#complete with her always smiling and saying: best uncle ever

[fastandcarlos]

Living With The LeClercs » Charles LeClerc

Summary: take a peek into the life of the leclerc family and see what they get up to

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liked by carlossainz55, pierregasly and 1,402,505 others

charles_leclerc: off season complete ✅ batteries are recharged after yet another amazing holiday with the fam

39,503 comments

scuderiaferrari: looking forward to having you back with us next week charles 🏎️

landonorris: i refuse to accept that y/d/n is yours, she's too beautiful to have your genes

ynusername: @/landonorris she just takes after her mother instead 😇

username1: nooooo, f1 season means we get less dad pics from you charles

username2: i don't ever want the dad charles era to end 😭

ynusername: thank you for the best three months, i couldn't wish for a better dad to our little humans 💕

schecoperez: you're putting me to shame with all these adorable snaps, i better start uploading too

lance_stroll: calling dibs on being first to offer babysitting during the season btw

danielricciado: @/lance_stroll you take one i'll take the other, mini charles' are a lot to handle

lance_stroll: @/danielricciardo you've got yourself a deal

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liked by scuderiaferrari, landonorris and 832,420 others

charles_leclerc: race day is always better with these two babies causing chaos 🥰

29,908 comments

carlossainz55: as cute as your children are, can you hurry up and stop uploading to instagram...some of us have got meetings

username3: y/s/n is hands down the coolest kid at the paddock this weekend

username4: why do i get the impresson project leclerc jr is well underway with y/d/n 🤔

oscarpiastri: STOP SHOWING OFF HOW BEAUTIFUL YOUR FAMILY ARE 😡

maxverstappen1: maybe y/s/n will have a better chance of beating me to the top of the podium than you

charles_leclerc: @/maxverstappen1 one day...he's got his eyes on you! apparently you're his favourite driver

maxverstappen1: @/charles_leclerc tell him that he's got excellent taste

ynusername: not you promoting letting toddlers get behind the wheel of high speed cars 🙄

danielricciardo: if you're looking for a coach, you know who to ask

charles_leclerc: @/danielricciado you think i'm not capable of coaching my son

danielricciardo: @/charles_leclerc sure...but if you want him to learn from a proper driver, just gimme a call 😂

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liked by charles_leclerc, georgerussell63 and 294,405 others

ynusername: following this man around all day, trying to keep the kids from hugging daddy is a hard day’s work (see second pic for proof 😂)

12,492 comments

landonorris: if charles isn't interested, tell the kids that uncle lando will always be ready for a cuddle

iamrebeccad: i've never done so many steps before, who knew chasing after 3 year olds was such hard work 💫

ynusername: @/iamrebeccad i did try to warn you!! you should've listened

pierregasly: he's just tryna play it cool y/n, he isn't as cool as he used to be

username5: imagine being lucky enough to walk around the paddock and just see y/s/n and y/d/n everywhere

kevinmagnussen: tell them to have a sniff of charles after being in a race car for 2 hours y/n...that will soon be enough to put them off 💩

lilymhe: i want them to chase me and give me all the cuddles in the world

username6: you just know in any free moment charles is secretly looking around wanting his kids back beside him

username7: everyone say thank you to y/n for yet another round of hot dad charles pics 🙏🏻

oscarpiastri: why can't you hug me as lovingly as you hug your son? you're supposed to me my dad too

charles_leclerc: @/oscarpiastri "adopted"

oscarpiastri: @/charles_leclerc IT ALL STILL COUNTS

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liked by alex_albon, oscarpiastri and 829,407 others

charles_leclerc: like father like son…the leclerc smile is deadly

78,445 comments

username8: officially the cutest photographs to ever be uploaded to the internet 🥺

username9: excuse me charles leclerc you cannot just spring photos like this on us without warning

oscarpiastri: i smile like this too...family?? 🥰

maxverstappen1: if i had to pick y/s/n definitely looks cuter

username10: i was not emotionally ready for this adorableness 💔

carlossainz55: deadly?? you look like the squishiest marshmallow

username11: @/carlossainz55 i think you've been spending too much time on the internet 😬

ynusername: my two favourite boys, how did I ever get so lucky?

charles_leclerc: @/ynusername there's no way you're the lucky one, that title belongs to me mi amor

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liked by ynusername, carlossainz55 and 527,492 others

charles_leclerc: I’ve been posting a lot about my human kids recently, so here’s a shoutout to my other child so he doesn’t feel left out

43,482 comments

oscarpiastri: damn i almost thought that this post was gonna be about me

charles_leclerc: @/oscarpiastri i swear one more comment and i will block you, son or not

landonorris: how dare you mistreat leo like this

username12: @/landonorris #justice4leo

username13: charles leclerc...father of 3

ynusername: leo could never be forgotton, he's our favourite four legged child

alex_albon: @/ynusername also your only four legged child 🤔

estebanocon: cute kids, cute dog...how do you do it leclerc??

yukitsunoda0511: asking for a friend...do your kids also poo in the middle of the paddock or just your dog

username14: @/yukitsunoda0511 YUKI not you stitching charles up like this! 😂😂

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liked by estebanocon, lance_stroll and 728,493 others

charles_leclerc: my favourite things to do, being a dad with a bit of gaming too 🥺💕

53,684 comments

ynusername: where does being a husband rank in all of them??

charles_leclerc: @/ynusername you’re still my number one 😍

username15: if charles won't appreciate you come and marry me instead

maxverstappen1: so bad at fifa you've resorted to table football i see 🫢

carlossainz55: don't worry charlie, i'll beat you at that kinda football too

username16: not you forgetting the woman that gave you those two adorable humans charles 🤦🏻‍♀️

username17: public apology incoming

danielricciardo: and you just happened to be playing table football with your top off did you? 🤔

charles_leclerc: @/danielricciardo it was all just coincidence...promise

georgerussell63: charles leclerc giving the fan girls what they want since 2018

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liked by lewishamilton, landonorris and 842,348 others

charles_leclerc: appreciation for the wife so she doesn’t get jealous 😂 I love you honey, thank you for our perfect family ✨🔥

53,372 comments

carlossainz55: if you heard him gush about you as much as i do y/n you'd know there is never anything to be jealous of

ynusername: @/carlossainz55 what sorta thing does he say?? 🤔

charles_leclerc: @/carlossainz55 do not throw me under the bus like this!!

landonorris: one of you looks perfect, the other looks like he needs a haircut and to sort his beard out

username18: i hope you know how lucky you are charles

username19: how does y/n manage to look that good running around after y/s/n, y/d/n and charles all day???

logansargeant: can you stop making all us single people feel even more single pls 😭

schecoperez: the second best family in formula one

danielricciardo: @/schecoperez SAVAGE! 💪🏻

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liked by ynusername, scuderiaferrari and 1,392,503 others

charles_leclerc: just a post to remind you all I can do both…no dad bod around here 🫢

101,372 comments

username20: DADDY!? 💦

landonorris: how many takes did it take you to get that shot in the gym?

carlossainz55: @/landonorris i was there...for several hours

username21: soft dad charles will always be my fave

ynusername: is there anything that you can't do? you take my breath away charles leclerc 💫💕

oscarpiastri: one day i hope to be as strong as you are...dad

charles_leclerc: @/oscarpiastri BLOCKED

alex_albon: i don't know who looks more tired, you or y/d/n

charles_leclerc: @/alex_albon me, definitely me, but i wouldn't change it for the world

[lilyharvord]

Y’all I saw a fan art that was captioned: best uncle ever, I promise. And it was supposed to be Kilorn holding Coriane when she’s born and I hurt my own fucking feelings thinking about how the first time he babysits for Mare and Cal he teaches her to say: best uncle ever and she gets a piece of candy or something when she does. So whenever she sees him after that she just screams for everyone to hear; BEST UNCLE EVER. And he fucking glows because of it. 

[roosterforme]

Always Ever Only You Part 13 | Rooster x Reader

Summary: When Nat and Bob are in imminent danger, Bradley is beyond furious about the decisions that have been made. It should have been him up there flying with them. As you count down the minutes until Bradley returns home, the rush of nerves feels more like anxiety than anticipation, and that does not feel good.

Warnings: Angst, swearing, fluff

Length: 5100 words

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female Reader

This was written to accompany my series Is It Working For You? along with a bunch of my one-shots and other series, but it can be read on its own! Check my masterlist for the reading order. Always Ever Only You masterlist. Gorgeous banner by @mak-32

Now that you were just a few days out from Bradley's return home, you were starting to feel antsy and anxious. This wasn't the way you usually felt. It used to be a rush of energy thrumming through your body, knowing he'd be back soon to hold you all night, make love to you, and fill the little pieces of your life that were lost without him. But now you just felt unsure.

When you really thought about it, you knew you and he had been missing the intimacy in your relationship for a little while, too focused on other things. The sex was still enjoyable... well, except for the last time when you felt sick with obligation. And he still held you all night. But some of the pieces of your life together felt like they had gotten lost, and you desperately wanted to find them. Because feeling nervous about reaching those previously known levels of happiness and intimacy when Bradley got back was not something you were prepared for.

So you talked to Dr. Genevieve again, and in her cool and collected voice, she said, "If something is broken, you either take the time to fix it, or you abandon it. And when it's a relationship, you don't have the luxury of making that decision alone. Do you want to fix it or abandon it?"

"I want to fix it," you replied easily. 

"And what did your husband say when you spoke to him?"

Your heart thudded in your chest as you replayed the facetime conversations in your mind and whispered, "He wants to fix it, too." 

She nodded. "Then you'll both take the time to do that."

Afterwards, you felt like hiding in your office, because what did that even mean? You knew what you wanted, but you didn't know how to get it. And you tried your best not to focus on your cycle and wanting to get pregnant, but it would have been impossible to forget about it completely. Where was the balance? You were simultaneously antsy for Bradley to get home so you could see if putting in the time to fix things was worth it and also scared that it wouldn't be.

Instead of hiding in your office, you made your way down to get a burrito bowl for lunch. "Is this seat taken?" you asked Jake, kicking the leg of his chair with your boot and nodding toward the empty seat across from him at the small table. 

"Angel," he said, meeting your smile with a look of panic. "You know I love you, right? But I saved it for Cat. Unless she decides to bail."

"Oh," you gasped, a little surprised by that. When you, Javy and Jake had gone out for pizza two nights ago, Jake claimed he was going to let Cat decide if she wanted to try to be friends with him, but you knew he was hoping for more. He sat on your couch with Jeremiah until Hondo showed up, and Jake didn't back down against the glare from Cat's Uncle. "Guess she's into the idea of hanging out? That's good?"

He kind of shrugged. "Listen, all I want to do is make out with her and hold her kid, but don't tell her that, alright? Oh, there she is."

"She didn't bail," you murmured, watching Cat make her way toward you. When she saw the small table with only two chairs, her steps slowed.

"Go," Jake growled, planting his palm against your lower back and shoving you out of the way. "I'll call you after work."

"Jeez," you groaned, glaring at him and heading toward Cam instead.

"Hey, stranger," Cam said as you sat down across from him, and soon Maria joined the two of you. Eating with them was familiar and comfortable, and you didn't have to think about it too much.

When they asked if you wanted to do brunch on Sunday, you smiled and shook your head. "No way. Bradley's coming home on Friday."

Cam smirked and said, "Oof. Lieutenant Commander Mustache returns home to his little wifey after his long, hard deployment. Sounds like a Lifetime movie."

"I don't know," Maria added. "You said long and hard. Kinda sounds like a porno."

You sat with your forehead on your tray as you shook with silent laughter. "Maybe it'll be a bit of both?"

Cam stole a bite of your burrito bowl as he said, "Report back."

-----------------------

Bradley had been chosen as the spare. When Dean told him after he had dismissed everyone else, Bradley knew it was simply to add insult to injury. But he took it on the chin, saluted the admiral, and returned to his bunk.

If Bradley said more than two words to anyone the following day, that was news to him. Nat and Bob gave him a wide berth as they got themselves prepared for the mission, and he appreciated that. He wasn't jealous of them, and he'd been quick to tell them that. And he knew they understood. This was a feeling that came along with the territory, he supposed. But this would mark the first mission he didn't qualify for, and he just needed to take a breather. 

Getting home to you was now his priority, his focus. If he could only be successful in the air or on the ground right now, he was going to choose the ground in San Diego with you. But that didn't stop him from worrying about Bob and Nat flying with Slayer. 

Bradley collapsed back onto his bed with his notebook. He decided to read what he wrote. He hadn't done that yet, favoring scribbling more thoughts and sentiments down every time he picked it up. But reading it from the beginning calmed him down, and just the thought of you made him finally able to fall asleep. 

Bright and early the next morning, he and Bob were both dressing in their flight suits. They walked to breakfast together and ate with Nat. Then the three of them made their way out onto the tarmac. But instead of being part of the main bustle of action, Bradley saluted his friends and stood next to his aircraft with his helmet on. 

The weather looked good, and the comanche was reporting back that everything looked clear. But just before the four aircrafts were due to take off, Admiral Dean made a surprising announcement over the comms. 

"Initiate the backup plan! Option B! Strike the military base first and then head back around to the communications tower. Follow the flight plan for Option B. Please respond that you understand in order."

Bradley climbed the ladder into his F/A-18 as he listened to Nat respond, saying that she copied Dean's orders. This was not a good sign that the plan was changing on the fly. There were probably loads of enemy aircrafts already airborne if such a drastic decision was being made, and Bradley automatically switched to the updated flightpath in his mind, even though he wouldn't be flying it. But being able to envision what was going on might help keep him calm. 

He got himself strapped in and ran his thumb along his silicone wedding band before sliding his hands into his gloves. And then he waited. He watched intently and listened over the comms, and when it was his turn, he said, "Rooster. Spare. Standing by."

The carrier was outrageously far out in the ocean right now. Nearly five hundred miles away from the coastline. And as he watched Nat and Bob launch from the deck, he kept his eyes on them as they faded into the late morning sunlight. It would be about thirty minutes until they were flying over land, and another five minutes more until they reached the military base. 

So he would have to sit here and wait for nearly an hour and a goddamn half while worrying about his friends and having an existential crisis about his career before they all returned and he could get changed out of his flight suit. 

"Unbelievable," he muttered to himself as he listened to the others over the comms. Slayer had been named team leader, and right now he was trying to boss Nat around. She wasn't having it though, and Bradley smiled as he listened in. 

But a few minutes later, he heard the radar tech from the comanche give a heads up that there were some enemy aircraft nearby. And then Slayer said, "Everyone else stay on course, I'll switch to tack northwest and hit the communications tower first."

Bradley lurched fully upright in his cockpit. He must have heard incorrectly. No way Slayer would deviate from the plans like that. But Bradley could hear Nat's panicked voice saying, "You won't have our laser guide! And we won't have your missiles! Stay on course, Slayer!"

"I'm the leader, Phoenix. You stay on course. I'll loop back around. It will be fine."

There was so much commotion all of a sudden, Bradley could only hear a jumble of voices inside his helmet. He did some quick math, visualizing the terrain maps he'd had memorized for nearly two months. Five hundred miles out. Five hundred back. They weren't flying at maximum speed, but they were still burning fuel fast, hauling almost two dozen missiles. There was absolutely no way Slayer would make it back to the carrier if he tried to switch course now and rendezvous with the others at the military base. He'd run out of fuel halfway back to the aircraft carrier. 

"Stay on course!" Admiral Dean demanded loudly. "Everyone stay on course!"

But Slayer was already gone. And now the comanche radar tech was reporting four more enemy fighters in the vicinity of the military base. Bradley pounded his fist on the side of his seat. Nat and Bob were completely fucking screwed. And so were Charmer, Mack and Terror. Unless all six aviators were working in unison, this was going to result in a tragedy. 

"Come on, come on," Bradley chanted under his breath, his fingers already twitching along his control panels. He thought about his friends whose handful of missiles would only get them so far before they were dead without cover. And he thought about you, but then again you were never far from his mind. His perfect wife. The main reason he did anything.

Finally his thoughts settled on the fact that he'd left his wedding band at home with you, and he felt calm knowing that you'd always wear it on your chain. 

"Send the spare." His Super Hornet was being towed to the catapult.

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It was a weird, stormy evening. There were clouds rolling in from the ocean, and although you could see a lot of lightning and hear thunder, it hadn't started raining yet. So you put on Bradley's sweatshirt and clipped Tramp's leash onto his collar, running your fingers along the tags your husband had gotten engraved for him. 

"Yeah, you're spoiled," you told the dog as you pocketed some treats for him. Then the two of you ventured outside and along the blocks that would take you to the beach. The wind was blowing harder down here, whipping the sand and dune grass around. But the beach was completely deserted, and the storm looked intoxicating. 

As you walked along the water's edge, your flip flops and sweatpants got soaked. Tramp kept pausing to look out into the ocean, and you said, "Daddy's out there. Somewhere." You weren't sure exactly when the mission was being flown. It could have already been completed. You had enough clearance at work to be able to find out for sure, but if Bradley caught wind of that kind of behavior, he would have a fit. You knew he didn't want you worrying about him. 

Tramp whimpered and started barking, and then the clouds rolled in faster. A loud crack of thunder had you running back up the beach with Tramp right next to you. By the time you ran up past the dunes, the sky opened up. You turned back to look at the ocean one last time before hard raindrops started pelting your exposed skin. It was almost painful, and it was hard to keep your eyes open as you made your way back to the pretty craftsman. 

You stood on the covered porch, looking down at your sandy, drenched dog and laughing. "Come here," you said before scooping him up and carrying him right into the bathroom, leaving a sandy trail along the way. 

If Bradley were here, he would take Tramp off your hands and clean him up as you soaked in the tub yourself. But for now, you'd do everything. He'd be back soon. You would take the time to fix things soon.

--------------------------

Once Bradley was in the air, the clock was ticking down the minutes until he could see land and locate the others. He'd been given permission to hit mach 1.8. Actually, he'd been given permission to do whatever was necessary. "Spare inbound. Land sighted," he said, easing back on the throttle a bit as he banked along the mountain range and dipped past the river that would lead him to the recently destroyed military base. 

Slayer had managed to destroy the communications tower as part of the solo mission he decided to go on, but at what cost? He got so far off course from the others, and backtracking would have eaten so much fuel. Bradley listened as he was called back to the carrier where he would be safe while everyone else was now in danger. 

Bradley was getting closer now as he listened to what was going on and tried to visualize it.

"Tally, tally! On your nose, Phoenix!"

"Deploying flares!"

"Incoming at twelve o'clock!"

"I can't shake them, Charmer!"

"I'm out of missiles and flares! Switching to guns!"

"We took a hit!"

He would know Nat's voice anywhere, but hearing her say that she and Bob had been hit had Bradley flying way faster than he should have been this close to the river embankment. But one more cut through the mountains, and the aircrafts were in sight. And it was the worst kind of dog fight. 

The air was a mess of flares as Bradley immediately spotted missiles being launched at Charmer. And he knew Charmer said he was out of defensive aids. 

"Tally, tally!" Bradley called out. "Bandit on your nose, Terror!" Then he laid down a cover of flares for Charmer as the other pilot eliminated one enemy with his guns. "Phoenix! Bob! How bad is it?" Bradley asked, deftly launching a missile and watching it collide with the wing of the jet that was headed for Terror. The enemy pilot ejected, but there was no point in pursuit. Not on a rescue mission. 

"We're leaking fuel," Bob shouted, and Bradley could actually hear all of the alarms going off in their Super Hornet through the comms. "Rapidly." Then Phoenix dodged past Charmer and shot down another enemy jet. "And we're out of ammo," Bob added.

"Head back, I'll lay down cover for you," Bradley told them. "Go!" There were still two Bandits, but his friends would never make it back anywhere near the carrier if they delayed leaving. He could smell the jet fuel as it permeated the air around him, and he just knew what a hazard that was. He prayed nothing would cause an explosion at this point.

"Out of ammo now," Charmer reported, and now Bradley was starting to panic. But then he saw the opening they needed. 

"Terror! Follow my lead!" The remaining Bandits saw how vulnerable Nat and Bob were and started to pursue them, so Bradley circled back to get their attention on him.

"I'm almost out of ammo!" Terror responded, getting into position. 

"Then don't miss." Bradley fired his last missile at the first one and then joined Terror and Mack in shooting down the other one. 

"That's splash six!" Charmer announced. 

"Is that everyone?" Terror asked. 

"Affirmative. That's everyone," Mack confirmed. 

"I want everyone back on this carrier, now!" Dean nearly shouted through the comms, and Bradley rolled his eyes. "Phoenix, land first, if you can even get here!"

Then thankfully he eventually heard Nat say, "We're limping in slowly now. It's gonna be close."

What a fucking nightmare this had turned out to be. As Bradley flew cleanup, since he was the only one with bullets and flares left, he kept his head on a swivel. "Comanche? Incoming?"

"Negative. Picture looks clean."

"And an ETA for Phoenix and Bob?" he asked as he followed Charmer and Terror out over the water.

"Seven minutes."

Bradley swore he didn't breathe and barely moved as he flew further away from the coastline. He didn't dare think about anything except the passing clouds overhead and the sound of his own heart beating. He didn't utter another word until he heard Nat say, "Coming in hot! Banking toward the tower. Full engine failure, no fuel to the feedline. Tailhook extended and hoping for the best."

"Come on, Nat." Bradley still couldn't see anything up ahead, but when the tower announced that Phoenix and Bob were safely on deck, he finally let out the breath he had been holding.

When he was able to circle the carrier and see it for himself, Bradley loosened his death grip on the throttle. And when he landed cleanly, that signaled that everyone was back on deck. The crews came to help him unload, and as soon as his boots left the last rung on the ladder, Nat was tossing her helmet aside and reaching for him.

"Thank you," she whispered against his shoulder. 

Years of trust and friendship had him clinging to her. "It should have been me up there with you two the whole time."

"I know. That was so fucked, Rooster."

And then Bob was there as well, looking more flustered than Bradley had seen him all deployment long. But then Bradley pushed past both of them and tossed his own helmet, shouting "What the hell, Slayer!"

But Slayer barely acknowledged him as he walked toward the tower looking like he was headed for the gallows. Bradley stood there, drenched in sweat and reeking of jet fuel, and watched the other aviator as a red faced Admiral Dean appeared on deck and started yelling. It didn't matter. It didn't matter that Slayer fucked everything up or that Bradley saved the day. The only thing that counted now was getting home to you.

-----------------------------

Friday morning seemed to stretch on for an eternity. You didn't have a specific time to expect Bradley to unload from the carrier, so you decided to go to work until you heard from him. When Bickel called you in for a progress meeting on all of the lab projects, you hauled a stack of folders in with you. And that's when you fully realized that over several years of working with him, he had made you his number two. He always wanted your opinion the most.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as you set everything down on his desk and took a seat. He met your eyes, and he was expecting an honest answer, but you knew he wouldn't give you a hard time. 

"Better. Bradley is coming home today," you told him. "Thanks again." But he just waved you off like it was no big deal and opened up the top folder on the stack. 

Later when you went down to eat lunch, you got cornered by Jake. "Come sit with me."

You just smirked as you grabbed a fistful of tiny packets of hot sauce. "Don't you want to sit with Cat?"

"No, I want to sit with you. Rooster comes back today, and I'll never see you again," he replied. "I know you're struggling, but the two of you will be disgusting again soon."

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. You were nervous. It had been building up all week. Part of you just wanted to get this over with and work things out, and part of you wanted to bask in Bradley's words as he told you how much he missed and loved you. If he told you those things. 

"I miss being disgusting," you told Jake as you followed him to a table. "But I still want to have a baby." You felt tears in your eyes as you sat down, and Jake met your gaze. "I'm anxious that Bradley is going to talk about my cycle and want to know when I'm ovulating. It's bad enough that I know I'm ovulating right now, you know? I don't want him thinking about it, too. And, fuck, I'm sorry Jake."

"Hey, no," he said, reaching across the table and squeezing your hand. "I love that you want to talk to me about stuff. But just dump your hot sauce all over your lunch and take a deep breath. Let Bradley get home and prove to you that he wants to fix things as much as you do. Give him a chance, Angel."

But your nerves carried through lunch. And now you were scared that your husband wouldn't greet you the way he always did. You were afraid that you were just a fragile, broken thing in his eyes, and there would be some sort of undertone of rejection even though the two of you said you were on the same page over facetime. 

As you walked back to your office, your phone vibrated with a text, and you already knew it was him without even looking. Your heart started pounding, knowing what you needed but unsure if you were going to get it. 

Bradley Rooster Bradshaw <3 <3 <3: I have phone reception! I can see the dock! I should be off this thing around four or five. Think you can skip out of work a little early and meet me? I missed you so much.

No turning back now. A smile actually broke out on your face. There would be no time to run home and change, but it didn't matter. You had missed him, too. 

I'll be there. Of course I'll be there.

When you mentioned to Bickel that you were going to leave two hours early, he told you to have a nice weekend. And when Cat saw you packing up your computer at 3:30, she walked over and gave you a little hug. 

"Don't be nervous."

You tried to act cool. "I'm not."

"I can tell you are. Just enjoy your weekend with your husband. I'll stay late if need be and finish the coding."

"Thanks," you muttered. You and she never explicitly talked about the fact that you were jealous that she had tiny Jeremiah in her life, but you knew she knew. And you were okay with that. 

As you jogged out to the Bronco in the parking garage, you found you were only thinking about one thing: how good it felt every time Bradley wrapped his strong arms around you and held you against his warm body. 

"Shit," you gasped, fumbling the key in the ignition. You needed that. That was it. "Fuck." You could barely start the engine, but when you finally did, you pulled quickly out of the parking space and headed the half mile or so around base toward the military docks. When you drove through the gates and parked again, you could see khaki uniforms pouring down the ramps and onto the dock.

"Oh no." You were out of the Bronco and running, scrambling for your phone. But as you got closer to the ramp, you spotted Bradley. He was so easy to pick out of a crowd. Tall and broad and impossibly handsome with his duffle bag slung over his shoulder. His head was on a swivel, probably wondering if you were here yet. 

And then you froze up. Every feeling hit you all at once as he stepped down onto the dock, boots back on California soil for the first time in almost two months. He looked to his left and then to his right, searching for you, and you could tell he was about to reach for his phone as his hand dipped down toward his pocket. But then he saw you. And that was when you realized that he had the same look of apprehension on his face that you must have had on yours. 

It was so noisy, and there were hundreds of people on all sides of you, but you could see him mouth, "Baby Girl," before his lips formed into a smile that had your feet rushing forward. Bradley was actually shoving people out of his way now which had you laughing. And when you realized you weren't so nervous anymore, tears started to fill your eyes. 

"Baby Girl!" he called out, and a second later, you were in those strong, sure arms that you loved so much. 

"Bradley." But the sound of his name was muffled as he kissed you, holding you so close to him that only your toes touched the ground as you wrapped your arms around his neck. You smiled against him as he shook his bag free and let it drop to the ground next to him, but he didn't break the kiss. 

Every voice around you and the warm sunshine melted into a dreamlike quality. You wanted to stay here in his arms where you finally felt comfortable. There was a lot to say, and you'd get to it eventually, but the feel of his big hands and his mustache were so familiar that you felt more confident again. 

When he finally broke the kiss, Bradley pressed his forehead to yours and kept one big hand at the back of your neck, stroking your skin softly as you shuddered in his arms. "I love you," he promised, voice full of desperation like he was begging you to listen. "I just needed to be with you."

You closed your eyes against your tears and whispered, "I love you, Roo." 

Then his rough fingers were moving slowly along the back of your neck, his other hand coming up to work at the clasp of your necklace. You smiled when you realized what he was doing. Bradley removed your necklace but kept his body pressed against yours and he carefully palmed your gold charms. 

"Been dying to put this back on since I took it off." He kissed your cheek and then slid his wedding band along the chain before carefully clasping your necklace in place again. Then he quickly removed the silicone ring and pocketed it before slipping his gold band into place. "It just didn't feel right. It's not the one we got married with."

And then his arms were wrapped around your waist, and you let your cheek come to rest on his chest. You didn't want to be the first one to say it, but you thought one of you should. About how much you wanted to fix things. About making things work. "Bradley."

But you shouldn't have been worried. He kissed the top of your head, his grip on you unrelenting as so many of the other officers and crew members around you were starting to clear out. "I promise you that you're everything I want. And I'll make sure you know it."

So you nodded and melted into his touch. And it was quite a while later before you moved, but you could hear Bradley's stomach growling which made you smile. "I have some Marry Me Rooster in our fridge that just needs to be reheated." 

He peppered your face with kisses until you were laughing. "Let's go home," he whispered. "Wanna see Tramp and snuggle you on my lap while we eat."

After Bradley had you safely buckled in the passenger seat, he started the engine, and you could tell he missed his Bronco too. He held your hand on the short drive home, and you filled him in on a few things. When he parked in the driveway and helped you out, you asked, "How was your deployment? I didn't even get to see Bob and Nat."

He kissed you softly as you unlocked the front door. "I'll tell you later. It's not as important as this. As being with you."

Your heart swelled as Tramp tried to jump up into Bradley's arms. "Missed you, too," Bradley told him, kneeling and scratching him behind his ears while the dog kicked his other hand. "Were you a good boy?"

"Of course he was. The best." You squeaked as Bradley scooped you up for a piggy back ride as he stood, and he carried you to the laundry room with Tramp jumping around behind you. "What are you doing?" you asked, kissing Bradley's ear as you held onto his shoulders.

"Just want to get out of my uniform before we eat." 

When he set you down and turned, you carefully unbuttoned his shirt and started working on his pins. His hands settled on your waist, stroking you through the fabric of your own khaki uniform shirt. And his eyes were soft. And he wasn't in a rush, except maybe to get dinner. And he wasn't asking about your cycle. And he didn't seem interested in doing anything at this moment except working on your pins and lining them up in the tray near the sink along with his. 

"I missed doing this," you whispered, and then his lips found yours again. And it was a few minutes before Bradley let go of you long enough for both of you to finish getting undressed and put your uniforms into the washing machine. 

"Let me put on some sweatpants, and I'll help you reheat dinner," he said, hoisting you up for another piggy back ride that had you laughing. 

"Sounds good, Roo."

He bent to pick up his duffle on the way to the bedroom, and you helped him empty and sort everything onto your bed. When you dipped your hand inside the bag, you pulled out some neatly folded undershirts and a beat up notebook. You flipped open to the first page while Bradley sat on the floor to play with Tramp. 

Baby Girl, when I think about you, I think about the rest of my life spread out in front of me. And it's not exactly like a map, because I don't know where we are going or where we will end up. But I feel safe when I'm with you. Even though so much is unknown.

You carefully closed the notebook and pressed your lips together, unsure if you were supposed to read that. "Roo?" you asked quietly, and Bradley looked up at you as you showed him the notebook. "What is this?"

----------------------------

He's home! Finally! And Slayer is hopefully completely screwed. Thanks @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls

PART 14

@hotch-meeeeeuppppp

@swthxrry

@chassy21

@yaboid19

@solacestyles

@avoirlecoupdefoudre

@daisyhollyxox

@throwinsauce

@awesomebooklover17

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@desert-fern

[mirkwoodshewolf]

I belong with my One; Fili x Dúnedain reader

*Author's note*

So this took me a few days to finally get finalized and write down so I hope @futuristicyouthvoid I hope you enjoy this fic. For this fic I've put that instead of Kili getting shot by the Morgul arrow, reader gets shot saving him and ends up getting sick.

Warnings: reader poisoned, near-death experience, some angst and some fluff.

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@psychosupernatural

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@gay-and-ready-to-cry

@queen-paladin

___________________________________________________________

So much has happened in such little of time.  First Gandalf offers me a proposition for aiding a company of Dwarves, then we’re being pursued by orcs, then get imprisoned by the Elven king Thranduil.  Now we find ourselves at the mercy of the Men of Laketown.

Thankfully another friend of mine Bard was willing to let us stay the night at his house but of course the Dwarves had to screw it all up by going to the armory to steal the weapons and end up getting caught by the Master of the Lake’s guards.  But by some miracle, we were granted the supplies we needed to get us to Erebor to complete the quest before sunset.  Of course I knew it was because of the Master’s greediness that he agreed to help, he never was a good man.

“You do know we’re one short, where’s Bofur?” Bilbo asked.

“If he’s not here, we leave him behind.” Said Thorin.

“We’ll have to, if we’re to find the door before nightfall. We can’t risk no more delays.” Balin agreed grimly as everyone began piling into the boat.  But as I was just halfway over the plank, I felt a hand stop me.

“Not you.” I turned to see Thorin.

“What?”

“We must travel at speed, you’ll only slow us down.” He told me.

“I’m coming with you all to the Mountain. I promised Gandalf that I would.”

“(Y/n), you have been a big help to me and my kin. The first Ranger to truly stand for our cause. But lately you haven’t been up to par on your health. Stay here and rest, rejoin us when you’re healed.” Just because I’ve been feeling a bit sluggish since the river incident, doesn’t mean I’m helpless.

“Thorin—”

“I will say no more on the matter.” Without another word, Thorin went back onto the boat whilst I had no choice but to sit back down on the docks, feeling a chill suddenly come over me.

“I’ll stay with the lass, my duty lies with the wounded.” Oin said as he voluntarily got off the boat and came up to me.

“Uncle, (Y/n) has done more for this company than any other outsider could’ve done for us. You cannot repay her by leaving her behind.” Fili stepped up for me.

“Fili no.” I told him.

“I will carry her if I must!” Fili argued.

“Fili, one day you will be king and you will understand. I cannot risk the fate of this quest for the sake of a Ranger. Even if she were the only one willing to help us.” As Oin began feeling my forehead for a temperature, I soon watched as Fili stormed off the boat but Thorin stopped him.  “Fili, don’t be a fool. Your place is with the company.”

“My place is with her!” he snapped back at his uncle before taking back his arm and came over to me.

“Why did you do that? I thought you always wanted to see Erebor, you told me so yourself.”

“I’ll have plenty of opportunities to see the kingdom in my lifetime, but your wellbeing is more important to me than all the gold in Erebor.” I felt my cheeks grow warm as I softly thanked him.

“And don’t think it’ll just be Fee that’s gonna help you get back on your feet.” We turned to see Kili had also left the boat.

“Kili, you didn’t have to stay behind too.” Fili said.

“Yeah I could’ve gone but it’s my decision too.” He came up to me and stood on my right side.  “You saved my life back in the Woodland realm, I’ll gladly do everything I can to help you now (Y/n).” I smiled and looked at the brothers.

“You guys truly are the best friends I’ve ever had. Thank you.” They both nodded and as the Laketown band played a victorious fanfare to wish our friends luck, a sudden dizziness overcame me. 

My vision was going in and out of focus and as the crowd cheered as the boat with our friends departed from the docks, I suddenly fell forward, the last thing I heard was Fili’s voice calling my name.

*3rd Person POV*

When (Y/n) had passed out on the dock, Fili cried out (Y/n)’s name as Oin came up and began searching over her body for any trace of an infected wound or trace of blood.  Knowing that she had saved Kili from that arrow back when they were trying to escape the orcs on the river, there must’ve been a wound he might’ve missed before they came across Bard.

“OH, did you miss the boat too?” they soon heard the missing Dwarf, Bofur’s voice say.  But the moment he saw (Y/n) passed out, his concern grew as he asked Kili.  “What happened to her?”

“We don’t know. She just—suddenly passed out.”

“Her fever’s spiking lads. We have to get her help right away!” Oin said.

“Kee, help me out here!” together the brothers lifted her up by her arms while Oin and Bofur got her legs and they walked back towards the Master’s manor to ask for help.  After pushing through the guards, Fili cried out. “Please wait! Please, we need your help. Our friend is sick!”

“Sick? Is it infectious?” the Master exclaimed fearfully as he covered his nose with his handkerchief and fearfully cowered behind Alfrid. “Get back! Alfrid, Alfrid don’t let them come any closer!”

“Please. We need medicine.” Oin pleaded.  Alfrid walked closer as he sneered at them.

“Do I look like an apothecary? Haven’t we given you enough? The Master’s a busy man, he hasn’t got time to worry about sick Rangers! Let alone this one right ‘ere. All she’s ever done for this town is ruin the Master’s good name and turn the people against him.”

“She’s helped these people in their hour of need! Are you willing to let her die because of your own selfish needs?!” Kili demanded.

“None of our concern. She’s not a paying citizen here, therefore she’s not our problem. Now off you pop! Less we use more drastic measures.” With that Alfrid and the Master shut the doors and the guards ordered them away.

After being rejected by the Master, they tried going to other people to see if they could help but all of them were either too scared to go against the Master’s wishes, or didn’t have enough supplies to help aid her as well as their own sick family members.

With no other options left, the Dwarves raced back to Bard’s home.  Knowing of their friendship, they’d hope that at least he could help them.  Bofur knocked on the door frantically and as soon as Bard saw them, he sneered.

“No, I’m done with Dwarves. Go away!” he went to shut the door but Bofur stopped him pleading.

“No, no please! Please! No one will help us. (Y/n) is sick.” Bard opened the door further to see his good friend now sickly pale, strands of her hair stuck to her face from the profuse sweating she was doing, and her breathing was now choked gasps.  “She’s very, very sick.” Even with the grievance he had with the Dwarves for risking the safety of not only his children but the entire town of Dragon fire, he didn’t have the heart to turn his dear friend away.

“Bring her in.” Bard stepped aside and the four dwarves quickly piled in while Bard quickly looked around before shutting the door.  “Put her over there. I’ll see what I have.” Bard went to the back of the house as the Dwarves set her down on the nearby couch.  Fili took her hand between his and squeezed it.

“Hang on (Y/n), we’re all here to help you. Just…..don’t go where I cannot follow.” He whispered to her stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.  Kili watched his older brother and knowing of his feelings towards the Ranger, he couldn’t help but feel guilty knowing that it was because of his carelessness that the woman his brother loved got hurt to save him.

As the night overcame the lake, (Y/n)’s health was gradually becoming worse.  Oin did managed to find a small graze just underneath her elbow.  A graze that came from an orc arrow tipped with poison.  Already the wound (even for as small as it was) had already started to become infected and the poison was spreading fast.

(Y/n) was tossing and turning, panting as her body was glistening with sweat.

“Nothing’s working! Can you not do something!?” demanded Fili who was growing more frantic by the second seeing the woman he came to love be in such agony.

“I need herbs! Something to bring down her fever.” Bard soon came in with some more supplies and began listing them off.

“I have nightshade, feverfew…..”

“No, no there no use to me. Do you have any Kingsfoil?” said Oin but Bard told him.

“No. It’s a weed we feed it to the pigs.”

“Pigs? Weed. Right. Don’t move.” Bofur said before leaving the house.  As Kili was continuing to dab a damp, cool cloth across (Y/n)’s face and neck to ease her of her sweating, a rumble was soon heard coming from the mountain.

“Da?” asked one of Bard’s daughters Sigrid.

“It’s coming from the mountain.” Answered Bard’s son, Bain.  Bard had feared the worst, the dwarves had awoken Smaug the Terrible and soon the prophecy would come to pass, the Lake will shine and burn.

“You should leave us.” Fili said as he walked up to Bard. “Take your children, get out of here.”

“And go where? There’s nowhere to go.” Bard told him in defeat.  Little Tilda stepped in front of her siblings and asked her father fearfully.

“Are we going to die Da?” Bard looked at his youngest child and assured her.

“No darling.”

“The dragon, it’s going to kill us.” Bard then turned towards a beam just above the kitchen and gripped a thin but firm piece of what appeared to be black iron.  He pulled it down from the beam to reveal that it was a Black arrow, the very same black arrow that can only be used to kill the dragon.

“Not if I kill it first.” Bard said determinedly.  He then asked his son to come with him while the girls stayed behind with the Dwarves to help take care of their Aunt.

Time passed and (Y/n)’s fever was getting even worse.  Her breathing was sharp and panicked and she was now starting to writhe in agony.

“Durin’s beard where is Balin with that Kingsfoil!?” Fili demanded.

“I have the right mind to go out and look for him myself!” Kili snapped.

“You can’t leave! With the guards on patrol, they’ll arrest you too and aunt (Y/n) will never get better!” Bain said.  “No one is leaving this house understood!?” hearing the young man take a stand against the Dwarves made them both feel shock and admiration.

“Very well laddie. But I don’t know how long (Y/n) has got left, she’s growing weaker by the second.” Oin said to Bain.

“Tilda, Sigrid, come with me to get more rags and water for aunt Hela.” The siblings soon left while Fili gripped (Y/n)’s hand tighter.

“Fi…….li.” she choked out.

“I’m right beside you (Y/n).” he whispered to her.  Slowly opening her eyes she croaked out.

“Fili…..if anything hap-happens to me—”

“Don’t talk like that (Y/n). We’re going to heal you, Bofur’s probably found the Kingsfoil by now, he’s just probably ducking the guards and taking longer. Please don’t give in now.” He squeezed her hand between his.  “Don’t go where I can’t follow.”

Suddenly a scream was heard and next thing everyone knew orcs began dropping down from the rooftop or coming in through the front door.  The dwarves grabbed whatever they could to fight off the orcs but there were too many of them, and with the tightly constricted area the house provided, there was hardly any fighting room.

Kili got the children to duck under the table and fought off any orc that tried to come close to them, while Oin and Fili worked together to fend off any orc that came near (Y/n).  When they thought they were done for, help came from both Legolas and Tauriel who had been tracking down the orcs since they left Mirkwood.

As Fili managed to block an orc’s attack with a kitchen knife, (Y/n) had managed to crawl out of the couch and use a fire-poker to stab the orc through its spine.  But she soon let out a cry of agony as she collapsed to the ground, the poison fully starting to overcome her.  Eventually, all the orcs were either killed off or had begun to retreat from the house.

“You killed them all.” Bain said as he and his sisters got out from under the table after all went quiet in the house.

“There are others, Tauriel.” Legolas ordered but Tauriel was hesitant.  As Oin came down beside (Y/n) and felt around her neck to feel her pulse was slowing down, Fili and Kili came down beside her as Oin said fearfully.

“We’re losing her!”

“Tauriel.” Legolas said to her.  She turned back to her prince and said.

“The Ranger has done no harm to us, is there nothing we can do to help her?”

“She is beyond help. I’m sorry, there’s nothing that can be done for her.” Footsteps could soon be heard racing up the stairs and as the two elves prepared for another battle with orcs, they stopped to see that it was Bofur carrying some Athelas in his hand.

“Athelas,” Tauriel exhaled as she took it from him and admired it. “Athelas.”

“What are you doing?” Bofur asked nervously.  Tauriel looked into the room before looking back at him and said.

“I’m going to save her.” Legolas’ eyes briefly narrowed.

“Tauriel…..”

“You may go if you wish Legolas, but I cannot leave the she-ranger to perish in such agony. Not whilst she still clings to life and that I now have her only salvation.” The young prince took a deep breath then exhaled.

“What would you have me do?” the two elves raced back inside and Tauriel ordered.

“I need water fast. Get her on a solid, stable surface. Lay her flat on her back.” Every in the room reacted quickly.  Tilda gave Tauriel the bowl of water for her to mix the Athelas together, whilst Legolas and the Dwarves worked together to get (Y/n) on the table.

She was screaming and writhing in pure agony, her mouth starting to grow black with the poison.

“Where is the wound?” Legolas asked.

“Underneath her left elbow.” Oin said.  Legolas took hold of her left wrist and raised her arm above.  But when she tried to struggle, he was forced to also grab her forearm to pin it down and there he saw it.  The black graze and he could see the infection had fully spread and blackened her entire elbow.

“Hold her down.” Tauriel said.  Kili and Bofur held down her right leg while Bard’s children held down her left.  Fili held (Y/n) by the shoulders and Oin helped Tauriel brew the medicine.  Once it was brewed, Tauriel cut through the sleeve of (Y/n)’s shirt to get a better access to the wound.

The female ranger appearing like a rapid animal, screaming, grunting and thrashing about trying to free herself.  Tauriel took some of the Athelas and began rubbing it onto her hands as she chanted.

“Menno o nin na hon i eliad annen annin, hon leitho o ngurth.” She then placed her hands over the ranger’s wound and (Y/n) let out an agonizing scream.  Fili softly shushed her stroking through her hair and whispering in her ear all the while Tauriel kept chanting the spell.

Bit by bit, (Y/n)’s animalistic behavior quietened and then she went still.  Her breathing now soft and not as frantic as it had been.  Fili looked down at her worriedly and Kili asked.

“Will she be alright?”

“Athelas has powerful healing properties. With time and rest, she’ll regain her full strength. A few more minutes and she would’ve been beyond even with the aid of the Athelas.” Responded Tauriel.  The dwarves and Bard’s children breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you.” Fili said to Tauriel.  She gave him a soft but tight smile as well as a soft nod.  Then both she and Legolas left to deal with the orcs.

After her healing, Fili wrapped up (Y/n)’s wound with some bandages and kept vigil at her side.  Never before had he felt so scared than he had felt at that moment.  Fearing that the woman he had come to become fond of—nay love throughout this quest, he wouldn’t have known what to do had she been lost to him.

“She’ll be alright Fili. She’s strong, she’ll be back on her feet in no time.” His brother tried to assure him.

“I know. But seeing her go through all that pain, all that suffering, and who knows if she even knew she had been hit.”

“Even if she did, she’s got the stubbornness of a Dwarrowdam. Perfect woman for a guy like you.” Fili turned to his brother.  “You may try to have hide it from the others but you can’t hide anything from me Fee. I’ve seen how you’ve been looking at her since Rivendell. You care for her more than just as a friend.” Fili sighed and looked down to her.

“I don’t even know how it happened. But after all that we’ve been through, seeing her in a—domestic way. The way she was with her younger cousin, the way the sunlight seemed to reflect off her hair, and the way her eyes shone like jewels in the dark. Kee……I feel as if she is my One.”

“And you should follow through that brother.”

“But would it work? A dwarf and a human? It’s never been done before?”

“Is that what’s really troubling you? Or is it that you fear she doesn’t feel the same way?” Fili remained quiet.

“This quest has shown me that life is too fragile. And at any moment, any one of us can be taken away by any means. I want to tell her my true feelings but—not now. Not while our lives are still in danger. Perhaps when we reach the mountain, I’ll work up the courage to tell her but I—”

“I understand brother. The turmoil that must’ve been stirring in your heart seeing her on death’s doorstep, if you had confessed your love for her beforehand and it be too late to save her……I can’t imagine the pain that would’ve been.”

“She’s too precious to me.” Fili said as he stroked her cheek with the back of his finger.  “I feel like if she had died tonight, my heart would’ve died with her. My body may have continued to live on but my heart would never be full again.”

“Take comfort now that she’s alive and that she’s recovering. No more darkened thoughts need cloud your mind anymore.” Kili said as he placed a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder, gently shaking it.  Fili turned to his little brother and nodded giving him a soft smile.

“Thank you Kili. I know I’m supposed to be the older brother here but, I’m glad that you were here to be the one to ease my mind.”

“I’m always here for you brother, and I always will be. Together forever right?” he extended his other hand out.

“Together forever little brother.” Fili clasped his other hand with Fili’s as they pressed their foreheads together, drawing in each other’s strength.

*My POV*

 All I remembered was darkness, as well as a voice reaching out for me.  Then a bright light and soon silence.  I don’t remember much after that but I do remember hearing Fili’s voice along with Kili’s.

“This quest has shown me that life is too fragile. And at any moment, any one of us can be taken away by any means. I want to tell her my true feelings but—not now. Not while our lives are still in danger. Perhaps when we reach the mountain, I’ll work up the courage to tell her but I—”

“I understand brother. The turmoil that must’ve been stirring in your heart seeing her on death’s doorstep, if you had confessed your love for her beforehand and it be too late to save her……I can’t imagine the pain that would’ve been.”

“She’s too precious to me.” I felt something graze my cheek with the most gentlest touch.  “I feel like if she had died tonight, my heart would’ve died with her. My body may have continued to live on but my heart would never be full again.”

So did Fili actually feel the same as I have come to feel for him? Oh Fili, I-I love you too. And I do hope that one day I can say that aloud, but for now I was just too weak to even open my eyes.  I soon passed out once again but it wasn’t until the sound of giant wings flying towards us had me opening my eyes.

Smaug was coming for us. And he was out for blood.

[call-me-copycat]

Hey! Idk if you still write fics but if you do. Could you please write about Aizawa having a daughter who selfharms, but he didnt knew until one day he entered to her room and find her doing it?.

Its kind of an emergency so i would really apreciate if you wrote it 🩷

Hi! I'm really sorry for the slight delay, I've been bouncing between school during the day and work at night, so even though I saw your ask I couldn't physically write it due to exhaustion (⑉ ᷄ ⌳ ᷅ )ก

That being said, even though it's been a couple days I didn't want to leave you hanging! I got some rest and wrote as much as I could in one sitting!

I really do hope this helps, feel free to message me anytime if you need to vent or such ₍ᐢ‥ᐢ₎ ♡

What I Owe To You

*I listened to this on loop while writing*

➤ Welcome - Introduction and Request Rules (Requests are open + Some info about me)

▶ Characters: Just Aizawa and Reader

▶ Genre: Comfort + Slight Angst

▶ Summary: As the ask states

▶ Word Count: 2925

▶ WARNINGS:

- Self harm

- Depressive thoughts

- Overall lots of angst

Please don't read if any of this makes you uncomfortable!

The cycle always went on.

At this point you were afraid of what was to happen next. At the same time, the thought was pushed away by the constant emptiness that filled you through. The sticky tar-like hands of this unknown void ravaged your mind, shredding it apart piece by piece.

Leaving you constantly feeling... Hollow. It was difficult to describe it as anything else.

You walked to school everyday and went to your classes. You sat next to your classmates as they animatedly discussed the usual topics of training and what to do after school.

On the weekends, you slept. Sometimes went shopping with your father. Maybe you'd get visited by your Uncle Mic, other times you'd train.

There wasn't much variety. It was suffocating. These feelings had no place to spawn from, as your life wasn't much different from everyone else's. There didn't seem to be a reason, for all you knew. But it was there, no doubt about it. It made itself known.

-

It was a usual Friday night. You had completed all your classes and had the weekend to yourself. It felt pointless, there wasn't much to do. Nor did you have the energy for anything either.

Sitting in your room, you jumped a bit at the unexpected knock on your door. You had been gazing out of your bedroom window for who knew how long, zoning out as far from your mind as you could. You vaguely remembered that a storm was to come soon.

"Dinnertime. Wash up and come to the table when you're ready."

Your father's voice never failed to comfort you, and in a way he was one of the main beacons of light in your dark and foggy world. An unchanging pillar of strength, he held on tight to your cracking mind.

Slowly, tiredly, you made your way out of your room. As you passed by Aizawa, he couldn't help but sigh in response to your barely-there smile at him. You had a habit of doing that, possibly to keep him from worrying.

Truth be told, Aizawa always worried about you. Ever since you were young, he was on guard every second, trying to keep you from falling and scraping your knees, to keeping an eye on you during training.

Though recently, he had noticed some... changes. Your eyes began to grow dull, and their usual energy faded with each passing day. The bags under them grew more prominent, and in turn your hair began to be left more of a mess. Slowly, little things were building up, and he couldn't tell why.

It worried him sick, since the only thing he had in mind for you was for you to be happy and safe. Seeing your condition worsen with each day made him nauseous, as it was the last place he wanted you to be at. He wanted to help you, the best he could.

So that's why before you even sat down to eat, he began to question you.

"Are you feeling okay, [Name?]"

Truth be told, he knew you'd say you were fine. He just needed to soothe his frantic mind.

Looking up at him, you gave him another smile. He couldn't help but grimace at how forced it looked.

"Oh, of course I'm fine." You clenched your jaw at how unenthusiastic you sounded, but it would have to do.

Aizawa only felt uneasy. Too many things added up and gave him a weird taste in his mouth to leave it at that.

"Look at me, [Name]."

The unusual tone of his voice brought you out of your foggy state of mind as you looked up at him fully. Once you met his eyes properly, Aizawa took notice of the... Saddened expression that filled yours. He knew someone was wrong, but it was being covered.

"You'd tell me if something was wrong, right?"

He needed to know if you trusted him. He needed to be the one person you trusted in life. This was all or nothing.

Your eyes went wide for a split second as your breath hitched, but you quickly shook it off. His bluntness was what caught you off guard.

"Really, it's nothing Papa." You tried smiling once more, raising a hand out a bit in an attempt to calm him. You knew it was a pitiful attempt, but you didn't have the energy to make it convincing. Alongside that, Aizawa was generally a very tough man to fool. It'd take a lot to actually pass anything through him.

Aizawa's eyes narrowed in response as he saw your reaction to his question. Your body language indicated how uncomfortable you were, and he didn't want to push you too far past your limits.

It was tough, but he decided to give it up in the end and hope you'd come to him whenever you were ready. You always shared everything with him since you were young, and he had gained a large amount of trust over you in turn.

-

Dinner was eaten in silence, and as soon as it was over you bid your father a goodnight before heading off to your room.

Aizawa stayed seated at the kitchen table as he watched you walk off, wondering what was happening to his child. He couldn't bear the thought of you struggling with something alone. He had been there your whole life to help you get through everything you passed by, so why weren't you letting him in now?

After much deliberation, he got up from his spot at the table and made his way to your room. He needed to finish this conversation, and he needed to know what was going on. His mind had been sprawled all over the place for the last few months, as he'd been observant enough to catch on to the smallest changes you went through. Seeing you go into such a decline was like a punch straight through to his heart.

His mind was in such a haze that he threw open your door without second thought, seeing as he normally takes care to knock first. The room was pitch black, but based off of the startled gasp that came from you and the clanging of metal hitting the ground, Aizawa felt his blood freeze in fear.

Quickly flipping on the light, his eyes widened at the site that laid in front of him. You didn't have any time to cover yourself, so Aizawa saw it all.

The bandages laid out.

The blades.

And most importantly, your cuts.

You felt your eyes water at the expression on your father's face, guilt and self-loathing bleeding into your mind.

Aizawa was stuck in shock for a moment. It felt as though all time was warped as he saw what was his worst nightmare laid out in front of him. He was quickly snapped back to reality at the sound of your sobs that echoed throughout the room.

He swiftly made his way towards you from across your room, and in one smooth movement he pulled you into his lap, hugging you tightly to himself.

He had known something was wrong, felt it deep in his heart, but he didn't realize how serious it truly was. His heart ached for you as his grip only grew tighter around you. Aizawa didn't want you to hide these things from him, and in a way, he felt disappointed at your lack of trust towards him. All his disappointment and anger quickly dissipated, leaving him to face his worry and guilt.

"[Name]..."

He could hear his voice tremble, but couldn't care less.

"Why? I-" He was stuck in shock. It was something he never thought he'd run into. Looking down at you, his worry for your well-being grew tenfold, but he gathered the willpower to overcome the sudden surge of emotions he was feeling.

"I want... I need you to promise me you'll never harm yourself again," He looked down at you, cradled in his arms, "I don't think I could ever bear the pain of losing you..."

He knew this was only one step of many. That it doesn't start like this. That it grows. Although he couldn't pinpoint what might've started it, he at least needed to confirm you'd be safe. He just needed this one thing to give his already worn heart a little bit of ease.

You couldn't help but recoil a bit, bringing your arms to hug your torso. As much as you wanted it to be that easy, as much as you wanted to tell your father 'okay!', you knew it wouldn't be done so fast. And in a way, that only worsened your resentment towards yourself.

"I... don't know if I can.." You avoided his gaze as you faced the ground, hating how saddened he was and much rather preferring him to be angry. It'd lessen the guilt a little bit, at least.

He needed something.

"[Name]... I can't make you promise me you'll be able to stop right away. That's foolish to believe." Heaving out a sigh, he put a hand atop your head. "But I just need you to know that I'd be devastated without you. I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, I'd never be able to live a normal life again if you were gone."

Looking up into his eyes, you saw a heaviness that swirled in them. This was coming from a man who had seen it all - numerous deaths in ways he wished he could unsee.

You hadn't realized just how much you meant to him. It never popped up in your head. The all-consuming void had blocked any sensibility or logic from getting to you, and the more you thought about it, the more you realized just how much it would affect your father. He always told you your pain was his to deal with too.

Settling your face in the crook of his neck so you wouldn't have to see the hurt in his eyes anymore, you tried your best to explain everything to him.

"It feels..." Closing your eyes, you tried imagining everything that has built up. "Like I'm running a race, yet getting nowhere. That everything I do has no effect... I'm tired."

You stayed silent as you felt your father put a hand on the back of your head. Aizawa watched as you carefully pieced your words together, and saw the true effect of everything you had been dealing with. His heart ached to relieve you of your pain, his fatherly instincts screaming at him to help save his child.

"[Name]." His grip on you tightened ever so slightly. "I want you to get this through your head, alright? You are not a failure. You're going through a lot, and it's weighing down on you. And I understand you're under a lot of pressure, but-"

Aizawa was cut off when he began to choke up, the thoughts too much for him to bear. As much as he tried to keep his composure for your sake, his walls were beginning to crack.

You heard your father pause and looked up at him, only to be brought into shock at the sight of your normally stoic father tearing up. You felt ashamed for forgetting about his pain, tearing up once more at the guilt that ravaged your mind.

He could see how surprised you were, but he couldn't help it. He always struggled to contain himself when it came to you, especially whenever you were hurt. He hated seeing you in pain.

"Do you have any idea what it would do to me if I lost you? I- ... [Name], if anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do anymore, I'd-"

He truly couldn't help it. All that Aizawa wanted was for you to be happy. Seeing you in so much agony... seeing your only escape being to harm yourself... He felt that he lost a part of himself.

You cried out loud this time, seeing your father so torn over you. It was heartbreaking, but oddly soothing at the same time. To have someone to deeply care about you that they felt intertwined with you. He cared.

You could feel his arms engulfing you, and you allowed yourself to be swallowed in his hold. It was warm and soothing... A stark contrast to the cold you constantly couldn't escape from.

As he held you, Aizawa couldn't help but be more shocked at himself than anyone. He normally was able to easily retain his composure, so as he felt tears flowing down his face he couldn't help but stiffen. Quickly getting over it, he held you close. The room gradually began to get quieter, the both of your emotions slowing down.

You couldn't help but feel... Secure. It was a stark contrast to the constant void you felt. You felt... Warm.

Yeah, warm.

It was a nice feeling.

Closing your eyes, you finally allowed your body to relax. Aizawa rubbed your back as he gently rocked back and forth.

"I just want you to breath. Don't think about anything else."

Following his word, you kept your eyes closed and settled your breathing. You quickly noticed how much easier it was to think this way. Nothing else was getting in the way, no unwanted thoughts or fears, and you felt safe. Safe and comfortable.

The world around you normally was so chaotic. It seemed everyone was in a rush, always somewhere to be. You couldn't have time to yourself either, constantly getting pushed to and fro. There never seemed to be a place to stop. Nowhere to rest. An unchanging race.

But here you were. The world has stopped, giving you a break you so badly needed. You couldn't describe it, but such a simple hug from your father seemed to dull everything that pained you.

"I understand what it's like."

Aizawa would be lying if he said he was never in your place before. Too many nights he was kept up, worrying about working on himself. Scared of the changing future. Feeling like nothing was changing for him while the world moved on. It was isolating.

Over the years, he got better. The world's rush blurred to background noise, and he learned to appreciate his own speed in life. It was his own life he was living, after all.

Looking down at you, he saw a mirror image of himself.

"Y'know, it's not fair..." You looked up at him as he brushed away a lone tear from your cheek with the pad of his thumb. "You allow me to laugh with you in your happiest moments... So why do you lock me out when you're at your lowest?"

You had never heard it phrased like that before. You did enjoy having him around whenever you had something good to share. Whenever you were proud, or amazed, or just plain happy. But you understood, he wanted to be a part of it all. Every smile... And every tear.

Your voice couldn't find you, but Aizawa didn't mind. To you, he was always a hand outstretched. A guide to help you through the fog and the dark. It made the terrifying a little less daunting.

"Please talk to me when you can. Tell me whatever you'd like, I just want to know how you're feeling."

You nodded, looking at him directly. Your heart rate had gone down significantly, and you didn't know how much time had passed. If you listened carefully, you could hear the distance rumble of an oncoming storm, thunder booming on the horizon.

There was a pregnant pause before he started once more.

"Tomorrow, we'll need to get your injuries looked over-"

Seeing a look of fear cross your expression, he was quick to calm you.

"I'll be with you. The entire time. You won't have to deal with living life alone. I understand it's frightening to look at, but let me hold some of the weight you own."

You watched as Aizawa stretched out his hand, offering it to you. Looking at it, you thought back to all the times he'd helped you in the past. Every time he's offered his hand out to you.

All the times you were too scared to cross the road when you were little. Every time you felt too suffocated by the number of people surrounding you. Or even when it was just the two of you, silently walking home together in the warm afternoon sun.

He always offered you support, for every little thing life had to throw at you. Aizawa's expression softened when you gently put your hand in his, no hesitation in your movements.

Clasping his fingers over yours, you saw how your hands intertwined. And you realized, he was always there to take some of the pain from you - acting like he was a part of you.

"You get it now, huh?" Looking up into his eyes one more time, you thought you saw a sparkle in them. "Whenever you bring pain to yourself," He squeezed your hand a little tighter, "you're hurting me right alongside with you. I need you in one piece, kid."

You breathed out, everything a little clearer now. There was so much more to do. So much to go through. It was a formidable thought.

But as you looked up into your father's eyes and as you felt his hand in yours, you realized;

You weren't alone.

You really did owe him the world.

During my lowest moments, Aizawa was always a huge character I relied on to get me through it. I will always write comfort for him to anyone who asks.

I hope you have a lovely day, and I hope things get just a little easier for you, you definitely deserve it (*´艸`)ﾌﾌﾌｯ♡

➜ Please let me know if I missed any warnings/triggers in the tags or in the opening!

[sapphire-writes]

Our Last Summer (modern!HOTD)

part 2 of 10 || series masterlist || previous part || next part

pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Reader

summary: Your first full day in King's Landing, and you get the lay of the land at the Kingsroad Country Club.

word count: 3.8k

detailed warning under the cut

warnings: language

dividers by the lovely @firefly-graphics

note: as always, likes, comments, reblogs are greatly appreciated! Let me know what you think, if you'd like to be tagged, etc. 💙

A sharp knock on your door wakes you from the deepest sleep of your life. Baela has a way of knocking, but not knocking. By the second rap of her knuckles, she’s already opening the door and entering the room, clad in a baby blue tennis skirt and a matching top. 

Her silver curls are held away from her face in a high ponytail as she sits on the edge of your bed. 

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,” she tells you as you groan, pressing your face back into the softness of your pillow. 

“This is the comfiest bed….I’ve ever slept in….in my whole life,” you tell her, your voice muffled by the pillow.

“That’s because you’ve been sleeping on a twin xl for the past five months,” she says snickering, poking your sides.

You try to roll away from her, burrowing deeper into the soft plush comforter. 

“Whaaaa,” you moan, pushing her hands away.

“Come on, we have things to do,” she tells you.

With a groan, you roll over to face her. 

“Where are we going?” you ask, sitting up and stretching your arms above your head. 

“Kingsroad Country Club,” she tells you, “We’ll grab breakfast there with Rhae.”

She stands up moving to your closet. 

“Bring a bathing suit,” she tells you, “The pool is amazing, we can see if anyone interested has come home for the summer.”

You raise an eyebrow at her as she paws through your clothes. You’d only just started to unpack the previous night, before giving in to the temptation of sleep. You couldn’t stop thinking about Baela’s stupid uncle either, which only made completing your task of unpacking more frustrating. 

“Interesting?” you ask and she wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. 

“A summer fling never hurt anyone,” Baela teases. 

“Okay, let’s do it,” you agree, and she shuts your closet door.

“Meet me downstairs!” she calls, closing the door behind her. 

You quickly get dressed in a simple sundress and after a quick trip across the bay in Baela’s skiff, you dock outside of the Kingsroad Country Club. 

You follow Baela’s lead after you make sure Moondancer is safely roped so she won’t drift back into Blackwater Bay. The country club is just as extravagant as everything else appears to be in King’s Landing. A woman smiles at you as you pass in front of the signup booth for the regatta. Baela leads you past the massive pool and toward the balcony as you arrive; it’s filled with white and blue umbrellas on glass tables, surrounded by white linen chairs. 

The balcony overlooks several tennis courts, with several people engaged in singles and doubles matches. Further out you spot a golf course, acres of green grass as far as you can see.  

“Breakfast here is bomb,” Baela tells you, “Seriously, the best Eggs Benedict I’ve ever had.”

As you sit for breakfast examining the menu, Baela continues to talk about all the fun things she has planned for this summer, while putting in an order of mimosas for the table. Rhaena joins a few moments later, in a heated conversation with Helaena. 

“There’s no rush, right?” Helaena says to Rhaena as they sit.

“It’s a month away, of course, there’s a rush!” Rhaena says, taking a sip of the water provided.

“For what?” Baela asks.

“The auction? The gala?” Rhaena answers, “Please tell me you told Y/N about the gala.”

Baela glances at you sideways and Rhaena rolls her eyes.

“Okay perfect, so Hel and Y/N need outfits,” Rhaena sighs, “The club hosts a gala and an auction each year for the regatta, it's really fun! Families donate artifacts, art, stuff like that and spend a shit ton of money.”

A waiter stops by, delivering mimosas and taking your breakfast orders. 

“It was fun maybe when we were like twelve,” Baela tells her, “It’s a fashion show. A night for our family to pretend they’re perfect.”

“You’re just mad Dad wants us to go together,” Rhaena scolds, frowning.

Baela clenches her jaw, narrowing her eyes at her twin. 

“Exactly,” she answers, to Rhaena’s surprise, “Alicent doesn’t make her kids go, why should I be forced?”

“Oh my Mom forces us alright,” Helaena says smiling, “She was beyond pissed when Aegon and I skipped last year, I thought her head was going to explode. I’m going.”

“Why though?” Baela asks, groaning dramatically and slumping in her seat, “It’s medieval.”

“Because I want to wear a dress and look pretty,” Helaena says grinning, “Come on Bae, you’ll look like such a pretty princess.”

Helaena stretches her hand, poking Baela’s cheek causing you to chuckle. Helaena keeps sing-songing ‘pretty princess’ until Baela swats her hand away. 

“Remember when we all wore those matching dresses? Talk about medieval,” Helaena snorted.

Rhaena spares a laugh then, biting her lip at the memory. 

“Please, Bae?” she asks, “Plus, you have to let Y/N experience it, it’s a magical night.”

Baela glances at you and you shrug nonchalantly.

“I polish up real nice,” you tell her.

“Don’t quote Taylor Swift to me,” she groans, but a smile appears on her lips, “Okay fine.”

Rhaena squeals and claps her hands together.

“So…no to the matching dresses or….?” Helaena asks, answered by a unanimous chorus of no.

A whistle startles you from your conversation as Aegon jogs over to your table, sunglasses dangling off his nose, violet eyes peering over the edge. He arrives just as the waiter returns with your food, distributing your plates. 

“Ladies,” he muses, placing his hands on the back of Helaena’s chair and leaning forward.

“Go away,” Baela tells him, causing him to pout, “You’re ruining my meal.”

“I come bearing gifts,” he says, pulling a joint from where it was hidden in his hair. 

He holds it out between his fingers before Helaena reaches up, snatching it from him and placing it behind her own ear. 

“Thanks,” she tells him, and he hums.

“Happy to be of service,” he says, snatching a triangle of toast from her plate.

“Fucking vulture!” she hisses, swatting him as he hurries away.

“Where’s he off to?” Rhaena muses.

“Probably skulking around the pool looking for an unsuspecting girl with low self-esteem,” Helaena says, rolling her eyes. 

Your eyes follow Aegon who does not head toward the pool but instead down the steps toward the tennis courts. As you see who’s waiting for him you can’t help but roll your eyes. Aemond twirls a racket in his hand, clad in three-quarter-length green tennis shorts accentuating the muscles of his thighs. 

He wears a simple white t-shirt molded to his torso. You assume he’s already played a set, as a man with dark hair leaves the court, patting Aegon on the shoulder as he takes his place. Aemond takes a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow, revealing the v-line that disappears down his shorts. He runs a hand through his silver hair; it's kept shorter on the sides, and a bit longer on the top accentuating his sharp features. 

Aegon says something to his brother, and Aemond meets your gaze. You scowl before looking away, not missing the satisfied smirk that appears on Aemond’s face at your reaction. Your cheeks flush and you take a sip of your mimosa trying to hide your annoyance. 

“What is his problem?” you mumble, as Baela sips her mimosa.

“Who?” Rhaena asks, following your gaze, “Oh-”

“You got off on the wrong foot, that’s all,” Helaena tells you, “But he’ll warm up. Aemond takes a while to defrost.”

“A while? Try years,” Baela says chuckling, “Seriously you’re good, Y/N. Don’t even worry about it.”

You chew on your lower lip, anxiety swirling in your stomach. 

“I feel like I said something wrong last night,” you tell them, “I pissed him off somehow.”

The cousins exchange glances before Rhaena sighs, accepting that she’ll be the person to spill the dirty details. You raise your eyebrows at her, expectantly.

“So your sailor comment, about Luke?” Rhaena says, jogging your memory.

You nod, wordlessly encouraging her to continue.

“Luke and Aemond have history,” she begins, somewhat beating around the bush, “It’s kind of complicated-”

“It’s not,” Baela interrupts, “Look, our family is a soap opera, right? Well for the longest time, they tried to make us all get along, force us to do like ‘family bonding activities’ and it came back to bite them in the ass.”

Tension hangs in the air as she speaks, and you sense they haven’t told you an essential piece of information. 

“I’m not following,” you tell them.

The twins glance at Helaena, who sighs while running a hand through her hair.

“There was an accident. A boating accident, Luke didn’t do what he was supposed to, and…” she trails off, “Aemond lost his eye because of it.”

“Holy shit,” you breathe, your heart falling into your stomach.

“It wasn’t his fault, I mean we were all kids, and my dad, he never thought things through, ever,” Helaena says sighing, “We were just kids. If it's anyone’s fault it was his.”

Panic bubbles in your throat, heat rising to your face as you glance back at the tennis court. You hear the smack of the tennis ball against his racket as Aemond swings, making Aegon sprint to the opposite side to try and catch the ball. 

“I had no idea, fuck,” you begin, “Shit, I should say something.”

Helaena shakes her head.

“Don’t worry about it,” she tells you, “I mean, you can try, but Aemond’s pretty closed off.”

“Aemond’s been a dick since we were kids,” Baela tells you. 

But you feel like you have to. Aemond had been a dick to you, but you hadn’t meant to poke at a wound. You’d say something.

Daeron and Luke run by quickly, both clad in swim trunks, speaking rapidly about something while hunched around Daeron’s iPhone. Rhaena frowns, taking a sip from her mimosa as they make a beeline toward the regatta sign-up booth. 

“Daeron!” Helaena calls, waving them over.

The boys stop, not looking up, but head toward the table. 

“What’re you doing?” Helaena asks, rising from her seat and reaching for her brother’s phone.

“Give it Hel!” Daeron says, but Helaena is quicker, with years of practice being surrounded by brothers. 

She glances at the screen, eyebrows furrowing together before she rolls her violet eyes.

“Not this again,” she comments as Daeron snatches the phone, his ears turning red. 

“We need it!”

“You say that every year!” Helaena teases.

“Need what?” you ask.

“Every year, they go on a treasure hunt, for Aegon the Conqueror's lost ruby crown,” Helaena tells you.

“Who’s Aegon the Conqueror?” you ask.

“Some dickhead who thought he was discovering King’s Landing but instead ruined the lives of the indigenous people who were here before him,” Baela tells you. 

“He had a cool crown though,” Luke comments, “And if we find it, it’s good luck for the regatta.”

“You don’t need luck,” Rhaena tells him, “You’ve spent nearly all your free time on Arrax, you have this in the bag.”

Luke gives her a pained expression, his cheeks turning pink at her praise. 

“I guess so,” he tells her. 

Baela blows a raspberry, ruffling Luke’s hair. He makes a noise of protest, quickly trying to fix the mess she’s made. 

“You know Arrax like the back of your hand,” she confirms, “You got this.”

“They’re right, dude,” Daeron comments, “It’s all good.”

“Says the person who doesn’t have to do it,” Luke says.

Daeron shrugs. 

“Blame my mom. I don’t get why I have to visit Uncle Ormund,” Daeron groans, “Oldtown is so fucking boring.”

“Why doesn’t she make Aemond go?” Luke asks.

“Because he’s mom’s favorite,” Daeron answers immediately, earning a slap on the back of the head from Helaena, “OW!” 

“Mom doesn’t have favorites,” Helaena insists as Daeron punches her in the arm. 

He flinches as Helaena smacks him again, yelling and scrambling away from her. Luke laughs at the sight and you can’t help but giggle as well. Helaena seems so dreamy, with her head in the clouds, but she’s tough having grown up among three brothers. 

Rhaena grabs Helaena’s glass, moving it out of the way as Daeron twists her arm, causing her to bump into the table.

“You little shit!” she yelps, stomping on his foot.

Daeron releases her with a pained gasp, hopping out of reach. Luke tugs his shoulder, directing him toward the sign-up booth. 

“Assholes,” Helaena mutters, falling back into her seat. 

You can’t help but giggle at their antics. You watch as they make it to the sign-ups, crouching over the sheet to write their names. You smile at the boys. If there is still tension between the sides of the family, at least Luke and Daeron seem to get along. And you’re really liking Helaena. 

“You provoked him,” Rhaena teases and Helaena’s mouth drops open, “Kidding!”

Helaena puts on her sunglasses before taking a bite of her eggs. 

“What are your plans for the day?” she asks, through a mouthful.

Baela makes a face before answering.

“I’m thinking we will keep today pretty chill. Drinks by the pool, maybe visit the spa. Oh! And we have to rent you a racket,” Baela says smiling.

“For what?” you ask.

“Tennis, dummy!” Baela says, rolling her eyes, “Rich kid special, I’m going to teach you the sport we were all forced to.”

“Five summers of tennis camp,” Rhaena says grimacing, “Another family bonding experience where we all nearly murdered each other.”

“This family is strangely fucking competitive,” Helaena agrees, nodding. 

You laugh and continue eating your breakfast. Helaena and Rhaena promise to join you later on but disappear as you make your way to the pool. 

“Baela!” the woman at the regatta sign-up calls as you and Baela walk past.

Baela stops, smiling begrudgingly at the woman. Though she’s wearing a sun hat, the bridge of her nose is red from the sun. She smiles as you and Baela approach. 

“Hey Mrs. Redwyne,” Baela says politely.

“I was curious if you’re planning on entering this year?” Mrs. Redwyne asks, motioning to the sign-up sheet.

“Oh no, not this year,” Baela says, shaking her head, “I think my dad might, but I’m just trying to have a relaxing summer.”

“I see,” Mrs. Redyne says, eyes flickering to someone else who approaches.

“Are you signing up?” Luke says, panting as though he booked it back over to the booth.

“Chill,” Baela tells him, “No I’m just looking.”

It seems Mrs. Redwyne lost interest after Baela told her she wasn’t competing. Baela nudges your arm, nodding towards the pool, just as a group of guys joins you at the booth. 

“Hey Bae,” a curly-haired boy says, leaning down to the sign-ups. 

He wets his lips, signing his name in a quick flourish. 

“Didn’t realize you were home,” he says, handing the pen back to Mrs. Redwyne.

He stands straight and smiles, flashing rows of pearly white teeth. 

“Who’s your friend?” the curly-haired boy asks, peering around Baela to look at you. 

You meet his warm, brown eyes, blushing at his stare. Whoever he is, he’s handsome. 

“My roommate, best friend,” Baela says, introducing you, “She’s staying for the summer.”

“Nice to meet you,” he says, shaking your hand and smiling, “I’m Will.”

“Y/N,” you tell him, returning his smile.

He smiles like a politician trying to win votes; it’s sweet, disarming. It makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, and your stomach does flip-flops. Not a totally unpleasant feeling. 

“You gonna compete?” he asks, nodding to the sign-ups.

“Me? No, I don’t really sail. I’ll be cheering Luke from the sidelines,” you tell him.

“Damn, already chosen a side, I respect that,” he says, crossing his arms, “Though I bet I can change your mind.”

“How so?” you ask, surprised at your flirtatious tone.

It’s easy, here in King’s Landing. You don’t really know anyone, you’ve got nothing to lose.

“Reigning champs, last three years,” he not so subtly brags, “The Golden Rose is undefeated.” 

“Impressive,” you tell him, nodding in appreciation. 

“Hardly,” a familiar voice drolls from behind you.

Aemond walks by, Aegon by his side. They’d finished their set, both sweaty and glistening in the morning sun. A shame they’re dicks. They’re undoubtfully hot as fuck. It seems the worst guys always are. Aemond’s eye flickers between you and Will, lip curling upwards in a sneer. 

“Are you finally competing?” Will asked, eyes widening, “If I remember correctly, you’re not that fond of sailing.”

Aemond shrugs, and Will chuckles nervously.

“Dude, do you even have a boat?” he asks, causing his friends to chuckle in response.

“We’ve got Sunfyre,” Aegon tells him, “Beautiful, my girl is.”

“Bro,” Will says, placing a hand over his heart, “You’d compete against me?”

“We’re not competing,” Aemond says before Aegon can answer, “Though if we were, it wouldn’t be much of a  challenge.”

Aemond’s gaze travels to Luke when he says the last part. Luke shies away from his uncle’s gaze, the tips of his ears reddening. You bite your tongue, turning back to Will.

“I’d like to see your boat,” you tell him, desperate to release some of the tension.

Will smiles, brown eyes returning to yours.

“It’s a date,” he tells you, “Can I get your number?”

You nod and he hands you his phone. You quickly plug in the digits. 

“Just so you know, my loyalties still lie with Luke,” you tell him cheekily.

Will laughs at that.

“We’ll see,” he says, taking his phone, “Nice meeting you, Y/N.”

“Likewise,” you tell him.

Will and his friends leave toward the golf course, several of them clasping him on the back. You can’t help but blush. A little summer fling could go a long way. And he is cute.

Aegon shakes his head, moving towards the bar, but Aemond stays put. Baela juts out her lower lip, humming appreciatively.

“Y’know, for once I think Aegon has the right idea,” she muses, “I’ll grab drinks and meet you by the pool?” 

“Sounds good,” you tell her, and she’s off. 

You figure now is as good a time as any to apologize for the previous night. You steady yourself, pulling back your shoulders, but Aemond speaks first.

“Will Tyrell,” he says, shaking his head, “Figures.”

You arch an eyebrow at him.

“The fuck does that mean?” you ask, crossing your arms. 

Aemond smirks.

“Figures you’d be into pretty boys,” he says nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. 

“If that were true I’d be into you,” you snap, eyes widening realizing what you’ve said.

Aemond raises his brows, his smirk only growing. 

“Which I’m not,” you anxiously clarify.

His seeing eye narrows and suddenly he’s looking at you differently, his head tilting to the side slightly as he looks you up and down. You turn your head, looking towards the bar. Baela’s still there, leaning forward and chatting with the bartender as he starts the blender. 

“Course,” Aemond says, beginning to walk away. 

You bite your lip. Fucking always putting your foot in your mouth. 

“Wait!” you call and he turns, “I just…about last night.”

Aemond purses his lips, holding a hand up to stop you.

“Don’t,” he says, beginning to turn away.

“But-”

“Seriously,” he warns and continues walking before disappearing into the clubhouse. 

But you’re determined, and you follow him inside despite your feet wanting to take you in the opposite direction. You walk into a ballroom, and see Aemond across the room grabbing a water bottle from a fully stocked table. 

You head towards him but are stopped by a familiar face.

“Hi!” Floris says smiling, ear to ear, “Are you signing anything up for the auction?”

Your breath leaves your lungs seeing her and you struggle to find your words.

“Um…I…no,” you tell her, shaking your head. 

Floris looks at you questioningly.

“Okay, well if you change your mind, we’re here to register items daily from 11-3,” she says, motioning to a table beside her. 

“Thanks,” you tell her, moving toward Aemond.

“Hey!” you call, catching his attention.

Aemond looks at you, releasing a deep, exasperated sigh. 

This motherfucker. 

“Look, I’m sorry if I said something to offend you,” you begin, “Not my intention, and you don’t have to worry about ever interacting with me again.”

“Sounds far-fetched,” he comments, sipping his water.

“What?” you ask incredulously. 

This man is giving you a headache.

“You’re staying with my family, we’re bound to run into each other,” he tells you, violet eyes aglow as if he’s enjoying the argument. 

“Well I’ll do my best to stay out of your way,” you tell him, “You should do the same.”

“Should I?” he ponders, “You’re awfully demanding.”

You squint at him, jaw slacking in shock. Aemond’s lip curls into a smirk. You breathe in, ready to retaliate, but release a breathy laugh instead. 

“You know what? Okay,” you tell him, pressing your lips together in a tight line.

You turn away from him, retreating the way you came. Floris watches you depart, her eyes flickering from Aemond to you, a sour expression on her pretty face. You smile politely at her as you pass, which she does not return. 

You frown. Even trying to be nice comes back to bite you. Sheesh. You hear Baela call your name as you return to the outside deck and she holds two glasses filled with a pink slush and decorated with little umbrellas. You sigh, before putting on your sunglasses and making your way over to her. 

After you head back to Driftmark for an afternoon nap, you plan to grab dinner at Dragonstone, but the weather does not cooperate (much to Baela’s delight).

“Oh no,” she dramatically pouts, watching the rain splash against the glass of her window. 

Rhaenys frowns at her, and Baela smiles innocently. 

“Call your father,” she tells Baela, “It’s not safe to be out on the water in this weather.”

“Tell them that,” you say, nodding to the lights you see in the bay.

Someone thinks it’s a good idea to be sailing. You can’t really see who it is, can’t make out anything except one larger sailboat, barely rocked by the choppy surf, while a smaller counterpart is being jolted around by the waves. 

“Unwise to be out in this weather,” Rhaenyrs murmurs, as lightning cracks through the sky, illuminating the bay.

“That kind of looks like…” Baela’s sentence trails off, softly. 

Baela squints and then shrugs, giving up on trying to identify the boats. The loud sounds of thunder shake the very foundations of High Tide, the splatter of rain lulling you into a dreamless sleep later that night. 

The destroyed remains of Luke Velaryon’s ship would not be discovered until early the following morning.

note: what is it about me and cliffhangers?? I just like to keep you guessing, I suppose 😘 LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL!

OLS Taglist: @talesofoldandnew, @diannnnsss, @aemondslefteyeball, @urmomsgirlfriend1, @castellomargot, @atherverybest, @high-on-darren-criss, @diosademuerte, @padfooteyes, @tempo-rary-fix, @amirawritespoorly, @chainsawsangel, @toodlesxcuddles, @tssf-imagines, @malfoytargaryen, @nina2697, @glame, @joliettes, @yentroucnagol

@grungegrrrl, @moonlightfoxx

bold means tumblr would not let me tag!

[luveline]

taking roan to see santa and she is so excited to tell him about her new mommy and the things she wants for christmas and when she gets there she is TERRIFIED of the man 🎅

a family trip to the mall to see santa!! fem!reader 5k words

"I'm gonna tell Santa about my new mom, and my new house, and my new bed, and my new-" 

"Babe, you're supposed to ask him for things you want, not tell him about stuff you already have." 

Roan reaches out to stroke Eddie's face absent-mindedly. He loves how loving she is, and by extension, loves that he's made her this way. 

"But I didn't have a mom or a house or a bed last year." 

He snorts, fingers wrapped up in the ribbon laces on her shiny black shoes. "You actually did have a bed, and a house." 

"A real house, dad." 

"It was a real house," he argues with little heat, straightening up her socks where they've started slipping down, fingertips pressed into her soft skin. "It was a home, anyway. You know, me and Uncle Wayne lived together in his trailer for more than ten years and it was amazing." 

It had been cramped, crowded, and it had been a stuffy hell in the summer, but it was just fine. It was more than that. 

He leans back and takes in Roan again. He's dressed her in a navy blue dress with the lining of a white skirt peeking out underneath. She has a cardigan over the top to fight the cold, and he'll wrap her up in her big puffy coat for good measure as soon as he's done her hair. She looks adorable, adorable and well-kept

He feels the familiar rush of parent pride. Fuck, I'm a good dad. 

"And we had fun, didn't we? In our trailer?" he asks her, chucking under her chin. 

She grins at him, a mouthful of tiny white pearls. "Duh, dad. We had the best times ever, with Rufus and Georgia and Steve." 

He smiles himself, reminded of the stray cats that had flocked to their home and their names. Steve had been an especially dishevelled calico, and his name had been a great point of contention between the Munson's and human Steve. 

"You know, we could always go visit them," he offers, pleased at the twinkle that grows in Roan's eyes. 

"We could?" she asks, gasping. 

"Sure, babe. I bet they miss us, and it's cold. We'll make them some fried chicken when we have time, yeah? You and me'll be the talk of the cat town." 

"And Y/N," Roan says insistently. 

He strokes her cheek with his thumb. "And Y/N," he says as he stands up. "Now, little lady. Bunches or braids?" 

By the time he's weaved her hair back into one impressive braid you're finally getting home from the doctor. A completely routine check up and still he's terrified for a split second that you're gonna come in and declare a problem. You simply pose in the doorway and smile. 

"Nothing wrong with me that wasn't wrong before," you say breezily. "Hello, my loves. Did anything happen while I was gone?" 

Roan scrambles to stand on the kitchen chair and pose as you're posing. Your expression drops, as does your jaw, and you take a while to pick it back up. 

"Aw, princess, would you look at you? You look beautiful." 

She giggles as you swoop in to kiss her. You take her face into two delicate palms and stroke curly baby hairs behind her ears. A year ago, even a couple of months ago, you would've asked before you kissed her. Now, you pucker up wordlessly, and Roan bears her cheek like she can't wait. If her excited shifting from one foot to the other is anything to go by, she can't. 

"You look so, so pretty," you praise, pulling away to wipe at the splodge of lip balm you've left shining on her baby cheek. 

"You look more pretty," Roan says. 

Eddie adores you both in ways he can't articulate. 

His unspoken affection summons your attention. You let your hands fall to her shoulders and meet his eyes over her head. For a moment you smile abashedly, the awkward amazing smile you'd been wearing when you first met. It eases into something easier, something Eddie isn't ashamed to admit he loves more. This one practically oozes love. 

"Do you want to get changed?" you ask. 

He pretends like you've slapped him. "What do you mean? This isn't mall-worthy?" 

"Your work overalls and my apron?" you ask wryly. "Sure, wear that." 

He tries not to smile but he's practically sticky with it, kissing your cheek and patting Roan's back in tandem before he escapes upstairs to change. He puts on a pair of tight black slacks and a dark navy button down to match Roan, rolling the sleeves up in the way he knows you love. 

There's Christmas music and giggling downstairs when he returns. Roan's now standing on the table of all places, her hands in your hands, the two of you dancing quite aggressively considering it's Jingle Bell Rock. You start to swing her around, pulling her into your chest so you can waltz in time with the music. 

You swing to face the doorway and cheer when you see him. "Dad!" you direct Roan's attention. "That's your nicest button down. Is that the one you wore when you proposed?" 

He smiles at the memory but quickly hides it, peering down at his shirt as if it's the most boring item of clothing Walmart's ever made. "This old thing?" He lets the dramatics fall. "No, not this one. I might be wearing the same socks, though, if you wanna check?" 

You dip your face down to Roan's and rub the bridges of your noses together. "No thanks," you say, slipping into some bubbly mom talk. "He thinks I wanna look at his socks, did you hear? What a weirdo." 

"Weirdo," she echoes. 

"Wretched women," he mumbles, heading for the shoe rack. He shoves on a pair of boots and raises his volume. "Come on, sweet girls, time to go see Santa!"

"Santa!" 

Roan squirms out of your arms and onto the floor. She sprints for the front door and grabs clumsily at the handle, slightly too short to reach and pull down with any force. Eddie takes her coat down from the hanger and bunches up the sleeves to get her hands through. One arm then two, she makes it difficult work but it's something he's become an expert in. Wayne once said he reckoned Eddie could get an octopus into a straight jacket. 

"Babe, move out the way," he says. 

Roan steps back enough for him to crack the door and then bursts into the cold. She seems less enthusiastic when the ice bites at her naked knees, looking to Eddie for reassurance. 

He hands you the keys and you take them automatically. "I'm gonna get her into the car before she turns into a popsicle." 

Realisation dawns on your face. "I dont have my purse. Be right there," you say, spinning back into the house. 

He catches up to Roan where she's waiting by your car. She has a car seat in your car and his, but yours is the one at the front of the driveway. She looks tiny next to it, smaller when she starts shivering. It's a sub level Christmas in Hawkins. 

"Alright, Ro, in you go," he says, opening door. He covers the top of the doorway with his hand so she can't knock herself out and straps her in once she's situated. 

"It's cold," she says through chattering teeth. 

"I'm sorry, your wool stockings were in the wash, babe." He covers her frost-bitten cheeks, blood pinking her skin. "We might need to get you some pants at the mall, so you don't fr-fr-freeze to death," he says, imitating her shivering. 

She giggles infectiously. "You're funny." 

He presses a kiss to her head. "All legs in the ride!" he warns. 

"Don't cut her legs off," you call from the front door. 

"Never. Am I driving?" he asks, closing Roan's door. He succeeds in not mauling her. 

"Do you want to?" 

"Do you want to?" 

"Get in the car." 

"Yes, ma'am," he purrs, escaping around to the passenger side and away from your clutches. 

The drive consists of Eddie messing with your deteriorating stereo system and Roan's ecstatic babbling. She's back onto what she wants to tell Santa. New mom, new house, new bed, new princess dresses, new kitchen, new pet fish. The list goes on. Though they aren't as new as she thinks; you, Eddie and Roan have been living together now for a couple of months, and you and Eddie have been engaged for almost as long. The novelty has yet to wear off for Roan. Eddie hopes his daughter will be this amazingly happy for the rest of her life.

"You think it's gonna break?" you ask, watching the stereo with all the caution of a lion tamer. 

"God, I hope so. I'll know what to get you for Christmas, then." 

It's a bluff — Eddie's already got you a bunch of gifts, some of which you're pretending you don't know about, and some he's actually managed to hide well. 

"You won't believe what I got for-" You cough. "Uh, Lucky." 

He laughs, checking over his shoulder to see if Roan's listening. She absolutely isn't, feet wiggling along to the static riddled kiddie songs and Teddy the one eared bear in her lap. "I'm gonna tell him you need a new ear, Teddy, don't worry," she says, tone conspiring.

He winces like she's listening. "Yeah, what was it? A new plant?" 

"Yeah," you mumble. You're a bad liar. "New plant. It's pink and gold and it's made out of velvet silk," — you lower your voice to a whisper — "with handmade skirts and hand sewn sequins." 

His eyes go wide. "I thought we said no more presents for Lucky." 

"Did we say that?" 

"Well, I said that. Starting to think you weren't listening." He pinches your thigh, quick and nipping to get you squealing.

"I listened," you insist through laughter, facing him with a bright, bright smile. You keep your eyes on the road. "I just didn't comply." 

"I'm not above force." 

You gasp, delighted. "You dog! My little girl's in the car." 

"My little girl isn't listening." 

"Yes I am." 

You snort so loud it probably hurts your throat. 

Eddie whips his head to Roan and her cheeky smile. "I know what we should- what we should get Lucky for Christmas," she says knowingly. 

"What's that, princess?" you ask, watching her through the rearview. Each word drips with love.

"A girlfriend," she says. 

"Yeah? We'd need to get him a bigger tank, too-" 

"So that's not happening," Eddie says. 

He hates being the voice of reason, on record despises it, but you love Roan so much, you're fucking whipped, you'd pull Mount Fuji from the Earth and put it behind Bradley's if she asked you to, so while he loves nonsense and participating in it, he has to say no. You can't afford a new fish tank now you've paid for the honeymoon vacation and the wedding venue deposit and Christmas. 

Or rather, Eddie can't afford it. He works on principle. Your money is your money. His money is your money. You argue that your money is a hundred percent his money too and he fights you on it all the time, even though you're technically the breadwinner. He's not too proud to let you pay more rent, more toward groceries, more everything. Now. It had been a little bit of a sore spot at first. 

He'd reasoned that he should be paying more in reality because of Roan and you'd glared at him half-seriously and said, Don't insult me, handsome. You know I love her. 

You more than love her, and if you want to spend every last penny of your paycheck on Christmas this month he won't fight you on it. 

Besides that, he can't take any extra hours because he has to pick up Roan. You love that argument because it supports your conclusion, among others — Eddie does the majority of the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning. But, those arguments should be moot. You definitely carry your weight, plus, he loves to do stuff for you. Should be, but you do that stupid fucking thing that you do wherein your hands are all over his face and your voice is soft as silk in his ear, and you kiss under his jaw and win any and every argument in a pathetically small amount of time. He'd die for you. You're a cheater. 

"Spoilsport," you mumble, pulling into the parking lot outside the mall with a bumpy turn. 

"Lucky needs a girlfriend fish, dad, or he'll get so lonely he'll die." 

Eddie blows hair out of his face and zips up his jacket, opening your door with a mostly respectful kick. He rushes to get Roan out before you can, knowing you'll carry her all the way inside and give yourself achey shoulders. 

"Why do you say that?" Eddie asks as he opens her door. Roan looks up all smiles, Teddy clutched to her neck. "Why do you think he'll die? Lonely people don't die, babe." 

"Are you sure?" 

He unclips her straps and pulls her out deftly. He'd let her walk herself but the cold is biting and he can carry her much quicker. "I'm positive." 

Her face crinkles up. He likely shouldn't have mentioned death, she's too small, but Roan has a strange understanding of all things macabre. Santa's more real to her than death, for sure. 

"Maybe I can ast Santa for a big tank for Lucky and then he can have a girlfriend and a baby." 

The dropped 'k' on ask makes Eddie stupidly emotional. A habit she's falling out of from when she was younger. 

You start pushing him behind the shoulders. "Let's go," you whine, "before we all get hypothermia." 

He makes sure there's room in the crook of his arm for your hand while making his way toward the mall sliding doors. You fall into step beside him. 

Eddie begins stranger prep. 

"You gotta be polite to Santa, remember? Because he sees all these little girls and boys and he's tired from the Christmas rush, and he's taking the time to come see you." 

Roan nods seriously. "My pleases and thank you, dad, I always remember," she says. 

"Yes, you do," you praise, though she does not.

"Do you think he can get Lucky a girlfriend?" Roan asks you. 

More terrible smiles. "Yes, he definitely can. What kind of girlfriend? A goldfish, too? They have black goldfish in the Petsmart with big heads like raspberries- oh, we should go see them after we talk to Santa!" 

Roan's nodding grows more and more voracious. "Can we, dad?" she asks. 

"Why're you askin' me? Y/N already said you could." 

You almost trip over yourself trying to kiss his cheek. He knows you love him. He suspects you love being a parent more. He's rubbed your back through enough 'I'm so lucky' breakdowns to know you're genuinely in love with his little girl. 

Inside the warmth of the mall entryway, Eddie sets Roan on her feet. She holds both hands up. He takes one, you take the other, and she rambles about Lucky's potential lover as you both lead her to the entrance of the food court where the mall Santa's grotto has been set up this year. 

The walls and railings are decorated in spiraling lights and tinsel, store windows teeming with festive merchandise. Kids are everywhere, none as pretty or well-dressed as Roan (in Eddie's totally unbiased opinion), but all looking startled by the intensity of everything. Roan herself baulks. 

"It's bright, huh?" Eddie asks her knowingly. 

"All the lights," she says. 

"Yeah, babe, a lot of lights. There's a really big Christmas tree further in, too, we came here last year to see it." 

She shrugs. Eddie's unsure, but he thinks maybe she's drifted a little closer to his legs. 

The grotto comes into view and she perks up. "Oh," she says sweetly, breathless with her eyes wide, dark eyes shining in the fairy lights. 

"There he is," Eddie encourages, "and some elves, too. We line up, uh-" 

"Over there," you say, tugging him and Roan with you like the three of you are a slinky. 

Roan bounces on her tiptoes from the end of the line to the very beginning. You and Eddie can't stop sharing secret smiles. He loves doing this every year, and last year he'd done most of it alone. Wayne hates shopping malls and you hadn't been dating quite long enough for him to feel comfortable asking you to do parent stuff at the time. The difference a year can make — it aches in the best way. 

"After Santa and the pet store, what's our plan? D'you wanna get pizza? Or something else, we could go to Enzo's?" he asks. 

"Enzo's?" 

"I'll pay."

"Last time you had a weird stomach for three whole days after. I thought we'd never see you again." 

"You love it, though. I'll buy some tums. Take a cushion into the bathroom." 

"Ew, no," you say, sounding less disgusted than you could be. 

You're both keeping an eye on the line. There's only one kid in front of you now, and Roan is pulling on your arms ready to pounce. 

"Chinese?" 

"What does macaroanie want?" 

"She gets everything she wants all the time. Would it kill you to choose?" 

You think it over. "Definitely. Why don't you choose?" 

"'Cause I want you to, that's the whole point. You know, it's okay to do things that you want to do." 

"I want to make you pick. You can pay, too, if we're going to the pet store. Santa needs a donation, and I'm gonna be strapped for cash." 

He mirrors your sweet smile. "Deal." 

"Next, please," says a very average sized elf. 

You and Eddie steal another look and you drop Roan's little hand to let Eddie walk her up to Santa. She'd loved him last year, asking for a bunch of things Eddie hadn't been able to deliver on. He'd tried his best, had done a bunch of freelance guitar repairs that he wasn't educated for (but isn't half bad at), had scraped and scrimped, he'd even borrowed money from Wayne that Wayne refused to take back the following February when Eddie finally made it up, and he still hadn't been able to get 'princess sheets' or the new Dotty Dolly. 

They approach Santa. Roan takes one step, then the other. Santa says hello. 

Roan pauses. 

"C'mere, hon," Santa says, an older gentleman with a natural white beard. He's a very convincing Santa, all things considered. "Tell old Chris Kringle what you want for Christmas." 

Eddie pushes her forward very gently with his fingertips. "Go on, babe, it's okay. You wanted to tell him about your mom and the house and Lucky the fish, right?" 

Roan takes the last step. Then, frozen in the face, she backs up, nearly trips, and bolts down into Eddie's legs. She practically flies down the stairs with a freaked out moan. 

His eyes blow. He looks at Roan, looks at Santa. "I'm sorry," Eddie says, smiling at the old man awkwardly. 

The elves do not look happy. 

Eddie bends down. "Roanie," he says urgently, "what's the matter? You don't wanna talk to Santa?" 

She says nothing, only clings. Eddie tries to steer her shoulder back to Santa on his big velvet chair and she's having none of it, whining and shoving her head into his thigh. 

"Excuse me-" starts the elf. 

"Roan, are you sure you don't wanna talk to him? He's Santa, he wants to hear all about your list this year," Eddie tries. 

"No." 

He sighs, perturbed but not too worried. They can always try again. He says sorry to the elves and to Santa who waves his hand, as if to say it doesn't matter. He gets his hands under Roan's arms and carries her to where you're standing on the other side. You look heartbroken. 

"What happened?" you ask softly, stroking a sweet curl behind her ear. 

Eddie has no answers and Roan doesn't want to give them, so you make your way to the food court in a shocked silence. Roan has a tendency to deal with negatives in two ways — tantrums for the superficial, withdrawal for the serious. Eddie still isn't good at dealing with the latter. Together, you can usually save the day. 

"Roan, bug," Eddie says, so only she can hear, "tell me what happened. You didn't like Santa, huh?" 

"Dad," she says, almost inaudible. 

He slides a hand behind her neck and tips her away from his chest. "What?" 

"He didn't look how I remembered." 

"'Cause you're older," he says. 

He's employed his nicest, smoothest dad voice. The gentle one for all her scariest moments, like shots at the doctor's office and the time she wet herself in the playground in front of the other kids. Anything to assuage her embarrassment, a safety blanket. 

He slides into a booth and you hover. 

"Would something yummy make it feel better?" you ask hopefully. 

Roan shakes her head into Eddie's neck. 

"I-" You look super crushed. Everything had been going well. He knows how badly you want Christmas to be perfect. 

"How about," Eddie cuts you off, not unkindly, "you and me and mom get warm donut holes and ice cream to dip them in? We've never had then with her, have we?" 

It's a good Christmas tradition. 

Roan can't resist. "Okay," she says. 

"I'll get them," you volunteer. "I got it." 

Something hooks you as you're trying to leave and you double back to kiss the top of her head and Eddie's temple in quick succession. He smiles at you genuinely, happy when your frown livens up. Roan will be okay in a little while, no doubt. No need for you to tear yourself up over it. 

Alone, Eddie eases Roan off of his lap and onto the bench beside him. He takes her little hands into his. She looks nearly angry, dark eyebrows pinched up and her eyes welled with tears. 

"It's okay that you didn't like Santa," he murmurs.

"I wanted to tell him about Y/N," she says, lower lip trembling. 

"We can always go and see him again." 

She stiffens. 

"Or we can try a different day, yeah? C'mon, where's my brave girl gone?"

"He smiled funny…" she mumbles.

He feels awful instantly. He doesn't need Roan to be brave if she can't be. 

"Well, if you want," he says, inclining his head, "you could tell me what you want for Christmas, I could tell Santa." 

She looks up. "You'll tell Santa?" 

"Oh, yeah," he says quickly. "I tell Santa all the stuff you forget. How'd you think you got your space hopper last year? And your princess slippers? I tell him all the things you want." 

"He still didn't get me Dotty Dolly." 

"He's old, babe. He's all senile, like Wayne." Sorry Wayne. 

Her face flops into his upper arm, chubby cheek squished to the mild curve of his bicep. She lets out a morose sigh. "Sorry, dad." 

He nudges her gently. "For what?" 

"Being not brave." 

He presses his forehead to her hair. "I didn't mean that. You don't have to be brave meeting new people. It's scary, even if you met them before. Like Y/N," he says, nuzzling Roan's silky hair affectionately, "I don't know if you remember, you were always excited to see her, and I used to think I was excited too. Then we'd get to Morgan's cake shop and I'd make us late because I was hiding in the car. She used to make me nervous, and now she's your mommy." 

He wraps his arm around her shoulders. "Sometimes we need time to get to know people before we're ready to talk to them. It's okay that you got scared, babybug, promise." 

She goes limp. Her cheek slides down the length of his stomach and lands on his thigh. "I really wanted Lucky to have a girlfriend." 

He pets her hair, accomplished in his dad duties. (He hopes. Tonight he'll go over this conversation with you and wonder if he should've said something else.) 

"Lucky can definitely still have a girlfriend. What did I just say? I'll make sure Santa knows exactly what you want, no sweat." 

She huffs another huge sigh that must take up her entire lung capacity. He tickles the back of her neck with the end of her braid slowly, drawing circles around her ear and her earlobe until her shoulders are heaving. 

"You're laughing," he accuses. 

"No I'm not," she says into his leg. 

"No?" He lets her hair go in favour of scratching her neck. "We can change that." 

You return with way too much ice cream and twice as many donuts to find her squealing and cornered in the booth, curled up into a ball like a pill bug to evade Eddie's cruel hands. 

"What are you doing to her?" you demand. 

"I'm cuddling her. What's it look like to you, mister?" 

"Mister? You sick freak." 

"You're the sick freak, freak. Sit down and give my girl one of those donut holes before she keels over." 

"She's already keeled! Get offa her, the ice cream's melting on my hands." 

He stops tickling Roan and she finds the strength to sit. You're ecstatic to see her happy again and you show it with a grand proferring of sweet treats and three plastic spoons. You've bought a whole lotta donuts and an ice cream boat with chocolate fudge and cherries, and you let her maul it without complaint. It's a good time, a great one, to watch Roan teach you how to dip the still-warm donuts in your ice cream, and to watch the two of you try to eat them without getting powdered sugar and chocolate all over your fancy clothes. 

He ties the cherry stem with his tongue and mystifies Roan, who spends the next ten minutes trying to do the same. He feels so sorry for her that when she sticks her little tongue out with an untied stem for the tenth time, he meets your eyes and nods and the two of you cheer like crazy. 

He hadn't brought his bag, a rookie mistake, so he nabs some napkins from the condiments table and gives Roan the good old spit and polish. 

Clean-ish, he takes her hand and she stands on the bench, hopping off and landing with Munson grace (her knees give out). You take the long way around the grotto so she won't have to see Santa again and come across the mall's huge Christmas tree. 

"Woah," she gasps, enthralled. 

Eddie really should've brought the camera, even if he only has two pieces of film left. He wants to remember this forever, her face still soft with baby fat reflected back from a giant golden bauble, tinsel bouncing light all over her skin like a mirrorball. You bend down beside her and grin. 

"Eddie, look at it from down here." 

He suspends his disbelief and kneels down. 

From the floor, the tree looks bigger than any skyscraper, and it shines like a star. If you follow the tree all the way to its angel at the top, you can look past it into the skylight, where the dark night shines with pinprick stars. 

"Our Christmas tree doesn't look this good," you say. 

"Yes it does!" Roan says, turning to you with a stern scowl. "Our Christmas tree is the best one they ever made." 

"Yeah?" 

"Mm. And I got to put the star on." 

"Yeah, you did." You rest your hands on her shoulders and the two of you look up together. 

I need a fucking camera, Eddie thinks hotly. 

— 

Petsmart is like an aquarium at 6PM. The lights have been lowered, the fish tanks glowing bright blue and bubbling in the dim light. A hundred white and red babies swim erratically, their fins a blur in the top tank. Underneath, there are tanks filled with algae-eating snails that move surprisingly quickly. To the left, the big black goldfish with puffy cheeks lavish in their more spacious tank. 

"Where's the ones with the raspberry head?" Roan whispers. 

Your eyes follow a beautiful red goldfish the size of three fingers. "I don't know, little lady," you mumble, entranced by the goldfish's graceful arc. 

"Do you think Lucky would have a crush on him?" 

You look to where she's pointing at, little finger chasing a telescope fish. 

"I think he'd love him. He's a big one." 

"I thought Lucky wanted a girlfriend?" Eddie asks. 

"But all these ones are boys, dad." 

He frowns, endearingly confused. "How can you tell?" 

"I just know." 

You love the way she says it, love every little word she says. She sounds confident in her declaration but the way she pronounces her words harbours the clumsiness that comes with being a young kid, 'know' carrying a lot of weight, of humour, like she can't believe Eddie would say something that silly. 

"What about that one? She looks kinda girly, no?" 

The three of you watch the fish in question complete a small loopty-loop. 

"Nah," you say, "that's definitely a boy. He has abs." 

"They're called gills." 

"Do they have any pink fish?" Roan asks. 

"Maybe not. They have pink plants. Hey, I saw the ornaments on the way in, they have a castle. Think Lucky would like that?" 

If Petsmart didn't close at 6.30 you could stay and watch the fish tanks with them forever. You hop along to the ornaments and try to catalogue all the ones Roan expresses an interest in. Buying them won't count as spoiling her, it'll be spoiling Lucky. Eddie can't possibly be irked over that. 

"Don't even think about it," he mouths. 

You remember Roan's unhappy face when she was confronted with the horror of the mall Santa up close and decide she can't leave empty handed. 

"Why don't we get him something now? You can put it in his tank tonight before bed." 

"Really?" Roan asks. 

"Go crazy." 

Roan hesitates, spoiled for choice, hands feeling over the ornaments one at a time. Eddie tells her she can't pick anything from the tip shelf and you're glad for it, because it is Christmas coming and they're extortionate hand crafted things you cannot afford. 

"This one," she says. 

She picks up a heavy looking Christmas tree glued to a white plate, multi-coloured presents nestled at the trunk. It's a glorious twelve dollars. 

You let Roan carry the bag out of the Petsmart. She turns to Eddie and says, "Please make sure Santa gets Lucky a girlfriend like the one with the big eyes. And please tell him that I have the best new mommy and the bed and the new house, please." 

He beams at her. "We can strike those off the list, for sure. What do you want now you got all the stuff you asked for last year?" 

"Pink hair." 

Eddie whistles through his teeth appreciatively. "Gnarly." 

"And a bounce house," she adds. 

He shakes his head at you before you can ask.

[bradshawssugarbaby]

Silent Night, Joyful Hearts - Jake Seresin x Reader

A/N: This is my second of three entries for @sailor-aviator's Christmas Writing Challenge to celebrate the holidays with our favourite aviators.

pairing:  Jake Seresin x reader

warnings/content: Jake as a lovesick little puppy, mentions of church/Christianity.

word count: 1.9k

It had been months since Jake had gone back home to Austin, Texas. He couldn’t remember a date other than “too long.” When the chance to go home for a three week leave for the holidays arose, Jake practically jumped on it. As cocksure and seemingly uncaring as he made himself out to be, at the end of the day, Jake was becoming homesick, ready for a long overdue trip to his hometown.

“Uncle Jake! Uncle Jake!” 

A little voice squealed from the living room around the corner, a blonde haired, green eyed little boy - the spitting image of Jake - came speeding into the hallway, wrapping his tiny arms around his uncle’s leg in an effort to hug him. Jake reached down and tousled the boy’s hair, beaming down at his little nephew as he scooped him up for a hug.

“Well if it ain’t my favourite nephew! Miss me?” Jake chuckled as he gave his nephew a tight squeeze.

“Sure did!” The boy grinned, in an accent that almost perfectly matched Jake’s. 

“Easton, give your poor Uncle Jake a minute’s breathing space, he just got in the door!” Jake’s sister, Stephanie shook her head as she laughed, her hand on her hip as she watched her son fuss over his uncle. 

“Nah, don’t worry ‘bout it, Steph, I missed the lil’ guy, I don’t mind being showered with a warm welcome. Besides, he’s gotta say hi to me now before his big moment on stage tonight!” Jake grinned, ruffling Easton’s hair once again.

“I’m gonna play one of the smart guys at Jesus’ birthday party, Uncle Jake!” Easton said proudly as he puffed out his chest.

“You’re gonna be a what, bud?” Jake bit his lip as he held back a laugh at the six-year-old’s misinterpretation of a nativity play.

“Well, Mommy said wise means smart, so isn’t that what a wiseman is?” Easton furrowed his brow as he thought it over.

“I guess in a way, it does, pal, but you know, I fell asleep during Sunday school a lot, I wouldn’t listen to me.”

Jake set Easton down on the ground, the boy running off to go get himself changed into his outfit for his performance tonight. Jake laughed as he smiled and gave his sister a hug. Stephanie pulled away from his embrace after a moment and laughed at him, shaking her head. 

“You know, Mama’s been talking to that girl you used to like back in elementary school again. She volunteered to help for the nativity play, she’s helping coordinate it,” Stephanie smirks and nods her head, “You know…the one you used to run around naked in the backyard with when you were 4, her mama and Ma are good friends…what was her name again?”

Jake froze as a wave of nostalgia washed over him, the memories of you and him playing together as kids came flooding back, enveloping him as he was transported back to a time where you and he were the best of friends, completely inseparable as kindergarteners, best friends who couldn’t be without one another for more than a moment. That was, until, you had moved to the other side of the city when the two of you were 8 years old. By the time high school had come around, you were reunited again, but something was different - the best friend he knew as a young child was gone, the two of you having taken different paths in your preteen years, different interests now shoehorning their way between you, making it harder for either of you to ever reconcile the friendship you once had. 

Jake was an all-star athlete in school, captain of the lacrosse team, star quarterback for the football team, and first-baseman for the baseball team. He was in a world you weren’t a part of when it came to high school, and you two struggled to find your way back to one another. He’d always had feelings for you, for as long as he could remember. After you’d both grown so distantly far apart by the time you’d reached high school, he never had the courage to ever tell you. The mere thought of you was enough to get his heart racing all over again, just like it did in high school whenever he saw you walking down the halls. 

Jake shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and shook his head, trying to appear indifferent to the mention of you.

“I dunno, can’t remember. I haven’t seen her in like, 16 years, Steph.”

“Hmm…,” Stephanie smirked as she raised her eyebrow at him, “You best go get showered and changed. Gotta leave here in about 45 minutes.” 

Jake emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later,  freshly showered, shaved and dressed in a creamy beige coloured sweater and his favourite dark washed denim jeans, cognac brown cowboy boots adorning his feet to complete the look. His golden blonde military-approved haircut was gelled up in the front, the way he’d worn it every day for the last 20 years or so - he swore up and down that if he didn’t use the hair gel, it’d be an unruly mess, though everyone around him knew he was just a creature of habit whose life motto was “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  

The drive to the church was a quiet one, little Easton was practically buzzing with excitement in the back seat beside Jake, but insisted on not speaking so he could save his voice for the lines he had in the play. Jake couldn’t help but laugh at the child’s insistence on playing the part so professionally, but Stephanie had simply nodded and smiled, giving Jake a look that explained this was just how Easton was, a perfectionist like his uncle. 

The church auditorium was full of parents and families waiting to see their children on stage for the next hour, a handful of lines of dialogue shared between each child in order to make it fair for everyone. Phones were held out with cameras pointed at the stage, each parent excitedly watching for their child’s big moment. Jake took his seat beside his sister and her husband, his parents seated to his left. They all smiled proudly as they watched the stage, waiting for Easton’s big stage debut. 

Jake had noticed you standing by the front of the stage, a few rows of seats ahead of him. You were discreetly and quietly helping the children when they got stuck with remembering their positions on stage or the lines they were supposed to say. You looked just as he’d remembered you - in fact, he’d argue that you’d only grown more beautiful over the last 16 years. He felt his heart racing again, a soft, rosy pink hue filling his cheeks as he smiled in your direction. He could hear his mother lean over and whisper something to his father, who dissmissively rolled his eyes at his wife, trying to stifle a laugh. Stephanie smirked to herself, and her husband, who was none the wiser about your lifelong crush, sat confused, trying to work out what he was missing. 

“Jake,” Stephanie whispered to her brother, nodding her head slowly as her eyes stayed on the stage, watching for Easton, “I’d say somethin’ to her if I were you. Can’t go back to California and not say a word to the poor girl about how you feel. Maybe she feels the same way and y’all can have something together before you go back in a couple’a weeks?” 

Jake shook his head slightly, a warm smile on his face. His green eyes were betraying him as he spoke, showing how he felt as his words contradicted him.

“I don’t still have feelin’s for her, Steph. It was just a crush in high school. I bet she’s even forgotten me.”

“She hasn’t,” Jake’s mom piped up as she whispered, leaning over Jake’s father to speak.

“What?” 

“She hasn’t forgotten you, Jake,” His mother simply repeated before returning her attention to the stage.

Jake spent the next 20 minutes mulling over this information from his mother, and the words of encouragement from his sister. While there was always the very likely possibility that the two women were meddling and trying to set him up on a date with someone, anyone, who they thought he might have a shred of happiness with, there was also the possibility they could be right - maybe you really had been harboring the same feelings for him all these years too. 

After the play had ended and the auditorium had cleared out, Jake approached you, waiting politely for you to finish your conversation with another parishioner, one congratulating you on the play being a success. Jake smiled warmly, his million-dollar grin on full display, a twinkle in his pale green eyes as he spoke. 

“Hi, I’m not sure if you remember me or not?” He began.

“Jake, right? Jake Seresin? I suppose you’re a Lieutenant now, your mama told me about it, congratulations!” She smiled warmly, nodding her head, “I could never forget you, we used to be good friends back when we were just lil’ kids.”

Jake nodded his head, unable to control the wide, beaming grin on his face as she spoke, revealing that his mother was at least right about one thing, you’d never forgotten him. 

“That’s me! My mama’s pretty bad for bragging about me, sorry ‘bout that,” Jake laughed as he shook his head, running a hand to the back of his neck, his finger tips running through the ends of his short hair in the back, “Listen, I, uh,” Jake stuttered for a moment before shaking his head with a laugh. 

“I’d like to take you for a drink or something, we could catch up? For old times sake, I mean, if we both remember being good friends when we were little but haven’t spoken in 16 years, then we have a lot of catching up to do, don’t we?”

Jake grinned as you titled your head, an eyebrow cocked upward in a challenging manner as he waited for your response to his proposal. 

“I’d like that, actually,” you responded, nodding her head, “I’m free tomorrow, if you’d like?”

Jake nodded his head, laughing softly as he smiled, unable once again to fight the urge to feel hopeful and hopelessly in love as your unrequited crush from 16 years ago accepted your text. Jake had no idea what he was doing at this point - he wasn’t a dater, he was generally unable to keep a relationship going longer than a couple of months, usually out of fear of what would happen while he was deployed. Would they cheat? Would he’d make it home ok? What would they do if Jake didn’t come home exactly the way he’d left it - not having a relationship was just easier.

However, in this moment, hearing you agree to have a drink with him tomorrow night, Jake was staring to wonder if maybe his bachelor streak was coming to an end. And he couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that it all unfolded because of his nephew’s role in his childhood church’s nativity play. 

[shakespeareanwannabe]

As You Wish, Chapter 11

Summary: When arriving at Camp Silver Star, Abby Floyd was anticipating a summer of adventure with an ocean separating her from the three people she loved most: her mom, her Uncle Bob and her Aunt Natasha. But after a run in with Charlie Seresin, an extremely familiar looking and irritating camper in a different cabin, her summer plans take a turn that neither girl ever could have expected.

Trigger Warnings: reader's children are described as being blond with green eyes because genetics are wild and Jake's genes are strong, reader is canonically Bob's sister (but biological relation is never discussed), reader goes by Buttercup and is tattooed, angst, arguing, sadness, reference to divorce, kids doing sneaky things, references to babies, swearing, references to military deployment, blood, medical inaccuracy, military inaccuracy

Jake’s Apartment, 11 Years Ago

“Don’t go,” Buttercup begged, standing in the doorway of the bedroom. “I thought you weren’t supposed to get deployed again for like a year.”

Jake shrugged as he packed his bag. “Something came up, and they need the best of the best. So, they’re sendin’ me, Javy, Rooster, Bob and Phoenix.”

Buttercup cupped her small bump, her ring finger glinting with the wedding ring he had put there only two weeks previous. The wedding had been a surprise, a shotgun wedding in the typical sense of the word, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. The love of his life was pregnant, with twins, and was now Mrs. Seresin. Everything was coming up roses for Jake Seresin, and he was living for it. But the newly minted Mrs. Seresin…

“When will you be back?” she asked, her hand stroking her belly nervously.

Jake huffed a laugh. “That’s above my paygrade, sweetness.”

“I’m serious, Jake,” she swallowed. “Will you be back before the babies come?”

Jake paused. She was five months pregnant with twins, and everyone kept telling him that twins always came early. Would he be back in four months? It was impossible to say.

He turned towards her, smiling as softly as he could as he took her into his arms. “You’ll have Penny. And Mav and Payback and Fanboy and everyone else. It’ll be okay.”

She shoved out of his arms and stalked over to the bedroom window. “I don’t want everyone else. I want you. My husband. The father of my children. That’s who I want with me as I get all huge and can’t shave my legs and when I have to get poked and prodded at my appointments. Not a bunch of strangers. I want you.”

“I want you too,” he waggled his eyebrows at her, but didn’t get the giggling response he hoped for.

“I came here to visit my brother, but I stayed for you,” she murmured. “And now you’re both leaving and I’m going to be stuck here, useless.”

“Not useless,” he soothed, trying again to hold her. “You’re growing our babies. And if you ever feel like you need more, you could always go help Penny with the bar. But you don’t have to worry about anything, okay? I’m sending every paycheck home to you. The apartment is paid off completely, and the utilities come out of my bank account automatically. It’ll be okay.”

Buttercup swiped at her eyes and sidestepped him. “You don’t get it.”

“Then explain it to me, babe. Because I’m leaving in less than 36 hours and I’d like to know that my pregnant wife will be waiting for me when I get back,” he huffed.

“Of course I’ll be here!” she snapped. “I would never do that to you. But you’re fine with leaving me.”

Jake sighed and slowly walked over to her, hesitating only momentarily before placing his hands on her shoulders.

“I’m not fine with leaving you,” he whispered. “I feel like a fox caught in a trap, ready and willing to gnaw my own foot off if it meant the Navy wouldn’t own my ass anymore. But I can’t.” He let his hands glide down her body to rest on her small bump. “I don’t want to miss a second of this but I know I will. What I won’t miss is the birth. I swear to God. I’ll make sure I come home before they even think of coming out of their mama.” He pressed a sweet kiss to her cheek. “I’ll talk to Mav. He still has some sway over Cyclone. He can make sure I’m home, and that I don’t get deployed once they arrive. Not for a while, at least.”

He felt Buttercup shudder against him and was thankful that, this time, she allowed him to pull her into his arms. “And you’ll be safe? You’ll come home?”

Jake sighed and did the one thing he’d always sworn to himself that he would never do. “I promise, baby. I swear to God that I’m comin’ home to you.”

Cabana Bar, Hotel Zaza, Now

Jake held them for what felt like hours, until one of the girls started to squirm and try to pull away from the embrace.

“Dad…you’re soaking wet.”

Jake chuckled a little as he pulled away, stretching to his full height. “Sorry. I just missed you both so much.” He nodded his thanks to a helpful staff member, who handed him a fluffy white towel. “How…how are you here?” He blinked down at them. “You said something about a switch?”

The girls shuffled their feet nervously, but it was Buttercup who stepped forward. “You’re bleeding,” she murmured, gesturing to his soaking white shirt. Jake glanced down, noting the tear in his shirt and the red that was now staining it. Buttercup bit her lip, stepping closer. “What happened?”

Jake looked over at the bartender, who was shooting daggers at the lot of them, surrounded by shattered glass. “He stepped into my path and the deck was too slippery for me to course correct in time, so I bumped into him. I guess I took a few glasses to the chest as they shattered.”

Buttercup clocked the glares of the bartender too because she said, “Let’s go get you cleaned up. Then our daughters can explain themselves to you.”

Jake nodded, just as a shrill voice sounded behind him. “Oh my goodness, there’s two of them?”

Jake turned, finding Savannah clutching her chest, an older man and woman flanking her. “Savannah, meet my daughters. Abby and Charlie. And this…” Jake glanced at Buttercup with a look that was heavy with guilt. “This is my ex-wife. Their mother.”

Savannah gasped and leaned heavily against her father. “It’s alright, pookie,” the older southern gentleman soothed, his elegant wife fetching a fan from her clutch and waving it over her daughter’s wan face. “Let’s get you some air and some sweet tea to get you feeling better.” He gathered Savannah into his arms and gave them a reproachful look before striding off, his wife teetering behind him in her heels.

Jake couldn’t help the groan that escaped him. “Great…”

One of the girls bit their lip. “Sorry, dad.”

Jake shook off the weight of Colonel Beaumont’s glare and smiled down at her. “It’s alright. I’ll deal with it later.” He looked up and met Buttercup’s bright gaze. “You sure it’s alright if you patch me up?”

She rolled her eyes and headed towards the door. “I wouldn’t have offered if I minded, Hangman.”

Jake grinned and followed behind her, each of his strong hands resting on the shoulders of his daughters.

As Buttercup called down to the concierge to ask for a first aid kit, Jake settled onto her bed (and refused to think any further on that subject) while the girls stood in front of him and quickly explained everything.

The camp, Penny’s meddling, switching places, Rooster finding out, Bob finding out, their phone call to each other, their plan to corner them both here and make them talk to each other.

By the time they ran out of words, there was a knock on the door and Buttercup moved towards it, greeting the staff member who handed her the large white first aid kit. All the while, Jake gaped at his daughters.

“Well, hell…” he finally found it in himself to murmur. “That was some sneaky crap you two pulled.”

“Language,” Buttercup murmured softly, a small smile breaking out on Jake’s face.

“Sorry, darlin’,” he nodded as she laid out the first aid kit on the bed next to him. “I’m just saying, why didn’t either of you pony up and talk to us?”

“We were going to,” one of them started, a slight lilting accent to her voice, and Jake knew that was his Abby. They really were so identical (and Jake wasn’t ashamed to admit that he had no clue what his daughter had been wearing before she left the house that day or if she had changed when they got to the hotel), so he was having a hard time telling them apart when they weren’t speaking. “But we got scared.”

“You were both so sad whenever we brought up our missing parent, and we didn’t want to make you sad,” said Charlie, her young voice twanging.

“But when we met—”

“We really wanted to meet our other parent—”

“And we decided to ask forgiveness instead of permission.”

Jake shook his head in wonder. “I don’t know how you two pulled it off, but I’m impressed. Don’t ever do something like that again, but I’m impressed.”

Both girls blushed and nodded, both looking so much like him that he had to give his head a shake. They were incredible. They were his. And they were here. All three of them were.

As that thought raced across his mind like an off-leash dog, he glanced up at Buttercup, still standing before him, now with a fluffy white robe wrapped around her overtop of her soaked clothes.

“Why don’t you two go find your aunt and uncles?” he suggested, not taking his eyes off his ex.

Glancing between them, the two girls nodded and headed for the door, calling their goodbyes over their shoulders.

“Don’t forget your room keys,” Buttercup called after them, her eyes not leaving his either.

Once they heard the door click shut, both adults sighed.

“I…I guess you should take your shirt off,” Buttercup mumbled, staring at the spot on his white shirt that was slowly growing redder.

“Didn’t realize you were so eager to get me out of my clothes, Buttercup,” Jake quipped with a smirk, his hands going for the tiny pearlescent buttons. “I’m flattered.”

“Don’t call me that,” she gritted between her teeth, eyes casting downward toward the first aid kit.

“Why not?” he challenged, his hands stilling.

“Because I’m not…”

“Not what?”

She met his gaze again and he was taken aback by the fire blazing in them. “Because I’m not yours anymore.”

His whole body stilled. It was true, what she had said. She wasn’t his. Not anymore. They had a decade of memories separating them now. Separate lives. Lives that only included a daughter that shared half his DNA and half hers. He’d hated the custody arrangement, they both had, but it was the only thing that made sense with their schedules and Buttercup’s health. And now, there she was. Eyes burning at him in a way that he hadn’t seen since before the birth of their daughters. At least one thing had gone right in their divorce. His Buttercup was back and more fierce than ever.

“I know that,” he said quietly. “But you still have your tattoo, don’t you?” His eyes traced the stem of buttercup blossoms that peeked out from under her white robe. “Bob and Natasha still call you Buttercup?” She nodded. “Then I don’t see why I can’t.”

“B-because…because you’re you,” her chest heaved slightly, as though she was desperate for air. Jake stood and opened the hotel window slightly, allowing the fresh breeze to rustle the leaves of the fake fern in the corner. She blinked, staring at him as her breathing almost immediately came easier to her. “I don’t think your fiancée would like it if you were still calling your ex-wife by a pet name,” she mused, striding forward to grab the disinfectant from the kit.

“Savannah can deal with it,” he muttered, already knowing he was in for one hell of an argument when he met up with his fiancée and future in-laws later.

“You sure she’s mature enough for that?” Buttercup muttered under her breath, gesturing for him to continue unbuttoning his shirt.

He chuckled shortly, peeling his wet shirt off his tan skin. “Jealous?”

“Of you being engaged? No. Of how little time she has to spend scrolling to find her birth year? Maybe a little.”

Jake chuckled again, the sound warm and soothing. “I am sometimes too, I think. She doesn’t have to search long, meanwhile I feel like I’m spinning the wheel on the Price is Right or some shit.”

Buttercup giggled in spite of herself. “At least you finally found someone at your maturity level.” She leaned in and pressed a cotton swab soaked in antiseptic to the thin line that bisected his pec.

“Low blow, sweetheart,” he hissed.

Buttercup muttered a half-hearted apology as she found another cut, not bleeding but crusted over with dried blood and a small piece of glass.

“What do you two even talk about?” she pondered as she grabbed the tweezers, steadying herself against his abs, still hard and defined after all those years.

Jake sighed, bracing himself for the inevitable discomfort of having the nearly superficial wound poked and prodded, but it never came. As always, his Buttercup’s hands were soft and gentle with him.

“You really want to have this conversation?” he asked softly.

She blinked up at him, her eyes wide and earnest. “Would you rather we fight?”

“Why do those have to be our only options?”

Her steady hands grabbed the bandages and she carefully started to cover up the two wounds on his chest.

“Fighting was basically our only option there for a while,” she murmured, her body so close to his that he could practically feel her cool breath against his skin.

“I didn’t want it to be that way.” He craned his neck, trying to make eye contact, but her gaze remained firmly on her work. “I always hated it when we fought.”

She sighed as she made sure the soft gauze bandages were tight against his skin, her touch lingering slightly inches away from where his heart beat under his skin, before she sat back on her heels. “Me too. But—” she slapped her hands against her robed thighs before pushing herself to her feet again. “That’s all in the past. You’re getting married and I adore my job in the UK. The only thing we need to fight about now is how we’re going to split up the girls.”

Jake blinked at her. “You…you want to split them up again? What the hell, Buttercup? They just told us that they wanted a better custody arrangement.”

Buttercup flinched and took a step back from him. “I’m sorry. I…I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that we need to figure out how to split our time with them so that it’s fair. Should be easier now that you’re not in the Navy anymore.”

He felt his temper flare slightly in his chest, but he fought to hold that mask of calm on his face. “It would probably be even easier if you didn’t live on the other side of the planet.”

Her back stiffened and her face solidified into a mask of emotionless stone. “Indeed it would, but I love my job and I could no more give it up than you could give up your ranch in Texas.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he kept her gaze, slowly raising from his spot on the bed. “No one is asking you to give up your job, only to move. It’s a lot easier to move as a writer and publisher than it is to move a whole damn ranch.”

“Author.” At Jake’s blink, her icy voice sounded again. “I’m an author, Jake. Not a writer. And no one is asking you to move the ranch. I would never ask something like that of you.”

Jake stepped closer, the two of them nearly nose to nose. “I know you wouldn’t. You’d let it all go before you asked me for anything.”

This time he did feel her breath puffing against his face, the air hot against his skin. “I learned a long time ago that asking you for something would only lead to disappointment.”

“You know it wasn’t that easy,” he bit out, stepping even closer, his hands coming up to brace against the wall as she stepped back to lean into it, lean as far as she could out of his space. “What you were asking me for was—”

“Impossible,” she whispered. “I know. And now you know that what you’re asking me for is impossible too.”

“Even if it’s for our daughters?”

The question hung in the mere inches of air between them like a gas, a burning, toxic, intangible thing that was slowly choking them both.

In the silence, he couldn’t help but trace her features with his eyes, and he knew from her unfocused stare that she was doing the same to him. He may be older than he had been when they met, but he knew he still looked good. Got confirmation of it every time he went into town and saw the local ladies. But Buttercup…she looked even better than she had when they were together. The beauty of her youth hadn’t dimmed with age, but only settled into something that spoke of wisdom and loss and pain and rebirth, a shining fire within her. Like a—

“Phoenix!”

Both their heads whipped around as Rooster berated Phoenix for slamming the door open and strolling in like she owned the place. Jake stepped back like he’d been burned, and Buttercup took his momentary distraction as a means of escape, ducking below the arm that had been keeping her caged against the wall and moving back towards the bed. She calmly gathered the discarded materials from the first aid kit and threw them into the wastebasket next to the small hotel room desk.

Buttercup glanced around, her hands busy repacking the white kit, when she spotted her daughters among the crowd of those who were her family, and those who used to be.

“Couldn’t you two pick something a little less identical?” she teased, taking in the matching black and turquoise t-shirts the girls were wearing.

“No, that’s the point,” they replied, in perfect unison.

Buttercup stilled, her fingers hesitating at the latch of the case. “What do you mean?”

Rooster nudged past them, clapping Jake on the back as he strode toward the mini fridge. “They heard you arguing in the hallway,” he whispered in his ear.

Shit. The last thing he wanted was for the girls to hear them arguing, and, based on the look on Buttercup’s face as Bob whispered in her ear, he knew she was thinking the same thing.

“I’m sorry you heard us fighting,” Jake stepped in. “Your mom and I…we’ll work out a custody arrangement that leaves everyone happy. I promise. Divorced couples do it all the time.”

“Yes, well…we want to be sure,” said the twin with the Texan twang in her voice.

“Charlie, what’re you talkin’ about?”

The other twin blinked at him. “But Dad, I’m Charlie.”

Shit again.

Buttercup suddenly stood beside him. “Abby, Charlie, stop fussing about.”

“We’re not fussing about, Mum.”

“Of course we’re not, Mum.”

Buttercup groaned, her hand rising to rub at her eyes in such a familiar way that Jake was tempted to run out and grab her usual migraine relief items.

“Girls, please stop messing around,” Jake begged instead.

“We will.”

“As soon as we go back to the ranch. All of us.”

“Once we’re there, you two can figure out the custody arrangement. Then and only then, we’ll tell you who is who.”

“And you two came up with this scheme all on your own, huh?” Jake crossed his arms, his chest stinging slightly as the bandage pulled tight. His eyes scanned the gallery of adults around the room. His friends, his family, all looked away from him, Javy looking all too interested in the piece of hotel artwork that decorated the wall.

“Girls, please,” Buttercup whispered, crouching down to look them in the eye. “This isn’t fair and you know it. We promise that we’ll figure out a schedule, but we all have to go home. To our own homes.”

“Auntie Nat already called your publisher and said that you were extending your holiday,” one of the twins shrugged. “And Uncle Rooster said that Dad doesn’t have anything to do this week outside of the ranch business.”

“Other than groveling with my in-laws,” Jake muttered.

“Speaking of…wouldn’t this be best anyway, Dad?” the other twin blinked up innocently at him. “This way our stepmother can get to know both of us. Build bridges and heal old wounds and that kind of thing.”

Jake groaned and ran a hand over his face before crouching down, green eyes scanning their features. He could’ve sworn the one on the left was Charlie, but had her hair always been parted like that? And the one on the right kept switching into a damn convincing Texan twang. But the one on the left seemed to be favoring her left leg, which would track with some of the injuries that Charlie had collected over the years on the ranch. But then the twin on the right started favouring her left leg too, and Jake sighed.

“I can’t tell,” he whispered to Buttercup, who looked horrified.

“Neither can I,” she nearly whimpered. “What kind of mother doesn’t know her own children?”

“The kind of mother who taught her children never to give up without a fight,” the twin on the right piped up, smiling brightly at them. “Just one week, Mum. One week at the ranch. We can go on the annual trail ride with Dad, and you can work on your book. You said the flat in London was stifling your creativity anyway. At the end of the week, when you’ve got a schedule for custody, then we’ll tell you who is who and we can all go home. One week. Please?”

“Please, Mum?”

Buttercup groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Fine. But whichever one of you is Abby is losing her allowance for a week for pulling another one of these stunts on me.”

“Same goes for Charlie,” Jake grumbled, his pointer finger drifting between them. “And you two!” Jake turned his finger on Rooster and Javy. “You’ll have to step up and split my ranch responsibilities between you. Y’know, since I’m going to be so busy with my daughters and figuring out a schedule.”

Maybe it wasn’t fair, but Jake had no doubt that his two best friends had something to do with his daughters’ newest scheme.

“I’ll call the ranch and get the house ready for everyone,” Jake offered. “We’ve got more than enough room for the four of you.”

“No need,” Bob piped up. “I’ll be flying back tonight.”

“And I’m going with him,” Phoenix added, shooting a look in Javy’s direction. To Javy’s credit, he didn’t flinch at all.

“Like hell you are,” Buttercup hissed. “You two got me into this mess, so you’re going down with me.”

Bob’s cheeks reddened and Nat looked like she had something to say, but with one more meaningful look from Buttercup, they both nodded.

“Alright then,” Jake sighed. “I guess we’re all heading to the ranch. God help us all.”

Tags List: @jessicab1991 @waltermis @buckysteveloki-me @allepaula @yuckosworld @bradshawssugarbaby @ahopelessromanticwritersworld @kim-stark @high-speed-r @starsrfun @tomanyfandomstrash @averyhotchner @the-blueatlas @dashes-dizzydisaster @a-girl-who-loves-disney @boiolay @djs8891 @tgmreader @kmc1989 @landpiranha-blog @sydthekid1518 @lynnevanss @mackenzieblair @minejungwoo @starset21 @tgmavericklover @dempy @starkleila @magical-spit @whatislovevavy @simplyreading96 @vivalas-vega @itsdesiree86 @inky-sun @books-are-escapes @abaker74 @mrs-perfectly-fine @inthestars-underthesun @boisewaffles

[unicorncornflakes]

Dark Desire - Modern AU! | Chapter 1

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Paring: Aemond Targaryen x Niece!Reader

Summary: Aemond doesn't know how he feels every time he sees you. Neither do you when you look at it. Your father Aegon has always been absent from your upbringing ever since he divorced your mother. That role has been filled by Aemond until last summer, when everything changed.

Tags: Alternate Universe – Modern/ Setting Emotional Hurt/ Comfort/ Drama & Romance/ Eventual Smut.

Warnings: This fic includes manipulation, violence, death, and inc3st, at some points. Reader has purple eyes and her mother is from Dayne House, the rest is complete free :D

Tag-List (If you wanna be tagged in thi series or all of my work, let me know): @thedamewithabook @afro-hispwriter @chainsawsangel @thetrueblackheart @atherverybest @itsabby15 @boundlessfantasy @partypoison00 @glame @tempo-rary-fix @tssf-imagines @aaaaaamond

Author´s note: Pls, enjoy! Feedback, shares and comments are always welcome!

Word Count: 5.1K

"I don't want to go" You told your mother again at the gates of the Starfall’s airport. Holding the bandolier strap across your chest, it tightly, nervously. You looked at your mother with a sad look. The Dornish woman gave you a sweet look and tried to comfort you before going inside. There you would catch a flight to King's Landing, where you would spend the entire summer vacation with your father's family, Aegon Targaryen. "I can't, please..."

“(Y/N), you'll end up having a good time. Your father told me last night that he really wanted you to go with him” she smiled sweetly at you. Your mother only wanted you to spend the holidays with Aegon. She wanted a bond or relationship to exist where it didn't. All you had of your father were the purple eyes and his family name. There ended all the coincidences between the two. You imagined spending a summer like the previous one. Mainly keeping your grandmother Alicent company, while your father claimed to be too busy.

"Last year he forgot to pick me up" you sighed exhausted, looking elsewhere, trying to suppress the tears that welled up in your eyes. “Please…” you said to your mother again, but she just tried to brush it off.

“I have also warned your grandmother that you were taking the flight, and your aunt, so I don't think there is a way for them to forget about you this year. If one does not go, another will go to look for you” she smiled at you, caressing your shoulder in a reassuring way. You sighed again, this time with more force. You knew that your mother also had little say in that situation. When she'd divorced your father, long before you even had consciousness to remember, your Uncle Daeron, a devoted advocate for his family's cause, had struck that deal, whereby you spent your summer vacation in King's Landing, with your father, and the rest of the year in Starfall with your mother. You were a Targaryen first and foremost, and whether you liked it or not, you had to carry the family name and spend time with them, though you'd never seen your father overly enthusiastic about the idea. You were his only daughter, but that didn't mean much to him either. You would end the summer like the previous one, counting the volumes in the library of that mansion where your grandmother lived. 3,758 volumes of the history of ancient Valyria. That´s the amount you remembered counting last summer.

"Mom..." you sighed again, hugging her and breathing in her scent. You had just come of age, but you didn't care, you would always need it. She was about to get married again and you were about to go off to college. You felt as if you were both about to start separate lives.

“It will be the best summer of your life. The summer before you go to university is always the best” she replied full of emotion. However, she had no idea how much you were going to change that summer, or what it would mean the presence of a certain dragon.

"Aegon," Alicent yelled at him as he continued to sleep off his drunkenness in his bed. With his mouth open and the pillow full of drool, he continued to doze against his mattress as if nothing was happening. He had spent the whole Friday night partying, and what he now needed was to rest. He had spent the entire week being a functional adult. That was his reward. "Aegon!" Alicent yelled at him again, shaking one of his bare shoulders. She narrowed her eyes desperately, as if she couldn't take it anymore with her son. Really, she couldn't take it anymore with the eldest of her offspring.

"It's very early," Aegon muttered, rolling over on the bed and settling back to sleep. “Please, I need to sleep…” he spoke with a thick mouth.

“(Y/N) arrives today. You have to go to the airport for her” ordered her mother. Yes, he remembered getting a text from his ex-wife telling it last night, and he sending a simple ‘OK’. "Get up," she commanded again, but Aegon continued to sleep, or pretend that he was sleeping. The truth about your presence made him uncomfortable, so he preferred to silence his mind with alcohol. It was the best.

“Send Cole, with the black Mercedes. Surely (Y/N) loves it” Aegon replied, knowing that this would make his mother even more angry, but he couldn't think of anything better. He was in no shape to drive, and sometimes looking at you, he could only feel failure. You were the reflection of your mother if it were not for those eyes that showed your Valyrian ancestry. That was all he had left you, and he couldn't feel more of a failure. He was a loser whenever the subject of his daughter across the country and his brief marriage to that Dornish woman had been brought up in public.

"I think your daughter would be excited if you go after her" Alicent snapped. Aegon said nothing more. He couldn't, nor did he want to. He heard his mother leave the room with a tremendous slam. He snuggled back into her bed. He needed to sleep. He needed to rest so he could face you later.

'The dragon has three heads' was the headline you were able to read in the business magazine. It was being read by the man you had to sit next to on that flight. The cover featured your father and his two brothers, Daeron and… Aemond. You saw the photo carefully. The three of them seemed what they were: big businessmen, attractive, powerful, successful and… arrogant. Above all arrogant. Kings of the arms market. The power of war was the key to their fortune. You sighed as you saw Aemond standing in the middle of his brothers, the tallest of them…and also the most handsome. You blushed, quickly looking away from the cover. Aemond was your uncle. Your uncle. You repeated slowly in your mind. If you had little relation to your father, Aemond had tried to fill in gracefully until last year. Last summer he hadn't appeared once during your stay. Only during your birthday party and he had appeared there with stupid Alys. You had become jealous as soon as you saw her. But since you had repeated yourself over and over again, it was because she was stealing Aemond from you as a father figure... and nothing more. Nothing else. To think of anything else would be to admit your own folly. It wasn't right. Although you hadn't realized it, your gaze had once again been fixed on the image of Aemond on that cover. His eye riveted on the camera. His smirk. The patch always well placed. His hair loose but well combed. It almost looked like he wanted to fuck the camera, if he hadn't yet. He was so… so… you would have let him do anything if he asked you to…

“Do you want to read the magazine?” the man, who must have been your father's age, offered it to you. He was quite attractive. Medium brown hair, powerful beard and sincere eyes. He must have been from the north, but a businessman like the rest of the men in your family. Thanks to the seven, he had awakened you from that vivid imagination that you had those days and that you did not share with anyone.

"Oh, no, no" you said nervously and blushing, waving your hand as if it were crazy. "I was looking at the photo" you replied and the northerner laughed charmingly and looked you up and down funny.

"Yes, women usually find these three attractive" he laughed loudly "My first wife was head over heels for them" he laughed loudly and you blushed even more, as if you didn't expect that answer.

"No, no" you shook your head again, blushing if possible. "He's my father" You quickly pointed to Aegon on the cover, wishing that it would stay in one more anecdote. As if you felt proud of him, or you felt him like something more than the one who had impregnated your mother.

"So you are Aegon's daughter?" the northerner looked you up and down, still with an aura of sincere amusement and without malice. “You're the little (Y/N), by the old gods,” he chuckled sweetly. You looked at him confused and he smiled at you again. "I'm Cregan Stark, when you were born I was the head of consultants at Targaryen Industries" he offered you his hand to shake, and you played along and gave it to him. He smiled genuinely and without any malice. "I was already saying that those beautiful eyes were familiar to me" he smiled at you again.

"Well... I don't know who you are" you answered embarrassed as you continued to shake his hand. Once again the fame and the name of your family predicted you. You had thought about changing it to your mother's, but you had not told anyone. You wanted to be anonymous. Not being a Targaryen.

“I'd be surprised if you remembered. You were a baby in your mother's arms the last time I saw you” Cregan laughed kindly and you gave a half smile. At least this man was nice. “Are you going to visit your father?” he asked you leaving the magazine on his lap, trying to be kind to you.

"Yes, I spend every summer with him since I was five years old" you smiled politely. You knew that everyone expected you to speak well of your paternal family. It was what was expected, although it was far from it. You berated yourself in your thoughts for being so open with someone you had just met. But it was the charm of the northerners, seeming good people.

“Tell your Uncle Daeron to call me, when you see him. Tell him that this old wolf has business to discuss with him” He ask you, again with a charming smile and you blushed, as if you had realized at that moment that he was quite an attractive man.

"I'll tell him" you said with a smile, as if you could really talk to your little uncle as much as Cregan must have thought "But, I don't think you're old" you smirked and realized that you were flirting with him, with a man who could be your father and he seemed to notice. He just smiled and looked down at his hands. You had changed. Since last summer you had, since the summer Aemond had abandoned you… you were no longer a little girl. You were a woman, quite attractive, with eyes that many would envy. Your body had taken more curvaceous shapes and you found yourself on many occasions filtering with men older than you. It was… it was just subconsciously, but… but you felt that you were destined to be quite an attractive and powerful woman. Your father's eyes allowed you to achieve it. Only at that moment, did you realize that you weren't a girl anymore.

"Well... I have a son about your age, you know?" He smiled back at you, this time more shy, as if you had some kind of effect on him that you were unaware of until that moment. The truth is that Cregan didn't interest you in the slightest, but you felt powerful seeing him like this... you sighed, turning your gaze to the front, turning your eyelashes in an interesting way, with a flirtatious smile on your lips... If only, he would had been the one in who you were interested... you laughed quietly. In that of conquering, you were a total Targaryen…

"Do you want me to join you tonight? To the dinner, I mean" Alys smoothed her skirt as she looked around the office for her panties. As a form of relief, they just had a quick shag. He was always stressed before you came to spend the summer in the capital.

"Of course not" Aemond buckled up. He plopped down on his office chair. “If you come with me today, things will only get worse. I assure". He picked up a cigarette and used his Zippo to light it. Finally, Alys found her panties and put them on as if nothing had happened. She approached his desk table, swaggering. Alys might be ten years older than him, but she knew how to move. No one could deny that. She leaned against the table, her cleavage meeting Aemond's gaze.

"Yeah… She was so… upset on her last birthday when she saw me with you" she laughed flirtatiously "She's so cute when she's jealous" she smiled sensually. Aemond only snorted at her words.

"She's a girl and she's my niece" he answered, disturbed. He took another puff and blew the smoke out his nose. He didn't look away as he leaned into his chair. He challenged her to keep talking. But, Alys had no way of stopping when an idea was inside her head. Perhaps, that was the reason why they were just friends with benefits. She didn't know when to stop her mouth.

“When she looks at you, her eyes light up. Didn't you notice that? Maybe, she may just be a little innocent girl. She may be your beloved niece" she pouted trying to imitate a young girl "But she really wants to sleep with you, Aemond. And sometimes I think you want the same thing,” Alys snorted. Aemond just smiled at his secretary.

"I think the only jealous one here is you, Alys" he responded to her provocations. She laughed mischievously.

“Aemond, on her last birthday you gave her a red lipstick. It was one of your gifts. A good one, very expensive ” she smiled like the devil again“ And the following week you asked me to paint my lips the same color to suck your cock, exactly the same color ”

"Pure coincidence," he continued, stoically. Her big mouth spoiled the fun and relief that her pussy gave him. His phone began to vibrate. He glanced quickly at the screen and his good eye narrowed in annoyance. He had said that he had to work that Saturday morning, and not to be disturbed. He needed to get away from you. It was the best because what he had felt in his pants when he saw you last year again... it wasn't ethical... nor moral...

"Who is now?" Alys replied, crossing her arms in front of him, also annoyed by the interruption. She liked to tease Aemond. It really was one of the games that excited her the most. Aemond did not answer her. He just picked up the phone and spoke in a firm voice after taking a drag on his cigarette.

"Mother" Aemond greeted her on the other end of the line and smiled silently as he watched Alys turn with feigned annoyance and leave his office, closing the door behind her. "How are you?" he asked as if he hadn't heard from her in months, and he had just seen her that morning, but it was pure courtesy. He knew that if his mother called him, it was to send him some task that the rest of his brothers did not want to do.

"You have to go to the airport to pick up (Y/N)" Alicent told him, without hesitation, as if it were an order. It really was. But, if there was one thing Aemond hated, it was being ordered around. So, he just took another drag on his cigarette and he tried to sound persuasive.

"Can't her father go?" he answered her. After all, Aegon was your father, and Aemond had been responsible for you for a long time. He tried to convince himself that this change in attitude was due to being fed up with taking over the responsibilities of his older brother, but it really wasn't like that. Something much darker was happening to him with you than he refused to admit.

"Aemond" he heard his mother blurt out desperately, as if he was the last one she had asked. It was. Aemond was the last one she had turned to, and she was scolding him for something the others had also refused to do.

“Send Cole, with the black Mercedes. Surely (Y/N) loves it” he answered, knowing that you wouldn't be excited, but he couldn't seem to be able to spend some time alone with you like before... he preferred you to be treated as someone from outside the family. Maybe that's how he could manage to hide what he felt...

"I need that girl to feel like one of the family." After a moment in silence, Alicent spoke. Aegon and Aemond were so alike to her at times, she didn't know what to do. That proposition was proof of that. They had both suggested the same thing, and Alicent kept wondering why.

“I think you're late, mother. (Y/N) is a Dayne, like her mother” he leaned back in his chair in a cocky attitude. He didn't want to argue with his mother, he didn't want to threaten her, but your presence made him feel too many things that weren't right for a man as strict and upright as him. "If she were a Targaryen, she'd be completely different," he said, but then a thought crossed his mind: If you were a Dayne, why did his blood boil every time he saw you with that dark desire of his house? He sighed, you were out of his reach and he couldn't seem to control himself to show you…your place…on a simple car trip alone…he shook his head. He had to be himself again. Not a character from his house from 500 years ago.

"Whether you like it or not, that girl is a Targaryen... one of us..." Alicent replied tiredly. Aemond knew from the tone his mother was using, the conversation was ending, and he was not going to miss the opportunity to feel powerful.

“Send Cole. If she's one of us, she'll love it” he tried to smile and sound arrogant, a sneer on his lips. What was happening to him with you? He needed to be like that so he wouldn't let himself be consumed by what he felt. It had already happened to him last summer when he went looking for you after Aegon forgot. When he saw you... when he saw you, he would have shown you why they called you dragons... he was still thinking about that top that showed too much and those shorts that were too short for a girl who wasn't looking for provoking him... you had looked for him... Yes, you were a damn Dornishwoman... a girl of Starfall... and now, when he saw you, he was feeling like a dragon ready to destroy everything for... a simple moment between your legs... he took another puff and expelled the smoke through his nose... he felt like a monster because of you, and he hated himself even more for blaming you for what happened to him every time he saw you. He collected himself. He was Aemond Targaryen. The CEO of Targaryen Industries. He could spend a summer ignoring you. He had already done it in the past. It wasn't hard. “For tonight's all-family dinner, I'll be late. I have a lot of work,” he lied and Alicent didn't even speak. She just sighed tiredly, without wanting to say much more to her son.

"As you wish" Alicent replied reluctantly. Then it would be Cole coming after you. Alicent closed her eyes wearily. From the day you were born, you had become yet another headache for that highly functional family.

You took your suitcase from the belt that carried it. You took the House of Dayne bracelet that you always put on the handle to drag it and that allowed you to differentiate it from the others. You could wear another cloth bracelet, one with dragons on it, but by the age of 10 you had begun to realize that you were a Dornish girl, with all that that entailed. You were not a dragon. No one in your father's house had treated you like one of the others, except your Aunt Helaena and your Uncle Aemond. And the last one had completely ignored you last year and you didn't even want to understand why. Your grandmother Alicent had tried to make you feel like one of them in every way, but she, like you, wasn't a dragon, so she didn't count. You remembered smiling to yourself that summer that you had dyed your hair silver before going to spend the summer with your father. You wanted to be one of them... and, even though no one had asked whose daughter you were, you had gotten bored and finally let it go... you planned to change your last name before starting university. You would tell your father at the end of that summer… after all, that was the last summer your parents' joint custody ended. Afterwards, you wouldn't have to go back to that house if you didn't want to. You dragged the suitcase to the exit, along with the shoulder bag that always accompanied you and on which you had put a patch with the heraldry of your mother's house two years ago. Aemond had laughed when he had seen you like this. You were then sixteen years old. When you did, your uncle had marveled at that brazen act of rebellion as soon as you walked through the door of their family home in downtown King's Landing. He had laughed until you followed his laugh and hugged him in greeting. Those had been good times. In which he still had time for you. Your father had silently scrutinized you without saying much and your aunt Helaena had tried to reason with you why you should carry the Targaryen dragon as well. Finally, it had been Aemond who had convinced you to sew both, just as he had done with the heraldry of his parents when he had been your age on his also favorite backpack. You had glued it together one summer night, late at dawn... you had blushed when you felt it throw your arm over it on that terrace that overlooked the wide patio of the family residence once you had finished... and, then, you had realized that your uncle... he... was what you were looking for in a man... that you would have done anything for him to kiss you... and after that night in king's landing you returned to Starfall with both shields. Your maternal grandfather had frowned upon seeing you, reminding you that at the end of the day they were the ones who stayed by your side, but you left the Targaryen emblem that year because at least there was one who cared... who loved you... who esteemed you...

After how Aemond had ignored you last summer, you had ripped it off when you returned to Starfall, and now you only carried the heraldry of your maternal house, much to the delight of your maternal grandfather, who sometimes you felt was using you as a thrown weapon against the house of the dragon, but you couldn't blame him. You knew little of your parents' breakup, but your mother hadn't had a good time. You understood your grandfather's sentiment to protect your mother at all costs, even if it meant throwing yourself against the dragons. Your mother's family viewed you as a dragon, your father's family as a Dayne. The feeling of not belonging was the only thing you'd grown up with, but, you were a Dayne, of Starfall. Yes, you convinced yourself. That's what you were.

You saw Cregan in a fleeting moment, and he came up to you. You two had spent the whole flight talking, and the truth was that you had also been flirtatious throughout the trip. “Do you need me to help you call a taxi or…?” he told you with kindness and that closed northern accent, smiling at you. He was trying to be polite to the daughter of an old acquaintance, even though you felt there was something else to it, too, after spending the entire flight laughing with you and your coquettish manners.

"No, I think they're coming for me" you shrugged with a charming smile and he was entranced looking at you. You had seen on the plane that he had a wedding ring mark on his finger, so he must have recently divorced...

"Oh, well" he told you delaying his departure, although it was obvious that a very expensive car was waiting for him at the door. He quickly opened his wallet and took out a business card on which he scribbled something on the back with the pen he carried in his pocket. "My card, in case your uncle Daeron doesn't have my phone" he said offering it to you and you took it with a polite smile, to finish putting it in one of the pockets of the shoulder bag.

"I'll give it to him" you answered with a smile, polite and correct.

“The truth is… that behind I have written my personal cell phone. I'm going to be in King's Landing on business until the end of next month” he smiled charmingly at you. You blushed and looked away with a smile "If you ever want to have a coffee... or go to dinner..." he suggested with a mischievous half smile and you laughed charmingly. You weren't interested in the slightest, but you found it irresistible to start having that power over men.

"I will take that fully into account" you answered, superficial and attractive, as if that helped you to appease the pain you felt for Aemond not being interested in that way by you...

"Miss (Y/N)" Cole interrupted the conversation, correctly and perfectly. His hair is always well combed and with a sober face behind his sunglasses. Your grandmother's favorite bodyguard... so, yes, in the end he had come to pick you up, but it hadn't been anyone from the family. Cole was her most trusted worker, but he wasn't your father, he wasn't your aunt Helaena, he wasn't Daeron either… let alone Aemond. Cregan said goodbye quickly giving you two kisses, indicating that he hoped to see you throughout that summer, and you went to Cole. "Her suitcase of hers, miss (Y / N)" he told him as he reached to pick it up.

"No, do not worry. I can" you replied, holding on to the handle, but he kept insisting.

“It wasn't a question, miss (Y/N). Your grandmother would kill me if she finds out that I let you carry it, it's my job" he replied carrying the suitcase himself while you followed him to that luxurious and expensive car, parked at the airport door, because your father's family could allowed to park where they wanted. No one was ever going to say anything against the owners of Targaryen Industries. While Cole put the suitcase in the trunk, you took your mobile phone from the pocket of those very short pants and turned it on. A couple of messages from friends, another from your mother asking you to let her know when you'll arrive… and another from your grandmother Alicent indicating that Cole would come for you, since the others were very busy with company matters. You sighed, did it matter how little you meant to them? That was going to be your last summer there, it was starting to become clear to you. Cole slammed the trunk shut and opened the rear seat door for you to sit there. Your mouth was about to open to ask him to go in the passenger seat, but you knew it was stupid. Cole must have been the person who took his job in the world the most seriously. You just walked in, sat in that leather upholstered car and sighed as the bodyguard took his seat and started the car engine. You were looking at your phone while the car was moving slowly when Cole broke the silence again.

“How have you been doing this last year of high school?” he asked, taking a quick glance in the rearview mirror, trying to make conversation. "Your uncle Aemond told me that you are an exceptional student." Aemond had said that…? Well, you weren't bad at studying, but to be exceptional was to have the grades he would have had in high school. He compared you to him, he always had and that's why you guys had such a good rapport until last summer. Even that year he hadn't even written to you once, when before he had done it almost daily. Distance. That was what you thought he was marking, distance. But he kept showing off about you, or at least that was what you had intuited from Cole's words.

"Fine, normal. I passed everything. Now I´m thinking that's what I'll do with my life next year” you joked, and Cole flashed what must have been a smile on such a serious face.

"I thought you had been admitted to the King's Landing Business School, that you were going to follow in your father's footsteps," he told you, his attention fixed on the road. You laughed sweetly.

"The company would end up sinking if I got to be in charge" you continued laughing and Cole looked at you in the rearview mirror again, this time with concern, as if he hadn't expected your answer.

"Well, you're a Targaryen, your place is in the family business, like your father's and your uncles'," he said with concern, as if he didn't understand that you couldn't feel like one of them, as if your place really… were there. No. You didn't belong to the Targaryens…if not…one of them would have come looking for you instead of sending Cole.

You both continued in silence. You answering messages on your phone and Cole driving. Did anyone from your paternal family really expect you to follow in their footsteps? Perhaps it was what might have been expected in another situation, but not at a time like this. You were not your father's daughter. Helaena and Daeron always tended to forget your birthday and… Aemond had decided to ignore you forever… What was expected of you? They couldn't demand anything of you. They couldn't because you weren't one of them. Those pretty eyes. Those eyes so pretty, that now they looked so sad, was all you had of them. You suppressed the urge to cry as Cole continued to drive. You were nothing to your father, nor to your uncles, but what hurt you the most was to be nothing to… Aemond.

[cryonme]

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐚

—Steve Harrington x fem!reader

—summary: it's the first year steve decided to leave his family out of his birthday plans, and for some reason, it hurts. based on Matilda by Harry Styles.

—word count: 2.1k

—tw: mentions of abuse, swearing, mentions of alcohol, shitty parents,

—a/n: family isn't always blood, i love you all.🖤this one's for any of you who can relate.

═════════════════

You were riding your bike to the sound of "It's No Big Deal"

And you're trying to lift off the ground on those old two wheels

Nothing about the way that you were treated ever seemed especially alarming 'til now

So you tie up your hair and you smile like it's no big deal

The first birthday Steve can remember, his parents didn’t care. His father gave him a couple bucks so he could ride his bike to the corner store and pick out any snack he wanted, barely even sparing a glance at his son as the older man threw the green bills on the side table, grumbling something about how birthdays are a scam.

Steve remembers the sidewalk in front of him being blurry as he rode his bike, trying his best to blink away the tears and stop the quivering in his lip.

Steve remembers his parents' car absent from the driveway when he got home.

They came home hours later, insisting he get up and get ready for family dinner at his Aunt’s house, where of course he was showered with gifts and his favorite dinner, and a green and blue birthday cake with candles and his name on it, and Steve almost felt special.

Until his uncles drank too much champagne and his older cousins left early to hang out with their friends and his mom and dad fought. He just felt like another reason to eat fancy dinner and get drunk.

And that’s how it went. Year after year. 

Eventually he drove himself to the corner store, and eventually he used his own money, and eventually, he brought his new girlfriend to the family birthday dinner.

You.

And man, was Steve proud to bring a beautiful gem like you to family dinner. And it was completely perfect. His younger cousins sat on your lap, his Aunts gushed over how gorgeous you were, his Uncle’s nodded with raised eyebrows, impressed, as you talked about your studies, his mom and dad even laughed at a joke you made.

But it was his birthday, and the Universe would always find a way to ruin his birthday.

Steve and his father both had one too many glasses of champagne, and it only started as a small, even humorous argument, something about a movie quote, or which band sang a certain song, and it ended in far too much yelling, and screaming, and eventually a sharp hand to Steve’s cheek.

Steve remembers you crying and fussing over it when you arrived back to your shared apartment, you felt so guilty that you weren’t aware of how bad it was. He also remembers never being that embarrassed in his entire life.

“You’re never going back there.” He remembered you saying, and he agreed. 

He’d do anything you thought was best.

You can let it go

You can throw a party full of everyone you know

And not invite your family, 'cause they never showed you love

You don't have to be sorry for leaving and growing up, mmh

“Oh, happy birthday sweet pea!” Joyce gushed, pulling Steve in for a hug as soon as she swung the front door open.

“Thanks, Mrs. Byers.” Steve replied, wrapping his arms around the much smaller woman.

She pulled away and put her finger in his face in mock annoyance, “Joyce. You call me Joyce. Or mom. Oh! Honey!” Joyce was immediately distracted by you behind Steve as she pulled you into a hug of your own. “Oh you just look so beautiful. Come in, come in!”

You and Steve shared humorous smiles before stepping into the Byers’ home, immediately welcomed by several bright, smiling faces, all wishing your boyfriend a happy birthday. Dustin, Lucas, Erika, Max and Mike immediately ran to your boyfriend and tackled him to the ground in a giant group hug, a chorus of “happy birthday”’s ringing from all of them and you laughed before pulling the kids off and helping your boyfriend off so he could greet everyone else.

You opted to stand back for a minute and observe, and your heart nearly exploded as you watched him awkwardly embrace Eleven as she handed him a homemade birthday card, and ruffle Will’s hair after he handed him a messily wrapped gift. You watched as Robin embraced him tightly and planted a kiss on top of his head right before Nancy gave him a gentle hug and a sweet smile, wishing him a happy birthday, and finally he moved on to Jonathan, Eddie, and Hopper who gave him firm handshakes and pats on the back, except for Eddie who fully koala’d him and messed up his hair.

You laughed and wiped a stray tear from your face as fast as possible, you didn’t want to make him uncomfortable or embarrassed if he turned and saw you crying.

You pretended like something was in your eye as Joyce approached and bumped her shoulder to yours, shooting you a knowing smile, which you returned.

“It’s his first birthday without his family.” You said, and Joyce sighed.

“I know they aren’t great, but it has to be hard.”

You nodded, it was hard. You could see the internal battle through his eyes. Feeling guilty, then feeling stupid for even feeling guilty, it was a constant back and forth, and you could see it.

“I’m really happy he has you guys, though. My family’s no picnic basket either, I don’t know what either of us would do if it wasn’t for all of you.”

“Well luckily,” A deeper, much gruffer voice sounded from behind you as a long arm draped around your neck, you looked up to see Hopper, unlit cigarette between his teeth and an opened beer in hand. “You don’t have to think about that.” He finished his sentence with a wink as he handed the beer, which you took gladly.

“Touche.” –

It was about an hour into the party when you couldn’t find Steve, your mind was slightly clouded from the buzz from all the beers Hopper kept handing you, and you were trying your best to focus and find your boyfriend, when you felt a light squeeze on your shoulder and you turned to see Robin, who was pointing towards the closed door to the kitchen.

“Kitchen.”

“Lifesaver.”

You wasted no time heading to the kitchen, where lo and behold, revealed your boyfriend. His hands were grasped onto the kitchen counter, his knuckles turning white, with his head hung low.

“Baby…”

“I’m a shitty son.”

“Steve, you know that’s not true.”

He didn’t respond. He still hadn’t looked up at you, fully focused on the flooring in the Byers’ kitchen.

“Steve-”

“I know.”

The silence hung heavily in the kitchen, and it continued that way for a while. You didn’t want to push him to talk about anything he didn’t want to on his birthday.

“Why do I feel so goddamn guilty?” He finally said, pushing himself off of the counter and looking at you, his eyes brimmed with tears and his voice shook.

“Steve…” You cooed as your feet carried you to your boyfriend so you could pull him into you, and once your skin touched his he broke, and his body shook with sobs in your arms.

“I want them to be here.” He cried, “I want them to want to be here.”

You tried to hold back your own tears as you pulled him closer, his face buried into your neck and his arms wrapped around your waist, holding onto you as tight as he could.

“I know, my love. I’m so sorry.”

Matilda, you talk of the pain like it's all alright

But I know that you feel like a piece of you's dead inside

You showed me a power that is strong enough to bring sun to the darkest days

It's none of my business, but it's just been on my mind

Steve eventually pulled away from you, hastily wiping the tears from his face and taking a deep breath.

“It’s fine, it’s not even a big deal.”

You rolled your eyes and planted your hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at you. He says it’s fine, but you can see the hurt, it’s plastered all over his pretty face.

“It’s okay to feel sad. Every year, you’ve done the same thing for your birthday with your family, whether or not it’s happy memories, it always hurts to cut ties.”

Steve nodded and you placed a small kiss on the tip of his nose.

“STEVE!!” You heard what was most definitely Robin’s voice screech from the living room and you chuckled. 

“I think it’s time for cake.”

If anyone took notice to Steve’s absence or overheard his muffled breakdown through the kitchen door, they didn’t mention or acknowledge it, they simply carried on with the party, which you knew Steve appreciated greatly. 

You couldn’t help but reminisce on all you and Steve had been through together as you watched him with his friends, his family, with the biggest smile on his face as he held his mouth wide open for Eddie to throw M&M’s into.

When you first started dating Steve, you were in a bad place with your family too, you had just graduated from Hawkin’s high, and your family was ready to move on, but you couldn’t bring yourself to go with them. The abuse from your father and the manipulation from your mother and the constant nitpicking from your brother was all too much, and you didn’t know how much more of it you could take. Steve helped you find the courage to stand firm, and tell them something you never had before, “No.”

Of course, it didn’t go over well. Your father fought you, your mother cried and claimed you were breaking her heart, but with Steve by your side, and some surprising help from your brother, you gathered up your things, and moved in with Joyce, until you and Steve were both financially ready for an apartment of your own.

He’d never know, and he’d never believe it because of what his family made him believe of himself, but he was your sun. He showed you peace, and solace, and brightness that could pull you out of your darkest days, and he didn’t even know. He would never be able to wrap his mind around just how much you adored him.

You're just in time, make your tea and your toast

You framed all your posters and dyed your clothes, ooh

You don't have to go

You don't have to go home

Oh, there's a long way to go

I don't believe that time will change your mind

In other words

I know they won't hurt you anymore as long as you can let them go

“Man, those kids look at you like you hung the moon, Steve.”

The two of you had just returned to your apartment, stacks of leftover food piled in your hands, and hearts full.

Steve chuckled and shook his head. “Eh, they’d look at anyone who’s slightly older than them and saved their asses multiple times like that.”

You shook your head, “You’re special, baby. They don’t look at Robin like that.”

“They love Robin-”

“Of course they do, but you’re something else, Steve. That’s your family.”

Steve nodded and rolled his lips into his mouth, you could tell he was holding back tears.

“Hey,” You grabbed the wrapped leftovers from his hands and set them down on the kitchen counter, before grabbing his hand and leading him to sit with you on the couch.

“Your blood family may be absolute shit, in fact they are. But your chosen family, those kids and your friends and Jim and Joyce, are wonderful. And they love you, and they want you to accept them as family. The assholes can’t hurt you anymore if you just let them go, honey.”

“It’s hard.” Steve’s voice broke as a tear slipped from his eye, which you were quick to get rid of with a swipe of your thumb.

“I know. I know because I’ve done it. But you helped me, Steve. They all helped me. Let us help you, baby, please.”

Your hand cradled his face and he leaned into your touch, leaving a sweet kiss on the palm of your hand as he brought his own hand up to hold your wrist. His breaths were getting shorter by the second, so you situated yourself into his lap and laid your head on his chest, maneuvering his hand that was previously holding your wrist to rest above your heart, so he could feel you, feel that you were right there.

“You can let it go.”

═════════════════

taglist: @waszuka @icarus-star @stariightjoyy @dava-demoan @athenapotter @moonlitmeeks @maddisoninnit @moonlighy @mirclealignr @jellycolors @milkiane @tiaamberxx  @kashee-h

and tagging @sortagaysortahigh cuz something tells me they wanna read some angsty steve...

[wh0reforcoriolanussnow]

Jealousy, Jealousy || D. Targaryen x oc

GIF by @lukearys DIVIDERS by @straywords

summary: Rhaenyra Targaryen was known as the Realm’s delight, but her best friend Elys? She was given the name as the Realm’s desire. A story full of jealousy and envy; what happens when Elys takes the one thing away from Rhaenyra?

a/n: im so sorry for being away for so long but i just realised that part 2 was completely skipped and forget this was in my drafts.

P.t 1 P.t 2 P.t 3 P.t 4 P.t 5

previous

“There you are, where were you?” Rhaenyra whispers, eyeing her best friend. Elys was late and arrived during Viserys’ speech, which esrned a hard glare from her father.

Pulling her dress up to keep her modesty, Elys looks to Rhaenyra, “Don’t worry about it” She smiled before turning to the front again. Rhaenyra was stunned as her friend brushed her off, her eyes scanned her outfit.

Typical Elys, she thought. Always had to make everything about her, she wore a deep blue dress that cinched at her waist with a deep cut at the front. Rhaenyra was, without a doubt jealous of her best friend.

This jealousy seemed to have grown at the age of 4 and ten when Elys started changing, physically. But she often reminded herself that she was a Princess, the heir to the iron throne. They were now 22 and Elys continued to grow into a beautiful women.

Turning to the front, the two practically squeal at each other as the knights enter in the arena. From the royal box, Elys could spot her brothers who were also competing.

Her older brother was jousting first so he asked for her favour. Happily, Elys took a flower crown and stood up walking to the edge. She could feel the stares and hear the whispers close by as she smiled sweetly to her older brother. “Good luck to you, brother” She nodded as he thanked her.

It was safe to say that any knights who had asked Elys for her favour, won. Rhaenyra too had been asked for her favour, but Elys was asked more. She had a scowl on her face everytime a knight would ask her for the favour and not the Princess, it was her tournament.

But she kept a calm composure, until her uncle came. Elys watches Rhaenyra get all giddy when Daemon arrived on his black horse. She knew that Rhaenyra had a thing for her uncle, and she knew that the Targaryens practiced incest inorder to keep their bloodline running thick.

But she also knew that it would never be approved. Daemon had chosen Elys’ other brother, as he rode closer to the royal box, she stayed sitting as Rhaenyra happily ran to the edge to greet her uncle.

Elys watched as Rhaenyra talked to him until her face dropped, then she looked to you. “Elys” She called out making you walk over towards them. “Ah, Lady Elys,” Daemon smirked up at her.

“Now I know for certain that having your favour would all but assure me my victory, I have heard that all that asked for your favour has won” He smirked up at her as he aimed his lance towards her chest making Elys hum in slight annoyance.

Elys looked at Rhaenyra who stared at her, she had expected Daemon to favour her, his niece, not her best friend. Grabbing the prettiest flower crown, she watched as it slid down his jousting stick.

“My bestest luck to you Prince Daemon” She leaned against the railing, her cleavage on show more than ever. Daemon wets his lips before taking position.

At this point, Elys was still standing there whereas Rhaenyra sat down with a huff. Her blood was boiling. Why did Daemon ask Elys for favour and not her?

Rhaenyra watched with jealousy at Elys as the people around squealed and waved to her. Yes, Rhaenyra was a Princess, but it seemed even Elys was more popular than her.

Elys would always have knights and lords fawning over her. At every event they were at, they would rush to greet Elys.

The Princess would often remember their younger days, one without jealousy. Maybe it was terrible of her to say but she enjoyed it when Elys was a nobody. She was shy and Rhaneyra enjoyed the spotlight on her.

But then it changed. She would say it had started when Elys slept with Rhaenyra’s crush back then. She was filled with rage, as she was a Princess, she had to keep her maidenhood until she was married, but not Elys.

She was free to do whatever she pleased, her father was lenient with his only daughter. It was unfair, Rhaenyra thought. But she was born into royalty, not Elys. But you would think that Elys was royalty too.

Rhaenyra would watch her best friend stumble into her bed chambers, smelling of alcohol and a disheveled appearance. It was no secret Elys had people to entertain her.

“Are you okay?” Elys asks worriedly as she watches Rhaenyra snap out of her thoughts, “Yeah of course” She gives a small smile. She still loved Elys, there was no denying it.

~

The sun shone on the two girls as they lay on the grads underneath the Weirwood tree. Elys had propped herself up with her arms as crosses her legs by her ankles. She wore a gold, off the shoulder dress.

“I think he’s quite handsome, don’t you agree?” Elys looks down at Rhaenyra, “He’s nearly 10 years older Elys!” She gasped as Elys throws her head back, “So? That doesn’t stop me” She shrugs as Rhaenyra cringes at the thought of her best friend fucking a man almost ten years older.

“You baffle me sometimes El” Rhaenyra shakes her head with a smile. “I should go, my father has his council meeting” She dusts the dirt of her dress as she waves and leaves.

“He’s a cunt you know” A voice startles Elys who sits up. “My Prince,” She slightly lowers her head. “That man you were speaking of? A fucking psycho” He mutters as he steps closer to the women.

“And what if I’m into psychos” Elys mocked leaning back down, her head slightly tilted as she gazed up at the prince. From the way she laid, her boobs were even more defined, nearly spilling from her dress.

“I heard you’re into lots of things my Lady” He crosses his arms as he watched Elys who looked like a goddess. “Mhm, from who?” She questions, already knowing the answer.

“I think you know,” Daemon grins. He thought of her as gorgeous. He liked everything about her. He had underestimated her beauty when he would hear of her stories.

“Tell me Elys, would you like to accompany me tonight?” Elys perked up at this, knowing what the Prince was implying. Seeing her reaction, Daemon smirked to himself. “It would be my pleasure” She replied lowly before reaching up to him.

Daemon pulls Elys’ hand causing her to stumble forward to his chest. She wasn’t fazed as Daemon held her there by her hips. “Come to my room after dinner” He whispered in her ear before walking away, leaving a confused Elys standing there.

next

~

taglist

@lightdragonrayne @lazypinkpig @pearlstiare @cleverzonkwombatsludge @graniairish @stargaryenx @issybee0611 @piceous21 @mariaelizabeth21-blog1 @judewife @hwa-chaeming @deamonloversblog @kodzuvk @mutteringghost @luna-ann @lyannesworld @xcinnamonmalfoyx @sesamepancakes @bregarc @stephaniebalanag @witch-with-the-cat @valsandoval @lyra689 @targaryenmoony @itsalwaysgay @rockerchick05 @oh-no-tia @do-youseeme @esposadomd @lyn07

[xcaptain-winterx]

i have no idea if you are accepting request but could you write where reader is in labor and her husband, steve rogers is out in a mission and kind of missed the birth of his new born daughter

I love this idea💙

26:44:49

summary: above

warnings: child birth, blood, fluff, angst, sad Steve, happy Steve, guest appearances

a/n: English is not my first language, meaning you will probably find a lot of misspelling etc.

Main Masterlist Steve Rogers Masterlist

Being married to an Avenger sounds like a dream and it indeed is one. There are a lot of good sides to it, like literally never having to worry about being robbed, while you’re on a walk with them. Sadly there are some things though, that are not that nice, like missions. Of course you like hearing on the news that your husband saved people or when he tells you that they took down another bad facility, but you don’t like that he has to leave. What if he gets hurt or doesn’t make it back. Your husband, the famous Captain America, isn’t really on hydras friend list.

Steve’s also scared when he’s not with you. What if something happens to you? The list of enemies is long and knowing that he’s not always there to protect you scares him.

Everything changed when you got pregnant. The day you found out was probably one of the best moments in your life, and seeing Steve's face light up when you told him made it even better. Steve knew from the moment you told him that he was going to be the best dad ever for your little bean. He almost passed out when you both found out that you were having a girl. A Girl. A little baby girl.

He would stay up at night, talking to your belly about how excited he is to meet her and tell her about everything that is going on.

“Yesterday we painted your nursery, bean. I drew some sketches that are now hanging there. I Hope you are going to like them.”

“Uncle Bucky came today and helped me build the crib, while your mom was with her friends shopping. Don’t tell her, but we were both completely lost on what we should do.”

“I think we need to talk about the food you want. I may be old enough to be your grandfather or even great grandfather, but I don’t think that pickles and peanut butter are a good combination.”

“I’m so excited to meet you, everyone is, especially your mom.”

“Can you promise me to make it easy for your mom when you arrive? She’s been carrying you for eight months now and even if she doesn’t want to admit it, I know she’s tired.”

Everything was going amazing, three more weeks and your baby girl was going to arrive, but sadly Nick Fury decided it was ok to send your husband on a mission. Steve was furious when Fury told him. He tried to explain that he can’t, that his wife is going to give birth soon, but Fury didn’t give in. It was a mission that involved saving people from an underground facility.

You overheard them talking on the phone and how Steve is needed for it. Obviously you hate the thought of Steve going on a mission, but you hate the thought of innocent people being held captive in a dark room even more. You also saw that Steve didn’t like the thought either.

After the call you told Steve that it’s ok if he goes. He told you that he’s not going on that mission and that you can’t convince him.

And he was right.

For thirteen hours.

Apparently being highly emotional during pregnancy can help in convincing your husband to join a mission.

The day he left for the mission was not easy for both of you. He tried to not wake you up but failed.

“You shouldn’t be up. Go back to bed, sweetheart”

“I wanted to be awake when you go”

A slight smile appears on Steve's face “I love you, you know” he says, pulling you closer to him, while making sure to not put too much pressure on the belly.

“I hope so or I’m going to give you the ring back” you say with a smirk, trying not to show how sad you are “I love you, too.”

He smirks at you “Hold up. First” he softly slaps your ass, making you gasp and him laugh.“Now” Steve goes, trying to stay serious “You know I love you more than anything else-“

“What about Bucky? What about him, Steve? He’s better up there too”

“Ok, ok, ok” he laughs “I love you, Bucky and our soon coming little baby girl more than anything else.” A smile crosses your face.

Steve gets on one knee, now directly at eye level with your belly. He places a hand on it “Make sure to watch Mommy, while I’m away. Ok, Bean?” You laugh when you feel the baby kick against the spot where Steve placed his hand, “I think we have a deal.”

“Don’t worry, we are going to be fine.”

He gives your belly a kiss before standing back up and giving you a long and passionate kiss “Yeah. I will finish the mission as soon as possible and then I will come back.”

Your husband gives you another kiss before walking out the door.

The sun just started to set, while you were getting another bowl of cookie dough ice cream. Humming some random song as you grab some raisins from the cupboard to put in the bowl. Just when you wanted to walk back into the living room something wet started to run down your thighs.

Looking down you see a puddle at your feet, and that’s when you realize.

“Please, no.” Just as the words come out of your mouth a contraction hits you. The bowl drops to the floor and shatters into a hundred little pieces “Ahhhh”. This can't be happening, it's too soon. Of course you were told that babies could arrive sooner, but the doctors assured you that it wouldn’t happen because the baby most likely has Steve's super soldier serum.

Another contraction hits, this time stronger than the last one. Steve’s not here, you can't have her yet. You know you should go to the hospital cause the contractions are already coming every seven minutes.

You waddle over to the counter to grab your keys. Is it safe to drive right now, probably not. Steve and you didn’t pack a back for the birth yet and there’s no way that you could pack one now. Stepping inside the car you think about calling Steve, you know though, that he wouldn’t pick up. You take a deep breath before finally starting the car.

The way to the hospital thankfully wasn’t that long and painful, you're happy that you both live that close to the hospital and that you inherited your dad's ability to handle a lot of pain. The nurses there immediately took you in and gave you a private room. Again, thank god for being married to an Avenger. They checked you to see how many centimeters you are dilated. Fucking six.

“Mrs. Rogers, should we call someone for you? Giving birth can be painful and we would advise you to have someone with you when it happens.” The nurse says, smiling at you.

No shit, giving birth could be painful. That’s completely new to you.

Your husband is on a mission, Bucky is with him, Nat is with him, Sam is with him. Clint is not in Brooklyn and neither is Sarah. Wanda is currently on her honeymoon with Vision, and Tony and Pepper are probably having an argument right now. There’s one person that you know of who’s currently in New York, but you never really talked that much.

You think for a few seconds before finally deciding that it's better to have at least someone with you right now. “Yes, please call someone.”

Fifteen minutes later you here someone come down the hallway, screaming at some nurse about how Mrs. Rogers requested her to be there when she gives birth to a fucking watermelon.

The door opens and they walk in, “You’re huge.”

You give a painful laugh, “Thanks, Yelena”. She looks at you before slowly stepping closer. She’s a black widow who fought against black widows and dozens of bad guys, but she has never been in such a situation.

The contractions are getting worse every second and the pain medication doesn't seem to work. Fuck Steve and his super soldier sperms.“Ok, I’m here, everything is ok” Yelena says, standing next to you grabbing your hand, “Just take a deep breath.” Squeezing your hand, you slowly calm down. Yelena tries not to show how much her hand hurts because of your squeezing, and how relieved she is that you let go. Trying to distract herself from the pain she asks “Why did you call for me? We’re not that close.”

You look at her and smile, “You’re Nat's sister, which means you’re part of the big family. We may haven’t seen each other that often but I still trust you”. You say, grabbing her hand softly. Yelena looks at you, not believing that you count her as a family member. Nat told her once that the Avengers are like a second family, but she always thought that she was lying. Maybe she was always thinking like that because she knew that the avengers wouldn’t accept her.

Yelena looks at you with tears in her eyes. “Really?” She doesn’t even try to hide her shaking voice.

“Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t have called you.” Yelena quickly wipes a tear away and gives you a big smile

The nurse walks in. “Let’s check how many centimeters you are,” she looks and smiles at you. “Your ten centimeters! I’m going to inform the other nurse and then you can start pushing.”

Oh no, no, no, no, no

Yelena sees the worry in your eyes and quickly grabs your hand. “Hey, I’m here. Everything is going to be ok. I will call them immediately when the mission is over,” she squeezes your hand “now let’s focus on that Watermelon”. You give her a nod before the nurse tells you to start pushing.

It was a hard mission and Steve is happy that he’s finally back, he can't wait to come to you and the little bean. All he wants now is to cuddle you and touch your stomach, while watching one of your favorite comedy shows that you already watched hundreds of times. He definitely has to take a shower first, though, when he gets home because he smells like sweat and dirt. He walks out the jet with Bucky by his side who’s smirking at him. “What’s so funny now, jerk?” he asks, hiding a smile.

“Well, punk, I think it's funny how I can immediately tell what you're thinking about. So, did you already call Mrs. or are you surprising her with coming home early?”, Bucky says, patting his back.

Steve chuckles, walking with him over to his car, “She doesn’t know, I’m going to surprise her”. Bucky can't help but smile at that, he’s happy that his best friend found the ‘one’ after all those years, a true angel. And now that angel is pregnant with his niece, to be honest Steve didn’t tell him that he’s going to be uncle, but that doesn’t matter because the little girl is going to be his niece no matter what. Bucky knows when the due date is and already made sure to be ready when he gets the call from Steve, that his niece is coming. Bucky snaps out of his thoughts when Natasha walks over to them.

Steve slams the trunk close when he sees her, “if Fury wants me for another mission tell hi-“

“Steve”, she cuts him off. “It's about y/n, she gave birth”, a sad expression forms on her face “Yelena just informed me, she stayed with her meanwhile.”

Steve's whole face falls and he lets out shaky breaths, without saying anything he opens the car door and speeds off. Leaving an utterly shocked Bucky and a confused Sam, who apparently just walked out off the jet. Steve's mom always told him to be careful and he always listened to that, but right now he’s driving like a mad man to the hospital.

Not five minutes later he’s there and running to the reception, “I’m here for Y/n Rogers!” The nurse looks at him and lets out a gasp when she realizes who he is.

“S-Sure, right away, Mr. Rogers." She leads him to the door and gives him a reassuring smile before walking away. He takes a deep breath, and another, and another, and another before finally walking in. You look up when the door opens and smile when you see the now dad Steve walking in. Steve's eyes move from you to the small bundle in the crib. This is all it takes for him to start crying and you follow.

You reach your hand out to him and he immediately walks over to you, sits down on the bed, kisses your hands and pulls you closer. “I’m so sorry I’m late”, he says, looking at you. “How late?”

You softly touch his cheek “It’s ok. Our bean just decided to come early, we can't blame her, she’s just a baby” Steve laughs. He turns to the crib and slowly rises from the bed and walks over to the crib. A tear runs down his cheek when he sees her little face, a cute small nose, chubby cheeks and a full head of blonde hair. Steve carefully picks her up and holds her in his arms, swaying back and forth, you smile at the sight of them together.

“Hey, bean, daddy’s finally here. Sorry, that I took that long, daddy was saving the world.” He looks at the information paper on the side of the crib before turning to you, “I’m 26:44:49 hours too late.” He sits back down next to you, one arm around you, the other around his daughter.

“I swear if you are going to blame yourself again I will hit you,” you say with a stern expression.

Finally Steve laughs, “Sweetheart, I’m holding our daughter”. At that exact moment the sleeping girl opens her eyes and looks at her dad with big y/e/c eyes. He looks down at her “Hey, princess. Do you know who I am?”. What if she doesn’t know him, he wasn’t there during her birth. What if she never heard him when he was talking to her late at night. She wiggles around in his arms. Steve holds his breath, is she going to cry?

She doesn’t cry though, she looks at her dad and gives him a smile, well, as far as a newborn can smile.

You kiss his shoulder, “I think she knows who you are.”

Steve kisses her forehead and after that yours, “I love you, you know.”

“Likewise. We still need a name,” you say.

Steve gives you a grin. “Yeah, we should decide that before the rest of her family comes”

Yelena walks in with a bunch of snacks, “hey отец, finally there. Next time you hold her hand” she says, showing her hand in a cast, “I also brought a few guests.”

Nat, Sam and Bucky walk in with a few gifts. Bucky immediately leaves the gifts on a table and rushes towards the baby. “Hey doll, it’s me, your uncle Bucky.” Steve hands her to Bucky and he holds her close to his chest, “Is your dad already annoying you? He has been annoying me for about 105 years now,” Steve lets out a small hey, but Bucky doesn’t care. He looks at you for a second, “You did a great job mama.”

“Thanks Buck, but I couldn’t have done it without Yelena,” Natasha nudges her sister, smiling at her, she knew Yelena would get warm with at least someone else.

The baby gets passed around and in the end gets passed to Bucky again because he wouldn’t stop whining. “Now, what’s her name? Let me guess, Samantha,” Sam asks, smirking.

You both look at each other before looking back at them. “Welcome, Sarah Brook Yelena Rogers, named after her grandmother, Steve's home and the person who stayed by me during her birth.” Yelena looks at you both with tears in her eyes, giving you a big smile, now being ok with you breaking her hand. Bucky walks over to you and gives Sarah back to you, whispering before that how she’s going to be his new favorite.

He looks at them “I'm the uncle, right? Don’t leave me hanging, Steven.”

“Yes, you are.”

“HA, SEE SAM, I'M THE UNCLE!”

[caffeinewitchcraft]

Narrative Town: Uncle Ralph

Summary: It's a Rule not to get involved in grown-up stories. But when your parents' lives are in danger, even you will break a Rule.

Based in this world (X) where a magic town forces people to live out popular stories/tropes

-------

You’re used to your parents coming in and out of the house at all hours of the day. They always have a good excuse for why they keep such unusual schedules, but there’s no way they could have an excuse for everything. Being full time thieves is a hard thing to hide.

While they do their best to keep you out of whatever heist they’ve planned, there are some things that slip through. A grappling hook hanging over the edge of the mantle. A map of City Hall spread out over the dining room table, only partially covered by the nice table cloth that you use during the holidays. Police sketches on the news that bear a striking resemblance. Little things. Things you can ignore.

The old guy sitting at the table when you come down for school? Yeah, not something you can ignore.

“Oh,” the old guy says. He looks like he scams people who own yachts. His salt-and-pepper hair is slicked back and he’s wearing a linen suit at seven in the morning. He casually flips his phone face down and starts gathering suspicious financial documents back into a folder in front of him. “Good morning, kiddo.”

There’s a clatter from the living room and your mom lunges through the doorway. You haven’t seen her in two days and she looks rough. There are dark bags under her eyes and her hair is a frizzy cloud around her head.

“Fern,” she says, voice, tight, “honey. I thought you were staying at Caiden’s house.”

“I did the night before last,” you say. You’re trying to figure out how involved you need to get here. The guy is looking at you with way too much interest. It’d be just your luck if he tries to use you against your parents later down the line when he inevitably betrays them. At the same time, he looks like he’d leave one of your parents for dead if it benefited him in any way and you do not want that to happen. You let your backpack slide off your shoulder. “Who’s this?”

“Um,” your mom says. “He’s— he’s—“

The guy sits there smiling slightly, delighting in the rising tension.

“He’s—“

“My half brother,” your dad says from behind you. He’s got motor oil high on his cheek and smells faintly of sweat and iron. He grins and, being a much better actor than your mom, you can only see a bit of uneasiness in his eyes. “Fern can know, darling. I don’t want to keep it a secret anymore.”

The guy is delighted. He rubs his hands together as he stands, stepping around the table to hug you. “That’s who I am,” he says, arms spread wide and a shit-eating grin on his face. “Your uncle. Uncle Ralph.”

Your dad steps in front of you, pretending like the hug was meant for him. You’re treated to Uncle Ralph’s grimace as he’s forced to accept the bone-shaking slaps your dad rains on his back.

“So good to have him back,” your dad says, clear warning in his voice. He turns, one arm still slung over Ralph’s shoulders. They look nothing alike. Your dad is completely bald, shoulders well-muscled under his working shirt, and he’s got a face made for laughing. Ralph is cologne-ad-handsome and scowling. Your dad forces himself to smile. “He’s only staying with us for a couple days.”

Yikes. You watch your mom hover in the opposite doorway. She’s not happy at the sound of Ralph staying for a couple of days, you can tell. But she doesn’t say anything to contradict them and her eyes are like daggers on Ralph rather than your dad.

You study the three adults. You make it a rule to never get involved in adult stories. There’s always a higher chance of a bad ending. Death, dismemberment, general mayhem. Unless there’s a romance component to their stories, there’s very rarely a happily ever after. Judging by your parents’ reactions, romance with Ralph isn’t in the future. So it’s a regular heist story. Regular heist stories with a kid…

Well, they end really, really badly. Usually for the parents. Unless the kid steps in at just the right time.

“Awesome,” you say. You run over your school schedule, calculating. There aren’t any tests coming up and you haven’t missed any classes yet this quarter. “Can I stay home from school? I’d love to get to know Uncle Ralph better.”

Your mom makes a noise of protest. “Did you say you had a- a school project?”

“Nope,” you say cheerfully. You kick your backpack to the side and slide around your dad to go to the fridge. You’re going to need breakfast before this one. “I can take a day off.”

“Won’t Caiden miss you?” Your dad is better at hiding his desperation than your mom, but you still catch the edge in his voice. “You can always see Ralph after school—“

“Caiden needs to make his own friends eventually,” you say. You keep looking in the fridge so they can’t see the expression on your face. You’re very worried about Caiden, but he knows the Rules. You’ve got to believe he’ll be fine for one day. Two, tops. You turn with a yogurt in hand to blink innocently at your parents. “Why can’t I just take one day off?”

“Well,” your dad hedges. “That’s—“

“Just one,” your mom says. She ignores the panicked glance your dad sends her. “Okay?”

The magic takes hold all at once. You watch as it washes the resistance from your parents’ shoulders so that they stand, slumped and defeated on either side of Ralph. It settles into your bones and whispers your new possible roles into your mind. Child. Hindrance. Bait. Winner. Loser.

“Great!” Ralph claps his hands together. His eyes are calculating as he looks you over. “I can’t wait to get to know you, Fern.”

You bare your teeth and take glee in the half-flinch Ralph can’t hide. “Same, Uncle Ralph,” you say. “Same.”

——48 hours later ——

Alarms blare, earth shatteringly loud in the stillness of the night. You’re crouched under a desk, a flash drive clenched in one hand, waiting for your parents to come back to get you. The complex is big enough that they’d hidden you in one building and gone to create a distraction in the other. If all goes to plan, the three of you will be at home in less than an hour.

You breathe in deeply through your nose, straining your ears for any indication that they’re on their way. All of your preparation comes down to this moment. There’s nothing else you can do to influence the story.

Someone enters the office and shuts the door behind them.

You hold your breath, knuckles white around the flash drive.

The screaming of the alarms continues but muffled enough that you can hear the footsteps of the person approaching your hiding spot. Your heart sinks. Not two sets of footsteps. One.

“Little niece,” Ralph croons. He stops what sounds like a dozen feet from your hiding spot. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

Your mind races. He’s supposed to be dead. The first phase of the plan had involved swimming through flooded tunnels to get into the building. There’d been a problem with the equipment and he’d forced your mom to take his oxygen tank so she could continue on. Your mom cried when she got out, relaying how he’d swum away from her to hide his final moments.

He made my mom cry, you think. You roll out from under the desk, gaining your feet in the walkway between cubicles to face Ralph head on.

“Not surprised? I figured. I knew you knew I was alive,” Ralph says. He doesn’t look like a scam artist anymore. No, he looks like a true villain. His hair is tangled around his face and he’s no longer in the wetsuit you last saw him in. He’s wearing a guard’s uniform.While you and your parents struggled to infiltrate this place, he just walked right in the front door. “Clever little niece.”

You feel the magic of the town all around you now, thrumming with tension. If there was an orchestra soundtrack, it would be swelling over this dramatic reveal. You’re dressed like a mini-version of your dad in a full, black jumpsuit and you’ve got your mom’s grappling hook over your shoulder. Ralph’s uniform is all white and tan, just like the suit he first appeared in. You’ve been changed by this story. Dragged out of the naive high schooler persona you once inhabited to become a thief, like your parents.

Ralph? Ralph was always going to betray you.

“What happens now?” You gesture to Ralph and then to the building your parents are still in. “You fake your death and…take the flash drive?”

“By force, if necessary,” Ralph agrees. He smirks. “I knew I would never be able to take it off your dad or your mom. They’re the best hand-to-hand specialists in the business. But their defenseless, untrained daughter? It was a cakewalk to manipulate the situation in my favor.” His face hardens and he holds out a hand. “The flash drive, Fern. I know you have it.”

You let the moment stretch. The alarms are still blaring and you don’t hear the car horn that’s supposed to be the signal for you to come out. Your parents aren’t coming yet. They probably won’t make it in time.

Your shoulders shake. You duck your chin against your chest to hide your expression. The flash drive is hot in your hand.

“I don’t have all day, Fern,” Ralph growls. “Give me the flash drive!”

You give in. You throw back your head, howling with laughter.

Ralph blinks, hand faltering. “What?”

“I knew you knew that I knew you faked your death,” you say. You snort a little. “Giving up an oxygen tank? Swimming away to die? It was all just a little too kind for the Uncle Ralph I know.”

Ralph clicks his tongue. He’s wrong-footed, eyes darting to the doors and windows, but trying to hide it.“You should know that I’m not your uncle.”

“No duh,” you say. You wipe your eyes. “That’s why I’ve been watching you this entire time. I know you were in contact with the CEO. I know he paid you to steal the prototype and blame my parents for its theft and for the theft of the financial records.”

“Well,” Ralph says, “I knew you overheard that phone call. So I’ve been monitoring your conversations with your parents this entire time! That’s how I found out that they were planning to frame me for the theft of the financial records if we got caught. So I faked my death and set the alarms off on them so they’d be caught red-handed!”

“I knew you knew I overheard the phone call,” you counter. A spotlight outside swings towards you, silhouetting you for this revelation. “I knew that neither of my parents could stop you when you had such a powerful backer. Only one person could get in your way. That’s why I called —“

“The police, I know,” Ralph says. He takes an aggressive step towards you and the spotlight casts him in shadow like an avenging angel. “What you don’t know is that I was the operator on the other end of the line! I knew you knew your parents wouldn’t be able to get out of my little web. They were going down and there was nothing you could do to stop it. Why you didn’t tell your parents, I don’t know. But I knew the instant you knew I faked my death, you’d call. So I hacked your phone—“

“I knew you hacked my phone,” you interrupt, taking your own aggressive step forward. Ralph’s mouth clicks shut. The magic of the story wavers around you as the plot twists yet again. “So I played your little game and pretended that I thought I was talking to the police.” You draw out your phone and turn it to show Ralph. “But really? I was sending an email to your boss.”

The magic is really confused now. It undulates around you, trying to keep the narrative tension tight. Ralph is struggling to follow the timeline of what you’re describing and, to be honest, so are you.

“The CEO?” Ralph shakes his head. “No, he’s already in on everything. He knows that I hired your parents to steal the financial records to cover for when I stole the prototype for him so that the shareholders would never know it doesn’t work—“

Magic sparks out of his eyes as he talks faster and faster, trying to keep one step ahead in this convoluted story. You’d pity him if he hadn’t made your mom cry.

“Not him,” you say, “your real boss.”

The magic snaps like a twig. The alarms stop blaring and the searchlight blinks out as the electricity dies in the building. The light of the full moon streams through the windows. Ralph gapes at you, frozen with his hand still outstretched for the blank flash drive you’re holding.

“Don’t you think it’s strange,” you continue softly. This is the tricky part. You’ve met Ralph toe-to-toe. If you’re not careful, you’re going to become his arch nemesis. “Why would the CEO hire not one, but two teams of thieves for this?”

“Your parents are the smokescreen,” Ralph says numbly. But his eyes are far away. “So that I don’t get caught stealing the prototype—“

“But the CEO wants people to know the prototype got stolen,” you say. The magic is starting up again, this new narrative forming right before your eyes. You talk a little faster. You need to get out of the center of the story before it solidifies. “Why wouldn’t he just hire the one team to do that? Why the financial records as well? It doesn’t make sense.”

Ralph is silent for a long moment. Then he inhales sharply, body jolting as if waking. “No,” he breathes. “No, it does.”

You nod. “The shareholders are your real boss. They don’t want the stock to go down. They want it to go up. Their real goal is the financial records. The prototype is a trap. A trap for—“

“A trap for me,” Ralph says. He finally looks back at you, his jaw square. There’s the sound of a car engine in the distance. “I see it now. I see everything. From the very beginning, it wasn’t about the company. It wasn’t about the money. It wasn’t even about the CEO. It was about me.”

Oh geez. You watch as Ralph paces to the window. You weren’t going to say that. You were going to claim the prototype theft was a trap for the CEO. That way the shareholders could put someone a little more willing to fudge the books in power. That way Ralph and the CEO would team up against the shareholders and resolve it together. If Ralph thinks this whole ridiculous sequence of events revolves around him…

You purse your lips and stay quiet as Ralph stares out towards the other office building.

“I’m sorry,” Ralph says. He turns and, with the moon backlighting him, he looks very tragic. Like a lone wolf. Or an anti-hero. “Forget everything you know, Fern. I shouldn’t have dragged you or your parents into this.” He closes his eyes briefly. “This is…this next job has to be me. Just me.”

You like the sound of that.

“My parents think you’re dead,” you say. You hold up your hands when he looks tragically back at you. “I don’t know what you realized, but this?” You whistle lowly. “I’m seventeen. I can’t be involved in this.”

“And you won’t be,” Ralph says. He clenches one hand into a fist, shaking it slightly. “After everything I’ve done, I owe your parents that. So long as they think I’m dead, they’ll be safe. All of you will be safe.”

“Great,” you say. A car honks outside. “Be safe, Ralph.” You turn to go.

“You too, Fern,” Ralph says. He laughs a little, seemingly unbothered by your hasty retreat. “It was fun being your uncle.”

You’re almost to the door. The magic is at your back. “Yep. Too bad you’re dead to us now. Off on your lone-wolf crusade. Later.”

“Wait!”

You unwillingly pause at the door. You can feel the story drifting all around you. You don’t turn to look at him.  “Yes, Ralph?”

“Your mom,” Ralph says awkwardly. Like the words hurt him. “She… she cried for me, didn’t she?”

Oh, yuck. 

“Nope,” you say. “No, she did not.”

“Oh,” Ralph says, nonplussed. “I just thought—“

“Bye, Ralph,” you say and race out the door.

-------

Thanks for reading! I really love this universe and especially Fern! 

Next week’s short story is already up on my Patreon (X)! If you’d like to support me and read stories a full week in advance, please check me out there!

Summary: You are caught by a devil in the woods. She wants to talk about deals and you have always been a good listener.

[moonlight-tmd]

How about Bumblebee ships where Bee has a protective uncle who is pretty much cybertronian Doomguy?

Also, how would others react to it?

Ya know, i had an idea related to the one with Bee having a decepticon dad.

What if Elita and Bee were actually related?

Like, we all seen how similar these two are, from personality to looks, it would only make sense if they were family. I was thinking of attaching it to the idea of Bee having a 'con dad but let's see if i can cook up something different...

So, I suppose the way it happened is that Bee's parents died cuz war when he was a tiny bitty. Elita, being his aunt, took him in and raised him. Bee was too little to remember his parents so Elita did her best to tell him about them when he was older. Besides her, he didn't have any other relatives.

Then, one day Elita had to leave for some mission. She promised her nephew that she'll be back soon... but she never did. Bee was in the middle of trying pass academy. Elita hired Arcee to look after Bee when she wasn't present, when the news of Elita dying on a mission reached them Bee refused to believe. He knew Auntie Eli better than anyone, he knew that she wouldn't just perish like that. Arcee stayed with him until he was old enough to be on his own, she helped him get around in life to the best of her capabilities.

Bee tried to have a normal job like Arcee suggested but it just didn't sit with him. From all the stories Auntie Eli told him about being an Elite Guard he wanted to follow her pedesteps and become one too.

He got into boot camp and then- hell started. Bee was about to quit completely when he met Bulkhead and Longarm. Still, even with the newfound hope he got kicked out. Bulkhead was kind enough to pull him into the repair crew so he won't stay unemployed.

All this time alone Bee started to slowly lose hope to ever see his aunt again... that's until they crashed on Earth.

First year and few months were quiet but then Decepticons came. And wouldn't you know-

The fight was rather messy, at some point the structures on the demolition zone started to crumble and both parties had to run. Team Prime regrouped after the building fell and the 'cons were gone. Except Bee was nowhere in sight. They searched the entire place but there was no trace of him...

Bee woke up in dark place. His frame ached, made sense considering he remembered being hit with rubble while cornered by a giant spider. What he didn't expect was him laying in some form of medbay in a cave and said spider being the one tending to him.

He was quick to jump to his pedes and take a defensive stand. He demanded answers but the femme only told him to calm down and rest. She had that worried and hurt expression on her that Bee couldn't quite place... at least until she said one specific word.

"I wouldn't hurt one of mine, Sunny." She said at some point of their half-argument. Sunny- that nickname was only used by his aunt when Bee needed comfort.

"Wai- h-how do you..?" Bee's Spark seemed to have a seizure as he tried to comprehend what she just said. She only gave him that small kind smile- an expression that gave Bee a painful realization. "...Auntie Eli?"

She nodded and Bee could only run to her and hug her as tight as her could and cry. They talked, Blackarachnia told him vaguelly where's she's been and what she did in all these years, but she never quite told him why she was a spider- all she said was that it was an accident on a mission. Bee felt so sad for her, she went thru so much all alone. He caught onto the little mention of how ugly she was when she was talking and comforted her- she was his aunt always and forever. He even changed the little nickname 'Auntie Eli' to 'Auntie Ari' cuz her name changed.

After she patched Bee up she took him outside. She told Bee to not tell anyone about it so when he came back to base he lied saying that 'cons captured him but he escaped. The others bought it.

And so Bee sneaks out sometime to go visit Blackarachnia. Sometimes they stay hidden and talk, sometimes they go somewhere far to have fun. Sometimes Bee brings her gifts to use or decorate her not-so-little cave-house. One thing about having an aunt who's a scientist is that she can fix you up like a medic, Bee most often goes to her if he has a crash while doing something behind others' backs. Blackarachnia is the type to care about whether he won that race rather than what he did is illegal, spares Bee hearing a scolding for Primus-knows-which time.

They tried to keep the enemy charade going- despite her going rogue on Megatron, she still hated Optimus and his bunch. That's until one particular fight when Starscream showed up- she was hididng from them cuz some stray organic reported suspicious activity and Star showed up out of nowhere and started fighting them. He threw Bee off a tall building, before others had a chance to do something Blackarachnia swooped in spiderman-style and caught him. Starscream fled and she lowered Bee to the ground and started looking over him to injuries, before others got too close she also fled.

Once they got back to base they were wondering what has happened, in their talk trying to figure out why Arachnia would save Bee, said scout slipped.

He ended up spilling that Blackarachnia is his aunt- of course, she used to behave and look different. He told them that she was supposedly dead but he knew better and hey, it was true! She may not be the nicest person now but she's still family.

I suppose Ratchet would still be suspicious of her cuz he heard what kinda shit she can pull.

Bulkhead has heard the full story of Bee's aunt going missing long ago- he's happy that Bee finally found her but at the same time he's kinda worried cuz she is kinda evil.

Sari is happy for him, she feels bad for the gal but she's mostly happy for them to have found each other. She did ask Bee to take her for a visit but he always said he'd have to ask his aunt first. She may have gotten to meet her one time, it was quite a fun.

Optimus... he feels all shocked, stupid and guilty- Elita never told him nor Sentinel about having a nephew. When he first saw Bee he instantly got remined of Elita, he was also the reason she went missing in the first place... he couldn't look Bee in the optic after that.

I think he would give in and tell Bee. He's ask him to speak privately outside and he'll tell him he knew Elita when they were younger. That they went to the same academy, they were on the same team... that he was on a mission with her and something went wrong and he couldn't help her in time. It didn't matter if Bee hated him afterwards, at least he'll take this weight of keeping it a secret off his Spark. To his surprise, Bee wasn't mad at him. In fact he was sympathetic towards Optimus and even asked if he knew anything more about her. They spend the evening talking about Elita and how she used to be, Bee even said some stuff about her new self from the times he snuck out to hang out with her.

So now that the information is out in the open, Bee doesn't have to hide if he wants to go see his aunt. I think at some point, Bee would ask if he can let her come over for some holiday or something. The others are wary at first but Bee told them she's not gonna do anything- Bee told them that she said 'she won't bother them if they don't bother her' and so far she's been sticking to it. No more trouble from her side. It would be very awkward for Optimus tho- like, imagine if she came over for christmas and it was just this tense atmosphere around the two- at least until Bee brings out the drinks and they start to chat... Bee did not know they used to date in academy. "What others do with their lives is not your business... also, you were too young to know this stuff." Arachnia said when Bee argued why she didn't tell him.

I think at some point Elita Guard would visit and also learn the fact Bee is family with her. Sentinel is on the first fire- Arachnia has heard enough of what he pulled with her dear nephew to want to kill him, and keep reviving him just to keep killing him again and again and again. In the end he only got slammed into the wall and nearly decapitated with a threat of making him go to the deepest of Pits if he ever hurt Bee again. Oh, and she also told him she's Elita before that to add to the injury.

Jazz and Jettwins are kinda scared of her, she can be fun but she can also kill you if you make a wrong move so...

As for the ships reactions- Prowl would be worried cuz Blackarachnia is not someone to play with- but she was Bee's aunt and she did save him so maybe she's not as evil? He tries to stay positive for Bee's sake but he always has an optic on her just in case. (If he wasn't dating Bee he'd be just worried for Bee's safety.)

ShockBee- Blackarachnia knows Shockwave. Shockwave knows Blackarachnia. If she learned that Bee and Shock are dating(when he's disguised) she would take him when no one is looking and threaten to do him worse than Blitzwing if he tried anything with her nephew. Being a double agent also meant a treacherous relationship with someone of the opposite faction, she's not gonna take chances and let Bee become his toy. She'll even make him break up with Bee if need be. Shockwave's processor is working on the highest setting, trying to come up with a solution to make peace with all he got going on in his life. Bee thinks Longarm is scared of his aunt but in reality he's actually scared not knowing what to do.

And finally, BlitzBee. I think Blitz would find out way sooner than the others- meaning that Blackarachnia caught Bee alone in the forest just before Blitz arrived at the meeting. Yeah, they tried to kill each other but Bee managed to calm them down to talk. Both were alarmed and confused that the other talked to Bee like they knew each other...

Blitz was shocked when he heard the same person that messed up his processor is his beloved's aunt. Arachnia was more disappointed and worried than angry but she still hid it behind anger. Blitzwing wasn't the best mech and she didn't want Bee getting hurt by this unstable scrapheap... yeah Bee was not having a good time.

Somehow they all made it out alive and Bee got a little bit of alone time with Blitz. Next time Bee was visiting his aunt of course she demanded answers- Bee assured her that Blitz is good to him and won't do anything to harm him.

Blitz on the other hand felt a bit betrayed that Bee didn't tell him but at the same time he understood why. All of his personalities could not have had a harder time existing with one another... In the end he couldn't stay mad at him for having a family so it was all good.

I think Bee would try to get them to ease up so he tries to get them to hang out more like family. It kind of works? There's still some bitterness towards one another but at least they can talk without making it into an argument.

If the others find out about Bee and Blitz, Arachnia would and will force them to let Bee have a relationship and do some not nice things if they don't.

She may be smaller than most of them but she's definitely someone you DON'T want to mess with. She has ways of making folks suffer more than they can imagine and she will do them if it means protecting her only joy in life that is Bee.

I really like the side idea of Optimus making peace with Elita-now-Blackarachnia and them getting back together. Optimus is just trying to be a good uncle and Bee making it an experience to remember (bad) for his amusement. They grow to like each other tho.

[songclangen]

bee

”Heatherpaw! Heatherpaw!”

Beekit pressed up against her father, watching her sister touch noses with her new mentor. She was adopted, and a moon older than Beekit, so she’d start her warrior training earlier. Beekit was insanely jealous.

”Icymoss is like the best warrior in the Clan, and she’s a moon ahead of me. How am I supposed to ever catch up?” she thought out loud once the cheering had died down.

”There are plenty of good warriors in SongClan,” Honeystripe corrected her, tapping her head with his tail as he approached Heatherpaw to congratulate her.

Beekit hadn’t meant to sound so bitter, and sincerely hoped Heatherpaw hadn’t heard her. She should be happy for her sister, and she was. But it just wasn’t completely fair. Heatherpaw was better than her at pretty much everything already, despite not being born in the Clan and having been very small when she was found. They were actually pretty close in size despite the moon between them, but Heatherpaw was lean and nimble, while Beekit still stumbled over her own paws if she got distracted by a butterfly.

”Congrats, Heatherpaw!” Beekit smiled, pressing her cheek to her sisters anyway. It felt a little forced, so she quickly continued talking; ”I wish Icymoss could become my mentor. You’re so lucky!” That didn’t help, did it?

”Thanks,” Heatherpaw nodded, voice even as usual. ”He’s kind of a goofball, you two would never get anything done.” 

Beekit forced a small laugh. It was hard to tell when Heatherpaw was joking, because her expression was always so unrevealing, but she’d started to get the cues. Still, she didn’t find it very funny.

”Speaking of…” Honeystripe mumbled, nodding to Icymoss who was stood at the entrance of the Camp. ”Don’t you have a territory tour to get to?”

Heatherpaw bounded off without saying goodbye, and Beekit let out a tense breath. She did like Heatherpaw, of course. But they were so different. They had always been different. Heatherpaw didn’t like to play that much, even when they both had been kits. She had preferred to hunt leaves or bugs in silence, and she didn’t like pretending she was an enemy warrior when they wrestled, so Beekit always had to be that. And Heatherpaw always won. Not because she desperately wanted to, she was just better. Beekit was actually pretty bad at play-fighting.

Once she did become an apprentice, she and Heatherpaw would be the only ones. The idea of sharing a den with her sister alone wasn’t all that appealing. Beekit had lots  of weird dreams all the time, and Heatherpaw would always scold her for waking her up. Not to mention, being one step behind her all the time in training would be annoying.

Maybe Tallbeam or Pronghorn could be her mentor. They were some of the best fighters and hunters in the Clan, and respected warriors. Really, as long as it wasn’t Bugskitter, she’d be happy. That tom really had it out for her. Once, when she was small, she’d asked why he was always so cold and nasty to her. My sister would still be alive if it weren’t for you, he’d said. Beekit had been so shocked and scared that she’d never asked him what he meant, and when she asked her dad, Honeystripe had just told her not to listen to him, that it wasn’t her fault. She still didn’t know what wasn’t her fault, but she would never hurt any cat. Whatever Bugskitter had been talking about must have been a lie. That’s what she told herself, anyway. Really, she didn’t really want to know, because the whole thing just made her feel awful.

The moon before her apprentice ceremony came and went. Any day now, Amberstar would call a meeting and set on her on the warrior path. Like the last few nights, Beekit found herself sleepless. Her uncle Bearfreckle was snoozing soundly in the nursery den (usually someone would to keep her company), his breaths light but weighed with sleep. It didn’t give her much comfort, though.

She didn’t know why she was so nervous to become an apprentice. Deep down, she knew it wasn’t just excitement, like everyone told her. And although she just knew she’d mess up a lot and probably be a terrible hunter and fighter, it wasn’t just doubt either. Something felt wrong. The idea of fighting itself felt horrifying, she couldn’t understand how warriors took such pride in it. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, ever! For any reason!

Restless and feeling like ants were crawling through her pelt, she got to her paws and got out of the nursery. The early Greenleaf air was cool and still. There was no wind and no sound of insects, just perfect silence. At camp’s edge she saw Gulldrizzle’s silhouette, keeping guard. She was facing out into the territory, so she didn’t notice Beekit.

Above, countless stars shone steadily down on her. Finally, a calm feeling began to spread through her body. She loved the stars. Pretty much everyone agreed that they were beautiful and comforting, since StarClan was up there. But when she looked up there, she got the same feeling as she did when she saw Honeystripe, or heard his voice. The comfort that told her no matter what, everything was going to be okay.

Laying down in the soft grass outside the nursery, she tilted her head so she could look up at them. They looked back, like they always did. Then, a shape began to take form between the little white dots. A milky white shadow, that grew more and more intense. Beekit threw herself up, and almost lost her balance when she realized the stars weren’t just above her, but all around her, even under her paws!

Her fur tingled with fear, breath quickening. Then, a voice.

”Don’t be afraid,” it said.

She looked ahead again, and the pale shape had turned into…a cat! A white cat, sitting a few tail-lengths ahead of her, with her tail neatly wrapped around her paws. The first thing Beekit noticed was how one of her ears was folded over her head. Her expression was bright and focused, and Beekit almost felt uncomfortable by the intensity of her deep gaze.

”Hello, Beekit” the she-cat mewed.

Beekit forgot to answer for a moment, then mewed back quietly; ”Hi.”

”You’ve grown so much!” the she-cat burst out with a big smile, then closed her eyes briefly as if to contain her emotions. ”See, I’ve been watching you ever since you were born.”

”Oh,” was all Beekit could force out, still a bit taken aback by seemingly floating among the stars. It finally hit her that she was dreaming, and that calmed her down a little. It was a weird dream, sure, but not weirder than the time she’d dreamt that she was an actual bee, flying between flowers, and all her Clanmates were also bees all living in a hive and making honey instead of hunting.

”Do…” the stranger paused, tilting her head. ”Do you know who I am?”

She sounded very hopeful, so Beekit made sure to think really hard. She’d never seen a cat with a folded ear, and she was sure she’d remember that. Finally, she shook her head slightly.

The she-cat sunk a little bit, looking down at her paws. ”No, of course not…” she mumbled, then stood up. ”That’s alright. My name is Peatswan.” She paused, looking at Beekit expectantly, like that would mean anything to her. It didn’t. Peatswan cleared her throat, looking a bit worried. ”Um, I’m a StarClan cat, but maybe you guessed that?”

Beekit hadn’t guessed that, but now she did notice the stars twinkling in the cat’s fur. They hadn’t been easy to see, since she was as white as snow. Then a chill ran up her spine.

”Wait…am I dead? Am I in StarClan?” she gasped, rising to her paws quickly.

The she-cat’s eyes widened, then she purred with amusement. ”No, you’re not dead. This is StarClan, sort of. Our hunting grounds are in a different place, but I thought maybe it would be good to talk to you somewhere less foreign. Though I now realize this isn’t very normal, either.”

As she talked, a weird feeling buzzed in Beekit’s chest. She suddenly realized her voice was familiar. Had she seen this cat in a dream before, and forgotten? Without thinking, Beekit walked up to the StarClan warrior. Peatswan tensed up, but Beekit couldn’t help herself. Once she was close enough to smell her properly, another chill spread through her body. The scent was sweet and so familiar, like walking into the nursery after being out of it for a whole day. Who was this cat? More and more, it was like she could almost remember, but it was buried deep in her mind.

Then she took a few steps back, realizing she was being a bit rude to this stranger. ”Sorry. Um…did you want to tell me anything in particular?”

Looking up at the she-cat’s face, she was surprised. The white warrior was smiling, but her eyes were so full of sadness and grief that Beekit felt her whole chest twist into knots. Had she said something bad?

”Are you okay?” she asked softly.

”Yes,” the she-cat nodded, almost laughing. ”Yes, I’m okay, Beekit. It’s sweet of you to ask. You’re right, I did want to tell you something.”

”What?” Beekit asked, sitting down in the field of stars.

”As I said, I’ve been watching you since you were born. So has all of StarClan. Do you remember when you were a little kit, and you dreamt that you were buried under the snow?”

Beekit shuddered. ”Yes, and then a blizzard came and all the dens got snowed in overnight…it was scary.”

”That was actually StarClan talking to you, in a dream,” Peatswan explained.

Beekit tilted her head, thinking. ”So it was like…a warning? I’m sorry, I didn’t know that…” she apologized, feeling bad. If she’d understood that, she could have told everyone to prepare for the storm.

”It’s okay, we knew you would all be alright. Otherwise we could have sent it to Ratquill or Riverpetal.”

”So why did you send it to me?” Beekit asked.

Peatswan twitched her whiskers with amusement. ”Isn’t it obvious?” she purred. ”You care so much about your Clanmates, and all you want is to help them and make sure everyone is okay, right?” Beekit nodded at this, suddenly feeling more understood than she ever had before. ”That’s why StarClan thinks you would make a good medicine cat. That’s why your dreams are so vivid, too. You have a very strong connection with us.”

”Really?” Beekit chirped, surprised more than anything.

She hadn’t really considered becoming a medicine cat before. The Clan had always had two, and Ratquill and Riverpetal were excellent at their duty. But then…Ratquill had passed away recently. That’s why Riverpetal hadn’t been able to hang out with her and show her stinky herbs the last moon; he’d been too stressed and busy. She’d felt so sad for him. But now, maybe she could finally help him!

”I’m going to be a medicine cat?” she meowed, standing up, paws restless with excitement. This felt nothing like her doubt about being a warrior, this felt completely right! As a medicine cat, she wouldn’t have to practice fighting, she would just get to help her friends and family when they got sick! That was the dream!

”Does that make you happy?” Peatswan meowed, though it seemed she knew the answer.

”Yes! Very!” Beekit mewed and threw herself forward to press her head against the StarClan warrior’s chest. ”Thank you, Peatswan!”

Peatswan laughed and pressed their heads together in a warm embrace, and although they had just met, it felt so familiar and comforting and just right, and Beekit was filled with so much warmth and happiness that her heart was about to pound out of her chest.

Then, she suddenly felt the ground materialize under her body and cool night air surround her, and Peatswan’s warm body was gone. She was laying in the grass outside the nursery again, but not for long. Brimming with excitement, she scrambled to her paws quicker than prey running from a warrior’s claws and bounded into the warriors den.

”Honeystripe! Father, wake up!” she yowled, crawling over her adult Clanmates where they slept. They all protested loudly to being woken up, some beginning to scold her, but she didn’t care.

”What is it, Beekit? Are you okay?” Honeystripe meowed worriedly once she found him.

”I just had the craziest dream!” she meowed, instantly being hushed.

”No one cares about your stupid dream, Beekit…” Breezebriar grumbled, his amber eyes glinting in the darkness.

”What did you dream, Honeybee?” Honeystripe continued, slightly calmed now.

Beekit took a deep breath, and began to retell her experience in a whisper; ”I met a warrior from StarClan, she was so beautiful and nice, her name was Peatswan, and she told me that StarClan has watched over me and sent me dreams — you remember my dream about the blizzard that came true, right? — and...” she trailed off as she saw her father’s expression change to one she couldn’t read, and suddenly everyone in the den were looking at her. ”What is it?”

”What did she say to you, Beekit?” Twigmoor asked from where she was laying nearby, deep curiosity in her face.

”She told me that I’m supposed to become a medicine cat,” Beekit said, feeling odd suddenly, but smiled at Honeystripe. ”Isn’t that great?”

Finally, he cracked into a smile, and she recognized the look in his eye. It was the same as Peatswans had been, in her dream. ”That sounds like something you’d be good at,” he said.

The stiff silence shifted, some beginning to purr congratulations to her, or speaking quietly to each other. Twigmoor leaned closer to her brother.

”You have to tell her now,” she mumbled seriously, and Honeystripe nodded.

”Tell me what?” Beekit asked, but Honeystripe just stood up from his nest and guided her out of the den with his tail. ”Sorry for waking all of you up!”

Honeystripe led her to the edge of the Camp, above the slope behind the leader’s den. There they sat down. Beekit was prickling with anticipation.

”What is it?” she repeated, studying his face with the unreadable expression.

”I want to tell you about your mother,” he said.

Beekit perked up. She’d wondered about her mother since Ratquill told her where kits came from — her father had been annoyed the old medicine cat her told her that when she was ”too young”, but Beekit had actually understood it pretty well — because that meant Honeystripe couldn’t have done it all himself exactly. Though, there were other families in the Clan that weren’t so obvious how they came to be. Either way, when she’d asked him about it, he had become quiet and upset, and not given her an answer. Even though she had been little at the time, she had understood that she shouldn’t ask about it. Besides, she had Twigmoor and Bearfreckle too, they had helped take care of her since she was born, and the three of them had always been enough. So she’d tried to stop thinking about it.

Honeystripe went on to tell her about how amazing her mother had been. Apparently she was very funny, and knew a lot of things that no one else seemed to know, and could copy bird sounds. Then the story turned very sad. When Beekit was born, her mother had died. Apparently this could happen sometimes, and there was nothing medicine cats could do, and it was no one’s fault.

Beekit was struck with a grief so deep that she had to crouch down.

”Was she Bugskitter’s sister?” she asked, looking up at her father, remembering the warrior’s cold words when she was little.

”Yes,” Honeystripe nodded. ”Bugskitter loved her very much, and misses her very much, just like I do.”

Beekit nodded solemnly, her mean feelings for Bugskitter melting away into sympathy. He couldn’t help being angry, and she could understand. After a brief silence, she asked;

”And Peatswan was my mother?”

”Yes, that’s right,” Honeystripe nodded, laying down next to her.

Beekit had known she and the white warrior were connected from the moment she felt her scent. It had resonated deep within her, filling voids inside her that had been there since she was born. It just felt stupid to start assuming things like that based on so little, and she had trained herself not think about her mother for so long. But deep in her heart, maybe she had known it.

”I’m so glad I’m becoming a medicine cat now, I probably get to see her again soon,” Beekit hummed, smiling to herself. Then she was suddenly struck with guilt after saying that, since Honeystripe clearly missed her a lot. She looked up at him to meet his eyes. ”I’m so sorry, Dad. It must have been so hard when she died.”

The emotion in Honeystripe’s eyes almost made her look away, but she held fast. ”You remind me of her so much, Honeybee. When you’re around, I don’t need to miss her so much.