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the-letter-horror-lover · 2 years

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Through the Years

Kimberly_T

Summary:

Young Ciel Phantomhive had made a contract with Sebastian to defeat and get his revenge on those who had once all but destroyed him. However, Ciel had honestly never thought it would take so long to destroy his enemies, that he would grow up first. Join the Phantomhive household as they snicker, scream, snark, cry, and smuggle in kittens... through the years.

Chapter 5: His Master, Ashamed

Notes:

This fanfic is based on the manga, not the anime, and its background incorporates all the manga events up through chapter 106. (It may end up being canon-compliant for later chapters of the manga, but at this point we'll just have to wait and see.) This fic also incorporates the concept "practice makes perfect;" that is, if they keep doing their jobs long enough, the Phantomhive servants will eventually become reasonably good at them. (Or at the very least, not quite so bad at them!) And it counts the years after Ciel first made a contract with Sebastian, which is why the story starts at Year Four instead of Year One.

Chapter 1: YEAR FOUR, Part 1: His Master, Growing

Chapter Text

In the spring of Ciel Phantomhive's fourteenth year, and very soon after returning from a mission on the Queen's business to the Ivory Coast, the young earl suddenly began to grow taller.

And at first, he did not appreciate it.

"Damn that witch doctor! Straight to hell!" Ciel groaned while writhing on his mattress, trying but unable to straighten out his legs; the muscles there seemed to have tied themselves in excruciatingly painful knots under his skin. "He said his gods would bless me because we saved the village, but he must have cursed me instead!"

"I do not think what is happening to you is a curse, young master," his butler Sebastian said calmly, while holding Ciel's left leg and massaging the calf muscles. "Rather, I think it is simply muscle spasms, though peculiarly strong... and I'll admit that I'm currently at a loss as to why they have occurred. You were certainly not over-exercising earlier..."

Just then the earl and butler were surprised by a knock on Ciel's bedroom door, and the voice of Baldroy the chef came floating through the wood: "Young Master, Sebastian? Mind if I come in?"

Ciel and Sebastian exchanged startled glances; it was rare that Bard ventured up to the earl's bedroom, so far from the kitchen that he held as his territory. Ciel gave permission to enter and Bard came in, wearing a rather peculiar expression; like he wasn't sure whether to be happy or worried over something.

"Sir, Finny just came tearing into the kitchen cryin' buckets again, an' worried to death over you. He said you was nappin' under the elm tree with a book on your face, when you suddenly woke up and started screaming in pain while grabbing at your legs! And then Sebastian came flyin' in and carried you up here before he could find out who'd attacked you and how. So... is that what happened?"

"I wasn't napping!" Ciel snapped, blushing hotly. "I was just resting my eyes while pondering what I'd just read about—about China's current political climate!"

"Uh-huh. Yes, sir," Bard said with what possibly threatened to become a smirk, as everyone very deliberately did not look at the book that had been tossed heedlessly onto the nightstand: Gulliver's Travels. "But aside from what your eyes were doing, he got the rest right? You just woke up with a bad pain in your legs? Mostly here in the calves, right?" as he thumped down on the other side of the bed, and set to massaging the muscles of Ciel's right leg while Sebastian continued working on the left.

"You seem to have some knowledge of this ailment," Sebastian said almost grudgingly, looking at the cook through narrowed eyes. "Would you care to share with the rest of the class?"

"What, you really don't know?" as Bard stared at Sebastian in surprise. "Well, that's a first; for once, I know more about somethin' than you do! Huh, wait'll I tell Mey-Rin... Naw, better not; she'll think the sky's gonna start falling next."

Ciel glared at the cook over his shoulder as he snapped, "Bard, stop congratulating yourself on being the Fount of Wisdom for once, and tell me what the hell's happening to me!"

"Sorry, sir!" as Bard almost saluted out of sheer reflex, before he went back to massaging Ciel's leg. "Anyways, it's really nothin' to worry about; you just got a charley horse! Or I should say a pair of 'em, and probably feeling big enough to pull a stagecoach."

"Charley horse?" Sebastian echoed, one elegant eyebrow raised.

"Yup. Dunno why they're called that, but I got 'em myself sometimes, back when I was a teenager, and so did some of the younger bucks in my old squad." Still massaging, Bard leaned forward to say earnestly to the earl, "Wakin' up with a charley horse is actually a good sign, young master; it means you're growing up! It's just that your growing bones an' growing muscles ain't quite caught up to each other yet, or somethin' like that. It don’t happen to everyone, but guys that got tall folks in their family tree tend to get ‘em when they start really shooting up in height."

Still digging his fingers into the mattress, Ciel stopped groaning and looked at Bard, his uncovered eye wide. "I'm... growing? Getting taller? Are you sure?" he said, and there was no disguising the raw hope in his voice.

Bard gave a cheerful shrug in response. "It fits the pattern; charley horses, needin' more sleep all of a sudden, and your plates have been coming back to the kitchen practically scraped clean lately. Have your shoes been pinching you too, sir? The biggest growth spurts start at the feet an' go from the bottom up; that's what my old man always said, back when."

"My... my shoes were pinching my feet, feeling too tight earlier," Ciel half-whispered, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards in a painful grin. "I thought it was because they'd gotten wet and had shrunk a bit while drying, but... Sebastian, I'm getting taller!"

"That is indeed wonderful news, young master," Sebastian said with a polite smile. "If you like, we can start measuring your progress in the classic fashion, with marks showing your height against an appropriate wall... though first, we must get you capable of standing upright again. Try extending your leg now, sir..."

They started that very afternoon, with a pencil being laid precisely level on top of Ciel's head before marking the wall in a discreet corner of his dressing room. Then exactly one month later, they measured his height again—and the next mark was just under three-quarters of an inch higher on the wall. Another month passed, and the third mark was a full inch and a half higher than the first.

There was a definite spring in the young earl's step as he strode about the manor... that is, whenever he wasn't stumbling, banging into cabinets or tripping over his own feet, as his body had apparently decided to trade coordination for height. Or when he wasn't lying on the bed, cursing in phrases that would shock even the saltiest sailor, and clutching his pillow while Sebastian massaged the cramps out of his legs.

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To be continued...

Chapter 2: His Butler, Introducing

Notes:

Yes, I'm introducing an OC in this chapter. No, she's not here to Save the Day, or make either Ciel or Sebastian fall madly in love with her. :-P

Also, I'm aware that in the Black Butler Wiki, Tanaka is officially listed as the House Steward, though unofficially retired. But if he was actually the House Steward, Tanaka would outrank Sebastian and hold authority over him as well as the other servants, including the authority to hire & fire. Proper butler aesthetics would have Sebastian treating him deferentially, instead of dismissively. As an example, rather than lining up with the other servants at the daily meetings, Tanaka would be standing next to Sebastian and approving the orders the butler gives, even if that approval consisted of just a soft ‘ho ho ho’ while sipping his tea. So in my fic, he’s still a Steward, but the lesser rank of Wine Steward instead.

Chapter Text

Two weeks after the third mark indicating increasing height was penciled on the wall, the Earl Phantomhive and his demon butler came back to the manor after another extended mission for the Queen, at an extremely early hour and with a new servant in tow. The earl retired to bed with the stated intention of sleeping the next two days straight, so once the sun had risen, Sebastian introduced the new servant to the others at the conclusion of the daily meeting for announcements and tasking.

"When the master awakens, which will likely be in the afternoon, he will also likely be ravenous; he must be immediately served a high tea with both meat pie and pastries. To that end, a platter of cakes will be prepared no later than noontime and kept covered until the tea, a small pork pie shall be prepared and kept warm on the back burner, and a kettle shall be kept on for making tea at a moment's notice—-and you must not let the kettle boil dry again, Baldroy," as the butler fixed the chef with a meaningful stare.

"Here now, I ain't ruined a kettle in at least two months!" Bard protested.

And finally, there is one more thing to inform all of you: we have a new addition to the manor staff." While the servants murmured amongst themselves, Sebastian turned to the kitchen door and said, "Please enter."

The door creaked open and a woman entered the room, clad in a female servant's basic uniform. A woman of slender build and average height, though the hair piled atop her head in a massive coiled bun made her seem taller. What little skin was showing outside her uniform, namely her face and hands, had an olive tone to it that suggested at least partly Mediterranean ancestry. Her lips were full and her eyes were brown in an oval-shaped face, but by far the most noticeable feature was the still-pink scar that nearly bisected her visage, running diagonally from her left brow to the right corner of her mouth.

Her eyes were flickering nervously from person to person, and definitely widened with shock when she saw Snake with that morning’s companion standing in a row with the others, but the woman stood straight and her voice was clear as she said politely and with a slight French accent, "My name is Dahlia. It is a pleasure to meet you all; I look forward to working with you."

"Dahlia will be working as the laundress and seamstress, which will relieve our housemaid of some of her burden," Sebastian informed them all. "And when there are no clothes or linens in need of cleaning or mending, she is to assist either the chef in meal preparation or the maid in particular cleaning projects, as the situation at the time warrants. Everyone, please introduce yourselves and your positions."

"I am Tanaka, the Phantomhive household wine steward," Tanaka said as he gave a short bow to the newcomer.

"I'm Baldroy, the chef. But folks call me Bard," the chef said with a nod of greeting as he thumbed his chest.

"This one is Snake, and the one on his shoulders is Oscar," Said Snake, gesturing first at his chest and then at the snake draped over his shoulders. "Snake is the footman. Pleased to meet you. Says Oscar."

"I'm Finny, the gardener!" the boy said with a grin and a friendly wave.

"And I'm Mey-Rin, the maid! It'll be good to have another girl in the house, it will!" she said with a cheerful curtsey.

"It's fortunate you feel that way, Mey-Rin, because she'll be taking the unused bed in your room," Sebastian informed her. "And now that introductions have been made, everyone, to your duties! I will spend much of the day supervising Dahlia's first day of work on the laundry, to ensure it meets our high standards. Although she has said she already knows how to launder and care for an assortment of fabrics.... which is something of a first for this household," Sebastian added dryly. Then with a sharp clap of his hands, he sent everyone off to their assorted duties.

Ten minutes later, Sebastian and Dahlia were in the mansion's laundry room, and Sebastian watched closely as she performed a dry-run demonstration to show that she did indeed know how to use the electric washing mill kept there, as well as the wringer mounted over it. "I must say, I find it odd that someone of your former profession would be so familiar with laundering clothes," he commented when she was finished. "I've noticed that washer-women usually have greatly reddened and chapped hands."

"For people who do laundry day-in and day-out, their hands probably do suffer like that," Dahlia responded as she looked through each item that needed laundering, looking for stains that would require particular care to remove. "But we girls only did it on the days we were bleeding, and therefore unqualified for our regular work—except for those clients who liked girls in that state, that is," as she frowned. "So everyone did it for the entire House, but just a few days a month. And we all learned very quickly how to do the job right. Girls who displeased either the Master or the Madame, for any reason... well, you saw what happened to them."

"The Flowerboxes," Sebastian responded, his face expressionless. Dahlia gave a curt nod of confirmation, her every muscle tense. "A far more effective punishment than many would realize."

"Yes. And that wasn't the only way they came up with to hurt people without leaving a mark on them. So anyway, whatever the stain is, whether bloodstain or food stain or... If it can be smeared onto the body or comes out of it, I've cleaned it at least a dozen times in the last twenty years, and out of sheets made of fabrics from cheap cotton muslin to the finest silk and satin." Then she stopped talking for a while as she washed the tablecloths and master's white shirts that made the first load of laundry, wrung the excess water out, and carried them in a basket outside to the clothesline.

As she finished pinning the last shirt to the line in a manner that would leave no visible clothespin marks on it afterwards, Sebastian nodded in approval. "You have done well so far. So I shall leave you to your task, trusting that if you do run into an unexpected situation, you will come seek me out or wait for my return rather than deal with the unknown on your own." Casting an experienced eye on the weather and the shirts, he said, "We shall allow three hours for the first load to dry. When I return, I will show you the particular way our young master likes his shirts ironed; he is very particular indeed about his shirt collars."

And with that, he turned to go back inside, took three steps—and stopped with Dahlia's voice came floating behind him, sounding bewildered. "Wait, there's ironing, too? We never ironed the sheets, or the... I've never ironed anything before!"

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Seven hours later, the master bedroom's bell rang in the servant's quarters, to alert them that their young master was awake and needed tending to. Sebastian brought him a trolley fully laden for a hearty afternoon tea, with a pork pie, finger sandwiches and tea cakes as well. Given how Ciel had become nigh-constantly hungry since his growth spurt had begun, Sebastian harbored no serious concerns about spoiling his dinner.

To Sebastian's mild surprise, instead of sitting up in bed in his nightshirt, Ciel was already clad in a dressing gown and sitting at his table, and wearing a highly disgruntled expression. Why—ah, of course. Again, Sebastian silently sighed as he served the tea, an Assam blend that was one of the young master's favorites. Once the master was properly situated with his food and drink, Sebastian gestured at the bed. "Shall I strip the sheets and take them to the laundry, sir?"

"You should know by now; take them out and burn them," Ciel growled, blushing while scowling down at his sandwich.

Sebastian sighed aloud this time. "Young master, if you insist on continuing this practice, I shall have to go to London immediately to purchase new sheets for your bed; we have emptied the linen closet of all the reserve sets of sheets. I shall also have to purchase new nightshirts for you to wear, since I assume you would be unwilling to wear a larger male’s hand-me-downs. And might I remind you that we have just taken on a laundress? One who, unlike Mey-Rin, has a great deal of experience with washing sheets and clothing carrying this particular stain...”

The teenager stared at him in incredulous dismay. "Absolutely not; that would be even worse! That means she'll know exactly what it is, what it's from—and after I just promised her she'd be leaving that part of her old life behind! She'll think I'm the worst sort of lying pervert!"

That could be a possible reaction, Sebastian acknowledged. Best to wait a week or so, to give her time to settle in, before bringing up such matters with her. "Very well, master," he said with a bow. "These shall be burned. And when I go to London, I shall inquire about buying sheets in large quantities."

"Good." Ciel buried his blush in his teacup, surfacing only to take what the butler thought were appallingly large bites of his food; eating at a most unseemly speed while Sebastian stripped the bed and replaced the sheets with the very last set they had in that size. When the bed was finished, Ciel asked between bites, "How's she doing so far?"

"Young master, great hunger is still not a suitable excuse for a man of your station to talk with his mouth full... Dahlia has met the staff but had little chance to talk with them yet, except brief conversations with Mey-Rin when the maid dropped off more linens for laundering. As for her duties, she does indeed know how to wash various types of fabrics and the best ways of hanging clothes to dry. For mending, she did reasonably well in darning a sock that Finny had worn a hole in. She is also proving to be a quick learner on the proper ways to fold the linens and various articles of clothing. But in regards to ironing..." Sebastian sighed. "All the good that I can truthfully say amounts to: She has not burned down the laundry room. Yet."

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Later that afternoon, Dahlia entered the kitchen with a sheepish expression and her right hand lightly bandaged. "A little accident while ironing," she admitted with a blush. "But at least Sebastian was able to dodge the iron before it could hit his foot."

"Here, lemme see it; I got experience with burns," Bard said as he beckoned to her. He unwrapped the bandage and inspected her burned fingers, and declared, "Not bad; must have gotten your hand into cold water right away. Just a first-degree burn, it'll be fine in a few days. "

All the other servants were present in the kitchen already; Finny was mashing potatoes for shepherd's pie, Snake was peeling carrots for the pie and for the side dish, and Mey-Rin was polishing the silver for the master's dinner. After Dahlia promised that her mild burns wouldn't slow her down and she was ready and eager to do her part in making dinner, Bard put her to work in rolling out the piecrust dough he'd just finished mixing, while he moved on to preparing the sauce needed for the side dish of apricot-glazed carrots.

As he put the pot on the stove, Bard asked Dahlia, “So, what’s your specialty?”

Dahlia looked at him quizzically. “Are you referring to what type of dish I make best? I suppose it would be chocolate-covered strawberries…”

“Yum!” Finny piped up happily from where he was mashing potatoes.

Bard waved his hand dismissively. “Naw, not that stuff; I’m talking about what your main job was before here.”

Dahlia stiffened, as her face went carefully blank.

“Hey, I’m not asking for you to tell us yer whole history,” Bard hastened to add, while lighting the burner. “We all got pasts that we don’t talk about much. But if trouble comes, it’s better to know everything your comrades are capable of. So, what are you good at?”

Dahlia slowly looked at everyone around her. Mey-Rin had paused in polishing the silver and Finny in his potato-mashing, and both were looking at her expectantly. Snake had not paused in his task of peeling the carrots, but he was glancing sideways at her and the snake around his shoulders had risen up to look in Dahlia’s direction.

Dahlia cast her eyes back down at the dough as she slowly resumed rolling it out. “I… understand, please, I didn’t generally enjoy it at all. But I was reasonably good at… at destroying lives.”

Bard put the lid on the pot so it would come to a boil faster, as he said without hesitation, “Well, yeah, we all figured that, but how exactly?”

Dahlia dropped the rolling pin with a clatter, and spun around to stare at him. “Qu-quoi?!”

Bard frowned at her. “Sebastian didn’t tell you? That’s what I meant about pasts we don’t talk about much. Before we came here, most of us, all we were good at was killing.” He gestured over at the maid as he continued, “When she takes her glasses off, Mey-Rin can put a bullet right between a man’s eyes from a hundred yards away.”

“A hundred and twenty yards,” Mey-Rin corrected him with a wry grin. “Sebastian measured it, he did!”

“And Finny there, he’s super-strong; he can rip a tree right out of the ground and then beat you to death with it.”

“Yeah, but I don’t like to; it would kill the tree too,” as Finny looked troubled.

“Snake, well, all his best friends are poisonous,” Bard said with a shrug.

Snake paused in his work to raise a finger and inform them, “Shelley and Coleridge aren’t poisonous; they squeeze and suffocate to kill instead. Says Emily.”

“Tanaka is downright incredible with a sword, and he's an expert at hand-to-hand stuff too; he may be gettin’ on in years, but he can still tie a man’s arms in knots.” Tanaka gave Dahlia a courteous nod of confirmation as he sipped his tea. “And me, I work with explosives and firearms of all kinds,” Bard finished, thumbing his chest with a measure of pride. Dahlia had stared at each person in turn as their favored method of killing was mentioned, and her eyes were wide as saucers by the time Bard finished, “So that’s why I asked, what’s your specialty?”

“I did say, Dahlia, that the staff here would surprise you,” Sebastian said with a soft chuckle, making everyone except Snake jump; they hadn’t heard him come in. “You may feel free to confide in them, at least regarding your preferred methods for killing when it's warranted.”

After another few seconds of silent staring, Dahlia stepped back from the counter as she wiped the flour from her hands with a dishtowel, and then reached up to pull a matching pair of hair sticks out of her bun. Her hair came down in a long, thick black braid that reached clear to her upper thighs.

Bard’s eyes widened and his lips pursed in a whistle. “Now that is a lot of hair!”

“I have heard it said that a woman’s hair is her pride,” Sebastian said slyly. “And in Dahlia’s case, it is also her most lethal weapon.”

Dahlia tugged the braid forward over her shoulder, and held the last eighteen inches of its length between her hands as she said with a rather pained grimace of a smile, “Twenty-three men have been strangled to death with this braid.”

“Twenty-three?” Sebastian echoed, looking at her in mild surprise. “Your previous employer exaggerated, then; before he met his end, he boasted to us that you had killed fifty men with your hair.”

“It’s probably more than that by now; I... I lost count somewhere along the way. But the rest weren’t strangled; they were either stabbed to death, or poisoned,” Dahlia explained as she brandished the hair sticks, which were tipped with sharp gleaming steel. Then she worked her fingers through the braid, and pulled out a series of tiny throwing blades. After laying twelve blades out for the others to inspect, she reached inside the neckline of her uniform to tug out a necklace, at the end of which was a small silver locket. “Poison for coating the blades in,” she explained as she showed it to them before tucking the locket away again, and then meticulously hiding each blade back inside the braid and pinning it up again. “I've also done target practice with handguns, but guns were hard to conceal in, ah, the clothes I wore most often.”

“Oh, these clothes are easy to hide guns in!” Mey-Rin piped up while polishing the silver. “I’ve got two on me right now, and I could hide three more without too much trouble. I can show you later, if you like.”

“And if we can spare the time tomorrow, I’ll take you out to the firing range and see if any of the guns we have on hand suit you. After you pick out a gun you like, we can get you a holster for hiding it,” Bard said as he pulled the lid off the pot and began stirring the now boiling contents. “Snake, you got the carrots ready?”

“You… want me to be even more lethal?” Dahlia stared at them, clearly appalled. “Don’t tell me you also expect me to sedu—”

“They want you to be even more prepared, Dahlia,” Sebastian interrupted, his voice firm. “That is the master’s wish, as well. All servants of the Phantomhive family must be prepared to defend their master and the estate at a moment’s notice.”

“And getting you better equipped to kill from a distance, gives you better odds of surviving the next attack,” Bard said, scowling. “Don’t go getting the wrong ideas; we’re not the kind of folks that like killing! We just don’t mind doing it when we gotta, and we’re damn good at it. But we came here, all of us—well, some of us anyway—because the Earl gave us a future where we could do more than killing. When I first came here, I didn’t even know how to fry an egg! But now I can cook all kinds of meals—”

“With assistance and with frequent do-overs,” Sebastian interrupted dryly.

Bard flushed bright red. “Yeah, well, I’m getting better! And anyway, the point is, we all had to learn skills at something else besides killing, and it was hard learning too, but we did it and we’re still doing it and we’re happy to be doing it! But the master has to deal with a lot of nasty characters, working as he does as the Queen's Watchdog, and sometimes trouble follows him home. And that’s when it pays to be still damn good at killing, too.”

“Surprisingly well said, Baldroy,” Sebastian commented, and the chef first grinned at the compliment, and then frowned at the implied insult. “But now we have other matters to deal with,” as he clapped his hands to command their full attention. “The master’s growth spurt may be accelerating; he has requested an additional course for his dinner tonight, rosemary-baked chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese…”

Bard groaned aloud, while Tanaka chuckled into his tea. Sebastian rolled up his sleeves to work alongside the others, and the kitchen became far too busy for idle conversation.

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Another author's note: "Quoi?" is French for "What?!"

Chapter 3: His Master, Awake at Night

Chapter Text

At the end of the new laundress Dahlia's first day on staff, Mey-Rin showed her the room they'd be sharing from now on. "...Emptied the two bottom drawers for you. And here, you have the right side of the wardrobe for hanging your skirts, and a dress if you have one for going somewhere on your hours off," the maid chattered while showing her where to put her belongings. "Did Sebastian tell you when yours will be? Everybody has Sunday off between breakfast and teatime, and then for evenings off, Bard has Tuesdays, I have Wednesdays, Snake has Thursdays, Finny has Fridays and Sebastian has Saturday evenings off—when he bothers to take time off at all; he's truly a dedicated man, he is! But I expect yours will be Monday evenings."

"What about Tanaka; which is his evening off?" Dahlia asked while opening the valise containing her few belongings. Most of the items in the valise were standard household servant uniforms, new and fresh from the shop, but there were a few small trinkets as well.

"Eh, well, any time is his time off if he wants it," Mey-Rin shrugged, causing Dahlia to stare at her in surprise. "You see, officially Tanaka is the household's wine steward, like they have in the homes for the highest nobles or the very, very wealthy. Some place where they go through so much wine every month for the family and the guests, that they have a servant just to take care of the wine cellar's stock, they do!"

I visited a home like that once," Dahlia commented with a hint of a wry smile. "But this isn't that kind of home, I presume?"

"Oh no, not at all! We have a wine cellar, a big one, but our master is still years too young for serious drinking, yes he is. And he hardly ever throws fancy dinners or parties, where you'd expect a lot of wine to be poured. We do get some businessmen and such visiting, but most of those who come here on business are fine with just drinking tea like the earl does. So there's hardly ever anything that Tanaka has to do, really," Mey-Rin shrugged, while slipping out of her shoes and giving them a quick cleaning before putting them away at the foot of her bed. "So he can come and go as he pleases, but he hardly ever does; he mostly just drinks tea and keeps us company when we have time to chat, or lends us a hand if we're really busy and it's somebody's evening off."

That made Dahlia frown. "And is the master aware that you have such a layabout on staff?"

"Oh, not a layabout!" Mey-Rin corrected her swiftly, while taking off her apron and beginning to undress for bed. " 'Tis more like he's retired while still serving, you see. Tanaka has served the Phantomhive family for decades; he was the butler for the young master's father, the previous earl, and I think he started as a footman for the young master's grandfather! He would be the family butler still, if not for what happened four years ago."

"Which was...?" Dahlia prompted, while hanging the last of her uniform skirts.

"Well, it was before my time here, so I don't know any of the details; just the bits that I've overheard from visitors to the mansion while they're here. But the young master's father was the Queen's Watchdog before him, and four years ago, trouble must have followed his father home as well. The worst sort of trouble; the mansion was set afire, and nearly everyone in it was killed. The only ones who survived were Tanaka and the young master, and even then just barely; Tanaka was stabbed and left for dead, and nearly did die before he was found in the ruins by a shepherd's dog. And the young master was kidnapped, and missing for nearly a month."

"Kidnapped?" Dahlia's eyes went wide, as she stowed her valise in the bottom of the wardrobe and began undressing for bed.

"Yes, but you must never ask about it, understand?" Mey-Rin's voice was unexpectedly stern, as she paused in undressing to shake a cautioning finger at Dahlia. "Neither the master nor Sebastian ever talks about it, ever, but it must have been terrible indeed. He came back with his right eye forever ruined and under an eyepatch, and to this very day, even in his own home the master sleeps with a gun under his pillow. I've seen it there a few times, when he forgets to put it in his holster straight away after he's dressed."

"That's a bad sign, when you don't feel truly safe even in your own bedroom," Dahlia agreed as she unpinned her hair. As the long braid fell down her back, she slid the sharp steel-tipped hairsticks under her pillow without even looking at them.

Mey-Rin paused for a moment, about to say something, but then gave a small shrug and continued. "Anyway, somehow Sebastian found him and rescued him from his captors, and agreed to become his new butler; they've been together ever since. But the young master and Tanaka found each other again in the Royal Hospital, and when the mansion was rebuilt and Tanaka was finally recovered enough to leave the hospital, the master brought him straight home to stay." Mey-Rin smiled as she confided, "They don't talk about it much, but they're both very fond of each other, they are! Why, once when Tanaka caught a bad cold and the young master was worried about him, I even heard him refer to Tanaka as 'Grandpa'!"

Dahlia gave a small smile as she unfolded a plain cotton nightdress and shook it out. "So he's officially a servant, but really he's part of the earl's family."

Mey-Rin finished taking off her skirt and petticoats off while nodding, "Mm-hm. Oh, I promised I'd show you how easy it is to hide guns under these skirts," she said as she briefly posed in her undergarments to show off two holstered handguns, one holster strapped to each thigh. "And I can strap on another set of guns to my calves if I wear the long skirt to cover them, and tuck a third pistol inside my blouse. Though what I really prefer are rifles, and we have plenty of them, too; someday when we have time, I'll show you the sniper nests we've set up."

The ladies finished getting ready for bed, with Dahlia taking the tiny throwing blades out of her braid and putting them with the poison-pendant in a small covered dish that she'd set on the nightstand earlier, while Mey-Rin carefully lay each holstered gun on top of the folded clothes she'd be wearing the next day. Mey-Rin yawned as she turned off the lights, "Good night, Dahlia; sleep well. We'll be getting up at five o'clock..."

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Normally young Ciel Phantomhive, no longer a child but still a youth, was in bed and asleep hours before his hardworking servants were. But at midnight that night the young earl was still wide awake and working in his study, with Sebastian periodically coming in to provide refreshments or see if he needed anything else.

Being awake at such unusual hours was proving useful for communicating overseas, particularly now that Funtom Company was selling their quality products in America and had just opened a new raingear factory in China. Ciel made several telephone calls, first to America before the sales managers there went home for the day, and then to China as soon as the factory there began its day’s work. In between the phone calls, he read through reports from his other factories and sales divisions, and took care of several business items that he’d recently been forced to neglect while working as the Queen’s Watchdog on the latest case for Her Royal Majesty.

Also between phone calls, when he had finished dealing with the routine paperwork, he pored over a series of small black books, the type that are sold with blank pages so that people may use them for diaries or journals. There were six books altogether, and each one filled from cover to cover with neatly precise handwriting.

As he read, with a pen in hand and still another black book with blank pages in front of him, Ciel Phantomhive's face went through a multitude of expressions; disbelief, anger, disgust, wry humor, and resignation were all made evident at different times. The pen was used most often to draw lines through the precise writing in the filled books, sometimes gently and sometimes with far more force than necessary; only rarely was it used to write something down in the blank book instead.

Finally, at just shy of two o’clock in the morning, Sebastian came in with the tea trolley again and poured his master a fresh cup. But when Ciel absently sipped the tea while reading the sixth black book, he sputtered and spit it back out before giving his butler an outraged glare as he said accusingly, “This isn’t Assam!”

“No, young master; it is a chamomile tea, to help you sleep,” Sebastian said calmly.

“I asked for an Assam blend! And macaroons; where are my macaroons?!” as he gestured angrily at the tea trolley’s conspicuous absence of sweets.

“Young master, if you will take note of the clock on the mantle, you will see that it is well past time you were in bed and asleep, to begin resuming your regular daytime schedule. You have a meeting scheduled with the manager of your Ipswich raingear factory in two days, at ten o’clock in the morning; it would not do your reputation any favors if you appear at that meeting still yawning and out of sorts from lack of proper sleep.”

“Rrrrgggh…Fine!” Ciel snapped, pushing away from his desk. “Draw me a bath, then; I’ll need to relax before I can even attempt to sleep.”

“Already drawn, sir; by the time you finish your chamomile tea, the hot water will have cooled to just the right temperature.”

A few minutes later they were in the bathroom and Sebastian was methodically undressing his master for bathing. As he worked on the buttons of his shirt, Sebastian asked, "Now that you have largely recovered from the effects of being drugged, what did you find when you reviewed all the business ideas you had me write down for you on our journey home?"

Ciel groaned, "Only about one in ten of them are even remotely feasible. Most of the rest are sheer rubbish, and several of the ones that aren't completely rubbish would need more advanced technology than we currently have, though they might be possible in another decade or two. A few of them are feasible, but would utterly wreck the Funtom Company image; I may see about becoming a silent partner with another entrepreneur on those. And there were at least two ideas that would have seen me hanged as a traitor; I would have thought you’d made them up and put them in there for fun, except I… what on earth was I thinking?!"

"Is that a rhetorical question, sir?" Sebastian asked, utterly straight-faced. And when Ciel grumbled that yes, it had been rhetorical, he asked with a hint of a smile, "And the idea in the second book that involved ducklings, sir?"

Ciel groaned and covered his face with his hand, while Sebastian helped him out of his trousers. "Did you have to remind me of that one? I had hoped to forget it forever..."

Sebastian couldn't help smirking at his discomfiture. "I did find that one particularly amusing, sir."

"You would, demon," Ciel grumbled. "You would probably have been laughing your head off if you hadn't been so busy writing."

“I did warn you, sir, that such a stimulant was affecting your mind just as greatly, if in different ways, as a full measure of Lau’s opium.”

“Well it’s not as if I’d had a choice in being drugged, now did I? Since you were too busy playing with the House of Flowers' assassins to prevent the Madame from sticking me with her vile potion!”

Sebastian looked offended… but not quite; there was still a trace of a smirk on his lips as he replied, “My lord, I was not playing; I was dispatching them as efficiently as could be managed while still following your orders to avoid killing those who were acting under duress, ordered against their will. That necessitated interacting with them for at least brief periods to observe their attitudes as they attempted to kill me.”

Ciel gave a most ungentlemanly snort of derision, and said before his butler could reprove him for it, “I heard from our little survivor that you were critiquing their techniques! That you told the redhead with the pistols, whatever her name was—”

“Columbine, my lord.”

“Columbine, then; when she shot you, you told her that she’d missed, her target was two inches lower down and she should try again! Admit it; you were having fun with them!”

Sebastian finally nodded acknowledgement, his smirk even wider than before. “Guilty as charged, my lord.”

“And while you were having fun, I was being drugged, and then thrown into a room filled with-" as the young earl’s eyes went wide with horror at the memory and his every muscle tensed, before he glared at Sebastian again. “I had to shoot two of them before the rest backed off!”

Sebastian quickly bowed his head in apology/submission, seeing that rather than being relaxed at the prospect of a hot bath, his master was agitated and even more tense than before. “My deepest apologies, my lord. I shall do my utmost to ensure that exact situation never arises again. Young Master, would you like me to bring you some warm milk with honey while you relax in the bath, and simply soak for a while before washing?”

“…Fine,” Ciel growled. As he stepped into the bath, Sebastian vanished out the door and reappeared in short order with a cup of warm milk, sweetened just the way Ciel liked it. The young earl sighed as he accepted the cup, “At least it’s not plain water again. Two days of you all but pouring a cup of water down my throat every twenty minutes, to flush the drug out of my body; it felt like I was going to drink the entire Thames dry! You could have at least made it tea a few times.”

“I dared not, my lord. I had known that the potion was not an outright poison before you were injected, but it was a very powerful stimulant. If I had added more stimulants on top of that, your heart might have burst under the strain… or at the very least, you would still be wide awake for the third day in a row, and I would likely still be taking dictation for whatever idea came into your addled brain.”

A few minutes later, Ciel sighed in contentment as he gave the empty cup to Sebastian, and leaned forward so the butler could scrub his back. Silently relieved that the worst of his master’s mood had been chased away by the warm milk and warmer bath, Sebastian nonetheless took care to use calming strokes and subtle massage techniques as he washed and shampooed. And by the end of the bath, the young earl’s quiet expression and utterly relaxed shoulders said, while not actually happy (a rare state indeed for the Queen’s Watchdog who was also the youngest successful business owner in all of England), he was once more reasonably content with the state of affairs.

Stepping out of the tub, the youth covered a yawn with his hand as Sebastian patted him dry with the towel. “Out of curiosity, (yawn) what will you be doing for the rest of the night?”

His master was in a good mood indeed, to indulge in such idle conversation. Sebastian confided, “In truth, young master, I’m contemplating indulging in a few hours of sleep myself. After dealing with your correspondence and tidying up the study, of course.”

“I dare say you’ve earned some rest, after this case,” the young earl said with a corner of his mouth curled upwards in a hint of a smile. “It certainly put you through your paces.”

“Indeed,” Sebastian had to agree, knowing exactly what Ciel was referring to. “I must confess, young master, I was indeed surprised to find myself successfully running across the water with you.”

The demon considered that the most surprising aspect of the year so far, and that included their recent adventure in Africa and conversations with shrunken heads. Four days ago they had found themselves on a boat about to explode, far out of sight of any land, and knowing from the gloating letter that the Master of the House of Flowers had left for them, that the water around the boat had just been turned lethal for any human to be in for more than two seconds. Sebastian had been about to inform Ciel that in order to get his master safely away, he must be allowed to drop his human form entirely so he could fly them both out of there, when the young earl had said tightly, “Sebastian, this is an order: run across the water with me back to France!”

Sebastian had stared incredulously at him as he’d repeated, “Run across the… Young Master, do I need to remind you of exactly which breed of supernatural I am?”

“There’s nothing supernatural about this; it’s physically possible, if you run fast enough!” Ciel had insisted. “I know you can do it, Sebastian; now run us both out of here, at top speed! Top speed; that’s an order!”

So Sebastian had followed the order, and done it. And now four days later, he mused, “I do wonder what those fisherman we passed on the way to shore thought of the sight.”

“They probably thought they were having a religious experience… and don’t tell me that doesn’t tickle your fancy, demon; I know you too well. As well as knowing something about the animal kingdom that you don’t,” and now Ciel was definitely smiling, very nearly the smuggest little grin Sebastian had ever seen. “Remind me tomorrow to show you that book on the natural history of Central America, and the article on the plumed basilisk lizard. They’re well-documented as being capable of running across the water for short distances.” He gave his demon an expectant look as he added, “And of course, if a mere silly little lizard can do it…”

“Then how could I be the Phantomhive butler, if I couldn’t accomplish it as well?” Sebastian finished wryly. The young master really did know him, better than Sebastian thought he was entirely comfortable with.

To get a bit of his own back, the butler retorted, “However, young master, that was not the most tiring aspect of this case. Neither was battling the Black Roses, which as you pointed out was rather more play than work for me, nor taking dictation for your madcap business ideas for the better part of two straight days. Really, I would have to give that honor to the task of keeping up with you, after you so abruptly decided that the middle of a carriage ride through London after sundown was the perfect time to begin playing hide-and-seek.”

Poking his head up through the neck of his nightshirt, Ciel predictably flushed bright red as he snapped back, “I was not playing hide-and-seek! You heard it too, the scream of a woman in distress; the only proper thing for an English gentleman to do was to go immediately to her aid!”

“Which you accomplished by leaping out of our hired carriage while it was still moving, sprinting straight through a dark alley to get to the woman in question, and beating her two assailants over the head with your walking stick. While I’ll grant you had the element of sheer surprise on your side in subduing them, choosing to risk breaking your custom-crafted accessory rather than task your perfectly capable butler with the work… really, I was feeling quite snubbed, sir,” Sebastian said, while keeping a perfectly straight face. He thought about putting on a suitably offended expression, but feared his truly amused grin would peek through if he tried.

“Hmmph. Well, at least the woman I saved appreciated my efforts,” Ciel grumbled just before brushing his teeth.

“Indeed, sir.” Sebastian agreed while quickly tidying up the bathroom. “I dare say Finny will also be quite pleased, when he finds out that the hero of his favorite television programme, the Rowdy Count, is apparently living under our roof.” His lord made a soft grunting sound while cleaning his teeth, but with his mouth so occupied Sebastian couldn’t tell whether it was a sound of pleasure or displeasure at the idea. He persisted, “However, sir, while I set about tracking down our carriage with Dahlia still sleeping inside it, and bringing it back around to pick you up… did you really need to scamper off into the night, in search of more innocents to rescue?”

“…The Rowdy Count does not scamper,” Ciel finally said with every scrap of dignity he could muster, his head held high. “Nor does the Rowdy Earl, for that matter.”

Sebastian was about to retort that running while giggling with glee must surely be the very definition of scampering, but Ciel cut him off with a hasty, “Now that’s enough idle chatter; it’s time for bed,” as he marched over to the opulent four-poster bed that lay waiting for him with the sheets turned back.

Sebastian tucked him in, and then picked up the buckets for hot water and the clothes in need of laundering, and bowed himself out of the bedroom with a quiet, “Pleasant dreams, young master.”

He dropped off the clothes in the laundry and took the buckets back to the kitchen, deciding that on the morrow he would make another inquiry about purchasing a water-heating tank for the manor’s use. The last version he had looked at had simply not been good enough for Phantomhive Manor; the tank had insufficient volume for supplying hot water to fill even one full-sized gentleman’s bathtub, and the reports he’d gotten from servants in other households had indicated that the heating element was troublesome and prone to causing electrical fires. No, considering their chef was still more prone to causing accidental fires than putting them out, there was no sense in adding such a device to the household.

But Sebastian’s last inquiry had been made early last year, a few days before boarding the Campania and their first encounter with the Bizarre Dolls. Technology seemed to be advancing at a faster pace every year; perhaps the inventors of such devices had made improvements to later models in the sixteen months since then. If not, then he might consider investing some of his accumulated salary in funding their research and development of both safer and more effective water heaters; after all, he had little other use for the money.

From the kitchen he went back up to the earl’s study, to address the master’s business correspondence for the morning post. He had already written responses to all the social correspondence that had accumulated during their absence, penning the most polite and cordial refusals to all the invitations to balls, poetry recitals and musical soirees that the earl had stated vehemently that he’d rather hang by his heels than attend. He had also penned similar polite refusals to five invitations to formal dinners, while securing the master’s agreement to attend the sixth (the Whitfields were a pleasant couple who had both sense enough to treat the earl as a full adult, and a chef whose dishes met Ciel’s high standards.)

Addressing and applying stamps to the business letters was but the work of a few minutes. As he put away the stationary and writing supplies and then tidied up the paperwork, Sebastian allowed himself to yawn once, with a slight smile of anticipation seeping through. He occasionally had to take steps to ensure the young master didn’t find out, but the demon had found sleeping with a cat curled up in bed with him to be a fine luxury indeed. When he was finished here he would go out to the gardens to find and bring inside his dearest little beauty, the—hmm?

His sharp eyes had spotted a small white triangle barely visible in the shadows under the earl’s desk. He reached down to discover and pull out a cream-colored envelope composed of the finest heavy vellum, and addressed in a handwriting he recognized. Frowning, he carefully slit the envelope open and began reading the letter within… and his eyes flew open wide, with combined alarm and dismay…

To be continued!

Chapter 4: His Butler, Preparing for Guests

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

At bedtime the night before, Mey-Rin had told the new servant Dahlia that they'd be getting up at five o'clock in the morning. But when Sebastian knocked quite forcefully on their door to wake them, it was only 3:15 a.m. "Be dressed and downstairs in the kitchen, within fifteen minutes!" was all he called through the door before dashing off towards the serving men's quarters, presumably to give them the same rude awakening.

Fumbling in the dark for glasses, the lights, uniforms and weapons, the ladies barely managed to make it to the kitchen in time. They made it only by running clear from their room to the kitchen, and they still weren't entirely ready for inspection; Mey-Rin had her apron and maid's cap still tucked under one arm and both boots on but unlaced, while Dahlia had her shoes in one hand and a fistful of weapons in the other, and her braid whipped behind her as she ran.

Even unready, they still fell into line and stood next to Tanaka, Bard and Finny while scrambling to get their uniforms proper; better to be improperly dressed than late to an emergency meeting! And they were a whole ten seconds earlier than the last arrival, Snake, who slept in a room of his own instead of sharing with the other men (Snake claimed that Bard's snoring kept his friends awake; Bard claimed he couldn't sleep comfortably with so many snakes slithering about the bedroom.) Snake came running up at exactly fifteen minutes on the dot, with his socks in one hand, his shoes in the other and the coral snake draped about his shoulders carrying his neck-ribbon in its jaws.

The normally calm and unflappable Sebastian was actually tapping his foot while waiting for Snake to fall into line, and both Mey-Rin and Finny swallowed nervously as they registered that fact. "Oh man, this is bad..." Bard muttered under his breath.

The moment Snake fell into line for the meeting, Sebastian launched into a quiet but fervent tirade. "While I recognize that some duties have traditionally been let slack on days when the master isn't in residence and guests aren't expected, that practice stops now. Every day, the entire mansion shall be kept in tip-top shape and ready for receiving guests! And of particular importance is the proper sorting and disposition of the mail to the household! Mey-Rin, I found this letter," as he brandished a cream-colored envelope, "only twenty minutes ago, lying on the floor under the master's desk instead of atop it with the other correspondence addressed. A letter from the Marchioness Midford, stating her intentions to come to the manor this very day!"

"Huaaahhh!?!" The gasp of horror and sheer dismay sounded from five throats simultaneously; six if you counted the coral snake's open-mouthed hiss.

"Her letter states that she'll be here in time for the afternoon tea... And you all know what that really means," as Sebastian gave them all a meaningful stare.

The response this time wasn't quite in unison, though no less heartfelt: "Yes, sir!" "Sir, yes sir!" "W-we know too well, sir!" "We know, sir! Says Emily."

"But this time, we're going to be ready for her. Right?"

Another response in unison, of "Yes, sir!" complete with crisp salutes; even Dahlia joined in on the saluting, to stay in step with the other servants, though her face betrayed bewilderment instead of determination.

"Good. Now your duties are as follows—yes, Dahlia?" Sebastian interrupted himself with a flash of clear irritation, because Dahlia had just timidly raised her hand.

"I, I'm very sorry to interrupt, but... How big of an army are you expecting to invade?" Dahlia asked, looking very worried. "And how does this Marchioness usually equip her forces; will there be mostly close-in fighting with blades and handguns, or can we expect sniping rifles or barrages of heavy artillery as well?"

For a long second, everyone else in the room just stared at her; then Sebastian covered his mouth and turned away, clearly stifling a chuckle. Mey-Rin giggled, Tanaka chuckled aloud, Snake snickered, and Bard and Finny started outright braying with laughter.

"I, I guess we were acting like the Marchioness would be leading an army against us," Mey-Rin said in between giggles.

"Hell, an invading army would almost be easier to handle than her!" Bard finally gasped, clutching at his sides.

Having composed himself the soonest, Sebastian turned back to Dahlia and explained, "The Marchioness Midford is not a leader of the Underworld; instead, she is a lady of High Society, married to the leader of the British knights. And she will also someday be our young master's mother-in-law... so for the past year and more, she had taken to coming out here periodically to inspect the estate, to see that we servants are performing to her expectations."

"And we ain't passed a one of her inspections yet," Bard added glumly as he recovered his breath. "I'll admit that for the first time, we bombed the place so bad she would've had every right to be furious with us; we was all still pretty new at our duties then, and... anyway, she forgave us that time because we were throwing a birthday party for the young master's thirteenth birthday, and because the young master had just saved her daughter from a bear attack."

But she's been out here twice more since then, she has, and those times she's not gone easy on us at all!" Mey-Rin said with an emphatic shake of her head. "The last time, we almost thought we'd made it... and then she had poor Finny reduced to tears because she'd found a rosebush, just one out of the whole garden, that had an old dead flower that hadn't been plucked yet. And that was with three days' notice of her coming!"

Sebastian finished, "And in addition to being very strict about her high standards, the Marchioness has a reputation for arriving hours earlier than when she's expected. As her letter says she'll be here in time for the afternoon tea, that means she'll be here before elevenses, possibly right after breakfast. Which means,” as he began handing out some handwritten lists that had been tucked into his handkerchief pocket, “that there is a great deal of work that must be done to prepare for her inspection even before the young master wakes up..."

00oo00oo00oo00oo00oo00

The next six straight hours were packed with work, work and more work, all done as fast as everyone could manage while still being thorough. There was furniture to dust and polish, curtains to steam free of wrinkles, linens to be changed out, silver to polish, floors to be swept and mopped, flowers to be arranged in vases, flowerbeds to weed, grass to mow, hedges and trees to trim, and several different food dishes to prepare. Everyone did everything they were assigned to do, and pitched in to help each other when help was needed.

Bard sweated and swore in the kitchen while making dish after fancy dish for their expected guests. Finny dashed everywhere with the mower, moving the heavy rotating drum of blades across the grass faster than most people could run. Mey-Rin, Snake, Dahlia and even Tanaka spotlessly cleaned and tidied up room after room in the manor, following the lists they’d been given.

Even Snake’s companions were helping out with the cleaning efforts. Dahlia paused and stared, took a deep breath, and then determinedly continued polishing the legs of the dining room table, unsure whether she should be screaming or laughing hysterically at the sight of a large python slithering along the right side of the room, rubbing the dusting cloth in its jaws against the baseboards.

And Sebastian, well, Sebastian seemed to be everywhere at once. Producing lanterns on freestanding poles from who-knew-where so Finny could begin working outside even before the sun rose; dashing from room to room with a ladder tucked under his arm in order to reach and dust the chandeliers; sitting the other servants down one at a time in five-minute breaks, to all but stuff down their gullets the cold breakfasts he’d whipped up for them; threatening to eviscerate Bard if the chef let burn the tea cakes that he'd just popped into the oven; leaping down out of a tree after trimming its branches into a perfect sphere…

In the manor’s grand hall, Dahlia paused in her dusting and stared at Sebastian as he leaped ten feet into the air to reach a portrait that was hanging ever-so-slightly crooked, tapped it while in midair and just hard enough to perfectly straighten it, and then landed with barely a thump before dashing out of the room again. “That man is just not human!”

“Strictly speaking, neither is Finny. And Snake doesn’t even look human,” Mey-Rin said with a shrug as she spread out and smoothed a fresh tablecloth before setting a vase of freshly cut flowers back on it. “But the master doesn’t care whether or not any of his servants are normal humans, and it’s not our place to worry about that, no it’s not! All that matters to the master is that we do our jobs well, and that’s all that should matter to you too, yes indeed.”

Just then Sebastian leaned in through a doorway, his voice sharp as a whipcrack as he glared at them both. “Speaking of jobs, if you’re gossiping while working, then you’re not properly focused on your tasks!”

“Yessir!” Dahlia and Mey-Rin both gulped as they started cleaning with even more fervor.

Ten minutes later, they both heard through an open door a high-pitched “Aaaahhh!” of sheer dismay verging on horror, followed by some furious conversation that was too fast and low-voiced for them to make out from so far away. The ladies traded glances while Mey-Rin said knowingly, “Sebastian just informed the master, he did…”

Finally, at 9:30 a.m., Sebastian called all the servants together down in the kitchen, and looked over their uniforms with a critical eye. “Finny, retie your left boot, I showed you how to do your laces properly. Snake, replace your neck-ribbon, I can see Emily’s fang-marks in that one. Mey-Rin, brush your hair again and straighten your cap, have Dahlia help you with it if necessary. Dahlia, your apron needs ironing—never mind, I’ll supply you with a freshly ironed one.” He cast a glance over his shoulder, apparently glaring at the kitchen wall or the outdoors behind it, and then turned back to them with a clipped, “Everyone, good work on preparing the manor and grounds, and we finished just in time; I believe I just heard carriage wheels turning from the road onto the drive. Be outside and lined up to greet our guests in five minutes!”

Dahlia hurriedly helped Mey-Rin with her hair and cap, stepped back a pace to look her over—and then gasped sharply as white-gloved hands reaching from behind moved swiftly over her own person, snatching away her current apron and replacing it with a freshly ironed one in the blink of an eye, while somehow dodging the sharp elbows and sharper heels she’d instinctively thrust backwards to defend herself from an attack from behind. Mey-Rin didn’t give her time to freak out about Sebastian’s actions, tugging her arm to lead her outside.

Already outside with boot retied and neck-ribbon replaced, Finny and Snake both took out combs and quickly gave each other identical hairstyles, slicked back like Tanaka’s hair and held that way with hair wax from a small tin that Bard tossed to them. Bard himself had a clean white chef’s toque jammed onto his head down to his ears, and he wiped his ever-present goggles with a handkerchief that was quickly stuffed back inside his apron.

The only one not an obvious bundle of nerves for the occasion, Tanaka strolled outside chuckling softly at the nervous antics of the younger servants. Then they all fell into line and stood at attention, mere moments before their young master dashed out of the house with Sebastian on his heels, just as a fancy carriage with a heraldic coat of arms emblazoned on the sides rolled the last few yards up to the door.

The coachman reined the horses to a stop, and the young earl at the base of the steps audibly swallowed and firmed his stance, seeming to brace himself for impact even though the coach and horses were stopped several feet away. The coachman leaped down from the box seat, opened the coach door—and Dahlia’s first impression was that of a human cannonball shooting out of the carriage, streaming blonde curls and pink ruffles behind it like a comet’s tail, and barreling straight into their master while screaming “CIEL!”

Dahlia looked bewildered as she used the noise of the extremely enthusiastic greeting to cover her whisper to Mey-Rin, "Is that the Marchioness?"

But before Mey-Rin could say anything, another voice boomed out from the carriage's interior: "Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford, what have I told you about such indecent behavior?!"

Wincing, Mey-Rin whispered back, "No, that's the Marchioness. Now hush; her ears are almost as sharp as Sebastian's!"

The cannonball, which turned out to be a very well-dressed young lady with curly blonde hair and perfect complexion, turned back towards the carriage without letting go of the earl and wailed, “But we’re going to be married, Mama! Surely I can give my fiancé a warmer greeting than I would greet some stranger on the street!”

A tall woman with hair of the same shade of blonde, statuesque proportions and a severe expression stepped out of the carriage while scolding, “You are not married yet, and while you are still living under my roof you will behave like a civilized young lady instead of some indecent trollop, even with your betrothed!”

But it was obviously a speech that had been said and ignored many times before; the young lady turned back to their master and said excitedly while hugging him even tighter, “Ciel, we have the most exciting news!”

“Hello, Lizzie,” Earl Phantomhive grunted with a pained smile, his face slowly turning red. “Can I breathe, please?”

“Oh, sorry!” as she let go of him and stepped back a pace, to hold his hands—which she abruptly let go of after she glanced to the side, where the servants were lined up. “Oh, you have a new servant! What does she do?”

“Elizabeth!” the Marchioness Midford all but shouted in dismay, clenching her fists. “One does not ask about others’ servants so bluntly!” She shook her head and groaned, “You will drive me to despair, child…”

“But they’re going to be my servants too someday, aren’t they?” Lady Elizabeth said in a reasonable tone, before she looked right at Dahlia with an expectant expression.

Dahlia dropped into a deep curtsey and said with her eyes modestly downcast, “My name is Dahlia, kind Lady; I am newly employed as the laundress.” Looking up through her lashes, she glimpsed Sebastian giving her a brief nod of approval for her answer.

“And Hello to you as well, Aunt Frances,” the young earl said with a wry smile, before gesturing towards the doors. “Thank you for coming here today. If you’d like to come into the conservatory, Sebastian will serve us tea while you tell me the news.”

“Oh, it’s so exciting, Ciel!” Elizabeth said enthusiastically, grabbing his arm again. “Mama and I are going to be traveling to America! We’ll be touring there, and gone for months!” then her expression fell a little as she continued, “I do so wish you could come with us; I just hate the thought of being parted from you for that long! Oh I know, you have your business and your duties for the Queen that you can’t leave for such a long time, but still…”

Sebastian opened the main doors and ushered the nobles inside with a smile and bow, and then dashed lightning-fast over to the servants’ line to tell them, “Snake and Mey-Rin, with me to the conservatory; Finny, see to the horses; Dahlia, to the kitchen with Bard; Tanaka, just do as you see fit.” And then he dashed inside before the door had time to fully close.

Snake and Mey-Rin followed Sebastian inside, while Finny helped the coachman unharness the horses and Dahlia followed Bard and Tanaka back to the kitchen entrance. Just before they went inside, the elderly servant looked at her with a twinkle behind his monocle as he said, “Service to the Phantomhive family can be at times more difficult than at other manors, but it is rarely if ever dull. I would congratulate you on having survived the first trial of your employment here, but we have not passed the Marchioness’s inspection yet.”

“Thank you,” Dahlia said faintly, while Bard just snorted and held the door open for them both.

Once inside, Tanaka poured himself a cup of tea before vanishing to somewhere else in the manor, so Dahlia asked Bard if there was anything he could use her help with. “There’s always more to do in a kitchen, especially when the master has guests,” Bard grunted with a lopsided smile. He showed her a small bushel of peas that needed shelling, before picking up the whetstone and a set of knives in need of sharpening.

After a few minutes of quietly splitting the pea pods, Dahlia asked, “Pardon me, but… Lady Elizabeth Midford is our master’s betrothed, correct?”

“Yup,” Bard said as he finished sharpening the knives, put two of them back and started using the third to chop some vegetables. “Since they were both toddlers, if you can believe it. Sebastian said that’s perfectly normal for the upper-crust here in England; the parents decide who their kids will get hitched to before they’re even out of diapers!”

“But then… I heard our master refer to her mother, Marchioness Midford, as ‘Aunt Frances.’ Is that just an affectionate term, or…” Dahlia’s voice trailed off uncertainly.

“Nope. She’s really his aunt, his dad’s sister, and the master’s fiancée is really his cousin,” Bard said with a shake of his head, still chopping away. “That’s another thing upper-crust folks seem to think is okay; inbreeding like that. That’s how they got them royals in Spain a couple hundred years ago, with faces that looked like beating ‘em in with a shovel would be an improvement! But it’s the master’s business, not ours.”

“The latter is quite correct,” Sebastian said coolly from directly behind Bard, causing the chef to flinch hard and Dahlia to jump a little in her seat; she hadn’t seen or heard the butler come in. “Their choices in marital partners are none of your concern,” he continued as the chef spun around to face him, fixing the man with a gimlet stare that caused the veteran soldier to start sweating bullets.

Then Sebastian relented a bit and said, “However, to allay your fears of the master’s potential offspring resembling the late Habsburg line: he and his betrothed share but one recent ancestor instead of two. Marchioness Frances Midford is actually a half-sister rather than full sister to the departed Earl Phantomhive. His grandmother, Claudia Phantomhive, became a widow after bearing only one child, a daughter. She actually had Phantomhive blood in her veins, being a third cousin to her husband, but the closest male relative of direct descent and therefore traditional heir to the title was an even more distant and apparently quite disreputable cousin. In order to preserve the estate and keep it from falling into ruin, she remarried but required her second husband to legally change his name to Phantomhive. It is my understanding that, based on the importance of the service the Watchdog provides to the Queen, they appealed for and received special dispensation from Her Majesty to carry on the Phantomhive title.”

Bard lost his fearful and guilty expression to look concerned instead. “You said his grandma was widowed young…Trouble followed that generation’s Watchdog home?” he asked, but it wasn’t really a question.

“Very likely,” as Sebastian moved past him to collect the items needed for a midmorning tea. “But you are forbidden from ever asking about it, is that understood?” as he gave the chef another hard stare. “Your speculation about the master’s family tree ends here and now, Baldroy. I suggest you instead focus your efforts on not ruining our guests’ dinner again.”

“Yessir, shutting up sir,” Bard muttered as he turned back to his work.

00oo00oo00oo00

Snake, Finny and Mey-Rin all popped into the kitchen at different intervals, to drop off dirty dishes or pick up more food and drink, or bring in freshly picked strawberries and vegetables for dinner. And each time, they gave a progress report of the Marchioness’s terrifyingly thorough inspection of the manor and surrounding grounds. She'd cleared the conservatory... then the grand hall... then the east wing's parlor...

Until finally, hours later, just after the afternoon tea that she had originally said they'd arrive for, the Marchioness Midford said it was time for her and her daughter to leave. Lizzie promised her betrothed that she'd send him postcards from every major American city they stopped in, and the young earl promised in return to write to her whenever they would be staying in one place long enough for mail to be sent to them.

The servants lined up again to see them off, and after Lizzie gave her betrothed one last terrific hug and sprang into the carriage, Sebastian bowed low to Frances Midford as he said, "Thank you so very much for visiting Phantomhive Manor, Marchioness Midford; we trust that you found the visit entirely satisfactory." Dahlia decided that was as close as that deadly but oh-so-proper butler dared come to asking the noblewoman, Well, did we pass your inspection or not?

The Marchioness gave him a somewhat suspicious glare, and finally said, "For the most part, it was indeed satisfactory. You're keeping the manor properly clean and tidy, and the grounds well-groomed. But there's still one thing I've seen today that has once more failed to pass inspection..."

"And what would that be, Madame?"

"Your hair," as the noblewoman pointed accusingly at it. "It's still indecently unkempt! Always looking as if you'd just rolled out of bed—and are intending to roll back into it! Why can you not learn to keep it decent without being scolded into it each time I come here? Even the footman and gardener have learned from Tanaka on how to maintain their hair properly!" as she gestured over to where Snake and Finny indeed stood with their hair slicked back just like Tanaka's hairstyle.

"...I see," was all Sebastian said, his face expressionless, while a few feet away the Earl Phantomhive silently rolled his eyes and shook his head ever-so-slightly.

With a few last words of farewell for her nephew, the Marchioness Midford departed. And as soon as their carriage had rolled far enough away, the earl gave a wave to dismiss the servants, and Sebastian turned on his heels and strode swiftly straight for the gardens behind the manor, his coattails flapping behind him.

Dahlia watched him dash away, and whispered to the other servants as they walked at a slower pace back towards the kitchen, "Where's he going?"

Bard grinned. "Off to see his girlfriend, probably."

"Bard!" Mey-Rin instantly scolded him, her cheeks flushed. "That's not funny at all!"

"Aw, c'mon, Mey-Rin, you were the one who first spotted him cuddling and being all lovey-dovey with her!" Bard retorted.

Dahlia blinked. "The butler has a girlfriend? I thought servants weren't—"

"He has a cat," Mey-Rin hastened to correct her. "Although it's not actually his cat, not really... There's a black cat who lives on the estate, at the edge of the forest I think, but she hunts in the gardens for mice and moles. She comes to the back garden gate nearly every afternoon, and whenever Sebastian is home he makes a little time to go out and play with her. He can't bring her inside, because our master is allergic to cats, but he's very fond of her."

"Oh, he sneaks her in sometimes, when the weather's really nasty," Bard informed them with a mischievous grin, "and hides her in his room. Lucky for him, the master almost never goes there. Anyway, Dahlia, if we're having a bad day and you see Sebastian heading for the garden out back, just leave him be and give him time with his girlfriend; he's never out there for long, and he's usually not as harsh with us afterwards."

00oo00oo00oo00oo00

To be continued

Notes:

Author's Note: As of the date of this chapter's finalization (5 November 2015), no canon information has been provided at all concerning Claudia Phantomhive, other than that she was Ciel's grandmother and Vincent's mother... and that she had a child by a man whose full name is as yet unknown; Vincent's father's name was partially revealed in Kuro chapter 103 as 'Cedric K. Ros___'. So yes, I totally made up that bit about the late Vincent Phantomhive and Frances Midford nee Phantomhive being only half-siblings instead of full siblings, and Frances being Vincent's older sister instead of younger. For several reasons:

First, Ciel is awfully damn proud of his family lineage; it means a lot to him to be a Phantomhive, to uphold his family's centuries-long legacy. It would break the kid's heart to find out he's actually a bastard-once-removed; that his grandmother Claudia, while married to that generation's Earl Phantomhive, cuckolded her husband by getting pregnant by that Cedric fellow. So I decided the relationship was legit, but in order for Vincent to have his mother's surname (instead of Ros-mumblesomething, his father's surname, which is the usual practice in Western cultures) and genuine Phantomhive blood running through his veins, a little finessing of the Phantomhive family ancestry was necessary, as well as receiving the monarch's approval for adapting the line of succession in that manner.

Vincent and Frances bear no family resemblance at all, beyond both being tall. Plenty of siblings look completely different from each other while having the same set of parents, but usually there's at least a little resemblance between them; half-siblings, on the other hand, are typically as different as night and day.

Also, the Marquis Alexis Midford was established as being two years younger than Vincent Phantomhive in the Weston Arc. But when Frances was first introduced, Yana Toboso made a point of mentioning that Frances still retained her youthful beauty, which implies that she's considerably older than she looks. In Victorian times it was almost unheard of for women to marry men younger than themselves, even by just one year; it was far more common for women to marry men considerably older than them, by anywhere from two years to twenty-five years. But the Marquis Midford would have few qualms about his daughter Elizabeth marrying a boy younger than her, if he and his wife had already set a fine example of such relationships working out well; another point in favor of Frances being Vincent's older sister instead of younger.

And the final reason for having Vincent and Frances be half-siblings is simply that I personally have a strong bias against inbreeding; look up the history of the royal Habsburg line which ended with the death of Charles II of Spain, and you'll see why. If they have only one common ancestor in the last three generations instead of two, any children that Ciel and Elizabeth are expected to have won't be quite as inbred and therefore not -quite- as susceptible to the hazards inherent in inbreeding.

Chapter 5: His Master, Ashamed

Chapter Text

Two days after Marchioness Midford and her daughter visited Phantomhive Manor, they had another visitor; one whom they had known well in advance would be coming that day, though they didn't go to any great lengths to please her. Quite the opposite:

At the sound of the front door knocker being vigorously banged, Sebastian strode into the foyer and opened the door, and then frowned down at the visitor. "Miss Hopkins, I've told you before, trades people such as yourself are expected to arrive at the rear entrance."

"And a good morning to you, too, Mister Hardhead," Nina Hopkins retorted, frowning up at the butler's face. "As for the rear entrance to the manor, that is for servants! And Nina Hopkins, the tailor who announces the seasons, is not a servant, but an artiste!"

"Referring to yourself in the third person is a sign of narcissism and mental illness, Miss Hopkins," Sebastian said with clear exasperation. "I am sorely tempted to close this door and insist that you go around to the rear, but the master is already waiting for you in the drawing room, and it would not do to keep him waiting further."

Once inside and heading into the drawing room, Nina called out gaily, "And what daring new outfit do you need this time, my little earl? Are you going on another adventure to distant lands? After the delight of designing your outfits for exploring Africa on Her Majesty's business, I can hardly wait to find out what my new challenge will be!"

#black butler fanfiction

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tinyboxxtink · 3 years

Text

"....So I Married A Monster" *Chapter 3*

So I gave you a LITTLE lovin' at the end, give me a break. I'm loving all the angsty comments I'm getting. Really gives me a rush relishing in your pain. MWAHAAHAHAHAHA. I'm kidding I love you all please don't leave me.

Chapter 2

Chapter 4

Tag List

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@gibbs274

@sassyada

@aprildecker-blog

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@stars-in-the-skies-world

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@objection-argumentative

@thatesqcrush

@shittanyy

@mrsrafaelbarba

@word-scribbless

@storiesofsvu @believinghurts

-------

The next morning

As soon as you dropped Kylie at daycare and Maggie at school, you headed to work. You worked as an executive at an advertising company, so it gave you a lot of freedom to work from home. Really helped the whole "single mom" thing.

But today you had to go into the office for a meeting, and you were dreading it. The one day you could really use to yourself, you had to go and be around people, pretending to be okay. This was going to be hell.

During your meeting, you felt your phone buzzing in your pocket. You immediately went for it, thinking maybe by some miracle Rafael had figured out a solution super fast. But to your horror, it was a text from Billy.

LUNCH?

Oh god. He knew didn't he? He knew everything. There was no way in hell he was getting you alone in your house right now. You quickly texted him back discreetly.

I'M AT THE OFFICE TODAY.

*BUZZ*

THAT'S HALFWAY TO THE CITY. COME ON, I PROMISE I'LL HAVE YOU BACK IN TIME TO PICK UP THE GIRLS.

Was he serious? He wanted you to meet him in the City? Closer to Rafael? What kind of game was he playing? Well, at least you'd be in a public place. He couldn't murder you in front of an audience. And he promised you could pick up the girls, surely he was just going to let you leave after lunch. Right? While you were thinking it over, your phone went off again.

MY TREAT

His treat? Well, that would be a first. Sure he took care of them when they were married, but since their divorce he hadn't offered up a penny more than his legally obligated alimony and child support.

"Miss Y/N, do you have somewhere better to be?" Your boss interrupted your thoughts, you noticed that the whole boardroom was staring at you.

"No sir, sorry sir," You shook your head as you typed a quick OK back to Billy before shoving your phone back into your pocket.

-------

After your meeting you headed to the restaurant address Billy texted you. You sat in your Uber running your fingers nervously through your hair and checking your makeup. Though you really weren’t sure why-- Billy wasn’t the cute harmless man you fell in love with anymore, you had to remember that. No matter how much his smile made your knees weak.

You walked into the restaurant to see Billy already at a table. He smiled and waved at you, you walked towards him and joined him.

“Hey, sweetie,” He went for a hug, but you went for the handshake.

“Hey, Billy,” You nodded as you sat down across from him. “So, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” He kept that hundred watt smile focused on you, you felt yourself blush.

“Okay?” You tried to act nonchalant as you picked up a menu and browsed it.

“Yeah, you know after I found out you were with that animal, Barba,” He picked up his own menu and began to peruse it. You were glad he wasn’t looking at you in that moment because as soon as he called Barba the animal as opposed to himself, your fists clenched.

“Oh? Yeah it was no big deal…” You tried to keep your voice calm.

“So what did he say about me?”

“N-Nothing, I kicked him out as soon as I hung up on you, Billy,” You glanced up at him. You weren’t lying, you did kick him out right after you hung up. And it was the biggest mistake in the world.

“Really?” He looked genuinely surprised, but elated. “You just believed me over him, just like that?”

“Well, of course Billy,” You nodded as you put the menu down. “You’re the father of my children, I’ve known you for almost a decade. I...loved you,” You gulped as you sipped the courtesy water. You didn’t know if it was a great idea to toss that in, but you figured you needed to throw him as far off the scent as you could.

“...Loved?” Billy asked curiously.

Shit. Abort Abort.

“I mean, I’ll always care about you Billy,” You put a hand over his, giving him the sweetest smile you could manage.

“And Barba?” He gripped your hand a little tighter. “Do you love him?”

Shit. Alright, stay calm.

“I thought I might,” You nodded sadly. “Before you told me what a...monster, he is,” You hated even saying the words, but he needed to buy what you were selling.

“Oh, honey,” Billy gave you a sympathetic smile. “You know that’s what I’ve always loved about you. Always so trusting, and loyal...those are really great qualities in a woman,”

“...Thank you?” You sounded offended.

“Gosh,” He chuckled. “You know I am starting to forget why we even broke up,”

Oh God.

“B-Because you were always working, and you thought it would be unfair to keep going like we were going on the kids, and me,” You reminded him.

“I did say that, didn’t I?” He half laughed. “Gosh, you know I think I...I really messed that up,”

“...What?” You nearly choked on your drink.

“I think I made a huge mistake, choosing my...work, over you and the girls,” He gave you a genuinely apologetic smile.

“Oh, Billy you--” You tried to dissuade him, but he wasn't having it.

“No, you know what Y/N having the girls this past summer, it reminded me how much they mean to me. How much you, mean to me,” He took your other hand in his so he was holding them both now.

“But you know what? No more. Screw my job, I’m choosing my family this time,” He gave you the most loving smile and look you’d ever seen on him. You were starting to be even more confused than ever.

“...R-Really?” You blinked in disbelief. “You’d just...give up, your...job, for us?”

“Yes, I would babe,” He nodded, rubbing the back of your palms with his thumbs.

Suddenly, you remembered what kind of “job” he actually had. How could you get out of this? What would make sense? Wait, a thought occurred to you.

“...No,” You removed your hands from his.

“....No?” He repeated, his tone shifting. “What do you mean, no?”

“I mean, I’m not going to let you back into our lives, back into the girl’s lives. Get their hopes up that we can be a happy family again, and then you just take off again when you start itching to get back to work!”

“....Itching?” His nostrils flared. “Is there a reason you used that...specific phrase, Y/N?”

“No, it’s a term, Billy. Look it up,” You were getting more brazen, knowing you had a crowd of eyes around you. He wouldn’t try anything.

“You sure that’s not a certain lawyer talking, sweetheart?” He didn’t let up.

“....How do you know him, anyway Billy?” You suddenly changed the subject.

“Excuse me?” Now it was his turn to blink in disbelief.

“You knew him, when you called me,” You reminded him.

“Well yeah babe, I know he’s a--”

“A monster,” You finished.

“Yeah, I told you--”

“But, how would you know that?” You asked again.

“What?”

“He’s a prosecutor, Billy. You’re a...whatever it is you are,” You crossed your arms. “So how, do you know him?”

“Because….” You saw the wheels turning in Billy’s head. “Because he and the NYPD set me up!”

“They set you up?” You asked curiously.

“Yeah,” He sniffed and rubbed his nose as the waitress came and took your orders. He eyed her nervously as she wrote down your requests and left the table once more.

“You gonna elaborate?”

“Look right before I met you, I was living in the city,” He sighed, starting his story. “And I was on a harmless jog in Central Park, and these tourist girls got spooked and this bitch detective brought me in, started getting her whole squad zoned in on me for some reason, including your man Barba,”

“Just for no reason?” You gave him a look.

“Yes!” He pounded the table, causing some stares. He took a deep breath, and repeated himself. “Yes, babe,”

“Uh huh,” You nodded as the waitress brought your drinks. It was only lunch but you had ordered a martini, you needed it to get through this.

“Look I thought you said you believed me,” Billy’s eyes narrowed. “...Or was that a bunch of bullshit?”

“N-No,” You suddenly sat straight up, remembering you needed to keep up your act.

“I’m just trying to understand the whole situation, baby boy,” You threw your old nickname at him to diffuse the situation.

“Right…” He licked his lips with a smile as the waitress came and sat the food down in front of each of you.

“Anyway, babe they set up this whole thing. They went on a vendetta against me, I swear to God. They-- they started pulling all these records of me from places I lived, trying to pin me to something, anything. And then their Captain…” He stopped and chuckled, but not his normal chuckle. This was more...sinister, darker.

“She just had this...thing, for me,” He smiled as he remembered her, the “Good times” they had. “She begged me to spend this bender weekend with me and when things didn’t go her way, she tried to say I ‘kidnapped’ her, raped her, did all this nasty stuff to her,”

“....Why would she make that up?” You took a bite of your food. He was just spilling all of this information without you even prying, this seemed too easy.

“Because she’s a BITCH, that’s why!” He suddenly yelled again and pounded the table, more people turned to stare this time before he quickly got himself together once more.

“Billy, I’ve never seen you like this,” Your voice shook as you spoke.

“I’m--I’m sorry, Y/N,” He blinked back tears. “They just...they put me through hell,” He began to show you scars on his face and pointed to his ear. “She...when we went on our little bender, she got so hopped on pills and booze that she beat me within an inch of my life,”

Your hand went over your mouth as you saw his injuries for the first time. You put your other hand and traced the scar, tears in your eyes. He couldn’t have just faked those scars, there was no way for him to know you’d start questioning him like you had.

Maybe...maybe he was telling the truth. You had just taken Rafael at his word, and those articles at theirs. Stories could always be spun, and if it made the NYPD look good, that would make the best story, right?

“Billy…” You wiped his cheek with your thumb, tears were spilling down them. “I am so, so sorry…”

“It’s fine,” He sniffed, wiping snot from his nose as he pulled himself together. “I just...I just want to move on,”

“Yeah…” You nodded, patting his cheek gently with a small smile.

“So, will you let me come home?” He asked you with a sad smile.

“I…” You looked down at the table, mulling everything over. You really, really didn’t want to believe Rafael had been the liar here, just covering up for his best friend.

But...Billy seemed genuine, you had known him so much longer than any of them, maybe you knew him better than they did. You knew he was the wrong guy they should have tried to send away, maybe he was just the victim of their dirty captain. But the whole…”job” aspect, you weren’t sure of. You still didn’t know what he did, and why he had been gone all the time. Rafael’s explanation seemed logical.

“...I’ll think about it,” You looked at him with a small smile.

“You’ll think about it?” He quirked an eyebrow.

“Billy, you really hurt me,” You felt tears come to your throat. “You have to know that,”

“I know, babe…” He gave you a sad smile back, taking your hands again. “I get it, I have to earn your trust again,”

“Yes,” You nodded, glad he wasn’t going to press it. He nodded and looked at the table for a moment, then looked up at you with that smile of his.

“...You know, if you want the afternoon off honey, I can pick up the girls,” He offered.

“E-Exucse me?”

“You want to go see Barba, don’t you?” He was now smirking. “You want to verify what I’m saying, right?”

“I...um…”

“Go for it darling, that’s how confident I am you’ll make the right decision,” He encouraged you.

“...Right,” You nodded, downing the rest of your martini. “And if I don’t, you’ll have the girls as leverage,”

“Aww now Y/N…” He kept his smirk, it seemed more evil now when you looked at it. “I won’t need leverage, will I?”

“....No,” You gulped. You didn’t entirely trust him now, but you weren’t about to turn down a chance to see Rafael. Besides, if what he said was true, Billy would never harm the girls.

“Good then, so we’ll see you at home?”

“Sounds good,” You nodded as Billy laid down his card on the check. You got up and headed to the door, dialing Rafael’s number. You remembered that he had said not to contact him first, so you thought you’d do him one better.

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

Rafael was in his office putting together his opening argument when you knocked on his office door.

“Come in,” He said nonchalantly, thinking it would be his assistant with a memo.

He glanced up from his desk as the door opened and dropped his pen when he saw you. He blinked a few times, making sure he wasn’t hallucinating as he stood up from his chair and approached you slowly.

“....Y/N? What are you--?”

“Shut up,” You cut him off with your words before catching his lips in yours in a hungry, aggressive kiss.

You didn’t care what Billy had said, or what events led up to right now. You just knew at that moment you needed Rafael. And you took him, no regrets. You two spent several seconds just kissing and drinking each other up, hands roaming all over each other’s bodies.

You’d think you two had been separated for months, not barely 24 hours. But you both had been sure it would be ages, maybe ever before you saw each other again, and like you had said before you’d never been out of each other’s lives for more than a day since the day you met. Fine, maybe you were a little overdramatic.

“What are you doing here, tonta?!” He suddenly broke apart from you and chastised you. “I told you, it’s too--”

“Billy sent me,” You simply said, breathless from the kissing.

“...’Billy’, sent you?” His eyes narrowed. “And why exactly did Billy send you?”

“...We need to talk,” You bit your lip nervously. “But...but I just...I just want us to be us, for a little bit longer,”

“...A little bit longer?” Rafael’s eyebrows furrowed. He didn’t like the sound of that one bit.

“Just...please, Rafa?” You begged him, your doe eyes wet with tears. You knew what you were about to have to do, and you just wanted to be happy for a few more minutes.

“...Bueno,” Rafael sighed, before he grabbed you by your waist and carried you over to his couch, before resuming making out with you like two teenagers.

He didn’t like the sound of where this was going, but he knew he wanted to put it off as long as possible. And he had missed you like crazy, even if it had just been 12 hours. He loved you so much, and so fast, it scared him.

You didn't know what you were going to say to Rafael once his tongue was out of your mouth, but right now you didn't care. You just wanted this to go on forever---

And then there was a knock at the door.

#rafael barba #rafael barba angst #rafael barba x you #rafael barba x reader #rafael barba imagine #so i married a monster #law and order svu #law and order svu fanfiction #rafael barba fanfcition #raul esparza #william lewis #william lewis fanfiction #william lewis x you #william lewis x reader

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ha-hatdog · 4 years

Text

all in a day's work / daisuke kambe

somebod requested a badass reader? sorry for this very late update. online classes is kicking my butt. you wanted either a scenario or a headcanon so i decided to make both. long scenario/headcanom mashup ahead.

requsted by anon: Hii!! I just want to say first of all, that I just discovered your blog and I just fell in love with it, keep going you’re amazing❤️❤️ soo can I ask for a Headcanon or scenario (it’s up to you) where Haru has a female friend who works in modern crimes prevention and is really badass (like she knows how to fight and all that stuff), so one day she helps Daisuke and Haru in a investigation in which a fight starts and Daisuke gets impressed by her abilities and develops a crush on her (????)

UNEDITED

It was another mundane morning for the the Modern Crimes department. The room was oddly colder, and the civil servants occupying the compact and simple space secluded themselves with their own businesses. Mahoro Saeki sat on the couch partaking in an unhealthy snack she had shipped from a foreign country, Kamei Shinnosuke was browsing through the internet and more than once using to his advantage the global connection that comes with his access to the computer in order to satisfy his habits and indecent hobbies, Yumoto Teppei tuning in to the occuring horse race in an international channel in his device, Nakamoto Chosuke merrily bading his time reading through documents of recent illegal activities assigned to his care, Kiyomizu Yukihiro fiddling with yet another craft he made out of wood and glue, Kato Haru awaiting the telephone to sound off and have another indiviual summon him for a petty crime, and Kambe Daisuke seated far from the othere, legs crossed and chin resting on his knuckles as he appraised the tranquil area.

Haru slammed his hands on his desk and threw his head, moaning in disdain. "Why isn't the phone ringing?" Whined he as his posture was regained after a moment or so. His eyes, lit with pure frustration and impatience, glared at the telephone, as though threatening without verbalizing his objective would somehow make it ring. "Come on, ring, you stupid phone. How come you always ring whenever I don't want you to and don't when I do?"

"It's a slow day." Remarked Kamei, not takint his eyes off his computer as he regarded his colleague. "Try to enjoy it. You can have all your action some other day."

Haru leaned against his chair, back sliding against the backrest and the back of his neck hitting the edge of his leverage. "Not everyone has weird hobby to keep themselves entertained." Countered Haru, and a pout formed on the blond male's lips at the comment. "This job is what keeps me from going insane."

The offended male turned his swivel chair to face Haru, face scrunched with the same attribute he exuded, "Oi, don't say it like that. It's bad if you describe it like that."

"It's weird without even having to add the adjective." Saeki chimed in between her chewing, humming as the flavor of the chip formerly cinched in the possession of her fingers travelled to her taste buds.

Kamei whipped around to her position, shoulders tensr with the taste of truth and reality, both of which ignored in favor of living in bliss. "It's nor weird. It's perfectly normal for men to be looking at those . . . sort of inappropriate . . . videos." His words trailed off as he came to realization that his own defense betrayed him.

"I agree, but not at work." Haru simply retorted. "Would you want to see me cooking a whole feast inside the precint?"

Kamei looked up in ponder, mouth curling as his thought process stuttered before he presented his inquiry, "Do we get to taste the food you made though?"

Haru stared at the blond man with an impervious mask decorating his appearance, unimpressed with how the man broached the metaphorical event served to him. "Never mind." Shaking his head with amicable dismay, Haru turned his seat to a half circle, arms taking space upon the the armrests. His line of sight crossed over the facile yet minimalistic design of their room, the dull colors of the walls an addition to his disinterest until it landed on a brooding and well vested man.

The referred individual had boredom etched all over his striking features, the lack of events occuring in the Modern Crimes he could invest his time in had him in a bad mood although showcasing it to his colleagues was not his cup of tea. He and Haru were different, and how they handle themselves in this patience consuming day was one of them.

"I'm surprised you're still here." Haru conveyed with a vestige of astonishment. Truly the older man had no such ability that could understand the complexity of his wealthy counteepart. Most days, whenever days were a little too slow for his liking, he would up and retreat back to his home (mansion seems more of an appropriate term to refer to his household) but lately, he had been spending more time in the precinct, and Haru did not know how he should react to this development, or devolvement. His comment floated in the density formulating inside the office, and everybody present swiveled their heads to await his response. "I thought you'd be back in your house now. No cases today, it seems. No games to entertain yourself with today."

"Tell me something I have yet to know, Inspector Kato." Retorted Daisuke, and a tick mark grew on Haru's forehead, but his displeasure to his rude counter was ignored as Daisuke brought his fingers to his ear. He spoke, enough for others to hear his statements. "HEUSC, locate the nearest and most recent crimes occuring within the area."

Haru rose from his seat, alarmed. "Oi, what do you think you're doing?"

Daisuke did not respond to Haru and awaited his butler's relay of information. It did not take more than a few seconds until it has accumulated enough information to submit to his master. "A few streets away, a murder of two took place in a bar called Denyr. Investigation is in process currently."

Daisuke removed his hand from his earpiece and looked towards a flabbergasted. "You heard HEUSC. Let's get going." Daisuke stood up from the couch, dusting himself off before making his way towards the door.

"Wait a minute," Clamored Haru, and Daisuke looked over his shoulder to gaze at him. Haru gritted his teeth, irritated. "You can't just up and go and do whatever you want! This is not your call! We weren't called so we'll just disturb everyone else who's already there."

"Aren't cops allowed to interfere in crimes or disturbance in peace whenever they want? It's their job." Said Daisuke. "And besides, you're just as eager as I am to do something other than waste the entire day waiting for the phone to ring." Then he frowned. "Unless, I'm mistaken, of course. I have no qualms leaving you here. I'm sure you'll be useful for warming up your chair for tomorrow."

Haru growled at him. "You stupid . . . " He grunted and took his jacket off his chair. "Fine! I'll go with you, just to keep you in check!"

“Wait a minute,” Exclaimed Saeki, causing Haru and Daisuke to turn just as the latter had began turning the doorknob. The pink haired female abandoned her seat in favor of giving them a standing and patronizing narrowed glower. “Haru, aren’t you forgetting something today?”

Haru looked up in thought, trying to recall what Saeki was implying. Nothing significant manifested in his line of thought and he turned to his colleague with a frown conjuring in his mien. “Uh, I don’t think I’m forgetting anything.” Answered Haru.

Daisuke grunted, displeased by the interrupting. “Then let’s get going.”

Daisuke pushed the door open and stepped outside. Haru was following suit, shrugging his jacket on when Saeki called out for them once more, particularly the older officer. She had her arms crossed, an unamused pout forming on her brims. “Haru, don’t be stupid!” Clamored she. “I can’t believe you forgot what today is!”

Haru let out an exasperated sigh. “I honestly can’t remember what makes today so important.” Said he. “What is it?”

Kamei rolled his swivel chair back, making sure to reveal himself from any obstructions blocking his form. “Eh? You of all people forgot (Your Name) is coming back?” He conveyed and whistled right after. “That’s surprising, and disappointing. I’m sure she won’t be thrilled knowing you’ll be the last one welcoming her back after her hospitalization – her best friend, her partner in crime.”

Haru’s face fell upon acquiring the information relayed to him. His mind refreshed, finally remembering the time when you took your time from resting in the hospital just to tell him you were soon to be discharged after the outcome of you recklessly electing to throw yourself in front of him when the perpetrator pulled the trigger and shot a bullet his way. You were fortunate enough to have the cylindrical metal projectile imbedded nowhere near any of your vital veins, but due to your blood loss as well as the stacking strain and stress in your body forced you to be admitted in the care of the hospital. Haru was sure you were not supposed to move when you selected to take your phone and call him because he can hear the nurse in the other line scolding you, telling you to end the connection and to rest easy for the remaining week. He could only miss you more – he knew how much you hated doing anything but police work. Haru couldn’t believe he forgot about that since he distinctly remember hardly being able to be consumed by sleep when excitement for your return filled him.

“Shit, it’s today.” Cursed Haru as his shoulders dropped. He slapped his palm against his forehead, groaning. “My God – how can I forget? I’m the worst partner ever.”

Daisuke glanced at Haru, bemused. This was the first time he had heard over this (Your Name) woman. To him, Haru was always a lone wolf who preferred to be alone in his work unless he was required to have a companion with him. Or maybe because it was loyalty to his said partner kept him from going to missions with another. Daisuke looked back at Saeki and Kamei, “Who’s (Your Name)?”

Haru wanted nothing more than to hide your existence from Daisuke. You already had so much in your plate and having a rich bastard interpolating with it was more than you can handle, especially after being hospitalized for quite a while. But it was inevitable for the two of you to meet seeing as Daisuke seemed to be taking a strong liking with playing cop and were in the same department as him. So resigning with the concept of keeping you away from Daisuke, Haru let out a deep sigh. “(Your Name) is another cop in our department. She’s my partner.”

Daisuke blinked at him. “Someone can actually put up with you?”

Haru angrily show his fist to Daisuke, irritation swathing his figure. “What was that? I should be the one saying something that! I don’t know how Suzue-san can put up with your rich ass!”

“Maybe if you’re rich, you’ll know.” Countered Daisuke.

Before Haru could grab hold of Daisuke’s collar, the latter efficiently evaded his attempt to do so and stalked off into the corridor, adjusting his pristine suit as he ventured away. “If you want to stay here and wait for your partner, fine by me. I can go alone and handle the murders all by myself.” He said without looking back to meet Haru’s hardened gaze. “I’m sure this (Your Name) person is more important than the safety of other Japanese citizens.”

“O-Oi, I haven’t even decided yet! Don’t assume I’m not going!” As much as Haru wanted to be the first person to greet you back to work, he too loved justice and cared about the people who wanted to live in peace. Clicking his tongue out of annoyance, he turned to everyone left in the room, and all of them returned his gaze with bemused expressions. “Kambe and I will be quick. We’ll just drop by the crime scene and then cime back. I’m sure I’ll be able to return here before (Your Name) can. If not, tell her I’ll be back soon.”

***

daisuke was never inclined to pursue a romantic relationship. ever since witnessing his mother died, his life had been reserved into finding the truth. but little did he know, his perspective in love and romance will change, and hary will most certainly freak the fuck out

the two police officers arrived in the crime scene in a short amount of time. with how daisuke was speeding, it was understandable they would get there fast and very understandable how haru's whole life flashed right before his eyes. daisuke was actually tempted to go even faster but opposed to it after a while as he did not want to deal more with haru's tantrum after he recovered.

of course when they arrived there, the detectives assigned to the case shooed them off because they're not part of the investigations.

daisuke knew how to deal with them, of course. he brandished stacks of yen to include them in the case and the detectives were like 👀 because you know, who doesn't want extra cash?

haru didn't bother complaning anymore and just went to work. he wanted to get back to the station as soon as possible and welcome you first. best friend efforts, get a best friend like haru.

haru: "i scout the ground floor, you go upstairs - AND NO SPENDING MONEY YOU RICH BASTARD"

daisuke:

haru:

daisuke:

haru:

daisuke:

haru:

haru: "and - "

daisuke left before haru could finish his sentence. really daisuke just stayed and didn't answer him just so he could piss haru off. it worked nonetheless and daisuke can hear haru cursing at him as he walked upstairs

but we all know whatever daisuke does pisses haru off so so it didn't matter.

daisuke went up to the second floor if the bar and he saw how thrashed the place was

overturned tables, fallen chairs, broken bottles, reeks of alcohol, smears and pools of blood but everything seemed pleasant to look at compared to the two corpses that laid out on the floor with police tapes around them. it looked like a small massacre occured in there, and thay surely was the case

head smashed, chunks of flesh scattered, broken skulls but daisuke merely stared at them blankly

he wasn't disgusted nor disturbed. seeing his own mother's corpse was enough for him to deem gore as just another normal addition to his life

like another detective, daisuke began looking for clues. he searched the entire place like the good and professional detective he is -

who am i kidding - the first thing he did once he sees the condition of the second floor was, or course, ask HEUSC for information. screw asking them from fellow detectives when daisuke has his own ai butler

ahh perks of being a kambe

daisuke: "heusc, tell me the exact number of people that attended this bar between nine am to twelve in the afternoon"

heusc: "understood"

it did not take long until heusc responded

heusc: "the exact number of people who attended genyr is twenty seven. twelve in the ground floor, twelve in the ground floor, fifteen in the second. there are two dead bodies found in the second floor - "

daisuke snapped his head to the ceiling as soon as he heard a soft creak emit from over him

daisuke stared at the ceiling for about a moment before askint heusc - "look at the footage from the surveillance cameras surrounding the the bar. how many people fled outside?"

daisuke heard another creek above him, and this time he was sure he wasn't alone

and his unknown companion would love to have him in the same state as the corpses

and heusc replied: "twenty four"

daisuke closed his eyes, "is that so?"

heusc: "one person remains inside the building"

daisuke dropped his communication with his ai and positioned himself to a clean posture, back straight and hands tucked inside his pockets

daisuke: "you can come out now. no use hiding. i know you're here"

no response

daisuke clicked his tongue, "i heard you moving around in the ceiling the entire time i'm here and it's only been two minutes. you're not as discreet as you think you are. reveal yourself now and i'd consider lessening your time in jail."

still, silence greeted him

daisuke was growing irritated by the lack of answer given to him.

daisuke: "a coworker of mine needs to be back at the station right now for a reunion with his girlfriend - " daisuke paused as he imagined haru having a girlfriend. " - so let's keep this short and simple. surrender and as i have promised earlier, i will try to get you lesser years in prison"

but daisuke was not intending to keep this promise. even he knows giving a generous offer to criminals would weaken their resolve

but again, there was no answer

but he expected this

he always does to every case he gets handed with, or forced his hands to

daisuke observed the ceiling through a blank lense before sighing "if this is how you want things to go down, then so be it"

daisuke touched his earring and deliberately increased the volume of his voice as he spoke to heusc - "heusc, purchase the bar and its neighboring buildings and set a bomb for twenty minutes. tell the others to get out of here as soon as possible" he sneered at the ceiling. "i don't mind dying inside this bar with the suspect. it's the norm for a police officer to risk theit lives in the name of justice"

he sounded like haru for a moment there

heusc responded immediately: "understood, sir. balance: unlimited"

it was after that statement did a response come to light

the ceiling above daisuke broke as a firm kick broke through the fragile material

daisuke jumped away before a slim figure of a man dropped down from the hole

before daisuke could move, the man dashed pass him and out of the room, his oustretchrd hand barely grazing the bloodied clothes he wore

daisuke didn't waste time and recovered from his stunned state before following after the perpetrator

daisuke kept losing track of the man from time to the time and when he got down to the grounr floor, he saw no sign of him

nobody was present inside the bar anymore per order of heusc and money

all except for haru of course who immediately ran out of the place he was scouring and back to the main room

daisuke knew he heard heusc's order to leave the building but

haru will always be haru

haru, upon seeing daisuke's solemn state, asked: "what happened"

daisuke: "the man - did you see him?"

*haru, confused noises*: "what man? who?"

daisuke: "the man who killed the peple upstairs - he was still here and he ran down, didn't you hear him?"

haru: "no, i didn't - " his sentence was cut off when a figure suddenly lunged at him

lo and behold the criminal who was hiding behind an overturned couch

haru and the man tumbled down to the ground, fists and feet swinging wildly. daisuke watched as haru struggled to acquire dominance over the situation

daisuke: "heusc, identity of the killer"

heusc: "sakatoshi matona, a former bouncer for genyr until he was let go without reason"

haru strung out profanities and grunts as he and the matona rolled on the floor, trying to pin the other down. with a boost of strength, matona managed to get the upper hand and he put all his weight on haru. his hands found haru's neck and began strangling him

daisuke was like aren't you cop? win you idiot in the inside and haru was like aren't you a cop? help me you bastard in the inside. just the norm for the reckless and seemingly suicidal cops

haru: "gwet hiff op opp mii"

heusc: "transalation: get him off of me"

daisuke took action after that. he pulled matona off of haru and immediately socked him on the face

matona stumbled back but daisuke underestimated the time he would tske to recover and he tumbled back as the criminal retaliated with a punch of his own

daisuke dodged the assault but in the process, temporarily losing his posture. matona took this as an opportunity to continue his line of attacks, landing a few good hits on daisuke but majority of the time, he failed

daisuke recovered from the initial shock matona has inflicted him with and returned to momentum ane he was preparing his attack when bam - haru kato

my day be so fine then boom - haru kato

daisuke's eyes widened when haru, after standing up, tried to lock matona's arms to prevent him from moving anymore but instead, his chest met with an elbow

air was taken away from him and haru staggered backwards, clutching his chest and matona seized him

daisuke cursed and shot forward to help him but stopped when matona took haru's gun away from him and pointed it towards haru

matona: "stand back or i'll shoot"

haru raised his hands in surrender but daisuke did not

and haru was: ?????!!!!! tryna get me killed????!!!!

daisuke: "i can keep my promise, you know"

matona pointed the gun at daisuke

matona: "how can you when you're just a lowly cop?"

daisuke took out his cigar and lit up

daisuke: "yes, because a lowly cop can just buy buildings with a single command from an ai"

matona growled "rich, snobby, uncaring, and a liar. you're just the same like the people i killed"

daisuke opened his mouth to reply when a feminine voice cuts in

"finally, a confession. now we can get this over with"

before anyone could react appropriately, matona felt a hand take hold of his stolen gun and tore it away from his grasp before a heel sunk into his stomach, causing him to spit out blood

daisuke saw her, a woman standing with such grace, confidence, and strength with a gun in her hand and a smirk on her brims

daisuke couldn't move not from shock, but with admiration

who was this woman?

and what was this thudding in his chest

doki doki

his face was hot, very hot

and so was the woman

"( YOUR NAME )???"

daisuke turned and saw haru gawking at you

haru: (@[]@!!)

daisuke: （－－）

also daisuke: is that really (your name)? haru's partner? haru's girlfriend?

daisuke: hmp hmp（｀ー´）

you turned to both of them and daisuke was blown away with you that he nearly fell

he thinks you're very pretty

V E R Y

doki doki

you smiled widely at them: "haru, it's so nice to see you again" and then you turned to daisuke

daisuke froze and his cigar dropped

you glanced back at haru: "you already replaced me?"

haru: "tf no! rich boy here wanted to plays cops for a while so he went to our department. you know me, i could never replace you"

daisuke glared at haru

it waa obvious he was trying hard not to upset you (though you didn't look like the type who would get easily offended)

plus he's pushing a single and narrow minded narrative about him towards you. what if you hate him?

but you didn't and merely smiled at him, ignoring the criminal trembling from the pain of your kick

you: "my name is (your name)"

daisuke.exe has stopped working

jk that won't happen to daisuke

for now at least

daisuke: "kambe daisuke"

you, smiling: "nice to meet you, kambe daisuke!"

haru: "how did you find us here?"

you: "was gon get a drink before i head to the station but then i saw police tapes and stuff"

haru looked alarmed: "YOU WERE GOING TO DRINK RIGHT AFTER YOU GOT RELEASED FROM THE HOSPITAL"

you turned away from them, facing matona: "you can continue scolding me after we arrest this killer, haru. sorry in advance for haru, daisuke. he can be pretty overbearing and protective"

daisuke: "i can tell"

haru was offended okay?

you were already teaming up with daisuke to tease? betrayal.

haru: "how dare you (your name) - "

you did not let haru to finish his sentence and starter beating the shit out of matona like DAMN GHORL

daisuke and haru watched from a distance as you expertly used the gun to your advantage without pulling the trigger. you used the metal to hit him in fragile parts of his body in order to limit his movement

daisuke gawked at you

he has never seen such fluid execution for an arrest

daisuke looked: O-O

haru, seeing him, smugly crossed his arms and said: "you get to see how amazing (your name) is as a cop. she's my partner"

just as he said that, you pinned the criminal down on the ground, gun discarded, your one hand straining his arm behind his back and the other pinning his other hand on the ground

you: "i just got out of the hospital. how did i still win?"

daisuke suddenly frowned

oh, right. she's haru's girlfriend.

several minutes later, you successfully managed to arrest sakatoshi matona and the other detectives came to take him. but of course, you made sure you, daisuke, and haru were getting the recognition

like hell you were letting someone else get the glory for your efforts

you returned to daisuke and haru, smiling

they were talkiny when you hugged haru from behind

you: "haru i missed youuuu. it was lonely without your annoying butt looking out after me all the time"

haru flushed red

haru: "if you didn't catch the bullet for me then - "

you: "and let you get shot instead? nu uh, no way. i would take any bullet for you. right, daisuke?"

he felt speechless when you regarded him

daisuke didn't know what else to say to you so he said: "yes, i agree"

but somehow the the thought of you getting shot angered him

haru looked at daisuke, thinking: he acting kinda sus rn

you turned to haru and the two of you began catching up, smiling and laughing

you two looked comfortable so with each other. you two were carbon copies of one another, except you were ten times better, sorry haru

you two were made for each other

no wonder you're his girlfriend

you: "how's everyone in the precinct?"

haru: "still the same. everyone missed you"

daisuke: "are you two together?"

haru: 👁👄👁

you: *long ass laughing emoji*

haru turned very red, shouting: "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT IDEA"

daisuke: "you said you were partners - "

you: "i didn't know you liked me that way, haru - "

haru: "NO I DON'T KAMBE WAS JUST BEING A DUMBASS"

you tittered and turned to daisuke: "no, we're not together, kambe-san" you tucked a lock of hair behind your ear. "sorry if i scared you"

daisuke felt relief wash over him

daisuke: "i was just wondering. you and haru seemed very close so i was just making sure i wasn't misunderstanding"

daisuke froze with wide eyes when you leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek

and you whispered to him: "gotta work on being discreet when you look at me. i can practically see you chasing after me in the future with how you were looking at me. i'm flattered you find me that fascinating"

you turned to the shook haru: "i like this one, haru. we should bring him along with our cases"

you regarded them both: "anyways, i'll be heading over to the station first. i can write up the report and have man behind bars quickly. don't worry though, i'll make all three of us have the glory. i trust that you two can finish up here without me?"

the two men wanted to say something but both of them were stunned. you just kissed daisuke on the cheek and your best friend saw it. daisuke's eyes were wide and haru had his jaw dropping down

they still didn't say anything when you bid them farewell and just watched as you went to a police car with another cop where matona was and sped off

daisuke can feel his heart hammering against his chest

what was this feeling? it was so strange and . . . it's just strange, but he was not oppossed to thie feeling

in fact, he wanted more of it. as long as it came from you, it was fine

haru, however, was not

haru looked like he had seen the most horrifying thing ever

B E T R A Y E D

his best friend and this cop wannabe?

D I S G U S T H A N G

daisuke cleared his throat and turned to haru to say something but was met with a finger pointed at his face and haru looking vexed

haru: "you - "

the bar and the buildings nearby exploded beforw haru could say anything more. everyone except for daisuke was startled and sunk down on the ground

daisuke was not though. and he remained standing. not for the reason he forgot about the bomb he instructed heusc to plant but because

- you kissed him and he was self destructing

daisuke held back the smile threatening to tear through his face

haru: "w-what was t-t-th - "

daisuke: "i forgot about the bomb, sorry"

532 notes · View notes

apocalypseornaw · 4 years

Text

Always be Yours-9

Word Count: 4,901

Story Summary: Follows Dean and the reader through season 9 into season 10

Chapter Summary: With no other choice Crowley is enlisted to free Sam of the angel's grasp

Warnings: cursing, fights, blood,death the usual

When Cas made it to the bunker you weren’t sure if Dean had even told him everything that had happened. When he walked into the library where you and Dean were currently gathering what weapons you’d need it confirmed he in fact had no idea what all had gone down when he asked “What happened?”

You stopped mid movement and cut your eyes at Dean who took a deep breath before saying “We need to catch you up on a lot Cas” you saw the look of confusion on Cas’ face so you motioned to the chairs “Let’s sit down” Cas took a seat so you sat next to him and Dean sat across the table. Dean’s eyes were cast downward and you could only imagine what he was saying to himself in that movement, the horror that was his own mind working against him half the time. You could only guess that little voice inside of his head telling him he wasn’t good enough. You hated that little voice and would give anything to make Dean never listen to it again.

“I made a mistake Cas” he started but you quickly cut in “We made the mistake Dean..We” Cas looked between the two of you so you elaborated “After the trials, when Sam collapsed Dean called me. By the time I got to their sides Sam was dying and Dean had already put a call out to any angel for help. I came in to Dean being attacked and the angel who introduced himself as Ezekiel intervening. He was hurt in the fall so he couldn’t heal Sam..Cas honey we had a lot of pissed off angels coming down on our asses looking for you so we had to make a quick decision. Let Sam die or let the angel in”

“Whoever the angel was he..he hijacked Sam then he killed Kevin and took the angel tablet” you added not meeting Dean’s eyes. “Sammy was dying and he said it was the only way. I believed him and now Sam’s gone..Kevin’s” his voice trailed off at the end so you looked up towards Cas as he said “Dean I’m sorry” “Sorry doesn’t pay the bills, does it?” Dean replied and you let out a harsh breath as he pushed away from the table and stood turning his back to you and Cas before adding “It sure as hell ain’t gonna bring Kevin back..We got to find the son of a bitch”

Cas looked at you to ask “If the angel possessing Sam isn’t Ezekiel than who is it?” “A dead man walking” Dean replied, turning back around. “You’re gonna destroy him? You kill an angel it’s vessel dies too” Cas asked. Your entire body felt like it’d been dipped into ice. There had to be a different way. You couldn't kill the angel not while he was inside of Sam and you wouldn’t let anyone else. “There’s got to be a different way” you met Dean’s eyes as you said it. You refused to give up on him or Sam. It wasn’t in you.

He walked back over to the table and leaned down before saying “Sweetheart if we don’t end it and that halo burns him out..god damn I was so stupid” You looked to Cas silently begging him for help. He stood up as he said “You were stupid for the right reasons” “Yeah like that matters” Dean argued so you stood up next to Cas and said “It does” “Sometimes that’s all that matters” Cas added.

You nodded then said “Cas, Sam is strong if he knew somehow that an angel was possessing him he could fight couldn’t he?” “He could cast the angel out” he agreed.

Dean shook his head at both of you “Maybe but he’s in the dark. How the hell would we clue him in?” You could see a thought occur to Cas before he asked Dean “Do you remember Alfie?”

You looked towards Dean as he said “The kid angel, yeah why?” “Before he died he told me the demons were able to dig into his mind, access his coding. We might be able to do that here. Might be able to bypass the angel and talk directly to Sam” “You think that would work?” you asked hopeful and Cas shrugged “I don’t know but I think we owe it to Sam to try, don't you?”

At an actual plan being formed Dean nodded slowly “Well where do we start?” “Do you still have Crowley locked up here?” Cas questioned so you nodded “He’s in the armory locked up tight” “Then we should start there”

------

You watched Dean draw a syringe of blood out his own arm. Once he was through you held a rag out to wipe the blood away. “Thanks” you nodded checking to ensure it’d stopped bleeding. He laid his hand over yours when you started to pull away “I mean for a lot more than that”

You walked into the armory behind Cas after Dean turned the light on. Crowley blinked a time or two then smiled “Hello boys” when he spotted you he added “And hello sweets” Cas stepped back over to block you from his vision and you half smiled at the protectiveness. Dean pulled the syringe out his pocket “Ok, here’s the deal. You’re gonna tell us how to hack an angel and I’m gonna give you some of the good stuff. Human blood, fresh from the tap.Word is you’re jonesing for it” Crowley shook his head “Please. I’ll pass”

“What do you want then?” Cas asked. Crowley looked between the three of you then said “Well for starters a massage between the sitting and the shackles a body gets a little stiff” “Yeah I ain’t rubbing you and Y/N damn sure isn’t” Dean quickly shut him down but he replied “Didn’t want you or sweets. Get Kevin, his tiny fists can really work wonders” “Kevin’s dead” you bit out and actually saw Crowley’s face fall just slightly “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that”

Cas pushed you towards Dean before walking over to the table “Don’t pretend you care, you tried to kill him” Crowley was undeterred “I told him this was gonna happen. I was the only person who tried to warn him. I told him to run” “From what?” you asked and Crowley cut his eyes at you “From your boyfriend sweets” You saw that haunted look pass through Dean’s eyes again as Crowley looked his way “How many times am I gonna have to say this? People in your general vicinity don’t have much in the way of a life-span” Cas threw a look your way and you knew he was thinking along the same lines as you were but there was no time for that now considering Crowley continued “Now I can’t teach you how to crack open an angel. It’s more art than science. But I can do it for you. All I ask in return is a little field trip, dying for some fresh air” then held up his hands and added “Chains on naturally”

“No,” Dean said, then turned to walk out grabbing your hand but stopped when Crowley said “No? Of course not because if I’m plan a I’m sure you have a totally viable much better plan b. That’s why your angel and your girl is still paying any attention to me”

Dean stopped and motioned Cas over. You stepped to the side to let Cas get close enough to you both. “You can’t be considering this” he said but you knew Dean was. Hell you were if it got Sam back. “With the chains on he can’t do anything” Dean tried but Cas did have a point when he argued “It’s Crowley. He can always do something” “Looks like we need a tie breaker. Sweets you want to vote or you want to go grab moose” You shot a glare at him and he smiled “Unless of course you can’t. That explains why you’re all here and why you and squirrel are up for letting me out. The poor giant baby’s in trouble again isn’t he” You wanted nothing more than to knock that damn smirk off his face but you felt Cas grab your arm as if he knew so you remained in place while Dean walked towards Crowley “Are you done?”

“Depends, do we have a deal?” Crowley asked and Dean looked back to you and Cas. You sighed and nodded so he told Crowley yeah. “Excellent, when do we leave?” “Want to take the jeep?” you asked and he shook his head “I don’t want him in your jeep” Cas spoke up and said “I have a vehicle. It stopped a few miles from here inexplicably” Dean nodded “Ok” then looked at Crowley “We’ll be back to grab you”

------

A few questions about how the car was acting before it died confirmed it probably just ran out of gas so you grabbed the spare can from the garage while Dean grabbed Crowley and the bag of weapons.

You walked next to Cas because him and Dean had Crowley between them. You had silver bullets in your gun and an angel blade in your jacket along with all the supplies Dean had despite the fact that the four of you walking down the road was probably a little strange looking to any passerby you made it to the tan lincoln without issue.

Crowley looked at the car then back at Cas “Really? Are you a pimp?” you rolled your eyes at him “There’s nothing wrong with your car Cas” Cas smiled at you “Thank you Y/N. I like it” Dean walked to the open driver’s window and tried the ignition “Yeah it’s out of gas” he moved to put the gas in the car and you noticed Cas once again put himself between you and Crowley. “Riddle me this boy wonder why do you need the wheels?” Crowley asked looking around him at you as he spoke.

Cas took a half step towards him “When you betray us, I’ll be the one to carve your heart out” you felt your eyes widen at that. “Cas, what a flirt” Crowley smiled and you shook your head. Jesus angels and demons were so far from what you’d originally thought hunting was. Dean stood up after the car had gas in it “Alright, let’s go”

“Shotgun” Crowley called out but Dean pointed his finger at him “No, you’re in the back” You shrugged but Dean added “Cas, ride back there with him. I don’t want him that close to Y/N”

You watched the two of them climb in the backseat then cut your eyes at Dean before climbing in. “Watch the leg” Cas growled to which Crowley grumbled “You’re on my side!” “CHILDREN! COOL IT!” you hollered and they both stopped. Crowley grinned “Or what sweets?” you narrowed your eyes at him “I care about Cas but you? I’ll gladly stab you in the face” his grin only got bigger at that “I see just why squirrel likes you”

Dean glared at Crowley in the mirror then cranked the car up. When the music started you had the mental image of Cas listening to the station and it was amusing. You saw Dean cut his eyes at you and if it wasn’t for the angel and demon in the backseat you probably would’ve reached for his hand but instead you simply assured him “I’m good”

------

Crowley gave Dean the directions to Waldroff Financial. When he parked and all of you climbed out the car Cas quickly put himself between you and Crowley again. You followed the three of them across the parking lot and into the building. “Your source is here?” Dean asked Crowley who replied “And she can track anything, even our little lost Samantha” Dean pulled you over to sit next to him while the four of you waited. His hand came to rest on your knee which you’d found was more of a comfort thing to him than anything while Crowley explained that the building you were currently in was a front for an N.S.A. listening post. “What are the listening for?” Cas asked and Crowley shrugged “Everything, The U.S. government is quite the voyeur these days so I planted one of my best and let her go to work”

A security guard walked over and addressed Crowley “Mr Crowley she’ll see you now” all of you stood but he shook his head “Just Mr Crowley” before Crowley walked off Cas reminded him “I’ll be listening to every word you say”

You sat back down to wait this time between Cas and Dean. A few minutes passed then Dean checked his watch and asked Cas “Hear anything?” “No” Cas replied so you guessed “The room’s warded isn’t it?” he nodded. “Awesome, that’s frickin awesome” Dean grumbled, rubbing your knee slightly. You put your hand over his to stop any further movements and he glanced up at your face so you mouthed “Breathe baby” he nodded slowly turning his hand to lace his fingers with yours. You used your free hand to touch Cas’ arm “Just give him a few minutes. If he acts up I’ll hand you the blade to carve his heart out”

------

Twenty long minutes passed before Crowley walked back down the stairs. All of you stood to meet him and he held out a photo of baby from a traffic cam “Your phallus on wheels just ran a red light in Somerset Pennsylvania ten minutes ago” “Let’s go” you urged and Crowley nodded towards you “What sweets said”

------

When you made it to Somerset Dean cut his eyes at you as he parked “If I asked you to stay here?” “I’d tell you to bite me and not mean it sexually” you replied and he sighed “Thought so”

You followed him and Cas down the road to where baby was parked and ran a hand along her side as you walked past her. You knew the drill, stay out the way mainly because they were worried this angel may pinpoint you as a bargaining chip not only for the two of them but for Sam as well.

You followed Dean into the door and nudged his arm then pointed to what was clearly blood. The two of you followed it into the living room to find a body with his throat slashed then heard water running from the kitchen. He reached one hand to be able to touch you as both of you followed the sound.

The angel wearing Sam’s face stood at the sink with his back towards you washing his hands. He turned the water off before saying “Dean, you and Y/N should not have come here” then turned to face the two of you. “You killed our friend then took Sam and you think I’m gonna let that stand?” “I allowed you to live, I allowed her to live” The angel replied motioning towards you Dean shrugged “Mistake letting me live”

The angel flung you both backwards and you landed in a heap but as he walked towards the two of you Cas walked in behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, when he turned Cas hit him once and he went down. “Damn” you breathed as Dean helped you to your feet. You glanced down at Sam’s still then back to Dean “What now?” “We get him up and get somewhere to hack his ass” you picked up the discarded angel blades you and Dean dropped then looked from him to Cas “Well I’ll leave carrying the giant to the two of you”

------

You drove Cas’ car while Dean loaded the angel wearing Sam, Cas and Crowley into baby. You followed him a few miles out of town until he pulled off at a warehouse near the water so you parked behind him then climbed out and walked up beside the impala. Cas glanced your way when Crowley questioned “Why couldn’t I ride with sweets?” and said “Because Dean nor I want you alone with her” you shot Cas a small smile then watched as he helped Dean carry Sam’s still form inside.

You followed them inside and stood back while they went about chaining Sam’s form down to a chair. Cas reached a hand out so you gladly let him push you behind him. He had grace back flowing through him so even with clipped wings he was in a lot better shape than you were to face an angel.

Cas had already done an initial check of Sam’s injuries so when the angel started stirring Dean walked into his line of vision “Welcome to the party pal” then nodded to Cas “How we looking?” you glanced towards Cas for the answer and let out a relieved breath when the answer was “Most of Sam’s internal burns have healed. I should be able to fix the rest” he looked from Dean to you before addressing the angel in Sam “What’s your name? I thought I knew every angel in heaven, but I’ve never seen you”

The angel glared at the three of you and it made a shiver of horror run up your spine at just how little he sounded like Sam in that moment “Why would I tell you anything?” Dean took a step towards the angel as he said “Well I don’t give a damn who you are. You need to get out now!” “And if I don’t?” the angel challenged to which Crowley actually spoke up and said “Then you and I will have a lovely little playdate”

The angel set his eyes on you when he said “Even bound I can rip this body apart. Tell them Castiel.” “You do, you die” Dean growled but the angel was undeterred “You want this to end? Go ahead and put a blade through your brother’s heart” you felt your chest clench at that very thought and at the look on Dean’s face. You cared too much about both brothers to see that happen, if it came down to it you wouldn’t let Dean.

The angel looked up at Dean “If it makes you feel better, I have Sam locked away in a dream. As far as he knows you, him and Y/N are working a case right now. Something with ghouls and cheerleaders” Dean turned away from him and caught your eye for just a moment before asking him “Why are you doing this? We fought together and I trusted you. You saved Sam and Y/N. I thought you were one of the good guys!” When that actually seemed to affect the angel that made you curious. It seemed to hurt him when Dean said he thought he was one of the good guys. “I am doing what I have to do” he argued so you shrugged “So are we”

You nodded to Dean so he looked to Crowley who slowly stood up and grabbed one of the large needles that were laid out onto the table. “So am I” he repeated before digging the first needle into Sam’s skull. The scream the angel let out was pure pain. Cas turned his head away but Dean looked straight on, you knew he was punishing himself for the fact that he still blamed himself for what the angel did. You swallowed hard to keep the bile down that was threatening to come up your throat. Possessed or not that was your best friend in that chair and seeing Dean in pain on top of that? It was almost too much for you to bear.

------

By the time Crowley got the third needle in you couldn’t handle it anymore. You stood from where you’d been sitting “Dean, I’m sorry baby but I can’t” and quickly walked out the room they were in. You felt too hot, like your jacket was choking you despite the cool night. You couldn’t help none of them like this, damn you felt weak.

You sat there on the damp floor trying to catch your breath before you heard footsteps.You didn’t have to glance up to know it was Dean and Cas. You glanced up and Dean shook his head “I couldn’t do it anymore either”

“It’s not Sam but it’s still Sam” Cas reasoned and you nodded from where you sat. You flinched every time the angel screamed. Cas held a hand out so you let him pull you up to your feet. You glanced at Dean then asked Cas “How are you doing?”

Cas looked confused for a second as he looked between both of you “You want to talk about me? Now?” “I want to talk about anything that’s not a demon sticking needles into my brother’s brain and I know Y/N feels the same” when Dean’s voice cracked you reached for his arm and he pulled you into his side before he begged “Please humor us Cas, how ya doing?”

“Um, I’m ok” Cas finally said so you pulled away from Dean and pulled him into a hug. He seemed shocked for a moment then hugged you back. When you pulled away you explained “That’s for not protecting you better when you were human. Cas you’re my family you mean just as much to me as they do” “Yeah man I’m sorry for kicking you out of the bunker, for not telling you about Sam” Dean added.

Cas simply said “You thought his life was at stake” “Yeah I got played” Dean replied so Cas reminded him “I thought I was saving heaven, I got played too” Dean scoffed “So you’re saying we’re both dumbasses” “You both wanted to trust someone. Someone who portrayed themselves as something they weren’t. Not dumb or ass” you cut in and they both gave you a small smile before Crowley called out “Laverne! Shirley! Sweets! All three of you get in here!”

------

You followed Dean and Cas back into the room. What Crowley wanted to show was that he’d dug around enough to get the angel’s true identity. Gadreel. The angel who had let Lucifer into the garden and doomed all of mankind.

Cas rightfully had some built up anger at Gadreel but Dean pulled him back and reminded him to chill. Cas shoved his hand off but let your hand remain. “I will for Sam” you nodded a thank you before pulling your hand away.

------

With no other option you stood next to Dean and watched as Crowley’s smoke form left his vessel and flowed into Sam. Cas couldn’t get in without permission so since Sam wouldn't be fast to trust Crowley Dean told him the go word which was poughkeepsie. It meant drop everything and run. It was a system they’d come up with in their early twenties and had worked thus far.

Your eyes were on Sam’s body imagining the fight going on inside his head. You felt Dean’s hand on your lower back and leaned into his touch for comfort. You didn’t want to give voice to the thought inside your head and a part of you was relieved when Cas was the one to say “If this doesn’t work” “It’ll work” Dean cut him off before leaving a light kiss on your temple then walked across the room.

You took a deep breath while you watched Sam’s face for any indication as to what was happening.

------

“Dean!” you called his name a half second before the blinding white light of Gadreel’s essence flowing out of Sam lit up the room. Cas moved to shield your eyes from the light so you turned into his arm. Crowley’s smoke formed followed, flowing back into his vessel. “Sam!” you called moving to help Dean unchain him while Cas worked the remove the needles left behind.

“Sam are you ok?” Cas asked and you could see the confusion on Sam’s face but a vehicle pulling up broke any sort of relief that moment gave. Cas walked over to a window then glanced back “It’s Abaddon!” “Go. The back door. I’ll handle this” Crowley told Dean with a nod.

“Thanks Boris. Don’t die” you muttered while Cas and Dean supported Sam between them. You got in front of them with an angel blade in hand as a precaution.

------

All of you got far enough away that you could stop for Cas to heal the holes in Sam’s head left by the needles. You stood back watching with your stomach in knots. Would he hate Dean for it? Would he hate you?

After Cas had healed Sam Dean walked over to join the two of them. Cas took a few steps away but you stayed where you were, close enough to hear and intervene if need be but not interfere if unneeded.

“Ok, let me hear it” Dean stated. Sam shrugged “What do you want me to say? That I’m pissed?” Dean nodded so he admitted “Ok, I am. I’m pissed. You lied to me. You got Y/N to lie to me” “He didn’t get me to do anything Sam! I agreed to lie because we didn’t have a choice at the time” you cut in but Sam wouldn’t even look your way before scoffing softly “I was ready to die! “We weren’t ready to let you” you argued and there were tears in Sam’s eyes when he did look your way “So my brother and best friend tricked me into being possessed by some psycho angel?” “He saved your life” Dean spoke and Sam shook his head “I was willing to die..and now Kevin” he trailed off and you felt your heart twist.

“No. That is not on you. Kevin’s blood is on my hands” Dean argued and you started to open your mouth but he shook his head and added “That ain’t ever getting clean” god why did he always have to take the world on his shoulder. “It’s on neither of you! It’s on Gadreel! He killed Kevin!” you stated not backing down from either of them.

“I’m going after Gadreel alone” Dean said after a moment and Sam cut his eyes at you before asking “What does that mean?” Dean tilted his head “Sammy, Y/N...People who get close to me get killed or worse. I can’t lose either of you”

“Go. I’m not going to stop you” Sam told him and you swallowed your words to let the brothers have a moment. Dean stepped away from Sam but stopped when Sam said “But don’t go thinking that’s the problem cause it’s not” “What’s that supposed to mean?” Dean questioned but Sam wouldn’t elaborate “Just go!”

You’d never felt more torn than standing between the two of them, watching one walk away and one stand in place. “Sam” you started but he nodded once “Go with him. He needs you more than I do right now” “Do you hate me?” you whispered and he shook his head “Never” you stepped close enough to press a kiss to his cheek then hurried to catch up to Dean before he climbed into baby.

------

When you grabbed Dean’s arm he froze and looked down at your hand “Y/N what are you doing?” you met his eyes and said “Either I go with you now or I go home and get my jeep and track you. Sam has Cas to help him, I’m not leaving you alone not now anyways” you could see the muscle clenching in his jaw and expected him to argue but he took a deep breath then said “I meant that I can’t lose you sweetheart if something happened to you because of me..” he trailed off but you didn’t need him to finish the thought to know what he meant. “Well then it’s a good thing I’ll be at your side. I know if I die next to you that you did everything you could to keep me alive”

“Get in then” he finally said so you looked back at Sam and Cas before walking around to climb into the passenger seat. You weren’t choosing him over Sam you were just making the choice that felt the most right at the moment and letting Dean drive away alone? You couldn’t do that.

Tags: @facadeformyrealblog @akshi8278

#spn fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester x female!reader #always be yours

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bumblesimagines · 4 years

Text

The Oldest Pogue

Part 3

Request; Yes or No

(Y/N) cut vegetables, mind drifting back to the events that had occured. They almost got caught by his dad, got in a boat chase, and found evidence of John B's dad possibly being alive. Just a few days ago, everything was normal. They fished, partied, spent each day having fun. Things were start to take a more serious turn. Suddenly, pain shot (Y/N)'s finger.

"Shit!" (Y/N) hissed, putting his finger in his mouth and tasting blood. He sighed, putting the knife down and rinsing his finger as the door opened.

"Hey, bud." Shoupe greeted, watching him. (Y/N) licked his lips.

"Hey, dad. How was work? Any luck finding that wreck?" (Y/N) asked, turning the water off and searching for a bandaid.

"Goddamn it." (Y/N) muttered. Shoupe's brows raised.

"You okay?" He asked. (Y/N) nodded, opening a cabinet and finding the box of bandaids.

"Cut yourself? Let me see." Shoupe approached him but (Y/N) shrunk away from him.

"Absolutely not. You'll touch it and it'll hurt more." (Y/N) said, applying the bandage on. Shoupe rolled his eyes, calling him 'dramatic' under his breath.

"To answer your question, no. We didn't get any luck. Who knows how far the current took that body from the boat? The waves from that day were strong." Shoupe said. (Y/N) hummed.

"Have you searched the areas around the beaches? Maybe he got far." (Y/N) went back to chopping vegetables. Shoupe sighed.

"And anyway.. Why is everyone searching so much? He went out during a hurricane and drowned." (Y/N) shrugged. "Did his autopsy reveal something?"

"Nope. No drugs, no signs of assault, no signs of intoxication. He went out there clean and with a clear mind. We want to know why. Finding the wreck will be the only way in knowing." Shoupe told him. (Y/N) hummed.

"I guess that make sense." (Y/N) mumbled. Shoupe nodded.

"So.. Have you spoken with Rafe?" Shoupe asked.

"Dad." (Y/N) looked at him. "No, no, I haven't and don't blame on it."

"He's a douche."

"Damn, a douche, huh?" Shoupe chuckled.

"Yeah, he ghosts me when he goes off to college and then expects me to sucker up to him when he gets back? JJ warned me-"

"JJ, huh?"

"Not every guy I talk about is my boyfriend, dad. JJ is my friend. Plain and simple." (Y/N) sighed, finishing the soup.

"Now.. Can we change the subject? How's Peterkin and everyone else?"

"DCS! I know you're in there!" JJ shouted, pounding on John B's door. (Y/N) rolled his eyes, chuckling. JJ went to the window, jumping and scaring John B. JJ laughed loudly.

"Gotcha, slick." He chuckled. (Y/N) shook his head, opening the door.

"Have any breakfast yet?" (Y/N) asked. John B nodded, sighing and putting on his hat. The boys left, getting in the van.

"Why don't you get a car, (N/N)? You have the money for it." JJ said. (Y/N) shrugged.

"Want me to get one for you?"

"You can't steal a car, JJ." (Y/N) said. JJ raised his brows, grinning. (Y/N) rolled his eyes.

"Okay, you can but you shouldn't. Dad already thinks we're dating and you stealing a car will-"

"Woah, Woah.." JJ flushed, blinking as he stared at him. "You're dad thinks we're dating?" JJ asked.

"Yeah." (Y/N) nodded. John B held back a snort, knowing how JJ felt.

"Speaking of dating, Kiara is into you, JB." (Y/N) said.

"She totally likes you, dude." JJ nodded, looking at him. "She's like, 'Oh, John B.'"

"Is that what she does?" John B cocked a brow as (Y/N) laughed softly.

"She's sketching about you diving, then she kissed you." JJ listed.

"She kissed me on the cheek." John B corrected. "It's not like we were makin' out."

"Low-hanging fruit, bro." JJ shrugged.

"Never hurts to try." (Y/N) said.

"Right? I see it in your eyes too, bro. You're like, 'I kinda like that,' and you start blushing." JJ grinned.

"Wanna talk about blushing and seeing it?" John B asked. JJ puffed out his cheeks, gaze flickering to (Y/N), who was too busy staring out the window to notice. JJ leaned forward, grabbing the compass in an attempt to change the subject.

"Hey, don't-"

"I was just looking at it!" JJ pushed John B's hands away. "I gotta admit, your father's compass in Scooter's boat, that's freaky."

"Yeah. That's why we're going to talk to Ms. Lana, figure this whole thing out." John B said.

"We?" (Y/N) repeated, looking forward at them.

"Yes, we. You're the best at consoling people." John B said. (Y/N) groaned.

"I knew I should've stayed in bed." (Y/N) mumbled. JJ chuckled.

"As if I would've let you." He shot him a wink. (Y/N) rolled his eyes, reaching forward and pinching his cheek. They turned up the radio, listening to it. John B drove onto a dirt road.

"So, what are we gonna say? 'Hey, we know you're crying over your dead husband but we found the boat he was in and tried to take valuable stuff but instead found this compass. Ring any bells?'" (Y/N) cocked a brow. JJ and John B glanced at each other, nodding.

"Yeah, basically." They replied. (Y/N) rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Starting to feel glad I came. For Ms. Lana's sake." (Y/N) mumbled, looking back out the window. They arrived, parking. John B and JJ hopped out, JJ opening the door for (Y/N).

"Such a gentleman." (Y/N) teased, chuckling softly. JJ bowed, pretending to tip a hat. (Y/N) rolled his eyes, gently pushing him. JJ chuckled, walking towards the house.

"Know what this house looks like?" JJ asked. "Whoever lives here smokes too much weed."

"A widow lives here, JJ." (Y/N) reminded, smacking the back of his head. The boys started slowing down, hearing glass shattering and crashing.

"Maybe we should come back." JJ said. (Y/N) shot him a look.

"What if she's being attacked?" (Y/N) asked. JJ shrugged.

"None of our business." JJ replied.

"Shut up, JJ." John B glanced at him. They heard more crashing before Lana screamed, telling whoever was inside the house was hurting her. (Y/N) dragged JJ towards the house. They heard the voices and Lana sobbing more clearly. They got down, pressing against the house.

"Still think we should stay?" JJ asked them quietly.

"The compass wasn't in the boat. Where is it, Lana?" A man asked. (Y/N) furrowed his brows, glancing at John B. He wondered what the hell they got themselves into. The walls shook, dried paint getting on them. They got it out of their hair. John B peeked before moving forward.

"We should just go. He's got smuggler written all over him-"

"Shut up." John B huffed. They peeked over the side, watching to men walk out. (Y/N) squinted, noticing it seemed like the boat that had chased them.

"Those are the guys from yesterday." (Y/N) mumbled.

"The ones that shot at us." JJ shook his head. They hid, moving back a bit so they wouldn't be spotted. Once they were out of sight, (Y/N) moved.

"(Y/N)? (Y/N)! Goddamn it." JJ huffed, following him inside. (Y/N) followed the sound of Lana sobbing, glancing at the trashed up house.

"Ms. Lana?" John B called out. (Y/N) turned a corner, finding her on the bathroom floor. He quickly rushed toward her.

"Ms. Lana, are you okay?" (Y/N) asked. She flinched, looking at him.

"It's okay, it's me." (Y/N) soothed. "She's tweaking, man." (Y/N) hushed JJ.

"Do you need a doctor? Want me to get dad or Peterkin?"

"No." Lana gasped out, shaking her head. "They can't get involved."

"Why not?" (Y/N) frowned.

"You shouldn't be here." Lana sniffled.

"That's enough for me, come on." JJ tugged on (Y/N)'s shirt. (Y/N) swatted his hand away.

"Wait, wait." John B crouched down by her, glancing at them. "What do you know about these guys?"

"They were looking for something." Lana whimpered. (Y/N) frowned.

"Do you know anything about this?" John B asked. Lana's face dropped, rapidly shaking her head.

"This is my father's. Scooter had it. Do you know anything about it?" John B asked.

"Don't tell anyone that you have that!" Lana glanced between them. (Y/N) was suddenly pulled up by JJ.

"We need to go, now. What if they come back?" JJ asked, raising his brows. (Y/N) glanced at John B and Lana.

"She's hurt, JJ."

"You can't always be the hero." JJ said quietly. Lana yelled at them to go and get out, JJ dragging John B and (Y/N) away. They got into the van, quickly driving away.

"We should go back-"

"(N/N), for the love of god." JJ climbed back into the backseats, sitting infront of him. He gently grabbed his face.

"She'll be fine. She had cuts and bruises. There was no blood spilled so she didn't get stabbed or shot." JJ said. "Start worrying about yourself before you get hurt."

"But.." (Y/N) breathed out, staring into JJ's sky blue eyes. He swallowed, nodding and shifting his gaze elsewhere. JJ hummed, letting him go and sighing deeply. He caught John B's eye through the rearview mirror. John B cocked a brow. JJ looked away, focusing back on (Y/N) and getting dried paint out of his hair. They got to the house, Kiara and Pope already there and waiting. JJ had them sit down, telling them all about it. (Y/N) stared at the tree, thoughts locked on Lana and the guys. (Y/N) spaced out, their voices being muffled and faint.

"The office." (Y/N) blinked, looking at John B when he spoke. "Huh?"

"My dad. My dad's office." John B said, entering the house. They followed, (Y/N) taking JJ's cigarette and butting it out. They followed him to the office, watching him open it.

"I just.. Kind of left it like it is." John B mumbled.

"Yeah, for when he gets back." Kiara nodded. Pope and JJ looked at each other. (Y/N) pinched JJ, squinting his eyes and shaking his head. JJ pouted, rubbing his arm. John B opened the door, entering.

"I've slept over here like 600 times, and I've never seen this door open." Pope said, entering the office. They looked around at the scattered papers, books, maps. (Y/N) hummed.

"Looks straight out of Pinterest." (Y/N) mumbled. JJ chuckled softly. John B grabbed a crappily made family tree.

"Look, this is the original owner, right here." John B pointed at a picture as they gathered around.

"Robert Q. Routleoge." Kiara read. (Y/N) hummed, looking over the pictures.

"Have I ever told you how weird your last name is?" (Y/N) looked at him. John B scoffed.

"Yours is Shoupe, it's not any better." He replied. (Y/N) chuckled, looking back down at the family tree.

"There's the lucky compass." Kiara pointed at the compass in the picture, smiling.

"Actually, um.. He was shot after he bought it." John B told them, softly.

"Then it was shipped back to Henry. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass." John B moved onto the next guy. (Y/N)'s brows rose.

"After he died, it was sent to Stephen. He had it with him when he died in Vietnam." John B glanced up at them. (Y/N) hummed.

"He died in action?"

"He, uh.. Was killed by a banana truck. In- In country." John B corrected. "He passed the compass down to my dad."

"Seems more cursed than lucky." (Y/N) mumbled. JJ nodded.

"Yeah, reoccuring theme called death." JJ said, shrugging lightly. "You're probably next."

"Am not." John B huffed, sitting down. "My dad used to talk about this secret compartment soldiers used to hide secret notes." John B opened the back, shaking it.

"That wasn't there before.. This is my dad's handwriting." John B said.

"How can you know?" Pope asked.

"Cause he does these weird Rs." John B showed him. "See?"

"Can I see it?" JJ asked. John B handed it to him. JJ sucked his teeth, looking over it.

"Red.. Rout.. No, I think that's an A."

"It says Redfield." Kiara corrected.

"Right."

"So, what's Redfield?" Kiara asked, looking at the boys.

"I can name a list of people and places with that name." (Y/N) said, shrugging and stepping away from them. He looked over some papers, glancing at the pen when he heard the rooster cawing.

"How can you think with that thing constantly crowing at you?" Pope asked.

"Everyone loves the rooster." Kiara muttered, watching him try to figure out the clue and trying to help. (Y/N) looked up, tugging at John B's shirt.

"Guys, we have company." (Y/N) told them. The others went to the window, watching the guys from before get out of the truck. JJ started pacing until John B grabbed him and spun him around.

"Where's the gun?" John B asked. JJ tried to think. (Y/N) swallowed, looking for another potential escape route. JJ left to get the gun but ran back into the room. (Y/N) looked at the windows. He went to one, trying to get it open. JJ and Pope jumped in to help.

"Why isn't it opening?" Kiara asked, panicking. "Painted shut." (Y/N) replied, glancing around for a knife or scissors. They could hear the men shouting, knocking things over. Kiara found something sharp enough. She started cutting the paint as John B and Pope leaned against the door. They stayed as quiet as possible, locking the door. A gunshot rang out, causing them to work faster. They got it open, everyone getting out. (Y/N) closed the window before being dragged away by JJ to the chicken pen. They hid inside, watching as the guys took stuff in crates into their truck.

"Do something, Pope. Shut him up!" JJ hissed, glaring at the rooster.

"What do you want me to do?!"

"Pet it, or talk to it. I don't know!" Kiara whispered back. Before Pope could do anything, the rooster tried attacking him. John B quickly hid. JJ grabbed the rooster by its neck, hitting it against the ground. It went limp, silence taking over. (Y/N) had Kiara bury her face into his chest, letting her sob quietly. JJ frowned, watching her. Once they heard the truck driving away, they got out and into the van. John B started driving. (Y/N) swallowed, staring at the van floor.

"Look, sorry about the rooster." JJ said. (Y/N) looked st him, shaking his head.

"My, uh.. My ex killed a cat once infront of me." (Y/N) mumbled. JJ's eyes widened, brows raising. (Y/N) nodded, confirming his silent question. The topic changed to John B and concocting. (Y/N) sighed softly, watching the trees pass by until they got to the lighthouse. John B parked, getting out with everyone.

"Right, you're gonna post up and look out for bogeys." John B said, looking at JJ.

"What? Why me?"

"Because you're not coming." Pope answered.

"Why?"

"Look, there are dependent and independent variables. You're an independent variable. We don't know what you'll do." Pope explained in his own weird way. An argument broke up but John B shut it down.

"Pope and (Y/N), you stand look out with JJ." John B said. (Y/N) shrugged.

"Alright." He nodded. "We'll meet back up later." John B said before walking away with Kiara. (Y/N) opened the driver door and sat in the seat. JJ approached him, resting his arms on (Y/N)'s knees.

"Why didn't you tell me about him killing a cat?" JJ asked softly. (Y/N) shrugged.

"No reason, Sunset. I just.. It's nothing." (Y/N) shook his head.

"Does your dad know?" JJ asked. (Y/N) shook his head.

"No. I'm not telling him anytime soon." (Y/N) gently ran his hair through JJ's hair. Pope approached them. He was about to greet them before they heard police sirens.

"Fuck." (Y/N) whispered as JJ and Pope got in the back. (Y/N) started the van, quickly driving away. He glanced in the rearview mirror.

"Shit, that's my dad." (Y/N) mumbled, driving faster.

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lozzypoz321 · 4 years

Text

Bucky| Big brother got your back

Bucky Barnes x child!reader

I cowered down, flat against the wall while Tyler, my bully, was standing in front of me with fury in his eyes. How did I get here you wonder, well you see about 5 minutes ago I'd been walking through the school hallway talking to (Y/B/F) and when I turned my head to talk to her I had accidentally bumped into the school 'bad boy'.

I'd knocked all his books out of his hands as well as his phone. Instant panic filled my chest, uncertainty I looked down to see the cracked phone on the ground in horror before looking up and at him, his fists were balled up tightly, his nose flared and his eyebrows scrunched. I hadn't waited to see what he'd do next as I'd ran full speed out of the school and went down to the back of the rubbish bins, my usual hiding spot, that nobody knew about, well I thought nobody knew about, that was until Tyler stepped forward, coming from the school.

So that's how I got here, cowering like a little baby. Tyler growled above me and raised a fist. Pow! His hand came in contact with my cheek. A throbbing pain instantly came through me, he grabbed the front of my T-shirt with one hand and raised me off my feet pushing me against the wall. I whimpered in fear and tears instantly came to my eyes out of fear. "Git" he whisper yelled as he punched me hard in my nose.

I could instantly feel the blood dripping down my lip and chin. I tried to apologize to Tyler for cracking his phone hoping it would get him to stop but I couldn't even open my mouth, I was frozen.

Suddenly he dropped me to the ground and started kicking my viciously in the stomach again and again. I don't even know how long it had been until he'd stopped, all I know is that I felt sick to the stomach. He gave me one final kick to the cheek that I knew was going to bruise later on. When I finally saw him walk away I decided it was same to get up.

And with a limp I started walking home with none of my possessions as they were still at school but I couldn't let any of my class mates see me like this, I'd get even more stick for it.

But no matter how much all of my injuries I had just got all I could think about was how I was gonna face my big brother Buck. Would he be angry at me for not telling him? Or embarrassed I hadn't fought back?

A soon as I knew it I was back at the Avengers Tower, all the security knew who I was by now so they immediately let me inside but gave me aside glance at my face. I thought I might have had some food on it until I remembered about Tyler.

The whole ride up to the main floor I was thinking over and over again at how I was going to slip past Bucky. I could tell him... but better safe than sorry.

Ping! The elevator doors slid open. But what I saw was what I wasn't expecting to. By brother was pacing back and forth quickly in the living room. As soon as he heard the doors open, he looked up and saw me. I luckily had my hood up and it hid my face so Bucky didn't see any of the things that had occurred previously.

"God (Y/N) you made me worried sick, you said you'd be back an hour ago! Where have you been?!" He yelled and speed walked to me quickly before pulling me into a tight hug. I hissed slightly as his hand on my back brushed against on of the most painful bruises.

He instantly pulled back but kept his hands in my shoulders "You okay (Y/N)?"

I nodded my head as fast as I could before shaking his hands off and began speed walking to the staircase that led to my room. But that wasn't enough of an answer for him because as soon as I took a step towards to steps he grabbed my shoulder closest to him. I hissed again instantly out of pain, Bucky caught on straight away.

"(Y/N) what happened?" He asked strictly yet softly.

I immediately broke down, reliving all the pain and anguish all in one moment. I fell down onto my knees making me cry more violently.

"Hey, hey shhhh," He whispered comfortingly and went down onto his knees as well "what happened"

I began to explain to him what had happened starting in the school hallway and ending when he left the crime scene.

Although I had to stop at certain points to have a few deep breaths before carrying on I eventually got he story out. I could see the anger raging in Buckys eyes but he kept it in so he could give me a big hug.

But then he said something I didn't expect him to say "Come on (Y/N) we're going back to your school,"

I spluttered out complaints and "no, no, no" but he just put me on his back for a piggy back.

"Why are we going?" I moaned for the last time as we approached the school building, "your gonna stay outside, I'm going to teach this Tyler dude a lesson" he finally answered me.

Bucky put me down on the bench outside the front doors. "Wait here"

I nodded my head defeated. I saw my brother walk through the entrance and disappear. I had absolutely no idea how long he was gonna be gone so I patiently watched the cars speed past, loud music blasted through each of them. Probably from the radio, that's what everybody listens to now.

About 10 minutes later Bucky came walking out calmly but with a furious expression, with a beat up Tyler held by his collar being dragged behind him, "apologise. Now" Bucky growled to him. "Sorry" He sputtered out trying to get out of my brothers grip.

But it was nearly impossible since he was using his metal arm.

"Try harder"

"I'm so sorry, I won't do it again" Tyler practically yelled out, starting to panic that he couldn't get out of Bucky's hand.

Buck let go of him, making sure that he fell to the ground. As fast as his feet could move, Tyler got up off the concrete and ran down the street probably back to his house.

"Thank you" I whispered as I got back on his back for the walk back. "No problem (Y/N), anybody messes with my little sister, they'll have me to answer to" He said menacingly while letting go off my legs for a seconds to crack his knuckles.

"Don't lie Buck, your just a big softy"

Written by me. Wattpad; @Lozzypoz321 Tumblr side acc; @padfootbuckster Pinterest; @lozzypoz321

PLEASE DO NOT COPY MY WORK 💖

@marvel-ous-hobbit @snarky--starky @rae-is-typing @stargazingfangirl18 @canadianhufflepuffavenger (if you would like to be added to be the tag list, don’t be afraid to ask!)

#bucky x child!reader #buckyxsister!reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes one shot

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sea-dukes-assistant · 3 years

Text

Revelations

"How did you know I was even interested? It's not something I was ever gonna tell you," I admit.

"Caught you having a wank and heard my name," Sir answered, completely unbothered.

"WTF WHEN?" I sat bolt upright, completely unprepared for that answer.

"Oh Christ I can't remember a date...it was before my tour for the Olympics. I do remember the details of what I saw, however." He glances up at me and winks.

"How much was that, exactly?"

"Enough for me to be sure. It was also enough for my wife to ask me what got into me that night; I'd never had her against the wall before and she loved it."

I bury my face in my hands. "Oh my god," I groan, mortified, "you did not tell her. Please tell me you did not tell her."

"Oh I did. She told me that was probably why you were so anxious and that I needed to fix it. She knew before you knew she knew."

A barely audible scream comes from my mouth as I realize that he is definitely out here trying to get me to die of embarrassment. Worse is that I can hear him laughing.

"It's one of the reasons I brought you along on the tour actually. I mean, yes, you're on my staff but you were also a fucking nervous wreck and needed to calm down. I really enjoyed getting you to calm down," he says with a smirk.

I finally get past the embarrassment and see the humor in what he's just told me, and can't help but snicker at it all myself. I lie back down, immensely satisfied with myself that I got him that turned on in the first place.

"I take it that's how you just...knew what I liked?" I ask, in reference to how I never had to tell him what to do whenever he used his hands on me.

He rolls over to face me, the most contented smile I'd ever seen on his face. "I learned that if I gave you a squeeze I could get you anytime and anywhere."

"I hate you."

"No you don't," he says, rolling over further so that he's on top of me. "You've spent too much time in bed with me for that to be the case."

"Valid point." I can feel I'm starting to get hard; I've always been very responsive to him, either by his touch or by his words.

"I do have to ask what you were thinking about."

"I can't remember, honestly." Truth. That long ago, plus the fact that it's never One Thing I think about...there's no way I could answer him.

"That's a shame," he muses as he begins to nibble on my ear, "I'd love to know what got you to that point. You were really enjoying yourself." Now he's got a hand on me, gently stroking me, as if I needed any help in that respect.

"Well, um, usually I'd think about..." Fuck sake he could finish me just doing that. "...think about you sucking me off." I'm slightly embarrass to say so out loud, mainly because I'm still not accustomed to being so...open about it with him. It's not something that ever came up in conversation. It was something I thought about a lot though, since until I got with him I'd never received one.

"Is that something you want?" His work on my dick becomes a bit more purposeful, and almost to a point where he's teasing me.

"God yes," I sigh, all inhibition gone from my mind now. It occurred to me right after that I'd actually spoken my mind, rather than the usual "wishy-washy" (as he'd called it) reply of "if you want to." I felt immensely proud of myself.

Sir seemed to be as well, rewarding me with a slight squeeze on my dick, which gets him a nice vocalization from me, and a peck on my forehead. If there was ever a way to sum up our relationship, that combination would be it: we are horny as fuck for one another, but dammit, we also care.

I spread my legs enough to make room for him, and, after having re-positioned himself, takes a brief minute to, I assume, get some spit. Personally, I opt for finesse in my approach (something he really enjoys, however much he might cuss at me), but Sir is very direct and, with noticeably less hesitancy than previous times, takes me all in at once. I grab his shoulders and dig my fingers in, as my eyeballs roll back in my head.

"Son of a bitch," I half exclaim, half-moan, totally not prepared for that. I don't normally cuss, mostly just an array of vocalizations which he claims get him off more than actually fucking me, so that's another thing he can be proud of. He stays like that for a few seconds. My fingers unclench from his shoulders and I relax, enjoying every single one of them, basking in the warmth and the sensation, and most of all the thrill of him even doing this.

I feel him go slow and lingering, especially on the tip, sometimes there's flick of his tongue, sometimes not. I really want to watch him, but I'm legitimately concerned I'd finish way too early...and I want to enjoy this. Sir gradually gets more into it, having picked up on techniques I'd used on him, his tongue getting all the right sensitive spots, one hand stroking, the other doing all sort of amazing things with my balls.

I stare at the ceiling, trying to concentrate on, of all things, mentally going through the entire Red Wings roster to keep myself from an early finish. It's a struggle though, because holy shit this man is good. He isn't as practiced, but he knows exactly how to get me to lose what's left of my mind. My hips buck up slightly, and I know I'm gonna cum soon. Sir continues, unbothered, encouraged by this and the noises he's getting out of me. My breathing becomes shallow and quick, my balls tighten up, and...oh god...I'm past the edge now.

"It's...fuck...Sir I'm gonna..." My stellar language skills are followed by a loud combination of a gasp and a moan, and get my release.

Sea Duke doesn't stop, and drains every last drop before letting me go. I watch him, dazed, as he licks me clean, then sits up on his knees with a satisfied expression on his face, obviously enjoying his view.

"I'm half-tempted to have you clear my schedule," he says, eyeing me up and down.

"I can do that," I say matter-of-factly, and probably sounding a bit drunk from my unusually powerful orgasm. "It's been a few days and I could go for Round 2."

#Devin's shit fanfic #working for Sea Duke #The DTF Chronicles

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fanficwriter013 · 5 years

Text

The Tower: Unexpected - 2

The Tower: Unexpected An Avengers Fanfic

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Avengers x ofc, Bruce Banner x Bucky Barnes x Clint Barton x Wanda Maximoff x Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanoff x Tony Stark x Thor x Sam Wilson x OFC (Elly Cooper)

Word Count: 2354

Warnings: Y’all it’s us, if you don’t know what you’re in for. Boy, you gon cry. Angst baby angst, pregnancy, sickness/vomiting.

Synopsis: A little over 2 years after moving into the Avengers Tower, Elly finds herself pregnant against the odds. While some are excited, others are terrified, and pregnancy that none expected to happen causes rifts through the group and threatens to end the relationship.

Author’s Note: Written with my wordy bitch co-captain @avengerscompound

Chapter 2: Against the Odds

It took quite a while to suspect I was pregnant. It was after Thor had left for Asgard. I know you’re probably thinking I’m a huge idiot for that. You’ve been following the story. You’ve heard about the kinds of sex I have and with the sheer volume of people I have it with. I’ve also never mentioned a condom once. The thing is I have Implanon in place. The stats for that are good. Yeah, okay, no birth control is 100% effective. But this one is like 1/1000 women every three years. The odds were in my favor.

I also can hear the mom in the back of my head yelling at me about how ‘condoms don’t just protect against pregnancy, Elise’. That is true, and okay I’m not the smartest person. I got carried away sometimes, but they are the Avengers. I figured with the amount Natasha had stalked me, to begin with, they had something in place to make sure nothing was passed on to other people or vice versa. I was right in the end too, so back off, mom. Also, don’t follow my example, it gets you pregnant.

The thing I didn’t mention, was before I even came along Bruce had developed a contraceptive for the men. He didn’t want to risk himself getting anyone pregnant and he thought it would save any problems with women outside trying to make claims against them. I’d had a talk very early on with Sam about babies, and if they had wanted them and what would they do if say Wanda ever got accidentally knocked up. He’d told me that the men were all on this shot they took every month, and babies weren’t really in the books for them. That maybe later Wanda might decide she wanted to. She was very maternal. Right now though, none of the men in the group wanted nor felt they could handle being parents and if that changed for Wanda or if it was something I thought I wanted it might be the thing that took us out of the arrangement we had.

Ugh… fuck my life, seriously.

So I’d come to terms with that. With my upbringing, I was never really sure if my biological call to have kids was me or the conditioning my parents had beat into me that I needed to be a wife and mother. I knew at the time I had that conversation I wasn’t ready to, and maybe that would never change.

Then I started getting sick. It was low-level nausea that dulled as the day progressed but it worsened every day. I felt achy too. Yes, in the breasts. No one questioned it. Double birth control, we were fine. I was coming down with the flu or something. I didn’t notice if I’d skipped periods or not. My birth control made that happen anyway.

As soon as the thought passed through my head I panicked. With Wanda here, I couldn’t risk her hearing that thought until I knew if it meant anything. If she heard it, she’d get excited and then I wouldn’t be able to think about this rationally. So I rushed to the closest CVS and bought some pregnancy tests and took them straight to my apartment and used them.

Every single one of them turned positive.

I didn’t know what to do. I had been told in explicit terms they didn’t want children. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted them. Only looking at the tests I wasn’t having an ‘I’ve got get rid of them’ feeling. I was worried they’d be angry with me. That conditioning I had that I’d get in trouble for disappointing people was pretty heavily ingrained. I was worried that I would make them feel trapped into doing something they didn’t want to do. It was just, I could picture myself holding this baby. I could picture them with a child. Maybe it would have been better if Wanda had heard my thought then she could have told me what to do.

I considered calling up Jax and talking to him. Maybe getting Clarke to just take me to a clinic and getting this over with and the others would never even have to know how close I came to ruining their lives.

Only I couldn’t do that. They had a right to know. To have input on this. I imagined every single worst case scenario that you could imagine. Bruce Hulking out and destroying the place. Getting tossed to the street. Having them accuse me of cheating on them. Demanding DNA tests. Even with all those thoughts, I told FRIDAY to call an emergency family meeting and took the elevator up to the common room with one of the positive tests in a baggie to wait for them all to arrive.

One by one they all trickled in each asking me what was wrong as I sat curled up in one of the recliners. Each wanting to comfort me, but not knowing how when they didn’t know what I was dealing with.

Finally, Wanda came in with Sam and she looked at me and squeaked rushing over and climbing into the chair next to me and nuzzling into my side as she stroked her fingers gently over my stomach.

“Okay, so we’re all here. What’s going on?” Tony asked.

“So... um... I need to tell you something and I really need you to stay calm Bruce. And also... I didn't mean for this to happen. Okay? I ... this wasn't something I planned.” I said looking directly at him. I could feel my pulse racing. Even with Wanda’s comforting touch, all I could think was the next thing out of my mouth was going to destroy all of this.

“El, honey, we've talked about this. You can't start a sentence like that, and expect me to stay calm.” Bruce said, stiffening up.

I shook my head feeling a very strong urge to cry. “I don't know how else to do this, B. It's bad either way. At least you can brace yourself.”

“Rip the band-aid off, El,” Tony said.

I took a deep breath in and dug in my pocket for the test and tossed it on the coffee table. “I’m pregnant.”

Wanda squealed and squeezed me, peppering little kisses on my cheek. The rest of the room froze and stared at me. Some with their jaws dropped open. Steve slowly went and picked up the test and turned it over in his hand.

“But - but - but … I, I, uh, made…” Bruce stuttered. He seemed to be turning green at the edges and I jumped up and rushed over to him, getting on my hands and knees in front of him and taking his hand.

“I know. I know. I was on it too. Look,” I said twisting my arm so he could see the little bar implanted under my skin. “I still am. I don't know what happened.”

“I don't…” Bruce said and shook his head suddenly, he was turning a darker and his muscles started shifting.

“Bruce. Come on, you can't run from this.” I implored, putting my head in his lap and digging my fingers into his thigh. He started breathing heavily and I could feel the way his thigh muscles tensed and grew under me. “Bruce. I swear to god…”

“El, back up,” Wanda said.

I burst into tears and scrambled back from him, tears streaming down my face as Bruce doubled over and changed, growing larger, his clothes tearing and his skin turning green.

“El,” Nat said, “Come here.”

I moved up next to her and she wrapped me in her arms as Hulk took complete control over from Bruce. “I’m sorry.” I sobbed. “I know no one wanted this. I fucked up.”

She pulled me tightly against her and rubbed my back as I cried against her.

“Hulk, baby?” Hulk rumbled moving closer to us.

I looked up at him through tear stained eyes. “Hey, big guy. Yeah. Something like that.”

“Hulk, here.” He said tapping his chest.

“Thank you,” I said patting the back of his hand. It was nice knowing I had someone else here who would support me, even if he wasn’t exactly the one that I wanted. “I don’t know... I don’t know what to do.”

“We get ready,” Wanda said. “For a baby.”

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “Yeah?” I said and looked around at the others. “Is that what everyone wants?”

Hulk huffed and nodded his head. “Hulk want baby.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay. I guess. I guess I need to give the rest of you time to process. If anyone has strong reasons why you think I shouldn’t go through with this, now is the time. I literally have no idea about the biology factor. I don’t know how far along I am even. Might be timed with a Thor visit. A week either side I think in any case. So I’m not sure how we tell him about that.”

“I could maybe run some tests,” Tony said. “You'd have to take your own blood, and I'm not the biologist.”

“Okay. So we run blood tests to find out who? That’s what we want to do now?” I asked.

“No,” Steve said firmly. “We shouldn’t know whose they are. We’re in this together. That is all our baby.”

“You don’t want to know? But what if it is Thor’s and there’s some special Asgardian prenatal care I need. What if it’s Bruce’s and it hulks out inside me.” I said. I was half joking and then it occurred to me what I’d just said. “Oh god, what if it hulks out inside me? Can a fetus hulk out?”

“I'm not even sure I'd be able to read the results to know who's it belonged to,” Tony said.

“I can. But I - I’m gonna need a Doctor. Like an actual obstetrician. I haven’t made an appointment yet because I just found out, but it can’t just be the way we do things.” I explained. There was a tendency in the tower for the others to rely heavily on Bruce and Sam for their medical care, even though neither were technically medical doctors. If it was really bad they’d call in Helen Cho but they didn’t like to trust other people. I needed to make sure Tony didn’t just try and take over as my doctor instead of actually getting one.

“I'm going to do the research,” Tony said with a nod. “With the potential, we need the best.”

“Okay. But also quickly. There’s vitamins and stuff I’m supposed to take and I have to get this out of my arm. And I don’t know what I’m doing.” I said putting my head in my hands. “I guess we can make it that if you don’t want to know we don’t have to test you but if you do we can. That’s fair right?”

“I can agree to this,” Steve said and Sam nodded with him.

“Okay,” I said and took a shaky breath. “And we’re all... I’m keeping it, right? That’s what’s happening?”

Bucky looked at me with a pained expression. “Do you not want to keep it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to do.” I said breaking down again. “I thought you’d all be angry at me. Bruce is obviously angry at me.”

Hulk shook his head. “Puny Banner scared. Hulk here. Hulk want baby.” He put his hand forward. “Hulk feel?”

“Yes. There’s nothing to really feel yet. But you can.” I said leaning back against Natasha to give him room. He gently placed his hand on me, so it wrapped around my side. “You’ll be able to feel them when they’re bigger.”

“Them?” Natasha asked.

“I - oh no,” I said rubbing my head. The idea of more than one was more I could even deal with right now. “That was just a nongendered them but what if it’s them?”

“Twins.” Wanda squealed. Her excitement was nice but I was starting to feel emotionally exhausted like all I wanted to do was curl up and sleep until the baby was born.

“Let’s not... let’s just wait it’s probably just one right?” I said.

“And you think you're how far?” Steve asked.

“This thing messes up my cycle,” I answered, tapping my arm where my birth control was. “I haven’t had a period for over three months. I started feeling sick a few weeks ago. I started actually throwing up three days ago.”

“Okay, something for a blood sample then,” Steve said.

“Ultrasound too, I suppose. I'm sorry.”

“Honey, no,” Steve said. “We should have been more careful.”

“How more careful could we have been?” I asked.

“But…” Sam said quietly.

“But?” I asked.

“Bruce’s drug. There were tests.” He said.

It felt like Sam had slapped me in the face. Of all the people to suggest I had manipulated this somehow I didn’t expect it to be him. “What do you think I did, Sam? You think I sabotaged it somehow? You think I've been going out and sleeping around on top of the 9 of you and hoping this would happen? I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm apparently the most fertile person on the planet that only one escapee managed to do this.”

“No, honey. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that.” Sam said. “I'm just trying to figure this out. Trying to process it. Which I'm sure you're doing the same.”

“Sorry. Shouldn’t have snapped. I know no one wanted this.” I said quietly. I’d started feeling really sick and I didn’t want to be in here anymore.

Wanda looked over at Natasha and something seemed to pass between them. “I wanted this.” She said.

“So do I,” Natasha said. “Now come on. Time for you to have a sleep. They can have some time to process it.” She said and scooped me up, carrying me into the shared bedroom. It was quite a while before I saw many of those men again.

// NEXT

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screamingintosilence · 5 years

Text

Songfic writing challenge Day 4

I'd Lie - Taylor Swift

“You are staring, again,” Veronica whispered in her ear, making Betty jump in surprise.

“What? No, no I wasn't!” Betty's eyes were huge as she whispered harshly back at her best friend next to her.

The two were in a booth at Pop’s like every other Friday night after the football game, watching as the other half of their Core Four just came in through the door laughing and rough housing, yet to take notice of the blonde and raven haired girls waiting on them.

“You so were! You're in love with him, B. I'd honestly wish you'd stop lying.”

“I'm not lying because it's not true! He's my best friend since I was 5! I-shh,” Betty cut off quickly as Jughead and Archie finally reached the booth.

“Hey ladies!” Archie’s jovially smiled like this was the best part of his day, which it probably was, Betty thought.

“Ron, you're in my seat,” Jughead jokingly said while squinting at the firecracker.

Veronica scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Please! You always sit here. What if I wanted to sit next to my Bettykins?” her mouth was twisted up into a mocking pout.

“Nuh uh, that's been my seat since I was five and it will stay my seat until I die while eating my last Pop’s burger. It's the best seat in the house,” his arms crossed and his eyebrow rose. “It's perfectly situated between the door and the bathrooms. It also faces the door instead of the bathrooms. It's not by the counter so you don't have all the to-go customers being annoying. AND it's next to Betty, which is way better than being next to Archie. She smells better and doesn't hog the entire bench.”

“I can't believe you actually have a case to argue over a seat,” Veronica huffed while climbing out of the booth to climb into the other side.

“You don't want to sit with me, Ronnie?” Archie pouted with his signature puppy dog eyes that he swears he doesn't do on purpose, causing the other three too laugh as Veronica tugs on his arm to get his to sit down.

“Of course I do, Archiekins,” she cooed, pulling her boyfriend in for a kiss, a sight the made Betty sigh with longing for the same and Jughead grumble with disgust.

“That right there,” Jughead plopped into his now vacant seat next to Betty, who had turned in the booth to put her feet up on the vinyl and her back to the window. He brushed his hat off, flinging his arm along the back of the bench while the other brushed through his midnight locks. “Is why I swear I will never fall in love. You get all gooey and lose all sense of self,” his nose scrunched.

Both Archie and Veronica huffed and rolled their eyes at him, pretending that his observation wasn't nearly an everyday occurance.

“Right, Betts?” He reached over and lightly tugged on the ends of her ponytail while stuffing a fry from her plate of food in his mouth with a smirk and a wink.

Her stomach was rolling at the tension and disappointment, but her Cooper upbringing refused to let her show it. Instead she let out a breathy laugh that only she and Veronica could tell was nervous, especially as he continued to twirl the end of her hair around his finger absent-mindedly.

“One of these days Jug, someone will catch your eye and then you'll have to watch your tongue,” Veronica goaded.

“Did you just quote the movie version of Pride and Prejudice at me, Veronica? The 2005 version, no less?”

“I have a thing for Kiera Knightly, she's hot,” Veronica shrugged unabashed as Betty made a noise of agreement.

Jughead's eyes shifted to her in amusement. “What? You have a thing for her too Betty?”

“Oh no. Betty's type it's much more the brooding, misunderstood, standoffish Dark Horse Hero type, a la Mr. Darcy.” Betty's eyes went wide, trying to silently convey to Veronica to shut up.

“Is that so, Betts?” Jughead laughed, tapping his fingers in her bent knee between them.

She figured that was a good time as any to take a long pull of her milkshake to try and cool her flaming cheeks as Veronica continued on.

“Oh for sure. Like Johnny Depp in Cry-Baby, pretty sure she had to fan herself the entire time.”

“Oh my God, V. Shut up,” Betty groaned, hoping the ground would open up and swallow her whole.

Archie's eyes flicked between all his friends, just enjoying the teasing.

“Know any dark horses that Betty can ride that fit the bill, Jug?” Veronica's eyes were slits and her smile was like the Cheshire cat’s.

Ignoring Betty choking on her milkshake next to him, Jughead laughed. “I'm sure there's one on the Southside I could find for her if that's her type.”

“Oh my God,” Betty's head fell back against the window as her hands covered her blood red face. “You guys are the worst,” as her three best friends burst into laughter.

She kicked Jughead in the thigh as payback and he grabbed her ankle to keep her from doing it again, his thumb stroking the tiniest patch of skin between her sock and jeans.

Butterflies erupted in her stomach as she looked at him, his face not showing any reaction to what he was doing, instead intently listening to Veronica.

“Ok, enough teasing Betty. Now, Homecoming…”

Betty tried to let herself get lost in the conversation, even though Jug still had her ankle in his grasp and she was desperately hoping no one would notice how turned on she was getting from the smallest contact with her best friend.

Nope. She was definitely not, in any way, shape, or form, in love with Jughead Jones.

#songfic writing challenge 2019 #fluff #bughead #varchie #riverdale #au #a song that reminds you of someone you'd rather forget #Taylor Swift #i'd lie #paperlesscrown #paperlesscrown inspires #day 4

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bunnyhani · 5 years

Text

A Little Insomniac

Pairing: (Platonic!) Seo Changbin x Bang Chan. (Also Platonic! Stray Kids x Seo Changbin on the side.)

Genre: Fluff and angst. (It seems like I don’t write anything else.. xD)

Warnings: Not really? Some language..? Insomnia..

Summary: Changbin has never self-proclaimed himself as someone who suffers from insomnia. Sure, there were sometimes nights when he couldn't fall asleep easily, but he always did in the end and successfully slept through the night. Until he didn't.

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Changbin was tired. The comeback was so near and he felt drained. Of course making music was fun and all that jazz, but so was sleeping. He felt like he was a walking corpse and so were others, so he wasn't a special snowflake. Then there were Chan and Jisung, who were on a entirely different scale of tiredness. They were exhausted, but somehow they kept going. They might have been more irritated than usual, but they still held onto their beautiful smiles and interacted with the members, helping them out and doing other activities. Of course, Changbin did too, but he felt like he just... Wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer. He always looked forward to getting to his bed, when all the lights were off and the dorms were dark, tiptoeing to their rooms along with the rest of 3racha. Sometimes the morning sun was peeking it's light through the window blinds and Changbin merely glared at the window then, always shutting the blinds more tighter. The sunlight just reminded him how little rest he was going to get and how unproductive he was (he wasn't but that's how he felt like).

Changbin collapsed onto his bunk bed, slightly shaking it but thankfully, Hyunjin wasn't bothered, if the boy's snoring was anything to go by. He whispered his good night to Jisung who just grumbled something similar in return, before falling asleep. Changbin just listened to the room, which was now filled with other people's calm breathing. It was kind of creepy thinking about it, since he was actually just listening to people breathe when they slept, but Changbin really couldn't do anything else. He also found comfort in it, it reminded him that he was never truly alone. While on some days he was annoyed by this fact, but during nights, he was just glad. It was kind of like unintentional ASMR. Changbin tiredly chuckled at himself, finally letting the sleep invade his mind and push everything else aside, and lay out its thick fog. The fog clouded his mind, he closed his eyes and before he knew it, he was pulled into the dreamland.

Changbin suddenly opened his eyes. His mind was messy from sleep and he had hard time grasping what was going on. He sat upright, hands shaking and he could feel his t-shirt sticking uncomfortably against his skin because of the sweat. He felt a little breathless and his heart was racing. Changbin put his hand over his heart, glancing down at his chest, even though he couldn’t see a thing in the darkness. As he realized that he couldn’t see, it set an alarm off in his head. He was going into panic mode and he needed to do something about this before it escalated. He felt around the bed for his phone and grasped it tightly, when he did. He started looking through his photo albums, where he knew that there was a gif that helped him breathe. It was literally like gif of a box inflating and deflating, back and forth and there was a text underneath that was timed with the box’s moves. It instructed him to breathe, kind of like copying the box’s movements. It usually helped when he wasn’t too panicked. Right now, he wasn’t and he started breathing more regularly. When his heart rate had slowed down and he felt calm, he just sat there, hunched over. What the hell was that? He didn’t remember having a nightmare that would have caused him to wake up. Now that he really thought about it, he couldn’t find a single reason that why did he wake up. He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face tiredly. He glanced at the clock on his phone. 4am. Changbin was so tired but so frustrated that he wanted to sleep and simultaneously scream. He settled for huffing loudly and more or less, slammed himself down onto the mattress that thankfully softened the impact. Not that Changbin actually cared at the moment. He just wanted to sleep. So he waited for sleep to come and take him again.

Changbin listened as Hyunjin’s alarm started ringing loudly in the otherwise quiet room. There were several groans and he could hear Jisung getting down from his bunk bed to go and slam Hyunjin’s alarm off before anyone else would go and smash the thing into tiny pieces. Changbin didn’t get up, he had no motivation or energy to face the day just yet, so he didn’t move. He had been going in and out of sleep most of the night, which annoyed him to no end. When the room started getting alive, only then did he force himself out of the bed. He climbed down and breathed deeply through his nose. He changed out of his pyjamas into a hoodie and sweats. Changbin could already feel the huge bedhead that he had from tossing and turning most of the night, but he wasn’t in the mood for dealing with it, so he just put on a beanie to cover it. Not that it really mattered, since all the members looked a little disheveled in the morning. Changbin didn’t really feel hungry, but still ate so nobody would get concerned over nothing. So what if he had one sleepless night? It’s not like he was a baby and couldn’t deal with it, so he didn’t see a reason to talk about it either. It was just one night, right? It was not like it was going to be a regular occurence.

The day went on it’s normal tracks, they practiced, 3racha worked on their songs and they ate. There were some messing around from the maknae line, but that was to be expected. As they had a 15 minute break from dancing, he slumped against the cold mirror of the practice room. Miroh was playing in the background, the members were sprawled across the floor and some were drinking water and conversing with each other. Changbin closed his eyes, it wouldn’t hurt anyone if he just rested his eyes a bit.

Someone shook Changbin’s shoulder gently and patted his cheek in attempt to wake him up. Changbin opened his heavy eyelids and came face to face with Chan. Chan was looking tired, but still fond.

“Come on, Bin. The break is over”, the leader said while still stroking his cheek. Changbin, still dazed, nodded tiredly but still leaned into Chan’s touch. He started falling asleep again because of the continuous movement against his cheek, but he was snapped back to reality when Chan moved his hand away. He whined at the loss of comfort, usually he wouldn’t have done it or even let Chan pet him like a dog, but he was sleep deprived so who could blame him. Although Chan was smiling, he could see the older’s eyes twinkling with worry.

“Are you okay?” Chan asked, bringing his hand back to Changbin, but this time feeling his forehead. When Changbin’s mind caught up on what Chan was doing, he lazily slapped the hand away.

“I’m not sick, hyung. I’m fine. Just a little tired”, he grumbled and forced himself to get up from the cold floor.

“If you say so”, Chan said, still keeping an eye on him. They continued dancing until they were done with the session. By that time, Changbin couldn’t even describe how he felt at that moment. He still went on with his day, joking around with others, although he was more quiet than usual. Nobody seemed to notice and if they did, they didn’t say anything. It wasn’t unheard of that sometimes each of them had trouble with sleeping sometimes, for some reason Chan still worried. Maybe it was him being just overprotective, but he did.

3racha were cooped up in the studio, still fixing some tracks and going through lyrics to see if there was anything to improve. Changbin busied himself with reading the lyrics and found himself nodding off once in a while. Jisung was pretty much in the same condition, it was quite hilarious to see how the younger’s head lolled side to side occasionally. If only he knew that he looked exactly the same. Chan just watched at the duo who were more or less coming in and out of sleep. He shook his head, but let them fall asleep. By the looks of it, they both needed it. Slowly but surely, the two younger ones did fall asleep.

Changbin jolted awake again, slamming his knee against the desk in the process. He hissed in pain and rubbed his knee with a wince. Chan had just been glancing at the two, just make sure that neither one of them were falling from their chairs or anything else. He had witnessed how Changbin had just jolted awake, from the peaceful sleep.

“Oh my God, Bin, are you okay?” he asked, moving quickly to the rapper's side. Changbin just groaned in answer and rubbed his knee.

“Fuck, yeah, I'm fine”, he replied, hissing out the curse word.

“Was it a nightmare that woke you up? You just kind of… Jumped awake and looked distressed”, Chan continued, ignoring Chanbin’s cursing since he was clearly in pain.

“Might have been because I slammed my knee kinda hard against the damn table”, Changbin retorted dryly. Chan didn't say anything and just waited for him to answer his other question. The silence was unbearable for Changbin and he finally answered:

“No… I don't know what woke me up. I just did.” Chan frowned at the answer, he could see how bothered Changbin was over the matter, so he didn't press it any further. Changbin was puzzled and concerned. This was the second time this had happened in a row. And it had happened right in front of Chan too, why on earth had Chan let him fall asleep? Then he remembered that Chan had no idea of what Changbin was going through, so of course, he had let him sleep. Well him and Jisung both. Jisung was still dead to the world, drooling onto the palm of his hand and the boy shifted slightly in his sleep. Even though his head was in an awkward angle, he still seemed to be very comfortable. Something that Changbin was envious of. He shook himself out his thoughts and went back to work. If anyone asked, they all had been working hard and definitely not sleeping and drooling all over the place.

The work day was finally over and 3racha finally actually came home in a humane time of the day.. Or late evening. They came back to the dorms at 9pm and the members had some mental peace, now knowing that the hard-working trio were going to get a proper sleep after a longer while. Changbin was still skeptical about his sleep though. While he was tired, yes, he wasn’t sure that would he be able to fall asleep or wake up again. As he climbed into his bunk bed, he googled reasons why did he wake up at night. Most suggested stress and anxiety. And they were the reasons that made the most sense, and he absolutely hated it. Why did he have to be an anxious person? He was still luckier than Felix, as he could hide his anxiousness easier and control it, but it sometimes it bothered him. And apparently affected his sleeping too, he added in his mind. His whole being felt heavy and he prayed that he could finally sleep like a normal human. His prayers, however, were not answered. Changbin wasn’t surprised at all as he woke up at 3am this time. After awhile of lying down and overthinking, he did fall asleep again, and thank goodness, he didn’t wake up again until Hyunjin’s loud ass alarm started ringing.

The week went on with similar pattern: he would work, eat, practice and after falling asleep, he would wake up in the middle of the night. He was starting to get desperate on what to do. He had tried to drink chamomile tea to calm his nerves, took melatonin and avoided looking at his phone before he went to sleep, but he always woke up in the darkness every night. Changbin started getting a little scared of falling asleep. It was dumb and childish, since the worst that could happen was that he would wake up during the night and wouldn’t fall asleep again or would continue going in and out of sleep. There was nothing to be afraid of, but he still did fear it. No matter how much he repeated to himself that it was irrational and dumb, he couldn’t really bring himself to believe the words when he actually did wake up. Other members had noticed how jumpy he was becoming and despite going to sleep fairly early, his dark circles didn’t lighten. If anything, they got darker.

It was Sunday night and he woke up again. This time he was drenched in sweat and in no time he had tears pooling in his eyes. He couldn’t hold it in anymore, so he broke down crying. He tried to stifle his sobs that shook his whole body and in distress, pulled at his hair. He silently sobbed until his eyes were dry and even blinking hurted. The tears had burned his already dry lips and he could feel how swollen his eyes were, yet he didn’t care. There was nobody to see him in this state anyway, he thought to himself as he leaned his head against his knees that he had pulled to this chest. He decided that he had enough of sitting in the dark room, being suffocated by his own thoughts and tiptoed to the bathroom in plans of blowing his nose and splash his face with some water. What he wasn't expecting, was to hear someone walking towards the kitchen. He quickly tried to bactrack but slammed straight against a wall, hoping that the person, who was walking, hadn’t seen or heard him. Well, the last hope was completely crushed as he stumbled on something that made a loud clattering sound and the fact that him slamming against the wall also created quite a loud noise. He cursed under his breath and leaned his head against the wall.

“Hello? Who is in there?” The person, who revealed to be Chan, asked cautiously into the darkness. As he was debating that should he make a run for it and possibly run into walls (again) and create a big mess or try to wait it out, Chan had moved from his spot in the kitchen and was fumbling around, looking for a light switch. The lights were turned on suddenly and it blinded Changbin momentarily, he automatically brought his hands to his face to shield his poor eyes, which were already stinging from crying.

“Changbin?” the leader asked, confused. Why was Changbin awake at this hour of the night? He scanned the younger with his gaze, trying to find a reason why he was up and that’s when he saw Changbin’s chapped, dry lips and how the younger rapper was covering his eyes. Chan said his name again, this time getting his attention. Changbin looked up, locking eyes with the elder. Chan’s heart broke seeing Changbin’s bloodshot eyes and eyelids that were swollen, which just told him that the young man had been crying. He slowly made his way to the young rapper, putting his hand onto his shoulder in a calming manner. He didn’t say anything, just let Changbin lean against him and soak himself in comfort and warmth that his body emitted. He wrapped Changbin into his arms and rubbed the rapper’s tense back. Slowly but surely Changbin started relaxing and trusted Chan enough to hold his weight, when he melted against him.

“I haven’t been able to sleep well this week… I keep waking up in the middle of the night”, Changbin confessed quietly, words a little muffled as his face was pressed against Chan’s chest. Chan still understood and tightened his hold a little.

“Do you know why?” he asked carefully. All what he got back in response was a weak shake of the head and a low rumble:

“Well… I’ve googled stuff and the reason that made the most sense in my case would be anxiety. The comeback’s near and I’m a little worried.” He sighed and continued rubbing Changbin’s back.

“I’m not going to scold you, because I know how your mind works… But please, next time when things like these happen, you can come to me, to us. It’s okay Changbin, all of us struggle with sleeping one way or another at some point, we wouldn’t push you away or think that you’re annoying. We would be hypocrites”, Chan said, chuckling at the end his sentence. Changbin just hummed, showing that he had indeed heard him but was too tired to actually reply.

“What about… You come sleep with me and you wake me if you wake up. We can talk about what worries you and what’s going on inside that cute head of yours”, Chan suggested. Changbin found himself just nodding tiredly and together they staggered to Chan’s bed. They slipped under the covers without a fuss, and Changbin would never admit how eagerly he pressed himself against Chan again. Chan smiled broadly, but of course, Changbin couldn’t see it but somehow, he just knew that Chan was smiling like a doofus.

“Stop smiling like that or I’ll kick you off of the bed”, Changbin growled playfully. Chan held his laughter in and nodded, then wrapping himself around Changbin like a koala. Changbin took a deep breath and slowly relaxed again. Soon they both fell asleep. Even though Changbin woke up again later, this time because of a nightmare, Chan held him and reassured that everything was okay and that he was safe. And Changbin believed him. Now knowing that he had someone there for him if he woke up again, he went back into unconsciousness with a bit more ease.

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rixxy8173571m3w1p3 · 6 years

Text

The Little Big Things (3/4)

So like we had done not too long ago, me, @hoodoo12 @porkchop-ao3 @rickstexaschick are doing the same prompt cause we all loved the idea. And I didn't mention it before, but this story references Labyrinth, and it follows the events of this fic As The World Falls Down.

Many thanks to @xerxezra @hoodoo12 @porkchop-ao3 for some writing advice that helped me get through this chapter. I love you all.

This is part 3. If you haven't read part one or part two then read it here. (Part 1, Part 2)

_______________________

Chapter 3: Saudade

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a scientist, whom after trying all that he could to wake up his unconscious girlfriend had began to wonder if the only thing he hadn't tried would work; for while she appeared to be in a coma, she was merely in a deep sleep like sleeping beauty, but prettier.

“I'm sorry Rick.” you interrupted by poking his cheek. “I appreciate your lovely words, but I can't say that I'm beautiful while snoring, so you better stop that. No embellishing.”

Giving your hand a squeeze, he said softly. “But y-you are. I even have a-a picture on my phone somewhere.”

“If it's of me drooling, then it's going to magically disappear. You always like the bad pics.”

“Hohoho, there a-aren't any bad photos. I like th-them all.”

Which he meant, even if you felt contrary to the statement. “Whatever you say Rick. So, before I interrupted, you were going to explain why you used the dream inceptors. Right?”

“Mhm,” he nodded. “that's right. You see, physically there was nothing the - the matter with you, but y-you did have a bit of a fever. And monitoring your vitals, I had come to realize you already p-passed the first hour or so of sleep, during which brain waves slow down. This period of - of slow wave sleep is accompanied by relaxation of the muscles and the eyes. Then, over the next half hour or so, your br-brain activity altered drastically, and you entered the REM stage. During that stage, there is atonia or p-paralysis of the body’s muscles. Only the muscles th-that allow breathing and control eye movements remain active. I thought, that well - since nothing else worked it couldn't hurt t-t-to try using the dream inceptors.”

If your memory served correctly, you had woken up in your own bed. Which meant, he carried you, portaled into your home, and set up the monitoring equipment on your computer desk. “So, you brought me back to my home, laid me down on my bed, and plugged those earbud thingys in my ears.”

You knew what they were called, but it was always worth listening to him laugh, and feeling the happy noise reverberate through his body; this was your reward. “Those th-thingys allowed me t-to enter into your dreams. I ugh - I used t-t-to wonder what it would be like, and if y-you would welcome me in your dreams.”

“I welcome you into my home. Isn't it about the same thing?”

“N-n-not exactly. Dreams are more private. They can r-reveal or disguise our innermost thoughts and inclinations. Neither of us have th-the same dream, and our subconscious is free t-t-to play its short clips and feature length imagery.

It's - it's not like anyone c-could enters another person's dream, but I have just like other Ricks have in their own respective realities. I'm s-sorry that I did, especially w-without your permission.”

“You did what you had to, and I trust you. You never have to doubt that.”

The lilting tune around you softened to the gentle sounds similar to that of a kalimba or music box; possibly both. Kissing your temple, he admitted quietly, in a tone you hardly recognized. “Dreams they can - can be intimate as well. Did y-y-you know that?”

“No,” you blushed, his anxious heart beat making you both nervous and giddy. “but I think I'm starting to get an idea. Why,” you teased. “do you dream of me?”

Covering his face, he groaned in embarrassment. “Gosh, I-I-I do, but not in the way that y-you'd think.”

“In what way then?”

Sneaking a peek at you, he said sheepishly. “It's - I dream about how y-you help me with experiments. Sometimes I dream a-about what we normally do, and how my life is w-with you. I um - I have even dreamed that w-we switched places, and that I'm just a regular guy and you - you are this demi-goddess of science, pulling me away from my average life t-to that of adventures.”

“Demi-goddess?” you giggled, watching as his blush went from a dusty pink to a dangerous shade of red. “That's so flattering, but I'm not like that. I'm not perfect.”

“Y-you are to me.”

Poking his cheek again, you smiled. “And you are to me.”

And for a while he kept quiet, absentmindedly playing with your hair. He did that thing with his eyebrow, when he was thinking too hard for his own good; lost in his thoughts, overthinking his actions, afraid of his words which came out of his mouth. When he found the courage to speak again, his voice was colored with the usual sincerity. “I um, b-because you're sweet, I wondered if your dreams - if they would be just as sweet. M-mi corazón,” he softened, “what I'm trying t-to say is I wanted to know if - if maybe you……oh n-never mind.”

“Rick, what is it? If it's important, then you can tell me.”

Shaking his head, he relinquished his previous thought, this time giving your hand a kiss and continued with his original explanation. “At first, I um - I found myself amidst a-a parched land, where the wind whispered doubts, and the sky flashed visions of the past. I knew th-this wasn't the central point of activity, so I started w-walking.”

__________

Miles upon miles there was nothing, but a desert; not even cacti or wildflowers. It made him worry a bit, but he held onto the hope that he would soon enter the active part of the dream; wherever that might be. Later, when he came upon the people in the nearest village, he found that they were in need of water and had been digging deeper and deeper in search of it, but all their wells were dry. As they had explained, by now the melted ice from the mountain should have fed their rivers and streams, but as yet, it hadn't.

Because his heart compelled him to assist them, he borrowed the necessary supplies to go on a quest, up the mountain, where there was a castle carved out of ice and stone. And there he found a comely young man seated upon a throne of clear quartz; he was the king of the mountain, who had been withholding the water, for the village leader had refused to relinquish his fair daughter, on the grounds that the king was immortal. After an in-depth discussion, the two came to an agreement, with the king abdicating the throne and returning to the land of mortals in hopes of wooing his lady love. Now, a deal was a deal, and the moment the scientist placed the crown upon his head, he gained the power beyond his current understanding, and was able to extend his sight; allowing him to see what occurred across the land he reigned over and beyond. And it happened, that when his eyes found his beloved, he was shocked to find she was but a babe.

You sat up, pulling yourself out of his grasp.

“Hold up! You mean to say that you had to wait for me to grow up?”

“Again?” he frowned a little. “Y-y-yes, I did.”

Your heart sank at his reply. “What do you mean again? Oh God, don't tell me this happened before.”

Scratching the back of his neck, he sighed. “N-n-not exactly the same way, but that's a-a story for another time.”

“Alright.”

This was common with him. If he wasn't ready to talk about something, then he'd promise to tell you later; whenever that would be. Oh, but a different thought occurred to you. What if he had waited for you to grow up in your reality? Why, that would have been absurd, unless he had met you before, but when? At the moment, you were too tired to go through the whole list of theories. He continued. “In your dream, I had t-to, because time travels differently in - in dreams, and if I-I hadn't had the powers which were granted me, I would have…y-you know.”

“Goodness, you could….. you would have died… before we ever met again. Right? Oh Rick, I know you explained how the dream inceptors worked before, but I sometimes can't wrap my head around it.”

He waited over twenty years in a dream. Who does that? Not anyone you had ever known, but Zeta-7 wasn't just anyone. It spoke volumes about his affection for you, and further about his determination. Looking down at his lanky form, you felt tears pricking at the back of your eyes. He didn't look a day older, but that was the magic of dreams wasn't it? There was always a way. “Thank goodness you're still here. I don't know how I'd live with myself if you had died because of me.”

Giving your hand a light squeeze, you couldn't hold back your tears anymore. You really were were a horrible person. If he wasn't so kind hearted surely he would hate. Your idiocy time and time again had brought him hardship and pain. Why did he love you if your were like this?

You heard the rustling of clothes, and felt his warmth all around you. Pulling you close, he squeezed you tight, telling you it was going to be alright. And all you could do was drown in his unconditional love which is as vast and limitless as the furthest reaches of space. You two remained like this until your tears dried up, and all that was left was comfort. When you found your voice, as sniffly and girlish it was, you wondered. “What did you do with your time? Over all those years?”

With a voice colored with relief, he answered. “All th-that I could.”

___________

The previous king had left the land in disarray, so he did all he could in his power to make things right. Immediately, he made sure the water flowed at a steady pace, and the once dying land in due time was fertile again due to his guidance. And when the people were no longer hungry, and the village prospered, many came to show their devotion and gratitude to the new king. They wondered how they could repay him, but the king didn't need anything. However, when they saw that he needed assistance in planting, and covering the land with flowers, they got to work immediately.

Hybrid blue roses, forget-me-nots, morning glories, night-sky petunias, and any other flower he could conjure would be planted. Only one side was dedicated for those blue flowers; the side with the best view. And the rest of the land that wasn't used for farming was covered with giant sunflowers; all of them for his beloved. Time, it wanted to make him a dreamer, and even if logic told him otherwise, it took a little longer than usual to accept it. Time would pass, and it would all happen soon. He could wait.

“I remember the lovely flowers along the rolling hills.” you commented. “I saw them my whole life and longed for the places I couldn't go. They couldn't be found where I lived because of the climate, but you wanted me to remember, didn't you?”

“I-I did. You see, the last time you thought of blue it was connected with something toxic. Therefore, you a-a-associated the color with something bad, and I hoped you - you would remember your life w-w-with…..”

“With you?”

“With everything y-you cared for.”

He always gave himself too little credit. This man was worthy of so much, and you'd worship the ground he walked on if he'd let you. Tilting your head up, you pressed a kiss on his cheek.“Which is mostly you.”

“R-really?”

“Of course Ricky.”

Tucking a lock of hair behind your ear, he was about to say something, but his ioculus stretched themselves to kiss you before he had a chance to. Wherever they could touch, they kissed, and no matter how much he'd scold them, they were as eager as could be. You'd say they had a bit of a rebellious streak. Not wanting Zeta-7 to worry, you gave into their whim, kissing each bud of theirs on the head, to which made them bloom, and pull away. Honestly, they were adorable, but to Zeta-7, who was naturally reserved and cautious, they were disrespectful, and naughty.

“Gosh,” he blushed. “I'm s-s-so sorry. I didn't - I don't know why they do that.”

Again, you had your theories, believing that they acted upon the true inclinations of the heart, but you kept this to yourself. “It's okay,” you reassured him. “they're not bothering me.”

“They r-really do have a-a mind of their own.”

“So they do.” you giggled. “I um, what I was going to say was that I only remember bits and pieces of the before times. It's funny to call it that, as though I've lived separate lifetimes, but that's how I think of it.”

“Fascinating.”

“You think so? Well, maybe it's like chapters, or alternate dimensions, but that wouldn't explain it either. The before times was from the time I was born and ended when I met Jareth. After I met him, my memory of before got kind of hazy.”

“I-I see. Well, that's - that's perfectly natural. It's like any other dream, which most of - of us can't remember when we wake.”

Then, how come you kept on remembering?

___________________

Over and over, you encouraged him to go on. No detail was too small. Whether it was about the time the villagers tried to offer him a bride, or the creatures he made of ice and stone to be his companions in his castle. Though, there were other things you wanted to know.

“Where I lived it never rained, but it often rained on the mountain. Was it natural, or was it because you cried?”

“Jeez, where d-do I begin? If I-I tried to lessen the importance of a memory, then it - it became somewhat manageable. I thought I would have gotten used to it, because I've spent many years of - of my life alone. But, being with you, I let go of m-my habit of detachment, and without it, how does one forget s-s-so easily?”

“I don't know.” You answered, cause you were still trying to figure that out as well.

“There ugh - there were times when th-the loneliness was almost too hard to bear, and I-I-I couldn't - there was nothing I could do, but I had t-t-to carry on. Still, without trying, the memories lingered, and life seemed to come out of focus.”

“Hmm, I used to wonder about what was going on up there, and what living in that kingdom was like. In your skilled hands it must have been beautiful.”

“It - it was.”

“I used to cry sometimes, because I had heard many sad stories about lonely mountain king. Now, with everything that you told me, I guess it means that a great deal of the stories were true.”

With a nod, he agreed. “Th-they probably were.”

_______________________

“Did you always know where I was?”

“N-n-not always. I could only see so far, even if I - I walked to the edge of the kingdom. However, our first meeting was serendipitous t-t-to say the least. I ugh - I was surprised when y-you found me.”

“I did?”

He raised his brow then, his eyes laughing at the memory. “Yeah, it was while I was resting by the river, after a long day of research. Your mind is such a-a wonderful, fascinating place. I-I never got bored of exploring it, though it - it did make me lonely. My perception of you changed over all this new information. And on that day I-I had been thinking about you when you happened t-to show up. You - you were on your way home, after a-a day of playing in the field, the one nearest to my kingdom. Hohoho, you were holding a daisy chain, and y-you gave it to me.”

“How old was I?”

“Hmm, probably about six or - or seven. I told you that y-you should go home, but you wanted t-t-to play.”

“That does sound like something I'd do. Man, I can't believe you had to deal with a brat like me.”

“No, it - it was no trouble at all. I um - I carried you on my shoulders, until w-we were near your home. And w-waited until you went inside before I went back.”

And you remembered, as fuzzy and foggy as it was, you remembered.

Day by day, you kept having visions of the life before, when you still walked amongst the mortals, and your older male slave was your dearest companion. Why? It didn't make sense, he hadn't even been handsome, but he was kind, loyal, generous, and soft hearted.

Through streams and meadows, with eyes still full of stardust, you followed him as a though you were his humble maidservant. On his sleeves were comet’s hair, his soul made of sunshine, and he too made you very happy. Oh, but it didn't matter anymore; they were simply girlish dreams. Or were they?

“I used to think that you were only a dream, but I saw you near the river a few times over the years after that didn't I?”

With a soft smile, he replied. “Th-that's right.”

“Then why didn't you say anything?”

“Because I wanted y-you to have a choice, and when you got older, I-I-I decided to stay away because the villagers began to talk. I didn't want anyone to be given reason t-to think badly of you.”

That was exactly like him, to look out for your best interests. As a child, at least in your dream living out this second childhood, you did feel funny. Though childish sentiments aside, you had adored the quiet intelligence of his, and the calm, sweet temperament; even when you hadn't the words to match the emotions felt, you carried a strong attachment. “I had missed you, I….it was my favorite part of the day. Why couldn't we have run away together or something?”

Scratching the back of his head, he sighed then looked you dead in the eye, more serious than he had ever been, answering without a stutter. “Because it would have been wrong.”

“I don't understand. It was only a dream.”

“I mean, if I-I would have brought you to my kingdom, you would’ve been given your own wing, and everything y-you desired, but you - you would have stopped aging. That's why I-I never kept any servants, and why you couldn't have come because you would have remained a…you know. ”

“A child.” you finished, and you realized that morally, he would have had to be patient, and focus on the attainable things. “So,” you continued. “you stayed away to keep things appropriate.”

“Mhm. I - I still thought of you as my friend, and I was grateful for even th-that much. I-I knew you wouldn't be a child f-forever, and that I couldn't make time stand still, but neither was I moving along with it. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, into months; it was passing along, and I-I remained the same, but you - you had t-t-to survive, and it would've been selfish to make things harder for you. So, I had to wait.”

TBC

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