#and when she asked the nurse why he was yelling at her son she just kep smiling at her like that's sooo fucking weird and upsetting

[whois-miki]

—- # ‘get out of my office, Luke.’

Luke Castellan x Apollo!fem!reader

warning - cussing, percy third wheeling, argument

others - situationship, not dating, percy : 🧍🏼, this is all over the place,

Luke tries to find out what Percy is good at to find his godly parent

or

While y/n is trying to mind her own business in the infirmary, a not so subtle, Luke pays her a visit.

a/n - sTOP, why do i relate to Percy so much 😭 ✋🏻

also gonna post a poll soon if this does well <3

“why are we even going here, it’s not like i’m the son of Apollo.”

Percy complained when Luke dragged him over to the infirmary.

“thats where your wrong buddy. some Apollo kids are really bad archers and really good medics.” he says as he opens the infirmary door to reveal a teenage girl tending to a camper.

The girl’s head quickly snapped to look at them with a kind look on her face before it was quickly washed away when her eyes set on the older boy.

“what do you want, Castellan?” she said clearly annoyed, at the sight of this Luke smirked knowing that he was getting on her nerve already without even saying anything.

“what? i can’t see my favorite nurse?” he said dramatically and put a hand over his heart like he was hurt.

“isn’t that the kid who killed the minotaur?” the patient groaned in pain as she looked at the younger blond boy. “rest, you can’t do anything until you recover, hun.” The nurse said to the young girl who was still in awe of Percy ( the patient is like 10 )

The nurse quickly muttered a sleeping spell and looked back at the two boys who were still in the same position.

“how can I help you?”

“well, sweet girl, I need to find out if Percy is the son of Apollo.”

She groaned at the nickname and then studied Percy. she quickly mumbled a no and then turned her back to the crate of medicine, that needed to get restocked. “what do you mean, ‘no’ ?” Luke shot annoyance bubbling up inside of him

“i mean, no, Luke. I’ve seen him at archery. he has no aim.” she explained. “Well, not all Apollo kids are good at archery.” she scoffs a bit and then fired back, “but most are, and i’m not letting him experiment in my office just to try to find what he’s good at.”

Percy looked at Luke and then at the girl and said, “she’s right, now let’s go.” he said as a not so subtle plead for help to get away from the awkwardness.

both of the older counselors ignored the blond boy and resumed their argument. “why can’t you just let him do something!” Luke hissed,

“I said no, dumbass, and if he’s anything like you he might just kill a patient.”

“oh thanks a lot, fuck face.” he grumbled

“I mean it, get out of my office, Luke.” she demanded, Luke sighed angrily before lightly pushing Percy out of the door.

once they were outside. Percy turned to Luke and asked, “who was that?” “Y/n L/n, meanest Apollo kid you’ll meet.” “how do you two know each other?”

“we’re friends.” as Luke said this Percy look at him confused. “what? then why were you arguing?”

“its kinda our thing, i guess.”

“that can’t be healthy.”

“yeah, but i love ‘er. she’s great.” Percy then looked at him like he was crazy and quickly muttered an ok without giving another thought.

Luke smirked a bit and then thought of something and ran back into the infirmary room, slightly kissing her on the cheek playfully and running out after she yelled with a flustered face.

“GET OUT OF MY OFFICE, LUKE.”

a/n :

sorry this is shit <3 love you all!!

[sunrisesfromthewest]

First Encounter

|Summary: Your first encounter with Armando; based off of that one scene from bad boys ride or die. | Warnings: Getting shot at/slight suggestive language/Curse words/Slight Movie Spoilers | Trope: One sided interest or Enemies to Lovers| Notes: Hopefully you guys enjoy it's my first-time writing a x reader. | (Y/N/N=Your Nickname)

Here's all the parts I have so far: 1 2 3 4 5 6

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After seeing the news about your dad, Uncle Mike, and some guy, you decided to leave work early. Confused on why there all the sudden wanted fugitives,you quickly drive over to Dorns place knowing that he’ll have answers.

Parking your car, you grab your purse and make your way towards his lake house. Since you hang out with him and Kelly 24/7 outside of work, you just walk in without knocking.    Which was a mistake on your end because not even a second later you’re being shot at, and you could hear a few people yell in shock.  Dropping to the floor you curse and yell "It's me stop fucking shooting it’s me Y/N!”  Looking up you see Kelly pointing the gun at the place you were just standing at with a shock expression.  “Girl what the hell you got going on” you said, scared to stand up.  Lowering her gun she said “OMG, Y/N, I’m so so—” Before she could finish you hear “Oh lord, you shooting at my baby!", recognizing the voice you look around to spot your father Marcus, running towards you with a worried look.

As he’s checking over you, you hear him sigh with relief after seeing you were fine. " Dad? what the fuck is going on!", standing up you dust off your nurse uniform, with a confused expression. 

Looking around the room you noticed shocked expressions from Dorn and Kelly who had put her gun down. Spotting Uncle Mike and the man that was with him on the news your eyes squint even more, Tryna put two to two together.    “Y/N/N, aren’t you supposed to be at work, "Marcus says confused on why his daughter was there.  Still shaking up from being shot at you say, “I was at work but when I was making my rounds with my patients, I seen you guys on the news ......but shit! I should be asking the questions! why are you, Uncle Mike and this dude, wanted fugitives …. matter of fact," turning towards the man, "Who are you?”.    Seeing the man smirk he says," Someone you can get well acquainted with.”  Just as you’re about to say something smart, your dad cuts in dramatically "Aye hell nah man! No hitting on my daughter, Mike get your son!” 

Shocked you run your eyes over the Latino man which you can now see have some of Mike's features, “Uncle Mike since when you have a son, and why the hell is he dressed up like a redneck.”  Running your eyes frantically over their forms you back up while pointing your hands at them and say, “matter of fact why are you all dress up like that.”  Feeling your dad pull you aside to calm you down, he explains everything that happened these past few days.    After getting the run down on what was going on, you rub at your eyes with a stressed sigh." So that’s Armando," you said shaking your head "I would’ve pulled my gun out as well if I’ve seen him, dad didn’t he almost kill you and Uncle Mike!", you said feeling frustrated about the situation.  “Y/n,I know this is awkward, but he has evidence to prove that Captain Conrad is innocent.”  Sighing again “Okay, fine but if he tries some shit just know Imma make him taste the rainbow.”  Hearing laughter you look back to see the Latino leaning against the kitchen counter looking at you with a smirk on his face.  Seeing your father look at you with a don’t do it expression made you huff and ignore Armando’s laughter.    Before you could move to grab your purse off the floor your dad stops you again and whispered, "How long Kelly and Dorn been messing around, "letting out a short laugh you say, “For a minute now”  Seeing your father smirk, and send a look to Mike, you knew they were up to no good but chose to ignore it.

Walking to the door to grab your purse and its spilled contents you feel eyes on you, gazing up you see Armando watching you with an unreadable expression. Rolling your eyes you pick up the rest of your stuff, but as you reach for your lip gloss, a hand grabs it.    Looking up your face to face with the Latino himself, annoyed you extend your hand out, while raising an eyebrow.  Watching his amused expression, you sigh and roll your eyes. 

“Boy if you don’t give me my stuff,Imma punch you in the throat." Hearing him chuckle made you more agitated, but you kept your cool. As he holds out the gloss to you with a smirk you huff and reach out to snatch it, only for him to pull it back in a teasing manner.

Looking at him as if he’s grown two heads, you’re about to cuss him out when he says”Demasiado bonita para una boca como esa”.  Furrowing your eyebrows you say “What?”    Armando’s smirk widens as he says, “I said to pretty for a mouth like that.”  Scoffing you snatch your lip gloss out his hands, putting it in your purse as you stand up and say, “First of all, my mouth is only like this because you almost killed my dad not too long ago, and secondly I can say whatever the fuck I want cause last I checked imma grown women.”  Watching his eyes glance down at your body, you hear a low whistle, "You sure are, but if you ever wanna fix that mouth of yours, "he pauses allowing his pretty brown eyes to trail back up to yours,”aquí estaré mami” (I’ll be here mommy) 

Shocked slightly at his boldness, you say “Boy if you don’t get out of m---,” but before you could finish, he was called over by Mike. At first Armando ignores him and continues to admire you until your dad says, “Boy get your ass over here," which made you break eye contact with him and look away.  

Glancing back up you couldn't help but admire his physique as well but as he reaches the others by the computer set up. He glances back to see you staring which resulted in him sending you a wink. Rolling your eyes you turn away with a smirk," You your daddy son for sure," you say to yourself with a smile.

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Notes: Let me know if you guys want a part 2 :) and pls go see the movie it's so good

[yopossum]

The Laredo Javi gifs made me do this. I was powerless against them.

Main Masterlist

The Secret Place

Pairing: Javier Peña x best friend f!reader

Rating/Warnings: E - 18+ only! Post S3 Javi, Laredo, no age gap, friends to lovers to no contact to friends and lovers like no time ever passed, filthy fluffy smut, Chucho being the best and also a troublemaker, brief mentions of narcos and sex workers (Javi uses the word whores, paraphrasing the people who bother him about Colombia), drinking questionable whiskey, oral (f and a tiny bit of m receiving), boob in mouth action, PIV with a condom *and* on the pill good job guys, sex in an old treehouse probably not a great idea irl. Reader is described as having dark, prominent nipples and genitalia, grown out black pubic hair, heavy hanging breasts, thick dimpled thighs and a fleshy waist and belly. Her hair (on her head) is not described, nor is her skin tone (she does not blush or redden). Both Javi and reader speak Spanish, which is in italics.

———————————————————————————

“Javier Peña. Long time. Back for good?” You reached out for a friendly handshake.

“Nah, for evil.” He winked, holding your hand in his a little more firmly, a little bit longer than he would anybody else’s. You acknowledged it with a fond squeeze, undetectable to curious eyes.

“Sounds about right. Catching up with everybody?”

“Trying to avoid it.”

You laughed, hand on your hip. “No surprise there either. Well, I just came over to your table to ask the handsomest man at the wedding for a dance.” You smirked.

“I’m not sure that’s me, cariño,” Javi said, eyebrow quirked and jaw tensing skeptically.

“Never said it was, Javi. I was talking about Chucho.” It was your turn to wink.

He huffed out his nostrils and shook his head with a smile as you turned to his father with outstretched arms, yelling, “Take me for a spin, viejo! Let’s remind your boy where he got all those smooth moves.”

“He won’t know what hit him, mija,” Chucho laughed, standing to take your hands. “Watch my beer, Javier.”

“You got it, Pop.” He nodded at the older man, whose eyes were crinkled shut in laughter at the way you twirled onto the dance floor and beckoned to him. Javier nursed his own drink, dark eyes following you under heavy lids as you and Chucho spun around the floor.

After several songs, Chucho bowed out, making his way back to the table, and Javi lost track of you.

“You’ve still got it,” he murmured to his father around the lip of his beer bottle.

“Damn right!” he crowed. He took a long sip of his beer, looking out at the wedding reception, and sighed. “Listen, I know it’s been a long time, but—”

“—Pop, don’t.” Javier cut him off, shooting him a stern look.

Chucho raised his palm. “Let me finish, son. You know it was always her. I know it was always her. Hell, all of Laredo knows it was always her.” He stared intently at Javi’s face. “Folks weren’t as surprised as they acted when things went sideways with Lorraine. Doubt Lorraine was.”

“Yeah.” Javi looked at the table, ran his thumb along the label of the bottle, the condensation on the glass making the paper ball up and peel as he rubbed over it. “Everyone knew. I was an idiot, fucked it up.” He swallowed the dregs of his beer and stared through the empty brown glass, his own frowning distorted reflection wobbling back at him.

“You got that right,” Chucho chuckled, running a weathered hand along the brim of his white cowboy hat. “Was saying, mijo, it’s been years. Don’t you think you’ve punished yourself long enough?”

Javi scrubbed his hands down his face, careful not to muss his hair and ruin any of the photographs, incur the wrath of a coven of tías like he had at Danny’s wedding. “The shit I’ve done? A life sentence wouldn’t scratch the surface, Dad. Things change, life goes on. Looks like your dance partner left, anyway.”

“She sure did, pendejo!” Chucho laughed from deep in his belly. “Why the hell d’you think I’m talking to you about it now? Our girl fue al lugar secreto, she told me to tell you.”

Javi’s guts stuttered, and he tried to school his features into a convincingly stoic look. “The secret place, huh? Not sure I even remember where that was.” His eyes were pulled to the clock on the wall. 9:40.

“No manches, Javier. You know exactly where it is.” Javier avoided his gaze. Of course he knew exactly where it was.

Chucho turned to chat with a relative while Javi rolled his empty bottle on the tablecloth. Several songs played through, the party still boisterous. From across the dance floor, Javi locked eyes with Lorraine, who smiled brightly. She waved, and Javi groaned, feeling obligated to stand and cross to his ex would-have-been wife.

“Lorraine.”

“Javier. You look good.”

“Thanks. You too.”

“Oh gosh, you think so?” Lorraine tucked a lock of loose blonde hair behind her ear and flushed. “The kids make me feel so haggard sometimes. They sure keep me busy!”

Javier gave a half smile. “Sounds like it. I’m glad you, uh, got the life you wanted. I’m sorry, for… all of it.” He pursed his lips and glanced at the clock again. 9:57.

“Yeah, I know,” she nodded. “I forgave you a long time ago, Javi. Lord knows I wasn’t entirely innocent. And now I have Randy; I have the kids. It would’ve been wrong, the two of us.”

“Definitely,” Javi snorted, dimple deepening in his cheek. “Well, just… thought I’d say… something. You really do look good, Lorraine. I’m glad life’s treating you well.”

Lorraine smiled soft and a little bit sad. “Thank you. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

Javi gave her a tilt of his chin in farewell as a blur of a child crashed into Lorraine’s legs before striding back to his table.

“Taking a piss, Pop,” he muttered to Chucho, who was still deep in conversation with whichever cousin. He clapped a hand to his father’s shoulder.

“Sure you are, son,” he replied, patting his son’s hand without looking back at him. “Dile que I owe her another dance. See you in the morning. I’m cooking breakfast.”

Javier rolled his eyes and bit back a reply, just squeezed gently and made his way out of the reception hall into the night. 10:10.

———

“Took you long enough, Peña.”

“Mierda. How the hell did we used to do this every day?” Javi grunted, swinging precariously on the old knotted rope as he clambered into the treehouse.

“For starters, we weren’t fucking old,” you laughed, taking a drag of your cigarette. You offered it to Javi as he pulled the last of his body through the hole in the floor and flipped the hatch shut, sending the hanging lantern swinging.

“Nah. Tryin’ the gum thing.” He flopped onto the wooden floorboards and tried to find a comfortable way to angle his wide frame in the small space. Their lugar secreto.

“¡No mames!”

“En serio.”

You spit on the floor and stubbed the cigarette into it. “Well shit. Good for you, Jav. Must’ve taken a lot of willpower — I don’t imagine you have any less need for vices now.” You grinned at him.

“Yeah, no fucking kidding,” he sighed. His fingers tapped on the ground, antsy.

“You’ve always been a stubborn asshole, though, so if anyone could do it, it’d be you,” you said with a cackle.

“Vete a la chingada,” Javier grumbled warmly.

“Quite the mouth you’ve got on you, Javi,” you tutted, turning to sit with your back against the opposite treehouse wall and stretching your legs out parallel to his.

“You know better than most how true that is,” he said, eyebrow quirking suggestively.

“Sucio,” you chided. “Glad to see some things haven’t changed.”

Javi smirked, sat silent. He let his head tip back against the wall, looked up at the stars through the open hole in the roof of the old treehouse. The wood there had rotted through years before the two of you found the place, when your necks and shoulders had ached from sunburns and monkey bars instead of tension and grief. Back then, before Laredo was haunted, you’d climbed up here and patched each other’s hurts with bandaids, hugs, shitty liquor, and eventually, after some years, soft touches, kisses, hot skin sticky and desperate against hot skin.

“You’re not gonna ask me about Colombia?” he said eventually, leveling his eyes back at you.

You shrugged. “Do you want to talk about Colombia?” you asked.

“No.”

“I figured as much. No, I’m not going to ask you about Colombia.” The treehouse was silent again.

“I came home, few years ago. Went back.” Javi said, eventually.

You hummed thoughtfully. “Why?”

He cracked his knuckles. “Got in some shit. DEA told me to leave. Then they asked me to come back. So I did.”

“You done now?” you asked simply.

“Yeah.”

“Feel like a hero?”

Javi gritted his teeth. “Feel like a piece of shit, usually.” He clenched his hands into fists, released them, repeated the action without looking up from the toes of his boots alongside your knees.

“Well, hey, at least you don’t look it,” you offered, and Javi couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re much better looking than you were in the 70s, even if your clothes haven’t changed.”

“Fuck you,” he snorted. “You didn’t seem to have any complaints back then.”

You scrunched your nose at him and stuck your tongue out. “I didn’t know any better back then. You’re not the only one who expanded their horizons, Peña.”

The smile slid from his face and he bit at his lip, a sneer creeping into his expression. “You too with the brothel shit, huh? Christ. All anybody fucking wants to talk about, what narcos I shot and what whores I fucked.”

“Did I say any of that, Javi? Jesus. Don’t try to pick a fight with me, it won’t work. I’m glad you were fucking around down there. I’m sure it was hell. Sounds like burying your traumas in warm pussy helped bring you back alive. I’m grateful for that.” You looked at him plainly, like it was the most obvious reaction in the world for you to have, like his confusion at your response was the strange thing.

“Besides,” you added, “I’m sure you treated them well. I know better than most, right?” You waggled your eyebrows at him and his frustration and surprise melted away, dripped out of his mind.

“So, I was memorable?”

“Stop fishing for compliments.” You whacked one of his boots with the back of your hand, and he tipped it back toward you, pushing at the hem of your skirt with his toe.

“You were memorable,” he said quietly.

When you glanced at him, moonlight brightening the piloncillo brown of his eyes, his expression was softer, less closed off. Echoes of a younger Javier, your playmate and closest friend and confidant and co-conspirator and lover, here in your secret space like he’d never left, never grown out of Laredo, never been hardened by the cruelties of the world.

Your Javi.

“So you definitely remember what we used to get up to in here, then?” you teased, reaching for a lidded crate shoved into the corner and pulling out an ancient bottle of whiskey.

Javi’s mustache twisted up at the corner. “I remember you were a handsy drunk,” he said, grabbing the bottle and twisting off the lid, taking a slow pull from the mouth of it and wincing. “God, this is awful.”

You laughed and took the bottle back from him, taking a sip of your own. “Beggars couldn’t be choosers! We didn’t have many options for sneaking liquor.” The whiskey warmth flowed through your body like bitter sunshine. “And handsy, hm? I don’t think I was usually the one to start anything.”

Javi pawed at the bottle, downing another gulp, and you watched his Adam’s apple slide down his taut, tanned throat. “Hm, maybe not,” he mused, rocking his jaw to the side and letting his eyes rake down your body. “But I always made sure you finished,” he grunted.

You grabbed the whiskey for a final slug and capped it, sliding it back against the wall before pressing yourself up to your knees. “Is that a habit you’re still holding onto, Peña?”

You leaned forward and placed your palms flat on the ground, crawling, partly seductively and partly pragmatically because you couldn’t stand upright in the treehouse, along the length of Javi’s legs. You knelt immediately next to him and reached out to smooth the red and blue plaid collar of his flannel, then cupped a hand to his cheek.

Instinctively, Javi turned into your touch, letting his eyes close for a second and giving a gentle kiss to the meat of your thumb. He looked back to you and let his face rest in the cradle of your palm.

“Still holding onto it. Held on to everything that had anything to do with you.” He worried at his plump lower lip with his teeth, then tongued at the plush cleft there.

You swung one leg over his lap and sat in a straddle across the tops of his thighs, denim of his jeans scratching against the bared skin under your dress.

“Should’ve held on to me, Jav.”

Javi placed his hands at the flare of your hips, splaying his wide thick fingers to knead at the flesh there, more plentiful and pliant than the last time he’d touched there. Where the world had made him rough, shattered, sharp, you’d been tumbled like sea glass. Smoother, softer, light shining right through you, spilling onto him.

“I should’ve.”

“I could’ve held tighter too.”

“I wouldn’t have let you.”

“You’re right.”

“That’s a first.”

You both snickered, and you let your body rest against Javi’s chest. He threaded his arms around your waist and pulled you tight to him, pressing the bridge of his nose into the shelf of your collarbone to inhale deeply.

“It was always you. You know that, right?” he breathed against your skin.

“I do. I knew then, I know now. Things happened how they happened. It’s been a long time.” You spoke the words into the dark waves of his hair, tickling at your mouth and chin.

Javi’s voice was smaller than it had been, more hesitant. “Do you think…” He paused for a beat. “Do you think it’s been too long? Or, not long enough?”

“I don’t know. Me vale, Javier. I don’t give a shit. ¿Sabes?” You ran a finger in a small circle around the top button of his shirt.

“I don’t know if I do,” he answered honestly. His grip on your hips tightened slightly, and he scooted you just an inch or two further up to the apex of his thighs.

“I think it’s a series of miracles that you’re here and I’m here and we can still manage to squeeze our ancient asses into this treehouse,” you said frankly. “I don’t need to figure anything else out right now. Tonight? It’s enough for me to know we’re both still here, that this is still here.” And when you said this, Javi knew you didn’t mean the treehouse, but the real lugar secreto, the secret place that lived inside you both, where neither of you had ever let go of the other.

“Lie back against the wall, cariño,” Javi ordered in a soft, even husk.

You climbed off his lap and crawled back to the place you’d been sitting before, legs out in front of you.

“Knees up,” he rasped. You obeyed, skirt of your dress slipping down your raised thighs to pool at your waist. “Let them fall open nice and easy for me, baby. Just like that,” he murmured, coming up onto all fours and rubbing a thumb on your ankle bone as you let your knees drop outward.

Javi failed to bite back the moan that fell from his mouth as you spread before him, only a slip of your black thong visible as the thin wet gusset nestled into your sex, dark lips and an Eden of black curls devouring the fabric. He, too, wished to be devoured.

He reached his hands up under your ass, hooking his fingers into the floss of your underwear and peeling them from your center, wiggling them down your legs and tossing them aside. Javi carefully lowered himself to his belly, flat across the floor, his body longer than he used to be so his knees were bent and his feet rested against the opposite wall. He looked up with wide, curious eyes, asking silently for permission.

“It was always you, Jav. Still is.” You carded your fingers through his thick hair and he growled.

Javi slid his hands along your thick thighs, trying to memorize the feel of every new dimple and stretch mark on the once-familiar canvas. When he reached the end of your legs, that divine join, he used the breadth of his shoulders to press your knees even further apart, sliding his forearms under your legs to grip around your hips.

Your folds pulled open languidly as your legs spread, stretching glossy strings across your entrance, the long dark sticky swollen petals of you blooming like something rare and tropical, heady and intoxicating. Javi nudged forward, nose brushing through the course hairs as he nuzzled its strong curve against you, dragging it in a lazy back and forth over your clit. Your pussy fluttered and you drew in a sharp breath through your nose.

“Looks like she remembers me too,” Javi chuckled darkly.

He pressed sloppy open-mouthed kisses to the creases of your thighs, over your puffy mound, running up and down along the seam of you, puffing hot wet air over your asshole to see it clench and quiver.

“She wants you to stop teasing,” you whined, but your complaint was cut short with a gasp when you felt a broad lick along your slit, Javi sliding the flat of his tongue through you and flicking at your clit with its pointed tip.

Your legs fought to fold closed on Javi’s head, but his arms kept them pinned open, on display for him, bisected and dripping. He ran his tongue over and around every fold, prodding and sucking and nibbling, stretching you gently with his teeth and slotting his lips with yours in an intimate, hungry kiss.

His tongue moved through you instinctually, patiently, reverently. A disciple, attending to the temple of his deity. Javier Peña did not believe in God. He believed in worship.

Javi slid one thick finger, then another, through your shining slick, swirled them at your clit before pressing them inside of you up to the knuckles. He relished the groan that clawed out of your throat, the clench of you around his digits, as he pumped them in and out, fingertips dancing on the spongy spot that made you writhe for him. He watched your face, lips parted and panting, brow glistening, both exactly as he’d remembered you and more perfect and beautiful than you’d ever been before this moment. And you’d always been perfect and beautiful.

He dropped his face again to suck the bead of your clit between his soft lips, alternating slurping around the hood with laves of his tongue as he continued to thrust and curl his hand inside you. The obscene thick wet sounds of your pleasure wove with mingled moans and soft gasps. Javi felt, sensed, the small escalations in your as they built on each other — the flickering tense of your leg muscles, the tightening of your stomach, your affrettando breathing. He increased his efforts, dribbling a stream of spit onto you, into you as he stuffed his fingers into your pulsing cunt over and over again.

“Oh, oh, Javi. Fuck, Javi. I’m…” Your legs began to shake, some overwhelming and impossible pressure building deep inside you. Javi didn’t slow, just lavished prayers into your pussy and ground his hips against the old creaking floorboards.

“I know, baby, I know,” he chanted over you, “I’m here, baby, it’s me, I’ve got you.”

Your fingers were thrust into his hair and twisted around the soft dark strands, and you tugged, pulling a guttural roar from Javier’s chest. “Dámelo, mi vida,” he snarled. You felt the irresistible urge to bear down on Javi’s hand, walls seizing up around his fingers until that delicious pressure burst. You arched and shrieked as a dizzying pulsing gush erupted from your cunt, cascading over the man between your thighs as he groaned, swallowed and suckled desperately as he rutted into the floor. The sensation continued to crash over you, waves smashing against a cliff without end. Your vision was flashing, teeth chattering violently as you keened and bucked at the overstimulation. Javi withdrew his fingers from your channel and slid them around your clit, using your release to slip rapid circles around the swollen pearl until the world around you exploded, a razor sharp orgasm ripping through you on top of a final wave of warmth that poured out from your wrenched body.

Javier looked up through long lashes, his pupils blown and lips swollen and red. He was dripping with you, drenched and devoted, as though he’d been dunked in a baptismal font.

You gestured faintly at him, not able to move your hands beyond a small wave up your body. Javi got the message, clambered up over you and let you throw your sagging arms around his neck so he could roll with you onto his back and drape you over him. You melted against his chest, still panting, and he ran his hand over your shoulders, down your spine, over the curve of your ass. His cock throbbed against the zipper of his jeans, straining painfully in the tight denim, but he tried his best to ignore it. To just hold on to you.

“I think I owe your informants a thank you card,” you wheezed finally, breath slowing closer to its normal pace. Javi snorted into your crown, kissed your forehead at your hairline.

“Quite the mouth, huh?” he teased softly, and you pinched at his waist through his shirt with a chuckle. “Mierda. That was…” Javi trailed off, running a hand through his sweat-curled hair.

“Yeah. It was,” you agreed, neither of you needing to finish the sentence. You reached up to touch his face, the deep furrows that creased his skin there smoother and shallower now. “So. Mi vida, huh Peña?” You smirked up at him.

Javi’s cheeks pinked and he bit at the inside of his mouth, bashful as if he hadn’t bathed in you minutes before. “Too much?”

“Nah, I liked it. Did you mean it?”

Javi paused before answering, looking down at you almost meekly. “If I did?”

You smiled against him. “Then I like it even more. Kind of how it’s always been here, right? How it’s always been for us.”

He smiled back with relief. “Yeah,” he huffed out. “Yeah, it has been. Could still be, maybe? It feels like… like we… fuck. It feels like this is the first time in a long time I’m where I belong. Here, with you.”

“Between my legs?” you said with a laugh playing at your eyes.

“Sí, yes, Christ, forever.” Javi groaned again, licked the taste of you from around his lips, nostrils flaring when his dick twitched insistently. You clocked it.

“Enjoyed yourself, guapo? Need some attention?” You rolled your hips slightly, pleased when Javi sucked in a breath through his teeth and shivered.

“Are you… can you…” he stuttered out, and you shushed him with a finger to his lips, which he kissed.

“Can I stand? No,” you chuckled, shaking your head. “But I want to stay right here in your lap and let you fuck me, Jav. Te quiero.”

Javi sat bolt upright, holding on to your body as he scooted to the wall and leaned back against it. “We’re gonna be so fucking sore tomorrow. Fucking in the treehouse.”

“We don’t have to,” you offered breezily, teasing. “If it’s too much for you in your old age.”

“Don’t you dare. Pinche chiflada. Yes, we fucking do,” Javi objected immediately. “Besides,” he jabbed with a pointed finger, “we’re the same age.”

You laughed at his urgency. “Ahí está. ‘Atta boy, Peña. You’re overdressed, in that case.” You moved to unbutton his flannel, revealing more of his smooth, freckled chest. “This is a nice shirt, by the way. You looked handsome as hell tonight.” You undid the last button and slid his shirt off his shoulders, running your hands over the firm rounds of his muscles.

“Not the handsomest, though?” he smiled, leaning forward to nip at your collarbone.

“Nope, sorry. That’s always gonna be your pops,” you said with a shrug.

“Pendeja,” Javi muttered. “Can we stop talking about my dad right now, please?” He fumbled at your dress clumsily. “This needs to go.” You guided his hands to the buttons that ran down the back and chuckled against his ear as his fingers flew over the closures and he yanked the thin cotton up over your head and discarding it to the side.

“Fuck, querida. These tits…” Javier lunged toward your chest, starved, pulling one brown nipple into his mouth and moaning around it while he palmed the weight of your other breast in his hand, lifting and squeezing. You tipped your head back as he swirled his hot tongue around and over, coaxing you to a peak, then pulled off with a slurping pop. “Gorgeous. Even better than I remember,” he groaned, wiping spit from the corner of his mouth with his thumb.

You wriggled your naked body back on Javi’s legs, eliciting a whine of protest before he realized your hands were deftly unfastening his belt. He reached down to assist and you swatted him away with a laugh. “Let me have my fun, huh?” you chided, slipping your finger through a belt loop and giving his jeans a firm tug before undoing the button at his waist. You smirked at the thatch of hair peeking out from the fly. “No chones? Hussy!”

Javi’s dimple deepened, his lip curling. “Always prepared, baby.”

You shook your head. “You’re still a menace, Peña. Pero, speaking of prepared, I’m on the pill, but…”

Javier cut you off. “Tranquila. Wallet.” You reached into his bulging front pocket and slid out the weathered leather, opening it and fishing through until you felt the telltale foil square.

“Thank god. I’m sure we have some stashed up here still but I don’t know I’d trust them to hold up,” you huffed with a smile, and sat back on your heels in front of him. With practiced ease, you tore open the packet, wiggling it at the man in front of you. “Now you can take your pants off.”

Javi didn’t break his gaze, just lifted his hips and slid his tight jeans down his thighs. You pulled his boots off for him, one at a time, then yanked his pants the rest of the way down his calves and over his feet, socks coming with them. You hurled them into the corner and let your eyes rest on Javier’s nude form. He brought one fist to his base and gave himself a few slow tugs, watching you watching him.

You crawled your way up over his body and relished the way his thick cock bobbed in anticipation, the way Javi’s stomach muscles quivered under your hungry stare. Glancing down at the blushing tip of him, you couldn’t resist when you saw the gleam of precome beading at his slit, and you dipped down to taste him, his distinct salt and musk making you dizzy with want. Javi’s hips bucked wildly at the unexpected touch of your tongue. You flicked your tongue over his frenulum, licked down his shaft to the seam of his balls, and back up along a delicious pulsing vein before taking his fat head into your mouth, giving a firm, but brief, suck.

Javi gasped, biting back a moan and sucking air in through his nose with a shiver. “Can’t… do… that…” he managed, his voice graveled and tight. He grabbed your chin between his thumb and forefinger to and pulled your head up level with his. “Need you too bad. Need to be inside you, cariño. Now.”

You pulled the condom from the foil and pinched the tip, then unrolled it down Javier’s throbbing length til the ring was snug around his base. His eyes didn’t leave your hands until you finished, and you reached up to his shoulders and eased yourself to straddle across his strong thighs, his latex-covered cock wedged between your stomachs. He was breathing heavily, sweat starting to pool at the dip of his throat. He brought both hands to the sides of your face, hooking his thumbs under your jaw, and looked into you with his big dark glassy eyes. They reminded you of the night sky that shone through that hole in the roof, the way if you let your vision unfocus it felt like you could see the deep blacks and browns reveal themselves to be layers and layers and layers of stars. You felt like you could see on forever, see the whole universe.

Javi brought your forehead to his, his nose pressed next to yours, and gently rolled his hips into you, the slight friction reawakening your still-sensitive clit and releasing a fresh stream of slick. You lifted up and brought your hips forward, bringing one hand from his shoulder to grasp him firmly and slide him through your folds before angling him at your entrance. Faces still flush together, breathing each other's air, you let yourself sink down onto him, both exhaling soft whimpers of pleasure as you stretched around his girth until you were fully seated in his lap, your channel squeezing around him greedily.

“Oh, fuck,” you whined. “Oh Jav, oh fuck. I missed this. I missed you.” You let your face drop to his neck, dangled yourself from his broad shoulders, and ground your hips in slow circles against his belly. Javi dropped his hands from your face and grabbed onto your sides, guiding your movements and digging his fingers into your skin, like he needed to be sure you were really there, needed to mash into your flesh and bone to know you weren’t an apparition, not some whiskey-conjured ghost in his empty apartment in Bogotá.

He let his head fall back, giving you space to lick and kiss at his neck while you rode him lazily. “You feel so good, baby. Christ,” he rumbled, words crawling out from deep in his throat. You pressed your open mouth to his collarbone, dragging your warm wet lips over the slice of it, sighed deeply. Javi could feel your legs shaking as they bracketed his own, fatigued from your earlier pleasure, and he slowed you to a stop before lifting you from his cock.

“Acuéstate,” he whispered, grabbing his forgotten flannel with one hand and fluttering it over the floor before turning you in his arms, nudging you onto all fours facing away from him and encouraging your cheek and forearms to rest on the brushed cotton.

“Mm,” you hummed sweetly, closing your eyes and wiggling your hips invitingly. Javi had to squeeze himself tight at the root, tried not to lose his mind when you presented your glistening pussy, swollen and stretched and desperate for him. “Need you, Javi.”

He sat up on his knees and pushed into your fluttering hole with a single thrust, crushing into the ring of your cervix and forcing a sob from your throat.

“¿Estás bien?” he panted, quaking with restraint as he held himself flush to your ass, letting you catch your breath.

“Oh fuck, yes. Cojeme duro, Javi,” you rasped beneath him.

He wasted no time. Javi withdrew quickly and slammed back into you, a deep wail spilling from your open mouth. He set a breathless pace, one hand clenched around your hip and the other spread possessively over the base of your spine. The brutal snap of his hips would’ve driven you forward across the floor if he hadn’t been holding you in place with such bruising force. His heavy balls swung and slapped against your bare skin with every thrust, and you could feel his sweat puddling at the sway of your lower back as it ran from his face and chest. The air was thick with the lewd squelching sounds of your bodies smashing together and the chorus of your breathy, rattling prayers and curses and cries.

Javi’s hips began to stutter, and he tensed his thighs and ass to try to control his thrusts. “Not gonna last. Need you to come, querida. Give me another, come on my fucking cock. Please, baby,” he rambled, an edge of desperation tinting his words. He slid a hand between your legs, bringing the rough pad of his finger to your clit to press and swirl frantically as he pounded into you. He could feel when you clenched around him, so strong he could hardly stay upright. When Javi hunched over you and pressed a hot, panting kiss between your shoulder blades, you broke apart with a hoarse scream. A burning climax crashed through you, your body going rigid with electricity, the overwhelming squeeze of your cunt ripping a howl from Javi as he came so hard his vision went white. He spurted with staggering jolts, thrusting weakly until your body went limp in his hold.

As the last of his seed dribbled out, Javier lowered you both gently to the floor, curling around your body as he pinched at the bottom of the condom and slipped his spent, softening cock from your clutch. He tied it off, set it aside, and laid back down to wrap around you again. You wriggled back into him and he tucked his arm into the plush fold of your waist, hand splayed over your panza and fingers tickling softly, no sounds but the breeze of your breaths and the thrum of your heartbeats in your ears. Eventually, you rolled over to face him, wincing as you turned.

“Won’t even have to wait until tomorrow to be sore,” you griped, rubbing at your neck. Javi reached out and covered your hand with his, dwarfing it, and massaged the knot that had started to form there with a firm thumb. You melted under his touch. “No regrets though,” you added with a reassuring snicker.

“Good,” he smirked, brushing his knuckles over your cheek. “Probably should put some clothes on before I get a splinter in my dick, though.” You snorted and nodded, sitting up to let him extricate himself and re-dress. Javi pulled his jeans up, not bothering to button them, and shoved his arms back into his shirt, leaving it hanging open. You scooped up your dress and pulled it over your head, your underwear nowhere to be seen. Javi sat back down against the wall and stretched one long leg out in front of him, bending the other at the knee. “Come here,” he said, his words lazy and syrupy.

You walked on your knees to the vee of his legs and turned to sit between them, letting your back rest against Javi’s warm, wide chest. He hooked his chin over your shoulder and nuzzled at the base of your ear with the tip of his nose, looped his arms around your ribs and squeezed you tight to him.

“My dad said to tell you he owes you a dance,” he muttered, dragging his teeth lightly over your trapezius muscle, his mustache ticklish against your overstimulated body.

“Ha! I knew it,” you said with a clap.

“Knew what?” Javi sucked at the thin skin at the base of your throat, just enough to make a small bruise begin to blossom there.

“We had a bet about you.”

He stopped peppering your neck with affections to look at you curiously. “A bet? What kind of bet?”

You cackled. “When I told him to tell you to meet me here, Chucho said you’d come running after me right away. I said you’d try to play it cool, sulk for a while, then when you got too desperate you’d tell him you needed to take a leak and disappear. If he was right, I’d buy him a six-pack. If I was right, he had to take me dancing.”

“Shit,” Javier chuckled under his breath. “That’s… yeah, that’s pretty much exactly what I did,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“You’re predictable, cabrón, what can I say?”

“I did talk, a little bit.”

“To Lorraine?”

“Damn,” he laughed. “How’d you know?”

You grinned and turned your face to rub your cheek against his skin, closing your eyes. “Like I said, predictable. Did you brawl?”

Javi hummed thoughtfully. “I apologized. So did she. It was… fine. It’s okay between us, I think.”

“That’s good,” you murmured, not moving from where you were snuggled into him.

He took a few deep breaths, and you waited patiently for him to say whatever it was he needed to work up to. He pressed his face to your shoulder again and kissed it softly. “I owe you an apology, too,” he exhaled against your skin.

You turned to look at him, to cup his face in your hand. “You don’t, Jav. You don’t need to apologize to me.”

His mouth began to move in protest. “I should’ve—“

“Basta.” You pressed a finger to his lips to still them, shaking it at him admonishingly when he tried to nip at it. “No should’ves, none of that. Everything brought us back here, right?”

Javier ticked his jaw, licked at his lip thoughtfully, before conceding with a half nod. “Nuestro lugar secreto survives,” he said with a soft smile.

“It does,” you agreed, running your thumb soothingly along the lines of his face, over the two creases permanently etched between his eyebrows. “You were gone, but you were still here, you know?”

“I thought about you. All the time.” His voice was quiet, somber.

“I know,” you grinned.

Javi huffed and snorted. “Oh, you already knew that, huh? How so?” he teased, pinching at the underside of your arm.

You squirmed away from his fingers, giggling. “You’re too predictable, ¿recuerdas?”

He sighed dramatically, quickly gave up his game in favor of hugging you close again. “I think you just knew me too well. Still do.”

“I know because I thought about you all the time, too,” you admitted, sitting back against him and tilting your head to look out the roof and up at the night. Javier did the same. “Eres mi vida también,” you said towards the sky.

“I fucked up tonight, though,” he rasped against the shell of your ear.

You stilled, raising an eyebrow in question. “¿De qué manera?”

Javi pressed a palm to your cheek and turned your face to his once more. “I didn’t kiss you yet.” You threaded your hands through the curls at the nape of his neck and pulled him to you, your mouths melding as easily as your bodies had. The kiss wasn’t heated or frantic; there were no clashing teeth and wanton cries. It was slow, soft, familiar. Two parts of a whole, slid back together where they were meant to be.

“So…” Javi breathed into your mouth between slips of tongues. “Pop is cooking a big breakfast. Want to come by the ranch?” He drew back enough for his eyes to focus on your face.

“Mm, a famous Chucho breakfast sounds great. What time should I come over?”

Javi grinned devilishly. “Right now.”

You rolled your eyes, shoving at his chest before kissing him deeply once more. “I don’t know what I was expecting,” you snarked. You both stood, joints creaking, both hunching over to avoid smacking into what remained of the ceiling. Your eyes scanned the treehouse for your missing thong while Javier pulled on his socks and boots, then fastened his clothes and tucked his wallet back in his front pocket.

“Missing something?”

You turned to answer him, seeing your underwear hanging from the tip of his index finger. He spun them around and smirked. “I’ll trade you for one of those cigarettes.”

“Keep ‘em,” you said with a wink. “We quit. We’re gonna try the gum thing.”

Javier beamed at you, sliding your panties into his back pocket. “Don’t have to tell me twice. You ready?” He lifted up the hatch.

“Mhm. But take that condom with you - there’s a trash can by the fence.” When he’d grabbed it, you flicked off the lantern, plunging the treehouse into darkness, moonlight just catching on the rough fibers of the rope below.

“Let me go down first,” Javi said, lowering himself through the hole, his boots finding a sturdy knot a few feet down, descending a short way before hopping to the dirt.

You grinned down at him from the treehouse. “You want to help me down? Tan caballeroso.” You dropped a pair of sandals to the ground and started to clamber down the rope barefoot.

“Of course, mi vida,” Javi said warmly, looking up at you with a wide, crooked smile. You’d made your way down a few knots when he added, “I’m also appreciating the view.” You shook your head and let go of the rope, jumping into Javi’s waiting arms and falling into another languid kiss before your feet found solid ground. When you bent down to grab your sandals from the dust, your skirt suddenly flew up, a hand cracking sharply over the bare flesh of your ass cheek, and you squealed, flying upright and glaring back over your shoulder.

“Shameless,” you tsked.

“Claro,” Javi shrugged, unapologetic. “But you love me.”

“Yeah,” you mused, slipping your sandals on and closing the short distance between your bodies to ruffle his hair. “I sure do. Always have.”

Javi leaned into your hand and purred, content for the first time in a very, very long time. “As long as I’ve loved you,” he said, quiet and firm. He nosed a kiss to your cheek and laced his fingers through yours. “Ready to go, mi vida?”

“Been ready for a lifetime, Peña. Take me home.” You walked hand-in-hand down the winding dirt road that led to the ranch, your path together lit, as it always had been, by a sky full of stars.

—————————————————————————

Some random taggies:

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[atimeofyourlife]

Time after time

written for @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt: uncle wayne adopts steve | rated: t | wc: 942 | cw: reference to abuse, reference of canon fake suicide | tags: steve harrington has bad parents, steve harrington needs a hug

The first time they met, Wayne knew the boy couldn't be much older than fourteen. Definitely younger than Eddie, who was fast approaching sixteen. It was early, a little before 6 am, during summer vacation, no less. Wayne had finished his shift and called into Benny's to get a coffee and breakfast, on the mornings he did this, he was almost always the first customer of the day. Occasionally beaten in by a cop, or a firefighter, or anyone else that had been stuck with a night shift. But he had never seen a kid in so early. Sat alone in the corner booth nursing a cup of coffee with an almost empty plate in front of him.

"Mornin' Wayne. The usual?" Benny asked.

"You know it. But, uh. What's with the kid?" Wayne replied, nodding toward the boy in the corner.

"Dick and Linda's kid. They're back in town, and he needs a safe place. So he comes here."

"Why don't you report it?" "You think I haven't tried? His parents paid off just about everyone from the mayor down. Kid's not lucky enough to have any other family around to look out for him."

The kid came over with his empty cup and plate.

"I've told you a thousand times that you don't need to do that kid." Benny said.

The kid just shrugged.

"What's your name, kid?" Wayne asked.

"Steve, sir. Steve Harrington." He replied.

"I'm Wayne. And I wish my boy was as polite as you."

The second time they met, it was in more unfortunate circumstances. Benny's funeral. There'd been weird shit going on in town, starting with the Byers' kid going missing. Wayne didn't believe any of the official stories. But especially not the story of Benny's supposed suicide. He knew Benny so well, and something like that wasn't the sort of thing to cross his mind.  He took his place in the community too seriously for that.

But the kid had changed. A few years older, and a lot more haunted. The look in his eyes giving away that he'd seen more than his fair share in his young life. And he was jumpy, almost always looking over his shoulder.  He kept to himself, away from everyone else there. Wayne didn't see much of him until after. Steve was standing at the edge of the parking lot, his hands shaking as he tried to get his lighter to work.

"Here, kid." Wayne held his own lighter out.

"Thank you, sir." Steve replied, after taking a long puff on his cigarette.

"No need for thanks, kid. You doing okay?"

"I. I think I'm gonna miss him. He's helped me out a lot." Steve admitted.

"That was Benny for you. Always ready to help anyone out. But do you have anyone else you can reach out to if you need it?"

Steve hesitated a moment. "Yeah, sir. I do."

The third time, it was less of a meeting than Steve yelling directions at everyone. Tabitha, a woman who lived on the other side of the trailer park, collapsed in the middle of Big Buy. The kid snapped into action without second thought, checking Tabitha for a pulse, for her breathing. He yelled at an employee to call for an ambulance as he started chest compressions. At another to clear space. At some other customers to block the end of the aisle so no one else could stand around and watch. Wayne approached as Steve gave rescue breaths, before going back to the chest compressions. When he noticed Wayne, he looked like he was about to yell at him, but Wayne spoke first.

"It's okay, kid. She's my neighbor. And I know CPR too, so when you need a break I can take over."

They swapped places a few times before the paramedics showed up and took over.

"You did good, son. You acted quicker than any adults did. You may have just saved her life." "Anyone would have done it, sir. I was just the closest who knew what to do."

The fourth time, it was at the hospital. Steve in the hospital bed next to Eddie's, identical wounds, but Steve's were infected. Wayne got to talking to Steve while Eddie slept.

"I tried to protect him the best as I could, sir. I patched him up, and made sure he got to the hospital in time. I know I should have done more-"

"You did more than enough. You kept him alive, now you need to focus on making sure that you're healthy. And you can drop the sir shit. It's Wayne."

After that, Wayne lost count of the meetings. From sharing the hospital room with Eddie, to being friends, to being more. He would do as much for Steve as he would for Eddie, and wanted to ensure that both always had somewhere safe to return to.

"Steve, if you ever want to get out of that big empty house of yours, you're more than welcome to join us here. We'd love to have you move in with us." Wayne said to Steve one day while they were cooking together. Eddie always conveniently disappeared when anything cooking related came up.

"Sir, Wayne. I couldn't put you out like that." Steve replied.

"Nonsense. You're as much my kid as Eddie is, it don't matter who your momma or daddy is. We want you here, you spend enough time here as it is, we might as well make it official."

"I, Wayne. I'd like that." Steve was quite choked up, so Wayne pulled him into a hug. All was going to be okay, with him and his two boys.

[paperultra]

candy stripes.

Pairing: OPLA!Vinsmoke Sanji x Fem!Reader Word Count: 5,048 words Warnings: Swearing, hospital setting [A/n: Soulmate AU. :)]

sortiger (adjective): delivering prophecies of the future; having the qualities of being oracular

Nobody else can see the string but you.

You wish you didn’t. It has no texture, no weight, so you can’t understand why it can’t be invisible too. But the string demands attention with every use of your hands, seizes your eye when you wash dishes in the morning and brush your teeth at night, a garish and bloody red that matches the stripes of your uniform.

You hate your string and you hate the color red.

Miss Xinyu, the old lady in Room 30, has one too. At least, that’s what she had told you when you gained the courage to mention yours one day, not knowing what it meant and how much you would come to dread it.

“It’s your red string of fate,” she had explained. “It connects you to the person who understands you more than anyone else in the world.”

In other words, your soulmate. Your one and only.

Miss Xinyu says you’re a lucky ducky, knowing what your future holds.

Her string goes into the ground now. You don’t think being reminded of a dead person whenever you look at your pinkie is very lucky.

The biggest reason why you hate the string so much, though, is because you’ve always had a problem doing what you’re supposed to unless you want to, which causes a lot of trouble for a nine-year-old girl. You already have trouble being nice to patients who are mean to you, so how can you love and wait for someone you’ve never met? It makes you feel icky.

Why can’t you choose? How come you have to have one at all?

Your only source of comfort is that your string is very, very thin and runs out of the hospital. That means your soulmate, whoever they are, is very, very far away. You’d very much like it to stay that way.

But it doesn’t.

—

Nurse Taoh wants you to watch the patients in Room 8 while he finishes his charts. You don’t really want to, if only because it’s Nurse Taoh asking – he likes to order you around more than Dr. Gu – but you don’t want to get into trouble again, so you go.

(… And okay, you are just a little bit curious about the new inpatients. You only know three things about them: one, they were brought in together last night while you were in your room poking holes into your paper instead of correcting it; two, they’re a man and a boy, presumably father and son; and three, everyone says it’s a miracle they’re still alive.)

(Then again, you’ve seen many miracles here.)

The unit is quiet as you walk down the hallway. Quiet, but not silent, as your polished shoes squeak like little mice against the floor and you whisper the room numbers as you pass by them. Two, four, six – eight.

You stop and knock, three sharp raps against the brown wood.

“Hello?” You open the door and poke your head in. “My name is –”

The squiggly-patterned curtain that often separates patients for privacy is drawn, and you clamp your mouth shut as you realize the patient closest to you is asleep.

Shutting the door silently, you creep closer to the foot of his bed. The man underneath the sheets lies quietly; he is little more than a skeleton, eyes sunken and bones sticking out underneath blistered skin. His beard is long and scraggly, but it pales in comparison to his mustache, each side braided and sticking out to the sides.

He looks angry, even though he’s sleeping. You hope he’s not the type to wake up and yell at you as you tiptoe past to check on the boy.

You pass the curtain, catch a glimpse of the bed sheets, and see –

Red.

Your feet root themselves in place, the room suddenly devoid of air.

You stare. Blink hard, twice. Look again. Then, trembling, you look down at your hand.

Your eyes trace the string around your own finger, following down to the dip of it that barely touches the ground and back up over the blankets until it ends in a red loop around the boy’s pinkie, tied off with a little bow.

Your stomach turns.

Stumbling forward, you make your way to the visitor’s chair in the corner. You slump down into it and stare straight ahead at the curtain, refusing to look at the boy’s face.

He continues to sleep.

You don’t want him to wake up.

—

The boy does not stir during your first meeting, but that small mercy is quickly eclipsed two days later by a single bowl of chicken broth.

The look on your face is sour as you walk down the hallway again, the broth splashing up against the lid with each step. Because most of the patients in the hospital you live in are elderly, the staff have somehow gotten it into their heads that you simply must spend time with the boy in Room 8 because he is your age and you need to socialize with other kids. You very much don’t want to. Not with him, at least.

Dr. Gu is just leaving the room when you arrive. She gives you a quick smile, the corners of her eyes wrinkling, and pats your head.

“So you heard that the boy woke up, huh?”

You grunt, looking away with a pout. “Can’t you give this to him, Dr. Gu?”

“Nope. I have to finish my rounds,” she says. “Go in and have a chat. His name is Sanji. You’ll like him.”

“I doubt it,” you mumble underneath your breath.

Dr. Gu probably hears you, but she doesn’t scold you, merely patting your head one last time before you enter Room 8.

The dividing curtain is drawn this time. The window curtains are pulled back, too; it’s a somewhat cloudy day outside, but bright enough to sharpen the shadows on the walls and make the boy look even paler than you remember.

His eyes are closed as you approach. A sprout of hope that he might have fallen asleep again blooms in your chest – you’ll just leave the broth on the table, you think to yourself, and go about the rest of your day. Nobody said you had to watch him drink it.

You get about five feet away, already planning to drop some books off to the other rooms, when the boy’s nose suddenly twitches.

His eyes open to thin slits. Your hope shrivels like a weed in the desert as he speaks.

“What’s that?” His voice is quiet and raspy.

Your eyebrow twitches. “It’s just chicken broth,” you say tartly, setting the tray down on the overbed table and turning it around so that it’s over his lap. You take off the lid and steam bursts from the bowl.

The boy reaches up to rub his eyes. The red string dangles from his pinkie, and you quickly look away with a scowl.

“Who are you?” he asks, scooting back to sit up more as he gradually becomes more alert.

Reluctantly, you give him your name. “Will you need help with the soup?”

He shakes his head. His gaze latches onto the contents of his bowl, and he stops, transfixed.

You scramble to stop him as he suddenly grabs the bowl and attempts to gulp it all down in one go.

“Don’t do that! You’ll throw up!” Without thinking, you seize his hands and pry the bowl away from his mouth. A few drops of broth splash over the blankets and his gown, and your irritation grows. Now you’ll have to fix that. “Drink it slowly.”

“I haven’t eaten anything for weeks,” the boy complains. “What do you know?”

“I’ve been studying medicine since I was a little kid,” you retort. “So I know a lot.”

He frowns. “You are a little kid.”

“I’m nine years old!”

“No, I’m nine! You don’t look as old as me!”

There’s no way this … this brat is the same age as you! Fuming, you let go of the bowl and jab a finger at his face. “I am nine years old and I know more than you! You can’t drink the broth like that!”

You’re met with silence. The boy’s eyes are wider than saucers. Pride wells up inside you at your ability to shut him up.

But then he puts the bowl down and seizes your hand, and your pride gives way to horror as he folds down your index finger and lifts your pinkie – the pinkie with the red string wrapped around it.

He lifts his own pinkie, the rest of his fingers folded. Your jaw clenches when you see how the string has shortened to mere inches, bridging the space between his hand and yours.

“Holy shit,” the boy says. The largest grin spreads across his face, and it’s blinding and scary and you hate it, you hate it. “It’s you! You’re my soulmate, aren’t you?!”

“No,” you reply quickly, whipping your hand behind your back and backing away. “No, I’m not!”

“But you see the string too! I knew I’d meet you some day. How come you’re”— he pushes the table away, eagerly but just gentle enough so no more of the broth spills—“how come you’re hiding it behind your back?”

“I’m not your soulmate,” you bark, panic rising in your chest. “Don’t you ever say that!”

You only catch a glimpse of the hurt that flashes across the boy’s face before you turn around and dash out of the room.

Mrs. Hong finds you in the storage closet later, curled up behind the shelves of gauze and IV tubing. She coaxes you out with a promise of rice balls and no questions asked. You wish all the adults were more like her.

—

The next day, Miss Jaylee hoists you over her shoulder like a human sacrifice and brings you to Room 8.

“I don’t want to see him! You can’t make me!”

“He’s refusing treatment and food unless he sees you,” the woman answers briskly, each of her steps jostling you up and down. “You don’t want to be responsible if Sanji dies, do you?”

“I don’t care if he dies!”

Miss Jaylee clicks her tongue and walks faster.

You flail, feeling a little guilty for your cruel words but too proud to take them back. Sanji couldn’t have heard you, anyway, and nobody here is going to let him die no matter what he does or what you say.

You hear a door swing open. Miss Jaylee walks into Room 8 and turns around, and you lift your head, glaring at Sanji as his face lights up and his cheeks turn rosy.

“[Y/n]!”

Your own cheeks burn in embarrassment at the position you’re currently in. This, you only now realize, is way worse than walking into the room voluntarily.

“How come they’re carrying you? Are you okay?” he asks.

“Let them treat you,” you snap, arms limp and dangling. “And eat your stupid food or I’ll get in trouble.”

“Okay.” You nod, opening your mouth to speak again only for him to continue, “But only if I get to talk to you afterwards.”

What is he, a prince?! What makes it so easy for him to demand such things?

“That wasn’t what you told them,” you protest, squirming, but Miss Jaylee only tightens her arm around your waist.

(“Be nice,” she warns. You growl.)

“It’s important,” Sanji stresses, looking pointedly down at his hand and then back at you.

You bite down on your tongue as the red string glimmers in the light.

Dr. Gu and Nurse Taoh stare at you expectantly. Your neck is starting to ache from craning it, and there’s a feeling that you’ll never stand on your own two feet again unless you do what he wants.

“… Fine,” you hiss through gritted teeth.

Only once you promise to stay does Miss Jaylee let you slide off her shoulder. You stand to the side, arms crossed impatiently as they take Sanji’s vitals and ask him some questions. He’s only half paying attention, head turning to look at you more than once, which you merely turn up your nose at.

“All right, we’ll leave you two to chat now,” Dr. Gu says. “If you need anything, just let [Y/n] know, okay?”

“Okay,” Sanji says.

With that, the three adults leave, and you and Sanji are left alone once more.

“I’m glad you came. They were starting to get mad at me,” he says, then cuts straight to the chase. “How come you don’t want to be my soulmate?”

“Because I don’t want a soulmate,” you immediately reply.

“But why? It’s nice, isn’t it? Being special to each other?”

“You can’t be special to me. We’re not even friends.”

For the second time, Sanji looks hurt.

“…We’re not?” he asks. You shake your head. “But … you brought me food.”

You’re befuddled. “Because Dr. Gu made me,” you say, trying to ignore the disappointment on his face. “Besides, I yelled at you yesterday. Friends don’t yell at each other.”

“I thought that you were maybe just really surprised …” His voice gets smaller and smaller. “Some people get mad when they’re just surprised …”

“I wasn’t surprised. I saw it when you were still asleep.”

“Oh,” Sanji mumbles. He looks down at the sheets, scratching at the wrinkle in the thin white fabric. “Okay.”

He says nothing more. You fidget, wondering if he’s pretending to look like he’s about to cry or if he really is trying not to. You’re not good with people who start crying.

You chew on your bottom lip. Sanji tucks his hand with the string on it underneath his bed sheets, his eyes disappearing behind his tangled hair, and fine, you feel kind of bad whether he’s tricking you or not.

“I’ll only be friends with you if you don’t talk about being soulmates,” you finally tell him begrudgingly. “Not ever, okay?”

His head shoots back up. “Really?!”

“Only if you don’t talk about it! I’m serious.” You huff at Sanji’s sudden change in mood and click your tongue. “If you stay sad you might not get better.  Don’t get the wrong idea!”

He nods, grinning bigger than ever.

Oh, dear, you think as he promises that he’ll be a really, really good friend, you might have made a mistake.

—

By the fifth day, Zeff, the man who was brought in with Sanji, is awake.

You hear them arguing before you see them, pushing a cart of books for Sanji to browse through as per your agreement the day before. They’re loud, and Sanji calls the man an old shitbag right as you knock and push the door open.

“I’m here,” you announce, and the two quiet down to look at you. You give Zeff a polite smile. “Hello, sir. I’m [Y/n].”

“Hello, little miss,” Zeff says, his features softening from the angry expression he’d directed towards Sanji a moment before.

“Why are you being nice to her and not me?” Sanji pipes up from his side of the room, all puffed-out cheeks and petulantly crossed arms.

“Because she don’t make my ears ring with nonstop whining,” the man answers sharply. “Now get a book and read so I can finally have some peace and quiet.”

“You get a book and read,” Sanji grumbles.

“What was that, boy?”

You cut in before they start bickering all over again. “Do you want a book too, Mr. Zeff?”

Zeff’s gaze flicks over to you once more, and your shoulders tense. The man takes a deep, calming breath, and then he sighs, reclining back into his pillow and closing his eyes. “No, thank you, little miss,” he mutters. “Reading’s no good for my head right now.”

“Do you have a headache?” He grunts in affirmation. “Do you want me to get a nurse?”

“No, no, don’t need any of that.”

“You didn’t tell me you had a headache,” Sanji accuses.

Zeff’s mustache twitches. “All you need to know is that you oughta stop yappin’ when a man wants peace and quiet!”

(Not again.)

As you give up and walk over to draw the curtains, Sanji says your name desperately. “Can we read somewhere else?” he pleads when you glance at him. “I don’t want to be stuck in here with him right now.”

Narrowing your eyes, you appraise his weak-looking frame, pointedly skimming past the red string that snakes over to you. “Can you even walk around yet?”

“Yeah,” he says defensively. He wriggles out of the bed sheets and swings his legs over the side of the bed. Holding onto the side rail, he stands up and grips the IV pole for support. Though he’s a little shaky, he shuffles a few steps towards you and smiles when he manages to do so. “See?”

Well, you think, if you and Sanji stay here, you’ll need to have some light in order to read. But it will probably help Zeff if the room is as dark as possible, so if you guys go somewhere else, Sanji’s lamp won’t need to be on.

“Okay,” you agree. “Wait here. I’ll get some slippers.”

Ten minutes later, with Sanji shuffling along in his slippers, IV pole in one hand and your arm in the other, the two of you arrive at the common room and find chairs in the corner to sit down in.

“These’re mostly history books and stories for old people,” you explain as you pull out the one cooking-related book you could find from the top basket of the cart. “This was the only food one I could find.”

“That’s okay.” Sanji takes the book from you and begins to flip through it. “Oh, this one’s about seafood in the South Blue! Have you ever had any?”

“No.”

“Me, neither. I’ll try it someday, though … hey, this fish looks like a fried egg!”

Against your will, you perk up. “… Really?”

For the next half-hour, Sanji fawns over the spices used on grilled Sea King meat and how to cook wine clams and the best fish for South Blue-style sushi. And it’s … not boring. He doesn’t hog the book, and the pictures are cool, and he asks you which ones you think are the coolest or would taste the best. Looking at a book with another kid is different from reading with an adult. It feels like you’re sharing, not like you’re being tested on your comprehension or how to pronounce long words.

Hanging out with Sanji is okay when the string doesn’t sour it.

“So you want to cook all of these one day?” you ask after scanning through a full-color page of steamed Ocean Hawk feet.

“I want to cook things from all four seas,” Sanji says. His legs bounce with excitement. “That’s why I’m gonna find the All Blue.”

“What’s that?”

The boy glows.

“It’s where the North, East, South, and West Blue seas all meet. Think about it – fresh-caught fish from all over the world all in one place! I’ll be able to cook dishes no one’s ever cooked or tasted before.”

You’ve never heard of such a place. But Sanji talks about it with such conviction, such resolve, that you figure the All Blue could really exist.

“I hope you find it,” you say, and you mean it.

“I will.” Sanji closes the book. “And when I do, I’ll cook something just for you. A-As a friend.”

He peeks over at you, his eyes even brighter and bluer than before, his cheeks flushing a familiar red. And you find yourself believing him, just a little bit.

—

Sanji keeps his promise.

You know he still likes you (blech) and so does most of the staff (double blech). Nurse Taoh thinks it’s funny and teases you about your little boyfriend in Room 8 who always asks where you are. Mrs. Hong reminds you to be sensitive whenever you stop by to pick up meals. Dr. Gu tells you to tell her right away if Sanji ever does something that makes you uncomfortable.

But he never does. Sometimes his words spill out clumsily like a broken faucet and other times he blushes and stutters, leaving you to wonder what he’s going on about, but he doesn’t try to kiss you or hold your hand, and he doesn’t say a word about the red string that is very much still there. If anything, he just annoys you at times, with how nice he is to you and how sunny he gets when you eat lunch with him sometimes.

You’ve never seen somebody so happy to be in a hospital before, even if it’s just because he wants you to like him. It’s weird.

It’s on the eighth day of Zeff and Sanji’s stay that you learn not everything is how it seems.

You’d gotten in trouble the night before for digging holes in the garden – you had kept the seed from your dinner plum and wanted to see if you could make it grow, but Miss Jaylee had caught you while taking Mr. Hu out for some air – so you’re somewhat grumpy on your way to Room 8, two notebooks in hand.

One of them is blank for Sanji. He wants to record all the meals he’s gotten and write down how he would make them. The second notebook is full of your notes that you need to study for your quiz tomorrow.

Zeff is sleeping again when you enter. You move quietly across the room to where Sanji is lying with his back to the door.

“Sanji.” You can see his shoulders tense underneath the sheets, but strangely, he does not roll over to face you. “I have your notebook.”

No answer. That is even stranger.

Frowning, you walk around to the other side of the bed. Sanji moves to bury his face into his pillow, but not before you hear a very soft, wet sniffle.

“Sanji?”

“Sorry.” His voice is high and so muffled you can barely understand him. “You can just leave it on the table.”

“Why are you crying?” In the back of your head, you know it is not the most sensitive thing to ask. But for some reason, you need to know. “I won’t laugh or tell anyone.”

You hear another sniffle from the mop of blond hair. It takes a long time for Sanji to answer, but he eventually does.

“I don’t like hospitals.”

Your brow furrows. “Oh,” you say, somewhat surprised. Most people don’t like being in a hospital, you’re pretty sure of that, but you didn’t know Sanji didn’t like it this much. “Why?”

Maybe he’s tired of getting poked all the time, or the bland food, or the hospital smell. Nobody here can change that. Maybe he’s homesick. The hospital can’t fix that, either.

Sanji turns his head slightly and takes in a small, shuddering breath. “’Cause it … it makes me remember my mum … when she was sick,” he mumbles, almost too quiet to hear.

“… Oh.”

You had assumed, upon learning that Zeff and Sanji were not at all related, that Sanji was like you and never knew his parents. He’d never talked about having any before, only his time on the Orbit and with Zeff. But he does know them – his mother, at least. And she was sick. The memory is what’s making him so sad, and it’s yet another thing that the hospital can’t help.

You don’t want him to be sad. You did make him your friend, after all, even if he does annoy you sometimes.

“I’m sorry,” you say, standing awkwardly with his notebook still in your possession. You remember what Miss Jaylee has told other patients before. “That, um, must have been really hard for you.”

Sanji squeezes his pillow more tightly.

Should you go? Should you talk to him some more?

“Please don’t tell anybody,” he whispers before you can decide. “Especially Zeff.”

“I won’t,” you reply firmly. “I said I wouldn’t, didn’t I?”

“I’m sorry I can’t hang out today. I really wanted to, but, um …”

“It’s okay. We can do it later.”

“Okay.”

You set his notebook and a pen on the bedside table. After some thought, you refill his water and, after even more hesitation, fix the bed sheets on him a bit so they’re not as twisted up. That is the best you can do.

The red string follows you as you quietly leave Room 8, and you don’t think about it at all.

—

“How do you spell necessary?”

“N-E-S-E-S-A-R-Y.”

“That doesn’t look right. I think it’s S-S-A-R-Y.”

“Maybe you can find it in the book,” Sanji suggests, kicking his feet as he lies on his belly next to you.

“Yeah, maybe.” You flip through the pages of your textbook, searching for the correct spelling lest you get marked off again.

It is the tenth day. Sanji is doing alright, and Zeff is up and about with his new leg. Dr. Gu says they’re good to go, so they’re leaving after Zeff finishes breakfast. You’re not sure how to feel about it.

In the meantime, Sanji is helping you with your essay about scurvy. He knows quite a bit about it, which makes sense since he’s lived at sea, and you hope the perspective he’s supplying will impress Dr. Gu.

(“That’s why every ship needs a good cook,” he tells you proudly. “We make sure everyone eats right so they stay healthy.”

“That’s why you and Mr. Zeff are going to have a restaurant ship, right?”

“Mmhm.”)

Sanji rests his face in his hands, cheeks squished against his palms while you continue to scan through your textbook. You finally find the word in a photo caption and, with a triumphant noise, jot it down correctly.

Someone knocks on your door. The two of you turn to face it simultaneously.

“[Y/n]?” It’s Mrs. Guo.

“Yeah?” you call, already slightly irritated.

“Is Sanji there? It’s time for him to leave.”

A frown presses down on your lips. Sanji sighs and gets up as slowly as possible, taking his notebook with him.

“Coming,” he says.

The two of you dawdle on your way to the hospital entrance. You pet Cabby the dog when you run into him and his handler and stop by the kitchen so Sanji can thank the cooks. There’s no rush, not really, but an uneasy feeling continues to well up in your stomach anyway.

Upon arriving at your destination, Zeff waiting at the double doors with a giant bag of treasure slung over his shoulder, Sanji stops and turns to face you.

“I’m – I’m going now,” he says, as if just realizing it.

“Okay,” you say.

You and Sanji stand in silence for a moment before Sanji’s bottom lip starts to wobble.

Yours starts to wobble too. The uneasy feeling in your stomach bubbles up into your throat and behind your eyes.

“I’ll write you,” he blurts, voice cracking. “You’ll come visit, won’t you?”

“I don’t know.” You don’t know if they’ll let you. The hospital is busy and the ocean is big, bigger than you, and you don’t know it at all like Zeff and Sanji do. “But I’ll write back.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

You are crying now.

For the first time, your arms wrap around Sanji, and he clings back as both of you bawl. Your tears and snot stain the shoulder of his brand-new clothes. Your uniform grows damp at the collar. It doesn’t matter at all.

“I don’t know if I’ll see you again,” you croak into his shirt, face hot and eyes blurry.

His grip tightens. “You will,” Sanji replies in between sniffles. “I know it. Even if it’s when we’re really old, we’ll see each other again.”

“Okay.”

You believe him. Not because of fate, but because you want to.

—

You write to each other every single week for the next ten years. You tell each other everything.

Well, almost everything.

—

“You seem nervous,” Nami says. “Don’t tell me a little bribery got under your skin?”

“No, no.” You wipe your hands on your thighs and try to relax against the back of the booth. “Just … not used to places like this, that’s all.”

The Baratie is nicer than you imagined. Sanji had kept you up to date over the years, sending newspaper clippings and recipe drafts as the restaurant he and Zeff founded grew in staff members and reputation, but seeing it in person is a whole different deal. You’re telling the truth when you said you’re not used to a place like this.

But it’s not why you’re nervous.

“Hey, look!” Usopp exclaims, pointing across the room. “I think those guys are gonna fight.”

The rest of you look. Near the kitchen, two men are arguing, and the pink-haired man sitting at the table stands up when the pirate shoves his food onto the floor.

Usopp sucks his teeth. “Yikes.”

Luffy leans forward in interest. Zoro simply stares, and Nami rolls her eyes.

One of the waiters approaches them. You watch as he tries to deescalate the situation, but neither party is having it.

The pink-haired man draws a gun.

Within seconds, the gun and both would-be brawlers are on the floor.

The waiter shoves his foot into the pink-haired man’s back to keep him down, then picks up the plate of bread rolls again, stepping over both groaning bodies with the ease of one who’s done it before.

He reassures the other customers as he approaches your booth. You’re not concerned about the fight so much as you are about the way that you know.

It’s been ten years, but you just know, even before he gets close enough for you to see the red string that trails up and disappears into the black of his pants pocket. Even before you see the blue of his eyes and the annoyed set of his brow, exactly the same as you remember.

He places the rolls down onto the table, and for the first time, you wonder what you want.

“Hi, welcome to our shitty restaurant where the only thing worse than the ambience is the food. My name is Sanji. What can I get for you?”

[kneazle]

Tommy didn't think much of it as he rushed into the hospital's emergency room barely out of his flight suit, having just hit the locker room at the end of his shift when he got the call. A nurse calling to inform him that his son was being treated after a fall. Hearing your son didn't register until he was at the desk asking about Chris– his brain automatically knew who the nurse was talking about when he heard the words.

He was fidgeting standing there waiting as the man behind the desk looked up where Chris was. Tommy knew he only got called because Eddie and Evan weren't around, having volunteered to help out a few cities over with a massive fire while Chris stayed over at a friends until his dad came back, but there were other people he could have called—any of the 118, or Carla for example—but Chris told them to call him and told the nurse Tommy was his dad.

Tommy's head was spinning.

He and Evan were together for a year now and Tommy's spent time with Chris at least once a week for the past few months and he knew he was liked, that Chris supported his relationship with his second dad and jokingly called Tommy his step-dad once, but this? Tommy had to blink back tears when he finally was directed to the right area. For years he longed to belong somewhere, secretly wanting a family but never saying a word not thinking it would ever happen for him– now thanks to Evan and in extension Eddie he had genuine friends, the 118 welcoming him back in as if he never left, and his heart filled with joy anytime he was welcomed into the Han or Diaz's homes like he was a part of them.

"Chris!" Tommy let out a sigh of relief when he saw the teenager sitting on the gurney down the hall, the doctor looked to be finishing up giving Chris fucking stitches on his arm as a woman Tommy vaguely recognized as his best friends mom, having met her only twice– once at Chris's birthday party and then another time when Tommy had to pick him up from school.

"I'm okay!" Was the first thing out of his mouth, the doctor took a step away as Tommy moved to sit beside him, grabbing his arm to inspect it and noticing the scraps before his eyes drifted to the cut open jeans that were dirty and slightly bloody.

"What happened?" Tommy asked, gaze going between Chris and the mom– Diana he thinks.

"We were at a ice cream place by the beach and there were these big rocks piled all over the boys wanted to explore and Chris said he could handle it and he's better at knowing what he can handle then I could possibly–" Diana rambled on in one breath, looking anxious as if she expected Tommy to yell at her or give a lecture. But he knew that would be Eddie's call if he wanted to, Tommy's priority was to make sure Chris was okay.

"Other than the stitches it's just scraps and bruises," Chris told him.

Tommy breathed out and wrapped an arm around Chris, kissing the side of his head in a move he'd seen Evan do before. Usually it wasn't something Chris welcomed much anymore he was told, but the teenager leaned into Tommy instead of pulling away. Strings pulled at his heart at the warm weight against his side.

When they settled in at his and Evan's house–that used to be his and was now equipped for Chris should he need it and a bedroom just for him—Tommy finally asked. Chris sitting in one of the kitchen chairs with him on the floor, first aid kit beside him as he cleaned the cuts on his knees. Chris didn't want to be in the hospital anymore than he had to and asked if Tommy could clean them at home. It didn't escape his knowledge that this house was considered home to him too.

"Hey Chris?" Tommy asked softly, only continuing when he looked at him. "Why did you tell them I was your dad? You could have said I was an uncle or something instead."

Chris smiled and put his hand on Tommy's shoulder, "Dad didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Tommy said carefully, blinking up at Chris, taking his eyes off the scrap he just put a band-aid on.

"Dad put in my file that if he and Buck aren't available, you would be the next person to contact, as my other dad."

He said it so nonchalantly that it almost flew over Tommy's head. He froze and swallowed to push down the lump growing in his throat. He blinked to starve off his watering eyes. "You–"

"You and Buck aren't going anywhere," Chris shrugged. "You care for me like Buck does, dad and I love you just as we love Buck."

Tommy felt his resolve break in that moment as years of feelings and yearning shoved so far back came to the surface—and healed at Chris's words—neither of them said a word to anyone about it as the two hugged and tears fell.

Two days later when Buck and Eddie came back, the Diaz men opting to stay the night, Tommy pulled Eddie into a crushing hug that had the other man grunt before returning it. All three men and teenager made makeshift beds in the living room like they've done a few times for movie nights. Tommy found himself tucked against Evan's chest, one arm curled around holding him while the other rubbed circles along his back as if to soothe the mountain of emotions he'd been feeling– Tommy felt so much love for this man. It was obvious to him by his actions that Evan knew without Tommy having to say a word about his feelings.

Waking up in the morning Tommy was still against Evan's chest, but there was a weight that wasn't there when he fell asleep. Eddie who was beside him had turned around at some point, his arm thrown over Tommy with his hand resting over Evan's hip, Eddie's front against his back with his face buried between Tommy's neck and shoulder. He could smell food coming from the kitchen, the pre-made breakfast burritos being heated up it smelt like, which meant Chris was already up– and getting breakfast ready for all three of his dad's Tommy thought with a smile.

He let his eyes drift close for a few more minutes not wanting to move from the warmth and comfort surrounding him. Tommy curled more into Evan's chest and Eddie made a grumbling groan from behind him at the movement, pushing himself closer until Tommy was completely between the two. Amusement began to sink in at the thought of what they must look like, thankfully none of the 118—especially Howie—weren't here to take a picture or make fun. But Tommy– he didn't care if it was weird to anyone outside this house. For the first time in his life Tommy felt completely and utterly loved, by the two men holding him as they slept and the teenager who solidified Tommy's place as family by calling him dad.

[multific]

A Mother's Love

Aegon II Targaryen x Reader

Summary: Aegon getting stuck in a meeting is nothing new. Being held up by the nobles was a normal occurrence. However, all Aegon was thinking is how he would rather be in bed with you, his very pregnant wife. 

Aegon was held up by the council. His leg bounced as he grew more and more annoyed by the second.

All he wanted was to go back to bed, where you were, cuddle to your baby bump and forget about all this King nonsense.

Little did he know, that just as he was dreaming about your baby bump, you were on your bed, screaming in pain.

One of the servants went to fetch the King, but a knight stood in her way, not allowing the king to be disturbed. 

Aegon was now extremely irritated, he felt like for the entire day, he had been held in that damn room.

And he was.

As soon as he exited, the servant girl rushed over to him.

"My King! I have been waiting for you!"

"Not now! I wish to rest!" he tried to dismiss the girl.

"But My King! The Queen is in labor." that stopped Aegon. He slowly turned and looked at the girl.

"What did you just say?"

"She started her pains this morning, it is possible she has already given birth." said the girl.

"Why didn't you come and tell me sooner?!" Aegon was now yelling.

"The guards stopped me." she replied, Aegon looked at his guards, shooting extremely disappointed looks at them. But he can deal with them later.

Aegon then quickly turned and headed back to where your shared chambers was.

He opened the door, and there you were, your eyes met him and you smiled. Holding a little bundle in your arms.

Every servant left the room, leaving the King and Queen alone.

"I didn't know. They didn't tell me." he said, trying his best to explain himself but you just smiled. He moved closer to you.

"Doesn't matter anymore. Come, meet your son." you were quick to hand him the bundle as he sat down next to you. "He looks like you."

Aegon looked down at his son, his eyes and hair were the exact as his father's.

"I was hoping you would name him." you confessed and he gave a nod. He was too focused on the little baby.

"He is beautiful." Aegon whispered as the child yawned. "You gave me an angel." you smiled, closely watching the two. 

"I'm also extremely tired. If I may sleep for a bit."

"I will give him to the nurse."

"No, no Aegon." you were quick as he stood up, you reached towards your son. "I wish to have him here, please."

Aegon looked at you confused. "Why? You need to rest."

"Yes, of course. But I also need to bond with him. If I don't have him here... I do not wish to be like your mother was to you." you finally confessed. Your deepest worry since became aware of the little human inside you.

"You would never be like her." Aegon moved back onto the bed, sitting down once more. "You will be an amazing mother. You will show every woman what it is to be a mother. A mother who loves their child. I know you will, you grew to love me." you smiled.

"Leave him in his crib." you pointed at the little bed next to your side of the bed. "When he falls asleep, put him on his back into the bed and the small blanket over him. If he wakes and I don't, wake me, I'll feed him. Do not call a nurse. Promise me Aegon that you will not call a nurse." he could hear the desperation in your voice and as much as he knew you needed to rest, he also didn’t wish to fight your decision. 

"I promise you, My Love. I will do as you asked." you nodded before moving to lay down, watching the two as you fell asleep. 

Aegon looked at his son, slowly standing up as he walked to the windows, letting the late afternoon sun hit the child's beautiful round cheeks. 

Aegon placed a kiss onto the child's forehead. 

Aegon was still rather furious that the guards didn't warn him about what was happening in his own castle, he will make sure that they will learn their lesson. 

But just for now, he was okay with only holding his son as he watched you sleep.

A warm feeling completely filled his chest. 

Taglist: @fleursirvart​ @greenarrowhead​ @thisismysecrethappyplace​ @sincerelyfan​​ @theoneanna​ @aestheticsandmarvel​ @rororo06​ @castellandiangelo​​ @destynelseclipsa​​ @spilledinkindumpster​​ @capsiclesdoll​​ @puknow​​ @alwayshave-faith​​ @alex12948​​ @lxdyred​​  @imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl​​ @anonymoussherlockandmarvelgeek​​ @praline357​​ @trshngyn​​ @avengers-r-us​​ @violet-19999​​ @top1bbgloak​​   @manduse​   @jacalineiscomingforyou​  @mandoloriancookie​​

~Masterlist~

ˇAO3ˇ

DO NOT STEAL, REPOST OR TRANSLATE ANY OF MY WORKS  

[rebelliousstories]

Sins of the Father

Relationship: Luke Alvez x Reader

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Request: No

Warnings: Angst, Violence, Fluff

Word Count: 4,992

Main Masterlist: Here

Criminal Minds Masterlist: Here

Summary: When the victim of a crime shows up to a hospital, she only has one name on her lips as she dazes in and out; Luke.

John F. Kennedy said, “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”

Racing inside of a hospital in the blistering cold, there were medics and emergency room staff working desperately on a woman in a stretcher. A small boy who was crying out for his mom from the back of the ambulance. An oxygen mask covered her mouth but she kept trying to speak.

“Get the OR prepped now!” A nurse yelled, running alongside the gurney.

“Luke. Luke!” The woman pulled her mask off and fought with her nurse that was trying to put it back on. People moved out of their way as they ran down the hallways. As they were doing that, a small boy was being led by an EMT to the waiting area to wait with him. A woman in a suit, and a man in a polo showed up to the nurses station and showed their credentials before being pointed over at the waiting room.

“Buddy, I know that you’re scared, but I’m gonna wait right here till the police can show up and help you. Do you want a water?” The EMT tried to get the boy to open up, but he just curled in on himself.

“Excuse me,” the woman gained the attention of the older man, “we’re agents Prentiss and Alvez. May we speak with you for a moment?”

The man went to nod, but his eyes drifted back to the small child next to him. Luke stepped forward and crouched down in front of the small boy. The boy hesitantly looked towards the older man, and looked at him with recognition that the agent did not understand.

“Hey there. I’m Luke. Do you mind if I wait here with you?” He asked softly, waiting for the boy to acknowledge him. But the boy said nothing. The medic was ushered away by Emily, but Luke still sat on the floor in front of the boy to not crowd him in.

“You’re the one who treated the woman that was just admitted?” Emily asked, already going into business mode.

“Yeah. She was in rough shape when we found her and her son. I’ve seen so many things in my years, but if I never saw one of these guys victims again it would be too soon.” He shook his head as he dropped his eyes.

“Can you tell us where you found her? We know there was a 9-1-1 call that led you to an abandoned factory. Was there anything unusual about it?” She pressed. Her feyes flickered over to where her friend was still sitting near the boy.

“Um, she was bound with tape and rope. Her kid was holed up in a closet down the hall.” The man responded.

“This is very important, did you remove anything from her hands? Stamps, coins, even bugs that have been preserved?” Prentiss got her phone ready to make a call with whatever the EMT said.

“Cards. We gave the police a queen of hearts, jack of diamonds, and a uh… oh what was it,” he was thinking hard about what the other card was. “Oh, a king of clubs as well.”

“Thank you. You’ve been a big help.” She let the medic go and turned to where Luke was still trying to get through to the woman’s son.

“Ready and willing for you, my fair lady.” The cheery voice of one Miss Penelope Garcia chimed through the phone.

“Hey girl. Listen, the collector left a set of cards this time. I’m gonna have the Virginia P.D. send them over. But he only left three this time. He didn’t complete the set.” The older agent continued to stare in confusion at the duo in front of her while the clacking of keys filled the other line.

“Why wouldn’t he have completed the set? That’s like his whole thing.” Penelope was also staring confused now.

“I don’t know, but we do know that the three previous victims all had something that they hid and never claimed. Look into our Jane Doe and see if anyone matching her description has gone missing that has a child.” Emily instructed, noticing the smile passing over Luke’s face as the child looked at him again. He still had not said a word but he was responding.

“Oh she has a child? That is awful. Why do bad guys do bad things? Okay, I will see if anyone has gone missing in a tri-state region matching her description that has a child. Farewell fair g-woman!” And the line clicked off. Prentiss smiled but kept her distance from the to men in front of her and just watched them.

“Can you tell me your name bud? If I know your name, I could find out how to better help your mom.” Luke gently pried, finally moving to the chair next to the boy.

“Liam. My mom has a picture of you.” The boy admitted, turning his body fully to the man to his left.

“Okay Liam, what do you mean your mom has a picture of me? Like from the T.V. or computer?” He pried again, confusion forming deep in his face.

“No. In her necklace and in the frame in her drawer. She thinks that I don’t know, but I do.” Liam looked down at his feet as he kicked lightly.

“You’re very smart Liam. Do you know where she got those pictures?” Now, Luke was going away from the main objective.

“She’s had them forever,” he shrugged, “she doesn’t like talking about it with me. Mom just cries late at night. I think that’s why the man gave me this.”

“Gave you what, Liam?” He did not know how that little brain was able to comprehend and process everything that was happening; Luke’s brain was having a difficult time by himself.

“This.” Liam pulled down his shirt and showed something stapled to the inside. Luke helped him flip the edge over to reveal a card. Whipping a glove out of his pocket, Luke was grabbing the card, careful not to cause harm to the child. The name “Luke” stared back at him, which just added more confusion to his mind. The agent looked back to Emily who was calling to get an evidence kit to collect the card. Once the card was collected and sent off to the BAU, Luke continued to sit with Liam as he did not want to leave the boys side.

At the headquarters, Reid stared at the three cards that he currently had and thanked the agent that delivered him the fourth. There was a reason the unsub did not pair all for cards together like he should have. He was known as The Collector; he should have put them all together out of compulsion.

He placed all four cards on a board and just stared at them. This unsub paired the stamps together with years consecutively apart. Coins were in the same pattern, just with earlier years. And the bugs were the oldest but the dates on the back of the frames were earlier, but all together.

“Garcia got a name on our Jane Doe- what are you doing?” JJ asked, walking in to the round table room where Reid was staring at the pictures of items that were found at the scenes of the crime. He did not give her an answer but instead turned to his friend instead.

“I know why he’s choosing what he’s choosing to display. Who’s the latest?” Spencer jumped from thought to thought with surprising speed. Jennifer told him her name, and placed her photo where it needed to go on the board.

“Great. We need to get the team together.” He left to go track down his fellow teammates while JJ just stood there, trying to see what he saw in the pictures. In just a moment, JJ and Spencer stood with Rossi, Lewis, Simmons and Garcia while Alvez and Prentiss were on a conference call.

“I didn’t see it until the card came in, but please indulge me for a moment.” Spencer began, gaining the attention of those around him.

“So, when we’re young, what’s something that we can easily get to collect? Especially young boys?”

“Bugs.” Lewis offered.

“Exactly,” his hands were running wild as he spoke, “then when we’re old enough to make or get money, you usually collect by date. When you’re old enough to write, you might send letters and if you have the collecting tendency, you collect stamps. Finally, when you’re old enough to start playing cards, you might collect cards based off their patterns and designs.” After his explanation, Spencer was looking around and just hoping he had not lost them.

“So he’s telling the story of his life through the collectibles he leaves.” Rossi pointed out, feeling like there was more to be discovered.

“Exactly, but this is where it get’s interesting.” Reid pulled down the cards and laid them on the desk.

“On the front, all four of these cards look similar, however,” the cards were flipped, “on the back, only the two hearts match. The two kings don’t match each other or the hearts. They have completely different appearances.”

The team stood around as they thought about the explanation. It was not until a nurse came by that Luke’s attention was drawn away. He let Emily know that he was going to her, and left the team.

“She’s resting right now. There was some extensive damage but she should make a full recovery. You can go see her now.” The nurse led the way down the hall to where the woman lay in her hospital bed. Alvez thanked the nurse, and she went on her way. He looked in through the glass at the beaten woman inside and felt his throat close. Her voice still ran through his head everyday, even after all this time.

Luke walked inside the room, and let out a shaky breath at he watched her just lying there. She was staring off into nothingness and barely registered that there was another person in the room. With a clearing of his through, the agent brought her attention to him.

“Luke.” She whimpered, tears welling up at the mere sight of him.

“Hey reina.” He whispered, coming over to the side of the bed. She said nothing for a minute, before she finally burst out crying. The pain in her face flared up, yet she could not help but cry.

“I’m sorry, Luke. I’m so sorry.” Her words caused the man to hold her hand delicately as she continued to cry.

“You have nothing to be sorry about, sweetie. You did nothing to deserve this treatment.” Alvez tried to reassure her but she just kept shaking her head and crying.

“It is all my fault. I did this. This is my fault, Luke. I set him off.” Her breathing was starting to pick up and Luke knew he needed to act fast. He had enough of his friends from the army that developed panic attacks after what they saw to know when one was starting.

“You gotta calm down, reina. Breathe, you gotta breathe. Follow me. In and out. There you go. Try it again. Good job. Let’s try it again.” Luke led her through several exercises to help stave off the attack, and was glad to see her heart beat finally calming back down. Once she was able to catch her breath, the woman looked around, and was about to be sent into another tizzy.

“My son. Where’s my son? Where’s Liam?” Even though she tried to get up, the agent did not let her.

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay. Lay back down. Liam is with my coworker, Emily. They’re just outside in the waiting room.” He reassured her once more. She nodded as she settled back into her bed with Luke at her side.

“So, where are you working now,” came her ask. Her voice was small and weak than he had ever known.

“The Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico.” He answered, sitting down in the chair beside her bed.

“BAU, huh? Would have never thought you would go from the FTF to a desk job.” She teased, causing them both to chuckle.

“Hey, don’t wanna hear nothing. Little miss work from home author.” Alvez sent right back, making them chuckle again. But once they died down, the man turned solemn. “I’ve gotta ask some tough questions that I’d much rather not have Liam present for, if that’s okay?”

She nodded and let her self get comfortable in her bed first. Luke readjusted in his seat as well before he began.

“Do you know the man who did this to you?” He asked, watching the woman closely for any sign of discomfort.

“Yeah. My ex-boyfriend, Santiago.” Her eyes shifted away as she answered.

“Wait, Santi did this? I thought he was still in New York.” Luke could not catch a break on the confusion.

“He followed me here. When I broke up with you, Luke, I didn’t want to. But he said he would kill you and my parents if I didn’t. I couldn’t take that chance. He knows where all of you live.” She pleaded, looking back with tears in her eyes.

“It’s fine. You were only doing what you thought was right. Even though, I would have had someone investigate his threats for you. But sweetheart, that was five years ago. What have you been doing all this time? And why would he do this now?” Luke pressed, holding her hand in his own.

“I was taking care of my son. But I was tired of being controlled. I found out that your number hadn’t changed. I guess he found out cause one minute I’m packing Liam’s bag, and the next I’m tied down to a table in an abandoned building.” Her words tumbled out of her mouth uncontrollably.

“When we found Liam in the waiting room, he had a card stapled to his shirt. Now, that’s just his signature, right. Leaving something on his victims that is a collectible. But the cards weren’t collectible. They were all different except for the queen and jack. Two different kings that did not match. Does that have anything to do with Liam?” Luke noticed how she chewed her lip between her teeth and picked at her nails unconsciously. That was always her tell that she was hiding something. Now just what that something was the question. He called her name, and she looked him in the eyes. The woman was wishing that she had not done that.

“Who is Liam’s father?”

A knock at the window caused the pair to pull away and look to the source of the noise. Emily had arrived with Liam, who ran to his mother. Luke helped the young boy up, and followed the agent out of the room to discuss.

“This woman had the most rage shown to her, but not the son. Whoever this guy is, he is getting closer to his end game. But I can’t help feeling like we’re missing something.” Prentiss lamented, noticing how distant Luke was after her little speech.

“What is it?” She pried.

“I know who this guy is. We need protection detail stationed at her door until we catch him. He’ll come back and finish off the job.”

The two agents raced back to Quantico while on the phone with the team to fill them in. Inside the SUV, the air was so thick with tension you could cut it with a knife. Prentiss was not sure what was going on with Luke since they left the hospital, but he was silently staring out of the window. The man was lost in his thoughts as he thought about everything that had happened in the last decade.

When they made their way up the elevator to the sixth floor, Luke was silent through all of that. His next words would not come until he had barged his way into Garcia’s lair. The technical analyst let out a shriek as she was startled by the loud noise.

“Oh hello to you too. What can I do for you mister with the very scary look on his face that tells me something bad is about to happen?” Her voice trailed off as Alvez came to rest his hand on the bak of her chair and look over her shoulder to gaze at the screen.

“Garcia, pull up anything and everything you can on a Santiago Domingo from the Bronx. We went to the same high school. Send it over to the main screen.” Luke left as soon and as fast as he had entered which left the woman to scramble to get his information. Making his way into the round table room, Emily met him in there with determination.

“I got your text. What’s going on that you don’t want to fill the team in about yet? Is this about the latest victim in the hospital?” She wasted no time, and got right down to business.

“Yes,” he admitted with a deep sigh. “I wanted to tell you first before bringing the team up to speed.”

“Floor is yours.” She prompted.

Down in the bull pen, the rest of the agents watched through the blinds as the unit chief spoke with her agent. They were all trying to figure out who this guy was, but was not able to. However, no one missed the DMV photo that was pulled up on the big screen.

“What do you think they’re talking about in there?” Lewis pondered, sipping her coffee. She had lost track as to what number cup she was on for the day.

“Whatever it is, it doesn’t look good.” JJ replied, popping a chip in her mouth as she was finally able to take a break to eat. A noise prompted the rest of the team to turn their heads to the resident genius who was still focusing on the cards that were collected from the scene.

“Your IQ is whining so much I want to give it some cheese. What do you have, Reid?” Rossi teased, prompting a few chuckles.

“The cards. The other mismatched king, the king of spades, that’s the one that had Luke’s name on it but why?” Spencer held a confused look on his face as he tried to piece the puzzle together.

“Maybe the unsub knows Luke and wanted to taunt him. Wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.” Simmons pointed out, but Reid only shook his head.

“It’s got to be more than that. The queen and jack are from the same suit, and the same deck. But only the kings are different in suit and deck, and they don’t match any other card that was recovered.” He continued his explanation.

“What’s your point?” Rossi asked.

“I’m not sure.” Reid concluded.

“Guys,” Emily stepped out and called their attention, “you’re gonna want to get in here.”

The team shuffled into the room, and all stood around the table while Luke was right in front of the screen. His face was solemn and defeated; a look that did not suit Luke Alvez very well.

“The man we’re looking for was my best friend in high school, Santiago Domingo. We called him Santi. He was a bit of an odd guy, but harmless for the most part. Came from a broken home and was a typical kleptomaniac. Anything he could get his hands on, he took.” Luke took a break and casted his eyes to the table. Having to dig up old memories was hard for him.

“Halfway through senior year there was a girl who transferred to our school. She had all the same classes as me so I got assigned one morning to help her around. I really liked this girl, I mean she was the total package. Smart, pretty, great sense of humor, wanted to help people, already had a job and another more permanent one set up after high school. Well, as time went on and she would hang around me and Santi, I ended up falling for her. I didn’t realize that Santi was in the same boat I was in.’

‘Prom came around and as much as I wanted to ask this girl out, Santi was asking me for advice on how to do it himself. So I helped him. He was the happiest I had ever seen him when she said yes. They made a really lovely couple. After high school, they stayed together. And I saw less and less of her, and anytime I did see her, she was always within arm length of Santi. Then the bruises came.”

Pictures flashed on the screen, and the whole team had to hold their breath. The woman’s face was covered with scrapes and marks. Her arms, chest, legs, hands, and feet were all in the same horrid condition. Garcia averted her eyes as they continued, but everyone else kept watching the slides.

“She reached out to me about twelve years ago, wanting to get out of the relationship but felt like she couldn’t. I got her to go to the police, testify against him in court, and got Santi put away for ten years. Two years later, we started dating once she felt like she could and we were happy. I planned on proposing to her, but before I could, she broke up with me. Left all of her stuff in our apartment, and was gone in the middle of the night. According to prison records, Santi only served four of his ten. Got out on good behavior. According to her, she had to break things off with me, otherwise he would have killed her parents, then me.” Luke concluded. The room was so silent, you could hear everyone’s breathing. No one said anything for a while. They just stood there and stayed silent.

“So how can we help find Santiago?” Emily asked, which pulled everyone else from their stupors.

“Garcia, where was he staying in town? If he’s doing all these murders, he’s got to be staying somewhere isolated that he can plan and execute everything.” Matt directed.

“Right, um. So Domingo’s last known address was…” her face dropped once the search result came back, “an apartment downtown. He’s been living on the same floor as Luke for the past six years.”

“No matter how stupid this guy may be, he’s not stupid enough to keep her, with a child on the same floor as Luke. He’s got to have another spot that he was holding them.” JJ countered, but it all slipped away for Alvez. Six years Santiago had known where he was and knew the routine.

“Look for anything registered in her name. That’s going to be where they’ve been living since leaving Luke.” As soon as Spencer said the magic words, Garcia had her fingers racing across her keys. Another ding.

“Okay so I’ve got an address, also downtown, but about five miles from the apartment. It’s a house registered in her name. They’ve been there for five years.” Penelope looked up at Luke, but he was just staring that table into the ground. If looks could kill, that table would be taking a world of abuse.

“So we go to his house. He was interrupted with her. He’ll wanna regroup before going with his next strike.” Luke made the move to leave the room to get ready but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“Look, Luke. You are far too close to this case. Let us handle it. We need him alive, and with your relationship to the victim, you’ll be a liability.” Rossi gently spoke, as if hushing a cornered animal. The agent turned around and leveled his unit chief with a look. A look that said, “you signing off on this right now?”

“Go stay at the hospital with her until we catch Santiago. You’ll be better suited for that than this.” Emily did not miss the look of indignation that came across Alvez’ face. Even less so when it was paired with the stomping of boots as he stormed away.

Luke obeyed the order though. He drove silently to the hospital, wishing that he was out in the field taking down this guy. Once he was parked and the vehicle was shut off, he hit the steering wheel a couple times to let out his anger at the situation. Scrubbing his hands over his face, Alvez left the vehicle and made his way into the hospital. His team was out there taking down his childhood best friend without him. If anyone should be able to make that arrest, it should be Luke.

He kept thinking about this all the way to her room. And then his mind drifted to her son, Liam. The kid was just five years old and had almost lost his mom thanks to that man. Arriving at her room, Alvez noticed that the blinds were drawn and immediately had a bad feeling in his gut. Placing a hand on his firearm, he went into the room as quietly as possible.

“Thought I wouldn’t notice yo slipping right back into Mr. Perfect’s arms, huh?” It was Santiago. He had found her. Luke should not have been too shocked; Santiago needed to complete the collection.

“Please, don’t hurt us more than you have. Okay? Liam loves you. Don’t do this in front of him.” She was trying to shield her son, but with her condition and being in a hospital bed, that was very difficult.

“Don’t lie to me. I know he isn’t mine.” Santiago growled, waving around a knife.

“Santiago, put it down.” The man in question turned around, but his face relaxed to be almost jovial upon seeing the agent in the room.

“Well, look who we have here. Luke Alvez. Big bad FBI agent who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about where he comes from.” Domingo moved closer to the mother and son in the bed while moving his knife closer and closer. This prompted Luke to draw his gun, and kept it trained on the man in front of him.

“Santi, I don’t want to hurt you but I will. Let them go and drop the knife.” He pleaded, shifting his eyes to her in reassurance.

“Has she even told you,” came the question. When no response was given from anyone, Santiago burst out laughing in his spot. “Oh, she hasn’t. This is too perfect. You’re so clueless man.”

“Santi, please.” She begged, but cowered when the knife came closer to her and her son.

“No! Don’t you think he has the right to know? I mean, you wouldn’t be so heartless as to keep that from him would you?” He was teasing her, and still waving a knife around her son.

“Go on, tell him. You’ll feel better.” Santiago kept repeating the prompt over and over again, but she refused. Instead, she held her son close and waited for the nightmare to be over.

“Tell him!” He shouted, yanking Liam from his mom’s grasp. Both people cried out and tried to get to the other, but Santiago had other plans. With a knife held menacingly over the boys stomach, he prompted the woman again. This time much gentler. “Tell Luke.”

She looked at her son, who had tears coming down his face. He looked just as confused as the agent that she laid her eyes on next. Her vision was obscured by the tears that were pouring down her face as she tried to figure a way to get her son back.

“Luke, when I left to go to Santi, I was pregnant. I told him for years that Liam was his, but when he started growing proper hair, I couldn’t lie anymore. Liam is your son, Luke. I’m so sorry I hid that from you.” Her wails were overshadowed by Santiago’s whoops in delight.

“Doesn’t that feel so much better. How about you Luke? Feel any better knowing the truth?” Santiago teased again. The agent kept his gun and eyes hardened on the man but was quietly processing the information.

“Now where were we?” He raised his knife up as if to swing, and Luke did not think about it another second. Landing a bullet in the man’s shoulder, the agent swooped in and kicked the knife away from him as he grabbed the boy and hoisted him up. Santiago was writhing in agony on the ground, blood steadily pouring out, but Luke did not care. He set the young boy on the bed, and called it in.

In just a few minutes, his entire team was there. Luke kept himself busy for the time being with giving a statement, getting Santiago out of the room and filling his unit chief in. Thirty minutes later, he finally caught a long enough break to go back into the room where mother and son rested. Even though they were lying down, neither was too terribly tired. When she heard the door click, she waved the man over to sit on the chair beside them. Keeping a hand on the boy, she reached her other hand out to hold Luke’s.

“Was that true? What you said earlier.” He asked, begging for confirmation.

“Every word. He’s yours, Luke. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but he wouldn’t let me reach out to you once we knew for certain.” Liam sat up and faced the adults talking.

“Hey buddy. I’m your dad.” Luke choked out as tears came to his eyes. Without another word, Liam launched himself into his awaiting arms as Alvez cried. Bringing her into the fold, they all sat there crying and finally being together as a family.

“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.” Charles R. Swindoll

[persephone11110]

rain is a good thing

Jake‘Hangman’Seresin x Reader

Chapter 4: Memories

Warnings: medical induced coma, medical inaccuracy,past relationship, mama seresin, flashback of jake and y/nrelationship—there italicized

Chapter Summary: Its not awkward sitting in the room with your ex boyfriend-mother.

Characters: Gina Sersesin | Doctor Kate Young

A/N: does jake make it ? , enjoy and thank you to everyone who continues to like and reblog and comment.

WC:810

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Series Masterlist

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You didn’t love him anymore not like before. Your just doing the right thing- which was keeping him company. After all what are ex girlfriends who still love their ex boyfriend there for?

So why are you sitting at your ex-boyfriend bedside holding his hand, reassuring him that you’ll never leave his side until he’s fully awake and functioning. You drop his hand by accident after hearing a familae voice, a voice you haven’t heard in a while.

You recognize two distinct voices- one voice belonging to Dr. Young the neurosurgeon who operated on Jake… and the other voiced was Jakes mother- Gina Seresin. Her voice heavy with a southern accent, dare you say heavier than Jakes. You hear Dr Young say something to her but your to busy listening to your heart rate accelerate to thousand beats per minute.

The back of your neck beat red you immediately rise out of the chair turning to meet her, she’s holding a bouquet of flowers, and picture of young Jake. Gina Seresin swears her old brain is playing tricks on her because Y/n L/n the heart her son broke was standing infront of her with a beat red face. “Is that you Y/n?”, you expected her voice to be dripping with anger but it isn’t, she motions you towards her. “C’mere darlin” she whispers to you.

“H-Hi Mrs. Seresin”, she envelopes you into a hug, her calmed voice provides you with a sense of comfort you haven’t had since you were a child. Your supposed to comforting the woman who son life hangs in between life and death, she flew all the way from Texas with by herself with the idea that her only son might be dead by the time she got to the hospital.

“Nonesense Y/n like I told you all those other times you have the right to call me anything but Mrs. Seresin”, she shushes you gently, neither of you were going to bring up the fact that both your shirts were now wet.

“Its nice to see you Gina”, your voice rough because of the crying you’ve been doing since you first saw Jake lying in the hospital bed.

You break apart from the hug- wiping away the tears,“Its nice to you see Gina, I wished we were meeting under different circumstances”, you grab the picture and flowers from her, putting on the table next to Jake. She pulls a chair from the wall, pulling it to the other side of Jakes bed.

She gives you a teary response in return,“Me too sweetheart”. Gina grabs Jakes hand gently and cups her hands around his,“Your going to be just fine baby, Rocky been waiting for you to ride her Jake”. How could you forget Rocky, when you and Jake were together he often brought up Rocky, a horse he had since he could walk. He would go on for hours about Rocky and how much he missed her while being stationed in California.

Wanting to give Gina alone time with her son you decided to slip out while her back to you and she’s busy telling Jake a story about Rocky.

You get lost in your mind as you wandered the hospital halls, walking past some hospital rooms with made beds, some with familes at the person bedside crying. Hearing a nurse yell clear as they attempt to bring someone back to life.

“Y’know Y/n your supposed to actually flip grill cheese”. Jake murmurs from behind, wrapping his arms around you.“Do you not like cheese sweets?”. He asks you with his signature shit eating grin.

“Jake you didn’t complain last time when I made it”. you hold the spatula upto his chest,“Not once did you speak ill of my cooking”.

“Well sweetheart you supposed to give compliments to the chef”. He grabs the spatula out of your hand placing it onto a napkin nearby.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”, you two are swaying back in forth with your arms lightly wrapped around Jakes neck.

“Yes it is”. you roll your eyes at Jakes sacarsm.“I love how excited you get when its your turn to cook that I just eat it darlin,watching you sing and bump your hips to music while cooking is my favorite thing to watch”.

“Well” you started to get teary, can’t find anything to say. “I love you Jake”. He pulls you so close that you feel how warm he is.

“Gotta show my darlin how much I love her”. Jake whispers into your ears, suddenly his lips are softly crashing into yours.

Between each breathe Jake utters a I love you.

“I love you so much sweetheart”. Jake inhales again, “I fucking love you”.

Your leaning aganist the doorway watching Gina finally succumb to sleep after hours of sitting at Jake beside awake, afraid to fall asleep.

“I love you”. you whispered into the quiet room.

Taglist: @chocolatefartstrawberry, @buckysteveloki-me, @dontletthemtakeyoualive, @classyunknownlover, @els-marvelvsp, @i-am-mrsreckless, @cinderellasmissingshoes,

[jqmalikhsgib]

too sweet

five

when yn and eddie made it to texas yn didn’t waste time heading to her grandmothers house. she needed to know that she was okay.

yn didn’t know what she would do if something happened to her grandma. this woman went out of her way to raise her when no one else would.

yn loved her grandma more than anything. when she arrived she sees her uncles car outside. she excitedly rushes to the front door to greet her family.

eddie stayed close to her. he was a little nervous meeting her family. but he was also really excited. he was prepared for anything that’s thrown his way.

“granny!” yn yelled as she walked into her childhood home.

“darling?! what are you doing here?”

yn grandmother hugs her tightly.

“i was worried. you said you couldn’t make it and didn’t tell me why. i wanted to see what was going on? if you were ok.”

yn grandmother chuckles. “baby, we wanted to come but the kids got sick. nothing to worry your pretty little head over. im glad you came though. i miss my grand baby.” yn grandmother kissed her on the cheek.

eddie stands there holding yn hand gently before she turns around. she grabs eddies hand tightly. “granny, this is eddie, my boyfriend. eddie, this is lauretta, my granny.”

eddie shyly puts his hand in front of her. lauretta shakes her head before grabbing him and hugging him tightly.

“don’t insult me, boy!”

eddie laughs as he hugs her back.

“how long are you two staying?”

yn looks at eddie. they never really discussed anything. they cut their trip to indiana short. they didn’t expect to be here. yn knew her schedule was free for a little while. she didn’t know if eddie had an event coming up or not.

“im free for the next two weeks, baby. anything you want.”

yn smiles hugely.

“i guess we’ll stay however long you want us!”

“don’t be silly, baby. you know id keep you here forever if i could. have you two eaten? your uncle made some soup earlier for the kids.”

“that sounds good!” eddie states.

yn goes to help her grandmother with everything before she shakes her head and points to the table. yn hesitates before sitting down next to her boyfriend.

her grandmother makes two bowls for yn and eddie before microwaving them and handing them both a bowl.

eddie and yn thank her as they start to eat.

“where is uncle pete?”

“he’s next door. talking to westly. you know how those two get. probably talking about football. your aunt sara is at work currently. you know she’s really loving the new nursing home she’s working at.”

“yeah?”

“she goes on and on about one patient. i think her name is heather. very nice lady! sad story though. her daughter passed away a few months back. her sons the one who put her in the nursing home. apparently his wife asked him to so they can sell the house.” yn grandmother shakes her head.

“that’s awful. i couldn’t ever do that to my uncle wayne. i don’t care who im married to. that man raised me!” eddie shakes his head at the thought. yn smiles as she grabs his hand.

“that’s right!” yn grandmother nods her head.

the three of them chat more before they all hear the front door open.

“mamma!?”

“in here, baby.”

they hear footsteps as yn uncle comes into view with a smile.

“is that my niece!”

yn gets up and hugs her uncle tightly. “hi, uncle pete.”

“hi, baby! what are you doing here?!”

“came to visit. my boyfriend and i are staying for a little while.”

“boyfriend?! oh, god! please tell me he’s not one of the little boys you use to bring over?!”

yn giggles as she shakes her head. “no! not this time uncle pete. got myself a man! eddie, baby.”

eddie stands up as he walks over to his girlfriend. yn holds his hand gently, caressing it to keep him calm. she knows how nervous he get around new people.

“hi, im eddie, sir.”

yn uncle gives him a blank stare. eddie gets more nervous before pete laughs and hugs eddie.

“im just messing with you! listen, if you treat my niece right you’re good with this family. but trust, if you hurt her we will hunt you down. tell him about the boy who made you cry after prom?” pete asked as he looks at his niece.

“oh, god no! i try to forget that day.” yn shakes her head as she thinks about the night her high school boyfriend broke up with her at prom. it was one of the worst nights of her life.

“you never told me you went to prom?”

yn hums “all four years!”

“quite popular!”

yn shakes her head. “not really. i got to go because i helped set up the prom my freshman and sophomore year. i was a bit of a nerd. the first two years i just sat back and watched. i only went the last two because my boyfriends at the time. my junior year i was dating this cute guy,”

eddie cleans his throat.

yn shakes her head and giggles “not as cute as you. but he was a bit of a geek. he was a senior and asked me to the prom. we broke up before he moved away to college. i think he’s married with like two kids now!” yn turns to her grandmother. she knew if anyone knew it would be her.

“kevin?! oh yeah! he’s got a steady job up in seattle somewhere. his husband works in law.”

“husband?”

yn nods. “he came out like right after he moved. too afraid of what people would think of him here and what his parents would say. i had no clue either. my grandma was the one to tell me after i introduced them. i told her it’s no way.”

“oh, honey! everyone saw it.”

“to be fair i was oblivious and i really liked him. it wasn’t like he was like offensively stereotypical. he was just a guy, you know?”

“it’s okay. i get it! i didn’t know mike was gay either. in fact no one saw it coming. he loved el like no other. i think it’s a repression thing. trying to fight so hard because you’re afraid of what others may think.”

“i say be who you are! who cares what others might think! people are gonna judge you no matter what.” yn uncle comes into view as he hands eddie a beer.

“thank you.”

“i agree! look at your grandfather and i! no one thought we’d end up together because he came from money. he left his entire life behind to be with me. he couldn’t have cared any less about the money or what his family wanted. that’s real love.” yn grandmother hums.

once yn aunt sara comes home she greets yn and eddie before going to check on the kids. yn grandmother goes to the kitchen to start dinner.

eddie excused himself as he got a phone call. he heads outside and talks to whoever was on the phone.

yn aunt sits besides her right after.

“so, eddie huh? that’s different.”

yn blushes.

“yeah. figured it was time for me to switch things up. date a man this time.” yn shrugs.

“does he treat you right?” yn uncle asked.

“he does! he’s the type of guy to buy flowers instead of showering me in jewelry. i like that! he’s such a gentleman! i don’t understand how lucky i got with him.” yn shakes her head in disbelief.

“im glad. i can tell he makes you happy. you’re glowing! do you think he’s the one?”

yn turns to see eddie still chatting on the phone. he smiles at her from the window.

“i don’t wanna jinx anything. but i do, yeah! i really don’t see myself with anyone else.”

“im just concerned, baby. i mean he’s a rockstar, right?! they’re the type to have groupies. i don’t want you getting hurt.” pete explained.

yn uncle pete was more like her father if anything. he helped her grandmother raise her. even before her mother died and father was sent to prison, he was there. with her mom being sick and her father committing atrocious crimes, he was the the one to take care of her as much as he could. pete was just being a concerned parent. she loved that her family were involved in her life.

“i understand your concern. eddie has grown and matured over the last few months. he’s committed to this relationship. if i suspect even an ounce of something i wouldn’t give it a single thought. i would leave and hopefully never see him again. but he’s been the perfect boyfriend, uncle pete. so much better than any man ive ever dated before. he listens, he showers me in compliments, he talks about the future, he does the smallest gestures most men today don’t do. he still opens the car door for me! he’s the perfect man.” yn finished.

“as long as you’re happy, baby! he seems like an amazing guy. should i start planning the wedding?” yn aunt smirks.

eddie walks back in with a sigh. yn aunt scoots so he could sit next to her.

“what’s wrong?”

“that was my uncle. apparently my dads trying to get sympathy points from us. he got ‘injured’ in prison. now he wants us to visit him whenever he gets out of the hospital. this isn’t the first time this happened. he plays victim, ask my uncle to come by, and begs for a load some of money. he’s got himself in trouble again im sure and owes someone there some money.”

yn sighs as she rubs her boyfriends back.

“we know what that’s like!” pete scoffs as he thinks of his own brother that’s in prison.

“im sorry you have to go through that eddie. no one should have to deal with a family member who only cares about themselves.” sara shakes her head.

eddie shrugs his shoulders. “it is what it is. hopefully my uncle won’t go. knowing him though, he’d still try to help him. it’s his brother so i get it. i just wish he knew the man couldn’t give a single fuck about any of us.”

“dinners ready!”

the next two days yn and eddie spent with her family had been amazing. eddie noticed his girlfriend had been more cheerful around her loved ones.

he loved seeing her smile and laugh more. it’s been an amazing sight. eddie also enjoyed getting to know yn family more and more. the more he talked to them, the more he thought of his own family back in hawkins.

currently the family was outside for the cookout yn grandmother planned the night they arrived. yn grandmother invited everyone, including the entire neighborhood.

everyone gathered around, chatting, drinking, playing cards, dancing, you name it. yn was currently standing next to a group of women and laughing. eddie smiles as he watches his girlfriend catch up. he takes a sip of his beer before walking over to her.

eddie wraps his arms around yn and kisses her right below her ear. she shivers before she smiles, turns, and kisses him passionately.

“hi.”

“hey, beautiful. missed you.” he whispers.

yn kisses him once more before they hear someone clear their throat. yn turns back around with a blush on her face. “sorry.”

“don’t be sorry! you gonna introduce us?”

“right! eddie, these are my best friends. tina, penny, and quinn. guys, this is my boyfriend, eddie!”

“hi, eddie.” quinn waves

“he’s hotter in person, yn!” tina smirks.

“don’t mind her. tina’s a bit flirt! it’s nice to meet you, eddie.” penny states.

“you too. yn talks about you all the time.”

“same here!”

“eddie! come meet your uncle andy.” yn grandmother grabs eddie. yn turns and smiles as he shrugs and waves his hand.

“he really is cuter in person, yn. never thought you’d date someone like him.”

yn knew what everyone meant when they said that. she wasn’t the type to date guys like eddie. eddie was the complete opposite of everyone yn dated in the past. she grew up in a black neighborhood. most of the guys she’s dated were people of color. she has dated guys outside her race, don’t be confused, but she’s never dated a white man who’s into heavy metal, a rockstar, and very nerdy all in one. in fact, if she was seen with someone like eddie back in high school, they’d make fun of her for dating the ‘cultist freak.’

people would still be cruel to eddie even in her neighborhood. but yn wouldn’t have cared. if he treats her right, why should she give a single fuck what others might think? she’s happy. that’s the most important thing that matters.

“he’s really great! the perfect gentleman.”

“hopefully not too perfect.” tina smirks.

yn blushes.

“stop!”

“come on! you use to give us deets all the time. at least tell us, is he good?” quinn asked,

yn turns to look at her boyfriend as her uncle andy talks his ear off. she turns back to her friends with a huge smile.

“best ive ever had!”

“better thank dre?” tina asked.

“god, so much better! he’s actually a very good lover. he’s such a giver! fuck, i hit the jackpot with eddie.”

“holy, shit! where can we find someone like eddie?” penny asked.

yn bites her bottom lip. “he’s also such a romantic! he buys me flowers every single date we have. even if it’s just us watching movies at home. ive never been pampered in my life.”

“okay, million dollar question,” tina starts.

“don’t even ask!” quinn looks at her with an eyeroll.

“come on, you guys aren’t dying to know!”

“leave it alone, tee.”

“what?”

“does dre know?”

“tina!”

“i told you to leave it.”

yn sighs at the question. dre was the man she left when she decided to take her music career seriously. he was her best friend before they started dating. yn begged him to come with her. she loved him with her whole entire chest. he was really the first person she’d ever truly loved.

but dre couldn’t leave. he had responsibilities here. if he left he would be leaving his mom to take care of his little siblings. she’d already been through so much, he couldn’t leave her.

yn knew that would be the end of them. and every guy after dre wasn’t serious. she was just trying to mend her broken heart. that is until she met eddie.

yn couldn’t even compare dre to eddie. dre was her first love but eddie would be her last. she never felt this way before. eddie had her whole entire heart and soul. if her and eddie ever broke up, she knew she’d never recover.

“if he’s been on social media, keeping up with what ive been doing, i don’t see how he doesn’t.” yn shrugs.

“may i asked the hard questions then? since tee already brought it up.” quinn started.

yn nods. “if dre wanted to get back together? if he decided to pack his things and be with you? follow you everywhere. would you get back with him?”

“no.” yn didn’t need to think about it. dre was her past and she’d hope that maybe in the future they could remain friends.

“damn. don’t get me wrong girl, i love that you’re happy! i just thought you and dre were like, endgame. i never thought you’d love anyone ever again. the way you were with him was undeniable. it was always you and him. feels weird that it’s not like that anymore.” tina states.

yn turns to look at eddie once more as he excuses himself and walks over to her.

“your uncle andy is one character!”

“sorry. he just loves telling long stories about nothing. he’s hilarious though.” yn states.

“that he is! i see where you get your humor from, baby.” eddie smiles as he kisses her gently.

“so, eddie, where are you from?” tina asked.

“hawkins, indiana.”

“never heard of it.”

“it’s a small town. nothing but nosey people getting into your business.”

“we know what that’s like!”

“amen to that!” quinn states with an eyeroll.

“you got any siblings?” penny asked.

“kinda! biologically im the only child. but i got a few kids i consider being my siblings.”

“how many?”

“seven!”

“that’s a lot! sure you wanna claim that many?” quinn jokes

“meh. they’re quite annoying sometimes. i love ‘em though.”

yn friends continue to ask eddie questions. trying to get to know him a bit better. they all see why she’s attracted to him. he had a wicked personality and he was funny. he was also a little nerdy which they knew was something yn likes. he was perfect for her.

“yn?”

yn turns around. she gives the person a half smile. her friends all go silent.

“dre, hi.”

dre goes to hug her. yn gives him a small hug as he squeezes her.

“i heard you were back in town. didn’t know how true it was.”

“yeah. im here visiting my family for a few more days.”

“it’s so good to see you! how have you been? i heard you were nominated for a grammy.”

“yeah! pretty fucking amazing, actually! im excited to see what happens.” she states.

“congratulations! i knew you’d make it big.”

yn smiles.

it was silent for a few minutes before yn clears her throat with a smile. “dre, id like you to meet my boyfriend, eddie!”

dre heart sinks at the word ‘boyfriend’

“hi.”

“hi, man.” eddie shakes his hand.

dre clears his throat. “we should catch up before you go.” dre states.

“of course, yeah.”

“i should head back. i just got off work. need a bit of a shower.” dre states before he nods and walks away. eddie runs his hands up and down yn back. he knew who dre was already. the two of them talked about past relationships. he knew how hard it was for her to leave him behind.

eddie saw the hurt look on the guys face. he wouldn’t know what he would do if he was in dre’s position. his own heart broke for the guy.

“you okay?”

yn turns and wraps her arms behind her boyfriends neck. “perfect.” yn kisses him passionately.

“love you, sunshine.”

“and i love you, rockstar!”

the next morning yn hears eddie laughing in the kitchen. she gets out of bed and wraps her rope around her waist before heading to the familiar sound.

yn sees eddie sipping a cup of coffee while her family laughs along with eddie.

eddie smiles as he sees his girl. he gets up and pulls out a chair for her. yn smiles and kisses him gently. she sits down as her grandmother serves her a plate.

“what are you all laughing about?” yn asked as she takes a bite of her toast.

“just telling eddie about the time you use to run around the house with nothing but a diaper and that red cape you use to love.”

yn shakes her head. “i was saving the world uncle pete.”

“oh, yeah! you were definitely our little hero.”

“it’s okay, babe. im sure i was the same way as a kid.” eddie shrugs.

yn hums. truth be told she loved how her family was getting along with eddie. he was definitely making a huge impression on them. it made her heart swoon seeing it.

after yn finished up her breakfast, her and her aunt got ready to do a little bit of shopping. she made sure eddie would be alright with being alone with her uncle, cousins, and grandmother. when he assured her he would be fine, she kissed him goodbye and left with her aunt.

yn and her aunt sara are super close. she considered her more of a friend than anything. she shared things with her aunt sara that she couldn’t share with her grandmother. or well, at least things she felt more comfortable sharing with her aunt. when she first got her period she told her aunt, her first kiss, her first time, her first heartbreak. it was all shared with her aunt.

it’s why it wasn’t much of a surprise she asked the quiet question in private.

“so, how does eddie treat you? i want all the details!”

“i told you already! he’s the perfect gentleman.”

sara rolls her eyes. “that’s not what i mean and you know it? give me the raw details. are you two living together? talking about marriage? kids?”

“we do talk about the future, yeah! i think he’s gonna ask me to move in when we get back home.” yn giggles.

“yeah?! how do you know?”

“because he wanted us to meet each others family all of a sudden. it was random when he brought it up. i mean, he’s even made room in his closet for me and moved things around the house, he got me a key so i can come over any time i want even when he’s not home, he’s asked me about my lease to my apartment a million times, it’s just tiny clues.”

“what about an engagement? i know you two have only been dating for, what?”

“seven amazing months!”

“do you see yourself married any time soon?”

“id marry eddie tomorrow if he asked.”

“really?!”

yn nods.

her aunt squeals.

“stop!” yn blushes.

“im just so happy for you! i love to see you smile. and you got this beautiful glow. it’s about time you found someone who treats you right. besides dre, i don’t think your uncle and i have liked the men in your life.”

“eddie and i are still very young though. he’s only twenty-eight. i don’t know exactly how he’d feel about marriage right now. i do know that he loves me though. every time he says im his forever, i feel it aunt sara. i know he means it with his whole entire existence.”

“im glad, honey. i know we don’t talk much about it, but your mom would be proud of the woman you are today. she’d also really love eddie. he’s funny, caring, charismatic, charming, and he’s beautiful might i add.”

“he really is!”

“come on, let’s get some food for the house and some snacks before your cousins lose their ever loving minds.”

when they get back to the house, yn sees her grandfathers truck. she knew he was out of town on business but she didn’t know if he’d be back in time to see her.

she runs to hug her grandfather and he kisses her cheek. “hey, baby! your granny told me you were in town. had to hurry up and finish my business trip to come see you.” he states.

“so glad you’re here, pops! have you met eddie.”

“i have! he’s a nice young man. a keeper if you ask me.” yn smiles.

she goes over to help get the groceries before eddie stops her.

“nuh uh! i get the groceries. you go relax, yeah?”

“exactly! in fact, all you ladies in the house! we got this.” yn uncle gently turns his wife around.”

“that’s right son! never let the lady carry the groceries.” yn grandfather states.

the men continue to get the groceries out of the car as yn, her grandmother, her aunt, and cousins sit in the living room.

“how was the store?”

“yn ran into a few fans actually.” sara smirks.

“yeah?”

“it was just a few teenagers.”

“they told her that her music inspires them. how empowering and women are.”

“that’s a mouthful.” eddie made himself known as he sits beside his girlfriend. he kisses her gently.

“women are the strongest creatures.” pete states.

the talk a little about women empowerment before eddie clears his throat.

“i was thinking i could take you guys out tomorrow night. since yn and i only got two more nights left. i wanna treat her friends and family.”

“oh eddie, you don’t have to do that. you don’t need anymore points from us! we love you like family.” pete half jokes.

“yeah, baby. it’s okay.”

“well, as family i wanna treat you all out! any place you want! im paying.”

“in that case, im all for it.” yn uncle andy finally makes himself known. he’d been watching some old football game. not paying too much attention to what’s going on.

“oh, stop it!” yn grandmother hits andy with a towel gently.

“alright.”

“okay, great!

later that night yn hears eddie chuckling on the phone before spotting his girlfriend and hanging up.

“who was that?”

“just dustin. hey, have you invited your friends for tomorrow?”

yn wraps her arms behind eddies neck. “no. we really don’t have to invite everyone eds. my family is already pretty large. you know not everyone was able to come to our cookout right? most of the people there were just neighbors.”

eddie shakes his head. “i already booked the whole restaurant, baby. i want everyone there. i just wanna treat the family. they’ve done so much.”

yn hums. “okay, fine! but on our last night i want a hotel. missed you.” she whispers as she kisses him passionately.

“yeah?” eddie smirks.

“mhm. haven’t had you in forever. it’s been torture eds. and you won’t fuck me here. no matter how many times i beg.” she rolls her eyes.

eddie chuckles as he shakes his head. “baby, you don’t know how bad i want to fuck you until you’re begging me for mercy,”

“then why won’t you?” yn interrupted.

“because this is your families house. i won’t disrespect them in their home. plus what i plan to do to you, i know you won’t be able to keep quiet.” eddie smirks.

yn body shivers.

the couple heads back inside before heading to yn bedroom and falling asleep in one another’s arms.

the next night yn spots all her friends and family. she smiles as she greets everyone. when she turns she spots dre. she smiles and gives him a wave.

it didn’t feel right not inviting him. he was her friend before they dated and she hoped to get that back.

once yn sees everyone is here she ask for menus. that is until eddie stops her.

“wait, we’re missing some people.” yn frowns before she sees eddie’s friends and family. eddie waves for them to join them at the main table.

“yn, it’s good to see you again.” wayne hugs yn tightly.

“you too! when did you guys get here?”

“last night. eddie had got us a last minute flight. you know how he is.” steve shakes his head.

“alright, now that’s everyone! we’re ready for our menus.”

once the menus were past around and everyone got their food and drinks, they all chatted amongst one another. yn enjoyed having both hers and eddie’s family together. it was a beautiful sight.

with yn family being as large as they are and eddie having a big family of his own, the place was definitely packed. she was very glad eddie booked the whole restaurant. otherwise the whole restaurant would be filled with too many people or they’d have to dine somewhere else.

“this place is fancy! where did eddie find this place?” quinn asked.

“yeah! and the lobster, it hit every single time.” tina states.

yn was going to answer until she heard someone ring their champagne glass.

“sorry, sorry, sorry! im just—i wanna say how happy i am to finally meet the boy, or should i say man, my granddaughter has told us about. he’s such a gentleman and im glad you found someone who treats you like a queen. you deserve all the love he gives you and more. it’s why i was very honored when he came to me and my son to ask us for something so beautiful and special. as you know, i have this ring that was passed down to me from my mother, her mother before that, her mother before that, and so on. and because i didn’t have a daughter of my own, i never got to pass it to my own daughter. but i now can pass it onto my granddaughter.”

yn was confused until she turned and sees eddie down on one knee. he was holding her grandmothers engagement ring. yn mentioned to eddie before that she’d want to be proposed to with her grandmother engagement ring. she said it was passed down from generation to generation. it meant a lot to her and a lot to her family. as she sees him down on one knee, the ring in his hand, and the sparkling look in his eyes, she started to cry.

“yn, i know we’ve only been together for seven months. but it’s been the best seven months of my life. i swear baby, none of this was planned. but when i saw how you were with your family and thought about how you were with mine, i just knew i didn’t wanna waste a single moment. i want to be with you for the rest of my life. it’s why i got your grandfather to come home early, why i got your aunt to ask you questions about marriage, why ive been sneaking on the phone with dustin, why i would do absolutely anything for you. you’re my forever, baby. ill say it to you for as long as i should live. i love you and that’s why im asking you to be my wife. will you marry me, yn?”

yn wipes the tears out of her eyes before nodding her head. eddie grins hugely as he puts the ring on her finger and everyone claps. eddie kisses his now fiancé on the lips.

“congratulations!”

everyone begins hugging one another as they celebrate yn and eddies engagement.

once everyone gets home yn and eddie begin to pack their bags. yn looks down at her ring and smiles. she couldn’t believe she was actually engaged to eddie. yn was super excited.

eddie kisses her gently. “why don’t you get in the car. i got the rest, baby.”

“you sure?”

eddie hums. yn kisses him once more. she says good night to her granny and promises to come by tomorrow morning for breakfast.

when she gets outside she sees dre. he was leaning against her car smoking a cigarette. yn slowly walks over.

“hi.”

“hey. congratulations.”

“thanks, dre.”

dre laughs. “i always thought that would be you and me, you know?”

yn hums in agreement.

awkward silence took over for a few. dre sighs before he steps closer and grabs her hand.

“i—what if i decided to go with you?”

“what?”

“leave this behind. you and i can go off and elope like we said we would. you can live your dream of being a rapper, i find a job or just go on the road with you. i just—what if we just took off now?” dre asked hopeful.

“dre—”

“come on, yn! you can’t say you still don’t love me. don’t you?”

“not like that, dre. i will always have love for you. before you were my boyfriend you were my best friend. you’ll always be the first guy i truly loved. but eddie, he’s my last and my only.”

dre lets go of yn hand.

eddie walks over to them as he unlocks the trunk. “everything okay, baby?”

yn smiles and nods. “i was just saying bye to dre.”

eddie looks between the two before nodding. he puts their suitcases in the trunk.

“ready?”

yn gives dre a sad smile. “ready.” she states before getting into the car.

i tried to finish this up and rushed the ending. but i hope you all still like it. i promise more drama will come in this story. but i just got an idea for another story writing this!

[aleksa-sims]

RL Story

Lucas & I had an..... exciting day with Philip and Annabelle. P. & I met in a park. It was all good, but as soon as we arrived at P’s place, it got stressful. My little one started to cry & scream. He was almost 2 months old and actually, he didn’t cry so much anymore, like the first weeks before. I kind of panicked. I thought he wasn’t well? Maybe I should take him to an emergency room? I was suddenly completely insecure again and just didn’t know what to do?

Annabelle was a much calmer and more balanced Baby than Lucas. She was 18 months now, almost 2 years old. While Philip tried to calm Lucas down, Annabelle was playing on the floor next to us in the living room. At first she didn’t pay much attention to Lucas, but when her Dad took him in his arms, Annabelle got a little.... moody too. I think she was jealous. I went to her, to get her to us on the couch.

Me: Sorry P.! I didn’t mean to yell at you. I panicked, yk?

Philip: Yea, I got it! But honestly, A., what’s going on? Why can’t you hold your son? I mean, you just stood there, he cried, you didn’t do anything. That’s why I picked him up. I didn’t mean to upset you, by thinking I could do better than you.

Me: Like I said, I just panicked a bit.

Philip: Why do you react when Annabelle cries, but not Lucas? She didn’t even cry, she's just fussy.

Me: I can and I want to hold my Baby! Give him to me, pls.

Philip:.... Uhm..... What the hell are you singing?? 😄

Me: Lucas likes it.

Philip: A birthday song?? Are you ok?

Me: I couldn’t think of anything better, but he likes it. And now give me my son!

Strangely enough, whenever I sing this Baby BD- song for Lucas, he has to poop. 🤔 Anyway, I think it was time for us to go home. Lucas got restless again. But Philip wanted to play with him & Annabelle. He put Lucas on a pillow on the floor, next to Annabelle.

That was really cute to watch tbh. While my little one was busy with Annabelle, I went to the kitchen to pack Lucas' baby stuff. I just wanted to go home. 😞

Philip noticed that I was acting strange and followed me into the kitchen. He asked me to be honest. Something didn’t seem right to him? He wanted to help me. Well, I told him I was always scared for Lucas, bcs he got withdrawal symptoms in the hospital and I can not cope with it. Sometimes when Lucas cries, I don’t dare to take him in my arms. I love my Baby, more than anything! I want to comfort him, and calm him down, but my fear of making it worse gets in the way. And although I have a family that helps and supports me, I feel lonely. No matter what I do, it's always wrong. I also told him that my Mom accused me, that I didn’t care about Lucas. But I do! I care and take care of him, but I’m never good enough for my Mother. I no longer felt comfortable with my parents at home. I am under constant observation and pressure. Everything I do is not right for them. I was slowly reaching my limits. I just waited for Nico and hoped, that everything would be better once he comes back home. But I asked Philip to keep all this to himself.

Philip: I won’t tell aN.. But... you should try to talk to him. Maybe you’ll feel better? He told me he's proud of you. You did all right.

Me: Really? But.... how does he know? He’s not here.

Philip: You were terribly afraid of the C-section, but you did great, he said. And even later you were so strong, you never complained, you just did what was necessary and gave your best.

Me: I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t even nurse my Baby. I only harmed him ..... But well, I’ll still try to do better. 😢

Philip: You’re doing great! A baby is exhausting. But don't worry, it's getting easier already, I promise.

Me: Ok. I believe you.

Previous/Next

[polyhexian]

Okay, this one is stupid and ridiculous, but it's been in my head, so bear with me.

So like. Darius always assumes Jasper must've been pregnant, because Jasper has unfortunate phrasing and Darius knows Jasper would've been powerful enough to hide it. But other people may not come to that conclusion, because when it comes to Hunter's two presumed biological parents, one of them is an intensely physically active soldier, and the other one wears big flowy robes that obscure his figure and tends to sit around on a throne all day.

So imagine instead of grabbing Hunter and running, Jasper gets Darius involved, and after explaining the situation they take a day or two to come up with a plan. Hunter gets picked, two men and a baby disappear into the night, and now they're out of the way for the crack I'm about to unleash on the castle.

SOMEONE (political intern Kikimora?) overheard a bit of Jasper's explanation to Darius. Not all of it, but enough to get the idea that Jasper and Belos have had a child together. Then Jasper suddenly disappears, and there's no sign of the child either. Our eavesdropper realizes this is VERY RELEVANT INFORMATION, and thus sells it to the higher-up of their choice, AND THUS THE CASTLE GOSSIP MILL BEGINS TO CHURN.

Belos is nursing a headache because he just lost TWO Grimwalkers, god, when Lilith bursts into the throne room like MY LORD! WHEN JASPER BETRAYED US YOU DIDN'T MENTION HE STOLE YOUR SON AS WELL! is it a secret I can keep a secret I can be your confidant I swear--

Belos is just like. I'm sorry, what? He's not computing that Hunter = Jasper's son or that Hunter could = his own son, he doesn't see the Grimwalkers as people so it just doesn't click in his brain. He has no idea what she's talking about.

Lilith is like WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU WERE PREGNANT AND NOW WE'VE ALREADY LOST OUR PRINCE, THIS IS HORRIBLE, I didn't even know you were preparing an heir to the empire but it makes perfect sense, excellent idea sire.

Belos is just. What?

Meanwhile Hettie Cutburn is LIVID. The Emperor was PREGNANT?? And she DIDN'T KNOW?? The Emperor sometimes insisted on handling his own health affairs and she respected his privacy but THIS IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL. WHO was the healer who oversaw the Emperor's pregnancy and ARE THEY A POLITICAL RIVAL?? They're in her coven, aren't they? There's someone in her coven that the Emperor trusted more than her and when she FINDS that midwife she is going to DESTROY them. She's interrogating her coven officials left and right. Scalpels and accusations are flying. Someone points out maybe it was someone in the Emperor's Coven with healing abilities and Hettie starts thinking through the options and the other ways someone might manage a pregnancy, who else might have information, wait a second, pre-natal potions are very important, WAS IT YOU VITIMIR??

Vitimir is rightfully terrified and immediately throws Terra under the bus. HEY HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT HOW TERRA IS ALWAYS OFFERING THE EMPEROR VARIOUS TEAS?? MAYBE TERRA KNOWS SOMETHING PLEASE GET THAT SCALPEL AWAY FROM ME.

Terra and Hettie have a massive fight that ends with the entire healing wing covered in vines. Mason is yelling about structural damage (and also wondering why no one asked him to design a royal nursery).

Belos's headache is getting worse. The entire castle now 1) Knows that Jasper is gone, 2) Knows that Hunter exists and is also gone, 3) Thinks that Belos and Jasper were a thing (what), 4) Thinks that Belos was pregnant (WHAT), and 5) Thinks that Hunter is actually important to the empire and must be recovered at any cost instead of being, y'know, a useless waste of resources that was harvested too early and needs to be disposed of.

And he can't really come clean about none of this being true or about Hunter being a Grimwalker or anything, that's not something he can admit to, and like, it'd take a massive PR campaign to get his government officials to change their minds about this narrative, AND THE PR DEPARTMENT IS ALREADY DRAFTING UP PROPAGANDA ABOUT WILD WITCHES STEALING THEIR BABY PRINCE.

Belos doesn't understand why this is his life now. He's a good person. He's doing the Lord's will. He doesn't deserve this nonsense.

And if he thinks well, at least he can order a concentrated campaign to capture his wayward Grimwalkers…no, it won't work. Because he's spent decades building up a government that purposefully rewards backstabbing. It is easier to advance in the empire by tripping your enemies than it is by actually doing good work yourself. In Runaway, the only person who knows the full story is Will, everyone else is working off of various levels of need-to-know info about catching Jasper and Hunter. In this universe, every government official is aware of the situation, and every single one of them want to get the glory of rescuing their kidnapped prince while foiling their political rivals in doing the same. False intel is spread, scouts are bribed to fumble missions, Coven Heads get into arguments about whose underlings have jurisdiction where. The entire government just becomes useless because everyone is trying to one-up and backstab everyone else.

The whole kidnapped prince thing gets out to the general public and Odalia Blight is OUTRAGED that there WASN'T AN IMPERIAL BABY SHOWER FOR HER TO BE INVITED TO. What is the POINT of having a BABY if you aren't going to have a big baby shower to wine and dine at?? Also now she has to hurry and catch up on the plotting she didn't know she was behind on, there is apparently a PRINCE out there somewhere, and sure he's missing right now but eventually he won't be and do you know what princes need? ARRANGED MARRIAGES. And she has two adorable little prospects right here! She needs to figure out how to pitch this to the Emperor.

Belos is wondering if there's any way to make an eclipse happen sooner so he can just kill everyone already. Caleb Wittebane's hallucination ghost won't stop laughing at him like OH MY GOD ASSHOLE YOU MADE THE MOST INEFFICIENT GOVERNMENT SYSTEM EVER AND IT'S BITING YOU IN THE ASS.

Meanwhile Jasper and Darius are like. Hiding out at the Owl House watching this play out while eating popcorn and changing diapers. Eda thinks this is incredible and is happy to shelter them in exchange for all this free entertainment.

Raising Hunter is kinda tricky since everyone is trying to "rescue" him but every time Lilith shows up like SISTER I'M HERE TO RESCUE MY PRINCE AND MAKE YOU JOIN A COVEN you can bet at least one other Coven Head will also show up to sabotage her and Darius just sighs and tells Hunter "Looks like we can't play outside today" while Jasper takes potshots with his staff like "WOULD YOU PEOPLE GET OFF OUR LAWN?"

Maybe they stay with Eda forever, maybe they move into a cave like in eventually, idk. Darius and Jasper probably have concealment stones for bounty hunting, and they forage for potions ingredients that Eda sells for them, and Hunter grows up well aware that if anyone ever tells them they're trying to rescue him he needs to scram immediately.

When Luz finally shows up, she ends up spending a solid day and a half believing that her MAGICAL DESTINY is to restore Hunter to the throne so he can overthrow his evil father and bring balance to the Boiling Isles or something.

Like she slams the door open holding a propaganda poster she found in town and yells "HUNTER I THINK YOU'RE THE LOST PRINCE OF THE BOILING ISLES!"

And Hunter is just reading on Eda's couch like "That's a load of bullshit, Luz."

"No, LOOK!" she says, shoving the poster into his face. "It looks just like YOU! Could this be part of your mysterious backstory?!"

"My backstory is not mysterious."

"But you haven't told me anything about it!"

"You haven't asked."

"Because you're just a normal nerdy teenager! EXCEPT IT TURNS OUT YOU'RE A PRINCE!"

"Luz the entire Lost Prince narrative is the result of a stupid misunderstanding, I wasn't meant to be an heir and if I ever do get dragged back to the castle Belos will probably poison me within a week."

"Of course! He couldn't raise you as a dutiful brainwashed son, so now you're a rival! Raised by the lover who betrayed him…"

"Oh my Titan no, they weren't lovers, my dad grew me in a planter box like a carrot."

"Hunter, we need to reclaim your throne from your evil father!"

"If you ever call Belos my father again I will punch you."

Luz goes to Hexside and she's like "Hunter why don't YOU go to magic school??" and Hunter just gestures out the window where Hooty is trying to eat Adrian Vernworth and a dozen scouts like "This is why I'm homeschooled."

At some point when the Hexsquad come over Hunter meets Amity and she eyes him for a minute before she's like "Y'know one of my siblings has a marriage contract with you" and Hunter is like "ugh" and Darius yells from the kitchen "HE BETROTHED MY SON TO A BLIGHT???" and Luz is like "huh which one?" and Amity's like "the name isn't official, Mom and the emperor decided they could just wait and see which twin Prince Hunter prefers" and Hunter is just like "DON'T CALL ME THAT."

…It is entirely possible that Darius still calls Hunter "little prince" and in this AU it actually is a term of endearment even tho Hunter and Jasper give him tired deathglares every time.

Jruejdjfj little prince as a teasing little term of endearment, like when my dad would call me monkey butt...

THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNYYYYYY OH MY GOOOODDDDD

Hunter just chilling with hooty and the owl lady and his cool dads. And then there's Belos who's have the funniest problem imaginable. And jasper DOES still think that even if Belos is a child murdering fuck he probably also IS doing it all for the greater good of keeping the Titan from dying. So like. He's not going to actively attempt to overthrow him if he doesn't have to. And Belos probably knows that fighting jasper is probably not worth it if he isn't going to cause problems. Like if jasper is keeping all his insane secrets and terrible power to himself then it probably just ISNT worth it to make a huge effort to stop it-- especially when he already knows at some point in the future the owl lady will have a niece who will go into the past and meet him. And maybe that niece is Lilith's but shit, maybe it's Jasper's...? What if he has another kid? So he's a little hesitant to pull the big trigger. so they're just in this... Extremely stupid fucking stalemate.

The poor fucking twins oh my GOD

[firehousefreak911]

Out of It

You’d been feeling out of it for a few days. You tried to hide it because you didn’t want to worry your husband. He had enough on his plate with being a firefighter, being a dad and everything else going on. Eddie was an amazing man.

You had woke up early to cook breakfast for Eddie before his shift at the firehouse. You had just flipped his pancake when you suddenly became nauseous and dizzy. You grabbed the counter and held it.

“Good morning beautiful” you heard your husband say entering the room

“woah, y/n are you ok? You don’t look to good” he said rushing over to you and leading you to the chair at the kitchen table.

“Yeah, I’m fine I just got a little dizzy, thats all” you said putting on a small smile, your eyes couldn’t hide the truth though. Eddie sat down next to you. He grabbed your wrist and started checking your pulse.

“Honestly Eddie I’m fine, there is no need to worry”

“Y/n, you look weak and exhausted. You have barely ate anything the last few days, and I know you’ve tried to keep it from me but I can tell you haven’t been feeling good. What’s going on?” Eddie asked, his eyes screaming with worry. He pushed hair back behind your ear. He caressed your cheek. Just then your step son Christopher comes in the room.

“Is everything ok dad?” He ask.

“Yeah buddy, Y/n just doesn’t feel good, Carla should be here soon to get you, why don’t you go get ready for school?” He tells him and Christopher goes to get ready.

“Talk to me, beautiful” he pleads.

“I honestly don’t know, I’ve been nauseous and out of it the last few days. I can’t even stomach the thought of food” you admit.

“Well how about we schedule you an appointment and get you checked out today?” He suggests.

“But Eddie you have to go to work, you have a shift”

“I can talk to Bobby he will understand, I can always go in after the appointment.” You agreed.

Eddie finished the food and got Christopher fed and out the door. He called Bobby and explained everything. Bobby was more than understanding. You had gotten an appointment for 12:30 so Eddie made you go back to bed until it was time to get ready.

~

As you sat in the waiting room you grew nervous. You have always hated doctors. Eddie squeezed your hand and gave you a soft smile.

“I’m sure everything is ok, its probably just a little bug” he said.

“Diaz?!” The nurse yelled. You and Eddie stood up and headed back.

In the room you got situated. The nurse started asking questions.

“So what seems to be the problem today?”

“Well Ive been nauseous and dizzy, I had no appetite.” You said

“Oh and her pulse was super high earlier” Eddie added.

“Ok any other symptoms?” She asked.

You shook your head no.

“Is there any possibility of pregnancy?” She asked.

You froze, Eddie looked at you, you tried doing the math in your head.

“Um I don’t know, I’m not sure” you said.

“Alright well we will get some blood and do a test” the nurse says. She leaves the room.

Eddie jumps up from his chair and walks over to you.

“We could be pregnant?” He asked.

“Yeah, I guess, that didn’t even cross my mind, but I guess it makes sense with the symptoms. Are you mad?” You asked, afraid of his reaction.

“I couldn’t be anymore happier than I am right now!” He said cupping your face.

“Really?” You asked surprised.

“Yeah. I know we never talked about having more kids but now that we are I’m thrilled” he says, kissing you again.

The nurse comes back and takes the blood. She says they will call you with the results. You 2 stop for lunch on the way home and then Eddie heads to work. You tell him you will call home when you find out the results.

Its about 3 oclock when you receive a phone call.

You were pregnant! You wait for Christopher to get home from school and then the 2 of you head to the 118.

You pull in the parking lot and help Christopher out. You head inside. You walk in and you help Chris up the stairs. Chimney greets you first. Which gets Eddie’s attention. He rushes over to you. He gives Chris a hug and then kisses your cheek. Chris is distracted by whatever game Buck is playing. So Eddie leads you away.

“I’m surprised to see you, is everything ok? Did the doctor call?” He ask.

You can feel your smile spread across your face as you tell him what the doctor said. He wraps you in a hug and kisses you. After a few minutes alone he leads you back to the group. He sits down in the arm chair, you perch on the arm next to him. He nudges your arm and motions for you to sit in his lap. He wraps his arm around you and places it on your stomach. This surprises you because Eddie isn’t much for PDA or being overly romantic in public much less work.

“Hey everyone, we have an announcement!” He says, after clearing his throat. Everyone stops and looks at you. Buck pauses his game and Christopher comes over to you.

You look at Eddie and you take a deep breath.

“Christopher is going to be a big brother!” You say.

Everyone processes what you said. You and Eddie stand up as one by one the 118 congratulates and embraces you!

[desolationblvd]

MY GRANDMOTHER AND I WATCH THE BAD SEED

It's that awful place and that evil woman. My mother.

My sisters are beautiful and I am plain. Where did you get that one? Where did you get that one? Où as-tu trouvé celui-là? The nuns don’t like me they force things down my throat, words and flies, they strike me. Here comes the Mother Superior that’s what she thinks of herself and I hate her I hate her I hate her. You stole that-, and when she goes to strike me I throw up my hands I do not let her touch me I tell her the Pope is a criminal. She is furious she hates me but I hate her more. I have one friend we go to California I become a nurse she smokes every evening and I smoke like a chimney. I meet men I meet millionaires they want to marry me they slip through my fingers. I meet a man I get married we move across the ocean we have a daughter we move back. We have a son we have a daughter we have two more daughters we have five children and all of them are Catholic. I do not let them lift a hand I do not let them clean I do not let them cook I do not speak to them in my language they are my all-American darlings. I quit smoking. I think that I hate Catholics. My oldest daughter wants to do laundry and I cannot explain to her why she is not allowed my son is a boy just like all boys are my second daughter is quiet and shy and I cannot figure out why: I go upstairs in the night I drown her in cold water like a murder like a baptism. My third daughter is too smart for her own good and my fourth is a demon. My children are marionettes they spit on her when I say so and tears stream down their faces I know what I need to do or they won’t turn out right. Lucifer my youngest hates me wants to kill me I cannot throw her out. I watch them on the patio they skate circles around the little radio they dance they fall they scrape their knees. I wonder if I’ve done good.

I can hear my mother's voice…calling to me from the distance, and I don't answer her because I'm afraid.

I meet a man I’m wearing my glasses and my plaid skirt I ask him for a cigarette we get married. I’m late to our wedding it’s raining I’m beautiful I know I’m beautiful he’s happy I’m laughing someone takes a picture of me laughing. We have a daughter we go to my mother’s house we live in my sister’s old bedroom. We get an apartment my father lived there years ago we don’t know about that until later maybe it’s fate we have a son and we give him his father’s name his grandfather’s name his great-grandfather’s name. My daughter is shy it makes sense I was shy she doesn’t talk to people her own age she lives in her own world. She asks about death I say there’s nothing I say we don’t know I say nobody has come back to tell us about it yet I say people who kill themselves will not get into Heaven. She doesn’t like change. Mom I want to live with you for ever and ever.

Oh, I've got the prettiest mother. I've got the nicest mother. That's what I tell everybody. I say I've got the sweetest mother in the world. My son is sickly my son has stomachaches like my daughter did neither of them are athletic my daughter is shy and my son is sickly I worry it came from me. My daughter won’t sing but I hear her singing in her room I tell her it sounds nice and after that I don’t hear her sing anymore. Her friends make her hate me I ask what her problem is she thinks that I’ve wronged her resents me. She doesn’t want to be like me I ask her questions I say why don’t you shave your legs why do you dress like that I worry that she’s a dyke. She wants to die I wonder if I should let her die I think she’s secretly a cutter I make her take off her shirt she never forgives me. She’s stubborn she won’t talk to me I find pills in her room I find alcohol I wonder if I should let her die I remember people who kill themselves don’t go to heaven my husband yells at me because I’ve hurt him. My son is dyslexic he’s antisocial he’s picked up all my daughter’s bad habits there’s hope for him but I don’t know where to find it. It’s worse than I thought my daughter’s a dyke she wants to cut off her tits fuck my entire life I don’t know what I did to make her like this she’s moving too far away for me to reach her I don’t know what I ever did to deserve this.

So sleep well…and dream well, my only child and the one I love. I shall sleep too.

[canirove]

Granada | Chapter 23

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Masterlist

"Do you have a darker shade of red?"

"Umm… something like this, my prince?"

"Yes, that's perfect" Rúben smiled. "This swimming pool has to be perfect. I want her to look at it the same way she looks at the ceilings in the palace."

"We'll do our best, my prince" the builder said. 

"Rúben! Rúben!" someone called behind him.

"Anne? What is it?"

"It's time" she said, trying to catch her breath.

"Now?"

"Yes, now. Come" she urged him before starting to run again towards the palace. 

"Is that normal?" Rúben asked as they got closer to his room.

"I don't know" Anne replied as another scream was heard.

"Make it stop!" Rowena yelled when Rúben and Anne walked into the room.

"It'll be over soon, princess."

"Rowena, I'm here" he said, kneeling next to the bed. "I'm here, my love."

"Rúben… Rúben, it hurts so much" she cried.

"I know it does."

"No, you don't! You men know nothing!"

"We actually don't, no" he chuckled. "But you can do this."

"I can't. I am so tired, Rúben. I just want to…" but she wasn't able to finish her sentence, only scream. 

"Can you do something to help with the pain?" he asked.

"We've tried everything, my prince" the midwife replied.

"Why that look? What is it?"

"We… umm…"

"Answer me!" Rúben said, raising his voice.

"It's the baby, my prince. They aren't in the right position."

"What?"

"The head should be down, but it isn't."

"What does that mean?" he asked as Rowena squeezed his hand with such force he was sure she'll be leaving bruises.

"The baby can't move. It is stuck."

"Can you do something about it?"

"There are two options, but both are dangerous, my prince. I could try moving the baby inside her, but it would be too painful for her and she is too weak already. We could also try to deliver the baby in this position, but that would mean putting both their lives in danger" the midwife explained.

"That's it? Nothing else?"

"We could wait, my prince. But I don't think she could handle it."

"I see" Rúben said, caressing Rowena's face. She looked exhausted. 

"You must choose what we do next, my prince."

"Me?"

"You are her husband."

"I can't. It should be her choice."

"My prince, we are running out of time."

"We… I… Alright" he said, taking a deep breath. "Move the baby."

"Yes, my prince" the midwife said. "You must take a step back and let us work now."

"Of course."

"She'll be fine. They will be fine" Anne said, taking Rúben's hand on hers and giving it an encouraging squeeze.

"Did I do the right thing, tho? Is this what she would have chosen?"

"Don't worry about that…" But Anne wasn't able to finish her sentence, Rowena's screams probably being heard from the city.

"Stop! You are hurting her!"

"Rúben, no!" Anne said, stopping him from running towards her. "Let them work."

"But they are hurting her!"

"The midwife said it would be painful."

"I know but…" Another scream. This one even louder. "Rowena!"

"It's done, my prince" the midwife said. "Now it's time to push."

"I can't" Rowena mumbled.

"Yes, you can, my love" Rúben said, freeing himself from Anne's grip and kneeling next to the bed once again. "You can do this."

"But I'm so tired. I just want to sleep."

"Not now. You can do this, cupcake" he said, hoping that hearing that word would somehow make her smile, give her strength. 

"I'm tired…" she repeated.

"You must push, princess. The baby is almost here."

"You can do it, Rowena. Push!" Rúben said, holding her hand.

"That's it, princess! Just a bit more!"

And then… silence. 

"What is it? Why isn't the baby crying?" 

"A moment, my prince" the midwife said, massaging the small body. A boy. It was a boy. 

"Rúben…" Rowena murmured. 

"I'm here, I'm here" he said as he kissed her hand, his eyes still fixed on their son.

"Take him away" the midwife said, passing the baby to one of the nurses.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking him?" 

"You must leave the room and let us work, my prince."

"What? No! I'm not leaving them!"

"My prince, please…"

And then he saw it. The blood. It was everywhere.

"No, no, no! Rowena!"

"You must leave, my prince. Let us work!"

"No! I can't leave them, I can't! Rowena! Rowena, wake up, please!"

But she wasn't moving, and she looked so pale…

"Call one of the guards. He must leave at once" the midwife insisted. 

"No, no, no. Rowena! Rowena!" Rúben cried while hugging her. "Please don't leave me."

"Shhh."

"Rowena?" 

"I'm here, my love" he heard her say. But her voice sounded so far away…

"Rowena" Rúben called again. 

"It's alright. You are alright."

"What…"

"Drink some water, it’ll make you feel better" she said, this time closer to him. 

"Are you real?"

"What?" she chuckled. 

"Am I… am I dead?" Rúben asked after drinking, slowly opening his eyes and adjusting to how bright the light was.

"You aren't dead, no" Rowena laughed.

"I love your laugh."

"And I love you" she said, kissing his cheek. "Did that feel real?"

"Not sure. Can you do it again? Maybe somewhere else?"

"Looks like when the horse hit your head, it didn't take the cheekiness from you."

"The horse? What horse?"

"Don't you remember?"

"No" he said as he tried to shake his head, feeling a sharp pain on one side.

"It was during battle. According to General Felix, you fought against the other prince. He was on horse while you were on foot, and it was kind of epic. You managed to kill the other prince despite being on disadvantage, and when you did it, he lost control of the horse and it knocked you down. You've been unconscious for three days, and I thought..."

"You thought wrong. I promised you I wasn't going anywhere, and I am keeping my promise."

"You are, yes."

"And judging by your eyes, you haven't gone anywhere either during those three days."

"I have not" Rowena smiled. "We are stuck together, remember?"

"We are" Rúben replied, trying to also smile but being stopped by the pain. "Did we win, tho?"

"We did. And looks like with that prince gone, the war is over. His little brother, now the heir to the throne, doesn't share his ideas. He wants peace."

"Are you sure I am not dead and this heaven? Or that I am still dreaming?"

"Does this feel like something from a dream?" Rowena said as she moved forward and kissed him on the lips.

"I've been having dreams where you kiss me since the day I met you."

"Sure" she laughed.

"I have. Did you know that you pout when you focus on something?"

"What?"

"You do. And when I first met you, you were looking at the ceiling and pouting, and I couldn't stop thinking about how kissable your lips looked."

“I thought you had liked my profile.”

“That too. But how do you…”

“Iris told me” Rowena smiled. "But did you really like me that much even if I was the other?" she asked, remembering the way he had talked about her before knowing who she actually was.

"You've never been the other, Rowena" Rúben said, reaching for her hand. "You've always been the one."

"That blow in your head has made you very cheesy" she laughed, wiping away a tear.

"I've always been cheesy… cupcake."

"I liked you better when you were unconscious."

"Of course you did" he tried to laugh, his head hurting again.

"Try to have some rest, alright?" Rowena said, kissing his forehead.

"Same goes to you."

"I will. I love you, Rúben."

"I love you too" he said as he gave her hand one last squeeze, making sure that she was actually real, that she was there with him, and that his dream had been that. Just a dream. 

The worst dream of his life, but just a dream.

[joannaliceevans-fanficblog]

Love on Thin Ice

Hi everyone! Okay, so this is totally different from what I normally write. No, this isn't a fic about Chris or any of his characters. This is a hockey fic!

This is something that I've been working on for a while, and I decided to share what I have so far! I really do hope y'all like it!

Jeremy Swayman entered the hallway with his teammates. It was another successful win against the Maple Leafs. He smiled, hearing his teammates yell and scream with victory. But as he entered, something didn't feel right. Something felt off. He saw their coach before he could even sit and motioned for him to step outside. 

The boys playfully mocked him and gave him “oooooooos” as he walked by. Laughing, Jeremy flipped them off and stepped out. As he did, Jim stood to the side and sighed, “Coach, if this about the penalty-”

Again, Jim sighed and rubbed his face. “Sway, that's not the reason. I don't know how to tell you this, but your mother called.” 

Jeremy looked at his coach and lifted his eyebrow, “Okay, but she would call me. Why would she call the team, especially you?” 

Jeremy was feeling suspicious.

“Jeremy, your cousin Aria. There's been a terrible accident. It closed 95N. A 6-car pile-up. Your mom didn't give the specifics, but it's serious, and you need to come down to MassGen.” Jim said, and Jeremy stood frozen still. 

Jim patted his back and left him to collect his thoughts. Snapping out of his thoughts, Jeremy returned to the locker room to get his things.

“Has anyone seen Marchand? He needs to do his press interview!” Jim yelled. 

“He changed quickly, grabbed his stuff, and bounced. I asked if there was anything wrong. He didn't respond.” McAvoy said. 

It took Jeremy only a few seconds to realize where Brad had gone. Cursing to himself, he quickly changed, grabbed his things, and ran out of the Garden leaving everyone in the locker room even more confused.

**

When Jeremy arrived at MassGen, he ran towards the entrance to see his mom in the waiting room. 

“Ma!” Jeremy said as he ran towards her. 

Julie stood up and hugged her son, “Jeremy, I couldn't stop-”

“I know. I figured he overheard me when you called Jim. Is he inside the ICU?” Jeremy asked. 

His mother nodded and Jeremy headed to the front desk. He was given a visitor's pass, and the nurse led him to a private waiting room. The door opened just as his suspicions were right.

The nurse closed the door, and Jeremy took a seat. The two boys sat across from each other. Brad had his elbows on his thighs and looked down to the ground. Jeremy had his arms crossed against his chest and leaned his head back. 

“I don't even want to know how you know,” Jeremy said.

“I didn't mean to. I just passed by and heard the conversation with you and the coach. I wasn't thinking-”

“Did you pull the I'm the-”

“We are technically still married,” Brad said, leaning back into his chair. The gold band still glowed in the light, and Jeremy sighed. 

“You still said a lot of hurtful things to her.” Jeremy reminded Brad. 

Brad suddenly sat up with his hands forming into fits. Jeremy rolled his eyes and calmly stood up.