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hxneyhxrts · 2 years

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Sun Bleached || Jake “Hangman” Seresin (part 10)

Part 9

note: here it is guys, second to last part. i hope we can still be friends by the time you guys finish reading this lmao

warnings: explicit language (what else is new?)

I Know the End

‘You’ll always be my girl.’

Gwyn felt sick. Too warm and too confined in her own skin to think. Several times throughout the night, she had found herself slumped over the toilet, dry heaving and shaking.

She had made it worse. Not only had she walked out on him after he told her he loved her, God he loved her, but she hadn’t allowed herself to say it back to him when it mattered the most.

Because she wanted to say it back.

She loved him.

God, she loved him.

Gwyn had scolded herself beyond belief after their closet rendezvous. Pride and arrogance had leashed her so tightly that she had let him walk away from her without knowing just how badly she ached for him. For allowing him to spend even a moment thinking that she could ever feel anything but completely and foolishly in love with him.

Loving Jake Serein was an easy breeze filtering in through the window on a hot August evening. It was fresh flowers on the kitchen table that held their radiance even when they began to wilt. It was the exhaustion that came after a day spent in the sun, and the way your cheek stuck to the pillows upon waking up.

Loving Jake Seresin was everything she had never allowed herself to have, but everything she had always wanted. She wanted him to love her and to love him right back. She wanted him.

Not just Jake. She wanted all of him. She wanted Hangman, and all of his crude remarks and teasing smiles. She wanted Lieutenant Seresin, who took himself too seriously sometimes, but always came back down when it mattered most. She wanted all of it, anything he was willing to give her. Any way that he would have her. And if he woke up tomorrow and decided he no longer felt the same, she could accept that too. So long as she had him, in whatever way that meant.

Nausea had swept over her at the realization that she would do damn near anything for him, that he had crept into her life and filled in every empty space she had available. He had made a home for himself in her heart, and she worried she’d always feel this way.

“You have to talk to him,” Alec had insisted when she’d told him.

She would. She planned to. She just needed time to swallow the raw emotion that came with loving Jake Seresin.

When Monday morning rolled around, she decided she still wasn’t ready. Allowing herself to accept that, she dressed for work and dragged herself to base. No, she wouldn’t talk to him today. He deserved all of her, and she couldn’t give that to him when she was sweeping up the pieces of herself that had fractured after her weekend. Not today, then.

‘You’ll always be my girl.’

She hoped he meant it.

She barely acknowledged the various people loitering around the base, giving them all a wide berth and only pausing for the occasional “good morning”. Gwyn knew she was only biding her time until she had to see him, see how his eyes hollowed whenever he looked at her and saw the woman who had left him out to dry, so she took her time making her way to the hangar.

Bradshaw found her somewhere around her second loop through a loop of hallways that she pretended to be lost in, greeting her with a chipper smile and a small wave around the disposable coffee cup in his grasp. “Mornin’,” he offered.

She smiled at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Rooster knew. Jake had said as much during their supply closet meeting. She opened her mouth to speak before snapping it shut again. This wasn’t the day for her to talk these feelings out, she reminded herself. Bradley glanced at her sidelong.

“You know,” he began, lowering his voice as they passed a group huddled near the bathrooms, “Hangman’s been acting a little different lately.”

She swallowed. Today would be the day, then. “Has he?” she tried, playing up the nonchalance she most definitely did not feel.

Bradshaw hummed as he took a sip from his coffee. “He has.” Another glance. “So have you.”

She felt embarrassed, the same way she had felt when Alec walked in on her changing during their first week of Top Gun. Vulnerable and exposed, naked for anyone to see and without time to cover herself.

“I have to talk to him,” she confessed, voice hoarse. This aching feeling wasn’t going to go away unless she did. Could she ever go back to the way things were before him? When life was quiet and unexciting and without the technicolor he brought along with him, but at least it was guaranteed and predictable. She always knew the end, no matter the beginning. Gwyn wondered if she even wanted that life again, the days before Jake, when simplicity seemed almost poisonous. Would she go back if she had the chance?

She knew the answer. And she would always choose him.

“You do,” Rooster cut through her train of thought. “Just not today.”

Her steps faltered at the words.

“He gave you time,” Bradley continued, not accusingly, but firm nonetheless. “Now he needs time.”

“But I-” she tried to interject, but Rooster waved a hand, cutting her off with a smile.

“Don’t tell me,” and it wasn’t commanding, couldn’t be the way it came out around his soft grin. “Those words aren’t for me. But no matter, give him a chance to process what he’s feeling. For me?” He laughed. “Don’t tell him I said this, but the guy’s starting to grow on me, and I just want him to get his head screwed on straight before he has the chance to mess this up further.”

Gwyn let out a wet laugh at that, brushing back the moisture in her eyes discreetly. She nodded. “Okay.”

He punched her shoulder that felt very Alec. “Atta girl. Let’s get to work before they send out a search party.”

Time. She would give him the same consideration he had granted her when she needed it. She could at least offer him that.

After all, if he was to be believed, they’d have all the time in the world.

‘You’ll always be my girl.’

She sure hoped so.

—-------

Jake squirmed in his chair, pointedly trying not to look at the young woman sat right across the aisle from him.

She had walked in with Rooster, laughing about whatever slipped past his stupidly mustached lips, tying his insides in knots and driving him further into madness.

‘I’ll get over it,’ he told himself.

‘Not a chance,’ his brain shot back.

—————-

Monday passed without incident.

So did Tuesday.

Wednesday is when everything fell apart, her world collapsing in on itself.

True to her word, Gwyn didn’t try to approach Jake no matter how badly she wanted to. She’d give him time.

Bradshaw had been surprisingly supportive through the whole thing, subtle thumbs up and words of encouragement throughout the day that Alec had picked up on and whined about endlessly.

“Wait, since when do you share stuff with Bradshaw?” he demanded after Rooster had clapped her on the shoulder to pull her away from staring at Jake’s arms in his flight suit.

She snorted. “What does it matter?”

“What does it matter?” He was nearly pouting. “I thought I was your hot, handsome pilot who you brought all your emotional nonsense to.”

Gwyn threw her head back with a cackle that echoed around them. “Nonsense, huh? Maybe that’s the reason I prefer Bradley.”

“You’re on a first name basis now, too?” Alec moaned dramatically, making a show of his fake anguish and tearing more giggles out of her.

“Only when we’re getting hot and heavy and really diving into all my ‘nonsense’,” she teased as she wiggled her eyebrows. Alec scoffed, but the sound had no bite when he finished it off with a smile.

“Does he-“

“Guys!”

Gwyn and Alec whirled around at Phoenix’s shout. The female pilot was sprinting at them full speed, boots pounding against the cement and echoing.

“Radar picked up something coming in from the North West. We gotta go. Now,” she yelled over her shoulder as she shoved past them.

Panic rose in Gwyn’s chest. This was it. This was the culmination of all of their hard work. This was the mission they had called her out for. There would be no talking to Jake today or mulling over her feelings.

‘It could be nothing,’ she tried to calm her anxieties.

She prayed it was nothing.

———

It wasn’t nothing.

“Rev, talk to me!” she pleaded to her RIO. They had run head first into conflict with three unmarked planes, newer and faster than their F-18s, and found themselves directly in the line of fire as soon as they were close enough to run through gun lock. She had lost sight of the rest of her team, one of the unmarked aircrafts corralling her further North.

“They’re on our ass, you need to lose them!” Alec shouted, panic crackling down the radio along with his voice.

This was bad. This was so bad. This was the real deal, something no amount of dogfight practice could ever prepare them for.

“I’m trying!” She wanted to cry. They were miles away from the rest of the group, too far to call in support quickly enough to save their ass. She wondered if they were okay, if any of them had gotten struck and if they would be going home with one less crew member.

Her stomach dropped at the thought.

“Smoke in the air!” Alec roared.

Acting without thought, Gwyn dropped her plane well below what Jake would’ve outlined as their hard deck.

Jake.

God, was Jake even okay?

Her stomach flipped as the ground rose up to meet them before she jerked them hard enough to the side to send them spinning before leveling out. It didn’t matter, though. Not when the other pilot was just as crafty, if not more so, than she was. Within moments, the other plane was behind her wing once more, forcing her to swing her craft back and forth in a wild scissor motion to keep him from locking her. Her brain was slowing as exhaustion crept in and replaced the adrenaline surge that had claimed her upon first boarding the plane. They had been at this for what felt like hours and her resolve was slowly crumbling with every close call she just barely managed to slip out of.

How many more close calls could she afford?

“One plane down,” Jake’s stern voice rang through the comms and she released a small relieved sigh at the sound of it. He was okay.

For now.

“I’m on the other. Payback, cover my wing,” came Phoenix’s reply.

Gwyn wanted to bask in the joy of knowing they were okay, that they were holding their own (of course they were), but the anxious grip she had on her controls kept her from celebrating too early.

“Where are the twins?” Jake called, voice nervous. “Rev, Cheek, do you copy?”

“We’ve got a plane on our ass, and we’re not shaking him anytime soon,” Alec winced, head swiveling wildly as he tried to keep track of the plane quickly closing in on them.

Her hands were shaking. “I can't lose him,” and as she said it, her voice cracked and the tears she had been fighting pushed harder against her eyelids.

It would be one thing if it had just been her. She could accept that. But Alec was in her backseat, the same Alec who would follow her to the end of the Earth and trusted her to always get him home.

She wondered if she’d be able to do just that when it came down to it.

“Where are you baby?” Jake’s voice was rough, but she could tell he was trying to be gentle. “I need coordinates, come on.”

Alec rattled them off for her, followed by a quick confirmation from the green-eyed pilot. Her mind eased, but only for a moment before an alarm sounded through the cockpit.

They were in gun lock.

Gwyn pulled up on the controls until the nose of her plane was nearly perpendicular to the landscape beneath them. Alec cursed and she heard the distinct sound of his helmet smacking against the back of his seat.

They were so fucked.

As the sun crept out from behind the cloud cover, and temporarily blinded her, an onslaught of thoughts threw themselves at her.

She hasn’t talked to Mo in a week. She had forgotten to call her dad yesterday. She was supposed to go to her little sister's sweet 16 in a few weeks, had already scheduled time off for it. Her and Phoenix had lunch plans this weekend.

She swallowed back the cry that threatened to tear out of her, but still her mind spiraled.

What about Alec? He was an only child. His mom’s pride and joy, something she shared with anyone who would listen. Alec, who had always treated her as an equal and held her hand when she felt less than. Alec who had just worked up the nerve to ask out the pretty blonde on base. Alec, who had stayed up on the phone for hours telling his dad about the mission they had landed straight out of Top Gun. Alec, who she hadn’t spent more than a weekend apart from since they met.

Alec, who might not see his 25th birthday.

A broken sob pushed its way past her lips before she could stop it. “Jake, where are you?”

“I’m coming, baby. I’m on my way.”

There were orders shouted down the line, but she tuned them out as a hulking shadow raced up behind her. “He’s on us again!” Alec cried out, and God, was this how it ended?

“I can’t see you, baby, you gotta talk to me,” Jake edged past her terror, voice nearing desperate.

“We tried to lose him in the sun, but he followed us right up. We’re stuck up here with him,” and Alec sounded completely lost as he said it.

They were out of moves. They were out of answers. They couldn’t get behind him quickly enough and he wasn’t going to let them close enough to even try it.

“Baby, I'm gonna need you to drop down here. I'm gonna get below him while Rooster squeezes behind and we’re gonna knock this guy out, okay? But I need you to trust me. Can you do that?” His voice was a final gift from the universe, she thought, one last reprieve before life ran its course and grounded her permanently.

Her fingers trembled so hard she thought they might break. She wanted to answer, but her voice was trapped in her throat.

“Talk to me, baby. Can you do that for me?”

She nodded, despite knowing he couldn’t see her. “Yeah,” she croaked weakly. “Yeah I can do that.”

“That’s my girl,” Jake coaxed, making her want to cry even more. Would she ever get to be that? “Alright let’s do this-“

“Smoke in the air!”

Gwyn had barely registered Alec’s words before the plane jerked and shuttered, a blaring ringing through her head and making it pound.

They’d been hit.

She wrestled with the controls, to no avail. The plane nose dipped forward until it was facing straight down.

‘This is it,’ she thought helplessly. She had always known the end from the beginning, but nothing could have prepared her for this.

“Mayday, mayday. This is Canadee and Shaw, and we have been hit,” she cried in a panic.

“I’m coming,” Jake shouted, a note of uncertainty lingering on his tongue. “Bradshaw, stay on my wing.”

It didn’t matter. Alec was scrambling to keep an eye on the plane behind them as she fumbled for control just out of her reach. “We’re putting off smoke,” Alec warned, something she already knew but somehow hearing it out loud made it more concrete.

They were plummeting towards the ground and no amount of wishing or crying out or praying was going to change that. She had failed Alec, she had failed her team, she had failed this mission and she was going to pay for it with her life.

“Eject!” Jake roared, voice sharp and clearer than she had ever heard it.

“Alec,” she wheezed as her head spun, the rapid descent making her dizzy. “I’m going to try to level us out, and then you’re gonna pull at the handle next to your head. Watch the canopy.” For Alec, she could do this. She could get them steady enough to get him out.

“Not without you,” he gasped out, breath sounding too short and too rushed and fuck, the ground was getting too close. “Can’t let you have all the glory, right?”

She choked out a laugh through the few tears spilling down her cheeks. “Goddamn you, Shaw.”

“On three,” he countered. She scrambled to get them as level as she could, nodding her head to settle her nerves and clear the spinning that blurred her vision.

“One,” she began.

They would do this. They would get out of this.

“Two,” Alec bit back, the strain of the flight evident in the way his tone wavered.

“We’re closing in guys, just a few more seconds,” Jake promised.

“Three,” Gwyn ordered, wincing as the canopy flew open and flailed for the handle behind her head. With the last ounce of strength she could muster, she pulled at the yellow cord and held her breath.

Nothing happened.

With a panicked gasp, she yanked once more and still, she found herself rooted in the cockpit, the canopy now open and exposing her to the wild wind ripping at her.

“Eject, Gwyn!” Alec’s shout pierced through her skull as it ran down the radio. Her hands were shaking again and she wailed, loud and unabashed as she continued to tug at the eject handle.

“I can’t!”

“Baby, get out of there,” Jake warned, an edge in his voice that she couldn’t place.

Despite everything she had worked for, she found her only regret was never forcing herself to tell Jake just how deeply and terribly she loved him. That he would never know how tormented she was by the way his eyes lit up when he talked about flying. Or how she wished she could spend the rest of her days groveling for his attention if it meant she would get it. He would never know that she needed him like she needed air, and that she wished they’d been given more time.

Gwyn continued to pull at the chord, and slowly leaned into the acceptance that they wouldn’t have that time, not now at least. But maybe in another life, under different circumstances.

Still, she selfishly wished fate had been kinder to them in this lifetime.

The reality of the job she had been faced with since she first announced she would be pursuing aviation was now staring her dead in the eye. Her brother had been right, this was never gonna end well, and she could’ve laughed at the mental image of him telling her “I told you so”.

“Hangman, watch out-”

The sharp groan of metal on metal blocked out Rooster’s voice, as well as the spine jolting crash that sent her body slamming into the side of the cockpit. Jake’s shout sounded before the smell of smoke filled her nostrils. She had collided into something, not the ground thankfully, but something heavy and metal and strong. Strong enough to send her spiraling.

Her stomach churned.

Another plane.

The force of the impact had her pulling on the handle once more, only to steady herself against the hard air slamming into her, and found the cord finally giving away and sending her barreling out of the cockpit.

“I’m out,” she rasped just as Bradshaw shouted, “Seresin, eject!”

Gwyn tried to call out for him, but her head spun wildly, only stopping when her vision spotted and faded.

Part 11

taglist: @rachelccollier @my-soulmate-is-mycroft @the-winter-marvel33 @barbiewritesstuff @dilfsandtherapy @dempy @itevilhag @supernaturaldawning @katesmadness @roses-and-grasses @tallrock35

#jake hangman seresin #jake seresin #jake seresin x reader #hangman top gun #jake hangman x reader #top gun maverick

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im-juggling-fandoms · 3 years

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A little scared never hurt nobody…

A Blade Movie Fanfiction Part 1

OC x Deacon Frost

So, I happened to rewatch my all time favorite movie Blade. And DAMN how could I forget Deacon? My vagina wonders.

Mature content and mentions of suicide and depression. TW!

My feet ached badly. Of course not anywhere near how much my heart ached, but that was a different matter. Sally had forced me into these high inch heels, telling me how much they fitted the dress she also forced upon me. Jesus Christ, help me.. She had dolled me up like I was just that, her personal little doll.

“Oh, come on Maria, don’t be so sulky!” Sally groaned as we began coming closer to the bar that she had picked out for the night. The crazier the better, right? I thought sarcastically as I watched a group of five entering the club, all of them dressed as funky ravers. Wow, Sally. We looked like two sexified Morticia Gomez’s and if everybody looked anywhere near the other group, we wouldn’t fit in.

“Let’s just go to our usual place.” I groaned, and stopped her in her tracks by grabbing her arm before she could holler at the doorman.

“Why?” She crossed her arms. “I really don’t see why you wanna punish yourself by going back there anymore.” Her hand at my shoulder were gentle and I knew deep down that she meant well.

“You’re right.” I said finally, holding my hands up in defeat. “Fuck Jake! Fuck the pissy club he’s working at!” I shouted out loudly, deserving myself a few looks from a couple of bystanders. I didn’t care. It had taken me some time to get that out of me. Jake.. the son of a bitch that made me completely mad. The reason as to why my wrists were covered in bracelets, not only for the fashion but also to cover the noticeable wounds, soon to be scars, that I did to myself with a hunting knife after he had told me that he had fallen in love with my older sister, and she of course, had fallen in love with him. Not only did I lose the love of my life, I lost my own goddamn sister. It made me hate humanity, hate myself, hate everything. Sally was a fresh sunshine in my other so dark and depressed life. She tried with all her might to bring a smile to my lips and I had to at least try.

“Let’s do this.” I said and Sally jumped up and down in excitement before she grabbed my hand and lead me towards the entrance.

The muscled doorman with a Mr-T-look looked us up and down, a little too long. I was just about to say something when he got out of the way and gestured for us to come on inside.

“Have a wonderful night, ladies.” The doorman said with a chuckle as we brushed past him.

“What a fucking creep!” Sally whispered to me and nodded back to the lovely doorman.

“Probably desperate or something.” I said with a shrug, trying not to let something so trivial as a desperate doorman get my night ruined.

Sally nodded in agreement before we came into the club itself. People were dancing frantically to the blaring music, some people were grinding themselves upon each other, some getting intimate in the corners of the area.

“I need a drink.” I told Sally and pointed towards the bar.

“Seriously?” Sally groaned loud enough to be heard over the pumping music. She pointed to the bar and looked at me with an open mouth.

The line was horrid. There were about sixty people if not more, waiting to order their drinks.

“No way I’m standing in that line.” Sally said, but when she saw how frustrated I became she quickly added, “We can go out to the dance floor and dance for a bit, the line will probably clear up soon, ok?”

I agreed with her and removed my leather trench coat to reveal a black satin dress with a low cut. Sally wore red satin dress with a high cut to match her red hair. Both of us were wearing stilettos, mine were red and hers were black. We sort of completed each other.

We headed out to the dance floor, Sally was jumping and moved around with grace in her high heels. I was trying to not fall flat on my ass as people bumped into us every now and then at the crowded dance floor.

Sally laughed and tossed her hair oven her shoulder as she began dancing closer to me, I tossed my jet-black hair over the opposite shoulder of hers and caught her up on what she was trying to do. This was her way of catching guys attention. Dudes loves watching two girls getting it on and I didn’t really mind. She was my best friend and if she could get laid with my help, so will it be.

I swayed my hips in tact with hers and put my hands on her shoulders as she put her hands on my waist. We went on like that what felt like hours before we needed to take a little break. Sally took my hand and led me from the dance floor and to an empty booth. We sat down with our breaths in our throats and laughed at how promiscuous we had been just moments ago.

“You know, I-“ I began but got silent as a female waiter with a purple leather two piece and green hair put down two Bloody Mary’s in front of us.

“Here you go, girls.” She said with a wide smile.

“Uh-“ Sally began but I cut her off, “We didn’t order those.” I said defensively.

“No, I know. Those gentlemen over there order them for you.” The waitress said and pointed to two men on the other side of the club who already were looking at us. One of them had the same hair color as Sally, and almost as long hair as she did too, the other one had disheveled, brown hair and distinctive light blue eyes who looked right into mine. A shiver ran through my body at his intense gaze.

“I don’t know. We don’t know what the hell they put in that shit.” I said yet again defensively, pictures of Sally getting roofied and raped repeating itself over and over in my head.

“They haven’t touched it. I took the order, made it in the bar and brought it right out to you girls.” The woman said before she flashed another toothy grin and walked off into the crowd.

Sally took one of the drinks and began sipping at it.

“Sally!” I said, trying to take the drink from her hand.

“What? You heard the lady! They haven’t touched it.”

I sighed but she was right. I looked over to the bar and it was still crammed with people waiting in line to order. There were no way we were getting a drink on our own accord. How the hell those two guys got this quick was beyond me but her it was.

I deemed myself defeated as I took a sip of the drink. It tasted amazing and I wasn’t really scared for my own accord. At this point, after everything, I didn’t fear much. I sure as hell didn’t fear death.

“Oh my god.” Sally whispered. “They’re still watching us. They must have seen us dancing.” She said with a big smirk.

I looked up and once again my eyes were entwined with the brown haired man. He grinned, almost as if he knew what we were talking about.

The other man waved, beckoning us over and I saw Sally wave back enthusiastically beside me in the corner of my eye as she stood up and collected her coat.

“You want that dude?” I asked, still sitting down. Looking the red haired man over as I spoke to her. He wasn’t her typical type to say the least. Yet, she seemed enthusiastic at his attention.

“I mean, let’s go over and see what they want.” She responded with a shrug.

“I can tell you right now what they want.” I laughed.

“Meh! Don’t be like that! Look at the other dude, he’s totally eye fucking you.” She nodded over to the pair.

I rolled my eyes.

“He’s hot Maria, let’s just go over. What’s the worst that can happen?”

She was right. I was being boring and definitely cock blocking her. I inhaled and stood up beside her.

We pushed ourselves through the crowd over to the other side, our hands tightly holding each other to not get lost in the craziness of all people jumping and dancing around us.

Before we knew it we stood before the two mysterious men.

“It took you girls long enough!” The redhead shouted over the music with a grin.

Sally laughed along. I didn’t laugh. I didn’t say anything. I had once again locked eyes with the brown haired man. His mouth shot up in an attractive smirk and that alone, somehow cast a spell on me, beckoned me completely in.

“I’m Maria.” I said without realizing I had even spoke.

“My name’s Deacon.” He said and held his hand out to shake mine. I shook it and almost flinched at how cold his firm hand was.

Sally had already sat herself down beside the other man. He had his arm around her and they were laughing together.

The man named Deacon held my hand still and pulled me to his side. I didn’t refuse him one bit. Something about him was alluring, mysterious, almost felt dangerous. A year ago I would’ve put my legs to work and ran out of there but in my current state, it excited me.

He smelled so good. So masculine, yet fresh. His touch was experienced, he knew exactly what he was doing. He had done this so many times before. His mouth spoke sweet nothings in my ear and made me clench my thighs together before we even had the chance to get out of the club.

Sally and the man I know knew as Quinn were already making out. They didn’t seem to care at all about talking. When he started to push her hand towards his groin, Deacon spoke up.

“We should go to our place. It’s not far from here.”

“Good idea, boss.” Quinn nodded and helped Sally to her feet.

Boss? People went out and hooked up with girls with their employees now?

I didn’t have any time to think anymore about that as Deacon put his arm around me and took the lead leaving the club.

We walked a few blocks, Quinn and Sally were laughing and making out every now and then. Deacon held a firm grip around my shoulders and spoke softly about how beautiful I was and what I did to him. How he couldn’t wait to get to his place so he could “rip me apart.” It was a weird choice of words with a girl you just met but I let it slip, it didn’t frightened me if he was on the kinky side.

We stopped at one of the skyscrapers and went inside in the lobby. It was dark and I couldn’t barely see anything before we were inside the elevator. He pushed the button for the penthouse.

“Jesus.” I said.

“What’s that?” Deacon murmured.

“I’m barely afraid of anything but heights.” I said with a shrug. Deacon chuckled lowly.

“You’re barely afraid of anything?” He repeated.

“Not really.” I responded quickly. Not trying to sound like I was trying to be tough. I didn’t know if I was tough. I just knew that a lot of tragedy makes you indifferent.

“How about ghosts?” He asked with a hint of humor in his blue eyes.

“No.” I said, shaking my head.

“Witches, werewolves? How about vampires?” He tried again and this time I laughed out loud.

“No. Even if they happened to exist which they don’t, I just don’t know what to be scared of. That they could kill me? I’m so scared.” I humored.

He didn’t laugh, neither did Quinn. Both of them just stared at me before the elevator alerted us that we had arrived at our destination.

I felt embarrassed. This was exactly why I hadn’t been hooking up with anyone after Jake. I had gone way to dark for anyone’s liking. It was a miracle that Sally had stayed for so long. No one else had. I had a shot with this amazingly sexy guy and now I had most likely fucked it up.

Way to go Maria! I thought to myself.

We parted ways with Sally and Quinn. They hurried to the other side of the corridor we were presented with when we got out of the elevator. Deacon nodded for me to follow him to the other side.

I walked behind him and he didn’t even look back to see if I was coming. Of course he knew I was. Who would be standing up a man that looked like he does? Even if I didn’t get anything tonight which was unlikely that I would do after my little stunt back there in the elevator.

Deacon opened a door to our right and disappeared inside it. I catched up with him and peeked inside.

The room was white in its entirety. The only furniture was a king sized bed and a wardrobe. Nothing more nothing less.

No windows.

Odd.

Deacon stood by the bed and was unbuttoning his shirt and let it fall to the ground carelessly.

I couldn’t do anything but stand there and just get mesmerized by this beautiful man.

“Come here.” He encouraged and I pulled myself from the entrance and closer to him. I stopped right in front of him. There were only a few inches between us.

I let my hands wander down his hairy chest and down to his belt. I looked up as if to ask for permission.

But what I was met with wasn’t what I expected.

A wide grin with a toothy smile.

Teeth that wasn’t a part of the human anatomy. They were sharp like a canines. Like a predators.

Like a vampires.

I heard Sally scream bloody murder from somewhere in the penthouse.

I know it was expected for me to scream too.

But I didn’t.

“Can I?” I just said, referring to the belt.

Deacon, or whatever the hell it was, looked confused for a moment before he chuckled and shook his head.

“Do you realize I’m going to fucking kill you?” He snarled, clearly irritated with my reaction.

“You do whatever you gotta do, then.” I said as I undid his belt and pulled the zipper down. I reached in and took a firm grip around his clothed cock and looked back up at him.

He just stared me down with those icy blue of his, the fangs almost appearing as knives in the white light of the room.

He was still so, so beautiful.

I heard Sally scream one more time and this time it sounded closer. I felt a rush of pain over her. She didn’t want to die. She loved life and everything that came with it, she didn’t deserve this at all.

She must be so scared.

I wished I could be brave for both of us.

Without another word uttered between me and Deacon he turned me around hastily. I sighed, and closed my eyes.

I heard the zipper of my dress being pulled down and then the dress falling of my shoulders and immediately after pooling at my high heels. I didn’t wear a bra so I was left in my black thongs.

His arms were around me and his cold, soft lips and tongue were licking and kissing from my neck to my shoulder, ever so slowly. I clenched my knees together, the heartbeat between my legs almost unbearable. I must be so wet that it practically dripped from me by now.

His hands found my hips and the hem of my panties. He ripped them quickly from my skin, leaving nothing but shreds to accompany my dress at the floor.

I turned around and pulled at his pants. He gave me a crooked smile before he took the task in his own hands. He removed the last clothing items with vigor and ease.

Here we stood. Completely nude to each other. I admired his beautiful, manly, sexy body without embarrassment.

“Fuck.” Was all I could get out.

“I’m about to destroy you, do you fucking understand?” He almost snarled at me. His hand was at my neck, squeezing it firmly, but not hard enough to choke me.

He let go, confusion written all over his icy blues.

“Do you not fear death?” He simply asked.

Instead of telling him my entire life story, I unclasped both of my bracelets I had covering my wrists and tossed them to the side before I held my wrists up for him to see.

“You tell me.” I said as he had gotten a good look on them.

“You’re fascinating.” He breathed. “Humans tend to become so little, so pleading and patethic when faced with something over them in the food chain. You..” he seemed to be trying to find the right words, “You’re so indifferent.”

“What can you possibly do to me that life hasn’t already done?” I honestly asked.

Deacon’s eyes scanned me carefully. Like I was something he never had seen before.

Before I could add anything more, his lips covered mine quickly. Possesively. He groaned into the kiss as he begged for entrance into my mouth and I complied fully as I opened up and welcomed his wet tongue into my mouth. I moaned out loudly as he licked my tongue passionately. I could feel his sharp teeth at my lips and he would probably draw blood any second but I didn’t mind at all. His mouth was all I could think about.

He didn’t waste anytime at all, he pushed me up against the nearest wall, lined up his erected cock with my wet pussy and with one push, he was buried to the hilt.

I clawed desperately at his shoulders as I moaned out for the entire penthouse to hear.

He fucked me into the wall hard, not leaving my eyes for one second as he did so. As if he would get the answers he needed if he did so. Whatever those answers might be.

“Harder.” I begged, not even blinking as I said so.

He growled deep in his chest and literally threw me over to the bed. He were there in a mere second to turn me around on all fours and then he was inside me again.

“You want it hard?” He mocked me almost.

“Yes.” I said with a shaking voice from the pure pleasure he was bestowing upon me.

His hand found my throat and he pulled me up against his chest as he kept pounding into me vigorously.

We both moaned, groaned and touched every inch of each other we could reach. I wanted to melt into him, to be one with him more than just having him inside of me.

It didn’t take long for me to reach my peak. For the first time in my entire life with a man. I always did fine by myself but men never seemed to figure out how to make me burst. Deacon didn’t have any problem at all.

I screamed out loudly and Deacon’s hands were at my breasts, groping them as I rode out the most explosive orgasm I’ve ever experienced.

As if I wasn’t human and didn’t need any rest after that, he turned me over and re-entered me for the third time tonight.

My legs were shaking profusely and I breathed heavily but he kept going. My legs were sprawled out on either side of his legs, my arms were at his chest, his shoulders, in his hair, as I moaned his name over and over again.

He took a hold of my throat with one of his hands and held himself up with the other. He was squeezing hard enough for me to have trouble breathing.

This is it. I thought. This is when he’s going to kill me.

He groaned out, it came deep from within him and vibrated out of his lips.

And as that, he let go of my throat.

He rolled of me and sat himself up against the headboard. He got a cigarette out of his pants by the beds end and lighted it up before he took a deep drag from it.

I remained still where I was laying, too tired to even move after that incredible fucking.

I didn’t even know if I just had dreamt or if this really did happen. I needed to confirm it to myself or else it would never become a reality to me.

I crawled up on the bed slowly, up to where he was sitting and smoking his cigarette carelessly. I leaned in to him and rested my head against his chest carefully. Aware that he any minute could just end it. I just wanted to enjoy the little time I had left.

The bedroom door flung open and an excited Quinn revealed himself, blood around his mouth and even in his hair.

“Deac!” He began but got quiet as he saw me beside very much alive.

“There’s a thing called fucking knocking!” Deacon exclaimed furiously as he sat up and threw the lighter at Quinn with all his might. Quinn barely just ducked it and it broke in thousands of pieces against the corridor wall.

“I’m sorry!” He breathed before he closed the door and presumably hurried away.

“Fucking idiot..” he muttered as he got of the bed and began dressing himself. I remained on the bed, still as a statue. Pondering over all the ways he could end me. I hoped he would end me by feeding himself. He looked starved.

I realized how fucked up my thoughts were about this thing, this man? But something inside me wanted to give him everything I possibly could. Even if it meant my own life. Why? I didn’t have a clue.

He mesmerized me. He calmed me when he should’ve frightened me. Last but not least, he fucked me like a fucking God.

“Maria.” He spoke, pulling me away from my twisted thoughts.

“Mhm..?” I answered absently.

“Stay.” He commanded with a finger pointed to me like I was some dog.

“Aren’t you gonna kill me?” I blurted out, shocked that he hadn’t ripped my throat out already.

He chuckled and put a new cigarette in his mouth, he fished up another lighter from his pocket and lighted it before he smirked cockily more to himself than to me.

“I haven’t had a fuck like that in decades. I’m going to keep you around for as long as I see fit and you’re going to be a good girl and behave for me, won’t you, Maria?”

“I, eh-“ I almost stuttered, not knowing what to answer to something like that.

“Good. I’ll see you later.” He finished as he walked out in the corridor and out of my sight.

What a cocky fucking bastard.

An incredible fucking hot bastard.

#deacon frost #blade movie #smut #Deacon frost x oc

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duskwood-legacies · 3 years

Text

"Summer Sunsets"

•Fandom: Duskwood

•Pairing/Character: Jake x fem!MC

•Word Count: 1,5k

•Genre: Romance, Fluff

•Summary: Jake and MC share a gentle moment underneath the setting sun neither of them wanted to end.

Before I start with the one shot, I wanted to thank all of you for the massive support on my last story, it was heart-warming!🥺💕 I hope you enjoy this story as much as the last one🌿💕

As the sun dipped down behind the horizon, the sky appeared in the most beautiful shades of orange and purple. Wind was slowly howling through the trees, slowly caressing the grass with its gentle melody.

Carefully, MC guided Jake through the fields. Her hands covered his eyes from behind, both their hearts beating a tad bit faster than usual.

“Where are you taking me?” Uncertainty lined Jake’s voice.

“We’re almost there” He could hear the smile on MC’s lips. It loosened his tightened nerve endings, at least by a little. It was dangerous out in the open, especially when the afternoon hours faded into the slow evening. His pursuers were still out there.

Of course MC noticed his discomfort. She knew danger was lurking everywhere around them, but that shouldn’t stop her from doing what she wished to do for so long. Tenderly, she rubbed her thumbs along Jake’s temples, hoping to get his anxiety to simmer down.

Her small act of compassion caused fireworks to explode in his chest.

They halted.

“Tada!” MC beamed as she removed her hands from Jake’s eyes.

A blanket, thoughtfully spread out on the ground, with a bottle of champagne and two suiting glasses lied ahead. A long chain of fairy lights was placed around, illuminating the scenery with a soft and cozy glow which made the setting sun appear like a joke.

“MC…” No words matched what Jake was feeling. Emotions overwhelmed his body. Not ever has he experienced something like that in those days he could remember.

MC walked over to the blanket. Her dress was weightlessly flowing in the wind and her slightly messed up hair only made her frame so much more breathtaking to him. She sat down and met Jake’s unbelieving gaze with a smile. Regarding all their conversations, all their late-night talks and all things told in-between their moments, she expected this kind of reaction.

She patted the free spot on the blanket. Jake couldn’t bring his body to move. He was lost in feelings and sensations, the bitter thoughts of his pursuers washing down into temporary oblivion.

“Jake?” MC’s humble voice brought his attention to her. Her love-lined smile, her oh so sweet eyes filled with kindness and patience. Nothing ever felt so real, yet so much like a cursed hallucination. He glanced down to her hand, still resting on the empty spot.

Slowly but surely Jake’s body stopped betraying him. One step after another, he approached the setting. MC’s eyes were set on him, cautiously observing every move and every bit of expression with curiosity until he finally sat down.

MC could feel how her lips carved into an even larger smile.

“You’re blushing”

“How could I not?” Jake responded with a display of shyness “MC, how long did this take you?”

“Not too long” She comforted him, “I feared you wouldn’t enjoy yourself as much when you knew, or at least had the feeling, this took me longer than 5 minutes”

There it was again. The cheeky tone that made his heart skip, the sound of her voice which made breathing impossible. Even if her words were accompanied by seriousness, her features still held the gentlest expression he had ever seen.

“Hey…”

“Apologies.” Jake quickly replied, “I don’t mean to disrespect you with my silence. This is a lot to take in.”

And… and he felt validated. MC took his feelings into consideration and treated them, treated him, with respect and understanding. It was more than he’ll ever be capable of returning to her.

“I understand” MC nodded. Her eyes lingered on Jake for far more than a few seconds. He sheepishly refused to look at her. She’s never been able to shake this damned, ever-so-tiny piece of worry off. No matter how many times she reassured herself, a small part of her was afraid she was going too far with this.

With all the courage she could gather, MC’s hand reached out and covered Jake’s. Jake flinched at the sudden action, but did nothing to rid of her hand. No, instead he prayed for time to stop, freeze everything but the warmth of her loving touch.

Loving… was her touch even meant to show affectionate feelings? How high was the possibility MC was only being friendly and not displaying romantic attraction?

After all, they still were nothing more than friends.

“Jake,” Her voice cut through his thoughts once again “please talk to me. There is a lot going on in your mind, I can see it. I’m worried about you. Do you want to go home? Am I going too far?”

“No!” Jake blurted out “I want to do anything but that. I enjoy my time with you. It’s bugging me that I will never be able to pay you back.”

“You don’t have t-“

“No MC. I mean everything. You could live a life full of joy, a safe life. By having you here, by my side, I have taken so many of your opportunities. I have stolen the potential of the person you could have become. I pulled you down from the heights you could have climbed, drowned you in the ocean you could have made run dry. I am sorry, MC. So incredibly sorry.” Every word poured out of him like a tide. With every word spoken, his chest ached a little more, with every word spoken guilt came creeping back into his eyes.

MC was silent. Her heart ached as much as his. Seeing the hurt on his face, hearing the distress in his voice pained her so much more than she ever thought was possible. Her hand tightened around Jake’s, afraid he’d slip from her grasp, disappear right in front of her the moment she’d let go.

“From the day I met you, you interested me. I wanted to be the person who protected you. I wanted to be the one who kept you safe and calm. And now here you are. Running from the same people as I am, facing danger every second of your life.”

The meaning of Jake’s words weighted in on MC. She always suspected Jake may beat himself up for a decision she has made, but hearing it from his mouth hurt so much more.

She brought Jake’s hand up to her face and placed a gentle kiss on its back, closing her eyes while doing so. Blood rushed into Jake’s cheeks as well as hers. Their skin burned with the heat of a thousand suns, hearts beating rapidly and air becoming thin inside their lungs.

MC opened her eyes and gave Jake the most heart-felt smile he had ever witnessed. Her free hand found its way to cup his warm cheek, thumb gently brushing over his skin. He could feel the light shiver in her hand.

There was a tension neither of them could explain, but both so dearly wanted to follow.

“It’s okay you’re not who you thought you’d be.” MC whispered with sympathy resting every part of her voice “Sometimes things don’t work out the way we want, and that’s okay. Besides, you’re still keeping me safe, no? You’re still sheltering me from harm and making me laugh every day, don’t you?”

"You laugh a lot." Jake admitted, or more likely realized, as he attempted to fathom what she told him. She resembled so much calmness, did the fact that he endangered her not bother MC at all? Or, even more so, how could she not blame him for the danger’s she’s facing? How can a person be so gentle and understanding with him?

For a moment, silence embraced the two of them. Nothing but the soft flow of the river and echoes of each other's voices in their head surrounded them.

Their eyes were still locked onto each other, no one daring to break the trance they both sent themselves into.

The tension got stronger.

MC gulped. She lightly pulled Jake's face closer, hoping he would know what she tried to initiate. He did. He wanted nothing more than this.

Both were hesitant. They knew what this meant for their future, what complications everything would bring.

No, right this second those thoughts carried no value.

It was their time to cave in, their time to finally release what's been held back for so long. And so they did. Jake freed his hand from underneath MC's and pulled her closer. He couldn't take it anymore, neither could she.

Their lips met and veins filled with passionate fires as fierce as a raging inferno. Jake's free hand cupped MC's one still resting on his face, longing for her touch, longing for this moment to never end.

They broke apart. Both trembling softly from the adrenaline rush, both taking their time to take in the feelings engulfing their bodies with an unforgettable memory.

This moment was magical. All their wishes and desires became true. Reality has barely been so blissfully comforting, especially for Jake.

A quiet chuckle emitted from MC's mouth, grabbing Jake's attention and automatically making him join in. All dangers aside, nothing ever felt so right. So perfect.

MC was the first one to speak up again, grinning as she held up the bottle of champagne that had lied next to them, untouched.

"Champagne?"

Jake could only smile and respond with a nod.

Truth is, none of them needed the alcohol. They were wasted on their feelings for one another, wishing nothing more than for those emotions, for this summer sunset, for this serenity to last for eternity.

-----

I'm not too confident in the ending of this story, but I'm really proud of the beginning!💕🍀

#duskwood #duswood jake x mc #duskwood jake x player #duskwood fanfiction #everbyte #duskwood fandom #duskwood everbyte #duskwood mc #duskwood player #everbyte studios

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blackandgoldandeverythingnice · 3 years

Text

i don’t remember me (before you) - j. debrusk [part ii]

Pairing: Jake DeBrusk x female!OC

Summary: Could it be more cliche than falling in love with your neighbor when she wasn’t exactly available? What happens when getting her to fall in love with you isn’t even the hard part?

Word Count: 9,077

A/N: so, part ii - maybe one day i’ll get good at summaries and update them accordingly but honestly, no promises. this one has a LOT of warnings and i’ll adore any and all feedback.

Warnings: adult themes, alcohol consumption, abuse [very much the abuse in this part so please be warned], shitty boyfriend/ex-boyfriend, swearing...I think that’s it

part ii

“I have travelled many miles, I don't wanna walk no more Every road and every highway led me right back to your door” -lord huron

Jake was pretty sure he’d never seen Alina nervous before. Normally she was the quintessential Russian: serious, blank face that belied nothing about how she was feeling. But right now she was tapping her foot nervously and gnawing on her bottom lip. Her hair was up in a little half ponytail thing and he forgot he usually only saw her in scrubs, his sweats or a mini dress for a night out. This version of Alina was softer, not as sexy as ��club Alina’ but he thought he might like it better. She had on a pair of ripped jeans with a loose cardigan buttoned up, cutting in a low v on her chest. They didn’t speak much in the car ride over but Jake kept a hand on her knee, rubbing at the bare skin he could get to.

When she’d showed up at his apartment after getting ready, she shoved a bottle of wine into his hand and anxiously asked if he thought it would be good enough. Jake had managed to make her laugh when he’d snorted at her, asking how it was she thought he would know what wine was good or not.

That same bottle was now being grasped tightly in one hand, her other squeezing at his thigh tightly.

“Ease up, Leenie – you’re gonna leave a mark.” He teased, tapping her hand softly.

“Oh! Sorry, Jed.” But she didn’t loosen her grip much and he just let her keep clinging to him. He realized while she was usually a blank face to everyone around her, lately – more often than not – she was completely and purely herself around him. It’s like a wall that had been blocking back emotions before had come down and now everything she thought played clearly on her face for him to see. But only for him.

It wasn’t a long ride to get to Charlie’s and when they pulled up, Jake went to climb out of the car but realized that Alina was still sitting quietly in the back seat.

“Maybe you should just go without me. I can have him take me back home.” She nodded at the driver who was frowning and looked like he was a minute away from yelling at them to get in or out.

“Nope.” Jake responded, reaching into the car and physically dragging her out. She stumbled slightly as she hit the curb and he managed to shut the door to the car mere seconds before the driver pulled away.

“Jake…” she practically whined. “They don’t like me. I should just go, you’ll have a better time without me.”

“Leenie, if you don’t go, I’m sure as hell not going. I spend all my time with these idiots, I want to be wherever you are.” The hesitance remained on her face and he stepped closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. “If you really don’t want to go, we’ll go home. Or out to dinner. Whatever you want. Ride or die.”

That earned him a giggle. “Ride or die?”

“I’m your ride or die, whatever you want, we’ll do.” He nodded seriously until she finally gave him a smile, her facing turning determined.

“Okay. We’ll go. But if they’re not nice to you, I’m gonna let ‘em have it.”

“I expect nothing less.” He teased, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead. Forehead kisses had become more and more frequent. As had holding hands, cuddling and the way Alina would nudge her nose into his neck, brushing her lashes against his skin. At this point, they were more affectionate than he’d been with any previous girlfriend.

It still wasn’t enough but he instinctively knew he needed to go slow, knew that he couldn’t risk pushing her into something she wasn’t ready for. Shit, he wasn’t even sure if she felt the same as he did. All he had was a ‘feeling’ that things between them were different, that they were out of the sure footing that had been their friendship and in some weird limbo zone where they were both trying to figure out what the other wanted.

Sighing to himself, he took her free hand and pulled her towards Charlie’s building. He had forgotten to ask exactly who was going to be there and now that they were in the elevator, he felt a little panicky about what they were walking into.

While he’d deny it to her, he knew Alina wasn’t his friends’ favorite. And her desire to protect him meant she overreacted to the smallest chirp that was thrown his way even when it didn’t bother him. He only hoped that tonight would go okay.

Walking into Charlie’s apartment, Jake immediately felt like this was the wrong decision. There were at least eight couples and some of the girls were looking at Alina critically, from the bottle of wine in her hand to the way she was clinging onto Jake. Looking friendly wasn’t something Alina excelled at so the stoic look that Jake knew came from a place of nervousness or shyness, instead made her look like a mega bitch.

He squeezed her hand gently and turned his face into her ear. “Smile, babe. You look entirely too Russian right now.”

Alina snorted, squeezing his hand back and relaxing slightly, smiling at him. “It’s just my face, I can’t help it.”

Jake rolled his eyes, dropping her hand and placing it on her lower back to lead her through the room. He wanted to find Charlie and, more importantly, Charlie’s girlfriend. Kiley was one of the sweetest girls he knew and had always been kind to Alina, usually the only one she’d talk to while waiting for him after games.

Walking into the kitchen, he found the hosts putting the finishing touch on plates of charcuterie. And really, that just meant they were unwrapping the clearly pre-made platters.

“So much for doing the heavy lifting,” Jake teased, bundling Kiley up into a big hug. Charlie hit him but stepped around him to pull Alina into a hug. Jake noticed her stiffen slightly but return the hug before pulling away quickly.

“Ki – you remember Alina.” Jake gestured, returning to her side and throwing an arm around her shoulders.

“Of course! Welcome.” She pulled her into a hug before accepting the offered bottle of wine. “Oh wow, this is really nice – you shouldn’t have.”

Alina flushed slightly, waving a hand dismissively. “It was always one of my favorites so I thought I’d share.”

“Well thank you.” Kiley said sincerely and Jake couldn’t help smiling at her. Charlie really had found a good one. “I say we open this in here and just save it for the two of us.”

“Great idea.” She grinned back conspiratorially. “Can I help with anything?”

“Grab a few glasses, yeah? And are you any good at opening wine?”

“Am I ever!” she responded, grabbing a wine key and getting to work on the wine she’d brought. “I used to work in my Dedushka’s restaurant, if you fucked up the bottle, you had to pay for it but you also got to drink it.”

Kiley grinned at the story, taking it at face value but Jake’s head shot up at the sound of her talking about being younger. He’d never once heard her mention anything about working in a restaurant.

“What’s a ‘dad-kush-kah’?” Charlie asked earning a little smile from Alina who promptly corrected his pronunciation.

“Grandfather.” She got a little faraway look in her eyes but quickly returned to the task at hand.

“Come on, man – come say hi to the rest of the guys.” Charlie tried to shove him back in the direction of the living room but he dug his heels in, twirling around to escape and slide next to Alina.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning down so only she could hear him. “You okay? I can stay with you.”

It looked like she was thinking about it, her gray eyes searching his before she shook her head slightly. “Go on, I’m good – I’ll be a wine opening maniac.”

Instinctively, he pressed a kiss to her temple and ignored the look that Charlie and Kiley exchanged before following Chuck into the living room. He greeted his teammates and their significant others, smiling good-naturedly as the boys all yelled his name or teased him about one thing or another. He was just happy that Alina didn’t hear them or she’d end up lighting them up in his defense.

He managed to stay in the room for all of fourteen minutes before drifting back into the kitchen. Despite Charlie saying it was going to be just couples, a few of the girlfriends had brought friends and he got the distinct feeling Charlie Coyle’s girlfriend was trying to set him up with one of them. He walked back into the kitchen to find Alina perched on the counter, chatting animatedly with Kiley. He paused in the doorway to watch her as she gestured dramatically with one hand, large glass of wine in the other, only pausing her story to take a long sip and accept a piece of cheese that Ki had handed her. The sweater she had on had slipped off one shoulder and he eyed the bare skin greedily, aching to touch her.

It was a relief to see her getting along with at least one of the girls, a light floaty feeling filled him at the sight. Baby steps, he told himself, baby steps.

Eventually, he couldn’t resist interrupting, moving towards Alina and fitting himself between her legs. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her head on the top of his while continuing to talk to Kiley.

“But yeah, I’m super lucky the other nurses are so experienced and are actually super sweet. Have you been doing nights or days?”

The two girls continued the conversation around him like he hadn’t even joined and he contented himself with sharing Alina’s glass of wine and helping himself to one of the smaller trays that hadn’t been circulated out into the living room yet. They spent the better part of an hour in there, switching to a different bottle when Alina’s fancy one had been finished.

“If you’re not gonna get your own glass, you have to be the refill bitch.” She muttered in his ear, pressing an errant kiss to the side of his head before refocusing on whatever Kiley was saying to her.

He pushed back from the counter to refill from a new bottle, pouring it nearly to the brim before returning to his position. A couple other girls had wandered in to join them and Jake felt Alina stiffen slightly as the kitchen got more crowded.

“Ohh, boujee! Who brought this?” one of the girls cooed, picking up the now empty bottle that Alina had brought. “This is like 200 bucks.”

Surprised, he turned to catch Alina’s eye but she avoided his stare, cheeks flushing at the attention.

“JD’s gir – uh, neighbor brought it.” Kiley answered. Half a dozen people turned to look at Alina who just waved awkwardly and tightened her grip on him.

“That was – ” one of the girls who Jake was pretty sure was a friend of a friend paused to eye the way Alina and Jake were tangled together before continuing, “Generous of you, Jake.”

He knew what she was doing. It was something all the guys had to deal with: girls that wanted to be with a player because of the money. And if a girl was like that she usually assumed all the others were. Jake flushed with anger, opening his mouth to respond but Alina beat him to it.

“Actually, I bought it myself.” She answered stiffly, tugging the glass from Jake’s hand to take a sip.

The kitchen felt ice cold and tense, nothing like it had been when it had just been Kiley and Alina chatting. Thankfully, Chuck and Gryz came flying into the room shouting about everyone going into the living room. The girls that had just come in exchanged looks before turning to go while Alina stayed put. Kiley shot the two of them a concerned look but grabbed a few things to bring into the living room, leaving them alone.

He turned around so he could face her, placing a hand on either side of her body and leaning his forehead against hers. “Leen, ignore them.”

“I told you your friends hated me.” She mumbled, refusing to meet his eyes.

“Those are absolutely not my friends.” He nudged her nose with his. “Do you wanna go? I told you, the second you want to leave, we can.”

She was quiet for a second, fingers trailing along the sliver of skin between his shirt collar and hair. He practically melted into her at the sensation. “No, no – I need to be nicer. I do want your friends to like me…”

“How bout this: we spend another hour or so here, drink a bit more fancy wine and eat some cheese then we’ll go out to dinner – just you and me.”

That earned him a smile and her eyes brightened for the first time that night. “You’d do that for me?”

He sighed, feeling the wine loosen his tongue slightly. “Leenie, when’re you gonna learn I’d do anything for you?”

“I don’t deserve you, Jed.” She mumbled, staring straight at him, her eyes serious and intense.

“We’re not gonna do our little argument about who deserves who.” He teased but she stayed serious, eyes dropping slightly to his lips.

“Jake, I – ” he wasn’t sure what she was going to say, he wasn’t sure if she even knew because she cut herself off.

Instead, she leaned forward and pressed her lips gently to his. It caught him so off-guard he hesitated for a second but thankfully his instinct kicked in before she could pull back in embarrassment and he caught the back of back of her head, pulling her in closer.

It was like everything he’d been dreaming about but better. Alina tasted sweet like honey, her mouth hot on his as she wrapped her arms around him tightly. He wound the hand not buried in her hair around her waist, tucking up under her sweater to press his palm against her skin.

Reluctantly, she pulled back, staring at him seriously. “I’m sorry.”

“Why the fuck are you sorry, Leen? Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to do that?”

She giggled, sliding off the counter and burying her face into his chest before turning up to look at him. “You still wanna stay?” she teased, eyes sparkling.

“Fuck,” he grumbled into the top of her head. “I really really don’t but we should.”

Just as he was leaning down to steal another kiss, Charlie bounced back into the room. “Heyo, what’re you two doing? Come have some more wine before we have to switch to the boxed stuff.”

He stared at the two of them, tangled around each other and faces flushed but that didn’t stop him from continuing to egg them on about moving into the living room with the rest of the party.

“Alright, alright – we’re coming!” he yelled over his shoulder finally, shooting him a dirty look for interrupting. He turned back to face Alina, resting his head against hers. “Maybe we’ll stay for like twenty minutes?”

Smirking, she stood on tiptoe to press the lightest kiss to his lips before moving around him to go into the living room. He scurried behind her to follow, catching up easily. He wrapped his arm around her waist, feeling her relax at his touch. The move wasn’t lost on nearly everyone in the room. While officially Alina had been introduced as his neighbor, he was pretty sure a blind person could see the way he was touching her and staring at her and refusing to be farther than an inch away from her.

Alina remained controlled with her drinking, sipping wine slower than she had been drinking lately and that in and of itself felt like a victory. She did relax slightly but Jake noticed how she tended to stay close to him or Kiley. If she was ever talking to another of the girls, Kiley was also involved and if she moved along, Alina would do the same after a minute or so. She’d finally settled into a conversation with Charlie Coyle and his girlfriend leaving Jake to talk to a few other people while still keeping a close eye on her.

He desperately wanted to leave, wanted to get her alone so they could talk or make out or do more, he didn’t know. But he also wanted to give her the chance to get along with the group because he was hoping she’d be part of it soon.

“Slim! My guy! You crash any cars lately?” Khuls came blazing in loudly and Jake noticed Alina’s eyes shooting over and narrowing at the words.

He rubbed at his neck, “Er, not lately, man.”

Once the can was open, a few of the other guys started to chirp him, mostly around if he was going to grow a mullet again this year or if he’d been working out instead of going to McDonalds every night. He kept glancing over at Alina who was back to Russian Bitch Face and he was worried about what was about to come next if the guys didn’t stop.

And sure enough, Karson said something else about his driving and then Alina was at his side, threading her fingers with his. There was barely contained rage on her face but she seemed to swallow it down, instead squeezing his hand tightly.

Standing on tiptoe, she pressed her lips to his ear. “I’m ready to go if you are.”

He knew she was trying to make an effort, trying to get his friends to like her and in this case that meant not saying a word to them when they were chirping him.

He knew his face gave away everything when he looked down at her with a goofy smile. “Yeah, Leens – let’s go.”

“You guys are leaving already?” Kiley pouted and rather than admit Alina had just about had enough of being around so many people she wasn’t comfortable with he shrugged, swinging their clasped hands lightly.

“Sorry, Ki – we have late dinner plans.”

“Where are you going?” the girl that had been bitchy about the wine Alina had brought cut in and Jake was never outwardly rude so he just gave her a tight smile.

“Committee, down by the waterfront near our place.” He liked saying ‘our place’ like they lived together for real instead of just in the same building. “It’s Leenie’s favorite.” He added to get this girl to realize Alina wasn’t just some random girl that he’d brought out for a good time.

“Nice.” Chuck gave a reassuring nod, seeming to understand that it was time for them to leave. “Thanks for coming, bro.”

They made their goodbyes as quickly as possible but it still took about fifteen minutes to get out of there. By the time they were heading down the hall, Jake was thrumming with energy at getting to be alone with Alina. As they stepped into the elevator and the doors slid shut, Alina was wrapping herself around his body and pulling him to her lips for a soft kiss.

He pulled back, grinning down at her. “Do you actually want dinner?” he teased and she flushed slightly before smacking his stomach.

“I’m a classy lady, I need dinner first.” She smirked back at him, stepping up for another kiss but he pulled back so she couldn’t reach him.

“You know this is more than that, eh?” He paused, serious as he brushed her hair back off her shoulders.

She squeezed his waist, tucking one hand under his t-shirt and tugging on the belt loop with her other. “If it was just that, I would’ve taken advantage of the four times I’ve woken up to your hard cock poking me in the ass.”

“Fuck,” he groaned, flushing red and feeling his body overheat at her words. “You noticed that?”

“Jesus – yeah. I noticed it.” Now she was flushing, biting on her lip teasingly and trailing her fingers down his torso. “But yeah, Jakey – let’s go to dinner first.”

She seemed to have timed it perfectly, winking up at him just as the elevator door slid open and then she slinked out, heading towards their waiting Uber, leaving Jake shaking his head like a puppy. Before the doors could close on him he hurried after her, catching her around the waist just as she was opening the car door and he hustled them inside.

The couple glasses of wine they’d both drank seemed to have made them both more relaxed and Jake spent the ride back to South Boston contenting himself with sweet, slow kisses and brushing his fingers along the waistband of her jeans. He was aching just thinking about what it would be like when they got home. It was tempting to just race home and throw her on the mattress but Jake wanted to talk about it first. Make sure this wasn’t a rebound or a hookup. He knew he wouldn’t be able to take it if they weren’t on the same page.

By the time they got to the restaurant, Jake was half hard and regretting his plan to go through dinner. The Uber driver had given them a sharp warning to stop getting handsy and Alina had just replied back in Russian angrily which seemed to scare him into leaving them alone.

They were both happy it was a Tuesday and the restaurant was only half full. Jake requested a table in the back corner and while he’d always made fun of couples that sat on the same side, it was impossible to separate himself from being close to her. So he slid in next to her, crowding into her space until she was playfully trying to push him away.

“What?” he asked, ducking in close so he could kiss her. “You think I can sit all the way over there when you’re here looking like that?”

“Like what?” she teased.

“How you always do,” Jake shrugged. “Perfect.”

Alina flushed and Jake was pretty sure he’d never seen her blush as much as she had tonight. She slid her hand along his thigh, dancing her fingertips up along his leg until he was inhaling sharply and caught her wrist with his hand.

“Why won’t you let me play?” she teased, pressing her face against his neck.

Jake had to take in a few deep calming breaths and he felt grateful when the server stopped by. They ordered cocktails and an appetizer but he didn’t think the two of them had the patience for actual dinner.

As soon as the server walked away, Alina was back to teasing her fingers along his leg and he had to get hold of the situation before he wasn’t able to think straight.

“Leenie…can we talk? For just a minute?”

She frowned slightly, pulling back when she realized he was being serious. “Um, of course. I just – you want this too, right?”

The question caught him so off-guard he was quiet for a beat too long. Alina looked up at him sadly, biting hard on her lower lip. He panicked slightly, turning to face her so he could hold her face and she couldn’t avoid his stare.

“Alina,” he started seriously. “I want this. I want you. But I also want more.”

He held his breath, waiting for his words to sink in. She was gripping on to his wrist tightly, eyes scanning his nervously. “Like…you like me?”

He huffed a breath out. How could she not know?

“Yeah, Leens. I like you. A lot. Like a lot a lot.”

“A lot a lot?”

“More than you could know.” He admitted, heart pounding in his chest. He’d watched Alina go through a traumatic relationship and he liked to think he’d helped her start to heal. Over the last year and a bit of knowing her, he’d fallen hard and stupid but it had felt like she’d been right there with him.

She opened her mouth to respond but shut it, looking shier than he’d ever seen her before. It felt like she was quiet for hours until she finally spoke.

“I – I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about someone before.” She admitted quietly, rubbing her thumb along the underside of his wrist. “I’m – shit…I’m not easy and kind of a disaster but you make me feel good; feel like someone that deserves to be loved. I want to try this. I want to be with you if you want to be with me.”

“We’ll go slow. I don’t want to push you but I need you to know I’m not gonna give up or go away just because you get a little too drunk one night or you yell at half my friends.” He teased slightly and she gave a watery little chuckle.

“Can we still have sex tonight though?” she asked and he choked on air, glaring at her when she started laughing.

“I might hold out on you just for that.” He answered with zero truth in his words. She raised one eyebrow and just leaned back without a word before he huffed a sigh. “Yeah okay, there’s no way I’m ever going to deny you anything.”

It was obvious he wasn’t just talking about tonight and instead of speaking, Alina just leaned forward to kiss him gently.

Their drinks arrived and then the food shortly after while the two of them went back to their normal relationship, joking and teasing each other except this time there were kisses and sly touches mixed in. Jake felt like he was floating. It was everything he’d been wanting for more than a year and it was better than he’d ever imagined.

Before the server could even ask if they wanted more food or drinks, Jake was sliding his credit card over. All he wanted was to get Alina alone. The restaurant was only a block away from their building and as soon as the check was signed, he was bundling her out the door and practically dragging her along as they walked.

Alina giggled behind him and he just squeezed her hand tighter. “I’m not gonna run away from you, Jed.”

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned about you it’s that you’re a drunk runner.”

“Trust me,” she started to say and he glanced over at her, drinking in the happy glow around her and the way her eyes were sparkling back at him. “I’m not running away from this.”

--- ---

“Holy shit.” Jake exhaled into Alina’s neck as he tried to catch his breath.

He’d collapsed on top of her and he could feel her still pulsing around him and her heart racing. He lifted his head to see her staring back at him, eyes soft and a happy little smile playing on her kiss-bruised lips. She ran a hand through his hair as he finally rolled off of her, hissing slightly at the loss of her around him.

“We’ve been cuddling for weeks when we could’ve been doing that?” she whispered, rolling into him so she could wrap around his body. He lifted his arm up to hold her close, smirking and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“To be fair, I’ve been thinking about doing that for more than a year.”

“Oh?” she raised an eyebrow at him. “And how did you prepare? Watch some game tape?”

He threw his head back with a laugh, sliding a hand down her side to land on her ass. “Lotta nights alone in hotel rooms thinking about what I’d do if I had you in my bed.”

“Did it live up to your expectations?”

“Not even a little.” He answered, grinning at the glare she gave him. Before she could say anything he tilted her head up to catch her lips in another kiss then pulled back. “It was a million times better.”

They fell quiet, content to stay cuddled up in the little cocoon they’d made. Alina’s bed was a massive king but they stayed on top of each other, the sheets tangled around them. Jake felt like he was moving through a dream. Last night he had been arguing with his teammates about Alina and how they were ‘just friends’ and now he was in her bed with her naked body pressed against him, trailing her fingers up and down his stomach gently. He traced the length of her spine, a little smile playing on his lips.

He stared down at her, eyes drinking in her features. There was a little birthmark he’d never noticed right on her temple. Her hair was a mess, the dark waves tickling his arm. She was staring across the room sleepily, eyes hooded and a satisfied little smile on her lips. The warmth of her body and the way she was distractedly running her fingers along his skin was making him sleepy. Eventually, her movements slowed and they both dropped off to sleep.

The next thing Jake knew a loud banging was startling the two of them awake. Alina shot up into a sitting position next to him, blinking awake and alert faster than he was. The banging continued, coupled with muffled yelling.

Frantically, she rolled out of the bed, grabbing her phone before snagging his button down and pulling it on as she hurried out of the room.

“Fuck.” Jake hissed, jumping out to follow her only pausing to grab a pair of shorts he’d left at some point.

The banging was deafening in the living room, shouts coming through the door and it wasn’t hard to guess who was out there based on the language and the sheer fear on Alina’s face.

“Baby, let me – ” he moved towards the door but she got between him, pushing back on his chest.

She started to yell back through the door in Russian, clearly telling her ex to go away but he just kept pounding loudly. It was nearly three in the morning and he was going to wake up the neighbors if he didn’t leave soon. Nothing she was saying was working and Jake felt helpless. There was pure fear etched on her face and he stepped behind her to place a calming hand on her back.

“Do you want me to call the police?” it was the only thing he could think of except opening the door and telling him to fuck off himself. He was bigger than her ex but he’d always noticed there was something unhinged that reflected in his eyes. But if it meant protecting Alina, he’d go toe to toe with the guy.

“Yes – no – shit, they never help. I’ll just – I – fuck. I’m going to open the door but keep the chain on. He – he’s yelling about you.” She whispered at him, panic and fear overwhelming her momentarily and some of what she said made no sense. “There’s something on Instagram?”

Jake paled wondering what the fuck could’ve been posted in the last few hours to put this guy in a rage. He could only imagine that it wasn’t good.

Alina cracked the door slightly, hissing back in Russian as her ex pushed hard against the door trying to snap the chain. She jumped back in fear and there was zero-way Jake was going to let this continue.

He stepped forward, pushing Alina behind him. The second her ex caught his eye, his face turned red and he shook the door harder.

“Stay fuck away Alinochka.” His words were followed by another hard bang as he tried to muscle through the chain.

“You need to leave.” Jake shot back, forgetting he was standing in just a pair of shorts while Alina was wearing his shirt which was only making the guy angrier.

He switched back to Russian, yelling angrily at Alina who was responding but her voice was shaking.

“Leen – this isn’t okay, I’m getting rid of him.”

The fear grew on her face and she grabbed his arm frantically. “Jake, no. You can’t get into a fight because of me.”

“He’s a piece of shit, I don’t want him anywhere near you.” He squeezed her arm softly before turning back to the door and inhaling deeply, trying to control his own temper. He threw the door open and thankfully her ex was smaller than he remembered. Definitely still an angry maniac who hit women but Jake was stronger.

Her ex tried to barrel through the door, attempting to get by him and to Alina, shoving into Jake who pushed him back. “Not gonna say it again, man. Get the fuck out of here. And don’t fucking come back.”

He tried again to get past Jake who muscled him back. He had tunnel vision, entirely focused on getting her ex the fuck away from her. He really didn’t want to get into a fist fight in the middle of the night but he would if it meant keeping her safe. Another shove and this time Jake was knocked back into the apartment. Alina gave a little shriek of panic and he heard her on the phone, giving their address and begging for someone to come quickly.

Again, her ex barreled towards him and this time, caught him around the waist. Jake fell back with a thud and just barely had time to get his arm up to protect himself from a punch. The second one landed, cracking him dully on the side of the head. Going off instinct, he pushed his hands on his chest, shoving as hard as he could to get him off of him.

The move managed to allow him to scramble up and reposition himself in front of Alina who looked like she was having a panic attack. But he barely had time to glance at her before returning his focus to her absolute fucking psycho ex who was preparing to take another swing at him. Ducking from the blow, he managed to hit him squarely in the face, hearing the satisfying crunch of a broken nose. Blood started to drip onto the floor and it slowed him down long enough for two cops to come barreling into the room, one grabbing her ex and the other pushing him back.

One cop tried to get control of the screaming Russian who was spewing blood all over the place while Jake immediately threw his hands up defensively to show he wasn’t doing anything. It only took about thirty seconds for the cops to recognize him.

“Jesus, DeBrusk?” the one that had initially tried to restrain him before realizing he wasn’t the problem. He was an older guy, maybe his dad’s age while the guy trying to hold onto Alina’s ex was younger and beefier, practically a John Cena clone.

“Yeah – can you guys get this asshole away from my girlfriend?” he snarled angrily, stepping over to snag Alina’s hand and pull her close to him. He was trying to calm his breathing, shaking out his hand that was already killing him while pulling her into his side.

“Okay, let’s all calm down here. Jesus – does this guy speak English?” the other officer said, still struggling to control him.

“Sir, officer, I’m sorry – he does but his English isn’t great.” Alina managed to get out, her voice cracking slightly. “His name is Mikhail Drozdov.”

Mikhail’s eyes flashed dangerously at Alina and he tried again to lunge forward to grab at her.

“None of that.” Officer Cena clone grunted, using one hand to twist Mikhail’s arm back behind him at a painful angle to snag his handcuffs before finally restraining him and plopping him down on the floor. “Stay. Does he understand ‘stay’?”

Alina hissed at Mikhail, her words sounding harsh and bitter. He was still glaring at the way she was tucked protectively into Jake’s side. The longer he was sitting there, the stronger the scent of vodka grew and Jake realized the guy was completely obliterated.

“Now that he’s restrained, can I ask you two a few questions?”

“Yes, sir.” Jake said, turning to his media training. He was going to get lit up by the front office if this got out but he was just happy he’d been here to protect Alina and now he just wanted to focus on getting everyone the fuck out of her apartment. “Can we grab some clothes first?”

The officer smirked at the pair of them in their state of undress. Alina was trying to cover herself and Jake made a point to shield as much of her body as she could.

“Go ahead, kids. We’ll try to interview Igor over here while we wait.”

Jake turned carefully, still keeping her as covered as he could as he nudged her back towards her bedroom. The second they were in the room Alina burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.

“Holy shit, Jake – I’m so sorry. So so fucking sorry.” She rambled into the crook of his neck, her tears soaking into his skin. “I don’t know what happened. He was yelling about something on Instagram? What does that even mean? How did he know we were together?”

Jake’s stomach flipped. Someone from the party had to have posted something that showed the pair of them together. He didn’t think it would be from the restaurant, that would take a lot to find but if it was in the background of one of the guys’ stories, it was possible.

He drew back so he could look at her, pushing her hair off her face and pressing a quick kiss to her nose. “I don’t know, baby. Maybe one of the guys shared something? And we were in the back? I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened.”

“How much trouble are you going to be in?” she asked, focusing her worry on him. It made his heart hurt a little to think about the fact that some asshole had just physically tried to assault her and she was worried about him. Carefully, she brushed at his eye where the punch had landed. “I bet the cops would let you go back to your place. You don’t have to be involved. It’ll just be me and Mikhail.”

“Leen, I’m not leaving you. We didn’t do anything wrong. I’ll talk to Bergy in the morning. He’ll help but right now we have to go talk to them.”

Nervously, she nodded through wide, watery eyes. He hated seeing the terror on her face so he pulled her in for a kiss, pressing his lips to hers and holding her tightly for a long moment. When he released her, they quickly got dressed; Jake pulling on a Bruins sweatshirt of his that Alina had stolen a couple weeks ago while she dragged on a pair of yoga pants while keeping his shirt on. The buttons were crooked and only two of them done up so he paused to carefully fix it for her.

Finally they emerged from her room to find two more cops had arrived and Mikhail still on the floor, spitting an angry stream of Russian at those around him. When he spotted Alina he snarled and tried to move forward.

“Where’d you find this guy?” Cena clone asked, kicking at his leg slightly.

Alina ignored him, walking back towards the first cop they’d talked to. “I’m Alina Agapov.”

“Yes, ma’am. We pulled your info. I’m Sergeant McDonald. Let’s take a seat in the kitchen, okay?” It was like a switch had flipped, the police officer turning into a kindly uncle as he led Alina and Jake towards the kitchen island where the two of them sat down. “Looks like you have an active restraining order against Mr. Drozdov.”

Jake shot a surprised look at Alina. He had no idea that she’d taken her ex to court and he hated himself for not having been around to help her through it. And that she hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him about it.

She swallowed hard, moving closer to Jake and he wrapped his arm around her, letting her lead the conversation.

“Yes, that’s right. We just had the hearing a few weeks ago. He – he’s not supposed to come near me.”

“No, ma’am. We’re going to bring him into the station and hold him. He’ll have the option of bail but the more times he breaks the order, the worse it’ll be.” Sergeant McDonald said softly but his words did nothing to calm Jake’s anger.

“‘More times he breaks it’? What the fuck does that mean – he’ll just keep trying to attack her but bail will go up?”

“Calm down.” He said sharply, shooting Jake a stern look.

Alina squeezed his leg. “Jake, please. It’s okay.”

“No, it fucking isn’t.” He huffed under his breath but fell quiet as they were asked more questions. They recounted the night, explaining that they’d been asleep when Mikhail had showed up screaming then all that had happened to get to this point.

Jake chanced a glance behind him to see two of the officers hauling Mikhail out of the apartment. He sighed slightly, pulling Alina in tighter to him. After another ten minutes of answering questions, the officer finally seemed satisfied and offered a card to Alina.

“This is where we’ll be holding him and that’s where you can get a copy of the report. Recommend you call your lawyer in the morning, he’ll know what to do next.” He looked awkward, unsure of how to deal with a girl that was so clearly emotionally drained and then slid his gaze to Jake. “Listen – we, uh, we don’t have to put your name in the report or anything.”

Surprised, Jake looked at him. “That – that doesn’t seem right. I broke his nose.”

“We can work around that, son. The guy is gonna go to jail regardless, your girl has like seven police reports filed against him so it shouldn’t be a hard decision for the judge.”

The fact that Alina had filed so many reports hit him like a truck. It had clearly been far worse than he’d even realized. In a daze, knowing the cop was giving him an out because of who he was, he looked down at Alina.

“He’s right, Jake – this can fuck things up for you.” She said softly, her gray eyes pleading with him to think about himself.

It didn’t feel right. He was worried if there was anything that wasn’t right in that report, Mikhail would be able to work around it and get back at Alina.

So he shook his head no. “Just – write it as it happened, sir. I’ll sign it or whatever but it should be right.”

Sighing, Sergeant McDonald flipped his notebook closed. “Okay…we’ll do our best to keep it quiet though. And uh, good luck – you’re playing like a beast.”

He gave him a tight smile. The fact that they were talking about his play when a guy had just violently gone after his girlfriend didn’t exactly sit right with him.

But he walked him to the door, saying goodbye to the other cop who was lingering as well, staring curiously at Alina. This had been a nightmare of a night and there was still blood all over the floor. As he shut the door behind them, he leaned against it, tapping his head lightly against the surface.

He squeezed his eyes tightly before turning to face Alina. Her face was pale, quiet tears streaming down her cheeks. He rushed towards her, dragging her into his arms and holding her as she cried.

What a fucking night.

It was almost five in the morning. He had practice in a few hours and he knew he’d need to go in early to let management know about what had happened but right now all he could think about was holding Alina.

He rubbed her back gently, tilting her face up to his. “Baby, let’s go to my place – we can lay down for a bit longer.”

She sniffled, wiping her nose with his sleeve. “This is humiliating. I’m sorry, Jakey. Maybe you should just go – ”

“Stop apologizing. And there’s no way I’m going to leave you. I told you earlier I wasn’t going to give up on you. On us.”

“You called me your girlfriend.” She said softly, hands gripping his waist tightly.

He smiled down at her, “That’s because you are. At least, I want you to be.”

“So much for slow.” She managed to tease through a watery smile. “I like it. I like you.”

“Then come on, girlfriend. Let’s go home.”

Trying to ignore the blood on the floor, he told her he’d call someone to clean it tomorrow when she tried to pause to take care of it. He kept a tight hold on her hand as they walked the length of the hall to get to his apartment. It was quiet and peaceful in his place compared to what they’d just walked out of. He didn’t want to push her but he had more questions than answers at this point. There wasn’t anything she could do that would make him not want to be with her; that didn’t mean she could cut him out and not tell him things.

Alina went straight into his bedroom, pulling him along by his hand. She slid out of her yoga pants but kept his shirt on as she crawled into his bed. He pulled his sweatshirt off then slid in next to her, wrapping around her body.

“Can we talk, Leenie?” he whispered in her ear. “I need you to talk to me.”

She inhaled sharply, sniffling as she did and he felt her shake slightly. He wasn’t sure she’d share but then she started to speak softly. “We – we started dating when I was fifteen. My uh – my parents died when I was ten. That’s why I moved to the States. To be with my Dedushka. He lived in this neighborhood in Brooklyn that was mostly Russian and I met Mikhail there. It just – it was easy to talk to him, he knew what it was like. Leaving home and being in a place where people glared if you fucked up your English.”

Jake felt his heart pounding as she shook slightly in his arms. She pushed back into him to try to get closer and he just hugged her tightly, pressing a kiss to her head as she continued.

“I’d spent five years barely talking to anyone. Too scared to speak until my English was perfect. Then Mikhail showed up. He was always with his dad when they came to my Dedushka’s restaurant. He made me remember where I’d come from. His parents were from the same city I’d grown up in. He was familiar in the most comforting way.”

She paused, trying to catch her breath. Jake ran his fingers down her arm so he could lace their fingers together.

“He wasn’t always so terrible. My Deduskha would’ve kill him, that’s for sure.” She gave a watery little chuckle before continuing. “But then…” she paused and Jake could hear her sniffling again, a little whimper slipping from her lips.

“Baby, come’re.” he whispered against her head, loosening his grip so he could turn him towards him. Her eyes were filled with tears and he used his thumbs to wipe them away. “I’m sorry, if it’s too much – we can talk la – ”

“No,” she said sharper than he expected before her features softened. “I – I know I haven’t shared a lot with you. And you deserve to hear this after tonight.”

He leaned forward to kiss her gently, nudging his nose against hers until she smiled. It was harder for her now, facing him as she spoke. She stayed quiet for a long moment before finally staring up at him and continuing.

“My Dedushka died when I was nineteen. And then it was just me.” She whispered.

Jake swallowed hard. No wonder she never talked about family: she didn’t have any. He rubbed her back lightly as she tried to swallow back her tears.

“He was all I really had left. I’ve never made friends very easily and my whole life was in that little neighborhood in Brooklyn. But…well you saw him. The older he got, the more controlling. He expected us to get married and me to be his little wife and have babies but I didn’t want that.

“I wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to see what else was out there beyond the little corner I knew. We made a deal that we would go to Boston for a couple years and if he did that for me, I’d marry him.”

Her voice was so soft, he barely heard her but the words hit him like a truck. The idea that he would’ve never had this made him sick. But he stayed quiet, rubbing her back gently as she talked.

“He got a job in Boston easily with this international accounting firm, managing the Russian relationships. He settled in better than I did – going out with the guys he worked with constantly. I was studying and working so much, exhausted all the time but I noticed how bad his drinking got. He’d come home sometimes just…so fucking angry for no reason. He didn’t get rough until a year or so ago. But it was a pattern I’d seen from Mikhail’s own father. His mama was so…broken. I started to see that becoming my future.

“It just kept getting worse. The cheating. Yelling. The hitting. But then I met you.” She smiled slightly, looking up at him and pressing a quick kiss to his jaw. “And you just…were this light, funny, perfect guy. Who was soft and gentle with me and I started to fall for you but I didn’t know how to get away from Mikhail.”

“I wish I’d – I…” he struggled for the words, feeling lost and a little blindsided. “I didn’t know how to help you.”

“Jake, you did help me.” She swore, brushing his hair back off his forehead. “You couldn’t fix everything, I needed to fix a lot of it myself first. And I made mistakes by letting Mikhail back in so many times but he was my past – the closest thing I had to family and that was hard to let go.”

“Tell me about the restraining order.” He asked softly, bracing himself for how hard it would be to hear what she had to say.

“I did the right thing – the thing you’re supposed to which is report the abuse. So I started to. He was…it was usually the worst when you were out of town. It’s like he waited until you were gone then he’d come over raging like you just saw. I almost got evicted over the summer from the number of times they had to call the cops but the management company was surprisingly good about it.”

“Jesus, Leen – why didn’t you tell me?” Jake asked, trying not to get upset.

Her eyes filled with tears again. “It’s humiliating. All the neighbors hearing him scream at me and throw things then the cops showing up at all hours. I didn’t want you to know that about me.”

“I would’ve come back. I would’ve helped.” He drew her in closer, squeezing her against his chest.

“I know you would’ve, but you deserved your summer. Deserved time with your family and friends.” Her voice was muffled into his chest and she was crying softly again.

“Hey now,” he whispered, grasping her chin to turn her face up to his. “No more crying. Let’s get some sleep, you’re exhausted. This is still the best night of my life.”

That earned him another little laugh as she angled up to kiss him softly. “You haven’t had a very good life then, babe.”

He scoffed. “I’m in the NHL. Very important and cool and do a lot of things. You’re still the best thing I’ve ever done.” He pressed kisses along her face as she giggled and swatted him away.

“Oh, so now I’m just something you’ve done?” she raised an eyebrow at him and he groaned, flopping his head back on the pillow. She kept a smile on her face as she rolled on top of him, straddling his waist.

He caught her hips to keep her steady, rubbing his thumb along her skin. “This is a nice view.”

Leaning back, she grabbed for his right hand. “You okay?” She pressed a kiss to each knuckle, frowning at how red they were before focusing on his face. Gently, she brushed her fingers along his tender cheek. “Do you need ice? I think this is gonna be a black eye.”

“I’m fine. Come’re,” he urged and pulled her down to him so he could thread his hands through her hair to pull her down to his lips. “Want a kiss. Then it’s bedtime.”

“Shit – what time do you have practice?”

“Eleven. I’m gonna go around ten though. I need to talk to Bergy and figure out who to talk to on the team.”

Alina frowned. “I told you I was a train wreck. It’s not too late to – ”

Jake cut her off, leaning forward to kiss her before pulling back. “Leen, I mean this is the nicest way possible – shut up. You’re my girl.”

“Thank you, Jakey.” She whispered, sliding off him and nestling back into his side.

He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Go to sleep, I’ll wake you up before I go.”

She mumbled something in Russian, pressing her lips to his chest and then she was out like a light. He lay awake for a while after she’d fallen asleep, holding her against him and thinking about the night. Everything she’d told him about her life made things so much clearer: the way she was so strong and stubborn yet had continually gone back to an abusive boyfriend, how she never talked about her past or her family. He wished she’d told him sooner but he knew he couldn’t have dragged this out of her until she was ready.

The sun was just starting to peak through the windows when he finally dropped off to sleep, dreading what waited for him at practice later but still happier than he’d been in a long time.

#jake debrusk #jake debrusk fic #hockey fic #hockey fanfiction #writing #hockeyblr #nhl #nhl fic #hockey writing #boston bruins #bruins #boston bruins fic #so here is two!#I hope it's okay #and yes #darker than the first part

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peralta-guaranteed · 3 years

Note

hc of amy having a bad day and struggling with mac? say he’s very clingy or also upset

Guess what, this accidentally turned into a fic too. And it kinda shifted into 'Jake and Amy having a bad day and struggling with Mac for very different reasons'... I hope you still like it!

(read it on AO3)

It had become evident pretty early on that when Mac got sick, he gravitated towards Amy much more. Sure, Jake was also sometimes good for snotty cuddles and cough-soothing baths, but at some point he would call for his mom, or whine and spread his arms towards her with his legs kicking in frustration, and it said a lot about how much Jake has grown that he didn't even hesitate to hand him over without acting hurt. Maybe the blissful calm washing over Mac's face as soon as Amy was hugging him helped with that, too. It was such a wonderful thing to see after hours of crying, coughing, sneezing, whining and general sad pouting that only a Peralta-baby is capable of, Jake barely had the energy to worry about how it felt to be so blatantly rejected by his little boy.

It'd also become evident that Mac’s clingy phase had started a bit earlier than most of their parenting books prophesied. If Amy was home, he wanted to be on her lap, or in her arms, or wrapping his little arms around her leg as she tried to work in the kitchen. Jake got “NO!”ed and waved away far more often than he was asked for a hug himself, and again, it took a lot of newfound maturity not to let that get to him - and maybe he did not have enough of that yet, because it absolutely got to him in quieter moments.

(He knew it’d pass, like any phase in a toddler’s life passes at some point. Like the phase of Mac refusing anything but that one specific carrot puree passed, or the phase of him being unable to sleep anywhere except cuddled in between them, waking up as soon as they tried to carry him back to his own bed.)

The real trouble starts when both these situations collide.

-*-

Mac woke them up at 4:30 sharp, two hours before Amy’s first alarm, crying so hard it almost sounded like screaming. When Jake tiptoed into the nursery, he had to ignore the frustrated shouts of Nonono and Mamam that he was almost used to by now, to actually check what was wrong. Probably another ear infection, he realised after seeing the symptoms they’d become very familiar with during the last time they’d battled through one of those. They had to bring him to the doctor to be sure, but he already knew they were looking forward to at least two days of unsoothable crying and fussing.

He also knew that things would be hell for Amy.

In theory, it would make far more sense for him to call in sick to take care of Mac. As much as he loved his detective work, the simple fact that his wife outranked him (and thus outdid him in both salary and responsibilities, obviously) meant that if one of them had to take a few days off, it should be him first and foremost. In practice, however, Mac was going to be even more insufferable than just from his sickness if left alone with him at the moment. He was still crying for Amy as Jake lifted him out of the cot - he would be screaming bloody murder if she closed the door of the apartment behind her.

“Earache?” Amy asked already as Jake stepped back into the bedroom, Mac’s wailing lessening only slightly as he stretched his arms out toward her. She pulled him to her as Jake sighed and nodded.

“I think so. I’ll take him to the doc when they open.” He tried to offer, but he knew Amy would refuse it anyway.

“No, I can do it. I’ll call in sick - you get back to sleep for work.”

“I’ll try.” He sighed again as he dropped onto his back while Amy was sitting up to sway Mac, who’d actually quieted down into little sobs and sniffles in her arms. “I’m sorry, Ames.”

“It’s nobody’s fault he’s sick, especially not yours.”

“Yeah, but I wish I could help more. If he wasn’t- you know.”

“I know.” Amy let her free hand not holding Mac drift through Jake’s sleep-messy curls. She knew that, as much as he tried to pretend it wasn’t bothering him, he secretly hated the thought of his son rejecting him in any way, even if it was as nonsensical as a clingy toddler phase.

Luckily it didn’t take long for him to actually fall back asleep with her hand in his hair, and she carefully wiggled out of bed to let him rest while settling down with a still crying Mac in his nursery rocking chair.

-*-

They got to get ready together as they usually did in the morning, at least - even if Amy was only getting dressed to drive to the pediatrician and straight back again. She’d already called Holt and explained the situation before Jake handed her a mug of coffee, and Mac had been, at the least, not crying for the last ten minutes while sitting in his playpen in the living room. Maybe things wouldn’t be as bad as last time.

“I can pick up whatever the doc prescribes on my lunch break.” Jake smiled at her, ruefully, and she considered telling him again that it was okay, that she could do it - but something told her to keep her options of at least a few minutes not alone with a sick toddler open.

She desperately needed that option when lunchtime came around.

Doctor Maurice had quickly confirmed their suspicions and told her that there wasn’t much more they could do than wait it out, keep an eye on his fever and medicate with ibuprofen and warm compresses. Not that any of that had helped. When Mac wasn’t crying, he was screaming, and when he wasn’t screaming, he wanted to be close to her, but he couldn’t lie down without the pain getting worse, so simply plonking down on the couch with him was out of the question. She’d let him breastfeed far more than had been their norm now that he was slowly getting weaned, because it seemed to give him some relief at least, as well as quieting him for a blissful moment. But then the infection had travelled to his stomach as well, the same way it had last time, and he staunchly refused any and all food or milk. She’d seriously started considering foregoing the diapers completely and just letting him play in the empty bathtub so she could rinse him off from time to time, because five dirty diapers in under twenty minutes had to be some sort of new record.

So when Jake texted her he was on his way, with a picture of another box of ibuprofen and that herbal steam-bath mix that had helped last time, she sent a silent thank you prayer to anyone who wanted to listen. And she mumbled a not quite as silent thank you against Jake’s lips before he could even get his shoes off at the door.

“I got you one of the good bagel sandwiches for lunch, too.” He said as he hugged her and combed through her messy hair.

“I love you so much.” She hadn’t even realised that the only thing in her stomach so far was still the cup of coffee he’d made her this morning.

He grinned as he put the deli paper bag on the kitchen counter and went over to Mac’s playpen, to say hello to a currently only softly whining toddler smacking an innocent teddy against a pile of soft fabric blocks. Amy followed to wrap her arms around his waist from behind and rest her head against his back, taking in a few deep breaths of Jake, of something that didn’t smell of diarrhea, moist compresses, milk-hiccups and spit up.

“Also Holt gave me an hour for lunch, so if you want to take a nap or something-”

“God.” Amy groaned with pure happiness as Jake turned around in her embrace. “Marry me, Mr. Perfect.”

“Any place, any time, babe.” He kissed the crown of her head while returning her hug, sniffing her hair with a chuckle. “But maybe a shower first before the big day.”

“Rude.” Amy mumbled with her face pressed against his chest. “I rescind the proposal.”

His chuckle turned into a laugh at that, and he slowly unraveled her arms around him. “Nap first, then shower, how’s that sound? Then a bagel. I’ll give Mac his lunch.”

“Good luck with that.” She sighed before giving him another quick kiss and making a beeline for the bedroom.

-*-

She’d hopped straight from bed into the bathroom later, relishing in the feeling of the hot water washing away any aches left over after that much needed nap. Alas, when she stepped out of the oh-so-peaceful bathroom, she was met with a wall of sound.

Mac was wailing, hard, as Jake swayed him back and forth, holding another warm compress against his little ear, and trying to make soothing noises despite the shrill screams of No and MAMA! straight into his face.

“Shsshhshsh, hey, it’s okay, bud, it’s okay. I know you don’t like me much at the moment, but it’s gonna be okay, and mom is coming back soon-”

He stopped as he noticed her stepping into the room, giving her an apologetic smile as she took Mac from him. The wailing turned into regular crying at least, albeit still loud.

“I’m sorry babe - did he wake you up? He won’t eat either.”

“I set an alarm, actually. So you won’t be back late.” Amy sat down on the couch and pulled up her shirt (freshly changed after the shower, and god had that felt good as well). Mac latched onto her breast almost immediately, and a wonderful quiet settled across the room, only his little snuffling and suckling noises breaking through.

Jake’s face was unreadable before he turned towards the kitchen to plate her bagel, but that stoic, almost empty expression told her enough anyway. She grabbed his wrist as he set the plate down on the couch table, pulled softly until he sat down next to her, running her fingers through his hair again to comfort him.

“You know it’s not true, right?”

“Hm?” Jake looked up at her after watching Mac, who finally seemed to calm down completely in her arm, with a vacant look in his eyes.

“It’s not true that he doesn’t like you. He loves you just as much as me. It’s just a difficult phase.”

“I know that.” Jake’s attempt at a smile was still sad enough, and she wiped across the corner of it with the soft tip of her thumb.

“And I love you too. So much.”

“I know that.” And this new smile seemed to turn out right, at least. “You wanna re-marry me, after all.” He teased as he leant his head against her shoulder, looking down at Mac again with a much less forlorn expression.

“Hey, I rescinded that proposal!” She quipped back, falling into their usual banter easily now that she was rested enough and sure that Jake felt better as well. “But I might consider re-re-proposing again if you promise to pick up Polish for dinner.”

“I knew you only wanted me for all the free food delivery.”

“I also need you for other things.” Amy said as she sat up a bit straighter to finish Mac’s feeding, Jake’s head lifting off of her shoulder with the movement. “Like burping your kid. I really don’t want spit-up down this fresh shirt.”

“Aye aye, Sergeant.” Jake joked, already scrabbling for the burp cloth thrown over the armchair next to them and taking Mac out of her arms.

She watched him as he expertly settled the little, squirming bundle against his chest, the swaying and patting motion almost second nature by now, ducking his head down for a quick sniff of that perfect toddler hair scent. He’d have to leave for the precinct soon enough, and she certainly wasn’t looking forward to the rest of the afternoon probably being a reprise of her entire morning, and she didn’t even want to think about the night or next day to come.

Life with a toddler was unpredictable. Almost nothing was in her control anymore. But, as she’d learned over the years, as long as she was with the right people, she could handle anything. And Jake Peralta proved, again and again, that he was the right person for her.

#b99 #brooklyn 99 #jake peralta #amy santiago #peraltiago #baby mac #mac peralta #fic #my writing

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nishimochas · 4 years

Text

❁﹝ enha!tegories ﹞

‣ ⒈ enhypen as some of my favorite cottagecore-esque songs.

❁﹝ lee heeseung as like the dawn by the oh hellos. ﹞

“ and like the dawn, you broke the dark and my whole earth shook. i was sleeping in the garden when i saw you. ”

light crept through the windows over your slumbering figure, heeseung's eyes steady over your face, studying every curve, angle, every dip and crevice. a sigh escapes him, content, as his fingers brush over your features in a soothing manner. the soft simper he wore blooms into a smile as your eyes begin to flutter open. you share his smile with a sleepy one of yours and snuggle closer to his frame.

"good morning, sunshine."

the moniker is met with a chuckle as he leans in to press a gingerly kiss on your crown. your arms circle his frane loosely, savoring the warmth. heeseung's heart swells when his eyes meet yours. he knows he hasn't yet seen a more beautiful sight, and he doubts such a sight to even exist in earth.

to wake up next to you for all the mornings of his life, to have you as his first sight with each break of dawn – nothing would ever compare.

“ you were the brightest shade of sun i had ever seen. ”

× 🌼 ×

❁﹝ jay park jongseong as home by jacob banks ﹞

“ so baby, baby, won't you let me in? i'm knocking on your door so let me in. i just need someone to love, i just need someone to hold. ”

the afternoon had been quaint, pleasant and proper enough for a leisurely nap. you curled up within the blankets as your system drowns out the tv noise, thoughts drifting away. as if in instinct, your hand reaches for the mess of pillows by your side – where jay usually sits, limbs in a tangle with yours as you both doze off. you couldn't hold back a sigh; it wasn't quite like home without him there.

buzz buzz.

you check your phone for the notification. an immediate smile tugs on the corner of your lips upon reading the message.

[ from: jjongddaengie 😎 ]

i'm almost home, baby. wait for me?

and so you set your phone aside and envelope yourself with the soft fabric, fighting the urge to giggle in anticipation. as the white noise of the movie you half paid attention to lulls you to sleep, you enter oblivion in the knowledge that in not very long, jay will come back home and see you as you are. you know you'll be greeted with two arms around your waist and a kiss on the shoulder; and at that moment, you know you'll always find home right where he is.

“ i need someone to kiss goodnight, and to give my heart a home. ”

× 🌼 ×

❁﹝ jake shim jaeyoon as coffee by beabadoobee ﹞

“ don't stay awake for too long, don't go to bed; i'll make a cup of coffee for your head, i'll get you up and going out of bed ”

nights like these, when it is calm and the winds are gentle, are best enjoyed with a cup of hot coffee. it's become a habit for you jake to lounge on your front porch, each with a steaming cup with hand as you two chat about everything there is under the sun and beyond. this night was not very different; same seat, same sweaters, same mugs, only this time, there was complete silence between the two of you.

you'd expected it to be tense, for an unsettling echo of quiet to descend between you. but much to your surprise, this... this was comfortable.

"jakey?"

"yes, love?"

you breath almost hitches at his answer – no matter how many times he's been affectionate with you, it'll always feel special. different. like there was no other soul in the entire universe who could ever say it the way jake does.

you take a sip from your coffee cup and glance back at him, wearing a proud grin only he could ever give you.

"let's do this more often."

“ won't you come down and get me? i like it when you hold me tight. ”

× 🌼 ×

❁﹝ park sunghoon as yellow by coldplay ﹞

“ look at the stars, look how they shine for you and everything you do; yeah, they were all yellow. ”

driving out at such an ungodly hour was, prior to being an impulse, something you and sunghoon have given much thought to. it was only when the two of you were still wide awake after having tried everything that you hopped into the car for your late night escapade. a song you weren't familiar with played in the radio station to fill the silence, but you were far too focused on counting the billboards to notice.

"twenty two... twenty three... ooo look, it's one of those ads about billboard ads–"

you roll down the car window to see further out, still counting under your breath each time you pass one by. he glances to his side and sees you; you two looked so cliche, almost straight out of a music video. he pulled over at an empty park and your displeasure was immediately made known.

"hey, i wasn't done counting..."

sunghoon chuckles from the driver's seat and pulls you in by the wrist, lips pressing softly against your temple in the most delicate of brushes.

"you can go back to counting when i'm done kissing you."

“ your skin and bones turn into something beautiful. do you know i love you so? ”

× 🌼 ×

❁﹝ kim sunoo as strawberry blonde by mitski ﹞

“ i love everybody because i love you – i dont need the city and i dont need proof. all i need, darling, is a life in your shape; i picture it, soft, and i ache. ”

the sun was especially kind today – it's warmth remained watchful over the grass you and sunoo sat on, but through a veil of clouds so as to not be so glaring. the perfect day for a picnic, as he said so himself. he always goes all out for them; whatever you craved for, he had it all. you looked through his basket with a giggle, noticing a few delicacies he doesn't usually bring.

"why macaroons?", you ask while helping him set up the mat and the containers.

"didn't you say you wanted macaroons last week? i thought i should bring some for you! i tried baking them but they didn't turn out very nice–"

his babbling was halted with a macaroon to the mouth, sending you both into a fit of laughter. you'll never get tired of how considerate he is, how much he pays attention to the things you say and how much sunoo truly cares. you popped a strawberry macaroon into your own mouth and rested your temple against his shoulder. now, you couldn't help but wonder: would it have tasted better if he made it?

“ look at you, strawberry blonde – fields rolling on, i love it when you call my name. ”

× 🌼 ×

❁﹝ yang jungwon as santa monica dream by angus and julia stone ﹞

“ goodbye to my santa monica dream – fifteen kids in the backyard drinking wine. you tell me stories of the sea, and the ones you left behind. ”

it's nearing three in the afternoon and jungwon's just about finished with helping you pack. he ushers the last suitcase out and into the car where your father waits for you. it wasn't difficult to tell that he was trying to avoid your gaze.

"hey..." you take his hand in yours, making him see you eye to eye. there's something quite crestfallen with how he looked at you; you had to go and pursue your dream away from home, he knew that, and he was happy for you. but you knew him better than that.

"i'll miss you, dork."

he could only give you a little smile, but it was more than enough. you look behind him and see the fridge door, battered with polaroids, receipts and letters. reminders of you, so he'll never forget.

you wave goodbye and so does he, not caring at all to wipe the tear streaking down his cheek. he'd miss you so and you all the same, but no matter where you are, or where you'll go – jungwon knows he'll be dreaming of you each and every night.

“ i'm singing songs about the future, wondering where you are. ”

× 🌼 ×

❁﹝ ni-ki nishimura riki as kiss me by sixpence none the richer ﹞

“ nightly, beside the green, green grass. swing, swing, swing the spinning step, you wear those shoes and i will wear that dress. ”

"hurry, we'll miss the fireworks!"

ni-ki half dragged you through the open venue, clad only in socks and you in his shoes with you broken heels in one hand. you could barely hold your laughter; you'd assume the punch had no alcohol, but given how giddy you were, it wouldn't have been surprising if it were revealed to be booze.

"cinderella! wanna get out of here?", he shouted beside you, the sentiment almost drowned out by the cacophony of fireworks and cheer. you took him by the wrist and maneuvered you two through the crowd. he'd figured that was a yes. you two found a cozy nook under the garden tree, spending the rest of the prom night watching from afar and laughing at his dirty socks.

"man, i'm seriously convinced that thing had alcohol in it." he laughs and nods along, peering over for a better view of your face.

"is that why you're so pink, then? drunk blush?"

immediately flustered, you hurry to cover your warm cheeks with two hands. another laugh escapes him – you almost expected him to tease you. but instead, ni-ki takes your hands away from your face, nudging your chin up so your eyes will meet his. you couldn't miss the smug grin he wore even if you wanted to.

"hey, kiss me."

“ lift your open hand, strike up the band and make the fireflies dance; silver moon's sparkling, so kiss me. ”

❁ :: i'm honestly kinda disappointed in this HSHSB brain go brr, but i hope u guys like it 🥺💕 (edit: i really should have proofread this wow)

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writingsbychlo · 4 years

Text

heart under construction (06)

word count; 4551

summary; jake takes his little brother for a heart to heart, and gives him some harsh truths.

notes; oh, y’all are going to hate it and love it at the same time. it’s painful but it’s the sort of pain that you’re going to love, and then it’s just suuuuuper cute.

warnings; none. just adorable.

With a huff, Sam squeezed his eyes shut tighter to block out the morning light that was threatening to wake him even more. With a sigh, he rolled over to move his skin from the rays of sun poking through the tall balcony doors, feeling the warmth spreading across his back as he reached out, slinging an arm over your waist.

Except, his arm landed against the soft carpet, one of his eyes cracking open as he looked around for you. The sun was lighting up the room in a golden early morning hue, specs of dust floating through the air lightly as he blinked, rubbing at his eyes and the pounding in his head suddenly became apparent. Taking a deep breath, Sam cringed as his throat felt like sandpaper, the taste in his mouth making him feel like gagging as he tried to come to terms with his hangover.

Glancing down, heat crawled up his cheeks as he lay naked, sprawled out on the empty bedroom floor. Grabbing is boxers, he tugged them up his legs, his body aching as he stumbled to his feet to scoop up his jeans. Not even your bag or coat remained, and the house around him was silent, confusion filling the man and a frowned pulled on his face as he redressed himself.

The silence was cut by the shrill ringing of his phone, and the pounding in his head only seemed to intensify as he searched for his phone, finding it sitting up on the window frame as the picture of a redhead pouting at him filled his screen. In his panic to decline, his phone shut down entirely, and he cursed as he tried to start it back up again.

His foot was tapping angrily against the floor, the loading screen showing a small apple and he glared at the fruit as it seemed to drag on and on. When it had finally loaded, the notifications began to spring in, and he nibbled on the nail of his thumb as he anxiously waited for them all.

[Jessie from Tinder] Missed Call (3)

[Rachel from Tinder] Hey handsome, when do I next get to see ya?

[Jake 👷] How’d it go? You haven’t called me yet.

[Jake 👷] I’m assuming it went either really well or really bad.

“Oh, fuck!” He ran a hand through his hair, ignoring the text from Rachel, before his phone was once again buzzing, the sultry picture of the fiesty girl he’d been seeing on and off for the prior couple of weeks and he groaned, running a hand over his chin before clicking ‘accept’. “Hey, Jess..”

“Hiya, Sammy. Been calling you all morning.”

“I know.” He spoke the words through gritted teeth, swallowing thickly. “I was.. Busy.”

“Are you busy all day? Because I was thinking maybe we could have a lazy day together, you don’t even have to wear your clothes.”

Her voice passed over the words in a sing-song tune and he winced, his jaw dropping as he tried to fumble for a response. “I just got dressed, so..”

“Well, I could undress you, and I’ll let you undress me? I know how much you like to.”

She was baiting him, and he knew it, but he was far too hungover to handle this conversation with any kind of dignity and his head dropped back, letting him stare at the ceiling for a moment before he decided on his words. “Jess, look, I need to be totally honest with you.”

“Uh-huh?”

“You’re a really nice girl, and we have so much fun. We do. These past few weeks have been great and-”

“Oh my God, you’re not asking me out, right?”

“No!” He headed toward the stairs, rolling his eyes at himself from his outburst, and he listened to her chuckle down the phone. “I’m trying to tell you we can’t do this anymore. There’s a chick. Another chick, and I really like her..”

“I really hope it works out for you, Sam. And hey, if it doesn’t, then you have my number.”

“That I do.” He laughed, relief flooding his system momentarily as he reached the bottom floor, and he placed his free hand on his hip, looking around at the empty kitchen and frowning. “Thanks, Jess. Bye.”

Looking down at the blank screen, he cleared the call log, sending a half-assed reply to Rachel before moving onto his brother and trying to work out what to say. The blank message was staring at him, calling him a coward as he worked out just how to face down his brother, how to confess what happened.

It went really well. Like mind-blowingly well, multiple times. And then, it went really, really bad. Like Richter Scale 9.9 bad.

Finally moving his fingers across the screen, he hit send, rereading the text he had constructed as the little bubble at the bottom popped up, the three dots dancing as he waited.

[Jake 👷] Okay, 1st of all, gross. 2nd, what the FUCK did u do?

He practically pouted down at his phone, brows furrowed.

I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING.

[Jake 👷] Uh-huh. I’ll pick u up and take u for breakfast, and u can tell me all about what u “didn’t” do.

He grinned, at his phone, his stomach rumbling at the mere mention of breakfast food, and despite the twisting nausea in his gut, his mouth was practically salivating as he thought about the breakfast fry-up he would be getting within the hour.

You’re the best. I love you so much. I want coffee too.

[Jake 👷] Course, u do, I’m the best big bro there is. I need coffee to deal with ur fuck up.

[Jake 👷] Also ily2.

The large plate was finally placed down in front of him, and Sam had his knife and fork in his hands before the waitress had even left the table. With a hurried thank you, he stabbed aggressively at his bacon, folding the entire piece up and eating the strip in its entirety, his brother giving him a disgusted look. Sam would have flipped him off, if there wasn’t a trickle of bacon grease dripping from his lower lip, and he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand quickly, chewing as he did.

“You disgust me.”

“Good.” His retort could barely be heard around the mouthful of food, and Jake’s eyebrows rose as he sliced off an appropriately sized chunk of his omelette and lifted it to his mouth carefully.

“So, you wanna’ tell me what happened then?”

Sam’s chewing slowed, and he had to practically choke down the bacon in his mouth, before nodding slowly. “I kissed her, and she kissed me back. It was very, very nice. The best kiss I ever had, actually.” He glanced down at his plate, picking up a piece of toast and distracting himself by spreading the butter across it.

“Well, that’s good. Right?”

“Yeah, it was amazing. It was hot, too, seriously. The kissing wasn’t the only thing that was the best I ever had.” Sam sighed, ignoring the grunt his brother let out as he bit into the toast, sighing as the tasty food touched his tastebuds.

“So, what happened?”

“I don’t know. When I fell asleep, she was all cuddled into my chest and we were happy. I was fucking elated!” He scoffed, picking his fork back up once the toast was finished and poking around the food on his plate before settling in chopping up a sausage. “When I woke up, I was alone. She was gone, and I had a text from Rachel and calls from Jessie an-”

“Who’s Rachel?”

“Tinder chick.” Sam waved his hand, Jake rolling his eyes as he looked at him and Sam felt silent for a moment as he continued with his food, his stomach finally settling as he filled it with the tasty food. “So, clearly, she saw the text, and all the calls from Jess, and she must’ve thought..”

“Thought that you played her, slept with her, and then planned to treat her like one of your other hook-up girls, especially based on your past history of ditching her for a hot night?” Jake subsidised, and Sam glared at him, pausing mid-chew.

“I was leaving it for a subtle understanding between us, but thank you so much for that ridiculously aggressive form of the truth. Nothing gets past you, huh?” Jake simply flashed him a sly grin, the two men continuing to eat in quiet as they considered their options, and it wasn’t until the plates had been cleared and Sam was sipping his coffee as his brother pulled out his wallet that either of them spoke again.

“Why don’t you just call her?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s a good idea. ‘Hey, I know you’re probably super mad at me, especially now that, like, two hours have gone by, but I do really like you, I just didn’t think I had a chance with you and I didn’t think to delete all my hook-ups as contacts,. But, now I’ve decided that I am, in fact, in love with you, so I’m sorry I’m such a jackass, wanna date?’, yeah, that sounds awesome, Jake.” Sam huffed, his brother staring at him with wide eyes and a soft smile. “What?”

“You’re in love with her?”

Sam’s own eyes widened, and he let out a long sigh, before slumping down in his seat, smiling politely at the waitress as she handed over their receipt and a card with her name on in hopes of a review. “Yeah. So?”

“You’ve never told me you loved a girl before, that’s all.”

“What? Yes, I have!” His frown only deepened, and he fidgeted in his seat, a stormy mood coming over him from where he had somewhat brightened up. “What about.. y’know..”

“Evelyn?” Sam winced at the name of his ex, but nodded, picking at a splinter on the table as his brother hummed. “You never once said to me that you loved her. Not even when you broke up. I know it sucked what happened, but-”

“She was angry at her fiancé for making her move across the country so she dated me, and then married him anyway. I thought it would be me and her! I really liked her, Jake!” The words were practically growled out, and his brother only continued to beam, nodding excitedly.

“Exactly! You really liked her, but you never once said you loved her!”

“Never? Not once?” Sam clarified, sitting up in his seat, and leaning across the table a little.

“Not a single time. You know what this means, right?” He shook his head, urging the older man to continue speaking. “It means we have to fix this, dude!”

“We do? We can?”

“You’re fucking hopeless.” He sighed, taking his coat and he followed his brother’s lead, as the two of them stepped out of the homey diner.

“How, exactly, are we going to fix it?”

Monday was screwed, Sam had waited the whole afternoon to see you. He’d been home, showered, and put on his best shirt, his hair flopping around his forehead in fluffy curls as he sat in the truck, listening to his playlist quietly as he waited to see you, hoping that you would pass by.

He spent the time going through his phone, deleting his contacts and clearing out anyone who wasn’t important, his finger hovering over your name as he considered calling you, but he had to stick to the plan. The bouquet of beautiful flowers on the seat beside him forced him to do so. He had picked them out especially, spending over ten minutes staring at the colourful arrangements before settling on a pricey bunch of flowers that he thought were perfect.

He had run over the speech in his mind several times, he had it all worked out, and now, he was chewing on his bottom lip and waiting for you to pass by. His eyes seemed to find the clock every minute or two, time only seeming to drag on even slower each time before he finally busied himself with cleaning out the truck of the car, and walking through the house, picking up the beer bottles for the night before and scrubbing the spilt lager from the floor.

When the sun was finally setting, he had given up hope, Jake driving him home as he gripped onto his flowers, assuring him that maybe you were just sick because of your hangover, and that he couldn't give up hope.

Jake was right, he absolutely couldn’t give up.

Not when he was this close to being happy.

Tuesday passed by in the same fashion, the flowers had been brought back, and he played with the stems gently, picking the thorns off of the roses and building up a small pile, until he stems were smooth and he had a small handful of spiky plant bits in the palm of his hand. Rolling down the window, he sprinkled them out onto the pavement, disposing of them quickly. His head snapped up when he noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye, sitting up straight as he gasped, but his mood came quickly plummetting down as he realised it was not you, it was simply one of the older neighbours, making her way up the road slowly.

He watched her carefully, her husband locking the front door shakily before he followed after her, doing his best speedwalk to catch up to her, his arm held out as he neared. She had paused, linking her arm through his and pressing a delicate kiss to his cheek before they had continued on their way, and he waved at them as they passed.

His heart was racing, and his mind drifted back to you. He could picture the two of you together in your older age, looking after one another as you moved about the big house before him. The rooms would have been redecorated over and over, from baby rooms to kids, to teenagers, to teens that thought they were adults. When they were old enough, perhaps the rooms would have been changed back to baby rooms once again, as he revisited those years when he had grandkids to look down on fondly.

Wednesday was when Sam hit his low, the half week had pulled around and Sam had convinced Jake to message you when the middle of the struck. If you had been staying off because of your hangover, you had to have passed it by now, and you were avoiding him.

He was familiar with this habit, you had another way to work and you had to be taking it. He had no idea how to find you, three days had no passed and Sm felt like he couldn't breathe. His flowers had begun to turn slightly brown on the petals, and the heat of the day and forced him out of the truck to sit on the front steps of the house because today was absolutely sweltering. He had convinced Jake to send you a text, something he had really hoped sounded light and breezy, the two had spent over half an hour trying to construct it carefully, and you had simply left it on ‘read’. Despite how much Jake had insisted it was okay, Sam could tell it clearly hurt him. Because of his own idiocy, he had now lost the woman he loved, and he had forced Jake to lose a good friend in the process.

He wanted to throw up.

He was still toying with just calling you, but now it felt like a waste of time. If you weren’t talking to Jake, you sure as hell wouldn't be talking to him, and you had probably blocked his number by this point. Jake had pulled him out of that little spiral by telling him to man up and stop looking like he was crying on the porch.

Thursday and Friday flew past in a blur, and new hope barely being enough to keep him cheered up but it was enough to keep him going. Jake had to drag him off of the porch when it had started to get cold, only the promises of a crate of beer and plenty of pizza had forced him up onto his feet. He felt like he’d been sitting in the car for far too long, and he looked down at the watch on his wrist, finding that Jake had now been in the pizza shop for over thirty minutes, and while they had definitely ordered a lot of food, it certainly wasn’t thirty minutes after being given a collection time’s worth of food.

With a deep groan, he leaned back and kicked his feet up on the dash, resting his elbow on the edge of the door and balancing his head on top of his hand. Cranking up the radio, the same song that you’d first heard on your trip to Ikea was playing and he wanted to gag at the predictability of it.

Of course, this song had to play.

As if his week hadn't sucked enough already.

Deciding he had most definitely had enough, he opened the car, snatching the keys from the ignition and locking it behind himself as he jogged down the road toward the pizza shop, ducking into it and finding Jake just as peeved as he was. Sensing his brother’s arrival, Jake glanced over scowling and shrugging his shoulders as they looked around the packed little entryway.

Leaning against the wall next to him, Sam crossed his arms, looking out into the darkness over the evening outside and huffing. He just couldn't cat a fucking break, and now, even his cheer-up dinner was turning out to be a bust. He hadn't realised he’d zoned out until his arm began to ache, and he snapped back, looking to Jake who was hitting his arm forcefully.

“Dude, why are you hitting m- Ow! Stop that!” He smacked at his brother’s arms, scowling as he turned to look at him, arms flying out to his sides in question, and Jake pointed back out of the window, across the road and into the dark.

“There!” He gestured, and Sam squinted as he peered out.

“What?”

“Look over near the little clock towards and the cabs. That’s (Y/N), right?” Sam looked again, his jaw dropping, a shocked mumble falling from his lips as he watched you walking by, your hands rubbing up and down your arms and you took up a slight jog in the night air, and Sam was stumbling over his own feet as he raced from the little shop.

“(Y/N)!” He watched as you spun around, shocked slightly as you looked around, before you spotted him, sending him a short wave and a polite smile, before continuing your way after watching him for a second longer. He was thankful for the late hour, the roads fairly empty and Sam made his way across the road in a quick dash, following after you and hooking his hand into your elbow, spinning you to face him as he panted lightly. “Please wait.”

“Sam..”

“You gave me your polite smile, and I hate that smile.” He mumbled, your face falling even further as your shoulders slumped, and you looked at him carefully before adjusting your bag on your shoulder, wrapping your arms around yourself in the cool evening.

“You hate my smile?”

“No.” He shook his head lips pursed as he rubbed his hands together, trying to work out how best to say what he was trying to. “I love your smile. I love everything about you. But you have different smiles, okay? You have all these different looks, and I don’t like the polite smile look, because it’s the same look you give to someone when you don’t like them and you don’t want to talk to them, and I want to be someone you like and want to talk to.”

“I don’t get where this is going? The ball was in your court, Sam, you didn’t call!”

“I didn’t think you’d want me to!” He exclaimed, the volume of his voice matching yours as the two of you stared one another down, and Sam narrowed his eyes, confusion etched on his features as he tried to work out what was going on.

“Why would I not want you to?”

“Because of Jessie!” He wanted to actually die, because he had never seen you look sadder than he did in this very moment, because you practically deflated before his eyes, and he panicked.

“Who’s Jessie?” He shrugged off his coat, wrapping it around your shoulders and using his grip on the collar to pull you forward.

“You’re cold, please put this on, otherwise you’re going to freeze.” He mumbled, licking over his lips as you pushed your arms through the sleeves, hs fingers moving down the front as he buttoned it up carefully to keep you warm, before pulling his hands back, respectfully pushing them into his pockets. “Jessie was this girl I was seeing for a few weeks, the last time I saw her was the night I left you to watch the sunset with Jake. I had a bunch of missed calls from her on the morning after we.. were together.. and a text from a girl called Rachel, I figured you saw them and thought I was playing you and so you left.”

“I don’t care about who you hooked up with before, Sam. I’m mad that you never called me. I don’t care if you used to be a ‘player’ or whatever, but I’m the kind of girl that likes to be with a guy in a real relationship. You told me I was special, and you made me feel like you wanted.. more!”

“I-” He choked, your gaze softening as you shrugged at him your gaze dropping to hide your expression and he whined, stepping into your space and risking the rejection as he placed his hands on your face, lifting your sights back up to his as he watched you carefully. “I’m in love with you. I’m so in love with you, it’s insane.”

“What?”

“I was a player, and I liked it. And then, this super cute nursery teacher walked by one day six months ago and I hit her on the head and at that moment I think I fell way harder than she did.” He huffed, your teasing smile at his cheesy words making heat crawl up his cheeks, but he’d started now, and he had to finish. “You’re so cute, and I was damaged but I don’t care because all I want is to hold your hand, and kiss you in the mornings, and attend those functions every year as your date.”

“So, why didn’t you call?”

He gave you a little smile, his hands sliding over your shoulders to hold yours, your joint fingers almost swamped by the long sleeves of his coat hanging on your frame. “You left, I thought you were angry at me.”

“I left you a note!”

“You what?” You grinned, one hand leaving his as you dug your hands into the pockets of the coat you wore, pulling out his phone as you flicked through it and opened the notes app, showing him the latest draft there.

‘got a call from work, had to dash. wish I could stay, call me and we can do dinner or smthin. I had a great time last night, it was amazing.’

You held the phone up in front of his face, lighting up the blush he sported as you watched him read the words out loud, and he sighed, defeated. “I didn’t see your note.” He felt angry, at himself, and he swallowed thickly, dropping his head. “I didn’t see the fucking note, I’m an id-”

Your lips pressed to his softly, and he hummed happily, his hands finding your hips and pulling you closer as you chuckled against his lips. Your hands found a home around his neck, and he pulled you impossibly closer, up onto your tiptoes as his arms wrapped around your waist to hold you as close to him as he possibly could.

“It’s hard to kiss you when you’re laughing at me.” He muttered, only making you laugh more, and your forehead rested against his. He stroked a hand up and down your back, pecking the tip of your nose as he smiled, before letting you tuck your face into his neck, holding you in a tight hug. “You’re not mad at me?”

“I’m not mad at you.” You mumbled, scattering kisses along his jaw as you trailed your lips back up to his, Sam’s breathing going shallow and he let out a low groan when you finally kissed him again. This time, you weren’t laughing and smiling.

Your lips were pressed to his in long and slow movements, dragging together slowly as your body leaned on his for more support, and his own knees trembled as he let his tongue flick out to tease at your lower lip. Tilting your head to the side, you parted them for him, and he licked his way into your mouth happily, little moans falling from both of you in unison.

“Fuck yeah!”

You squeaked at the loud noise, your body falling away and Sam looked over his shoulder, Jake cheering as he held onto the pizza boxes, practically bouncing on the spot as he beamed at you both from the other side of the empty road.

“Tell her the thing!”

“I already did, Jake!” The man growled at his brother, feeling you poke at his arm.

“What thing?”

“The ‘I love you’ thing- Jake, stop staring at us!” Sam snapped at his brother again, his sour mood quickly fading as he heard you laughing, your face burying into his shoulder as you held onto his hand with both of yours. He excused himself from you for a moment, jogging across the road to take a pizza from the top of the pile and tossing his brother his car keys before making his way back to you, holding it up as an offering. “How about pizza? And kissing. Lot’s of kissing. Maybe a movie. It’s a barbecue chicken pizza.”

He shrugged his shoulders as you rolled your eyes fondly, nodding at him as you held out your hand, fingers spread. With a racing heart, he laced his fingers with yours, kissing your knuckles before dipping his head down to press a sweet kiss to your lips. “Say the thing, again.”

“It’s a barbecue chicken pizza?” Your elbow dug into his ribs as you guided him back to your car, and he grumbled under his breath about the joke, smiling as you falsely pulled away from him, but his hand around yours tightened, instead, pulling you closer to him before wrapping his arm around your shoulders. He pressed a wet kiss to your cheek, before raising up enough to brush his lips to your ear. “Oh, did you mean, I love you? I do. I love you, a lot.”

“I love you too, and I want first pick of the slices in that box.”

“Deal.”

#sam taylor #sam taylor amazing stories #dylan obrien sam taylor #sam taylor x reader #sam taylor/reader #amazing stories #dylan obrien amazing stories #dylan o'brien amazing stories #dylan obrien #dylan obrien x reader #dylan obrien/reader #dylan obrien fic #dylan o'brien imagine #dylan obrien imagine #heart under construction #HUC

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squidproquoclarice · 5 years

Note

About Arthur's kidnapping in chapter 3: considering he suffered a direct shotgun blast (which later went septic), multiple beatings, a head injury, days without food or water, was hung upside down, and rode god knows how long in that condition, he would have realistically needed A LOT of care after his escape. He might have been bedbound for a while and needed help feeding and dressing himself. Not to mention he'd need the Victorian equivalent of physical therapy to get his shoulder working.

2. It recently occured to me after reading yet another fanfic interpretation of "blessed are the peacemakers" that the whole gang royally dropped the ball during that arc. You can imagine how bad Arthur felt after learning no one was looking for him. What's your interpretation of how the gang reacted to Arthur's near-death experience and having to take care of and protect him for weeks as he recovered? Sadie came across as a bit harsh considering how protective she got later when he got tb.

~~~~~~~~~~

Yeah, I strongly quibble with that shoulder injury and him shaking it off with no effects after “a few weeks”. He had sepsis to the point there was actual concern he would die. He might recover from that within a few weeks, but he’d be pretty weak at the end of it.

The big issue is the shoulder injury. He took a shotgun slug to the shoulder, and fortunately, it apparently missed both significant bone injury and significant blood vessels, so it didn’t kill him. But much like how TB left some lingering effects, that doesn’t mean that he’ll heal up quickly and perfectly.

Ask @mearcatsreturns and others in Timeless fandom about my rants about Garcia Flynn’s injury, and how “shot in the shoulder” being treated as an injury that’s not really life threatening and that you bounce back from quickly is a trope with incredible longevity in fiction, and it’s also incredibly wrong. I can apply that here with Arthur. (Seriously, tall, green eyes, loves a good journal, snarky, Dramatic Disaster Bi, Sad Dad who lost a lover and a child to violence, self-loathing, done things he hates himself for--Flynn’s gotta be descended from Arthur.)

I wrote Flynn weeks and even months later going to regular PT, and struggling with the injury and extensive rehab. He also has the advantage of modern medical care plus a smaller-gauge bullet. I don’t have that luxury with Arthur, but he becomes an unusual case of not noticing it quite as much as a normal, healthy man would. The gunshot wound and TB are already comorbid since it’s the post-injury weakness that let the TB take root, but they become even more entwined because the GSW effect sort of disappears as his entire body is rapidly weakening. Even in his recovery in Mexico, the shoulder wouldn’t show up as much after so much forced bed rest and slow rebuilding of his body and strength, because his entire body is very weak at that point.

But I’m careful to write him having some lingering weakness in that shoulder in the months and years that follow, and even in 1907, it aches when he’s pushed himself too hard physically for the day, or it’s cold. It’s pretty damn good again, but it’ll never be exactly what it was pre-injury, particularly as Arthur is getting older besides.

I’m guessing in the gang, there was a lot of guilt from some people at not looking for him. You know Dutch (via Micah instigating it) had to have provided a good explanation, or else Hosea and others would have ridden out raising holy hell. Tilly and Susan are specifically cited in his journal as taking on a lot of the nursing duties. Others ask him how he’s doing when he’s up and about again. Dutch pays some lip service to guilt, but much like his pre-scripted speech in Colter, it feels pretty hollow if he so easily dismissed Arthur. They’re aware Arthur is not good at being taken care of, given his perception of lack of value except as a tool means he feels he’s not entitled to being cared for. So I think the wisest among them managed to do it carefully in a way that didn’t make him feel feeble or needy, even as yes, he was weakened and in need of help.

As for Sadie, yeah, that’s a big ouch, and I think she realized quickly enough how harsh it sounded that she demanded to know whether he got Colm rather than asking after his well-being. I’ve had her cringe at that in Sunrise more than once.

Her anger plays a part in it, of course, and there may be some struggling with understandable resentment and rage against fate that he survived the O’Driscolls when Jake didn’t.

But I do think a lot of that is her fear talking. She watched men there at Colm’s behest murder Jake, and suffered several days of captivity, including almost definite sexual assault. Now the one man (though I’d argue maybe Hosea also) she really has let herself start to trust and befriend is kidnapped by Colm O’Driscoll. He comes back after several days, nearly dies, and has been tortured and subjected to any number of things in his captivity that like her, he likely will be reluctant to speak about.

She lost Jake. She’s almost lost this man she’s let herself start to care about, and watched his suffering in the days after he came back to camp, which has to bring back some terrible memories. Colm O’Driscoll just proved again with one casual gesture how much he can fuck up her life, how he can still threaten her. She has to feel like she’s absolutely not safe until Colm is dead. Hence her demand to know whether that’s the case, before saying anything else.

Honestly, she’s not wrong in that fear. Colm’s coming for the Van Der Lindes. He does it again, and her berserk attack at Shady Belle again has as much to do with her fear as her vengeance, I think. And after being attacked in her home again by the O’Driscolls, yeah, it’s actually sort of reasonable for her in her panic to be going to go after them full bore saying to herself, “I’m not safe so long as any of these motherfuckers are left alive.” Ergo, some of her Chapter 6 actions.

So yeah, that “Did you get Colm O’Driscoll?” is not her most admirable moment, and Arthur’s right to call her out on it with his snarky reply of something like “I’m doing fine, thanks for asking.” But when you dig into it, it’s a pretty understandable reaction to someone with massive PTSD who’s had the everloving fuck triggered out of them by Arthur’s ordeal. And clearly she shows very shortly after that where her care and loyalty lie, and they’re 100% with Arthur all the way.

#arthur morgan #sadie adler #rdr2 #thank you for coming to my red talk #Anonymous

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impossiblyizzy · 5 years

Note

Hi @impossiblyizzy! For the B99 Fall 2019 Fic Exchange, you are assigned to write for @lesbianperaltas (ao3: commonemergency). The prompts they submitted are: 1) pumpkin picking, 2) grocery shopping for halloween/thanksgiving, 3) holiday baking, 4) any fall kind of introspection about change (all for jake & amy). Happy writing!

Thank you for the great prompts, @lesbianperaltas! I hope you like this fic :)

Also available on AO3.

‘So I said, we know you stole the car, we just want to know what all the rubber ducks in the backseat are about,’ Jake was saying. And then, ‘Hey, Ames, you listening?’

‘Hmm, what? Yeah, I’m listening.’ Amy tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. She had been listening – mostly. But she had also been trying to decide which dress to wear for Thanksgiving dinner, and whether she should prepare a toast, and whether she should get some frozen pizzas just in case everything went horribly wrong again.

‘Are you okay?’ Jake said. ‘You’re all quiet today.’

‘I’m good.’ Amy pulled into the grocery store carpark and reversed into a space.

She had insisted they drive further to go to a bigger supermarket, because this was Thanksgiving and she took that seriously. She had made a list of what they needed, alphabetised and sorted by section of the grocery store to make sure they didn’t miss anything.

‘Cool,’ said Jake. He leant over the centre console and kissed her. ‘Let’s go buy the hell out of this food.’

They were hosting Thanksgiving for the squad, for the first time since the disastrous incident with Amy’s father and a live turkey. This time the turkey was going to be pre-dead and properly cooked, the mashed potatoes were going to be free from baking soda, and all the right people were going to be there. Amy was ready to threaten anyone, including her captain and her husband, if they tried to run off and solve a case. Scratch that – especially her captain and her husband.

‘I wonder if they still have discount Halloween candy?’ Jake said, as they crossed the parking lot. ‘Ooh, or pumpkins! We should have carved a pumpkin.’

‘I’m not stopping you,’ Amy said.

‘You’re just not hyped enough,’ Jake sighed. ‘When we have kids, I’ll carve pumpkins with them.’

Jake had been saying things like that a lot recently. When we have kids, we should go to Disneyland. Ooh, I can’t wait to watch all my favourite kids’ movies again! Hey, have you seen these tiny baby sneakers? Amy knew not to mistake this kind of thing for readiness – it was more like Jake was testing the waters, verbalising the idea of having children so he could get used to it.

And Amy was okay with that. Now that she knew Jake was on board, now that her fears were assuaged, she could wait as long as he needed her to.

‘We’ll get to take them trick-or-treating too,’ she said.

‘What, and let Holt win the heist?’ Jake scoffed.

‘You think we’ll still be doing the heists by then?’

‘Well I’m not just gonna give up and let Holt win,’ Jake said. ‘But also! Our kids in tiny little costumes!’

And Amy could see them, a little girl in a sparkly witch’s hat, a boy in a skeleton costume. Or something more interesting, vampires or superheroes or cartoon characters. She could see herself at their kitchen table, helping the children decorate masks and pumpkin-shaped candy receptacles, and her heart ached with how badly she wanted it.

‘Adorable,’ she said. They walked through the automatic doors and she grabbed a shopping cart. ‘Right, meat’s just up here so let’s get the turkey first.’

‘Sure,’ Jake said.

Amy contemplated the turkey carcasses. ‘What size do we want?’ she wondered out loud. ‘A big one, right? There’s six of us, and Terry always eats a lot… but is that one big enough? What do you think, babe?’

When there was no reply, she looked round, and found that Jake had disappeared. That was pretty standard for any kind of shopping with him – he had a habit of getting distracted. The thing they were currently looking at was always the least interesting thing in the shop to him.

Amy chose the second biggest turkey, figuring she would get plenty of use out of leftovers, and pushed the trolley towards the dairy aisle.

Jake reappeared from around the shelves. ‘So the bad news is they’re out of Halloween candy,’ he said. ‘But I got Christmas candy!’ He held up several bags of holiday-themed chocolate as proof.

‘Candy isn’t on the list!’ Amy said. ‘And also, you can’t get Christmas candy! It’s still November!’

‘So?’

‘So, it’s not Christmas yet!’

‘If you’re not meant to eat it before December, how come they sell it?’ Jake said, like he was delivering the winning blow in an argument.

‘Just-’ Amy was getting flustered already. ‘Put it back and get stuff that’s actually on the list.’

She gave him the sorted-by-section list and kept the alphabetised one for herself, and Jake rolled his eyes but obediently strolled off in search of vegetables. Amy went to the dairy aisle for milk and butter, crossing them both off her list.

She really needed this dinner to go well. Who knew how many holidays they had left with their work family before they had another type of family to think about? Maybe even by next Thanksgiving… but no, Jake needed more time than that. Plus, who even knew how long it would take for her to get pregnant?

But the Thanksgiving after that, though. She imagined years of holidays stretching out before her: pureed vegetables, and then baby hands grabbing pieces of food, and then children old enough to talk to them over dinner. Talking about what they’re thankful for, making handprint turkeys, helping with dinner. Amy could see it so vividly: her and Jake and their family.

Jake arrived with potatoes, carrots, green beans, onions, and thankfully no candy this time.

‘Perfect,’ she said, crossing them off her list. She wondered if Jake had thought about future Thanksgivings as well. He was quiet as they walked down the fruit aisle, which meant he could have been thinking about anything from his time in prison to the last season of Game of Thrones.

‘What do you think everyone’s family does when we have Thanksgiving together?’ he said.

Amy put two packets of cranberries in the shopping cart. ‘What?’

‘You know,’ Jake said. ‘Like what are Kevin and Sharon and Genevieve gonna be doing tomorrow? Hey, do you think they have a secret squad-spouses meetup?’

‘Somehow I doubt that,’ Amy said.

‘Then what do they do?’ Jake said. ‘Holt and Kevin don’t even have kids, and I know Kevin doesn’t talk to his parents.’

‘He has a brother,’ Amy remembered. ‘Maybe he… should we have invited them all?’

Jake shrugged. ‘I think if anyone cared they would have said anything.’

‘Oh god,’ Amy groaned, looking at her cart full of food. ‘I’m a terrible host. I didn’t even think of it.’

‘Babe, it’s fine,’ Jake said. ‘We’ve had tonnes of Thanksgivings with just the squad. I was just wondering.’

‘Maybe I should message them and check?’

‘If you want,’ Jake said. ‘Or we could just focus on tomorrow, and maybe do something with all the families next year?’

‘Yeah, okay,’ Amy said, still feeling guilty. She looked at her list. ‘Oh, we missed stuffing. And garlic.’

They went back for it, and then the only thing left on her list was wine. Charles had convinced her to let him bring a pie, which was probably for the best, because it saved her from worrying about dessert. That said, she was a little worried about Charles’ taste in food.

‘It’s not gonna be weird,’ he had said. ‘I promise! Pie doesn’t need bells and whistles, it just needs to taste good.’

She just hoped she and Charles had the same definition of ‘not weird’ when it came to pie.

‘What kind of wine do we want?’ Amy said, surveying the shelf in front of her. ‘What’s the cheapest thing Holt won’t hate?’

‘Let’s get this one!’ Jake said. ‘It has a corgi on the label!’

Amy scrutinised the bottle. ‘It’s from Texas.’

‘But it’s cheap,’ Jake pointed out.

‘Okay.’ Amy put it in the cart. ‘But if it’s terrible, you’re drinking it.’

Amy grabbed a few of mid-range bottles, and one slightly fancier one. She was pretty sure she could serve it to just Holt without anyone else seeing. She just hoped he liked it. Even though this was the third time Holt had come to Amy’s apartment for Thanksgiving, she was still just as anxious about impressing him.

Her worries were rattling around her brain like loose change in a handbag – should she make a toast? Should she ask Holt to give one? Or Jake? Or someone else? Should she use her mom’s mashed potato technique, or the one she found online? What would Holt think if her mashed potatoes were lumpy? What if –

‘That’s everything, right?’ Jake said.

‘What? Oh, yeah.’

Amy tried to quash her worries as they walked towards the checkout. It would be fine. It would be. She gazed out of the grocery store’s windows, where a couple of trees were beginning to shed their amber leaves.

She remembered last fall: the gas explosion on Halloween, Thanksgiving with her parents. And the fall before that, standing in the evidence lockup as October turned over into November. Amy Santiago, will you marry me? And the year before that, the turkey incident and Jake managing against all odds to bond with her father. And before that, when Amy won the Halloween heist. And before that, breaking up with Teddy and driving back to New York with Jake, orange fall leaves all around them. And before that, the squad convincing her to like Halloween, and Jake to like Thanksgiving.

If they hadn’t been converted then, they surely were by now. It seemed crazy to look back at a time when she had pestered Jake to wear a suit for Thanksgiving dinner, and he had mercilessly, unflirtatiously teased her on Halloween. Kind, sober, and fully dressed – good news everyone, we finally found the title of Santiago’s sex tape! Okay, maybe it was a little flirtatious. Why hadn’t she seen that at the time?

And here they were, five years later, shopping for Thanksgiving together and imagining their future children. A lot had changed – more than she ever could have imagined. Amy moved food onto the conveyor belt in something of a haze. It was surreal, thinking about the turn her life had taken.

They paid for all the groceries, and loaded their reusable bags back into the shopping cart.

‘Do you think the shop-bought stuffing’s okay?’ Amy said as they crossed the parking lot.

‘Yeah, why?’ Jake said.

‘Shouldn’t we have made it from scratch?’ Amy said. ‘That’s what my mom would do.’

‘Your mom bought her own coffee to our apartment,’ Jake said. ‘When she was visiting for three hours. You don’t have to do everything she does.’

‘But what if people don’t like it?’ Amy worried. ‘But if we made our own, people probably wouldn’t like that, either. Oh god, why am I doing this?’

Jake gave her a worried look. ‘Babe, are you-’

‘I’m fine!’ Amy said.

Why was she doing this? She was a terrible cook. Her Thanksgiving dinners always ended in a disaster of some kind. And Jake was a bad cook in an entirely different way – while she rigidly followed the recipe, he read the first line and then got alarmingly experimental. It was even worse when he went to the grocery store by himself – one time he had made cauliflower cheese with some kind of Chinese beef. It was distinctly weird. Were the two of them really going to be able to scrape together something acceptable?

But they had to. Amy had to do this. She was going to ply them all with so much food and wine that they would have a good time whether they liked it or not.

‘Did we get enough wine?’ she said. ‘Maybe I should grab some more before tomorrow?’

‘Nah, we’ve got plenty,’ Jake said. ‘Ames, I know you said you’re fine, but you seem really worried.’

‘I’m fine,’ Amy insisted. ‘I just want it to be good! I need it to be good.’

They got to the car, but Jake made no move to unlock it. Instead, he turned to her and fixed her with an intense gaze. ‘It will be good,’ he said. ‘And you don’t have to do it by yourself – I’ll be there to help.’

‘I know,’ Amy said, her voice cracking. ‘I know. I just really want to get it right this time. I want people to have good memories of our apartment for once!’

‘They will,’ Jake said.

‘Last time Charles got attacked by a turkey!’ Amy could hear her voice coming out a little high pitched, hysterical. ‘I had to take him to the ER, and my dad was there, and nobody got any food – nobody ever gets any food.’

‘We have butt-tonnes of food,’ Jake said. ‘Even Terry won’t be able to eat it all.’

Amy felt like she might cry, which was ridiculous. It was just food, just a holiday, but it all meant so much to her. ‘I know. We just… we don’t have many more chances.’

Jake paused, thoughtfully, looking away and then meeting her gaze again. ‘You know that the squad is always gonna be our family, even once we have kids, right?’ he said, gently. ‘It’s not one or the other. And we’ll still be able to do things like this with them.’

He was right, of course he was. Half the squad already had children, and everyone else had a partner outside of the NYPD, and it hadn’t gotten in their way. ‘I know,’ Amy said. ‘I know that, rationally. But it still feels like having kids is gonna change everything.’

‘C’mere,’ he said, and pulled her into a hug. Amy closed her eyes, pressed her face into her husband’s shoulder, breathed in the scent of him. ‘Is that what you’re worried about?’

‘I’m worried about a lot of things,’ Amy said, and Jake laughed.

He pulled back, looked at her intently again. ‘Even if things change, it’s gonna be okay,’ he said. ‘I promise. And whatever happens tomorrow, it’s gonna be great.’

‘You don’t know that.’

‘Ames,’ he said, with a soft smile. ‘We’ve been through so much together. I think we can survive Thanksgiving.’

‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘I was being stupid.’

‘No you weren’t.’ Jake hugged her again. ‘You’re just being you – which is the opposite of stupid.’

Amy took a steadying breath, blinking back tears. How did she get so lucky, finding this man? ‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘I know you can’t just ‘stop worrying’,’ Jake said, pulling back. ‘But how about we take a break from it for now?’

‘Yeah.’ Amy took a deep breath. She could feel her heartrate slowing, the knot of worry in her stomach untwisting. ‘Let’s do that.’

‘Let’s just go home, watch a documentary, and eat all our Christmas candy.’

‘We don’t have any-’ Amy started to say, but Jake reached into one of the carrier bags and pulled out a whole handful of bags of chocolate.

‘Boom! Surprise candy!’

‘I can’t believe you,’ Amy said, trying and failing to sound exasperated. ‘I can’t believe how wonderful you are.’ She took Jake’s face in her hands and kissed him. ‘I love you.’

‘I bet you say that to all the guys who buy you chocolate,’ Jake said. And then, ‘I love you too, Ames.’

They kissed again.

‘We should get out of this parking lot,’ Amy said.

‘Smort.’

So they went back to their apartment, and unpacked what had turned into large amounts of food and wine, and ordered pizza. Amy felt completely justified in ordering out, when they had hours’ worth of cooking to do the next day.

They spent their evening indulging in documentaries and dramas on Netflix, Amy lying across the couch with her feet in Jake’s lap as they passed the packets of chocolate back and forth. Amy was reconsidering her opinion on it being too early for Christmas candy.

She figured that if a toast was needed the next day, she could improvise one. I’m thankful for chocolate in the shape of Christmas trees. I’m thankful for pre-made stuffing. I’m thankful for all of you, and I’m thankful for my husband – my ridiculous, perfect husband.

#b99 #b99 2019 fall fic exchange #b99fandomevents #lesbianperaltas #brooklyn nine nine #my writing #jake/amy

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johnny-and-dora · 6 years

Text

sweet dreams are made of this

41. “go back to sleep” the first of the 3k celebration prompts! requested by the queen of my life @fourdrinkamy - i made it extra horny just for you, my dear <3

(post florida fluff) read on ao3

He knows it can’t have been more than a few hours since they last saw each other, but Jake really misses his girlfriend.

It’s kind of ridiculous, he muses as he pulls up to her apartment building – he’s seen her almost every day for the past three weeks. The squad practically had to pry her away from his hospital bedside in Florida, and ever since he was discharged and debriefed he’s practically been living at Amy’s place – something he’s still holding out hope could become a little more permanent in the future.

The night shift has definitely provided an interesting challenge (one he’s ridiculously excited to take on in just a few days’ time) – but they’ve pretty much been inseparable since coming home, especially now that Jake’s pretty sure the freaking moon would feel like home as long as he was with her. Apparently his pain meds make him more sappy and clingy than usual, but he doesn’t mind.

Six months of missing every tiny little detail of her has blissfully melted away into a bad dream, and yet now he can barely spend half a day without her before feeling that old familiar ache in his chest.

It’s why he gets so excited limping up the stairs to her apartment with his new dope-ass pimp cane. He loved spending the afternoon with his mom as she doted on him and caught him up with all the new gossip about the lesbians across the street, but all he really wants to do right now is be with Amy – especially because the last text she sent him alluded to a “surprise” for when he comes back.

Between that and the dozen heart eyes emojis she’d signed off with, it’s basically been taking all the willpower Jake has not to risk a speeding ticket.

(He’s slightly worried the surprise might just be another documentary about fonts, but as long as they can make out on the couch for most of it, he’s good.)

It’s reason enough to be concerned when he lets himself in and she’s nowhere to be seen. He frowns, taking her shoes, bag and the fact that the thermostat is turned up to a tropical 83 degrees as solid proof that she’s definitely home, hobbling as quickly as he can inside.

His concern is instantly laid to rest upon peering around her bedroom door – he finds her curled up and fast asleep on top of a neatly made bed, dark hair fanned out on one of her many pillows, more serene then he’s seen her since they woke up in his cramped, uncomfortable hospital bed that first night.

He’d be paying more attention to the details of the scene, even going as far to call it adorable - but somehow he finds his mind drifting…elsewhere. In fact, Jake’s pretty sure his brain is completely short-circuiting as he takes a moment to process the sight of his girlfriend, fast asleep and dressed in delicate, lacy, stupid hot lingerie he’s never seen before on her. It’s making a lot of blood rush to a lot of places.

Wow. Wow. Amy. He has to take a minute to remember how to breathe.

As horny as he inevitably is, he also feels a pang of guilt seeing her completely out like that – he knows how exhausting she’s been finding the night shift even though she’s repeatedly assured him (often through stifling a yawn) that it was worth it to get him and Holt back.

Having to completely upturn her perfectly scheduled daily routine is clearly making her miserable, though, and he hates seeing her so exhausted, only finding comfort in the fact that he’ll soon be joining her. He deliberates whether or not to wake her before deciding that the least he can do is get her to change into something warmer.

“Hey, babe.” He says, as softly as he can, leaning over and stroking her hair. She shifts slightly, giving a slight moan of discomfort that evokes another sharp twinge of guilt – but he quickly dismisses it at the way her eyes swim with unadulterated affection once she finally opens them long enough to realise that he’s back.

“Mmm. Hey.” She says, gently tilting her head up to look at him properly, pushing hair out of her face, clearly oblivious to what she’s wearing and how it’s seriously driving him crazy. He raises an eyebrow at her, hoping that she’ll get the hint, but when she just looks confused he clears his throat.

“…So, is this what you wear to do chores now? Because that’s one way to convince me to do the dishes.”

“Oh, god.” Amy gasps, eyes wide as she looks down, and he can’t help but exhale a small laugh of pure endearment at the way her entire body seems to flush with embarrassment. She quickly grabs at her quilt to cover herself up, making herself as small as possible. He instantly feels bad at how self-conscious she seems to feel, like she somehow doesn’t know that he thinks she’s the most beautiful woman in the entire world.

“It was supposed to be a surprise for you, but I’m so exhausted from the stupid night shift I must have fallen asleep. I’m so sorry, Jake.” She quickly rambles an explanation, biting her lip as he sits down on the bed beside her, putting a steady arm around her shoulder.

“Hey, don’t be sorry. What are you apologising for?”

“I feel ridiculous.” She’s deliberately averting his gaze, and it breaks his heart a little.

“Ames. Hey, look at me.” He says, firmly – she finally meets his eyes with all this concern and anxiety and embarrassment that he’s determined to do everything he can to soothe. He’d take it all away, if he could, and he’ll never stop being frustrated that it’s just not that simple; he just wants her to know that whatever she tells herself, he thinks she couldn’t be more perfect.

“You are so sweet, and so thoughtful, and God, you are so hot.”

“Really?” She seems sceptical, but he thinks he can see the ghost of a smile on her face, which means he’s winning.

“Are you kidding me? You are so sexy. If the meds that make me supes drowsy totally weren’t kicking in and if I wasn’t totally convinced that you definitely need more sleep, we would definitely be having some seriously sexy timez right now because you’re driving me crazy.” She laughs, his favourite sound in the entire world, and lets the quilt fall a little.

“Would that be ‘Sexy Timez’ with a Z, by any chance?”

“You know it, babe.” He grins at her and Amy finally lets the quilt go, still blushing a little as he takes the pleasure of being able to drink every inch of her in, exactly the way he spent so many nights alone in his own personal swampy hell desperately wishing he could do.

“…Does this, um, work? For you?” She says, looking down self-consciously, and he instantly softens.

“Oh my god, yes. You’re so beautiful.” He’s completely sincere, and the way she kisses him is enough to satisfy him that she’s finally sure of it, at least for tonight. He wishes she could really see just how incredible she is, but he doesn’t quite have the vocabulary to express it, so he settles for the next best thing.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. So, what do we do now?” Amy asks, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Well, you’re going to go back to sleep, and I’m going to join you, and then we’re going to wake up late and have some seriously epic morning sex before lounging around in our pyjamas all day so that you can actually rest before going to work. Sound good?”

“Sounds perfect.” The way she doesn’t even protest a full Peralta special slug day means she definitely needs to get more sleep. He smiles – given how hard she’s worked taking care of him over the past few weeks, it’s nice to take care of her for a change. He’s wholeheartedly determined from now on to be the boyfriend that she actually deserves.

(He’s still being the little spoon, though, and he’s not afraid to play the “you shot me” guilt card if he has to. He has a feeling that one’s going to come in handy for a while.)

#b99 #b99 fic #jake x amy #peraltiago #my writing #sian does prompts #shut up sian #post florida!!!#also NOT ALL THE PROMPTS WILL BE THIS LONG. THIS IS AN OUTLIER #i really enjoyed writing this though and i hope you liked reading it!

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lovinglohst · 6 years

Text

I Wanna Dance With Somebody: Chapter 2- Nothing Good Ever Happens At The Mall

Story Pairings: Boyf riends, Pinkberry, RichJake

Chapter Characters: Michael Mells, Brooke Lohst, Jenna Rolan

Chapter Warnings: N/A

Story Summary: On the night of the Halloween Party, Michael is about halfway through having his infamous panic attack when Brooke comes tumbling into the bathroom, in the middle of her very own teenage angst. Michael lets her stay and the two sit in the bathtub and bond over their anger at their friends/super-mega-crushes. That’s when they get the idea to start fake dating to both get back at Jeremy and Chloe and win them over. Chaos, bonding, and gay ensue.

Authors’ Note: Chapter 2 has arrived! We hope people enjoy it! - Aly and Nik

AO3 Link

His phone was buzzing.

Even in his half-conscious state, Michael could register that. His tired mind immediately went to Jeremy, who was the only person who could possibly be texting him at such an early (ungodly) hour. Slowly and reluctantly, he pushed the thick covers away from his face and blindly reached out his hand to feel for his phone.

It was only when he finally got a hold of it that he realized he was also missing his glasses if the blurry screen was anything to go by. With a tired groan, he once again reached over to his bedside table, grabbing his glasses and slipping them on.

With his sight restored he could see that the messages were in fact not from Jeremy because, oh yeah, they weren’t friends anymore. Michael pointedly ignored the aching throb his heart made at this realization, instead choosing to focus on the two texts from an unknown number waiting patiently on his home screen (a very cringey picture of him and Jeremy from last year’s Halloween).

UNKNOWN: Morning ‘Boyfriend’ ;)

UNKNOWN: Got any plans for today?

Michael did a double take, rereading the messages a few times to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

What the fuck…?

ME: Who is this?

It took a few seconds before the three dots indicating the other person was typing popped up, quickly followed by a message.

UNKNOWN: It’s Brooke! Who else would be texting you that lolllllllll

UNKNOWN: Don’t tell me you have another fake girlfriend

Michael couldn’t help but smile down at the screen, remembering their scheme from the previous night. After finishing their slushies, Michael had dropped Brooke back at Jake’s so she could get her car (her mother’s, she’d told him after unlocking the dark cadillac), and then he had stumbled home to crash in his bed.

ME: I have five actually :)

BROOKE: Haha very funny

Before Michael could type out a reply assuring her that he was in fact a very funny person, there was a knock on his door followed by his mother’s soft voice. “Michael? You awake, honey?”

“Yeah!” He called back just as another text popped up on the screen.

BROOKE: So, plans???

“Hey mom? Is it cool if I have a friend over?”

The question seemed to be enough cause for his mom to open the door, poking her head inside his dimly lit room.

“Honey, you know you don’t have to ask if Jeremy can come over, right? He’s practically family at this point.”

Michael hoped the way he flinched at the name wasn’t all that visible and he quickly shook his head. “Not Jeremy, another friend.”

“Another friend?” The surprise in his mom’s voice was almost enough for him to be insulted. Then again, he himself never would have thought he’d be having anyone other than Jeremy coming to his house. Guess things had really changed.

“Yes mom, I do have those contrary to popular belief.” He replied before adding, “So can she come?”

“She?” His mom raised a brow, surprise written all over her face once more before she shook it off, “Sure, she can come over. Though you should probably get dressed first.”

“I will.” He assured her, picking up his phone and typing out a quick text.

MICHAEL: My house in an hour?

Exactly an hour later the sound of the doorbell rang through the house and Michael got out of his bed in a rush, hoping to answer the door before one of his moms could.

But Michael didn’t seem to be getting much of what he wanted the past few days, as when he’d made his way down the stairs he was greeted by the sound of his mom’s making small talk with Brooke.

“There he is! Michael, you didn’t mention that your friend was so pretty!” His Ma teased and Michael did his best to refrain from rolling his eyes.

“Girlfriend, actually.” Brooke corrected, smiling brightly at Michael who had instantly turned bright red at the comment.

“Michael didn’t mention that either.” His Mom said shooting him a look.

“I thought you were gay!” His Ma exclaimed, much more bluntly, never being one for subtleness.

Brooke seemed fairly amused by his mothers and he made a mental note to get back at her for this.

“Okay relax she’s not my girlfriend. I mean she is...but she’s not! I’m still very gay! We’re just….fake dating.” He tried to ignore how lame that sounded while his mothers stared at him in confusion.

“Fake dating? Why?” He sputtered helplessly at the question, looking over at Brooke to help him. She giggled, crossing the room to stand beside him and give his mothers a warm smile.

“Well you see, Michael is mad at Jeremy and I’m mad at my friend Chloe, so we decided to fake date to make them jealous,” She paused as if realizing she had forgotten something before adding in, “Oh, and the reason we’re mad at them is because we’re kinda in love with them, and they’re both acting like assh-I mean, jerks lately.”

Michael didn’t even bother to hide his grimace at her blunt honesty. He had never spoken to his Moms about his feelings for Jeremy. In fact, he had actually denied being in love with his best friend various times when they had questioned him. He could already feel the anxiety inching through him but the laughter from his Ma managed to quickly calm his nerves over the whole thing.

“That’s great, good for you two!” She exclaimed, ignoring the look her wife shot her.

“Just be careful.” His Mom cautioned.

Be careful. Huh. Michael was pretty sure that being careful wasn’t exactly an option when you were fake dating Brooke Lohst but he nodded anyway to quell her concerns.

“Can we go upstairs now and pretend this horrible conversation, like, never happened?” Michael questioned, already beginning to tug on the sleeve of Brooke’s sweater, inching her towards the stairs.

“Of course, let us know if you want any snacks.” His Mom responded, her smile sweet as always. His Ma wore a mischievous grin beside her and before she even spoke Michael was mentally facepalming.

“Yeah, or any fake-condoms!” She added in followed by laughter at her own very horrible joke. Michael hoped neither of his mothers saw his bright red face as he grabbed Brooke’s arm and led her upstairs. He pointedly ignored the sound of his Mom disciplining his Ma, who was giggling hysterically, on making improper comments in front of guests behind them.

“Your moms are awesome!” Brooke said as she plopped down on his bed, smile bright.

“They’re embarrassing.” He corrected her, although deep down he knew his moms were in fact very awesome. “So are you for the record. You didn’t need to tell them everything, especially the part about me being in love with Jeremy.”

He took a seat beside her, fixing her with a look to which she merely shrugged, “Honesty is very important. Plus, I’m pretty sure just about everybody knows you love him. Well...except maybe him.”

“I’m not that obvious! And if honesty is so important, why don’t you tell Chloe about your feelings?” He questioned pointedly causing Brooke’s smile to drop, replaced with a playful frown.

“Touché.”

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” He inquired, watching as she stood up, beginning to look around his messy room. He felt self-conscious all of a sudden, wondering anxiously if he should have tried to clean up more before she came. Jeremy never really minded the clutter, so Michael didn’t bother with cleaning.

“Well, we need to figure out what we’re doing on Monday. I mean people are going to want a story on how we got together. We should also-” She stopped in her tracks staring into the closet that she had just curiously pulled open. “Michael what is this!!!”

“What is what?” He questioned standing up and joining her in front of the closet. It was actually fairly clean, in fact most of the stuff that probably should have been in there was laying around his room. All that was in there was his clothes.

“I can not walk into school with my boyfriend wearing this stuff. I kinda assumed you had some secretly nice clothes stashed away somewhere! Not all...this!”

“Wow, I love it when you flatter me, keep going.” He quipped playfully, too amused by her distress to actually be offended by her comment.

“Michael! This is serious. All you have is a bunch of ratty hoodies and jeans! I mean, is this seriously all you wear?”

“I feel like you don’t want me to say yes...but, yes.”

Brooke groaned, closing the closet door and leaning against it as if to keep his oh-so-hideous clothes from escaping. “Okay, new agenda. We’re going to the mall. Your wardrobe needs a serious upgrade.”

“What?! Brooke, no. Last time I went to the mall, my best friend left me for a stupid floppy disk in his brain. Nothing good ever happens at the mall!” He argued, crossing his arms defiantly.

Brooke mirrored his position and tilted her head, “Michael. I will fake-break-up with you.”

“Over clothes!?” Michael questioned, laughing in disbelief. His laughter quickly died off under the heat of Brooke’s unrelenting scowl. “Are you serious?”

“Very.”

He sighed glancing around his room in thought, avoiding her scathing eyes. “Fine. But, if I’m going shopping then you’re learning to play video games.”

“Deal.” Brooke grinned excitedly and grabbed his arm, “This is going to be so fun!”

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Michael didn’t think he’d ever be able to look at jeans in the same way ever again. Brooke must’ve made him try on at least fifty pairs over the course of the past hour, and he wasn’t even going to mention the shirts. All of them were way too preppy for his casual tastes, and too expensive.

“You look great!” Brooke squealed, as he stared at himself in the mirror. The reflection bore no resemblance to Michael Mell, instead looking like an off-brand Jake Dillinger.

“I look like I belong in a really bad porno.” He deadpanned, watching Brooke’s face fall in the mirror.

“You look cool, which is-“

“-Exactly what I don’t want!” Michael turned to look Brooke in the eyes. “Look if this whole thing is going to work, we need to lay down some ground rules. I’m not gonna go changing myself to get people to like me. I’m not like him, I like how I am.”

Brooke considered him for a moment.

“Compromise then? You can wear hoodies or whatever, but none of those fabric scraps you call jeans.” She held out her hand to shake, and Michael took it happily. And with the compromise in place, they finally settled on a few outfits that met both of their standards. With multiple bags hanging from Michael’s arms, the two soon arrived at the food court. Brooke didn’t pause for a moment, leading him straight towards a particular eatery. As they sat in the uncomfortable metal chairs, Michael eyed the yogurt with a critical eye. He’d promised Brooke he’d try it but it just looked so… unappetizing.

“Just try it.” Brooke urged, already attacking the creamy dessert with her spoon. Michael paused, before obeying. As soon as the yogurt hit his tongue, a million bursts of flavor hit him right away. His eyes widened comically, before eagerly spooning more of the frozen dairy into his mouth.

“I can see why you like this stuff so much.” He moaned, shoveling yet another spoonful of frozen yogurt into his mouth. Brooke simply smirked triumphantly, spooning another bite into her own mouth.

“Pinkberry is, like, the greatest thing to ever exist. It beats pretty much every other frozen food or drinks.” Brooke proclaimed, ignoring the faux-scandalized gasp that escaped from his throat.

“You take that back you heathen.” He commanded, brandishing his little spoon at her threateningly. “Slushies beat this any day.”

“Never.” Brooke teased, schooling her features into a solemn frown. There was a split second of silence before the two dissolved into laughter. He didn’t know what it was about Brooke that made this so easy. The two of them were practically from different planets- different in every possible way. And yet here they were, laughing over nothing at all. As skeptical as Michael was about their ‘relationship’, he couldn’t imagine a better person to be fake-dating.

The partially muffled sound of some generic pop song that Michael couldn’t bother to remember cut through their laughter, interrupting their moment. Brooke dug a hand into her purse, pulling out her phone with ease. She glanced curiously at the screen, and her smile fell.

“What?” Michael questioned as she continued to stare at the ringing phone. Lifting himself out of the seat just enough to peek at the screen he saw Chloe’s name in big bold letters, along with a picture of her. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at Brooke’s crestfallen face with determination. “Don’t do it.”

“I know,” Brooke replied unconvincingly, still staring at the screen.

“Don’t you dare answer that phone, Brooke.” He deadpanned, watching her eyes flick up to him for a moment. “You’ll regret it if you do.”

“But-”

“No buts!” He commanded, watching as she slowly lowered her eyes to the phone again. He could see it clear as day that she wasn’t going to be able to resist answering the phone. Quicker than lightning, Michael snatched the phone from her hands, sending Chloe straight to voicemail.

“Hey! Michael, what the fuck?!” The blonde demanded angrily, trying to reach across the table for her phone. Michael held the device away from her, shoving it in his hoodie pocket swiftly. “Give me my phone!”

“Not until I can trust you not to call her back!” He told her sternly, watching Brooke’s eyes narrow. “Brooke- holy fuck!”

He hadn’t been expecting her to jump across the table, catching the attention of several shoppers. She knocked him flat on the ground, her legs straddling him on either side as her hands darted for his pocket with a steely determination. He only just barely batted them away, staring up at Brooke with a resolve just as strong. She was so much better than this, and Michael wasn't going to let her lower herself back down to Chloe’s punching bag.

“Brooke will you just- fucking chill out!” He yelled, blocking her attempts to steal back her phone. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice!”

His fingers found her sides rather quickly and Michael felt no remorse as he began to tickle her aggressively. A shrill shriek escaped Brooke as she reflexively began to giggle at Michael’s attacks.

“Ohmygod please stop.” Brooke finally got out between her desperate giggles, breathing heavily when Michael slowly removed his fingers. She glared at him playfully, her eyes now full of humor. “Never do that again you dick!”

“It was for your own good!” He defended, smiling at her goofily. “You’re way too good to go back to Chloe treating you like shit. We’re gonna show her that you deserve better, that she needs to be better. Or else you’re not going back.”

Brooke blinked at him in surprise, before offering him a watery smile.

“Thanks Michael… I mean it.”

“Glad I could help! Now can you, uh, get off me please?”

The two of them laughed as Brooke pushed off of him, opting for sitting beside him on the floor, ignoring their abandoned chairs. Neither of them noticing Jenna Rolan sitting a few tables away with a shark-like grin, a phone in hand brandished like a deadly weapon.

JENNA: O M G CHLO ANSWER ME!

<--- Chapter One | Chapter Three --->

#be more chill #boyf riends #pinkberry #richjake #be more chill musical #fake dating au #be more chill fanfic #fluff #bmc i wanna dance with someone

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ladyseaheart1668 · 6 years

Text

Endless Summer Fan Novel (Book 3, Chapter 6)

...Music is filling my ears. Piano music, a classical melody, familiar and cheerful. Mozart, I think...one of the sonatas. Underneath it is the ticking of an old-fashioned gear clock. As the image of Uqzhaal in his fearsome skull mask tumbles into my mind, I inhale sharply, my eyes flying open. I'm lying on an overstuffed couch in a treehouse room crammed to the gills with bizzare objects. I feel pressure on my right hand, the touch of a familiar calloused palm on my cheek.

“You all right there, Princess?” Jake brushes stray wisps of hair off my forehead, studying my face with worry in his eyes.

“I think so,” I mumble, feeling languid. “I'm a little groggy, but I'll live.”

I roll my head cautiously to the side to take in my surroundings. A Vaanti woman leans over a worktable. Her clothing is Anachronist, her hair dyed half pale lavender and half bubblegum pink and partially twisted into a topknot. She sets down her tools and wanders over to peer down at me through a pair of steampunk-looking goggles.

“Well, well. Still functioning.”

I feel my heavy tongue start to loosen, and I start to babble. “Look...I'm not the Endless! I didn't have anything to do with betraying the Vaanti or...” I trail off as her words register. “Wait...what's still fuctioning?”

“Your internal clock. Woke you up at just the right moment.” The Vaanti wanders over to a boom box sitting on the shelf along one wall and turns it off. The Mozart sonata cuts off. “You'll find that most of us aren't too interested in the Endless or the Catalysts. You had a hand in our story, certainly, but for us, that was quite long ago.”

With the hand that Jake isn't clutching, I reach up to rub the side of my head, still aching savagely from my fall.

“...What the hell was in that drink?”

“Liquified time crystal. Harmless to us, but extremely toxic to others. Seems the shaman had it out for you.” She leans over me, flicking a set of magnifying lenses over her goggles. “No symptoms other than drowsiness, though. You're very lucky. Or perhaps...different.”

I scowl, swatting at her with my free hand. “Hey, back off! I didn't come here for a physical.”

“No.” She straightens. “You came here seeking help. Our help. With the Island's Heart. Your friend Zahra told us.”

“Zahra? Where is she?” I look anxiously at Jake. “Where are the others?”

“They're nearby. They're fine. They just spent the night elsewhere in the city.”

“Fortunately, no one else consumed what you did,” the woman remarks.

“...And Uqzhaal?” I ask, bitterness creeping into my voice.

“On his way to Mount Atropo to stop the Endless, I presume. I pointed out to him that one can't be held accountable for the actions of an alternate self.” She pauses a moment. “Oh...you're probably wanting a name to call me. Clockmaker will do.”

“What's Jumanji planning to do?” Jake mutters. “Beat up Moon Man with his stick?”

Clockmaker sighs. “I'm afraid his words have managed to inspire a few of us who'd grown restless.”

“Restless about being trapped in the past?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “Restless while waiting for Vaanu to depart.”

“...I'm not sure I follow.”

“We don't simply revel for hedonism's sake, you see. It's a farewell party. At some point, an eventuality may occur where Vaanu is finally able to continue on its journey. Then, at long last, our party will end.”

“Wait. The island is going somewhere?”

“Not the island, but the life force that created it. Our ancestors worshipped the former, but it's the entity at the heart of La Huerta who we call Vaanu. Vaanu's arrival on Earth tore its body into hundreds of fragments. And when it broke, space and time broke too, trapping Vaanu here.”

“Sounds like some kind of alien...” I murmur thoughtfully.

“Stories speak of a bright light. Visions. A faceless angel guiding those in need.”

Jake's grip on my hand tightens. “That's our guy!”

“But I still don't understand why it would want to help us...”

“Perhaps Vaanu is hoping you might help it in return,” Clockmaker suggests. The ticking clock begins to toll the hour, its bell low and musical. Clockmaker picks up a small desk clock and delicately turns back the hour hand. “As for me, I can get you into Rourke's facility in exchange for an answer to one, simple question.”

“This oughta be good,” Jake mutters.

Clockmaker takes a seat in an odd-looking chair placed conspicuously in the center of the room and casually folds her arms.

“What is time?” she asks.

Jake raises an eyebrow. “...Seriously?”

“Like...the abstract concept of time?”

“Yes. What does it mean to you? Answer carefully.”

I am quiet for a pregnant moment. I close my eyes, trying to picture time. Trying to imagine forever. I start to feel dizzy again. Visions and memories tumble through my mind. The visions of the twelve idols. Memories of conversations I have had on this island, or things I have heard people say.

Time is inevitability, the Endless said.

Marking the passage of time is a fruitless effort, Varyyn said. It is time that marks the passing of us. Every end is a new beginning. Except the last one.

We are all slaves to time.

Time is a largely superficial construct.

We are all temporary, I said to Quinn. Every last one of us is a physical thing that eventually weathers away...killed by the very thing we were trying to keep alive.

Two-thousand one-hundred thirty-nine loops. Loops. Circles. An endless spiral of seasons and years that spirals up and out and moving ever onward as the lights of souls on its path are born and flicker out. ...Spiraling like...a DNA helix....

“...Time is inevitablity,” I say softly. “There is no escaping it. ...It always wins in the end...”

Clockmaker seems disappointed by my answer. “An interesting perspective, and an informed one. It is also the perspective of the Endless.”

I look up sharply. “I already told you, I'm not--”

“Not now. Not yet. But you are starting to think like her.” She sighs and rises. “In any case, you have answered my question, and now my end of the bargain is owed. Come.” She opens a sliding metal door and beckons for us to follow. Jake helps me to my feet, supporting me until I find my balance.

We emerge into hazy daylight onto one of the upper walkways. Anachronist Vaanti are still carousing on every level of the city.

“Alodia!” I turn to see Zahra approaching unsteadily, her arm wrapped around Craig's waist, a bundle tucked under her other arm. She hiccups sharply, making Craig snort with laughter.

“Yo, you got the hiccups again.”

“No I...hic...don't!” she protests. I bite back a smile, trying to look stern.

“Have you two been up partying all night?”

They exchange a blank look and immediately dissolve into giggles.

“You say that like you're surprised,” Zahra snorts, hiccupping again.

“Oh, crap, Z!” Craig suddenly yelps. “Don't look now, but there's a mouse by your foot!”

Zahra yelps, looking around wildly. “Where?! Where is it?!”

“Boom,” Craig replies. “Hiccups cured.”

As Zahra glares reproachfully at Craig, Michelle wanders out of a nearby building, rubbing her temples. Her hair is tousled, her make-up smeared.

“How does anyone sleep around here with all the noise?” she complains.

“It's not 'noise,'” one Vaanti informs her haughtily. “It's EDM.”

“Whatever,” Michelle grumbles. The others are emerging behind her, looking varying levels of rested. Diego immediately rushes over to me.

“Allie! Are you all right?”

“I'm fine. No permanent damage. Just a slight headache.” I ruefully rub the tender spot on the side of my head. Diego sags with visible relief.

“Morning, Alodia,” Kele calls.

“What's up, doodlebombers?” Raj greets us. He immediately finds a warm place to lie down and closes his eyes. Clockmaker clears her throat.

“Alodia, when you're ready, I can open a rift here in Quarr'tel. It will take you directly to Rourke's compound beneath the Observatory, going back to a time before he'd expect you to arrive.”

“Oh, whaaaaaaat?!” Craig crows. “I like this already!”

“So...you're going to help us?” I ask incredulously. “Just for answering a question?”

“That question matters much more than you may realize,” Clockmaker replies. “As does the Island's Heart.”

“Hey, Alodia,” Zahra says. “If you're gonna be a freaking time ninja, you've gotta ditch the pirate look.”

I look down at the shirt and breeches I'm still wearing. “...I do?”

Zahra rolls her eyes. “Yes. Desperately. Here.” She takes the bundle out from under her arm and deposits it in my arms. “I grabbed some sick gear last night. Put these on.”

“Oh, fine, if you insist.”

I duck into the nearest building to strip off the shirt and breeches and replace them with Zahra's outfit choice instead. I pull on a purple, black, and navy blue dress of leather and silk with a low-cut bodice and a poofy, ruffled miniskirt. There's also a pair of strategically ripped black tights, sturdy black boots, and a pair of fingerless black leather gloves. I have to admit, it looks good. I'm not sure what I'd call the style. Steampunk? Cybergoth? Gothic Lolita? All three? I emerge, grinning.

“Okay, Zahra. I admit, I kinda like this.”

“What's not to like?” Zahra replies blithely. “You look like a rock star.”

Michelle whistles. “I feel like I need to create a new Pictogram account just to document that outfit.”

“Hell yeah!” Craig lifts a hand. “Gimme five, Alodia!”

I raise my own hand to comply, and he starts to pull his hand away. Suddenly, everything seems to be moving in slow motion, as if Craig is moving through syrup. I clap my palm against his, and he returns to normal speed.

“Too slow!” As the tingling in his palm registers, he stops and blinks. “Wait, what?”

I smooth the silky ruffles on my skirt. “...Woah...was that...?”

“Are we ready to go?” I glance over at Sean, who has pulled Raj to his feet. Raj is still blinking blearily, but he looks conscious enough.

“I think so.” I look over at Clockmaker, who nods. She takes a stopwatch from her pocket, and adjusts a few dials. The gathered Vaanti back up as she clicks the button on the top.

“Xiaoxin!” Clockmaker shouts. The air in front of me ripples and implodes like a burning film slide. A glowing wound opens in the skin of reality, surrounded by pulsing rainbow light.

“Oh, god,” Diego groans. “Is this where some guy in a demonic bunny suit tells us to 'wake up'?”

“I'm awake! I'm awake!” Raj yelps. “...Am I awake?”

“We'll try to maintain it until you return,” Clockmaker says. “Don't dawdle.”

“Time for deploy,” Jake murmurs, looking over at me. “You ready, Princess?”

I nod. “Let's go turn the tables on Rourke.” I take a breath and run headlong into the rift. The voice of an Anachronist follows me.

“They don't stand much of a chance, do they?”

“May Vaanu guide them,” Clockmaker replies.

We land in an immense, high-ceilinged industrial room, lined with monitors and technical equipment, far too advanced for me to make any sense of it. Lights flicker and flash, machinery whirs. Zahra looks around, her eyes wide with wonder.

“Dang...I could spend some time in here.”

Jake holds up a hand in a sharp gesture that we've all come to recognize. Everyone freezes, quieting. He jerks his head at a lanky, pale-haired figure standing at a computer terminal.

“Malfoy,” he whispers. “Three o'clock.”

Aleister's back is turned to us. He connects a cable to a hovering drone, and then turns back to the monitor.

“Mother? Can you hear me?” I can just make out Iris' face on the screen. “Mother, it's me! Please, I need your help...”

“Access denied,” Iris chimes. “User is invalid.”

Estela grabs my arm. “Someone's coming!”

A small group of Arachnid soldiers are suddenly rushing at us. Mike is leading them, and it's already too late to hide.

“Intruders!” Mike growls.

Aleister starts, whipping around to face us. His eyes widen. “Wha--? No! Stand down!”

The soldiers hold their ground. Aleister disconnects the drone, and the monitor goes blank. His eyes lock with mine.

“Aleister!” I growl. “Give us the Heart, and we'll leave.”

“You must be really out of ideas,” Zahra mutters.

“Aleister, you don't need the Heart,” Sean says. “Rourke's gonna trash the island if he keeps using it.”

Aleister's eyes never leave my face. “...You shouldn't have come here.”

“Permission to capture the intruders?” one Arachnid soldier asks as if having to ask is deeply irritating. Aleister rounds on the troops.

“Just...leave!” he growls through gritted teeth. “I have the situation under control!”

“You're lying,” Mike says flatly. Jake takes a step towards Mike, but Sean grabs his arm, holding him back.

“Mike!” Jake cries plaintively. “Fight it, dammit!”

Aleister turns to a terminal and enters a series of commands. Mike freezes in place.

“I said leave!” he snaps.

“...Yes, sir,” Mike answers after a moment. He turns stiffly and walks off.

“Wait!” one of the soldiers protests. “We're just gonna--”

“We're moving,” Mike snaps. “That's an order.”

“...Copy.” The soldiers reluctantly follow him down the hall.

“You're controlling him?!” Jake cries, a hundred emotions flickering in his eyes as he looks at Aleister.

“Don't be ridiculous,” Aleister mutters, rolling his eyes. “I merely adjusted his memory of the last few minutes.”

“Where's the Island's Heart?” I snarl.

Aleister sighs, and gestures vaguely behind us. “...There.”

We turn. On the far wall, gleaming out of the shadows, is a giant red robotic form surrounded by wires and scaffolding. It's a mecha suit, straight out of Transformers or Power Rangers.

“Good god...” I whisper.

“...It's inside the Omega Mech,” Aleister sighs.

“What in the Sam Hill?” Kele breathes.

“...We...are...screwed,” Craig groans.

“Nice knowing you, dudes,” Raj agrees.

“Allie!” Diego cries weakly. I turn to see him leaning over a surveillance monitor. His face is pale, his hands shaking. I glance at the screen and my stomach drops. It's a feed from a security camera, showing Varyyn restrained on a lab table. He isn't moving. I know the room he's in. I saw it once when I touched the idol of Canis. In that room, my best friend was gunned down.

“Oh, no...oh, nonono...”

“Oh, god,” Quinn whispers. “Are they experimenting on him?” Diego wrings his hands, breathing hard.

“We have to help him,” he whimpers. “Allie, please say we'll help him...”

Michelle is scanning the monitors beside him. “Grace must be here, too. Why don't I see her on any of these monitors?”

I whirl on Aleister. “Where are they keeping Grace?”

“You should leave the way you came, Alodia,” Aleister says softly. “This is only going to end badly for everyone.”

This time, I'm the one Sean has to hold back as I lunge at Aleister. “Tell me, you little--”

“Easy, Alodia!” Sean says firmly. “We have to move quick. Do we go after Varyyn first, or the Heart?”

I settle, still quivering with rage. “...We go for Varyyn first. And Grace. We'll need to get out of here quick after we have the Heart, and we're not leaving them behind.”

“Our friends come first,” Quinn agrees.

“As it always should be,” Estela says firmly. Diego pulls me into a hug.

“Thank you, Allie.”

Aleister turns back to the terminal keyboard. “I warned you. Now you've left me no choice but to—ungh!”

He slumps against the terminal and sinks to the floor. Estela stands behind him, brandishing the blunt end of her spear. She tips her head, popping tension out of her neck.

“Been wanting to do that for awhile now,” she mutters.

Craig grabs a power cord and begins tying Aleister's hands behind his back. Sean watches mournfully.

“I can't believe we have to do this, but it's better to not take any risks at this point.”

With Aleister secured and his limp body concealed in the shadows under a terminal, we make a break for the elevators.

* * *

After a bit of searching, we make it to the Observatory lab. Varyyn is there on the cold, sterile table, wrists and ankles pinned by mechanical restraints. Diego rushes to his side, leaning anxiously over him and stroking his face.

“Varyyn! Varyyn, can you hear me?”

Varyyn moans, his eyes fluttering. “...Diego...I had hoped to see your face one more time...” His voice is weak. “They ambushed me...Too many...I couldn't...”

“Shhhh. I know. I know.” Diego kisses his forehead. “Just hold on. We're gonna get you out of here.” Jake and Sean are already struggling with the restraints.

“Damn things won't budge!” Jake growls. Sean manages to create a tiny gap in one of the shackles before it snaps shut again. Diego turns to a workstation, where Zahra is already peering at the screen.

“Piece of cake,” Zahra says. “All we need to do is release the--” The workstation abruptly goes dark. Iris' hologram flickers to life in the center of the room, projected from a pedestal on the other side of the lab.

“I'm sorry, Zahra. I can't let you do that.”

My blood runs cold. Diego isn't alone this time. But I know what happens next. “We need to leave,” I say lowly. “Fast.”

“Iris, you've got to let Varyyn go!” Diego pleads.

“Negative,” Iris replies. I can almost whisper her next words with her. “This specimen will remain in custody for the duration of the procedure.” I cast my eyes to the wall near the ceiling at the same moment that the panels open and the machine guns descend, attached to robotic arms. A camera drops down with them.

“Are you kidding me?” Craig cries.

“Defense sequence initiated,” Iris says calmly. “Final warning...” I dive under the table. The others follow my lead, except Diego, who stays beside the table, clinging desperately to Varyyn.

“Diego!” I cry, my voice shrill with terror. The fear in my voice must be enough to move him, because he finally ducks down beside me, tears in his eyes. I pull him into my arms, feeling on the verge of tears myself. For a moment, all is quiet.

“...No hostiles within range,” Iris finally declares. “Defense sequence suspended.” The tension rushes out of me in a heavy exhale, leaving me weak and trembling.

“We gotta do something about that camera,” Jake murmurs.

“Eye in the sky need taking out? Leave it to me.” Kele produces a slingshot from his pocket, along with a rock. He takes aim, and sends the rock flying. With a clang, the camera detatches and drops, smashing against the floor. Kele grins. “Bingo.”

I peek out cautiously, and see a wisp of smoke rising from the destroyed camera. Diego chokes on a sob, scrambling out from under the table and rushing back to Varyyn's side as the rest of us emerge behind him.

“How do we get him out?” Quinn asks. “We have to get him out!”

“Surveillance lost in Cloning Lab,” Iris says. “Alerting proper channels.”

“Wait!” I cry. As my eyes flick to the smashed camera, a crazy idea occurs to me. “Iris! We've got Rourke at gunpoint!”

The others look at me as if I've grown a second head, but Jake nods approvingly.

“If you don't release Varyyn, Rourke here gets a bullet in the head!” he says sharply. “What's it gonna be?”

Iris' hologram scans the area, but she's been blinded by the loss of the camera. “Data inconclusive...Everett Rourke was not seen entering the Cloning Lab.”

“Just try and test me, Hallie 9000!” Jake retorts.

Iris is still for a moment. “...Threat level too high,” she says at last. “Complying with hostiles' demand.”

Iris vanishes. With four metallic pops, Varryn's restraints fall open. Diego clasps his newly freed hand, kissing it and weeping with relief. Michelle rushes to Varyyn's other side, quickly checking him over for injury.

“Doesn't look like he's hurt. Not beyond a few bruises, anyway. But he may have been sedated.”

The piercing blast of a siren rips the air apart, making us all jump. Zahra swears under her breath.

“That little piece of holographic shit! She activated a fucking alarm!”

“We gotta move now!” Sean snaps. “Come on!”

Diego and Craig brace Varyyn on either side, keeping him propped upright. Varyyn struggles to keep his feet under him as we rush for the elevators, his chin dropping onto his chest. He lets out a weak croak.

“What was that, Varyyn?” Diego asks.

Another blast from the siren makes my heart spasm painfully. Every cell in my body is quivering with alarm. My breath comes out in shallow gasps. Varyyn raises his head with tremendous effort, nodding at a door on the other side of the lab.

“Grace...” he whispers.

A glance and a nod pass between us. We change course, heading towards the other door. We exit the lab at the meeting point of three hallways. Varyyn nods toward the left. The siren blasts a third time. As it fades, the sound of heavy footfalls approaching reaches my ears. Several Arachnid soldiers suddenly round the corner into the central hallway. Leading them is a hulking brute of a man with a shaved head, and two mechanical fists.

“Found yoooooooou,” Tetra sings, leering.

“Give yourselves up!” one Arachnid barks. “Or we'll have to use force.”

“Fuck you,” Jake replies coldly.

“Hey, Jakey-wakey,” Tetra sneers. “Wanna hear a good joke?”

Jake sighs. “Do I have a choice?”

“Why did the wolf cross the road?”

Jake edges back towards the rest of us, inclining his head. “On my signal,” he murmurs. “Princess, Ariel, Short Stuff and Big Guy, you take Papa Smurf and head left.”

“Uh...are any of those people even here?” Kele whispers back. I just pat his shoulder reassuringly. Tetra snarls impatiently.

“I said...Why did the wolf--”

“You got me, pal,” Jake cuts him off.

“He didn't. Somebody ripped his guts out first!” Tetra laughs uproariously, reaching toward Jake. His mechanical limbs stretch out like snakes, rapidly closing the distance between them.

“They rebuilt him!” Quinn gasps.

“Now!” Jake shouts.

Quinn, Diego, Craig, Varyyn, and I make a break for it down the left hallway. The rest of the group hold their ground, facing off against the Arachnid troops. I glance back over my shoulder and see Jake narrowly dodging Tetra's writhing limbs. The mechanical fists slam into the walls again and again, sending chunks of debris flying.

“Jake!” My cry is plaintive to my own ears. I don't want to leave him.

“Alodia, get out of here!” he shouts.

“Go!” Sean agrees. He, Jake, and the others take off down the opposite hallway. The Arachnid soldiers swiftly pursue. Tetra turns and notices me frozen in the hallway. His furious gaze shakes me from my stupor, and I turn to run.

“Oh no you don't!” I turn to see an arm of serpentine steel surging down the hallway towards me. I grab the handle of the nearest doorway and swing it open, ducking behind it. Tetra's mechanical fist smashes through the thick steel, becoming stuck halfway through, his mechanical fingers clawing the air inches from my face. I recoil, pressing my back against the door jamb. It's all I can do to keep upright, to keep myself breathing.

“Hell yeah, Alodia!” Craig whoops. I wonder how he can be cheering me when I'm trembling like a goddamn leaf.

“Stupid sneaky kid!” Tetra roars furiously. He forcibly retracts his arm to try again, but Quinn leaps in between us.

“Back off!” she growls. “Or I'll mess you up all over again!” She stares him down, raising her hands and waving her fingers as if preparing to cast a spell. Tetra shrinks as he suddenly remembers who she is.

“N-no! Get away from me, you freak!” He retracts his arm and turns to flee down the hall with the rest of his group.

“Never underestimate the power of jazz hands,” Diego quips.

“It's about all I've got at this point,” Quinn replies with a rueful smile.

“Grace...” Varyyn croaks. “...She...is there...” He nods toward a door at the end of the hall. Craig and Diego, Varyyn still braced between them, head toward the door. Quinn reaches out and slips her hand into mine, giving it a squeeze. She studies my face intently.

“...You all right, Alodia?”

I force a smile. “...I'm fine. Let's get Grace back.” But I grip her hand hard as we follow the others down the hall. On the other side of the door is a cramped interrogation room. An observation window looks in on a tiny cell. Grace is huddled in one corner of the cell. Her hair is matted, partially covering her face. What I can see of her expression, despondant and weary, makes my heart squeeze. She stares blankly into space.

“Grace!” I cry.

“Grace, can you hear us?” Quinn calls through the glass.

Grace raises her head. “...Alodia? ...Quinn? You're here, too?”

“We all survived, Grace,” I assure her. “We've come to get you out.”

Her gaze drops again. “Don't bother. You're better off without me.”

“What?” Diego yelps. “Grace, I don't know what the hell has been going on here, but we're gonna get you out!”

“We are here to help,” Varyyn agrees. He is starting to look a little steadier and more alert. A door into Grace's cell stands in the wall beside the observation window. Diego eases Varyyn into a chair and goes to the door, turning several latches. But when he pushes on the door, it still doesn't budge.

“I got this,” Craig says, putting a hand on Diego's shoulder and easing him aside. He takes a running start and body slams into the door, but it still doesn't give. He winces, leaning against the wall.

“I think there's something jamming it from the other side!” Quinn exclaims.

Grace curls towards the wall. “Just go away, you guys. They'll only catch you if you don't.”

A horrifying possibility creeps into my mind. What could Rourke or his Arachnid mercenaries have been doing to Grace that she jammed the door on her side to keep them out? I taste panic at the back of my throat.

“Grace, please! Open the door!”

“Why?! What's so good about being out there?! ...I'm better off where no one can get to me.”

A familiar light manifests on one of the walls inside the cell. The ghostly figure steps out of the cinder blocks, its faceless gaze regarding Grace curiously.

“They're baaaaaaaaack,” Diego sings without mirth.

Grace recoils. “Oh, no...I'm hallucinating again...”

“Grace!” I call. “That's Vaanu! It wants to help us!”

“No joke, Grace!” Craig agrees. “That thing's legit!”

“Just take whatever it gives you!” Diego adds.

Vaanu reaches inside of itself and pulls out a framed display containing colorful butterflies preserved behind glass. I press my palm to the glass of the observation window. Will she still see the visions if I'm not touching the object as well? Will I still see them? Grace reaches out a shaking hand towards the ghost. I close my eyes and let my forehead come to rest on the glass. Please...please let it still work...

A white light blooms behind my eyelids.

I am on a balcony overlooking a bustling city. The sky is the deep blue color of evening, but the soft glow of lights along the walkways and streaming from the glass-walled building behind brighten the balcony. On the other side of the glass is an upscale gallery. A large crowd is gathered inside, murmuring as they gaze at vibrant paintings featuring elaborate geometric patterns. The door to the balcony opens and Grace emerges. She is dressed in a bohemian skirt and blouse with a jeweled butterfly brooch. Her long hair has been woven into dozens of tiny brains, twisted off her face and held in place with a gold barrette. Michelle is beside her.

“I can't decide which one I like best,” Michelle is saying. “Really, Grace, they're all amazing!”

Grace beams. “Thank you! Just let me know if you do see one you want and I'll set it aside.”

The door slides open again. An elegant woman in a dark blue business suit, her hair flawlessly coifed and curled, steps out onto the balcony. I know in an instant who she must be. In spite of the stark contrast between Grace's gentle bohemian style and the woman's sharp, snappy business attire, Grace is the spitting image of her mother.

“Hello, Grace,” Blair Hall says pleasantly. Grace's eyes widen.

“Mom...w-what are you doing here?”

“Grace, what a question!” Blair laughs. “I've always supported your little hobbies.”

“'Little hobbies'?!” Michelle echoes indignantly.

“Mom, please don't try to embarrass me.”

Blair looks genuinely surprised by the accusation. “Never, darling! I just, well...I did notice that some of these designs of yours are a little lackluster...maybe some more splashes of color here and there to spruce things up, you know?”

“You're...missing the point,” Grace mumbles.

“I just don't understand why you don't take up something you're actually good at, sweetheart.”

“Okay, that's it!” Michelle snaps. “I'm sorry, Mrs. Hall, but shut the hell up!”

“Excuse me?” Blair scowls at Michelle. “You watch your mouth, young lady!”

“Tell her, Grace.”

Grace inhales and sets her jaw. “Mom, all of these paintings were generated by calculations and assigned geometric properties. The whole point of fractal art is to display the beauty of mathematics! It's not about being flashy or impressive, it's about celebrating the intrinsic patterns of the universe.”

Blair shifts a little. “Of course. I knew that.”

“No, you didn't. You've never taken anything I've done seriously, especially the things I'm passionate about.”

Blair's eyes pass from Grace to Michelle and back again. “...I see. I'll...just be going.” She turns on her heel, and stalks out with all the dignity she can muster. Michelle puts a hand on Grace's shoulder.

“You all right?”

Grace blinks in astonishment. “You know what? That...felt really good!”

Michelle grins. “Good! I think she will actually get it, by the way. Seeing how talented you are, she probably just feels threatened. Anyway, she's got about seven gushing art critics to get through on her way out of here, so I think it's gonna sink in.”

Grace chuckles a little, then sighs. “You know, when I was little, she gave me this glass box full of butterflies. Beautiful specimens in every color of the rainbow. It was my most prized possession. And then I started to realize that's all I was to her. A precious thing to keep under glass and hide away.”

“Grace, it's up to you who's really in your family and who's not,” Michelle replies. “Don't let the ties that bind you be the ties that break you. Okay?”

Grace smiles. “Okay. You're right.” She sighs again, but this time it sounds like a release. She straightens as if a weight has been lifted from her shoulders.

“Now,” Michelle says with a grin, “I think it's time for some of that champagne!” She links her arm through Grace's, and the two of them head back into the party...

… I open my eyes again in the interrogation room. Grace stands at the center of her cell, eyes wide. She lifts her gaze to meet mine.

“Alodia...I think I just saw...”

“Your future,” I finish, smiling. Behind her, Vaanu fades into the wall, its light vanishing. Grace moves to the door. There is a series of clicks, and the cell door swings open. Grace stares at us, clutching the framed display.

“...I'm ready to go now,” she says with a soft smile. I rush inside to pull her into a hug. She holds me back. “...It's good to see you, Alodia.”

“You too, Grace. So good...”

She's back. Our swan is back. My family is almost complete again. If only we can draw the snake back to our side.

* * *

Back at the entrance to the lab, I approach to see the others clustered around Sean, who sits against the wall, clutching his left leg. His breathing is labored, his jaw tight with pain. As I get closer, I see the shine of fresh blood on his pants.

“Sean!” I cry out, rushing to kneel at his side.

“It's fine,” he growls. “I'll make it.”

“What happened?” Grace asks anxiously.

“Got grazed by a bullet,” he mutters, letting his head drop back against the wall.

“It isn't a graze,” Michelle says flatly. “It's a wound, Sean. The bullet is inside your flesh. I need you to take it easy and not put too much pressure on it.” She pulls off her backpack and begins searching through for her med kit. Jake shakes his head.

“There's no time for that, Maybelline,”he says grimly. “We barely lost Tetra and his grunts back there. They're gonna find us again if we wait much longer.”

“Can you walk, bro?” Craig asks anxiously. Sean nods.

“I'll manage. Let's just get out of here.” But he can't hold back a groan as Michelle and Raj help him to his feet. As we start back towards the surveillance lab, Zahra pulls a cylindrical device from under her arm and presents it to Craig with a grin.

“Lookie what we found.”

“The laser cannon!” Craig gasps. “I thought I wasn't gonna see this again!” He takes the harness eagerly and begins strapping it to his shoulder.

Zahra's grin widens. “Just try not to get too trigger-happy.”

We make our way to the elevators to return to the floor we arrived on. The Heart is our next objective. But I'm starting to get nervous again. Sean being wounded puts us at a disadvantage.

We make it back to the surveillance lab and creep over to the Omega Mech. Michelle and Raj ease Sean down against the wall while the rest of us stare up at the towering machine.

“It's...everything!” Zahra breathes.

“It's something, alright,” Kele concedes.

Jake scoffs. “Leave it to Daddy Weirdbucks to paint his doomsday device mid-life crisis red.”

I shade my eyes as I stare up at the thing. Erratic flashes of light hit my eyes from a compartment near the Mech's torso.

“There. I think the Heart's up there.”

“Cool,” Zahra says. “I'll check it out.” She hoists herself up onto an elevating platform and starts it up. It rises slowly, gears whining.

“Wait up, Z!” Craig jumps at the platform and hooks his fingers over the edge. He laboriously pulls himself up. “We used to watch Gundam together, remember? It was our tradition.”

Zahra laughs, slipping her hand into his. “I remember, ya doofus.”

The platform finally comes to a stop next to the compartment with the flashing light. Michelle suddenly grabs my arm.

“Did you see something moving over there?” Michelle points to a cluster of desks, where I see a vague shimmering.

“I see it,” Diego confirms. “I think it's the ghost.”

“No,” I murmur. “It's not the ghost.”

Fiddler turns off her cloaking, appearing in front of us, a sickening grin on her ruby lips. “You should've asked permission before dropping in, sweeties.” she purrs. “Now I'm gonna have to kick you out!”

A dark katana comes whirling through the air towards my lower body. My friends cry out in alarm. I grab a flat monitor off a desk and hold it up like a shield, even as I grit my teeth and brace for the pain. I'm thrown off balance as the blade crashes against the heavy plastic and clatters to the ground.

“Oh, god, too close!” Quinn gasps. Fiddler scoops up her weapon from the pile of shattered glass and plastic on the floor. Raj and Jake rush to my side and pull me to my feet.

“Shouldn't her blade have cut right through that?” Raj asks. He's right. But there's no glow of heat around Fiddlers katanas.

“What's the matter?” Jake sneers. “Lundgren replace your toys with hand-me-downs?”

“Shut up, Wolf!” Fiddler snarls. Jake steps away from me as Fiddler levels her blades at him. High above, a flare of light catches my eye. Zahra meets my gaze. She holds out the Island's Heart, preparing to drop it on Fiddler's head. Jake steps towards Fiddler carefully, keeping his eyes on her face. My heart wedges in my throat as he slowly closes the distance between him and her blades.

“You missed your opportunity to backstab me a second time, Jeanine,” Jake says lowly. “But if I get half the chance, I'll make you pay for what you did to me and Mike.”

In spite of herself, Fiddler retreats a few steps as Jake approaches, putting her squarely beneath Zahra. “Business, Jake. Just business. But then, you always did mix up work and pleasure...”

“What'd you do, Fiddler?” I ask. “What'd you do to them?”

She pulls herself up haughtily. “Jake didn't like what Lundgren was up to.” She lifts her blade, bringing it up to Jake's throat. “And I didn't like Jake. When he told me he was going to expose our commanding officer, I did what anyone would have done. I let Lundgren know exactly what kind of scum he had working for him.”

“Really. Sounds like you forgot to tell him about yourself.”

Fiddler turns towards me, clicking her tongue. “I do not like that mouth of yours, little blonde brat. How about I cut you a new--”

She is cut off by a loud thunk as the half-sphere of heavy crystal crashes down on her head. Fiddler crumples, unconscious. Diego quickly scoops up the still-intact Heart as Craig and Zahra cheer from the platfrom, high-fiving each other.

“Pass completed!” Craig crows. “Nice assist, Alodia!” Zahra starts the platform back up again, and they slowly begin descending. Jake grins up at them.

“Nice shot, Skri--” The word seems to get caught in his throat. He grimaces, clutching his ribs. My blood sizzles with alarm.

“Jake? You okay?” He starts to cough, slumping against the crimson leg of the Mech. I cry out. “Jake!”

I hurry to brace him, easing him gently to his knees as the coughs tear from his chest, rough and painful. Michelle is at his other side in an instant.

“It's his lung,” she says grimly. She places a hand on his back as he spasms violently. “Nice, slow breaths, Jake. In through your nose, out through your mouth.”

Jake struggles to follow her instructions. He trembles violently, his features twisted with pain. I stroke his face gently.

“Just stay with me, okay?” I murmur. “I know it hurts, but just stay with me. Just keep breathing.” In a moment or two, he has managed to get his breath back. He stands unsteadily, giving me a shaky smile when I try to support him.

“I'm all right,” he says hoarsely.

“We need to get out of here now,” I murmur. “You and Sean both need to get someplace safe to rest.” If such a place even exists on this godforsaken island, I don't add.

We start across the room, passing the still-unconscious Aleister as we go. At least, he still appears to be unconscious. I can see the rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathes, but he isn't moving. Sean looks mournfully at him.

“...I had hoped he would see the light by now,” he says softly.

In the darkness under the terminal, something else catches my eye. I bend down and withdraw a piece of paper. I unfold it carefully and cast my eyes over a note written in elegant, looping script.

My dearest Grace,

I know we will never speak again, but I wanted you to know how much I regret everything. I caused you so much suffering and for that, I'll never, ever forgive myself. I hope only to live long enough to redeem myself in your eyes.

Yours respectfully,

Aleister

“Yo, Alodia. You coming?” Craig calls. I hastily stuff the note into my pocket. I'll show it to Grace once we're safe. This isn't the time.

“Yeah. Sorry.” I jog to catch up with the others.

“How are we going to escape?” Grace asks uncertainly.

“Same way we came in,” I reply. “Don't worry. We've got a portal that's gonna take us far away from here.”

Zahra abruptly stops short. “Problem,” she hisses. “That Arachnid jerk's in our way.” I look towards the rift on the far side of the room and see Mike standing guard, rifle in hand. His eyes search the shadows for any trace of us.

“That didn't go very well for you last time.” The voice comes from across the room, dryly admonishing. “Step blindly through a door, and you'll suffer whatever consequence lies on the other side.

“Wh-who's voice is that?” Estela whispers.

“It sounded like it came from...” My heart drops as the cockpit of the Omega Mech suddenly floods with light.

“Stay, my friends,” Everett Rourke sneers from within. “And witness history in the remaking.”

“We have the Heart!” Craig taunts, scowling up at him.

“That you do,” Rourke replies. “And I have its power.”

Conduits on the floor flare to life as blue-white energy flows through them, flooding into the Mech. One massive red foot lifts and plants itself ahead of the other, shaking the earth as it lands.

“Everyone run!” I scream. “To the portal! Now!”

“Father!” Beneath the terminal, Aleister has abruptly come around. He struggles against his bonds, staring up at the Mech with horror in his eyes. “Father, what are you--”

“Be silent!” Rourke snarls. “Sit and watch while I do what Prometheus could not! For the fire of the gods is now mine forever!”

A sphere of roiling blue energy hurtles out of the Mech, streaking towards us, expanding as it goes. I close my eyes and throw my hands up in front of my face, instinctively diving. Electric energy stings my skin and sets every hair on my body on edge as a flash nearly blinds me, even through my eyelids. I roll onto my back and pop to my feet. But when I whirl around, I realize that I was the only one who made it out of the way. Jake, Diego, Estela, Sean, Quinn, Raj, Craig, Zahra, Grace, Michelle, Varyyn, and Kele are trapped inside a pulsing, crackling bubble, apparently frozen in place.

“No!” I sink to my knees, my arms wrapped tightly around my own torso as if bound by a straightjacket. It's the only way I could possibly resist the urge to throw my fists against the wall of energy that keeps me from them.

“You're much too concerned with the material, Alodia,” Rourke sneers. “The fleeting. Allow me to liberate you as I've been liberated!”

Within the sphere, my friends are flickering. Fading. The Omega Mech is erasing them from time. One by one, they start to disappear. An inhuman howl of agony and fear tears from my throat.

“Stop!” I double over, sobbing. “Don't do this, Rourke! Please!”

“Grace!” Aleister cries.

“Not to worry,” Rourke purrs. “If you want them back, all you'll need is the rest of the Island's Heart. You see, Alodia, with the Heart's power, time is our plaything. You could not only save your friends, but anyone you wish, once, twice, a thousand times over.”

But I already have...I've already done that...this was supposed to be the last time, the loop that broke the cycle... Suddenly, a more horrifying thought occurs to me. He knows. Rourke knows. He knows who I am. Who I once became. He knows that I am the Endless...

“Imagine it,” he continues, his voice a hiss. “A savior is born!”

Somehow, a frantic clacking breaks through my own screaming thoughts. I turn sharply to see Aleister freed from his bonds and typing frantically into a terminal, a snake-hilted knife clutched in one hand. In front of the portal, Mike abruptly goes limp, slumping to the ground.

“I deleted his programming, Alodia!” Aleister shouts. “Go! Go now!”

I should do as he tells me. But I'm frozen, rooted to the spot. How can I leave without the others? How can I go on alone? Wasn't that why I became the Endless in the first place? ...Is this where it happens?

“Ah, my son,” Rourke purrs. “My greatest mistake. Does it give you a measure of solace to see your father triumph?”

“You were never a father to me!” Aleister snarls. “I ruined everything I cared about trying to make a connection with you! You're no god in the machine! You're just a scared, petty little man hoping to bend the world to his whim!”

“Divide and conquer is the family way, Aleister.”

Aleister's fingers tighten around the knife in his hand as he looks down at the energy conduits. His breath comes out through gritted teeth, each one a hiss.

“...So it is.” In one swift motion, Aleister raises the knife and dives forward, driving the blade into the terminal. A shower of golden sparks erupts from the wound. Wild arcs of blue-white lightning course across the Omega Mech from the damaged conduit. Rourke screams inside the cockpit and his son screams at the console as electricity surges through them both. A burst of energy throws Aleister onto his back, where he lies twitching, a trail of smoke rising from his body. At that same moment, the blue sphere dissipates, and my friends reappear. All of them are unharmed, all of them are returned. They look around, disoriented. I choke on a sob and throw myself at Jake. He catches me and holds me.

“What the hell just happened?”

“Everyone get to the portal!” Diego shouts. I pull away from Jake and push him toward the rift.

“Go! Everyone go!” We make a break for the rift. Jake stops, seeing Mike unconscious on the floor. He hoists his friend onto his shoulders in one swift motion.

“C'mon, you bastard. You'd better be alive after all this.” He vanishes into the rift. I stand beside the tear and guide my friends in one by one. Jake, Sean, Estela, Quinn, Raj, Craig, Zahra, Michelle, Kele... I turn back to look at Aleister. He moans, turning his head towards me. Our eyes lock.

“You idiot!” Grace screams. I look sharply at her and realize she's looking at Aleister. “You could have died!”

Aleister raises a shaking hand and gestures at the portal. “Go...go while you still can...I'll...hold them off...” As he struggles to turn himself over and get to his feet, Grace grunts in frustration and runs to help him.

“Get the hell up and come on!” she snaps. “We're not leaving without you!”

“Grace...”

“Come on!” She pulls his arm over her shoulder and braces him. They limp together over to the rift and disappear inside with the others. Diego ushers Varyyn through. He is about to go through himself, but he stops and reaches back to grasp my arm, anxiety in his eyes.

“You're coming too, right? I swear to God, Allie, if I lose you again...”

“I'm right behind you. Promise. Now go!” But just as Diego steps into the wavering portal, I hear Rourke's voice behind me.

“Soon you will understand what you must do, Alodia. But in the meantime, how about a parting...gift?!”

A blue aura bursts to life around the rift. For a moment, I can still see my friends. Then the image begins to distort like a funhouse mirror. The edges of the rift widen to engulf me, and I fall through, my own cry echoing in my ears.

La Huerta

The Eastern Coast

Seraxa, war chief of Elyys'tel, walks purposefully along the strand under the moonlight. On one side of her walks a blue-skinned child with pale, curly hair. On the other, a massive golden-brown feline with fangs like daggers. Seraxa strokes the child's hair gently.

“You and T'kal play on the beach until I return.”

“But I want to go diving!” Taari protests. The sabertooth growls deep in his throat, and it sounds like a sigh.

“Taari,” Seraxa says warningly. Taari sighs, rolling his eyes.

“Fiiiiine. Come on, T'kal.”

“Stay on the sand. Do not go past the cliffs. Do you understand?” Taari picks up a long rope of seaweed and flicks it back and forth over the sand. T'kal drops into a crouch, reaching out with a paw to swipe at it. “Taari! Did you hear me?”

“Yeeeeeees,” Taari sighs, pouting. “I'll stay on the sand, but Seraxa better be safe too!”

Seraxa purses her lips, watching them for a moment. Finally, she sighs, and wades slowly into the water. She lets herself breathe slowly and deeply as the water laps its way up her legs, to her hips, her belly, and finally, her chest. She draws in one more deep breath, and dives. She descends swiftly into sea trench, propelled by her powerful legs, her cat-like vision cutting easily through the dark water. Arriving at a patch of oyster shells along the trench wall, she pulls out her knife and begins carving each one free. She does not rush. She has trained for many years to be able to hold her breath for an impressively long time, even for a Vaanti. She works carefully, her emerald-green warrior braids drifting lazily through the water about her head, floating on the warm currents.

A faint green glow begins to bloom on the trench wall. Seraxa ignores it at first, struggling with the last pair of oysters. She stabs at their bases in irritation, and the motions sends vibrations pulsing through the water. The glow on the trench wall is growing stronger. Seraxa suddenly freezes, her nerves sizzling with a warning. Slowly, she turns.

Three heads loom before her. One blue and angular, with horns and glowing slits for eyes. One scarlet with bulging eyes and a lower jaw full of needle-sharp teeth. One green and finned with a snout like an eel. Three heads on three necks that descend onto one scaled, serpentine neck that descends down into the abyss. And each head is at least three times Seraxa's size.

Half her held breath rushes out in a scream smothered by the water. A flood of bubbles drifts towards the surface. The three-headed Cetus roars from his scarlet head, shaking the trench walls. The remaining oysters tumble into the darkness. For once in her life, Seraxa finds herself paralyzed with fear.

Please, she silently begs. Endless....anyone...preserve me...

The three heads bob in the dark water, three pairs of green eyes contemplating their prey. Slowly, they pull back into the abyss, until even the eerie green glow of their eyes is swallowed by the inky blackness. Seraxa wastes no time in kicking to the surface. She breaches with a greedy breath, turning her eyes towards the shore. A fresh knot of cold fear settles in the pit of her stomach.

The beach is empty. Taari and T'kal are nowhere to be seen. Seraxa rushes ashore, dropping her bag of oysters.

“Taari?!” she cries, desperately scanning the treeline. “Taaaaaaaaaariiiiiiiiiiii!”

Mount Atropo

Several hours earlier...

The Endless kneels stands beside a blazing lava pool, a blue-green glow flickering across her weathered face.

“Don't worry,” she murmurs. “We're going to return your core to you. Isn't that what you want?”

A voice rises from the pit, echoing off the cavern walls. “All is broken...Broken...all...” The taletell click of a gun being readied comes from somewhere behind the Endless.

“Freeze, Red Riding Hood.”

The Endless sighs, a rueful, bitter smile curving her wrinkled lips. “Rex Lundgren. I'd say it was a pleasure, but...”

“I've heard about you,” Lundgren growls. “I've got a rifle trained on your head, so no tricks, or I will end this conversation real quick.”

“What do you want, Mr. Lundgren,” the Endless asks wearily.

“Seems the Island's Heart is incomplete. Where's the rest of it?”

“Scattered...” replies the voice from within the pit. “Lost...”

“I said no tricks!” Lundgren barks.

The Endless curls her mechanical fingers, extinguishing the ball of fire that hovers over her palm. She raises both hands placatingly.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” she says calmly.

“Like hell you don't!” Lundgren swings his rifle, slamming the butt against the side of the elderly woman's head. The Endless grunts in pain, sinking to her knees. Gasping, she crawls towards the pit, towards the safety of the magma. Lundgren's hand shoots out to grasp her by the hair on the back of her head. She groans, gritting her teeth.

“Lundgren...”

“Alodia's bringing it to you, isn't she?!” he snarls. “Tell me!”

A spectre materializes beside Lundgren, a pale, gleaming figure, with a dark ball of energy stirring at its heart. The darkness spreads through the limbs of the ghostly entity until it glitters like the night sky. Vaanu takes Lundgren's head into its ghostly hands. Lundgren's eyes go wide. His fingers go stiff and straight, releasing the Endless.

“B-but they're dead. I killed them. All of them!” He whimpers, struggling. “I don't wanna see this...Make it stop, dammit! Make it--”

His voice rises in a scream as he pulls away and flees down a tunnel. Vaanu's arms lower to its sides. It turns an eyeless gaze onto the Endless, still curled on the hot ground, struggling to catch her breath. She looks up at Vaanu, blinking.

“...You...”

The spirit fades, leaving the Endless staring into empty air. She turns to cast a glance behind her at the gleaming pool of magma. Something like remorse flickers across her face. She turns sharply away.

#Endless Summer #Diego Ricardo Ortiz Soto #Jake McKenzie #sean gayle #Craig Hsiao #aleister rourke #raj bhandarkar #estela montoya #quinn kelly #michelle nguyen #grace hall #zahra namazi #play choices #choices stories you play #pixelberry choices

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gaysparklepires · 7 years

Text

22. Fire and Ice

The wind shook the tent again, and I shook with it.

The temperature was dropping. I could feel it through the down bag, through my jacket. I was fully dressed, my hiking boots still laced into place. It didn’t make any difference. How could it be so cold? How could it keep getting colder? It had to bottom out sometime, didn’t it?

“W-w-w-w-w-what t-t-t-t-time is it?” I forced the words through my rattling teeth.

“Two,” Edward answered.

Edward sat as far from me as possible in the cramped space, afraid to even breathe on me when I was already so cold. It was too dark to see his face, but his voice was wild with worry, indecision, and frustration.

“Maybe…”

“No, I’m f-f-f-f-f-fine, r-r-r-really. I don’t w-w-w-want to g-go outside.”

He’d tried to talk me into making a run for it a dozen times already, but I was terrified of leaving my shelter. If it was this cold in here, protected from the raging wind, I could imagine how bad it would be if we were running through it.

And it would waste all our efforts this afternoon. Would we have enough time to reset ourselves when the storm was over? What if it didn’t end? It made no sense to move now. I could shiver my way through one night.

I was worried that the trail I had laid would be lost, but he promised that it would still be plain to the coming monsters.

“What can I do?” he almost begged.

I just shook my head.

Out in the snow, Jacob whined unhappily.

“G-g-g-get somewhere w-w-w-warm, J-J-J-Jake,” I ordered, again.

“He’s just worried about you,” Edward translated. “He’s fine. His body is equipped to deal with this.”

“H-h-h-h-h-h-h.” I wanted to say that he could still leave, but I couldn’t get it past my teeth. I nearly bit my tongue off trying. At least Jacob did seem to be well equipped for the snow, better even than the others in his pack with his thicker, longer, shaggy russet fur. I wondered why that was.

Jacob whimpered, a high-pitched, grating sound of complaint.

“What do you want me to do?” Edward growled, too anxious to bother with politeness anymore. “Carry him through that? I don’t see you making yourself useful. Why don’t you go fetch a space heater or something.”

“I’m ok-k-k-k-k-k-kay,” I protested. Judging from Edward’s groan and the muted growl outside the tent, I hadn’t convinced anyone. The wind rocked the tent roughly, and I shuddered in harmony with it.

A sudden howl ripped through the roar of the wind, and I covered my ears against the noise. Edward scowled.

“That was hardly necessary,” he muttered. “And that’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard,” he called more loudly.

“Better than anything you’ve come up with,” Jacob answered, his human voice startling me. “Go fetch a space heater,” he grumbled. “I’m not a St. Bernard.”

I heard the sound of the zipper around the tent door pulling swiftly down.

Jacob slid through the smallest opening he could manage, while the Arctic air flowed in around him, a few flecks of snow falling to the floor of the tent. I shivered so hard it was a convulsion.

“I don’t like this,” Edward hissed as Jake zipped the tent door shut. “Just give him the coat and get out.”

My eyes were adjusting enough to see shapes—Jacob was carrying the parka that had been hanging on a tree next to the tent.

I tried to ask what they were talking about, but all that came out of my mouth was, “W-w-w-w-w-w,” as the shivering made me stutter uncontrollably.

“The parka’s for tomorrow—he’s too cold to warm it up by himself. It’s frozen.” He dropped it by the door. “You said he needed a space heater, and here I am.” Jacob held his arms as wide as the tent allowed. As usual, when he’d been running around as a wolf, he’d only thrown on the bare essentials—just a pair of sweats, no shirt, no shoes.

“J-J-J-J-Jake, you’ll f-f-f-freez-z-z-ze,” I tried to complain.

“Not me,” he said cheerfully. “I run a toasty one-oh-eight point nine these days. I’ll have you sweating in no time.”

Edward snarled, but Jacob didn’t even look at him. Instead he crawled to my side and started unzipping my sleeping bag.

Edward’s hand was suddenly hard on his shoulder, restraining, snow white against the dark skin. Jacob’s jaw clenched, his nostrils flaring, his body recoiling from the cold touch. The long muscles in his arms flexed automatically.

“Get your hand off of me,” he growled through his teeth.

“Keep your hands off of him,” Edward answered blackly.

“D-d-d-don’t f-f-f-f-fight,” I pleaded. Another tremor rocked through me. It felt like my teeth were going to shatter, they were slamming together so hard.

“I’m sure he’ll thank you for this when his toes turn black and drop off,” Jacob snapped.

Edward hesitated, then his hand fell away and he slid back to his position in the corner.

His voice was flat and frightening. “Watch yourself.”

Jacob chuckled.

“Scoot over, Beau,” he said, zipping the sleeping bag open farther.

I stared at him in shock. No wonder Edward was reacting this way.

“N-n-n-n-n,” I tried to protest.

He stopped and looked at me seriously. “Beau, please let me help you. I can’t stand watching you freeze when I can do something to help. Please? I’m asking your permission.”

I glanced at Edward, his face was grave and unhappy. Then I glanced back at Jacob’s serious face. I was desperate to just not be cold. So I nodded once.

Jacob immediately crammed his body into the nonexistent space, forcing the zipper up behind himself.

And then I couldn’t believe I had objected at all. He was so warm. His arms wrapped around me, holding me snugly against his bare chest. The heat was irresistible, like air after being underwater for too long. He cringed when I pressed my icy fingers eagerly against his skin.

“Jeez, you’re freezing, Beau,” he complained.

“S-s-s-s-s-sorry,” I muttered.

“Try to relax,” he suggested as another shiver rippled through me violently. “You’ll be warm in a minute. Of course, you’d warm up faster if you took your clothes off.”

Edward growled sharply.

“That’s just a simple fact,” Jacob defended himself. “Survival one-oh-one.”

Jacob yelped when I pinched him. “C-c-cut it out Jake,” I said angrily.

“Don’t worry about the vampire,” Jacob suggested, and his tone was smug. “He’s just jealous.”

“Of course I am.” Edward’s voice was velvet again, under control, a musical murmur in the darkness. “You don’t have the faintest idea how much I wish I could do what you’re doing for him, mongrel.”

“Those are the breaks,” Jacob said lightly, but then his tone soured. “At least you know he wishes it was you.”

“True,” Edward agreed.

The shuddering slowed, became bearable while they wrangled.

“There,” Jacob said, pleased. “Feeling better?”

I was finally able to speak clearly. “Yes.”

“Your lips are still blue,” he mused. “Want me to warm those up for you, too? You only have to ask.”

Edward sighed heavily.

“Behave yourself,” I muttered, pressing my face against his cold shoulder. He flinched again when my cold skin touched his, and I smirked.

It was already warm and snug inside the sleeping bag. Jacob’s body heat seemed to radiate from every side—maybe because there was so much of him. I kicked my boots off, and pushed my toes against his legs. He jumped slightly, and then leaned his head down to press his hot cheek against my numb ear.

I noticed that Jacob’s skin had a woodsy, masculine scent—it fit the setting, here in the middle of the forest. It was nice. I wondered if the Cullens and the Quileautes weren’t just playing up that whole odor issue because of their prejudices. Everyone smelled fine to me. In fact, Jacob’s familiar scent had me remembering a day in La Push with Jacob before all of this mess. When we were just two human friends, and he was almost… When I almost… When we could have…

The storm howled like an animal attacking the tent, but it didn’t worry me now. Jacob was out of the cold, and so was I. Plus, I was simply too exhausted to worry about anything—tired from just staying awake so late, and aching from the muscle spasms. My body relaxed as I thawed, piece by frozen piece, and then turned limp.

“Jake?” I mumbled sleepily. “Can I ask you something? I’m not trying to be a jerk or anything, I’m honestly curious.” They were the same words he’d used in my kitchen… how long ago was it now?

“Sure,” he chuckled, remembering.

“Why are you so much furrier than your friends? You don’t have to answer if I’m being rude.” I didn’t know the rules for etiquette as they applied to werewolf culture.

“Because my hair is longer,” He said, amused—my question hadn’t offended him, at least. He shook head so that his unkempt hair—grown out to his chin now—tickled my cheek.

“Oh.” I was surprised, but it made sense. So that was why they’d all cropped their hair in the beginning, when they joined the pack. “Then why don’t you cut it? Do you like to be shaggy?”

He didn’t answer right away this time, and Edward laughed under his breath.

“Sorry,” I said, pausing to yawn. “I didn’t mean to pry. You don’t have to tell me.”

Jacob made an annoyed sound. “Oh, he’ll tell you anyway, so I might as well… I was growing my hair out because… it seemed like you liked it better long.”

“Oh.” I felt awkward. “I, er, like it both ways, Jake. You don’t need to be… inconvenienced.”

He shrugged. “Turns out it was very convenient tonight, so don’t worry about it.”

I didn’t have anything else to say. As the silence lengthened, my eyelids drooped shut, and my breathing grew slower, more even.

“That’s right, babe, go to sleep,” Jacob whispered.

I sighed, content, already half-unconscientious.

“Seth is here,” Edward muttered to Jacob, and I suddenly understood the point of the howling.

“Perfect. Now you can keep an eye on everything else, while I take care of your boyfriend for you.”

Edward didn’t answer, but I groaned groggily. “Stop it,” I muttered.

It was quiet then, inside at least. Outside, the wind shrieked insanely through the trees. The shimmying of the tent made it hard to sleep. The poles would suddenly jerk and quiver, pulling me back from the edge of unconsciousness each time I was close to slipping under. I felt so bad for the wolf, the boy that was stuck outside in the snow.

My mind wandered as I waited for sleep to find me. This warm little space made me think of the early days with Jacob, and I remembered how it used to be when he was my replacement sun, the warmth that made brightened even my darkest days. It had been a while since I’d thought of Jake that way, but there he was, warming me again.

“Please!” Edward hissed. “Do you mind!”

“What?” Jacob whispered back, his tone surprised.

“Do you think you could attempt to control your thoughts?” Edward’s low whisper was furious.

“No one said you had to listen,” Jacob muttered, defiant, yet still embarrassed. “Get out of my head.”

“I wish I could. You have no idea how loud your little fantasies are. It’s like you’re shouting them at me.”

“Don’t make me sound like some pervert,” Jacob hissed. “I’ll try to keep it down,” he whispered sarcastically.

There was a brief moment of silence.

“Yes,” Edward answered an unspoken thought in a murmur so low I barely made it out. “I’m jealous of that, too.”

“I figured it was like that,” Jacob whispered smugly. “Sort of evens the playing field up a little, doesn’t it?”

Edward chuckled. “In your dreams.”

“You know, he could still change his mind,” Jacob challenged. “Considering all the things I could do with him that you can’t. At least, not without killing him, that is.”

“Go to sleep, Jacob,” Edward murmured. “You’re starting to get on my nerves.”

“I think I will. I’m really very comfortable.”

Edward didn’t answer.

I was too far gone to ask them to stop talking about me like I wasn’t there. The conversation had taken on a dreamlike quality to me, and I wasn’t sure I was really awake.

“Maybe I would,” Edward said after a moment, answering a question I hadn’t heard.

“But would you be honest?”

“You can always ask and see.” Edward’s tone made me wonder if I was missing out on a joke.

“Well, you see inside my head—let me see inside yours tonight, it’s only fair,” Jacob said.

“Your head is full of questions. Which one do you want me to answer?”

The jealousy… it has to be eating at you. You can’t be as sure of yourself as you seem. Unless you have no emotions at all.”

“Of course it is,” Edward agreed, no longer amused. “Right now it’s so bad that I can barely control my voice. Of course, it’s even worse when he’s away from me, with you, and I can’t see him.”

“Do you think about it all the time?” Jacob whispered. “Does it make it hard to concentrate when he’s not with you?”

“Yes and no,” Edward said; he seemed determined to answer honestly. “My mind doesn’t work quite the same as yours. I can think of many more things at one time. Of course, that means that I’m always able to think of you, always able to wonder if that’s where his mind is, when he’s quiet and thoughtful.”

They were both still for a minute.

“Yes, I would guess that he thinks about you often,” Edward murmured in response to Jacob’s thoughts. “More often than I like. He worries that you’re unhappy. Not that you don’t know that. Not that you don’t use that.”

“I don’t mean to,” Jacob muttered. “I get wrapped up sometimes and I just… I don’t know… It’s harder for me. I’m not working with your advantages—advantages like him knowing he’s in love with you.”

“That helps,” Edward agreed in a mild tone.

Jacob was defiant. “He’s in love with me, too, you know.”

Edward didn’t answer.

Jacob sighed. “But he doesn’t know it.”

“I can’t tell you if you’re right.”

“Does that bother you? Do you wish you could see what he’s thinking, too?”

“Yes… and no, again. He likes it better this way, and, though it sometimes drives me insane, I’d rather he was happy.”

The wind ripped around the tent, shaking it like an earthquake. Jacob’s arms tightened around me protectively.

“Thank you,” Edward whispered. “Odd as this might sound, I suppose I’m glad you’re here, Jacob.”

“You mean, ‘as much as I’d love to kill you, I’m glad he’s warm,’ right?”

“It’s an uncomfortable truce, isn’t it?”

Jacob’s whisper was slightly smug. “I knew you were just as crazy jealous as I am.”

“I’m not such a fool to wear it on my sleeve like you do. It doesn’t help your case, you know.”

“You have more patience than I do.”

“I should. I’ve had a hundred years to gain it. A hundred years of waiting for him.”

“So… at what point did you decide to play the very patient good guy?”

“When I saw how much it was hurting him to make him choose. It’s not usually this difficult to control. I can smother the… less civilized feelings I may have for you fairly easily most of the time. Sometimes I think he sees through me, but I can’t be sure.”

“I think you were just worried that if you really forced him to choose, he might not choose you.”

Edward didn’t answer right away. “That was part of it,” he finally admitted. “But only a small part. We all have our moments of doubt. Mostly I was worried that he’d hurt himself trying to sneak away to see you. After I’d accepted that he was more less safe with you—as safe as Beau ever is—it seemed best to stop driving him to extremes.”

Jacob sighed. “I’d tell him all of this, but he’d never believe me.”

“I know.” It sounded like Edward was smiling.

“You think you know everything,” Jacob muttered.

“I don’t know the future,” Edward said, his voice suddenly unsure.

There was a long pause.

“What would you do if he changed his mind?” Jacob asked.

“I don’t know that either.”

Jacob chuckled quietly. “Would you try to kill me? Sarcastic again, as if doubting Edward’s ability to do it.

“No.”

“Why not?” Jacob’s tone was still jeering.

“Do you really think I would hurt him that way?”

Jacob hesitated for a second, and then he sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I know that’s right. But sometimes…”

“Sometimes it’s an intriguing idea.”

Jacob pressed his face into the sleeping bag to muffle his laughter. “Exactly,” he eventually agreed.

What a strange dream this was. I wondered if it was the relentless wind that made me imagine all the whispering. Only the wind was screaming rather than whispering…

“What is it like? Losing him?” Jacob asked after a quiet moment, and there was no hint of humor in his suddenly hoarse voice. “When you thought that you’d lost him forever? How did you… cope?”

“That’s very difficult for me to talk about.”

Jacob waited.

“There were two different time that I thought that.” Edward spoke each word just a little slower than normal. “The first time, when I thought I could leave him… that was… almost bearable. Because I thought he would forget me and it would be like I hadn’t touched his life. For over six months I was able to stay away, able to keep my promise that I wouldn’t interfere again. It was getting close—I was fighting but I knew I wasn’t going to win; I would have come back… just to check on him. That’s what I would have told myself, anyway. And if I’d found him reasonably happy… I like to think that I could have gone away again.

“And that’s the real trouble, isn’t it? He was happy. He could have been happy. He would have recovered from me, eventually. Because he had you. I’ve seen the thoughts of everyone here in Forks who watched him slowly heal, because of you… But he did take me back. He forgave me.” Edward paused. “You were wondering before what he said to get me to stay with him tomorrow. It wasn’t anything he said or did. It was that, for a moment, I remembered what leaving him before did—the damage it’s caused—that I’m still dealing with now. You, actually. Of all the damage my leaving caused, I think you might be the most lasting.” Edward chuckled then. “I won’t ever leave him again.”

Jacob didn’t respond for a moment, listening to the storm or digesting what he’d heard, I didn’t know which.

“And the other time—when you thought he was dead?” Jacob whispered roughly.

“Yes.” Edward answered a different question. “It will probably feel like that to you, won’t it? The way you perceive us, you might not be able to see him as Beau anymore. But that’s who he’ll be. If he chooses that path.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Edward’s voice came back fast and hard. “I can’t tell you how it felt. There aren’t words.”

Jacob’s arms flexed around me.

“But you left because you didn’t want to make him a bloodsucker. You want him to be human.”

Edward spoke slowly. “Jacob, from the second I realized that I loved him, I knew there were only four possibilities. The first alternative, the best one for Beau, would be if he didn’t feel as strongly for me—if he got over me and moved on. I would accept that, though it would never change the way I felt. You think of me as a… living stone—hard and cold. That’s true. We are set the way we are, and it is very rare for us to experience a real change. When that happens, as when Beau entered my life, it is a permanent change. There’s no going back…

“The second alternative, the one I’d originally chosen, was to stay with him throughout his human life. It wasn’t a good option for him, to waste his life with someone who couldn’t be human with him, but it was the alternative I could most easily face. Knowing all along that, when he died, I would find a way to die, too. Sixty years, seventy years—it would seem like a very, very short time to me… But then it proved much too dangerous for him to live in such close proximity with my world. It seemed like everything that could go wrong did. Or hung over us… waiting to go wrong. I was terrified that I wouldn’t get those sixty years if I stayed near him while he was human.”

“So I chose option three. Which turned out to be the worst mistake of my very long life, as you know. I chose to take myself out of his world, hoping to force him into the first alternative. It didn’t work, and it very nearly killed us both.

“What do I have left now? He’s undecided about what course of action he wants. It’s the fourth option, if you will. If it’s what he wants… I don’t know if I can stop him from choosing it. Choosing to become like me. For the time being, we’re trapped between the second and this horrible fourth alternative.”

“I like option one,” Jacob muttered.

Edward didn’t respond.

“You know exactly how much I hate to accept this,” Jacob whispered slowly, “but I can see that you do love him… in your way. I can’t argue with that anymore. Given that, I don’t think you should give up on the first alternative, not yet. I think there’s a very good chance that he would be okay. After time. You know, if he hadn’t jumped off a cliff in March… and if you’d waited another six months to check on him… Well, you would have found him perfectly happy. I had a game plan.”

Edward chuckled. “I know I would have. It was a well thought-out plan.” He sighed. “And even I’m not so stubborn that I would deny that it was working.”

“Yeah.” Jake sighed. “But…,” suddenly he was whispering so fast the words got tangled, “give me year, Edward. I really think I could make him happy again. He’s stubborn, no one knows that better than I do, but he’s capable of healing. He was almost healed before. And he could be human, with Charlie and Renée, and he could grow up, live a long happy life, and… be Beau.

“You love him enough that you have to see the advantages of that plan. He thinks you’re very unselfish… are you really? Can you consider the idea that I might be better for him than you are?”

“I have considered it,” Edward answered quietly. “In some ways, you would be better suited for him than another human. Beau would be protected by you, you’re strong enough to protect him from everything and anything in this world that could harm him. You have done that already, and I’ll owe you for that as long as I live—forever—whichever comes first…

“I even asked Alice if she could see that—see if Beau would be better off with you. She couldn’t, of course. She can’t see you, and then Beau’s sure of his course, for now.

“But I’m not stupid enough to make the same mistake I made before, Jacob. I won’t try to force him into that first option again. As long as he wants me, I’m here.”

“And if he were to decide that he wanted me?” Jacob challenged. “Okay, it’s a long shot, I’ll give you that.”

“I would let him go.”

“Just like that?”

“In the sense that I’d never show him how hard it was for me, yes. But I would keep watch. You see, Jacob, you might leave him someday. You’re only human… mostly.”

Jacob snorted quietly. “I can promise you I never would.” He took a deep breath. “Well, you’ve been much more honest than I had any right to expect…. Edward. Thanks for letting me in your head.”

“As I said, I’m feeling oddly grateful for your presence in his life tonight. It was the least I could do… You know, Jacob, if it weren’t for the fact that we’re natural enemies and that you’re also trying to steal away the reason for my existence, I might actually like you.”

“Maybe, if you weren’t a disgusting vampire who was planning to suck the life out of the boy I love… Well, no, probably not even then. Probably.”

Edward chuckled.

“Can I ask you something?” Edward said after a moment.

“Why would you have to ask?”

“I can only hear it if you think of it. It’s just a story that Beau seemed reluctant to tell me about the other day. Something about a third wife…?”

“What about it?”

Edward didn’t answer, listening to the story in Jacob’s head. I heard his low hiss in the darkness.

“What?” Jacob demanded again.

“Of course,” Edward seethed. “Of course! I rather wish your elders had kept that story to themselves, Jacob.”

“You don’t like the leeches being painted as the bad guys?” Jacob mocked. “You know, they are. Then and now.”

“I really couldn’t care less about that part. Can’t you guess which character Beau would identify with?”

It took Jacob a minute. “Oh. Ugh. The third wife. Okay, I see your point.”

“He wants to be there in the clearing. To do what little he can, as he puts it.” He sighed. “That was the second reason for my staying with him tomorrow. He’s quite inventive when he wants something.”

“You know, your military brother gave him the idea just as much as the story did.”

“Neither side meant any harm,” Edward whispered, peace-making now.

“And when does this little truce end?” Jacob asked. “First light? Or do we wait until after the fight?”

There was a pause as they both considered.

“First light,” they whispered together, and then laughed quietly.

“Sleep well, Jacob,” Edward murmured. “Enjoy the moment.”

It was quiet again, and the tent held still for a few minutes. The wind seemed to have decided that it wasn’t going to flatten us after all, and was giving up the fight.

Edward groaned softly. “I didn’t mean that quite so literally.”

“Sorry,” Jacob whispered. “You could leave, you know—give us a little privacy.”

“Would you like me to help you sleep, Jacob?” Edward offered.

“You could try,” Jacob said, unconcerned. “It would be interesting to see who walked away, wouldn’t it?”

“Don’t tempt me too far, wolf. My patience isn’t that perfect.”

Jacob whispered a laugh. “I’d rather not move just now, if you don’t mind.”

Edward started humming to himself, louder than usual—trying to drown out Jacob’s thoughts, I assumed. But it was my lullaby he hummed, and, despite my growing discomfort with this whispered dream, I sank deeper into unconsciousness… into other dreams that made better sense…

#Eclipsed Revamped #The Twilight Saga Revamped #Beau Swan #Edward Cullen #Jacob Black #3.22

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