#but i have a feeling i'm missing some stuff i should have tagged. *shrug*

[ginnsbaker]

fic: if i bleed (you'll be the last to know) (3/?)

Part summary: Leigh develops an unhealthy habit as she hits closer to rock bottom

Pairing: Leigh Shaw x Fem!Reader | Word count for this part: 5.370 | Warnings/Tags: Some hetero stuff | A/N: Things will pick up after this part. I think there's going to be a total of 6 parts, but let me confirm that in the next update :)

Masterlist | Part I Part II | Next

-

Leigh is ten minutes late. 

It makes sense. Her willingness to attend this meeting was surprising, because if you were in her shoes, you doubt you'd have agreed to it. Listening to the entire history of a relationship can be exhausting, and it's hard to imagine what it feels like to hear about one that arguably should never have existed.

But just as you're about to think she's bailed or intentionally left you hanging, you spot her sprinting toward the cafe from across the street. She's a mess—hair soaked and sticking everywhere, face bare, missing its usual touch of makeup. But even like this, Leigh doesn't look much different from her usual self. You can't help feeling a bit envious of that.

She rushes into the cafe, attracting a few curious looks, but she barely registers them, her wide green eyes quickly finding you.

“Sorry I'm late,” she pants, struggling to catch her breath, “I got caught in the rain and then missed my bus.” The lie slips out effortlessly. True, it had rained, but the real reason was far more personal—something you didn't need to know.

You shrug off her apology with a smile, signaling the waiter for a menu for Leigh. “No worries, I'm just glad you made it,” you say.

Leigh gives you a quick once-over, then forces a smile and thanks you. Once her coffee order's in, she gets right down to it. “So, Matt,” she starts, her voice dropping to a whisper, “how did you two meet?”

You lean back, carefully thinking about what to say next. You didn't practice your answers ahead of time because you weren't planning to lie about anything. But you're wary of how you word things, not wanting to upset her. Being caught up with a married man is embarrassing enough as it is, and having to relay the details to his widowed wife only adds to it.

“Actually, our first meeting was totally by chance,” you say, bringing your steaming cup of tea to your lips. “I quite literally bumped into Matt one day. It was so brief, I barely gave it a second thought.”

You take a deep breath before continuing, “Then, about a week later, Matt showed up at my clinic with the same friend from before. It turned out, they were there for his friend's dog, who needed a check-up. Matt was just tagging along, helping out.”

Leigh’s face remains passive, making it hard to read. 

“The friend was the one who interacted with me the most that day. He even asked for my number, saying they were grateful for the help with the dog. I assumed he was interested,” you say, the memory coming back to you clearer now as you speak. “But, to my surprise, it was Matt who texted me later, not his friend.”

You barely manage to suppress the slight twitch of your lips, recalling how everything once seemed magical to you. Leigh on the other hand, takes a slow sip of her coffee, buying a moment to process.

“Who was that friend of Matt's? Do you remember his name?” she asks.

You pause, racking your brain for the detail, feeling its importance to Leigh. “Yeah, I think his name was Nick or something,” you say, scratching your head. Whether the name ‘Nick’ rings any bells for her or not, she doesn't let on. 

“Strange,” you mumble under your breath, but then shrug it off. “It doesn't really matter, he's not the one I—” You stop yourself just in time, realizing you're about to say something potentially hurtful about a situation that still feels raw, especially to Leigh.

Instead, you quickly pivot. “Anyway, that's how it all started. On the day of the dog’s follow-up, it was just Matt who came by. We struck up a friendship from there, and one thing led to another until he, uhm, asked me out for dinner.”

At this, you notice a subtle change in Leigh's demeanor. Her entire frame becomes more timid, the first real sign of emotion she's shown since this conversation began. 

You’re about to go on with your story when Leigh suddenly speaks up.

“So, you just said yes, even though he was your client? Don't veterinarians have professional boundaries?”

Ever since meeting Leigh, you've found it challenging to predict what might trigger her reactions—it's like navigating a minefield. Occasionally, you’d find yourself wondering what it would be like to know her without the complications currently defining your interactions. You think about the roles you both involuntarily play in each other's lives, roles neither of you auditioned for but somehow ended up performing.

You feel a lump form in your throat, and your gaze drops to your lap. “Well, he was persistent,” you say, feeling the need to defend your decision. Nevertheless, it sounds weak to your own ears. “But I made it clear nothing could happen until the dog's treatment was complete. And I insisted he'd have to find a different vet for any future appointments. It was... complicated.”

“I bet,” Leigh scoffs, crossing her arms. After a beat, she asks, almost too casually, “So, how quickly did you two... you know, have your first kiss?”

The question hangs awkwardly between you. You know you can’t answer it in any way you could avoid her judgment, so you just decide to spit it out. 

“First date.” Under Leigh’s scrutinizing gaze, it feels like admitting to a minor crime.

Leigh stares at you with unblinking eyes. “And how long after meeting him did this first date happen?”

You draw in a slow breath. “Three weeks,” you mutter. “It was last fall.” You add that bit, proactively laying out the timeline as if it could somehow soften the blow or make the situation less complicated. Leigh, however, looks like you've just knocked the wind out of her. She looks away, her expression shifting into something like shock or deep pain. Alarm bells ring in your head at the picture before you.

“Hey, did I say something wrong?” you say in a rush. “I mean, this whole situation is messed up, but if I—”

Leigh’s eyes are glass as they return to you. When she speaks again, her voice is so soft you almost have to lean in to hear. “Last fall... That's when I told Matt we should start trying for a baby.”

The words drain the color from your face. And suddenly, all the pieces of your story with Matt feels even more tainted.

You're not sure what your face gives away when you hear this news, but Leigh's expression quickly shifts from tearful to furious. “Stop feeling sorry for me,” she hisses. “I don’t need your pity.”

Leigh's tears start to spill over, and it's only 7:30 in the morning. It feels way too early for tears, especially here, in the middle of a coffee shop where the day is just beginning for most. You try to shrink into your seat, wishing you could make both of you invisible as the few other patrons start throwing curious, if not outright concerned, looks your way.

You never realized a simple conversation could cause someone so much pain. You thought providing Leigh with answers would help, but it looks like you're just making things even harder for her. Maybe keeping your distance from her is the kindest thing you can do.

“You know the worst part?” Leigh brushes away the tears that keep streaking down her face.

Clearly, she isn't looking for an answer, so you stay silent.

She makes sure she catches your eye before saying, “He agreed, and we started trying.”

-

Leigh catches her breath after wrapping up her class at the Beautiful Beast. 

She took a day off yesterday, immediately after talking with you, spending the whole day in bed just trying to sort out her thoughts and feelings. Surprisingly, wasting away for a whole day seemed to help, and her concerns gradually drifted back to her fight with Jules. It’s been days, and Leigh feels the urgency of reconciliation pressing on her. By this point, they should be on speaking terms again. By now, Jules should have let go of her anger, right? Leigh knows she can't afford to have her sister hating her. At least not right now. She needs her family, or what’s left of it—on her side. 

“Hey, Jules, got a sec? About the schedule…” Leigh tries, hoping work might be a safe enough topic to get her sister to acknowledge her existence once again.

Jules barely glances her way. Her hands keep moving, adjusting a strap here, aligning yoga mats there, as if the very act could shield her from having to engage. “Sorted. Check your email,” she replies, her voice cold and detached.

Leigh nods, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot. “Great, great... um, did you consider adding that beginners' workshop we talked about?”

Jules stops for a beat, and Leigh thinks, maybe she's going to drop it. But no, Jules resumes fussing over items that hardly require any attention. Then, without even looking up, she says, “Yeah, it's on the list. Anything else?”

Leigh tries to keep her cool, wishing Jules would just cut to the chase and tell her what needs to be done for all to be forgiven. 

Trying a different tactic, Leigh goes, “Hey, found a Starbucks card in my bag. How 'bout I grab us some coffee? My treat.”

Leigh’s trying. She really is. Why can’t they see that?

Jules just gives her that look, the kind that doesn't need words, and heads back to her desk. And there's Leigh, offer of a beverage truce just floating in the air, going nowhere.

Getting ignored really gets under Leigh's skin. Back in the day, Matt's habit of brushing her off would drive her to the edge. She'd respond with over-the-top demands or twist things around just to make sure he’d always pay attention to her. She didn't start off wanting to be that person, but looking back, she sees the lengths she'd go to just to keep his attention from straying. 

Unable to control herself, she heads straight for Jules, grabs her arm despite her trying to wiggle free, and yanks her into the backroom.

“What the hell is your problem?!” Jules explodes, not caring if anyone’s heard her outside.

They're both standing there, kind of shocked by how heated things got so fast. Jules’ shout might've turned a few heads outside, but right now, that's the least of Leigh's worries.

“How many times do I need to apologize, for you to get over this?”

Jules’ eyes are wide in disbelief, her mouth twisting into a sardonic smile, like she can’t believe what she’s hearing.

“You’re so fucking full of yourself, Leigh! This is exactly why I’m not talking to you,” Jules hisses, but keeps her voice down this time.

“What—”

“Do you even know what you’re sorry for?”

Leigh's initial scoff dies in her throat as she watches Jules' expression twist with hurt. “Yeah, okay, I said sorry about the crap I pulled the other day. I know I was out of line, talking about your past like that—”

Jules doesn't let her finish. “You weren't just being ‘out of line’, Leigh. You threw the worst time of my life in my face! Do you have any idea how hurtful that is? Coming from my own sister? From my own family? What, just to win an argument? To cover up for acting like a jerk at the club?”

Leigh goes quiet, but her face hardens, trying not to show how much Jules' words hit her right in the gut. What she said, laid out like that, it sounds…well, unforgivable.

“I'm trying, okay?” Leigh blurts out without thinking.

“Shouldn't be that hard to just be a decent human being, should it?” Jules shoots back, her dismissal sharp as she exits the cramped space, leaving Leigh reeling.

Under her breath, almost like she's talking to the walls, Leigh mumbles, “I'm really sorry…” It's quiet, almost lost in the room, but she means it the most at this very moment, even if no one's around to catch it.

-

Leigh clocks out from work, her day's fatigue hanging off her shoulders like a weighty cloak. Instead of heading straight home, she veers off her usual path, her feet bringing her to places that made breathing difficult the first few weeks after Matt's death. She's walking the same old route she always did when he was still around, back to when her home address was different and she'd pick up takeout from his favorite places along the way.

There’s the park first, the one where she and Matt spent countless afternoons sprawled on the grass, lying side by side as they watched the sky blush into shades of orange at sunset. She allows herself only a fleeting glance at the familiar paths and the bench they claimed theirs, feeling the same regret, the same hollowness as she remembers the good times they had there. 

In the back of her mind, she can't shake off the worry that maybe you've been here too, making your own memories with him. She doesn’t feel the surge of anger at this thought however. Instead, a part of her is almost willing to share these sacred memories if it means holding onto him in any form. She wants to believe that her jealousy has faded into a quieter acceptance that others might also carry pieces of him, pieces she's learning to live with.

Pulling herself away from the park, Leigh's walk inevitably leads her past Matt's favorite Italian restaurant—a quaint, cozy place where they celebrated most of their birthdays and, on occasion, anniversaries, especially when neither felt like cooking (which became an increasingly common choice in the months leading up to his accident).

She remembers how Matt's face would light up at the prospect of their rich, creamy carbonara and the tiramisu he claimed was unrivaled in the city. She recalls the numerous times she attempted to recreate the restaurant's tiramisu at home, aiming to surprise Matt at least once a month. Despite her efforts, if she truly wanted to indulge him, she knew there was no substitute for the real thing. So, on special days, or whenever she felt an extra burst of affection, she'd stop by the restaurant on her way home, picking up takeout. 

A waitress from the restaurant notices Leigh's lingering gaze and asks if she'd like a table. With a shy smile, Leigh declines, then pauses before finally deciding to order a tiramisu to go.

When she returns to her mom's house and eats the tiramisu alone, it tastes different. 

Leigh can't decide if the difference in the tiramisu's taste is good or bad, but that doesn't stop her. She finishes the entire slice in minutes. But instead of feeling full, it makes her feel emptier. Perhaps, it’s not the flavor that's changed; it's the experience of eating it without Matt's enthusiastic commentary, without him lighting up at the first bite or playfully claiming the last one, despite his generous offer to let her have it.

Suddenly, tears just start pouring out of Leigh as she sits there with an empty plate. She didn't see it coming, no chance to stop it or shove it down. Then, she finds herself laughing—a deep, throaty laugh—because she's grieved for him in countless ways, but this, crying over a dessert, has to be the most absurd. It's exactly the kind of moment they would have laughed at together.

Deciding that that would be her dinner, Leigh cleans up the small mess she's made and considers the evening ahead. But just as she’s about to sink into the couch for a quiet night, her phone buzzes, making her jump.

Seeing your name flash on her screen, she sighs, sensing a familiar bitterness creeping back in, disrupting the soothing moments she had just spent reminiscing about Matt. She lets it ring a few times more before picking up.

“Hi, Y/N,” Leigh says, managing to keep her voice steady over the phone.

“Hey,” you start, unsure how to break the ice after everything. Especially with what you’re about to say next.

“Listen, something happened today at the clinic. Someone came in looking for their lost French Bulldog, and they had a picture,” you pause to breathe. “Leigh, it looks a lot like Visitor.”

On the other end of the line, you can practically hear Leigh's heart skip a beat.

“Hello?” you ask, checking to make sure she's still there after she doesn't respond for several seconds.

“Are you sure?” Leigh’s voice cracks slightly.

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure,” you say softly, feeling a surge of empathy. “I'm sending you the picture now. Check it out and tell me what you think.”

You hit send and then wait for Leigh’s confirmation.

“It's him. It's definitely Visitor,” she says a moment later.

You're relieved but also concerned about what comes next. “So, what are you going to do?”

Leigh hesitates, and when she speaks again, she doesn’t give a direct answer. “Thank you, Y/N,” she says, and you pick up something in her tone. Something somber. 

“Everything alright?” 

But the line's already dead, leaving you staring at your phone, wondering what she is up to.

-

Leigh stands outside the community center, her hand lingering on the door longer than usual.  It's been weeks since she last came to a session. First, there was the shock of uncovering Matt's darkest secret, and now, there's the issue of the man inside, already looking her way, waiting to see her next move.

Danny appearing at her doorstep earlier in the week caught her completely off guard—and not in a good way. The moment she realized it was him, Leigh didn't hesitate to close the door in his face. After she shut him out, it escalated to the point where she threatened to call the police because he wouldn't stop pounding on the door and shouting for Leigh to let him in, insisting he just wanted to talk. His last attempt to get through to her fell flat when he flooded her inbox with texts and missed calls, pushing Leigh to the point where she blocked his number for good.

Despite the problem of Danny being here tonight, Leigh isn't willing to walk away from this just because of him. She's already given up so much lately, most recently Visitor—or Chico, as she found out his real name was—and his absence carved a fresh ache in her heart that she hadn't seen coming.

So, she takes a deep breath and pushes the door open, ignoring the smirk on Danny’s face as she proceeds to pretend like he doesn’t exist.

-

Somehow, after the meeting, Leigh ends up saying yes to a quick chat with Danny. He reels her in with the news that he submitted Matt’s remaining works—which he got custody of—to his publisher, and they were keen to publish them posthumously. 

Leigh can't help but throw in a bit of shade. “That's nice of you, doing something good for your brother, even if it's a bit late.”

Danny's face drops a little. Her words were sharp enough to hurt him, but he doesn't bite back or get in her face about it, which totally throws Leigh for a loop. After all the time she'd spent ignoring him, she had expected him to be at his worst around her.

And then he surprises her even more when he says, “Let me give you a ride home? It's the least I can do…”

Leigh arches an eyebrow. She didn’t bring the car tonight because Jules had a thing with Tommy, and she didn’t want to give her sister another reason to resent her. A ride from Danny beats the alternatives of walking or shelling out for a pricey cab, especially now that her phone's battery has given out, nixing the option of booking an Uber.

But this is Danny. Matt’s brother, and the guy she hooked up with because she thought she’d get back some semblance of her dead husband. After Jules pointed out how messed up it was that they'd slept together, Leigh's been all over the place. The rules around what they were doing either turned her off or, weirdly enough, made the whole thing more enticing, taboo and all. That's a big part of why she's been steering clear of him. Hanging out with Danny feels like reaching for a cigarette long after she's sworn off smoking.

Even with all that swirling in her head, Leigh ends up saying, “Sure, why not?”

Before she knows it, she's also agreeing to a drink at his place.

-

The second they step into his apartment, something inside of Leigh snaps. Acting on impulse, she grabs Danny by the collar and kisses him fiercely. She clenches his shirt in her hands, practically tearing it in her grip. Danny's initial surprise melts away in seconds, and then he’s kissing her just as hard, his tongue prying open her lips, taking control of the kiss right away. His hands find her waits, pulling her closer, practically already half-lifting her against the wall.

Leigh, caught up in the moment, begins to move her hips in a rocking motion against him. The action is effective enough to distract him from where he’s kissing every inch of Leigh’s neck, and he retaliates by suddenly pressing her more firmly against the wall, pinning her with his hips, their chests are tightly pressed together.

But as Leigh's fingers begin to fumble with the button of Danny's pants, he catches her hands gently and, panting, says, “Wait, Leigh, hold on for just a sec.” 

Leigh’s eyes fly open at his voice, irritation and impatience coloring them. “What?” she gasps out. 

He ignores the hard edges of her tone. He wants more—something real—and he's hoping she does too.

“I can’t do this again unless I know it’s going somewhere,” Danny says. He gently lets go of Leigh and takes a step back, trying to collect himself. It's a tough task, though, with Leigh looking the way she does—hair all tousled, lips slightly swollen and marked from when he got a bit carried away, her cheeks tinged with a warm flush. He could’ve made her come in the next two minutes, he’s sure of it.

At Danny's confession, Leigh can't help it; she bursts into laughter. The idea of him catching feelings now, of all times, seems absurd to her. As she laughs, Danny's jaw tightens, but he waits patiently for her to finish.

When Leigh finally notices the seriousness etched across Danny's face, her amusement evaporates almost instantly. The realization that he's not joking strikes her, and it doesn't sit well. Not one bit.

“What, you think because your brother's gone, you get to... what? Step in? Take his place?” she spits out, incredulous. “This is never going to be anything more than a quick fuck, Danny.”

In his desperation, he calls her bluff. “You’re lying.”

Leigh's reaction morphs into a cruel sneer. “If you're going to insist on something more, then we're just wasting our time,” she mutters, turning to leave.

Danny's not ready to let her walk away, not yet. He grabs her arm, and for a second, they're just staring each other down, a silent battle raging between them. Leigh’s resolve is impenetrable.

It’s Danny who cracks first, exhaling a defeated, “Fine.”

But Leigh's not having any half-measures. She whirls around, fire in her eyes. “Nope. Say it properly,” she demands.

With a sigh that feels like he's giving away a part of himself, Danny looks at her, worn and resigned. “This doesn't have to mean anything,” he says even if it’s the last thing he wants.

Leigh locks eyes with him, a storm brewing in her look. Just when Danny thinks it's better to just drop it, she throws him a question out of nowhere. 

“Did you know?”

“Know what?” Danny asks, genuinely puzzled.

“About Matt and me... trying for a baby when he... you know.”

“He... he never mentioned anything like that,” he says, feeling the pain she’s radiating. Leigh looks like she’s about to fall apart and all he wants is to be the one to gather her pieces and put them all back together.

No more words follow from Leigh. It's as if the question drained what was left of the conversation. Without warning, she surges forward, her lips meeting Danny’s in a bruising kiss, then she grabs Danny's hands, placing them firmly back on her waist. He gets the message loud and clear, and together they quickly shed their clothes, letting them fall in a heap around their feet. She comes about twelve minutes and thirty seconds later.

-

It's been eight days—not that you're keeping track or anything. But after giving Leigh the heads-up that someone’s been looking for a dog that looks exactly like Visitor, you were kind of expecting she’d at least update you if it really was him or not.

So, when a client strolls in later with Visitor, who's actually called Chico according to the file your secretary slips you, you're a little disappointed it's not Leigh showing up instead. It must have been incredibly tough for her to return Chico to his real family. She invested her heart, time, and not to mention her wallet, into that dog, caring for him as if he were her own.

Thinking she’d be relieved to know he’s in good hands, you send her a text to update her about Chico's visit to the clinic today. You mention how healthy and content he seems, yet you hazard a guess that he's probably missing Leigh too. 

She sees your message right away, and then leaves you on read.

-

Her thing with Danny turns into a late-night ritual, particularly after Drew fails to respond to her following their conversation, not even offering her a guest column in the weeks that followed their talk. Drew continues to invite her for coffee and dinner dates along with his fiancée, but he avoids the topic about the column, so Leigh stops asking.

The hookups are always a post-midnight impulse. She’d find herself sneaking out of her mother's house to meet him, driven by a mix of need and escape, or occasionally, by insomnia. After their moments together, she never lingers in Danny's bed for too long once she's found her satisfaction, eager to shower away his scent from her skin. 

Back at home, she ensures there's no trace of their deed by the time she slips into bed, allowing herself to sleep deep into the middle of the day. This pattern of nocturnal activity and daytime slumber has led her mother to adjust Leigh's responsibilities, moving her to take charge of the afternoon classes instead. This behavior earns her suspicious glances from Jules, but Leigh chooses to ignore them—if Jules isn't interested in reconciling, then she has no right to concern herself with Leigh's personal affairs.

Leigh doesn’t know how she got here, back at the beginning, in an ever messier situation. She can't stop fucking Danny, her emotions for Matt are a rollercoaster—she finds herself forgiving him and cursing him interchangeably a couple of times a day. 

She's astounded this is her life now, seemingly unable to talk herself out of decisions that pull her deeper into chaos.

-

A month later, Leigh becomes a distant memory. Following a series of tumultuous encounters, your life gradually returns to its normal rhythm—quiet, ordinary days filled with clinic work, attending to various cases, meeting new clients, and addressing the myriad issues of small animals. All of these tasks prove easier to deal with than anything involving Leigh Shaw.

The sole noteworthy event in your generally uneventful life lately was your latest visit to a physician for an annual physical exam. The blood tests revealed some numbers outside the normal range, notably elevated cholesterol levels. Consequently, your doctor advised you to integrate exercise into your daily regimen and to reduce your consumption of takeout meals, specifically pizza and Chinese fast food.

It’s a big sacrifice, considering your day usually flies by without much thought for food, except for dinner. It’s the one time in your day you actually look forward to. So, to hold onto that bit of happiness, you've been looking at fitness classes that are actually enjoyable and help burn those extra calories to keep you in shape.

Yoga stands out as the top choice for you, mainly because it all unfolds on a mat. You assume it'll demand the least amount of effort compared to the other options (specifically spinning), which all seem to promise nothing but pain and suffering.

Deciding to give yoga a shot, you choose Beautiful Beast, swayed by its stellar reviews. You secure a slot for a 6pm class, feeling pretty good about this decision.

That is, until Leigh Shaw walks into the said class, clad in a sports bra and tight-fitting leggings that highlight her toned legs. She’s busy on her phone, and without looking up, she walks to the front of the room. 

What are the chances you'd both be in the same class at the same fitness studio? The plot thickens when she pockets her phone and turns to face the class, gesturing for everyone to get their mats ready as the session's about to start.

You swallow hard. Leigh isn't here as a joiner—she's running it.

It takes about a quarter of the session for Leigh to notice you’re in her class. It's only while she's making her rounds, observing each student's camel pose, that her gaze finally lands on you. Struggling through your lack of core strength, you can't quite catch her initial reaction, but then she calls out your name. The surprise makes you gasp as she places her hand on the curve of your spine, just above the small of your back, and gently pushes you upward, deepening your arch. 

The stretch draws a grimace from you, but then she says, “Good, that's it,” and suddenly, you're determined not to let her down. You focus on the pose, on Leigh's instructions, and on not falling apart under her watchful eye. Leigh keeps everyone in the position a few moments longer than expected before instructing the class to transition into the child's pose for recovery. At her cue, your arms collapse, and you find yourself breathing heavily, grateful for the brief respite.

Something tells you it's not the high cholesterol that's going to be the end of you, but rather this yoga class and Leigh's merciless teaching style. 

-

You're all packed up and ready to leave, still reeling from what could easily be the toughest hour of your life, when someone calls out to you.

“Hey, Y/N.”

It's Leigh. Her tone is softer, more fatigued than you remember. She’s still in her gym clothes, looking like the workout barely touched her except for a few strands of hair sticking to her forehead. And somehow, she smells more like a rose garden than the gym floor.

“I didn’t know you work here—” you blurt out, almost apologizing. But before you can add anything else, Leigh just shakes her head, something like amusement in her smile, stopping you mid-sentence. Her smile, warm and a little teasing, eases some of the tension you didn't realize you were holding. 

“Are you a mind reader or something?” she teases. “Cause yeah, I was going to ask if you were following me.”

You’re quick to deny it. “I wasn’t.”

Leigh lets out a chuckle like she's getting a kick out of seeing you on edge. You shuffle your feet, still unsure if she’s trying to scare you off or welcome you to her tutelage.  

“Look, if it's weird for you, me being here... I can find another class,” you offer, the words tumbling out before you can think them through.

Her reaction is swift and a bit surprising, “Why would I want that? So you can duck out and be a rubbish yogi elsewhere and ruin my reputation?”

You’re taken aback by her response. Clearly, Leigh's not pushing you away; it's almost as if she's egging you on, daring you to stick it out. And if there's any hope of moving past this... whatever it is, leaving now because it might get awkward doesn't seem like the right move to make a fresh start.

“All right, I'll stay,” you find yourself saying, more to your surprise than hers. 

Leigh's got this look of triumph, chin lifted just so, when you agree to stick around. “See you at 5:30. Greenway Park,” she throws out casually.

You're there blinking, trying to piece together what she means. But before you can even get a word out, she's one step ahead. 

“We have to work on your endurance,” she clarifies. “Make sure you’re wearing real running shoes. No sneakers.”

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook

+1 Chance | Short/Oneshot

In which some people get an extra life.

Tags/Warnings: pro Esports!Kook, Teenage crushes to ???, SFW, Short, Open ending, all around fluffy

Length: 2.2k Words

A/N: Yes I'm still writing on existing stuff dw. Just a random valentines day drabble. Not proofread.

—--——--——--——--——--🩷--——--——--——--——--—

You met Jungkook in summer, many years ago, when the sun was hot and your friends turned out to be nothing but situationships.

You’d been seeing the hints of their friendship not being of honest nature for a while now- but as a young girl barely about to graduate a year later, you didn’t want to be alone during your allegedly best years of your life. So you ignored the warnings one after another, always found excuses as to why their behavior was totally justifiable and normal, even if deep down you knew that you were just trying to convince yourself of that.

And then, you met him- a guy showing you honest kindness for nothing asked in return.

It was hot, sun burning, and you’d tried to get out the pool- but your small strawberry floaty had kept slipping from underneath you, making it hard to find the strength to get out of the large pool in your ‘friend’s’ backyard by yourself- when suddenly, a hand had grabbed the red item to keep it still, so you could properly hold onto it for a moment.

“Here- let me help.” He’d said, black nail polish chipped. And you’d taken on the help, too tired to really care about the fact that your friend had told you to just ignore her brother’s ‘weirdo friends’- him clearly being one of them. “Want me to help you get out? The sun is pretty hot right now, you should get out soon.” He had worried a little, and you'd nodded, pushing yourself up on the ledge after having let go of the floaty, finally having been able to escape the pool with his help, as he made sure you wouldn’t slip or end up back inside because of your strength leaving you.

You weren’t sure back then where your friends even were at that point. But somehow, it was like a moment of realization- a clear sign you couldn’t ignore any longer. “your uh.. friends went to watch a movie upstairs now, in Kate’s room..” he says, watching you sit down in the shade, drying yourself with a towel you brought.

“..thanks.” you’d mumbled. “I.. Probably should go home now.” You’d shrugged, feeling ashamed and embarrassed to ever having trusted these people at all. All they did was use your kindness and clear need for just someone to talk to and befriend- and you’d willingly accepted that, blinded by the glimpses of happiness they’d made you feel every now and then.

They knew how to manipulate you- keep you happy and clingy enough with occasional treats never given too often.

“I mean.. I can drive you. It’s late.” Jungkook had offered you. “But we’re also missing a fourth player for mario-cart right now, down in Kate’s brother’s room.” He’d jokingly told you- something that had given you hope.

“..but won’t it be weird?” You’d worried. “They don’t know me.”

“Well, everyone’s a stranger when you first meet them.” Jungkook had laughed, as he gave you a towel from close by, both of you having slowly walked back into the house. “I’m Jungkook. Just in case you didn’t know. “ He’d introduced himself, smiling like he’s the sun itself.

And little did you know that on that day, as you gave him your name, you both also set the foundation for much more than just a friendship.

—--——--——--——--——--🩷--——--——--——--——--—

“So you two have history?” Your friend asks, sitting across from you on your hotel room floor, both of you occupied with making sure your freshly applied nail polish dries well. You’re on a weekend trip for just the two of you, to take some time off the stressful life and to nourish your friendship a little.

“Not really.” You shrug. “I wouldn’t call it that. More so.. An awkward friendship when I was younger, before I moved away.” You answer, explaining your situation as to why Jeon Jungkook, one of the current top e-sports players had greeted you when you randomly ran into each other today in the hotel hallway.

“Oh, so he was the guy you had a crush on when you were younger?” She teases, never forgetting anything it seems like- not even a random confession during a childish game of never-have-I-ever. “I knew it. Damn, you were so close! Imagine your life if you’d bagged that guy.” She swoons, having made it known time and time again that she wouldn’t pass up any opportunity to ‘get her hands on those abs’ if she ever had the chance to do so. You know this is simply a joke, but still, her words do make you think.

How would your life have turned out if you got with him?

Would he have chosen to go against his parents’ advice to just keep his hobby as, well, a hobby, or would he have accepted their wishes to instead study something more steady, to earn a position in a stable company? You’ll never know- but despite that, its still interesting to just humor that idea for a moment.

“Hey, maybe there’s still tickets for the tournament!” Your friend chirps up, having noticed her nailpolish having dried by now, phone fetched and disconnected from the charger as she swipes and inputs her passcode to unlock it. “Or I’ll ask if we can have my brother’s tickets, since he didn’t go..” She mumbles, texting him most likely now.

“It’s.. I don’t know, we wanted to go out for dinner though.” You mumble, checking your polish for any imperfections. “You don’t even like gaming that much.” You also add, teasingly so. She rolls her eyes.

“Just cause I don’t play them, doesn’t mean I cant enjoy watching someone play them instead.” She argues. “Also, you can watch the game- I'll watch the pretty boy.” She winks, making you laugh with her, when she receives a text, phone falling out of her hand for a second before she can pick it up again. “Oh- he said we can have them!” She chirps up, clearly excited. “As far as I know they’re free seating- so if we’re early, we get to choose where we wanna sit and watch.” She explains, texting him some more while you contemplate.

This is dumb. He probably has a girlfriend, a life of his own, hell- you have a life of your own now, far away from him. There’s no reason for you to try and test your luck like this, but you’re also a fan of the game he’s competing at. So, maybe..

Yeah. You’re totally not doing it for him. You’re just going to watch the gameplay.

What’s the worst that can happen?

—--——--——--——--——--🩷--——--——--——--——--—

It’s not even the next day yet, but you already see him again.

On your way down to the reception desk, mission clear in your head to muster up the courage to ask for another pillow instead of sleeping uncomfortably like this, you’ve barely exited your room when your eyes meet again in the hallway.

He says your name. His voice has gotten deeper after all those years, you notice. You nod, and he smiles, the turn of the corner of his mouth pulling your attention to the twin piercing he has placed there, silver rings piercing right through his skin. “It’s been a while.” He offers, hands in the pockets of his pants. He must’ve been out with his teammates, smell of faint cigarette smoke clinging to him as you walk a bit closer.

You nod. You feel awkward, all dressed down like this, having gotten reader for bed hours before, trying to find sleep without the extra comfort another pillow would bring you. “how are you?” He asks, and again, you nod.

You hate this. You’re still terrible at talking to people. “I’m good.. and you?” You answer, avoiding eye contact. Of course he’s obviously doing good- great even, about to bag thousands of prize money tomorrow when he’ll surely win the tournament.

“Good. Great even, now that I.. anyways, do.. What’re you doing here?” He wonders, clearly happy to initiate smalltalk. “vacation or work?”

“vacation. With.. a friend of mine.” You tell him, toes digging onto the fluffy slippers you brought on this trip for yourself. “like.. a girl’s weekend.” You explain, and he nods.

“Yeah.. guess you gotta leave the men at home sometimes to unwind.” He jokes.

“hmhm. Well, she had to- I don’t, you know, have anyone, so I’m flexible.” You tell him, and that seems to make his eyes sparkle almost like you’ve challenged him. Which you didn’t- so why does he look so energized now.

“Cool! I mean.. yeah.” He nods to himself, before he seems to realize something. “Oh hey, if I interrupted you or I’m holding you in a conversation, don’t mind me! You look like you were on your way somewhere-“ he starts, pointing down the gall to the elevator. “But uh.. if you wanna go down, there’s a bunch of drunks down in the lobby, just a warning.” He offers, making you deflate.

“Oh.” You hum, defeated. Well, maybe you cal roll up your sweater or something.

“If you.. I can go with you, if you’d like.” He offers. "I’m still pretty fit. Still boxing. So.. I can be your meat-shield basically.” He jokes, making you giggle, his eyes brightening up at the sound and sight.

“I.. that would be nice, actually.” You accept, and he happily walks next to you into the elevator at that, faint music drowning our the heavy buzzing of the mechanics.

“so uh.. how’s your family?” He wonders. “is your dad still making your mom’s life harder every day?” He jokes, but you shake your head, smiling fondly.

“No, they surprisingly settled these days. They’re.. on a trip themselves. For valentines day and all.” You explain, and Jungkook nods.

“romantic.” He teases, and you giggle, nodding along.

“they.. ask about you a lot. It’s kind of funny.” You tell him. “I can only ever tell them what I see online though.” You shrug.

“You.. know what I do?” he wonders, and your eyes widen as you look at him.

“are you kidding me? You’re the top player at my favorite game.” You say, making his expression moron into one of both wonder- and slightly bashful.

“I uh.. didn’t know. Guess I’ll take that as a compliment.” He laughs it off. “I.. have a tournament actually, tomorrow.”

“I know.” You nod, elevator doors opening. “I’ll be there. With my friend.” You say.

“Oh wow.” He chuckles. “I better win, in that case.” He.. flirts? As he walks towards the reception desk with you- drunk group of friends luckily only being loud, but not aggressive. “where will you sit?”

“its.. free seating, so I’m not sure.” You mumble, before you ask the lady at the desk for another pillow for your room number.

“I could probably reserve some good seats.” He says, and you smile.

“You really don’t have to.” You reassure him, when he suddenly asks the lady for something else as well- a flower from the last bouquet left over from the hotel’s valentines sale for the guests. She happily gives it to him, free of charge, before she tells you that housekeeping will bring you the pillow shortly, before she resumes her own work again, letting you and Jungkook walk back into the elevator.

You’re not sure what you think of this- but junkook has liked flowers back then, so why wouldn’t he still like flowers now. Or, maybe he’s staying here with his girlfriend, and he’s just wanting to gift her something on his way back to her- it’s valentines day, after all.

“I’ll.. can I have your number? To text you where you’ll sit tomorrow.” He asks, and you nod, walking into your room to fetch your phone, showing your number for him to type into his own, screen cracked a little in one corner. “awesome. Now then, the only thing I gotta do is..-“ he starts, slipping the phone in the pocket of his pants. “-ask you to be my valentine?” He wonders, holding the flower out to you. "Don’t have to say yes. I’m a big boy, I can take rejection.” He jokes.

“Can I.. ask why?” You wonder, and he grins, shrugging.

“I feel like, maybe the universe is trying to tell me something.” He simply answers. “..giving me a second chance, to ask you out for real this time.”

“wait.. you mean-“ you stammer, and he nods.

“I had.. kind of a huge crush on you back then. And, seeing you again.. it all just.. flared up again. Exactly the same way.” He confesses. “I’m not.. asking for something big. Just one date- and we’ll go from there.” He asks, and you slowly take the flower from him, smile on your lips as you think about his words. Fate, huh? A universe’s second chance? What are the chances?

You decide you don’t care.

“okay.” You answer him,-

And his eyes sparkle brightly, while he smiles at you like you’re the sun.

—--——--——--——--——--🩷--——--——--——--——--—i

[oxymorayuri]

𝐶𝘩𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝟷𝟶

𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 »

𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑔𝑎𝑟 𝐷. 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟

𝐿𝑎𝑤 ✘ ♀ 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟

Story: The princess of Tanata

(Long Fic)

➽ Click on this link to see all chapters.

Spoiler: none

Warnings: none

slowburn with plot

Wordcount: 2214

Text in italics emphasizes the reader’s thoughts

Bold and italic text emphasizes Law's thoughts *~*

Tagging: @slytherinambitious - @sassyyassi - @norasincubi - @cottoncandyloverrrr

You suddenly wake up in the middle of the night.

Tired, you gently rub your eyes and look over to your window. Someone is throwing little pebbles at your window and that could only be one… You suddenly realize.

Oh no, Thalia!

You quickly get up and rush to the window. The moon lights up the yard and you see her waving to you. She waves you over, she wants you to come out. Fortunately, she doesn't look angry. Because of all the things that happened today, you forgot that you wanted to meet her. You grab a cloak and step out onto your balcony.

"Hey y/n!" She whispers, but a little louder. It's quiet in the garden, the night doesn't seem young anymore. The whole palace should be deep asleep but night time animals are bustling around. And Thalia seems to be one too.

You climb over the balustrade and jump down to her. Just before you fully reach the ground, you leap into her arms.

"I reaaaaally wanted to meet you today, Thalia... but Grandpa gave me an important assignment… and then I somehow forgot…" You give her a gentle hug. Thalia pats you gently on the back, her voice very soft.

"I know dummy, Ambrosios told me everything." She leans back and grins mischievously into your face.

"That's exactly why I'm here! Come on, tell me EVERYTHING!" She urges you as you stroll through the palace gardens.

" Gosh Thalia, what time is it anyway? Couldn't it have waited until tomorrow? We could have had breakfast." You sulk in a tired voice.

"NO!"

"You're killing me, girl." You sigh in frustration and then smile at her. You're already out anyway. So whatever…

She just shrugs her shoulders as you stroll through the night. You tell her everything and she eagerly hangs on your lips.

"…And they're all really nice. You should have seen how much Captain Luffy can stuff into himself. THAT was crazy!" You put your hands to your head, emphasizing your last sentence even more.

"The fact that they're pirates is kind of hard to understand." You say a little confused and look at a field of flowers. Thalia doesn't miss the sudden change in your voice.

"But that arrogant blackhaired introduced himself as a pirate, didn't he?" She crosses her arms, a little offended. You can't suppress a laugh and burst out laughing.

Law? The arrogant blackhaired? She doesn't seem to be a fan of Law. You wipe a small tear from the corner of your eye.

"Yeah, that's true, but these people aren't like those people from back then." Your voice becomes more meaningful again. The blonde looks over at you with a worried expression. She can't forget the pictures from back then either.

The brutality. The screaming of the people. The hopelessness.

The first time you felt fear. Fear of losing your life. Everyone has lost a lot.

You are aware that you should be more careful, but this time it's different and you believe that not everyone is bad.

Back then, they were evil to the core and you could feel it right away. Unconsciously, you clench your fists and Thalia grabs your hand, which makes you relax again.

Hand in hand, you walk around.

Sunrays flicker across your eyes and you wake up a little grouchily. You turn over lazily and look at your friend as she lies comfortably snuggled up, next to you in bed.

You had decided to continue gossiping in your room and at some point you fell asleep… Actually, Thalia was the first to fall asleep, she always falls asleep quickly. You didn't had the heart to wake her up and just let her sleep.

Well, now we can have breakfast together after all.

You carefully get out of bed to avoid waking her up and get changed. You're still in your clothes from yesterday and haven't even managed to put on pyjamas.

Before you disappear into the bathroom, you arrange a pile of clothes for Thalia. It's a bit strange, but when you were kids you used to dress up and play princess at your place. That was obvious… and over time you actually enjoyed dressing up Thalia.

She's like a fine doll. She's definitely one of the most beautiful women on Tanata, but she's very modest in physique. Fine curves and a small chest.

You stop briefly in front of your mirror and look at yourself. Pants clearly highlight your curves and you actually love the sight of them, too bad you're about to change into a dress but you're a princess … and that's what you do… as eeeeveryone says. Ugh.

Steaming, you step out of the bathroom, where a now awake Thalia awaits you.

"Good morning sleepyhead." You grin at her as you rub your hair dry. Yawning, she lets herself fall back into your bed and stretches out.

"Come on blondie, off to the shower and then we'll have breakfast!" you command as you throw your towel over her face.

"Breakfast with who?" She asks you excitedly.

"Hmmmm, you know what? You may choose!" You grin smugly.

"Hehe okay, well you know my answer!" She hops out of bed, grabs the clothes and disappears into the bathroom.

With Thailia by your side, you walk quietly out of your room. You sneak carefully through the long corridors as you see a maid cleaning the dust in front of you.

"Heyyy Agaaata…" You say charmingly as you step closer to her. She shrinks back a little and raises an eyebrow.

"What do you need princess?" She knows that look from you and crosses her arms.

"I'd like to have breakfast with Thalia in my room… but you don't have to bring breakfast to my room… okaaay?" - "Ah hell no, please ask someone else princess but keep me out of this." - "Awww come on!"

"I can already guess that you want to have breakfast with the pirates, but you know how important shared meals are for the king!" - "I'll do it anyway." you say, as if making a silent threat, while looking at your nails.

The servant rolls her eyes.

"Ugh. Fine, but you should at least think of something better! When the king hears that Thalia is here, he'll insist that you have breakfast together anyway…"

She's probably right, luckily only Agata has seen Thalia so far and no one else.

She sighs at you and goes back to dusting the furniture.

"I'll tell the king that you're exhausted and want to sleep… That you didn't come up with the idea yourselves… Jeez, princess. Always with your head in the clouds…" She shakes her head.

You hug the moody woman and thank her a thousand times.

"I owe you one!" - "Then bake me something really delicious!" Her cheeks turn a soft pink. Yep, you bake and you do it better than any pastry chef on Tanata!

A delicious scent spreads through Hera's palace and you follow it to its origin. It is Sanji as he elegantly runs the kitchen and creates one delicious dish after another.

"Ahh Sanji, that smells delicious! Aren't our cooks preparing your food?" With his cigarette in his mouth, he glances sideways at you.

"Good morning princess. I'm cooking for the pack from today. You've already done so much for us and besides, I'm the Strawhats cook.“ He casually swings the ingredients in the pan.

" Can we join you for breakfast?" Thalia pushes you aside.

"I would never refuse a woman's request, especially if it's food!" He says in a flirty tone. Thailia giggles at him with flushed cheeks.

Ohoo Thalia…..!

Together with the pirates, you had a very entertaining breakfast. You sat with Thalia together with Nami and Robin and talked about women's stuff.

Nami really wanted to know a few boutiques and go shopping. Thalia was definitely the right address for her because she was a real fashion icon.

You listen to them with interest as it gets a little louder on the other side of the table. With your chin in your hand, your gaze travels over. A couple of Law's crew members are chatting lively and laughing.

You smile to yourself and lean back to eat the delicious pancakes Sanji made you. They are so fluffy that they give you butterflies in your stomach and Sanji definitely seems to be a gentleman. Before your cup is empty he pours you another cup of tea.

Pleased, you bring the cup to your mouth, taking in the aroma of the slightly floral and refreshing black tea.

You enjoy the almost chaotic atmosphere around you. As you look up from your cup, Law catches your eye. He is talking to Bepo and a woman. I heard a few others say her name, it's Ikkaku.

Ikkaku notices your gaze on her and blushes slightly. You didn't mean to stare at her like that and her blushing causes you to blush as well. You hastily put your cup down and dab your mouth.

Agata suddenly appears in the dining room. Completely out of breath, she puts a hand on her hip.

"Princess. You must go to the palace, right now!" Silence fills the room.

"Delia has given birth!" And you quickly rise from your seat.

"No way!!!" You smile.

"Thalia, I have to go now! I'll leave you here for a moment, is that okay?" - " "No problem y/n, I'll be fine here." She laughs as Sanji serves her a dessert.

That looks delicious!

A little sad, that you don't have time for dessert, you turn to Agata and go with her to the royal palace.

"It's a girl." Delia smiles weakly at you.

You walk over to her and gently pat her shoulder as she holds the little miracle in her arms.

Your uncle sits next to her and cries like crazy. It's pouring out of his eyes like waterfalls, but he pulls himself together to keep his voice down.

Delia hands Zelos their baby and quite enchanted, the father looks into his daughter's face for the first time.

"Oh my little Megara, you are already just perfect." You can no longer hold back your tears and hastily wipe them from the corner of your eyes.

The door opens and Grandfather enters the room. He quietly closes the door behind him and steps to your side.

"Hey, how are you doing?" His voice all caring.

"It's a girl." Says Delia.

"A girl? Hah, I knew it. Zelos you were just so obsessed with it being a boy, that it became a girl!" He hums a soft laugh.

Zelos doesn't really listen to him. He is floating on cloud seven.

"She's going to be queen. Just like your sister." Grandfather says with a broad smile.

Zelos looks up at him, his face briefly tormented by a bittersweet expression.

"And how she will be." He answers proudly.

"All right. I think we should celebrate. I'll have a magnificent feast prepared for the birth of our beloved Megara." The king announces.

"Let's have the whole city celebrate!"

You leave the room together and give the new parents some time to themselves.

You're already looking forward to the party and a question arises.

"Grandfather? Would it be okay if we let my guests join the party? They've been through quite a lot and it would be a great distraction, wouldn't it?" You look up at him innocently. He pats your head with his huge hand.

"You're too kind y/n. You don't know them, don't be so naive." - "Hmph I'm not naive, that's my seventh sense I'm trusting here!" - "Hahahahaha." the king's laughter roars through the halls.

"Tell me my child. If your intuition is deceiving you, what are you doing?" he looks at you seriously. You search for a suitable answer in the distance.

"No, it won't." You smile at him. Your grandfather bursts out laughing again.

"Sometimes I wonder if you've awakened the ability to see into the future without telling me, but then I think you're just as foolish as your mother." He pretends to be sulking and pats your shoulder.

"Invite them. Maybe I'm just too grumpy and need to get to know them better." You jump up and down happily and thank your grandfather.

With a big grin, you enter the fireplace room where a few crew members have gathered. Thalia is chatting lively with a bunch of different people. She's such a social butterfly, as always.

"Hey, listen up!" All eyes are on you.

"We're going to have a big celebration to welcome my first cousin. The whole town is invited and you can join us if you want!"

"Will there be alcohol?" asks Zoro.

"A LOT! And pleeeeeenty of food!" A joyful muttering spreads through the room.

This is going to be fun!

See you next time, kiss kiss ♡

➽ Next chapter

[loserdiaz]

wip wednesday! 🪐

tagged by the lovelies @transbuck @wildlife4life @exhuastedpigeon @jesuisici33 @honestlydarkprincess @thewolvesof1998 @messyhairdiaz @hippolotamus @spotsandsocks @prince-buck-diaz @buck2eddie @alyxmastershipper @spaceprincessem @panbuckley @diazblunt @shortsighted-owl @cowboy-buck

The bidding continues for a while— Another mom offers one hundred dollars and then another one offers one hundred and one dollars. 

Eddie snorts at that and shakes his head, Buck turning to him and nudging him in the shoulder as if communicating silently with him. 

And then, 

A very familiar voice offers the highest bidding and when Eddie turns around, he sees no one else but the one and only Maddie Buckley. 

This really isn't as surprising as it should be, Eddie thinks. It actually makes so much sense that it's not even funny. 

"Maddie? What are you doing here?" Buck asks, a small smile playing on his lips. 

"I took some time off work. I wouldn't miss this for the world." 

"Yeah," Buck huffs a laugh and raises an eyebrow. "I can tell." 

"Shut up, Evan." Maddie rolls her eyes affectionately. "At least I go for what I want and I'm not scared to make a move." She says this pointedly, fixing her brother with a stare and Eddie thinks maybe there's some stuff that he isn't privy to, that it isn't being said out loud but that the siblings are saying anyway in a sort of telepathic way or some shit like that. 

(Eddie doesn't think he could do that with Sophia or Adriana, they're ot really that close.) 

And then Maddie is gone, going to meet Chimney as he gets off stage— Eddie watches them beam at each other and hug and then Chimney is talking fast as he guides Maddie to the back of the gym. Something a lot like jealousy but not quite stirs in Eddie's stomach, mixing with all of the other feelings he doesn't want to analyze or acknowledge at all. 

Something a lot maybe like longing. 

"So what was that about?" Eddie asks after a while, turning to Buck. "What was Maddie talking about?" 

"She was just… being silly." Buck shrugs, avoiding his gaze. 

There's a voice in Eddie's head, knocking on his brain and screaming 'Look! Pay attention to this moment, you idiot! Look closer!' And hope jumps into the mix of emotions inside of Eddie (that frankly is getting to be too much to the point that it's actually ridiculous and Eddie should definitely stop having so many feelings) brewing and rising and demanding to be seen and heard until Eddie can barely breath. 

Maybe… 

tagging: @lovebuck @housewifebuck @buddierights @monsterrae1 @bigfootsmom @cowboy-buddie and anyone else who wants to do it <33

[callsigndragon]

TASTING THE ASHES | Ch. 8: Family ✍️

Wordcount: 1.8k

Warnings: mentions of events in seeing red, mentions of death and murder, mentions of guns, pregnancy stuff, fluffy big bro Jake and a himbo Rooster.

A/N: FINALLY SOME ASH AND ROOSTER INTERACTION WHOOOOO

Important: This story is a sequel of Seeing Red, and there’s a lot of things you’ll miss if you don’t read that series first. Check Seeing Red! Masterlist on pinned.

I don’t tag people, follow @meigalibrary  for notifications!

You wake up earlier than anyone. Actually, you couldn't sleep. There were too many things in your head, impeding you from falling asleep. 

It was a long day. 

When you woke up that morning, you were alone in the world with your babies. 

When you got into bed last night, you had a father, a brother, and the father of your twins all reunited in the same bar. 

It was a really long day.

"You're up." 

Jake enters the room as you turn around on the kitchen stool you've been sitting on for the past hour. 

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep, and I wanted some milk, but... I didn't want to intrude." You mutter, rubbing your baby bump. 

Jake smiles, opening the fridge and getting the milk. "I make excellent hot chocolate with marshmallows. You want?" 

You smile a bit, nodding. In an instant, he begins making hot chocolate. "I think I'm your big brother now." 

"Never had a brother."

"I never had a sister. Or a family, actually. Until Red came, I was alone. Then I met Mav, Penny and Amelia." He says while taking a mug from the cupboard. 

"But you had parents." You frown when he laughs at your words. "Come on, it can't be that bad. My mom hid who my father was my whole life." 

Jake takes a breath and turns around, looking you dead in the eye. "My father was SJAC's CEO; he murdered my grandpa and my unborn brother; kidnapped my son; pointed a gun to my wife's head while she was pregnant; and my mother tried to kill me when I was a baby." 

You blink, not knowing what to do or say. "...you win." 

"Oh, I know." He chuckles, looking at the inside of the mug. "He's dead now, I can finally live the life I always wanted." 

"Dead?" You feel a cold shiver running down your back. 

"I don't know if I should tell this to a pregnant woman." 

"I'm a wizzo, Jake. I can take it." You protest, rolling your eyes. 

Jake sighs. "Well, we're family now. I don't think we should keep things to ourselves. I'll tell you what happened to my father if you tell me why you didn't tell Rooster you were pregnant." 

"Deal."

"Red killed him to save me."

You freeze, almost certain that Jake can hear the wheels in your head trying to process the information. Red? Your Red? The girl that cried at Disney movies and puppies? That man must have been a fucking nightmare to make her do something like that. You don't really need more information, though. It feels like something she should tell you. 

"I didn't know if I was gonna keep the babies." You admit it; your head is bowed in shame. It's only half the truth, but it's something, at least. "My body, my choice, right?"

"Absolutely. You were alone, pregnant… The father is a guy you've only seen a couple of times. There's no need to be embarrassed." He shrugs, giving you a mug of hot, sweet chocolate with marshmallows. "Careful, it's hot."

"Thank you, Jake." You place your hands around the warm mug, heating your frozen hands.

"So, none of us had a real family until recently. Maybe we can learn what that means. Together." 

“That would be really nice.” You grin, feeling your heart full for the first time in months. You've never had a family of your own. You only had your mom, and while she was the most amazing human ever, loving and caring, sometimes you felt like you were missing things. 

Seeing your brother make you hot chocolate might be one of them. 

He smiles, grabbing another mug. “I’ll make another one before the other pregnant lady comes down here and starts crying because there’s no chocolate for her.” 

You laugh, taking one of the marshmallows out of the mug. “She’s a crier, huh?” 

“I love how different the hormones make her be. It’s like a whole different person. Do you cry?” 

You shake your head. “No, I get angry.” 

“Poor himbo.” 

Before you can ask him who this himbo is, someone rings the doorbell. “Were you expecting anyone?” 

“Mav is supposed to drop by for lunch. Drink the chocolate. I’ll go see who it is.” 

Jake leaves the kitchen, and you, not giving a damn about whoever is on the other side of the door, drink your hot beverage like it's the last thing you’re going to eat in the world. Another thing about pregnancy is that you are always hungry. 

Well, you’re eating for three now. You’re allowed to eat more than normal. 

“Rooster, I’m not letting you inside.” 

“Jake, come on. I need to talk to her!” 

You feel bad for Rooster. Poor guy just woke up one day and discovered that he was going to be a father. And you've been ignoring him ever since because you weren't ready to have this conversation. 

You get up from the chair, pacing around the kitchen while thinking what to do. He did use a condom, he did all he was supposed to do. He was there when you woke up, cuddling with you in his sleep, a content smile adorning his face. He was everything a girl could have asked for in a one night stand. Like everything. Probably one of the best nights of your life but… 

Things were too complicated. He had a light in his eyes that you didn't want to extinguish with your trauma. 

It was better to run away. Avoid the problem. Like it never happened. 

But two small creatures decided to remind you that it did happen. And that you couldn't avoid it forever. 

That you couldn't avoid him forever.

Padding slowly to the main entrance, you see both men arguing. Jake is shaking his head while trying to close the door. Rooster's feet stopping the door. 

"Jake." You mutter, both men freezing at your voice. "Let him in." 

Jake points a finger toward Rooster’s face. "You upset her in any way and I'll kick you out. Is that clear?" 

Rooster nods, clearing his throat. "Absolutely clear." 

The door is open, and Rooster, instead of running inside, stays there, looking at you and your swollen belly. Fear, excitement, and happiness can all be felt in that stare. He's ready to have those babies, even if he doesn't know anything about being a father. 

"Hi," he whispers, moving half a step closer to you, as if he were afraid of you rejecting him again. 

"Hi." You whisper back, rubbing your belly. He follows your hand movement, and you swear you can feel his hand twitching, as if he wanted to be the one doing it. 

"Can we talk?" There's desperation in his words. He's been waiting for hours for you to give him a chance to speak. You nod, moving to the living room, and sit on the big black sofa. 

He sits next to you, leaving space between your bodies so you don't feel overwhelmed. You want to smile at his cute actions. "First of all… I'm sorry that you're pregnant. And correct me if I'm wrong, but we use a condom, right?" 

You snort, understanding why that's his first concern. "Yeah, we did."

"Then I don't get it." 

"Rooster, condoms are effective 98% of the time." He opens his eyes widely, looking at you without blinking. "Wait, you didn’t know that?" 

"No? They should put that on the box!" He protests, running a hand through his hair. 

"It's in the box." 

He stares at you for a second. "Well, then I'm an idiot. But anyway, I wanted to tell you that I'll be there every step of the way. Doctor appointments, taking care of you when you're too big, baby proofing the apartment…"

You smile at his sweet words. He'll be a good father. 

"...even though that will be something to worry about after we get married." 

You turn your head so fast in his direction that you think you've pulled a muscle. "Wait, married?"

He nods, as if getting married were the most natural thing in the world. "Yeah, we should get married. We're going to have babies. It's the right thing to do." 

"Yeah, when you're in love! But we're not in love, Rooster. We barely know each other." 

"Well, we can get to know each other along the way!" He insists. "Look, being a single mom is hard with a baby, but you're gonna have two. You need help, sweetheart."

You glare at him, eyebrows raised. "I'm more than capable of raising two kids on my own. And I'm not alone, I have a family now." 

"I'm part of that family, Ash. Mav is my godfather." 

You groan, covering your face. "Look, Rooster, and now that I keep calling you that because I don't even know your name." 

"It's Bradley." 

"Bradley…Bradshaw?"

"80s were a bad era to have a baby." 

"It's like… Matt Murdock and Peter Parker. Are you a superhero?" You chuckle, covering your mouth. 

Bradley’s body relaxes, chuckling too, and you feel bad for him again. He didn’t ask for this, you were the one who decided to keep the babies, and now he's offering his help the only way he knows how. 

"Sorry, Ash. When my dad got my mom pregnant, they married. I thought I should do the same." He explains, scratching his bearded jaw. He looks better with a beard than with a mustache. 

"It was a different time, Bradley. Things are different. We can raise the kids together without being married." 

"Still… I want you to come live with me until the babies are born. Well, maybe after that. After they're born, one of them will cry and wake up the other, and you can only carry one baby at a time. You'll need help for a while." 

You nod, agreeing with his words. You can't do everything alone. At least, until the babies are a bit older. 

"Do you know… the gender?" 

"Not yet. We can find out on the next appointment." You tell him, grabbing his hand. 

"We?"

"You said you were coming with me to every appointment, right? Are you having cold feet?" 

"NO NO, OBVIOUSLY NO!" He speaks a bit louder than you expect, and as if they have recognized him, one of the babies starts kicking your belly. 

"Oh my god." 

"What, what? Are you okay?" You press his hand against your belly, his warm hand giving you chills. "What do you want me to-"

His mouth forms a silent "o" and glistening eyes glare at you. "They're moving." 

"I think they know who you are." 

Bradley kneels in front of you, both hands on you, pressing his forehead against your round belly. "Hey, babies. It's me, dad. I'm sorry I haven't been here before. But I won't go anywhere now." 

You chuckle at the view, knowing that these babies are being surrounded by love before they're even born.

[beepersteeper]

I Will Always Find You -- Astarion x Tav -- There's No Arguing With That | part 6

Astarion and F!Tav live happily together for the remaining years she has, she refuses to be turned into a vampire because her faith says that her soul isn’t finished with its work yet. Tav dies of old age and leaves Astarion to put together the pieces of his broken heart. AN: Lord of Light lore taken and changed to fit the story's means. Not canonically accurate. TLDR story line stuff. This is an AU where Astarion ascends but isn't a power hungry bastard and Tav is able to help him continue healing. Wyll is immortal and the Duke. Karlach in my mind, if given a new engine would be able to live a lot longer than the usual tiefling. Another AN: idk if anyone wants tagged in this WIP but let me know. 

“Well, you look like you finally got some real rest.” Wyll says looking up from the desk.

“I did.” Astarion says fluffing his hair trying to get it to lay where he would like. “When is that meeting with the fists?”

“In about an hour and a half.” Wyll responds while putting papers into different folders for the meeting. “Are you still coming?” he asks to which Astarion nods. “Wonderful, you get to see me in action to see if you want to pass me the torch permanently.” he laughs handing Astarion a folder “This is everything I’m talking about and showing them. Just to keep them in check.”

“You've done great for thirty years, I don't need more convincing. Whenever you're ready, we'll start the process. But in the meantime let's go get under the Flaming Fists skin.” he laughs, turning out the door to get dressed. Once he was in his room he picked out a black and white embroidered suit with thin gold threads lining the seams and details. He threw it on the bed with a complimentary pair of loafers on the footlocker. He made his way to the washroom and preened his hair, adding pomade to keep his curls locked in place, when he was happy with every strand being in place he dabbed his bergamot-perfumed oil on his neck and wrist and turned to retrieve his suit when a knock was rapt on his door, a worker offering him his breakfast. He happily receives it and thanks the man at the door. He greedily drinks the warm red liquid before getting dressed. He smoothed his pants' legs after slipping his shoes on and looked in the mirror. And deciding if this was the suit he wanted to wear. It was. The black one is my favorite, my love. Tav would coo from behind him with her chin rested on his shoulder. It really lets your fair features just glow. He smiled and slipped his arms into the white button-down shirt and buttoned it and tucked the ends into his pants before adding the dark jacket, patting his pocket to check for his pocket rock and tidying himself one more time before leaving the room.

He meets Wyll in the hall by the front door. “It looks like Lord Ancunín is officially back!” Wyll jeers as Astarion turns in an ego-filled circle. “You've always known just when to clean up.”

“300 years of putting on a show.” Astarion flicks his wrist to look at his nails dramatically “It is nice to clean up now and again Wyll, you should really try it sometime.” he laughs at his own joke at Wyll.

“Funny.” Wyll responds, not amused and rolling his eyes. “Are you quite done?”

“Probably not.” Astarion laughs honestly, tucking his folder under his arm “But I am ready to leave.” The two walk out the door.

“I'm glad to hear all of your old snark flitting back to your tongue. As much as it pains me to say I have to admit I missed it.” Wyll groans at his admittance. 

Astarion smiles and shares a knowing look with Wyll “I'm still the same magnificent bastard that I've always been. He's just been buried beneath all of the grief I've been carrying. I am just feeling really good today.” he shrugs.

They make it to the Flaming Fist Headquarters and are seated around a small round table. Wyll is greeted first before the Head Fist notices that Astarion is seated there as well “Lord Ancunín. My apologies, I was unaware that we would be blessed with your presence today.”

“I decided that it was time to return. Just felt like the safety of my beloved city was at risk because of some information I was given in my absence." Astarion sneers at the muscular man standing opposite the table. “Tell me, are my suspicions accurate?”

“No, my lord. The city is as safe as it's ever been.” The man speaks quickly trying to quell any concerns that Astarions holds.

“Is that what your data says?” he turns to ask Wyll to take the lead.

“Not at all.” he feigns shock “Would you care to explain all of these contested arrests?” Wyll speaks in a stern tone handing a folder to the man.  They sit for the better part of 4 hours listening to the man explain arrest after arrest, and in turn, they explain why nearly all of them were done unlawfully. “You had better get your ranks in line, and quickly. It truly would be a shame if the Fist lost what is it…” he pauses for effect stroking his chin as if in deep thought “75% of its funding.”

“Absolutely Duke Ravenguard. You will find that the regime is put back in shape.” the man bows.

“It shouldn't need put back into shape.'' Astarion sighs, loudly placing his hand flat on the table admiring the ruby ring on his finger to seem like he is talking passively to the man. “Be sure that we don't have to have this conversation again.” he looks to Wyll who nods that he is finished with everything he has to say. Astarion waves the man away, his lip raised in disgust. The two see themselves out of the building and walk through town toward the palace.

“We make a pretty good team.” Wyll laughs heartily, shaking Astarion’s hand and pulling him into a half hug.

“That we do.” Astarion responds in kind, feeling a bit of a high from feeling that kind of power again.

“Are you sure you'd want to give that up?” Wyll asks unbuttoning his jacket and vest

“I guess I could see myself keeping some sort of stake in the game, but truly you do so much better than I would, you're diplomatic I just sneer down my nose at them until they give in. My attitude and willingness to bully anyone else in power would always be at your service.” They both laugh at the blatant self-awareness.

“Are you going to see Vira today?” Wyll asks in front of the palace.

“Yes.” Astarion smiles a big dumb grin “But you're not surprised by that.” he states, earning a laugh from his friend. “I'll see you later.” both wave to the other and walk their separate ways.  He walks quickly to the bookstore and walks in, each time feeling more natural than the last, and this time being greeted by Eyman.

“Well look at you, what's the occasion?” Eyman chuckles looking at him from behind the counter.

“I joined the Duke Ravenguard in court today.” Astarion shrugs, starting to unbutton his jacket when Vira turns the corner with a box in her hands. 

She trips over her feet as her eyes go wide and her mouth falls open to say “Well hello, Handsome.” He laughs at her display, catching the lid as it falls from the box.

“Gods above.” she says almost under her breath while setting the box down and putting her hand over her heart. “Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?” He does a quick playful turn for her, causing Eyman to groan like a dad and walk out the front door to “check the mail or something” he said. Astarion reaches for her hand and kisses her knuckles. “You are truly gorgeous.” she coos.

“If this is the reaction dressing like this gets me I just might have to do it more often.” he flirts still holding her hand close to his lips.

“You can't,” she whines playfully “That might very well kill me.” she smiles, leaning her body into his for a hug “Besides something is charming about being surprised by such a wonderful sight, I would hate to get used to this and miss out on thoroughly appreciating the view every time.”

He smiles and hugs her tight before letting her go, but not before she kisses him on his cheek. He blushes and cocks a crooked smile at her before taking off his jacket and hanging it on the back of a chair behind the counter.  He chuckles at himself peacocking in such a way, not disappointed by any stretch, just surprised to be enjoying it. When he turns back around he unbuttons his cuffs and begins rolling the sleeves up to his elbows he catches her looking, almost through him. “Everything alright, Darling?” he asks, adding one final fold to his sleeve. “I know that look, you’re a million miles away.”

She shakes her head slightly ridding herself of whatever she was thinking and smiles at him “Just thinking.” She shrugs and walks to meet him by the counter wrapping her arms around his torso and resting her head on his shoulder. “Just taking this all in case something happens, in case this is all just a dream that's too good to be true.” she smiles into his shoulder. “Gods you even smell amazing.” she groans “And here I am looking truly homely.” She motions to her black denim pants and cream ruffle tunic.

He leans himself onto the counter and wraps his arms around her shoulders pulling her tight to his chest holding most of her weight and whispers into her ear, making sure that she can hear him. “First, you are anything but homely. And nothing is going to happen, darling.” he assures “We are both very much here, and very much real.” he rocks her gently from side to side earning little giggles from her. With one hand between her shoulder blades, he slides his other hand on the side of her face, having his red eyes look into her green ones. “Are you sure that's all?” he asks.

“I’m sure,” she pushes her forehead against his and smiles shyly,  “just a bit of deja vu. I’m okay, I promise.”

“Okay,” he whispers, not wanting to push her. He smiles and looks behind her at the front door, making sure Eyman isn't walking in before he kisses her quickly, taking her by surprise. “As long as you're okay. Now what do you need help with?” he asks, moving his hands to her waist, still holding her body against his, to comfort her, he hopes.

“I have quite a few orders to pack, and need to find a place for the whole shipment, a new Introduction to the Weave Wizard Series.” she taps her hand on his chest and steps out of his hands to get into the box she had put on the counter to add “besides daddy is taking the afternoon off in a few, so we’ll have the bookstore to ourselves and I’m in charge.” she laughs bobbing her head from side to side exemplifying her sass.

“For the evening, Vira, don't let that go to your head.” Eyman says walking through the door “And don't go getting Little Star here into any trouble ‘having the bookstore to yourselves’.” he mocks and shakes his head. 

“Ugh Daddy.” she groans “We’re just going to be loading and unloading books, what trouble could we even get into.”

“Just because I’m an old man now, I wasn't always this way.” he laughs “All I’m saying is to be good.” he rolls his eyes and reaches for his jacket from the coat rack by the side door. “Are you staying for a while Astarion?” Eyman looks at him leaning on the counter still.

“I don't have any other plans.” he smirks, playing nonchalantly “As long as Vira wants my company I’ll be here.” he scans his eyes to Vira who is organizing the textbooks and his smirk melts into a smile.

“Then I am sure I'll see you when I get back.” Eyman laughs a belly laugh. He kisses Vira on her cheek and waves to them as he walks out the door. When the door latches Vira starts to walk toward Astarion and he holds up a hand to stop her just as the door opens again and Eyman peaks his head in and flips on the gas for outdoor light “I‘m just tuning this on so you don't have to. You kids have a good night.” They respond in kind and he leaves the door again. 

“How’d you know he would come right back?” she asks, laughing while walking to him with several books in her arms.

“Just kind of felt like he would. To make sure we’re not trying to do any dirty things in his bookstore.” he jokes, raising his eyebrows for effect. Vira groans and rolls her eyes in response pushing the stack of books into his arms and points to an open shelf. He laughs at himself and starts stacking the books where she says “Whatever you say, You are the one in charge.” He rolls his eyes mocking the way she does it.

“And don't you forget that.” she chuckles, prying open two more boxes and moving them next to the shelf to be unloaded.

“I’m positive you wouldn’t let me if I ever did.” he bumps his shoulder into her as she walks back to the counter. He continues to unload the crates.

“You're damn right.” she chuffs "By the way, where's your rock?” she smirks, hoping to have caught him unprepared considering he was more dressed up than usual.

“Inside pocket.” he grins and points toward his jacket. “You’re not going to get me. I've carried that thing for nearly 100 years.” he shakes his head and returns to his work. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches her pick up his jacket and finds the rock, sucking her teeth in disappointment. 

Vira brings one more box over and sits on the floor next to the boxes and starts handing him books to place on the shelves. They pass the time with idle chatter between customers eventually filling the shelves and move on to the orders of books to deliver tomorrow morning. Once they finish those orders it is time to close up the shop. Vira flips the sign to closed, locks the door, turns off the front light and closes all the blinds. Astarion flops himself onto a padded chair and picks up a book on the Lord of Light to read. Vira walks over to him moving the book slightly to see the cover. She hums after seeing the title and perches on the arm of the chair reading over his shoulder after blowing out all of the candles except the few around them.

“You can't be comfortable up there.” Astarion chuckles softly and pulls her onto his lap with her legs hanging over the arm of the chair, wrapping his arms around her to continue reading the book. “Have you read this one?” she shakes her head. They read the book together discussing different passages for more than an hour. Vira stops reading after a while and snuggles closer to Astarion pushing her face into the crook of his neck. She places soft kisses on the corner of his jaw before laying her head on his shoulder hugging him around his torso tucking her hands behind his back. “Darling, you’re falling asleep.” she hums a half-hearted response. “Don't you want to go to bed? Or at least get changed?” she groans, pushing her face into his neck. He giggles and rolls his eyes “Whatever you say.” before he closes the book and sets it on the table next to him. He shuffles his body slightly lower on the chair bracing their weight with his legs with his feet firmly planted on the floor. The movement earns a disgruntled groan from Vira. “Oh you’re fine darling.” he sighs. He wraps one arm over her thighs tucking his hand under to keep ahold of her when he ultimately falls asleep too. He rests his head on his free hand and closes his eyes. 

He smiles to himself at that moment. The irony is not lost on him. The night after he was finally willing to sleep in his bed again, he is choosing to rest in an uncomfortable chair, but happily so to be close to her. He feels Vira readjust herself to curl up closer to him. He as if by instinct tightens his hold on her to be sure she doesn't fall and squeezes her thigh 3 times. She sighs and weakly squeezes her hand on his back. Astarion feels her breath on his neck change as she falls asleep and the pattern of her breath lulls him to sleep. 

Astarion’s eyes shoot open when he hears the door handle jingle. He feels his breath getting faster. Sitting cautious he watches the door open slowly, and close again. Eyman. He relaxes again and closes his eyes wishing to still be asleep

“You crazy kids” Eyman whispers to himself looking at them curled up together on one chair. 

“She fell asleep and I didn't have the heart to move.” Astarion responds waving his hand that was holding his head. “What time is it?”

Eyman walks closer to talk still in a whisper “It's well past one.”

Astarion stretches his legs one at a time trying to regain more feeling in the limbs “I'll get her to bed and head home.” readying himself to stand.

“The second door on the right.” Eyman’s smile is clear in the flame's light “You're not going anywhere son, you get some rest too. I’ll see you both in the morning.”

Astarion stands holding Vira in his arms walking up the stairs behind Eyman. “I can go home, I'm not worried about the ruffians in this town, I’ve dealt with worse.”

They make it to the top of the steps and Eyman’s face meets his “We have that in common then. I'm not worried about them, I'm worried about you. And you’re not going to risk going home by yourself at this hour. Now stop being so damned modest and get yourselves situated and get some rest.” he says in a stern but careful tone. 

“Yes sir.” Astarion chuckles, “Thanks, Eyman.” He walks into the door sideways to be sure he wouldn't bump any part of her off the door frame. “Goodnight.”

Eyman sets a candle on the desk and walks further down the dark hall. 

Astarion lays Vira on the bed, carefully placing her head on the pillow. He gently tugs her boots off and places them by the door, he unlaces his own and puts them next to hers. He covers her form with a blanket before he situates himself in the desk chair and leans back onto his palm. He hears Eyman whisper-yelling from down the hall. “I know you're not trying to sleep in a bloody chair, Little Star. Lay down and get some rest, you look like you've not slept in days.” 

Astarion sighs and walks over to lay in Vira’s bed and thinks to himself for a moment while he unrolls his sleeves and unbuttons several buttons at the top of his shirt before ultimately lying himself down gently to not wake her up. He lays down tucking his hands under his head and closes his eyes. Before he can fall asleep he feels Vira roll onto her side and drape her arm and knee over his body and sighing contentedly. He slowly moves his hand from under his head and rests it on her back rubbing tender circles making sure she stays asleep. Sleep quickly finds him.

@zoeloveslotr @silverfangmarks @prudent-nerd

[banannabethchase]

I feel I'm rubbish at these, cos I don't give prompts, it's more a collection of words like "HangMatt, with lingerie maybe" *shrug emoji* 😉 Oooooh! Would you ever consider more details on the Hangman Matt experiments?? 🥺

Look So Good Underneath Me - also on AO3

~

Adam decides to try a new one of his experiments with Matt, and decides on pink panties. It backfires. Deliciously.

~

Jules I need you to be aware that this is ENTIRELY your fault. This prompt isn't rubbish, it's pure GOLD. Thank you! Title from Pink G-String by Scene Queen.

~

“I have a present for you,” Adam says once Matt picks up the phone. He lights up immediately.

“A present?” he asks. “What kind? Can I see?”

“Not until Dynamite,” Adam says, fighting his own grin. “You gotta wait.”

Matt huffs. “This is one of your stupid experiments again, isn’t it. Is this like the time you bought me a neon orange butt plug and had me wear it the night we won the six-man tags in Ring of Honor? Is this a throwback?”

Adam throws his head back and laughs. “Oh, my god, no. But we should revisit that. That was good.”

“But it is an experiment,” Matt says, and when Adam turns his eyes back to his phone screen, even FaceTime can’t hide Matt’s interest. “Right?”

“Maybe,” Adam singsongs. “Maybe I just want to get something pretty for my boyfriend.”

“So it’s something pretty!” Matt says, like he solved some sort of puzzle. “Just tell me.”

“Nope,” Adam says. “You have to wait.”

Matt groans, sounding like Adam’s high schoolers would get when he’d tell them they couldn’t skip any more classes or they’d fail. “Is this like the edging thing you did back before the pandemic that backfired?”

Adam frowns. “No. God. Why would you remind me of that disaster?”

“If I’m miserable, you’re miserable,” Matt says, with a grin.

“What a horrible line,” Adam laughs. “I thought you loved me.”

“I do love you,” Matt clarifies. “But you’re being mean to me so I figured I’d give it back to you.”

“Cute,” Adam says. “Very cute. I wish you were here so I could fuck that smug little smile off of you. I’ll have to wait until Wednesday, though.”

Matt turns pink. “Miss you.”

“I miss you too, baby,” Adam murmurs. “I’ll see you soon. Two days, okay?”

“Two days,” Matt confirms. “Love you.”

“I love you more.”

Adam hangs up and has to shove his face in a pillow with the stupid, fluffy feeling building in his chest. It’s been months back with Matt, and before that years with and without him, and he still gets all dumb about him.

When he’s finally gotten his shit together and has stopped mooning over his boyfriend, Adam grabs the box he’d ordered and pulls out the pink lacy thong, neon and so flimsy it’s almost pointless.

The sight of it alone, the image of what Matt might look like wearing it, is enough to get him hard. He gets off looking at a photo of Matt, and curling the lacy fabric in his free hand.

~

“Hi!”

Adam turns to see a familiar flurry barreling toward him and leaping into his arms.

“Hey, baby,” he says, hugging Matt close. Matt’s legs around his waist feel like home. “It’s only been a couple days, you really miss me that much?”

“Uh-huh,” Matt says, burying his face into Adam’s neck. He sighs. “Plus you did the teasy thing again with the present, and now that I see you, I know I’m gonna get it.”

“Oh, you’re gonna get it alright,” Adam says, sliding his hand up Matt’s thigh.

“For the love of god, not in the airport.”

Adam brushes some of Matt’s hair out of the way. “Oh! Hi, Nick.”

“Hey,” Nick nods. “Can you put my brother down, please?”

Matt lets out a long suffering sigh as he slides down Adam’s body to the floor. “You ruin the fun, Nicky.”

“I ruin the public indecency charges.” Nick hits Matt in the back with his own backpack. “Grab your stuff so we can all get to the hotel and I can have some peace away from you two heathens.”

“Heathens, schmeathens,” Matt says, rolling his eyes as he grabs his backpack and Adam’s hand. “I’m not the one who was checking out Billy Gunn’s ass last week.”

“Really!” Adam says. “Nick, do you have a thing for Billy?”

“Shut up, Matt,” Nick grumbles. He won’t meet Adam’s eyes. “Matt, you said you wouldn’t say anything.”

“Yeah, but it’s Adam,” Matt says, like the name alone gives context. “You know. We tell him everything.”

“You tell him everything,” Nick corrects, shaking his head with a little smile on his face. “I try to keep a little mystery going.”

~

It’s a whirlwind to get back to the hotel, and they end up with less time than Adam had hoped to get ready. He’s in the middle of unpacking when Matt shuffles past him with his carryon thrown over his shoulder. Always the performer.

“You know you don’t have to show off the biceps all the time for me to think you’re hot, right?”

Matt throws a grin over his shoulder. “Yeah, but it’s fun.” He unzips his bag, and Adam is…concerned.

“Oh,” Adam says, blinking. “The white gear.”

“Yeah,” Matt says, taking the white gear and putting it carefully into his venue bag. “I thought you like the white gear.”

Adam bites his lip. “Oh, I do. I definitely do. I just, uh,” he turns around to go to his checked luggage, and pulls out the poorly wrapped gift. “Here. Open it.”

Matt’s brow furrows. “Oh, I know what this is.”

“You do?” Adam asks. “How?”

Matt locks his eyes on Adam’s as he rips it open, pulls out the box, and pulls out the panties. “Because you’re predictable, Adam.” He grins. “You’ve always liked me in pink.”

“Okay, see, but who wouldn’t?” He crowds into Matt’s space until Matt’s back hits the wall. He brushes some of Matt’s hair over his shoulder, careful to graze his fingers against Matt’s neck, just to make his shiver. He leans in, lips at Matt’s ear. “You look so good in it.”

Matt exhales. “Why are you doing this to me when we have to be at the venue in twenty minutes?” he whispers.

“Because I like it when you get riled up.”

Matt laughs. “So predictable.” But he’s breathing a little heavily, his eyes are a little blown, and he can’t stop looking at Adam’s mouth. “I – do you want me to wear this under my gear? Because, well, Nick and I thought white gear because it goes with everything, but we also brought something else.” Matt steps away from Adam and reaches into his bag.

“The purple and black and white would definitely make it harder to see the thong through the clothes.” Adam licks his lips. “Then it’s just you and me who know. Maybe I’ll snap at it a little during the match, just to remind you.”

“Okay, seriously, this is just mean,” Matt says, and he folds his arms across his chest. “You better get me really good after Rampage. I don’t care how tired I am.”

Adam tilts his head. “I – what?”

“You heard me,” Matt says, sliding a leg between Adam’s. “You’re gonna rail me so hard after tonight’s match, when we win those belts back, it’ll be like we’re back in our Ring of Honor days.”

Adam blinks. “That might be the most dominant you’ve ever been, and it’s begging me to fuck you. You’re an enigma, baby.”

Matt is snippy and on edge the whole night, and Adam fights the urge to laugh when Kenny says, “Jesus, what crawled up your ass.” Matt huffs and glares at Adam.

“Are you two in a fight?” Nick asks. “Because if you two are in a fight, I’ll be forced to kill you if we don’t win tonight. I don’t want to commit murder.”

“We’re not fighting,” Adam says, and his expression is apparently not blank enough because Nick groans.

“Jesus, you two,” but at least he’s laughing. “Don’t even tell me. Just,” he turns to Matt, “be normal for the match.”

“I am normal!”

“Are not.”

“Are too!”

“Okay,” Adam says, stepping between the two of them before they get each other riled up in the bad way. “Why don’t we all get back to the locker room and start getting ready, yeah?”

“I’ll see you three later,” Kenny says, eyes not leaving the screen next to Tony. “I don’t want to miss anything.”

It’s early to get ready, with Rampage just starting, but Adam would rather Nick and Matt be bitchy in private than to gather an audience.

“I don’t know why I got dragged in here,” Nick says, rolling his eyes.

“Because Matt’s bitchy and you were goading him,” Adam explains.

“Yeah, Nick –”

“Nope,” Adam says, shoving him into a chair. “Not on your side, baby.” He takes the moment to loom over Matt, who goes all giant eyed and soft. He adds the next sentence in a whisper. “Be good.”

Matt nods. “Okay.”

“I’d say teach me how to do that,” Nick says, flopping into a chair, “but I think that would be gross.”

Adam laughs. “No shit, Sherlock.”

They watch the rest of the show as they slowly pull their gear on. Nick is rambling about shoes while Matt stays extremely close to Adam.

“Matt, I’m not gonna fuck you until after the match,” Adam murmurs, disguising it with a kiss to Matt’s temple.

“Why not?”

“We have, like, twenty minutes before we have to be at gorilla.”

Matt gets this little smile on his face. “Well –”

“No!” Adam laughs. He falls onto the couch next to Matt and grabs him around the waist. “God, you’re the worst.”

“You both suck pretty bad right now,” says Nick, but he’s smiling down at his phone, so Adam thinks it’s not too bad. He resists the urge to ask if it’s Billy.

“I gotta go put on my gear,” Matt says, and he winks at Adam. When he gets his things out of his bag, Adam feels a shiver run up his spine when he spots a hint of neon pink. From where he’s bent over, Matt flashes him a grin that makes Adam rock hard in seconds.

“Fuck,” he mutters, and he realizes far later than he should have that, as much as this experiment messes with Matt, it’ll mess with him, too.

~

Adam thinks the universe is an absolute dickwad by sending Swerve out in the middle of his match with Matt. He’s able to focus when he gets flashes of pink, so slight and so infrequently he’s sure no one else can see it. But it powers him, and it focuses him, and it reminds him why he’s here.

He catches the pink in the corner of his eye right before he pins Cage.

“We did it!” Matt says, breathless and grinning, belt in his hands as he walks backstage. “We won!”

“We did,” Adam laughs, and he’s not doing the best job of staying in the moment, stuck on Swerve and what he might do next. “Holy shit, we did.”

“Hey,” Matt says firmly. “Focus on right now.” He raises his belt and bumps it with Adam’s, and it feels like a promise. “We did it.”

Nick barrels in. “Not to interrupt the love fest, but Hung Bucks champs for life!” He throws his arms around the both of them, and they stumble their way into a wall. Adam’s happy, the kind of soul expanding, deep, long term happy he only feels around Matt, around Nick, around his friends.

The way he used to feel around the Dark Order. But he’s going to listen to Matt. And he’ll focus on right now.

Still tangled with both Bucks, Adam pulls back a little and grins, locking eyes with Matt as he slides his hand down Matt’s back, just under the hem of his pants, and snaps the waistband of the panties.

Matt looks deliciously scandalized, the pink across his cheeks and the smile making it very clear where his mind went.

“Okay,” Nick laughs. “Let’s get backstage to the –”

“Oh, no you don’t.” Tony practically stomps over to them. “I need you two – not you, Adam, unless you want to, I guess – to help coordinate Ubers and Lyfts for some of the talent.”

 Matt blinks. “Why?”

“Because it’s much later than we usually wrap up Rampage and it feels like, I don’t know, wrong to have everybody just try their best to find a ride back to the hotel when it’s past midnight.” He wrinkles his nose. “And I have to talk to the owner of this place about how, no, the blood isn’t going to bring a bad reputation to the place.” He gives Nick a look. “Unless you want to do the political work.”

“I will begin setting up Uber and Lyft rides as long as you never threaten me with politics again,” Nick says. “Come on you, two. Adam, you can talk on a phone, right?”

“Literally no,” Adam says. “Like, anxious millennial is my whole vibe.”

“Deal with it,” Nick says, and he grabs Adam and Matt by the wrists and yanks them over to a quieter space.

Adam makes so many phone calls. So many. Matt, next to him, is chattering away with a big smile, and the tiny hint of pink peeking out from the back of his pants is enough to make Adam’s brain fry.

They go on like this for twenty full minutes, call after call to coordinate between people. The worst is giving specific Uber and Lyft codes out to talent until they can barely read numbers, until Tony comes back from his meeting with a smile.

“You three,” he says, pointing to them, “are godsends. The owner of this place figured out what was happening and thought that we could use that to combat any blood related PR for the night, so no more worries about the way things look.” He exhales. “Go back to the locker rooms, get ready to go. They’re giving us an extra forty-five minutes to clean up and give you time to get yourselves together.”

“Great,” Adam says, blood suddenly no longer in his head. “Wonderful.”

“I’m heading back to the hotel now,” Nick says, typing on his phone. “I can shower there. I’m beat.”

Adam laughs, almost accidentally. “Come on, Matty, let’s go clean up.”

Nick goes with them to get his gear, and Adam’s so hard he’s getting dizzy. Matt can’t even know how the way he bends over flashes the tiniest hint of pink every time, how Adam can tell, through the pants, Matt’s in a thong that Adam bought for him. For some ungodly reason, Matt pulls on a tee shirt. A shirt. He’s covering up that perfect body more.

Adam feels like a dick, but he tries to silently will Nick to pack faster.

Matt yawns a little, stretching enough to reveal another flash of pink, and Adam snaps.

“Nick,” he says, voice sounding tight. “Need help packing?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Nick says. He throws his bag over his shoulder. “You guys wanna get Denny’s or something?”

Matt opens his mouth, but Adam barrels over him. “Nah, we’re good.” He shoots Matt a look that he hopes conveys ‘stop talking so I can fuck you into oblivion.’ “We’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Nick narrows his eyes, studying Adam’s face, and Adam tries to stay as neutral as possible. “If you end up on the news tomorrow for whatever this,” he waves his hand, “energy is, I’m not bailing you out.”

“Deal,” Adam says. “Fine. See you tomorrow. Love you. Bye.”

Nick’s still laughing as the door swings shut behind him.

“What is up with –”

Adam doesn’t give Matt the time to speak. He collides with Matt, grabbing at his shirt, ripping it at the hem at his haste to get it off.

“Mine,” he growls against Math’s mouth as he kisses him.

“Oh!” Matt yelps. “Oh, yes, love this.”

Adam shoves Matt against the wall, leaning in to suck a bruise into Matt’s neck, down his shoulder. Matt hums into it.

“I kind of liked that shirt,” he pants. “You ripped it.”

“Yeah?” Adam asks. He grabs at Matt’s thighs and lifts him. “Deal with it, baby, I’m gonna wreck a lot more.”

Matt lets out this delighted, high pitched little whine. “God, took you long enough.”

Adam drops Matt on the massage table, scrabbling at the waistband of Matt’s gear pants. He grabs Matt’s hand and pins it to he massage table when he tries to help, and Matt exhales.

“God, yes,” Matt exhales. “I love it when you get this way.”

“You in those fuckin’ panties,” Adam grumbles, roughly yanking Matt’s gear pants down. He lets go of Matt’s hand, needing an assist, and Matt reaches above his head to grab at the top of the table.

“Yeah?” Matt asks, lifting his hips so Adam can yank the pants down. “You like them a lot?”

“I can’t stand them,” Adam says, and he doesn’t even take the time to take the panties off. He leans in, mouths at Matt’s dick through the lace, and the whine that comes out of Matt is almost enough to make Adam come in his pants.

“Adam,” Matt gasps. “Oh – take ‘em off, now, I need you to fuck me immediately.”

Adam pulls back, grinning. “Did you just swear?”

Matt pushes up on his elbows. “Did you just stop?”

“Fair point.” Adam pulls back and locks his eyes on Matt as he walks back to the bags.

“Why are you leaving?” Matt asks, breathing so hard Adam can see the movement. “Come back.”

“Gotta get lube, baby,” Adam says, grinning. He slides his hand in his bag, and it’s right in the front pocket, in the ziplock one quart baggie that made the TSA agent blush. He flicks the bottle open with one thumb, and Matt drops back with a thud against the massage table.

Adam gets back to Matt and unbuckles his pants as fast as he can, his cock springing from his boxers when he shoves them down his hips. It’s almost a relief. He grabs Matt’s legs, yanking him half off the table.

“Yes,” Matt says. “Yes, now, anything.”

Adam laughs, and it sounds a little dark to his own ears. “Slow down baby, we gotta get you nice and open first.”

Matt whines, one of Adam’s favorite sounds, and throws his legs over Adam’s shoulders without another request. Adam presses a kiss to the inside of his thigh. “I gotta take these off first.”

“Okay,” Matt says, but Adam stops him before he moves his legs. Adam leans in and carefully grabs the band around Matt’s thighs with his teeth, dragging them down a thigh. It’s harder than he would have expected, but with a little help from his hands, the panties are gone. He shifts, ducking so he can yank them off and throw them somewhere in the room.

“You have no idea how hot that was,” Matt pants. “Get in me.”

“Hold on,” Adam laughs, turning to bite at the soft skin of Matt’s thigh. He drips lube on his fingers and watches, rapt, as he traces Matt’s hole for a second, listening to Matt’s pained whimpers.

“Adam, please.” He sounds like he’s near to tears. “I can’t wait any more. Please.”

Adam slides a finger inside of Matt, and it’s so easy, like he’s made to fit inside of Matt. Matt exhales and his body relaxes.

“Not enough,” he gasps, “but better.”

Adam grins as he works in another finger, Matt pleading for more as each twist of his fingers presses up against his prostate. With the third, Matt’s heels press into Adam’s shoulders so firmly Adam’s pretty sure there will be a mark.

“I’m ready, and you know it,” Matt bitches. “I want it now.”

Adam drops Matt down, grip iron on Matt’s thighs, until he’s at the right angle. Like this, he can pull Matt down on his dick, the leverage so perfect it feels impossible.

“Oh, god, yes,” Matt groans. “That’s – holy fuck.”

“Two fucks in one night,” Adam quips, finally clearheaded now that his dick is buried in Matt, “what a surprise.”

“I could go for two in one night,” Matt says, and he uses those obscene biceps and a grip on the table to fuck himself on Adam’s dick. “Back at the hotel?”

“Focus on getting railed right now, Matthew, Jesus,” Adam laughs, but he can’t stop smiling. It’s been years since they started doing this, months since they fell back together, and it’s still this good. He still can’t get enough of Matt’s attempts to keep a conversation going, of the way Matt yanks him down for a kiss, the way he’ll grab at Adam’s hand even when it’s impossible to hold hands.

“I love you,” Adam says, “just wanna make sure you know.”

“I know,” Matt says, eyes fluttering closed as Adam adjusts the pace and the angle. “I – know, Adam, I love you too. I wanna come soon, please?”

“You asking permission now?” Adam chuckles. “That something you might wanna try? Me saying no?”

“Not today, but yes,” Matt says. He’s got his teeth sunk down in that pretty pink lip of his, and Adam has to lean in and kiss it, just for the moment. He taps Matt’s leg to make sure he hooks it right around Adam’s waist, then moves his hand, still slick, to wrap around Matt’s cock. Matt whimpers when Adam keeps his grip lose and not quite what he wanted. He was tortured earlier with knowing all of this was covered in pretty pink. Matt can get a little teasing too. Only, he realizes, as he loosens his grip even further, now he’s thinking about those panties, and what Matt would look like in another pair, and his brain is flames again.

“Matt,” Adam laughs, a bit delirious, “fuck, I think this experiment backfired.”

“I disagree,” and he sounds far too put together. Adam picks up the pace of both his hand and his thrusts. “I – oh my god, right like that – think it proved that I look good in panties, right?”

“Yeah, of course you do. But I think it fucked with me more than it fucked with you.” He digs his fingers into Matt’s thighs, tightens his grip on Matt’s cock. “God, I want to be inside you all the time. Next time I’m fucking you with the panties on.”

“Yes,” Matt whines. “Yeah, get – get me all kinds of colors, rip ‘em off me.”

Adam isn’t used to feeling this, like he needs to fuck Matt and won’t settle until he does, like being hilt deep in the man is the only thing that will keep him stable. He may have accidentally edged himself, which he didn’t realize was possible to do. “Anything,” he growls in Matt’s ear, and he bites at Matt’s thigh. Matt gasps.

“If me in undies does this to you, I should have gotten some sooner,” Matt laughs breathlessly. But the laughter fades quickly as Adam fucks into him like his life depends on it. “I – just like – this is different – don’t you dare change anything or I’ll – yes!” Matt comes spectacularly, so emphatically it gets up on Adam’s chin, and it’s enough to make Adam’s head spin with how he’s the one who made this happen. He’s the one who gets to see Matt like this, who gets to fuck him, who gets to love him, who gets every perfect and messy piece of him.

When he comes, he wonders if he’s allow to start thinking about proposing again.

“Jesus,” Adam says, exhaling as he pushes Matt back up the massage table. He drops his elbows down on the massage table, dropping his forehead on Matt’s messy belly.

Matt laughs, hands sliding into Adam’s hair, gently stroking. “Yeah,” he sighs. “I’m glad we have our own room. Think how weird it would have been to do it in the locker room when anyone could walk in.”

Adam raises his head. “You say weird, but I think you mean hot.”

“Of course I mean hot, but I’m trying to be a normal person.”

“Nope,” Adam says, and he presses a kiss right above Matt’s belly button. “Not allowed to be normal. If you were normal, you wouldn’t be Matt.”

They kiss and touch and gently wash in their private shower. Adam shares his shampoo with Matt and tries not to think of how it’ll make Matt smell like him, how it’ll make everything that much more difficult for him to manage knowing Matt feels even more like his.

They stumble out of the showers naked, drying off together, and dress with the slowest hands and most wandering eyes.

Adam thinks they’re in the clear, for once. Most of the roster is long gone, Nick’s at the hotel. Tony’s probably packing up. They might have time to waste. He and Matt are giggling at each other, hands all over each other like they’re in high school behind bleachers, packing up their stuff, when the door swings open.

“Any of you EVP guys got a – the fuck is that?”

“Is what?” Matt asks, and his expression is so clearly feigning innocence that it’s almost embarrassing.

Mox laughs, nodding to the corner of the locker room by the showers. “I bet those are yours, Jackson. You always look so good in pink.”

Adam’s and Matt’s heads snap over to – yup. Matt’s panties are still in the corner.

“Oh,” Matt says, biting his lip. He looks over to Mox, and Adam can see the way he steels himself. “Yeah, they are. And I do look good in them. You’re right about something.”

Adam thinks his own astonishment is reflected by Mox’s face. “Oh,” Mox says. “Okay. Yeah, didn’t see you admitting to it so easily. Damn.” He scans Matt’s body, then his gaze flickers to Adam. “You ever want a third, you got my number.”

“What?” Adam asks. “I thought you hated me.”

Mox laughs so hard and for so long it gives Matt the time to grab the panties from the corner of the room and stuff them back in his venue bag. “Oh, dude, no.” He shakes his head. “You think I would put myself in the position to get my hands all over the two of you in matches because I hate you?” He chuckles, almost condescending. “Jesus, you’re stupid. I love it.”

“What did you even come in here for?” Matt asks, planting his hands on his hips. He’s got a that little blush back, high on his cheeks. Adam knows what that means.

“I figured one of you two would have a phone charger.” He wiggles a gigantic brick in his hand. “Only room in the building with a light still behind it.”

Matt scoffs. “I have a charger, but maybe not for something that ancient.”

“It’s got a lightning plug!”

Adam snorts. “Sounds like a butt plug brand.”

“That is not a butt plug brand,” Mox says, at the same time Matt goes, “I’d buy from them.”

Adam watches the two of them lock eyes, and that blush rises up Matt’s cheeks even deeper red. But, Adam notes, it’s matched by one on Mox’s cheeks. “Okay, well, if you two are done eye fucking, we can find you a charger.” Adam decides to keep the idea that just popped into his head safe for later, when he and Matt are alone.

“We weren’t – we didn’t –” Matt looks over at Adam, panicked, but settles at Adam’s grin.

“Yeah, we were, baby doll, and I think he liked it.” Mox winks at Matt, then Adam. “So. Where’s that charger?”

~

Mini Playlist:

Pink G-String - Scene Queen

Thong Song - Sisqo

Do Me - Kim Petras

3 - Britney Spears

[touyubesposts]

Ghosts aren’t Real (Part 1/?)

Hey, this is my first Storytime Big Bang (@tss-storytime) submission! It was very fun, even thought here were a couple of road blocks (Mostly my fault. 😅) I was partnered with @pizza-box-raccoon, who has some amazing art! (Some of the best IMO.) Their art is here, go check it out! There's nothing too serious in this chapter (or in the next one (I think)) but look at the tags and keep them in mind just in case ❤️

Summary: After a ‘Ghost’ knocks over something in his kitchen while he was coming up with video ideas with friends, Quill and Davi come up with the idea to go ghost hunting in his house. Virgil is scared that they’ll somehow get detected, but Logan is less convinced. Because Ghosts aren’t real… Right?

Rating: PG?

Word Count: 2135 (A short read :))

Ships: None, everything is purely platonic

CW: Mentions of death, Negative thinking, Remus being Remus, if I miss anything let me know 👍

(Fanfic under cut)

(Thomas's P.O.V)

"- So yeah, that could be a fun video idea," Davi finishes up his statement, taking a bite of Chinese food.

Quil chimes in, "Yeah, I could see that, but we don't have a pool."

"There are public pools."

We were talking on the couch about video ideas and things the others wanted to do, trying to come up with ideas while also talking a bit about how we were doing. Patton was watching over us in the kitchen fondly, smiling at every idea and laughing at every joke, even if they weren't particularly good. Patton adjusts himself, accidentally knocking a spoon onto the floor, causing Quil and Davi to look in his direction.

"Thomas, your ghosts are hungry," Davi jokes.

My sides come around and check on me often. It's not surprising at this point and there is nothing I can really do about it anyway. However, they can be clumsy at times as well, accidentally knocking things over and bumping into furniture or walls. No problem, they usually pick whatever they knocked over up and go on their way. The problem is when people are over and they do it. At first, it freaked out my friends and made me self-conscious about it. But over time it became a light-hearted joke, so now whenever something gets knocked over or there's an 'unexplainable thump,' they say it's 'my ghosts' messing around.

"Well, they'll have to stay hungry," I smile, "I have no idea how to feed them."

"That rude, Thomas," Quil joins in, "You should always feed your guests."

I glance at Patton for a split second, "More like unruly roommates. They're lucky, they don't even pay rent."

"Technically we do, but-" Patton goes on to say before being cut off by Quil.

"Damn, must be a hard afterlife. Knock over a random guy's stuff and he doesn't even make you food."

"Would you?”

"... Depends."

Davi asks, "Hey, Thomas? Random question, but were you scared when you first moved into this house?"

I glance at Patton for help, but he just shrugs wildly at me. "Umm... No, not really. I mean, I guess it was scary at first, but after a while, you just tune out the noise."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Do you think it's actually a ghost or a demon or what?"

Oh boy, if only you knew. "Well... No, I don't think it's a ghost or a demon. I'm sure there's a solid, logical reason that all of this is happening but we just aren't seeing it. But the way I think of it is... If it was going to hurt me or wanted to hurt me, it would've done so by now, you know?"

Davi nods, "Yeah, I get it." I play off a breath of relief as just a sigh. I was making stuff up. I know for a fact it isn't a ghost, it's me. And it's not an it! It's a he! Sometimes a 'they,' but in, like, a plural way.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Quil smiles excitedly. "Let's do a ghost-hunting video!"

I feel my heart drop to my stomach as I realize what that implies. "... A ghost-hunting video?"

"Yeah! I have some equipment I could bring over, try some stuff I saw on TikTok a while ago, it could be fun! I mean, we most likely won't catch anything, but it could still make a cool video if we crack jokes and just have fun with it, you know?"

I nod along, feeling like roots and vines wrapped around my chest and squeezed tightly. "Yeah, totally!"

"Oh my god, I love watching those ghost-hunting videos!" Davi excitedly grabs Quil's arm, "Have you seen the ones that Ryan and Shane do?"

"Are you talking about their newer ones or their older ones?"

Davi and Quil continue talking about Ghostfiles and Buzzfeed unsolved while I give Patton a concerned glance. He holds onto his cardigan nervously, refusing to make eye contact with me. Finally, he sinks down guiltily. I feel bad for Patton. He didn't mean to, it was an accident. But now I may have to face a reality I don't want to face, that being 'confronting the idea that my sides are more than my sides.'

"So when do you wanna do it?" Quil turns to me and asks, catching me off guard.

Oh god, how do I answer this? Is there a good answer to this? "Umm, I don't know-"

"The soonest I'm free is a week from now," Davi chimes in, "Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, I should be free then," Quil turns towards me, "Thomas?"

"... Yeah, that works great!" I force a smile, trying my hardest to not let them suspect anything.

"Sweet! Hey, I gotta go, but I'll text you guys about it. It will be fun!"

"Great!" Davi grabs his bag, "I'd stay longer, but Quil's my ride. I'll see you soon, alright?"

"Yeah, of course!" I walk Quil and Davi out the door, waving them off. I take deep breaths as I close the door as sit back down on my couch in defeat. After a couple of minutes of agonizing silence, Virgil pops up by the stairs. Great.

I sigh, forcing a smile, "Hey, Virgil."

"Cut it," Virgil ordered, not buying my happy exterior. I immediately drop my smile after I hear him speak. "You were hanging out with Quil and Davi and now you're anxious... Why?"

Without another word, I summon Patton. As soon as he appeared, he began rambling. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! My hand just brushed against it and it fell and I didn't know it was there! I shouldn't have even been here, I should've ducked out when I could, I-"

"Patton!" Virgil shouts over him. Patton stops, waiting for Virgil to speak. "... Tell me what happened."

Patton takes a shakey inhale before speaking, "So, I... I knocked a spoon on the floor... in front of Quil and Davi-"

"Is that it?"

"No, that's... That's not the bad part. The bad part is... Now Davi and Quil want to ghost hunt here because of me."

"What?!" Virgil shouts, along with Roman and Logan who just arrived. While Roman and Virgil sounded genuinely concerned and panicked, Logan just sounded confused.

"I'm sorry!" Patton covered his face, part in embarrassment.

"Hold on," Logan interrupted, "Why are we panicking? Why is Quil and Davi 'ghost hunting' a bad thing?"

"Because what if they detect us?" Virgil speaks up.

Logan sighs, "They won't. We aren't ghosts, we are a part of Thomas. Also, ghosts aren't real."

Roman buts in, "Yes, I get that, but... Don't you at least find it a little strange that we can touch and throw things even though we are nothing more than Thomas's thoughts and feelings?"

Virgil leans in closer, "Interact with our surroundings... Like ghosts?"

Logan holds the bridge of his nose, "Gosh, both of you are being ridiculous. Yes, it is a little... Odd that we can touch things that exist. But for us to be ghosts, we'd have to be real or human, in some sense. And as far as I'm concerned, we don't even exist outside of Thomas."

At this time, Remus and Janus have both appeared in the kitchen, listening in on our conversations. Virgil pipes up once more, "You say that, but obviously, we have to exist somewhat. We can literally interact with our environment! Meaning we are as real as the things we knock over. Also meaning, we could be ghosts."

"... Virgil, we would have to have died to be ghosts, meaning we existed before Thomas. And that just doesn't seem likely, considering we are Thomas."

"But how do we know that?!"

"Because we are Thomas! Literally! If it looks like Thomas and sounds like Thomas, it's probably Thomas."

"No, I mean how do we know that we didn't exist before Thomas?!"

"We didn't exist before Thomas, there's... There's no way we could've... Ghosts are dead, Virgil. For us to have died, we would have to have lived. And the only one here that has ever lived is Thomas."

"Maybe we did live and we don't remember it! Isn't that the cliche? That the ghost has to remember how they died to pass on? If that's the case, then it makes sense why we don't remember dying or living."

"God, Virgil, you are infuriating right now." Logan turns towards everyone else in a slow turn, looking for support, "I'm not the crazy one here, right? I'm being reasonable? Patton, Janus, anyone?!"

Janus tilts their head slightly, lost in thought, before speaking. "You know... I would try and lie about this, but I... I actually don't know the answer."

"What?" Logan says exasperatedly.

"I mean... I could give an answer, but I wouldn't be lying... I'd just be wrong, maybe."

Logan whips around towards Virgil again, "Okay, then how do you explain all of us looking like Thomas if we are separated beings from Thomas?"

"I don't know, maybe that's the only way Thomas can see us."

"So... What, you think Thomas is a medium? And what about what we represent? We know what we represent, that has to have some meaning for you, right?"

"Guys, let's calm down and take a breath, alright?" Patton tries to de-escalate, moving his hands as he speaks. "I mean, will know the answer when it happens, right?"

"Yes, but-" Logan interrupts himself. He takes a deep breath, before facing Virgil once more, "... But I want to try and ease everyone's mind before then."

Virgil sighs, "I know, I just... I'm scared to be... 'Found out', you know? I mean, as much as we pretend that all of this is normal, we all know it isn't. We know Joan or Kenny or Davi and Quil don't have their own 'sides' that they talk to daily. And I don't know how much longer we can lie to them about this."

"Virgil-"

"And what if they react badly? What if they think all of this is weird or strange, too weird for them to stick around? Or what if they think Thomas is haunted by ghosts and they freak out and run off? And what if they tell Thomas's other friends and they do the same? What then?"

The entire room has gone silent. This wasn't a new train of thought for me, being scared that my friends were going to leave, but hearing it out loud in this context made my stomach flip. Finding out about the sides really would freak them out too much, wouldn't it?

Logan places his hands on Virgil's shoulders softly, with a neutral but sympathetic look. "Everything will be fine. I promise... They may think it's weird, but it should take more than this to drive them away. "

"... And if it does drive them away?"

"Then they weren't real friends anyway. Plus," Logan removes his hands and dusts himself off, "I don't see why they should be scared. We're the ones who live with it."

"Yeah!" Roman cheers, "If they don't like it, they can suck it! We deal with us every day, and that just makes us stronger than them."

"And it's not like they have anything to fear," Patton adds on, sitting on the arm of the couch, "We aren't violent or evil or anything."

"Speak for yourself," Remus cracks his neck, the pops sending shivers down my spine.

Patton winces, "Well... Well, we've never hurt anyone."

"On purpose."

"Or severely."

"Or physically," Logan explains, "We can't touch them. We can touch things, Like spoons or counters, but not people. So even if Remus wanted to put his hands on them, he couldn't."

"If I could physically hurt people, I would've done so already. That's why you gotta... put them to sleep for me, Sanders-man."

I shoot Remus a look, "Okay, that first sentence did freak me out a bit, but... Sanders-man?"

"Like sandman. Not my best work, I admit. I'll workshop it."

Janus clears his throat to get everyone's attention, "So we're lying about this, right? If they suspect anything just deny?"

Virgil takes a harsh breath in, taking a seat on the stairs, "... As much as I hate you and that idea... It's the only one that can keep Thomas safe."

"Aw, Virgil doesn't want to admit I'm useful~"

Logan takes control of the conversation once more. "Reminder: this is all dependant on if their ghost equipment even detects us. And there's a very good chance it doesn't.

Maybe... Maybe attempting to rationalize with fear was the wrong move. Because, and don't take this the wrong way Virgil, but fear can be... A bit irrational. Why don't we try and find different ways to cope until then? Any ideas?"

To be continued…

[starshineandbooks]

Bottom of the river (long way down) chapter two

Pairings: Grimmons, Tuckington, Docnut

Rating: T

Summary: Some of the Sim troopers decide to talk with the kids. Shockingly, the kids have some feelings about this mess. Unfortunately, between Kai arriving and Simmons putting his foot in the mouth, there's a lot to deal with.

Warnings: cursing, timetravel, canon divergence, implied/referenced child abuse, Simmons Fucks Up

Other: If I missed anything, please let me know

If you would like to be tagged on the next part let me know

Word count: 3,647

Masterpost / previous chapter

-------

Grif prides himself on sleeping in. Which is what got him in trouble today when he nearly missed breakfast, and Simmons lectured him.

But he's not feeling it today, so as soon as he's shown up to enough things for Simmons to leave him alone, he goes to hide.

As he settles in his bed, he applauds himself on his hiding. If he's missing, who would think he'd hide in his room?

Just as he's really settling in, he hears a knock at the door.

Shit.

Grif stays quiet.

"Dad. I know you're in there. I just want to talk." Lani calls through the door.

Oh. Well, at least it's not a job.

Grif considers his options. But he figures any kid he raised will probably just do what they want.

"I'm coming in." She warns before coming into the room. She shuts the door behind her, though.

How polite.

"Hey." Grif says from his spot on his bed.

"Papa's looking for you." Lani inform him.

Grif groans. This must be Simmons's new tactic. Sending their daughter to get him to do work. "I'm not going."

She rolls her eyes. "I'm not a snitch. I wanted to talk to someone who's calm and ask what the hells are going on."

"Huh."

"What?"

"You're not freaking out. I dunno, seems like you might be after time-traveling backward and meeting your nervous wreck of a father." Grif shrugs. Though he can't help looking the teen over and wondering if she's hiding something.

"Nah, I had my freak out last night. Then I remembered it could be way fucking worse."

"Yeah, probably."

"I fully expect Kai to show up sooner or later, by the way. She had that look."

"The "I'm going to fuck shit up by trying to help" look?"

"That's the one."

"Fuck."

Lani laughs, moving to sit on Simmon's bed. She's wearing a kevlar undersuit this time.

Good. Those kids should probably have armor. Active warzone and all.

"So, what the fuck is going on?" She asks.

Grif laughs, looking to the ceiling. "Too much man. We got split up thanks to the Feds. Everyone not at the meeting yesterday is with the enemy."

"Yikes my dude."

"Right?"

Lani gives a lazy smile. Crossing her legs at the ankles. "Is papa avoiding me?"

"What?"

"He leaves anywhere he can when I'm around."

"Oh. Uh- Simmons dosen’t do well with change. Or girls.."

"Fuck he's weird."

Grif ignores the urge to defend Simmons. Which is stupid, because Simmons is weird. And it's not like Grif is in a position to defend him.

"He can be." Grif says as he glances to Lani.

She's got a fond look on her face, mostly.

"Hey dad," She says, "do you know anything about Felix?"

"Not really. He's some mercenary."

"Ew."

"Right?"

"I miss my kitchen." Lani frowns, "They won't let me use theirs."

"Why not?"

"They're homophobic? I don't know."

"What dicks."

Lani laughs again, "I also miss self care nights."

"Damn kid, is there anything you don't miss?"

Lani thinks for a moment and then grins. "I don't miss school. Like at all.

"Good I won't raise a fucking nerd."

"Do you know anyone who can help me get contraband?"

Grif looks at her, curious as he asks, "What do you want?"

"Face masks and nail stuff. "

"I guess I can ask around."

She smiles, "Thanks dad!"

Grif has a sinking feeling that he spoils the fuck out of his kid and that she can play him like a cheap kazoo. But that's for later.

Right now he has to figure out how to get the things she asked for help with.

He should also probably try to get Simmons to suck it up and talk to their kid but that's a goal for later. He needs more sleep before that.

"Hey dad?" Lani asks.

"Yeah kid?"

"Any advice on timetravel?"

"Say fuck it and live your life?"

"Yeah... of fucking course." Lani frowns, looking at her lap. "You're right."

Grif sighs. He knows that look.

The way her eyes fall to he lap. The furrow of her brow.

"What's wrong, kid?" Grif asks.

Lani startles, "What the hell makes you think something is wrong?!"

"Lani."

"I-" Lani stops and looks at him. He looks serious, like he cares. "Fuck. Fine. Just give me a second to get my words."

"No rush, kid."

Lani gives a slow breath. Her energy seems to recede. but she looks to her dad and she's not good at lying to him. She never has been.

She hates lying to him.

"I'm scared. I don't want to ruin the future... I'm scared I'm going to fucking loose someone... I'm just scared, dad."

"Oh... kid."

"And papa can't even look at me! I get that none of you have had us, or expected us. Okay? But it's bullshit that everyone else's adults aren't running away and mine can't fucking look at me!"

Grif realizes a few things in the span of seconds.

One, his daughter may have an attitude and confidence, but she's vulnerable to those she loves.

Two, Simmons has really hurt this poor kid by running away. Which is not okay.

Three, despite not having had a child yet he is already attached more than he expected.

And lastly number four, his daughter is scared. To fix this he's going to do everything he can.

Grif hopes his future self does everything he can for his kid. The girl seems wonderful.

"Lani... you know none of this is your fault, right kid?"

She laughs softly. Disbelieving. "Yes it fucking is. I'm the one who touched that stupid machine. They tried to pull me back and we all ended up here."

"Did you do it to end up here?"

"No."

"Not your fault. Sarge should have done a better job putting it away."

"I guess."

"Give me a few hours and we'll have a self care night."

"Promise?"

"Yeah kid, I promise."

Lani looks at him skeptically. And despite it all, there's trust there.

"Your friends really followed you?" Grif asks.

"Yeah... I'm really lucky with them." She admits softly.

Grif sends a message to his hookup for contraband to look for the self care night stuff.

When he turns his attention back to his daughter, he says, "Tell me about them.

So, Lani does.

She tells him how Ben is a guitar player and lead singer in the band and how the boy is loyal despite being a little dense.

She tells Grif about how smart Zach is and how he's practically the group mom froend.

Lani tells her dad about Cassie and how the girl plays bass, how protective she is of her friends... how Cassie is one of her two best friends that she'd do anything for.

Lani tells him about Aspen, who is camer than most of them, loyal and patient, intelligent ... how Aspen is her other best friend who is always there to listen.

She tells him about Violet, who plays drums in the band and softball, how creative the girl is.

And Grif just listens. He takes in all the information he can about the people his daughter obviously cares for deeply. He's grateful she's not alone, that she has friends who would follow her through time.

He's definitely interested in meeting the others, though, specifically Aspen and Cassie. The way her tone goes all soft when she talks about them compared to the others is- something.

-------

Tucker is not having a good day. Between trying to get things handled for his squad, his friends, and a hopeful rescue plan, he's very busy.

It's not until evening that he has any time to go check on the future kids. Mostly, he's going for his own kid, but he doubts that Caboose, Grif, or Simmons have really checked in and connected with the kids.

He knocks on their door, which has since had stickers put on it.

Huh. Where did they even get stickers?

After a moment, the door opens to Zach, whose long hair is in twin French braids.

"Oh, hey Tucker. What's going on?" The tall boy asks.

"Tell whoever that is to go away. We're busy!" Ben calls from behind Zach.

"I can come back."

"No, come in. It's a self care night."

"Okay?"

Tucker comes into the room and is taken aback. The sight before him is something else.

Sitting on the unclaimed bottom bunk is Lani and Ben, who have Clay face masks on. Between them is an impressive hoard of nailpolish and supplies.

Grif is in Lani's bed above the two teens, passed out with a clay mask and cucumber on his face. His hair is also braided.

Tucker wants to know how they got Grif involved but won't ask. Not right now, at least.

"Want a mask?" Zach asks as he shuts the door.

"Where did you guys even get this?"

"I asked dad real nice to help get it." Lani says. She dosen’t bring up the fact that she broke down a little. That's really not anyone's buissness.

"And he helped?" Tucker blinks, thoroughly disbelieving.

He'd asked Grif to help get extra jerky and was turned down because the other was tired.

"You wouldn't believe the favoritism." Ben chimes in.

"It's not my fault I know how the fuck to ask for things in a way that gets what I want." Lani says evenly, though she seems tired and like she might like a nap.

Zach dosen’t comment on that but the soft way they smile betrays that Lani might be exaggerating.

"Did you want a mask of not, pops?" Ben calls again.

"Sure. Why not." Tucker says, trying not to laugh.

Of course, Lani was able to convince her dad to do this. Why not?

Ben stands, "Come on."

He leads Tucker to the other bottom bunk, holding a clay mask jar.

Tucker pulls off his helmet and sits down.

Zach goes to sit with Lani, the two picking up a conversation about true crime podcasts. Both critique the murderes, which seems kind of weird.

Ben just sits down by his father. Opening the jar in his hands.

"You look tired." Ben says.

"I really fucking am, kid."

"Wanna hear about Junior in the future?"

"Fuck yeah!"

Ben pulls some clay mask onto his fingers and starts spreading it across Tucker's face.

"Well, Junior is pretty awesome. He writes home a lot, he graduated with honors."

"That my little man!"

Ben laughs. "He's not so little when I know him, pops. He's almost as tall as Caboose."

"Really?"

"I'll show you pictures later."

"Good. You better."

Ben just rolls his eyes playfully. He's smiling now. "Dad says you were always sentimental."

"Who's your dad?"

"Wash."

"What?!"

"You didn't know?"

"No. What the fuck?!"

Ben laughs, finishing the clay mask on his father's face. He looks genuinely amused.

"Keep it down, dad's sleeping." Lani calls over.

"That man can sleep through anything he'll live." Ben calls back.

"I had kids with Wash?!"

"Pops. What the fuck are you on? Who did you think my other dad was?"

"I don't know!"

"Oh my god." Ben groans, shutting the mask jar and wiping his hands on a stray piece of paper.

Tucker dosen’t know what to say. He had kids with Wash?

What the fuck?

"Did you break him?" Zach asks from the other bed.

"I don't know!"

Lani gives a low whistle, "Hot damn, Benny, what'd you even tell him?"

"That Wash is my dad."

Zach sighs, "Why?"

"I thought he knew!"

Lani just mutters something while Zach sighs slowly.

Ben misses not feeling stupid.

-------

Kai pushes herself off the floor with a low groan, vision blurry as she tries to figure out what is going on. Ugh.

She looks around and finds everything to be sanitized shades fit for a hospital. She hears beeping.

She's in a fucking hospital isn't she?

"Oh! Hi!" A feminine voice calls happily.

Kai pushes to her feet and looks to the woman. "Hi?"

"You aren't in armor."

"No."

"Are you from the same time as the kids?"

"Probably which kids?" Kai has her glare leveled, suspicious as fuck of this woman.

"Cassie Tucker, Aspen Church, and Violet Dufranse!"

"God damn it, why couldn't I be with my baby niece?!" Kai groans loudly.

All she wanted was to be with her niece. Well, that and to get to show off the thousands of pictures from the course of her baby niece's life!

Her favorites include one from a makeover Lani gave Grif when the girl was eight, homecoming where Simmons threatened the girl's date with Sarge as back up, and Grif asleep with Simmons and Lani on him when the girl was a baby.

"That's a greater question! I'm Doctor Emily Grey."

"Kai." The woman says, deciding she'll just show off the pictures later. Maybe she can subject Sarge to it?

"Let's get you checked out. Then we can get you reunited with those kids."

"A checkup?"

"Yes, of course!"

Kai dosen’t care and just starts stripping.

"Whoah- ypu don't have to strip this is not that kind of check up!"

"Oh. Really? Fucking weird." Kai shrugs, pulling her shirt back on.

Dr. Grey does the body scans and asks the usual questions about drug usage and sexual activity. It's not even in the top ten most fun checkups Kai has had. But that's okay.

Kai isn't surprised when Aspen comes in as the check-up is winding down. They are always on top of things.

It's really no wonder her niece likes Aspen so much.

"Hello, Kai." Aspen says as they come in.

"Hey bitch!" Kai grins.

Aspen just looks the older woman over. Their gaze dosen’t betray much of anything. They seem to he looking for an answer.

"You followed us," Aspen frowns, "Why?"

"My little Leilani was who knows where! I was obviously gonna follow your asses."

"Of course." Aspen says, sounding a little too fond for their own good.

Kai grins again, "Are you so pumped?!"

"I'm not sure yet." Aspen admits.

Unfortunately, this ends in a small trash fire, but that's not that bad. Thankfully, Aspen just hears Kai away. Wondering why they ended up with the woman.

They also mourn that Lani isn't here, their friend the only one who can fully handle Kai.

-------

Washington has done his best to avoid the future teens while still being a Good Commanding Officer. Which isn't that mature, but he has no idea what to do.

Teenagers are terrifying.

Unfortunately, his plan is ruined when someone bangs on his door at three in the morning.

Wash opens the door, thankful he dosen’t sleep much.

At the door stands all three teens, and an older woman who bears a resemblance to Grif.

"Why the hell did you bring me to a cop?!" The woman demands loudly.

Fuck. Wash can't help but wonder why the hell Kai is here.

"Holy shit." Wash manages.

"I need an adultier adult." Aspen says evenly.

"I'm not talking to a cop!"

"Kai. You know he isn't a cop." Cassie says.

"Future Wash isn't a cop, this one is!"

"Please help." Violet says.

Wash sighs slowly. He wonders what he did to God for God to hate him so much.

"I want a lawyer!"

"I'll be your lawyer. Just stop yelling." Cassie says firmly.

Kai looks to the shortest of the teens, considering the offer. But it seems to work because she grins, "You're hired."

"Great. Tell Wash the truth. You haven't committed any crimes, so there's nothing to hide." Cassie says quickly.

"You sure?"

"What would Lano tell you?"

"Wash ain't a fucking cop and if he was being difficult can get me arrested?"

"Yeah."

"I still want my lawyer present."

"I'm right here." Cassie says.

Wash wonders is Cassie has any knowledge on law. And does it matter? She's saving him a headache.

"Where are the other kids?" Kai asks after a moment.

"We don't know."

"You lost my fucking niece?!"

"She was never here."

"You're a really bad cop."

Wash wants to scream.

"It's fine. We're pretty sure she ended up woth her parents."

"Oh. Okay " Kai says. Almost immediately calmer.

"Okay?"

"Those two are dumb as hell and probably pining, but they'll keep my baby niece safe."

"Uh, great." Wash manages. He feels significantly less sure of things than he had ten minutes ago. And he wasn't sure of much then.

"I'm going to take Kai to our room." Violet giggles,"Aspen?"

"Sure thing."

Aspen and Violet lead Kai away. Ditching their friend with her father.

"Thanks for the help." Washington says after a moment.

Cassie just shrugs, "It needed to be done."

"How did you know that'd work?"

"Lani. She's uh- pretty fucking cool and she does that."

"Lani, huh?"

The way Cassie looks away even as she gives a lazy shrug is interesting.

Wash glances around, wondering what he's supposed to do here. He doesn't know this kid, like at all. But she seems to know him.

"Dad?" Cassie asks.

"Yes?"

"Do you know anything about the rebels?"

Wash blinks, trying to figure out what this kid is really aasking. Because he knows there's more.

"Not enough."

"Okay."

"Are you- adjusting okay, Cassie?"

Cassie laughs, and she sounds a lot like Tucker there. "What's to adjust too, shit is weird, and you guys are loud."

"You seem... okay? Like oddly well adjutsd."

"I'm just not dealing with distress, thanks. My method is to ignore distress and solve problems."

"That sounds- unhealthy."

"You're ignoring your mega crush on papa so you don't get to talk. "

"I- what?"

"Anyway, I have to go try to get ahold of the others now. Wish me luck!"

"What?"

Cassie just smiles too wide.

Wash sighs. "Cassie, come in here and talk."

"I'd rather not."

"Are you sure?"

"Look, dad, my brother, and two of my friends are God knows where. Hopefully they're with the rest of our adults. So I'm trying to hold it together."

"You don't have to. Your friends are here and... I mean, I don't know you, but I'm here too?"

Cassie just blinks at him, looking more than a little confused.

Wash dosen’t blame her, he dosen’t know who let him talk. He made it awkward. Of course he did.

Ignoring all his feelings about Tucker being the other father of his children, Washington wishes the man were here. The other is so good with kids.

A slow smile spreads across Cassie's face. "You're a huge fucking dork, dad."

"I know." Wash says, because it's easier than anything else.

She rolls her eyes, but she dosen’t snap at him or anything. Not that she's been too moddy latley but you never know with teenagers.

Wash wonders how he ended up with this kid. She seems like the best thing to happen to him right after apparently having a kid with Tucker.

"Hey... dad?" Cassie asks.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks.. for - treating us like people."

"You are people, though?"

Cassie just shrugs, "You know Sarge, and Donut is always trying to baby us."

"Oh."

-------

Simmons is not having a good day, and he is grateful Grif isn't in their room when he comes in after everything. All he's heard is his father's voice in his head running commentary on every minute detail and failure.

He knows he's avoiding his daughter, but he can't face her either. She's so much like Grif it hurts.

And he doubts he was a good father. He could never be a good father after what his own was like.

He can't face Lani knowing he hurt her.

But oh- how Simmons thanks any God who will listen that she has Grif's confidence and attitude. That she isn't a pushover that can be easily used.

He strips his armor off, settling to exist in only his kevlar undersuit.

Unfortunately his peace is ruined when the door opens.

Simmons groans, turning to see who's there.

In the door way is Zach who's carrying Grif, and Lani. He can hear Tucker and Ben bidding farewell.

Grif is asleep in Zach's arms.

"I could have carried him." Lani says.

"I know. You're exhausted, though." Zach says gently.

"Oh- hey papa." Lani says, eyes landing on Simmons.

"Hey." Simmons manages.

Zach moves forward, dropping Grif lightly into the older man's bed.

"I should head the fuck to bed, tell dad I say thanks again." Lani smiles.

"Uh. Sure?"

"Thanks, Simmons." Zach says, putting a hand on Lani's shoulder.

"Thanks papa."

"I'm not your dad. I'm -" Simmons starts but falls silent.

"Oh. Uh- yeah. I guess you're fucking not." Lani says, voice hardening even as her eyes look broken.

"I didn't- Lani I just- I'm not parent material. I'm not even your dad yet." Simmons says, trying to soften it, to make it better.

"Just say you don't want me, asshole."

"Leilani." Zach says, soft as he squeezes her shoulder.

Simmons is struck by how pretty bis daughter's name is. It must have been picked by Grif.

He frowns, "Lani I do-"

"Don't bother. You're not my dad, I fucking get it. I'm a big girl. I won't call you papa. Have a great fucking night, asshole." Lani seethes, but the way her eyes are glossy betray her. She's not mad. She's hurt.

Simmons watches his daughter storm out and is grateful that Zach follows her immediately.

He's really fucked up.

He hurt his daughter.

He does want her! He just- wants to be a good dad. And bases on what just happened, he isn't.

Grif is going to kill him. And he'll deserve it.

Simmons can't help the way his eyes burn with shame as he falls face first onto his bed. He wants to follow his daughter but he can't.

He knows he will make it worse.

-------

Tags: @the-team-sucks @dynamitelad

[dracarialove]

📄 F it, I'm posting my finished fics here, too 📄

*Check the 'rouge's heart' tag if you haven't read previous chapters

[Chapter 3: Comfort]

Rouge felt exhausted by the time she unlocked her front door, dragging her feet on the way to the couch, where she flopped forward to lie on the thick cushions. Despite her fatigue, the bat's mind was bustling with concern about how she was going to handle the coming few days.

She knew she had to return Knuckles' stuff, but didn't think she could face him yet. He still had a key to the house – and part of her was surprised that he hadn't come by and waited for her – so she needed to jump on a solution soon.

She pushed herself up and rubbed the back of her neck while walking to the kitchen. Rouge absolutely dreaded the idea of looking at her phone; no doubt the echidna had called her while she was out, but she had the thought to call Blaze and get her opinion.

She picked up the cell from its spot on the counter and tapped once, the purple rectangle lighting up and showing a list of missed notifications. The woman cringed when she saw her lock screen – a selfie of herself and Knuckles on vacation.

Just as she expected, there were numerous texts and calls from the cheater himself, some calm and some begging. Between the blips that she quickly swiped away, she spotted a single missed call from Blaze.

Rouge's mood brightened as she opened the notification and called her friend back, listening to the ring as she leaned against the counter. For a moment, she thought the cat wouldn't answer, but then heard the ring being interrupted by brief shuffling.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Blaze!" Rouge greeted. "I saw you called – how's it going?"

"Things are good, I had just called to see how you were doing."

The bat sighed. "Yeah... well... not that great, to be honest."

Blaze's tone turned to concern. "What? Why?" When Rouge didn't answer right away, she added, "What's wrong?"

"It's probably better if I talk about it in person. I know it's dark out already, but do you think you could visit... just for an hour?"

"Oh, yeah," answered the cat with no hesitation. "Of course, I'll be there soon."

"Thanks."

After they said a quick goodbye, Rouge hung up and brought her phone into the living room where she sat on the couch again. A heavy sigh escaped her, feeling a pang of sorrow in her chest when her gaze fell on her ex-fiancé's watch sitting on the end table.

It took ten minutes for Blaze to arrive, the headlights of her purple Jaguar splashing golden light through Rouge's living room window. The bat jumped up, watching her friend park next to her Corvette as she went to open the front door.

When they greeted each other, Rouge stepped forward for a hug; something Blaze didn't expect from her, but reciprocated nonetheless. They went inside and the bat offered her a drink, but the cat declined, just wanting to know what was going on – and why Knuckles' car wasn't in the driveway.

"I left him today," admitted the heartbroken woman as they sat on the sofa. Blaze gasped quietly and Rouge felt a prickle behind her eyes where tears threatened to form. "I caught him cheating."

Her friend scoffed, disgusted. "Seriously? What an idiot!"

"I know," Rouge agreed, looking down at her glove where the ring used to be. "I have to figure out what I'm going to do with his stuff."

"What do you mean?" Blaze crossed one leg over the other. "Just throw it all out."

"On the lawn?" the bat asked, chuckling a little.

Her confidant shrugged, a smile forming across her muzzle. "Yeah. Or..."

The cat snapped her fingers and a spark of orange fire flicked upwards before disappearing. Rouge shook her head, still smiling. "No, I shouldn't. I mean, as much as I would love to, it wouldn't be a good idea."

"Well, then, I think he should have to come get his things himself," Blaze told her, crossing her arms. "You get your key back and he can feel guilty while he hauls it all out."

Rouge hesitated and the lavender feline continued. "I can hang out here until he leaves. That way you won't be alone with him."

"Would you really be cool with that?"

"Yeah," she responded, shrugging again. "We could do it tomorrow; I haven't got anything planned."

The bat relaxed. "I really appreciate it. I don't know what I'd do if I had to face him myself. He blew up my phone while I was gone."

She picked up her cell and unlocked the screen while Blaze shook her head, disapproving of Knuckles' behavior. They went through the texts together, Rouge feeling more secure seeing them with a friend by her side; the echidna had attempted to talk his way out of what'd happened, explaining in unnecessary detail and unknowingly contradicting his own story.

Rouge felt herself getting angry again as she went through them. When she got to the end of the messages, she let Blaze give her advice on how she should word her demand for him to pick up his things the next day.

"Give him a time limit, or else his shit will be thrown out and he'll have to pick it up from the lawn," she suggested sternly.

The bat smiled again, confidently hitting send when her response had been perfected. Then she put the phone on silent and turned to Blaze. "Thank you for being here."

"No problem, Rouge," the fire princess replied softly. "Whenever you need me, just call."

They both stood from the couch and Rouge walked with her to the door.

Blaze said, "I'll be back tomorrow. And if something urgent happens before then, again – call me."

The jewel hunter nodded, bidding her farewell and making sure she got out of the driveway safely before locking the door for the night. Then, she went upstairs and immediately retrieved all of her jewelry from their boxes, placing the priceless accessories in her safe to avoid a theft from her untrustworthy ex.

When the safe was secure, Rouge changed into a light blue silk nightgown and brushed her teeth before settling in for bed. Lying in the dark underneath red satin sheets, the young woman felt sorrow creep back into her, and quietly cried a few tears until she managed to fall asleep.

***

Rouge unintentionally slept in, waking up in the early afternoon when the hot sun began beaming through her sheer curtains. She threw one hand across her face when the light shifted over her eyes, slowly working up the strength to get out of bed.

Squinting as her eyes adjusted to the brightness, the bat looked over at her nightstand where she'd let her phone charge while she slept. It was still on silent, so she hadn't heard when Knuckles replied to her message; it was timestamped at a few hours after hers, but he'd simply said "Ok."

So, he was accepting that their relationship was over. A part of Rouge was grateful – maybe this meant that he wouldn't try to win her back when he came by to pick up his things. Another part of her was still sad, still heartbroken that her year-long relationship had plunged down the drain in one evening.

The first thing she did, before leaving her comfortable mattress, was change her lock screen to one of a generic stock photo depicting simple blue patterns. She opened the gallery and looked through her pictures, hundreds of them flicking by as she scrolled to the bottom.

She went through and slowly deleted any photo that included Knuckles, a pit growing in her stomach as she erased memories that were now tainted by the betrayal. Questions lingered in her mind while her teal eyes scanned each image: Just how long had he been seeing Julie-Su? Since he first got the job? Or did he pursue her later?

Rouge sighed, tears welling in her eyes again, her finger shaking over the screen – so she stopped, clenched her eyes shut, and drew in a deep breath to keep from crying.

'I'm tired of crying...' her conscience whispered. 'Let's do something else.'

There were plenty more pictures to delete, but she accepted that she couldn't deal with seeing so many images of his face; his handsome, smiling face that had been hiding the despicable secret. Rouge slipped out from under her sheets and entered the master bathroom to start her morning routine, soon getting dressed and heading downstairs for breakfast.

She decided to treat herself, cooking a stack of chocolate chip pancakes so she could offer some to Blaze later. With a smooth blend of coffee brewing, she sat at the kitchen table and flipped through a magazine to pass the time.

***

Blaze showed up about an hour later, lightly knocking on Rouge's front door and quickly being let in. She accepted Rouge's offer of pancakes and coffee, the pair chatting for a while until they heard the deep bass of Knuckles' car radio bumping down the street.

Rouge's heart dropped to her stomach; Blaze, noticing her stressed expression, offered to answer the door. The bat remained in the kitchen while her friend waited for the echidna to pull into the driveway, hearing a creak when Blaze opened the door.

"Knuckles," the cat greeted coldly, glaring at him as he approached the entrance.

He stopped, his expression subdued. "Oh, Blaze. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Expect the unexpected," she replied, turning to allow him room to enter. "Don't drag your big feet."

His eyebrows furrowed a bit at her insult, stepping inside and suddenly being stopped again. Blaze held out her hand and ordered, "Rouge's key."

Violet eyes stared at her for a few seconds, the redhead not wanting to relinquish his only copy. But he soon complied, dropping it into her palm and continuing into the living room.

"Where's Rouge?" he asked.

The bat's ears perked at the mention of her name, her heartbeat quickening, but the cat answered cryptically. "She left with a friend, so she's somewhere in town – it's none of your business where, exactly."

Her snarky reply sparked a bit of jealousy within him, the echidna immediately assuming that his ex had already found another man. He clenched his fist, but ultimately kept his composure as he grabbed his wristwatch from the end table.

Knuckles knew that Blaze was not to be threatened, and he didn't exactly have the energy to fight, so he calmly climbed the stairs to retrieve his belongings. Rouge was relieved that he was smart enough not to push further, and took the key when her friend brought it to her.

Blaze gave her a reassuring smile before returning to stand by the stairs, watching while Knuckles repeatedly carried items from the upstairs to his car. She kept an eye out for anything that looked like it belonged to Rouge, but the knucklehead was at least intelligent enough not to take anything that wasn't his.

Having neglected to bring boxes, it took him countless trips back and forth to get everything, wasting a chunk of the afternoon. It was obvious he had planned to drag it out, intending to give himself time to talk with Rouge. But, thinking that she was in town, he instead endured silent burning gazes from Blaze as he passed her. When he'd retrieved the last of his possessions, he lingered in the doorway and turned to the princess.

"Tell Rouge I'm sorry," he said, following it up despite Blaze rolling her eyes. "Even if she doesn't forgive me. Just tell her."

"Mhm," responded the cat, defiance permeating from her blank expression.

She closed the door directly behind him as he stepped out, audibly locking it again and visibly watching through the front window while he backed his car out onto the street. Blaze returned to the kitchen once the BMW was out of sight, Rouge standing from her seat.

"Thank you," the bat blurted before her friend could speak.

"Anytime. Hey, would you want to go somewhere for dinner with Silver and me? Later tonight, we could get drinks and get you out of this place for a while."

The suggestion caused a memory to rush forward in Rouge's mind – the promise she'd made to the hedgehog from the coffee shop.

A smile crept across her glossy lips. "I can't, actually. I just remembered I have somewhere to be."

Blaze recognized her coy expression, lowering one eyebrow in a display of intrigue. "Oh? Where's that?"

"Tell you what," the bat started, "how about we go out tomorrow night and I'll tell you about it?"

The cat flashed her sharp canines in a supportive grin. "Sure! It better be something good if I'm having to wait for it."

"Well, you know my plans are always good," Rouge chuckled, Blaze conceding to the claim with a nod.

They headed to the front door and walked out together, Rouge relocking it and approaching her car. Blaze opened her driver's side door and said, "So I'll see you tomorrow. Let's just say around dinner time; you can show up whenever and we'll head out then."

"Sounds good to me," the bat replied happily, then ducked under her car's roof to slide behind the wheel.

Blaze pulled out before her and drove down the street in the same direction that Knuckles had taken. And when Rouge sped down the opposite way, she was finally able to smile effortlessly.

[saver64]

Can't work, can't sleep.

My little self-indulgent alarene... something. A short little story.

Summary: Alain has been trying to work on this new project but things are just not going all that well. He's been losing sleep. Rene is here to help him out

Tags: Alternative universe: noone dies, fluff, nsfw as a joke, but nothing actually happens, established relationships (they are like. friends with benefits or something like that. Not- not dating. Kaveh: "it's complicated" you know, scientists stuff, the usual)

English is not my first language, sorry for any mistakes,,

"Alain, please." Rene sat on top of the other's bed while Guillotin was studying some kind of lock. He was struggling to open it because it had a detector that required to use elemental reactions which was very unusual... and hard to achieve without a vision. Meanwhile Petrichor was bothering him with some unrelated questions.

It's not like they had a lot in common when it came down to the things they were interested in. Alain studied technology and kinetics while Rene - mostly biology and alchemy. It is more interesting that way, Rene once said to him, something about experiencing the world through different lenses and what not. Alain didn't wear any glasses except for the ones to protect his eyes while he was working but that was probably one of those things they call metaphors...

"No. Isn't it obvious I'm a little preoccupied right now?"

He hears humming.

"Why can't you put it aside then?"

"Why should I?" That was his answer.

Rene stood up and walked up to him, his hands landing on his shoulders. "I haven't seen you in a few days and when I come back you're busy. Is it so unlikely that I would miss you?"

Alain sighed. "Three days is only 72 hours. That's an adequate amount of time. But... I have to admit that I'm not qualified to comment on the latter."

Rene furrowed his brows. "I don't think you can calculate how long it would take for somebody to start feeling lonely without an important person in their life. You would need to consider a good amount of variables in order to even estimate such a thing."

He then grinned and leaned in a bit, their noses almost touching. Alain averted his gaze, blush making his face look a bit more healthy.

"You look like you've been losing sleep. A case of insomnia or sleep deprivation as a result of working on a new project?" said Rene and kissed him on the cheek, something brief and light.

"None of your business." Alain closed his eyes and put his little lock on the table. He then stood up and went right to his bed, shaking his coat off his shoulders and getting rid of the gloves.

"Alright then. Surprise me."

Rene smiled at him, amusement obvious on his face. "Weren't you busy, Monsieur researcher?"

Alain nodded. "I was. But it is indeed quite dangerous to work non-stop and I've only managed to get two hours of sleep last night."

Rene sat down next to him, taking their hands and clasping them together. The way Alain's skin felt under his fingers... it put his mind at ease. "Insomnia then? Have you tried taking any medication?"

Alain shook his head. "Nothing quite managed to help. Made me sleep longer but approximately only for 13 minutes and 44 seconds."

"Hm... alright I'm not sure if this will help but we can try it anyway."

Rene stood up again and started taking off his clothes. Alain looked at him, a tired expression on his face.

"I don't think I'll be able to hold on for long enough..."

Then it was Rene's turn to look at him with confusion.

"Whatever do you mean by that?"

Alain shrugged, pulled his pants down and took of his shirt. He was about to take everything else off when a hand stopped him mid movement. "What are you doing?"

They stared at each other for a bit.

"Nothing."

Alain removed his hand from his underwear. Rene just laughed to which the other also smiled, even if a bit embarrassed. Rene then rolled to the middle of the bed. Alain crawled up on top of him which looked quite interesting from an outside perspective.

"Hi." said Rene. Alain giggled, a rare but beautiful sight. He looked so carefree for once, nothing heavy weighing on his mind. Rene pulled him closer by the neck and connected their lips. He kissed him slowly, enjoying this moment they were sharing. Alain, tired as he was, closed his eyes and completely relaxed in his arms, his worries melting away. Rene tangled his hand in his hair and started brushing it, his fingers running through the strands.

"Thank you..." Alain said after a while. "I think this was very much necessary. I've been stuck on this lock for a week now. Maybe I need some time to just... not think about it."

"Perhaps. I might try to help you in the morning if you want, maybe all you need to do is to look at the problem from a new perspective."

"This sounds reasonable..."

Alain closed his eyes. Rene wrapped his arms around him. Alain then, with his eyes still closed, pulled out a blanket and gave it to Rene who then covered both of them with it.

"Alain."

"Hm?"

"Sometimes I think about cutting your head open and looking at your brain"

"That's a very bad compliment."

"It isn't."

"Yes, it is."

They spent a couple of hours arguing over some different topics such as human autopsy and the necessity of morals but soon enough Alain fell asleep, his face in the crook of Rene's neck.

"I thought I should bring you some medication to help with your insomnia but maybe you just need some company instead"

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook

𝓣𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓒𝓪𝓻𝓮 : [How To Trust]

Everyday brings new challenges, new miracles, and new faces into his life. And yours, he decides, shouldn't look so scared all the time.

Tags/Warnings: Hospital/Medical AU, Doctor!Jungkook, slightly aged up!Jungkook, Doctor!Yoongi, Nurse!Jimin, Doctor!Namjoon, Surgeon!Hoseok, mentions of Anaesthetist!Taehyung, blood, medical terms, hospital stuff come on this is a medical au, mentions of panic, mentions of vomiting but not descriptive, mentions of suspected abuse, mentions of actual abuse (mental/physical)

Length: 4.4k words

THERE IS NO TAGLIST FOR THIS FIC!

A/N: Please do not come for my throat if some stuff doesn't make sense. I've tried hard, but I'm not a doctor, and so none of this should be taken too seriously. Treat it like a medical drama. Those ain't real either haha also how big do I have to make the warning that there's no taglist for people to realize there is no taglist

-> Masterlist

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"Do you have a girlfriend, young man?" The elderly hybrid giggles, her owner and husband on a chair sitting close to her bed shaking his head as Jungkook chuckles himself, adjusting the drip for her medication.

"I do not, Miss Yong." He informs her. "With a job like mine, it's a bit difficult." He explains, shrugging. He's got to talk a bit louder so she can hear him properly, but he's positively surprised by her otherwise overall good health. She's way past the typical age where Hybrids are known to decline, after all. A little bit of hearing loss is nothing compared to what he usually sees in hybrids her age.

"Oh that's such a shame." She whines to her husband at her side. "He's such a handsome friend, isn't he? You must go on dates, at least!" She whispers at him, but he just laughs.

"I'm sorry, she can be nosy." Her husband apologizes for her, though Jungkook simply shakes his head.

"No worries. She's completely allowed to be nosy." He charmingly says, making the older woman laugh to herself, her floppy ears just as grey as her hair. "Are you in any pain right now?" He asks her, but she shakes her head, visibly drowsy from the pain medication she's already been given for her fractured ankle. "That's good. I'll go check up with my coworkers on the scans, and then I'll be right back to discuss how we'll proceed from here, is that alright?" He asks, and she nods.

"I've got my company right here." She smiles at her husband who holds her had with an equally warm expression.

When Jungkook walks to the small area for staff to discuss the scans, he can't help but shake his head amazed, Jimin laughing as well. "She's awfully energetic for her age." Jimin grins brightly, clicking away on the computer to find the scans from earlier, Hoseok close by nodding to himself. "To imagine her being almost sixty. Amazing." Jimin smiles to himself.

"The fracture is a bit complicated, and I doubt she'll walk perfectly fine in the future even after surgery-" Hoseok informs, showing Jungkook the scans. "But she'll be fine. I doubt she's going into any sort of competitive sports at her age anyways." He chuckles.

"I've already printed all the forms out for her admission, filled out what I can. I'll just need your signatures and other info I didn't bother to do." Jimin jokes.

"You think she's still high risk surgery?" Hoseok asks, referring to the patient. "Considering her age. I'm a little worried about anesthetics."

"She's got no blood pressure issues or any other health problems we'd usually see in hybrids her age. So no- while I'd love you to stay a bit careful, I don't think she's high risk." He nods. "Taehyung should stand by during the surgery to watch over everything if that makes you more comfortable." He says, and Hoseok nods.

"Right, he's back from break, isn't he?" He chimes up, nodding. "I'll go fetch him then." The surgeon agrees, walking off as Jungkook goes back to the patient as well.

Things like these make him feel proud.

It's not arrogant to assume that he's playing a big part in cases like hers- a 58 year old hybrid in very good shape- things that are becoming more and more common these days. Every new discovery, every new person deciding to study this field, every new medical issue solved, adds to the life expectancy of hybrids. And it's not just them- Jungkook knows that sometimes, discoveries about hybrids' bodies can help humans too.

"Alright Miss Yong, you have indeed fractured your ankle pretty badly." Jungkook nods as he walks into her section in the emergency hall. "We'll schedule you for surgery, but considering your overall wonderful health, I'm not worried." He informs her. "Although I do have to inform you that considering your age there is a basic risk to any surgery present." He says, especially towards the owner and husband, who nods.

"That's only logical." He nods, since his wife seems a bit sleepy. "So how long will she stay here?" He asks, and Jimin sneaks into the room, preparing everything to have her transported to her room.

"It's not clear yet, but it'll definitely be until the end of the week at least." Jungkook informs him. "But Doctor Jung will give you a more detailed insight on what's to come from here on." He tells them both.

"Is he as handsome as you?" The lady asks, and Jimin can't help but snort a laugh.

"Oh, even more so, I'd say." Jungkook jokes, and everyone laughs.

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Jungkook has given an oath to protect life, and he's aware of that- but he hopes whoever's up there above makes an exception for him when he has to commit a murder in the next few minutes.

"You better have a real good reason to ping me out of my bed at 3 in the fucking morning.!" Jungkook growls under his breath, walking into the staff room where Namjoon seems to have already been waiting. "The ER is empty- so is my bed, when I should be in it! Why am I here?" He whines, changing out of his clothes and into his scrubs- his shift is gonna start at 5 anyways, so it won't really be smart to go back home after whatever is going on that needs his attention so badly is done.

"Trust me, I hate ringing you out of your sleep." Namjoon sighs, as he slides a clipboard towards the young doctor, who slips on his shoes before he takes it to read over it. "Take a good look at it, and tell me what's fishy about it." He asks, and Jungkook adjusts his glasses, reading through all the medical jargon written down in handwriting he used to be unable to read.

"Are you trying to test me here?" Jungkook asks annoyed, though he keeps his attention mostly on the clipboard, moving page after page to find what his friend and coworker seems to be hinting at.

"No, I'm serious." Namjoon questions, crossing his arms.

The seriousness in his voice makes Jungkook focus a bit more, looking through everything when he flips a page back and forth. "Wait, that doesn't make sense.." He mumbles to himself, and Namjoon seems relieved that his best friend has seemingly found the issue as well. "How the hell does one get stabbed three times 'on accident'?" Jungkook questions, shaking his head. "On the thigh, too?" He wonders, looking at Namjoon in front of him.

"Owner said the patient had 'moved around' while he tried to remove the butter knife, forcing it back in twice." Namjoon offers, and Jungkook scoffs.

"Come on, stabbing someone with something as dull as a butter knife is already pretty impossible to achieve." The young doctor questions. "But really? And anyone believed him?" He wonders, looking through the vitals once more.

"Read the name again. The owner's, not the patient's." He asks, and Jungkook's eyes widen.

"Jo Dongsun? So that's why they're just gonna shrug it off?" He asks. "Cause he's an actor?"

"Probably." Namjoon sighs, walking back to take a sip from his cold coffee on the table. "But that's not.. entirely why I pinged you." He says, peaking Jungkook's interest as he's finally awake and alert enough, fully back in work-mode. "The patient- poor thing is refusing any up-close treatment, has to be put on local anesthetics, and you know that's not ideal." The young doctor says, walking out the door with his friend at his side, walking back into the ER. "And you've got a hand for things like that. Maybe you can try and make her feel more comfortable so we won't have to medicate her this much?" He asks, and Jungkook nods.

Hybrids are pretty sensitive to most human medications- their bodies still being studied, many side effects still being explored and explained. But until they're understood to the degree that the world understands the human body, they have to work with that they have- and adjust everything else. It's why people like Jungkook are so vital to today's medical system- he's talented in creating solutions for problems no one else would think of, keeps his studies up to date, and is most of all compassionate and kind even to the wildest of patients.

He's also got a certified degree proving his top knowledge when it comes to hybrid care specifically. It's why Namjoon had even proposed the idea to everyone to move you into Jungkook's care instead, though some aren't really on board with it, considering his rather.. wild attitude so to speak. He won't back into whatever the man will try and tell him happened- he will try and get to the bottom of this, no matter how much impact that guy has.

If he has to ruin a career to save a life, he will.

"I'll do my best. If it's a domestic abuse case she's probably pretty terrified." Jungkook mumbles more or less to himself, before he seems to arrive at the corner you're hidden in, curtains giving you some privacy. He doesn't know what to expect, really- even though he's read all of your data, everything he needs to know about your physical and mental state- he still won't know what he's dealing with until he goes behind that curtain.

And nothing in the world could've prepared him for what's behind that said curtain, as he pulls it back and catches his first glimpse of you.

He knows you.

Jimin is currently rushing from left to right with gauze, trying to stop your bleeding when Jungkook shows up. "I assume Namjoon filled you in?" He asks distracted, and Jungkook nods.

"Yeah. How's the bleeding?" He worries, watching how another nurse hangs up a bag of blood to prepare a transfusion to make up for the blood you've lost.

"Those two here-" Jimin points at the ones he's talking about. "Are alright for now, they're deep, but this one right here definitely hit one of the bigger blood vessels." He explains, exchanging the gauze again. "It just won't stop." He hisses to himself.

"Alright we've got the blood here already, which is good because that blood pressure is not making me happy right now." He says, taking control of the situation and nurses standing by for any sort of demand. "I want you to stop any medication you're using to keep her unconscious right now so we don't have her drop any further. Have we got any scans of the wounds yet?" He asks, and Jimin nods.

"She came back from CT a few minutes ago, they should be back soon." He says a bit distracted, hissing to himself when the wound starts bleeding as soon as he takes away the gauze.

"Where's her owner?" Jungkook asks, and Jimin's face shows all he needs to know.

"I'd say too worried about the potential scandal than here." He scoffs. "But trust me I'd rather deal with him than her careworker demon in the waiting room right now." He says.

"Let me guess, elderly woman, sour attitude and dark lipstick?" He asks.

"You know her?" Jimin wonders, fixating a bandage.

"Met them both a week ago I think? Already got a sense something was off.." He wonders. "Gives me a good chance to check on something though. Can you hold her turned a bit, I want to get a look at her tail." He asks the senior nurse, who nods, gently turning you on your side for his friend to look at.

He feels around at the base, all the way down to the tip of your tail, deep in thought.

"What're you looking for?" Jimin wonders, closely paying attention to your vitals as they slowly change, your consciousness returning very slowly.

"Proof." Jungkook simply states. Considering you're above the age of 21, he can't just lean on the help of the law for hybrid abuse- you're too old for that, and your category is too low as well. So the only way he can get you out of this situation, is by providing undisputable proof of present neglect or abuse.

"You think it's abuse?" Jimin wonders. "That's a big claim to make, Jungkook. That guy could ruin your career and future with a snap of his fingers."

"So can I." Jungkook himself simply says. "I want an X-ray of her tail, full side and length." He offers. "And as soon as she's back up, ping me."

"Did she break it?" Jimin wonders, carefully adjusting you back on your backside.

"Not today-" He says, taking his clipboard with him. "-but in the past, at least four times."

"that's not uncommon for canine hybrids." Jimin softly argues. "they knock their tails into things constantly." He claims.

"I'm aware." He nods. "But her tail's ice cold down the sixth vertebra. And that's exactly where she caught it last time I saw her- which means she didn't see anyone for it until now." He mumbles the last part to himself, running off to check with someone else he knows and trusts-

leaving a confused Jimin behind.

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"I could give you options to at least file in for neglect." Yoongi quietly mumbles, looking at the X-rays and scans. "Though if you spin it smart, you could argue about her past medical history being proof of something going on as well." The young man nods, reading the charts on the clipboard. "How do you know her?"

"Met her last week. She'd gotten her tail caught in those automatic glass doors, complained over numbness in her legs right after." He sighs. "Her caretaker was what bothered me most. She wasn't at all interested in her health." Yoongi nods at that, giving the clipboard back.

"Well-" He softly speaks, getting up to adjust something near the patient's bed, before he sits down again. "-I'm not in the position to tell you not to get attached to her." He responds, his gaze on the female feline hybrid in the bed, monitor beeping in a steady rhythm, soothing his mind a bit. Yoongi has been at her bedside ever since she was admitted- no owner to take care of her, instead in government care. No one knows exactly why he of all people is so attached to her, visiting her every day at least once- but it's a well known fact to everyone that he loves her dearly.

Even though, if they have any memories together, she won't remember any of them even if she ever wakes up.

"But I have to remind you that you're playing against a huge name. This will cost you your entire career if you fail." Yoongi says, and Jungkook nods.

He knows this. Going against a name as big as him will put him into the public eye as well- and considering that he doesn't have any foolproof evidence yet, he'd be dumb to actually try and involve authorities at this point in time. No matter what, this isn't as easy and cut-out as he wishes it would be.

"Do what you're paid for, for now." Yoongi reminds him. "Look after her, make sure she recovers, get her back on her feet. As soon as you leave this building, leave her here as well."

Jungkook sighs defeatedly, nodding. "I'll check up here before I go tonight." He says, nodding to the hospital bed behind Yoongi- but he only shrugs, before Jungkook get's pinged back to the emergency room where you're still placed.

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When he arrives, he can already hear the commotion from behind the privacy curtains.

"I have a right to be here, she's just being dramatic!" The familiar voice of the lady calls out, and Jungkook feels like he wants to turn and go the other way. But instead, he listens to Yoongi's advice, and enters the small section where you're being treated. "You! Put your workers in line here, I've been verbally assaulted just for checking up on her-" She argues, Jimin ready to snap at her.

"Miss- okay, let's calm down everyone, this is not helping her at all right now." Jungkok tries to solve the small fight between an angrily glaring Jimin and the older woman currently huffing in anger. "I kindly ask you to move to the side please so I can properly assess her, if you don't mind." He asks, but she crosses her arms.

"You can just squeeze past me, what's the big deal? I thought you've already done that, you've had her here for ages after all!" She huffs. "We've been here four hours almost, for a simple accident! This is ridiculous!" She yells at him, but he's not at all bothered by it.

"Miss I will have to get you removed if you're going to hinder me in doing my job." He calmly responds, noticing how you lean into Jimin's body, something the nurse notices as well as he masks gentle comforting touches as things such as adjusting your gown that you've been given. It's another clue that something's off- the way you're moving away from her, technically a known and familiar and usually comforting person, instead leaning towards a stranger in something scary as a hospital with all its sounds and smells.

"You can't make me do anything." She threatens him. "Who do you think you are? Fresh out of medical school and thinks he's something better! Are you even old enough to work as a doctor?!" She claims, and Jungkook simply sighs, opening the curtains a bit.

"Can I have security here, please?" He calls out, a nurse close by picking up a phone to call for them, while the woman is successfully triggered by his actions.

"Come on, up. We're leaving." She snaps at you, reaching to rip out the delicate tubes connected to your arm- but Jungkook steps in instead, putting his body in front of her so she can't reach you.

"Miss, I can understand this is stressful, but you're being unreasonable." He argues as gently as he can. "I can't let you take her in this condition."

"You're gonna hear about this!" She seethes as security leads her away. "Have fun playing doctor while you can.!" She hisses, being escorted away while still arguing.

Jungkook sighs, and so does Jimin.

"…m' sorry." You mumble quietly, and Jimin immediately looks at you gently.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart." He reassures. "Let's get you properly sorted out now, okay?" He tells you, and you nod.

"How are your legs doing, hm?" Jungkook asks, and now you seem to properly look at him for the first time.

"Oh." You simply say, only realizing now who he is. He looks a lot different than last time- his bangs are brushed back and revealing his forehead, and he's dressed in a more formal-casual style, with black slacks and a light brown button up, the first few undone. It's like he's suddenly aged up five years at least, but he doesn't seem unfriendly or intimidating at all, even though you can see the muscles underneath his skin work as he rolls up his sleeves.

"I look a bit different, don't I?" He chuckles, walking closer. "Are you in a lot of pain right now or is it manageable?" He wonders, and you finally seem to settle down quite a bit.

"Just a bit." You quietly answer him. "And my legs are okay." You explain. "Just.. feel a bit like I'm gonna be sick." You worry towards Jimin who's busied himself with petting one of your ears. When he hears this, he gets a small paper bowl ready just in case, and Jungkook nods as he checks all the vitals.

"Hm, your blood pressure is still a bit low so that might be why you feel a bit nauseous." He reassures. "We'll get some more fluids in for you, you're pretty dehydrated. Do you drink enough water during the day?" He asks you, and you shrug. "Don't know?" He chuckles in sympathy, aware that you might still be a bit dizzy and foggy in the head from everything going on.

"What's too little?" You ask him softly.

"Well, I'd say everything below maybe five glasses in a day?" He says, and your eyes widen.

"That much?" You wonder, looking at Jimin at your side.

"A lot of people forget to drink during the day." The nurse reassures. Jungkook however, can't help but dig deeper.

"Doesn't your owner make sure you drink enough?" He wonders, and you shrug.

"Don't see him much." You mumble. "He's busy. I mostly stay with Miss Hwang, and she doesn't really pay much attention to what I eat or drink." You say, watching how Jungkook steps aside to let a nurse hang up a bag of IV-fluids.

"Hm, I see." He nods to himself.

"Am I in trouble?" You ask suddenly, ears pinned down.

"For what would you get into trouble for?" Jimin wonders next to you.

"Cause I used the phone without asking." You offer them. "I just got scared. I know it's not allowed for me to used it.." You say, and Jungkook exchanges a glance with Jimin.

"No, you're not in trouble." Jungkook reassures. "Who said you can't use the phone?" He wonders, though tries hard not to show his inner worry.

"My owner and Miss Hwang. Cause I'm a hybrid, and I'll go to prison if I do." You say.

"Can you tell me exactly what happened today?" Jungkook asks, pulling a chair closer to sit on it next to where you're laying.

"We had Dinner, Dongsun and uh, miss Hwang and I." You recall, looking at your hands. "I.. we had pizza." You describe, seeing the scene in front of you again. "And I wanted- I asked Dongsun for a piece of his and he said yeah- and usually he doesn't share with me so I got excited." You explain; looking at Jungkook as if to convey that you're sorry about whatever happened. "I knocked over a glass on the table, and it spilled on his phone I think- so he got angry, and I think he just wanted to hit the table, but he- I think he just- he just didn't see that I was sitting too close, probably, maybe- and-" You ramble now. "I don't know, I don't think I remember it right, I think I just got scared and made things up in my head." You stutter, Jimin gently rubbing your shoulder in reassurance.

Jungkook can sense something wrong here.

"Do you do that a lot?" He asks. "Make stuff up in your head when you're scared?" He questions, and you shrug.

"Dongsun says I do. Hybrids do that all the time, he says." You explain to him. "So I- Miss Hwang and Dongsun will know what happened, really. I- you're a doctor right? Why do we do that?" You ask, and Jungkook can't give you an answer.

Because there is none. Whatever world-view and twisted facts you've been fed until now are simply bullshit.

"What.. happened in your mind?" Jungkook carefully asks, as Namjoon enters the small space. "Like, what do you remember happened?" He wonders.

"Dongsun got really angry. He gets angry often, because I'm stupid." You explain casually, making Namjoon's face twist into one of pure confusion. "He was surprised for a second when he accidentally hit my leg with the knife. But then he.. I don't know, it was like he.. snapped. And so he did it again, and another time, until I ran away and hid in the bathroom." You say. "In my mind it looked like he was hurting me on purpose. So I ran off, and- no wait, I didn't run into the bathroom, it was the bedroom. Yeah. I made a mess there- Dongsun has a really pretty white carpet there, I got into trouble once because I accidentally dropped a glass of juice on it.." You drift off.

"Did you call the ambulance there?" Jungkook questions, and you nod.

"That's where I used Miss Hwang's phone that was on the bed." You say, and it confuses everyone for a second why her phone would be there- but they don't think about it for now. "Am I gonna get put into jail now?" You ask, and Jungkook shakes his head.

"No, absolutely not sweetheart." He shakes his head. "You did a great job calling for help. We'll take good care of you, and make sure you'll be alright, okay?" He asks, and you nod.

"I think I might be sick.." You mumble ashamed at Jimin, who quickly reaches for the paper bowl to hold for you, another hand holding your hair away from your face.

"Why is her blood pressure still so low?" Namjoon wonders more quietly to Jungkook, who'd just stood up as well, arms crossed.

"Maybe an underlying issue undiagnosed." Jungkook mumbles, watching you. "Maybe drugs. I'm gonna have them do a urine test for common birth control and hormone blockers. I've not got a good feeling with her whatsoever." He lowly tells his coworker. "I know domestic abuse when I see it, and right there-" He looks back at where you're laying back down with the help of Jimin, another nurse walking in to tell him something, "-is a hybrid who's been conditioned into believing that she can't trust her own judgement, and that she has to abide by everything her owner and caretaker say." He tells Namjoon, walking out of your hearing range for a moment. "Hell- they told her it's illegal for a hybrid to use a fucking phone, Namjoon, that's cult-shit!" He hisses.

"Yoongi has told me you're suspecting something like that." The emergency doctor shakes his head. "Hearing the little that I did, I'm honestly on board with you. But we're not law enforcement. Jungkook, our hands are bound- she's above age and below category for us to use any of the safety laws in this case." He reminds the younger doctor.

"I know." He sighs, defeated. "Fuck, I know."

"Let's make sure she gets the treatment she needs for now, alright? Go one step at a time." Namjoon tries to reassure his friend. "For now, you've got medicine on your side. She can't be taken home in this condition, no matter if her owner wants that or not. Currently, she's legally in our care, until she's deemed healthy enough to go back home." He reminds his friend, who nods.

"I guess that's all the time we get." He worries, watching as everyone walks around, Jimin exiting your little space to talk to another nurse standing by.

And for the first time in a long while, Jungkook knows he'll go against Yoongi's advice, and take his work home tonight.

Your fearful gaze haunting him in his sleep.

[makarovni]

WIP Whenever + Music Monday Sunday

Tagged by @roofgeese to share some WIP stuff and music!! Thank you!!

I wish that I could share what I'm currently writing for Brooke and Travis, but unfortunately it doesn't have enough content to share lol. So instead you'll be getting another bit of the Kent and Nonia fic!!

For music, I don't want to give away the songs featured in the story, so I'll just share a song I've been obsessed with lately:

And here's the wip:

Nonia only flipped a bit through the suggested searches before asking Kent, "Hey, is there anything you want to watch specifically? I really don't know what to watch."

He shrugged and waved his hand, "Ah, I don't know, The Godfather? You enjoy mob movies, don't you?"

"Yes I do," Nonia said with a smile, finding and turning on the movie. "You know, I've never actually seen this all the way through."

Kent actually looked up from his work to give her an incredulous look. "What? How have you not seen the entirety of the Godfather? It is the definitive mob movie."

"It takes forever for things to happen," Nonia replied, "it's not like Goodfellas where stuff happens the whole time, and is funny. I laughed at this movie like, twice tops."

With an exasperated groan, Kent shut his laptop and stood up. "Nonia, it's not supposed to be funny! It's a compelling story ab–"

"I just think it insists upon itself," Nonia said flatly, with a blank expression only giving away her true feelings by biting the corner of her lip.

"No, no," Kent said, shaking his finger at her, "you will not quote that stupid cartoon at me, Miss Fonzarelli."

Nonia smirked and said, "what do you mean? Family Guy?"

"Yes, Family Guy!" Kent snapped, now pacing and putting his head in his hands. "You need to experience the film for yourself."

At first, Nonia was simply amused that Kent was so worked up over her referencing Family Guy, but this was erased when Kent got on the bed next to her. He got relaxed, lying back on the pillows just enough to be comfortable but so he could see the TV. Nonia's eyes were wide, and she didn't know if she should jump off the bed and get away from him or not.

"I'm just gonna–" she began, going to climb off the bed, but Kent grabbed her wrist and kept her in the same spot. 

"No. You will stay here and experience this film with me. I know that if you go over there, you're going to get on your phone, take a photograph of the screen, and post it with a caption of that asinine Family Guy quote on Twitter, and I do not want you to do that. So sit down."

[shrunkupthejams]

hello tumblr, good timezone! a little life update (which was written at 2am? and gets very rambly and long but *shrugs* i tried to break up the walls of text a bit):

1. did i disappear? yes. will i elaborate on that? not really, i don't feel like it. but i will say that once you take a break from social media it is really hard to go back. it's very freeing, and that made me worried about how tumblr would take over the little free time i have if i came back. also hyperfixations are a lot harder to not hyperfixate on when i frequently spend time on here. overall, idk how long i was gone for, but it was a very good, much needed break that was probably great for my brain.

2. idk if i'm back back yet. we shall see. again productivity is doing much better without any tumblr in my system, as much as i do love spending time here.

3. i have read some very inspiring fics lately and am having many writing thoughts! which is great bc i really fell into a slump that i haven't been able to get out of this year like... back in may, or whatever. unfortunately, i have no time between catching up on missing school work from being sick, my job, and fucking moving. so.

4. not very tumblr relevant, but oh my god im fucking moving. again. story of my life basically. it's. fine. just happened really fast and it's weird to process. im officially in moving limbo for the next two weeks. and that sucks. but it's ultimately good for my system, i think, because i was getting restless waiting for the usual regularly scheduled "big change" in my life, and that quota is now being filled and it's relieving.

5. dear lord i don't even want to look in my notifications.. if anyone tagged me in stuff while i was out... im so sorry but it's likely lost in the pile. avoiding my problems on social media is like my specialty, and my notes is currently one of those problems.

6. (if you see me unfollow a bunch of stranger things blogs (hello, i know some of those are mutuals), im sorry but i clogged my dash with st blogs so bad and i cannot afford slipping into that hyperfixation rn. i can't do that to myself. it's not personal or anything. so um. don't mind me haha.. i should really consider the state of my dash before i follow... but alas, i do not. one of the main reasons i typically avoid the hellscape that is instagram! oh and tbh, i knew it was time to come back to this hellsite when i started casually wasting like. an actual amount of time on instagram semi-regularly. that's when yk it's time to go like fuck i do not want to be in a place where i am wasting time on instagram of all places. wasting time on tumblr is at least tasteful. sorry artists of instagram ily but i simply cannot.)

7. ahaha watch me avoid my sideblogs after this (not that's incredibly relevant). i can only involve myself in social media so much rn...

8. more irl news: after, at least of 2022 and then some of saying i need therapy, i'm finally getting therapy! first appointment booked for this wednesday babey :) thank GOD. definitely needed this after discovering that apparently you can have grandfather issues, as if my current parental issues weren't enough.

9. another irrelevant irl update: i got my license! fucking finally! idk if i ever complained about that on here but YEAH. it feels like so much has changed since i was last active on tumblr..

10. as a final bit of news, since this got fucking long im so sorry, im trying out the name kurtis now. seeing how that fits :)

and um yeah that's how my life is going rn. ill try not to go off in the tags about anything, considering the length of this post. sure makes that relatively new dashboard post shortening feature come in handy tho! haha..

[swagatron9]

Forgotten Innocence

Chapter 4 A/N: I promise this is Daryl Dixon Fan Fic

~ Sylvia Bennet ~

3rd person:

Sylvia watched as Silas held the gun up with both hands, he aimed at the bucket on the fence post but missed when he fired. "Don't be discouraged. The more you try the better you'll get." Shane commented as he walked past. Silas groaned as he once again her the click of the gun needing to be reloaded, this had already happened a few more times before and yet he still had not hit the target.

"I can't do it, Sylvie," Silas whined.

"You'll never hit it by whining. Keep trying." Sylvia said. Sylvia herself pulled out her own gun and aimed at her target.

RIck walked past and stopped as he watched Sylvia shoot at the tin can. "You've got a good stance, good aim too. Where'd you learn to shoot from?"He asked curiously.

"Used to go hunting from time to time." She admitted to the older man.

Rick hummed in response. "I imagine you're not used to guns this light then." Sylvia shrugged her shoulders.

"This is alright. I don't mind this."

An hour later we returned back to the farm. "Do you think we can try that again? That was so much fun." Silas questioned Sylvia.

"I'll take you out again tomorrow and you can practise some more," Sylvia replied.

Maggie approached Sylvia as she returned and pulled her aside from the group."Goin' on another run. Glenn's gonna be comin' along but I wanted to talk to you 'bout somethin'." Sylvia agreed to join the two on another pharmacy run but still, she couldn't help the slight feeling of jealousy that radiate at the thought of the two of them together.

Glenn and Sylvia had never formally been introduced to one another that's probably why the two of them didn't interact on the ride to the pharmacy, instead, it was Glenn and Maggie that spoke. "You didn't have to come, you can hate me from a distance," Glenn spoke. Maggie ignored his words and focused on the road in front of her. "Please say something." Once again silence. "Maggie-"

"I asked for your trust and you betrayed it. Now my Dad's pissed at me." Maggie snapped. Glenn eyed me cautiously before continuing to speak.

Glenn let out an exhausted sigh. "So, your dad thinks they're sick? You agree with that? Even after what you saw at the well? What do you think about those walkers?" Glenn directed the final question towards Sylvia.

"There's not really much to think of them-"

Maggie cut Sylvia off. "I'm not sure what I saw at the well."

"Yes, you are. Look if you'd seen Atlanta you would not have a barn full of walkers-"

This time Maggie cut off Glenn."I wish you would stop calling them that." Sylvia recognised the annoyance on Maggie's face and in her words but she could understand where Glenn was coming from.

"What do you call them?"

"Mom, Shawn, Mr and Mrs Fischer, Lacy and Duncan." Maggie listed off the names of the people that she cared for and loved.

"Look, Maggie. You've been trapped on that farm this whole time. You wouldn't understand half the stuff someone like me or anyone else had to go through. We had to fight to live while you were sitting on your couch playing family with the people you still have. You should be thankful to still have those people alive, once they're bit, they're dead." Sylvia helped Glenn attempt to get through to Maggie, but she still refused to believe otherwise.

"What does she want now?" Maggie snarked at Glenn as we entered the pharmacy.

"I can't say." Glenn looked away.

"So, one of them asks to you keep your mouth shut-"

Glenn yanked out a piece of paper and shoved it in Maggie's direction. "Crawl out of my butt, help me look, please." He sighed once more.

Maggie read the piece of paper and scoffed as she showed Sylvia. "You have got to be kidding me," Maggie said before marching off into the back.

Sylvia tagged along as she figured that was where the pills would be. "What did you want to talk about?" Sylvia asked.

Maggie searched through the pill bottles. "About us." Sylvia frowned at Maggie's words as she waited to hear what she had to say. "I know we had that talk last night about us and all, but I've been thinkin', and don't hate me, but I don't think I can do it. Besides I've also been seeing..." Maggie's eyes trailed over to Glenn as he searched around the place. Sylvia couldn't help but scoff. "I'm sorry, I just hope you can understand," Maggie added.

"Yeah, I understand." Sylvia brushed past the farmer's daughter and went to leave the store.

"I'm gonna look at some more stores down the road, you two can leave when you're ready," Sylvia told Glenn. He nodded his head but appeared suspicious as he glanced between the two women. he shrugged it off as nothing and said goodbye to the woman he'd just met today.

Sylvia felt she had been played, but on the other hand, she felt as though she had no right to feel that she had been cheated on. After all, they hadn't established a relationship between the pair, but she thought she deserved to receive a bit more respect from the person she'd grown closest to on the farm.

Sylvia walked down the path as she glanced around at the empty street. It was then that she realised what exactly Glenn had been talking about. "A barn full of walkers?" She mumbled to herself. It hadn't fully registered in her head what the two were conversing about until now.

She found herself in another pharmacy, only this one was more hidden from the rest and it wasn't as obvious that it was a pharmacy. The supplies in the store were mainly all there so Sylvia took this as her opportunity to grab what she needed.

There were bandages, pain killers and plenty more that would be needed so she took them. She also grabbed things like the beef jerky sticks they had on the front counter.

Sylvia sat down in the corner of the store and just thought. She thought about everything that happened past, present and what could happen in the future. She thought about what happened before the world decided to come to an end, she wondered if the world was actually worse now or not. Sylvia got the freedom she wanted, the freedom to finally be the one, in a way legally, looking after Silas. People hurt Sylvia before and people hurt her now, but the difference is there are no laws that say you can't hurt people, so now Sylvia was less inclined to feel that the world had betrayed her. In a way, it was almost relieving to live life like this and she had grown to accept it.

[0x1addictsong]

The Tale of Tea～♡

5. My hands aren't working

Fei : Did you locked the cafe before going to

home?

Hyong : Yup I did it :-)

After reaching her apartment, she felt as if she was carrying a luggage on her back. She got freshen up & went to her lovely bed after spraying the room freshener everywhere.

Having problem with sleeping was common for her, so she tried almost every kind of solution. At the end she realised, soft smell & slow music is what she needs.

Fei : Ok good💙

Wait, did you message him?

Now, she didn't want to remember about that. The problem with taking steps in any kind of relationship got the best of her. No matter if it's friendship or anything else.

Hyong : Message who?

Fei : ....😑

Don't act dumb. You know what i mean.

Hyong : I don't?

At this stage, she was terrified. Didn't know if it's right to message him or not.

Fei : Just message him bro. Your Romeo would've been waiting for the whole day.

Hyong : He isn't my Romeo...

Now she was rolling on her bed while making small noises.

"There should be something to escape this situation." She said in muffled voice to herself, being entangled in her duvet.

Fei : Whatever he is to you🍿, just message him.

Hyong : My hands aren't working properly

¯\_ಠ_ಠ_/¯ I'll just leave it today.

Fei : Your hands are working to give excuses? Just do it or I'LL DO IT tomorrow.

Good night🌚

"God she's so stubborn." She whispered while wishing her good night.

Taking the piece of the paper from the table, she almost got lost in thoughts.

"Just do it already Hyu."

She sat down on her bed, duvet still entangled in her feet & searched his profile. After taking tons of deep breaths, she tapped the MESSAGE option.

Imalo$er : Hi...?

She threw her phone to corner of her bed, squirming & hiding her face with her palms even though, no one was looking at her pink flushed cheeks. (Except me | ͡ᵔ ﹏ ͡ᵔ |)

The sound of notification made her flinched & she got nervous like hell. She slowly crawled to the corner of her bed & took the phone in her hand.

illusion_05 : Took you enough time

Just in case, if you wanna know how did she look that time. She was redder than a tomato.

Once she was done collecting the courage, she typed.

Imalo$er : I was busy.

illusion_05 : btw you don't seem like a loser to me 👀

"Ugh, he's too much to handle." She threw her head on the headboard before deciding what to write without sounding defeated.

Imalo$er : Cuz I'm not...? It's just a song.

illusion_05 : Well good for you miss Hyo, see you tomorrow 👋

She didn't want to accept the fact that she wanted to chat more, but her ego stood in front of her. Deciding to spend some hours watching TXT's funny moments, she shrugged her thoughts off.

"Maybe this can divert my mind." She sighed.

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Kinda short but i'll try adding more from next time. If you see any mistakes feel free to share

Previous / Masterlist / Next

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Synopsis : Hyong was a normal graduated girl who was living her boring life in Vietnam, working in a café with her co worker & best friend Fei. Being uninterested in everything, she suddenly grew curious about this one wierd guy, who always used to come at the café, at an exact time, & would order a tea, wearing all black, showing nothing but just his eyes. Where will Hyong's curiosity for the stranger take her? (Or not really a stranger...?)

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Tags : @gyucupid @skwangyu @shieunviya @kimteume @m4rsluv @venompinks @mini0o @loviefm @lqblackpinku @sweetsoogyu @soobscribe @straypink-no-fanwars @guccitaegii @txtcorrect @taegguksm @tearbtss @incorrect-treasure-quotes @whendidmythoughtsgocrazy @blovedhobi @btsaestheticpicss @bookworm-on-rainy-days @mcadiary @parkjun @txtswt @trearsure @owggi @definitely-correct-bighit-stuff @howfe @jungoosite @vanteditsx @mcadiary @tricssi @facepalmmylifeu