#and then being like hmm i gotta go make out with him behind the garage or something

[final-girl96]

Broken World: Chapter One

2000

I was sitting beside my best friend, Daryl Dixon. I had just graduated high school and was getting ready to start college that was an hour away. We were sitting on the bank beside the creek that runs through the woods behind his house. "Ya really want to go off to college?"

Daryl had dropped out of high school his sophomore year, claiming school was useless. He was a smart man, but more street smart than book smart. He knew everything about survival, cars, and motorcycles. Of course, he was also five years older than me, but that never got in the way of us being friends.

We met on the playground when we were kids. I was only seven and he was twelve. Two boys were making fun of me, pushing me back and forth, knocking me to the ground. That's when Daryl stepped in, punching both of them before helping me up. He made sure I was okay then walked me home. Ever since that day we've been inseparable.

"Yes, Daryl, I'm sure I want to go off to college," I said, throwing a rock into the creek. "Why can't ya just go to the Community College?" He asked, head tilted down, picking at the dirt with a stick. "Because I don't want to be stuck in this town my whole life. I'll still be living at home, so it's not like you're not going to see me." I nudged him, and he finally looked at me.

"What's this really about?" I asked. He brought his hand up to bite the side of his thumb, and I pushed it back down, holding it between both my hands. "Daryl, what's going on?" I asked. "Merel went back to jail last night." That's not a shocker. Merle was always in and out of jail. He was in and out of Juvie when he was a teenager, too. Dealing and doing drugs, getting into bar fights. He had a short fuse, and that got him in trouble a lot.

"What was it for this time?" I asked. "Failed his drug test for parol." I nodded my head and hummed. "Did your dad come home from the cabin yet?" He shook his head, "Nah. He's still up there with his buddies. He can stay there for all I care." Daryl's dad wasn't a great man. He was an abusive drunk.

He always had bruises on his from where his dad would hit him. There were times that it would be so bad that he was left with permanent scars. His dad has burned him with cigarettes and beaten him with whatever he could grab. I've cleaned him up, cleaning his cuts and bandaging him up on late nights. I've even let him sleep on my floor some nights, making sure he was gone in the morning before my dad or stepmother woke up.

We sat in silence for a while, as we usually do. I had let go of his hand and laid my head on his shoulder. "Maybe we should just run away," I said. The only response I got from Daryl was a grunt. He's never been a very talkative person, and that was okay with me. It started to get darker, and Daryl walked me home, like he always does.

My dad was never fond of me being friends with Daryl. He knew his dad back in high school and said he wasn't always like he is now. But everyone in this town looks down on the Dixon's. More Merle and Will, but they still put Daryl down and assumed he was just like his father and brother. Some people were kind to him, like Mr. Lawson, who owned the only garage in town. He's always been nice to Daryl and gives him a job when he needs it.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked. Daryl was looking down at the ground, biting his lip. "Earth to, Dixon." I waved my hand in front of his face. "Hmm?" He hummed, looking up at me. "See you tomorrow?" He nodded, looking behind me at the house. "I'm workin' at the garage until three so it won't be til then," he said. "Okay, that's fine. Maybe I'll stop in around lunchtime and bring ya something," I said.

"Ya ain't gotta do that." I rolled my eyes at him. "I want to, Daryl. You're my best friend. My only friend." He scoffed at that, "you got other friends. I better go before your dad comes home." I nodded my head and gave him a hug before he turned and walked across the street.

The next day, I did exactly what I said I was going to do. I stopped by the sub shop and got Daryl and I both lunch before heading to the garage. I walked in through the door where the front desk was, Mary sat behind it. Mary was Mr. Lawson's wife. "Well, hello, yn. How are you today, baby?" I smiled at her and walked up to the counter.

"I'm good. How are you doin' Mrs. Lawson?" I asked her. The Lawson's were a nice older couple. Always understanding and helping those in need. "I'm alright. You here for Daryl?" She asked, and I nodded my head. "I am. I brought him lunch," I said, holding up the bag in my hand. "Go on back. He's working on Frank Dawson's truck." I thanked her and walked back into the garage itself.

I found the red Chevy pickup and walked over to it. It was jacked up, and Daryl was looking under it. "Hard at work, I see." Daryl's head snapped to the side so hard I was sure he gave himself whiplash. "What the hell ya doin' here?" He asked, coming out from under the truck, pulled a red rag from his back pocket, and wiped his hands off. "I told you I was going to come by with lunch." I said, holding the bag up.

"Ya didn’t…" I held my hand up to stop him. "Don't even say it. Now come on, let's go out back to the picnic table and eat, Dixon!" I turned on my heel and walked to the door that went out back of the shop. I sat down and pulled the subs out. "Come on, sit down and eat!" I told him. He sighed and sat down across from me. I pulled out the sodas and put them down between us.

"So, how has your day been so far?" I asked, opening my sub. Daryl just shrugged. He was a man of few words. But that was okay because it was never an awkward silence between us. "Wanna hang out after you shift? My dad and Cheryl are going to be going out of town along with her little brats. So I'm all yours to "corrupt." Daryl rolled his eyes at me and scoffed. "I ain't the one doin' the corrupting."

I lightly kicked his leg with my foot, "Hey! I am an angel, thank you very much!" He scoffed around a mouth full of food. "An angel of hell," he said. I gasped, put my hand on my chest, and batted my eyelashes. "That is the nicest thing you've ever said about me!" A small smile grew on his face, and I could tell he was trying to keep it from getting bigger. "You're ridiculous."

"Maybe. But ya love me. I mean, come on, what would you do without me? Who else would annoy you?" He shook his head, and we finished eating. "What time should I expect you to be picking me up?" I asked as we made our way back inside. "What do ya wanna do? Ain't much to do in this shithole town," he said. I shrugged, "I don't know. We'll find something to do like we always do. Maybe you can sneak me into the bar, and I can find you a girlfriend!"

"Ain't happenin' so forget about it." I groaned, rolling my eyes at uim. "Come on, Daryl, live a little. I can totally find you a girlfriend!" I said. He threw our trash away and walked back into the garage. "Don't need no girlfriend. Dealin' with you is enough." My mouth dropped open with a gasp. "Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean? You're the one that picked me to be your best friend!"

"I didn't do shit," he grumbled. I knew he was just teasing by the small smirk on his face. "You saved me. That automatically made me your best friend. You're stuck with me for the rest of your life. Whether you like it or not!" I said, poking his arm. "Great. Now get outta here. I'll think about pickin' ya up around five." I gave him a side hug and kissed his cheek. "Can't wait!" Then I left and went back home.

Truth be told…I have a huge crush on my best friend; I have for a couple of years now. But I'm only seventeen, and he's twenty-two. Besides, there would be no way in hell that he would ever like me like that. He probably sees me as that annoying little sister. But I could dream, right?

[mydarllinglover]

Alone || Old Enemies

Previous

The group managed to clear the entry of the building, Daryl and Natalia entering it carefully as they looked around.

"Come on." Daryl headed to the garage part of the place.

He seemed to find what they needed as he picked up a car battery, placing it on a trolley so that they could examine it.

"Hmm, cells look pretty dry." Bob, who followed them in, commented.

"A little distilled water will clear that right out." Daryl said. "See, not a waste of time." He squinted up at the woman, in the dark.

They looked around the building again, to see if they could find anything else useful.

Daryl's flashlight settled on something on the floor.

"That's puke." He told the others. "Those douchebags in the vines took themselves out, holding hands. kumbaya style."

Natalia looked away, her bad mood worsening.

"Fucking idiots." She said, spitefully.

"They wanted to go out together, same as they lived." Bob said. "That make them douchebags?"

"It does if they could of gotten out." Daryl commented.

"It means they were fucking selfish and took the easy way out." Natalia told him, picking up an chocolate bar from one of the shelves, shoving a few in her pockets.

"Everybody makes it, until they don't. People nowadays are dominos. What they did, maybe its not about having to watch them fall."

"What do you know?" She rolled her eyes.

They walked forward, finding an old man, who had turned, stuck under a table, that seemed to collapse on top of him, Daryl and Natalia walked away, but Bob continued to stare down on him.

"Hey." She picked up a carton of Marlboro reds, after hopping the counter, holding it out to the redneck, who snatched them out of her hand.

She grabbed her own carton, pocketing them, as he grabbed the battery and the three left the store.

Daryl fitted the battery, a cigarette hanging between his lips as he worked, Natalia leaned against the car, smoking her own, looking out for behind the man as he fixed it up.

"You never told us about the group you were with before." Daryl told Bob, so this was his chance to get information out of the man, choosing to do it in front of Natalia so she couldn't accuse him of not doing it.

"Which one?" Bob asked, blowing smoke out his nostrils.

Daryl nodded, looking at his handiwork.

"You know, when you found me out on that road, I almost kept walking." Bob continued.

Natalia perked up, eying the man carefully.

"Why is that?" Daryl asked.

"Cause I was done being a witness. Two times, two different groups. I was the last one standing."

"That seems like an awful coincidence." Natalia commented.

"It was like I was supposed to see it happening over and over, like its some kind of curse." Natalia's eyes drifted between the two men, catching Daryl's eyes before he looked away.

"But, when its just you out there with the quiet... Used to be I'd drink a bottle of anything, just so I could shut my eyes at night. Figured the prison, the people, thought it'd be easier. The run to the big spot, I did it for me."

"You gotta keep busy." Daryl said, taking a swig of water, but Natalia knew where he was heading, moving closer around the car.

"No, I did it so I could get me a bottle of anything."

"When you said you fell?" Natalia asked.

"I picked it up, I held it in my hand, but I put it down. I put it down so hard it took the damn shelf with it. That's what brought on the walkers, and that's what got Zach killed."

"He died saving you." Natalia muttered, being right never felt so wrong.

Daryl stared at him.

"That's bullshit." he finally said. "Why don't you get in there and try the engine? It's a red and a green wire. Go on, it ain't rocket science."

Natalia turned her head looking at the man, that's all he was gonna say? The guy got Zach killed, and that was it.

"Give it some gas." He told Bob, who got in the car, ignoring the heat of Natalia's glare.

The engine started and Daryl put his hands up in a mini victory before clapping for himself, whistling for Michonne and Tyreese to join them.

He closed the hood, rounding the drivers side door.

"Nat and me picked that spot. Took you with us. There aint no way anybody could have known. You aint gonna be standing alone. Not no more. Lets go."

They grabbed their gear, piling it into the van, Bob driving, Daryl sat in the passenger seat.

Natalia sat behind Daryl, Michonne next to her and Tyreese on the other side.

A little while on the road, Natalia pulled out one of the chocolate bars from her pocket, a kit kat, she opened the wrapper, breaking the four pieces apart, she placed one in between her teeth, Michonne helped herself to a stick, and Natalia handed a piece to Tyreese.

She kicked Daryl's chair, gaining his attention and handed the last stick to him, he saw her pick up more than one bar, she was being petty.

He took it from her, splitting it in half and passing a piece to Bob, before popping his share in his mouth, spotting the woman's scowl in the rear view mirror.

Soon enough, Bob parked the car somewhere secure and they got out of it, eyes sharp as they walked through the ghost town.

Tyreese read the map as they walked, the others had their weapons in hand.

"Looks like we're getting closer." Daryl commented, looking around.

"The building we want is just up ahead." Tyreese directed.

They found the building, Daryl led the way, opening the doors and checking the coast was clear before entering.

"Come on, come on." He told the group in a quiet voice. "Move, move."

"Alright, lets make this quick." He said as they got to a classroom.

They spread out around the room, filling their bags with anything that seemed useful.

When they got to the room with the supplies, Bob, Michonne and Natalia headed for the medicine cabinet, Daryl and Tyreese looked for the other things they would need.

"Anything ending with -cillin or -cin, C-I-N, grab it." Bob told the two woman as they grabbed pill bottles. "We'll dissolve the pills in the IVs put 'em right into the bloodstream. Dosage will be tricky but considering the time we lost " He grabbed a few, putting them in a bag on the table. "How'd you do?" He asked Daryl and Tyreese who joined them in the room.

"Bags, tubes, clamps, connectors. Everything on the list." Tyreese recalled.

"What about y'all?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, we got it all." Bob looked back at the cabinet.

"Yeah, we're good."

"Then lets get out here." Natalia huffed, doing up the zipper of her bag.

They left the room, Natalia didn't comment how Daryl walked in front of her, so that he could lead the way.

They walked down the dark hallway, soon stopping by a half broken door, peering into it and catching walkers roaming around the room, before noticing the flashlights.

"Up ahead." Michonne said.

They entered a pitch black room.

"Hey, door's busted." Bob called out.

"Oh, hold up." Daryl said, him and Tyreese going to help as Michonne and Natalia stared ahead, looking around the room.

Snarling caused the two women to walk forward.

Cages were all around the room.

The men soon followed, until a walker jumped out at Tyreese, who quickly handled it and moved on.

Natalia reached the door, prying at the lock to open it.

Hands poked out of the door, grabbing for the woman, who was quick to step back.

Michonne and Daryl pointed their flashlights in between the cracks.

"How many?" Daryl asked.

"I can't tell." Michonne replied.

The door on the other side caught their attention.

Walkers had managed to push the door open, tripping over the cages.

"We can take 'em." Tyreese said, Natalia was already gripping her knife, heading over, but was stopped.

"No! They're infected." Bob shouted.

"Well obviously, they're want to eat us." Natalia turned back to look at him.

"No, same as the prison." He corrected. "We fire at 'em, get their blood on us, breath it in. We didn't come all this way to get sick."

"How do we know that the ones in there aren't any different?" Tyreese asked.

"We don't" Michonne spoke in a level voice.

"Well its gotta change sometime." Daryl said, handing Natalia his crossbow so that he could stomp on a chair, breaking off one of the legs, and using it to pry in the door.

The walker who had fallen over, got up, heading over to them.

"Ready?" Daryl asked, as the others stepped back, ready for attack.

"Do it!" Tyreese ordered.

Daryl opened the door, moving out the way and catching his crossbow that Natalia tossed to him as she and Michonne started dropping walkers that walked out from behind the doors.

Bob shot his gun, the noise was going right through Natalia's head, all that time alone and he didn't know how to combat fight?

No more walkers were coming at them and they headed inside the room.

They ran upstairs as the infected walkers followed them.

Michonne took out the walker who snarled at her as they ran through another hallway, walkers were coming at every corner, Bob tried to block them by chucking chairs in their path.

Michonne tried a door but it was locked.

"Back." Daryl said, kicking the door.

"Don't have an exit." Panic was evident in Michonne's voice.

"Then we make one." Daryl told her, jumping on a table and heading for the window.

"Get down!" Tyreese shouted, throwing a fire extinguisher at the window, shattering the glass. "Come on, move it!"

"Jump down to the walkway below." Daryl said, taking Natalia's hand and helping her up.

She jumped, narrowly catching herself before she plummeted to the ground, Michonne came straight after, then Tyreese, Daryl after him.

Bob jumped down, falling on his stomach, walkers below got a hold of his bag, trying to reach him, and Bob didn't let go, fighting to get it back.

"Bob, let it go." Michonne demanded.

"Let it go, man. Just let it go." Tyreese tried, but he didn't listen.

"Let go of the bag, man!" Daryl snapped.

Daryl yanked Bob backwards by his leg, Tyreese held his torso, and Michonne held Tyreese, Natalia snatched the bag out of Bob's hand, who managed to flip it onto the roof.

"You selfish fuck!" Natalia snapped, finding what was so precious in his bag.

Daryl walked towards her as she pulled out a bottle of alcohol.

"The bags empty" She fake laughed, flipping the bag upside down and shaking it.

"You got no meds in your bag?" Daryl asked, seeing the evidence. "Just this?" He gestured to the bottle in Natalia's hand.

Bob didn't say anything.

"You should have kept walking that day." He growled at the man.

Natalia went to chuck it below.

"Don't" Bob spoke.

She looked at him, his hand was on his gun, that was back in his holster.

The others watched his action.

Daryl snatched the bottle out of her hands, walking towards the man, who would've shot her for throwing it away.

He took the gun out of Bobs holster, nudging against him, causing him to walk to the edge of the walkway.

He grabbed the man by the vest.

"Just let it go, Daryl." Tyreese told him. "The mans made his choice. Nothing you can do about it."

Daryl dropped his hold.

"Just gotta let it go."

"I didn't want to hurt nobody. It was just for when it gets quiet." Bob stared at the ground.

Daryl shoved the bottle into his chest.

"Take one sip. When those meds get in our people, I will beat your ass into the ground. You hear me?" Daryl promised.

He walked away from the man, picking up his stuff and walking away, Natalia by his side and the rest soon following.

When they got back to the car, Natalia took the drivers seat, Daryl getting in the passenger side, they sat in silence, he examined the jasper, as Tyreese and Michonne talked.

"That's where I was travelling, Highway 100." Tyreese said.

"Then it will take about seven hours to get there." Michonne pointed out. "We're gonna need more gas."

"But we'll get there." Tyreese assured, walking past the open doors of the van. "Taking highway 100"

"We heard." Daryl grumbled.

Michonne got in the car, sitting in the middle and leaning over the two seats.

"You were right, what you said before." Michonne said. Natalia knew she was talking to Daryl. "About the trail going cold. I don't need to go out anymore."

"Good." Daryl told her, slamming his door shut, Michonne sat back in her seat as Bob and Tyreese sat on either side of her.

Natalia hot-wired the car, just like Daryl had taught her a while ago, starting the long drive.

"Hope nobody shoots me whilst I drive" She mumbled, the people in the car seemed to appreciate the joke, sitting in silence.

"Fuck!" She cursed, it was nightfall when they got back to the prison, she squinted her eyes to see, one of the fences had fallen down, the herd got to the courtyard, bodies littered around the ground.

Carl ran down to open the gate, Rick opened the next.

Tyreese didn't give Natalia a chance to park the van, already sliding the door open and jumping out.

"Sasha? How's Sasha?" He asked.

Daryl opened his door whilst Natalia got closer.

"I don't know. I'm sorry." Rick told him.

"Get in there, we got this." Daryl said, also jumping out of the van.

Natalia raised the handbrake, opening her own door and getting out of the car, pulling a knife out of a sheath, Tyreese and Bob took the meds to Cell block A, whilst the other three helped deal with the walkers and fences.

Once They were sure all the walkers were taken care of, and the gates were temporarily fixed, the group headed for bed, getting rest before they had to take care of everything tomorrow.

Natalia climbed into bed, in her own cell, locking the door for the first time in a long time, Sully was equally as excited as her to lay down and enjoy each others company, since she'd been busy for the past few days, she was just grateful that Carl was always there to look after her family.

The next day, Michonne and Natalia collected the bodies from the courtyard, whilst Daryl and Tyreese finished fixing the fences and gates, securing them properly.

As soon as she was done, she headed towards the administration office, to check on the kids and Beth.

"Beth?" Natalia called out.

"Nat?" Beth asked, surprised to hear her voice.

"We're back, everyone's alright, we got the meds, I got some other stuff as well."

"Like what?" Beth asked, curious.

"Is it safe to come in?"

"I think so, you're not infected are you?"

"Nah, I've had way worse cases" She shrugged off, she briefly let her mind wander to a certain baby that was always catching colds, passing it on to her mother.

Beth moved away from the door, opening it, with Judith on her hip.

"Hey, Judy" Natalia smiled at the baby, waving at her, as she entered, closing the door again.

"You wanna hold her?" Beth asked.

"Uh..."

"Please, I've had her for the past two days." Beth said, already pushing Judith into her arms.

This was the first time she had held a child since that night.

She kept her feelings locked down, moving Judith to sit on her hip, bouncing up and down to keep her calm, whilst making sure she was blinking regularly, breathing evenly.

"So what'd ya get?" Beth asked, looking at her curiously.

"Oh right, yeah." Natalia reached into her back pocket, grabbing out a chocolate bar that she remembered to grab before leaving her cell in the morning. "It might be a bit warm, but thought you might enjoy it."

Beth took it, smiling widely.

"Thanks, I haven't had one of these in like forever."

"It's alright, so how are the others, everyone okay?" Natalia asked, still holding Judith tightly.

"We're alright, Lizzie and Luke are in quarantine, but thanks to you guys, they should be good to come out soon."

Something had hit the prison, causing it to shake.

"Take her, and stay here." Natalia said, passing Judith back to Beth, grabbing her gun out from behind her.

"But-"

"Stay here, make sure she's safe." Natalia told her, before running out of the room and towards the courtyard.

Seemed like everyone who was able to, followed, even Beth, who came out shortly behind her, but no Judith in sight.

"I told you to stay" She hissed at the teen.

"I wanted to help!" She argued.

"Get back!" Rick shouted, as everyone moved to hide behind a building,

"Rick!" A familiar voice shouted. "Come down here. We need to talk."

A tank and six cars were parked outside the gates, the governor stood on top of the tank, his hands on his hips as he looked ahead. Other people stood around him.

"Its not up to me." Rick shouted back. "There's a counsel now. They run this place."

Three counsel members stood beside him, looking out of the fence, the other three were missing.

"Is Hershel on the counsel?" The Governor asked.

A woman, stood next to a red truck, reached into it, dragging Hershel out of the vehicle

"What about Michonne?" A man pulled her out, leading her to where Hershel was moved, shoving her down on her knees. "She on the counsel, too?"

"I don't make decisions anymore."

"You're making the decisions today, Rick."The Governor pushed. "Come down here. Lets have that talk."

Rick looked to Daryl, Natalia stood just behind him, she watched carefully as Daryl nodded, making Rick look down, nodding slightly, too.

"We can do this? Alright" He moved to Carl, looking at him, then he walked towards the gate, Daryl helped him move it.

Rick headed down the field towards the fence between the prison and the Governor.

"We need an evacuation." Natalia whispered to the group.

"She's righ', we can't take 'em all on." Daryl whispered. "We'll go through the admin buildings, through the woods like we planned. We ain't got the numbers no more. When's the last time someone checked the stash on the bus?"

"I did it about five days ago." Natalia answered.

"We were running low on rations then. We're lower now." Sasha commented.

"Yeah, we'll manage. Things go south, everyone heads for the bus. Let everybody know."

"What if everybody doesn't know when things go bad?" Tyreese asked. "How long do we wait."

"As long as we can."

"Even if it doesn't, I want everyone prepared as soon as possible, there's no way this prick is gonna let us be, other why's he wouldn't of brought his new toy to show off." Natalia gritted through her teeth.

Daryl moved to the gun bin discreetly, pushing it towards where the group were stood, taking out weapons and handing them out.

Natalia slowly moved towards him, reaching into the bin and pulling out a gun, putting the strap over her shoulder and picking up a few magazines and shoving them in the pockets of her cargo pants.

They moved back the fences, lining their guns up in the holes.

"We got to do something" Carl said, quietly.

"Your dads got it." Daryl told him.

"And what if he doesn't, we can't take that risk, there's kids." Natalia asked, thinking realistically.

"He's got it." He gave her a pointed look.

"They're talking. We could kill the Governor right now." Carl suggested.

"From 50 yards?"

"I'm a good shot." Carl believed In himself. "I could end this right now."

"Yeah, or you could start something else. You got to trust him."

"Daryl's right, they have a tank. That could take us all out, alone." Natalia sighed.

Rick had said something that seemed to tick the Governor off.

He jumped down from the tank, walking over to one of the guns and pulling out Michonne's sword.

The Governor marched towards Hershel, pushing the lady holding the gun out of the way and bringing the sword towards Hershel's throat.

"No!" Maggie shouted, her and Beth stepped forward, clinging to the fence as they began to sob.

"Fucking asshole." Natalia muttered, tightening her grip on the gun.

Rick had began pleading for unity, giving the offence a truce.

Some of the people seemed to ponder on it, doubting themselves.

The Governor slowly brought the sword away whilst Rick spoke.

Natalia couldn't even fathom the idea that maybe he was actually considering it.

The Governor whispered something that she couldn't make out, then in the same breath, he brought the sword back before swinging into the side of Hershel's throat, half of his head coming attached from his body.

Beth and Maggie screamed as they watched their father become half decapitated.

Tyreese ran to warn the prison that it was happening.

The blood dripped, drowning Hershel's shirt as he dropped to the floor.

"No!" Rick shouted, stepping back, pulling out his gun, and shooting at the enemies.

Carl was the first to shoot, then the others joined in.

"Daddy!" The sisters cried, Maggie had started shooting, but Beth couldn't bring herself to just yet.

The gunfire carried on.

The guy in the tank, took his hat off, waving it before the tank drove forward, and towards the fence.

He ripped down the fences, heading up the field and towards the courtyard where the prison group were shooting.

Beth had turned her pain into anger, picking up her gun and joining the fight as the Greene's continued to sob.

The tank shot into the prison, smashing a hole through the window.

The others fled, finding secure places to shoot, helping the people on the bus, or covering.

Natalia moved out the way as the tank reached them, knocking out the water and the fences.

Natalia shot at whoever was walking up, she had put down three people so far.

She watched Glenn and Maggie run from the building and towards the bus, a gunman was stood just by them, about to turn and shoot, Natalia took her shot and he fell down, before looking out for anyone else, knowing that her friends carried on their way.

"Daryl! Walkers!" She shouted, spotting the man hidden between filing cabinets shooting, walkers were coming up from behind him, he spared them only a look before continuing.

A walker in a red flannel advanced, throwing himself at Daryl, not giving him a moment to shoot, Natalia shot it as he used it as a shield to get closer to the armed shooters and the tanks.

Natalia hid behind a car, propping up behind it as she shot at the men stood around the vehicle, before they were jumping away.

"Grenade!"

Daryl tossed an grenade at them.

She looked behind her, the bus had drove off.

Sasha, Maggie and Bob were somewhere near her, behind another car.

The two women helped the man up as they ran for safety.

Tyreese was hidden near the food area, a man and a woman was advancing on him, Tyreese jumped, throwing himself into the flower beds as they followed.

She shot the man down, aiming for the woman, but before she was given the chance, the woman was put down by someone else.

She didn't give it another thought, moving out of her spot to a more secure one as walkers had got closer.

The only person in her range was Daryl, he swung his gun, taking out a walker as he headed for the tank, throwing another grenade down the shoot that had just took out the bridge.

"Grenade!" The man in the tank shouted, lifting the top and jumping out of it.

Natalia shot at his thigh, wounding him so that he couldn't run, letting the walkers fall on top of him as they pulled him apart.

Beth came running out towards them.

"Beth! Why aren't you on the bus!" Natalia shouted at her as she ran towards the teenage girl.

"I was trying to find the kids, to get them on the bus."

"We got to go. We got to go, now." Daryl told them.

"I can't" Natalia shook her head, as she looked around, did Sully get out? In the midst, she couldn't even wrap her mind about what could happen to the dog.

"Nat, come on!" Daryl grabbed her wrist.

"No, I can't, I have to find him!"

"You'll die, we gotta." Beth, cried, running in the opposite direction.

"But-"

"Let's go!" Daryl shouted, dragging her along after the blonde girl.

Natalia ripped her arm out of his grasp, throwing the gun around her shoulder, letting it hit the back of her as she ran with the other two, and away from their home and family, into the woods.

Next

[sunnyie-eve]

5 | Party Time

Series: Heinous

Paring: Billy Loomis x OFC ! Stu Macher x OFC ! Mickey Altieri x OFC

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: none

| MASTERLIST |

"You going to Stu's party?" Billy asks Allison following her outside.

"Yeah, the girls kinda begged me. You going?"

"Stu told me Tatum said to keep his mouth shut about it but we all know his mouth." Billy walks closer to her with a smile. "True and speak of the Devil," She says, as Stu comes walking out over to them.

"Oh tell Billy about, if you were a killer wanting to get away with it but people knew it was you... how would you get away?" Stu wraps an arm around her.

"You can tell him yourself because I have to get back to the girls." She removes him arm walking off so Billy looks at Stu who tells him what she said to him. 

"Those are good plan B's in case A doesn't work out, right?" Stu gives Billy a look.

"Yeah, most people get caught on the run and or killed. Smart idea." Billy smiles thinking about which of the two would be better to do in case they have to.

When Allison gets to the girls she jokes about how they didn't pick her up and she had to walk to them, "We were gonna get you after getting the food," Tatum tells her as they walk back to the car.

"Well, all the guys were being creepy about the killer and saying who it is so I left." She tells them as Dewey shows up.

"Because they are all fucked up." Tatum laughs.

Dewey ends up dropping the girls off and Tatum and Sidney rush into the house with the food while Allison follows behind till she sees Randy, "So I really can't drink?" She walks over to him.

"Nope, you gotta follow the rules." He spins her around.

"Not even one?" She pouts hoping it would work on him.

"Not even a sip." He says, making her whine.

"Stu!" She snaps her fingers at him as he walks into the same room as them.

"Al!" He smiles.

"Can I have a sip of your beer?" She bats her eyes at him.

"Nope." He sits down with Tatum by him and Sidney by her on the couch.

"Why not?"

"Because I say no drinking for you tonight." He says, making her jaw drop.

"What? When did you and Randy become the boss of me?"

"We are just trying to keep you safe tonight." Stu grabs her hand pulling her down into his lap.

"Stop!" She whines trying to get out of his arms. When she gets out of them she moves to sit on the other side of him.

"How many Evil Dead's? How many Hellraisers?" Randy asks the room of people.

"The Fog, Terror Train, Prom Night. How come Jamie Lee Curtis is in all these movies?" Sidney asks, looking at them.

"She's the... Scream Queen." Randy tells her.

"With a set of lungs like that, she should be," Stu says and the girls knew what they were talking about.

Stu goes to get the door and comes back telling everyone that Gale was here with Dewey. Not much later everyone ends up disappearing on Allison so she gets up to go to the kitchen. "Hey you, no kitchen!" Stu picks her up and walks her out of the room.

"I just want a glass of water. Damn, can I not drink that either?" She asks as he carries her all the way out back to the living room.

"I'll get it for you myself." He messes up her hair.

"Can you guys stop treating me like a baby for the love of god!" 

When most people started to leave the party, Sidney and Allison thought it was best to go as well but they couldn't find her, "Tatum, come on!" Sidney calls out.

"Do you know where she is?" Allison asks Stu.

"I haven't seen her." He tells her shaking his head and she could tell he didn't seem to care about her disappearing on them.

"I'll go look in the garage." Allison turns to leave, "Maybe she's getting more beer." Before she could walk away Billy decides to pop in and he ends up startling Sidney and Allison. Allison watches Billy give Stu a look so he pulls her into his side confusing her.

"Billy. Hmm. What are you doin here?" Stu plays dumb.

"I was hoping I could talk to Sid alone." He looks at her.

"You know. If Tatum sees you here, she'll draw blood." Sidney tells him.

"Why don't you go up to my parent's room? You know, you guys can take, whatever." Stu tells them.

"Subtlety, Stu. You should look it up." Billy tells him and Sid says they can talk. Billy comes in and hits Stu, "You haven't drank, right?" Billy asks Allison, stopping Sidney for a second.

"Only one glass of water." She smiles so he leaves. "Can you get me some more water please?" She leans back looking up at Stu.

"Anything for you sweetheart." He kisses the top of her head.

"What's leather face doin here?" Randy walks up to the two watching Billy.

"He came to make up. Now let's go get my baby girl some more water." Stu picks Allison up and walks them to the kitchen.

"You know I'm not surprised people think you date me at times instead of Tatum." She gives him a look.

"I mean, we did hook up before Tate..." He gets her some more cold water.

"I meant when you got with her." She takes the water from him.

"Well because we're cute together." He leans down causing her to lean back quickly. 

"What the hell are you doing?" She puts her hand on his chest moving him back.

"What? Don't you want this?" He chuckles.

"What?!" She laughs, "I-I mean, maybe i-i-if you weren't dating my friend." She moves away from him awkwardly laughing.

"Well, you're lucky because she broke up with me. After she got me a beer earlier and disappeared with some other guy." He lies starting to get upset in hopes she falls for it.

"She broke up with you?" Allison lets her guard down a bit.

"I don't know why. I get I'm a bit much at times but..." He sighs looking at the floor playing up his act.

"She didn't even tell me she was going to and she tells me everything." Allison couldn't believe it.

"Sorry for trying to kiss you. I'm just hurt." He looks at her with a sad look so she wraps her arms around his waist to comfort him.

"I'm sorry about Tatum, Stu." 

He hugs her back before lifting her head to look at him, "So can I just get one kiss?" He asks, making her give him a look knowing that's a terrible idea.

"Stu, I don't thi-," He cuts her off, leaning down to kiss her. He holds her tightly against him and he could feel her wanting to move away from him.

"Let's go watch the movie with the others. If we take too long, your nerd will come walking in." He walks them back and they sit with the small group to watch Halloween.

Randy ends up explaining the rules to survive a horror movie to the group since they didn't know. "I'm gonna go get a beer and no you still can't have one." Stu kisses Allison's head getting up. "I'm gettin another beer. You want one?" Stu asks Randy.

"Yeah, sure." He tells him.

"I'll be right back!" Stu yells backing out of the room.

"You push the law and you end up dead. See you in the kitchen with a knife." Randy tells him.

Not paying attention to the movie, Allison wonders about Tatum. There's no way she would break up with Stu for some other guy. It didn't make sense and she would have told her or Sidney about it. She always went to them.

After more time passes a few leave while a few stay to keep watching the movie. The phone ends up ringing and Randy tells the guys about their principal who was found dead at our football field. "Come on! Where you guys goin?" He falls back onto the couch as the last of the guys rush out to see.

"You need some water, Randy." Allison laughs leaving to get him a glass of water.

Since she wanted a beer so badly so she looked around before slowly walking over to the door to sneak herself a beer. As soon as she walks out of the door, it slams behind her, locking her out. "What the hell! Hello!" She bangs on the door but nothing. Groaning she turns to go out the garage door and sees Tatum dead stuck in the cat/dog door. Frozen for a few seconds, she just stares before screaming and running away.

As she was running in the grass, she hears Sidney scream and see her fall from the roof. "Sid!" Allison runs back to her and scares her as she sees Tatum. "We have to go. Come on!" Allison drags her so they can run off.

They both get to the news van and climb in to see the killer behind Randy on the TV. "Randy!" Allison cries watching him thinking the worst. The guy opens the door getting out and tells the two there's a 30-second delay. As he turns around again he gets his throat cut so both Sid and Allison close the door. "Go, Sid." Allison shoves her to crawl through the back first.

When it was her turn to crawl the door opens and the killer grabs her, "Allison!" Sidney yells reaching to help pull her through.

"Just go!" Allison screams getting pulled back and fighting with the guy getting stabbed in the shoulder and cut up a few times. "Fuck you!" She kicks at him and he groans. The killer grabs her head, hitting it against the floor as she tries to get away. He ends up knocking her out and she feels her body being picked up and carried away.

[mathmusic8]

The Bad Batch Season 2 Episodes 7 & 8

Le gasp--it's Star Wars Wednesday and I almost forgot! And we have two episodes today?? Must be good!

Is that a Pantoran on the thumbnail for episode 7? Are we finally going to see our beloved Senator Chuchi like the trailer promised???

Very excited to find out!

(spoilers under the cut)

79s!!

...this feels significantly less lively than usual

Slip, Cade--clone names

Ohh Cade honey, I get where you're coming from, but this won't end well

...is that Crosshair?

Mm, I feel like Crosshair wouldn't have missed 

...I don't want to make light of this moment, but those were the fastest pulse checks I've ever seen in my life

Seriously? They blamed losing Kamino on a storm?? 

Yeee Bail!!!

CHUCHI!!! CLONE RIGHTS!!!!!! (this is so much fan service--I love it <333)

Rampart, put your long pointy nose back in the slimey corner where it belongs

You go, Bail <3

Wow, Mas Amedda actually had more than 2 lines of dialogue

Chuchi canonically goes to 79s <3

Wait--waIT WAIT WAIT IS THAT DOGMA

Y'ALL

Y'ALL

DOGMA IS HERE

THAT IS KRIFFING DOGMA

AANDHSUSNABCIANSBDHAUAKNFUDIASBAHAHAHDBHDHAHASBHS

...I think?

It's possible that this guy just has really similarly placed scars...

And okay, his voice doesn't sound quite right for Dogma...

...eh, I can headcanon whatever I want

Chuchi giving them the "you'll still have a life after war" talk T.T so much fan service

Is it just me or are clones in this episode either clean shaven or have exactly one style of beard that looks like Gregor's? Must be a fad XD

Slip is CT-0409 (aw, that's only a digit off from Echo T.T)

She's meeting with Rampart right after that?? Riyo, are you crazy?

Oh? Who's Slip calling? Money's on Rex, but it would be fun if it was someone else

Riyooooo be caaarefullllll!!

HE KNOWS THAT SHE KNOWS

RIYO WHY DID YOU DO THAT

The memorial features quite a lot in this series. Not that I mind <3

Hmm, I spy a blue R2 unit who is not our Artoo

Riyo understands binary <3

Yeeee Organa poking at the stupid, stupid logic of Kamino being destroyed by a storm!

...I'm so torn about this sniper y'all. He has some of Crosshair's mannerisms, but then why to vocoder?

Eaaasy Slip

Oh good

Slip is smart--I like him

Aaaaand there goes Slip. Dangit y'all

Riyo's guard is a good shot

...was a good shot. Oh he's still alive. Mm, not for long.

"I'll be right behind you." Sorry, boyo, no one believes that

Dramatic face reveal of.... REX YAY

He's not in armor anymore? Eh, poncho looks better this way anyway

Second dramatic face reveal of... not Crosshair! Hah, called it!!!

Not a trooper? What do you mean, Rex?

Oh YES WE GET TO QUESTION HIM

Aw, it's Rafa and Trace's garage

"a believer"...? uh, okay. In what? Order 66?

Oh yikes dangit boy why you gotta do that

-- Episode 8 --

Omega's meditating :D

"You wanna try?" Cute <3

"I had enough of solitude." Awww, Echo

Noooooooo Hunter used "ask" as a noun T.T I know it's a common turn of phrase these days, but my poor little grammar heart just about imploded 

Ah, so Rex is sending them to get data from the ship. ...does he not know the Bad Batch were literally there

Ahh, right, they're deserters. At least they called it out

Okay, but that log would've been wiped--oh right it's a backup log. ...still don't think that would've worked, but fine

Omega's going with Riyo? Okay

So. Much. Fan. Service. Just look at that Star Wars poncho as a disguise <3

Admiral Rampart's nearly aggressive "Senator Chuchi" XD

...Rampart what're you planning

Bail and Riyo constantly glancing back at Omega XD

Ahh, so the ex-Kaminoan senator is still around

Ohhhhhh craaaaaap she's gonna recognize Omega

Omega nooooo this is a delicate situation, you can't just say things like that--

...oh, so it wasn't a catastrophic mistake? Okay

These close-up shots of the kaminoan's head and neck are kinda unsettling haha

Awww Echo want to help Rex so much

Was that a tiny background massiff I saw? <3

Hanging onto a shuttle while in flight--Noice. Not the most practical, but noice

Rex: "He's still not better with heights?" Echo: "This is him better." XD

Course it couldn't be easy. I guess otherwise it wouldn't be fun :D

"New plan! 14, 5, 86" "All of them?" "YES" XD

See, that's why the Bad Batch actually succeeds half the time--they don't go in without a plan because they're unprepared. They have plenty of plans and implement them as needed

Rampart looks a tiny bit out of his depth in this senate session XD

Organa to save the day <3

I reallllllly hope they actually looked at the data first to confirm it's what they're looking for--oh look, it's fine

So... how does this not solve everything again?

Oh. That's why. The emperor's here.

Ah. Palpatine turned against Rampart. Sleemo

NO

PALPY DON'T YOU KRIFFING DARE TURN THIS ON THE CLONES

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

YOU DISGUSTING BALL OF SLIME

The music really makes this moment appropriately sinister

Welp. We knew it wasn't going to end well

AHHAHAVFHSJWBDUDVEUSBSUEJE OH MY HEART ECHO'S STAYING WITH REX T.T 

BUT POOR OMEGA TEARS EVERYWHERE

They better hug--oh good they do

Gah my heart

Alrighty, that's the episode! So much happened here!! So much fan service! Possible Dogma cameo! Two whole episodes of Riyo and clones rights content! Echo leaving the Bad Batch! T.T

Wonder what Crosshair's up to...

[accio-ambition]

This chapter is mostly banter. So enjoy. As always, a million bajillion thanks to @shipsxahoy, @queen-icicle-fandom, @sotheylived, and those crazy kids at @captainswanbigbang. With each new chapter, I get a little sadder that this project is wrapping up and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank them enough.

Summary: Bouncing around with her son for the majority of her life, Emma Swan has told herself she’s happy in the city. It’s where the most camera operating jobs are, and that’s how she makes her money. But when an old friend calls her and asks for her help on a new project in small town Maine, Emma finds herself in a place she’s never been with people she doesn’t know filming a profession she knows nothing about. But when the captain of the ship she’s filming begins taking a keen interest in her and her life, she finds herself wondering whether she might just catch something other than fish. Deadliest Catch AU Rating: M Content warning: Character death, some violent situations

FFnet/Ao3/Cover/Snapshots/Gifset/Manip

Chapter Eighteen

“We’re not getting another ship.” Killian slides onto the bench across from her at Granny’s, nabbing an onion ring as he scoots by her plate.

“What?” she asks, confused about both the statement and the idea that he thinks she won’t mind him stealing her onion rings. Rotating her plate so her rings are closest to her side of the table, Emma repeats herself. “What do you mean, you’re not getting another ship?”

He shrugs. Somehow, the action conveys sass. “What part don’t you understand, Swan? ‘We’ refers to my brother and I. ‘Are not’ means - ”

“I mean why aren’t you guys getting a new ship?” she interrupts, glaring at him. “You said you were looking into it before the Jewel sunk. Why stop looking now that it has?”

Glancing anywhere but at her, Killian explains, “There’s nothing out in the market right now that’s what Liam’s looking for. I think he wants to try and salvage the Jewel, build it up again from scratch and make some changes.”

“How long would that take?” she asks, ticking her head to the side.

“It’s anybody’s guess,” Killian says as Ruby comes up to their table with a smile on her face, asking Killian if he needs anything. He orders a cup of coffee, more out of kindness than necessity or desire. Once she’s gone to place his order, he looks back at Emma. “He’s calling up some of his mates in the Coast Guard and throughout the harbor to see if any one of them is willing to help haul what’s left on the shore back to a shop.”

“Huh,” she hums. It’s an interesting proposition, one that could make for good TV. She isn’t sure if that’s at all what they would want - they being the Jones brother or the executives - but it could be interesting. That is, so long as no one is breaking their contract. “Have you told Jefferson?”

Killian shakes his head. “He’s the next call, after Dave.” Reaching across the table, he steals another onion ring, narrowly avoiding Emma’s slap. He takes a bite and chews it for a moment. “I didn’t know Granny made onion rings,” he comments idly.

Emma smirks, taking a bite out of one of her own rings. “She does for her favorite customers,” she snarks.

An extremely dramatic frown crosses his face. “I thought I was one of her favorites,” he mumbles.

She knows he’s playacting for her pity, but Emma still feels the need to comfort him. “I don’t think there’s anyone in town who isn’t Granny’s favorite.” She reaches across the table to pat his hand. “Don’t worry, you’re one of my favorites,” she says.

He grins. “As much as I will cherish that admission,  I don’t get free food out of our relationship.”

“Hey, I still have to pay for this stuff,” she whines. “And I can make you food.” His eyebrows shoot up and she shrugs. “It’d be free for you.”

“I feel like we’ll have more time for that in the near future, what with there being only one ship in our possession.” Sighing again, Killian rests his head on the table in front of him, grasping blindly for her hand. He entwines their fingers together. “What are we going to do, Emma?”

“I don’t know,” she grumbles, relishing in the warmth and weight of his hand in hers. “We’ll figure it out.” In the meantime, Emma uses her other hand to slide her plate reluctantly between them, a silent offer for assurance in the form of onion rings.

Peeking up from his arms, Killian smiles. He actually thanks her this time as he takes an onion ring and munches on it thoughtfully. “What do you think Jeff’s going to say about the show?” he asks.

She shrugs this time. “He’s probably going to refer back to whatever contract you guys signed, then take it up to the channel execs. See what they say.” Ruby finally returns with his cup of coffee and another small plate of onion rings for her. “It’s a huge guessing game until the end of this season. I’m sure it won’t end badly. They might just find another trawler somewhere nearby and focus on them instead of the Jolly Roger and the Jewel.” She rolls her eyes. “Who knows?”

Looking off into space, Killian reaches over to the plate of fresh onion rings, only to be met with empty air. He looks up to find Emma hoarding the plate close to her, Gollum protecting the one ring.

“I don’t care how good looking you are,” she threatens him. “You want onion rings? Fucking order some and stop stealing mine.”

A huge smile breaks across his face before he salutes her sarcastically. “Message received loud and clear, love.” Still, he actually stands up and grabs one last ring from her possession. “They just taste so much better when it makes you feisty.”

Bending over to press a short kiss to the top of her head, Killian pops her onion ring into his mouth and smirks on the way out of Granny’s, leaving Emma fuming.

0000

Jefferson’s reaction, at least according to Liam and how Killian relays it to her on the phone later that night, is more positive than either of them had expected. While Emma prepared herself to hear about screaming and cursing in true Jeff fashion, Killian tells her that their producer understood considering the circumstances.

“Liam said that Jeff said that he’d inform the proper executives and get back to me if there was anything else he needed,” his voice crackles through the line. Emma’s walking in the front door, a bag of Chinese food dangling off her elbow and her cell wedged between shoulder and ear.

“Well, that sounds kind of promising,” she assures him, shutting the door behind her. “Hold on a second.” Taking the phone from her shoulder, Emma yells for Henry to set the table before returning to their conversation. “Do you think he’ll have something to get back to you with by the barbeque?” she asks.

“Dunno,” he grumbles. She can just imagine him scratching behind his ear, the uncertainty of the future causing a frustrated blush to rise on his neck. He sighs, and then says, “I’ll let you and the lad get to supping. See you soon, love.”

“Bye.”

Emma hopes for all their sakes and sanities that Jefferson does have something to tell the crew by the time the Nolans’ barbeque rolls around in a couple of days. It’s the end of summer though it feels more like fall, coming up on the end of regular trawling season, and to celebrate that or maybe just help each other grieve and mourn the recent past. Either way, Mary Margaret had brought up the idea and Emma had wholeheartedly volunteered her and Henry’s manpower to help set up.

“Mom, Phillip’s mom was gonna take us to a movie,” he complains where she tells him of their plans.

“Well, you’ll have to call Phillip and tell him sorry,” she says. “It’s going to be a beautiful day and David promised me there would be ice cream.” Flopping back on the couch they share and changing the channel, Emma adds, “Invite him to the party while you’re at it. Phillip and his parents.”

“This is Mary Margaret and David’s party, remember?”

She shrugs. “We’re setting it up, I’m saying we can invite people.”

And Emma really begins to agree with her own words as she’s helping David set up the eighth fold-out table in an hour in their backyard, his wife directing them on its placement and Henry plugging in lights around the fence. Mary Margaret keeps saying she needs to keep an eye on food she’s pre-cooking in the kitchen, but Emma’s sure she just doesn’t want to do the heavy lifting. Literally.

All the while, the possibility of having to leave Storybrooke - of no longer being able to use her son for chores, of no longer being close to Mary Margaret and David, or Ruby, or even the Joneses - lingers in her mind.

It’s something she doesn’t want to do unless it’s absolutely necessary.

But now that there isn’t a second boat and no intention of getting one, there might be no show that needs a camera for her to operate. She’s in a bit of a tight position. She has enough saved up for her and Henry to survive for a little while, but the mastering of camera operation can only take you so far in life.

These frightening thoughts sneak in and out of her mind during the party, almost ruining the beautiful sunset that cools what remains of a scorching day. Henry’s having a blast, he and Phillip shooting each other with water guns in between hot dogs and ice cream. Mary Margaret’s in full-on hostess mode, talking with everyone she walks by to make sure their drinks are cold and their stomach are satisfied. And David, standing next to Emma, taking in the scene with his own internal commentary.

“What am I going to do?” she asks David in one instance of darkened thought, beer in hand.

Reading her mind, he shrugs and takes a sip of his beer. “What are we going to do?”

Emma chuckles darkly. “At least Mary Margaret’s got a job.”

“Hey,” David reprimands her. With a shrug, she rolls her eyes at him. “I know you don’t particularly like asking for help, but you know you don’t have to do this alone.” Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, he pulls her into his side, a brotherly gesture of comfort. “Some other project will come up. And in the meantime, enjoy your time with Henry. Relax.”

“Easier said than done,” she grumbles. She takes a swig of her beer only to find it empty. A frown growing on her face is halted by the somewhat magical appearance of another drink in David’s other hand.

“Maybe you just need a little push in the right direction,” he suggests, handing the beer over.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

David nods to Killian, who’s now chasing after Henry and Roland, Liam and Robin and Regina laughing at his antics. He’s spent the majority of the evening doing so, choosing the adventures of children over alcohol for entertainment. Liam even had to scold him for running about the deck too fast.

(He’d been sheepish naturally, being treated like a child, but Emma had to admit that the entire situation was adorable.)

“Don’t make me spell it out for you,” David nearly begs.

Catching his drift, Emma grimaces. “You’re gross.”

“I’m right.” She glares at him as he takes another drink of his beer, trying unsuccessfully to hide his smug smile. When he finishes, David shakes his head. “Look, I don’t want to know anything about it.”

“There’s nothing for you to know, we just - ”

“Don’t want to know,” he interrupts her, his hand coming up between them. “All I need to know is if he makes you happy. Because I can lie to myself all I want and pretend that you’re happier here because you have us. But even I have to admit you look a hell of a lot happier when he’s around these days.”

Taking a moment to contemplate the idea, Emma finally shrugs, hints of a smile curling the corners of her mouth. “I’m not unhappy.”

David nods once sharply. “Good enough for me,” he says, taking another drink. “The rest of that stuff, you can talk to Mary Margaret or Ruby. Not my department.”

Emma nudges his shoulder in good humor. “You mean you don’t want to know the intimate details about-”

“Nope,” he interrupts her. “Not my department. Not at all.”

With a nod and a smile, David takes his leave, mumbling something about making sure there’s enough food. It’s as much a fake excuse to get away from the uncomfortable conversation as it is an inside joke - like Mary Margaret would ever let anyone go hungry at her house.

As though his ears were burning, David’s space is quickly occupied by Killian himself, out of breathe and damp from being chased with water guns.

“Those lads are quick,” he says nonchalantly.

Emma chuckles. “What, Captain Hook can’t keep up with the Lost Boys now?” she teases him. “Finally admitting defeat and letting old age and a croc get you?”

Killian’s frown is so dramatic - honestly, it makes him look like a blobfish - that her laughter flourishes into guffaws and even a few tears. “I am affronted, Swan,” he says. his voice equally put off. “How dare you insult the captain as such. I should make you walk the plank!”

So she’s had a few drinks, as he probably has too, but that matter doesn’t do anything to quell the warmth that bubbles up inside with this ridiculous man next to her. She thinks of what David said and maybe it’s just become obvious to her how obvious she and Killian are together. How often and how much time they spend with each other, how their countenances change when in each other’s company.

It nearly makes her sad when she forces the conversation to other, less amusing topics.

“Did Jefferson get back to you yet?”

Shaking his head, Killian runs a hand through his hair. “I even inquired about it the other day after Liam’s check up,” he tells her. “Alas, nothing from executives or any other higher up.”

“I’m sure that doesn’t mean anything,” Emma assures him, though a different discussion sets off in her mind. She knows better than Killian that, unlike in other realms of the world, no news in show business isn’t good news. Sea of Chaos is quite a money maker for the network: it’s grown a fanbase, it’s interesting enough and original enough that it could bring in more ratings, and the cast is memorable enough that they can quote them on merchandise. Changing it in any way - or worse, cancelling it - could be detrimental to their entire lineup.

But Killian doesn’t need to know that.

“No news is good news, right?” Emma lies easily.

He shrugs. “I can only suppose so.”

[brimbrimbrimbrim]

Hellllo 👋🏻, I follow you on Ao3, I hope this isn't annoying or anything, just genuinely wanting to know. I really enjoyed the LowRes and Josh and Nancy Drew series, was just wondering if you're still writing for them or if it's done. You don't have to answer.

Ya'll some thirsty bitches... here's a sneak preview of what I'm writing for Kinktober. <3_<3

You strum your fingers on the metal door frame and make a face, “Jesus… this guy’s baby dick energy is so massive it probably never occurred to him that people like us existed.”

Inside the van, behind you, Wrench grins loudly, “Did you seriously say baby dick energy? Now all I can picture are penis lasers,” and, with robotic static, adds, “Pew-pew-right in the dick!”

You roll your eyes, backpedal inside the safety of the van and plunk down on the swivel chair and desk setup bolted to the floor. There’ll be enough mansion ogling when you’ve finished Ray’s algo anyway and if you get Wrench riled up too fast, then nothing productive is getting done today.

Wrench stays quiet for two-point-three seconds, then collapses into a playgirl-esque pose on the computer desk in front of you. Before he can knock over your milky coffee drink with his elbow, you scoot it out of the way with a pointed glare, all without taking a hand off the keys. 

“Ya know you’re supposed to be the lookout, right?”

Pixel arrows point at the ceiling happily, “Nothing’s happened since we got here. The prodigal son is out,” he waves a tattooed hand like he’s brain farting on a particular word, “prodigality-ing… or something, and you’re waaaay nicer to look at than the adult LEGO set that fucker calls a house. Plus, you still owe me for losing that bet last night.”

While Wrench can be insufferable at times and you actually take pride in your work ethic unlike ‘someone,’ he is utterly charming to a fault, so you hide a smile and ignore his finger-gunning crotch motions. 

“You so would pick something sexual for that,” you respond as dryly as possible. 

Watching his emotes go from seductive hearts to underscores then inward slashes like a sad puppy dog was worth the finger flick he lands on your cheek, especially when the movement makes the hem of his hoodie ride up his stomach, exposing a sliver of hard abdominals, inked with scatch-hearts. It wouldn’t be all that wise to get distracted this way, but Wrench is a jack of all trades and a master of many; he’s mastered the art of LowRes seduction very, very well.

You blush a little, but only after he readjusts the denim creases around his junk, rubbing at what looks like an oil stain from the events of last night. The algorithm from T-Bone gets typed in a tad slower due to some minor ‘distractions’ but all in all, this lil’ mission Marcus sent you both on is going swimmingly.

“Gotta admit,” Wrench wonders aloud, “this dude’s got way too many lemon-flavored goodies to not have some sort of protocol against hacker babes like us.”

You nod while typing in the final line of code, then throw down the enter key with a puff of breath, “No shit. It’s almost too easy. Like, suspiciously so.”

“Hmm, want me to check the digital keypad while you run that thing?”

“Probably a smart move,” you agree, lifting your laptop and drink off the desk as he wiggles like spawning salmon off the edge - heels smacking the metal floor with a lurch over the wheels. He kicks open the back doors - ever the subtle criminal - and starts judging the keypad.

The van and the two of you are currently stationary in Ahed’s four-car garage which is unsurprisingly empty since the McMansion was still being shown to high-end clients for future mass development. Rich assholes weren’t always the smartest people, as much as they thought they were. Opening their lives up to hackers through everything from toaster ovens to smart showerheads was only gonna make groups like DedSec stronger. Bring it on, you think with a tiny smile.

“Ooooh, looks like fart boy had his dingleberries install a monitoring chip,” Wrench’s voice crackles from around the van, “I could just… right…” something metallic stabs and clicks, “there!”

He swings himself back inside the van, close enough you can feel the furnace that is his body temperature lather on your right side. Double-carets smile at you as he hunches over, presenting a little, toothy microchip between his fingertips. 

 “See, it’s all in the wrist.”

“Mmhmm,” you can't help but smile, “your technique is not in question, don’t worry.” His skills are never really in question, at least not when it comes to you, but you add a little insinuation to your words considering he’s been threatening you with a good time since this morning.

Your tone does not go unnoticed. 

As the algorithm does its thing - rendering the security firm obsolete via a fake firewall - Wrench tosses the offending chip over his shoulder and props his spiked chin in his fist, lowering his voice to Barry Manilow levels, “Only thing I’m worried about is when I get to stick my cockerdoodle in your-“

“Shooosh,” you interrupt hastily, looking dramatically behind him, “do you hear that?”

“Hear what now?” His mask blinks question marks.

The silence continues.

“That.”

Wrench goes silent as a bricked system and looks over his shoulder, knowing when it’s time to get serious.

With a tight lipped-smile and your best dramatic tone locked and loaded, you whisper, “It’s the sound of a rare Wrench not saying something pornographic for five seconds.”

Side-eyeing underscores turn to you, but the leather below his digital display creases, proving that beneath the glare, he’s grinning

“Pffff,” he raspberries, “it was way longer than that!”

“Well, maybe seven seconds.”

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Fully Completely 3

Warnings: non-consent sex and rape (series), violence, mutual irritation, harassment

This is dark!Loki x reader and explicit. 18+ only.  Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Series Synopsis: There’s a new face in Birch and he’s come to haunt your door.

Sister series to Smalltown Bringdown, When the Weight Comes Down, and Little Bones

Note: On to part three. Sorry for being a human disaster.

Thanks to everyone for their patience and feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

Chapter 3: Or it will move right through me

💀💀💀

Jerome annoyed you as he picked through your tool box and clicked the ratchet noisily. He was excited but impatient and complained that you were taking so long. You told him if he wanted to pay out of pocket for labour, you could finish faster. 

You sat by his bike, parts strewn at your feet, and bent your head to look under the tank. You still had a lot to go and hadn’t yet added anymore of the gross chrome to the frame.

“Do you realise how filthy this is gonna get?” you huffed as you sat up and leaned your elbows on your legs, “not to mention how ridiculous it looks.”

“I like it. It’s just my style,” your brother grinned, “I don’t remember you spending this much time on Bucky’s ride and you and him--”

“He had me replace the tailpipe, you want nothing short of a rebuild,” you scoffed, “and you’re not the boss.”

“Don’t remind me,” he rolled his eyes, “guess it could be worse though. It could be Steve.”

“Thank god it’s not,” you chuckled, “I don’t know how many women had to toss beer in his face before he latched onto that mousy one at the bakery.”

“She’s nice,” Jerome shrugged, “far as I know. She doesn’t talk to anyone but Steve.”

“I wonder why,” you tisked, “he has insecurity written across his forehead.”

The tinny bell rang and the door whooshed open as the wind caught it. Jerome glanced over and dropped the ratchet noisily into the drawer of the tool box. You growled in warning as you spent much of your spare cash on those. He apologised quietly as he squared his shoulders at the man who appeared.

“Hey,” Bucky wiped the flakes from his hair and blew out a shiver.

“Bucky,” Jerome said rigidly.

The other man nodded and stepped further inside the garage. He shoved his hands in his pockets and paced aimlessly around the concrete floor. You watched him as you fiddled with the bolt in your hand.

“You wanna head down to the bar?” It wasn’t a question as Bucky came to face you, “I gotta talk to your sister.”

“Sure,” Jerome replied sharply, “you got it, boss.”

Bucky grumbled and waited for him to leave. He sniffed and kicked his toe into the floor.

“So… what’re you doing here? Been a while so must be urgent,” you sat up on the rolling stool and stretched your back.

“The whole town’s talking about it. You fighting him,” his brows drew together, “I told you I’d take care of him.”

“You didn’t,” you said evenly, “so I did.”

“I talked to him--”

“And said what?” you snorted.

“Look, you don’t understand. You said it yourself, you don’t care about my business. You don’t get what’s going on but what I need from him is bigger than your temper.”

“Excuse me? This is my fault? He broke into my shop, he followed me from that diner and he put his hands on me,” you stood and tossed the bolt away, “what do you want me to do, Buck?”

“First, I want you to remind yourself who I am. We’re not fucking anymore so that mouth isn’t as cute,” he warned, “and I want you to play nice.”

“All you have to do is keep him away from me. How hard is that for a man like you, huh? You’re the big dog.”

“Watch it,” he pointed at you, “I won’t tell you again.”

“He’s here to deal with you, not me,” you insisted, “he grabbed me, I defended myself, and I’ll do it again.”

“This isn’t grade school anymore, you can’t fight the boys,” he sighed.

“What are you saying?”

He was silent as his jaw ticked and his blue eyes strayed to the ceiling. You stepped closer and gripped your hips as you stared him down.

“There’s nothing else I can do for you. Nothing else I will do. He’s your problem.”

He met your glare and you scoffed in disgust, “you’re fucking serious? What do these idiots have on you?”

“It’s not what they have on me, it’s what I want from them. I’m planning for something bigger than Birch, that means there’s gonna be some sacrifices,” he shrugged.

“Sacrifices? Is that what you call it? Well, here’s one for you, the next time you get a little scuff on your tank or your headlight starts to flicker, you can head down to Carl’s,” you scowled.

“Don’t do this,” he gritted through his teeth.

“I can get business without you. I do better work than Carl, you know that. So go, I’ll deal with that asshole on my own, how I see fit.”

He inhaled and lifted his chin. He closed his eyes and thought. 

“Damn it,” he swore, “you can’t make anything fucking easy. What is it with you women and your god damn--” he lifted his hand and stopped himself, “you get in the way of my business, and you won’t be so worried about Loki.”

“Oh yeah? That’s what he said about you,” you mocked, “what’s with you men and your egos?”

His lip curled and he breathed through his teeth. His eyes lit up and he punched his palm as he turned away quickly.

“I hope he has his fun with you. Maybe he can fuck some sense into you,” Bucky growled, “God knows I tried.”

“You weren’t that good,” you snipped.

He kicked the shelf of wipers hung near the front of the shop and grunted. He stormed to the doorway and stopped to look back at you.

“You’ll be wishing it was me…” he hissed.

He waved you off and continued through the front door, slamming it behind him loudly. You stared at the scattered packages of wipers and bit down on your tongue. You wanted to run out and strangle that idiot but you knew how he could be. It was the reason you broke off your little fling; he was too much like you. Hard-headed and volatile.

💀

You weren’t going to change just because the town was overrun by asshole men. You were standing your ground and that meant you were going to finish your club sandwich and enjoy one lunch without interruption. 

The café was busier that day as the snowfall dwindled and the streets were mostly cleared as the plows made their regular rounds. You looked through the window as the school kids stopped by the bakery for hot drinks on their lunch and circled the rim of your mug with your fingertip. You sensed it was only the lull before the storm.

Further down you could see the corner of The Asp and heard a rumbling engine. Your shop remained empty except for Jerome’s bike. Since Bucky’s visit, you were too worked up to concentrate anyway. You wanted to take your wrench and knock every man in town in the head with it.

Nora brought your sandwich as Kimmie didn’t work on the weekends and your side of soup. You would eat both and leave satisfied. You wouldn’t let anyone ruin your day off. Well, not that you had very much to do aside from that.

You dipped your crusts in the tomato soup and stared at the seat across from you. Empty. Perfect.

You scooped the last of the bowl into your mouth and wiped your lips with the napkin. You stood and gulped up your coffee. You left money on the table and headed out. A peaceful, solitary lunch all to yourself.

You skipped the shop and continued down the street. You pushed into the hobby shop you rarely ventured into, more a bookshop if you were honest. You greeted the man at the counter with a smile. When you were a girl, you remembered he ordered you a special set of paints as the ones in his store were all dried up. Lu, you recalled his name.

You went to the shelves of models and looked over the new arrivals. You took the Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am off the shelf and smirked. Your father had one just like it when you were a kid. It wasn’t exactly new. You grabbed a bottle of black paint with it, always running low on the stuff, and headed for the counter.

Lu punched the buttons on his till and you heard a creak. Light footsteps emerged from the basement of used books as you opened your wallet.

“I didn’t take you as bookish,” Loki’s voice made you cringe.

You didn’t answer and counted out the bills for your purchase, “actually, you got any glue? I didn’t see any on the shelf.”

“Hmm, oh,” Lu turned and bent to reach into a box, “haven’t stocked up but these came in just before the storm.”

He added the orange and white tube to your bag and you added another bill. He counted out your change and handed it to you.

“Quite interesting what small towns can hide,” Loki didn’t wait to step up to counter and stood close, his sleeve against yours, “An antique edition of Whitman. One of the only Americans I read.”

You looked down at the worn tome, the edges fraying and the letters faded. It was marked up to a couple hundred. You could appreciate a love for reading but you weren’t entirely sure some old paper was worth all that.

“I’ll need the reading material as my visit has been prolonged,” he mused as you grabbed your bag and headed for the door, “my brother is due to return so I will stay in his place… get to know the town of Birch more intimately.”

You hid your disgust at his words and continued out the door. His exaggerated tones stuck in your head as you passed the window and absently swung your bag. You hated him. You really did. You should have bashed him over the head with that dumb book. 

You thought of that day in the snow and smiled. You knew that shame lingered in him. You would have no problem repeating that scene.

You came up to your shop and stopped short. The burly redhead who arrived with the pestilent man stood at your door, peering in through the window, angling his head as he tried to see around the blinds. You cleared your throat as you neared.

“Something I can help you with?” you asked dully.

“Oh, ah,” he turned and laughed at himself, “I thought… Loki, I thought he’d be here.”

“No. He wouldn’t be,” you said, “he’s down at the book shop.”

“Thanks. He apologise?” He prodded.

“You seem to know him well. You think he did?” you challenged.

“Ah, nah,” he smiled awkwardly, “s’pose he didn’t.”

“S’pose he didn’t,” you echoed, “it would be smart if you kept him away from here.”

“Yeah, uh, should do,” he sidled past you and you listened to his heavy boots clump along the beaten snow.

You took out your key and unlocked the door. You closed it quickly behind you, that man’s presence set you on edge. He hadn’t shown any of the venom of his associate but he was loyal to him. You double checked the locks on all the doors and made certain all windows were closed. 

You went up stairs into your apartment and stripped off your coat and boots. You sat at the small table where you ate those dinners you didn’t forget and unpacked your new model. You sorted the pieces and spread out the instructions. The image of the car on the box brought back nostalgic memories. You wouldn’t know all you did about bikes if it wasn’t for your dad. You missed him every day for the last… too many years.

You lost yourself in the tiny parts. You hunched over the table and carefully dabbed glue onto the plastic. Your eyes began to itch as the windows dimmed and you got up to turn on the lamp. You kept building well after dark and finally left the half-finished car on the table.

You stretched out your limbs as you stripped down to only your loose tee and yawned. You fell into bed and turned on the old tube television. You hit play on the VCR and the loud previews blared from the boxy speakers. You rolled yourself in your comforter and sat through the same movie trailers you’d watched a dozen times.

You were never a romantic but you the movie was another shadow of your childhood. Your grandma used to watch Kathleen Turner whenever you went to her place. She would serve you yogurt and berries and turn on the cheesy action flick and if you slept over, she would put in the sequel right after.

Your rituals kept you sane. You found it was easier to know what to expect and given your temper, it was better not to be surprised. You were always the trouble child and you regretted all those times your dad had to come talk to the principal or walk you home from school. You promised him you would be better.

Still you didn’t regret what you did. He always told you to stand up for yourself. Hell, he taught you how to throw a punch and all your best insults were inherited from him. You smiled as you thought of him and hugged your pillow as the intro played and the credits flicked up one name at a time.

You drifted off in the glow of the television and the sound effects sank into your dreams. You were still in Birch but thick vines had grown around all the buildings and billowing leaves shrouded the skies. The town had turned to jungle and you could hear the growls and grunts of beasts unseen.

You spun as a twig snapped and a snake uncoiled from a branch and fell into the brush at your feet. You stepped back and it slithered towards you. You stumbled and ran away as you could hear its skin smoothly glide through the grass at your feet. You tripped as its long body wrapped around your ankles and you crashed to the ground.

You struggled as the snake constricted your body and wound its neck around to face you. Its green eyes shone as its black scales gleamed. Its tongue flicked against your cheek and you felt its hot breath as it opened its mouth and revealed long, frightening fangs. You screamed as its bite loomed and you woke with a start.

The visions of the wild jungle faded but the heat did not. You blinked as an amber haze took over the room and you fought through your messy blankets and tumbled onto the floor. Your curtains were alight along with much of the wall. You bachelor was blazing with orange flames and you could barely see the door through the smoke.

You coughed and scrambled to your feet. Your eyes streamed and you blindly ran for the door and flew down the stairs. The shop was almost entirely engulfed as you reached the lower landing and you fumbled with the front door as flames licked closer and closer.

You burst out into the frozen night and your feet were numbed by the ice and snow. You retreated from the burning building, your life set aflame, and turned back as you reached the sidewalk. Sirens screamed and made you wince as you crossed your arms and chattered against the cold.

“Pity,” the slither made your skin crawl, “though I suppose it is a blessing you at least saved yourself.”

You glanced at Loki as your vision blurred with the tears of realisation. Everything you had was turning to ash before you. You blinked away the droplet and sneered at him. He smirked and you knew. He smirked and he knew. It wasn’t an accident.

[hopespeak-hs-hostclub]

Wanna Make A Bet?: A Mondo Owada smut request.

18+ ONLY. DO NOT READ IF UNDER 18!!!!!

NSFW: request and story under cut

TW:// exhibitionism, public pleasure, chastity belts, orgasm deprivation, cursing

Word Count:// 1,976

“a one-shot featuring mondo oowada practicing exhibitionism please? In the story, he'd go to town to do errands wearing a face mask. In truth, he'd have a vibrator on him with his cock in chastity and his mouth tape gagged under the mask. His objective is to finish his errands without anyone exposing him or him cumming in public. And I kinda imagine that he's doing this out of a dare between his gang members. To show he's a real man whose in control of himself. He would mainly be alone but his gang leaders would look from a distance to see if he hasn't lost yet.”

“Wait bro, you’re what?” One of the guys piped up quickly. Mondo just sighed heavily and look his friend / gang member in the eyes and repeated himself. “I’m an exhibitionist, man.”

“What the fuck is that??” Another gang member asked almost instantly.

“Jesus Christ- fuck all of you,” Mondo said getting pissed off at his friends. “I told you that sitting around like a bunch of little bitch ‘drinking and talking about our feelings‘ or whatever the fuck was fucking stupid.”

“No come on bro, none of us have literally ever even heard of that before”

“Fuck, it just means I like the idea of people seeing me get off, I guess?” Mondo said sharply looking at all his friends sitting around him. “like I get off on it I fucking guess.”

“So like, you want to jack off in public?” One of them asked.

“I’ll kick your fucking ass bro- that’s nasty dude. I’d never want anybody unsuspecting to fully see it dude, christ” Mondo stood up out of his chair and looked at them all. “You’re so fuckin dumb- all of ya! I don’t wanna be put on a damn sex offender list for touching myself in the goddamn park or something! I just… want to get off in front of people. It seems fucking hot,” he admitted while shrugging.

A few of the guys exchanged glances, and started to mumble to each other, just soft enough that Mondo couldn’t make out what was being said until they all looked back at him. “Wanna make a bet?” One of the guys asked as he stood up to be eye level with their gang’s leader.

“How much? And what kinda bet we talkin?” Mondo asked, admittedly intrigued.

“20,000¥. Meet us back here tomorrow at noon. Got it?”

Mondo just rolled his eyes. “Whatever, but I got some fuckin errands to run so you better make it quick, got it assholes?” He made eye contact with everyone else in the room, as they just snickered at him.

And that’s how he got here. In the bathroom of the garage the gang always meets at. Mondo sighs and looks in the duffel bag his friends tossed into his arms when he walked in, with no instructions further than “put it all on and get back out here.” ‘How did they even get all this stuff so last minute? Did they already have it?” Mondo thought to himself. So he did. He started by putting on, and locking, the chastity belt, which made him just a little too excited. Mondo hasn’t ever actually used a chastity before, he just knows they’re supposed to make him last way longer since he can’t touch himself, and he knows it’ll keep him nice and hard. Then he decided to use the duct tape, and gag himself with it, keeping his mouth shut. The next logical move for him was to put on the black face mask, so nobody could see the tape gag situation he had going on. All this for ¥20,000? ‘Fuck me’ was all he could think right now. Then the last step. Mondo held the little remote controlled vibrating butt plug in his hand and just stared at it for a few minutes before inserting it. He didn’t turn on it yet, and he was nervous as shit to do it too.

Mondo slowly and carefully walked out of the bathroom to the main room where everyone was waiting for him. He was already getting hard, and knew that whatever the fuck this was, was going to be a fucking nightmare. “Bro, everything… in place?” One of his gang members asked cautiously. The gagged Mondo just shook his head up and down quickly. “Perfect! So, you wanna get off in front of people without being put on a list?” His friend taunted. Mondo blushed, but luckily you couldn’t tell through the mask. “Well, I know you said you had some errands to run today, so why don’t we see if you can get through all those- but maybe without cumming,” he teazed. Mondo got wide eyed. So now, not only is he going to be horny as hell in public, but he’s not allowed to finish until the fucking errands are done? His face turned red and he tried to scream at his gang, forgetting about the gags, which just left him muffled and even more pissed off. Quickly Mondo got out a piece of paper and wrote:

“You’re fucking ON assholes.”

That’s exactly what they wanted to hear. “Perfect. Let’s get you on the back of a bike, because face it man, you can not drive with all that shit on ya,” the gang member chuckled. “I will be close behind watching though- so you better not cheat or try to lie, because trust me, I’ll fucking know. Oh and you’re giving me the key to that belt. It’s not coming off,”

With that, Mondo handed his gang member the key, then pulled himself onto the back of his bike, and the two of them rode off to the market place. As they pulled up to the big parking lot, the gang member cracked a small smirk, and got off the bike with Mondo. “All right, go do your shopping or whatever the fuck you gotta do man. I’ll keep my distance, but I’m watching you.” He said as he headed off into the crowd of people, leaving Mondo there alone. With a deep breathe in, and reaching into his coat pocket, he pressed the button to the remote control that little plug he had shoved up his ass. He set it to a low setting for now, and walked up to the first shop he had to go to. He took a deep breath and walked through the supermarket doors.

Mondo was walking through the fruits and vegetables section of the store, with his cock as hard as ever. Another man needed to grab something on the shelf right in front of Mondo, so he moved over to allow the man some space- and when he did his vibrator shifted just a little and he accidentally slipped. “Mmmh” he hummed lightly, quickly trying to turn it into a cough so the man next to him didn’t suspect anything. But Mondo loved the way he just felt. He reached his hand into his pocket and put the vibrator on a medium pulsating setting, that made him even hornier than before, if that’s even possible.

“Hnnnnnnngh” Mondo moaned lowly. He wanted to scream, his body felt amazing. He caught a woman shoot a side eye at him but she turned away and went about her business. Mondo tried his absolute best to compose himself, straightened up the best he could, and walked into the aisle he had come to the store for.

‘I just need 3- oh my fucking god” Mondo thought to himself. He quickly hunched over and grabbed onto the nearest shelf to catch his breath and control himself. He wanted to touch himself so badly, but with the belt that wasn’t even possible. “Hmm..” Mondo moaned out a few times. “hmmmf…” He already wants to turn the vibrator up to max speed, but he knows he’ll be a cryong mess if he does that. He only has one more thing to do once he’s done with the store, he can last till then, he thinks. He slowly makes his way through the aisle, grabs the three items he needed for his apartment, and tries to go pay. But god the line is long today. He has no choice but stand there and wait. Every time the line moved a little and he was forced to take a small step forward, his vibrator hit him in just the right spot to make him a god damn mess. ”nmmm… fuh..” he started to moan out in the still long line. He knew nobody could hear him, or cared but he was so embarrassed. The line moved once again, and this time his vibrator hit his prostrate in the exact right spot. A few tears formed at the corner of Mondo’s eye as he actively restrained himself from moaning out in pleasure.

Finally it’s his turn to check out and pay. He reaches into his jackets pocket to grab his wallet, but when he does, he bumps the button on the remote. “Haaaaahh…”Mondo hisses loudly as he arches his back a little. He took a few deep breaths, then pretended to finish a pretty unbelievable sneeze and proceeded to pay. The moment the cashier gave Mondo his change, he grabbed his stuff and ran to the nearest public restroom. He swiftly locked the door behind him and gripped onto the side of the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. He tried to palm himself through his pants, but the metal belt covering his fully erect dick gave him absolutely no direct contact with his throbbing cock. He starts whimpering loudly- but it’s not too loud thanks to his gag and mask. “Mmmmmh,” “hmmm hoh my god ffff-“ he barely muttered out. Mondo wanted to scream, or cry, or just touch himself once, so desperately. He felt like he was close to cumming from the vibrator alone. “Hnnnng” he cried out.

Mondo decides to try and stand up so he could leave the bathroom as quickly as he can, and find his way back to the bike. His gang member wasn’t too far behind him, so when they were both at the bike a few moments later, and Mondo hopped on without so much as saying a word, the gang member knew what was going on. He got in the front and took Mondo straight to the garage and tossed the key to him. “Ffnk you” Mondo muttered quickly as he ran to the bathroom he immediately ripped the mask and duct tape off of his mouth and moaned out loudly. “Holy fuccccckkkkk mmmmhhh…” He didn’t care that some of his friends were just a few rooms away and might be able to hear him. He just knew he felt so good and couldn’t help himself. Next was obviously the belt restricting him from touching himself. With a shaky hand, he unlocked it as fast as he was able too- which admittedly took about 3 minutes because of the constant pleasure he was feeling. Once the belt was off, Mondo immediately wrapped his hand around his now swollen, throbbing cock. “FUCK!” He shouted out in pure ecstasy and bliss. He was nothing but a mess of whimpers, cries, and moans in that moment. He knew he wasn’t going to last very long, so he quickly removed the vibrator, and fell to the floor. Mondo pumped his length a couple of times before he felt his orgasm quickly approaching. With one more stroke, he screamed out in pleasure “FUCK ME” and threw his head back as the white liquid oozed out of him, coating his hands, stomach, and thighs. He kept pumping himself slowly as more cum came out of him. “Mm…” he whimpered softly as the last of it came out. With shaky legs, Mondo pulled himself up off the floor, cleaned himself to the best of his ability, put all his clothes back on, and walked (even though it was more like a limp) back into the main area of the garage.

Without saying a word, or making eye contact with anybody, Mondo grabbed ¥20,000 and placed it in his buddy’s hand. He immediately walked out of the garage, barely got on his bike, and went home, thinking about not only just how fucked up his gang is, but how goddamn fun today was for him.

‘Maybe if I ever meet a chick we can do this shit together…’ Mondo thought to himself with a smirk.

[dimitrescus-bitch]

Double Crossed (Jennifer Jareau x Emily Prentiss x Reader)

Growing up, you hadn’t had a good family dynamic. So, you’d spent most of your adult life avoiding being put into a situation where you’d be a parental figure. With Emily, that was pretty easy, but that wasn’t enough to keep the two of you together. She left to go work with the BAU and you sort of spiraled out without her. Years later, a case brought the BAU to where you’d been living on your own and Emily convinced you to find work in DC. Now, you had Emily back, and with her came JJ, Henry, and Michael. 

“Are we going to Disney?” Michael asked excitedly. You turned around to face him and leaned down. 

“Probably not little man. Your moms have only a little while until they gotta go back into work and Florida is a long ways away,” you told him. He frowned for a moment, but you quickly distracted him by picking him up and slinging him over your shoulder. 

“Will we ever go to Disney?” Michael asked and you nodded. “When?” 

“Hmm, well my birthday’s coming up, so maybe I’ll talk to Em and JJ about it then,” you suggested. You set Michael down as you saw your partners approaching. You let Henry hold Michael’s hands as they ran towards JJ and Emily. It was always really sweet whenever they got excited about visiting their moms at work. 

“Hey, how were they this morning?” JJ asked you as she pulled you into a hug. You kissed her cheek and then turned to get your kiss from Emily. “I know we left in a rush, sorry about that.” 

“It was fine, they’ve been so good all day,” you told her. It was true, the boys had quietly waited for breakfast when they woke up and had kept to themselves for the majority of the morning. When you told them to get ready to see Emily and JJ, they both went upstairs to shower and get themselves dressed for their afternoon out. 

“We have a surprise for you!” Michael squealed excitedly. You and Henry shared a look, both afraid that Michael would ruin the “surprise” you’d planned for JJ and Emily. 

“Oh really, well that’s great,” Emily said as Michael took her hand. The five of you walked through the park together until you found a nice place to sit. Henry and Michael ate their lunches pretty fast and then Henry took Michael over to the playground. Per the rules, they stayed in everybody’s eyeline so that they didn’t get stolen or anything bad like that. “So, any clues on the surprise?” 

“Not the one for tonight, but I was thinking that for my birthday we should go to Disneyland,” you said and JJ looked back at Emily. “It’d be fun and we’d all get to spend time together.” 

“You hate theme parks and mascots,” JJ pointed out. 

“Yeah, you punched that giraffe when we all went to Toys R Us,” Emily reminded you. “We could go somewhere else.” 

“I think this is the perfect chance to make new memories with the boys. I’d love to go and it not be ruined by my parents’ imploding marriage.” You batted your eyelashes at them and when JJ sighed, you knew that it was going to happen. 

“Alright, but let’s surprise the boys with it,” JJ suggested. Both you and Emily liked that idea. Michael called you over to wait for him at the bottom of the big slide and you ran over to catch him. “She’s good with them. They love her so much.” 

“And she still thinks that they see her like a babysitter,” Emily huffed. JJ leaned over and rubbed Emily’s back as they watched you play with the boys. Just a bit before JJ and Emily had to leave, you and the boys came back up so that everybody could say bye for the afternoon.  You let the boys play at the park for a little while longer and then you took them home. 

When you got home, you started on making a really nice and fancy dinner for Emily and JJ. Once that was at a place where you didn’t have to prepare anything or watch it, you went into the garage to get the big water guns out. You filled them and then set them in the freezer so that they’d be cold for when you needed to use them. About two hours later, you set them out to make sure the water wouldn’t be ice when you went to shoot JJ and Emily. 

“They’re on their way in,” you said and the boys got into position. Emily and JJ came in through the garage door, so there wasn’t the fear that you’d ruin the rug or anything with the water. “On my count. 3...2...1... Blast ‘em!” 

You and boys shot Emily and JJ with the water guns. It was absolute chaos. Emily and JJ were shrieking and trying to hide behind one another while the three of you were screaming at them. Michael’s gun ran out first and that was when Henry turned on him and you pulled out a second gun from behind your back and shot at Henry until there was no more water left in anybody’s gun. 

“Surprise,” Michael said and JJ started chasing everybody around. Emily did no such thing, she just walked upstairs to her bedroom and changed into a robe while she dried off in their bedroom with the heater turned on. “Help me, it’s so cold!” 

“Gotcha dude,” you said as you vaulted over the couch and tackled JJ away from Michael. JJ stared up at you and pulled you down to kiss her. It was nice, even if she was cold and you’d have to change your clothes too. 

“Let’s get ‘em,” Henry said and before either you or JJ could even look, you felt two cups of water being dumped over your head. 

“Double crossed,” you grumbled as you shook the water off of yourself like a dog. 

“Aw, now you know how I feel,” JJ said and you sat there and pouted. 

“The plan was to get our moms with the cold water,” Henry told you as if you hadn’t been the one who came up with the plan. 

“You’re our mom too,” Michael told you and JJ put her hand on your back when you stiffened up. Henry took Michael’s hand and took him upstairs to get cleaned up for dinner. 

“Are you gonna cry? It’s okay to cry,” JJ told you and you scooted away from her. It was partially because you didn’t want to cry in front of her, but also because she was cold and wet. You tried to get up and run, but JJ got to you and wrapped herself around you. “In this family, we let each other cry and you know that.” 

“Double crossed by my own emotions,” you said as you teared up a bit. 

[lucrezia-thoughts]

Right Hand Man

Pairing: Frankie Morales x (Female) Reader x Santiago Garcia

Warning(s): 18 +, SMUT, fingering, safe sex (p in v), safe anal sex, threesome, I think that’s it…

Summary: Frankie and the guys realize there might be something more worth exploring here...

Link to Master List

"For fuck's sake, Pope!" Benny spat as he moved to punch a locker once he was finally clued in on Pope's plans, but Will's hand caught the blow before it could connect with the metal.

"You need to calm down," Will's eyes bore into his brother's until the tension left the younger man's body.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Benny finally asked and he sounded so hurt, so small, that you were moving to comfort him before you'd even spared it a second thought. Benny's arms immediately wrapped tightly around you and he burrowed his head into your neck. As you gently cradled the back of his head, you missed the look that passed between Frankie, Santiago, and Will.

"I want to make a difference in my mother's homeland, Benny," Santiago sighed as he started  to explain his motives behind the decision and you let Benny go when he raised his head. Frankie came over to wrap his arm around your waist while Benny walked over to Santiago and you were slightly surprised when you felt Will's arm wrap around your shoulders.

You saw Benny lean down to press his forehead to Santiago's before you turned to look at Will. He didn't say anything, but he placed a soft kiss on your cheek. Frankie stroked his thumb along your waist as you searched Will's eyes, but he just gave you a gentle smile. Something had shifted, but you weren't quite sure what it had been and after that, Santiago had insisted upon taking everyone out to dinner.

Sitting between Frankie and Santiago, you didn't feel any of the tension that you had in the locker room and you allowed yourself to relax a bit. "How are you getting to the airport if you sold your truck?" Frankie asked Santiago as he let his arm drape over the back of your chair and took a swig from his beer.

"Cab," Santiago shrugged and you were immediately shaking your head.

"No way, Santi," you adjusted your body to face him, but it took him a moment to meet your eyes, "Frankie and I will take you... right, babe?" you leaned your head back to look at him and accepted the quick kiss he gave you, missing the way the other men's hands tightened around their bottles.

"Right," he nodded, letting his hand fall from the chair to slide up under the back of your shirt to stroke your skin. You sighed softly at the sensation and settled back against the chair.

Leaving the restaurant, you smiled when Santiago pulled you into a hug and giggled as he pressed a kiss to your neck. "I'll see you tomorrow, cariño," he breathed into your skin and your eyes widened slightly. You weren't afforded the opportunity to question the term of endearment, though, because he'd moved on to hug Frankie.

Your brow furrowed slightly, but you were quick to grin when Benny wrapped his arms around you. "I'll see you soon, baby girl." He'd promised and rubbed his nose against your forehead before placing a kiss there.

You gasped softly and pulled back to look up at him, but he just winked at you. Watching him walk over to Santiago and Frankie your mind was spinning. "Wha-" you mumbled, but Will's hand settling on your waist stopped the spiral. Turning towards him you'd intended to ask him what was going on, but his hand gently cupped your cheek and he brought his lips to yours. You whimpered softly at the kiss, but it was over as suddenly as it had begun. "Will?"

"I'll see you soon, darlin'," Will grinned and rubbed his thumb over your bottom lip before stepping away to say goodbye to the others.

Your mouth hung slightly ajar as Frankie finished saying goodbye to the guys and walked back over to you. "You okay, baby?" he slid his hand into the back pocket of your pants.

"I... Santi... then Benny... but Will..." you rambled, turning to face him and furrowing your brow at his knowing smile.

"Frankie?" you questioned as he lead you towards his truck.

"Hmm?" he opened the door for you and helped you into the truck.

"What's going on, Frankie?" you questioned more directly once he'd gotten into the truck and pulled out of the lot.

"I'm not the only one that wants you, baby..." he answered after a moment of silence.

"...what?" you whispered as he pulled into the garage and turned the truck off.

"Are you okay with that?" Frankie repositioned in the seat so he was facing you.

"They... want me? Like... like us?" you gestured between the two of you and he nodded. "And you're okay with that?" you pressed further and Frankie shrugged.

"I'm not opposed to it," he responded, "but if you don't want it, then it's just you and me, baby. I want you more than anything else. I love you."

Your eyes widened at his completely casual love confession, but that was quintessential Frankie for you. Once he was secure in the reciprocation of his feelings, things just...were. "Frankie... I love you too."

As soon as the words left your lips, he tugged you into his lap and your lips were fused together. "But... what about... all-" you started, but Frankie captured your lips again.

"Take some time to think about it, baby," he panted into your mouth and you pushed the thoughts aside for the moment.

You chewed at your bottom lip as you sat between Frankie and Santiago on the way to the airport the next morning. Santiago's flight was ridiculously early, so Frankie's was the only vehicle on the road and the parking garage. You could feel the thrum of tension in the truck and you saw how each man's hands twitched slightly in their positions on their thighs. It really was entirely up to you if anything was going to happen.

Frankie pulled into a spot in the far corner of the garage and waited for a minute after he turned the truck off. When you stayed still, he opened the driver's door and got out to help Santiago with his luggage. As Santiago climbed out, you knew it was now or never.

Without thinking twice, you were out of the truck. "Santi!" you called and wrapped your arms around his neck when he turned to face you. "Cariño..." he breathed as you pressed your lips to his. He groaned into the kiss and brought his arms up to rest on your waist. You felt Frankie's hand slide along your ass as Santiago licked into your mouth.

Pushing back against Frankie's hand, you nipped at Santiago's bottom lip before pulling back from the kiss. Panting slightly, you moaned when Frankie took a step closer and Santiago tugged him into a fierce kiss. Frankie's hand wandered up under your sundress to rub between your legs as you watched him make out with Santiago.

Reaching up, you tugged off Frankie's hat while he was distracted and put it on backwards on your head. Breaking away from Santiago, Frankie raised an eyebrow at you and you leaned up to kiss him quickly as he slid a finger under your panties to tease at your entrance. You whined at the feeling and it increased in volume when Santiago tugged the top of your dress down to reveal your breast.

"Are you sure about this, princesa?" Santiago asked as his thumb teased your nipple into hardness. You bit your lip and nodded your head, but Santiago chuckled softly. "Gotta say it outloud," he urged.

"I'm sure." you confirmed and you felt Frankie's hand leave your body. "Wha-"

"You call the shots, baby," Frankie explained and groaned when Santiago grabbed the hand that had been between your legs and brought it to his mouth. Wrapping his lips around the shining digit, Santiago sucked you off of Frankie's finger. "Fuck," Frankie grunted as he watched.

"So sweet, princesa," Santiago praised and grinned when he pulled back from Frankie's finger.

"Santi..." you whimpered ,clenching your thighs together.

"We'll do whatever you want, baby," Frankie reached up to cup your cheek, "you just have to tell us."

"I want..." you started, but stopped to bite your lip, "I want Santi to fuck me."

Santiago groaned at your decision and Frankie stroked his thumb along your cheek bone. "I'll grab a condom," Frankie turned, but Santiago grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Get two, I want you to fuck me while I fuck her," Santiago explained and Frankie lunged forward to capture his lips in another passionate kiss. You felt your cunt clench in response to the sight.

Breaking the kiss, Santiago turned to you and pressed you up against the side of the truck. Touching his lips to yours, he tugged your dress up to your waist and pulled your panties down. You stepped out of them and Santiago wasted no time in slipping his hand between your legs to slide a finger inside you.

"Santi..." you moaned into his mouth and wrapped your arms around his neck. As he stretched you, you heard Frankie shut the door of the truck and then the unmistakable sound of a bottle being opened.

You slid your tongue along Santiago's to distract him as you heard Frankie opening his belt and tugging his pants down. Santiago stiffened for a moment, but you reached down and wrapped your hand around his cock and started stroking. When you twisted your wrist, Santiago broke the kiss to groan.

Frankie leaned over Santiago's shoulder when the kiss was broken and you kissed him deeply as Santiago started to rub his thumb over your clit. You whined into the kiss and pulled back to beg, "Shit, I need you to fuck me, Santi!"

"As you wish, princesa," Santiago panted and the wet sound of Santiago pulling his fingers from your drenched folds was magnified by the sound of Frankie withdrawing his fingers from Santiago.

Frankie handed Santiago a condom and you bit your lip as you watched both of them roll them on.

"Frankie?" you called and he raised his head to look at you.

"Yeah, baby?" he asked and you beckoned him closer with a curl of your finger.

"I love you," you breathed into his mouth as you pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"I love you too," he answered before pulling back.

You reached out and gripped the front of Santiago's shirt to tug him forward. "Fuck me, Santi," you moaned and captured his lips with your own.

Santiago licked his way into your mouth as he hoisted your leg up and lined himself up to slide into you. You broke the kiss to moan loudly as he filled you and he stilled once he was fully settled inside of you.

"You ready?" Frankie asked Santiago and you watched as Santiago turned his head to kiss Frankie quickly.

"Do it," Santiago urged and both of you moaned when Frankie pushed slowly into him, causing Santiago to press further into you.

"Oh god!" you gasped at the feeling and the completely wrecked groan Frankie made when he bottomed out inside of Santiago.

"So fucking tight, Pope," Frankie grunted, "tell me when I can move."

Santiago took a few deep breaths before he nodded. "You can move."

As Frankie pulled back, so did Santiago. It felt like Frankie was fucking both of you and you clenched around Santiago at the thought. "Fuck... that's it, princesa... squeeze that tight pussy around me," Santiago praised and both you and Frankie groaned.

"Harder... Santi... Frankie... harder!" you begged and Frankie picked up the pace, thrusting into Santiago so he thrust into you in turn.

"Yes!" you whined and you felt the telltale tightening in your stomach. Santiago must have felt the contractions of your cunt, because he reached down to rub over your clit and you were done for. With a silent scream, your pussy clamped down around Santiago and you soaked him with your orgasm.

"Oh fuck, princesa!" Santiago growled and you felt him thrust twice more before he tensed up as he filled the condom.

Frankie groaned low and deep when Santiago came and you knew he must have climaxed as well. Santiago rested his forehead against your shoulder as he came down from his high and Frankie had his head pressed against Santiago's back.

You shakily lifted your hands to run through Santiago's hair and he raised his head to kiss you softly. "I'm going to miss you, Santi," you whispered against his lips and he nudged his nose against yours. "I'm gonna miss you too, princesa... but we'll figure something out," he promised as he pressed another kiss to your lips before pulling out. Santiago groaned softly as Frankie pulled out of him, but turned his head to let Frankie kiss him.

Many soft kisses were exchanged between the three of you as you put each other back together. Frankie took your one hand and Santiago took your other as you walked him as far into the airport as possible. When you reached the TSA checkpoint, Santiago dropped your hand and pulled you into a deep kiss.

"Santi..." you whimpered against his lips as tears filled your eyes.

"I know, princesa, I know. But I promise you, we'll figure this out," he soothed and you nodded your head.

"Please be careful," you sniffled and Santiago wrapped his arms around you in a tight hug.

Pulling back, Santiago turned and let Frankie tug him into his arms. "I can't lose my right hand man, Pope," Frankie mumbled and you heard Santiago laugh. "Ten cuidado, hermano."

"Tú también. Y cuida de ella," Santiago answered and you watched as he kissed Frankie quickly. "Te amo."

"Te amo," Frankie took a step back and let you burrow yourself in his side as the two of you watched until you couldn't see Santiago anymore.

~~~~

A/N: Okay, I’m SUPER NERVOUS about posting this one because I’ve never written a threesome before so I would really appreciate your feedback!! I hope you all like it!! 💚💚 As always, comments are love!!

[thran-duils]

Doll Me Up (P.11, Final)

Title: Doll Me Up (Part Eleven, Final) Summary: Fem!Reader x Dark Mob!Tony Stark. On good days, you and Tony were a power couple. You, a perfect trophy wife with your hands in local charities to promote a wholesome image. Tony, business man but sullied with organized crime. He indulged in his illegal gambling, extortion, and political corruption. And he indulged in his escort business. Hell, that is where he had found you. You were a brat, and he loved a challenge. Words: 1,892 Warnings: Unhealthy relationships, smut, daddy kink, dom/sub, manipulation, death, violence, possessive behavior, drug use

Part Ten ||  Masterpost (mobile) || Fanfic masterpost

~2 weeks later…

“Come now, drink up,” Tony said, gesturing impatiently since he was needing to leave to go to a meeting bright and early, and you picked up the glass warily.

He had made you a smoothie out of hemp, cucumber, avocado, kale, ginger, grapes, and coconut milk. You had watched him adding each ingredient feeling more and more anxious. You just wanted an egg and bacon sandwich.

You grimaced as you swallowed it. You whined, “I don’t like it.”

“Yeah, I don’t either but it’s good for us, kitten,” Tony said, grabbing his own glass and taking a swig. He barely held back a face. “I’ve gotta be tip top shape for you and the baby. And you gotta be tip top shape for baby Stark.”

Scowling, you stared down at your glass, muttering, “I don’t like you calling it that.”

“I don’t like you calling it… it.”

“Well, we don’t know the sex yet, so what do you want me to say?”

“Baby Stark,” Tony quipped, taking another drink. He eyed your glass, nodding, telling you to do the same.

You took another long drink and swallowed it with difficulty. “It sounds too close to that annoying ass song.” Tony cocked his head in confusion, and you said, “I won’t subject you to it. Or myself to it. Again. Once was enough. I’m glad we are past the age – hopefully – that abomination is in vogue.”

“Well, now you’ve got me curious,” Tony said, pulling out his phone.

“Please, don’t,” you begged and then thought quick to threaten, “I won’t finish this if you do.”

Tony pointed at you and said, “That’s not fair. That’s for baby… the baby. This is for me and you can handle it.” Your jaw set and put the glass down, staring defiantly back at him. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, not breaking eye contact. “You hate it that much?”

“Yes.”

Rolling his eyes, he placed his phone back down and picked his glass back up, taking another drink. At his relent, you did the same. Tony finished his and sucked his teeth before rinsing his glass in the sink. You forced yourself to finish as well and placed the glass back down on the counter. Tony grabbed it from you and rinsed yours as well.

He leaned in and gave you a quick kiss, “I’ll listen to it at work.”

“I am telling you, you shouldn’t subject yourself to it,” you replied.

“Digging my own grave then,” Tony joked before giving you another kiss, longer this time. He tapped your nose and said, “Do your laps in the pool, princess. Don’t forget. Doctor said that would help aches and loosening your muscles.” You nodded in response and he smiled, his hand coming to rest on your abdomen for a second before he moved past you to go to the garage and leave.

<><><>

~2.5 months later… (5.5 months along)

Tony had you on your knees on the bed, your fingers spread, digging into the bed, bracing yourself. He ran his hands up your sides as he kept a steady pace. He was being gentler than usual, and you were thankful, loving the intimate contact. His touch was sensual and loving. The further you got along, the more he was relaxing on the rough sex.

The two of you ended up on your sides, Tony holding you close this chest as you came down.

He laid a kiss on your cheek, still panting softly from the exertion considering he had done most of the work.

His hand slid down to your abdomen, caressing your ever growing bump gently.

“Look at how perfect and strong you are, kitten,” he murmured. He turned your head towards him and kissed you slow and deep. “A superhero in your own right, growing life.” You smiled gently at that.

<><><>

~1.5 months later… (7 months)

“She’s been good,” Happy commented, watching Y/N inside from the back patio. She was showing now completely, round, and no hiding her pregnancy. “I can admit, I am surprised.” He looked at Mikhail and said, “Looks like you aren’t a complete idiot.”

“Took you long enough to figure out,” Mikhail responded, taking a long drink, looking at the women gathered inside the room. He smacked his lips and said under his breath to Happy, “Not stoked about being at a baby shower but at least there’s a lot of nice ass to look at.”

Inside the mansion, you took the salad from your friend, who commented, “You should eat something else.”

“We are going to have cake later,” you said waving her off.

“I meant something more nutritious than a green salad, Y/N.”

“Spinach is very healthy,” you retorted.

“There are a lot of finger foods. Tea sandwiches. Meatballs on sticks with veggies. Deviled eggs. Pinwheels?”

You sighed, chewing the bite of salad you had just taken. “A couple deviled eggs wouldn’t be bad. And some veggie sticks with ranch.”

She walked off and you scowled to yourself. Everyone was trying to constantly get you to eat ‘healthy’ for the baby and it was getting worse, the hounding about everything you needed to do. You were tired of it. The constant asking about what you had eaten and when, the reminders to drink water as if you had not been drinking water your entire life, did you exercise…

Cassandra waltzed over, sitting down next to you. You were very thankful she had decided to come and had forgiven you for the scene at her house less than a year ago. She picked a crouton off your salad, drawing a smirk out of you as she winked, before she said, “I’ve been meaning to ask you. Where did you get this dress? It is gorgeous.”

“Tiffany Rose.”

“The blush color looks beautiful on you. And I love you went dramatic with the floor length.”

“Thanks. Would you expect anything less from me?” you asked, jokingly. She shook her head, smiling. You took another bite and swallowed. “Are you looking for a dress for your shower?”

She nodded in return. She was taking a break from porn – hinting she might not go back at all – having gotten pregnant herself. And then asked, her eyebrows wiggling, “Is the blush supposed to be an indicator about the sex?”

“No. I just liked the color.”

“You really don’t know the sex yet? It’s a surprise for everyone?”

“Well, for us. I’m sure Happy and Mikhail know. God knows Tony couldn’t have kept it all to himself. Good luck breaking them though. I’ve been trying to get Happy to slip up about it for a couple weeks.”

Cassandra leaned back and said, “So, he set it all up and then the cake cutting reveal is his secret?” You nodded. “Hmm, he put a lot of work into this.”

“He did,” you confirmed, taking another bite as your other friend returned with a plate of deviled eggs and the vegetables you had agreed to. You held out the half-finished salad bowl and they took it, albeit reluctantly seeing you had not finished. You took the plate and obliged them by eating one of the eggs. “He’s excited.”

You paused and then added, “Excited but he’s ready for rough sex again.”

“I’m sure you are too,” Cassandra joked, nudging you playfully.

“Yeah. I’m tired of just… growing.” You took a bite off one of the carrot sticks. “It’s never ending. And I know I’ve got probably another month and a half of it at least.”

“It’ll all be worth it,” Cassandra reassured you, stealing a celery stick off your plate now and biting into it.

You finished off your carrot, swallowed, and muttered, “I fucking hope so.”

Your hand came to your stomach, rubbing. You were anxious to know what the sex was. When the sex had been able to be detected, Tony insisted you should stay in the dark so he could make it an actual reveal at the baby shower for you. You hated not knowing when he did, but he had been persistent about the idea of it and you had gone with it because he seemed thrilled with the idea. You just wanted to know. You were hoping the party would progress faster so you could end that anxiousness.

When it finally happened, the blue inside the cake settled something in you. At least you knew what that part of your future was going to look like.

<><><>

~2.5 months later…

“What’s this?” Tony asked, seeing another travel bag next to yours.

“It’s for Miles,” you said as if that was obvious. You went back into your closet, grabbing another scarf from your collection. It was going to be cold at Lake Tahoe for the trip.

Tony took the scarf from you and put it in your travel bag. “He doesn’t need a bag. He’s staying here.”

“Wait, what?” you asked, stricken. He was only a month old. Barely.

“Doctors said one month is enough, but a lot recommend three months for trips. So, we are going to play it safe. He’ll stay here and we will go.”

“Tony, I—we can’t leave him!” you tried to argue, your hand falling protectively on his travel bag.

Tony’s eyes flicked to your hands and he gripped them, prying them away to grasp them in his. He stared into your eyes and said, “Sure we can. It’s only three days, Y/N. We will be back before you know it. He is an infant; he’s not going to notice.”

You were going to notice leaving your infant behind.

“I have to breastfeed him,” you tried another argument.

“Pump before we leave. You have back up in the fridge, no? And it keeps for up to four days. And then he can have formula otherwise.”

“I didn’t want to give him formula,” you protested.

“Don’t listen to that shit that says it’s not good. I had formula and I’m a genius by earthly standards,” Tony said, trying to make a joke. “I already got the formula, Wendy knows how to whip it up.”

“But—” you started to protest but Tony interjected.

“Just us, princess. Just us,” Tony said, his thumbs caressing your cheeks as he cradled your face.  “He’ll be fine. He’s in very capable hands with Wendy. You trust her right?” He waited for you to respond and you nodded; you did trust her, wholeheartedly. But that did not mean you did not want to bring your infant on a trip with the two of you. Before you could actually say anything, Tony’s hands fell from your face and gripped at your hips, sliding back to your ass to hold you close. “Let’s enjoy ourselves.” He leaned in, nipping at your ear, “Let me enjoy you. He’s been stealing all your attention as of late.”

You hated that last comment. Throughout your pregnancy and even from the beginning, you had had a nagging feeling Tony was going to get jealous about sharing your affection and attention. And that was just proving it.

“I deserve some attention, don’t I, baby?”

Shoving down argument, you forced a quick smile. “Of course, daddy. All of my attention.”

He smiled sensually, his hands kneading at your ass as he pulled you closer. His eyes were alight with adoration for you. “That’s my perfect princess.”

~~~

Forever tags: @coconutqueen21, @undecidedsworld

Fic tags: @kvzctam @farihafangirls, @teenageregression @mrsnegan25 @lilacs-lavender @agustdowney @kind-of-crazy-butthatsokay @emmariexx

[starrynite7114]

TikTok Challenge: Friend

A/N: Back with another! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed the EZ TikTok Challenge. I think I might do one for EZ as well, would you all like to see that? Give me some requests for the EZ TikTok Challenge if you do want me to continue.

Enjoy this latest installment for Angel’s little family! <3

Another update for everything is you and everything is you shorts should be up soon, but I really want to update Snapshots and Misconstrued first. Thank you for patiently waiting for your requests as well, I work on them little by little, I promise, I will have them up soon!

TikTok

Word Count: 1097

Masterlist

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CREDITS TO THE ORIGINAL GIF MAKER!

You decided to cool it down with the TikTok challenges since you were sure Angel was going to kill you if you pulled another one.

Okay, he wouldn’t.

But you were away from your family for the last two weeks, quarantining due to a possible exposure while at work. You tested negative, but you wanted to make sure you exhibited no symptoms.

When you finally came home, Angel didn’t let you leave bed for three days and you expected it. Being back in Angel’s arms was the best thing in the world. And then your babies also joined you in bed, which you truly appreciated.

After another night shift, taking off your scrubs in the garage that you changed into after showering at a friend’s apartment. Making your way inside in your shorts and tank top, you were greeted by Angel, who was up making breakfast. He gave you a sleepy smile, which you returned with a smile of your own.

“Hey babe,” you wrapped your arms around him from behind, kissing his back. “Why are you up?”

“Wanted to make you breakfast baby.” He brought one of your hands to his lips, kissing the back of it.

“You’re too good to me.”

“Yeah, well I love that ass so, gotta keep you healthy.”

You laughed, shaking your head. “Are the boys still asleep?”

“Yeah, they’re asleep.” Angel turned the stove off and placed the eggs and chorizo he cooked on a plate. Turning around, he placed a kiss on your lips and you groaned, loving the feel of his lips against yours. “Maybe you can skip breakfast and I can help you relax a bit,” he moved his lips down your jaw and to your neck. 

It was only seven in the morning and your kids usually didn’t wake up till ten, but you were far too exhausted.

“Rain check?” You pulled away, pouting.

Angel chuckled, kissing you once more. “Alright,” he pulled away, leading you to the dining table, and pulled the chair out for you. Sitting down, you thanked Angel as he placed the plate of food in front of you.

“Babe,” you called out.

“Chocolate milk, got you.” He placed a glass in front of you. 

You spent breakfast talking about your stressful night and Angel just listened, holding your hand as you ate and talked. He loved listening to you and just having these moments with you. When quarantine hit, Angel was absolutely terrified for you. Besides doctors and nurses, you were the one mostly exposed to COVID patients since you were a respiratory therapist. At some point, you two argued about you choosing to work, knowing you could possibly contract the disease and die. You understood his worries, but this was your job.

Once you were done, you brought your plate to the sink and led Angel to your bed. After washing your face as part of your nightly routine, you slid in bed with Angel, your body half draped over his. You loved his warmth even though you loved having the house at 65 degrees so you could sleep.

“Corazon,” you heard Angel call out as you felt yourself slipping away.

“Hmm,” you managed to reply.

“We making a quarantine baby?” 

You laughed. “Let’s talk about it when I’m more coherent.”

==================

You were tying your hair up when your phone rang. It was a text message from Coco.

You opened it and the content of the text message made you cackle.

Kookie Cruz

‘Hermana, do this TikTok with Angel.’

You clicked on the video and it was a little prank where the woman was on the phone and they called their significant other, friend. 

Oh, this was going to be fun. 

Slipping on your AirPods so you could film Angel easily, you found your boys sitting on the couch playing around. Thiago was on the floor playing with LEGOs while Angel was on the couch playing with Raphael. You sat down on the armchair, lifting Thiago onto your lap when he ran over to you. You gave him a kiss and a hug, which he returned. He went back on the ground to continue playing with his LEGOs. 

“Did you sleep well mi reina?” Angel questioned.

“Yes, so good.” You smiled at him.

“Good, you want to stop by pops later? Get some meat?” Angel gave Thiago a look as he threw a LEGO at him. “Stop, you know we don’t throw things.”

“Sorry papi.” Thiago pouted your pout and Angel just groaned. 

“Sounds like a plan.” You pretended you got a call then. “Hey girl, how was work?”

You watched as Angel was playing with Raphael, your youngest shrieking with laughter. 

“That’s good, I’m just here, chilling with my friend.” You saw Angel do a double take staring straight into the camera.

“Friend?! I’m your husband, querida.” Angel scooted to the edge of the couch. “Who the fuck you talking to?” He held Raphael towards you, your baby boy laughing as his father brought him closer to you. “What am I? A babysitter? I’m your husband, baby. I got kids that need to be taken care of.”

You laughed. “Babe, don’t be rude, I’m talking on the phone.”

“That better be your friend, cause if not, I’ll break quarantine and kick their ass.” Angel stood up and made his way over to you. “Do they want to watch a baby? Does your friend want to watch a baby? Your friend? Baby, got me fucked up. Who you talking to?”

You stopped recording and was dying of laughter. Angel saw your screen and rolled his eyes. He sat back down and placed Raphael on his lap. Raphael maneuvered himself off of Angel’s lap and walked over to you.

“Mama,” he raised his arms and you gladly took him in your arms. You kissed the side of his head, hugging him.

You looked at your handsome husband, who was leaning back, watching the two of you.

“You know what, that’s it, it’s on.” Angel smirked devilishly, making your laughter cease.

“What?”

“You play too much, payback is a bitch baby.” Angel was already thinking of all the ways he could prank you. He wasn’t actually upset, your humors was what bonded you two together, but he couldn’t just let you slide.

“Babe, I wasn’t going to prank you anymore, this was Coco’s idea.”

“That’s even worse.” Angel rolled his eyes. “It’s on baby, you ain’t going to win this.”

“Careful there babe, we both know who the true prank master is.”

“Yeah babygirl, and it’s me.”

And that’s how the prank wars started.

[curvynerdfan]

Never let me go

Happy x Reader

Requested by @isitmine I hope you like it hun! I’m sorry it took such a long time for me to complete! I added a lot more length to make up for it! School and work has been crazy but it was a lot of fun to write this and be creative!

Honorable tags: @justahopelessssromantic and @princessofthalia

Warnings: being hurt by a prospect, cursing, violent Happy, murder, a bit of gore

“Hey, didn’t Jax want y’all to meet up with Gemma? I thought she was getting her new furniture shipped in today.” Y/N asked.

“Why the fuck do you care?”, the prospect, Maggot, barked.

“Well, I was just hoping to see Happy soon.”, Y/N responded, confused on why he was being so rude.

“Oh! So you’re one of his bitches huh?”, he grumbled.

“No!”, she argued, “I am his old lady!”

Y/N couldn’t believe a prospect was being so disrespectful to an old lady. Let alone her! She didn’t think she was anything special but Happy was Sergeant-at-Arms and the terrifying Tacoma Killer and she was his pregnant wife. While thinking through the different possibilities of how to handle the situation, she felt a hand land on her neck.

Y/N was at the point where she thought she was going to pass out when she clawed out at his face. The first couple of swipes were misses, until she finally managed to dig her nails into him.The pain must of startled him enough because his grip began to slip. Y/N pulled away quickly and dropped to the ground. She was heaving and thought she might vomit.

“God dammit!” He shouted, bringing his hand up to his face only to see it covered in blood.

He started towards her again and picked up a broken beer bottle on the way.

“Think, about what you’re doing here Maggot,” Y/N kept pausing to breathe, “the club isn’t going to take this lightly”

“They don’t care about anyone but themselves! No one will miss a crow!” Maggot yelled, swiping at her with the broken bottle.

Y/N flinched and covered her stomach with her arms. She was barely showing right now, only in tight clothing but she still wasn’t going to let anything happen to her baby. Maggot missed the first time in his fit of rage but managed to catch Y/N’s left arm on the second swipe.

She began to scream in pain and shout for help, crying out for Happy or anyone else who may be nearby. Maggot swiped at Y/N again, but she luckily managed to knock the sharp glass out of his hand. This really pissed him off and before she could bring her arms up a hand collided with her face. Her head snapped to the side and when she brought a hand up to her face she realized she was crying.

Maggot appeared to have reached his wits end. His arm raised up into the air again and she began to pray to any diety that would listen. Screaming at the top of her lungs, hoping someone will hear her.

Jax looked up from the custom bike he was working on when he heard someone screaming like a banshee from within the clubhouse. He made eye contact with Opie and dropped his tools. Both brothers sprinted across the lot, worried for whoever was making that noise. They burst through the door and were enraged by what they saw.

Maggot was rearing back to hit her again, when he was suddenly jerked away from her. Opie had grabbed Maggot by his raised arm and dragged him away, surely dislocating the prospect’s shoulder.

Jax tried to console Y/N but she didn’t seem to recognize who he was. She was so overwhelmed with fear that she just curled in on herself. Jax believed she was still trying to protect her baby.

On his way towards the garage Opie ran into a frantic Gemma, “I heard screaming. What the hell is going on?”

“This piece of shit hurt Y/N!” Opie growled, throwing the prospect onto the concrete. “ Jax is in the clubhouse with her now. You should probably call Chibs, it didn’t look good.”

Gemma shook her head and stomped away and into the clubhouse. She had already dialed Chibs by the time she opened the door and gasped as he answered the phone.

“What’s wrong doll?” the irishman asked.

“It’s Y/N. Maggot hurt her pretty bad and we’re gonna need your help. How soon can you be here?” Gemma asked.

“Shite! I am grabbing my med bag now. I’ll be there in five.” He said and Gemma could here him scrambling to grab his stuff, “Put pressure on any bleeding and try to keep her from hyperventilating” he demanded as the motorcycle rumbled to life before he hung up on her.

Gemma ran to the kitchen and grabbed some towels before making her way to Y/N and her son. She pulled Jax away and told him to call Tig and Happy. Tig could organize everyone coming in for church so they could vote on Mr. Mayhem and Happy needed to be told what was going on. Jax flipped open his phone and walked to the bar to make the calls.

Gemma slowly moved further into Y/N’s line of sight and spoke in soft, dulcet tones, “Hey, baby. How about you let momma check on you, huh?” Gemma had helped raise Y/N with some other members of the community. Her family had bailed on her when she was sixteen and the town came together to help her. The club provided her with a dorm room and Gemma has been her mother figure ever since. “There’s a lot of blood sweetie…” Gemma grimaced, “Can you show me where it is coming from? You're safe now, your brothers and I are gonna take good care of you.”

“Happy?” Y/N whimpered, looking around.

“He’s on his way.” Jax cut in, walking up behind Gemma and putting a hand on his mom’s back.

“I want Happy!” Y/N whined again pitifully.

“I know sweetheart. She’ll be here soon. How about you let Ma look at your arm huh? Get you cleaned up some before Happy gets here.” Jax asked, knowing it would coax her into letting Gemma touch her.

“Okay... “ Y/N said and slowly uncurled.

When Y/N released her arm, they both gasped. Gemma quickie covered her arm with one of the towels and applied pressure. There was a gash going up her arm. Starting on the outside of her wrist and wrapping its way past her elbow. Some of it was going to need stitches, judging on how deep it was.

Chibs came barrelling through the door and went straight to the bar sink to scrub his hands. He paced quickly over to the trio, still drying his hands.

“Hello dolly, can I have a look see?” Chibs spoke softly to her, noting that she seemed to have gone into shock. “Atta girl!” he commended, when she didn’t flinch when he moved to check her injuries.

She was beginning to develop a deep bruise on the right side of her face. It appeared that the hit had managed to fracture her cheek bone and she had earned a black eye from the mistreatment. He lightly prodded her neck making sure there was no damage to her trachea or esophagus and deemed that she would heal easily enough but be tender for the next week. When he went to press his palm to her stomach and check on the baby she locked her hand on his wrist, digging her nails into him. Her eyes began to fill with tears again as she shook her head with fear.

“Okay, okay darlin’. I’m not gonna hurt you or the baby. Just wanna check on them. Gemma, could you try to put your palm on her stomach? I wanna see if we can get a kick. That means we can skip the hospital… Maybe just have a house call for an ultrasound later?” Chibs tried to speak softly and hide his concern. It didn’t look like the bastard had been able to make contact with her small bump but he had to be sure.

Gemma slowly reached out and when Y/N made no move to stop her, placed the hand that wasn’t holding the towel to her adopted daughter’s stomach. She waited worryingly, hoping to feel the baby kick.

The clubhouse door slammed open again and a rumbling “Babygirl!” spewed frantically out of Happy’s mouth as he trekked across the clubhouse. Gemma sighed in relief when the baby shifted at the sound of their father’s voice and nodded at Chibs. Gemma slowly shifted away from Y/N and stood to stop Happy quickly.

“What are you doing, Gem? I gotta see her!” Happy growled, restraining himself from letting his anger unleash on the club mom.

“And you will see her. I just wanna make sure you’re gonna keep your head on straight. She is in shock if you come in all burly and pissed it won’t help her or the baby. Jax has already called a meeting and that shit will get what is coming to him, but right now you need to be here for Y/N.”, Gemma spoke quickly and with authority. “Now, if you can keep your cool, I am sure it would be a big help for you to sit with her and help Chibs.”

Happy nodded his head and stepped around Gemma. Quickly crouching to the ground to make sure Y/N could see him.

“Happy!” She let out in quiet relief.

He shook his head in attempts to subdue his anger, “Yeah babygirl! I’m here now. Hmm, let me take a look at you?”

She slowly turned her head as his hand caressed her chin and happily allowed him to press his palm to her stomach. The baby slowly kicked along his palm and he smiled in relief.

He turned to Chibs to ask what he needed to do. The irishman directed the Tacoma Killer to gently move his old lady to wear he was sitting against the wall behind her with her body cradled between his legs. Y/N tilted her head back to let it rest against her husband as he wrapped his arms around her. At Chibs instruction his right arm went around her shoulders, his left rested along her baby bump and bent his left knee so she couldn’t see her hurt arm.

“Alright, little pinch hun and then it shouldn’t hurt so bad, hmmm.” Chibs said.

He slowly unwrapped the arm and Y/N jolted when Happy growled in distaste. When she looked up at him to see what was wrong, he tilted his head down and nuzzled his nose against her unmarked cheek. Chibs quickly injected local anesthetic to multiple spots along the abrasion and waited several minutes before running a gloved finger along the injury. Y/N didn’t flinch in Happy’s arms and Chibs took that as a go ahead.

Chibs prepped his supplies and began to clean the gash of glass. Some shards had remained on the bottle when Maggot broke it and he wanted to make sure nothing was embedded when he began to suture. Y/N was slowly coming back to herself and tried to adjust to where she could see when she felt the tugging on her arm.

Happy easily distracted her with forehead kisses and talking through what was going on. He reassured her that something would be done about the prospect. When he mentioned that church was called, she shuddered and begged him not to leave. Happy consoled her to the best of his ability but nothing seemed to work. Jax overheard and let them know this was going to be the only exception of an old lady attending church. Chibs agreed saying that even though they knew Happy’s vote, he had a right to listen to everyone else’s. Plus Chibs was going to give Y/N’s nurse midwife, Tatum, a call as soon as he was done so he could give her pain medication. Y/N would probably sleep through the entire meeting anyways.

Chibs finished suturing her arm and told Happy to take her up to his dorm and help her shower. Happy agreed after Chibs explained that he should have an answer by then and could give her some medicine and wrap the sutures. Happy stood carefully before lifting Y/N into his arms.

He carried her up the stairs and sat her down on their bed. They had a house that was almost done being renovated and they decided to save money by moving back into the clubhouse for the time being. Happy was glad that they lived here, especially right now. He knew she was comfortable and everything was at his fingertips. He could easily lay them both out new clothes and get her comfort items.

“What do you wanna wear after your shower, babygirl?” Happy questioned, wanting to make sure she was comfortable.

Y/N shrugged but told him no when he went to open her loungewear drawer. She quickly directed him to his drawers with the point of her finger. He chuckled at her and pulled out one of her favorite shirts of his to sleep in. It was a faded grey t-shirt with Reaper Crew written in blue on the chest. He also grabbed her a pair of underwear, fuzzy socks and a pair of her sweatpants before quickly laying out new clothes for himself as well. He then scooped her up again and brought her to their bathroom. Y/N began to tear up again when Happy helped her take her shirt off, well his shirt off.

“No, no, no… don’t cry baby! I’m here now. What’s wrong?” Happy asked, concerned.

Y/N let out a whine, “I got blood on your shirt! It’s ruined!”

“Babygirl”, he couldn’t help but chuckle, “You’re crying over my shirt? I can fix that one easy! Just need the hydrogen peroxide.” He calmed her, wiping away her tears.

“Really? How do you know that?” She looked up at him hopeful and then confused.

He shook his head at her cute little scrunched nose, “I’m the Tacoma Killer babe!”, he elated with his arms spread wide, “I would have a very empty closet if I threw away clothes everytime a little blood got on them.”

Y/N giggled. Sometimes she would forget her husband’s renown and think of him as her reserved, badass. Happy corralled her into the shower and quickly stripped so he could join her. He grabbed new washcloths, before joining his wife in the shower.

The couple used this time to check in and reassure each other. Both clinged to the other, gently washing away the blood and trauma of the day. Y/N rested her head on his chest while he shampooed her hair. She braced her hands on his waist tilting her head so he could rinse away the suds.

Happy grabbed her chin and she could feel his chest rumble against hers as he growled at the marks on her neck and face. He leaned down and rubbed his nose against her cheek. Y/N quickly stood on her tippy toes and brought her lips to his. Happy let out a groan before posessively attacking her lips with his. Y/N could tell he was reclaiming “his territory” and she wasn’t mad in the slightest. She gasped when his teeth tugged on her lip and he happily delved into her.

By the time the couple was done showering, both felt reassured in their bond and were clean of Y/N’s blood. They both quietly changed into clean clothes and Y/N let out a quiet groan when the pain in her arm began to make itself known again. As soon as she was dressed, Happy wrapped her up in her beloved blanket and handed the turtle stuffie to her before scooping her up again.

When they reentered the clubhouse, the mess had been cleaned and it looked like nothing had happened. Gemma walked up to the pair and handed Y/N a plate covered in some of her favorite snacks and told her that her babies had to eat before kissing her head and walking off. The plate was filled with cubed apple, cheddar cheese, some strawberries, dill pickles, a few chunks of pumpkin bread and a handful of chocolate covered pretzels.

Happy then carried her into church and sat down. He pulled his legs across his and braced her back with his right arm before sneaking away some of her chocolate pretzels. She began to grumble at him when Chibs approached the duo. He smiled at the two before passing Happy a bottle of pills and a bottle of water.

“She can take up to two every eight hours. Two will knock her out and one will just make her a little loopy.” He told Happy before turning to Y/N, “You can go ahead and take two now. I need to apply an antibiotic to the stitches and then wrap your arm, then I’ll leave you be darlin.”

“You’re never a bother Chibby.” Y/N stated before swallowing the pills Happy placed in the palm of her hand, “Thank you for taking care of me”. Y/N reached out and gave Chibs’ hand a squeeze before he began to wrap her arm.

“Tatum will come by tomorrow morning for a check up on you and the baby. She assures me that we handled everything correctly and that the medication will have no ill effects on you or the baby. She wanted me to remind you to hydrate and let others take care of you”, he said, giving her a knowing look. “I am staying here tonight, just in case. We will need to rebandage everyday and the stitches should be able to come out in a week in a half or so.” Chibs informed them before pressing a kiss to Y/N’s palm and standing.

He walked out of the room and Y/N leaned further into Happy. She munched on the apple and cheese chunks and sipped on the water when Happy encouraged her to do so. She was about three quarters of the way through her plate when her head began to bob. Happy had to prod at her to keep eating what Gemma plated for her. After her head bobbed for the third time, Jax knocked on the door and stepped through.

He looked at Y/N softly and waited for Happy to nod “Let’s do this brother”

Slowly the rest of the patched club members filtered their way in. Jax took his seat, quickly followed by the rest of the main table. Jax slammed the gavel to start the meeting and smiled apologetically at Y/N when she jolted at the violent noise. Happy pushed the turtle plushie further into her arms and tucked her head into the crook of his neck.

Y/N let out a soft sigh of content and snuggled in, letting the medicine take full effect. She would jolt every once in a while when the guys allowed their anger to take control or raised their voices. The vote to indict Maggot to face Mr. Mayhem was unanimous but his sponsor decided to move charters before the vote. He didn’t feel right invoking Mayhem on his prospect but it was well deserved and the vote needed to be unanimous.

Within the hour, Happy was handing Y/N off to Gemma who was going to watch over her until the men were done. Jax normally would make the prospects stay with the women but he wanted them to see this. All of the crap that had happened was due to a prospect thinking he was the shit. Maggot forgot that the club is family and he certainly forgot the consequences that come with betrayal.

Jax easily approved of Happy killing Maggot in the same ways he hurt Y/N. He began by telling the man that the entire club voted for him to meet Mr. Mayhem and when the prospect had the audacity to try to spew more hate about Y/N Jax couldn’t control his anger. Completing one of the steps of the man’s death by driving his fist through his temple.

Maggot fell to the ground but didn’t stay there long. The prospect had enough wit to scramble backwards when Happy stalked towards him. The Tacoma Killer had a sick smile spreading across his face while stalking towards the piece of shit who hurt his wife. Happy wrapped his hands around Maggot's neck and lifting him into the air.

Maggot choked for breath and Happy laughed. The killer waited until it looked like Maggot was about to die and then released his neck. Maggot struggled to catch his breath and flinched when Opie busted a new beer bottle and handed it over to Happy.

“You thought we’d forget!” Jax yelled motioning for Tig and Half-Sack to pin the squirming Maggot down.

Happy dug the beer bottle into Maggot’s arm and when the disgrace began to wail Tig punched him again. Blood was flowing steadily from the gaping wound running towards the garage drains. Happy then went wild with the sharp glass, rapidly stabbing the man repeatedly until Opie pulled him off and knocked the bottle out of his hand.

Happy’s body shook with adrenaline and a growl worked his way up and out of his chest. The satisfaction of killing the bastard was battling his desire to drag it out. If he wasn’t itching to get back to Y/N and their unborn baby. He shook out the jitters and gladly accepted a work towel from Chibs. His clothes were a mess of blood.

Happy trekked across the lot and into the clubhouse before ripping off his clothes and shoving them into a bag. He hauled ass up the stairs in just his boxers. When he cracked open the door to his room, Gemma was sitting on his side of the bed reading a book and Y/N was curled around her plushie on top of the covers.

Gemma got off the bed, gave Happy a look and smiled when he nodded back. She pecked his cheek before heading out the door. Happy silently maneuvered through the dorm towards the shower. He rinsed his body until the water ran clear and then soaped up. Once out of the shower, he threw on clean boxers before nudging Y/N awake.

She squinted in annoyance until she realized it was him, “C’mon doll. Let’s get you ready for bed.” Happy encouraged, pulling her out of the bed and to the bathroom. He handed her a toothbrush and grabbed his, letting her lean on him sleepily while she slowly brushed her teeth. He motioned at the contact case once their teeth were clean.

Y/N was taking her contacts out when Happy asked “Music tonight?”

She bobbed her head in response, “Can you put on Florence and the Machine?”

He nodded, leaving the bathroom. Happy pulled for the fan, put the record Y/N requested on and pulled back the covers. He heard the toilet flush and looked up to see Y/N stumble back into their room. She toed out of her sweatpants and socks before snuggling under the covers up against Happy.

His arms went around her stomach and Y/N’s hands rested on top of his. He thumbed at the baby bump. It helped remind him that their baby was going to be okay and that Y/N was safe now. Y/N turned her head to nuzzle into Happy’s shoulder and breathed in his deep scent of cinnamon and sweet tobacco. Y/N dozed off to the sound of her murderous man’s heartbeat and “Never Let Me Go” playing in the background.

[misedejem]

Date Nights

Series: Persona 4 Ship: Kannao (Kanji Tatsumi/Naoto Shirogane) Word count: 9196

If ever Naoto was feeling low, Kanji would try harder than ever to show her how much he cared. Little gestures of good will and love that would go towards easing the pain. It had been that way from when they first met, and was still the case after over fifteen years.

So when Naoto found herself with Kanji in a slump and a few hours to spare, she took it upon herself to do the same.

(Basically lots of domestic future headcanon shenaningans~ As a note, Naoto is genderfluid in my fics, and this one uses she/her. AO3 link in the notes)

It had been an awfully long time since the Shiroganes had been working away from home at the same time.

Kanji had become unemployed almost two years ago and had been pooling his resources into his online store since then. And Naoto had been on leave a full year now, because of Chihiro, and then the upheaval and transfer of half the Shirogane agency from Tokyo to Yasoinaba. Save the odd local case, she’d effectively been forced to hang up the detective cap until life calmed down enough for her to return.

It was… a much-needed break. They could mutually agree on that.

Then, less than a month between moving into a house and the agency reopening, Yu Narukami had appeared on their doorstep one evening with ‘encouragement bentos’ and a request. The middle school he worked in as guidance counsellor had suddenly lost a teacher temporarily due to illness. The art teacher. She’d probably need at least six months to recover, but the new semester started in September and it was far too tight a deadline for the board to submit a request for a replacement.

“I mentioned you used to work as an art teacher in Tokyo, Kanji, and they said to ask you as soon as possible.”

Neither of them could have foreseen such a thing… But in a week, their situation had changed from both of them being at home, to both of them returning to work just a day apart from one another.

One day.

What a rare commodity that was.

As much as she adored it, Naoto’s career had always been taxing, keeping her late at night and seldom offering her a chance to catch her breath. After all, the Shirogane agency was lauded all across the country. Grampa had made such a name for it before he had died, and the attention she had gained from the media as the ‘first Detective Prince’ had only served to bolster the Shirogane name’s shining reputation once she’d taken over. That, and the fact that it was the only remaining detective agency in the country that specialised in Shadow-related incidents. They’d become ever more prevalent since the mental shutdowns and the Phantom Thieves incidents a decade ago had made knowledge of them more widespread in the seedier depths of society, and the Shadow Operatives had ensured to keep her busy when the cases grew too complex for them to handle.

That’s why they’d come back to Inaba of all places. With the TV World still very much active, it was the most potent place for illicit Shadow activities to occur in all Japan. And with the murmurings of new information cropping up, the higher ups had figured it may be a good idea to have a team of investigators to hand.

The detective had a lot of work waiting for her when her leave expired.

So, for her to be the one left with the house instead of Kanji for a full day… Well, she couldn’t exactly waste such an occasion.

“Momo, no -!  Don’t… climb in there…” Naoto sighed, watching as her orange tabby clambered her way into one of the cardboard boxes at the far end of the room. She knew it was a fruitless effort to try and stop her. Their other cat didn’t house much love for boxes, but Mochi had been found in one as a kitten and clearly had developed a natural affinity towards them as a result. Half their move had been spent trying to keep her out of them long enough to fill them.

“If you wish to help, the very least you could do would be to climb into the ones I haven’t yet searched,” she told her, crossing over to the box and hoisting Mochi out. “That way, I won’t be wasting any time by delving into boxes twice when I retrieve you.”

Unfortunately, Naoto’s request was not met with much approval. The cat just mewled indignantly, clearly unimpressed and unwilling to cooperate, and scampered behind the large pile in the centre of the garage, leaving the detective to continue her investigation on her own.

It was frankly impressive that all the miscellany crammed into these boxes had fit into their Tokyo apartment; big though it was, it had been severely lacking in storage. Half their belongings – all the stuff they didn’t desperately need - were all packed up in this room, waiting for a spare moment to be put in their rightful place. They’d had five weeks to unpack, and perhaps if they’d still been living as just the two of them, they’d have made more of a dent in it. That would certainly have made Naoto’s current task a considerable deal easier. But all the free time they had now was devoted to Chihiro. She was only just coming up on her first birthday, and she was still very much dependant on her parents every moment that she was awake. Even now, Naoto was only able to search the room because the infant was taking her midmorning nap.

She was looking for a binder Kanji had put together, containing a collection of their favourite recipes that he’d found online or written down over the years. Somehow, it had gotten separated from the recipe books when they had packed away their kitchen, and it had not yet resurfaced. This was a major blockade in her plan for the day. She needed that binder. Desperately.

Kanji had seemed rather perturbed as he’d prepared for work that morning. In fact, he’d seemed uneasy about it from the moment Yu had asked him to take it. It was… unlike him. He’d worked as an art teacher in a middle school back in the city for four years, and he’d loved every minute of it.

“Hmm? Course I want the job,” he’d told her when she’d questioned him about it over breakfast. “I miss this kinda shit, you know that.”

He had a smile on his face as he tried spooning a blob of mushed fruits into Chihiro’s mouth, but it was a strained smile if nothing else.

“You just seem tense, that’s all.”

“Yeah, well… So do you. Goin’ back to work after havin’ a kid is s’posed to be kinda rough.” He shrugged.

“I can’t deny that…” Naoto sighed. “Even knowing that your mother will be there for her, and that you’re only doing part time hours, the idea of leaving her alone at all is more taxing on me than I could ever have expected… That’s all it is though?”

Naoto could think of several other reasons Kanji might have to be nervous about this particular job. But on the off chance that they hadn’t crossed his mind yet, she refrained from bringing them up. The last thing she wanted was to make him feel worse.

There was a pause, filled only by Chihiro’s babbles and the sound of the cats zooming about the living room after one another in a burst of energy. As he scraped the last of the baby food from the pot and offered it to their daughter, Kanji’s face began to fall ever so slightly, and before long he was sighing.

“I really gotta… stop overlookin’ that I’m married to a detective.  I am scared shitless of leavin’ Chihiro for the first time. If anythin’s wrong, it’s that most of all. But uh… Otherwise I’m just a little weirded out.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Middle school – this middle school – is kinda… where I started to get a bad rep… What… I dunno, what if they take one look at me and realise who I am and kick me out? Like, they don’t realise ‘Shirogane Kanji’ is actually ‘Tatsumi Kanji’ an’ once they do they won’t want me anymore? They don’t know why I resigned from my last job either, what if they think I did something bad an’–”

As his voice grew louder and more sporadic, his panic becoming so apparent that it was palpable, Naoto scooted her way over to him and slipped her arms around his waist, resting her head gently on his chest.

“You left on your own terms because you disliked the way the school was being run. You don’t have to disclose why. And Kan-chan… you don’t mean to tell me that I’ve kept you from your hometown for so long that you’ve forgotten what it’s like? Inaba isn’t overly massive – rumours spread fast. I daresay there isn’t a person here who doesn’t know that the Tatsumi boy married that Detective Shirogane person. Especially not with how much your mother talks about us.”

She held him close for a while, rubbing her hand across his back even after his heart stopped pounding so hard, and his muscles began to relax.

“Yeah… I know… I know it’s a stupid thing to worry about, an’ that there ain’t no point in getting’ worked up about it…”

“Well, it’s not… stupid. I’d say it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to be concerned about, given the impact it had on you in the past. But I can assure you of this: they wouldn’t have hired you if they thought you were unfit for the position.”

He nodded, and a smile appeared on his face again – a genuine one, this time. For the rest of the morning, his dour disposition had dissipated somewhat, and his spirits certainly seemed higher when he had left the house.

But even if she had managed to cheer him up, Naoto knew the day would be a challenge for him no matter how many positive sentiments she sent his way. Returning to a place you had been mistreated, even after nearly twenty years had passed, was difficult enough as it was, without the thought of leaving your baby for the first time nagging at you as well.

That’s why she needed that binder. It contained the recipe for one of Kanji’s all-time favourite curries, one she believed even she could produce, and she figured he might need something like that when he returned home.

He often did little ‘date nights’ from home for them, for birthdays or anniversaries, or even just when Naoto was struggling with a tough case and needed a distraction or treat. They would put on whatever was comfortable, sit down with a meal and a drink, and more often than not, end up in a snuggled-up heap on the couch with a movie flickering on in the background. She hosted her fair share of them as well, but admittedly hers often involved an expensive night out at a restaurant. Kanji was the better cook, and he considered it a hobby more than simply something one needed to do to survive, but Naoto lacked the skill or drive to make a hand-crafted date night even without her long hours.

But this night would be an exception. She suddenly found herself with eight hours at home without him, and she would be a fool not to use that time to surprise him in the same way he always would with her. She’d throw him a date night so damn enjoyable that he’d forget all about his anxieties, no matter the cost.

That was… if she could find the damned recipe she needed to carry out her plan.

And so, she perused box after box in her investigation, leaving not even one overlooked. Old case files she’d had sent over from the Shirogane estate that had once belonged to her grandfather. An assortment of holiday decorations that really needed separating by date. Kanji’s miscellaneous box of scrap material. A box marked for charity of Naoto’s old clothes that had stopped fitting since she’d had Chihiro. Plushies. More plushies. Even the container of extra crockery, things that had come from the kitchen itself, bore no sign of the item she sought. An hour passed as though it were seconds, yielding nothing of value.

Had Kanji already moved it? It wasn’t as though she could ask him… Had they forgotten it? No, that apartment was spotless when they’d moved out. She’d triple checked it herself.

She foresaw herself spending all day searching at this rate… but she didn’t have all day. He’d be staying late for a debriefing, but even so, Kanji would still probably be home for five o’clock, and she still had to go to Junes to fetch the ingredients she was going to need.

Perhaps she could look it up online again? That was where Kanji had found it originally…

She sat herself, cross legged, on an old rug and pulled out her phone, plugging in the name of the recipe into a search engine, lifting her arm so that Mochi – tired of hiding – could come and curl up in her lap. And then, running the fingers of her free hand through Mochi’s fur, she began to scroll and click every site she could find.

But she recalled vividly the constitution of the page she was searching for, and none of these were it. She’d never read the words herself – having never made the recipe – and Kanji had decided to crop the name of the site it was from to maintain the ‘aesthetic’ of the folder, but she knew what it looked like. The colours, the typeface, the accompanying picture.

Nothing.

It was entirely possible the site had been redesigned or deleted. In which case she was out of luck online… It wouldn’t work for her to try a different recipe, it had to be that one. If it wasn’t that one, it wouldn’t taste the same, and then it wouldn’t be his favourite. Irritation began to swell within her as her endeavour began to look more fruitless, and she had to take a few moments to breathe and calm a little before moving onto her last resort: checking with Mrs. Tatsumi, with Yakushiji, and the Investigation Team on the off chance that maybe Kanji had lent them the recipe at some point.

Nos all around.

The irritation grew stronger.

And then, as though a timer had gone off signifying the end of her allotted time, the baby monitor sprung to life.

***

“Are… You even listening?”

Naoto huffed and folded her arms, wearing her most devastating expression of disappointment as she shook her head. She’d been talking for a good ten minutes, and she was beginning to wonder if any of it had been heard at all.

“’Course we are. You want to do something cute and romantic for the big guy, because you’re secretly a massive softie, but your first idea went bust.”

Yosuke offered her a cheeky wink and raised his soda cup in a mock toast, before turning back to fawn over Chihiro in Chie’s arms.

“But I dunno how you expect us to concentrate on anything else when you’ve brought this adorable little muffin along,” Chie added, putting on a baby voice and ‘booping’ said muffin on the nose. Chihiro giggled, her tiny face absolutely beaming with delight.

“Oh, I expect you to manage perfectly. If I can – if Kanji can – despite seeing every cute thing she ever does, then it should be no problem for somebody only exposed to it for a short while.”

A couple of hours had passed since Naoto had given up her search for the original recipe and had elected to change tactic. She would simply have to find… a different meal entirely. One that would still mean as much to Kanji. But a quick scour of the recipe books they had on hand in the kitchen yielded nothing.  And so, once Chihiro was fed and dressed appropriately for the late summer warmth, she walked her over to Junes to grab some supplies, hoping that by some pure miracle, looking at the ingredients on offer would spark some form of inspiration within her. Only, out of sheer coincidence, she had managed to time her visit perfectly with the end of Yosuke’s shift, and Chie’s day off.

The two of them could often be found talking in the food court on their off-hours. It had been that way since high school, through all the changes and remodels they’d made to the layout of the store over the years and would likely continue to be that way as long as Junes stood and they remained in Inaba. It was the secret headquarters of the Investigation Team, after all. It wasn’t a place you could so easily give up.

So, guided by tradition, they all sat together, sharing a Takoyaki selection in the summer breeze – a welcome change from the mustiness of the Shirogane residence garage – Yosuke and Chie completely spellbound by the baby while Naoto explained her predicament. She had hoped they’d be a little more attentive, and frankly more helpful, but… she supposed she couldn’t fault them. Chihiro was effectively their niece, and she’d been in Tokyo for the past year.

But at least they were making her happy. Seeing her so ecstatic, despite Kanji being gone for so long, certainly helped ease some of the anxieties she had been feeling about leaving her. Getting her acquainted properly with the people who would likely be babysitting her until well into her teens was certainly not a bad thing… although… Naoto was on a tight schedule.

“Aaanyway.” She rapped the table lightly with the tips of her fingers. “Regretfully my first idea – the one that was ah… ‘bust’, as you said – was also my only idea. I’m currently running at a loss on where to proceed from here…”

At the very least they were nodding along now, and looking at her as she spoke.

“…Chie-chan, do you have date nights? What do you usually do?”

“Hmm? Yeah, of course we do! But, uh… Yukiko and I always go out for ‘em. You know, because the inn keeps her so busy and I –”

“Can’t cook anything without it coming out tasting of cardboard?” Yosuke supplied, grinning. Chie shot him a mean look, but nodded nonetheless.

“Pretty much…”

“In most instances, that would be my go-to as well,” Naoto said, holding back a grin at Yosuke’s comment. “Hand-crafted anything is Kanji’s forte, not mine, but… we both agree the ones at home are more enjoyable, no matter how good the food may be in a restaurant.”

“You’re like… the most private people I’ve ever known, so that isn’t surprising.”

She gave an affirming nod. Lovely as it was to go all out sometimes at an expensive eatery, there were always… stares. No matter where they were, people would see them and notice. Sometimes they’d simply recognise the Detective Prince, and that was all they’d see. But other times their eyes would linger longer. They’d take note of Kanji’s piercings and spikes combined with the cute animals and soft colours, analyse Naoto’s dedication to old English fashion and deliberate lack of conformity to any gender, and then keep their gazes trained on the two of them as they attempted to pick apart every contrasting aspect. The way they looked and dressed alone, the way they looked and dressed together… it made going out in public difficult for two people who both struggled to some degree with social anxieties and a history of being scrutinised for the way they were.

Kanji had left the house worrying he was going to be judged. She didn’t want to put him through that twice in one day.

“Well, is there anything else you’ve made before that you know he likes?” Yosuke asked, helping himself to the Takoyaki  

Naoto frowned. “Well, yes, but all of it is rather… typical? I have a small repertoire, you see.”

“So you want something different? Hmm… Why don’t you just go ham?” Chie suggested with a genuine smile. “Grab stuff you think’ll go together and make a totally new curry. Heck, doesn’t even gotta be curry.”

“That’s how you end up with Mystery Food X: Redux,” Yosuke warned, and Chie’s smile instantly vanished. “Though actually, Naoto… In your sensible hands you’d probably be okay. You actually know how to cook.”

“If I wasn’t holding a baby right now, I would kick you.”

“Without a recipe at all…?” For a moment, the detective was left perplexed. But before long, a thought came across her mind, and that irritation from earlier came grumbling back into her periphery. “Yosuke-kun. Please. I simply don’t have the time to spare for your… japes and mockery. I need you to be serious.”

She expected him to laugh, as he often would when she caught him out while he was joking. She didn’t do so very often, loathe as she was to admit it, and it had become something of a game to Yosuke to see how long he could keep pushing her buttons.

But this time he threw up his hands instead, with… was that his face now contorted in confusion as well?

“H-hey, I am being serious. Promise. If you genuinely have no other ideas, then I begrudgingly accept that Chie might be onto something.”

“And I’m supposed to do that without instructions?” She asked incredulously, raising her eyebrows. Was she being foolish and naïve? Or was Yosuke the one reeking of inexperience? “You act as though you believe I have time to memorise every food combination, and how to make them work. I am a detective, not a chef, Yosuke-kun. Recipes exist so that I don’t have to preoccupy my brain with trivialities such as cooking from memory.”

“Hey, it was Chie’s idea, not mine!”

“You should know better.”

The raised voices and snipes were a staple of any conversation involving Yosuke and Chie, and at this point Naoto had come to learn that it was largely performative. They ‘fought’ with warm regards. She’d even reached a point where she was able to go along with it without utterly deflating the mood. But to Chihiro, with no grasp of the concept of banter, it was all just loud, frightening noises coming from people she didn’t know all too well. The conversation very quickly had to switch courses when a crying spell threatened to rear its head.

“You know… you never asked me what I do for date nights,” Yosuke pointed out once the baby had been settled. She now lay propped up on Naoto’s lap, nodding off with her little head resting on her chest. Naoto constantly considered herself fortunate that Chihiro wasn’t especially fussy. Sometimes on a good day all she needed to calm right down was a cuddle.

“Hmm?” she looked up. If Yosuke had said anything before that, she had been too preoccupied with gently coaxing her daughter to nap to hear it. “Oh, no, I suppose I didn’t…”

Chie, who had moved into the more comfortable position of resting her chin on her hand now her arms were free, scoffed slightly.

“Dude. Maybe because you don’t have anybody to date?”

“Well… No, but I’ve been on dates. More than one with the same person. I have experience, I’m just… not experiencing it right now.” He rubbed the back of his neck, casting his gaze off to the side. “Dinner dates aren’t really my thing though…”

“So, why’d you even bring it up?”

“Hey! I’ve been on… like, one dinner date. I’m just not the guru of them!” He shrugged. “It’s an interesting story actually… I got set up a few years ago by my bandmates, and it turns out the guy isn’t my type at all. But I didn’t want to say no without at least giving him a chance, so… Y’know. He wants to go out to this fancy French place, but we get there and they’re closing early because of… Uh, I think the kitchen flooded or something like that? So, he takes me back to his place and leaves me there, runs off to go shopping, and comes back and cooks a three-course French meal himself.”

“And you didn’t marry him on the spot?”

“Nah. We did a couple more dates but it didn’t really work out. We weren’t super compatible...”

“Is this why you get Rise to vet anybody you’re gonna date now?”

“Pretty much. You guys know me best, so…”

The two of them continued to talk, but from Naoto’s perspective, their voices had been drowned by her thoughts into a dull and distant murmur. From the moment Yosuke had finished his story, the gears in her brain had whirred into motion, working their way into fabricating a plan formed from his words.

It had hit her at last. A wave of inspiration and relief, tantamount to the feeling she would have when she’d finally cracked the secret to a particularly arduous case.

A plan. Followed by a conjured image of how Kanji’s face might look when he saw it.

“Yosuke-kun…” she began, standing slowly so that she did not wake the baby and gently lowering her into the buggy she had parked next to her seat. “Would you be able to look something up for me? While my hands are full.”

***

January 19th, 2025. Little over a year and a half ago. London, England. They’d been abroad for a few weeks at that point, Naoto on a case for the Shadow Operatives, and Kanji taking advantage of her hotel room to table at an artist’s alley in a convention.

It was something of a special occasion. Kanji’s 29th birthday had been the original cause for celebration, but to him at least that was very much an aside. It was, what, only three hours prior to reaching the restaurant that they’d found out Naoto was pregnant.

There had been several sources for the reasoning behind Naoto’s choice in establishment, and unlike most of her destination picks while they’d been in London, none of them had a single thing to do with Sherlock Holmes. The ones that stood out the most: a churning in her stomach – simultaneously a mental and a physical reaction to her current condition – and a particularly mournful image of her mother-in-law from a few months prior.

“There was this little place my late husband and I would always take Kanji when he was young, if we had to travel to Okina. Italian, it was, family run. I just heard from a customer that it was recently shut down because the owner passed. It has me a little down to think of, that’s all Naoto dear.”

A precious memory from Kanji’s childhood was no small matter, harrowing as such a thing was to think. And Italian… parsing through her options in her mind as she browsed the local restaurants on one of those food apps, Naoto took note of how the one being advertised made her insides turn the least at the thoughts of it. It was one of those smaller, more community-based places, while the others were either going to be full of too-rich smells for her poor stomach to handle, or full of classy, antiquated rules and stares that she didn’t feel up to taking that day.

She didn’t want to make her husband eat hotel food on his birthday… And nor did she want to worry him all evening by being exceptionally edgy. So it didn’t take very long at all for her to have dialled the number for the family-run Italian place, and had booked them a table for two that evening.

The food had been… good. Standard fare for that kind of place. But Naoto was a harsh critic – even without feeling deeply unwell, she had been to Italy. And yet, in all the fifteen years she had known Kanji, she could not recall a single meal out where he seemed to have enjoyed himself quite as much as that. The rush of euphoria from learning he was going to be a father had apparently been enough to turn any experience he may have had that night into the best date night of his life. And Naoto knew the kind of man he was. Sentimental, perceptive, prone to dwelling on the little things. He’d remember, starkly, what he had eaten then.

It was just a pasta meal. She recalled it being made with chicken and a creamy, pesto-based sauce, and Yosuke’s internet search had quickly pulled up a recipe for something along those lines. It wouldn’t be the same – these places kept their recipes close to the heart – but that didn’t matter. Her plan had now become a case of finding something symbolic, over finding something that tasted good.

“I think he’s really starting to rub off on you,” Yosuke had noted as Naoto had prepared to rush off to grab the ingredients from the recipe he had found. “Kanji, I mean. In a good way.”

She’d queried him on that. Her own sharpness didn’t exactly extend to analysing herself.

“I just meant that five years ago, I don’t think you’d ever have thought to do something like this. I always took you for the… less cliché of the two of you. Didn’t you propose to him spontaneously in a cat café? If you don’t mind me asking… why is this the first thing you thought to do for him?”

A pause for Naoto to collect her thoughts. One that, much to everyone’s surprise, didn’t last nearly as long as it might have.

“It’s… because this is logical to me. A dinner date – it’s the simplest, most common activity in the books. It’s a cliché because its effective. Because food is one of those love languages that transcends barriers, and to somebody who struggles in most social situations, like Kanji, like me, you must understand that something like this is a life saver. It’s a change to our routine that really doesn’t change all that much.” She smiled to herself. “Kanji does this to make me feel happy. So many people do, for the person they love. It only makes sense to me that I follow their lead.”

It was that way for most matters of the heart, she thought to herself as she balanced a packet of chicken on the hood of the buggy. She had never known how to act in these situations, how to express the feelings she had. And while she’d devised some unique little ways that she had managed to convey to Kanji, oftentimes the most effective means of telling him that she loved him was to simply use another person’s idea as a foundation. She had her own experiences as proof that it worked. After all, Kanji was a person who had been so starved for and scared of affection as a child that now, almost anything that said ‘I care about you’ was enough to draw him to tears. And Naoto was no different. He was more physical than her, and really that was the only major way in which their feelings towards romance diverged. The things that made one of them happy was sure to leave the other in the same state.

***

Naoto loved Kanji more than she hated cooking. That was really the defining fact that made this entire plan of hers possible at all.

Because she really hated cooking.

“I’ll prolly be home in like… forty minutes,” Kanji had told her over the phone when she’d given him a tentative call at just gone four to gauge how long she had. Pasta wasn’t exactly something she could make well in advance – just the thought of reheating it or overcooking it made her skin crawl. It was one of those things she needed to be perfect. Kanji, thankfully, didn’t have a preference.

So, she’d had to leave making the actual meal until as close to Kanji’s arrival as she could predict. But it wasn’t as though she had time to spare… She had to make the table, feed the cats, feed the baby, put the baby down for a nap…  

Then she had to cook the chicken and the pasta… that was fine, it just… radiated a lot of heat for a day that was already rather warm. Inaba’s houses were old, and they didn’t yet have much ventilation or air conditioning.

Then was the sauce, and she had to do some vegetables, but she had to keep stirring the sauce so it didn’t ruin the consistency, and she had to keep turning the meat and the veggies so they wouldn’t burn, and oh, the pasta might stick or become overdone if she wasn’t careful. Then it would just become stressful. Every meal, every time. No matter how methodical she tried to be, it would always devolve into this.

It was a focus thing, she was sure. When she homed in on a task or a detail, it became quite difficult to switch gears on the fly. A useful skill for analysing a murder case. Not so much for cooking.

It was why, when they were both at home, she and Kanji would often just cook dinner together.

But occasionally, and for the sake of somebody she cared about, it was worth it.

She was just at the stage where she was plating up the food, trying to get it to look as it did in the picture on the website, when the familiar sight of an old, dusty car that had at one point been purple staggered its way up their driveway, starkly contrasted with the shiny motorcycle it had pulled up next to. As Kanji climbed from the car, Naoto carefully studied his face, trying to glean from his expression how exactly he was feeling in that moment. But Kanji had a naturally angry look to him, so such a task was often difficult to undertake.

“You makin’ garlic bread, Nao?” he called from the porch almost as soon as the door had slid shut.

“You’ll see,” was all she said in response. With Kanji just moments away from seeing what she had done, she found herself buzzing with anticipation.

“Wuzzat s’posed to mean?” he asked, sticking his head around the door into the kitchen.

For a moment, his forehead crinkled as he took everything in, his eyes lingering on the table made up as closely to that of a restaurant as Naoto could manage, with cloth, candles, and an arrangement of Kanji’s favourite red roses (albeit that was rather haphazardly done).

And in that moment Naoto felt as though her heart had somehow managed to stall.

But the tension was brief, quickly dissipated by the biggest, goofiest grin taking up a huge portion of Kanji’s face.

He strode into the room and pulled his partner into a powerful hug all in a motion that was so fluid, you wouldn’t think it was Kanji performing it.

“I can see you’re ready to reopen the agency, huh?”

Naoto smiled and shook her head, before snuggling her cheek into Kanji’s chest. “Don’t mistake this for a fit of boredom – I’ve been anything but. Welcome to our first date night back in Inaba.”

“Huh? W-wait, hold up… Date night? You did this… fer me?”

His eyes threatened to grow wider than his smile had those few moments earlier, as the realisation of the circumstances slowly began to dawn on him.

Then, as was customary for Kanji whenever Naoto would do anything for him ever, his face turned a brilliant shade of scarlet, and he began stammering unintelligible gibberish.

“Quickly now, before it cools down!”

“Y…Yuh…”

This was… odd. Kanji seemed unequivocally, unprecedentedly broken. His movements as he crossed to the counter and grabbed his plate, were mechanical, shaken, even. They weren’t unheard of for him, but it was as though they had suddenly been transported fifteen years into the past once more. Before they had fallen in love, before they’d even been close friends, when Kanji was so overcome with embarrassment whenever they spoke that he would be unable to function.

Now they were married, it wasn’t exactly commonplace.

Had something happened to him at work which had left him overwhelmed?

“Kanji?” Naoto called out tentatively as they took their seats.

“…huh?”

“You seem… Rather out of it.”

He blinked a couple of times and shook his head. “Right. Yeah… Sorry…”

He cleared his throat and repeated the process of shaking his head.

“It’s just, uh… ‘M kinda at a loss for words. This is… Wow.”

A tension she hadn’t recognised until it was gone suddenly flooded from her body with a sigh of relief.

“For a moment there I was concerned that something was wrong, so –”

“More like… everythin’ is right. I never pegged you fer someone who’d do date nights Tatsumi style.”

“…Tatsumi style? So this…” she waved an arm across the table. “This is something you observed… what, from your parents?”

He nodded. Naoto didn’t realise it was possible for him to turn redder until just then.

“Ain’t really a lotta options for fancy restaurants like what you do out here. Ma and my old man always improvised at home. I know cookin’ yer partner a meal ain’t somethin’ my folks made up, they just ended up callin’ it that… Nickname kinda stuck.” He rubbed the back of his head.

“Well, I suppose I have rather adopted a Tatsumi way of behaving today. Our roles have been utterly reversed. Why, I daresay after dinner, I shall take up a crochet project, and you’ll lull our Chihiro to sleep by reading her more of ‘A Study in Scarlet’.”

“I love you, Naoto.”

“Eh?”

But instead of elaborating, Kanji simply left his partner to turn an equally furious shade of red while he took a bite of the food. Naoto found herself so flustered that she didn’t even have time to be nervous about him trying the dish.

But, she supposed, she didn’t really have anything to worry about. This was Kanji.

“…I better never hear the words ‘I’m not very good at cooking’ comin’ from yer mouth again.”

“Well… Regardless of the quality of the food –” she began, about to launch into a spiel about how the mess she made, and how stressful it was for her, suggested that she technically wasn’t exactly on the level of a master. But all it took from Kanji was a single glare, and she stopped herself.

This was supposed to be a pleasant evening. And he did hate when she was self-deprecating in any capacity.

“I’m glad you like it Kan-chan.” She smiled, taking her own first bite. Hmm. Not bad. She wasn’t sure how this was supposed to taste – she’d been feeling far too unwell that night in London to eat much at all, so she’d ordered a lighter dish – but how it did taste was pleasant.

“Better than it was on my birthday that one time. Dunno if you remember, but at that one Italian place when we were in England –”

“Where do you suppose I gained the inspiration to make this particular meal?”

“Huh? Well shit, haha. Last time I ever doubt yer memory.”

“Hm, well… I don’t think I’m capable of forgetting that day…”

Kanji slid his free hand across the table and placed it atop hers, rubbing his thumb soothingly over her knuckles. Strange, she noted, that the nail was still painted black; she was sure the school would make him take the colour off alongside his piercings.

A nagging feeling in her chest, her stomach, her mind was begging her to ask him how it had gone. But it was not the only train of thought on the feeling that she had. What if Kanji didn’t want to talk about it yet? What if it was best to simply… enjoy the meal in ignorant bliss? Was he waiting for the right time, or for her to say something?

He looked as though he were about to speak now, was that the subject he was going to bring up?

“How has Chihiro been today?”

No. Of course not. The subject of work would have to wait.

As with… most of their conversations over the past year, the rest of the meal was largely dominated with Chihiro. Naoto describing, in detail, exactly what she had done, and Kanji’s expression growing fonder and fonder with every word. By the time they were done eating, he looked as though he were going to cry.

“Kinda sad that this is our lives goin’ forwards…”

“Hm?”

“Nothin’… just been missin’ her at work is all.”

The nagging feeling was very quickly becoming anxiety. The first mention of his day all evening, and it was something negative.

“Kanji, was everything –”

A sound suddenly stole her words before she had the chance to finish. A baby crying, as audible through the walls as it was the baby monitor on the counter.

“Prolly needs changing, huh?” Kanji smiled, rising to his feet. “Mind if I take this?”

“Please… She probably misses you too.”

In the time that Kanji was attending to the baby, Naoto managed to load everything that needed cleaning into the dishwasher, and found her way to the living room, and then to the couch. But her mind wasn’t exactly responsive as she did so.

Kanji… was worse than she had anticipated… More than just a simple meal could possibly hope to fix. Why on earth… What delusion had she been under to think, with how he’d been these past few days, that a little romantic gesture would be all he needed to feel better.

Amidst the haze that was buzzing in her mind, she vaguely registered her hands clenching into fists.

At some point, goodness knew when, Kanji had reappeared in the room and had sat down next to her, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“She’s back down. Heh… Wanted to play as soon as she saw me, the little tyke, but could barely keep her eyes open long enough to do it.”

“She’s had… a busy day.”

“Ain’t we all?” he said with an air of exhaustion about him, placing his glasses gently on the kotatsu in front of them and then sinking back into the couch. “You ready for tomorrow?”

“I’ve been ready for weeks. Waiting on other people…” Naoto mumbled in response. Her gaze had fallen as she’d spoken to her socks, and she could not bring herself to remove it until Kanji nudged her with his arm.

“Hey. You good, Nao?”

“…Are you?”

That brought the conversation to a standstill.

“Would ya believe me if I told ya I was jus’ tired?”

“Only… partially.”

He gave her a half smile and repositioned himself so that his head lay on her shoulder.

“It was… a pretty exhaustin’ day… Lotta new stuff. Lotta old stuff too… that school ain’t changed in twenty years. Amazing it’s managed so long.”

Naoto just made an affirming noise and let her hand come to rest on his shoulder, pressing her cheek onto the top of his head. Best just to let him speak, she thought.

“Ain’t none of the people I knew still there but… they knew who I was. Course they did… didn’t expect any different. An’ you know what?”

“Hm?”

“Most of ‘em just complimented me on the plushies. They knew me ‘cause of the shop, not… ‘cause of the delinquent shit.”

“Well, that’s… good, is it not? That’s what we hoped would happen.”

She felt him shift his head as though he were trying to nod. His arm had worked its way around her waist, and she felt him bunching up the fabric of her dress shirt in his fingers as he spoke. It was an unconscious habit of his. Most notable when he was nervous.

“Yeah… Never said it weren’t good. Jus’ that I was tired. And that I missed my kid. And you.”

Naoto drew a deep breath. “It seemed like something was wrong, that’s all. I’ve been worried about you. All day. All week.”

“…That why you’re not okay?”

“Yes! Effectively!”

Another brief standstill.

“Sorry ‘bout that… Really… Last thing I wanted was for my bullshit worrying over nothing to affect you too.”

Naoto squeezed his shoulder slightly.

“You should know by now that such a thing is impossible. The same can be said of you, to me. We’ve been in this partnership since we were in high-school, Kan-chan, we can’t simply… hide our true feelings any longer. We know each other too well to be caught out.”

“Yeah… s’pose you’re right… I did appreciate it though. Back before I went in today and realised my worries were a load ‘a crap. I… I dunno, I guess comin’ back to Inaba after so long had me thinkin’ that everythin’ was gonna go back to the way it was.”

“Kanji… You weren’t… Please don’t tell me you’ve been thinking that way since we first planned to come.”

Silence. Naoto’s heart dropped. Obviously, that meant she was right on the mark.

Good lord, she had still been expecting when they’d first discussed moving back! Their daughter was one in a week!

“’s in the past now though. All of it,” he said eventually. “Physically this place ain’t no different, but I guess the vibe has changed since we were kids. Maybe… Enough time has passed now that I ain’t gotta worry about… the guy I was.”

“Kanji… I rescind what I said earlier. About how it’s impossible to hide our feelings from each other. Please… when it’s something serious like this, I implore you to tell me.”

Her eyes stung, but she refused to cry. If she did, he’d try to make this about her, and dammit, she was tired of it being about her. The entire point of everything she had done that day was to make it about Kanji for once in his life.

“…’M sorry, Nao…”

After that, for a long while neither of them spoke. They simply adjusted themselves into a position where they could more easily cuddle and sat there, snuggled into each other as the dwindling oranges and purples of the twilight sky gave way to darkness.

Kanji was the one to break the silence, his voice so slick with sleepiness that it was demure in a way which was much unlike him.

“Hey Nao… Yer still awake, right?”

“Mmhmm…” she responded. It was… mostly true.

“Y’know, I’ve been thinkin’. I got a new goal now we’re back here… I wanna be able to look that bastard in the eye and tell him he ain’t me. Not because I’m denyin’ anythin’, but because he ain’t.”

“Him? Your Shadow?”

“Yeah. Like you can, y’know? If your Shadow popped their head back up and started sayin’ the same shit as before, you could just tell ‘em: ‘you’re wrong.’ ‘Cause they would be.”

“But they wouldn’t say something like that. My age and gender no longer cause me grief to the level they had in my youth, so my Shadow wouldn’t bring them up.”

Of course, they wouldn’t. Naoto thought that was obvious. She was thirty-one, very much an adult, and any doubt she had about whether she was a man or a woman were significantly eased when she had learned that she could be both and neither. She had no lack of confidence in those aspects of herself, regardless now of what other people thought, so there was no way the Shadow could use them as ammunition if they were to reappear.

But based on Kanji’s next statement, suddenly full of more vigour than his words prior, she wondered if perhaps she had misunderstood where he was coming from.

“Yeah, but that’s what I’m saying! The stuff your Shadow said back then… It ain’t even crossin’ your mind anymore. I wanna be the same… I mean… It’s not that I ain’t happy with who I am. I like cute shit, and sewing, and all the stuff like that. Shit, I’m bi as hell. I can say that stuff proudly. It’s…” he huffed. “For some reason, it’s like I can be confident in myself all I want, but in my head it don’t mean shit unless everyone else feels the same way. An' as long as I got a history as 'the guy who beats up bikers', it's like that day ain't gonna come... I’m… still scared shitless of bein’ rejected after all these years... It’s like… every time I meet a new group of people, I just end up wonderin’ how long its gonna be before they brand me a thug and cut me and everyone I care about off. Think that’s kinda the reason it’s been weighin’ on me again so much more recently. I start comin’ up with scenarios in my head where it gets outta hand and Chihiro gets hurt ‘cause of it.”

As he spoke, his hug became tighter.

“Kan-chan…”

“So, my goal is to get to a place where I don’t constantly worry about that stuff. Where if that bastard showed up again and said that kinda shit, I could deny him with my whole heart and know for certain that I’m right an’ he’s wrong. An’ before you say shit, I know that ain’t how Shadows work. That’s jus’ the image I use in my head to try an’ visualise what I’m itchin’ to do.”

He added that last part with a hint of a laugh to his tone.

So that was why he took a job he was so caught up about? As some concrete way of proving to himself that he would be okay if he did?

A self-destructive means of gathering evidence for a hypothesis… hm… perhaps Naoto’s inheritance of Kanji’s traits over the years had gone the other way as well.

“I didn’t realise it was possible to be so unbelievably proud of somebody, while simultaneously thinking them a fool…” Naoto ensured to keep her own tone bright, so that he would know she spoke in endearing terms. “You know I would have supported you through this if only you had told me –”

“Hah. Yer actin’ like you take me for the kinda guy who thinks this shit through… this ain’t exactly something I’ve been plannin’ or nothin’, it just sorta… came to me now.”

Oh, so it was a subconscious instinct?

Then perhaps he would be safe from her bad influence for just a little while longer…

“Well… regardless of how much preparation has gone into it… it is a good goal to have in mind, so long as you’re comfortable with the pain it may bring in the process.”

“Yeah. No problem. Anyway…” he sat up and looked her in the eyes. “What was that you were implyin’ with the whole ‘you know I would have supported you’ bull you just said?”

Naoto frowned. “It’s the truth –”

“Yeah, I know it’s the truth. Because you have been supportin’ me, dumbass. You ain’t ever stopped.” He thrust his arm in the vague, general direction of the kitchen, a wild delight dancing in his eyes. “You spent the last day of yer maternity leave makin’ sure I’d have a good evenin’ because you thought I needed cheerin’ up.”

Naoto felt her cheeks heat up. “I… I only did what you would do for me…”

“Yeah, but it ain’t like I made you do it. You still made the decision. It’s amazin’, an yer incredible, and adorable, an’ you make a freakin’ awesome pasta, an’ I can’t believe how lucky I am to have you.”

She knew she was blushing harder and harder with every word, to the point where all she could think to do was bury her face into his shoulder.

“Feel kinda bad that we kinda got side-tracked from the ‘date night’ though… Sorry if you had anything else planned.”

“No, no, don’t feel bad. I did this because I thought you needed it, Kanji. And I don’t suppose I’m wrong in suggesting that you very much needed this talk as well?”

“…You ain’t wrong… Not at all.”

“And do you feel any better for having it?”

“Mmhmm.”

Naoto lifted her head and gave him her warmest smile. “Then I can safely declare this date night a resounding success.”

“Damn right, you can! But uh… I don’t wanna take away from anythin’ else you mighta wanted to do, so –”

The heat in her cheeks returned as quickly as it had vanished, and she sheepishly averted his gaze. Right. Date night was usually more than a meal.

“Uhm... About that. Kanji, I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I… I was so caught up in trying to find a recipe for dinner that it never even occurred to me to look for a movie or something to do afterwards.”

She offered him an apologetic look, but his immediate response was only to laugh and hold her closer.

“Don’t think I coulda made it through a movie anyway… I’m beat…”

“As am I. I think I may drift off here…”

It quickly became apparent that each of their ideal end to the evening would be to turn in early and hope to gain a restful night – something that was near impossible with a small child. Whether such a thing was an indication of how eventful their day had been, or whether it was simply a sign of them getting older, neither really cared to consider. Instead, they just ensured the house was secure, called the cats to follow them, and moved upstairs as quietly as they could so that their footsteps wouldn’t cause Chihiro to stir.

It wasn’t until Naoto had switched her outfit for one of Kanji’s old shirts and was brushing her teeth in the upstairs bathroom that it dawned on her: there was still one aspect of her day that had yet to be cleared up.

And now that it had come to mind, she feared she may be unable to sleep until she had an answer.

“Kan-chan?”

“Hm?”

“You know the binder you keep with recipe print-outs…? Do you have any idea what box it’s in?”

His face was mostly buried by the bedsheets by now, but she could tell from the part she could see that he was thinking hard.

“Uh… Oh! My car.”

“…Your car?”

“Yeah. I didn’t want the other kitchen stuff to squash it, so I put it separate. I see it every time I go in there an’ I keep saying I’ll bring it in and never do. How come…?”

Naoto heaved a great sigh and flopped on the bed besides him. It wasn’t until her face hit the pillow that she realised exactly how exhausting her day had been. “So you had it all along… I never would have found it.”

“You were lookin’ for it?”

“I was. I wanted to make you that curry instead, the one you called your favourite.”

“Ohhhh. I getcha now." He laughed. "That woulda been a good choice. But y’know anythin’ would have been fine. I got a real soft-spot for Italian food, hehe.”

“I like that curry myself though,” she added, as she shuffled under the covers. “It’s rare to find something spicy that you can handle as much as I…”

“You do, huh? I see.”

There was silence for a while. And then…

“Hey, Naoto…?”

“Mmm?”

“When’s your next day off?”

“My next day off…? That would be Sunday… Why?”

But Kanji didn’t answer. Instead, he just leaned over to kiss her goodnight, and then, with a sleepy smile, he rolled over and went to sleep.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Looking for a Place to Happen 2

Warnings: non-consent sex and rape (series), age gap, general stupidity, some violence and threats

This is dark!biker!Sam Wilson x reader and explicit. 18+ only.  Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Series Synopsis: There’s lots happening in Birch and you find it all too amusing.

Sister series to Smalltown Bringdown, When the Weight Comes Down, Little Bones, and Fully Completely

Note: Here’s chapter two. Think I’ll probably slow down writing. Appreciate y’all.

Thanks to everyone for their patience and feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

Chapter 2: I follow every little whiff

💀💀💀

You gave yourself a day off that week. Rather, the desolation of Birch allowed you an excuse to get away from your desk. An internet outage across the town had you up and wandering the main road just after noon. Your grandmother refused to join you so she was left to her true crime novel and the weekday droning of talk show hosts.

After a peek in the book shop where you picked out some used thrillers for your nan and a guilty splurge on one of Babs' pies to add to the surprise, you stopped by the diner and had some soup to warm up from the unrelenting cold. You played around on your phone as you blindly slurped from your spoon. With no available connection, you swapped candies to achieve a score high enough to get to the next round.

After another loss, you put your screen down and added some pepper to the tomato soup. You leaned your chin in your hand and peered across the road. The Asp was just diagonal from The Chipped Saucer and from your seat by the window you could see the comings and goings of the dingy bar.

You chuckled to yourself as you remembered the hundreds of comments on your video. You weren't entirely surprised that the internet cheered at the sight of a woman beating up a man in broad daylight, you'd seen much worse on the web. But many were curious and asked about how it started and about the small town alluded to in the caption.

You picked up your phone and flipped open the camera. You pointed it through the glass as one of the many bikers strutted out of the bar and down the street. You knew him, like most in town, he was the leader's right hand man. Steve Rogers. He had an odd gait, rigid with long strides, and you remember Kelly used to make fun of him when you walked home from school. That felt like forever ago.

You ended the video and dropped your phone again. You'd send it to Kelly when the outage was over. It would be a good laugh. Plus, you hadn't heard from her much since she moved to the city.

You finished your soup and paid. You went out into the street and cut around to the backstreets. You made your way back to your nans and found Pippin scratching at the front door. You stopped and scooped him up before you let yourself in.

"Don't like the snow, do ya?" You set him down and he whipped his tail before skittering off, "hey nan, I got you some stuff."

"You spend too much," she grumbled as you hung your coat and grabbed her treats.

"Only on you," you sang as you entered the front room, "sugarless blueberry pie, your fave, and some books about murder and all that freaky stuff you love."

"Hmm," she watched you put the pie and books down on the coffee table, "suppose the pie will go good with tea."

"Ah, and I suppose I'll be making that tea?" You returned.

"My arthritis…" she pouted but her grin came through.

"Yeah, yeah," you snickered as you went to the kitchen to put on the kettle, "we going black today or something lighter?"

"Put on some of the pekoe," she called back, "make a whole pot."

"Will do, ma'am," you trilled and basked in her annoyed mutter.

💀

When the internet came back, you sent of an email to inform the agency of the interruption and promised to meet your deadlines. Then you puttered around and added a caption to the video before you sent it off to Kelly; 'why he walk like that tho'. She sent a series of crying emojis back and told you to post it.

'Nah, it's a dumb joke.' You typed back.

'Saw ur last vid, ppl will eat it up,' she insisted.

'Well, got nothing else to put up. The account’s dying since no one cares about my writing.'

'DO IT.' Her words sealed your resolve and you uploaded the video with some dramatic music in the background.

The response was almost instantaneous. Several comments saying they were happy to see more and others being for another video. 'We all wanna see inside this fucked up town' one added and several latched on. Ignoring the questions of where this was, you gave a thin promise of future small town thug content. 

You turned back to your work email and opened up your draft for your next gig. You couldn't help but smile as you went over your work. You might have just found your niche.

💀

You knew your nan would lose it if she knew you were snooping around the club, so you didn’t tell her. You went down, made her breakfast, went back upstairs to do your work, then tiptoed out in the late afternoon to poke around town for something to upload. Birch was so dull when you lived there but to those outside, it was a novelty you were all too eager to provide.

You got more videos of the bikers; some revving their bikes, others arguing, but there was nothing overly usable. You were getting bored of it until the man himself walked out of the bar. You record the man’s glower expression as he marched down the sidewalk and turned off just down the way.

‘His name is Bucket… wtf?!’ you keyed in and snorted as you waited for it to load to your account.

Still, there was nothing special going on, like always in Birch, and your grandmother was bound to get suspicious if you kept sneaking around. You went back and hid your phone before she could bitch about it. You cooked her dinner and sat with her as your thoughts swung between work and your TikTok.

You went to bed but couldn’t sleep. You ended up watching YouTube on your phone as the windows shook with the night winds. It wasn’t until the darkness began to glow that you were roused from the cocoon of your comforter. You looked out and saw smoke coming from the main road.

You didn’t think before you pulled on your jeans and shoved your feet into your slipper, unconcerned about them soaking through as you barreled down the stairs, the sleeves of your hoodie only half on. The back door bounced behind you and you crunched down into the snow and clamored past the row of lifeless houses. 

You were out of breath as you got to the end of the path and rounded the diner to gape over at the burning garage. You got closer as the line of bikers stood in their leather with breath puffing before them in the frigid night. You stepped back into the shadow of the brick façade of the realty office and swiped your camera open.

Your hands shook and you struggled to steady the image on the screen as the mechanic woman raged in only her tee shirt. You didn’t quite understand what was going on; only that her garage was up in smoke and then men were doing nothing to smother it. She swung at the dark haired man and spat at several others; “cowards”... “fuck all of you!”

You gulped and held your breath as she was dragged away by the large redheaded henchman of the slender outsider. She fought for a moment before she was flung over his shoulder and the biker followed their leader back to The Asp. You sidled in between the building and hid until the voices faded into the wind.

Well, that would be a hell of a video. It might even go viral.

💀

Your phone did not stop. You almost felt bad as you saw the screen limn the edges of your cell as you left it face down on the little table beside the couch. Your nan sat in her rocking chair talking away on her corded phone to Linette from down the road. You suspected that every other person in town was gossiping about the same thing; the fire.

You finished your coffee and rubbed your eyes as you checked the time and ignored the pulsing notifications. It was too much to keep up with.

Your grandmother hung up and sighed, “can’t believe it. You hear?”

“Hear what?” you pretended ignorance.

“That old garage burned down. The one with the lady,” she said, “pity. When I was a girl, that place was a salon. Ma used to take us there to get our hair cut. The barber would give us wrapped candies and pretend to cut himself with his scissors.”

“Oh? It burned down?” you weren’t sure you were very convincing but you also could just say you saw it happen.

“Yep, no one really can say. You know, maybe she was welding or some rag caught, but I bet my money on those bikers,” she sneered.

“Good thing you’re poor,” you kidded, “and why the bikers?”

“Oh, well, you know Kimmy, Linette’s girl, works down at the diner and she saw that mechanic arguing with one of those strangers, the ones dealing with the club men. Well, it’s no coincidence that trouble follows those leather jackets around,” she rocked as she nodded knowingly, “oh, one of the boys I knew back in the day, he was found burnt up with his bike. They said the tank blew… well, I saw it and that tank was pristine.”

“Nan,” you gasped, “you… Jesus.”

“Well, things don’t change in Birch, we just get older,” she continued, “when you’re young, everything seems new but then you age and it’s all just the same.”

“Wow, how… inspiring,” you said dryly.

“Girlie, you gotta be careful,” she intoned, “that fire, that’s a lesson to all the women in this town. To everyone. You don’t cross the Commandos.”

“I don’t think anyone--”

“That’s another thing, there has never been a shortage of stupid people, not now not then,” she girded, “those women who get tied up in that club, their lives are already done.”

You frowned and hid your phone in your pocket as you stood. You rubbed your neck and picked up your empty mug, “I should get started.”

“Mmm,” she said as she dialed the phone again, “I wonder if Fran knows yet.” 

💀

You were being really fucking stupid but peer pressure was not a logical thing. Even through a screen, you found it hard to resist the goads. So there you were, your phone in your hand as you live-streamed your walk down to The Asp. The data costs alone would make you regret it but you were caught up in the hype of you fifteen second of internet fame.

“Alright,” you stopped across the street and gave a view of the moniker with Cleopatra sultrily looking down at you, “this is it… I just gotta play it cool…” you turned the lens towards you and smiled nervously, “hopefully that dude at the front doesn’t stop me.”

Comments flicked up the bottom of the screen so fast and smilies and hearts floated up the side around your face. You crossed the screen as you turned your phone against your coat and approached the bar door. The large biker butted out his smoke and you bared your teeth nervously. He didn’t stop you as he rolled his shoulders and coughed.

You entered to the noise of classic rock and low voices, the clink of glasses and tap of chalk on marble. You glanced around and quickly swept your phone around to give a view of the patrons. You hurried over to the bar and climbed up on a stool.

“You need a drink?” the woman behind the bar scowled. She looked worn out even with her lips painted bright pink and her eyes clouded with blue shadow.

“Uh, sure, can I… can I get one pint of everything you have on tap?” you asked as you set your phone down and shrugged out of your coat. You draped it over the next stool and reposition your phone as you flipped the cam and used the built in stand on the case to angle yourself onto the screen.

“Sure,” she narrowed her eyes and glanced past you.

You swung your feet as you waited for her to pour the five pints; some with too much foam and the others with no head at all. You took the first and held it up for the camera.

“A classic, BudLight,” you held it up to the light, “no head and…” you sipped, “flat.” You plunked it down and coughed as you grabbed the next, “this is a raddler?” you looked at the tap for confirmation, “grapefruit… smells like piss…” you had a sip, “tastes like it too.”

You chuckled to yourself and asked for a water. You made a show of swishing it around in your mouth before you moved onto the third beer.

“Had to cleanse the palate,” you joked, “now… lots of foam on this one, dark. You know, I’m pretty surprised they have Guinness here but let’s see…” you tasted it and crinkled your nose, “that’s it. Exactly like toilet water!”

You read some of the comments telling you to check the bottles for bugs and laughed. Suddenly you were yanked off the stool by the back of your shirt and your phone was swiped up by another man as the first restrained you. You struggled against his thick arm as it hooked around your neck and the leader of their crew stared at the screen of your cell.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he snarled as he hit the screen with his thumb but the stream kept going. He dropped the phone to the floor and stomped it instead.

“This is the bitch posting about us online,” the man at your back growled. It was Steve, the one with the weird walk.

“I doubt either of you know how to use a computer,” you scoffed, “hey, let me go.”

“And why would we do that when you’re snitching to the whole world, sweetheart?” Bucky kicked your phone away as he crossed his arms.

“Actually, I’m--” you grasped Steve’s arm as it threatened to get tighter, “--promoting your trash business. I was just having a tasting, if you had just asked--”

“Shut up!” Bucky stepped closer and brought your legs up and stopped him as you planted your feet against his stomach.

“Hey,” a woman’s voice came from behind the bar as the waitress shoved aside her empty tray, “hey, she’s just a kid.”

“Bullshit,” Bucky huffed, “she looks full-grown to me.”

“So what are you gonna do?” she said, “she’s young. You can’t--”

“Don’t tell me what I can’t do,” he snapped.

“She’s right,” another voice intoned and that man, Sam, came up beside them with a pool cue in hand, “she’s just goofing around.”

“She’s a rat,” Steve insisted.

“You’re being dramatic. It’s called a meme and you do walk a little strange,” he chuckled, “no one’s gonna follow her breadcrumbs back to this shithole anyway.”

Bucky considered Sam and then looked at Steve. He poked his cheek with his tongue and sucked his teeth.

“So… you vouching for her?” Bucky asked.

“She won’t cause any more trouble, promise,” Sam said, “I’ll make sure of it.”

“You better,” Bucky snapped his fingers and you were released, “get her out of here.” 

[nalgenewhore]

Slipping Through My Fingers - Fifteen

masterlist - ao3 - last chapter - next chapter 

warnings: none

an: well. 

Lorcan was tinkering with an engine, only half-listening to whatever music Fenrys had chosen for the garage when Ansel rapped on his door, poking her head in. 

“Hey, man, the kids are here,” she said, her grin falling off her lips as he nodded vaguely, hardly hearing her. “Lorcan. Lorcan. Lorcan. Lorcan. Lor–”

“Fucking hell, what do you want, Ans?” he snarled, irritation flashing in his eyes. 

Ansel rose a manicured wine-red brow, glancing over her shoulder before she stepped in and closed the door, leaning back against it. “Excuse you?” He held her stare until he glanced away, shaking his head. “Really? You’re just gonna ignore me?” 

Lorcan cocked his jaw and crossed his arms, decidedly staying silent. 

Ansel sighed and swaggered over to the other stool, sitting down and kicking his foot with hers. “So, uh, Elide took the day off. Apparently she’s been calling in sick the entire week,” she commented, her face impassive as he snapped his head up and breathed in sharply. 

Then, Lorcan shrugged and sniffed, looking down at his hands, “Guess she isn’t feeling well.” 

“Stop it,” Ansel hissed at him, her eyes narrowing, “I went to Aelin’s. I saw her, Lorcan.” 

“Aelin’s?” Lorcan didn’t know that. He didn’t know she was staying with her sister. Rowan hadn’t told him that. 

“Mm-hmm.” 

“Well…” he trailed, unable to figure out what to say. 

“What happened?” 

He shrugged again and muttered something unintelligible, picking at his nails. “We’re just taking a couple weeks, you know. No biggie.” 

“You’re a terrible liar, Lorcan,” Ansel told him, her voice hard. She opened her mouth to say something when the door was slammed open and two ankle biters raced in, yelling at their parents. 

Esther was chattering, as usual, in her mother’s native tongue as Ansel scooped her up and smiled down at her. “J’ai fait un dessin d’un ourson et son maman sur son plâtre.” She pointed over to Kohana’s cast where there was indeed a drawing of a bear cub and its mother. 

“Bien fait, ma chère,” Ansel murmured, brushing back her daughter’s hair and kissing her head as she glared daggers at Lorcan. 

Lorcan rolled his eyes and smiled softly at Kohana, accepting the hug his son offered him. “Hey, kid.” 

“Hi, Dad,” Kohana said, climbing onto his father’s lap and cuddling into his chest. “When do we get to go home?” 

“Soon,” Lorcan promised him, the two of them saying good-bye to Ansel and Esther when they walked out. Kohana stepped down onto the floor, running his hand over his cast. 

“Dad?” 

“Mm-hmm?” Kohana didn’t answer and Lorcan looked up, his eyebrow arched. “K-Man?” 

“…does Ellie need space from me at school, too?” 

“What? No, not at all,” Lorcan said, his heart clenching. “She doesn’t need space from you, she needs space from me. None of it is because of you, ok?” Kohana looked up at him, his eyes big and filled with tears as he sniffled. “Oh, kid, c’mere.” Kohana launched himself into Lorcan’s arms, crying into his shirt. 

“I miss Ellie,” Ko cried, burying his face in his father’s chest. “I didn’t want her to go.” 

All Lorcan could do was hold his son close and kiss the top of his head, whispering soothing words of comfort as he silently cursed himself and all he stood for. 

+*+*+*+*+*+*

The rain was coming down heavy as Lorcan slammed his car door shut and jogged around to open up Ko’s. “C’mon, man, we gotta go.” 

“I’m comin’, Dad,” Kohana grumbled, not at all pleased with what they were doing, but they needed groceries and he couldn’t be left at home. The little one refused to move after Lorcan undid his seatbelt, so Lorcan picked him up and walked quickly over to the grocery store. 

“Ko, stay here,” Lorcan said as he put him down, “I’m gonna grab a cart, alright?” 

Kohana didn’t say a word and wandered a couple steps inside the store, pushing his hood back and pulling his braid out. He became fascinated by the way his frog gumboots squeaked on the linoleum and started walking around, staring intensely down at the sound, a happy little grin on his round little face. 

He pattered around in a circle, twisting his feet and giggling gleefully at the resulting sound. He bumped into someone’s legs and reached up, grabbing two of their fingers and staying in place as he moved his boots back and forth. “Dad, look, look at my bo–” 

It was at that moment Kohana looked up and gasped, his heart dropping when he realized the person he’d been talking to and whose hand he’d been holding onto was not his father. 

“Ko?” 

Kohana worriedly turned around and ran back to Lorcan, too upset to feel any sort of joy at the squeaking sound of his boots. “Até,” he cried, ducking behind his father and hiding as he gripped Lorcan’s painter pants tightly with his unbroken arm. 

Lorcan chuckled and looked down at him, fondly stroking his hand over Ko’s head. “Prince, what happened?” 

Kohana just shook his head and carefully peeked out at the stranger before hurriedly looking away again. Lorcan laughed quietly again and picked him up, turning to the other man as his son buried his face in his shoulder, his round cheeks fiercely aflame. “Sorry ‘bout that, man, he’s a little shy sometimes, ain’t that right, K-Man?” 

Again, Kohana didn’t answer and the two adults chuckled. The other man said something and departed, continuing on with his shopping as Lorcan looked at Kohana whilst he lifted his head. “I thought he was you, Daddy. I didn’t mean to.” 

Lorcan smiled softly, his eyes turning gentle as he put Kohana in the cart, “I know, baby. It’s ok, you’re ok, yeah?” 

“Yeah… I’m ok,” Ko whispered, smiling shyly, his cheeks still tinged pink. “I’m very ok, Dad.”

+*+*+*+*+*+*

Elide ran through the rain to the grocery store, leaving Aelin in the car to wait. Since they only needed a couple things, it was a one-person job and Elide had lost rock-paper-scissors once again. 

She shook off her hoodie hood, regretting wearing her cotton sweater in the rain. Elide grabbed herself a basket and walked quickly into the store, just wanting to rush home and make dinner with her sister. 

Elide idly perused the aisles, pulling things into her basket and tapping against the handles a random beat, humming low under her breath. Her eyes got caught on the brand of tea she had at home and she almost fell, tripping over her feet. 

Home. It didn’t feel the same anymore, not without him. That was why she’d been staying with Aelin for the past five days. Maybe she was kidding herself by saying that she was just taking time to heal and maybe she was being a coward, but… she just couldn’t care right now. 

It was nice to be with her sister, even if she did feel a little bit bad for kicking Rowan out.

Elide just shook her head to dispel her thoughts as she blinked her tears away and hurriedly exited the aisle, not seeing where she was going as she crashed into somebody’s cart and floundered to keep from falling when whoever it was wrapped their hands around her biceps and righted her. 

Her cheeks were aflame as she stepped away, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going and it’s–” her words fell away when she looked up, seeing Kohana sitting in the cart and Lorcan, half a foot away from her. 

Immediately, tears sprung in her eyes and her throat ached. Damn it, she did not want to cry in her local grocery store. Elide backed away further, protectively shielding her basket, though she didn’t know why. 

“Ellie! Hi-hi!” 

“Hey, Kohana,” she breathed, her voice wavering. While she addressed Kohana, she looked at his father, biting the inside of her bottom lip to stop it from trembling. She was not going to cry today. At least, she wasn’t going to cry in the store. Once she was in the car or even outside the store, all bets were off. 

Lorcan bent down and that was when Elide noticed that most of her groceries had fallen to the linoleum floors. He passed her a can of coconut milk and she nearly dropped it again when their fingers brushed and she snatched her hand away, looking at him like he had burned her. He opened his mouth to say something, but she spoke first.

“I ca- I can’t- I have to go,” she whispered, waving an unenthusiastic farewell to Kohana as she hurried off, already feeling a tear slip free. Elide rushed through the self-checkout, her head ducked down as more hot tears blurred her vision. 

She hastily paid and didn’t even wait for the machine to spit out her receipt before she ran out to the car, crying as she threw herself into the passenger seat. 

Aelin stared at her with wide eyes as she blubbered and weeped, gesturing vaguely to the store and then to the bag. The blonde just sighed softly and pulled Elide in for a hug over the centre console. “Let’s go home, babes. I’ll cook!” 

That had Elide laughing, albeit tearfully as she sniffled and wiped her eyes, “That’s really sweet of you, but I’d rather see Lorcan than eat your food.” 

“Well, now, that’s just rude.” 

+*+*+*+*+*+*

Lorcan slowly closed the door, smiling as Kohana sighed sleepily and cuddled onto his side, hugging his stuffed hippo tightly. Tigger stood watch at the end of his bed, his yellow eyes glowing bright. Fuck, that cat creeped him out. 

He carefully walked downstairs, trying to not let them creak too much. Then, he walked over to the TV cabinet, rifling through the shelf until he located the baby videos of Ko. He popped one of them into the DVD player, standing and crossing over to the couch. He sat down heavily, nervously bouncing his knee up and down. 

With the remote, he pressed play and tossed it to the cushion beside him, running a ragged hand down his face, reaching his other hand up to finger the ring hanging from the chain around his neck. 

His eyes were already burning with tears as the video started. The footage, slightly grainy, was of Essar, rocking a little bundle to and fro as she sang a gentle, seaside melody from her childhood. Her tattooed lips pulled into the happiest grin he’d ever seen as two little hands reached up, patting the ink on her chin and batting the air as the bundle gurgled. 

Then, Essar looked up at the camera, rolling her eyes playfully, “Are you seriously filming right now?” 

Lorcan heard himself laugh and then his younger self appeared in the frame, walking over to the two of them and peering down at the very precious cargo Essar carried. “I like it when you sing, Ess. Prettiest voice in the whole dang world.” 

A soft blush pinked her cheeks and she smiled up at him, laughing when Kohana demanded their attention by waving his fists aggressively. Lorcan laughed as well and pulled the top of the blanket down. “Hey, kid. You’re pretty cute, you know that?” He sat down on the edge of their bed and pulled Essar down onto his thigh, resting his chin on her shoulder and twining his arms around her waist. “You just might be the cutest kid in the world. You wanna know why?” 

Essar answered for their son, leaning back against him as Kohana wrapped his hand around Lorcan’s finger. “Why, o husband of mine?” 

“‘Cause his momma is the most gorgeous girl around and his pops?” Essar turned to look at him, a fake warning in her eyes. “He’s the luckiest man alive.” 

Essar smiled and he pressed a chaste kiss to the skin beneath her jaw. “I love you so fuckin’ much, Essar.” 

“Language,” she chided him, resting her head on his shoulder and gazing down at their child. “I love you too, Lorcan. So fuckin’ much.” 

Lorcan faked an offended gasp and delicately covered Kohana’s ears, “Ms. Tangaroa-Salvaterre! There is a child, an infant in your presence. I am going to have to ask you to,” he dropped his voice into a low hiss, “watch your language, ma’am.” 

“Oh, shut it,” Essar said, smacking his tattooed chest as an upright, grey tail came swishing into view. She saw what her cat was going to do and cried out, “Tigger, no!” just as Tigger, that blasted creature sent from hell, knocked over the camera. 

The screen went black, but Lorcan heard himself sigh and mutter, “I hate that gods-damned cat.” 

Tears were rolling down his cheeks and his breathing was ragged as he pressed his hand against his chest, trying to push his heart back together. He wanted to yell, to scream at his wife, demanding why she had left him, why she hadn’t stayed. 

Logically, he understood Essar had no choice in the matter and the last thing she had ever wanted to do was leave him, leave their little coconut. But still, he couldn’t help but feel cheated, feel like she’d abandoned him. 

The screen went from black to white, then Essar’s giddy face as she toggled with the brightness. Her hair was falling around her face and she pushed it back with her free hand as she held the camera facing towards her and she walked through their shitty little apartment. 

Her eyes looked at something behind the camera, her eyes bright as she pushed open a door and creeped in, biting her tattooed lip before she turned the camera to show what she was so amused by. 

It was him, dead asleep and sprawled across their bed on his back, but cradled on his chest was Kohana. He was so itty bitty compared to Lorcan as they snoozed. 

Real-time Lorcan smiled through his silent tears as baby Ko stretched out, his little fists stretching all the way up before he settled back down. “It’s kinda creepy of you to stand there and film us, Ess,” Lorcan commented without opening his eyes, rubbing Kohana’s back when he squirmed and whimpered, kicking his footie-pajama feet out. 

“It’s noon, babe, why are you asleep?” 

“Well, you were studying all night and I had the distinct pleasure of soothing your screaming son back to sleep four times,” he said, utter exhaustion in his voice. He held out his hand for her and Essar put the camera down, not bothering to stop recording as she pranced over to the mattress and eased down beside them both, curling into Lorcan’s side. 

“Why is he my son when he does the things you don’t like,” she muttered, resting her hand on the back of Kohana’s head, softly rubbing her thumb over his soft hair. “He’s half you, you know.” 

“Oh, don’t fret, my darling, I know. Never forgot it,” he whispered. “You gave me my dream.” 

“Your dream?” 

“Mm-hmm,” Lorcan hummed, not once opening his eyes. “You and Ko - that’s all I need.” 

The video faded out and he supposed the next one began, and the one after that, because the next thing he saw was the TV shutting itself off. Then, he heard two little feet padding down the stairs, the sound of soft paws accompanying them. 

“Até?” 

Lorcan looked over his shoulder at Kohana, who was half-hiding behind the staircase banister. Tigger stood, ever watchful, on the step below him, his head poking through two balusters. 

“Até, can I come down, please?” 

He nodded and wiped his cheeks, “Always, coconut.” Kohana smiled and hurried down the stairs, racing over to him. He sat on the cushion beside Lorcan, dragging Tigger up into his lap. 

Kohana’s eyes went wide as the moonlight cutting through their windows made the tear tracks on Lorcan’s face shine silver. “Are you crying?” 

“Mm-hmm.” 

“Why?” 

“Remember last week, when you hurt your arm and we were at the hospital?” 

Kohana nodded vigorously, gesturing to upstairs, “Yeah! I got a stuffy and some candies. My stuffy was a bear, but the one I got for Essie was a shark ‘cause she likes sharks.” He became quiet and still as Tigger slinked out from his hold. Slowly, Kohana shifted so he had his head against the cat’s side. “But… Ellie left. She didn’t say bye-bye to me.” 

Lorcan sighed heavily, picking at the skin around his thumb. “Well… yeah. I know. That’s ‘cause I said some mean things to Ellie and she needed a break.” 

“Why did you say mean things?”

He exhaled slowly and looked at Kohana’s cast, covered in idle doodles, no doubt Esther or Fenrys’ handiwork. Ko wouldn’t let anyone else get close to him like that and the others claimed they were above such silliness. “I was scared, prince, and sometimes, when we’re scared, we say mean things. I told her she did something wrong.”

“But Ellie didn’t do something wrong,” Kohana said quietly, cuddling into Lorcan’s side. 

Lorcan hugged his son, “I know that. Now. But I didn’t know that earlier.”

Kohana hummed and they sat in silence for a bit until he spoke up again, “Did you say sorry? I think you should say sorry.” 

Huffing a laugh, Lorcan looked down at his kid’s head, brushing back his wild hair. “Maybe I’ll try that, kid.” Kohana nodded, as if he had solved all the problems and like adults were so stupid sometimes. “When’d you get so wise, K-Man?” 

“I’m in school now. Big boy means big brain.” 

Well, that pretty much said it all, he supposed. 

+*+*+*+*+*+*

When Lorcan walked into work the next day, Malakai gave him a weird look from behind the front desk. “Why’re you here?” 

“Um… I work here? I think you’re getting a lil old, pops.” 

Malakai glared and stood up, walking over to him, “I know you work here, boyo. Rowan and Fenrys told me you were taking the day off.” 

Lorcan scrunched his brow in confusion, tilting his head to the side. He opened his mouth to reply just as someone tapped his shoulder and he turned around to see Rowan standing there, an unimpressed look on his face. “You ready?” 

“For what? The fuck is happening, man?” 

“Get in the car,” was all Rowan said, jerking his thumb to his car waiting by the curb. 

Lorcan could see he didn’t exactly have a choice and sighed as they walked over and got in. Rowan didn’t say a word as he turned on the ignition and pulled away from the curb, driving down the street. “Really? You’re not gonna tell me where we’re going?” 

“Shut up.” 

He clenched his jaw and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring out the windshield as they continued on. Neither said a word. 

It was only a couple minutes later that Rowan parked in front of the boxing gym they frequented and told Lorcan to get out and get his bag from the trunk. 

“What bag?” 

“Just get it.” 

Murder is bad, you can’t see your kid in prison, murder is bad, you can’t see your kid in prison, murder is bad, he recited silently as he popped the trunk and pulled out his gym bag, not even going to ask how Rowan got it. 

They signed in and went into the changing rooms, efficiently getting dressed and heading out into the gym. 

Lorcan put up his hair as Rowan signed out a ring for them and then they both wrapped their hands. Rowan still hadn’t told him what they were doing. 

His green-eyed brother was already waiting as Lorcan ducked under the ropes, bouncing on his toes. “So, you finally gonna tell me what we’re doing?” 

“You haven’t seen Elide in… what, a week now? You need to fight, ‘cause I know you aren’t gonna talk,” Rowan said, holding up his fists and nodding at Lorcan to do the same. 

He did and they bumped their knuckles before assuming their positions. 

The brothers exchanged a few casual shots, easy ones to get them warmed up. Then, Rowan nailed in him the ribs with a wicked left hook and Lorcan hissed through the pain, glaring at Rowan. “Man, the fuck?” 

Rowan just glared back and upped his game, raining quick and hard shots down upon him. Usually, Lorcan would’ve blocked them effortlessly and returned with his own, but he just couldn’t keep up. Eventually, after Rowan hit the same spot on his ribs, Lorcan flipped, shoving him back, “Fucking stop, Ro! Just stop.” He shook his head and looked down as he started unwrapping his hands, but they just got tangled up in his distress and he swore low. “Fuck this.” 

He finally got it and threw them to the ground, dragging his hands through his hair. “I really fucked it up this time, didn’t I?” 

“Yeah. You did,” Rowan said, pushing him out of the ring and to the nearest bench. 

Lorcan braced his forearms against his thighs and dropped his head, “It was going perfect, alright? And then I just… I pushed her out.” He sniffed and bounced his knee up and down, unable to stop it. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Rowan scoffed, “Nothing’s wrong with you, it’s just your stupid brain being a dick. You got scared, man.” He slung his arm around Lorcan’s neck, pulling the dark haired man into his side and pressing a kiss to the side of his head. “But this radio silence or whatever the fuck y’all are doing isn’t helping. You need to call her, L.”

Lorcan stayed silent and Rowan went on to add, “If you give her up, if you won’t even make an effort to keep her, then you’ll hate yourself for the rest of your life, man. I have, not once in the past four years, seen you smile like you smile around Elide.” Lorcan glanced at Rowan, obsidian eyes meeting ones of pine. “She isn’t gonna wait around for you to get your shit together. So either fix shit with her, or let her go. But you can’t keep dragging her along and acting like you guys are just done after a fight.” 

“Ok, it wasn’t a fight, I said some–” 

“I know what you said and I’ve had to physically restrain my girlfriend from jumping you, so call your girl. Say you’re sorry. Tell her you love her. Just stop being a little bitch boy.” 

“Fuck you.” 

“Fuck you.” 

“No, I said fuck you.” 

“No, I said fuck you.” 

“Stop copying me.” 

“Stop copying me.” 

“I’m gonna fucking stab you in your sleep.” 

“I’m gonna fucking stab you in your sleep.” 

“Stop it.” 

“Stop it.” 

“You’re a fucking child, Rowan.” 

+*+*+*+*+*+*

Lorcan said a quick good-bye to Kohana and Rowan, who had decided it was time for Ko to have another sleepover with his favourite uncle. The kid was beyond excited, his body practically buzzing in the backseat of Rowan’s car. 

Walking back inside, Lorcan shut the door and moved to the kitchen, taking a seat at the island. He took his phone out of his pocket and tossed it on the island top, unlocking it and clicking on the phone app. 

He stared at Elide’s contact for a long, long time before pressing on her number. Lorcan’s heart was in his throat as he held it to his ear and bit his thumbnail, hearing it ring three times. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey. It’s… me.”

+*+*+*+*+*+*

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