#anyways I turn around so we’re full on making out and we’ve back up a bit to the point that we’re in the water a bit

[buckys-estrella]

I had the most delicious dream ab bob floyd and I’ve been replaying it in my head since I woke up

[mydearlybeloathed]

── 𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐀𝐓𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐍

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: without a major, eye catching skill, you attempt to make up for it by doing everything for everyone all at once--the crew only notices when it all comes crashing down.

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: strawhats x sanjissister!reader, minor zoro x reader

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 4.6k

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭: reader is sanji's sister, reader is bad at emotions (same), first fic of college! woo!, injuries, stitches, blood, angst and comfort, requested

𝐎𝐏 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐉𝐈'𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐀

Being the Strawhat Boatswain was no easy task, but you held it with determination and pride. Even when your crew made the job more than difficult.

You took in a deep breath and let it out slowly; Someone had messed with your inventory. 

Again.

You stood in the storage room, wondering who had the gall to come and move things around. The cannonballs were no longer in the crate by the window, but behind many other crates of lantern oil. The box once full of toothbrushes and toothpaste was down to its last bottle when it should still be half full. And to top it all off, the medical supplies shelf was out of order. The bandages were at the bottom and the disinfectant was next to the gauze!

It was enough to make your skin crawl.

Taking another deep breath, you shook out your shoulders, went through five stages of grief, and accepted the mess at hand, swiping a roll of bandages from the shelf and leaving the room to deal with some other day. 

Inventory was a job you liked. You took your role seriously, always on top of what was needed or wanted, ensuring it was acquired. Day in and day out you thought of everyone else, desperate to be useful.

You took this responsibility so seriously that your own self-care had gotten lost in the mix of Luffy’s food requests, Nami’s financial ledgers, and the weekly task of inventory. You’d lost sleep and skipped meals in the name of keeping order. 

Because if you didn’t, who would?

It didn’t matter anyway. You loved taking care of everyone. It made you feel useful. And as someone not as skilled with a sword or as knowledgeable with maps, that was worth a million hours of (much needed) sleep.

So you yawned and pushed open the door to your and Nami’s shared room, finding her hunched over her makeshift crate desk, squinting through the lamplight. Her forearm was still bleeding, splotches of red seeping through the first bandage. 

“I’ll handle this,” you startled her. “You fix that.”

Nami hadn’t seemed to notice the condition of her injury, chuckling dismissively as she worked at redressing the wound. “Thanks. My eyes needed a rest.”

Your own eyes longed to rest as she said it, straining under stress and overwork to finish doing the math of how many pounds of sugar, flour, and grain you’d need for the next stretch at sea. You picked up the sheet and made to your own desk, plopping down.

You underlined the last calculation as Nami tied off her bandage. Leaning back in your chair, you threw down your pencil and rested your eyes, knowing there was more work to be done despite the dark hour. As if on cue, the potter pattering of small hooves led up to your door, followed by a soft knocking. A smile spread on your face instantly. “Come in, Doc.”

The reindeer peeked his antlers and eyes in first, stepping inside when all was clear. “Is it a bad time?”

Nami swiveled to straddle the back of her desk chair. “Never. What’s up?”

His eyes blinked up at you first. “It’s time for your physical. Do you want to do it now?”

Immediate sirens went off in your head. “Physical?”

“We’ve all had one,” Nami piped in. “It’s just to make sure we’re all healthy. Your turn.”

“Good one,” you chuckled dryly. “I don’t do check ups, Doc. Sorry.”

Chopper’s little brows met instantly, his hooves falling to his sides. You shifted around to avoid his narrowed gaze. “Y/N, it’s important. I need to know where your health is so I can plan for the future.”

“My health is perfeclty fine and if anything changes,” you laughed, “I’ll let you know, Chop. I’m fine.”

But Nami wasn’t giving you a grin when you turned to her for support, her lips downturned. “I dunno. If Chopper thinks he should check you out then—”

“I said I’m good,” you snapped more sharply, going on in a concerningly peppy tone, “If I need help, I’ll ask for it.”

The way Chopper defleated nearly had you taking it all back, but you stood your ground, trying to make him feel better with a smile. His ears only drooped further until Nami said, “Can you help me, actually? I need to redo this bandage.”

She raised a brow over Chopper’s shoulder, silently asking a question you didn’t catch, so you grinned and shrugged it off. Standing, you caled over your shoulder, “I’m seeing if anyone needs anything.”

Chopper heaved a sigh as the door shut behind you. Nami pat his head gently, lips pursed. “She’ll warm up to it. Give ‘er time.”

“I know,” Chopper sighed. “I’m just… getting worried, I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

Chopper thought back to the past few months he’d been on the crew. Overall, you didn’t exhibit any alarming behavior. You worked hard and cared deeply, that was all. But… Chopper couldn’t place it, but he wanted to make sure everything was really all right. “It’s nothing.”

Hopefully, you warmed up to check ups quickly, at least for his own sake.

જ ⁀ ➴

You'd been careless—that’s what you blamed it on, at least.

The opposing pirate crew hadn't exactly caught the Straw Hats off guard. Nami was on watch that early morning, and she had a great record of raising the alarm. So when the enemy ship sidled up to the going merry and the dozen or so pirates jumped aboard, most of the crew was ready.

But you hadn't been at your best for days, maybe even weeks if you really admitted it. Sleep was so far away and your hunger was on this odd anxiety–induced strike. You barely felt real anymore, simply wandering through the ship doing various tasks that presented themselves, but never really taking time to breathe. 

You weren't entirely surprised when a pirate caught you off guard, coming at you from behind and getting a nick at your side—not a nick, actually. His sword had marked a pretty deep gash at your waist, and even when you thought the flow of bleeding was done, you somehow had more to give.

In the aftermath of the fight, as much as you attempted to brush off the concerns of the others, your heaving breath and greenish complexion were giving away everything. Besides, Sanji had known something was up since the first time you'd told him you "weren't hungry enough for dinner."

So as the sun rose above the horizon and the cleaning of the Merry's deck was completed, there was no escaping your fate. The haze of night no longer concealed your wounds.

Usopp was the first to notice. His gaze caught your stuttering breaths and the very obvious grimace you gave when trying to haul a dead pirate over the railing. He took the weight of the body in seconds, tossing it over.

"You don't look too hot," he observed, to which you scoffed and flicked your hands in nonchalance.

"It's nothing I can't fix." But you hadn't realized just how much blood was soaking in the fabric of your shirt, and one turn of your body displayed the vast crimson to him. Usopp's sharp inhale caught your attention, and with a grunted snarl you griped, "What?"

By now, nami had walked past, her own eyes catching your shirt. You glanced down and cursed at the sight. "I'm fine, okay? It's not that bad—"

But Nami already called out, "Sanji!" 

You rolled your eyes, gut bubbling anxiously. "Relax, would you? It's just a scratch. Honestly, we should use supplies for worse wounds—"

The breathy gasp behind you was unmistakably your brother's, and you swiveled to find him staring at your abdomen. "Pip…”

"What?" you snapped, self-conscious as your crossed your arms.

Luffy and Zoro had joined the show as well, causing anxiety to burn a hole in your good sense.

Sanji couldn't move, couldn't say a word. As you fumed up at him, all he saw was his baby sister, her face growing paler by the second, the flutter of your eyes weak, the red staining your clothes growing larger—

And then it hit him: The battle had occurred several hours ago. His eyes snapped to meet yours. "How long have you been bleeding out?"

"Sanji—"

"Stop," he said, and you did, your jaw snapping back up. His eyes skimmed you over with a hundred different thoughts, before he broke the contact and gently approached you. “Let's get this cleaned up, yeah?"

He sounded so soft, so much like how he used to when you were just young enough to still get by not knowing how shit the world was. It made you flinch away from him, not at all fond of the warm feeling of vulnerability welling up inside. "Shove off, Sanji. You're shit at dressing wounds."

"I'll do it then," said Chopper, stepping forward. In the little reindeer’s eyes was far too much concern. It left your skin crawling.

"No." You backed away from them till your back hit the ship's side and tried to ignore how featherlight your head felt. "Don't waste good supplies on me. It's not worth it."

Sanji gaped. "... What?"

You sighed, frustrated, and made to storm back to your cabin to sulk away the pain seeping through your limbs, raising your head to snap at them again.

Immediately, you found Luffy's eyes locked on you, all your words falling flat. He had never been scary—he was Luffy—but right then, well, you were frightened by the look in his eyes; it was something like confusion mulled with frustration.

"Not worth it?" He echoed.

Glancing around for help and finding none, you shrugged.

Luffy blinked, and you felt like apologizing, but he spoke before you could. "It's not waste if it's used on you, Y/N."

"I..."

Sanji sighed like he was suddenly out of breath, catching your eye again. His eyes were shining, and not in the charming way. It was a heartbroken kind of look, and it ate away at your insides. "You didn't tell anyone... because you thought it wasn't worth it?"

"Well," you stammered. "I mean—it's not as bad as it looks."

You felt their stares—how each of them was looking at you with such pity it made you sick—and you cracked, sputtering. "Just back off! It's a little blood and I'll heal. Zoro did!"

The swordsman in question stiffened as you thrust a hand at him, his ever-deathly gaze boring into you. “Yeah, ‘cause I wasn't being a stubborn bitch about it."

You were in the middle of an eye roll when the headache started. Honestly, why did they care? It was you keeping up with their asses half the time. You didn't need the same treatment. You had your own shit handled.

You tried walking away, and you thought you'd had it handled, but then the world started spinning, and your side really did ache, and suddenly you were in sanji's arms as he gritted out your name.

You were tired, very tired, so you blinked up at him, and fell asleep.

As one can assume, the entire crew lost their shit.

જ ⁀ ➴

In the eight hours you were unconscious, nobody sat still. Someone was always pacing, arguing, tapping something—agitation just sat over the whole ship. 

Sanji would say those eight hours were the longest hours of his life. He would say it rivaled the eighty-five days on that damn rock. It rivaled everything, because it was you. His sister. 

He couldn’t bring himself to debrief all that you’d said and what it meant… but him mind brought him there anyway. Sanji beat himself up over and over. If only he’d noticed something was wrong—he should have noticed… which made him realize he hadn’t a clue what was wrong.

He was in the middle of cooking your favorite meal for when you woke up when the image of you fainting in a graceful arc crossed his mind, and how he’d lunged to catch you. Maybe it was just being in the kitchen, but it somewhat reminded him of when you were kids.

You, so much younger and frailer, were prancing atop the counteertops of the Baratie, playing the part of Red Leg Zeff with your boots covered in marinara. The real Zeff, not so Red Legged, battled you with a wooden spoon as he simultaneously fought of his growing fondness. You tripped over your own slimy boot laces and, ever the dramatic, used the opportunity to swan dive to the floor.

Yet you hadn’t made it to the floor, not even close. Sanji had you safe in his arms the second your foot slipped off the counter. When he scolded you for being reckless, you grinned and chirped, “I knew you’d catch me!”

Sanji had caught you again, but not fast enough this time. Lately, he was never fast enough to keep up with your ever-growing mind. Each day you got quicker on your feet, jumping to accomplish task after task after task—Sanji paused as he prepared the food. When was the last time he saw you take a break?

When you woke up, your head was anywhere but in your body, the sensations of the room around you slowly drifting back to you.

Groggy, you shuffled in the sheets, skin sticky with sweat. Your eyes adjusted to the brightness, fluttering open. You sat up groaning, blinking fully awake, only to pause. Sat on the stool across from your bed was Zoro, solemn as ever. He looked half asleep, but the sound of your rustling startled him awake, eyes lazily widening to take you in. 

He made to ask something, but you beat him to it, woozily wondering about the odd tick in his brow. "What's up with your face?"

His brows screwed together, but that look never left his eyes; you couldn't place what it was. "What d’you mean?"

"You look..." Your eyes flickered all over him, and you thought maybe, he looked relieved. "Nothing. Sorry. I feel weird."

“I’ll bet.” He leaned forward to glance you over, and you settled on yes, Zoro was definitely concerned. He'd never looked that way before, and the oddity had you leaning closer subconsciously. Zoro jerked back instantly, blinking quickly. "You feel better, though, right?”

You did a quick check of your body, sensing your limbs and tapping at the bandage covering your abdomen. “I think so.” 

Zoro nodded stiffly, eyes flickering all over the floor. “Want me to get Twirly? I mean—Sanji?"

Typically, you weren’t the transparent type, but your head wasn't where it should be, so all your thoughts suddenly came out as words. "Is he mad? He usually gets mad when I get hurt."

Zoro moved to kneel at your bedside when you started to prop yourself up, eyes glued to your lap. He watched you carefully. "I don't think he's mad at you."

"But I got hurt," you exasperated. "I wasn't watching my back and got—got skewered! He hates it when I get... skewered." You rubbed at your temples and let out a weak laugh, brain fog fading. "Am I making sense?"

You raised your gaze to find a hint of amusement on Zoro’s face, his lips tipped upward. "Barely, but I follow."

You felt at your side, wincing at the pricking pain of the wound and the bruise forming around it. Chopper had done a good job with the bandage, though it was about time to change it.

"Hey," he said, dragging your wandering attention back to him.

"Yeah?"

Zoro's face grew cold. "Don't ever pull that shit again. You get hurt, you tell someone. Even if you think it's a waste."

You averted your eyes. "Yeah. Cross my heart and shit."

He wasn't satisfied, but he leaned back and raked a hand through his hair, leaving it alone for now. That was when the door opened, and you felt his presence before you ever turned your face.

"Oh, God," Sanji gasped. He rushed to your side, falling to his knees and setting a hand on your shoulder, just staring at you like you weren't even real. He passed a hand over your hair and sighed like he had the weight of Atlas on him.

"You're okay," he said, not so much a question, more of a reassurance. Neither of you noticed when Zoro slipped out of the room, nor when he knocked into the doorframe as he went.

"I'm okay," you said.

Sanji's hugs had always been lethal, always too tight for comfort but too sweet to turn away—and this was no different. His arms were careful to avoid your side as he pulled you to him, your head finding a nook against his chest as his chin rested on your head, and he squeezed you tightly.

Silently, you let him hold you, remaining still against him. You felt his tears, but never heard them. You felt his grip on you like a brand, that same old discomfort crawling through your gut the longer the intimacy went on. But you withstood it, an odd kind of burn creeping up your throat.

You choked on a cough—no, you weren't coughing. You couldn't fool yourself into believing such a lie, not when your eyes slammed shut and forced streams of tears down your cheeks. Your hands clawed at his sleeves as a warbled cry claws its way from your lips. 

"You're worth everything," he whispered into your hair. "Oh, God. I really thought..."

"But I didn't." you calmed your ragged breaths. "I'm fine."

He nearly laughed. "Fine? Pipsqueak, you were out half the day!"

You pulled back with a grin. "Eh. Just a scratch."

Sanji shook his head, smiling, before it fell instantaneously. He held you by your shoulders, shaking you slightly. "Why would you... was it something I did? I would never—"

"No! No, it was nothing you did."

"Then why in hell would you try to walk off a wound that needed sixteen stitches!"

"I don't know!" you looked away. "I just... there was too much to do. Everyone would need things done after a battle like that. I wanted to be, I dunno, ready and able."

Sanji still didn't understand. "What things?"

"You know," you started. "Things." He gave you a look. You sighed. "Like... sometimes Zoro lets me polish his swords, and in exchange he'll clean the little nicks he claims won't give him infections. And I think Luffy's hat needed fixing. Usopp never organizes the canon balls right and it makes me nervous, so I always go back and redo it… And on top of all that someone went through my inventory."

He took you in for a moment, and you felt very, very transparent all of a sudden. "None of that is your responsibility alone."

"Yeah, but, who else is gonna do them? Everyone’s so busy doing their things. I don't have a thing, so I do everything, I guess."

Sanji tilted his head, brows knit. "You do too have a thing."

"I really don't, Sanji. I don't cook or kick people like you. I'm not amazing with swords or a slingshot. I can't navigate for shit or heal wounds... so I help. If I don't, I'm pretty much deadweight." In the following silence, you mumbled something you never thought you’d have the courage to say. “Face it. Luffy only invited me because I’m your sister.”

Perhaps you should go back to the Baratie, as much as the thought sickened you. Zeff would never turn you away, and he’d even be happy to have you back. 

“Not true.” You looked up, heart dropping at the sight of luffy in the doorway, the rest of the crew behind him. You shot Zoro an accusatory glare, wiping furiously at your face. Perfect. A waiting audience.

You rasped, “What?”

Luffy moved into the room, face sullen, his hat and curls shadowing his face. “I didn’t invite you because of Sanji.” Luffy ducked down to be eye level with you on the bed. “Honestly, I didn’t know you were related till a few days after you joined.”

“Oh.” Sniffling, you ducked your eyes. “Then why? I… I don’t contribute much of anything, and when I try I wind up passed out for half a day.”

Nami scoffed, “That wasn’t your fault.”

You scoffed right back. “I shouldn’t have left my back unguarded.”

“You shouldn’t have been skipping sleep,” Zoro rebuttled, eyes steely. “And meals.”

Swiping at your cheek again, “Screw you.” You picked at your nails and refused to look up at all costs. It was difficult with Luffy right in your face.

The captain had his brows screwed together. His eyes bore into you till he grew tired of your avoidance and lightly pushed at your shoulder. Your gaze flicked up to meet his, quick to glance at the wall over his shoulder. 

“Y/N,” he muttered, “We care about you. And you worried us.”

And just like that, all your work to keep the tears in crumbled; one rebellious tear escaped, leading a dangerous path down to your chin. “Yeah. I know.”

That got a whisper of a smile back on Luffy’s face, and his hand came to plop down on you shoulder. “You’re part of this crew because we need you.”

“For what?” you dared to scoff. Instantly, Luffy’s eyes narrowed further than you thought possible. 

He echoed your words back to you like they felt weird on his tongue, and gave no further reply, simply staring right through you. You had already shirvled into yourself by the time Sanji stepped in.

“I can never keep track of how much food we go through,” he said, nudging your shoulder, “but somehow you always know exactly what we need and how much. As a chef, you inventory is vital to me.”

“I’m convinced you’re a mind reader,” Usopp added on. “Still no clue how you knew I wanted marshmallows last week.”

You chuckled dryly, gaze still heavy, obviously hesitant to take them serious. Nami sighed deeply.

“Listen,” she started, moving to kneel in front of you. It was times like this Nami felt much older, when her eyes peered into yours and it felt like home (a home so distant you ached to remember it). “It doesn’t matter what you believe. You contribute so much to this crew, more than you need to most days.”

Chopper bobbed up beside her. “Yeah! You do everything and then you never let me look after you!” It was hard to focus on what he said when he was so cute, but somehow when he narrowed his eyes all angry like, he held your rapt attention. “Let me do my job, so you’re able to do yours!”

“On the topic,” Zoro grunted, “quit overworking yourself. When Usopp fucks up the canonballs let him fix it himself.”

“Hey!”

You barely withheld a smile. “But… there’s still so much I can’t do—”

Zoro rolled his eyes. “You wanna learn how to fight? I’ll teach you. Just—quit being stupid and sleep, dammit.” His cheeks dusted pink and his eyes darted to the wall, unable to catch your tentative expression.

Luffy squeezed your shoulder. “You’re our boatswain. Just like Nami is our navigator and Sanji is our cook. The only one questioning your position is you.”

You sniffled, looking right in his eyes, and something in what he said finally broke through. You couldn’t cook or fight or navigate—but you had a damn good memory, you kept the ship organized, you made sure no one ever wanted for anything. You were the Strawhat Boatswain. Surely that held some weight.

“Okay, yeah, I get it,” you muttered, palms pressing against your cheeks as you cleared your throat. Glancing around at them all, you shoved down the creeping feeling in your chest and grinned cheekily. “But whoever’s been screwing with the storage room better knock it off, or I’ll be up all night fixing their mess.”

Silence enveloped you as everyone glanced around for suspicion, when Chopper burst forth with watery eyes. “I’m sorry! Really sorry! I didn’t realize I messed it up, I—I—”

“Slow down,” you smiled. You caught Chopper’s hooves in your hands and squeezed them tight. “It’s okay. I’m not really upset.”

If it was anyone else, maybe the story would be different, but all you felt was warm affection staring down at Chopper. He nodded swiftly. “I’ll help you fix it! Don’t worry.”

“I’ll help too,” offered Nami, none too subtle as she jabbed her elbow in the crook of Luffy’s side. 

“Ow! What—Quit that!” Luffy nursed the sting in his side, brows screwed together. “Me too, I guess…”

“We all will,” Nami declared, eyes scanning the room in search of an objection. She found none, a pleased smile gracing her lips. “See? You don’t even need to ask. We want to help you. Remember that next time you feel like everything is on you.”

“All right,” you conceded warmly. That familiar affection tugged on your heartstrings. You slid your legs off the bed and made to stand when a hand clamped down on your shoulder and nearly knocked you down. “Sanji, let go.”

Your brother’s jaw was set and gaze resolved, scaring the stubbornness right out of you. “You need rest. We can fix the storage room tomorrow, Pipsqueak.”

“But—”

“You’re actively bleeding through your stitches,” he cut you off, grinning when you pouted. “Tomorrow. Your inventory isn’t going anywhere.”

You were left gaping at him, eyes scanning for someone on your side. Nami raised a brow. Zoro’s expression was blank. Usopp avoided your eye. Chopper looked so sure of himself that you didn’t even try. So instead, you puffed out a breath and readjusted yourself on the bed. 

“I expect everyone’s attendance tomorrow morning,” you grumbled.

Usopp gawked at you. “Morning?”

One glare was all it took and his jaw snapped back up. Your temples began to throb fiercely, the gradual increase in pressure suddenly erupting into a full ache. The base of your neck was sore too and your lash line weighed down in gentle flutters. Sanji’s hand on your shoulder kept you from floating away into the delirium, your gaze searching as it swept over all your friends.

That tight tendril of awkward affection curled around your heart, as it often did, and it felt as undesirable as always. But no one pressed for any outward expression of it; your friends simply stood in your midst, wearing there hearts on sleeves of various vulnerability, not a hint of expectation anywhere on their faces. 

Times like this, you thought maybe you could bare to ditch your fears. Then again, maybe not, but you dismissed the hope fondly. 

“All right,” Chopper grunted, cheeks puffed. “Everyone out. She needs lots of rest—starting now!”

You chuckled dryly as the little doctor shooed everyone away. Nami shot you a quick little wave and disapeared into the hall, Sanji squeezed your hand, and Usopp gave a brief thumbs up. Zoro was left holding the door, solemn as ever, and paused int he act of closing the door. He appeared between the door and the frame, not quite in yet not quite out either.

“I was serious,” he said lowly.

You tilted your head. “About overowkring myself?”

“Well, yeah, that,” he stammered. “I mean about learning to fight. I’ll teach you.”

You’re sure your eyes glimmered, heart thrumming unexpectedly. “Really?” He nodded, crossing his arms. “Sanji won’t like it.”

“He doesn’t like a lot of things.”

“Primarily you.”

A scant smirk, one born of mischief and misdeed, crept up his face. “Primarily me, yeah.”

You shook your head and fought back a smile. “I don’t have a sword.”

He paused long enough for you to notice. “I’ve got three.”

“I couldn’t,” you said instantly, jaw falling open. “Those’re important.”

Zoro rolled a shoulder and combed at his hair. “I trust you.”

He was gone before you’d finished gasping, eyes wide as the door swung shut in his wake, and unsure when a sudden heatwave had flooded the room.

𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @100520s @murnsondock @kryscent

[seventeencryinghorses-blog]

Hiii!!! Omg I loved Kindness Isn't Spineless!! Would you be willing to do a part 3?? Where reader and the crew are visiting an island and run into readers ex? Since they ex was toxic/abusive, reader obviously feels afraid. How would Luffy and the crew react? Luffy comforting reader? I hope you’re well <33

Hey so I went totally overboard hope that's alright. I ended up making this way too long and I have a book report to do so I'll make this the 3rd part and the next one will be the last part cuz I don't wanna dwell on this too long. Hope that's good.

Kindness Isn't Spineless

Luffy x Gn!Reader. Lots of fluff, the strawhats are here too. Happiness all around. TW: small allusion to abusive ex relationship, reader gets anxious. 2,820~ words.

part one | part two

“Luffy wait!” You call out to the rubber man as he drags you by the hand happily off of the ship, excited to see a new island. It’s tuckering you out, especially when you’re drowsy from the heat. You try to stop him by standing still, but his arm just stretches as he runs ahead of you. It’s only when it drags you back to him that he realizes what happened, managing to catch you before you slammed into him.

“Woah! Hey you’re being so slow!” He says, putting you down onto your feet.

“I’m trying to be energetic but the nap I took outside ended up just making me sleepier.” You respond, sighing.

“Want me to carry you?” He grins and holds his arms out. You consider that option before shaking your head.

“No, I need to walk around to get rid of the drowsiness anyway.” After declining Luffy nods and almost immediately runs off again, stopping when you squeeze his hand. “Luffy…” You say, your voice stern, and he pouts.

“Sorry…” He doesn’t like being scolded, but listens. It’s not so bad walking like this either, holding hands as he swings them happily. He saved up some allowance so he’s excited to see the kind of food they have here, his eyes shining at the thought. It makes him want to run again but he settles when he sees you looking around.

“It’s pretty here. I know maybe not that different from other islands we’ve been to but they have decorations up. Is there a festival?” You pull Luffy to one of the stalls, buying him an apple to munch on while you ask the stall owner a few questions. As it turns out, there is indeed a festival. It’s why there were other big ships at the dock, people are visiting from other islands to celebrate. “Luffy did you hear that?” You turn to your boyfriend, who nods his head with his cheeks full of apple. He chews a few times before swallowing and licking juice from his lips.

“Festival, right? That’s why they have all the stuff up?” Wow he was actually listening. You give him a kiss on the cheek, earning a “Shi shi shi.” of a happy Luffy. The stall owner mentions that there'll be fireworks too, and even games to play.

“A lot of stall owners are going to be selling food too, which is my personal favorite.” The owner says and Luffy’s eyes light up, looking at you in excitement.

“We’re staying for the festival, Luffy. I doubt the others would want to miss it either. From what the owner said there’s some historic significance to it, we should tell Robin that when we see her.” Luffy seems uninterested until you add “She’ll be happy.” and then he seems more interested.

“Let’s go find her!” He yells, quickly grabbing another apple before he drags you away. He backtracks for a quick second to pay and then you both are actually off, Luffy picking you up and running around looking for your crewmates to give the news. You find Zoro and Nami, Nami seems interested.

“Ooo a festival, yeah we’ll stay.” The prospect of wearing cute clothes and walking around in pretty scenery is appealing to her, especially when she thinks of all the rich bastards that’ll probably come. “Huhuhu.. I’m not giving you more allowance for the festival though, spend it wisely. Unless you want to take out a loan, of course~” She says with a sly smile.

“Crazy woman.” Zoro mumbles and she tugs his ear. “Ow!” They bicker a bit but Zoro also agrees. The festival itself is okay, but the real thing that interests him is the festive alcohol.

“I’m a crazy woman for wanting money but focusing on only alcohol in a beautiful festival is sane?” Nami asks with a scoff and Zoro scowls.

“Okay let's find the others!” Luffy says quickly, picking you back up and running off after waving bye to Nami and Zoro. You find Chopper and Usopp next.

“Festival? Yeah I heard about it, my great great great grandfather actually held the first festival of this island. I even have an ancient relic of the past-” Usopp starts and you cover his mouth before he starts rambling, you’ll take that as a yes.

“What about you Chopper?” You ask the small reindeer and he nods.

“Sounds super fun!” He says excitedly, hopping a little. “They’ll have cotton candy too, right?” You nod and he hops more. “Then let’s stay! I’ll go buy all the things I need before they close up shop for the festival!” With that, the little reindeer runs off with Usopp.

You find Brook and Jinbe next, people glancing at the sight of a huge fishman and a skeleton just sitting drinking tea. “Yohoho, a festival? I agree, what about you Jinbe-san?” Brook turns to Jinbe.

“I agree as well, festivals are always a nice thing to celebrate; especially with friends.” He says with a smile.

“Very wise, Jinbe-san.” Brook says, taking a sip of his tea. “Thinking of spending time with friends at a festival... it brings a tear to my eye, not that I have one! Yohohoho!” Him and Jinbe laugh at his joke, you two leaving after saying bye.

“We already got majority vote, can we go eat now?” Luffy asks as you two actually walk around normally this time.

“True, but this is fun, isn’t it? Telling news to the crew. Plus, didn’t you hear what Nami said? We gotta spend our money wisely. Saving it for the festival food sounds way better.” You tell Luffy and he pouts a little, then grins.

“Okay! And yeah, this is fun!” He says, quickly hugging you. You hug him back, then go back on your festival informant mission. Franky stayed on the Sunny, he didn’t need to buy anything and instead took the chance to look over the Sunny while protecting it. There are a lot of other ships around after all, there’s no telling if one of them is hostile and tries something. “FRANKKYYYY!!!” Luffy yells from the dock up to the ship. A few moments and the cyborg replies.

“Yeah!?” He yells back and Luffy wraps one arm around you, stretching the other to grab onto the Sunny. It launches you both up and onto the ship, in front of Franky.

“There’s gonna be a festival! Fireworks and meat!” Luffy says, excited, and Franky grins.

“Festival? So that’s why there’s so many ships around.” The cyborg notes. “You both want to stay for that, right? Sounds Super!”

“You’re not gonna celebrate?” You ask with a frown and he shakes his head.

“Someone has to look after the Sunny, marines and other pirates might try something.” He explains and both you and Luffy frown. “Cheer up! I’ll be able to see the fireworks from here!” He says, but you and Luffy still seem a little bummed. Franky is mature despite his personality, he has a point. You don’t want him to be alone though, besides the Sunny. Luffy kisses you on the cheek.

“Well, it’s his choice. C’mon we still have Sanji and Robin!” The captain says, spreading his happy energy to you. It makes you feel better; plus, you doubt with some of the crews’ personalities that he’ll be alone for long. You two hop off of the ship and spot Sanji holding groceries, he must be bringing them back to stock the ship.

“Oh, Sanji!” You call out but Luffy beats you to it, grabbing onto Sanji’s shoulders and launching to him.

“Sanji!!” He yells and the cook jolts.

“Luffy you idiot I’m holding things!” He says, but it’s too late and Luffy slams into him. Thankfully, experience and leg strength helps him stay upright. Luffy pulls back enough to look at him.

“Sanji, there’s gonna be a festival!” The captain announces and Sanji’s eyes widen.

“A festival?” He asks and the words echo in his head. ‘Festival… festival..’ His thoughts go to the women crowding the streets in festive clothing, giggling and having fun. Nami and Robin in their prettiest clothes, eating food and playing games. Sanji playing the games for them, winning prizes and offering it to them like the goddesses they are. He can already hear their voices thanking him, praising him, bestowing their beautiful presence upon him.

“Sanji! Sanji! Hello??” You pat his cheek and he snaps out of it.

“Yes I’ll stay for the ladi- the festival.” He quickly answers, blood trickling from his nose to Luffy’s laughter. The rubber man lets go of Sanji, landing on the ground and turning to you.

“We just need Robin now!” He says, having fun on this mission you’ve made.

“Robin-chan should be near the outskirts of the island, saying there were ruins here she’s interested in." Sanji's face darkens. "I wanted to go with her, but I needed to buy groceries.” He seems genuinely bummed. “I can’t keep a lady waiting for me.”

“Cool! Let’s go!” Luffy's too used to Sanji’s woes to take them seriously. You give the cook a pat on the back before you two leave. When you’re at the outskirts of the island you realize you don’t know which part of the island she went to.

“Maybe we should’ve asked around if anyone knows where the ruins are.” You mumble to yourself, bearing the curse of hindsight.

“We just gotta look around, right? Robin always shows up!” Luffy says, swinging your held hands.

“True, Robin tends to appea- AAHH!” You jump with a yelp when you feel a hand on your shoulder, turning around quickly to see a chuckling Robin.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist.” She says with a smile as you put a hand to your chest, your heart thumping. Luffy seems unaffected, just excited to complete the mission.

“Robin! They’re having a festival! There’s gonna be meat and history too but meat and fireworks and meat!” Luffy rambles and Robin nods.

“I heard, I was going to tell you all when we met up but it looks like you two beat me to it.” She says.

“Great! Everyone knows now so we can go eat!” Your captain exclaims, forgetting about your earlier statement of saving for the festival.

“Luffy…” You sigh and Robin chuckles again, able to make out the context.

“Well, eating a bit beforehand shouldn’t hurt, right?” She suggests and Luffy quickly nods.

“Don’t instigate him!” You stare at her, betrayed. She gently shakes her head.

“They’ll most likely make the festival food more expensive, it’s better for him to not hold his hunger." The archeologist points out. “Luffy won’t fill up, but it should help.” She has a point.

“True…” There’s also valid concern that he might eat everything before the festival, but there could be some shops that are selling non-festive food that won't sell during the festival. You might even be able to get some for cheap depending on what it is. “Thanks Robin.”

“Have fun~” She says before you two walk off. You and Luffy go to multiple places that sell food, buying anything that won’t sell during the festivities. It helps Luffy a bit, and he pats his stomach with a content sigh.

“You aren’t gonna eat more?” He asks you and you shake your head.

“I ate enough, I’ll save the rest for the stalls.” You say and he shrugs.

“Well, okay!” He kisses you, tastes like the ham sandwich he just ate.

………………………..

Festival time! It’s bright and colorful, celebrating the moon’s creation apparently. It used to be a more elegant celebration, but time passed and people wanted to celebrate in the best way they knew how. Fun! Games and food stalls galore. You and the rest of the crew walk around, admiring everything. Luffy, thanks to Robin’s genius, gets to eat skewers with “moon sauce” whatever that is. It tastes good, you know that much. When you’re walking around you hear some whispers.

“Did you hear Mante is gonna be here?” Your heart drops as you hear the two people speaking.

“Mante? The hottie dancer?” The other person asks. “The one who works with that charity for the homeless?” Fuck, that’s definitely him.

“Yeah, apparently he’s dancing here for the festival. He’s using 70% of the profits he gets for his charity!”

“No way! Apparently dancing here is a ton of pressure! Giving most of the berri away, that’s crazy.”

“His good looks match his heart, I guess.” With that, the two people leave. Your heart pounds in your chest, this is bad, this is really bad. You knew he was getting popular but you didn’t know he would appear here.

“(Y/n)?” Luffy, munching on a moon themed pie, says your name. You’re out of it, only coming to when he presses his forehead to yours. You jolt.

“Luffy, you scared me.” You respond, getting startled for the second time today.

“You were spacing out all weird, what happened? Do you know this Mante guy?” He asks and you sigh.

“Y-Yeah, I used to know him…” Your voice is bitter and Luffy tilts his head in confusion.

“Does he suck at dancing or something?” The captain assumes from your reaction.

“No, no, he’s good. He wouldn’t be this popular if he actually sucked.” Your sigh only makes him more confused.

“What is it then?” He asks but you’re hesitant to answer, not wanting to ruin the fun by saying he’s your ex. Before he can push more, the sound of music starts. It calms you for a second before your eyes trail to a platform, on it are various dancers; and in the middle is the person of your nightmares. He’s handsome, maybe even more handsome than before in his beautiful dancer clothing. Luffy swallows the pie in his mouth, furrowing his brows as he follows your gaze to the dancer. He doesn’t know what’s going on but he knows you look scared. He quickly finishes the rest of the pie and grabs your hand. “Fireworks are way better anyway, let’s go somewhere else.”

“Where are you guys going?” Chopper, holding cotton candy, asks. He notices your pale complexion and gets worried. “Are you okay? Did you eat too much?” You shake your head and he frowns, holding up his cotton candy to you. “Want something sweet?” You shake your head again and he looks really worried.

“It’s okay Chopper, I’m just a little nervous. Maybe I just need to go somewhere quiet for a bit.” You tell the little reindeer and he nods, still staring at you. He pulls out some chewable tablets.

“Just in case it is your stomach, chew two of these and you should feel a little better.” The doctor says and you take the tablet, pocketing them.

“T-Thanks.” You mumble.

“What’s going on? Did you get constipated?” A voice behind you says, Zoro. He’s with Usopp and Nami, holding whatever they buy or win.

“Ohh is that it? Are you constipated?” Luffy turns to you and you shake your head again. The assumption is a little funny, but it isn’t really helping your nerves.

“Stop assuming gross stuff.” Nami says, annoyed. She walks over to you. “You’re just feeling anxious right? Robin is thinking about going back to the ship if you wanna go with her.” The offer is really tempting, the problem is that you also really don’t want to ruin things for Luffy. Of course, he can choose to have fun without you and leave you to Robin and Franky. He trusts them to keep you safe like this, but there’s also a chance he might be too worried to leave you alone. You can’t properly predict which one it’ll be with him, plus you do want to have fun with him around here. The thought of losing that because of him makes you angry.

“I’ll go somewhere with less people for a bit, then I'll come back for the fireworks.” You settle with and she nods.

“Well, okay.” Nami says, turning around to see Zoro trying to wander off. She quickly grabs him and pushes him to Usopp. “Make sure he doesn’t run off.” She tells him. Usopp doesn’t really want to, but Nami is scarier than Zoro. “I’ll see you, then. Don’t hesitate to go back to the ship if you need to.” She says and Chopper nods.

“I won’t.” You respond and Luffy looks at you, tightening his hold on your hand.

“I’m coming with you.” He says and you look at him.

“You don’t have to, I’ll be ba-”

“Nuh uh, I wanna go with you. I wanna rest too.” He doesn’t want to leave you alone, walking around without you wouldn’t be as fun anyway. You sigh in relief.

“Mkay, let’s go then.” To be honest you don’t wanna be completely alone either. You’re scared being alone might just make the thoughts come back. With that, you both leave after saying seeya to Nami, Zoro, Usopp, and Chopper. 'I just want to have fun without thinking of him.'

[justagalwhowrites]

Halcyon - Ch. 8: We’re Completely Undateable, Aren’t We?

You and Joel go on a double date. A continuation of Halcyon from the prologue through Ch. 7, a modern no outbreak AU TLOU fic found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings: Description of a nude selfie. Description of masturbation. Modern No Outbreak AU, No use of Y/N, Slow burn, 18+ only, Minors DNI

Length: 5.5K

AO3 | Main Master List | Prologue | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

“What’s your friend’s name again?” 

Natalie wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders as you walked toward the restaurant. It was a nice one - trendy, with an extensive cocktail menu, something you were planning to take full advantage of as you watched Joel put the moves on someone else. Natalie, of course, looked beautiful. Perfect, really. At least, perfect for Joel. 

He’d always had a type. He denied it but he did. Joel had always gone for the effortlessly beautiful type, the kinds of girls in high school you’d have described as a step beyond the girl next door.

Natalie fit the bill, with soft features and natural makeup that perfectly accented them in a way that made you wonder if she was wearing makeup at all. She was unquestionably beautiful, the kind that made you do a double take and wonder what the hell someone like her was doing teaching and not modeling or being an influencer or something that was more lucrative because surely someone who looked like that had easier ways to make a living. 

But she was a professor and she was a good one, too. Several of your students had her for other classes and you always enjoyed when you had a chance to chat with her in passing. Joel was going to like her. How could he not? 

“His name is Joel,” you said. 

“Joel,” she repeated, taking a deep breath and giving a nod that made her curls bounce. “OK. Sorry, I haven’t been on a date in like… six months. I swear I won’t be a total spaz the whole time we’re in there.” 

“Well, we’re going to be in the same boat,” you smiled, your stomach in knots. “This is my first date since my split with my ex but you have to rip the bandaid off at some point, right?” 

“Right,” she smiled back. “We’ve got this.” 

If you didn’t throw up, she was probably right.

You weren’t going to say that.

“Yes we do.” 

Joel and the man he said he was bringing for you were already inside, seated on opposite sides of the table, diagonally from each other and looking like the most awkward pair. Joel spotted you first, his eyes going a little wide before he stood up almost comically fast, his chair nearly toppling over behind him. You gave him a tight smile and a small wave as your stomach got tight. 

This was going to be fucking torture. 

The other man got up, too, and turned to face you and Natalie. He was tall - but not as tall as Joel - and handsome, if a few years younger than you. You weren’t sure how you felt about that. Of course, it might not matter how you felt about it, given how his eyes fell on Natalie. 

“He’s cute!” Natalie whispered in your ear as you approached the table. 

Before you had a chance to respond, she walked up to the other man and smiled, her hand out. 

“Joel?” She asked. “I’m Natalie.” 

“Oh,” he said, looking flustered. “Um… I’m sorry, I’m not…” 

“I’m Joel,” he smiled tightly, his hand out to her across the table. “Sorry…” 

“Oh, God,” she laughed. “No, I’m sorry! I’m Natalie, it’s so nice to meet you Joel.” 

She took the seat next to the other man, anyway, settling in across from Joel as you went around the table to sit beside him. He raised his eyebrows at you but you just shrugged before introducing yourself to the other man. 

“Good to meet you,” he said, shaking your hand lightly. “I’m Blake.” 

“Hi,” you said again, hoping your smile wasn’t too forced. 

You sat next to Joel and picked up the menu, looking it over and trying to force yourself to relax. Except you relaxed so much that your knee brushed Joel’s under the table and it made you jump. He looked at you when you did and you both smiled tightly, almost apologetically at each other. You tried not to frown as you went back to your menu. 

Joel didn’t look particularly thrilled about the current situation. Had you done a bad job of picking his date? You’d thought Natalie would have been a foolproof choice but maybe you were wrong. Or maybe he really wanted you to be across from him so his knee could accidentally brush hers under the table. You gnawed on your lower lip. 

“Everything OK?” Natalie asked, making you look up from the menu. It took you a moment to realize she was talking to you. 

“Oh,” you laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, no, it’s… it’s fine, I… um…” 

“Goldie has a hard time picking something to order at new places,” Joel cut off your stammering. 

You looked at him, a little aghast. 

“I do not!” 

“Please,” he rolled his eyes. “You’ve always been that way. You’re worse now but you can never just get whatever you want, you always have to wait to see what I’m getting so you can steal some and even then you’ll hedge your bets.” 

“As if you don’t steal my food,” you put the menu down. “I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten something that I ordered all on my own if I’m out with you…” 

“You don’t finish it, anyway!” 

“Joel, I have to get a bigger Blizzard than I really want because if I don’t, you steal all of it…” 

“So you two have known each other a long time, huh?” Natalie said and you suddenly remembered that it wasn’t just you and Joel there. You were on a date. With other people. 

You cleared your throat. 

“Yeah,” Joel said, looking at Natalie, one of his signature, charming smiles on his face. “Goldie and I go way back, almost 20 years now…” 

“God, we’re getting old,” you laughed a little and tried to find someplace to look that wasn’t at Joel while he put the moves on your coworker. 

“Goldie?” Blake asked. 

“Oh,” you laughed again, clenching an unclenching your hand under the table. “Yeah, that’s what Joel calls me…” 

“She carried this notebook with this sparkly gold cover with her everywhere,” he said. You could feel his eyes on you and your face got hot. “Seriously, it was practically surgically attached. Still kind of is. But that makes sense since she’s a writer. She was a writer then, too. Always been a writer…” 

“What do you write?” Blake asked, looking intrigued. 

“Not much lately,” you said. “But I have one book that’s published. It’s kind of a coming of age story?” 

“Oh,” he deflated a bit. 

“Sorry,” you said, not sure why you were saying it. 

“No, don’t apologize,” he said quickly. “Just… not really my thing. Sorry. I’m sure it’s great…” 

“What kind of books do you like?” You asked, desperate to change the subject. 

“Well, I’m reading Ulysses right now…” 

“Ulysses?” Natalie cut him off before covering her mouth and clearing her throat. “Sorry. That’s just… it’s one of my favorites. I’m teaching it next semester…” 

“Really?” He asked, turning to face her, his face lighting up. “What do you like about it?” 

“Oh, I love the stream of consciousness structure…” 

They seemed to tune out everything then, totally absorbed in each other. You gave Joel a look and he gave you the same one back. 

You weren’t entirely unused to being with Joel on a date, it had just been a while. In hindsight, you realized you probably hadn’t been the best friend you could have been when that happened. You just continued on with Joel like you did when it was just the two of you, the fact that his flavor of the week was there hadn’t made much difference. You’d never felt like a third wheel. You never had much chance to feel like a third wheel. 

You were pretty sure you and Joel were the collective third wheel now. 

“This isn’t going well,” Joel said, keeping his voice low and turning his head like he was looking back over the shoulder that was closest to you. 

“It is for them,” you said, disguising it with a sip of water. 

“Good evening!” The server mercifully came to the table and introduced himself. “Can I get you folks started with a bottle of wine or perhaps some of our speciality cocktails?” 

“Oh thank God,” Joel muttered. 

“Anybody else want wine?” You asked before anyone had a chance to react to what he said. You snatched up the wine list and skimmed to a mid-priced cab. “This winery is excellent, everyone good with red?” 

“Sounds great,” Natalie smiled. 

“Sure,” Blake smiled. 

You didn’t bother to wait for Joel’s response and ordered the bottle and a martini because dear lord if you were going to make it through this night you needed to be a lot drunker than this. 

The server left and you exchanged a tight smile with Natalie before Blake cleared his throat awkwardly. 

“So,” Natalie said after a moment. “You said you like this winery?” 

“Oh,” you glanced quickly at Joel. “Yeah, I did a tasting there a few years ago, they’re in Sonoma, really excellent reds…” 

“So, you like to travel?” Blake asked. 

“Yeah, it’s always fun going somewhere new,” you smiled. “How about you? Anywhere really fun you’ve been?” 

“Oh, I uh… Don’t really like to travel,” Blake said. “Much more of a homebody type.” 

“Me too,” Natalie said, sounding a little too excited before clearing her throat. “I just really like having my quiet time, you know?” 

“Yeah,” Blake nodded. “You know, me and Joel work in contracting and I’ve really tried to make my home a place I really want to be, it’s my favorite place in the world.” 

“See, that’s so wonderful,” Natalie said. “I’ve always wanted something like that but I’ve been bouncing from apartment to apartment for years so it’s hard to really customize things…” 

The two of them were off again and you and Joel were left awkwardly sipping the wine the server came back to pour. 

It stayed like that all through dinner. All four of you tried to make conversation with the person you were there to see. You really, truly did. But it always led to Blake and Natalie being totally absorbed in each other while you and Joel were left sipping wine and pretending that you weren’t being effectively ditched by your dates. 

“Can you excuse me for just one minute,” Natalie said as you were waiting for the check, giving you a look across the table. “I just need to pop to the ladies’ room…” 

“I’ll come with you,” you said quickly, grabbing your purse and following her. 

The second you were behind closed doors, she grabbed your hand, an apologetic look on her face. 

“I am so sorry,” she said. “Your friend seems great, really, and I know that Blake was your date tonight but would you mind if I got his number? If you’re really into him or you think it would hurt Joel’s feelings I absolutely won’t, it’s really not a big deal…” 

“Natalie,” you smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. “I doubt Blake even remembers my name right now. Absolutely, get his number, no hard feelings at all.” 

“You’re sure?” She winced. 

“Definitely,” you said. “Please, don’t miss out because you’re worried about being polite or something with me. You two seem like you have a real connection, you should go for it.” 

“Thank you so much!” She gave a little squeal. “OK now that it’s OK for me to say it? I’m really excited, I really, really like Blake.” 

“Good,” you smiled. “I’m happy for you.” 

Joel and Blake had picked up the tab by the time you got back to the table and the four of you headed for the door, Natalie and Blake sticking close together while you and Joel hung back. 

“Hey, Joel,” you said as you made it to the door. “One sec, let me show you something…” 

He frowned as you put your hand in his and tugged him to the side in the parking lot. 

“What?” He asked, glancing back at Natalie and Blake before looking at you. 

“Just going to give them some space…” You trailed off, leaning around him to watch where Blake and Natalie were talking, Blake pulling out his phone and smiling as they did. “And there it is.” 

“What?” He asked, looking back over his shoulder but you grabbed him by the chin and made him look at you, his eyes going wide. 

“Don’t look!” You hissed. “God, you have no tact…” 

“Shut up.” 

“They’re swapping numbers,” you said. “Two love birds over there…” 

“Jesus,” he groaned. 

“Sorry,” you said, stopping watching them and focusing on Joel again. “Didn’t think you’d mind too much…” 

“Yeah, didn’t exactly feel a love connection with Natalie,” he sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You OK with Blake not being the one?” 

“Think I’ll survive,” you smiled tightly. You glanced around him one more time. Phones were back in pockets. “OK I think we’re good.” 

“C’mon Cupid,” he said. “Let’s go get shot down.” 

You snorted but followed behind him to the edge of the parking lot where Blake and Natalie were waiting. 

“So, if you don’t mind,” Natalie said, still wincing a little. “I was going to have Blake take me home? Catch up with you next week?” 

“Sounds good,” you smiled before turning to Blake. “It was nice meeting you.” 

“You too,” he said, at least being polite enough to look sheepish about it. 

“Good to meet you, too, Joel,” Natalie said. “Really, you seem… nice.” 

“Same to you,” he said, hands still in his pockets. 

The two of you stood there, side by side, as your dates went home together. 

You sighed and looked over at Joel once Blake and Natalie were safely in his car. Joel looked back at you. 

“We’re completely undateable, aren’t we?” He asked. 

“Yep,” you nodded once. 

He sighed. 

“Well, at least we have each other.” 

“Could be worse,” you agreed. 

“Want to come over?” He asked. 

“Yes but…” you bit your lip. “Can we go to Sonic first? I kind of really need a shake now.” 

Joel laughed. 

“Absofuckinlutely we can.” 

***

“You really think this is a good idea?” 

Your head was dangling off the seat of the couch, your legs draped over the back as you looked at your phone screen.

“Better idea than all your blood rushin’ to your head for however long you’ve been sitting like that,” Joel replied, sitting on the floor with his back to the love seat next to you. He tried to ignore the way your body curved in that position. The shape of your legs, your ass pressing into the cushions, your breasts swelling over the cups of your bra and giving him a glimpse of your cleavage in the v-neck of your dress. 

You set your phone on your stomach and looked longingly at the styrofoam cup on his coffee table. 

“What?” He asked. 

“I want my shake.” 

“So drink the shake!” 

“I don’t wanna sit up,” you whined a little. Joel laughed. You’d added a generous amount of vodka to the shake and it was starting to show. You reached for the cup, arm outstretched, fingers groping but it was out of reach. You whimpered and he sighed, bringing the cup alongside your head. You tried to take it but he pulled the cup away for a moment. 

“Just wait, I’m holdin’ it,” he said. “Take a sip if you actually can from that position, you weirdo.” 

You rolled your eyes with more dramatic force than Sarah on her best day. 

“You’re being controlling,” you said, putting the hand that had been reaching for the shake on your stomach by your phone. 

“Tryin’ to keep you from wrecking my carpet,” he replied, putting the shake by your head again and putting the straw in your open mouth. “Don’t choke.” 

“Don’t choke,” you mumbled mockingly around the straw - or he thought you did, anyway. It was hard to tell. You managed to actually get some milkshake into your mouth but almost immediately grimaced. Joel took the straw away. 

“You OK?” He laughed. 

“Brain freeze,” you winced, eyes scrunched closed. “Ugh, why would vodka and chocolate betray me in this way?” 

“Your guess is as good as mine, Goldie.” 

“You think this is why my date ditched me?” You asked, eyes still closed in a wince. 

“What?” Joel laughed. “Because chocolate and vodka decided to attack you personally?” 

“No,” you frowned, the upside down angle of your head making it look like a sad smile for a moment. “Because I like doing shit like this. I probably should have out grown this years ago.” 

“Hon, if some asshole is telling you to grow up, he doesn’t deserve you,” he said. “Now let me see that damn profile.” 

You sighed and surrendered your phone. While sitting in Joel’s truck at Sonic after your respective dates had crumbled, Joel redownloaded Tinder and you decided to set up a profile of your own. But you’d never had a dating app profile before. You sat on the couch, gnawing on your thumbnail and ignoring the milkshake you’d wanted to stop for until Joel went and got the liquor. After a few shots - and a generous amount added to your shake - you loosened up enough to fill out the profile. 

But you hadn’t loosened up enough to finalize it yourself. 

“OK well we’re changing out these pictures,” Joel said, scrolling down the page. 

“What’s wrong with the pictures!” 

“Did you scroll through your album to find the most boring photos of you ever taken?” He asked, lowering the phone enough to look at you. “Because these are not doing you justice…” 

“Fuck off,” you tried to shove him but almost fell off the couch instead, gasping then giggling as Joel caught you. 

“Jesus, please try to not break your neck,” he said, heart in his throat as he helped arrange you on the couch. “Just got you back, rather you not die in my living room…” 

“Give it a few months,” you settled into the couch again. “You’ll change your tune.” 

He scoffed, scrolling down your profile. 

“See, you didn’t pick the best prompts,” he said, frowning. 

“What do you mean?” You asked, adjusting your head to try to see him better and then giving up. 

“You’ve basically just said what your job is four different times,” he said. “Can I fuck with your profile?” 

“You’re the expert,” you shrugged. “Shake please.” 

Joel sighed and held the cup up so you could reach the straw again before going into your prompts. 

“Alright, if you had 20 minutes left to live, what would you do?” Joel asked, lowering the phone to look at you again. 

“I don’t wanna say,” you pouted a little. 

“Well now you have to,” he teased. “I gotta know. Is it masturbate? Eat your weight in chocolate ice cream? Tell Brad to go fuck himself? What?” 

“Not telling.” 

“I’ll tell you mine,” Joel said. “C’mon…” 

“No.” 

“Goldie.” 

“Joel.” 

“Don’t make me beg, he said. “I will withhold your alcoholic shake.” 

You quirked your jaw for a moment before you sighed. 

“I’d come see you,” you said. “There. Happy?” 

Joel’s heart beat a little faster. 

“Goldie…” 

“Don’t make fun!”

“I’m not!” He said quickly. “Really, I’m not, I promise I’m not.” 

“Feels like you are,” you muttered. 

“I’m not,” he said gently, moving so he was leaning on the couch next to you. “Promise.” 

“Yeah, alright…” 

“Hey,” he said. You lifted your head slightly, enough that he could see your face better. “I’d come see you, too. Assuming I had Sarah with me, of course.”

“What about Tommy?” 

“Fuck ‘em,” he smiled a little and you laughed. “Just don’t tell him I said that.”  

“Probably shouldn’t put that I would go see some other guy on my dating profile,” you said, letting your head dangle again. “Pick another prompt.” 

“How about this one,” he said. “I want someone who… will travel and explore new places with me. Sound good?” 

“Yeah,” you said. “I like that one.” 

“Here’s a good one,” Joel said, letting a teasing edge slip into his voice. “Your biggest red flag is… fucking old dudes…” 

“Fuck off,” you laughed. “The prompts suck.” 

“We’ll figure ‘em out later,” Joel said. “I’m going to find a picture of you that doesn’t look like it was taken at some fuckin’ work conference…” 

“Hey!” 

“You’re a fun person,” Joel said, going to your photo albums. “You’ve lived a little. Try showing that.” 

“Fine,” you sighed. “But I promise, there aren’t many pictures that are worth your time.” 

“We’ll see about that,” Joel said absently as he went to the map of photos. He pulled up the cluster that appeared near San Francisco. “See, this one’s good.” 

He held your phone in front of your face, a picture of you smiling in a vineyard. 

“Says you like to travel and like wine,” he said. “And you look good in it.” 

“Alright,” you said, a smile in your voice. “Put it in there.” 

“Not a first picture though,” he said. “We’ll find a better one for that…” 

“Knew you’d have this down to a science…” 

“Shut up,” he laughed, going back to the map. “You’ve been to Europe, right?” 

“Yeah,” you said. “For the book tour.” 

“Let’s see,” he said, heading across the ocean on the map and finding pictures in London. “Oh see, these are good, you’re all done up for work and shit but it’s in a cool place. So much better than that one shot you picked…” 

“Whatever you say,” you said, smile still evident in your voice. 

Joel toggled through pictures. You at the Tower of London, you by that big damn ferris wheel, you by Big Ben, a selfie with a woman who was pretty but not nearly as pretty as you. You holding your book and smiling with a room full of people in the background as they watched you intently. He smiled to himself, looking at the photo for a moment. He was so fucking proud of you, that you’d actually done the thing you’d always dreamed of and people loved you for it. He reached over and took a drink of your shake as he swiped to the next image but he immediately choked on it. 

It was a picture of you, a selfie. You were flat on your back on a fluffy white comforter, your eyes hazy with want, breasts bared for the camera. 

He knew he shouldn’t be looking at this. He knew. This wasn’t for him, this was for… well, presumably that fucking asshole you spent a decade married to. But before he could consciously stop himself, he memorized you. The swell of your breasts, the pebbling of your nipples, the curve at your waist just as the photo cut off. And that look on your face. How many times had he remembered - pretended? - that you looked at him like that when he’d been inside you? 

His conscious mind took over again. He coughed on the shake, dropping the phone and the drink. 

“Shit,” you said, adjusting quickly to help clean up. “Are you OK?” 

“Fine,” he said, trying to scramble for the phone as he hacked and coughed. Where the fuck had it fallen? “Just… wrong tube…” 

“Yeah, try not to do that,” you teased and Joel’s stomach dropped. Your phone was in your hand. 

“No, wait!” 

“What?” You laughed. “It’s my phone…” You looked down at the screen of it for the first time, your eyes going wide before you clutched it to your chest. “Oh my God, please tell me you didn’t see that!” 

He was quiet beyond his subsiding coughing for a moment. 

“It’s not that big of a deal…” he began but you groaned. 

“I can’t believe…” 

“I’m really sorry,” he said quickly. “I swear, I wasn’t looking for -”

“It’s not your fault,” you cut him off. Joel suddenly realized exactly how close the two of you were and he sat back from you. You winced, the expression passing quickly. “I’m sorry. I forgot that was even there, I thought I’d deleted it…” 

“It’s not a big deal…” 

“I just…” you looked at him, those eyes wide with a desperate need for understanding instead of just desperate want. “Look, things were already in a shitty place with Gale and I was trying to keep him interested when I was half a planet away and I was… well, I was obviously willing to try anything and - “ 

“Goldie,” he cut you off. “It’s OK. Really.” 

“No, it was stupid,” you looked down at your phone, barely pulling the screen away from your chest as you - presumably - deleted the picture. “It didn’t get me anywhere. I don’t think he even directly replied to that photo and it clearly didn’t do much to save my marriage and now… So yeah, it was pretty stupid.” 

“It wasn’t stupid,” he said gently. You scoffed. “It wasn’t. You were trying to take care of something that mattered to you. He was a fucking dumbass. You weren’t stupid.” 

He was suddenly close to you again - or it seemed sudden, anyway. But he was close enough that he could smell your shampoo and see the different shades in the iris of your eye. You were close enough that kissing you would be easy. Or it would be if there wasn’t so much between you. 

But maybe, just this once, it’d be easy. Actually easy. 

“We’re home!” Tommy’s voice boomed as the front door smacked into the wall. 

“Aunt Goldie!” Sarah shrieked, tearing into the living room as you smiled at her. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here!” 

She damn near hurdled Joel and launched herself at you, almost toppling you over as you caught her. 

“I didn’t either, kiddo,” you laughed and gave her a squeeze. “But your dad’s and my plans changed. I was just about to head home, though.” 

“Aw man,” she sat back from you, pouting a little. “You’re not sleeping over?” 

“Remember those cats we got earlier this week?” You asked, brows raised. “Not very nice for me to leave poor Puck home alone when he’s still new in the house, is it?” 

“I guess,” she sighed dramatically. “You should bring him next time. Him and Swiftie can be friends.” 

You smiled. 

“I’ll think about it.” You turned to Joel, looking down at the melting shake on the floor. “Can I help? Where are the paper towels, I can…” 

“Don’t worry about it,” he said quickly. “You should probably head home.” 

“Right,” you smiled tightly, leaning around Joel to see his brother and gave him a wave. “Hi Tommy. Long time no see.” 

“You’re lookin’ good, Goldie,” he smiled. “Still out there being smarter than everyone?” 

“Mostly,” you replied. “You still pretending rolled up pieces of paper are cigarettes?” 

“Sometimes,” he smirked. “When I’m bored and I need excitement.” 

You laughed at that and gave Sarah a final hug before leaving. Joel watched you go before sending Sarah to the kitchen for the paper towels before telling her to get ready for bed. 

“She behave?” Joel asked as he mopped up the spilled shake and tried to get the image of you, half naked and desperate, out of his mind. 

“An angel, as always,” Tommy said. “You two sure made a mess…” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Joel snapped, looking up at him. 

“Nothing,” he put his hands up. “Just an observation.” 

“Well,” Joel went back to cleaning up the mess. “Observe something else.” 

“Date went that well, huh?” Tommy asked. Joel could hear his cocky smile. 

“Something like that,” he muttered.

“You two will figure it out eventually.” 

“Yeah,” Joel sighed. “Helped her get a Tinder profile set up tonight…” 

“Not the kind of figure it out I meant, brother,” Tommy clapped him on the shoulder and groaned a little as he got up. 

“What kind did you mean?” Joel asked. 

“Well, figure it out and then you’ll know,” Tommy said. Joel rolled his eyes. “I’m out, been a long day.” 

“Thanks for taking Sarah,” Joel said. “I appreciate it.

“Thank me by getting your shit together,” Tommy replied. 

“Yeah,” Joel sighed. “I’m workin’ on it.” 

Tommy left and Joel managed to get the shake out of the carpet before heading to Sarah’s room to put her to bed. He read some of the book they were working on aloud and tucked her in before going to take a shower himself. 

Not that he needed one. He’d taken a shower just before getting ready for the date, it had only been a few hours. 

But he needed privacy. He needed to know that his daughter wasn’t going to overhear anything or come wandering in at an inopportune moment. 

The shower helped. 

He couldn’t wait for Sarah to fall asleep. It was like that picture was burned into his fucking retinas, he needed to get it out of his system now. He needed to get you out of his system. 

For now, he’d settle for the picture. 

It didn’t take much for his cock to be so hard it ached and he palmed it under the flow of hot water, working himself from root to tip. He tried not to think too much about the picture at first. He’d never been supposed to see it, it wasn’t right that he saw you that way. 

But he gave in quickly. He told himself it’d be just this once. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just this once, just to move past it. 

He let himself pretend. Pretend that you’d sent him that picture, pretend that you looked at him all desperate and needy, pretend that he got to take off your clothes every night so he could touch every inch of you. He’d been so caught up in what was happening the one time he was with you, the overwhelming intensity of his first time all tied up with just how badly he’d wanted you for so long, he wasn’t sure how much of you he’d actually touched. Not really. But he wanted it to be all of you. He hoped it was all of you. He pretended that he knew all of you in that way as he worked his cock, hard and fast until he came so hard that it spilled over his hand and onto his shower wall. 

“Fuck,” he panted, leaning against the wall for support as his cock went soft in his hand. 

He needed to fucking get past this. It wasn’t worth blowing up his friendship with you, hadn’t he learned that by now? He had to get his shit together. 

He repeated it like a mantra as he cleaned himself up and toweled off before heading to bed. But he couldn’t sleep, staring up at the ceiling and wondering if you were OK. If there was a chance you were thinking of him like this somehow, too. 

Joel picked up his phone and went to text you for a moment before he decided against it. Maybe space was better. You probably needed some time after he saw that picture. 

Right? 

Instead, he opened Tinder. Maybe he could at lest find a decent option for a one night stand, see if fucking someone else helped get you out of his head. He’d never just fucked someone else when you were anywhere near him, though. Could he even do that now? Did he even want to?

He swiped right on the first few women on the app, not spending much time on their profiles and going off their pictures alone. He swiped left on the next one and was preparing to do a quick swipe when your face was in front of him again. 

It wasn’t the picture that was lodged in his brain. Instead, it was the picture of you at the Tower of London. Your hair was done but a little messy from the wind, a gentle but happy smile on your face. 

He just looked at you for a moment. You’d activated your profile in the short time since you’d left his house. 

You had Tinder now and he should have anticipated this. Of course if you added the app and lived this close you’d appear on his. But that didn’t make him any more prepared for it. 

What the fuck was he supposed to do? 

Did he swipe right on the off chance you did, too? But if you didn’t, he’d have to live with the fact that he knew you didn’t. 

If he swiped left, it could all go away. Be like it never happened, not you looking for someone else, not him stumbling upon that damn photo, none of it. If he swiped left, he could actually try to find someone else. 

His finger hovered over the screen for a moment as he tried to remember exactly what your skin felt like in his hands. 

He swiped left. 

Next Chapter

A/N: I know, these TWO. I love them. They need to figure it out but I love them.

I hope you do, too!

Stuff is going to ramp up a bit soon. Thank you so much for being alone for the ride! I know I haven't been replying to comments reliably lately (I keep posting chapters super late and just going to bed as soon as I post them instead of responding) but please know that every time I get a comment email to my inbox, it makes me smile. So thank you thank you thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings with me and thank you for caring about this fic. It truly means the world.

Love you!

[lilsoftext]

•~* BACKSEAT BAN *~•

-chris sturniolo x female reader

- summary: new rule on videos and streams for chris “front seat only” for being to clingy

——————————————————————————

“Alright, guys, buckle up!” Matt called, starting the recording. “Let’s see what weird stuff the fans want to know this time.”

Sof and Chris were already in the back seat, and predictably, Chris had his arm around Sof’s shoulders, pulling her closer.

Nick glanced back from the front passenger seat, immediately sensing trouble. “Nope! Nope! You two—cut it out,” he said, his voice sharp but amused. “Chris, front seat. Now."

Chris rolled his eyes, but a playful grin spread across his face. “Come on, man. We’re just sitting.”

Matt glanced over at Nick, who shook his head with an exaggerated sigh. “Yeah, no. We’ve been down this road before. You can’t be trusted in the backseat.”

“Remember the last stream?” Matt chimed in, laughing. “We got so many comments. ‘Hey, are they gonna breathe in between making out?’”

Sof giggled, pushing Chris away playfully. “It wasn’t *that* bad.”

“Oh, it was that bad,” Nick retorted, scrolling through his phone. “Anyway, new rule: Chris, front seat always. Non-negotiable.”

With a defeated groan, Chris reluctantly slid out of the back seat and into the front next to Matt, who was still holding the camera. “Fine, fine, I’m up here. Happy now?”

“Very,” Nick said, twisting in his seat to give Chris a satisfied grin. “Let’s get this Q&A started, shall we?”

As Matt started driving, Nick read the first question. “Okay, here’s one. ‘Who’s most likely to get caught doing something embarrassing in public?’”

Everyone burst into laughter, immediately turning to look at Chris.

“Come on, man!” Chris protested, throwing his hands in the air. “Why’s it always gotta be me?”

Sof smirked. “Because it *is* always you.”

Nick raised an eyebrow. “Remember last week at the coffee shop?”

Matt burst out laughing, almost swerving the car. “Oh my God, I forgot about that! You were all over Sof, and that poor barista didn’t know where to look.”

Chris grinned sheepishly. “I was just… showing affection.”

“Dude, you were *devouring* her face,” Nick said, stifling a laugh.

“Alright, alright, next question!” Chris hurriedly interrupted, eager to change the subject.

Nick looked down at his phone again. “Alright, here’s a good one. ‘What’s everyone’s pet peeve about each other?’”

“Oh, easy,” Sof said, leaning forward to rest her chin on the front seat. “Chris’s inability to chill for like, two seconds.”

“Hey!” Chris shot back, turning to face her. “That’s not fair.”

“It’s true, though,” Nick chimed in, turning to Matt. “You know it’s true.”

Matt nodded. “Yeah, dude, we literally had to start sitting between you two on streams.”

Nick added, “And the backseat thing? That's not even a joke anymore. You’re banned from the back.”

Chris threw his hands up in mock defeat. “Alright, fine. You guys win. I’ll behave.” He turned to Sof and whispered dramatically, “For now.”

Matt caught it on camera and shook his head, laughing. “Yeah, for now.” He glanced at Nick. “Keep an eye on him. He’s always plotting.”

Nick smirked. “Oh, I’m well aware.”

The car filled with laughter as they continued their Q&A, teasing Chris at every opportunity. But despite all the jokes, the group’s dynamic was undeniably fun and full of energy.

Chris leaned back in his seat, smirking at Sof through the rearview mirror. “Just wait until this ride’s over.”

“Chris, I swear—” Nick began, but his laughter cut him off.

“New rule,” Matt said with a grin, keeping his eyes on the road. “No making out on video, ever again. Period.”

Everyone agreed, but Chris winked at Sof anyway.

——————————————————————————

i hope you enjoyed it. if you have any requests, leave down below (actually i don’t know what to write about, i iost my ideas)

lilsoftext<3

[so-long-soldier-writes]

He’s Like A Puppy

kai parker x reader

summary: an argument starts up when damon and bonnie return to the boarding house to find you and kai spending time together. it goes south when you start to defend kai against your friends' remarks.

≪ originally publishes on ao3: 2/24/23 ≫

tags: discussion of murder, cupcakes, small biblical references, fluff

word count: 967

“Don’t you see that he’s dangerous? You’re insane to think otherwise,” Bonnie scolds you, pointing at Kai in the corner.

Kai, who, at this very moment, is sitting on a stool with a cupcake, a bit of the frosting on his nose.

“Very dangerous,” you comment, holding back a chuckle. 

She rolls her eyes, “you didn’t see him in the prison world. You don’t know what he’s done.”

“Killed some people? Doesn’t everyone do that around here?”

“So you think it’s okay?”

“I mean, no, it’s not okay, but if we’re gonna declare Kai evil because he killed a couple folks, then everyone else here is, too. I mean, hell. Stefan’s been a ripper, Damon’s… Damon, Elena’s famous for turning off her humanity, Caroline’s temperamental.”

“Y/N, he massacred his family, there’s a difference.”

“Is there? Killing your family, or killing strangers who had lives and families that you know nothing about? And for all we know, maybe it was a Menedez’ brothers situation.”

“Okay, yes, I see your point about the strangers. But are you implying it’s okay to kill your family if they hurt you a teensy bit?”

“May I just say it was more than a teensy bit?” Kai interrupts.

“Shut up-”

“You shut up, Damon, I’m trying to hear all sides of this story.”

“Y/N, you’re talking crazy right now! He’s a liar. A manipulative, sociopathic liar. Besides, his name’s Malachai, for heaven’s sake! He said it himself, ‘it’s like his parents expected him to be evil’.”

You chuckle.

“What’s so funny about that?” Damon’s eyes narrow. 

“You do know that ‘Malachai’ literally means ‘angel’, right? In fact, it’s a Biblical name. Malachai was a prophet of… y’know that actually doesn’t matter. Regardless, you can’t tell that someone’s evil based on their name. Unless that name is literally, like, Lilith. Or Lucifer.”

“Whatever. You can’t trust someone based on their name, either,” she counters.

“Didn’t say I trust him off his name. Just said we should treat him as we do everyone else in this massive fucking house that’s killed a bunch of people. And how do we treat them? Oh yeah - with understanding, and reason.”

“He stabbed me in the gut, Y/N.”

“So has Damon.”

“Yeah, but I have the right to kill her because we’re friends.”

“Do you even hear yourself when you speak, or is it white noise in your head while a little mouse plays scrabble with sentences?”

“Uncalled for.”

“Was it?”

They’re left at a standstill. No one is sure what to say next. 

“Okay,” you carefully start, “whether or not you trust Kai, he’s here. And, for reasons I don’t know but I also don’t care, he’s been staying here, at the boarding house. Now, since I’m your out-of-town friend, I am also staying here, at the boarding house. So what’s wrong with us hanging out since we’re quite often, literally the only two people here?”

They, again, see the point in your statement, but continue to bicker about it anyway.

“He could hurt you.”

“Could, yeah. But we were chilling for two hours before you guys came back. Nothing happened.”

“Except he’s eating the cupcakes that Elena specifically made for the party tonight.”

“Maybe you shoulda labeled them ‘no touching’ or something.”

“Are you defending him over this now?”

“Well now I’m just pointing out the obvious.”

“I just… Elena’s going to be pissed when she finds her cupcakes gone.”

“Only one’s gone, she’ll barely notice.”

“I’ll tell her he stole it.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, what’s she gonna do? Make him throw it back up?”

“One, gross. Two… maybe I’ll just let her finally kill him. That would solve a lot of our problems.”

You can’t help but smirk, “and we’ve come full circle. House of killers.”

Damon’s eyes widen as he realizes, “wait. No, wait. But it’s, ack, you suck. Fine. She won’t kill him. Just get him out of the kitchen.”

You shrug and make your way over to Kai, who’s now licking icing off his fingers. “Wanna go watch a movie?”

“Sure.” The answer is hesitant, but his excitement is given away with a sparkle in his eyes. 

“What? This was the original problem, Damon! They can’t be alone together! What if he snaps again?”

“Bonnie,” you take a deep breath, “he’s not going to hurt me.”

“How do you know that?”

“Look at him - he’s like a puppy. Just needs a friend and he’ll be okay. I’ll be fine. We’re gonna go get out of your hair, get out of your cupcakes, and watch a movie.” You state, taking his hand. 

“Call if you need anything,” Bonnie just rolls her eyes.

“Might need a grocery store run, but I won’t need help.”

“Whatever.”

◇◇◇◇

Halfway up the stairs, Kai looks behind him to face you, “why’d you call me a puppy?”

“Because you are one. Y’know, I mean what I said. I trust you, and you’re safe with me. You just need some company, Kai. It couldn’t have been easy being isolated for eighteen years.”

“So… you’re gonna be my company?”

“Is that okay?”

He smiles, his dimples showing on the sides of his face, “mhm.”

“Good. But two things… one, if you’re ever feeling angry or uneasy, come to me first, okay? I don’t want them to hurt you, so give me a chance to help you through it.”

“Okay.”

“And two, let’s not eat any more of Elena’s cupcakes. I know, pissing her off is fun sometimes, and they’re really good cupcakes. But we can make our own so Damon doesn’t kill us.”

“Fine, I won’t eat hers.”

“Sounds good. Thank you, Kai.”

“Thank you, actually. Um, for defending me earlier, and being a friend.”

“Of course. Now, let’s go watch a movie. I have Oreos in my room.”

[slafkovskys]

how did angel like the family skate today? did she jack and luke all share time skating together?

she was definitely excited to be with her boys, but also nervous about all of the eyes that were going to be on them. she’s with ellen and jim until jack comes up with a pout, “skate with me.”

she shoves her hands in the pockets of her puffer jacket, just like those of the partners except instead of having just one number on the sleeve, hers had both an 86 and a 43 along with hughes on the front per her request. she pouts at her boyfriend, “jacky-”

“angel, i promise that i won’t let go. you won’t even have to really skate,” he pleads and she sighs. both boys knew that her cramps had hit her full force that morning and she was pushing through to be there for them. he leans across the the bench for a quick kiss, “i’ll get you some chocolate on the way home.”

“you were gonna anyway,” she rolls her eyes and jack cheers as she pulls her skates from her bag. he quickly makes his way behind the boards and bats her hands away from her laces from her laces.

jim chirps at his middle son, “she’s got you well trained, huh?”

“her world and i live in it,” jack mumbles as he grabs her other foot, tightening that skate too, “that too tight?”

“‘s good. where’s lukey? i lost him,” she realizes she hadn’t seen the boy in quite awhile as jack helps her stand and leads her to the ice with a hand on her lower back.

“he was with holtz last i saw. he’ll show up soon now that you’re out here,” he teases as he steps out first, turning quickly and holding his hands out for her. she grabs onto his hands and lets him slowly lead them around the ice, “you’re a natural.”

“and you’re a suck up,” she allows jack to pull her forward and press a quick kiss to her lips before they glide apart, “oh, there he is!”

luke breaks through a group of his teammates and looks at the two of them amused, “didn’t think i would see you out here.”

she tilts her head up for a kiss from luke which he easily grants her, “i was persuaded. can you take me over to cat? i need to talk to her.”

“so we’re just your personal transport now?” luke muses and she grins in response. her grip changes from jack’s to luke and the youngest hughes starts guiding her over to the toffoli’s, “i’m happy that you’re here. i know that jack is too. it means a lot to us.”

“we’ve talked about this since before you and i were even a thing, lukey,” she tangles her fingers with his and pulls him closer, “i wouldn’t miss this for the world. thank you for letting me be a part of it.”

[familyvideostevie]

october twenty-third

day twenty-three: eddie munson you and eddie go apple picking…and hook up in the parking lot | 18+, mdni, fem!reader, established relationship, car sex, unprotected sex | 1.8k detailed content warnings: fem!reader, sex in a car in a parking lot, mentioned oral (m receiving) but not on page, oral (f receiving), fingering, p in v sex, riding, creampie, dirty talk

“Please explain to me what makes apple picking a romantic date.”

You shiver at the bottom of the ladder. Eddie climbs down a few rungs before jumping the rest, four apples cradled in his arm.

“You need more imagination, babe,” he says. You open the bag and he puts them on top of the pile you’ve collected thus far and then takes it from you.

You loop your arm through his and start off down the row. “I want your opinion.”

He hums. “Well, we both like the leaves, right? It’s pretty. And the weather is pretty nice.”

“It’s cold!”

“I said nice, sweetheart, not warm.” He taps his chin. “Oh, you look very cute, obviously. And so do I.”

That gets you to laugh. You’re wearing like, three layers, two of which are his, and a hat you found in his van.

“Yeah, yeah, sure.”

“And we get apples. And doughnuts and cider.”

You can’t wait to get back to the farmhouse and warm up with some treats. “Valid point.”

Eddie leans close, even though there is no one around. “But best of all…”

“Go on.”

“Once the sun goes down, this parking lot is the best place to hook up.”

Oh, so that’s why he insisted you come in the late afternoon.

“You brought me here to have sex in your van?”

“I might have,” he says. His nose is a little pink. He looks at you with his stupid big brown cow eyes.

You’re used to Eddie by now and you love him and all of his ridiculous antics. He’s romantic when he wants to be and boyish and silly in the same breath. Honestly, you were probably going to go back to your place and fuck anyway, so why not make the evening a little bit more interesting?

“Okay,” you tell him. He beams and kisses your cheek sloppily.

He buys you all the donuts and cider you want and you take your spoils back to the van to wait. Eddie puts on some music and you chat and watch the orange rays slowly disappear behind the trees.

Darkness falls.

“You sure no one is going to think it’s weird we’re parked here?” He put the van in the back corner of the lot near the trees.

“Nah,” he says. “There’s an inn on the grounds, remember? People park here overnight but no one comes to look. I swear.”

“Done this before, have you?”

Eddie grins. “Harrington told me about it.”

You roll your eyes. “Oh, great. You took advice from Steve Harrington on where to fuck your girlfriend.”

Eddie turns down the music and climbs back to the bench. The rest of the van is full of junk — blankets, milk crates of Hellfire supplies, a weird looking trash can shield that you don’t know why he has.

“This isn’t even the weirdest place we’ve done it,” he reminds you. You brush the sugar crumbs from your hands and follow him. He pats his lap and you straddle him.

“Remind me?” His hands rest heavy on your hips. You lick your bottom lip.

“The equipment shed at the pool,” he says. “Last summer.”

You remember. “What did you do, again?” Now you’re teasing him. He picks up on it and presses his fingers a little harder into your skin.

“Pretty sure I kissed you,” he says. He leans in, ghosting his lips over yours. “Kissed you so good you were begging for me to touch you, yeah?”

You close the gap. It’s not a bruising kiss, but a slow one. You trace the seam of his lips with your tongue and he opens. He keeps on hand on your hip so you don’t fall and cups your face with the other. You fist your hands in his shirt and grind on him as light as you can manage.

Something you’ve learned about Eddie is that he loves kissing you. He’s said he would make out for hours if you let him. He loves to lick into your mouth, loves to pull your bottom lip between his teeth. He loves the spit and the swollen hue of your lips after he’s nibbled on them.

But you also like to get things going. You pull away from him and he latches onto your neck, nibbling on your skin and then soothing it with his tongue.

“What did you do next?”

Eddie pulls away with a pop. “Pretty sure you got on your knees and sucked me dry.”

“Sounds like me.”

He presses his thumb into the corner of your mouth. “Always look so pretty with my cock in your mouth.”

You swallow. “Want me to?”

He shakes his head. “I’ve got another plan.” He taps your thighs and you stand, hunched over in the van. “Take off your pants?”

“I’m not letting you fuck me on the gross floor, Eddie,” you remind him. He laughs. You unbutton your jeans and push them down, bracing yourself on his shoulder as you kick off your shoes, too. He reaches out and snaps the waistband of your underwear with one finger.

“C’mon, baby,” he coos. “All the way. I want you bare.” That sends a bolt of pleasure between your legs.

You do as he says. “Satisfied?” Your boyfriend looks hungry.

“Course I am. Look at you!” You’re half-naked, crouched in his van, his flannel and t-shirt on top. What a weird dude. “Okay, so, lie back on the bench and put one leg up against the back, okay?”

It’s a bit tight, but you do as he says. Your other leg hangs off the edge and you’re spread wide open for him where he’s now kneeling, just barely fitting between the bench and the door.

“I feel like I’m posing for a painting,” you mutter. Eddie’s hands trail up your bare skin.

“Oh, you look like one.” You tilt your head so you look down the slope of your body to find him staring at you. Well, a very specific part of you. “Have I told you that you have a perfect cunt?” he says.

You clench around nothing and laugh breathily. “Once or twice.” He drags two fingers through your folds. You’ve felt your arousal pooling since you got on his lap.

“God, sweetheart,” he groans. “You’re soaked. Been wet since I suggested this, hm?”

“You gonna touch me or what?”

Without warning, he leans down and presses the flat of his tongue to your clit. You whine, hand pressed against the car door behind you. And then it’s all bets off — no more teasing, no more dirty banter. Eddie laps at you like a man starved. The angle is a little weird and the leg you’ve got against the bench is cramping a bit, but god it feels good.

“Yes, Eddie, right there, oh fuck —” He’s too far away for you to really grab his hair so you settle for shoving your shirt up and bra down and rolling your nipple between your fingers. “So good,” you praise him. “It feels so good.”

He sucks on your clit and slides two fingers into you, but you’re not as close to an orgasm as you want to be. His fingers are thick, capable of great things, but you need more.

You manage to tap him with the foot on the ground. He pulls up, mouth shiny. He licks his lips. “Can I help you?”

You’d roll your eyes if you weren’t so damn horny. “I’d like to ride you now. If that’s amenable?”

Eddie literally moans. “As if I’d say no to that.” You catch your breath as he shucks off his shoes, pants, and boxers. He gets back on the bench and you sit up to make room, admiring him in the dim of the van. You know every inch of him by now but fuck, you really love his dick.

You spit in your hand and stroke him a few times before he stops you with a hand on your wrist. “You said something about riding?”

“Impatient, aren’t we?” You straddle him and you’re back where you started, only this time down a few items of clothing. He helps you line up and you sink onto him quickly because you know you can take it.

“Fuck,” you hiss together. “It never gets old,” he says, ragged. “Being inside you.”

“I could just sit here,” you say, face in his neck. “See how long we last.” Its appealing. You’ve tried it a few times, his cock hot and pulsing inside you, both trying desperately to keep still. It’s relaxing in a really strange way, comfortable and intimate.

“Maybe another time,” Eddie says. He kisses your cheek, your nose, your lips. He tastes like you. “I…I’m too wound up right now.”

“From just fingering me?”

“C’mon,” he whines. “You know how magic your cunt is, don’t you sweetheart?” He bucks his hips and you both groan. “Just looking at it gets me hard as hell.”

You reward his compliment by rocking back and forth in his lap. He grabs your hips hard enough to bruise as you start to lift yourself a bit and slam back down. It’s not fast, it’s not desperate, it’s not the most comfortable place to be doing this, but it’s hard and deep and that seems to be working for both of you.

“Gonna have to — fuck — wash the seat after this,” he grunts. “Gonna make a mess all over it, aren’t you?”

“You’re the one who is gonna come inside me.” His thumb finds your clit and you bite back a scream.

“Don’t want everyone who sits here to know how you took my cock, do we? How wet you are, how tight, how hot —”

The van is probably shaking but you don’t care.

“Eddie,” you gasp. “I’m close, I —”

He starts to lift his hips more, slamming into you. The tip of him brushes the perfect spot inside you and his thumb drags across your clit just right and then you’re coming, gripping his cock like a vice as you tremble in his hold.

He’s not far behind. “God, you feel so good, sweetheart, gonna be so full of me —”

You feel him spurt inside you and gasp your name as you pant into his shoulder.

“Fuck,” he hisses. “God, fuck.” You both catch your breath. The van feels much hotter than before and smells like sex.

“You sure made a mess alright,” you say. He laughs and presses a kiss to the corner of your mouth.

“If you keep it all in there till we get home I’ll clean you up.”

You just had an orgasm and his words make you feel on the verge of another right away. “Is that a promise?”

“Why don’t we find out?”

thank you for reading <3 reblog, send feedback, general masterlist here! promptober masterlist, find all fics under #fvspromptober23

[cozage]

The Daughter's Return Part 3

Chapter 23: Uncertainty

Start From Beginning | Next Chapter | Table of Contents | Read on AO3

Characters: female reader x Portgas D. Ace Word Count: 2.2k

You woke in a strange, metal room. It was sterile, as a hospital room should be, but there was something…comforting about it. Small touches of decor, such as the framed comic books and patterned bedspread made you feel slightly more at ease about your surroundings. 

But that didn’t mean you wanted to hang around for long. You had to find Ace and Luffy. 

To your dismay, the door was locked. While that normally would’ve sent you into a panic, you could hear Jinbe softly snoring right outside. You were guarded by someone your father respected. That gave you some comfort in this insane situation. 

So you tried to rest. But you just ended up tossing and turning, waiting desperately for anyone to give you news. To tell you that you weren’t alone. A soft click of the lock had you sitting upright, desperately needing information. 

“I’m surprised you’re awake,” the doctor said as he walked in the door. “You need rest.”

“What-”

“The baby is fine.” He sat down in a chair next to your bed, the color drained from his face. “We had to do a few surgeries, but everything is okay now. Honestly, I don’t know how. I don’t know why. I have some guesses, but we’ve never seen a baby survive that long with direct contact of a devil fruit ability like yours before. It’s unheard of. But your child will make a full recovery, as long as you don’t use your powers for the rest of the pregnancy.” He gave you a slight scowl, trying to reinforce the importance of his words. 

You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. Your child was fine. Whether it was divine intervention or some other strange cause, you hadn’t lost the baby. No more devil fruit powers for the next few months, but you had anticipated that obstacle anyway. 

You almost felt relieved.  Almost.

“How are Ace and Luffy?”

He hesitated for a moment. “Strawhat-ya is stable. How are you feeling?”

“How’s Ace?” You asked, fiddling with your bracelet to avoid eye-contact. He was avoiding your question, which meant it had to be bad. 

“We’re monitoring him closely,” the man said, caution in his voice. “He’s got some severe burns across his back that are causing some nerve damage, but he will be fine in a few days.”

Your heart quickened at the uncertainty of his words, which was picked up on the monitor connected to you. Your brain was already running through scenarios, trying to find the best outcome. 

“We should get to Marco,” you whispered, thinking out loud. “He could help.”

The doctor's eye twitched. “If you don’t think my assistance is satisfactory, you can leave.”

“That’s not what I meant,” you rushed to correct yourself. “He just has a devil fruit that can magically heal people.”

“Ah,” the man seemed to relax a bit. “The Phoenix guy, right? I saw him on the battlefield. A division commander for the Whitebeard Pirates.” 

“That’s him,” you said, nodding. You didn’t even know if he was still alive or not. You had no idea where he was or what he was doing. You didn’t know anything about the outside world. 

He cleared his throat, watching you closely. “You are a part of that crew, right?”

You nodded again. Was it still a crew if your captain was dead? You weren’t sure. You pushed down the grief that came with that thought. You couldn’t bear it yet. 

“I’ll get my guys to figure out which way they headed,” the man said. “We’ll try to get everyone back together with their crew. But you need to rest now. Don’t worry too much, we’re doing everything we can and it’s bad for the baby. Just rest for a few days and I’ll handle what you need.”

“That’s very kind of you.” Your cheeks were wet and you realized you were crying again.  You quickly wiped your eyes, trying to get a hold of your emotions. “Thank you, doctor.”

“Trafalgar,” he said. “Trafalgar Law.”

Your eyes darted over to him. You knew that name. You had heard it on two separate occasions before this. And now he was sitting in front of you. 

“I know you.” The words were out of your mouth before you realized what you had said.

Trafalgar Law’s eyes narrowed at you, trying to decipher your words. “How’s that?” 

You couldn’t tell him the whole truth. You’d only make him more uneasy. So you picked the explanation that was simpler. One that would continue to keep him as an ally. 

“I read a Marine report about you a few months ago. Sounds like you stirred up trouble in the North Blue for a while before coming here.”

He gave you a devious smirk, but you could see his body relax at the information. Being from Flevance, you couldn’t imagine what this man had seen over his lifetime. No wonder he was skeptical of people who knew of him. 

“Get some rest,” he said, getting up from his chair. “I’ll be back in a few hours to check on you, hopefully with some information about your crew.”

“Can I see Ace?” You dared to ask.

Law froze. “I don’t think it’s a good idea at the moment.”

“But-“

“Just stay put,” he said, finality in his voice.

“Are you going to lock my door again?” You could pick the lock or break the door down if you needed to, but you’d like to avoid that. You didn’t think the captain would like it if you started rampaging through his ship.

He sighed. “I’ll keep it unlocked for your comfort. But don’t wander. This place is a maze. I’ll let you know when you can see the others.”

He shut the door without another word, leaving you with more questions than answers. 

—-

You couldn’t sleep. 

You were completely fine. Your baby was healthy, by some strange miracle. But you had no idea how Ace or Luffy were doing. 

And it drove you insane. 

The soft snores coming outside of your room indicated that Jinbe was asleep. If you could sneak past him, you could try and find Ace or Luffy. And then they wouldn’t feel so alone. 

And neither would you. 

The door opened smoothly and silently, and you quietly stepped over Jinbe as you made your way down the hall. 

It was cold in this metal ship, and you resisted the subconscious urge to use your powers and heat yourself back up. There were no windows in the ship either, so you had no idea what time of day it was, or where you were at. 

It was almost claustrophobic if you thought about it too long, so you moved your mind away from the ship you were in and focused on the boys you needed to find. They had to be around here somewhere.

The halls were silent except for the light patter of your feet as you moved, randomly picking different hallways to turn down. You’d pause occasionally at the sound of laughter echoing through the ship, but it always sounded distant. 

“How big is this damn boat?” you whispered to yourself, weaving and turning. You could’ve sworn you had been down this hallway before, but they all looked the same. 

“Who the hell are you?” a voice came from behind you, causing you to jump. 

You quickly turned your head to find a knife pointed at your throat.

You were pretty sure he was glaring at you. Though it was hard to tell, since he had sunglasses and a hat on. 

“I’m looking for Portgas D. Ace,” you said, taking a step back. 

He pushed his knife closer to your throat. “That’s not what I asked.”

You rolled your eyes and in a flash, you grabbed his wrist and quickly disarmed him. You took the knife and handed it back to him, and then began walking away. 

“Hey!” he shouted, running after you. “You’re the Newgate girl, aren’t you!?”

“You shouldn’t run with knives,” you hollered back, trying to walk faster. You had to find Ace. You couldn’t waste your time on this strange man. 

“Hey!” You saw a flash of burnt auburn hair under his hood as he darted in front of you again. “Captain said you can’t see them yet. They’re still in critical condition.”

You scowled. “Law told me they were stable.”

“Errrr-” The man looked around, but there was nobody to help him. “They’re mostly stable.”

“Mostly?”

“Let me just take you back to your room. I’m sure you can see them in the morning.” He held his hand out, trying to usher you back the way you came. “I’m Shachi.”

You pushed past him, ignoring his words. You needed to see them. Both of them. Now.

“Hey! Gods, you’re stubborn!” Shachi ran back in front of you trying to block your path again.

This was getting too tedious. You closed your eyes, trying to think about how you had used your observation haki so well earlier during the battle. You calmed your racing thoughts and focused on the task at hand. Letting your mind flow, reaching tendrils out to find Ace. 

Two hallways down, a right, and then a left. Ace was in the room on the left, Luffy on the right. You were close. You drew a mental map, making sure you wouldn’t forget. 

“Are you okay?” Shachi asked, so close you could feel his breath on you. 

You pushed past him and sprinted. You ran down two hallways and took a right. You were close. Just one more-

A familiar blue hue enveloped you, and you were teleported into a strange room. It looked like an office. And at the desk sat Trafalgar Law, reading a book. 

“I told you to stay in your room.” He looked at you, exhausted and disappointed. “Are you a child? Do I need to lock your door again to ensure you don’t leave?”

He reminded you of Marco. In the worst ways. 

“Am I a prisoner?” you demanded, clenching your fists in case you needed to swing. 

“No,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean you can wander around my ship freely.”

You frowned. “I want to see Ace.”

“And I told you that’s a bad idea right now.” He sighed, putting his book down. 

You were about to start arguing, but he continued speaking. “If you want to see him, just know I tried to warn you.”

His words made your heart skip a beat, and you wondered if it was worth it to see him in pain. If he died, and this was the last time you saw him…

No, Ace promised he wouldn’t die before you. He would make a full recovery. He was strong. He was powerful. He wouldn’t die from a little bit of lava. He wouldn’t have chosen you if that were the case.

Law stood to his feet and walked to the door, and you silently followed him. He weaved in and out of hallways expertly, until he stood in front of a door. 

“Are you sure?” he asked, standing in front of the window. You could hear the sounds of machines methodically beeping and whirring, and your heart felt like it was in your throat. 

You could only nod, too scared to speak. 

He opened the door and you saw the love of your life, hooked up to machines through a mess of wires and tubes. 

You carefully walked over to him, afraid you’d startle him. 

“He’s in a coma,” Law said. “You can’t wake him up. You don’t need to be quiet.”

But you still tiptoed around him as you examined him. His entire upper body was covered in bandages, but you could smell the stench of burnt flesh. It made you nauseous just looking at his broken body, and you had to resist the urge to find the nearest trash can. 

“When will he wake up?” you asked, looking at Law. You couldn’t keep the fear out of your eyes, you didn��t even bother to hide it. 

He took pity on you, thankfully. “Hopefully tomorrow. He needs rest. He needs to decide for himself to survive.”

“And Luffy?” you asked, looking at the room across the hall. 

“He’s in the same boat. Ace’s back took most of the damage, but Luffy still got a decent amount of damage across his chest.”

“Can I sit here for a bit?” you asked, looking back to Ace. You could barely tell it was him, and it made you want to weep just seeing him so broken. 

“Sure,” Law said. “I’ll have Shachi put up indicators to get back to your room.”

You nodded. Tears were pooling in your eyes, and you knew if you spoke anymore, you would lose your composure. 

You waited until Law closed the door before you broke down. Your sobs and gasps for air filled the room, mixing with the artificial sounds of beeps and monotone sounds. 

“You promised,” you whispered, grabbing his hand lightly and interlocking your fingers. “You promised you wouldn’t leave me. So please. Don’t leave me here alone. I can’t bear it, Ace. I can’t do it by myself.”

He didn’t answer, of course. You didn’t expect him to. Instead, you held his hand and rested your head on his mattress. 

Maybe Law was right. Maybe he would wake up tomorrow, right alongside you. And all would be right with the world again. Maybe.

Tag list! @taeyoge @teiza @tojislawyer @trafalgardnami @bloopbopsblog @dancingnewcat @dxestyi @flooofity @nyxthedragon01 @deadsnothere @h-rhodes1598  @morgyyyyyyy @trafalgardvivi  @fiestynatureweeb @frogpogjoghurt @beepboopcowboy @ms-portgas @luvyallbabes @appalost @zuchkaa @saybeyonce @stray-npc @kitsunechan707 @theyluvmesblog @heartysworld @aira-needs-sleep  @mothmomjay @ophelias-flowerss @aqualein @sehyojae @fanficwriter5 @forgotten-blues @amberash05 @firefistnoct @depressed-but-make-it-cute @stuckinthewrongworld@lizpoir

[modanisgf]

7. DAHOOD CONNOISSEUR.. (HALF WRITTEN)

wc: <1k

danielle woke up to the ringing of her phone, turning in her bed to answer.

“hello?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“DANIELLE?!” a voice who she assumed to be hanni yelled, making danielle wince.

“could you be any louder?! i just woke up.” danielle says, getting out of bed to get ready.

“you have criminals after you and you didn’t tell us??” haerin says, presumably being with hanni.

“it was gonna come up some day.” danielle shrugs.

“mo jihye.” minji warns, “you could’ve died yesterday!”

“hello, are all of you there?” dani asks.

“yes, we’re waiting on you outside.” hyein replies.

“waiting on me? OUTSIDE?” dani says, before the phone hangs up.

she peeked out her blinds to see none other than her entire friend group standing on her front porch, the four of them constantly looking around probably in fear of dani’s enemies coming to visit.

danielle sighs, but continues to get ready regardless and makes her way outside. her eyebrows furrowed at the backpacks they all had on.

“were none of you gonna tell me i needed to pack a bag?” dani asks, to which hanni responds.

“oh no you’re okay, just come on follow us.” she says, the rest of them start walking hanni and danielle trailing behind.

the five of them pass yn’s house, dani staring at it as they passed. she missed you dearly, and wanted to apologize for the past week. maybe she’ll do it on the way back.

—

when danielle’s friends made her leave and walk somewhere, she didn’t expect it them to go to minji’s house. why couldn’t they have just called her driver?

“minji, why couldn’t we have just gotten your driver to take us here?” danielle asks.

“he’s on his break right now.” minji shrugs.

“maybe if someone had their license we wouldn’t have to rely on her driver.” hanni says, earning a side eye from minji.

“i don’t have time for drivers ed.” minji says, rolling her eyes.

sometimes danielle forgot that minji was truly a rich girl, moments like these proving it. minji unlocked the door, and the five followed her as she led them to a room.

the room was extremely closed off, the window on the door being covered by a black paper and caution tape being attached to the front side of the window.

“was this really necessary?” haerin asks, her eyebrows furrowing at the exaggerated precautions minji had done.

“yes, nobody else can get into here if we want to keep this secret.” minji says.

“wouldn’t this just make it obvious it’s something secret?” hanni asks.

minji sighs, choosing to ignore the question and opens the door. the door revealing a full fledged lab, gadgets and more all around.

“how the hell did you get something like this in your house?” danielle asks, her jaw dropping.

“i have my connections.” minji shrugs, walking in to let her friends follow behind.

“we’ve all known about this except you dani, we were sure you would’ve told us to not get involved.” haerin explains.

“but we want you to be safe, so minji designed this so we could make you things that can help you whenever you’re out and think someone’s after you.” hyein says.

“well by we, mainly haerin and minji. more on that we thought about it, since you’re probably gonna be fighting those guys— why don’t you fight crime like the comic spiderman?” hanni says, recieving a look from danielle.

“i barely even know how to use my powers? wait— don’t tell me you guys made a suit..” dani says, getting nervous smiles from all her friends except minji.

she clicked a button on a remote, revealing a spider suit inspired by the comics altered to fit danielle more.

“you guys are crazy.” danielle mumbles, too busy being in awe of the suit.

“me and haerin are still making adjustments to it, but it should be done and ready for you in a couple days. just stay on the down low for a bit alright?” minji says, to which danielle nods.

“anyways, we need to train you if you agree to this being your side job.” hyein says.

“and how are we doing that?” danielle asks.

“connections!” she replies.

“we found someone who’s willingly to teach you some martial arts, but that’s not until tomorrow.” hanni says.

“so go hang out with yn or something for now, we’ll let you know our schedule soon.” haerin says.

“are you guys like my bosses now?”

“do you wanna die?”

dani sighs, taking her leave. she could not believe her life had taken this sharp of a turn.

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a/n— hey yall….

TAGS 🏷️ (OPEN): @jayjj7 @haerinsloverr @mxl633 @hrjunluvs @kissablening @mah4u @idkwhatim-doinghere101 @xen248 @dexthzone @kaypanaq @multiliker @addorations @edenzeepy

[fictarian]

yo yo yoooo ayo gang lemme get amm a hobie brown x gn reader whos like a photographer for the fucking news bullshit and like they are a fan of spider man fam thank uuu

𝐇𝐢𝐦 <𝟑 . ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 𝐏𝐭. 𝟓

ღ You ask and I DELIVER‼️🗣️🗣️🗣️

ღ Thank you guys for 60+ followers, it makes me happy you guys like my shit despite only doing this for 3-5 days 😭

ღ ANYWAYS, here’s a story for my boy @thearabloak06 🙏 Tysm for requesting, I hope you enjoy and I hope this story isn’t ass since it’s my first time in awhile writing a full on fic LMFAO

ღ Paring: Hobie Brown and GN! Reader

ღ Premise: Reader has their own section of the daily newspaper, and they use it to write for the anarchist by the name of ‘Spider-Punk’ while also providing pictures they’ve caught of him in action

ღ Whoopsie daisy I just made this into more of a detective/mystery novel instead of a romance 💀 200-400 likes and i’ll make a part 2 (or even its own series)

ღ Previous part can be found here !

“_____, my office, now!” You let out a heavy sigh as the door to your boss’ office slammed shut after he barked an order, and you could feel the eyes following you as you stood up from your desk and made your way over to the room, tossing your empty coffee cup into the trash before turning the knob and pushing the door open.

“Have a seat” He ordered, but your feet remained glued to the ground. “I’m good standing” You stiffly said, crossing your arms over your chest with narrowed eyes. “You asked for me, sir?” In response, your boss slammed a newspaper onto his desk, pushing it forward so you could get a good look at it— it was the paper for today, and you had a pretty reasonable guess as to why he was so peeved.

“We’ve been over this, _____. I don’t want that spider freak in my newspaper.” He seethed, picking up the newspaper and shoving it in your face, pointing specifically at the section you were assigned to. “You know what this gives us? A bad, bad reputation. We’re already on thin ice as it is, and if you keep this up, my company will get shut down all thanks to your stories!”

Your lips tightened into a thin line, feeling your blood boil at what he was saying. Quite frankly, he could take his worries and shove it up his ass for all you cared. The government was corrupt and violent to the people it’s supposed to protect and serve, and Spider Punk was the only symbol of hope the community had. You admired the infamous anarchist, and you wanted everybody to know about him— the possibly only voice of the people.

So that’s why you used the section of the Daily newspaper granted to you, to spread word of Spider Punk’s actions and his defiance against the government. You wanted the people to know about what was going on, to feel empowered knowing that one of their own was rising up against the injustices against them. And if it costed your job, or even your life, so be it. You weren’t just gonna sit around and act like nothing was happening.

Your boss’ words were only fueling your anger. This wasn’t the first time you two had this conversation, in fact, all of your conversations were about this topic. It took all of your willpower to not punch him in the jaw as you opened your mouth to say “But sir, the newspaper is meant to inform people. And with all the smashed law enforcement cars and protests going on, it would be wise to—“ “I dont’t want to hear it! Keep this up, and you can kiss your place here goodbye!” He yelled in your face, and that was your last straw.

“I don’t have to, ‘cause I quit. You can kiss all of your readers goodbye, ‘cause I know damn well the only reason they read your lousy ass newspaper is because of information I provide!” You snapped, turning on your heel and marching out the door, tuning out the string of curses that followed as you exited the building with smoke practically blowing out of your ears. Ok, maybe you handled that the wrong way. But it was too late to go back now… well, you still had to get your stuff from your desk. ‘Embarrassing’ You thought to yourself, keeping your head held high as you turned back around to enter the building for the last time.

You didn’t stay there long, since you didn’t even have much to begin with. The items that occupied your desk consisted of your notepad, your trusty laptop (it was old enough to be considered a fossil), an uneaten nutter butter, and your camera thats strap wrapped comfortably around your neck while your other belongings were placed inside your satchel. With all your items packed away, you were now walking the streets of London as the reality of the situation set in— you didn’t have a job anymore. No source of money, and no way to have a voice in the community.

‘You’re forgetting to breath’ You told yourself, registering the tightness that was beginning to form in your chest and taking a couple deep breaths to ease the panic. This was fine, you were fine. You could always start a blog of your own, and there were plenty of jobs that needed more employees. ‘But it’s not as easy as it sounds, i’ll need to fill out a application, i’ll need to be interviewed, and—‘ Your thoughts were cut short when you suddenly bumped into someone, and you muttered a quick apology before continuing on. “Oi, you’re that chick that writes fo’ the paper, aren’t you?”

You stop, turning to look back at the person you bumped into. He was quite the looker, if you were being completely honest. The male was tall, and dressed in outfit that screamed ‘punk’. He had well done wicks, and a confident aura surrounded him. “It’s rude to stare, y’know?” “Oh, i’m sorry. I spaced out for a second.” You apologized when he called you out, before adding “My name is _____”. The male nodded his head, his gloved hand tucked away in the pocket of his pants. “‘Obie, ‘Obie Brown” Holy shit, you knew he looked familiar. “Aren’t in a band?” You asked, tilting your head to the side. “I play with ‘em occasionally, but I don’t believe in consistency.”

You slowly nodded your head, not bothering to question what he meant by that. “Riiight…” The sound of sirens caught your attention, and you looked over your shoulder to see the blue and red lights of law enforcement cars dancing off the walls of buildings. “I wouldn’t suggest goin that way, luv. There was a bad scrap with a couple fellas lookin for a bad time” Hobie warned you, causing you to furrow your brows in confusion. Didn’t he come from that way?

The reporter in you told you that there was something amiss, but you didn’t act on the feeling. Not yet. “Yikes, thanks for the warning. I’ll take a different route to my flat.” You informed him, and he nodded his head before turning his back towards you. “I’ll be seein you ‘round, _____. Maybe come to one of my concerts, yeah?” He suggested as he started to walk away. But you weren’t listening.

You were too busy staring at the prominent red, spike having mask that stuck out of Hobie’s back pocket

“Yeah… i’ll take you up on that offer. Cheers!” You called out to Hobie, waiting a couple seconds before lifting your camera up and putting its viewfinder up to your eye, zooming in on the mask before snapping a picture of it. “Christ…” You muttered to yourself, staring at the screen of your camera in disbelief.

You just found yourself with knowledge that could cost you your life

tag list ! @zalayni @luvstarrstruck @jrrantss @pixqlsin @kairiscorner @k4tsu3 @asmobeuses

[chaotic-super]

Back To Earth - Chapter 1

This is the sequel to 'Back To Krypton'. If you haven't read that yet, the full fic is available on AO3 here!

-

“Not much longer,” Lena announces, her gaze set firmly on Earth as it grows larger. “Probably another hour or so before we meet up with the fleet.”

Kara hums, sliding off the bed to join Lena. She wraps her arm around her waist and leans into her, their heads resting softly against each other. “I’m glad Brainy decided to take this last stretch slow so we can see it like this. It’s beautiful.”

Lena snorts. “We’re hardly going slow; we’re just going slow enough to not need a seatbelt.”

Bumping her hip into Lena’s, Kara giggles. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” Lena sighs. “I do.”

“It’s not usually his style to be sentimental when practicality works so much better though. I wonder why he planned this.”

Lena grimaces. She's the keeper of Brainy’s secrets and she’s already folding before Kara has even pressed for more information. “Yeah, that is...odd.” Her voice wavers the tiniest amount, but it’s enough to give her away.

Kara squints at her. “You know something. Tell me.”

Holding her hands up, Lena makes a futile attempt at getting Kara to drop it. “It’s Brainy’s business.”

“And yours too, since you’re keeping secrets for him. Spill.”

Lena shakes her head, trying to figure out the best way to lay this out without upsetting Kara. “There are a few reasons he decided to slow us down. The main one is that he’s been away from Nia for a long time and he wants to woo her a little. He also wants to check over our device one last time. We’ve both triple-checked it to make sure it’ll do the job we need it for, but since it’s made from the schematics of multiple devices, he’s nervous.”

Kara’s eyes narrow when she stops talking. “And the third reason?”

“He’s worried about you. We all are. You’ve been through a hell of a lot, so we thought that you might appreciate a slow return to Earth. Some time to wrap your head around things before we’re officially back on home turf.”

“So it wasn’t Brainy’s idea. It was yours.” Kara doesn’t sound mad. If anything, she just sounds defeated. “I’m ok, Lena.”

Lena faces her fully, the light reflecting from Earth shining on them both, the planet they’ve sworn to protect watching over them in this vulnerable moment. “I know, but you don’t have to be.”

“I can’t. Not until we’ve stopped Lex.”

“If our plan goes smoothly, the device will be activated as soon as we’re through Earth’s atmosphere. Lex won’t see it coming and everything will be fine. You can breathe, Kara. We both can. We can live.”

Kara sinks into Lena’s arms, her head turned so she can look out over Earth. “It’s so beautiful.”

“It is, and it isn’t,” Lena says, her voice soft, barely more than a whisper. “There’s so much hatred down there, but from up here, it’s nothing but beauty. This is how I think you look at people. You see the good even when they’re capable of such horrors. I love that about you, and I wish I could do the same. You see the best part of people rather than judging and mistrusting them for something they may never do.”

“Your way is smarter.”

“Your way is kinder.” Lena rebuts. “I like to think we balance each other out pretty well.”

“I know we do.”

There’s a knock at the door a second before it slides open, but neither woman turns to look to see who it is.

“God, seeing you two stare at each other like that is worse than walking in on you doing…things.” Alex’s voice is coated in a thick layer of disgust. “Anyway, we’re going to strap in and take the last part faster so Lex doesn’t notice another ship joining the fleet. We’re going to stop by J’onn’s ship first to let him know the good news before we make the last stretch back home.”

Lena traces her fingertips down the length of Kara’s arm before finally looking at Alex. “Sounds good. We’ll be there in just a minute.”

Alex nods, her eyes now fixed on her sister, who is avoiding eye contact with her. “Are you ok, Kara?”

“Yeah, I will be.” She musters up a smile, looking between Alex and Lena. “I have a lot of emotions going on, but I’ll be just fine.”

“Good.” Alex’s face softens. “You will be. We’ll all be with you while you get there.”

“I know.”

There’s a brief moment of softness between the sisters before Alex ducks out of the room, leaving Kara and Lena in their little bubble of peace.

Lena rests her forehead against Kara’s for a second before brushing her nose against hers. “We’ve got to figure out how to explain to everyone on Earth that we went back in time and fell in love.”

“I’d argue that we were already in love.” Kara grins before pressing her lips firmly against Lena’s.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“I think everyone will be happy for us.”

“Me too.”

They cling to their moment of serenity for a couple more minutes before they regretfully pull away from each other to go and join the others. They’re all waiting for them, strapped into their seats and ready to go when they walk in. They roll their eyes at their team when they cheer at them sarcastically.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Brainy announces. “Hold on, everyone.”

They prepare themselves and close their eyes for the quick blast of speed that sends them shooting through the universe, only slowing as they approach the back of the fleet, manoeuvring through the ships to slide in right beside J’onn’s ship.

“J’onn. Can you hear me?” Brainy speaks aloud, trying to contact J’onn’s ship.

“Loud and clear. How are you all?”

“Tired,” Kara calls out, “and ready to get home.”

“I bet.” J’onn chuckles. “Did you get what you need?”

“We sure did. We’re going to land and activate the device as we pass through the atmosphere. We’ll signal to you when it’s safe for you to bring the fleet down.”

There’s the faint sound of applause from the background of J’onn’s ship. “Good work, team. I’ll see you down there soon enough.”

“We look forward to it,” Brainy says, and Nia leans forward just a touch so she can get a better look at the grin spread across his face. She’s missed him and his dorkiness, and she just can’t get enough of it now that they’re back together again.

Brainy preps the ship for atmospheric entry and then gives everyone a brief warning before he starts their descent, his fingers poised on the switch to their new device so he can flip it on as soon as they’re close enough to the ground to do so.

The moment the device turns on is a little anticlimactic. All it does is light up a little. Nothing else is meant to happen; that’s the point. No exploding ships, just a pretty little blinking light and peace.

“All systems confirm that the device is working and it has deactivated Lex’s weapon,” Lena says, her eyes pinned on the control panel in front of her. “Mission accomplished.”

“Mission accomplished,” Kara whispers to herself with a tiny smile, one that is both genuine and not. She’s thrilled that all of their hard work has paid off. She just wishes that she didn’t lose so much in doing so.

The ship levels off as they come to land in front of the Tower and Kara takes that as enough permission to take off her seatbelt to look at her family. She might have lost one family on Krypton, but she’s gained a whole new one. One that understands her so much more thanks to this mission. That’s something she’ll hold dear for the rest of her life.

“So, I’m thinking pizza.” She announces to the room. “It’s been far too long since we’ve had pizza.”

“And Chinese.” Alex pipes up. “We need potstickers too, and you’re going to share them.” She points an accusing finger at her sister.

“We better order extra then. I want at least a dozen to myself.”

“I’ll get you some, darling.” Lena appears at her side. “I’ll also be getting myself some because listening to you ramble on about them for months has had me craving them like crazy.”

Kara shrugs. “I’m not sorry.”

“That’s not surprising.”

Squinting at Lena playfully, Kara scoffs. “What’s that meant to mean?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Lena plays into it.

“I think I found something to worry about.” Brainy joins in the conversation, his tone clipped.

They all huddle around the control panel where Brainy is working, their eyes peering at his fast-moving fingers before darting to the device as he keeps pressing switches on the side of it.

Lena’s eyebrows furrow as she figures out what’s happening. “Oh, I see.”

“I don’t. Mind filling us in?” Nia questions, her hands resting loosely on Brainy’s shoulders.

Kara figures it out next, quickly followed by Alex.

“Lex is trying to set off the machine now.” Kara starts.

“And every time he does that, the machine is stopping him, but it has to be reset each time it works or else Lex can still make the fleet self-destruct.” Alex finishes. “We need to tell J’onn to keep the fleet where it is until we figure out how to make the device reset itself. If we can’t do that, someone will have to keep resetting it manually each time it goes off until we can stop Lex for good and destroy his device.”

Everyone’s shoulders drop. They might have won the battle, but the war isn’t over. Not while Lex can still try to set off his device.

“Do you think he’ll figure out that we’re stopping him manually, or will he give up?” Kelly asks, her hands twisting in front of her.

Lena struggles to swallow past the growing lump in her throat. “I’d guess that he’ll rage for a while first, and then he’ll look into it to see what’s happening. It’s only a matter of time before he realizes that we have to stop each attempt and tries to use that to his advantage. That or he’ll try to find a way around it.”

“He won’t be able to do that. There’s less than nought point three percent chance that he will find a way.”

Kara’s completely lost her smile. “So we just keep manually stopping him for now?”

Brainy nods solemnly. “Yes. For now, that’s all we can do.”

Kara sighs, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose tightly. “Rao, it never ends.”

Lena’s hand rests on her forearm, gently urging Kara to take her hand away from her face. “Hey, it will. We just have a couple of extra steps. We’re all good though. We can take shifts with the device, which we should probably name so we don’t have to keep calling it ‘the device’, and once we’ve figured out how to spruce it up and make it so it resets itself, we’ll all be peachy.”

Kara stares deeply into emerald eyes. “Since when do you use the word ‘peachy’?”

“Since I started dating a dork.” Lena deadpans. “Now, how about we get off this ship and into the Tower?”

Kara nods but then falters. “Hold on, we have to call J’onn.”

“He’s not going to be thrilled by the news,” Alex adds.

“No, he’s not.” Kelly bumps Esme up onto her hip more firmly, having just lifted her up. “But he needs to know.”

Lena leans over to call J’onn back and they all wait impatiently for him to respond.

“Have you arrived down there safely?”

Alex clears her throat, opting to be the one to tell him the bad news. “Yes, we have, but there is something you need to know.”

“Nothing good ever followed those words.”

“I’m inclined to agree.” Alex shuffles her feet as she starts explaining. “The device works and stops Lex from causing all the alien ships to self-destruct. However, we have to manually reset it each time he makes an attempt, so it might be best to keep the fleet off Earth until we have managed to make it repeat its defensive actions without there being room for human error.”

They can practically hear J’onn’s teeth grinding as he processes. “I think a lot less people will be willing to stay up here. There are still a lot of aliens that stayed on Earth anyway, but telling the ones that did leave to stay up here for longer than they already have just won’t work. I can ask, but I will not take away their right to make an informed choice. We will monitor the device in pairs to ensure there will be no errors. We can take shifts.”

“J’onn, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kara asks.

“No, but we can’t keep these people in limbo indefinitely, and we don’t have the resources to stop them from going anywhere.”

“Ok. Do you want us to tell them?”

“No, you’ve done plenty. This is my burden to carry. I’ll meet you down there soon.”

The call ends with a click, and the whole group just deflates. “I guess we better get inside, then.” Kelly ushers them to the door.

“Nia and I will remain for a little longer to stabilize the device for transit into the Tower.” Briany declares, waving them off, his eyes fixed diligently on the control panel to monitor any need to reset the device once again.

Lena takes Kara’s hand as they walk ahead of Alex, Kelly and Esme. “I’m going to order a boatload of food and have a nice hot shower, then I’m going to put on the softest clothes I own and sleep forever.”

“Rao, that sounds so good.” Kara has to resist moaning at the thought. “I bet we can convince someone else to take the first shift with the device.”

Lena smirks at her devilishly. “I bet we can.”

They pass the H’Rakas, both of them sleeping soundly in the cargo bay. “I can’t wait to see these guys out in the open again. I think they’ve kind of restless being stuck in here.”

“Yeah. We’ll get them out of here as soon as possible.” Lena agrees.

The door opens, and Kara basks in the immediate power surge she gets from being beneath Sol’s rays once again. It’ll take a while for her powers to come back fully, most likely a couple of days, but she already feels stronger.

“Welcome home.” She grips Lena’s hand tighter, taking her first step out of the ship and officially onto Earth.

She crumples.

Lena’s hand is dropped as she falls to her knees, her hands grasping at her head as she cries out in pain.

“Kara?” Lena falls to her side, her hands desperately cupping her face to try and get her attention. “What’s happening? What hurts?”

Kara can’t answer. All she can focus on is the acute pain in her head.

“Kara?” Lena keeps trying to get her to look at her, but with her eyes shut so firmly and her pain drowning out the sound of everything happening around her, Kara is oblivious.

Kelly rushes past them with Esme, the little girl peering over her mom’s shoulder with wide, terrified eyes. She has no idea what’s happening but it’s clear that it’s not good.

Alex and Lena sit on either side of Kara, flipping her onto her back so she’s leaning against Alex, nestled in her sister’s embrace, while they try to figure out what’s happening.

“You’re going to be ok,” Alex whispers to her, her face the epitome of terror because she knows that whatever has caused this, she can’t stop.

Kara’s in a world of her own, her brain on overload as she’s hit by memory after memory that she never lived. Her past is being rewritten, merging with her true memories to create a messy collage of old truths and new truths she can barely differentiate.

It’s all moving so fast that she can’t keep up. All she can do is try not to focus on the stabbing pain in her head and the overload of information hitting her as she’s dragged along for the ride. She can’t stop it; she must simply endure.

It slows eventually, but not before Nia and Brainy come stumbling out of the ship to find them on the floor.

“Oh no, that’s not good,” Brainy says, understanding exactly what is happening. “Her past is changing. I should have accounted for this.”

“What do you mean?” Lena presses for answers. “Why now? We left Krypton days ago.”

“Her return to Earth solidified the timeline. As soon as she stepped foot out of the protection of the time ship, she was exposed to the changes. She’ll be in pain for a while, but it’ll pass.”

Brainy’s relaxed demeanour calms both Alex and Lena, but Alex isn’t completely satisfied. “How long will she be like this?”

He shrugs, careful not to lose track of the device in Nia’s arms as they await a possible need to reset it. “That depends on how much has changed for her. Given her pain threshold and her current reaction, I’d say that some fundamental parts of her life have changed, and that’s something we shall have to thoroughly review when she’s recovered.”

“What do we do in the meantime?” Lena asks, her hands clutching at Kara’s, keeping her from digging her nails into her scalp as she tries to overcome the immense pain she’s in.

“We wait it out.” Brainy is no happier saying it than Alex and Lena are hearing it.

Kara’s eyes fly open. The pain is still strong, but it dipped suddenly enough for her to regain some of her senses.

She focuses on the balcony, but she doesn’t see the present. She’s seeing ghosts of memories walking and standing and drinking and hugging, each one overlapping and merging, each false but true. They weren’t, but now they are.

“Kara? Can you hear me?” Lena tries.

The memories fade away until one remains. A kiss on Earth that never happened, one right before they climb aboard the Legion ship with bags that got carried across Krypton. Then, that fades too, taking the pain with it.

“Holy fuck.”

“Kara?” Lena’s eyes glisten with unshed tears.

“I’m ok.” She stumbles over the words but leans up without assistance, proving her statement to be at least somewhat true.

Both Alex and Lena are quick to wrap their arms around her waist to support her weight as she stands, and then they start directing her inside slowly, conscious of keeping their assistance light but stabilizing.

“Let’s get you to a chair,” Alex says, mostly to herself. “You need to sit down.”

“I really am alright. I promise.”

Lena scoffs. “With all due respect, you were just wiped out by some pretty severe pain brought on by your timeline being rewritten, so pardon us if we don’t take your word for it.”

Kara gives in. She can’t argue with that. “That’s fair.”

The pair lower Kara into the nearest chair, their worry and uneasiness evident to everyone who bothers to look. Kara, for the most part, seems to be ok. She’s managed to steady herself again and is now just trying to piece together the memories she lived compared to the memories she gained just a few seconds ago.

“Are you sure you’re feeling ok?” Lena asks, tenderly tucking a wayward lock of blonde hair back behind her ear.

Kara nods slowly. “Yeah, I’m just trying to make sense of things.”

“Brainy?” Alex waves at him to get his attention, leaving Nia to watch the device, the fate of every alien who owns a ship lying in her hands.

“Alex.” He replies.

“Why aren’t we having the same reaction as Kara? Surely a change in her timeline means that there will also be a change in ours.”

Brainy hums and tucks his arms behind his back, his spine straightening. “While that is true, Kara has had a massive shift in her timeline and the change in events leading up to and following the destruction of Krypton will have a much stronger effect on her than any change in events for you. You are correct though. You will experience a few changes; how many is unknown at this time, so you’re likely to experience the merging of memories in one of two ways.”

“Which are?” Alex tries not to sound nervous.

“Either you will gain them when your mind rests, or you will gain them slowly as the days pass, perhaps partnered with a headache or a migraine, depending on the severity of the changes. Kara’s happened so quickly because of her direct impact on the changes and the confirmation of those changes happening when she stepped off the ship.”

“So we’ll either wake up with them or have a headache and get them?” Alex confirms.

“Precisely.”

“Well, that’s just swell.” Lena drones out. “Hey, Kara?”

“Hmm,” Kara hums, leaning her head into Lena’s side as the brunette perches on the arm of the chair she’s sitting in.

Lena wraps her arm around Kara, her fingernails brushing up and down her arm soothingly. “Are there any changes we need to be aware of?"

Kara shrugs helplessly. “I’m still sort of trying to piece together what’s what. I feel like I’ve just watched fifty movies at once, and I’m trying to figure out whether Cindy Lou Who is meant to be in ‘The Grinch’ or ‘Jaws’.”

“That’s...ok.” Lena doesn’t fully understand what that means, but she figures that it’s best to leave it well enough alone for now.

“We kissed though.”

“I’m well aware, darling.”

Kara shakes her head, looking up at the underside of Lena’s jaw. “No, we kissed before Krypton. I saw it.”

Lena’s eyes widen. “We were in a relationship on Earth?”

“Not really. We kissed right before getting on the ship to go on the mission. Rather, you kissed me.”

“Makes sense; you wouldn’t have the balls.” Lena smiles.

Kara’s mouth drops open. “Rude! I was just informing you of the details of our first kiss and you decide to bully me in return.”

“I wouldn’t call it bullying.”

“Oh?”

“Of course not.” Lena leans down to press a kiss to the top of Kara’s head. “I was just telling the truth.”

All Kara can do is roll her eyes at her. “Sure, sure.”

Lena chuckles into Kara’s hair. “If we kissed before we left for Krypton, does that mean that our actions on Krypton changed and, therefore, the future we changed has been changed again?”

“No.” Brainy answers. What happened on Krypton has become a fixed point in time. It’s hard to explain but because you changed a fixed point in time to begin with, it’s like you mixed the pieces of two jigsaw puzzles together. Even if all the pieces fit and lock together smoothly, the picture may never look perfect.”

“So our past is now a little jumbled but our future should be fine, just a little different than we anticipated?” Kara asks.

“Exactly.” Brainy points at the pair. “This is why I told you to limit interactions with people there. You can cause a real mess, just like this one.”

Kara grimaces as she thinks about all of the people she talked to and the lives she may have changed because of her actions. “Yeah, we did  talk to quite a lot of people.”

“You beat one up.” Lena snorts.

Brainy sinks his head into his hands. “That doesn’t shock me. Kara, we don’t know the full extent of the damage yet, but it’s not looking good.”

“I know.” Kara leans back and closes her eyes, her brain flicking through all of the people’s lives she knows she definitely affected in some way, whether it be in big or small ways, it all matters. She keeps getting stuck on one person though. Someone who she now has new memories of.

Astra.

They were never on the rooftop.

Astra didn’t die on the rooftop.

Astra didn’t die.

“Oh...” Kara breathes. “Oh no.”

“What?” Alex turns to her, dread building up inside of her.

“Um, I might know what one of the changes happens to be.”

That catches everyone’s attention. Everyone except Nia focuses on her, their eyes scanning her face for any hint of a clue as to how bad this is going to be.

Alex squeezes Kara’s hand. “What is it?”

“It’s Astra.”

Alex freezes, the memory of Astra dying in Kara’s arms haunting her as it so often does, not that she often tells anyone that. There’s something different about this recollection though. It’s foggier than usual and a little frayed at the edges.

“She’s alive.” Kara finishes.

Alex’s mouth opens and closes, words sitting on the tip of her tongue but none strong enough to pass her lips. Eventually, she manages to stutter one out. “How?”

Pressing her lips together and rubbing her hands over her thighs, Kara thinks, trying to uncover more pieces to the puzzle. “I’m not totally sure. Something about her not believing in the cause anymore. She disagreed with Non and…” She pauses, hit with a surprising amount of clarity. “She killed Non to protect us. She saved Earth and lived here peacefully with us ever since.”

Kara can’t help it. She knows a massive change in the timeline like this shouldn’t be celebrated. It shouldn’t even be acknowledged really, just something to be dealt with, but this is a good thing. It’s a brilliant thing. Her aunt is alive.

“My aunt is alive.” Kara grins. “She’s alive.”

“Please tell me you’re just randomly celebrating the fact I’ve somehow managed to keep all of us alive as long as I have and not that your aunt Lara is somehow miraculously alive too. She was always a pompous bitch.”

Kara’s head whips around to see Astra leaning up against the doorframe, a startled Kelly at her side and Esme perched on her hip.

“Aunt Astra, you’re really here.” Kara’s voice is filled with wonder. She pushes herself up and walks over to her, stopping just shy of her, too afraid to actually touch her, too scared that this is nothing more than her confused, traumatized mind playing tricks on her.

Astra’s eyebrows pinch together before she hands Esme off to Kelly and closes the gap between them to press the back of her hand to Kara’s forehead. “Kara, are you ill?”

Kara shakes her head. “No. I’m just…” She gives up on trying to formulate words. Instead, she leans into her aunt’s touch before dragging her into a tight hug, her hands clutching at the back of Astra’s shirt so tightly it would rip if her powers had returned.

Everyone appears to be frozen in place as they stare at the scene and Astra catches on to the fact that she’s missing some pretty crucial information very quickly. “So, what have I missed?”

“What do you know?” Kelly probes.

Astra pulls out of the hug but lets her hands trail down Kara’s arms until she finds her hands, holding them securely in hers with no plans on dropping them until she has to. “That you’ve just come back from a mission to Krypton, and I now have the world’s biggest migraine, but this hug is definitely doing wonders to help it. I was hoping Alex would check me over though. I don’t usually get migraines due to my biology, as I’m sure you understand.”  

Brainy sighs, getting ready to recount the same information he already gave everyone when he should be helping Nia monitor the device. Lena saves him though. “I got it, Brainy.”

“Thank you, Lena.”

“You got it.”

Astra looks at Lena expectantly. “So?”

“So, you have a migraine because your timeline is changing in a pretty major way. You’ll be able to remember everything soon.”

“Do you know what the changes are?”

Lena hesitates but nods. “I do.”

“You don’t want to tell me.” Astra gathers from the way Lena’s arms are folded tightly over her chest, and one foot is facing out as though she’s ready to run at a moment’s notice. “Is it really that bad?”

Kara blurts out the truth before Lena can find a tactful way of delivering the news. “You were dead.”

“What?”

“You were dead.”

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[outermaybanks]

Blood of the Damned - three - prophecies

That night, at dinner, JJ and his friends kept their word, looking for you and waving you over to sit with them after you got your plate. It’s not like you knew anyone else here, well, besides Rafe who already seemed to have reasons to dislike you. 

“So how was the grand tour? You running for the hills yet?” Sarah asked before taking a bite of her salad. “No… still kinda feel this is a dream,” you reply honestly. “We ran into Rafe…” Pope spoke up. “Oh… Goody… was he at least civil, or, y’know, just not an asshole?” “No he was a pretty big asshole,” you answer, making everyone chuckle. “Yeah… that sounds like Rafe. He’s… complicated. He grows on you,” Sarah explained. 

“Yeah, like a tumor,” JJ spoke up, John B quick to elbow him.

“What’s, uh, his deal anyway? Pope said he was the son of Ares?” you asked.

“Okay, so like,” Sarah began, putting down her silverware, Pope rolling his eyes. “Aphrodite, my mom, she’s like famously in love with Ares, Rafe’s dad. Zeus forbid them from being together, but they would still hook up in secret. But Gods are selfish, and never satisfied, she caught Ares with Rafe’s mom and flipped out, I mean like, full 2007 Britney Spears meltdown. If you think Ares cabin is full now, those are just the kids that Ares kept hidden from my mom. Anyway- she found out about Rafe’s mom and, like, went over there to kill him but then… she didn’t. She said he was too beautiful to kill, apparently he looks just like his father, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, my mom had been hooking up with my dad- I know so hypocritical, anyway, she kidnapped Rafe when he was like three, and brought him to my dad, Ward, and asked him to keep him for her, and she like still has my dad wrapped around her finger, so he did. Then they had me, and he had to keep both of us safe, until he couldn’t, now we’re here for the summers.” 

Your eyes widened as you took in the information. You don’t know what compelled you to turn and look over your shoulder where Rafe was sat with other members of Ares cabin. But what was even more shocking was his eyes were already on you, with that same condescending smirk as earlier. 

“I don’t think your brother likes me too much,” you said as you turned back. “He’s, uh… competitive. Basically, in his eyes, the only gods stronger than his dad are the big three, so he probably sees you as a threat,” Sarah explained before picking her silverware back up.  “Don’t let him bother you, man. One time, I beat him in sparring… dude went ballistic, like borderline tantrum,” JJ spoke up before biting into a turkey leg. 

“So what’d you do to end up here?” John B asked, his mouth full of food. “What do you mean? I was brought here?” “My dad sent me vision of you talking to cops… so what was it?” John B asked. “Oh! Did everyone think you died so they called the cops and when you were fine they thought you were a freak?” JJ asked. Pope chuckle, “Or freak everyone out with your prodigy level test scores?” a small smile ticked up at the corners of your mouth when you realized they were telling you stuff they did to make you feel better. “What does Hades do? OH! Did you turn invisible?” JJ asked excitedly. “Invisible? Can I turn invisible?” you asked Pope, who just shrugged. Before you could even turn your head back to look at the others, John B reached across the table to grab your hands.

“I accidentally killed my boyfriend by setting my apartment on fire because I was angry,” you said before you could stop yourself. When you realized what you had done, you quickly snatched your hands away from John B. “Woah…” Pope said quietly. Sarah glared at him before reaching over to take your hand. “Hey, don’t sweat it, okay? We’ve all done shit like that, especially before we knew.” “You’ve always known,” Pope pointed out. “Yeah, how many guys have killed themselves because you wouldn’t go out with them?” JJ asked, taking another bite from the turkey leg. “Three,” Sarah answered flatly, though you could see the hint of upset in her eyes as she retracted her hand from you. “John B’s powers also include making people tell the truth.”

As you were trying to recover from the shame and guilt of what you had done, you heard a thud on the table, silverware clattering as you looked up to see Rafe, his hands on the end of the table. “Sarah, you really ought to make better friends. It was bad enough you were hanging with poindexter, now you're hanging with an unclaimed loser? What would your mother think?” “Fuck off, Rafe,” Sarah replied with an annoyed sigh. His eyes now moved to you. “You really should be sitting with your own cabin. It’ll take you a while to learn everyone in Hermes’ cabin names.” “Good thing I’m getting my own cabin, and for now, I know JJ’s name just fine,” you spat back. You had met plenty of boys like Rafe, bullies who get off on being assholes. There was only one way to get rid of a bully; don’t let them see you bleed.

Rafe laughed, “C’mon… even if I wanted to believe you, Hades would never claim a child. He has a wife.” “Like how Ares has Aphrodite?” you shot back. Rafe gave you a smile, but with the way his jaw was clenched, you didn’t take it as friendly. “You’re embarrassing yourself,” Rafe said in a whisper before turning to walk back to his table. Something inside you raged, an anger you felt only once before. Before you knew what you were doing, you stood at the table, like your body knew what it was doing before you did. You threw something, you didn’t know what, not until you saw the small residual fire on the end of the table where Ares cabin sat. 

Rafe turned back to look at you, fuming. The ball of fire, or whatever you threw, had missed him by centimeters, and now everyone was watching. Your chest rose and fell with each breath as you felt your anger start to dissipate, but then you realized why everyone was staring. Above your head was a gold symbol, the same symbol carved into the knife your father gifted you, of a three headed dog. 

From the table, JJ slowly started to clap, leading the others to start clapping as well, which left you more confused as you sat back down. “That’s a formal claiming. The symbol of your godly parent appears above your head,” Pope explained in a whisper as the clapping died down. You turned your head once more to look over your shoulder, the cocky look wiped clean off Rafe’s face, instead replaced with a look you couldn’t read.

-

In the week that followed, your new life slowly became more normal. You and JJ became best friends, he even gave you demonstrations on weapons, beginner training lessons so you could prepare for your real training sessions with Pope and the rest of the Athena cabin. 

“Now you’re gonna wanna get used to the weight,” JJ said as you picked up a sword for the first time. “You should get used to it rather quickly, think of the sword as an extension of your arm.”

You swung it around, turning and slashing it; JJ was right, it became a natural extension of your body. JJ picked up his sword, holding it out towards you as a warning before he came closer, swinging the blade in your direction, you used your sword to throw it down.

“Don’ do that,” JJ stopped. “If you put your weight against mine, it becomes a battle of strength, you’re gonna wanna avoid that for as long as you can. Especially if your opponent is bigger than you.” “Then what do I do?” you asked, bend down slightly to rest on your knees as you caught your breath.

“You’re fast. Use that to your advantage. You have to remember, your abilities are directly linked to your godly parent, Hades uses stealth, start there.”

You nodded, standing up, and picking your sword back up. 

That night at dinner, you asked Pope for a book that could help you learn more about Greek mythology, and boy did he have recommendations. John B gave a quick look through the books, “This one will help you the most, start with the basics,” John B said, handing you one. You gave him a smile in return as you took it from him. 

“Sooo…” JJ said before tapping his knuckles on the table. “Party at Ares cabin, who’s in? Pope?” Pope rolled his eyes, bringing his goblet up to his lips. “No thanks.” “Booo! Sarah? JB?” The two exchanged looks, as if they could communicate telepathically. Maybe they could. “Maybe for a bit, we want some alone time tonight,” Sarah answered for the two. “Gross. Y/n? C’mon cuz, you gotta be in.” “Absolutely not. I’m not gonna give Rafe a reason to start shit with me,” I replied. “That’s smart,” Pope spoke up. Something about the son of Athena agreeing with me was so validating. 

“Orrrr you can give him a reason to stop giving you shit by showing him you’re not afraid of him,” JJ challenged. “Absolutely not. Rafe will take it as a challenge,” Sarah said. At the exact same moment, we all realized the one person who hadn’t spoken up was John B, who was avoiding all of our eyes by sipping from his goblet, looking off. 

“Babe,” Sarah said. He put the goblet down and shrugged, still avoiding our collective gaze. “Uh oh. Prophecy boy knows something,” JJ said. John B groaned. “If I tell you what I see, it alters the course you’d naturally take.” “That has literally never stopped you before,” Sarah countered.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Sarah’s right, if you go to the party, Rafe will see it as a challenge, or… an obstacle, something to overcome. But… if you don’t go to the party, Rafe sees it as you submitting, and he starts giving you shit again…”

“Can you see what I was going to do before you told me?” you asked. “No, it’s not like… all knowing power, I see flashes of different paths, and if I’m lucky, I see enough to piece it together.”

You looked down at the book in your hand. You had a lot to learn. “Fine. I’ll go. But only until they leave. I got a lot of reading to do.” “I’ll take that as a win!” JJ cheered. 

-

After dinner, you started reading the book Pope lent you, but it wasn’t long before JJ was rushing you out the door, hand around your wrist as he went two cabins down. There was a big guy with Rafe’s jawline and brunette hair standing guard, he gave you smirk as he opened the door, the music booming louder as JJ led you into the party. 

You wondered what the other cabins were like, especially ones built for more kids, but the lights were low, traded instead for glowing red LEDs. “Do you want a drink?” JJ asked, shouting over the music. “Sure! I’m gonna see if I can find Sarah and John B!” you reply, JJ giving you a nod and a thumbs up before he broke away to find drinks. 

The cabin was pretty crowded, so you didn’t want to venture too far from where JJ left you, but you craned your neck, searching through the mass of bodies for the familiar faces of your new friends. Instead, your eyes landed on a couple, making out against the wall. You didn’t know why you couldn’t pull your eyes away from the erotic scene, but then, the guy’s eyes opened, his head turning in a way to let you see, it was Rafe, and his eyes were burning into yours as he made out with a girl you didn’t know yet. 

You’d think getting caught would be enough to make you look away, but the look in Rafe’s eyes were like a challenge, like he expected you to look away and was just waiting for you to do it; you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. 

“Y/n!” you jumped at the sudden noise, Sarah coming into your personal space to wrap her arms around you. You let out a small laugh when you realized what was happening, the stare down with Rafe had left your brain a little fuzzy. When Sarah pulled away, John B’s arm’s replaced hers, giving you a quick hug.

“You having fun?” Sarah asked. “Me and JJ just got here, he went to find us drinks,” you explained. “Let me get you up to speed,” Sarah said, wrapping her arm around your shoulder to pull you closer. “Athena boys are cute, but they’re emotionally unavailable, they’re like capricorns personified. Hermes boys are hit or miss, either hot or really not, but they’re usually funny and they all have daddy issues so they love to please. Apollo boys are hot and funny and sweet, but brutally honest. Don’t bother with Hephaestus boys they’re too shy, and the ones that aren’t tend to be handsy.” “There you are! Y/n found you guys. What are you talking about?” JJ asked, handing you your drink. “I’m helping y/n know which boys are good to hook up with,” Sarah said, your face scrunching up in confusion; this was the first you were hearing of that. “Jesus, Sar, she just got here, let the girl settle.” “But I’m, like, a really good match maker.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

A booming voice came from behind you, causing you to turn, looking up to see Rafe. “Fuck off, Rafe, I invited her,” Sarah spoke up. “I didn’t ask. Leave.” “What is your problem?’ Sarah asked. “What’s your problem? Do you need to hang out with losers to make yourself feel important?” Before you could stop yourself, you shoved Rafe back, making him stumble back. The rage in his eyes was unmatched to anything you had ever seen as he stalked back toward you. “Dude, chill the fuck out,” JJ spoke up, getting between you and Rafe. “No one’s talking to you, waterboy,” Rafe said, his chest rising and falling with his breaths as his eyes locked onto yours. You stared at him back, unwilling to let him see you bleed.

“Attention! Attention! Can I get everyone’s attention for a sec?” Rafe shouted, getting everyone’s attention, the music quieting down. Your eyes widened in confusion, crossing your arms as you felt so many eyes fall on you. “I, Rafe Cameron, challenge y/n y/l/n, tomorrow at sundown.” The crowd let out collective “ooohs”, some cheering and clapping in encouragement. Rafe smirked, leaning down so his mouth was by your ears. “Let’s see how tough you really are.”

[thetarttfuldickhead]

Locker Room Conversations III

In which everyone suspects that Roy, Jamie and Keeley are dating. Well, except for Roy.

---

“Oi! Roy!”

At Jamie’s call Roy turned from the board he’d been painstakingly filling with his cramped hand to look at the younger man, changed out of his training kit but still lounging carelessly on the bench by his locker.

“What?” The use of ‘Roy’ rather than ‘Coach’ suggested this had nothing to do with the practice they’d just finished or the upcoming game on Sunday.

“You need to check your phone, mate. Keeley wants us to do brunch tomorrow at her place, and she wonders if you can pick up croissants from that little French place near your house.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sure.” 

“Great.” 

Jamie started typing away furiously at his phone, and Roy was about to turn back to the task at hand when he noticed that the dressing room had fallen suspiciously quiet during the quick exchange. 

“What?” Roy demanded. There was something in that silence that had alarm bells going off in his head… When no one answered him, he cocked his head to the side, donning his very best Roy Kent glare. “What?”

Most of the players looked away. Van Damme looked at Colin. Colin looked at Isaac. Isaac looked at Dani. Dani looked at a pair of socks.

Sighing, but seemingly accepting the burden of his captaincy, Isaac spoke up, gesturing vaguely in a circle that encompassed both Roy and Jamie: “Are you… it’s just that we’ve been wondering, yeah… are the three of you… dating?”

Roy stared. What.

“No.” he said slowly, trying to wrap his head around the fact that this had been a question. “We’re not dating.” They’d been hanging out a lot ever since Manchester, sure, but really, what kind of fucking leap was this? 

“Oh.” And somehow that didn’t sound at all like an oh of course what a very stupid thing to ask but very much like an oh are you sure and What. The. Fuck was going on here?” 

Roy glanced at Jamie, hoping that he might jump in and add his refutation to Roy’s so they could lay this whole ridiculous thing to rest.

Only. Jamie wasn’t looking like he thought this was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard. He was making a stupid face, sure, but one that Roy recognized as deliberately noncommittal. And he was keeping conspicuously quiet.

Roy blinked. But. What.

“We’re not dating… ?” he said again, but there was a curious twist to the end of the sentence, turning into more of a question than he had planned, or had ever thought he’d need in relation to this particular subject.

All eyes turned to Jamie.

Unfazed, Jamie shrugged. “Eh. Not really. I mean, we’re taking it slow, see how it goes.”

“Oh.” Collective from the rest of the team and to Roy’s consternation this ‘oh’ sounded like oh right we get it that make sense which was insane because it really fucking didn’t.

“We’re what?” he demanded in what he thought was a very calm and reasonable manner.

“Jesus, man, no need to fucking shout,” Jamie said reproachfully. “This is why we’re taking it slow,” he added to the others. “Old people get so worked about new things, yeah? Gotta take it easy or you’ll spook ‘em.” He turned back to Roy, smiling brightly like the absolute little prick that he was. “Anyway. You’ll bring the croissants for brunch, yeah?”

Roy opened his mouth. Closed it again. Tried to think of something – anything – to say. What eventually came out was, ”If I say yes, does that mean I’ve agreed to go on a date with you?”

With Keeley, and with you.

For some reason, the idea didn’t quite make him want to tear his guts out and use them to strangle Jamie.

Jamie shrugged again, keeping his face as neutral as he could manage (which wasn’t very) but his brown eyes were glittering. Roy’s traitorous heart did a weird little thing at that.

”Nah,” Jamie said, and then his stupidly full lips curled into a slight but impossibly smug smirk. “Maybe. So, brunch?”

Closing his eyes, wondering if he was losing his mind or finally coming to his senses, Roy said, ”Yeah, yeah, we’ll do brunch.”

[lailawinchesterr]

part one, ignore ignore ignore [jensen ackles]

series masterlist | main masterlist

one, 

I don’t waste any time running into my best friend’s arms and because I’ve been on the set so much, it doesn't faze anyone, not even when i’m interrupting a scene (though i try not to do that often).

"Hey, Lils, what're you doing here? Thought you had an audition?" I did, but it hadn't gone well so i decided against staying at home, instead coming to see Jared.

"Yeah, but i wanted to see you. It ended early anyways." I’m sure he saw through my white lie, gladly he decided against pushing since we’re still around people. Greeting Misha and Gen with hugs and soft ‘how are you’s warms my heart as much as anything.

Now where's Jensen, is my first thought as i lean closer to the small group, listening to whatever they were talking about, enjoying some of Misha’s salad. I usually try to keep my distance from the older actor only because he makes me nervous and I don’t know how to properly act around him. Much less now that I don’t hang out with Danneel either.

It’s been years since we’ve met but i still can't seem to get over my crush on him. I always have some stupid excuse to not be in a room he's in, i’ve hardly been in a room alone with him the whole five years, unless we were with Danneel, though he hardly talked then, opting to stay on his phone.

Jared checks his phone which just pinged; "Jensen's done with Bob, my turn." Gen groans, holding onto her boyfriend a little tighter. It makes me smile, seeing them so in love when i know how hard last year was on Jared. He never thought he'd find someone like Gen in his life but he did. And one year later they're still the strongest relationship i have ever seen.

"Where’s my lunch?" That’s a voice i can recognize anywhere and it makes me freeze. Now where on earth does Jared think he's going? And Gen hanging on his arm too? Yeah, no way am I staying here alone.

"Here." Misha holds up a plastic bag and Jensen quickly snatched it, sitting where Jared was just a second ago, next to me. "Don’t thank me or anything." He rolls his eyes and Jensen starts opening up his burrito.

"I need to get back to work, bye guys." No one is even fazed as i throw a random 'bye' to whoever will catch it, walking back to my car.

+

"I need to know what i did to her, man." Jensen says, mouth full with the insanely incredible food that Misha got him. He could really kiss the man right now.

"I’m sure it's nothing, she's not used to you is all." If he wasn't so busy stuffing his mouth he would've scoffed and hit his friend on the head. 

"She’s known you for one year and you're already friends," he swallows, putting down the food, "i've known her for what? five years? she used to come over all the time and i don't even have her number, i don't know how that's possible." 

"She isn't in the cast, that's normal. Maybe you just don't initiate conversation."

"Yeah, cause she looks like she wants to bang my head in every time i see her, she's not exactly the 'let's talk' type." Misha wanted to tell jensen that he was being stupid but the truth is, he's right. Laila’s been very obviously ignoring Jen for the whole year he's been here to witness, never mind the four before that. Laila and Misha are close, but he wouldn't say close enough to bring it up to her, maybe he'll tell Jared. It does seem to be affecting Jensen, so it needs to be dealt with.

Or maybe it was better left alone.

part two

[kaminocasey]

We Were Golden Part 3

Summary: You get less than ideal news about your future with the Batch and of course they do something about it.

Pairing: Crosshair/F Medic!Reader , (Eventual???) Hunter/Reader

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI; Angst, anger, wounds

WC: 5.1K

A/N: I'm actually really excited to take you guys on this journey, because I promise you... If you think you know where this story is heading, no you don't. Or maybe you do. Idk lol. Either way, I'm excited.

Part 2

TAGLIST FORM

“How is he?” Hunter asks as he leans against the wall in the corridor. 

You smile softly at Hunter’s concern for Echo. “He’s fine. He’ll wake up soon.”

You lean against the wall, next to him, watching as Wrecker teases Tech and Crosshair about something. Hunter’s eyes are on you when you turn back to face him.

“What?” Your eyebrows raise.

“Nothing. You’re just really good at your job.” He smiles.

“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” You chuckle. 

“Not with them around.” He nods in the other guys’ direction.

“So true.” You nod in agreement as one of the shock troopers approaches Hunter. 

“You’re being summoned by the prime minister once you are done here.” He tells him.

Hunter glances at you with a roll of his eyes. “Sounds about right…” 

“Thank you.” You nod to the shock trooper, who nods back and walks back down the corridor from the way he came. 

“So anyway, I was thinking after our next mission, we could take a few days and-” Hunter starts but cuts himself off when he hears something behind the medbay door. “Echo’s awake.”

You push off the wall and start to walk into the medbay, reminding yourself to ask what Hunter was going to say, later. Right now, you need to tend to your batchmate. 

When you walk into the room, you hear the Azi unit rambling on about some numbers and then you make eye contact with Echo as you come over to his side to check on him.

“Ha! Told you he’s alive!” Wrecker booms, startling Echo slightly and then points at Crosshair. “You owe me two credits!”

You roll your eyes at Crosshair. “Please tell me you didn’t think that Echo wasn’t actually going to make it.

“CT-1409’s condition is stable.” The Azi droid speaks up, hovering in front of Omega. 

“See, Echo? You’ll be fine.” You squeeze his hand and he smiles up at you, slightly. 

“However, I have some distressing news for the rest of you.” Azi turns away from you and Echo. “According to your test results, you all appear to be genetically defective clones.”

“Tell me you’re not surprised.” You look over at Tech, who looks like he’s in deep thought.

“I will leave you to process the shock of this revelation.” The droid hovers away.

“We’ve got a problem.” Echo speaks up, sitting up more.

“Not really. We’re more deviant than we are defective.” Tech shrugs, but somehow you don’t think that’s what Echo was talking about. “Not that.” Echo shakes his head. “Admiral Tarkin is here. He’s the one evaluating the clones. 

“The same Tarkin from the Citadel rescue when you, uh…” Tech struggles to be delicate in choosing his words. “How shall I put this?”

You give him a soft, encouraging smile.

“Blew up?” Wrecker grins. 

You shake your head at the larger man and sit on the edge of the bed by Echo’s feet. 

“And turned into that.” Crosshair takes his toothpick out of his mouth and points it at Echo. 

You shoot the sniper a glare, knowing that you’re definitely going to give him an ear full later. There’s no reason for him to be so rude about Echo. You know that they’re completely different as people, but they’ve gotten along this far, right?

Echo doesn’t seem to mind Crosshair’s rude remark. He just sighs. “Yes, and he’s not a big supporter of clones.”

Hunter crosses his arms. “We’ll soon find out. We’ve been summoned by the Prime Minister.” 

“Guess he didn’t find that mess hall fight amusing. But I sure did.” Wrecker chuckles.

Of course he did. You’d expect nothing less from Wrecker. It’s one of the things that made you care about him, though. You wouldn’t change the man for anything.

“Come on. Let’s get this over with.” Hunter nods toward the door. 

Echo hops off the exam table and you start to follow him out of the medbay into the corridor. Being summoned by the Prime Minister was definitely not something you’re looking forward to. Prime Minister Lama Su gives you the creeps. In fact, most of the Kaminoans do. There’s definitely something… secretive about them. Something you couldn’t put your finger on. 

“Wait! The fight was my fault. I’m going too.” Omega zooms in front of the group before you can leave, halting you all. 

“Not happening. We’ll handle this.” Hunter tells her, walking past her. 

“But, I-” Omega starts again. 

“Listen, Kid… Our squad’s nothing but trouble.” Hunter tells her firmly. “For your sake, keep your distance. Got it?”

He has a point. A child has no place with this squad. You’re always in danger or on the move. You give her an apologetic nod and head out with Hunter, leaving the child behind in the medbay. 

As you walk down the corridor, you try to catch Crosshair’s eye, he just sideyes you like he used to do back in the early days before you got together. You quirk your own eyebrow up and he smirks, slightly… barely… 

“That was a good hit earlier.” Crosshair compliments you. 

You break into a grin immediately, appreciating the feeling of normalcy. His smirk goes straight to your heart, a reminder that this is the man that you love with your entire heart. The man you’d go to war for. The man that can’t imagine your life without. 

“Do you think that there’s a way for-” Echo starts to ask you, but you're cut off by a Corrie captain stopping your squad.

“Where do you think you’re going? The training facility is that way.” The captain tells you with a rather rude tone, making you all turn toward him.

It’s the captain from earlier. The one who told you that the war was over. 

“Training facility?” Hunter steps in front of you, clearly confused.

“For a battle simulation.” The captain approaches Hunter. “Admiral Tarkin has requested to see more of your squad in action.”

“Then, we are not being reprimanded?” Tech asks from behind the group now. 

“No, you’re being tested. Now go gear up.” The captain moves his helmet in a way to look at you. “Except you. You’re not needed.” 

“So, we’re not in trouble, and they want us to fight more?” Wrecker looks downright gleeful, playfully bumping elbows with Tech, who doesn’t look appreciative of it. “Ha! Maybe this Empire thing isn’t so bad after all.”

You follow the guys to the area that’s just below the training facility so that they can gear up and grab weapons. With Echo mentioning Tarkin, you can’t help the bad feeling in your stomach that just seems to get worse. 

“You got everything you need?” You ask Crosshair as he looks down at you. 

He nods, seemingly distant again, putting his helmet back on. You give his hand a squeeze anyway and he tilts his head at the action, staring down at your hands.

“Good luck.” You smile up at him, anyway.

“We’ve done this hundreds of times.” Crosshair tells you, voice modulated, just making him sound more distant. 

“Right. Of course.” You let go of his hand and walk over to Hunter.

“Watch out for him.” You pat him in his plastoid arm piece.

Hunter smiles with a nod and you start to walk past Wrecker who gives you a fist bump as you walk out. You have to trust that everything is going to work out. Everything is changing, you know that. You’re just going to have to change with the times, you suppose.

It’s been a while since you’ve been without the guys breathing down your neck so you decide to go do some investigating. You need to know more about this “Order 66”. Like, why it’s even a thing. Why would they have an order ready to execute all the Jedi? 

Making your way to one of the server rooms that you know will be clear of any personnel, you try to get into the brain of Tech, knowing he’d know exactly what to look for and where to look for it. 

Pulling up a seat, you try to get into the server, not finding it incredibly difficult. You type “Order 66” and “Execute Jedi” into the search at the top of the large screen. What comes up, confuses you even more.

There’s nothing there. At all. It doesn’t make any sort of sense. No information. No names of Jedi who were executed… 

You know that you’re going to need Tech for this. 

You clear out the search and start to make your way back toward your barracks, only stopping at the mess hall to grab something quick to eat since you didn’t really get to eat dinner. 

You hear your name called, fondly. When you turn, you’re met with brown eyes and orange sun rays.

“Commander.” You smile, widely. 

Before your time with the batch, you spent time with the 212th. That’s how you met the Batch. Through Commander Cody. 

“How are you?” He asks you as you start walking out of the mess hall with your light snack. 

“I’m…” You start but then remember General Kenobi. 

Did Cody… He wouldn’t… There’s no way. They were joined at the hip, a mutual respect between the two of them like you’ve never seen with the other generals. Other than Skywalker and his men. 

“I-I’m just really tired today. I’ve taken a couple of naps and still feel exhausted…” You try to ignore the nauseous feeling easing its way into your stomach again. 

Please don’t throw up… Please don’t fucking throw up…

“It was a long day for sure. But the great news is, the war is over.” Cody smiles. 

“Thank the Maker.” You nod as you get ready to turn down the corridor where your barracks are.

Even Cody seems… different. More rigid than usual. 

“Indeed.” Cody agrees with a nod. “Tell the boys I said hello.”

“I will.” You nod back and walk back down to your barracks, walking in and sitting in your bunk against the wall. 

Don’t think about Kenobi. Or Skywalker. Or Ahsoka Tano. Or or or… 

You sit your loaf on a napkin on the crate by your bed, your appetite suddenly gone. All you want to do is lay down again. Deciding to do that, you hear the door swish open. 

“Live rounds? They used live rounds! On us!” Wrecker storms in, angrily, bringing his fists down on the table. 

“We were there, Wrecker. We know.” Tech sets his kit down on his workstation. 

You sit up immediately, looking to Hunter for an explanation. “Live rounds?”

“I tried to warn you about Tarkin.” Echo says, a deep scowl on his face.

You get up and walk over to Wrecker to examine him, instantly unclicking his armor and letting it drop. Echo guides him over to a seat so that you can take a better look.

“Who’s that Imperial snake think he is?” Wrecker grumbles, hitting the table as you pull his shirt up to inspect the blaster shot to his chest. 

“Stow it, already. You got shot.” Crosshair says with a stone expression. “It happens all the time.” 

Wrecker looks like a kicked puppy and you give Crosshair a glare before turning back around to face Wrecker. 

“Echo, grab my kit.” You point over to it by your bed.

Echo goes over to your bed and grabs your kit as Tech starts to argue with Crosshair. “There’s a fundamental difference between taking fire in battle and being used for target practice.”

You nod in agreement, angrily. Tarkin has always been a sketchy sort of guy, from what you’ve heard. You have half a mind to go and give him a piece of yours. 

“Exactly! We’re not dummy droids.” Wrecker fires off at Crosshair. 

You’ve never seen Wrecker so worked up. It hurts your heart that Crosshair’s being like this, knowing that you still needed to find answers. Making a mental reminder to talk to Tech about it, you’re about to ask Wrecker to take his shirt off when you hear a voice in the doorway.

“That much we can agree on.” 

Everyone stops to look at the sinister looking figure in the doorway, standing in between to shock troopers. Tarkin gives Hunter a warning stare sending everyone into attention, backs straight, eyes ahead. Wrecker pushes you away slightly so that he can stand at attention. You refuse. You stare the gray haired governor down. How dare he use your squad as target practice… Wrecker could have been killed! And it wouldn’t have mattered at all to this man.

Hunter catches your eye and gives you a “Be respectful look.” so with a roll of your eyes so hard that they could pop out of your head, you stand at attention as well, in between Wrecker and Crosshair. 

“That was quite an impressive display.” Tarkin muses as he steps into the barracks. 

“Didn’t have much choice.” Hunter grumbles and you look over at him. 

He’s clearly incredibly unhappy with what went down in the training facility. You should’ve been there. You should’ve gone with them… You’re a part of this squad too.

“Our new Empire may have methods that seem a bit unorthodox, but so does this squadron.” Tarkin replies, looking at each man. “Both certainly have their merits.”

It sends your skin crawling, the way he’s looking at them… Like they’re objects… things.

“Nala Se speaks quite highly of her five enhanced clones.” Tarkin stops to look up at Wrecker, his eyes roving over Wrecker like he’s just a thing that can be bought or replaced. “She claims you're more capable than an army.”

The need to give this man a piece of your mind starts to become stronger, but Hunter gives you a warning look, almost as if he could read your thoughts. It’s always been like that… Hunter understands you more than you understand yourself a lot.

Tarkin doesn’t even glance your way, as if you’re invisible.

“You have a mission for us sir?” Hunter asks. 

“Indeed. We have tracked a group of insurgents to the Onderon sector. They must be dealt with.” Tarkin approaches Hunter. 

“What sort of insurgents?” Echo speaks up.

“Separatist forces intent on keeping the galaxy at war.” Tarkin tells him and you look up at Crosshair, who remains stone cold and expressionless. “If you neutralize this grave threat, you will be looked upon most favorably as I assess the needs of the Imperial Army.” 

“You, however, will no longer be needed.” Tarkin turns toward you. “You’re to meet with Mistress Nala Se when this squad leaves. I would say your goodbyes.”

At that, Tarkin nods and walks out of the barracks, leaving you and the Batch quiet. 

Saying your goodbyes? You don’t understand… You’ve only been with the Batch a year, but it feels longer… Like you’ve known them your whole life. How could you just leave them?

“Alright. Sit back down.” You guide Wrecker back down to the seat so that you can patch him up.

You can feel all the guys’ eyes on you but you need to focus on the large man in front of you, trying to remember to think before you speak. They’re all at a loss for words like you, probably. 

“Stop looking at me like that.” You turn to Echo, briefly, before returning your gaze to Wrecker. “And you too.”

“We… we didn’t think we’d ever have to say goodbye…” Wrecker mumbles, sadly. 

You finish patching him up and pat his shoulder lightly, giving him a sympathetic smile and shrug. “We knew this wouldn’t be forever.” 

When you turn to look at Crosshair, he’s watching you. But you ignore him and go to pack your bunk up. 

“I’m sure I’ll see you guys around.” You shrug.

Unsure of what else to say, you turn back around to face them. Hunter approaches you first and offers his hand. You look down at it for a moment before looking back up at him and then throw your arms around him. He seems startled for a moment but wraps his arms around you as well.

“Thanks for everything, sarge. I’ve learned a lot from you.” You pull away. “From all of you really. Especially you, Tech.” 

You smile over at the goggled clone and he looks slightly flustered, giving a nod and then fixing his goggles. 

You hug Echo next. He’s more accepting of your reassignment, knowing this is how it is in the military. But Wrecker looks like he’s about to cry. Wrecker doesn’t do well with change, you all know that, so it’s going to be up to the guys to try to help him adjust.

When you look at Crosshair, he just nods. It’s final and definitely a break up. But it doesn’t mean it hurts any less. 

“That’s all?” Echo asks him. “A nod?” 

“What, do you want to throw her a going away party?” Crosshair rolls his eyes, putting a toothpick between his lips. 

“It’s fine. It was never that serious anyway, right?” You shrug, grabbing your pack and then heading over to Tech to shake his hand, knowing he’s not the hugging type. 

He squeezes your hand a little longer, though, surprising even you. 

“You will be missed.” Tech murmurs. 

You smile up at him and nod. “You too.” 

When you let go, you head to the doorway, turning to look at them one more time. They all still look at a loss for words, but when you look at Crosshair, he’s sitting on his bunk, rubbing his forehead as if he’s got a headache. 

Oh well, not your problem anymore, right?

As you walk down the brightly lit, white corridors, you remember you didn’t even get to tell Tech about what you found. You’ll have to send him a transmission later, if possible. He’d be able to find out more, with or without your help. Not that he needs it anyway.

You try not to think about how much you’re really going to miss the guys. You try not to think about Crosshair and your past together, or Your and Hunter’s late night talks, or Echo’s trust in you to have his back, or Wrecker’s laugh when the two of you would goof off, or Tech’s ability to teach you something new every single day. 

This was going to be a huge change. Something you’re not ready or prepared for. 

“Do you want to know what I think?” Echo asks Crosshair as they’re in hyperspace on the way to Onderon.

“Don’t care.” Crosshair rolls his eyes. 

“I think you love her and you’re afraid to-” Echo starts.

“Shut up and mind your business. Before I make you.” Crosshair points his toothpick at Echo, warning him.

“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do?” Echo rolls his eyes. 

“Keep talking and you’ll find out.” Crosshair promises him.

“Aren’t you going to stop them?” Tech asks Hunter.

“Huh?” Hunter looks up, deep in thought. “Oh… Both of you shut up.” 

Echo and Crosshair listen to their sergeant and quit their bickering. It’s enough that they lost you… but to have in-fighting immediately after you’re gone? And then with Crosshair still acting weird, and the wariness he got from Omega trying to warn him about Kamino changing? It’s just too much for Hunter to handle right now.

“What are we going to do without her?” Wrecker grumbles from the cockpit doorway. 

“We can’t think about that right now, Wrecker. We need to focus on the mission.” Hunter sighs from the co-pilot seat. “I know it’s going to be hard, but we have to finish the mission. And then we can figure it out from there. Alright?” 

“Okay.” Wrecker mumbles and then goes back to the bunks.

The thing is… he doesn’t know. He never thought this far ahead. Not without you… He doesn’t know how he’s going to manage without your laugh or your smile every day. Or when you remind him that he needs to sleep. Or the way that you always seem to know exactly what he needs and how he knows what you need. The way that you’re both so in sync that it almost scares him…

How is he supposed to carry on like normal? What did they do before you, and why can’t he remember? 

When you make your way to Nala Se’s lab, you find the Azi droid from earlier. 

“Um, hello.” You wave. “I’m looking for Nala Se, have you seen her by chance?” 

“She went to find her medical assistant. She will be back momentarily.” The droid tells you.

“Thanks.” You nod and go to look out the window at the raging seas below. 

It’s raining and storming, of course. Nothing new for Kamino, but with all that’s going on, it just feels even more gloomy than usual. Like the sky is maybe a little too caliginous… Like what you feel on the inside without the Batch. 

You hear your name behind you and find Nala Se with Omega, who has a look of concern on her face, but when she sees you, the concern fades away and a look of relief takes its place.

“I was told to come find you, by Governor Tarkin.” You tell her.

“Yes, you will no longer be needed with Clone Force 99. I would like to give you the option to either stay here on Kamino and assist me, or you can join the new recruits coming in.” She tells you.

“New recruits?” You ask, confused.

“There will be a new army… of non clone humans. They will need medics as well.” She replies.

You look at Omega momentarily and she shakes her head. You tilt yours, confused. 

“Omega, will you go get Taun We please?” She asks the child. “Azi, please assist her and make sure she stays on task.”

“Yes, mistress.” Azi follows Omega to the door.

Omega gives you one last pleading look, which you still don’t understand. But you decide that no matter what, you’re going to figure it out. The Kaminoans have always been secretive about things, but you can’t help but think that this child has something to do with the Batch. Why else would she know who they were?

“I actually forgot some stuff in my barracks, so I’ll be back in a bit.” You lie to Nala Se. “If I run into Taun We, I’ll let her know my decision.”

The Kaminoan woman nods and you head back out and down the corridor to find Omega. And hopefully to also find some answers. 

“Pack up their gear and take it to the hangar.” You hear inside your barracks and then see a few troopers entering the room, one of them the Corrie captain from earlier. “You. You’re coming with me.”

You get to the door in time to see the captain trying to grab Omega and the Azi droid trying to stop him.

“Hey, why don’t you pick on someone your own size.” You get his attention in time to punch him in the helmet, a little stupidly, you might add, because pain shoots up your arm instantly. 

Ignoring the pain, you jump on the captain’s back trying to get him to let go of Omega, but unfortunately you don’t see the two other troopers come for you. You only feel a jolt of electricity shoot throughout your body, realizing you’ve just been stunned as you drift into unconsciousness, trying desperately to tell Omega to run. 

On the way back to Kamino, Hunter paces the Marauder, thinking about what the Empire is doing. He starts thinking about those innocent kids that Tarkin wasn’t even thinking twice about wiping out. He thinks about his argument with Crosshair. He thinks about you. About how it seemed pretty final between you and Crosshair. Would he ever stand a chance with you? It doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is getting you and Omega back, where you’ll be safe. He’ll keep you safe, no matter what it takes.

“I know why you’re really going back.” Crosshair tells Hunter when he’s back by the bunks.

Hunter doesn’t acknowledge him. He doesn’t have to. He knows what Crosshair’s going to say.

“Don’t think I don’t notice the way you look at her.” Crosshair sneers. “Or the way you pine after her like some lovesick pup.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.” Hunter says, turning to face his brother, leaning against the wall.

Crosshair lets out an unamused laugh. “Don’t worry. I see the way she looks at you too.” 

Hunter’s chest tightens. What does Crosshair mean by that? 

“I guess since I’m done with her, you’re going to want a turn?” Crosshair continues to try to push Hunter’s buttons.

Hunter’s stare hardens. “You better stop talking, vod.” 

Crosshair smirks and walks back up into the cockpit. He was clearly not in his right frame of mind. There’s no way he’d actually ever say that about you, right? Hunter knows that Crosshair loves you. He’s heard the way that the man’s heart picks up when you enter a room. The way that Crosshair smiles at you when he thinks no one is watching. The way that Crosshair’s touch lingers on your body when they’re out in the field. 

Crosshair isn’t fooling Hunter and Hunter intends to find out what’s really making him act this way.

“Well, the plan wasn’t a total failure.” You hear Tech’s voice before you open your eyes. 

It’s followed by your name murmured by Hunter and then you feel hands on your face. 

“Goody…” You hear Crosshair’s voice.

You slowly open your eyes, a little disoriented, and try to sit up, rubbing your head and then remembering what happened. “O-Omega!” 

You try to stand up but Hunter pulls you back down, trying to brace you so he can keep you steady. 

“She’s here. She’s alright.” Hunter says.

When you look beside you, she waves, smiling sheepishly. 

“Where-” You look around, seeing the guys out of their armor, only in their bodysuits and then take notice that you’re in some sort of jail cell. 

“I warned you to not come back…” Omega tells Hunter. 

“Had to. We were looking for you.” Hunter smiles. “For both of you, actually.” 

“Me?” She points at herself, unable to believe it. 

“What do you say, kid? You wanna come with us or did we get captured for nothing?” He asks her.

You smile at her as you lean against Hunter, still not quite sure you can stand up just yet. 

“You came back for me?” She can’t believe it. 

The wonder in her eyes pulls at your heart-strings and then you realize that she wasn’t expecting anyone to come for her and that makes your heart clench. 

“That’s right. Or you can stay on Kamino if-” Hunter starts but she cuts him off.

“No, it’s like I said before. I want to go with you.” She insists, standing up. 

Hunter helps you stand long enough to sit you down on the bench against the wall.

“How touching.” Crosshair sneers from behind the group with crossed arms. 

You all look at him. He somehow doesn’t even look like himself right now. You know that this is him… obviously. But the way that he’s glaring at Hunter… At Omega… It just doesn’t sit well with you.

Hunter glares right back at his brother, looking like he’s prepared for a fight. You rarely see Hunter scowl so deeply.

Wrecker coughs, awkwardly. “Um, Hunter. How are we getting out of here?” 

Hunter’s glare doesn’t ease up. “I’m working on it.” 

Hunter and Crosshair continue to glare at each other in a way that seems deeper than what’s going on. You look at Crosshair but he refuses to break first. 

“You know what you should work on?” Crosshair steps toward Hunter with his finger pointing at the sergeant. “Explaining when you went soft.”

“Stow it, Crosshair.” Echo gives him a gentle push, not letting him get any closer to Hunter. 

You stand up, finally, your legs finally feeling a bit stronger, and step in front of Omega, protectively.

“Don’t you see we’re locked up in here because of him? He had us disobey orders.” Crosshair fumes, anger clear on his face for the first time ever. 

It worries you to see him like this. You just want the old Crosshair back. 

“I never thought you disobeying orders was a problem.” Tech fixes his goggles.

“Yeah. We do it all the time.” Wrecker tries to level with Crosshair, clearly not understanding why his brother is being like this either. 

“Good soldiers follow orders!” Crosshair tells his brothers angrily. “Every choice you’ve made since Kaller has been wrong. First, the padawan, then Gerrera. And now…” 

He glances at Omega and then you. As if you weren’t worth coming back for. He doesn’t have to say it. You know what he means. 

He looks back at Hunter. “You’re becoming a liability.” 

“We can debate my choices later. For now, let’s focus on getting outta here.” Hunter tells him, glancing at you to make sure you’re alright. 

“There’s that look again. The one you think no one notices.” Crosshair sneers with crossed arms. “Even though it's obvious to everyone.” 

Echo, Tech, and Wrecker look between Hunter and Crosshair, prepared to step in if Hunter’s gonna throw a punch. It’s not completely undeserved.

“Stop it.” You step in front of Crosshair, gently pushing him away from the group. “Stop saying things just to be hurtful.” 

“I’m only saying things that are true, Princess.” He shrugs, leaning in, voice low. “Besides, like I told him… now that I’m done with you, he can have you.”

This is the first time in a long time that you’ve ever been made to feel so… used… like you didn’t mean anything to him… 

With wide, hurt eyes, and anger coursing through your veins, you shove him away from you and go sit on the opposite side of the cell and don’t notice the way he sits down and rubs his temple. You also don’t notice the way that Omega goes to sit next to him. What you do notice is Echo sitting down next to you, placing an arm around your shoulder. 

“If… you want me to punch him… just let me know.” Echo murmurs, trying to get you to crack a smile.

It works, obviously, and you can’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, I may take you up on that just this once.” 

“We’ll figure it out.” Hunter tells you from the wall, quietly. You nod to him, not knowing exactly what he means by that. Does he mean what’s going on with Crosshair? Or this new Empire? Or with Omega? Or with… the two of you? Not that there’s really anything to figure out. He’s your best friend. Right?

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