What the hell, kid?!"

You can't help but laugh, the tension momentarily broken by Yuji's fierce protectiveness. Sukuna chuckles beside you, clearly amused by the situation.

"Are you going to tell him off?" your father demands, glaring at Sukuna.

Sukuna smirks, his expression deadly calm. "You're lucky it was the four-year-old who kicked you and not me. Now get out before I throw you out."

Your parents look outraged, but Sukuna's intimidating presence leaves them no choice. They huff and puff, but they turn to leave.

"This isn't over," your father says, pointing a finger at you.

"Yes, it is," Sukuna retorts, slamming the door behind them.

You stand there in stunned silence, the weight of the encounter settling over you. Tears well up in your eyes, but this time, they're not just tears of pain—they're tears of gratitude.

Sukuna turns to you, his expression softening. "You okay, baby?"

You nod, wiping your eyes. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you."

Yuji runs over and hugs you tightly. "Don't be sad, Y/N/N. I love you."

You hug him back, feeling a surge of love for the little boy. "I love you too, Yuji. Thank you for defending me."

Sukuna joins the hug, wrapping his arms around both of you. "We're a team, remember? We've got your back."

You nod, feeling a warmth spread through your chest. Despite the rough start, you know that with Sukuna and Yuji by your side, you can face anything.

Later that evening, after the house has settled down and Yuji is tucked into bed, you and Sukuna sit on the couch, the events of the day replaying in your mind.

"You really didn't have to do that," you say softly, leaning against his shoulder.

Sukuna kisses the top of your head. "Of course I did. I'm not going to let anyone treat you like that, especially not your own parents."

You sigh, the reality of your strained relationship with your parents settling in. "It's just hard, you know? They've never understood me."

Sukuna tilts your chin up, looking into your eyes. "They don't have to understand. You've got us. We're your family."

A tear slips down your cheek, and Sukuna gently wipes it away. "Thank you, Kuna. I don't know what I'd do without you."

He smiles, a rare, genuine smile that makes your heart skip a beat. "You'll never have to find out, baby. I'm here to stay."

You lean in and kiss him, feeling the love and support he's always given you. No matter what challenges come your way, you know you can face them with Sukuna and Yuji by your side.

As the night grows darker, you cuddle closer to Sukuna, feeling safe and loved in his arms. The events of the day fade into the background, replaced by the warmth and comfort of your small, loving family. And that's all you'll ever need.

taglist: @sad-darksoul

[roaringheat]

Trying not to jump the gun and expect today to be shit but it's my sister's bday and i'll have to spend the whole day around her and our dad who both treat me like shit

[princessbrunette]

dbf!rafe thought he was doing a pretty good job at pretending he didn’t care too much about you. but it was coming to the late afternoon, and he’d driven past you wandering around town on your own wearing one of those stupid little mini skirts you’re crazy about and he had to do his duty and command you come with him. for your safety of course. he’d hate if some sick older guy got his hands on you.

“get in. c’mon.” he’s already acting irritable with you and it only spurs you on to act mischievous.

“why so glum, hm?” you pout, letting a small giggle slip through as you fasten your belt — the friend of your fathers glancing around the area briefly to see if anyone had seen his bosses daughter climb into his car before zipping off.

“what’d i tell you last time i saw you just— just walking around asking for trouble?” he berates and he’s not even sure why he’s so wound up. you just got him so pent up and touchy that he always found himself being this way with you.

“asking for trouble? mr cameron i was just hanging out.” you laugh, stretching your legs and going to rest your feet on his dashboard. he shoves your legs off, sending you a scalding glare.

“in that little skirt? yeah i wasn’t born yesterday, alright— you were probably off meeting guys.” he grumbles and you turn your head to him, heart fluttering at the jealous tone he had failed to conceal.

“oh no, not hanging out with guys my own age… that would be the most awful thing in the world, right?” you sark, and he resents the way he can hear the pretty smile in your voice without even turning his attention away from the road. he huffs out a scoff, shaking his head as he pulls up to the traffic light.

“told your old man i’d look out for you, right so — so i am just telling you that you shouldn’t be wandering around meeting guys dressed like a hooker. i know how guys brains work, okay — i am a guy. s’why i’m taking your ass home where you can’t get into any of that shit.” he rants, and before you can complain about him calling you a hooker your attention is caught by his promise to bring you home and you shoot up in your seat.

“no, please. just— anywhere else. not home.” you suddenly sound serious, and he nearly misses the stoplight turning green to glance at you in confusion.

“and why the hell not?” he drawls and suddenly you’re a lot more quiet. he raises his eyebrows waiting for a response.

“i’m fighting with my parents. i just… i don’t want to see them yet.” you sigh, staring at your manicure in your lap. as much as he wanted to teach you a lesson and drag you back into the house to your father, he knew what it was like to have a rocky relationship with his parents. because of this he sighs after his slight hesitation and turns in the direction away from your house.

“ah… shit, alright fine. the fuck do you wanna go then? gotta drop you somewhere, alright?” he relents and you beam.

“really? thanks mr cameron.” your elated expression calms itself into a pur as you lean across the gear stick and press a kiss to his cheek. he clenches his jaw.

“watch it.”

to this you respond with a giggle and he relaxes a little, knowing he had a little more time with you.

“where do you wanna go then? haven’t got all day, kid m’not a fuckin’ taxi.”

“hmm, your place?” you’re quick with your answer, almost like you had it planned. he’d given in a few times, let you have your way with him even though he knew it put his career on the line — and he told himself and you that this could go on no longer.

he huffs out a laugh, scratching at his cheek and shaking his head, choosing to ignore the suggestion. your bottom lip curls over at this, frowning a little.

“raaafe.” you whine and he resists an eye roll.

“what you’re — you’re serious about that shit?”

“mhm… i missed you…” you coo, and he feels your warm body lean across the centre console again, a clawed hand finding his thigh as you speak into his ear. “c’mon dad.” you groan and he feels a hot rush of blood fly through him at the nickname. god you were sick.

“don’t fuckin’ call me that.” he turns into his driveway at tannyhill, parking up infront of the house haphazardly before turning off the car and not making any move to get out.

“just wanna play a little bit.” you complain, kissing down his white shirt leaving lipgloss prints that he’d soon complain about down the expensive material as he watches you with parted lips, feeling your hot breath fan over his hardening crotch.

“well if you’re gonna suck me off just fuckin’ do it alright. don’t wanna hear that shrill ass little voice unless you’re tellin’ me how good that shit tastes. c’mon.”

you couldn’t help but obey.

[sempersirens]

raising hell all over town

pairing: best friend's dad!joel x f!reader

summary: you've been a friend of sarah's since you were old enough to steal bottles of her dad's whiskey for parties. sarah was always the sensible one in your friendship, getting you out of the trouble you usually started. but now sarah has gone off to college, who else but joel could pick up the pieces?

content/warnings: 18+ mdni. alcohol. drugs. age gap. violence/fighting. smut: unprotected p in v, spanking

a/n: inspired by this gif set, and the wonderful @amanitacowboy & @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin for introducing me to that yellowstone scene kind of nervous about this, my first proper smutty fic - i find smut really difficult to write for some reason (weird because i'm feral horny 24/7) so this was kinda out of my comfort zone but i hope you all enjoy! PSA: i no longer have a taglist! feel free to follow my updates blog @sempersirenswrites and turn the post notifs on to be notified when i post a new fic :)

Friday nights in Austin felt incomplete without Sarah by your side.

For years, she had been the epitome of your partner in crime; dragging you back to her place or putting you in a cab before the cops were called.

Had it not been for your fierce loyalty and protectiveness over Sarah, you're sure her dad would've barred you from the house years ago. Sarah was smarter than you in almost every way. Academically, emotionally, you name it.

Joel knew this, and he trusted the two of you together knowing you both balanced the other out. Watching the two of you reminded Joel of a younger version of himself and Tommy, always thankful that Sarah had followed in his footsteps as opposed to her uncle's.

Your relationship with your parents was rocky, to say the least, and the Miller's house had always been a safe haven for you. Joel had patched up your split lip or bloody nose more times than he wanted to admit for a girl your age. He swore he'd kill your old man one day for the states you'd turned up to their house in.

Still, he couldn't help but feel the urge to grab you by the shoulders and shake some sense into you from time to time. As much as his heart broke for you, it was also in your nature to be a damn brat. Joel had endured countless stifling days spent by the pool forcing himself to not let his eyes linger on the curves of your hips. He struggled to look you in the eye when he saw you sat on the kitchen counter waiting to leave for a party, your mini skirt riding dangerously high on your thighs.

There had been times when he had been reckless. Times that he'd had to pull himself away from your invisible grip on him and relieve his tension in the bathroom, fisting his cock onto the shower floor, biting down on the shape of your name on his tongue.

When he'd re-emerge into the living room, he knew that you knew. You'd look through your eyelashes at him and smile. His cheeks flushed, shame setting in at the speed at which he'd cum from the thought of your pussy clenching around his shaft.

He would never let it show, but something would rush through his body when he'd ask Sarah what the hell she do this time? He remembered one time in particular, as Sarah relayed the events of the night that had led to your bloody nose, he'd looked over at you perching on the counter. With blood leaking down your cupid's bow, you'd locked eyes with him and ran your tongue across your lip, revelling in the remnants of your victory.

Still, you had fine enough nights out with the girls from work. They just didn't get you the way Sarah did. They would shoot you judgemental glances from across the bar that lasted until the Monday back at work for whatever you had done this time that they disapproved of.

"They're just dull. You should see the way they look at me for literally just hooking up with guys." You had lamented to Sarah over the phone while you were both getting ready for your respective nights out on separate sides of the country.

"It's probably because they've seen you get through an entire friendship group before your second drink."

"Well, they should be taking notes. Tell me nobody at college is as fun as me." Jealousy tore through your chest at the thought of Sarah spending her time with new friends.

"Nobody here is as fun as you. They're very... reserved." You scoffed at her politeness.

"Babe, just say they're boring."

"I'm giving them a chance. Anyway, gotta go. Text me tomorrow and tell me the damage. Love ya!"

"Don't have too much fun without me. Love you too."

Despite their judging looks, you were always the first person they called upon to finish any mess they had gotten themselves into. Still, you were happy to oblige, even if it meant a few awkward minutes of silence at the coffee machine on Monday.

The group of you had poured out of an Uber into the busy bar around nine o'clock, buzzing with the confidence of your pre-drinks. Rounds of shots were ordered and consumed at a dizzying pace, and soon enough, bags of powder were discreetly distributed across the table.

"Bathroom?" Hannah, one of your closest and least judgmental co-workers nudged you.

"Thought you'd never ask." The two of you sauntered away from the table, hand-in-hand, quickly bundling into a tight cubicle.

The bathroom filled up as the two of you tried to be as silent as possible, scooping your pinky nails into the small bag.

"Hurry the fuck up!" Someone from outside the cubicle called, thudding her fists against the door.

"Get fucked." You called back, muttering this bitch under your breath to Hannah.

As the two of you packed your things back into your handbags, the cubicle door jolted half open, smacking Hannah in the shoulder.

"Are you fucking serious?" You shouted at the small brunette on the other side of the door, checking Hannah over for injury.

"You hit me, you bitch." She straightened herself up, rubbing her shoulder.

"I'll do worse if you don't fucking move." The brunette hissed in her face.

You screwed your face up and shoved her, making her stumble backwards into the sink. The other girls in the bathroom grabbed their bags and scurried to the exit, evidently not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.

"Apologise." You said, moving toward the girl who was now pulling herself up with the help of the basins on either side of her.

"Fuck you." She spat, saliva hitting your cheek before she lunged forward.

Your fist connected with her nose before she even had time to swing, and your right hand secured a tight grip on the back of her hair.

"I said, apologise to my friend."

"I'm sorry." She choked, pathetically. Her face shrivelled in fear and pain.

"Not so fuckin' big now, are you?" Hannah said, which was ironic, considering the girl who had bruised her was now quivering under your fist.

Content with her apology, you released your grip on her and re-entered the bar with Hannah trailing behind you. As you both rejoined your table, you felt a tap on your shoulder.

"Our friend said you just attacked her in the bathroom." Another petite girl looked up at you, one hand on her hip.

"She hit my friend, here. Was just trying to teach her some manners."

The entirety of your group was now turned to face you, exchanging harsh whispers of your name followed by just leave it.

"You broke her nose!" The girl shrilled. You looked over her shoulder to the girl doubled over, clutching her bloody nose with an ensemble of people crowding around her.

"No, I think it just looks like that."

You grinned at the rage growing behind her eyes, your smile unfaltering even as her fist collided with your cheek.

"Harder." You shouted, rolling your neck from side to side.

"What?!"

"Come on, hit me harder. I know you got it in you." She didn't take much convincing; her next punch knocked you backwards onto the table as everyone rushed to tear the two of you apart.

You stepped forward to finally let her have it when a pair of strong hands pulled you back.

"Get off!" You shouted, kicking against who you assumed to be security throwing you out. You just hoped they weren't calling the cops, too.

"C'mon, doll. You've had enough fun for one night." A familiar Southern drawl cooed, dragging you out into the warm night. "Now, that wasn't very ladylike of you, darlin'."

He let you go from his grip and you turned to face him. To your surprise, you were met with the smirk of the younger Miller brother.

"Tommy." You breathed, "I didn't see you in there."

"Well, lucky I noticed you ain't it." He grinned.

Spending so much time at the Miller's had you well acquainted with Sarah's uncle Tommy. He'd seen you in much worse states than this, and in turn, so had you.

"Didn't need you to swoop in and save me, Tommy."

"Wasn't saving you, sweetheart. Was savin' that poor girl." You both smiled at the tone of pride in his voice.

"You got somewhere to go, trouble? Don't think you should be hangin' round here for too long."

"Can't exactly go home bleeding from my face." You sighed, realising you probably hadn't thought this through. You missed Sarah.

Tommy fished around in his pocket for his phone before raising it to his ear.

"Hey, big brother." Your stomach flipped. "No, no- it's not me. Joel, listen." You could almost hear Joel on the other end of the phone, witnessing it in person more times than you could count. It's not even ten o'clock yet, don't tell me you're locked up already.

"Our favourite little troublemaker needs a place to crash tonight. I'd drive her over but I've already had my fair share of beers. Okay, great. I'll tell her."

Once he'd hung up, Tommy told you that Joel was on his way to come and pick you up. You could feel your heartbeat in your stomach. You'd never been alone with Joel for longer than a couple of hours at most, let alone spending the night at his while Sarah was out of town. Something inside of you twitched in excitement, a warm rush settling deep in your belly.

You told Tommy to go back into the bar, that Joel wouldn't be long and you'd walk down the street to meet him in case those girls came out looking for another round.

As you made your way underneath the streetlights toward the direction of the Miller's house, you pulled your compact from your bag and touched up your make-up, re-curling your lashes and dousing a thick layer of clear lipgloss onto your lips, not bothering to tend to any of the blood trickling down your skin. You spritzed yourself with perfume and ran a brush through your hair, smiling at the thought of Joel seeing you waiting on the curbside for him.

Right on cue, his truck pulled around the corner. You raised your hand and wiggled your fingers, a small smirk spreading across your cheeks.

You were grateful for your earlier decision to wear your knee-high boots with a denim mini-skirt, adding a little extra sway to your hips as you made your way to the passenger side of Joel's truck. You climbed in and turned to face him, flashing him a toothy grin, well aware of the blood staining your teeth.

"You're a damn mess, princess." Something deep inside of you came to life at his words, causing you to visibly clench your exposed thighs together. "S'there I was, thinking to myself how thankful I am for a peaceful night after workin' lates all week. When my phone rings, just as I'd sat down and made myself comfortable."

"Peace is overrated." You replied.

"So, what did you do this time? Steal another cop car? Break into a hotel pool? Make out with someone's husband?"

You played with the hem of your skirt as he spoke, blushing as he listed a few of your past activities he'd either bailed you out of or heard about from Sarah.

"I didn't start this one." You said, a slight whine in your voice. "Someone hit my friend, I was just looking out for her."

"Your friend can't fight her own battles?"

"You never have a problem when it's Sarah I'm throwing punches for."

He scoffed. "Now, you know I've always taught her to never start a fight but always to finish one. You on the other hand, I don't think nobody's taught you anythin' of the sort."

"And are you gonna be the one to do that, Mr Miller?" You mimicked his Texan accent, which was much thicker than yours, and parted your legs in your seat ever so slightly.

"If I didn't know you better, darlin', I'd think you were tryin' to get me in some sort of trouble."

He pulled into the driveway and switched the ignition off before jogging to your side of the truck and holding the door open for you, as well as offering you an outstretched hand.

"Always such a gentleman." You smiled, looking at him through your eyelashes as you stepped out, hand in his.

He exhaled out of his nose, shaking his head softly as he slammed the door shut behind you. His hand moved to the small of your back, guiding you into the house.

"Sarah's bed is all made up, I'm sure you know where her clothes are f'you wanna change into something more... comfortable." His eyes trailed down your figure, your clothes hugging all the right places.

"Do you not like my outfit?" You pouted, holding your hands behind your back and sticking your chest out, swaying from side to side.

"Course not, y'look real pretty. Just thought you'd wanna watch TV before going to sleep is all." Joel brought a hand to the back of his head, rubbing his neck nervously as his eyes shifted to the floor.

For such a handsome man, he was so damn insecure. Maybe it was the gentleman in him, thinking that it was wrong for someone his age to want someone the same age as his daughter. He knew you didn't think like that, Sarah had told him multiple stories about the older men you'd hooked with at the bar.

He'd even caught you making out with a kid from your school's dad a few years ago when he'd come to pick you and Sarah up from a party. Joel had seemingly known the man, and you remembered how he'd stalked out of his truck and toward you both, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and warning him that his wife wasn't going to like hearing about this.

So, you kicked off your boots and took yourself upstairs into Sarah's bedroom. Not bothering to close the blinds, you peeled your clothes off and looked at yourself in the full length mirror.

The warmth of your earlier drinks still coated your inhibitions. You knew you looked good in your black lace set, breasts sat perkily on your chest and your ass cheeks the perfect handfuls.

Fuck it. If he wasn't going to be ballsy enough to make the first move, maybe you should.

You kissed the tips of your fingers and pressed them against a framed photo of you and Sarah giggling at whatever was going on behind the camera.

"Sorry, Sarah." You whispered, before making your way down the stairs.

Joel heard you coming but was too preoccupied fighting with the TV remote control to turn around and face you just yet.

"If I can get this damn thing to work I think they're showin' Scarface at ten, I know you said you ain't seen it so thought we could watch it."

"Sounds good," you spoke, your voice more honeyed than usual. "Hey, Joel. Do you think this will be comfy enough?"

He whipped his head around quickly, ready to give you the same kind of answer he did whenever Sarah asked for his opinion in a changing room. It took a second for him to register what he was looking at, but when it clicked he dropped the remote to the floor and turned his whole body to face you.

"What the hell," his face turned bright red, unsure what to do with his hands. You could give him a few ideas.

"You not like it?" You asked, voice low as you walked slowly in his direction.

His trousers began to tighten around his hardening cock and you smiled, glad that you were indeed on the same page.

"Course I- I, what the hell are you playin' at?"

"Come on, Joel. I gotta make up for interrupting your peaceful night somehow."

You closed the gap between you both and placed a hand delicately on his chest, tracing circles with the tip of your long, manicured nails.

Joel swallowed hard.

"This ain't right." He said weakly, his eyes betraying his words as they devoured the sight of your body before him.

"Cut the shit, Joel. I know you want me, and I want you."

He didn't answer, but instead threw you over his shoulder and carried you up to his bedroom, placing a couple of firm smacks on your ass as you wriggle against his strong grip. Your stomach did backflips, exhilarated at the prospect of what was about to happen.

Upon entering his room, he threw you roughly onto the bed and worked at undoing his belt as you scrambled onto your back, resting on your elbows.

"Y'know what I really thought when Tommy called, tellin' me I needed to come pick you up?" He said, although it didn't sound much like a question. "I thought, this dumb slut needs some sense fucking into her."

You moaned at his words, basking in the side of him that you knew always existed.

“Thought t’myself, she needs teachin’ some fuckin' manners f’once.”

Joel stalked around the side of the bed and sat and patted his lap. Wordlessly, you shifted your weight next to him and dangled your legs over the side of the bed.

He brought his right hand in between your thighs, making you shiver at the feeling of his coarse fingers grazing your skin. He ran his fingers up and down the length of your thigh, each time stopping short of the hem of your skirt.

"This is what you want, ain't it sweetheart?" He spoke lowly, voice gravelly and as rough as his touch. Each night spent tangled and alone in your sheets, fingers grazing your soaked folds with his name on your lips felt redundant. Nothing could come close to the feel of his skin on yours.

Pulling you from your trance, he slapped your inner thigh hard when you didn't respond. "Need t'hear you say it."

"Yes,' you moan through gritted teeth, surprised you can even find your voice. "This is what I need."

Sick of his incessant teasing, you clamber onto his lap and hook your fingers around the back of his neck.

"But I think you need this just as much, Mr Miller. You must get so lonely in this house all by yourself. Sarah always tells me how you never have any lady friends hanging around."

You straddle his lap and grip his neck for support, softly grinding yourself on the hardness of his lap. He moves a hand from your waist to roughly seize your chin, tipping your face down to meet his gaze.

"Your old man must've forgot to teach you some manners, little girl." His low voice tore through your body.

Joel hoists your skirt up to your waist and flips you underneath him in one swift motion. His body looms over yours, fingers trailing a rough and jagged line down to where you need him most. He moved at an antagonising slow pace, but you can't bring yourself to give into his little game by begging for more.

"Here's what we're gonna do, darlin'. You're gonna be a good girl f'me and tell daddy exactly what happened tonight." The mouth on him.

The way your body writhed and squirmed at his words didn't go unnoticed. With no warning, he plunged two thick digits inside of you and held them deep in place, his face inches away from yours.

"N'if you stutter, or lie, or say anythin' I don't like for that matter, you'll be over my knee, red-raw," his fingers curl inside of you and you bite back a moan, desperate to not let him have the upper hand.

"No matter how much you cry those pretty little eyes out, I won't quit 'til you've learnt somethin'. Understood?"

You suck a breath in through your nose, a sharp sting reminding you of the open wound still decorating your face.

"Yes, sir."

part 2 coming soon

taglist: @cool-iguana @nostalxgic @chaotic-mystery @beardedjoel

[peachesofteal]

The dead disco break up Pregnancy au got me in my feels all day. Literally all day.

And all I can think about is when the guys get home? Find her not at the apartment and they’re both like, “can’t blame her, I get it” and are over come with guilt. Their own relationship getting a little rocky. Maybe Johnny gets frustrated more easily with Simon. Simon withdrawals a little more into himself bc that’s how he handles pain and grief. But they make it through. They always do. Until they find out about darling and the baby. However that happens, be it in a grocery store or whatever. But Simon comes from a very traumatized childhood. He sees the baby and just knows. That’s their kid. And is overcome with so much grief bc now he’s no worse that his dad is he? What’s worse than someone that’s there and beats you? Someone that’s not there at all. Not knowing. And he has always promised himself he’d never be like his father, but than this is just too close to comfort.

I imagine he surprises not only himself but Johnny and darling the most when he ends up doing something drastic. There were no words he had to defend himself or Johnny. He’d be mature. Whatever it takes, whatever darling needed just let him be in his child’s life, let him be in your life, let him do better. Don’t LET HIM HAVE THIS WEIGHT ON HIS SHOULDERS.

Darling would have more whiplash than Johnny but even Johnny is taken back by the lengths Simon would go? (Getting out the military? Domestic security and law enforcement jobs so he can be home? Idk?) but Simon just comes out of no where, with “I’m here. I’m not going no where. I’ll spend the rest of my life making this right.” Bc he does love darling and he does love Johnny, but that kid? He’d move heaven and hell for that kid. It was Ryan Reynolds who was like “I love my wife, love her more than anything. Then we had our baby girls and realized I would use my wife as a human shield to protect my kids” As a joke of course but it’s to that extent. Simons 2 priority’s become taking care of that child and mending the relationship between the three of them, not bc he loves them (he totally does, and his devotion to his partners is infallible) BUT BECAUSE that kid needs to know what healthy relationships are based out of love and communication not grief and missed social cues and resentment.

Simon takes fatherhood seriously. Most serious job there is. And he’s not going to let darling’s (low key selfish) feelings of betrayal and self deprecation keep him from taking care of his child and said mother of that child.

———

Johnny however? He’s the one that’s hesitant surprisingly. He’s hurt. Beyond hurt that you wouldn’t tell them something like this. It’s the adult thing to at least say something right? Even if they did leave. This is more than them now. And he goes along with Simons initiative to fix all of this but Johnny needs some serious reassurance and maybe an outlet for all this anger and hurt he has. And there’s so much going on that it’s easy for Simon and darling to kinda miss that a little bit,

Until Johnny doesn’t want to hold the baby. Says he’s scared he’d drop it. But Simon knows better.

Johnny feels lost.

Darling feels lost.

Simon is their beacon of light in the darkness.

It comes down to the sexiest night known to human existence, and a lot of crying and confessions while fucking all those emotions out. Simon has always known how to get these two to let down their walls. Breakfast is for figuring out detail’s schedules ect. But that night? That was them fixing it. Letting go and moving forward. In the sexiest. Way. Possible.

^look what you’ve done to me. I’m serving alcohol at a bar thinking about these characters, THE DISTRACTION IS REAL AND I NEED MORE.

You’re fantastic. I hate you for doing this to my brain. Love ya!

Um… hi? Hello? Come back. Let’s talk about this more, let’s break it down. I am obsessed with this. I love this. 🩵🩵

Simon goes into protective overdrive the second he see’s you. Not sure how or when or where it happens, but Bee is not even two months old, and he doesn’t even need to ask you. She’s so little, cocooned in a linen wrap, cradled to your chest, and he already knows. How could that baby be anyone’s but their own?

He does exactly as you’ve described, drops everything and retires early. Price and Johnny always thought he’d make captain soon, but none of that matters now. His military aspirations have meant less and less every year since he met Johnny, and meeting you only sped his career’s ultimate demise along.

He’s not going to let the cycle repeat. He’s not going to let his child grow up and feel like they’ve been abandoned by him. He’s not going to let Bee grow up without him being there. Loving her. Supporting her. He won’t be his father. He refuses.

You agree to let them see her, and agree to let them take her for nights or days if they’d like. But you won’t let them in. Won’t do much more than co parent with them, won’t engage in anything real with them, won’t give them a single inch. You stonewall them, block them out, give them excuses and refusals at every turn. Sure, they can be in their daughter’s life… but they can’t be in yours.

While Bee is important, you are too. He wouldn’t use you as a shield to save her, he’d save you both. There’s no option. No choice. You’re the love of their lives, the now mother of his child. He’d lay down and die for you.

But none of that matters. You won’t let them in.

It drives Simon insane. He’s understanding, and mature about it, and patient (compared to Johnny, who’s running hot over it… frustrated, agitated, consistently visibly upset, holding onto his anger and resentment over the fact you never came forward and even told them about Bee. Johnny can’t get over that you went through everything alone… can’t understand why you wouldn’t tell them, give them a chance to be there for you.. and it stings. It hurts him, so fucking much, and that hurt melds into anger, it burns into his heart and twists his feelings until they’re a jumbled mess.) but he can’t seem to make you understand that they love you, that they thought about you everyday when they were gone, that they mourned the end of the relationship. It’s not just about the baby, they were coming back for you no matter what. They knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that they weren’t meant to live their lives without you. They made a mistake.

But… they fucking abandoned you. And now they come back, and see that you have a baby and just decide they want to be back in your life? No. Absolutely not. They didn’t want you anymore, before Bee… nothing has changed. You won’t let yourself fall back into their grasp, and you’re so adamant about that that you fight them nearly at every turn. Can they take Bee? Sure. But “family trips” to the store? “Family trips” to the park? Not happening. You pack her diaper bag and kiss her goodbye, while Simon watches you with an intense scrutiny, eyes tracking your every step while he holds little Bee is his giant hand. He doesn’t miss a single thing, doesn’t miss the way your hands shake when you press a sweet kiss against her cheek, doesn’t miss the way your body moves sluggishly, like you’re exhausted, even after the nights they’ve had Bee, which means you should have gotten plenty of rest. Johnny just stands in the corner and stares at the floor, hands in his pockets during these exchanges, practically unwilling to engage with you in any way because he’s just so… upset with you, still. He’s better with Bee, loves her dearly, but can’t get past what he’s holding inside of himself, can’t get past how he feels so betrayed you, even though a part of him thinks he has no right to those feelings.

I love your last little bit - about the night Simon breaks you and Johnny apart and then puts you back together. There is something very similar/along those lines in the actual fic outline.

BUT ALSO… let’s imagine: They try to fix it. They try to get you to let them back in, to open up to them, to let them be there for you. As time goes on, Johnny changes, the red hot fire of anger that burns inside of him eventually goes out, lovingly smothered by Simon, and his resentment and feelings of betrayal all melt away. How could he ever have felt those things, when you were the one who was left all alone? Pregnant, with no way to contact them? He lets it all go, fully embracing parenting with you and Simon, trying to get back into your life, trying to love and support you from afar, any way they can. They start to notice a change in you… you seem a little happier, a little lighter on your feet, a little more relaxed and they think it might be working… that you finally might be growing more amenable about letting them in, about building back the relationship.

Until… they show up for Bee’s first birthday party, and there’s a man with his hand splayed on the small of you back in the backyard, holding you, tugging your body into his, while Bee shrieks and giggles on the blanket in the grass. There’s another man, watching their daughter, holding their darling girl close, while they stand in the doorway, shell shocked.

[whateversawesome]

Chapter 93: Stellas, Tonitrus and Another Desmond

First of all, congratulations to our girl for getting another stella (her first academic achievement stella too!) Good for you, Anya!!

Anya also got a tonitrus bolt, but who cares about that 😆 Oh yeah, I know who does...

Congratulations also to Twilight for not losing it. Good for you, Twilight...you're learning how to be a good dad. Hey, did you notice he didn't even try to look at the results before time?

Look at that baby's face 💕 Positive reinforcement and encouragement work wonders! Still, I hope one day, Anya realizes her papa loves her no matter what.

It was one hell of a chapter, don't you think?

Let me get this out of the way: the more I know the people around Donovan Desmond, the less I like him. Even though we know very little about this man, it looks like his relationship with his family has destabilized his wife and son's mental health and general wellbeing.

So, here are my thoughts:

Demetrius

He looks like a kid who was pushed too hard to study and was taught nothing else. Yeah, he may be a stella-earning machine, but he lacks a balance, like the ability to communicate and understand other people. If anything, he seemed overwhelmed by a simple interaction with a some kids.

I'm guessing his classmates see him like an unapproachable person and he is probably a loner. He doesn't seem close to his brother either and I'm going to guess he's not close to Melinda. I suspect his dad "took him under his wing" since he was very young and made him that way.

Why couldn't Anya read his thoughts?

At the moment, I don't think he was experimented on. In my opinion, this boy's only thoughts are about studying, earning stellas, and not being able to understand people. All courtesy of...

Donovan Desmond

It looks like Donovan did spend a lot of time with Demetrius when he was young. The purpose is still not very clear to me, but this looks fishy. Either he sincerely wanted his son to do well in school or there was a reason Donovan Desmond wanted to be inside those imperial scholar social gatherings.

My gut tells me it's the second option. Why?...

I believe Donovan was Prime Minister or close to being Prime Minister back then. Why would a busy politician like him spend his time making sure his son did well in school? Something doesn't add up.

In the present, Donovan is basically a recluse and the only events he attends are those imperial scholar gatherings. If Desmond was a good dad, it would be understandable for him to support his son, even if he didn't participate in politics anymore. But that's the thing; Donovan Desmond is not a good, supportive dad. Demetrius said it himself: his dad is not in contact with him. Meaning, there must be an ulterior motive for him to attend to those social gatherings.

My guess is that he used his son. And since he already has access to those meetings, he doesn't need to communicate with his eldest son anymore or to have a relationship with his youngest either.

Talking about the youngest Desmond...

Damian

Damian and Anya had a rocky start, but as the story advances, it's obvious Damian is a sweet boy, who seems so...abandoned.

Damian is the kind of kid who thinks he has to earn his parents' love (especially his dad's). That's horrible. That love should be unconditional.

However, after meeting Melinda and now Demetrius, I can confidently say he's better off at school. Because of this, I'm thinking that it was Melinda the one who insisted on Damian staying at Eden.

Damian probably thought that in order for his dad to spend time with him, he needed to be like his brother, meaning a stella-earning machine. That's why those stellas are so important to him. And let me say that it's remarkable that Damian is earning stellas without any help from his parents or anyone else (like Demetrius in the past and Anya in the present.)

Now I see that part of his character arc could be for him to realize he doesn't have to be like his brother and he doesn't need his father's approval either.

Can you see the difference his friends make in Damian's life? His friends, including Anya, are helping become a different person than his brother. They're helping him realize he doesn't have to behave "like a Desmond" only, that it's okay to behave like a kid too.

Maybe that's why his mom wants him to be friends with Anya. She's a good influence on him.

It will be interesting to see if Damian's relationship with Demetrius changes over time. I would like to see that because Damian craves a relationship with his family. In my opinion, Melinda does love his youngest son (we don't know how she feels about Demetrius), but there's a reason why she won't go near him. At some point, we'll find out that reason.

Twilight and Anya

Just like Desmond, Twilight needs to get into those imperial scholar gatherings. That's why Anya needs to get those stellas. We could argue he's also using Anya like Donovan used Demetrius, but there are a few key differences:

1.Anya knows and is helping him willingly, because she knows her papa's purpose: to keep peace (and make a world where children don't have to cry).

2.The way Twilight encourages Anya earn those stellas. Yes, he makes her study (helps her too), like any parent would, but he also lets Anya be herself! Twilight wants Anya to have a balanced life, to have friends, to have fun, to play, to watch TV, to go on outings and even travel as a family.

He's not forcing her to study 24/7 so she turns into a stella-earning machine, because he knows there's more to life than stellas and good grades and because he wants the best for his child, over his mission (even when he's not ready to admit that).

3.This whole thing is transforming him. Unlike Desmond, Twilight is becoming more human. He no longer serves his own purpose (even if that purpose is for peace). Now, he's a father and has to put his daughter's wellbeing first.

Do you need proof?

Here, Twilight asked the question we've all been dying to ask.

As a spy, he would have pushed his daughter to remember her past so she would answer the question. But instead...

He realized those memories could be painful and didn't want his daughter to think about that, so he just tells her to forget about it...Why? Because Anya's past doesn't matter. Even when it could be advantageous for his mission, he chooses to let it go for his daughter's sake and because she already has a family with Yor, Bond, and him.

Donovan and Damian

I wonder if at some point Donovan Desmond will try to use Damian for his own purpose. If that happens, I'm sure Damian won't turn his dad down, he'll be happy his father finally acknowledges him and will be happy to spend time with him.

My gut has been screaming that Damian and Donovan are a foil of [Redacted] and his dad. And not only that...Remember when that awful man made Anya cry during the Eden Interview and Twilight lost it? I suspect the relationship between Damian and Donovan Desmond could be a big trigger for Mr. Spy.

Since most of the characters in SxF are morally gray, I suspect Donovan Desmond will be the same. Maybe he'll turn out to be a good leader who wants the best for his country and wants to prevent the war, but at the same time is an abusive husband and father.

Would Twilight be okay with that now that he is a father and a husband himself?

At some point, Twilight will probably have to choose between his family and his mission and Donovan Desmond is his mission...🤔

[ghost-with-a-teacup]

hi!! i have a platonic req for miguel x chaotic teen reader who has a bad relationship with her dad, just a man who lost his daughter and a girl who never had a proper father.. what could go wrong..(im a slut for found family)

𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x Platonic!Reader

Summary: After a really bad fight with your father, you escape to HQ, the one place you can find solace. To take your mind off things, you go on a mission with Miguel, but it seems you're a little too in your head.

Warnings: Arguments, swearing, and violence in the beginning so be cautious.

A/N: Finally back with some good ol' hurt/comfort, and found family :3

✧✧✧✧✧

“I’m sick and tired of having the same argument with you over and over again!” you say, the anger rising in your veins as your frustration bubbles over. You blink harshly as you try to force the angry tears down, your father seething angrily in front of you.

“Ever since Mom died, you’ve been unbearable. I’m an adult, you can’t control my life anymore pretending like it's love when I know damn well you don’t give a flying fuck about me,” you say, pointing an angry finger at him.

“WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE TALKING TO,” he shouts, stomping over and grasping your hair harshly as you let out a yelp.

“I give you a roof to live under, food to eat. I raised you, I am your father, and you think you can back talk me you brat?” he spits in your face, and your recoil in disgust.

It was always like this. He justified giving you the bare minimum as being a father, when the house you lived in was never really a home. Not after your Mom died, when everything fell apart.

When you became your world’s Spiderman.

“You were a spectator in my life, you were never truly my father,” you whisper harshly as his grip tightens on your hair. His eyes narrow at yours before he throws you to the ground harshly.

“Get out,” he says.

“W-what?” you ask, your body radiating with pain from the impact.

“GET OUT!” he shouts, leaning over you menacingly. “You think you’re so grown, then get the fuck out of my house because I am sick and tired of you. You don’t think I’m your father? Then I won’t be. You’re lucky your whore of a mother wanted to keep you around because in my eyes you were always my one worst mistake,” he says, and his words hit you like a freight train.

You knew he never loved you. Even before your Mom died he never truly seemed to like you around, only tolerated you because of how much your Mom adored you.

When she died, the substance abuse began. You practically raised yourself and learned how cold the world truly was. You never knew the love of your father, but even still, it hurt to hear him say what you always understood deep down.

“Fine,” you say softly, standing up and opening a portal to HQ. His eyes widen as he watches, but you don’t even give a damn anymore if he sees.

You were never going to see him again anyway.

In an instant, you were gone.

~

You emerge on the other side, right into the lobby of the Spider Society. A few familiar faces recognize you, waving in greeting. You wave back with a smile that doesn’t quite meet your eyes.

“Hey Lyla?” you call out, and she appears hovering over your shoulder with a grin.

“What’s poppin', buttercup?” she says cheerfully, and the corner of your mouth quirks up a bit.

“I was just wondering if Miguel was around,” you say, and she reappears in front of your face.

“He was actually about to leave for a mission, want me to tell him to wait up?” she asks, and you nod.

“That would be great, thanks,” you say, letting out a soft sigh of relief.

“Already done, you know where to find him,” she says, before throwing up a peace sign and disappearing.

Miguel was…you didn’t exactly know what to call him. A mentor? A friend? Guardian maybe?

All you knew was that (despite a rocky start), he was one of the few people across the multiverse that you truly trusted. He was harsh at times, rough around the edges and gruff…but he was like a light you’ve never known.

You both had your baggage, and you have both lost a lot in your lives, but maybe that’s why it worked. Whatever it was.

“Miguel?” you call out, looking around the monitoring room. He wasn’t on his usual platform which was odd. All of a sudden you get that familiar tingle on the back of your neck, and you whip around.

“HOLY GODS,” you exclaim as you see him hovering in the shadows like a wraith ready to leap out for the attack. “What are you doing?!”

He only chuckles at your expense, walking out with an amused grin on his face.

“Just making sure your reflexes are working properly,” he states simply.

“By giving me a heart attack in the process?” you say with an exaggerated frown, and he snorts.

“Don’t be dramatic, besides, you make stupid faces when you get scared,” he says, and you gasp offendedly.

“Well, you always look stupid so beat that,” you retort, and his hand grasps his chest dramatically.

“How could you? After everything we’ve been through, you think I look stupid?” he says, and you can’t help the breathy laughter that escapes. But before long the smile is replaced by a frown.

You could never really hide your emotions around him, he could always read you too well.

“You alright, kiddo?” he asks. He tried to mask his concern, but his eyes never lied.

“Never better!” you say, your tone overly sarcastic. Miguel eyes you with an expression that says ‘That’s a load of shit’, but you just brush him off with a nervous chuckle.

“You were about to go on a mission right? Can I come along? Cool, great, awesome,” you say, not even waiting for his reply. You press a button on the back of your neck that replaces your clothes with your Spider Suit and turn to look at him expectantly.

“Let’s just pack this guy up, in and out right?” you say, and he sighs.

“Fine, you can come along,” he relents, opening up a portal.

“You do realize I was going to come along either way, right?” you say, and he shakes his head knowingly.

“I know, you have the stubbornness of a bull but it helps me feel at least somewhat like the leader of the Society if I get the final say,” he says, his voice almost small which makes you laugh out loud.

“There, there,” you say, patting his shoulder as the two of your approach the portal together. “Everyone around here respects your authority,” you say with a grin before your mask covers your face.

“Except you,” he scoffs.

“Except me,” you say in turn.

~

“So what’s the deal with this anomaly?” you ask as the two of you emerge on the other side, not wanting to go in completely blind if you didn’t have to. You were reckless, but you weren’t completely stupid.

“Came in through a tear from Earth-848710. Has the power to manipulate metal to his advantage. At the height of his powers he has the ability to control even the iron in our blood so watch out,” he instructs.

“Ooh, freaky. What, like blood bending in Avatar: The Last Airbender?” you ask, and a confused expression washes over Miguel’s face which makes you giggle a bit.

“Like what?”

“Oh Miguel, don’t worry, we’ll binge watch it later, just you wait,” you reply before the back of your neck tingles, and you sling a web up onto the ceiling, yanking you up off the ground.

Just in time, because in the place that you once were stood a beam of metal impaled into the ground.

“Holy shit!” you yelp, and Miguel is swinging right up beside you.

“That’s our cue then. On your toes, spiderling,” he says, and you grin. You don’t exactly remember when he started saying that phrase to you, but it was standard procedure before every fight for him to say it now.

“You got it, old man,” you snicker, and he rolls his eyes before swinging away, allowing you to analyze the villain down below.

His pillars were optimal at a range, so close combat was likely your best bet at beating the guy.

“You gonna hang up there all day, little thing? C’mon, give me a real fight,” the villain calls up to you tauntingly, and you scoff. Of course, he was going to be annoying, just what you needed.

“I’m just trying to find the quickest way to take your annoying ass down and believe me, it will happen,” you retort, swinging down before levelling him with a kick into his gut before he could react. He groans out in pain as you see Miguel send out his webbing from the corner of your eye.

But the villain seemed to notice it as well, using a shard of metal to slice it away before it could reach him.

“You think it’d be that easy, I’ve spent my whole life fighting so-called ‘heroes’ like you,” he scoffs.

“All that says to me is that you’re old,” you snicker, and he scoffs before sending a beam of metal toward you again. You leap out of the way just in time, but the villain picks up the pace.

Ear-scrapingly loud screeches of metal can be heard from all around as he pulls support beam after support beam out of the building to throw at you and Miguel.

“Where’s all that confidence from earlier, little hero?” he calls out toward you. “I thought you were going to take me down, yet here I stand. Maybe you’re weaker than you thought,” he laughs, and you narrow your eyes in annoyance.

You know you shouldn’t lead with your emotions, it was a recipe for disaster in a job like this but you couldn’t help it.

“Enough of this-” you seethe before you’re interrupted.

“THE BUILDING IS FALLING APART,” you hear Miguel shout, and it was true. With each support beam that the villain ripped from the frame, the more unstable the place became. You had to get this guy packed up and pronto, before you all were crushed.

“I’m tired of your games, anomaly,” you huff, levelling him with a glare.

“Why so serious? Your parents never hug you enough as a kid?” the villain says mockingly. You knew it was only to get a rise out of you, every comment of his was, but with your emotions already on high, you immediately saw red.

Everything you had bottled up and shoved down bubbled over like lava, and you lunged for the villain with a snarl.

You threw punch after punch as he cried out in pain, unable to do anything with your webs trapping him in place.

That’s when you feel webs that weren’t your own wrapping around your shoulders, yanking you off of the villain. You yank at the bonds, desperately trying to escape the fluorescent red webbing.

“Let me go, let me go! Let me finish him, Miguel,” you cry out, but he ignores you for a moment.

He shoves the villain through the newly opened portal without a second thought, knowing Jess would handle it on the other side before turning back to you.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey!” he says as he grabs your shoulders, holding you in place as he retracts the webbing. You wriggle around in his grasp, chest heaving with each breath as tears brim over in your eyes. He looks at you with concern, just scanning over you to make sure you were alright before truly looking at you. It made you feel small as you struggled to hold back your sobs.

His eyes only softened, clicking your mask off before brushing his hand gently over your hair, and it only made you want to cry even more.

“C’mere kid,” he says, pulling you into a hug. You exhale shakily before hugging him back tightly, the tears you had been holding back all day finally falling down.

He was so warm…his arms embracing you gently in the way your real father never could.

You stood there in his arms for a few minutes, sobbing into his chest while he just held you gently. After a little while your sobs subsided, replaced with the occasional sniffle before you pull away, looking off to the side sheepishly.

“Do you want to tell me what’s really bothering you now, mi tesoro,” he asks gently, not wanting to push you to say something you didn’t want to.

You only sigh softly, glancing back only to see the worry in his eyes before relenting.

“I don’t have a good relationship with my father…you know this,” you smile sadly, and he only nods, waiting for you to continue.

“We got into a really bad argument before I came here, and well, I don’t really have a father anymore. He kicked me out,” you sniffle. “And I know it shouldn’t bother me as much as it does, because he never cared for me like a parent should but it still hurts Miguel,” you say, your eyes tearing up again. He smiles sadly at you, brushing away a tear gently.

“I’m sorry, mi ángel,” he says, not really knowing what else to say. “But don't blame yourself for feeling what you feel. You can't help it, and besides, losing all that you knew, even if it hurt you is still difficult," he says, and you nod knowing that what he said was true. It wasn't easy to accept though, so you don't say anything in response.

"...You do know you always have a home here, don’t you?” he says, and you laugh softly to yourself, not really knowing why.

“I do?” you ask, and he chuckles fondly.

“Always,” he says before his eyes grow distant for a moment. “…I lost Gabriella a long time ago, I never really recovered from that loss…I don’t think I ever will. But I do believe that the universe sent me you in turn. You won’t ever be her, I know that. But you don’t have to be, because I care for you like a child of my own regardless. You know that, don’t you?” he says, the genuineness of his words evident.

“Thank you,” you whisper, hugging him tightly once more. “I have never felt more safe in my life than when I’m with you," you admit.

He only smiles, and for a moment you think you can see the glimmer of tears in his red eyes but figured it must have been a trick of the light.

“Let’s head back to HQ, kiddo. We can figure out some place for you to stay, alright?” he says, and you nod before pausing for a moment.

“Could I…stay with you?” you ask hesitantly, and his eyes widen for a moment.

“If that’s what you’d like, it can be arranged,” he says before laughing softly. “My house has always been too big for just one person anyway.” Immediately your expression brightens as you skip toward the open portal, a large grin on your face.

“I would like that very much.”

✧✧✧✧✧

A/N: Good gods it has literally been almost 2 weeks since I last posted. I'm so sorry, life has been kicking my ass but I'm back!! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading <33

Taglist: @beiroviski, @scaraza, @blueoorchid, @remuslupinwifee, @local-mr-frog, @johfaam0, @rawegggohan, @honeycriess, @alexenoirex, @chimpkinnuggies, @rqdior, @banana—belle, @notasadgirlipromise, @6billionyearsold, @gods-perfectidiot, @ieatmunson, @honeii-puff, @wh0re4zaynmalik, @toplinehyunjin, @ohworm-writes, @ishii03, @snowywhiterose, @leftcupcakedefendor

[cal-flakes]

╰┈➤ reunited with rafe

warnings: kinda angsty i guess?

summary: childhood friends turned enemies find themselves in a sticky situation.

a crybaby. that’s what he always called her. whether she had scraped her knees in the garden with sarah when she was seven, or the book she was reading had a sad ending, y/n was a crybaby. but oh, how he hated it when she cried, more so when he was the one who caused it.

y/n always had a rocky relationship with her bestfriends brother, he hated her, or so she thought. never quite catching the twinkle in his eye whenever she was around. god forbid she ever noticed, from the age of nine, rafe cameron went to great lengths to hide the truth.

he made y/n’s life hell from the moment they met at her and sarah’s first sleepover, until the day her and her friends escaped the boat to guadeloupe. she wondered still, what stopped him from unloading on their lifeboat, but he knew the answer to that very well.

the pogues shared anxious glances as they were rescued from the unknown island, now poguelandia. something didn’t feel right, and they all knew it.

“he’s working for my dad. they’ve probably been looking for us this whole time!” sarah cried, holding back a nervous sob. y/n nodded as she drew circles arm, like when they were kids. “she’s right, search the plane, there might be clues..” poor whispered, a brief nod to john b and everyone was on the same page.

the crew scavenged the back of the plane, looking for anything that would tell them who this man was while john b distracted the pilot.

sarah grabbed a photograph out of jj’s hand, staring at it in horror. “the coastal venture, oh my god” she breathed.

bickering ensued as the pogues came up with their own ideas on what to do. john b did his best to keep the pilot talking until he spotted jj putting a book back into his bag, reaching round to grab at him. before they knew it, they were going down, and fast.

landing with a crash, the plane filled up with water as the pogues struggled their way out. It was all happening so fast, none of them took a moment to notice y/n’s foot was trapped in some netting. “guys!” she shrieked to no avail. flailing furiously to untangle her foot.

pushing the net away from her as if it had attacked her, she fled the plane, swimming across to shore, only to find her friends weren’t there.

she didn’t have a chance to catch her breath before guards stormed her, coming from all directions. y/n took off running, hiding between trees and boats before she was grabbed from behind.

y/n continued screaming for her friends to help her when she was placed in the back of a truck.

arrival at her destination was less than pleasant as a large man dragged her upstairs to a room and pushed her inside. turning back, she questioned the man, who refused to answer her questions.

after a couple hours of wracking her brain, she put the dress on which had been laid out for her. despite the situation, she took a moment to admire the way it hugged her curves beautifully, the red satin complimenting her olive skin.

“uh, excuse me?” she asked, noticing a man in the dining room of the house.

her face contorted when he turned around, as did his. meeting her eyes, it felt as though his heart had fallen into his stomach, he wasn’t sure he’d ever see her again.

“i knew it! i knew it was you, getting your little friend to ‘rescue us’, it’s always you!’ y/n snapped, unable to suppress the anger, which she had been holding onto for years.

“me? you’re the one trying to get in on my deal!” he spat back, his heart hurting.

“I wondered if your little reunion would cause sparks y’know” an unfamiliar voice appeared. the two shared a hateful look before turning towards it.

“it’s a pleasure to meet you mr cameron..” gesturing toward him before doing the same to the girl “and you, miss y/l/n, i apologise for the rough tactics in bringing you here..” the man bowed his head slightly, feigning regret.

furrowing his brows, rafe analysed the sentence, a familiar type of anger growing inside of him once again, having stayed dormant for a while.

“rough tactics? what about me?” rafe questioned sheepishly, struggling to suppress the thoughts of anyone but him laying a hand on her.

after a long conversation, both parties now held the information as to why they were there. denmark tanny’s diary, pope’s diary. y/n kept her cards close to her chest, denying all knowledge of the diary.

“i know one of you has the diary. once i have it, you’ll be free to leave” carlos stated, leaving an air of tension behind him as he left.

y/n stayed silent, avoiding rafe’s eyes, which she didn’t notice were inspecting her as she stared out of the window.

poking out through the open back of the dress, lay an angry purple bruise, looking further, he saw how it spread across the whole left side of her ribcage. rubbing his forehead, rafe struggled to find the words for a second.

“th-they did that to you? he stuttered, frustration clear on his face. the disgusted look on her face said it all, yet she prevailed. “why do you care? it’s not like you haven’t done worse.” she spat at him, all the memories of rafe’s brutality fresh in her mind.

holding his hand up “never to you i didn’t!” he remarked, as if that would change anything. “but to the people i love! you expect me to stand here and be happy to see you? after everything you did to us, to your own sister?” she wailed, her mind going back to her friends.

before she could wish them away, awful thoughts invaded her mind. she had no idea where her friends were, they could be dead for all she knew. biting his tongue, rafe looked up at her, seeing her big green eyes well up with tears just like they had that time in the garden.

“you are such a crybaby” he snapped, his sharp words cutting her just like they had done before.

[ohtobeleah]

My Brothers Keeper // Jake Seresin

Summary: Five seconds faster and Jake Seresin wouldn’t be standing in his bedroom telling the love of his life the biggest lie he’d ever told.

Warnings: Relationship breakdown. Jake Seresin x F!reader.

Word Count: 2k

Author Note: Day Four of Whumptober. Prompt I chose: Betrayal. Thank you to @ailesswhumptober for the prompt list.

Whumptober Masterlist | Main Masterlist

“You have to stop taking your grief out on me.” There wasn’t an awful lot more Jake Seresin could have done about it. And the only thing he could think of that could fix the situation he found himself in was to go back in time, fly a little faster, and save your brother and what Jake could only describe as your ‘adoptive’ fathers, lives. 

But he couldn’t bend the laws of physics anymore than he could bend time. So, he stayed standing in your living room—watching as you folded up the remaining bits of laundry you’d been neglecting to put away. 

You hadn’t spoken in three very long, very silent days. The home you shared had become a silent battle ground of unspoken fear, grief and anger. You could cut the tension with a knife it had gotten so bad—but Jake gave you the space you so clearly needed. Until now—

“Leave me alone Jake.” 

During those three days all Jake could think about was how he might lose you because he wasn’t a good enough pilot to be able to save Maverick and Rooster. He wasn’t fast enough, he wasn’t prepared enough—

Hell he wasn’t brave enough. 

“Okay, I cannot, no matter how much you blame me—no matter how much you ask, no matter how much you criticize, ignore my existence or question me, I cannot bring them back baby.” Jake made his way across the space when you didn’t answer him, he missed the way things used to be before that damned mission. He crouched to his knees across from you—piles of washing kept a little distance. But none of that stopped Jake from tilting your chin up so that you had no choice but to look at him as he spoke. Nothing stopped him from cupping your cheeks in his hands just to run his thumbs across your soft and supple cheeks. 

“I’m right here, I’m right in front of you baby—“ You and Jake had been on rocky rounds since he’d called you to inform you that your brother, Bradley Bradshaw and your uncle or, as some would be more comfortable referring to him as your dad, Pete Mitchell had both been killed during a mission. “Please look at me?” Jake continued to guide your gaze to his eyes. He smiled softly when you finally gave him the time of day. “I’m right here, just talk to me.” 

He had to be the one who told you. 

Jake couldn’t leave that task to anyone else—it was the least he could do, considering he had been the one who’d gone after them. 

“I don’t even know who I’m looking at anymore.” There was a sickening feeling that hadn’t left your body since Jake had told you two of the most important people in your life had both died. “I don’t believe you when you say that you, Hangman, did everything you could to try and save them.” 

You never called Jake Hangman, you knew deep down how much the meaning behind his callsign kept him up at night. But here you were, throwing it right back in his face. 

Jake Seresin thought you loved him, understood who he was to the very bone. Jake thought you trusted him, knew his mind, body and soul. He had a ring tucked away in his bedside table—a Diamond worth more than he could afford. But yet here you were:

Just like all the others who ever came before you. 

Jake thought you were different, that you saw him for who he really was. You were Bradley Bradshaw's little sister, the barista who made the world's most perfect oat milk vanilla lattes and just so happened to work at the coffee stand on base while Jake was stationed in Lemoore. Did he know you were Rooster's little sister? Not initially. Did he back down when he’d connected all the dots? No—he still thought you were just the sweetest thing. 

But now you were sitting right in front of him, folding laundry that you’d neglected, calling him a liar after he’d told you all that he knew and all that he did. 

“I don’t believe you when you say you didn’t hold back, that you did everything you could have to get there in time because I know you—“ Jake had dropped his hand a long time ago at this point. But he still sat there right in front of you and took the metaphorical beating you gave his person, his very being. “And I know that deep down, you and Bradley hated each other with such a passion that as soon as the opportunity came up where you could get rid of him? you took it.” 

It was misguided anguish, Jake knew that. But this was getting a little too personal for his ego to handle. 

“Is that what you really think?” Jake asked softly as he watched you get up off the ground with a huff. You’d promised you wouldn’t cry anymore, but you should have learnt by now not to make promises you couldn’t keep. “Do you really think I hated your brother so much that I'd just let him die?” 

It wasn't just a question of morality, it was a question of character. Just who did you really think Jake was? 

“Don’t walk away from me!” Jake hissed as he got up off the living room floor to follow you. Hell three weeks ago he thought he’d follow you anywhere on earth. Now he wasn’t too sure if you’d even let him. “Y/n! Don’t you dare walk away from me.” 

“Leave me alone Jake!” You spat back as you made your way down the hallway towards your bedroom. “Before I say something I’ll regret.” 

“Oh no honey, let's air out all our grievances now!” It was the condescending tone you didn’t appreciate the most as Jake followed you into your shared bedroom. He slammed the door so hard behind him that it nearly came off its hinges. It made you freeze in your place, the loud obnoxious sound of the door slamming shut rattled in your mind as Jake's footsteps grew heavy as he walked closer and closer to you. “Fucking tell me you don’t mean what you said.” He growled with a disdain in his temperament. “TELL ME!” 

You’d never seen your boyfriend so mad before. Usually Jake was pretty content, but it was clear that your suspicions had struck a raw nerve. 

“You killed my brother.” Was all you said as the backs of your legs hit the side of your bed. “And you killed the only man who was ever remotely my dad.” Jake could see it in your eyes—you believed every word you spoke with enough conviction that he even questioned what the truth of the matter was. “You're meant to be the best! But yet you weren’t good enough to save the two most important men in my life!?” 

“I did everything that I could!” Jake was beginning to lose his damn mind as he pulled at his hair and clenched his jaw so hard he thought his teeth might break. “I love you, I really do but you are taking this too far Y/n—I didn’t kill your family! The enemy did, they were the ones who flew a little faster in better jets with better equipment and they were the ones who fired the missile—NOT ME!” 

Jake knew you didn’t believe him, he knew that you’d already left before you had the guts to say it. He could see it written all over your face like a bad breakup song from the nineties. You couldn’t sleep beside the man who you blame with every fiber of your being for the deaths of your father and brother. 

But you just couldn’t pull the trigger. 

“Is this really how it’s gonna be?” Jake asked as he stepped a little closer, his chest was practically pressed against yours as you held your ground. “You blame me, I deny deny deny until my dying breath and we keep going around in circles like this?” The feeling of Jake's palm against your cheek had your tears welling, his thumb brushed against the apple of your cheek and all those stray hairs were now tucked back behind your ear. “I thought you knew me baby, c’mon, look at me yeah? Do you really think that I didn’t do enough?” 

The silence that lingered spoke volumes. Jake knew right then and there that he had to leave, he had to step away. He couldn’t keep doing this—begging you to remember who he was because you were so clouded by your own grief. 

Never once had you asked if he was okay. Never once had you asked how he was, if he was going alright after getting there just five seconds too late. You never asked if he laid awake at night playing that scenario over and over in his mind—never. You never asked because you didn’t care. You didn’t believe he was an innocent man in all of this. 

“You know what?” But Jake Seresin was good at putting up walls to protect his heart. He was good at playing pretend, playing the part in people’s lives that they needed him to be. It was just easier to be The Hangman than it was to be Jake. Standing before the love of his life realizing that he would always and forever be remembered as the man who killed her brother was a role he never thought he’d play: 

But for you he’d do it, and he’d do it well. 

“Fine—I admit it.” Jake stepped back to put some distance between the two of you. He knew he’d never be so close to you again. It broke his heart into a million pieces but if this was who you really needed him to be he’d be that person. “I could have done more, but I chose not to.”

“Jake—“ You’d been thinking about it for days, the possibility, the probability that Jake had more involvement than he was leading you to believe. But hearing him actually say it threw everything you thought you knew out the window, along with your relationship. 

“All your brother ever did was sit on that fucking perch of his and the one time he needed to get off? He wasn’t nearly capable enough to get himself out of a tough situation.” Jake had never hated Bradley, sure they had their tiffs and differences over the years but never did he ever hate the guy. “And Mav? His arrogance finally caught up with him! You should take some fucking comfort in the fact they’re both with your dead daddy now—it’s one big family fucking reunion because I chose to not take the shot when I so clearly had it!” 

It was the biggest betrayal you’d ever experienced. 

“Get out!” 

“What! You’ve been blaming me for everything since before the funerals and now you wanna stand there and pretend you didn’t see it fucking coming?” Jake scoffed as he made his way across the room to collect a few things he’d need before showing up to Coyote's front door with his tail between his legs. 

It was the biggest betrayal Jake had ever experienced. 

“Leave! Get out of my house! Get out of my life before you have a chance to take anything else away from me!” You had never felt such a heartbreak, felt such a loss than when you finally heard Jake admit it. He could have saved them, but he chose not to for his own selfish reasons. 

But Jake was a good man, he had his morals and his own heart to protect. He’d never forgiven himself for not being just a fraction faster—because when he saw that F-14 explode with two of the most important people in your life inside as his thumb grazed the trigger—he knew he’d lost you too.

“Trust me Bradshaw, you’ve got nothing left to fucking lose.”  ***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~**~***~

Whumptober Tags 🏷️ @xoxabs88xox @oldermenaremyreligion @slut-f0r-u @emma-is-cool @armydrcamers @topguncortez @topgun-imagines @kmc1989 @els-marvelvsp @blindedbythelightt

[chaotic-mystery]

Pairing: dbf! Joel miller x f!reader

Summary: You and Joel go to your dads annual BBQ after that shitfest at White Pony. You felt something that night in your living room with him that you are unsure to pursue. He slowly starts to realize why you have such a rocky relationship with your dad as you spend more time together, but does he defend you or sit there and let you take it when they start grilling you and embarrassing you in front of him?

Content Warnings: daddy issues out the ASS, eventual smut so 18+ only MDNI! Family issues, swearing, lovers to enemies, dbf!joel, trauma/childhood trauma, drinking, smoking, arguing, verbally abusive parent, age gap but unspecified, no outbreak! Joel, meanish Joel!

Word Count: 4.9K

Your eyes open slowly to the curtains blowing in the morning wind, the nippy air sending goosebumps up your exposed arm. As your phone buzzes on the nightstand, you wipe the sleep from your eyes. A few messages from Joel decorated the lockscreen, some from a couple hours ago and some from just a few moments ago.

“Do you wanna ride with me to your dads later? I can fix your car later this weekend if you want.” 2 hrs ago

“You plan on wakin up anytime soon?” 1 hr ago

“Stop snorin so loud I can hear you in the garage!” 20 mins ago

You giggle softly and swipe away the message, sitting up to look out the window when your eyes find Joel outside in his front yard putting out new landscaping lights by the porch steps.

“I don’t snore that loud, asshole!” You flip him the bird as soon as he shields the sun from his eyes to look at you in the window.

“Like hell you don’t! Come down’ere and help me would ya?” He hollers back and nods down at the lights that haven’t been put in the ground yet.

You think about it for a second before you pull the screen back down on the window and throw on something more appropriate than your big t-shirt and panties combo. Cascading down the stairs outside to his front yard, he tries not to watch you walk up to him but he just can’t help himself. The way your bed head is still so noticeable he can’t help but chuckle to himself.

You cross your arms when you stop right in front of him, casting a shadow onto his direction manual from the box.

“Would ya mind steppin’ a little to the left please, darlin’?” Something about the way he calls you darlin’ makes your heart flutter a tad and the heat rises in your cheeks.

You sit on your knees next to him and start to put the lights together while Joel takes another look at you, watching your hands twist and turn to get the post in the correct way.

“So uh, not too sure if you read my messages, lord knows it took me forever to type them. So whaddya say? Carpool with me and I’ll fix your car tomorrow, how’s that sound?” He sounded nervous asking even though he had no reason to be. It was just carpooling.

“Uhh yeah, w-we can carpool to my dad’s together. Just remember- don’t tell him about White Pony, okay?” You glance at him and give a small smile and hand over the light so he can put it in the dirt.

“I know, I know. It’ll be okay. I’ve got shit in the house Sarah made to bring over before she left for her friends house so we’re squared away with that.” He grunts as he pushes another light into the dirt.

“Do you think we can go into town? I need somethin’ to wear and since my car doesn’t work…” Your eyes look up at his and his eyebrows drop, staring at you with a deadpan face.

“All those goddamn clothes in your closet and there’s nothing in there you can wear?” With a smile growing on your face and a laugh erupting from your lungs, Joel groans in frustration.

“No, Joel there’s nothing in there cute enough to wear! Cmon I’ll even give you gas money! Please?” You beg and plead, grabbing onto his arm and throwing yourself back and forth dramatically.

“It’s a fuckin’ family barbeque, who the hell are you dressin’ to impress at a family event?” Joel raises an eyebrow in your direction, glancing down at his arm that’s in your hands. You two just stare at each other and without blinking you give him an honest answer.

“You aren’t family.” A small grin appearing on your lips, Joel chuckling dryly.

“Didn’t answer my question, little girl.” A small tickle inside you starts forming and suddenly your hands get clammy.

“Myself, of course.” Was all you managed to get out before getting yourself to your feet and brushing your ass free of any dirt you may have sat in. Little girl. It kept replaying in your mind and egging on that tickling feeling. There was no denying everything felt different ever since the other night when he beat up those assholes. Michelle hasn’t been around much but you knew he still was with her considering the loud phone calls you could overhear through the open windows late at night.

Joel shook his head and grumbled as he stood up, his hands rubbing over his knees gently. “Well let’s go then, don’t got all damn day.” He starts walking to his truck and you run over to your place to grab your purse and keys, spraying some perfume on you before you close and lock the front door, Joel already backing out of his driveway slowly.

He stops just at the tail end and lets you climb inside on the seat, bouncing around to sit up straight and get your seatbelt on. “Try that little thrift store on fifth avenue, I heard it was good but I haven’t been there.” You adjust your jacket as he starts to take off down the road, pulling down the center console to lay on the middle seat for an arm rest. Joel nods and heads that way into town.

Since you left all those years ago to follow your mom, you didn’t realize the town had changed so much until you came back. The empty building where your favorite little grocery shop used to be was the first thing that caught your eye. Your dad would take you there all the time and get stuff for breakfast on Sundays. Waffles with whipped cream and apple pie filling on the top. The cashier would give you a sticker with a smiley face on it and your dad would hate it because you’d stick them everywhere in his truck. “Wait- slow down, Joel.” You sit up in the truck, grabbing onto the handle above your head and you look closely at the shell of the place you had some great memories from.

“What happened to the grocery store?” Joel glances out your window and looks at you like you’re joking.

“It burnt down all those years ago, remember? Thought you heard about it, I’m surprised your father didn’t tell ya.” You could feel the tears pricking your eyes and you blinked slowly, taking in the memories flooding back to you. It was a stupid fucking grocery store, that’s all it ever was. You couldn’t figure out why it was making you so fucking sad. Maybe because there was no way of ever going there one more time with your dad, him chasing you down the small isles with the cart trying to hit your feet and your giggles filling the shelves with life. You knew you were never going to be that little girl ever again.

Joel notices how quiet you’ve gotten and he dips his head down to see what you’re feeling, what you’re thinking.

“You okay, sweetheart?” His soft voice brings you back to the present time, snapping you out of the sappy memory lane you put yourself in.

“Hm? Yeah I’m fine. You don’t have to go in with me if you don’t wanna, I won’t be long.” You give Joel a fake smile but he can see right through it. Joel parks in front of the thrift store and turns off his truck, unclicking his seat belt.

“I’ve got nothin’ else better to do anyway. Let’s go.”

He’s out of the truck and walking to the door before you even have your seatbelt off and you chuckle softly, making your way next to him. Joel opens the front door for you and you’re hit with that smell of old clothes and an air freshener plugged in somewhere to mask the old smell. A woman greets you and you start running your hands all over the clothing racks, Joel following closely behind.

They had just a little bit of everything, most of it was old lady clothes. Joel never wandered away from you though, not even to go look at the mens clothing.

As you fished through the third rack of clothes, your eyes find a dress that you immediately want to try on. It was pink and had little white flowers all over it, knee length. With some quick alterations you could probably save it and make it look somewhat decent.

“I’ll be right back, gonna go try this on.” You mutter to Joel and disappear behind a curtained dressing room. Joel kept looking all over the room, scanning clothing racks that were piled full of shit no one wanted anymore.

He walked over to sit down in the chairs they had out for customers and tired husbands who were groaning about being there, and in your case: your dads best friend. You tugged the dress over your hips and stared at yourself in the mirror for what felt like ages. Nothing was looking good on you. A pile of stuff you previously tried on was becoming bigger on the floor but never once did you hear Joel complain. “Joel nothing is working out. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to waste your time.” You called out from behind the thin curtain and you groaned in frustration.

“Let me take a look, see if I can find ya somethin.’”

Joel’s callused hands start to flip through the hangers like a book with thousands of pages, not stopping until he found exactly what he was looking for. He was making it his mission to at least make your day a little better, even if it was a dress that you’d wear once and forget about it in the back of your closet.

As Joel moved onto the last rack along the wall, he spotted a dress hanging lower than everything else around it and he parted the clothes around it, observing the material. A floral cami mini dress with a small slit on the side. It wasn’t something Joel would want you to wear by any means but it wasn’t for him. He knew you’d like it, the way the lace lays over the satin material, just the right length for you. God was he aware you loved short dresses and skirts.

You watched the tall shadow get darker as he got closer to the curtain and suddenly there was fabric being held over the top of the dressing room rod holding up the only thing separating your half naked body and Joel.

“Try this, let me know whatcha think?” He grumbles and lets go of the hanger when he feels your hands and he steps back, clearing his throat before sitting down once more. Joel taps his fingers on his knee a few times as he glances around the place to take in everything on the walls.

You zip up the back and smooth down the fabric, loving the way it hugs you just right. Of course he picked one out with a slit on the side, why wouldn’t he. With your hair tucked behind your ears, you push open the curtains and step out to where Joel can see you and tell you how fucking amazing you look.

“So uh..how do I look?”

His head snaps up in your direction and you can see him freeze in his seat. His hand rubs over his scruffy beard in complete awe of what’s before him.

“Doesn’t matter what I think. You like it? Make ya feel pretty?” Joel watches you closely when you turn to look at yourself in the floor length mirror. The smile on your face is infectioness, he can feel one growing on his lips.

“Yeah, I like it.” Your eyes lock with him in the reflection and for a second everything goes silent. You suddenly can’t hear the music on the speakers above you, you can’t hear the hangers being scooted back and forth, gazed at over and over.

For a moment in this weird situation, Joel didn’t feel like someone you shouldn’t be longing after. He felt like someone you wanted to impress, to seek his approval from.

“Darlin’ c’mon we gotta get movin’ before we’re late.” His voice makes you aware of everything and you’re yanked out of your own world once more.

The curtain is drawn before you can slip out of the dress and into your clothes, trying to be as quick as possible so you can hurry home and get prepared for the circus about to happen tonight.

-

It was getting closer and closer to 5 o’clock when Joel said he’d be ready and for the first time in your life you were ready on time. With your hair all done and the dress on, you felt some butterflies in your stomach waiting for Joel to see you. A honk from outside signaled you to come on out, and you made your way down to his truck. Joel was thankful his windows were up so you couldn’t hear everything he muttered on your walk to him.

“Well c’mon know we don’t have all damn night, watch the potato salad with that thing!” He hollered as you tried to toss your purse on the seat and barely missed the container with foil over the top.

You poke your tongue out at him and buckle yourself in, turning on his radio to something more your style. Joel just shakes his head at you and starts driving to your dads house. With one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting against the side of your headrest, he looks over at you a couple of times and wonders if he should even ask this or not.

“So is there anything I should watch out for tonight at this thing? First one you’ve been to in years and I dunno what a lil firecracker like you is gonna say.”

Flashing Joel a devilish grin, you light a cigarette and hold it between your index and middle finger just outside the window, finding the words to say to ease his mind.

“Well, I could pick a fight with almost everyone there if I get enough tequila in my sy-”

“Absolutely no tequila- uh uh. Not happening.”

You roll your eyes and continue your answer.

“Anywayyy! Or I could sit pretty and let everyone rip me to shreds and hear from my dad about how a phone works both ways and I should’ve come to see him more. How I was the coward for leaving when I got into an argument with Janet and my dad followed me to the porch, he grabbed me and shook me around calling me a bitch while telling me not to talk to her that way. Ironic, isn’t it?”

Joel’s brows furrow and he glances at you a few more times before gripping the steering wheel tighter.

“T-that actually happened?” He sounds surprised as if he was never told about this. Crazy to think that considering your dad likes to tell everyone why you left.

“Mhm. I was sixteen when he did that. He came close to hitting me but he didn’t. I was scared of him back then, back when I didn’t have a voice. I never argued with him or raised my voice, contrary to what he says.” You take a drag of your cigarette and decide to keep going.

“That was the day I decided I couldn’t do this anymore. I stopped going to his house every other weekend, I stopped calling and texting him, I did that for a year. He swore my mom brainwashed me but it was never about her. He just didn’t want me to see the monster he truly fucking is. Anyway, there’s more horror stories I could share but honestly? I’ve forgotten a lot because of how fucked up it was. He always chose his girlfriends over my siblings and I thought that was never going to change and it still hasn’t. I’m just full of so much anger now, I think. I wanna watch him crumble to fucking pieces.”

You told him a couple more stories, only the ones you knew he could handle. It was clear Joel knew none of this, your dad painted you as the bad guy and he loved doing that. By the time you were done, your cigarette was finished and you were pulling into your dads street. Joel’s knuckles were white from gripping the wheel so hard.

“He did that to ya? What a fuckin’ asshole. Darlin’ I’m so sorry- I didn’t know-” He was searching for the right words to say to you, something other than sorry. There wasn’t though, there was nothing he could say to take the sting away from that wound.

The look of shock on your face was all Joel needed and his hand grabbed yours after he put the truck in park. His thumb rubbed your skin softly and he met your eyes.

“I’m sorry he did that. I have your back in there tonight, I promise.”

Your stomach felt the butterflies again and you took a sharp breath in before tripping over your words, “We should go. The faster we go the faster we can leave this shit show.”

You two make your way to the backyard, Joel carrying the potato salad. No one except your dads family showed up and Janet’s sons. Joel’s greeted with open arms and hellos, while you’re met with stares and scoffs about your outfit. Oh how things never change even with company present, you think to yourself.

“Well hello everyone, Dad.”

He stops patting Joel’s back and looks at you, not a word coming from his mouth for a moment.

“Well hi, sweetheart. How are you?” He didn’t really care, he just wanted to know if you were staying out of trouble.

“Fine, how are you?” He looks at Joel and Joel nods awkwardly.

“I’m fine honey. Say hi to Janet.”

“Not a chance in hell.” You laugh and light another cigarette, pouring yourself a whiskey. Joel never said anything against having whiskey.

Joel set down the potato salad on the glass patio table and grabbed a beer from the cooler as he watched you sip your drink, the gears in your mind turning while you thought about how you wanted this night to go.

Everyone sat down after making up their plates, Joel at one end of the table and your dad on the other end. You sat next to Joel, feeling a sense of comfort and safeness from him.

Janet cleared her throat as she poured more wine in her glass, a spiteful look shooting at you.

“So I heard you have a job now? What is it exactly?” Even her tone was like nails on a fucking chalkboard.

You take a bite of potato salad and brush your hair behind your shoulder. “I’m a waitress at a bar.”

She laughs sarcastically and takes a sip of her drink. Her claws are in you now and there is nowhere to go. Your dad just shovels food into his mouth and lets her start her shit with you, clearly not seeing her game.

“You mean the bar from the other night some guys got beat up at for no reason?” She squints at you and smirks. You can feel your face get hot with anger and Joel’s hand reaches under the table to rub your knee, calming you down.

Joel takes a drink of his beer and looks at Janet, his hands folding in front of his face as he thought carefully on how he wanted to dive into this topic.

“If i may..they weren’t beat up for no reason. They were grabbin’ on her the whole night and being assholes. I did what I thought was best, she deserved a better tip than what they left her so I tried the calm approach and they escalated it.” Joel’s stare was tight on Janet, who was turned to the side fully to give Joel her full attention. The wind started to blow softly against your hot face but something inside you told you this wasn’t even close to not being talked about anymore.

Everyone was silent. Not a scrape of plastic utensils on the paper plates, not a bottle of condiments being squeezed. Just the wind in your ears. As you dropped your head down towards your lap you could feel the flame still burning inside you, Joel still rubbing your knee to sooth you.

“But honey you can’t just chase after customers because they tip badly. Your service reflects your tip. I raised you better than that, now.” It was almost impossible not to visibly react to every word falling from his mouth. He didn’t raise you, he never did even when you were at his house for the weekend. He could sit at the end of the table all he wants and pretend like he had some credit for how you turned out but you knew the truth and that’s all that matters. Your dad was so deep in his lies he fully convinced himself he was a good father to you, to your siblings, and the reason you fucked up so bad and had to move back to Texas was because of how your mom raised you.

“You didn’t raise me.” You mutter quietly under your breath just before you swallow your words with whiskey. Thankfully he didn’t hear you as Janet was talking to him, probably talking about you under her breath.

“Alan, I just told you I was the one who went after them, not her. She was in the bathroom crying and Michelle and I felt bad, so I took care of it. No need to make her feel worse about shit she didn’t have any say in.” His tone was getting more and more agitated the more he was brought back to that moment, seeing the sadness wash over your face and the humiliation you felt having to pick up that three dollar tip. It was unclear though as to why Joel said Michelle felt bad for you too. She didn’t give a second look to you when you ran to the bathroom. Not once did she ask if you were okay, her man did. Joel. did.

Joel’s jaw clenched as took another sip of his beer, a small glance to you from the corner of his eye. He turned to look at you fully and mouthed softly, “ You okay?” A soft smile and nod was all you answered with and that was enough for Joel not to push you further.

Your dad groans at the opposite end of you and fiddles with the napkin on the table, smoothing it over with the fork a dozen times. “You don’t have to stick up for her, Joel. She’s a big girl. Think she’s had enough people clean up her shit for her and she’ll never be responsible if you keep bailing her out. Lord knows I did it too much and her mother certainly didn’t care to raise her right. Hell, she’s got no manners, she doesn’t greet my wife who I’ve been with since that girl next to ya was twelve years old, over some bullshit I can’t even remember. She’s gonna amount to nothin’ if she stays on this path. Insane she still has her job after that stunt.”

There it was. The real him. The real him he’s been hiding from Joel for all these years. This was the exact reason he never talked about you to his friends, you pissed him off so much for who you were and he hated how you could make him show his true colors just by speaking about you.

“Where did I go wrong, dad? Tell me! Tell me where I went wrong in my life for you to hate me!” You shot up out of your chair and threw your glass down, spilling whiskey everywhere and your chair flying back. “You tell me where I went wrong for you to despise me so much to let her sit there next to you and talk about your flesh and blood like that.” By this point the hot tears streaked down your face and Joel’s head was in his hands. “Baby girl..” Joel whispers only enough for you to hear it and he sighs, shaking his head.

Your brothers left the table and all that was left was the four of you, Janet with a smirk plastered on her face. “I haven’t done anything, this is all your mess. Your father has done nothing but take care of your sorry ass while you mooch off him and take his money, you fuckin’ gold digger.” The spitefulness dripping off her words didn’t even faze your dad. He didn’t move an inch. His arm was pushed against the table as he leaned back in his chair, those stupid fucking sunglasses on top of his head like he always wore them.

“He was my dad, you stupid bitch. That was his job, to take care of me.” You choked out and your stomach dropped, heart feeling that familiar hollowness you haven’t felt since you were a teenager.

“Don’t call her a bitch, you know better. Why did you have to do this shit tonight? Huh?!” Your dads voice booms against the trees and through your lungs.

There was no room in your body to hear anymore of this bullshit, so you grabbed the whiskey off the table and Joel’s keys from his belt loop, walking to his truck with mascara running all down your neck. Janet and your dad were shouting but it was muffled and it was probably for the best if you didn’t catch a single word, you wouldn’t survive in jail. You could barely get the passenger side door open before you collapsed over the seat, sobbing your eyes out onto the felt material. Finding all the strength in your body to get in the truck and wait there for Joel, you climbed up like you had wounds all over your body, sobbing and sniffling until you got upright.

Not even five minutes went by before you watched Joel trek across the tall grassy front yard, his jaw still clenched with the wind blowing against him, pushing his shirt against his body. He got inside silently, placed his hand on the back of your seat, and reversed out of the driveway. No one said a word on the way home, no one moved. The radio was playing softly like you had it earlier, now the songs sounding so boring.

Joel pulls into your driveway and shuts the truck off, keys still in the ignition. All that could be heard was the crickets coming out now that the sun was set and the keychain of the soccer ball Sarah got him as a christmas gift you guessed.

You wipe the back of your hand under your nose and sniffle loudly, Joel turning his entire body to you. His hands gently made their way through your hair to the back of your skull, and he lightly pressed a kiss to the top of your forehead. The gentle nature from Joel only made you cry again, this time from just missing that feeling. You missed someone being gentle with you, an older man being gentle with you and caring about you and how you feel.

“Baby…I’m so fuckin’ sorry that happened. No one should talk to their daughter like that and I’m sorry I didn’t see it before. I’m sorry you had to go through that. You did nothing wrong-” You start to sob and drop your head further into his hands. “Look at me, baby. Look at me.” He softly instructs, lifting your head up once more. Your blurry eyes meet his and you can see the pain he’s feeling. The anger.

“You did nothing to deserve that, okay?” He quickly pulls you against his chest as you start to sob again, your tears running off your cheeks and onto his shirt. Joel kissed the top of your head as he smoothed over your hair, just holding you until you felt like you didn’t want to cry anymore. You two stayed like that for a half hour, Joel humming soft songs in your ear as he held you and let you cry on him.

There was nothing Joel could do to fix your dad. Nothing could fix your dad. He was too set in his ways and nothing was ever going to happen. Part of you wanted to know what happened after you left, why you heard all the shouting.

“J-oel what happened after I left? I heard you guys shouting..” You whispered as you sat up slowly, looking at his face with puffy eyes.

A small smile is all he gives, “I’ll tell ya one day, but that’s not right now. Okay sweet girl? You’ve dealt with so much today and I’m so proud of you.” Joel leans in just a little and you close the space between you two, pressing your lips on his softly. He didn’t kiss you back immediately, but once he did, he didn’t want to take his lips away from yours. Not for a second.

[arrowheadedbitch]

Okay everyone, get ready for a long as hell post.

Tw, suicide attempt, suicide, suicide talk

This is my really indepth Shawn hc that is more of just straight up a story at this point

So STRAP IN!

Okay, so during the ten years, at some point Shawn is super duper depressed. He's not going well at all. He's thinking of offing himself, and he has it all planned out. But, he calls his dad first, in hopes that despite their rocky relationship his dad will talk him out of it. But, as soon as his dad picks up the phone...well, you know Henry, he assumes the worst. So Henry is already yelling at him, why are you calling, what do you need now, blah blah blah, so shawn hangs up on him without ever getting a word in edgewise, he never gets to tell him why he called, and now it's just confirmed to him that he should end it and he's feeling a little spiteful too, so he downs a bottle of painkillers, one of the ones with the candy coating, yknow? He only survives bc he didn't care to lock his apartment door and one of the random girls he's always hooking up with came by to get something she accidentally left there, he doesn't answer but the door isn't locked so she thinks she'll just slip in an get her stuff, but instead she finds shawn and gets him an ambulance. After Shawn gets better, he either manages to charisma his way into convincing the doctors that it wasn't *really* a suicide attempt and gets realesed or does his regular sneaky shit and escapes and dips town so he doesn't have to do any therapy or go to grippy sock jail.

To this day, Henry doesn't know, GUS doesn't know, NO ONE KNOWS, *shawn tells NO ONE*

And he can't take advil anymore, can't stand the candy coating.

----------

Hear me out, him accidentally letting it slip during a big argument with Henry

I'm thinking Shawn says something that alludes to what happened during the argument without out right saying it so Henry gets to be more confused than angry as Shawn realizes what he almost reveals and completely shuts down refisung to elaborate

I'm imaging that scene in modern family where Alex accidentally mentions to her dad that she did stuff she wasn't supposed to as a teen and slowly backs out of the room

-------

And I could go on a whole rant about the candy coated painkillers, and I will!

The idea of picking something that's supposed to be sweet, that is supposed to go down easier

Because that's kind of the whole point of candy coating, and Advil tastes good as hell, I don't care what anybody says

He chose something that would be sweet and go down easy for his final moments

But it ended up sickly sweet

And it still got stuck in his throat

And it burnt on the way down

He started out tasting good (there's a reason Advils child lock game is so good) but it ended up tasting awful and burning

The burn and pain contrasted with how he thought he would go out

(Maybe even a perfect metaphor for his relationship with his father too....)

The taste is stuck in his mouth forever, a taste he can never forget

The sickly sweet burn of a whole bottle of candy coated painkillers

And even just the term "Candy Coated Painkillers" feels kind of perfect for Shawn, like aiygjvifjtjejjdksndh

---

Also the fact that he never tells Gus? AUGHH hits me right in the heart

He doesn't call his mom or his best friend, he doesn't tell them, they wouldn't even know until after he was long gone

-----

Maybe Lassie finds out at some point, finally switching gears from looking for something in his criminal record to checking his medical history

Or as a favor for Juliet (thank you Sid/@obsidiancreates ) to find out the truth about a scar he won't tell her about

Lassie doesn't tell anyone, but he does switch out Juliet's stash of Advil for Tylenol, no candy coating.

Shawn finds out he knows because he gets protective of all the new suicide cases in a completely different way than before

Shawn has to tell him to tone it down before Gus starts getting suspicious

-------

And then of course, there's the major angst potential of an AU where Shawn /does/ die

Especially if told from Henry's perspective...

Especially if all of Psych is just Henry imagining what could have been if Shawn didn't die......

But that's all for now!

Enjoy, angst lovers!

[Thanks to @obsidiancreates and @mores0 for talking with me about this AT LENGTH in the Psych discord :)]

[portraitoftheoddity]

Time for another story about my parents! Ft. bonus Gramma.

So my mom's mom was... not a great mom. My dad's mom was cool as hell though, and despite usually displaying the maternal instincts of a block of wood, when she met my mom she was like one of those broody chickens who will sit on literally any baby animal and be like 'mine now.' She absolutely adored my mom when she and my dad were dating, and when they got married she pulled her aside and let her know that while she knew she was only her mother in law, she also knew (my mom)'s relationship with her own mother was rocky and if she ever needed a mom to talk to, she already considered her a daughter. My mom consistently referred to my Gramma as the best mother in law ever.

But!

Gramma was not kidding about "I consider you a daughter", apparently. She thought the whole "in-law" title was superfluous since she regarded my mom as family, and being a practical woman who didn't waste words, simply introduced her as her daughter.

This unfortunately caused some confusion.

Particularly at a gallery opening (Gramma was a painter) when my parents were fairly newly wed, where she told everyone during introductions that my mom was her daughter; they already knew my dad was her son, and thus were VERY CONFUSED by seeing my dad having PDA with who they thought was his sister.

Thankfully my mom was able to clarify she was in fact his wife and he had no sisters, but the hilarity of the situation has endured, and did get Gramma to occasionally add 'in-law' when making introductions.

[tipsyscone]

for the dbd ask game: 2, 14, 21 ♡

2 - fave episode

Oh boy, probably episode 7! It has so many interesting character beats to me, and I get too distracted watching it when I have Dead Boys going in the background. To start with, I love Crystal's storyline starting with her being so adamant to also go to hell to save Edwin. We all know that their relationship has gotten off to a rocky start and I feel this really solidifies her care for Edwin and shows they have their own friendship outside of Charles. She is so worried about not knowing who she is that I feel she has failed to noticed she has already made her own found family.

The scenes with Niko and the Night Nurse really showcases Niko missing her dad and is another of great addition to the episode. For me it's the only explanation of why the group didn't wonder why Niko wasnt a ghost- she obviously passed on to be with her father, right? (Truly heartbreaking to me that they don't even know to look for her at this point.)

George Rexstrew's performance this whole episode is superb imo. The scene with Simon is so heartbreaking (shout out to Gabriel Drake!) and really hit me in the queer feels. I feel like many queer people have had that feeling when we are younger of being wrong, and to have these two boys help each other to move on healed something in me. Follow this up with THE STAIRCASE- the way Edwin's breath catches as he confesses and the fragile look on his face; the collar bone touch from Charles gets me every time. And I'm so thankful for Charles response. Payneland until I die, but it is perhaps the only pair I ship that if it stayed a QPR I would still be okay with it.

14 - plotline you would put into S2/any future season

I really want to see more Edwin and Crystal friendship and for them to pair up on a case together next season! I think it was an unappreciated duo and I would love to get to see them be mean girls together. I think they would be iconic verbally ripping apart a rude client.

I also need Monty to return asap. That poor little crow boy deserves another chance and I'm heartbroken that they just left him in that house. I hope he somehow becomes besties with Jenny- a crow and a goth together at last. I would also love if somehow Monty and the Cat King both came to London as a duo if we are to get cameos. It could work so well for them to have bonded in the absence of the other characters and now they need the dbda to take a case for them.

It would make my little heart so happy for Monty to get any happy ending but I hope he gets a boyfriend please and thank you.

21 - something in the show that made you happy

I really appreciate that the show made women fully fleshed out characters. It would have been easy for them to have Niko be the positive attitude character, but I think we can all relate to her a lot more knowing she struggles with fitting in and is dealing with the loss of a loved one. Jenny could have been all about the pithy oneliners, but instead we found out about her having to learn a business that was left to her by her father and her struggles to find people to connect to. Even the Night Nurse goes on a journey to learn empathy for humans. Truly a shout out to all the woman writers, actors and crew on this show for having such nuanced characters when other supernatural shows in the past haven't bothered.

Also I really love Kingham and Litty and I hope they stick around for awhile next season so I can enjoy more of their savagery. And maybe they can learn to not be dicks ❤️

Thanks for thinking of me @plutosheaven! I'm usually just the one screaming in the reblogs of everyone else's posts, but I want all of the artist and writers in the fandom to know I appreciate you and you're amazing!

[hunted-moth]

Just Like Him: The Before Times 

Word count // 7k

Summary // Y/n is just a normal girl who loves to hunt with her dad. She has a loving and attentive mom. Her relationship with her brother is rocky at best but she still loves her small little life. That is until it's all turned upside down after she gets into an accident, with her dad passing away and her mom flushing her life down the toilet how is she supposed to manage when the world ends with it?

Warning // Language, character death(not twd cast), Talks of death, violence, the killing of walkers, 

Special Thanks to @catbunblue302 and my friend for editing/proofreading this with me, it would be a disaster if they didn't lol

OTHER STUFF// This is just the prologue, it's kind of important but you don't have to read it. But I gave Y/n the nickname Bear, idk why but I love it so im keeping it. She also has shorter hair in the beginning and in my mind is Biracial but her race isn't brought up very much. But things like hair texture, skin color, and eye color aren't mentioned or described so it is up to you how Y/n looks to you

A/N // its in gods hands now. this is like half edited by someone who knows what they're doing and the other half done by me at like 11:00 at night.

***: Major time Skip/scene change

*: small time skip/scene change

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     ~~~2005~~~

             It was early in the morning, maybe five or six. You were fast asleep dreaming about nothing and everything, but while you lay sleeping, a figure crept into the room being careful not to wake you.

When he got to your bed, he hovered over it ready to pounce on you. You were snoring into the night, unaware of what was about to happen as he snaked his hands under the cover skillfully and-

“Wake up, bear! We got lots to do kid.” Your Dad tickled your sides as you yelped and writhed from joy. 

“Dad! Sto-stop I can't brea-breathe,” you laughed. 

He smiled down at you before he got up, releasing that classic dad grunt while laughing quietly.

“Alright, get dressed, then get something to eat.” 

You smirked up at him and flung your cover off yourself. 

“Already one step ahead of you,”you say, revealing to him that you were already dressed in your hunting clothes, minus your boots. 

He chuckled quietly, careful not to wake up his wife and stepson. He nodded his head, telling you to get up and go to the kitchen. You rushed to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl and spoon, and had some fruity pebbles. Your dad just had a pop-tart that he popped in the toaster. 

While he was waiting for it to ding, he looked at you. He saw you scarf down your food as fast as you could.

“You know you can enjoy it, right?” he teased, but you just looked up at him while the spoon was still in your mouth. 

“I know, just eager to leave.” Your mouth was full and milk streamed out of your mouth. 

Your dad just rolled his eyes and chuckled.

POP!

He grabbed his food and went to sit with you. Looking up, you asked him a question. “So what are we doing today?” 

Your dad took a bite of his pop-tart. “Hmm, well I was thinking about going into town and getting some more snacks for the trip. Maybe some extra bug spray.” 

You nodded at that. “Yeah, they love me for some reason.” 

He smirked. “Yeah, it's ‘cause you got sweet blood, they like it.” 

Your eyes widened. “WHAT!” You practically yelled. 

You covered your mouth hoping not to awaken your half-brother and mom.

But it didn't help. 

“The hell’s all this racket!?” Your older brother, Jason, stormed in with an annoyed and tired look on his face. 

You looked at your brother when he walked over. He was three years older which made it easier for him to ignore you. He was indifferent towards you, like you didn't matter to him. The only time he gave you any attention was when you irritated him, like you were bothering him with your existence. 

Jason and your dad had a hard relationship. For some reason, Jason was always rude to him. Whenever your mom wanted to tease Jason she would explain how when she and Dad had started dating Jason would throw fits when Dad came over. And how Jason would stare at your dad with a mean glare. Jason had the meanest glare, it could put the old judgy ladies at church to shame.

“Sorry, son, me and your sister were just talking about our trip.”

Jason seemed to glare at the word ‘son’. Your brother looked at the clock on the wall with a sleepy stare. “It's five in the mornin', so stop yellin' in the house, Y/n.'' He looked down at you as he walked over and made a bowl of cereal, the same as you. 

“O-okay, sorry.” You looked down meekly at your nearly empty bowl. 

Your dad sighed, “Well, we're about to leave.”He looked at Jason. “You sure you don't want to come with us, Jason? Wouldn’t be any trouble.” 

He responded with a quick “No.”

Relief washed over you. 

“I’d rather shoot by myself than with her.” He glared at you. 

You looked away from his glare and shrank into yourself.

Your Dad sighed and got up. You copied him and went to put your bowl in the sink. You rushed to your room and went to get your bag and put your boots on. By the time you left, it was about five-thirty in the morning, and the sun was already starting to rise as you and your dad got into his truck and started driving to town.

Looking out the window, you could see the familiar trees and a few birds flying by. You always loved the woods. It was quiet, yet the singing of birds could still be heard in the distance. Looking into the rearview mirror, you could see your cabin disappearing in the distance. 

“You excited, kid?”

Turning your head, you looked at your dad with a smile, “Yes!” you exclaimed excitedly.

Your dad chuckled. “Oh, I bet, bear, but uhh, been wanting to talk to ya ‘bout something.”

You tilted your head with curiosity. “What, Dad?” 

He sighed lightly. “Yer teacher called your Momma and me yesterday to discuss your schooling. They said you were falling behind in yer work, withdrawing from other kids, and advised me to talk to you. Can you tell me why, bear?”

You looked out the window without answering. 

“I won't push you right now, but if you ever want to talk,” he trailed off and rubbed your shoulder the best he could while driving.

***

              By the time the truck made it to town, the sun was up. The truck pulled into the mini-mart. You jumped out of the truck and waited for your dad, before sprinting into the mart and grabbing different snacks you liked. You had an armful by the time you returned to your dad at the counter.

He looked down and his eyes widened at your selection. “Jeez, Bear, you going into hibernation?” He let out a hearty laugh. Grinning at him, you put your snacks on the checkout counter.

“One thing I love about you two coming in here-” The owner started to ring up your stuff, “I always make money.” 

Your dad waved his hand at them dismissively before grabbing the bags and handing them to you.

“Let's get a move on, don't want to miss any of the good spots.” Hopping into the truck, Dad started it and headed out to your campsite.

***

             A few hours had passed by the time you made it to the site. Hopping out of the truck, you went around back to the truck bed and grabbed your bag and bow. Your dad set up the tents and you set up the fire pit, gathering some rocks and stacking them, then went to find some sticks.

When it all was done, your dad came over and patted you on the shoulder. “Ready, Bear?” 

You looked up at him. “Yeah!” 

You grabbed your bow and followed him into the woods. Stopping at a clearing, your dad put his stuff down and stood next to you.

“All right, Y/n, you remember what I taught you?” He knelt as you grabbed an arrow and drew your bow back. 

“Where do you want me to shoot?” You looked at him. 

He thought for a moment, looking around, till he stopped his gaze at a certain tree with a unique-looking branch that hung low on the ground. He pointed. “See the knot in the tree? Shoot that.” 

You nodded your head and tightened the bow once more. 

You held your breath and focused on the knot on the branch, taking a second before you released your arrow. You heard a thunk as it hit the tree and you looked to see if you had hit the knot, but sadly your aim was a little off. It was a few inches to the right. “Aww, I missed it.” You kicked the dirt slightly.

Your dad stood up and went to retrieve the arrow. “It’s ok, sweetheart, you're getting better just remember that.” He tried to cheer you up. “Remember when I first took you out here? Your arrow would be two or three feet away from the target.” 

You smiled to yourself.“Thanks, Dad.”

He walked over and crouched down to your height. “Now let's try again.”

He handed you your arrow and ruffled your hair. You smiled to yourself. Regaining your stance, you drew back your bow and released another arrow. You hit it closer every time. And when you finally manage to hit it after your third time, you jumped up and down in joy. 

“Good job, Bear, why don't we try something harder hmm?”

You nodded, and he took your quiver, put it over his shoulder, and took your hand, leading you deeper into the woods.

***

             It took hours before you returned to your camp, the whole time spent practicing your aim on things besides the normal target. By the time the sun was down, your dad decided it was time to head back.

*

             Your dad had started the fire and was cooking some hot dogs for the two of you. “You have fun, Bear?” 

You look at him. “Yeah, I got better at my aim I think. What about you Dad?” You ask, tilting your head at him. 

“Hmm, it was amusing to see you miss sometimes.” He pulled out your food from the fire while you groaned with embarrassment. 

You ate your food while looking up at the stars. “Hey Dad, what's that one called?” You pointed up at the sky. 

“Hmm, I think it's Orion. He was a skilled hunter who used a bow, and some say he managed to woo the heart of the virgin archer. He even claimed that he ‘could hunt any and every animal’, but Momma Gaia heard this and sent a mighty scorpion after him, which is why–” he lead your head to another part of the sky. “–If you can find him, you’ll see Scorpius, the very same scorpion that killed him.” 

Looking at the stars, your mouth was agape. “Wow,” you whispered under your breath and rested your head on his shoulder.

After a few hours, you and your dad went to bed. 

***

              The end of your weekend trip went by fast, and before you knew it, you were on your way home eating a bag of chips while listening to the radio. 

Your dad was focused on the road, but the conversation about your schooling was still playing in his head. "Bear, we still need to talk." He said. You paused for a moment, not wanting to have this conversation. Since starting school, you've had trouble keeping up with the other kids. Since you were behind, your classmates would treat you differently.

"I don't want to talk about it," you said, looking down at the floor. 

Your Dad looked over, sadly. "Can you tell me about it? You don't have to tell me everything."  

"The others treat me differently, and I don't know why.” You looked out the window again, trying to focus on the songs the birds were singing.

Stopping the truck, your dad pulled you into an embrace. “It’s ok, Y/n, I'll tell your Momma and we’ll talk to your teacher, okay?” He looked down and rubbed your shoulder, waiting for an answer. 

“O-okay.” Your voice was muffled

The truck started again and you both drove off toward your cabin. 

***

              When you got home, it was around dinner time. Since it was a Sunday your mom was making your favorite for dinner. Your truck pulled up, and you ran out of the cab and into the arms of your momma.

“MOMMA!” You tackled her, sending her stumbling back a bit. 

“Hey, baby, how was your trip?” she asked with a loving smile.

Looking up at her, you gave her a big grin. “It went awesome! I got better on my aim and distance.” 

She smiled down at you. “Well, that's amazing, maybe one day you’ll be better than yer daddy.” She ruffled your hair. “Now come on, supper’s cooking, want you and yer daddy to get washed up.” She shooed you away into the house.

Running to your room, you grabbed some shorts, a T-shirt, and other stuff and ran to the bathroom, but your brother was walking by and had a sour look on his face. 

“Yer back.”

You looked down. “Yeah, how was it here?”

He glared down at you. “Peaceful, shoulda stayed that way.” He walked past you and bumped your shoulder.

***

              When you got out of your shower, you went to the kitchen to help your mom cook but just ended up sitting on the counter and telling her about your trip with your dad.

“Then Dad told me to shoot an apple that was still on the tree.” You told her excitedly. 

“Wow, baby, did ya hit it?” 

You nodded. “Yep, it fell and knocked down some apples with it. Dad and I ate them on our walk back to camp.” 

“Sounds like you two had quite the adventure.” Your mom said as she stirred the pot.

She took the pot off the burner and walked to the dinner table. You followed her and sat down. 

“Yep, it was.” While your mom grabbed other things for dinner, you helped set the table.

            “BOYS, DINNERS READY!” she called.

Dad came out of the garage and Jason came out of his room. You sat next to Mom, across from Jason, and Dad across from Mom. After everyone was seated, Mom said grace and you all ate dinner. You ate yours quickly while Jason picked and prodded at his. 

When you finished dinner, you kissed your Mom and Dad good night and went to bed. You lay under your blanket, looking at your glow-in-the-dark stars, and drifted off to sleep. 

   ~~~ 2005, A few weeks later~~~

              It all happened in a blur. You and Dad were driving back from your trip in the forest, and you even managed to bag a rabbit all on your own. One minute you were on your way to register what you had, then you were waking up in a hospital with your Momma by your side, crying and a local sheriff on your other side gearing up to ask you a few questions

“Momma…” Your voice was weak. “What happened?”

 She grabbed your hand and kissed it. “You were in an accident, baby.” 

Your eyes widened the best they could but you were still loopy. “What?” You looked around the room, your heartbeat picking up. “Where’s Dad?” Your voice was starting to hurt.

Your Momma cried, her tears falling on your hospital bed. “He-He didn't make it, baby.” 

You looked up at the ceiling and silently cried with your Momma.

“Mrs Myers, I’d like to speak with your daughter alone, to get her account of the story.” The sheriff gently led her out of the room, then sat next to you and asked you a series of questions.

“Now, Y/n, I understand you and your dad were driving, do you know where?” 

You choked back a sob before you answered. “The a- the game warden's office.”

He wrote that down. “Can you tell me what you and your daddy were doing before then?”

Licking your lips, you replied, “We were out camping like- like we always do. He was showing me how to hunt.”

He nodded and wrote that down too.“Do you remember anything while you were driving to the game office?”

You thought for a moment. “I was talking to Dad when suddenly he threw his hand in front of me then…everything went black.” You started to cry, all your emotions catching up with you. 

The sheriff looked down at you with sympathy and leaned over you to rest his hand on your head. “Just get some rest, Y/n, we’ll talk later, ‘kay?” 

You nodded, and he took his leave, and your mom rushed to your side once again.

***

              The day you were discharged from the hospital was bittersweet. You were leaving and going home, to sleep in your own bed. But you were leaving without your dad, and in a few days, you would be giving him a send-off for his funeral in Oklahoma. 

The drive home in Mom's car was different. It didn't have that old dusty truck smell, and it didn't rumble as it drove down the dirt road. No, Mom's car was clean, quiet, and smelled like pine. You hated it.

The drive was quiet, only the sound of the radio filling the car, but that quickly got turned off, much to the displeasure of Jason, who quickly turned it back on, which upset Mom.

“Quit it.” She turned it off again. 

“I want to listen to the radio,” Jason protested. 

“NO, Jason, stop it!” Silent tears were running down her cheeks, but Jason just scoffed and looked out the window

*

              When you got home, Jason went to his room and you sat on the couch and curled yourself into a ball. Your mom went straight to the kitchen and came back out with the champagne bottle that had been saved for their anniversary. 

Her dark green eyes were dull and wet with her tears. She took a good look at the bottle before she took a swig and sobbed. You didn't know how else to comfort her, so you just crawled over and cuddled under her arm.

“It’s ok, Momma.” You whispered to her.

That just made her cry harder– the fact that her baby had to comfort her. 

She took another drink while the two of you just sat on the couch and watched TV.

It wasn't long before she passed out. The bottle she'd been drinking fell to the ground and the rest of the contents spilled out, the sound of the bottle hitting the ground woke you up. You looked up at your mom and kissed her good night, before you cleaned up the mess she'd made, and went to bed.

Laying in your bed, you looked up at your fake stars.  You turned over to look at a photo of you and your dad, It was taken when you were five, first learning how to use a bow.

You smiled sadly and went to sleep.

***

              It was just like that for years. You would wake up, go and eat whatever Jason made, and find your momma on the couch, passed out with a bottle of some kind in her hand or on the floor. And as always, you would clean it up before you went to school. 

Sometimes she would wake up and tell you to have a good day. You always said you would but you never did.

When you went to school, some would be nicer. You didn't know whether it was because they felt bad or because they'd been told to. It didn't matter ‘cause the alienation continued and you were still by yourself. The boys still asked mean questions, but now they were about your dad, questions like “Did you see his mangled corpses in the road?” Others would reply with “Yes.” or “It was disgusting.” 

Some of the nastier ones started to say that you should’ve died. One group even cut a chunk of your hair off. It was a choppy pixie cut. Your poor teacher tried her best to make it look nice.

But it didn't matter, ‘cause when you got home, you would put on a smile for your mom and tell her you had an amazing day. Your hair? Well, you got gum in it, that's why it was short. 

Your momma cried a bit when she saw your hair. It was exactly like your Dad's, long and beautiful, but now it was cropped short. Just one more thing she had loved and lost.

***

              You supposed your Momma must have been feeling lonely. Instead of drinking on the couch, she started to go out to drink, sometimes with her coworkers or sometimes just alone. 

And when she was out late at night it was Jason who had to take care of you. He would make you dinner, and make sure you did your homework. He wasn't nice about it but he did it. He also started to take you hunting, and in Jason's fashion, he was harsh and rude with his remarks unlike your Dad had been.

“Y/n, shoot the squirrel over there, you see it?” You roughly pointed in the direction.

You nodded and aimed your arrow at it. You released it, but you missed and it scurried away.

“DAMNIT!” He shot up to his full, towering height. “Can't ya do anything! Jeez, a rock has better aim than ya!” He went to retrieve the arrow. You followed him to find more quarry.

“Ya know, what if som’ happens and we got to provide for mom, huh? What if I can't hunt and you have to hunt fer us, and ya can't hunt shit and we die?” He liked to be overly dramatic with his lectures.

But his “lecture” did nothing but stab your already bruised ego, but to prove him wrong you had to get better.

When you saw a rabbit, you both got down low on the ground. You drew back your arrow and aimed, making sure it was perfect before shooting. The arrow flew past different branches before it finally sunk into the rabbit's abdomen. The rabbit kicked, using up whatever strength it had left before it finally died. 

You ran towards the rabbit and picked it up to show Jason. “Look I got it, it's big too!” You showed him proudly.

He caught up to you and scoffed. “Jus’ a rabbit, nothing to get worked up over,” he said, giving you an unimpressed look. “Itz big though,” he admitted under his breath as he walked away. It was a small comment, but it brought a smile to your face. 

He looked down at the ground, looking for any tracks that could lead to bigger animals. You took the arrow out and put the rabbit in your animal satchel, and followed him.

It was the same cycle that lasted for three years, but then your momma did what you thought she never could. Something that rocked your world, and made you look at her a bit differently.

              Remarry.

        ~~~ 2008 ~~~

              It was late, really late at night, maybe three in the morning. You and Jason were up watching movies and eating what was left in the kitchen. Your mom had the car most of the time so Jason couldn't go out and buy more food.

You were currently watching an old zombie movie called Dawn of the Dead, one that your dad and Jason both seemed to like. The only thing they could agree on was movies.

It was almost over when you heard a rapid knock on the front door. The suddenness surprised you, making you jump a bit, spilling the remaining popcorn. 

“BABIES! OPEN THE DOOR, PLEASE!” Some smaller knocks could be heard. “PLEASE, I FORGOT MY KEYS! AND WE’RE COLD!” 

You and Jason looked at each other before he got up to open the door for your Momma. Her hair was messy, along with her makeup. And behind her was a man with blonde shaggy hair and a beard. He wore a blue button-up and was shivering. 

Your Momma walked past your brother and so did the man. You and Jason gave him a strange look, almost like he had a second head.

Your Momma seemed to notice the looks and stopped to introduce him on her way to the kitchen.

“Oh um, guys this is my fiance, Steven.” She looked at him with puppy eyes.

“Ah, Steven these are my kids, Jason and Y/n, but we call her Bear.” She had a goofy grin on her face as if she didn’t realize she'd dropped a bombshell on you and your brother.

Your brother just huffed and went to his room to sleep. 

“I wonder what that was about” your Momma uttered his breath “Hi baby! What were you two just doing?” she rushed to your side and sat on the floor with you.

You looked up at her “Just watching a movie with Jason” you glazed at the awkward and clearly drunk Steven before watching the movie again. 

“Ooo looks scary, think im gonna make me and Steven some drinks” She kissed your cheek and got up “ooo Stevie why don't you sit and talk with Bear Bear?”

His head shot up in confusion “Wha-what oh um yea of course baby” he walked to the couch and sat down nervously. He looked around the room and then landed on some old photos of you and your dad hunting.

“So, you uh hunt?” you turned your head towards the man you may call ‘dad’, his eyes dart to yours than back to the TV.

“Uhh, yea, my Dad taught me, but haven't caught anything ‘sides som’ rodents” You glanced at him and he just looked somewhere else, he looked so out of place in your small home.

You decided to try and “bond” with him “What about you? You hunt?” His head shot towards you in surprise.

“Ah no, no I don’t hunt. I find it uh too much, to be honest” he laughed awkwardly, you looked away and at your mom who walked back into the living room

“Hey guys! Whatcha talking about!” she said in her drunk cherry, In one hand, she had some snacks and some beers “Sorry we don’t get much, we don't have a lot in the house” She laughed. 

You shifted awkwardly, cause she was the reason for no food “Maybe we could go shopping tomorrow Mom?” she stood there thinking,

“yea-yeah sure, me and you. Ya know just a girl's day!” You smiled and got to kiss your mom's cheek and went to bed Hopefull she’ll get better with this new guy around and fulfill a promise to you.

        ~~~ 2010 ~~~

              You woke up rather late one morning. You walked out of your room to see the TV was on and some trash around the living room, you went to clean it up but your eyes grew when your mom past out on the couch with Steven, in a rather awkward position. You turned around to go to your room when Jason came out too. He seemed to notice the mess to and went to clean it up

“You don't wanna be in the livin' room” You stopped him, and he gave you a weird look. 

“The hell do you mean?” you cleaned your throat. 

“Umm, ste-steven and momma were gettin’ comfortable if ya know what I mean” he just shook his head and went to the kitchen.

“Whatever, im going to get food, you coming?” He grabbed the keys and walked to the garage doors.

You nodded your head and went to get dressed and were quickly out the door to the car. The sun was up, it was a warm day in August, a week before school started. You looked out the window while the radio played, some news guy was mouthing off about some world problem, it was enough for your brother to turn the radio to something else. 

When Jason pulled into the parking lot you could see it was packed but was dead silent. You got out of the car when another car whizzed by almost hitting you. 

You and Jason walked into the store questioning what happened when you noticed the store was dead quiet. You could see carts abandoned some of them being tipped over with groceries all over the floor.

“What tha” Jason looked at the scene in front of you. Jason looked at his watch and half decided to leave but you needed food he just pushed it to the back of his mind.

You grabbed the basket and walked to the food aisle grabbing milk, bread, eggs, and other stuff you needed. But your brother stopped you, grabbing your shoulder roughly

“Wait” you turned to him.

“What? What's wrong?” he pointed down the clothing aisle, it was destroyed and the clothes were everywhere. “Th-the hell happened there? And why hasn't anyone fixed it yet” You started to walk over to investigate but Jason grabbed your arm to stop you 

“Don't, I don't like this” he pushed you forward to the front of the store. Jason grabbed your arms as he speed walked passed the alise of food thrown around the floor. But one alise made you stop in your tracks, making you drop the basket to cover your mouth. 

There in the middle of the floor was a dead body, what was worse was that it looked like it was gored on. Her face was eaten, her abdomen was torn open and her intestines and blood were all over the floor. 

You could see blood tracks near the body, leading away to the next aisle. Your brother pushed you down to the ground, telling you to keep quiet. He looked over to the next aisle and went back quickly.

He dropped down to the floor as well, he gestured you over to him while putting a finger up to his lips. You rushed to him.

“What's going on?” you asked panicked.

“I don’t know, but there's someone over in the next aisle with blood ‘n shit all over 'em” You looked at him with scared eyes.

“Wha-what do we do Jason” you looked to your brother for protection.

“We're gonna slowly and quietly leave the store, don't want to attract the cra-” He shot up, pushing you out of the way and kicking the woman's head out of the way. She flew back giving you and your brother time to run as fast as you could out of the store. While you were running you saw more and more blood and gore, you just didn't seem to notice. 

You got to the car and speed home. The radio was still on, with it blasting the current news:

“IT APPEARS THAT A VIRUS IS SPREADING THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, KILLING THE INFECTED, AND BRING THEM BACK TO LIFE AND ATTACKING OTHERS! 

THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE AGGRESSIVE AND IF YOU COME ACROSS THEM EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY AND CALL LOCAL OFFICERS!”

“What- what does this mean” Your eyes started to water “What are we gonna do Jaso-” you were cut off-

“JUST BE QUITE and let me think” his grip on the steering wheel was turning his knuckles white as he stopped the car to think,

“Here's what we're gonna do, we're gonna go home, then pack our shit and leave! Head into the woods and wait this shit out” You nodded and jumped when a hand slammed on the window on your side, you shrieked causing Jason to jump when he saw the thing he floored the car.

Not once did he stop the car, not even when other cars were around. When you turned into the driveway of your home you hopped out and ran in to see your mom and Steven watching the TV. She leaped off the couch and hugged you tight.

“Oh baby, baby are you okay where were you guys!” she was crying, her already smudged makeup rubbing off.

 “We were at-at the sto-store and w-we saw this woman all-all over the palace” you cried in her arms and hugged her arms

Jason busted in the door “Ma pack yer shit we’re leavin’ NOW! Y/n get our bow stuff, I'll get the campin’ stuff, Steven gets as much food as you can, Ma get essentials and anythin’ else we need”. 

You ran to your room, grabbing your bear bow, quiver, and arrows. Doing the same and grabbing Jason's hunting bow and equipment. You grabbed your school bag and some clothes.

You were about done when you thought of something. You rushed to your mom's room and grabbed your dad's coat, you loved your dad's coat. It was a bit big but it'd be good in the winter or as a blanket.

By the time you were done, everybody was running out the door. Jason and Mom were packing the food and camping gear in the trunk of the car. Steven was “the lookout”, he was holding your dad's old shotgun when he saw a figure walking down the driveway,

“H-hey there’s someone comin'” Jason turned his head to see someone limping down the drive way. The man had half his arm ripped off.

“Shit, shoot it” Steven looked at Jason like he was crazy.

“Th-the hell you mean to shoot it? THATS A DAMN PERSON!” Jason slammed the trunk closed, and stormed over to Steven, and snatched the gun from him. 

“Those things aren't people! They won't hesitate to eat ya!” he turned to you and your mom “Get in the car and start it, we’ll leave soon” 

Your mom ushered you to the back seat furthest away from the thing as your brother called them. Your mom got in next and started the car. She looked panicked, gripping the stirring wheel out of nerves. 

You heard the crack of a gunshot not that far away 

“SHIT!” Jason yelled.You turned to look at the commotion, to see the figure with a giant hole in his chest, but he was still walking as if nothing happened.

“Sh-shoot it in the he-head Ja-Jason”  Steven could barely talk but he tried to help the best he could. Jason re-aimed the gun and shot the head, well the best he could.

The thing finally went down and Steven and Jason hopped in the car, Jason in the front and Steven in the back. Your mom started the car and drove into the city, taking the path to the local campgrounds. 

It seems that while your family was getting ready to leave, things got crazier. There were crashes everywhere, fire, smoke, and screams could be heard, and these, groans or moans could be heard if the things were close to the car.

When you got to the campsite it was quiet. Nothing could really be heard, not even the birds in the trees. Silent, just like the store.

***

             “THE CDC HAS ISSUED A NATIONWIDE QUARANTINE ALL CIVILIANS ARE ORDERED TO STAY INSIDE OR  GO TO THE ATLANTA REFUGE CAMP IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE ARE IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA

FOOD, MEDICAL SUPPLY, SHELTER, AND MILITARY PROTECTION WILL BE SUPPLIED” 

The radio chatter went on and on, spouting the same things. It's been a week since the “outbreak”, as they’re calling it, happened. And in that small little window, your family and Steven have had to move twice, going deeper and deeper into the woods.

“D-do you think we should go to Atlanta? It's not that far from here” Your mom had been suggesting it, but your brother always dismissed it.

“Naw, too risky” he poked the fire “Eaters be everywhere and we’d be sitin’ ducks” You were torn on where to go, staying here you'd be by yourselves but at the same time you didn't have to worry if your neighbor was crazy enough to kill you for bread. But if you went to Atlanta you wouldn't have to worry about eaters –the new name for them– attacking you.

“We’re low on food, Y/n grab yer bow, were goin’ hunting” You nodded and hopped off the opened trunk. Running to your tent and grabbed your bow and quiver and hurried to your brother who was already leaving. 

When you went hunting Jason made a rule that you couldn't make too much noise, not since he spotted an eater while he was hunting. You kept your eyes down on the forest floor to keep an eye on any tracks, while Jason kept an eye out for eaters and any animals. 

When you found some faint deer tracks you tugged on his shirt and pointed to them. He kneeled down to inspect them and shook his head “Too old, probably dead by now” nodding your head you continued, but stopped in your tracks when you saw a doe looking at you. 

She was beautiful, her eyes hadn't noticed you yet, but you had. Jason got up behind you “Guess ya were right, why don't ya bag it” he nudged you forward and you drew the bow back. The bow itself was new, you bought it yourself after cleaning your neighbor's yard for her, she was old frail, and couldn't do it herself.

You released the bow and it landed in her abdomen. She ran off deeper into the woods with whatever strength she had left. You and Jason chased after her, her blood leading her to you.

She was stronger than she looked because it took about twenty minutes before you caught up with her. Jason loaded his bow and shot it and hit her just below her shoulder blade killing her. 

“Common, let's go get her and bring her back” You shouldered your bow and walked up to her with Jason. Since he was bigger he took up the grunt work and shouldered her while you carried his bow. 

“Now, ya need to find our tracks” he huffed while trying to position her right “Should be easy enough since we were running” You nodded and glued your eyes down looking up when ever you heard something in the distance.

It took about an hour before you got back to your camp. You ran to your mom and hugged her “We bagged a doe, Jason gonna clean ‘er up the we’ll eat it” Jason dropped her by Steven “ya know how to clean a Doe Steven?” Steven looked from Jason to the Doe, back to Jason. 

He swallowed deeply before answering “I-uhh I've never done it no” Joson rolled his eyes then sat down next to him and started to show him how. 

It was one of the little things your dad never taught you. You've seen him do it, but he never shown you how. Jason had to teach you, and he did that in your kitchen, if your mom was there and sober she would've freaked out. 

You sat next to your mom who was still paying attention to the radio. All it did was worry her as she bit her nails with her legs pulled into her chest. 

“You okay momma?” you put a hand on her shoulder, she jumped a bit but eased up a bit when she saw you.

“O-oh ye-yea baby, im good” she smiled “How’d your hunt go with Jason?” you pulled your knees up to your chest 

“it went fine, I found really old tracks and Jason brushed them off and when we looked up BAMB there she was!” you told the story of how you found the Doe.

Your mom softly clapped for you “Wow, you're a real Orion aren't you bear?” you smiled, your Momma loved Greek Mythology, and she always said if she could be a professor, teaching students about the great tales of the Greek gods and heroes. 

“Ya know where your nickname comes from?” you shook your head, but you knew why, this was the closest you got to your old momma from before the accident, plus you loveed the story.

 “Artimiss was the goddess of the hunt, and she swore off marriage—one of three goddesses to be exact– she would hunt on the earthly grounds with other women and nymphs. One of these women was a woman named Callisto, she was a hunter who was sadly assaulted and fell pregnant at the hands of Zues.” 

you had a sad expression as if this was the first time you heard this “and Hera and Artemis found them. Artemis cast Callisto out and Hera turned her into a bear.” you gasped playfully, and she smirked.

“well she gave birth and Artemis guided the baby to civilization, and he grew to be a mighty hunter. And he came across his bear Momma and went to kill her, but Zeus saw this and before he could kill her, he put Callisto and her sun the stars” You rested your head on her shoulder and she hugged you. You sat there for a while as you looked at the stars.

 “Well it looks like you brother is about done with the deer, shall we go sit by the fire?” you nodded and grabbed your bag which had your remaining books and sat by the fire

Jason started to put some meat on the fire. The blaze reflected in his dark green eyes, he looked like he was thinking about something. He checked his watch and figured it was time to take the venison off the grill. He gave it to you.

“She found it, she gets to eat it first” was his reasoning when Steven asked why you got it. Steven was very whiney, you suspect he’d be dead if he was alone.

***

              It was deep into the night, and you just finished your comic book. Your Momma was looking for batteries for the radio, it had died about an hour ago and your Momma had been going crazy looking for them. When she finally found them she cheered with triumph and put the new ones in the radio. The radio roared to life with the same news as before. 

Jason was poking the fire a bit while Steven was getting something from his tent. You got up and went sit by Jason. He gave you an odd look which you ignored and picked up your bow and began fiddling with it 

“What are ya doin’ Y/n” he stopped what he was doing and looked at you.

“Jus’ sittin’ is all” you fiddle some more “and wondering” he went back to the fire 

“about what?” you looked around your makeshift camp.

“if all of this will be over soon, and when we can go back” you looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

Jason stayed quiet, he didn't know. But if he was honest, he didn't mind it all that much–could go without the living dead though– it was like an extended camping trip. 

              SNAP

Your blood ran cold when you heard the groans and snarls coming closer. You shot up when you saw them closing in on the car. Your mom was running towards you as you held your stuff. 

She grabbed your arm and ran to the woods as Jason and Steven stayed behind to fight them off. Your Momma dragged you into the woods further and further. You kept looking back to see other eaters staggering toward you

“Mo-momma, they’re behind us!” your mom just ran faster “I-I know baby but we just need ru-” Out of nowhere an eater came and attacked her. 

She let go of your hand when another one latched its dirty maw on her shoulder. Her screams were horrid, you imagine it was the same scream she let out when the love of her life and baby were in the hospital. Just filled with horror and dread.

“Y/n, Y/n YOU NEED TO RUN!” you shook your head with tears in your eyes “NO LISTEN AND RUN NOW!” hearing the groans of another eater behind you made you run off into the woods. Crying as you heard the cries of your momma. 

                                ~~~ 2010, A few weeks later~~~

              You had been on your own for a few weeks since your camp had been overrun. You thought about going back to it, to see if Jason or Steven got out okay. Well if Jason got out, you were sure Steven did. And you knew if he got out safe then Steven was safe–probably. 

But you were on your own, so you had rules now: Always move, Stay in the trees at night, And NEVER stay if it's too quiet.

That's how you made it all these weeks alone. You rationed the food you managed to hunt on your own. It was small, with rabbits, birds, and a raccoon once. It was odd but it kept you fed. 

At night you'd find a tree with a sturdy branch, climb it, ruffle in your bag for something to tie around you and the branch, and sleep. And repeat the cycle again the next morning.

*

              You were currently in a tree, just waking up from sleep. The denim jeans you used to keep you tied to the tree were a little loose. You gathered your things, putting your bow around your torso, same with your bag. 

You nimbly climbed down the tree and leaped out on the last branch and landed on the forest floor, you fumbled a bit but were fine nonetheless. 

You made a small fire and cooked the last of the rabbit meat you had. After that, you put the fire out and continued on your way to nowhere. 

You suppose you were in a good part of the woods, cause you could hear the birds singing some little tune they came up with. You humed along to it while walking on a fallen tree, balancing on it like a tightrope walker. 

You stopped walking when you noticed deer tracks and debated on following them or not, but decided to just do it anyway, no set direction and all.

You followed them to a clearing, there wasn't anything there though so you just sat on a log. You figured it was safe enough to relax a bit. With an arrow, you start drawing random things in the dirt. You liked drawing, it was a pastime you did before.

You started drawing hearts, butterflies, and flowers, pretty things really. Then you drew your Momma, she was beautiful in your eyes, with long hair that reached her midback, and her beautiful green eyes. 

You stopped what you were doing when you heard something in the distance, it sounded like something talking. You quickly loaded your bow and stood up aiming your bow at the noise.

There you saw two men. One was old, with short-cropped grey hair. He was bigger than the other one. The other guy was younger and more scrawny, he had squirrels tied around a rope,  he had a crossbow, also aimed at you, and the old guy had a hunting rifle

   “Well well well, what do we have here baby brother,” Old Guy said with the meanest grin on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next // I Met Two Old Guys In The Woods

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[sinnohelitefourlore]

Sinnoh Gym Leader Headcanons Pt 1:

Roark:

- has a, dare i say, “rocky” relationship with his father. originally his father wanted riley to take over orebourgh’s gym, but since he rejected it roark was his second choice. he’s still kind of bitter over it and likes to rebel. (i.e “my dad told me not to do this” *does the thing directly after*)

- every fossil that the other miners find is double-checked by roark because he knows his shit.

- when he was in orebourgh trainer’s school he would be that kid moaning in the back of his class bc he thinks that’s peak comedy. also because he knows it’ll piss his dad off.

Gardenia:

- gardenia can interact with fantina’s ghosts without crying, and that’s it. one time, she tried to interact with cynthia’s spiritomb. it took the elite four and cynthia thirty minutes to calm the girl down.

- yes she loves plants but she’s also a piercer hear me out she can definitely do piercings she’d be that girl that gives other girls piercings in the school bathroom.

- is eterna’s local weed dealer. not as good as morty’s shit, but volkner tells her she’s getting there. cynthia definitely knows but looks the other way.

Maylene:

- maylene had her first kiss with aaron at age seven, as they were childhood friends. they both exclaimed “ew!” as soon as their lips touched.

- her mom left her when she was twelve bc of her dad’s gambling problem. her dad was never home which left her in the care of her grandmother. she’s angry over this. so, so angry. but cynthia tells her one day that she herself was raised by her grandmother, too – and look at her now: sinnoh’s champion. this inspires maylene to train harder.

- it was rumored in veilstone that maylene’s hands were made of pure steel which is why she could punch so hard. one time as if to prove this rumor, flint asked her to punch him in the stomach as hard as she could. the league had to shut down for the day as flint recovered in the hospital. it was awkward to explain to the doctors and nurses as to what happened. no, flint did not want to press charges but he’s terribly embarrassed. aaron tried to warn him, so he figures he deserved this outcome.

Crasher Wake:

- wake did wrestling shows that were in the style of a drama (think, WWE) and would come up with the most outrageous storylines.

- was the kid that beat up bullies at his trainer’s school bc “two against one isn’t fair” and, “pick on someone your own size.”

- frequently challenges byron and fantina to a drinking contest after gym hours, and he almost always loses. but when he wins, he’ll throw his hands up, and then promptly pass out.

Fantina:

- when she was ten, she marched up to her parents and told her that she wanted to be called “fantina” from now on. her parents welcomed their daughter with open arms.

- is Kalosian, which according to the sinnoh league members would explain why she can hold her liquor so well. she usually comes out on top in those drinking contests between wake and byron.

- is the most widely known coordinator around the world. you could go to an island with no electricity and the children and elders knew the name “fantina dumont.” if you were fortunate enough to go to one of her shows, you would see paramedics on standby because when she sent out her Drifblim a few people would pass out in awe, not fright.

Byron:

- before he married his wife: byron shot his friend in the ass with a BB gun by accident, went to hoenn with his buddies and they got kicked out from every single bar by staging fights so they wouldn’t have to pay for drinks, and swam from johto to kanto after he and his friends flipped a police car and were being chased. he drops random stories like this at league meetings and everyone stares in bewilderment – including his own son because what the hell dad wdym you dropped acid with the champion of Unova once???

- occasionally stars as a guest in one of wake’s wrestling shows. they play lovers having a quarrel before wake tackles the shit out of him.

- during canalave’s yearly pride parade he is the one giving dad hugs because “even when i was a kid, men have always had men… y’know, i had a buddy once, back in the mines… and he was a little off to the side, but he was damn good with a pickaxe. had a beer with his husband once.”

Candice:

- snowpoint city in the sinnoh region is known as the “home of the yodelers.” on top of being the gym leader, candice is the best damn yodeler that snowpoint has ever seen.

- she also had a reputation as a little girl for throwing snowballs at visitors from another region before declaring sinnoh was the best.

- if you want gossip, candice will spill all the details. she knows everything about everyone. no one is more up to speed about who’s-sleeping-with-who, who-cheated-on-who, and how Stacy Cambridge from her trainer school definitely got a nose job and yes, it’s definitely noticeable. no one really asks for her gossip, but she blabs it at the league meetings anyway.

Volkner:

- smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. one time to be cheeky at a league meeting he lights one up, therefore cynthia threw him out – which was what he wanted so thank you cynthia.

- has been on so many fucking antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds throughout his life that he’s basically an expert on them. a lot of the younger gym leaders and elites (i.e gardenia, aaron, candice, roark, and maylene) are depressed and/or anxious and lets them know his own experiences with meds.

- when he was a kid, though he wasn’t a sunyshore hoodlum, he did learn how to use a pocket knife. not that he ever needed it since he had a pikachu to thunderbolt the motherfuckers if he wanted to.

[theemporium]

Hooooooly shit I just got off of work AND AHHH MORE PPL ARE FEEDING MY BRAINROT WITH ROYAL LESTAPPEN. HELL YEAH.

Also general question to you and the other anons: do we actually like queenie as a nickname? I just kinda went with it after the original confusion.

Ok ok ok so so so more brainrot time

This little SHIT of a head knight would be sooooo fucking smug (privately unless they’re in the bedroom) that he bagged not one but TWO royals (to the anon that brought this up; your so real for this). And they’re from THE two most powerful kingdoms in the realms…. Oh he is sooooo smug and is such a little shit about it if he gets a chance.

I’m adding to my personal head cannon from the powerful kingdoms here… let’s assume that Charles and queenies betrothal is an alliance thing, since the two kingdoms have been at war for GENERATIONS. One is successful because of their kindness and generosity, the other because they’re feared. Even better they’re neighboring kingdoms, and queenie is an only child (not, her dads a manwhore but she’s the only one with a claim to the throne). So with the betrothal, there is also an agreement that when queenies parents abdicate/die the kingdoms are gunna be merged… yeah max is SO FUCKING SMUG.

Which just makes the Jos is alive and trying to get max to fuck over the royal family even better bc he KNOWS that the kingdom is going to get more powerful at one point and he wants that power.

But also once max puts his foot down and says to hell with jos’s plan, his is trying to assassinate queenie. Charles is fine, he likes Charles, but let’s go with the theory that Sophie (maxs mom) was his second wife and an assassin or something of the sort from queenies home kingdom killed his first wife. Which is why queenie is his main target and not max

Ok I have more ideas but I’m stopping here I’m getting hangry

Also is the 🦒 emoji taken yet? I’m forgetting my (and yours IM SORRY BTW) indecisiveness for now and am going with the tallest animal I can find bc I’m also a “giant” (according to my friends)

I don’t know why the assassination plot gave me flashbacks to ella enchanted😭that scene where she fights back against the curse and doesn’t kill the prince like she was intended to. I don’t know why that came to mind but it did!!!

but the way that max originally trained/became a knight because his father wanted someone in the inner circle. the fact it started as a way to please his father but then he fell for the king. and then the queen. and for a few months, it’s so easy for max to feel like he’s living the perfect life until jos steps back into his life

and imagining max first pulling away from charles and the reader because he doesn’t want his father to know. but then he does it because he doesn’t want jos tainting this pure thing in his life, or hurting the people he loves

and maybe charles and reader knew his relationship with his father was rocky, but when they find out the truth??? when they find out how badly max was treated??? THEY ARE HAPPY TO SHOW JOS WHY THEY WEAR THE CROWNS AND NOT HIM AND MAX IS JUST SO OVERWHELMED BY THESE TWO PEOPLE WHO LOVE HIM ENDLESSLY