#guys please listen to bears in trees they’re everything to me

[cyberpunk-deadboy]

i’ve got something to prove, i don’t know what it is yet, but it’s golden as the stars you drew in the corners of my eyes

version w/o the text and background stuff and the sun i drew, it got cut off a bit but i think its cute and i wanted to show it off fully :3

[the-cult-of-russo]

gotta know how u think billy would be as a dad with his kids :D

I had so many requests for Dad!Billy headcanons 😭

I hope you're ready for this chaotic ramble.

Please remember this is my Billy I'm writing

-

You know those parents who take like a million pictures of their kid and show them to everyone? The kind that talks about their kid nonstop to anyone who'll listen? Their family, friends, the poor random old lady at the store that just wants to buy some damn milk.

That's Billy.

He's such an unbelievably proud parent, his pride for his kids knows no bounds. It doesn't even need to be some kind of milestone worth celebrating, everything his kid does makes him proud. You better believe when his baby has an explosive crap and ruins their clothes, he's boasting about it the next day to Frank and the guys at Anvil.

-

He's incredibly protective. Murder is a possibility if his kids in danger. He wants nothing more than to keep his kids safe. If they're being bullied, it takes all of his willpower to stop himself from kicking the kids ass for doing that to his kid. He's not above picking a fight with the bullies dad though if they don't get their little shit head in check and also making it known to the principle that this shit won't fly with him.

~

"Mr Russo, I don't think you understand how serious this is. Your son broke a kids nose," the principle mutters with a glare.

Billy tilts his head, regarding the teacher with those unsettling eyes that has the old man squirming in his seat.

"You’re damn right he did," Billy replies seriously, a proud tone to his voice. His dark eyes cut to his left where his son is, practically his double. As Billy smirks, unable to help himself, his son wears the same one although he's lowering his head to hide his amusement.

"We don't tolerate that behaviour here, Mr Russo," the principle huffs. Billy's eyes harden then as his eyes narrow, sitting forward in his chair just the right amount to be imposing. The second the man leans back he knows it worked.

"You know what I don't tolerate? My kid bein' bullied. You assholes won't do shit to stop it, so I say let the little fucker get a taste of his own medicine. Serves him right for messin' with a Russo," he smirks wickedly.

~

He teaches them self defence, wanting them to be able to look after themselves if it ever came down to it. Naturally, for their 16th birthday, they're gifted with a big ass knife.

-

Billy as a dad is so stupidly soft.

We all remember the scene from the show, right? Where he's in the hospital with his mom and he says;

"Maybe you did me a solid, you know? I mean, the way I see it, you want weak kids, give 'em everything. But if you... if you want 'em strong... treat 'em hard."

When he has a kid of his own he realises just what utter garbage this is. The idea of all the shit he's been through making him into the tough son of a bitch he is today is born from trauma that he still hasn't dealt with. The way his brain tries to rationalise what he went though. To make it make sense instead of it being so goddamn senseless.

But if he's honest, more than he'd like to admit, he finds himself wondering just what his life would have been like if he grew up in a loving home. What it would be like to feel wanted and cared for. To rise to the top being helped and cheered on by others instead of clawing his way there with bloodied and dirty fingers, the weight of the world bearing down on him as he's beat down at every turn.

He never wants his kids to feel that way. Not even a fraction of how unloved and unwanted he felt. He does everything in his power to make sure they know just how much he cares about them. There's literally nothing he wouldn't do for his kids. They could turn up at home one day and confess to a murder and Billy wouldn't hesitate to ask where the body is so he can handle it for them.

-

Billy is ridiculously sentimental when it comes to his kids. Drawings go up on the fridge and when a new one takes its place, the old one goes into a box of many others that he can't seem to ever throw away. He has multiple pictures of his kids at his office, even some framed cute drawings they did for him. He's kept all the mementos from the pregnancy, birth and onwards. They're his little treasures.

-

Billy is super supportive of everything his kids do. He makes sure they get a good education but he never pushes them to do something they don't want to do. Despite the large college fund he's got for them, if they choose not to go to college, he doesn't pressure them. Instead, whatever hopes and dreams they have, he does everything in his power to support and help them. Whether that's moral and emotional support, money or even breaking a few jaws of people standing in their way.

-

Let's look a little bit at how he is throughout some of the ages of his kid.

Billy with a baby is a sight to behold. No one has ever seen Lieutenant William Russo so goddamn soft. Once he's got hold of his baby, you've got no chance of getting them back off him. You'd have to fight him. He adores holding his little one close, soaking them in. He's constantly holding them no matter what he's doing and baby carriers and wraps are a godsend to him. You'd heard about them from a friend and told Billy and you better believe by the time the baby's born that he's an expert on all things baby wearing. He's a perfectionist and carrying a baby wrong can be dangerous. He makes sure he knows how to do it right.

Just as he has little affectionate touches for you, he has the same for his baby. His large hand stroking their tiny head and little hair. His finger stroking their chubby little cheek. He's a tactile person and touch is grounding for him. It soothes him to do so with his baby and reassures him they're really there and that they're okay.

He's super attentive. Of course he works a lot but as soon as he becomes a dad, he doesn't stay late anymore and makes sure to have days off. The second he comes home, he's making a beeline for his baby, scooping them up with a grin. He loves to read to them, something that continues as they grow up. His weekends used to be restful or if he was feeling like a masochist, he'd work from home. But now weekends are his time to shine. By the time you wake up on a Saturday morning, he's already up with the baby, making you breakfast as he's got the baby attached to him via baby carrier.

As his baby grows into a toddler, each milestone makes him tearful and full of pride. He kisses any booboos that happen and he's constantly playing with his child. He has a pretty silly side to him that most don't get to see. Making his kid laugh and smile brings him the greatest joy.

He loves taking his toddler to the office with him. Everyone dotes on his kid and treats them like royalty.

When they turn into a small child, he watches with a proud smile and amusement as his kid wants to fight with his men, watching them 'beat' the shit out of them. The guys at Anvil are more than happy to very dramatically go down, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when the tiny Russo grins smugly at their 'win'.

Their first day at school and Billy's a mess. It's such a turning point and he doesn't know how to deal with how fast their growing up. But every achievement at school, even minor ones, and he's showering them with praise.

He encourages them to work hard and as soft as he might be, he is still the boss. He makes sure they do their homework and don't fall behind on their studies.

One thing Billy loves is teaching his kids stuff. Whether that's mundane stuff to help with school or teaching them shit he knows like survivalist things, because you can never be too prepared, right? He loves helping them with school projects and answering any questions they might have about one of the many things he's knowledgeable about.

When his kids moves onto those hard teenage years, the ones where everything feels so dramatic and world ending, he's a little tougher when it calls for it. Billy is no novice to rebellion, he has a rebellious streak of his own and marches to the beat of his own drum half the time. He respects that. What he doesn't respect or tolerate is behaviour that's going to fuck his kid over in the long run or self sabotage. He will be firm and a hard ass if he needs to be to keep his kids on a path where they don't get hurt or ruin their life.

Billy has a zero tolerance policy on drugs. After the shit with his mother, he won't budge on this. If he finds out his kid is dabbling in drugs, they're grounded until they're old enough to move out.

-

No matter what age his kids are, Billy loves them immensely. He wants to be the father he wished he'd had growing up and he pours all of his anguish and pain from his upbringing into it. Channeling it into the purest form of love for his kids. To break the curse that had hold of him. He won't perpetuate the cycle.

Being a father brings him a sense of completeness and peace he didn't think was possible for him to achieve. It fills the void that's been eating away at his soul from his lack of love as a child and he loves every second of being a parent. Even the hard moments.

-

Bonus:

The Russo's and the Castle's go on monthly camping trips together. Billy loves the outdoors, the mild survivalist feelings he gets from it without the real danger. He loves taking his kids there, teaching them everything. In his role as dad and uncle, he sits around the camp fire at night, the light of the flames dancing along his face as he very theatrically tells the kids a spooky story.

You and his kids are his immediate family but the Castle's are his family too. So he really loves it when you all get to spend time together like that.

[jgvfhl]

The Number Lads Almost Blow Up

July!! What?? How?? Well, Happy Disability Pride Month, y'all 🖤❤️💛💚. But the Number Lads continue on their little ways. Please enjoy a rare Fours PoV chapter 💜! Also a reminder that Zero and all the members of the 118th are not my OCs: they belong to my dear friend @/23-bears. Here is a list to the Masterlist of chapters.

Words: ~4300

Warnings: None! Just some numbers bein pals.

DressedtotheNines: so

DressedtotheNines: question

RedBoiiiii: ?

Leafs: wha

DressedtotheNines: anyone here know anything about zabraks?

Loopy: Trees! Your nerdiness will have paid off!

Leafs: just because my commanders are giant nerds does not mean i am

d0nut man: dude i had a hyperfixation on zabbys for like six months as a cadet, hit me

RedBoiiiii: ZABBYS

Loopy: that’s such a cute name i’m sure they all hate

d0nut man: yeah probably… never actually met one

DressedtotheNines: okay so… which zabraks have the big horns and the weird skin colors?

d0nut man: dathomirian zabraks

DressedtotheNines: cool. follow up: i need a recent history nerd

DressedtotheNines: any ideas why a pair of dathomirian zabraks are after general kenobi?

RedBoiiiii: i mean this is gen kenobi we’re talking about are we sure they’re not in love with him?

Leafs: sevenset seriously

Loopy: PFFT

DressedtotheNines: no they’re definitely trying to kill him

DEATH: Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi: first Jedi to kill a Sith Lord in decades. Happened on Naboo about… 15 years ago? Maybe less? The Sith was dathomirian.

RedBoiiiii: is the commander a secret history buff??

DEATH: No I had to learn everything about the Jedi on Kamino to prepare for the war. Part of command track.

Double Trouble: oh this looks like fun *grabs bangcorn*

Leafs: i’m gonna guess no

DressedtotheNines: ah yes, i can find news articles about it

d0nut man: any videos??

DressedtotheNines: yeah not a chance, this happened on Naboo in the Royal Hangar in Theed when general skywalker was only nine

Loopy: little babey boy

high fives: ARE WE ROASTING SKYWALKER wait, no

high fives: got all excited :(

Loopy: nope we’re finding out who the weird zabraks are wanting to kill kenobi

high fives: sure they’re not in love with him?

DressedtotheNines: YES we are sure they are NOT

DEATH: Fives, show some decency

high fives: okay… :(

DEATH: You never know if Cody might find this chat

DressedtotheNines: SIR–

Double Trouble: COMMANDER

Leafs: is anyone else noticing the commander getting more and more chaotic

Loopy: it’s awesome

high fives: VINDICATION!!!!

DressedtotheNines: for legal purposes, I did not read that

DressedtotheNines: anyway i think i figured out who these zabraks are

Loopy: oooh

DressedtotheNines: so… the guy kenobi “killed” on Naboo…

Leafs: i don’t like those quotation marks

d0nut man: is it thE SAME GUY who’s going after him??

RedBoiiiii: how??

DressedtotheNines: [image file: these_creepy_weirdos]

DressedtotheNines: well the guy on bird legs is definitely the guy he killed on Naboo–same tattoos

high fives: damn did kenobi do that to him? the legs, i mean

DressedtotheNines: i guess?? and the other guy is his… brother?

Double Trouble: is he single

RedBoiiiii: there’s my boy

Double Trouble: the brother i mean. not the angry bird leg dude.

Leafs: do si do

Leafs: what the kark is wrong with you sometimes

high fives: no no hear him out–

Double Trouble: listen i don’t choose this life, i just look at very strong men and am gay, what do you want from me

d0nut man: wait why the hell is that dude so built??

high fives: idk man don’t look a gift fathier in the mouth

d0nut man: dathomirian zabbys aren’t normally that beefy…

Loopy: we’re not worried about the whole “two mysterious new Sith appeared and are going after one of the GAR’s best generals?” not even a little?

DressedtotheNines: I AM CONCERNED they’ve already killed a Jedi Master guys

high fives: fierfek who??

DressedtotheNines: Gallia, on Florrum

Loopy: damn

high fives: so since these guys are going after kenobi… should i worry about skywalker getting dragged in?

DEATH: If I ever had the misfortune of serving in the 501st, I think I would constantly be worried about Skywalker.

RedBoiiiii: yikes

high fives: yeah no that’s fair, it’s what rex does

d0nut man: but WHY IS THE YELLOW ONE SO BEEFY THIS IS BOTHERING ME

CrispyDomino: I’m gone for one PT session and this happens… smh…

-scene break-

They weren’t dug into three feet of mud or snow, and that was a good thing. Fours kept reminding himself of that each time the boredom started creeping back in. The Republic base was only a temporary measure until General Mundi returned from the strategy conference in a few days, then they would be back on the ground, fighting through rows of tinnies like they were supposed to do. He was pretty sure the soldiers stationed on the base were already fed up with the Marines. The Nova Corps were… rough. They didn’t spend a lot of time on leave, so they were sometimes a little hard to keep in line. Commander Bacara and General Mundi were usually the only ones who could really manage it, although in very different ways.

It was even sunny. When was the last time they’d been somewhere decently sunny? Ages ago, probably. Most of the Marines not roped into working on the base spent a good amount of time in their underwear (or without)  lying in the sun and enjoying ration bars without added vitamin D. Some of the guys claimed they could taste a difference, but Fours never could.

Regardless, his boredom would be alleviated soon enough when the Numbers holocall started. Those never failed to be interesting. It had taken him a while to get used to the chaos, but it had grown on him. Sure, the commander had originally terrified him, but after they’d all seen his face, he found him slightly less intimidating. Commander Bacara so rarely showed his face.

He’d already scoped out a spot where he could take the call uninterrupted: there was a little room at one corner of base, probably an unused office or something. But it had a window, and this time of day, there was sunlight pouring in, and that was really what he wanted.

When he joined the call, Sevenset, Trees, Do-si-do, and Loops were already in the middle of a discussion about the merits of… fuzzy socks? Seemed normal for them.

“Fours!” Do-si-do exclaimed, pointing at him. “Fuzzy socks: wear ‘em alone or over normal socks? Quick!”

He floundered for several seconds under the intense questioning, looking at the four of them, then at Echo and Fives when they appeared as well.

“Maker, Do-si-do, did you have to give him a heart attack?” Trees muttered.

“I don’t…know?” he finally answered, quietly. He’d never had fuzzy socks.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Sevenset asked. “They’re fuzzy socks!”

Fives perked up, finally knowing what they were discussing. “Dude, fuzzy socks are amazing!”

“Yeah!”

Nines and Elevensies’ hologram appeared soon after. The conversation didn’t stop for them.

“But do you wear them by themselves or with other socks under them?” Do-si-do demanded again. At least it wasn’t at Fours.

Echo’s face crinkled in disgust. “What?”

“No,” Fives completed. “You have to wear other socks with them, otherwise you get the fuzzies stuck in your toenails for weeks.”

Do-si-do’s face lit up in triumph, while Sevenset groaned and let his face fall into his hands. The pilot pointed, presumably at his friend. “See? They understand! They’re not weirdos!”

Commander Sixes and Zero finally appeared while Sevenset was… mourning his loss? Again, seeing the commander’s face made Fours do a double take, but he hoped it wasn’t a noticeable one.

Fives continued on the ridiculous conversation like nothing had happened. “Why would you wear them naked? That’s–no! Your feet feel twice as sweaty doing that.” His twin nodded gravely.

Loops added, “But your boots fit better with just one pair on.”

Do-si-do shook his head. “Everyone knows you wear them without boots, indoors, so you can do sprinting hallway slides.”

The commander blinked rapidly, shook his head, and rubbed his eyes with a hand. “Do I even want to know what you’re discussing?”

“Fuzzy socks, sir,” Nines answered.

The commander lifted his head, raising one eyebrow at them. “Fuzzy socks?”

As a new round of explanations and debate started up, Fours noticed Elevensies looking at him curiously, his head tilted slightly to one side. Fours was wondering when someone would notice.

“Hey, guys,” he said. Once most of the others were paying attention, he asked, “Did Four’s hair always look like that?”

Now everyone was looking at him, and he shrunk down in his seat out of habit. Finally, Sevenset smiled and said, “I knew there was a dye job in there somewhere.”

Being back on a regular base meant Fours had been able to get his hands on hair dye again, and had spent the time to redo the two fuschia stripes on each side of his head.

“So you really like the color that much?” Nines wanted to know.

It was true the fuchsia paint of the Nova Corps wasn’t exactly the most popular color in the GAR. Many claimed it wasn’t “manly” enough. He nodded, brushing his fingertips over the strips. “I like it.”

Echo had a look on his face like he was thinking hard. “Commander, didn’t you do a mission with the Marines? That’s how you found Fours, right?”

“Yeah.”

His twin picked up his train of thought. “Why didn’t you tell us Fours had a fun dye job?”

The commander glanced at Fours, then answered, “It wasn’t there before.”

“It grows out quick,” Fours added.

“I feel that,” Do-si-do said with a frown, scrunching his own bleached curls. “It can be such a hassle out there.”

Loops took advantage of a momentary pause in conversation. “So. Strategy conference, huh, guys?”

The remark unleashed a chorus of groans from several members, notably Fives, Do-si-do, and Trees. Fours knew some of his brothers feeling the same way. Most clones didn’t do well with inactivity.

“It’s taking forever,” Do-si-do said, slumping in his seat. “What do they even do in there all day? Look at maps?”

“I feel bad for General Kenobi,” Echo said.

“Why?” Zero asked.

“Oh, he has to deal with a very bored General Skywalker.”

Nines chuckled. “Practically a death sentence.”

Zero suddenly launched out of his seat, slamming his hand down on whatever surface supported his holoprojector, making his hologram shake. “I think I figured out why that yellow zabrak trailing Kenobi is so beefy!” he announced with a huge smile.

There was a beat of silence–understandable, given the non sequitur–then Sevenset smiled and gestured that Zero should continue his thought. Fours would admit, he was curious.

The ARC sat down again, his face looking much like Sevenset’s when he was stirring up trouble. “Okay, so they��re both Dathomirian zabbys, right? Right. Not much known about that planet but what it does have going for it is a very strong connection to the Dark Side of the Force. Now what does that mean–well–”

“Wait, how did you find that out?” Echo interrupted. “The Force thing. You can’t just look that up.”

“Oh, no, I asked my general to check with the Temple Library, and that’s what she got.”

“Oh.” There was a slight hesitation in the reply, which made sense, considering most clones didn’t have that kind of relationship with their general. Fours certainly didn’t. General Mundi would probably be thrilled about a clone asking questions about the Force, but it didn’t mean Fours would feel confident in asking.

“Anyway, the Dark Side on Dathomir is a little funky,” Zero went on, “and the Nightsisters can harness it somehow. Since the Light Side has some healing and regenerative abilities, then why can’t the Dark Side make a normally fairly lean species into a slab of muscle?”

After another pause, Trees said, “That sounds like wild speculation.”

Fours wouldn’t know where to start, so it seemed a little more solid than speculation to him. The only zabraks he was familiar with were from Iridonia, and that was mostly because General Koth had assisted General Mundi at one point. The two Nines had sent holopics of seemed more… evil. In every single aspect of their beings.

“It’s not!” Zero protested. “I did research! I found out more about the guy with robo legs too. His name’s Maul, and the beefy dude is named Savage Opress.”

Nines perked up a little. “Anything useful if he goes after Kenobi with us around?”

“Didn’t you guys tackle Grievous?” Fives pointed out. “Is anything really going to stop you?”

“I was not one of the idiots dogpiling Grievous,” Nines defended himself.

“Why should we believe you?” Loops countered.

“Because unlike my commander and my brothers, I am not a moron.”

Fives cut back in. “But if some evil guy on robo legs came at your general, and you had the opportunity to tackle him for the greater good, would you do it?”

Fours couldn’t help a small smile when everyone turned to Nines, who spluttered indignantly for a second or two. “He has horns! Maybe use a droid popper first–”

“He’s dodging the question!” Zero said, pointing.

“And poppers wouldn’t work!” someone in his background called. Zero turned just in time to be swarmed by three brothers who squeezed in beside him. One, with an intricate black tattoo down his chin, continued, “Regular poppers are too weak for cybernetics. You’d need something strong enough to thoroughly shock a biological nervous system and a mechanical nervous system.”

“Cass!”

“They have to know!”

Zero rolled his eyes. “What are you guys even doing here?”

A different clone, with what looked like aquatic life painted on his armor, patted Zero on the head. “Don’t worry about it, we were just passing by when we heard false information being given out on cybernetic limbs.”

“And also, who is this person with the robo legs?” the third asked. His armor was stunningly painted in a style reminiscent of some of the street art Fours had seen sprayed onto the buildings on Coruscant. “Asking for a friend. Several friends. Maybe.”

Zero looked at him flatly. “Jackal, you can’t lie.” Jackal pouted.

Finally, Sevenset asked the obvious. “Zero, who are these guys?”

“These,” Zero said, “would be the Enigma Triplets.” He introduced them in the order they had spoken. “This is Cass, that’s Beskar, and this is Jackal. They want to hack this guy’s cybernetics.”

“Hypothetically!” Jackal blurted.

“And I know for a fact that they were on duty in a different part of the ship,” Zero went on, “so this leads me to ask again: what are you doing here?”

Jackal and Cass shared an uncertain look. Beskar still looked passive. He must have been one of those clones blessed with the ability to tell a convincing lie.

Their brother was not convinced. “You didn’t hack the call, did you? You weren’t listening in?”

“Hey, don’t hack our frequency,” Sevenset said. “I worked hard for it.”

The “triplets” shared another look, definitely more guilty this time, even on Beskar’s face. Zero put his face in his hands with a sigh, and Beskar patted his pauldron. “We didn’t leave any back doors,” he said, trying to be comforting. “The security is still in place.”

“It better be,” Do-si-do warned, narrowing his eyes. “This chat has saved lives, I’ll have you know.”

Loops tilted his head, clearly thinking of something. “Wasn’t Enigma Company the one where everyone wants to hack General Grievous?” he asked.

All three of the triplets’ faces lit up like Life Day. “Yeah!” they answered.

“You had to ask, Loops?” Zero said with a look of fond exasperation.

“Maybe we can find this new guy and test out our theories on him,” Cass said, ignoring Zero.

The other two agreed enthusiastically. Nines raised a hand. “If you can manage it, I’ll be impressed. He’s got it out for Kenobi, and I don’t think he’s likely to give that up any time soon.”

Beskar nodded. “So what I’m hearing is we need to follow General Kenobi around for a week or so and set a bunch of traps for the angry horny bird man.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jackal replied, completely serious despite several numbers–mostly Do-si-do, Sevenset, and Fives–having dissolved into quiet giggles.

Suddenly, Jackal’s face brightened again, and he waved. “Hi, Commander! How’s the arm?”

The other two crowded in even tighter, squishing Zero further. “Yeah, d’you need any upgrades?” Cass asked excitedly.

Fours was confused. What was wrong with the commander’s arm? He didn’t think he’d missed any of the chat lately, even if he was reading most of the conversations after they’d happened. But he still read them all. He didn’t recall anything mentioning the commander being injured. Only on Umbara, but that was just a scuffle with that deranged Jedi, right?

The commander frowned, folding his arms. “I think you boys have done enough to my arm, thanks. You and the rest of your entire company.”

While the triplets started making excuses, Elevensies tentatively raised his hand.

“Yeah, kid, go ahead and ask,” the commander replied, looking resigned.

The youngest member paused to look at everyone, then asked, “What happened to your arm, sir?”

Everyone’s attention went to the commander. Fours noticed Zero, Echo, and Fives looking with a little less than avid curiosity, and he wondered. He knew Fives couldn’t lie, so he had a feeling those three had known something was different for a while now.

In reply, the commander began removing the armor below his elbow and setting the pieces out of sight. After he did that, he tugged each of his fingers loose from his glove, and pulled it off as well, holding the hand so they could see it. Wherever he was, there was enough light to glint off the metal as he turned his hand this way and that. The interlocking plates protecting the inner workings were black, like his armor, but they shone a dull blue in the light. From what he could see, the metal continued up and disappeared under his sleeve, leaving everyone to wonder how much of his arm he’d lost.

“When the kriff did that happen?” Sevenset asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

“Umbara.”

Sevenset’s face went from concerned to horrified. “Umbara?” he cried, his voice pitching up quite a bit.

“What?” Nines demanded. “I didn’t know about this.” He looked at Fives and Echo. “What happened? Did you know about this?”

Echo shrugged. “Maybe a little.” Fives looked guilty, which meant they had both definitely known about it.

Do-si-do gasped. “Wait! Was this because of that Jedi you guys definitely didn’t kill?”

Elevensies’ eyes widened. Fours couldn’t blame him. Trees groaned and facepalmed, probably muttering something about even more liability for treason.

The commander shrugged, unfazed by the outcry as he started putting his glove and armor back on. “Yeah, he knocked me out and when I woke up, my arm was gone.”

“This was months ago, Commander!” Sevenset pointed out.

“How did you get the new arm?” Fours found himself asking. No one in the Marines had any cybernetics, usually because his commander didn’t wait for medical evaluations before transferring an injured clone. He didn’t like to think about how many had “disappeared” afterwards.

“Our commander knows a guy,” Jackal chirped, a pleased smile on his face. The commander nodded, confirming the statement.

Sevenset spluttered for several seconds, which was amusing, before he settled on, “That’s it? Just ‘a guy?’ No explanation of why we had no idea you had lost an arm?”

The commander shrugged. “Nope.” That just made Sevenset more affronted, his mouth falling open in surprise. “Careful you don’t catch any mynocks in there,” the commander remarked as he clicked his vambrace closed.

That made the triplets around Zero crack up, and the noise must have jolted Sevenset out of his shock. He frowned, clearly not happy with the commander, but Fours didn’t think he would get any more information out of him about it right now.

“First Fours dyes his hair, now the commander has a cybernetic arm,” he said. “I’m just saying, I’m feeling a little out of the loop. Does anyone else have some life-altering or otherwise important information they want to share?”

To Fours’ surprise, Trees spoke. “General Unduli got a pet duck.”

“She did what?”

“Yeah, she found this duck and adopted it. Supposed to be our new mascot, I guess. Named it Duckfee. Commander Gree keeps trying to steal it to study it, and Commander Offee has yet to warm up to the name.”

Without warning, Nines, Loops, Trees, Do-si-do, Fives, and Echo all disappeared from the call. Fours sat up a little straighter, along with almost everyone else.

“What just happened?” Sevenset wondered, looking around, eyes narrowed.

“Where are they all located?” the commander asked.

Zero’s three companions had disappeared, but from the way he was talking to people out of view, they were still in the room. He turned to the projector. “Strategy conference, remember?”

“Right,” Sevenset nodded, still wary.

“So… maybe they all had to leave really suddenly?” Elevensies suggested.

“Unlikely,” the commander replied, opening his comm and typing a message in record time. “I’ll ask around.”

“Who, the same mysterious ‘guy’ who got you a whole cybernetic arm?” Sevenset said pointedly.

Commander Sixes raised an eyebrow at him. “No, this is Commander Neyo.”

The ARC mouthed an, “oh,” then leaned back in his seat and folded his arms.

After a few tense seconds, both Zero and the commander said, “That’s not good,” at the same time.

Fours sat forward, and Sevenset was on the edge of his seat, nearly falling off. “What? What happened?”

Again, the two others spoke at the same time, but this time two different things came out of their mouths.

Zero said, “One of our Cricklets might have blown up.”

Commander Sixes said, “The strategy conference almost blew up.”

The three other clones from the 118th rushed to Zero in distress. “Which Cricklet?” Cass demanded.

“The one on that top secret mission, obviously,” Jackal replied.

“No!” Beskar cried, looking over Zero’s shoulder at his datapad. “Not Rootkit!”

Fours raised a finger. “What about the entire conference almost blowing up?”

“Yeah, that seems like the more important piece of information regarding all of our friends just disappearing from our transmission,” Sevenset agreed.

“Neyo says a late cruiser came out of hyperspace, then blew to bits before it could crash into the space station,” the commander announced, reading off his comm. “Haven’t found out what happened yet, but it was definitely rigged as a bomb.”

Jackal’s mouth quirked down. “Was that the top secret mission Rootkit went on? With Skywalker’s droid?”

“Apparently.”

“Huh.”

-scene break-

RedBoiiiii: is everyone okay??? no one blew up???

d0nut man: yeah what happened to the droids?? are they okay??

high fives: it was a fun light show!

CrispyDomino: yeah if you like heart attacks to go with your light shows

RedBoiiiii: DOMINO oh thank the Maker people are okay

Loopy: yeah most of us were in no danger whatsoever

Trees: unless you were the jedi and the guys in the main room

Loopy: true, they were front and center for the shrapnel blast

Double Trouble: DUDE that was WILD some windows almost shattered where i was!!

RedBoiiiii: you are not making me feel better

#1 Boy: what happened to the rest of the droids? Zero’s friends were very worried

d0nut man: they still are

high fives: oh the rest of the droids are fine, it’s just R2 still MIA :(

d0nut man: YAY!!!!!! Rootkit is safe :)

#1 Boy: nu R2 T_T

CrispyDomino: apparently the droids found a commando out there, presumed KIA on sarrish

DEATH: “Found?”

DressedtotheNines: IT’S GREGOR THEY FOUND CAPTAIN GREGOR THEY GOT HIM BACK HE’S ONLY LIGHTLY SINGED and somewhat concussed

high fives: yeah i guess they crashed somewhere and found him

CrispyDomino: but he had some amnesia so that’s why he didn’t come back sooner

Trees: that’s not something you see every day

Double Trouble: i have never seen nines that excited about anything since i met him

DressedtotheNines: Gregor was one of my COs before he disappeared. We missed him.

#1 Boy: aw ^_^

Loopy: that’s sweet

DressedtotheNines: i’m guessing skywalker isn’t too happy about r2 being missing?

high fives: no he is royally pissed

CrispyDomino: yeah no one is surprised by it tbh

Submarine: glad to hear people aren’t dead and just have some head trauma?

CrispyDomino: yeah maybe if skywalker stopped pulling stunts he wouldn’t have so much head trauma

DressedtotheNines: while I won’t argue that point, I do think fours was referring to Gregor

Submarine: yes

CrispyDomino: oh

CrispyDomino: I’m still right

-scene break-

#1 Boy: hey… I know it’s the middle of the night on Trip Zip… but is anyone here to talk?

Double Trouble: i’m here! what’s up kiddo?

#1 Boy: do you know how bad an injury needs to be to be… dangerous?

RedBoiiiii: uhh you mean how bad until they “disappear?”

#1 Boy:  yeah… my squadmate… he had an accident on a mission

CrispyDomino: oh kriff, what happened? What’s the injury?

CrispyDomino: i mean here’s the thing: disappearing only happens when the injury gets reported

RedBoiiiii: which happens all the time on Coruscant. All. The. Time.

#1 Boy: really? T_T

Double Trouble: hey hey hey, doesn’t the guard have systems in place so that doesn’t happen???? didn’t sevens tell us that?

RedBoiiiii: well sure, but it’s not a miracle pipeline

#1 Boy: is he gonna be okay???

CrispyDomino: what’s the injury?

#1 Boy: he hurt his arm on a senatorial escort, his shoulder needs surgery

#1 Boy: but it’s not a guarantee fix–they said there’d be lasting damage

CrispyDomino: well. that’s better than it could be, by a long shot

RedBoiiiii: it’s not great, but… it’s not terrible i guess

RedBoiiiii: i might have some contacts to try but… i’m sorry

Double Trouble: I hope it turns out okay!

#1 Boy: i mean i know we’re at war and death happens and all that but… 

CrispyDomino: hey it’s never easy. I’m sorry this is happening

Double Trouble: When we can be, we’re here for ya, buddy

#1 Boy: thanks guys <3

The Angry Zebra Bros have arrived.... and what will happen to Elevensies' squadmate??? ooooooo...

@23-bears @theultimatesandwich @mercurydancer @darth-void @rndmpeep @gaeasun and @fate-and-destiny Come read about Duckfee!! if anyone wants to be added to/taken off of the informal taglist!

[teenage-mutant-ninja-freak]

You already know how this one ends

Mob! Mikey x gender neutral reader

Warnings: Murder-spoken about in detail, alcohol mentions. Summery: It’s been such a lovely evening, your boyfriend has taken you out to the movies and dinner and now you’re having a lovely starlit stroll around the park. How could anything be better?

(Authors note: This is a very dark fic, like very dark. It involves a detailed description of someone dying, please read at your own discretion.)

The breeze is cool as you walk arm in arm with Mikey around the park. It had rained earlier, while you were at dinner, and now the damp air is filled with the scent of freshly cut grass and wet concrete but, it wasn’t unpleasant. Looking around, the trees danced in the slight wind and stars could be seen between the few clouds that loomed over you, casting shadows from the almost full moon. It was quiet and serene, just you and him. You hugged your coat a little bit tighter. It was a beautiful one, not cheap either, that he had bought for you; made of alpaca wool, a caramel sort of brown and fluffy. It went down to almost your knees and you loved it very dearly. You called it your ‘teddy bear coat’.

He, Mikey, had taken you to see a movie and then out for dinner at the most lavish place you could imagine. “It’s a special evening” he’d told you but never given you a reason as to why. Now you were walking through a park only a few blocks away from the restaurant and he was pointing out constellations. It was marvellous when he was like this, attentive and sweet and lucid. He had a bad habit of getting locked up inside his own head and becoming distant and irrational. That warm feeling comes over you like a tide in how quickly it rises but less forceful, like air in how it fills you but more tangible. You love him and he loves you, he’s told you hundreds of times before. Maybe he’ll forgive you.

You have a secret, you’re not actually a part time pre-school teacher but, in fact, a detective in the NYPD and you’d been sent to observe him, find out everything you could. It had been thrilling at first, but as it always seems to happen in the movies, you fell for him and fell hard. He kept you out of business, said it was too “unsavoury” for a delicate thing such as yourself so you hadn’t really learned much about it. Of course you tried but, any questions were expertly side stepped or ignored all together. You had, however, spent a lot of time with him- retreats to the country side, trips to Paris or Italy, nights at the theatre and stunning parties at houses bigger than you could ever dream to afford. You had also spent many nights in his bed with him. You had no significant other to return home to so on that first night, the first time it had happened, when he took you in his arms for a passionate kiss and lead you by the hand to his bedroom, you had no objections. He was an excellent lover and you don’t regret a single moment you spent with him. 

Tonight was the night, however, that you had to come clean.

Mikey dropped your arm for a moment to reach into his pocket and pull out a flask and raise it to his lips to take a long swig of what you assumed was whiskey. He edged the flask in your direction as an indication that you should do the same. Your fingers brushed his as you took it from his grasp and the cool liquid stung as it travelled down your throat to heat your belly. You would need all the courage you could muster and liquid courage is as good as any. Handing the leather bound container back to him, he placed it securely in his breast pocket. You sighed. Would it still be like this after he knew the truth?

“And that one’s Orion’s belt. Good story that” he continued.

It had only just occurred to you that he’s been talking for a while now, you were too wrapped up in your own thoughts to listen.

“I haven’t heard that one, tell it to me” you said, now returned to reality and interested in the tale. He was always a good story teller.

“Well Orion was boasting one day to the goddess Artemis, she’s the god of the hunt, you know, and her mother Leto that he could kill any beast on this earth. “Bring it before me and I will lay it down!” he’d said. Very full of himself that guy. I suppose all the gods were, even though he was only like 3/4 god I suppose. So anyway, the earth goddess overheard and devised a plan. a test of sorts. She sent a scorpion to him and the scorpion stung him on the ankle and he died. That’s only one of the stories of it though. Everyone argues about how it actually happened- if he was saving Leto from the scorpion or trying to force himself on Artemis and she sent the little critter. Either way it doesn’t really matter, the outcome is the same. He gets stung and-”

“I need to tell you something!” You weren’t sure where it came from but the words erupted out of you. You couldn’t wait any longer.

“what is it? There’s nothing I don’t already know about you” he stopped walking now and turned to you, putting his hands on your shoulders as if you steady you. You had seemed quite distressed to burst out like that.

“I- well its....Look I love you. I really do” you began

“Well, I’m glad to hear it.“ he laughed. His smile put you at ease. Those perfect teeth and plump lips curving into a half moon shape towards his eyes- eyes that you could get lost in and often did. 

“Hey, just listen. You know I told you that I’m a part time teacher over at saint Johns? Well, that’s not exactly the truth. I’m. Well...”

“you’re a cop” He added

“Exactly! And I’d wanted to tell-. Wait. How did you know that?” you were taken aback. How could he have known? How long had he known? As if he had read your mind, he answered.

“I found out yesterday, talked to my brothers about it.” his voice was lower now, more sombre as if it brought him great sadness to even think about it.

“Where does that leave us?” you asked

There was a long pause, he didn’t look at you but instead behind your right shoulder, staring off into the distance. He seemed quite pensive. Another breeze rolled though the air making you shiver and a bird called out in a far off tree. You were suddenly all too aware that no one was around. It had occurred to you before, made the evening seem more romantic but, now that this information was out in the open it scared you a little. You could see the handle to Mikey’s gun peering out of the holster beneath his blazer. After what felt like minutes of silence, he finally spoke again.

“You already know how this ends” His tone was dire and it sent a chill through you.

Before you could respond and ask what the hell that even meant, a leg, Mikey’s leg, sweeps underneath you- knocking you to the ground. The force of your impact sends a huff of air out of you and the ground is cold and still wet from the earlier rain beneath your form. Before you have time to register what’s going on, he’s on top you you.

His hands go to your throat and tighten dramatically. Surely you think surely this isn’t really happening? He loves me, I know he does. This isn’t really happening. This thought it short lived, however, as your vision is already beginning to dot and you can feel your face reddening and growing hot from the lack of blood and oxygen. His face is contorted above you into a pitiful look and you feel something drip onto your face. Is he crying? You try your best to take a better look and it sent a second chill through you. He’s crying because he has to kill you. 

It may seem daft, lying on your back in an empty park with your lovers hands strangling you and it only just occurred to you, now, that you’re going to die, but everything had happened so quickly and you still loved him, even with his hands around your neck, so much that you didn’t immediately think of that. This sparks something wild in you. Your own hands go to his face, slapping and clawing at him as best you can with limited air and in this position- doing anything you can for another sweet, sweet breath of air. It’s all to no avail, spots are becoming bigger and more frequent in your vision, your arms are tired and your lungs burn from the deprivation of oxygen. Within a minute or so they fall to your sides, slapping his thighs on the way down and you look up at him one final time. 

“I’m sorry” you manage to strain and gargle out. Had you know this would be the last thing you’d say to him, or ever, you might have picked something better. Nonetheless, this was fitting. You were sorry. Sorry for lying, sorry for agreeing to the job and sorry for ever moving to New York in the first place. Somewhere in the back of your mind the image of a scorpion climbing onto a frogs back appears- an old fable your mother used to tell you before bed. They’re half way across the river when it stings and the water is dark and angry as they both get pulled under. “It is in my nature” was the scorpion’s response. This is how you felt about Mikey., you could not hate him for it, as much as that would be the easiest emotion to conjure up, as he was simply doing what he knows. What he does best. What’s in his nature.

Your vision slowly begins to vignette until only a pinprick of sight is left. He is still crying, still straining to choke the life from you as quickly as possible- you suppose that’s the only mercy he can give you right now. A quick death. With all that’s left of your vision, you look up. The stars are still beaming up above you and Orion’s belt is shining in all it’s glory. Of all the things you could notice right now, the stars were probably the best one. You blink slowly, a small wheezing sound escapes your lips and before you can think of anything else, the world goes dark.

________________

He stays like that for a few minutes after your eyes close, making sure every last string of life has been well and truly drained from you. He’s still crying as he does it. Eventually he will raise himself up, wipe the tears from his face and take a quick look around. The park is still empty, still dark and for the first time this evening he is alone. It does not feel good. He looks down at his hands. Hands that were toughed by work and age, hands that had done unspeakable things that he couldn’t admit to himself let alone to you.

Slowly he will walk home, close the front door behind him and lock it. “Is it done?” His brother will say to him, he forgets which one. “Yes” he will reply. They will say something else, but he isn’t listening. That night he will drink himself stupid, until there are no more thoughts of hands and throats and eyes looking into his that are lit up by the stars above. It’ll become a fever dream and nothing more.

Tomorrow a paper will be placed in front of him, the headline will say something about a dead NYPD officer. He will not read it.

The End.

[amintyworld]

Wilbur's Crows - A Dream SMP Drabble

A/N: Have a little fluff for the soul, featuring Phil's Chat! - Minty

TW: Crying? (Lmk if I need to tag anything else!)

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

Sunrise bled through the white curtains, slowly melting away the peaceful starry night into a new day. Creatures stirred out of their slumber, and monsters retreating back to the darkness from whence they came, a few slowly turning to ash and bust. The smell of burning flesh ran potent through the forest, a smell that meant safety to those living within, a smell they were more than used to, blind to. The ground began to warm under the sun's gaze, the cool breeze of night turning to warmth. A warm hug mother nature gave to her children, easing them away from dreamland.

Beside a window, a crib rocked slightly back and forth as a breeze blew through the room. A messy brown-haired tyke held a teddy bear protectively to his chest, sleeping soundly. The light growing brighter behind his eyes, he shifted uncomfortably. Finding no relief, a noise of annoyance rose from his throat as he buried his face into the stuffed animal.

Swiftly, hearing the distress, a few black crows landed on the windowsill overlooking the three-year-old. Some brandished shiny necklaces they wore as a badge of honor. Some were simply bare. A crow to the left of the other two put down a shiny glimmering rock from its beak down by its feet, putting the gift aside for now. Looking to the side, the left crow could see the one on the far right putting down a large chunk of a diamond before the one in the middle met its gaze. Together, all three stared down at the toddler in concern for a moment as the small human squirmed, his chest heaving in breath like he was about to cry.

The two crows looked to the right one with the badge, wondering what they should do. The right one hopped over toward the headboard of the crib, taking in the child. Then, they let out a loud call. "Caw!" The loud noises made the small human's eyes snap open to see a black crow staring down at him, cawing. "Caw! Caw!"

The other two chimed in occasionally, adding to the caw-rus. That was, until the toddler in both annoyance and a little fear clutched his teddy closer and began to cry. The two on the windowsill looked at each other in panic - something was wrong with the small human, it was crying! - and began to caw louder to draw the attention of their owner.

As the door creaked open, all crows silenced, watching their owner as he entered. Watching for any sign of what he wanted them to do. The blonde locks fell a little past his shoulders, with kind blue eyes. He approached the child, reaching his hand down and gently brushing any hair out of his son's face. "Shh, it's okay mate, everything's okay..." When the child's eyes met his father's he silenced, simply looking up at him. Phil smiled as he moved to pick him up, holding the toddler against his hip. Wilbur's grip failed on the teddy during the transition, dropping on the ground as the left-sided crow flew down to try and grab it, flapping its wings wildly to get the surprisingly heavy stuffed animal in the air. Phil let out a warm chuckle as he kneeled down to take it, the crow backing off. After the small child got settled in his arms, he raised a finger to his lips and kissed it, pressing it to his son's nose as he giggled. "There's the Wilbur I know." Phil cooed.

Turning toward the window, his crows looked on silently, wanting to help but unsure as of how. "He's okay, Chat. Wilbur's okay." The caws returned in relief at the statement, breaking the somewhat silence. The crow with the necklace flew over toward Wilbur, trying to land on Phil's shoulder before the tyke waved his arms in protest and annoyance.

"Caw!"

"Caw!" Wilbur mimicked. "Caw!"

Phil chuckled at his son's outburst, trying his best to sound stern. "Now Wil, we don't wanna try to hurt Chat, do we?"

As Wilbur turned to face his father as he talked, the crow in question changed course, landing on top of Wilbur's head with a "caw". Phil tried to hold back his laughter at it all as the door creaked once more, someone else entering the room. Their voice was warm like Phil's but soft, comforting. "So I'm guessing Wilbur's okay?"

"Yeah, just a little grumpy this morning," Phil answered.

"Mumza!" A crow chanted.

She walked further into the room, behind her husband, giving him a small peck on the cheek. "Hm, I wonder where he gets it from..." She teased. Phil turned to face his wife with a smirk, leaning over to give her a proper kiss on the lips. As Wilbur moved closer, he could see a silver glint around her neck.

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

"Uhm, Wilbur..." Ranboo began as he looked up from the crafting table and out the window of their van. "Wilbur they're here again."

Wilbur sighed from his spot on the hammock, arm over his eyes. "You've gotta be joking. I told him to stop sending them!"

"Honestly? I don't think he has any control over them, they just kinda... do what they want." Ranboo shrugged.

Grumbling, frustrated, Wilbur marched out of the door of his burger van and toward the thousands of black crows lining the trees of the surrounding forest. A few brandishing those unmistakable necklaces, he knew exactly whose crows these were. He told Phil multiple times he was fine. He told Phil multiple times he didn't need a babysitter and that he wanted to change. Phil told him multiple times that he trusted him.

Ha, 'Trusted him'. He was sending in his fucking bird surveillance!

If scaring them didn't work, talking to them didn't work...

He pulled out a water bucket from his inventory, the murder of crows staring down at him as he stared up at them. "This is your final fucking warning, go away!"

Spinning he launched the water into the air as it came splashing down on top of the tree. Caws rang out amongst the forest as a few gave up and flew away, but the rest simply flapped their wings and flew a little higher, soaking wet... and mad.

"Oh Shit."

Wilbur's eyes widened as a murder of crows flew toward him as full speed, knocking him over onto the grass. Their talons caught on his skin and clothes, scratching and leaving him sore. Blinded by a sea of feathers and black, Wilbur struggled to his feet, coughing out a few feathers that landed in his mouth before finally getting his bearings, the murder traveling to settling on top of the van. After shaking himself free of feathers, guilt weighed on his heart - they were only following their owner, after all.

"Look, I'm sorry Chat. I... I didn't mean to hurt you, I... uhm..." Wilbur sighed. "I just don't like being watched, okay?" As Wilbur turned to leave, he heard the fluttering of wings and saw the crows surround his feet, one perched on his head and one on each shoulder. He mustered a bit of an awkward smile - it was strange that he was literally talking to birds. His father's birds, but still. "Thanks, Chat."

Walking off deeper into the forest, Wilbur could hear the flapping of wings behind him, and found himself smiling. Maybe it had some weird psychological effect from trying to run them off his property for almost a week straight... but his father's crows were growing on him.

They settled wherever he went as he worked collecting wood and finding some cows to bring back, the flapping always a telltale sign. One always liked settling on top of his head, and after a few hours, Wilbur allowed it. Chat was a silent presence, but not an unwelcome one to Wilbur, who didn't have many friends besides Ranboo to hang around.

As the day came to a close, he walked back toward the van. "I'm guessing I'll see you all tomorrow, then?" He got a few caws in response as the murder took off into the sky and over the horizon, back towards his father's home in the artic. One crow remained - the one perched in his brown curls. "Go on then, you'll see me tomorrow after all." Wilbur gestured toward the others. "And please learn to listen to Phil, okay? You guys could've gotten yourselves lost trying to find me."

The crow landed on Wilbur's outstretched arm, and for the first time, Wilbur could see the crow had something in its beak. A grand silver necklace with a black stone pendant, that shimmer silver in the sunset's glow. Wilbur's eyes narrowed, scanning it. "Is... Is this...?" He looked up toward the crow, who let out a caw and flew away.

Wilbur ran his finger over the pendant that he'd never seen before, and yet he felt like he'd known it his whole life.

Mom.

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

General Writing Tagging List (Let me know if you'd like to be added/removed!):

@bones-sprouts

@foolishcaptains

@benzel

[thedistrictsleepsalonetonight]

A goddamn blaze in the dark

The first time Emily sees Sue, the first thing she does is drop a cup of steaming hot coffee onto the floor, slip on it and land flat on her back behind the counter. And then she thinks — Oh. Found you.

To be fair, even without the pesky niggling at the back of her head, very helpfully pointing out that this was the girl, her soulmate, the love of her life, her forever and beyond, the sight of Sue would have knocked her down anyways. What else are you supposed to do when a pretty girl, dressed in tweed, with her hair tied up in a braid, walks into the coffee shop where you work with that smile on her face? That damned smile that doesn’t ask you so as much as inform you that you’re going to be haunted by it in your dreams tonight? With 10 am sunlight filtering in through the sides, casting half of her features in sharp, glorious light, Emily might as well have just signed away her breath for eternity.

Lavinia bends, looks her right in her eye from above her. “You’re in love, aren’t you?”

She wants to open her mouth to say something along the lines of – It's her! It’s her! What comes out, however is a garbled groan.

“Emily, buddy,” Austin rollerblades over to her, bends over her from the other side. “You gotta get up before there are complaints of unprofessionalism in the workplace.”

“Oh, because you’re the pinnacle of workplace niceties, I assume,” Lavinia shoots him a contemptuous look. “Only last week, wasn’t it? Those two young ladies in here fighting over who you were going to take to the mixer—”

“Guys,” she manages, before Austin can respond with something equally snarky, or god forbid, lascivious. “Is anyone minding the counter?”

And for exactly thirty seconds, the amount of time it takes Austin to slide over and ask for the orders of the disgruntled customers, and before she stretches out her arm and lets herself get pulled up to her feet, she hears a sweet voice enquire if everything’s quite alright back there. Emily closes her eyes, breathes it in, and wishes, not for the first time that hour, that she had her notepad near her to scribble a snippet of a poem that is now rapidly forming in her head.

*****

It is only sometimes that Sue looks at Emily and thinks that if Emily were to say the word, she would get down on her knees and hand over the entire world to her. Most of the time what she is thinking is goddamn it, Emily.

That’s what is going through her head as they’re kicked out of the lecture of the old man droning on about volcanoes. She can hear Emily giggling from behind her, and though her heart’s beating loud — the result of embarrassment and pure adrenaline — the sound makes her want to turn around and regard the idiot making it. So she does.

They’re alone in the deserted staircase; all the students, she guesses, are probably in that abysmally monotonous lecture. Emily leans against the banister, bent over at the waist from the sheer force of her mirth, and Sue takes it all in — her laugh, her gentle hands clutching at the wooden surface, and those intense, sparkling eyes looking right into hers. The next Goddamn it, Emily isn’t exasperated. It stays right there in her throat, accompanied by other, tender platitudes she’s never been brave enough to let herself say.

You’re beautiful. You make me ache inside.

(At night, Emily would talk to her about pressure, an acute force that demands to be released within her, and unable to help herself, the words — I think I know what a volcano feels like — would bubble up from her lips. And when Emily moves against her, a writhing mass of soft, bundled up wanting, Sue thinks she understands Pompeii a lot better as well; understands being frozen in time, brought to your knees by the sheer majesty of beauty and violence.)

*****

Listen, Emily has never claimed to be an expert on love.

(Austin has, on several occasions. Sauntered into the café, placed his elbow on the counter, and grinned roguishly. “Emily,” he’d started, once. “You know what the”—

“Is it that time of the month again?” Lavinia, who had been mopping up the floor, drawled. “Too much time since your last breakup but not quite enough that you can start going out with another girl and still maintain that image of the soft, sensitive manchild you’ve carefully cultivated. So you’re stuck in that weird limbo of no dates to go on, and subsequently are here to bore us.”

He’d chucked a tissue in her direction, continued smoothly. “As I was saying, do you, my dear Emily know what girls like best?”

“My sunny disposition?” she’d asked.

“No,” he replied flatly. “What girls want is someone who is cool. Indifferent. Somebody who displays absolutely zero interest in them. In fact—”

“That is horseshit,” Lavinia cut in.

Emily faux-gasped, continued leaning the espresso machine.

“Don’t you listen to him, Em. Girls like sweet, sensitive people who express an interest in wanting to get to know them.”

“I am an expert on women.”

“I am a woman!”

Emily half-listened to the sound of their bickering, and wished that she were a cat)

She considers both approaches briefly as she faces the girl, wondering why time hasn’t at least done them the decency of slowing down. It’s only polite, isn’t it, for the universe to cooperate when two eternal lovers meet. Emily has no justification as to why the universe should be so invested in the meeting of her and this woman who she’d decided was her intended, except it just makes sense.

(Intended. The word feels like it bears the weight of a hundred years. Like a woman back in the 19th century was whispering it to another woman she was in love with, as they lay in bed playing with each other’s hands.)

(It fits. She doesn’t care to find out why)

The girl opens her mouth. Emily holds her breath.

“You’ve got foam in your hair.”

The words — “It makes them bounce” — are out of her mouth before she can think. And then she wishes she’d picked up another cup of coffee in her hand so she could drop it on her head again.  

Thankfully, the girl laughs. Rests both her elbows on the counter and assesses the menu above Emily’s head. Emily doesn’t mind the reprieve from eye-contact. There’s something about looking right at this.... angel, for lack of a better word, that makes breathing cumbersome. And yet there’s another part of her that wants to raise her arms above her head and bounce like a little child, all “Hey! Look at me! It’s me!”.

(It’s a very strange day)

“What would you recommend?”

“Me?” Emily startles a little. Turns back to the menu, then back to the girl. Blinks. “That depends on your name.”

“How does my coffee order depend on my name?” the girl sounds amused.

Emily shrugs. “Eh. It’s a process. Can’t give away all my secrets.”

There’s prolonged eye contact, again, before the answer comes. “Sue.”

It rings in her head. Sue. Sue. Sue. There’s no prettier word in the English language. Saying it over and over in her head feels like a prayer. She tells Sue to wait a moment, and then turns to make her a caramel freakshow, all the while acutely aware of eyes on her. Her clothes are drenched in coffee, and she’d picked out the most faded of her t-shirts to wear today. God only knows what she looks like from behind.

The drink is her very best effort, though. Topped with the best slices of fresh fruit, and she’s made the swirls on the cream topping extra carefully. “Coffee for,” she pauses, pushes at the glass gently till it’s on Sue’s side, “Sue.”

“Can I ask what’s in this.... concoction?”

“My hear—” Emily knows she’s turning red, and desperately look away. “Um, coffee?”

Sue fumbles in her bag, and she wrestles with the urge to say — “Nevermind, it’s on me!” — which would not be the wisest. Emily hates the idea of taking money from Sue, that too, for something as measly as a coffee. Probably because she knows that if Sue were only to ask once, she would make her coffee every day, unprompted.

(She cannot reiterate enough – It's a very strange day)

When Sue steps away, Emily feels loss. It’s an unusual nudge to her sternum, a tingle in her hands that wants her to call Sue back. Before she has the time to dwell on it too much, Sue does.

“Do I,” she starts, frowning a little “Do I know you from somewhere?”

Yes.  

Yes.

I can’t explain it but we know each other somehow, the same way artists know their muses, and flowers know their bees, and my hands know how to write poems — and maybe a hundred years ago you and I were neighboring trees in the woods, or two seeds in the same tangerine; I’m pretty sure my knowledge of your existence was probably coded in my blood.

“Do you?”  

Sue seems to consider that for a while before shaking her head, and then walking over to take a seat by the window.

(And if she catches Emily stealing a glance every five minutes, she’s nice enough to not mention it)

*****

The day of her wedding is the happiest day of her life so far, and yet, the wedding has very little to do with it.

It’s a tiny, foolish fact that this is the first smile she sees on Emily after Ben’s tragic death, and yet, it makes her feel unreasonably pleased with herself. If her life were split into days she could see and touch Emily, and dreary days — the former were made significantly better if Emily smiled in them. Not to be dramatic, but the sun shines better, the skies glow prettier, and the ground is a little easier to run on.

Emily points out somewhere in the middle of their frolicking, for back of a better word, in the woods, that her dress is getting ruined. And then flings a flower onto her face. Goddamn it, Emily, she says, and then is struck dumb by the sound of her loud, exuberant laugh.

(And even quieter still when she holds the magnifying glass over the tiny piece of paper Emily had handed her earlier, the words washing over her like some tidal wave, drowning her in emotions too terrifying to admit. I held her hand the tighter, she reads and she smiles; Still in her Eye, the Violets lie, she reads and punctuates with a deep breath and when she reaches the end, the Sue – Forevermore, she’s aware of an awful keening in her throat, of the sob waiting to make its way out. Emily, Emily, her heart sings, and she is sure it will never shut up again)

She thinks of Emily the whole time, through the vows and the subsequent cheers, as they make their way into the house; thinks of her when Austin holds her tight and tells her that he loves her. A quiet voice, the sound of her guilt crawls up from inside her to tell him that she loves him too. She may be his in name, but her heart isn’t hers to give away anymore.

*****

Seven. That’s how many days she steals glances at Sue in the library before they talk again.

Monday, 9 am: The librarian’s just gotten started with her morning coffee, which means that Emily can sneak her own breakfast past her bleary eyes without being detected. She gets the books that she wants off the shelf, makes her way to her usual chair at the very back of the room and settles in. Her bag gets hooked to her chair by the straps, the tiny diary, her faithful companion, finds a place beside the humongous book, and the coffee sits next to her breakfast burrito. After the entire process is done, she stretches her legs, leans back, looks up and freezes.

Sue is seated on a nearby desk, staring at her.

Emily looks away, on reflex. Her heartrate’s up, and her palms suddenly feel clammy. She takes a deep breath, takes in the floor, and tells herself she’s seeing things. Surely, there’s no way the girl of her dreams also goes to her college and it absolutely isn’t possible that she’s sitting in front of her, in the flesh. She readies herself, looks again.

Sue’s still looking at her, now amused as well.

Well. There go her studies.

Tuesday, 8:50 am: Her plan is foolproof. There is no way she will be caught off guard again. She will be first to the library this time, and she will be prepared when Sue walks in, ready to impress her with her overall charm and chill-ness. There will — not — be a repeat of yesterday when she’d spent the better part of two hours hyperventilating, stealing secret looks or straight up going red every time Sue caught her eye and smiled at her.

The librarian hasn’t even started eating yet. Her head’s resting on the desk, and her eyes are tiny slits, when Emily runs in, makes her way to her own seat. Sue’s seat is empty, thankfully.

(Emily totally does not punch the air in celebration, startling a few other sleepy students)

She stretches out her arms, places them behind her head and waits.

And then jumps about a feet in the air when a hand brushes her shoulder.

There are multiple things happening all at once — the gentle hand resting on her shoulder for a moment, a hand whose warmth she instinctively recognizes as being a familiar one, despite never having felt it before (she knows it’s her. There’s no other option. Nothing else could make the skin at the back of her neck prickle in anticipation), a faint, teasing whisper of “I thought we weren’t allowed to eat in here”, and the realization that her plan has woefully failed.

(Why, then, does she feel so happy about it?)

Sue passes by, turning back once to shoot her a quick grin, and then settles into her usual chair, opening the book already present on the desk in front of her.

Emily’s jaw stays on the floor. The state of her heart stays up in the air.

Wednesday, 9:00 am: Sue opens the note Emily’s just chucked her, reads it, and smirks.

Emily waits. It had been an impetuous decision to scribble “Waffle?” onto a scrap of paper she’d torn out of her notebook, when Sue had looked at her earlier, but it’s alright. These are matters of the heart, and matters of the heart require at least 25 percent an attitude of ‘Ah, fuck it’, another 25 percent of run-of-the-mill stupidity, and 45 percent the ability to laugh at your own shenanigans.

Oh, and about 6 percent bad math.

She catches the crumpled-up note that comes sailing through the air in return and opens it up. “I was taught not to accept food from strangers”, is written in beautiful cursive, along with a smiley face.

(A smiley face. A smiley face!)

Thursday, 9:10 am: She writes — “You know, I am named after one of the best American poets, and your name coincides with the name of her ultimate love and muse. Some would say we’ve known each other a long time” — and slides it over to Sue, heart in her throat.

Twenty seconds later, the sound of Sue’s clear laughter rings out in the otherwise quiet place, and Emily is so enchanted she nearly falls off her chair.

(She hands off half of the breakfast burrito to Sue when she passes by to grab another book, and Sue’s grateful smile just about makes her day)

Friday, 9:00 am: The book she usually grabs to pore over is already sitting on the desk in front of her usual chair. After Emily’s done waving hi to Sue, and has settled down, she notices the tiny flap of paper poking out of the first page. Tucked in the corner is a tiny note.

“As an English major, this is your game, isn’t it? Using words to impress people? :P”

It doesn’t take her long to compose a reply.  

“First of all, how dare you? Second, is it working?”

Sue covers her face with her hands when she opens it. Emily counts it as a win.

Saturday, 8:50 am: The poor boy who has been sitting in the next row all week finally loses it after they’ve exchanged their fifteenth et of notes for the day.

“Can you people, like, just text like the rest of us, for fuck’s sake?”

When the rest of the people surrounding them nod in agreement, Emily sinks into her chair, catches Sue’s equally embarrassed gaze from across the room, and resists the urge to laugh like an idiot.

Sunday, 10 am: The morning’s been hell.

Austin had been panicking about some test he had on Monday, and so she’d come in to help out at the café, early morning. Between quizzing him on his flashcards and making sure every customer had a full cup in front of them, Emily completely lost track of time until Lavinia dragged her apron off her.

“What?” she’d asked, bewildered.

The clock was pointed out to her.

(No, she does not leave an outline of her body behind when she dashes out of the café. There is, however, a mad moment when she’s pretty sure her legs are scrambling with her body still at rest. It is pretty comical nonetheless)

From the entrance she sees a couple of things on her desk, and is a little miffed. Clearly, somebody else has claimed this prime spot with a vantage point from where she could stare at the most interesting woman in the world all day. And yet, she approaches it, because the chair is empty.

The book catches her eye first. It’s a copy of Hope is the thing with feathers by her namesake, and it’s got a note with a familiar handwriting peeking out of the top. She reads, delighted, a haiku about fruit and tenderness that’s been scribbled on it. And then she gets to what’s lying next to the book — what seems to be a sandwich, wrapped carefully in foil. She touches it. It’s cold, as though it’s been waiting there a while.

The smile on her face is definitely a permanent fixture now, she decides, as she walks over to where Sue is sitting and pretending to not look over. Her heart’s tripping over with delight, with gratitude with something tender that she’s absolutely sure she hasn’t felt before. Hope is the thing with feathers, indeed and it is perched in her soul. She pulls out the chair next to hers, and sits down.

“Thank you,” she says, quietly, and swears to god she can hear the entire table go Fucking finally — before Sue shoots her a small smile.

*****

“Only you would show up at a party looking like a raccoon,” she tells Emily, exasperated.

(And enamored. And besotted. Emily makes an adorable raccoon)

“I’m not here for the party — I’m here for you,” Emily shoots back, defiant. “As long as I can still see, I wanna look at you.”

And oh, there it is. There’s the Emily she knows, saying words that slide into her chest as easily as their hands go together. Words are Emily’s deadliest weapons, and she wields them to inflict sheer havoc.

Isn’t that just it, though? Emily has no idea. No idea what it does to her to have her this close — with their foreheads pressed to each other’s, their noses a whisper away, with Emily surrounding her, taking every one of her senses and carving her name on them. Sue feels a hand on her hair, then on her cheek, and knows she’s this close to losing any bit of self-control she might have had.

She steps away, composes herself, and thinks, Shakespeare was right. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

*****

“You might as well have ditched us,” Lavinia grumps.

“What?” Emily blinks, momentarily distracted from whatever text she was in the middle of shooting off to Sue. “Oh.”

“Not cool, dude,” Austin chimes in from the other side. They’re smushed into the couch together, planted in front of the screen where some 80s movie is on. It’s a weekend, which means movie nights filled with chicken wings and some dreadful drink that Austin’s invented that he calls the Faustinator, because.... reasons, apparently. And Emily’s just now realizing that she has no idea what the movie even is because she’s spent most of her time texting Sue. “You’re texting your sweetheart lameass cringy shit.”

“How do you know what I’m texti— Austin, stop reading over my shoulder!”

(She conveniently ignores the sweetheart thing. It’s easier than the alternative, which would be to dwell too much on the possibility of Sue being her sweetheart, and Emily being Sue’s and oh — she can feel herself smiling again.)

“Believe me, it isn’t easy on me,” he snarks. “Two months of talking our heads off about Sue, Sue, Sue and free drinks for Sue, Sue, Sue and pining over—”

“It has not been that long!”

“Lavinia?” he asks.

“Two months, two weeks and four days,” Lavinia tells her, flatly. “That’s how long we’ve had to hear about how you know her and that you’re convinced she is the love of your life.”

“I do.... know her,” she trails off, uncertain. It’s one matter to think it and feel it, like she’s felt the absurd familiarity in her bones every time she hears Sue’s voice, or Sue touches her skin, and sets it on fire. Another matter entirely to set about explaining it. Plus, other, unrelated things, like how reading Emily Dickinson’s poems feel like a friendly little nudge someone’s giving her, an inside joke, or why sometimes she feels so, so much that she would burst if she didn’t write that very moment.

“She walks you to class most days from the library.”

“And she’s been coming to the café every other day, and listening to you rant about random things,” Austin chimes in.

“Didn’t she write Emily a couple of poems as well?”

“Hey, that’s,” she starts, pauses, smiles. “Yeah. I, uh, told her nobody had ever written me anything before, and she — she’s really sweet.”

“Honey,” Lavinia says, gently, “the woman’s in love with you.”

“Oh-kay!” Emily jumps up from the couch and announces her intention to get more popcorn. And the pokes her head out from around the corner, and asks, in the tiniest voice.

“Really?”

Two chips come flying in her direction, and then they can’t stop laughing.

*****

There’s a kind of truth in the life she lives when she’s alone; no one to defer to, no one to explain to why she doesn’t want children or why, even after a couple of months of a blissful wedlock with Amherst’s most eligible ex-bachelor, the smile slides off her face as easily as the fruit punch in her parties off the plates. And then there’s the second kind that has to be dragged out of her — with heaving breath and shaking hands and salt dripped out of her eyes. Honesty that scalds and tears up her inside as it makes its way out of her.

(It’s a particular bit of irony in the fact that Emily is both the cause, and the only one who ever gets to witness the fallout, of the second one)

“Emily, I love you.” she says, like Emily’s put her arms down her throat and is ripping the words out of her. “I love you, and, and I felt you in the library — because you’re always with me.”

There’s a moment of complete, utter silence, when she stares at Emily and Emily stares back at her and the space between them is filled with the distance of lies and fury — and then they crash together. It’s an impossible push and pull, and Sue feels, for the first time in weeks, this complete surrender, abandon of all inhibition. Love tastes like Emily, and it feels like drowning and sounds like the tiny noise Emily makes when they part, like she can’t stand to be away even a second longer. All of what she knows about love is Emily.

If Sue could write, this is what she’d put down on paper: the feel of Emily’s neck beneath her hand, the way she melts when Sue wraps an arm around her. This yearning to be closer, the hunger to consume and the reluctance towards stopping. She wants, so badly to do Emily the same honor of immortalizing her in the form of words — she deserves it. The world deserves to know how she felt about this.... miracle, this angel in her arms. More than anything else, Emily deserves to know how Sue feels about her.

She turns to her side, kisses Emily’s hand once, twice. “I will never let go of you again.”

*****

Life is an endless sea of pain.

“Emily, she’s just a girl,” Austin tells her, then immediately flinches as Lavinia whacks him on the head.

Emily wipes away the moisture from her face with the sleeve of her favorite oversized hoodie, sniffles, and sticks her spoon in the tub of ice-cream again.

“Not to pry,” Lavinia starts, hesitantly, “but we still have no idea what happened. You came running into my room a week ago and haven’t stopped crying since. I guess — I guess we just want to know what’s up.”

Emily sighs. “It’s Sue.”

Austin blinks at her. “Yeah I — I mean, we know that.”

She thinks back to Sunday morning when she’d come upon her favorite restaurant while out on a run. The sight of Sue, sitting there with some.... dude. It was a cozy booth, and the way the guy seemed to be smiling in Sue’s direction couldn’t be construed as anything but romantic.  

“A date?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re telling us this is because you thought Sue was on a date?”

What wasn’t clicking? “Sue was on a date. There were flowers on the table and everything.”

“And that’s why you haven’t been returning her calls or texts? And have expressly forbidden us to tell her where you are when she comes into the café, like, everyday?”

Emily shifts. “Yes?”

Lavinia whacks her on the head.  

“Ow,” Emily groans. “What’s with all the violence?”

“Oh, stop it, you big baby. Now,” she took a deep breath, and Emily knew instinctively a huge lecture was incoming, “let’s examine the facts, shall we?”

“Is there any point in refus—”

“No. So, you like this girl, and it seems like she likes you too. But you refuse to do anything about it, like, you know, maybe admitting it to her. Then, you come upon her having lunch with some random dude and you assume it’s a date, and then freak out about it and cut her off.”

“But I’m pretty sure it was a date!”

“Fine! Okay! It was a date! So what? You expect her to hang around waiting for you to get your shit together, what, forever? And what if she doesn’t like you, god, Emily! I—”

“Okay, okay, wait!” she cuts in, holds up a hand to gather her thoughts. “I — I get what you’re saying, okay? I really do.”

“I know I have no right to be angry. She doesn’t owe me anything — I just. I dunno. I thought we had something. But even if that wasn’t the case,” she scrambles to add, “I guess I’m just taking pre-emptive action. To not get hurt. I can’t stick around and watch her fall in love with someone else, okay? I just. I can’t.”

Austin pats her on the back, and she sinks into his arm. This, of all things, is true. There are a multitude of things in life she has had to bear, and that she has borne, but this — watching Sue slowly fall in love with someone else, would be unbearable.  

She has another spoonful of ice cream. “I’m being an asshole, aren’t I?”

“A little bit, yeah,” Lavinia agrees. “But give yourself a break — you’re in love. It turns everyone a little bonkers.”

“It’s fucked.”

“No!” Austin and Lavinia tell her, together, before Lavinia continues, “Listen, I think you should talk to Sue.”

“Pretty sure she hates me now.”

“If she does, then go and face it. Honestly, though, I think you owe it to her, and also to yourself, to explain your side of things.”

“I’d literally rather die.”

“Then go do your dying in the fucking library. It’s almost ten, anyways.”

*****

She can still feel Emily’s teeth on her collarbone, can still wrap an arm around herself and trace the marks Emily’s fingers have left on her, when Sue announces that she’s trying to write a poem.

Emily throws off the sheets from her body, and turns so their heads are close. Sue’s sitting at the end of the bed, wrapped in sheets herself, eyes closed. She opens them when Emily’s nose nudges against her cheek.

“You are?” she asks, hand already playing with Sue’s hair, and Sue nods. “What’s it about?”

Sue cannot stop herself rolling her eyes. “Guess.”

“Is it,” Emily asks, teasingly, “about me?”

“Maybe.”

There’s a delighted gasp from her paramour, and she can feel a small kiss pressed to her temple. “I want to read it.”

“Only when it’s done.”

“And when will it be done?”

She turns to look right at Emily now. “I’m not sure it ever will.”

When Emily kisses her — every time Emily kisses her, Sue adds a line to the poem in her head. She’s running out of words to express joy, passion and beauty, at this point.

“The romance of it all,” Emily remarks, pretending to swoon. “This way I will live on through your words as well, after I die.”

Sue frowns, feels her lips automatically pull down at the corners. “No talking about death.”

“But we will die, darling,” Emily explains, patiently. “I can only hope that I die first.”

“How — how dare you?” she asks, indignant. “I’m going to try my very best to be the one to go.”

(That one spurs an argument that goes on four rounds before either of the participants admit defeat)

“How about,” Emily starts, ponderously. “Whoever dies first comes back around the next time and finds the other?”

Sue can’t stop the smile. The thought is so whimsical, it drives their previous non-argument right out of her head.

“You think we’ll come back someday, years after our deaths?”

“Try and stop me,” Emily declares, fondly. “Susan Gilbert, I will always — always find you.”

Sue closes her eyes, feels Emily’s lips ghost over her cheek and tries to imagine the thought of the two of them, years from now, sitting side by side, hand in hand. Breathes deeply to stop the sudden onslaught of tears the image evokes.

“My foolish sweetheart,” she says, after she’s composed herself. “I love you.”

This is what she’ll put in words — Emily next to her, head tilted downwards, turned towards her. In about a minute, she’ll start complaining of the blood rushing to her brain, and Sue, exasperated, will tell her to sit straight. She’ll write about the light that falls on the edge of Emily’s nose, the one crooked tooth all the way in the corner, the tiny scar on her brow. About the way their hands lock into each other’s, how there’s a space on her neck made perfectly in the mould of Emily’s head — two girls, sitting next to each other, together into an eternity, and beyond.

*****

The first time Emily sees Sue after a week-long absence, she’s just run into the library and crashed into a nearby bench, thus bringing down a student, two books, and herself. She gets up almost immediately, sees Sue staring at the sight of her, wide-eyed, and thinks — Oh. Found you.

There’s an empty seat next to Sue, and on the desk lies an apple. Emily approaches her, and touches the back of her shoulder lightly.

“Can I sit here?” she asks.

“I don’t know.” Sue answers, not looking at her. “Can you?”

Emily has to bite at her lip to keep in the wild laughter that threatens to erupt. It’s not just the quip, either. It’s Sue — seeing her after these many days of zero contact feels like a drug, and she breathes it in, greedily. She pulls the chair out, and sits down on it.

“So,” she starts, then trails off.

“So,” Sue mimics, not unkindly.

“It may have been brought to my attention that I’ve been a bit of an idiot.”

“Only a bit?” Sue raises an eyebrow, leans back where she’s sitting.

Well. “More than a bit,” she amends. “I’ve been an idiot. A dumbass. An utter fool. A rake. A rogue of the highest order.”

Sue tells her she agrees. Then — “You wanna tell me why?”

“I saw you and, um, some guy. On your date that day over at the Plantain Leaf?”

Sue stares. For the longest time. “You ghosted me for a week because you saw me out to lunch with a guy? Emily that is so—”

“I know!” she says, then gets shushed by the people sitting around them. She consciously lowers her voice when she speaks next. “I know, Sue. I was being an asshole, I just — felt complicated about.... things.”

“Things?”

“Yeah. Like — feelings. And stuff.”

She sees Sue stifle a smile, and feels a little bit of life come back into her hands.

“What about your feelings?”

“Well,” Emily says, pauses, then comes out with a masterpiece of an explanation, “I have them.”  

Then covers her face with her hands, because why? It hasn’t even been ten minutes, and she’s already started messing things up.

“I mean — I have feelings. For you.”

She chances a look up at Sue, after a minute of that incredibly earth-shattering revelation, and stays held in place by the intensity of her gaze. Sue’s eyes are soft, large, and Emily wants to do something stupid, like bury her face in her hands again.

“You do?” Sue asks her, in the tiniest voice possible. Like she can’t believe it. Like Emily has done an awful job of wearing her whole heart out on her sleeve the past couple of months.

“Yeah,” she replies, and finds her voice is equally tiny. “Good ones.” The kind that have me convinced we knew each other a couple decades ago, that I have heard your voice in my dreams all my life, that I’ve been waiting for you for turn a corner and walk into my life this whole while. And if not this time, I’ll wait a couple decades more for you to love me back. “And it’s okay if you’re dating that guy, I just — I thought you should know. That’s all.”

Sue lets out a shuddering breath. “I’m not dating Sam.”

Oh.

So turns out Emily had been holding her breath.

Ants are crawling all over her body. To combat them, Emily picks up the object nearest to her, which happens to be the apple.

“Is that for me?”

Sue nods. “You owe me the six sandwiches I got you this entire week,” she adds, teasingly.

Elation fills Emily until she imagines she’s probably floating a few inches above the ground, buoyed by this tiny admission of caring on Sue’s part. Whoever had said all those things about love had been right. It really was.... something different altogether.

“You’re telling me you sat here and read Emily Dickinson all week, waiting for a girl to show up?”

A light blush lights up Sue, and she leans forward a little bit. “Not just a girl,” she tells her, seriously. “I waited for Emily, who was named after this poet whose work I’ve really come to like. Emily, who I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love with.”

Oh dear God.

They’re closer together now, their heads almost touching; Emily imagines them in a world of their own, separate from the rest of this library. She pretends to scoff.

“What? You don’t think a lot of Emily?”

“I think I can write better,” she declares.

“You think you can—” Sue starts, then lets out a laugh. “Emily, shut up.”

And then they’re suddenly kissing, and each and every cell in Emily gathers somewhere near her chest to rejoice together, every beat of her heart falls and arranges in the shape of a song, and time just kind of. Slows down. Pauses. Stops.

Emily thinks she knows what a volcano feels like, now. When she’ll go home, later, she’ll sit at her writing desk, pen down a poem about lovers and hands and two women sitting with their heads close together; maybe put in a fruit or two. And tiny pieces will come together in her head, just like the ones in her chest that crumble every time Sue looks at her.  

But right now, she closes her eyes, feels poetry on her lips, and it is good enough.

[iflostreturntosteverogers]

If You Love Her

Characters: Katsuki Bakugou x Reader, EraserMic, Ejiriou Kirishima, Hitoshi Shinsou, Kazuya Yamazaki (OMC), Hanta Sero (Mentioned), Mina Ashido (Mentioned), Denki Kaminari (Mentioned), Izuku Midoriya (Mentioned), Shouto Todoroki (Mentioned)

Warnings: Angst, Character Death, Grief, Little Smidge of Fluff

Word Count: 2278

Beta: @sorenmarie87​

A/N: Lyrics used from the song If You Love Her by Forest Blakk

Masterlist

      Katsuki hums as he prepares breakfast for the two of you. You lean against the doorframe admiring him in his hero costume. “Just gonna stand there, Firework? Or are you going to come kiss me good morning?”  He smirks over his shoulder at you. You push off the door frame and walk over to him, wrapping your arms around his waist. He sits his knife down and turns in your arms, cupping your face and kissing you. “You know you could’ve slept in right? UA is on holiday.” You shrug.

“I couldn’t sleep. I’m a little anxious this morning for some reason. Plus, I wanted to see you before you left for patrol.” Katsuki squeezes you hard before letting you go and turning back to his task. You grab your favorite mug and start to pour yourself a cup of coffee when his voice stops you.

“Don’t drink coffee if you’re anxious. You know it makes your heart race. There’s tea in the cabinet. Do you want me to stay home with you today?” 

“Thank you. No, it’s okay. I’ll be fine, Kat, I promise.” You reach up on your tiptoes for the tea on the top shelf. You had a sneaking suspicion that Katsuki liked to place things you used regularly up out of your reach so he could grab it for you. He chuckles and grabs the tin, placing it in your hands. “Thanks.”

“Welcome, babe. Breakfast is ready, but I’ve gotta take mine to go. I’m running late for a meeting with Deku, Shouto, and Kirishima before our patrols.” 

“Be safe, Kat. Come home to me.” He leans down to kiss you and presses your foreheads together. 

“I will. I promise.”

“Love you more.”

“Love you most, Firework. I’ll be home for dinner.”

      The envelope in his pocket feels like lead as he sits through the shitty meeting Deku is leading. The truth is he’d woken up with anxiety too. Terrified about the future and what would happen to you if he was gone and wasn’t there to protect and love you anymore. It’s not like hero work was exactly safe. There was always that risk. They had already lost friends and comforted significant others at burials. Kirishima nudges his leg. “Hey, man. You good?” Katsuki looks around and realizes the meeting room has emptied, leaving him and his best friend alone. 

“Just thinking about Denki and Shinsou. And Sero and Mina.” 

“Oh.”

“Yeah. It’s been what about a year since Sero was killed?” 

“Mhm and only a few months since Denki. Fuck, man. Feels like forever ago and yesterday at the same time.” Kirishima’s eyes fill with sadness thinking about their fallen friends. 

“Yeah. Listen, Kiri. I need you to do something for me.” He pulls the envelope from his pocket and holds it out to him. “If I- if I ever die, I need you to take care of her for me. Make sure she lives her life, man. Don’t let her shut down and her light die. She’s too bright for that, man. You protect her. You have to help her keep going. Make sure she falls in love again. And when she does, you give him this.” Katsuki’s voice cracks, thick with emotion.

“Katsuki, I-”

“Promise me, Ejiriou.” Katsuki shoves it at him. Eyes desperate and pleading. 

“Of course, Katsuki. I promise.” He pulls Katsuki into a hug, a move that would’ve earned him an explosion to the face years ago. They stay like that until Katsuki’s calm and in control again. 

“Let’s get out of here. I need to blow something up.” They both let out watery laughs and stand. 

“You know everything’s gonna be fine, right?” Kirishima places his hand on Katsuki’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, I just can’t stop thinking about how wrecked Mina and Shinsou were. Hell, they still are. We’ve done our best to be there for them but Shinsou shut down and pushed us away completely. He blocked everyone’s numbers, except Y/N, but she’s his sister. Mina tries, but we all know she can’t even look at us anymore, because she just sees the one who’s missing. I have to make sure someone takes care of her. For my peace of mind.”

“That makes sense.” They slip their comms in their ears and leave the conference room. Kirishima stops by his desk to store the letter while Katsuki texts you. “Ready?”

“Yep.”

Their patrol goes slowly. Katsuki just wants to get home to you. It’s hot as hell and quiet on the villain front. The only thing they’d done was rescue that dumb cat from a tree. “Dude, one more quiet block and I’m calling it a day.” 

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I think we can let the sidekicks handle the last couple hours without us.”

      You stand at the kitchen counter chopping vegetables for stir fry. The news drones on in the background as you make dinner. Katsuki had checked in multiple times and said his day was boring and long, so you figured you’d make his favorite food and you guys could have a movie night. Your phone starts buzzing in your pocket, but as you reach for it someone bangs on the door. “Good grief.” You lay the knife aside and wipe your hands on a towel. “I’m coming.” The banging continues, growing more frantic. “Jesus, I’m coming. Chill.” 

Time slows in that moment. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Katsuki’s picture on the news screen and turn. The doorknob jiggles as the person gives up on knocking and resorts to their key or picking the lock you don’t know. “Pro Hero Dynamight was killed moments ago in an attack. He and his partner, Red Riot, were on their way back to their agency when they were ambushed by a group of villains.” You stop dead in your tracks. The door opens. “Dynamight was dead by the time sidekicks and backup arrived. Red Riot has been rushed to the hospital. Dynamight was ranked number two behind Pro Hero Deku and leaves behind a wife. Japan thanks you for your sacrifice.” Your knees buckle, but arms wrap around you, keeping you from collapsing completely. Katsuki was dead. 

“I’ve got you, sweetheart.” A familiar deep voice rumbles in your ear. Aizawa holds you close as you sob into his chest. 

“Daddy, he’s gone. Katsuki’s gone. I can’t do this without him. I can’t!” You cry and scream on the floor in your father’s arms. Hizashi arrives moments later, hitting his knees and wrapping you both up. 

Everything is a blur after that. People are in and out of your house. Arms hold you, but they’re the wrong ones. Someone shoved a cup of tea into your hands that went cold a long time ago. You shiver at the cold emptiness that has seeped into your bones. Hizashi wraps a blanket around your shoulders and kisses your forehead. You don’t acknowledge him nor Aizawa when he tries to coax you into eating some food. “Baby, please just drink some water then.” 

You fall asleep on the couch late into the night, because you can’t bear to sleep in your bed without him. Your dads sleep on the couch opposite you. They’re curled protectively around each other, having been reminded once again that time is short and how lucky they’ve been. 

Katsuki’s service is beautiful. People from all over the country come to say goodbye. Your dads hold your hands, while Kirishima, Deku, and Todoroki speak about their friend. It takes all your strength to stand at that podium. “Most of Japan knows Katsuki as Pro Hero Dynamight. The explosive, sometimes crass hero who never backed down whether in battle or simply in the way he spoke. I knew him as the love of my life. He never held back in loving me. He put things on top shelves that I couldn’t reach just so he could get them down and then kiss me. He loved to cook and has made breakfast for me every single morning since we began dating our second year. Katsuki was incredibly caring, even if he wouldn’t show anyone. I love you more, Katsuki. I don’t know how I’m supposed to live without you.” You break down as you address your lost love. Hizashi realizes you won’t be able to move on your own and walks up to you. 

“Come on, baby. Come back and sit down. You did so well.” He places his hands on your shoulders.

“I can’t, Papa. I can’t do this.” Tears flow freely down your face as you grip the podium. 

“You can. One step at a time.” You let go and lean against him as he leads you back to your seat. The service concludes just after sunset. Fireworks fill the sky as tribute to the explosive hero.

      Kirishima sits at a table in the cafe, enjoying the beautiful weather and cherry blossoms. You make your way over to him. “Thanks for coming, Kiri.” He stands and pulls you into a crushing hug. 

“Of course I came! How are you? You look great!” 

“Thank you. I’m doing good.” You smile and he pulls your chair out for you. “I actually asked you here for a reason. I-uh, I’ve met someone. His name is Kazuya. Kazuya Yamazaki. He works at UA teaching Hero Ethics. He’s incredibly sweet and caring. He’s compassionate and understanding. He’s not Katsuki, but I love him. I miss Katsuki so much, Kiri. I still love him. I’ll never stop loving him.” Tears come to your eyes when you mention your late husband. Kirishima smiles.

“Sweetheart, that’s awesome. Katsuki wanted you to live life after he was gone. He wanted you to find love again and be happy. He made me promise that I’d take care of you and make sure you lived and moved on. He’d be so proud of you.” He hands you a napkin to wipe your tears away and chuckles. “Do I get to meet him?” 

“That makes me feel better. And yes, you can. We can do dinner at my house this week and I’ll introduce the two of you. Until then, let’s order some food. I’m starving.”

You order and catch up with each other. When you start to leave he hands you an envelope. “Give this to him.” You look down at it. Written on the front is “To the Extra that loves her after I’m gone” in Katsuki’s handwriting. You hug it to you. 

“I will.”

      You close your car door and take a deep breath. Kazuya makes his way over to you and the two of you walk silently to Katsuki’s monument. “I wanted you to come here for a reason. Today at lunch Kirishima gave me this.” You show him the letter in your hands. “It only felt appropriate for it to be read here.” He takes the letter from you and you both sit in the grass with your backs against the cold marble. You lean your head over onto his shoulder as he reads. 

“To the Extra that loves her after I’m gone. Extra?” 

“Yeah,” you giggle, “that’s just how Katsuki was. Keep going.” 

“If you’re reading this shit then I must be gone, but it also means that she’s found happiness and love again. That’s all I want for her. She deserves the world. But if you’re going to love her there’s some things you should know. If she gives you her heart, don't you break it. Let your arms be a place she feels safe in. She's the best thing that you'll ever have. She always has trouble falling asleep, and she likes to cuddle while under the sheets. She loves Pop songs and dancing and bad trash TV. There's still a few other things. She loves love notes and babies. And likes giving gifts. Has a hard time accepting a good compliment. She loves her whole family and all of her friends. On days when it feels like the whole world might cave in, stand side by side and you'll make it. She's the best thing that you'll ever have. She'll love you if you love her like that. Kiss her with passion as much as you can. Run your hands through her hair whenever she's sad. And when she doesn't notice how pretty she is. Tell her over and over, so she never forgets. Make her breakfast every morning, because she hates mornings and it makes her happy. Don’t let her drink coffee, it just makes her anxious. Buy her flowers and candy and those dumb stuffed animals she loves so much. Make her smile every chance you get because it is the most beautiful thing in the world. Love her. Love her more than anything else in the world. Don’t let her be sad over me. Make sure she shines. Her light is so bright and warm. Take care of her for me. -Katsuki Bakugou”

You wipe tears from your cheeks. “Oh, Katsuki.” Kazuya wraps his arm around you and lets you cry on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“No, sweetheart. There’s no reason to be sorry. He was your first love, your husband. You are allowed to still love him and to still be grieving him. I know there’s room in your heart for both of us.” 

“Thank you. Even after ten years, it still hurts and I still miss him.”

“And that’s okay. Why don’t we go to the market and buy some flowers, so we can freshen up his arrangement? And then we can go home and you can tell me more about him.”

“That sounds great.”

Tags: @fictionalabyss​, @leave-me-2-rot-among-the-flowers​

[saphirered]

Orym and a arcane Archer reader, maybe the group is in some fight and everything is looking bad for them but them out of nowhere all the bad guys are getting sniped left and right! After everything cools down this beautiful/handsome Archer steps out of the shadows and is checking up to see if their all okay while orym is just quietly freaking out cause WOW THAT WAS COOL AND HOT lol. Sorry that this is long I really like orym!

Here you go. Enjoy! 😘

They knew Poska’s folks would catch up to them at some point and maybe they should have prepared for that while they had the time. However, they got caught up in the mix of life and forgot about the entire fact they were on the run. The good thing about being in a forest; there’s loads of trees to take cover behind. The bad part, there’s little to no space for a cart to move through off road; especially not one dubbed the ‘glitter shitter’ and the moment your enemies make it up close, you’re already screwed.

Where are these guys coming from? Orym thinks. There’s more than they expected. Apparently Poska had learned her lesson after the whole ordeal; sending just the two to kill them, then falling under Fearne’s spell herself. She wasn’t going to let them get away a third time. Opal is about to take another hit but Orym swings in, covering her with the shield and successfully deflecting the blow. Then need a game changer and they need it quickly.

“Opal, if you ever thought apologising to your sister was a good idea, please let it be now.” Orym suggests and while Opal already had a brush with death once, she’s a stubborn one. She’s not backing down now. Ted’s wrong. She’s right but Orym does have a point. Could she fake apologise? Orym doesn’t care. As long as this works and they get out.

Dariax goes down but luckily Fearne is nearby to get him back to his feet. Dorian is in a scuffle with two of the Nameless Ones and there’s no disengaging with where he’s at so he keeps swinging his weapons trying to inspire the others to help the group as much as he can. Fy’ra is kicking some ass but she can’t save them all and she knows that. Orym gives Opal the chance to back off and get out of the thick of it. Their assailants are pushing them together, slowly enclosing them and they’re succeeding. Within a few rounds they have nowhere to run.

“We’re surrounded. What now?” Fearne looks at the faces of the Nameless Ones. One of them jumps a little meeting her glare. Good she left an impression but it’s not going to help her much.

The first one gets ready to strike, opens his mouth to speak but the words fall silent. Instead the man lets out a soundless scream. The bloodied head of an arrow visible to the group. Frantically the Nameless Ones look around for who just shot their buddy. Sinking to the ground clutching his throat that one’s out of the game. One down, several to go.

Sticking to the shadows and hiding in and behind the trees you keep moving every time you release another arrow. This group needs some desperate help so when you got a call from an old friend saying adventure and trouble’s on the horizon, how could you refuse. These poor suckers look like they could use some help. Seriously, they have two people that look like they’re properly prepared for a fight? How have they lasted this long? Granted, you came in a bit late and missed most of their fight but you’re here now so does it really matter?

“This is your first and only chance so listen carefully. You leave these people be. Return to your boss and tell her to piss off or you’re going to end up just like your buddy over there.” You hide up high among the branches. The thugs search the grounds but don’t spot you. Idiots.

“Yeah! You better listen to them!” The dwarf cheers on but is quickly silenced by Orym. How could they even be sure you’re a friend and not just someone else looking for the bounty on their heads? Then again, you did tell the thugs to leave them alone and pretty much told Poska to shove it.

You notice one of the thugs reach for a sword, making a move to attack the group. The halfling deflects the blow and swings back. This kickstarts the whole fight again. Okay, playtime’s over. You rain down hellfire from the comfort of your trees picking them off one by one. Both the groups and the thugs catch sight of a shadow moving through but you’ve disappeared before they can track you. In a matter of seconds with the collective fighting back of the group you’ve taken down most of their assailants.

The halfling is being attacked by one of the thugs who relentlessly keeps hitting. The intent is clear; kill. While the halfling deflects and dodges a fair amount of hits, still plenty of them come through and he’s looking a little worse for wear. You land down on the forest floor with grace, light on your feet you barely even make a noise. You draw an arrow calling upon your teachings of old. You pull back the string to the corner of your lips keeping you shoulders low allowing the back muscles to do all the work. You release the string, letting your fingertips slide off, watching the arrow fly and hit the halfling’s attacker right in the chest. It’s a true hit.

When Orym sees another hit incoming he lifts his shield to take cover but the hit never comes. Instead the attacker is gone and there he sees you, bow lifted, still in the aftermath of releasing the arrow you fired. You give him a little wink as you draw another arrow. Your place given away, one of the last thugs runs for you. You before the idiot can even reach you, draw another arrow, repeats the process but this time when your arrow strikes a burst of brambles takes hold over the thug. The thug tries to get out but the poison is strong enough to finish him.

“You might wanna move out of the way.” You turn your attention back to the halting who isn’t going to question your suggestion. The thug that disappeared reappears in the previous spot striking down and hitting nothing but dirt. You nock another arrow and fire. Killing shot. You’re on a roll. With the tides sufficiently turned and the thugs strongly outmatched you finish off the last of them. You certainly knew how to catch their attention.

You’re going around, collecting your arrows, or whatever still usable, letting the group do their thing. Finally getting a good look at you Orym hesitates to interrupt you. Perhaps it’s because you’re intimidating, your looks certainly fit the badass angel of death aesthetic. You’re dropped gorgeous. Or maybe he’s hesitant to approach for another reason. You saved his ass a few times during that fight and you’re highly skilled with a bow. He’s heard stories about archers like you and you’re like a myth standing right in front of him. Everything about you calls for his attention.

You notice the halfling keeping an eye on you. What were you told his name was again? Orym. He’s definitely cuter than you were told. Maybe you’ll stick around for a little while? Arrows gathered, unusable ones disposed of as a nice message left behind for the Nameless Ones that dare tread behind and make a move. The group has gathered most of their bearings but you need to move on soon. Others might follow.

“You all good? Because we need to move as soon as possible.” You come over to the group and you can feel Orym staring, his eyes following as you go. You’re unsure if it’s because you’re the stranger out here, the stunts you just pulled off, you being completely unimpressed by absolutely laying waste to these thugs or something else.

“Thank you. For your help and saving us, saving me. I don’t think we would still be standing weren’t it for you.” Orym tells you, gratitude and admiration written over his face. He’s surprised he doesn’t stumble over his words. You’ve caught him off guard in such a way he’s unsure how to handle it.

Helping them pack up and het back on the road you find yourself sharing the reigns of the ‘glitter shitter’ with Orym. You keep an eye out on the road jumping off every so often to do a perimeter sweep just to make sure you’re not being followed. You have a few conversations, mainly just trivial stuff between the two of you but the man hasn’t made a move yet to go into anything beyond surface levels of personal. After a good hour of silence, conversation seemingly having come to an end, nothing left to talk about just yet, Orym surprises you by breaking that silence.

“I just need to get this off my chest. When you came in, dropping those thugs dead like flies, you took my breath away and I don’t know how to say this the right way but you’re as gorgeous as you are deadly.” Flustered Orym keeps his eyes on the road not daring to look at you for a response. What if he said the wrong thing? He didn’t want to make things awkward between you and him and the group but he’s also at the point where he couldn’t not address this in fear it might get in the way in the future. Better to speak and be let down than say nothing and act solely on attraction later.

You face him with a grin. While somewhat socially awkward, but a good fighter, you appreciate his courage. The dusting of scarlet spreading across his cheeks really warms your heart. You’ve said it before; cute.

“Well, don’t hold back on these compliments on my account. Flattery will get you everywhere.” You offer him another wink. This might just be the start of something fun. Maybe in time Orym will be able to flirt without getting flustered and that day might come sooner rather than later. He, just like you, is full of surprises. Maybe he’ll even get you to blush if he’s feeling particularly courageous.

[fatiguing-thoughts]

“Natural” - Chapter Three - Embry Call x Reader

Honesty 

I let Embry drive to the secret spot. I felt it was easier than listening to him attempting to navigate. Also because “you can’t drive with your eyes closed” and I had to have my eyes closed or it’s not a surprise anymore. 

Oh how he is still the giant goof I fell in love with as a child, a preteen, and a teen. Embry Call was the love of my life for as long as I can remember. 

Embry started to blast our shared playlist on my radio. The car ride quickly turned into us belting out our favorite songs together. A dream come true if you ask me, I just wish I could see his beautiful face singing. 

“Can I open my eyes yet?” I asked, turning the music down.

“In a few minutes, we’re almost there, bean.” He rubs a small circle onto the back of my hand with his thumb. 

I felt the heat rush to my cheeks, and I tried to stop the giggle from leaving my mouth-- I felt myself smiling anyway. 

A few minutes pass, and I finally feel the car park. 

“You can open your eyes now.” 

I open my eyes and am met with an unfamiliar treeline. We aren’t parked in a designated parking lot; there aren’t even any signs. 

“Do you know where we are?” I ask him, surprised at how isolated this place seems. 

“Of course. I’ve been here a lot.” 

“Is this where you kill me?” I laugh. 

“Oh yeah, you caught me, bean.” He rolls his eyes. 

“Wait, Em. Quil and Jake said there’s been a lot of bear attacks. Is it safe in here?” I ask in a worried tone. 

“Bean, I would never let anything happen to you. A bear is not on my list of concerns.” He puts his hand on my lower back, continuing to walk us into the woods. 

“Okay, Em. I know you got huge and weirdly strong and everything, but, and no offense, I don’t think you could take a bear down single handedly.” I look at him with raised eyebrows.  

“Oh you’ve gotta stop doubting me. It’s safe here, though. I’ve never seen any bears here.” He smirks, leaning closer into me. 

“Okayyyyy there tough guy.” I chuckle, following his lead. 

We press forward, walking to the mysterious place. 

“It’s about a fifteen minute walk from here, not too bad.” He shrugs. 

“Sounds fair.” 

After about another ten minutes and then some, Embry tells me I have to close my eyes so the surprise isn’t ruined. 

“Em, I can’t hike with my eyes closed.” I laugh. 

“Get on my back.” He offers. 

“No, you absolutely cannot carry me the rest of the way. You’ll die.” Eyes widening out of my skull. 

“No, don’t be ridiculous. Either get on my back or I’m picking you up, bean.” He grins. 

“Em, I just-” 

My words were cut off from the quick swooping motion of Embry picking me up. He picked me up so effortlessly, leaving me surprised. 

“Okay, now close your eyes. We’re getting really close.” 

“Em, how did you do that?” I ask, eyes now closed. 

“It’s quite simple, really. I used my arms and I-” 

“Oh hush, you know that’s not what I meant.” 

His laughter was music to my ears. Hell, his voice was heavenly enough to put me into a slumber. I feel so weird, thinking so intensely about him. He’d probably think I’m absolutely nuts. Though, he seemed to watch every movement I’ve made since we met up, and hangs onto every word I say. 

I rested my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. It soothed me, it almost put me to sleep. 

“You can open your eyes again.” He says as he gently puts me down on the ground. 

“Holy shit, Em.” I take in the surroundings around me. 

“You like it?” He asks, like an excited child. 

“Like it? I love it.” I tell him. 

I walk deeper into the clearing. It was surrounded by pine trees and a small river running through the end of it. 

“I thought you would. You always loved this kinda stuff when we were younger.” 

I turn around smiling at him, thrilled to see how much he valued me back then. 

“I did, I still do. I haven’t changed too much. I’m still (Y/N). And you’re still Embry.” I smile at him.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He awkwardly pulls his lips tight, pursing them together. 

 “Em, you’re the same Embry I’ve known my whole life.” I walk over, grabbing his hands and looking up into those deep chocolate eyes. 

“(Y/N), you really feel that way? You think I’m the same?” He asks with unsure eyes peering into mine. 

“Of course. Just a lot taller, warmer, and bulkier. Other than that, you’re the same soul I’ve known.” 

“Oh, bean. I missed you so much. Can I tell you something?” 

“Of course, anything.”

“Remember when we kissed before you left?” 

“I could never forget it.” 

“There isn’t a day where I don’t regret not doing that sooner. Doing it more. I wish that you didn’t go. I wish we weren’t apart for so long. I just wish I told you that I loved you before you left. Or even after, I wish I told you before today.” 

My breath hitched, and I couldn’t feel anything in my body anymore. I was in shock. My whole life I was in love with Embry, and now he’s telling me it was mutual? I always felt it wasn’t one sided, but I never thought I could be so lucky. 

“Em, I wish I knew. I’ve been in love with you since day one. I think about that kiss all the time. I’m so happy you felt the same way, I just wish either of us had the balls to say something. Especially when I was gone. Being so far from you for so long, it hurt. Being back with you, it feels so natural-- it feels so right. Seeing you again, I expected it to feel something… but what I felt when I saw you. I don’t understand what happened Em. It’s like everything around us stopped.” I try my best to explain my feelings. 

“I know, bean. I know. I have a lot of explaining to do today. That happened to me, too; a little more on my end. You being here is the best gift I could’ve asked for. I love you, (Y/N).” 

“I love you Embry.” 

“Can I kiss you?” His lip quivered slightly. 

“Please.” I looked up at him with pleading eyes. 

He bent down, one hand grabbing my waist, and his other holding the back of my neck. I wrapped my arms around his neck, feeling the warmth radiate off of him. 

The kiss was hungry, his soft warm lips intoxicated every fiber of my being. Chills ran up my spine, leaving me weak in the knees. This kiss felt like a thousand suns exploding, I never wanted this kiss to end. 

Embry pulled away a minute or so after the kiss started. Leaning his forehead on mine. 

“Wow.” I breathed out. “I know.” 

“I wanna do that more often, Em.” 

“We can, soon. I don’t want to rush either of us into anything, (Y/N).” 

“I understand. Thank you, Em.” I hug his waist tightly. 

“Of course, bean. I just want you to know everything before you decide anything.” 

“Embry, you have to tell me what’s going on. Did you kill someone?” 

“No, (Y/N). I never killed a person.” 

“Okay, so we’ll watch the sunset on the beach, and you can tell me all about it.” 

“Alright, let’s go back to the car and head over to La Push.” 

I nod and he grabs my hand, leading us back to the car. 

“How do you know your way around here so well?” I ask. 

“I’ve been here a lot.” He looks down at me, flashing me the signature Embry Call grin. 

Jesus, that face makes me weak in the knees, every time. Video chatting with him did it no justice. 

Our walk to the car was one of silence. It was a lot of longing stares at the other, listening to the sounds of nature. Enjoying the peace that Embry has never failed to bring me. 

We get to the car and I drive us to La Push, enjoying another car ride with the company of Embry. 

Getting out of the car, I grab the blanket I kept in my trunk and head down to the beach. 

Embry rolls out the blanket for us to sit on. I plop down and he follows, sitting close to me. 

“So, I just want you to know that I would never lie to you. Everything I’m about to tell you is the truth, and I can prove it. Okay?” He looks at me, dead serious eyes. 

“Alright, Em. You’re making me a little nervous.” I chuckle. 

“No, no. I would never hurt you. Just understand that before I tell you the rest.” 

I nod, worry starting to kick in.

 Hurt me? Why would I think he would hurt me?

“Okay, do you remember those stories that Old Quil and Billy used to tell us? Like when we were kids?” He asks me. 

“Yeah. I loved those stories. I thought they were great.” I smiled.

“I know, I remember you loved them. But, (Y/N), they’re true. The shifters are real. It’s all real. The cold ones, too. All of it.” 

“Em..”

“No, please. I can prove it. I just want you to be prepared.” He looks at me with pleading eyes. 

“Embry, on this hypothetical that it’s all real-- what are you trying to tell me?” I ask. 

“I’m a shifter. Jake, Quil, Paul, all of us. Seth, Leah, Jared, and Sam. We all can shift. We protect the land, the people from the cold ones. I promise I can show you.” 

“Okay. Show me, Em.” I look him dead in the eyes. 

“Well, I have to show you in the woods. These are tribal secrets, nobody is allowed to know. Only those in the pack, and their imprints, of course.” 

“Imprints? I don’t remember that part of the story.” I admit honestly. 

“Yeah Billy never talked about that much, he probably didn’t think we wanted to hear about it as kids.” He laughs a little. 

He stands up, reaching his hand out for me to take. I look up at his face, grab his hand and follow him into the woods. 

We walk a few minutes into the woods, out of sight from the beach. 

“Okay, just stand back for a minute, and just remember-- I promise I won’t hurt you.” 

“I trust you, Em.” I smile at him. 

Though I didn’t necessarily believe him, a part of me felt this was true. I never knew Embry to be crazy, and after all these stories came from somewhere. I just… I never expected it to be anything more than a legend. 

He smiles at me, nodding. He strips down to just his boxers, causing me to put my hand out, covering the lower half of his body from my sight. 

And that’s when his body began steaming. His body shook intensely. 

Before I knew it-- there was an enormous grey wolf in front of me. Standing on all fours, it was over six feet tall. This was a massive wolf. I looked down at his paws, easily bigger than my head. His head, bigger than anything I could’ve ever imagined. 

“Em?” 

The wolf nods, letting out a small whine. Walking over to me with his head low, showing me that there’s nothing to be afraid of. 

“Wow. You’re beautiful.”

I reach out my hand, running my fingers through the soft fur on his head. Scratching behind the ears. 

“So this was the secret? You’re the big bad wolf?” I ask, chuckling at my own stupid jokes. 

Embry took his head, nudging me on the shoulder as a way to tell me to shut up. 

“So, everyone I grew up with gets to turn into a giant wolf superhero, and all I get to do is lick my elbow? Something doesn’t seem fair here.” I laugh. 

Embry’s massive head lays itself on my shoulder, weighing it down enough to almost start hurting my neck.

“So this is what you were nervous about? That I would think of you differently? You’ve become one of my favorite stories growing up as a kid. You aren’t a monster, Em. I think you’re amazing.” I smile at him. 

He takes a step back, looking my in the eyes once more before grabbing his clothes off the forest floor. He runs behind some brush, I heard some bones cracking before I heard Embry shuffling in the bushes. A moment later he returns in front of me. 

“Thank you, (Y/N). I was just afraid of how you’d take this. I didn’t want you to be afraid of me, or want nothing to do with me. I know it’s a lot to take in.” 

“It is. I honestly still feel a little whacked out, but I meant what I said, Em. You are such a light in my life, and you always have been. Em, you scared me before. I didn’t know what to expect but… this is workable. My best friends are shifters, they’re incredible. This is magical, Em.” I smile at him.

He walks over and hugs me tight. 

“Thank you for accepting me, bean.” He whispers into the top of my hair. 

“Of course, Embry. But why are you so worried about the way I would react?” I ask. 

“Well, I’ve been hiding it from my mom for over a year, I just want her to stay out of the drama it brings. I was afraid of hiding it from you, too. But I also didn’t want to lie, I wanted us to stay comfortable. But, it’s a dangerous world. I wanted you to stay being my little bean.” He smiles softly at me. 

“I’ll always be your little bean, Em. I want you to be honest with me, always. No judgment here.” I smile. 

We walk back to the beach as the darkness falls. 

“So, imprinting?” I ask. 

“Ah yes, imprinting. It’s kinda like a soulmate-- whether that be platonic or romantic. It happens after you phase, if you’re lucky. When you first meet eyes with them, everything stops. It’s like all of a sudden, whoever you imprint on becomes your world. It’s not gravity holding you down to the Earth anymore, it’s them. You’d do anything, be anything for them. A brother, protector, a lover… but it’s all up to you. You get to choose this, (Y/N).” 

“Oh wow. So I’m… I’m your imprint?” I ask. 

“Yes, you are my imprint. You get to control it all from here.” He looks at me with a hopeful look in his eyes. 

“Well, Em. I’ve loved you my whole life. This is what I wanted, and if it’s what you’ve always wanted… then why fight it? I agree that we should take it slow but, I want you.” I breathlessly answer him. 

“(Y/N), you don’t know how happy this makes me.” 

I lean up, kissing him on his lips again. This was a feeling I would never get used to.

“Thank you.” He says, almost short of breath. 

“No, thank you, Em.” I lay my head on his warm chest once more. 

We sat back down on the log once more, his arms wrapped around me, keeping me warm. 

“So, can I ask you some questions?” I ask. 

“Of course.” 

“So, how hot are you? Like temperature wise.” 

“Jake said 108.9. So I’ll trust his word on that.” 

“Holy shit. You really are my dream space heater.” I giggle. 

“I love keeping you warm, so it works for me.” He kisses the tip of my nose. 

“Next one, so the cold ones. Those are vampires. That means that they’re real? And they’re here?” 

His face drops, realizing the heavier question. 

“Yeah. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, ever. Ever since the Cullens moved back, we started phasing. Bella’s dating Edward Cullen, yes. But they only feed off of animals, so they call themselves vegetarians, if you will. Anyway, since they’ve come back we’ve had issues with some nomad vampires. One especially keeps coming back for Bella. She’s been running on our land a lot, she’s just hard to catch. We’ve been trying to catch her, too.” 

“So you say catch her, but you’ll be killing her, right?” 

“Yes, (Y/N). She’s dangerous, she’s a rogue vampire on the hunt for revenge and blood. It’s what we were made to do.” 

“No, I know. I just wanted to make sure. Just saying, you said you’ve never killed a person, low and behold you have killed vampires, though.” I tease. 

“Oh, technicalities. They’re already dead. It’s to save everyone.” He nudges my shoulder. 

“I know, Em. But the Cullens, they’re good?” I ask. 

“Kinda. I still don’t trust them all that much but we are civil. We have a treaty.” 

“I see. So who knows?” I ask.

“The pack, the Cullens, Bella, Billy and Harry, and the imprints. Though there’s only three of you guys right now. You, Emily, and Kim.” 

“Ah I see.” 

“I’ll introduce you formally to the rest of the pack tomorrow at our bonfire. You get to come to those.” He smiles at me. Pulling me closer into his chest. 

“Quil’s coming, be prepared.” He tells me. 

“What? How do you know?” I look around for Quil nearby to no avail.

“I hear him and Jared.” Embry tells me.

“From where?” I ask. 

“I don’t know, they’ll probably get here in a few minutes.” 

I look at him in disbelief, wondering how correct he was. 

In the meantime, he explained to me the other perks of being in the pack. The mind connection, the healing abilities, speed, and strength. It was all so amazing, I couldn’t believe it was real. Apparently the “bears” were vampires-- I knew there were no bear attacks.

“Hey what’s up dorks?” Quil interrupts a few moments after Embry told me. 

“No fuckin way.” I look at Embry in disbelief. 

“At least a mile away.” He boasts. 

“So she knows now?” Quil looks between us. 

“Yeah, I know it all now, dork.” I mock. 

“Ooh Embry, you finally joined the imprint club. I’m Jared, I have the best eyesight and I’m the most handsome. I know we’ve met before, but I’m a new man now.” Man this guy was goofy as all hell. 

“Wow, incredible. What an honor to meet you again.” I mocked his tone. 

“You know it, girl.” He winks. 

“Does Jake know you know yet?” Quil asked. 

“Not yet, I assume he’ll find out soon. I’m coming to the bonfire tomorrow.” I smirk. 

“Oh god, we’ll never be able to get rid of you.” Quil says, sitting on my other side and messing my hair up. 

“Rude.” I remark. 

“I haven’t heard a peep out of him since he left with Bella today.” Embry informs us. 

“Oh wait, so she knows because he imprinted on her?” I ask.

“No, you’d think so-- but no. He’s just in love with her, which ropes us all into the drama with her and her leech.” Jared says. 

“Oh, I see.” 

“Yeah, Jake’s pretty sensitive about it. Maybe don’t bring that up to him, bean.” 

“Noted.” 

We sat around, joking for hours. I began to yawn and leaned my head onto Emrby’s shoulder. 

“You tired, bean?” He whispers into my ear. 

“A bit. What time is it?” I cuddle deeper into his shoulder. 

“A little after midnight.” 

“I should probably go home soon, I’ll be too tired to drive if I wait longer.” 

“News flash: you’re already there, bud.” Quil laughs. 

I whine into Embry’s shoulder, sticking my tongue out at Quil. 

I felt Embry’s strong arms lifting me up, carrying me to my car. 

“I’m gonna take you home, okay? Where are your keys?” He asks softly. 

“Inside pocket of my bag.” I mumble. 

I felt him go into the bag, hearing my keys jingle. My car unlocks and I feel Embry put me into the passenger seat, buckling my seatbelt. 

“Thank you, Em.” I mumble. 

“Of course, bean.” 

I don’t remember any of the drive home, as I was asleep for the entirety of it. 

I wake up to Embry’s strong hands lifting me out of the car and walking to my front door, unlocking it with my key. 

“Where’s your room?” He asks. 

“Upstairs, the second door on the right.” I manage to get out. 

We go up the stairs, and he pushes my door open. Embry lays me down on my bed, and tucks me in before plopping my keys and bag on my desk. 

“Goodnight, bean.” He kisses my forehead before walking to my door.

“Em, wait. Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?” I ask. 

“I can do that.” He smiles before slowly walking over to my bed, trying to be quiet in an effort to not wake my dad. 

“Thank you.” I lay my head on his shoulder once he gets into my bed, wrapping my arm around his waist. 

He begins to stroke my hair, and hold me in his arms. 

I could swear that if  there was a heaven, this was it. 

I felt my eyes drooping, unable to stay awake much longer. 

“I love you.” I mumble.

“I love you too, bean.” He kisses my forehead. 

And that’s the last thing I remember before drifting into my peaceful slumber.

__________________________

Word Count: 3635

 I  II  III  IV  V  VI  VII  VIII  VIIII  X  XIR XIE  XII  XIII  XIV  XV XVI  XVII  XVIII  XIIII

[falcor-thee-luck-dragon]

Rough Night

Bucky Barnes x (f)werewolf reader

Summary: Your life is already so weird, thankfully Bucky loves you through it all.

Warning: fluff, reader being a sass master w/ no filter

side note: couldn’t think of any cool avenger powers and then brain went werewolf so here we are

Masterlist

If you had a dollar for every time you’d ended up in the woods with ripped clothes and no shoes, well, let’s just say you could probably afford a real nice two bedroom apartment in some real pleasantly fancy building with a great view and all. Too bad green doesn’t just rain down from the sky every time the full moon comes round to knock you back into another world of blurry confusion.

You won’t lie to yourself, being what you are is strange and not very common in the slightest, obviously. It’s even weirder that you weren’t bitten one night and turned just like that, oh no, all passed down through the bloodline of other strange relatives. So you’re gifted with the curse, forced to inevitably change into a furry beast every single full moon, so what you’re still a mostly pleasant individual.

Well luckily for you, being born with the gift does happen to have its perks which do come in handy. For instance, you’re incredibly strong, quick on your feet, and have heightened senses, plus the ability to shift on command. It’s not all bad, well......most of the time.

Honestly you truly thought life couldn’t get much stranger for you and your whole hidden secretive situation, until low and behold some random red head found your little hideaway in a remote mountain side village far off in the Himalayas.

Everything was completely fine and under control and then BAM, she showed up with some important documents and something called an Avengers initiative and well shit, guess some time spent with the real world couldn’t hurt. I mean come on, some more friends seemed like a nice idea and uh, somehow they knew who you were so too late to run and hide.

Also at the time, considering you lived like a recluse on the edge of the village and of course for good reason, but damn if the red head didn’t just hand you an open invitation for some real adventure. Who were you to say no?

Fortunately for you, all seemed to go in your favor and fantastically enough, they had a nice big strong cell for you on nights when the wolf was inevitably bound to come out. A fridge full of plentiful snacks, a training room to lay off some steam, and a big safe and secure room all your own. It was perfect. Only problem was, there happened to be a very attractive and very wary of you super soldier who undoubtedly caught your attention.

How could you not, he smelled divine, muscles for days, thick thighs that could make a girl swoon, and he just seemed like the best goddamn hugger alive. Okay listen, maybe you were touch starved and deprived of human affection but dammit if your little monster heart didn’t skip a beat every time he was near you.

And yes, the few months it took to get him to crack was just down right torturous. But with some coaxing from Steve and encouragement from Sam, the winter soldier at long last did talk to you. Turned out he thought you were scared of him all along, how hilariously ironic you thought when he told you that.

But as time progressed and you both opened up more and more, a blossoming relationship sprouted forth, eventually evolving and manifesting into a big beautiful flower called love. Cheesy yes, but you couldn’t have dreamed of anything better.

And seriously, he wasn’t freaked out about your whole hidden hush hush secretive gift that usually either goes in your favor or ends up causing you major legal trouble. The man himself, Bucky Barnes, thought you were a marvel to behold, so odd and fantastic that he couldn’t stay away even if he tried.

And for that you could love him forever, especially now after a full moon while you’re out in the middle of nowhere. Hoping that the team will send your hundred year old boyfriend out to find you in the brisk dark morning after a grand unrememberable adventure. Which would be very nice of course, considering you have not a damn clue what you’ve done.....or where you are.

Cracking your back, you stretch your hands up to the dawning sky as a tired yawn escapes you. It’s been a long night and you look like a wild woman with your hear a fluffy nest and your clothes ripped in various unrevealing places thankfully.

Your surroundings are simply trees and small scraggly bushes, green grass underneath your bare feet and a small stream flowing in the near distance. With a second to listen, you can hear a highway a couple miles away to the east, guess that’s a start.

Rubbing your eyes you set out in that direction for about twenty minutes before a blue and gold Mercedes comes into view from the side of a country back road, it stops when you guess the driver spotted you from the tree line. Keeping a wary eye on the fancy sports car, you keep walking towards it until a figure gets out and leans against the passengers side door all cool and casual, then on further inspection you realize the driver is Bucky.

Yes! My knight in shining armor is here!

Trudging through the grassy field in the dewy morning light, he watches your every move, eyes crinkling in amusement as you come to stand a couple feet in front of him. Undoubtedly looking a bit wild, and very tired as you fold your arms underneath each other, giving your dark haired lover a shy almost fangy smile.

“I know I look like a hot mess.” You mutter with a shrug, biting your lip as you dart your eyes to the fields behind him, slightly embarrassed of the current disheveled state you’re in.

Bucky smirks before pushing himself off the car and engulfing you into a big Bucky bear hug to your pleasant surprise, “Y/N I’m just glad you’re okay and nothing bad happened to you.” He mumbles into your shoulder as you press yourself closer to him, letting yourself have this wonderful moment to relax and feel at ease.

Slowly pulling back to look up at him, you smile, “Aww Buck you were worried about me?”

He returns the grin, leaning down to press his head flush against yours, “We all were, me more then anyone else of course...and maybe for the general civilians nearby.”

You laugh nervously, “Oh right, yeah. Well hey, I didn’t destroy anyone's car this time. I think I’ve made progress.”

He pauses for a brief moment indicating he’s not sure if he should tell you something and this does make you nervous before Bucky finally lets out a little laugh, “You ate a whole cow Y/N.”

Snorting in surprise you quickly pull your head from Bucky’s, “What? Did I? Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Yeah, uh I wish.” He admits with a casual reassuring squeeze to your arm, “We tracked you with Sam’s suit tech, yunno Red Wing, and uh....you seemed to be having fun.”

Mentally and just about physically cringing at yourself, you purse your lips together in slight embarrassment, “Shit. Was it gross?” You ask, making a face that causes him to chuckle.

“A little.” Adds Bucky with another casual shrug to make you feel less terrible.

“Is the farmer going to see everything, I mean shit they’re gonna be so pissed.” You worry, biting your lip anxiously as you break eye contact from him. “Why am I like this.”

“Uh, that’s not going to be a problem.” Inquires Bucky causing you to find his blue eyes once again.

Eying him up suspiciously you raise a brow, “And why’s that.....Bucky what did I do?”

Taking a breath he gives you a small apprehensive smile, “Y/N...you uh, kind of ate......everything.”

“I what?” I did not! No way, right?

Giving you a quick kiss on the cheek he smiles affectionately, “I’m going to be honest with you here it looked like a kid with a piece of cake who has no impulse control, and loves cake....like a lot.....Rodney almost puked.”

Rolling your eyes you fake glare at him, “Oh god who all watched my little horror show?”

“Mostly everyone.”

“Jesus.”

“It’s like a car crash Y/N, we don’t want to watch but we can’t look away. Sorry doll.” He confesses apprehensively, though honest and sincere knowing you do feel bad for what you do when out of it.

“No.” You say honestly, pausing for a moment, “It’s fine. Seriously Buck, I’m just relieved you guys keep taps on me while I’m out, god knows I can’t help what I do and where I go. It’s nice to have people making sure I don’t injure any innocent bystander.”

“Yeah I guess so huh...alright Y/N/N,” Chirps Bucky with a beaming grin as he attempts to shift the mood to a less dull one, “let’s get out of here, I mean unless you want to sniff around the place for awhile...it is a nice forest over there and all but I guess we can stay and I’ll let you...”

“Alright Barnes, can-it or maybe I’ll bite you.” You tease with a playful squeeze of his bicep before breaking out of his strong grasp.

“Depends on the context maybe I’d enjoy it.” Adds Bucky sarcastically, side eying you with a half smile as you move to open the car door.

Shaking your head in playful disapproval you lightly shove him aside, “Believe me you wouldn’t.”

——

The ride back to the Avengers base or headquarters or facility, who the hell knows at this point, was actually quite smooth and peaceful. Then again you fell asleep as soon as Bucky made it onto the highway, and continued to catch a much needed nap for the next hour ride home.

No one ever said you were easy alright, but let’s be real, Bucky would let you put him through anything and he’d be happy about it.

After parking and walking down the sidewalk past some early morning trainees catching a run, the two of you made it into the Avengers official HQ where all your rooms and other luxury’s are located. But of course not before walking past the facilities giant living space and huge kitchen.

Just keep looking forward, keep walking, walk faster you idiot!

“Y/N!” Shouts Sam in that stupidly peppy obnoxious early morning voice of his, no doubt gaining the attentions of Steve and Natasha who are seated at the kitchens bar talking about some mission report.

Pausing in the large doorway that’s not giving you or Bucky a whole lot of hiding space, you take a deep breath before turning to acknowledge him, “You’d think people would be sleeping considering it’s only six in the morning.”

Chuckling, Sam raises his protein shake, “Weird,” He says while giving you a knowing smirk, “we missed you during training this morning.”

Nat and Steve conceal their amusement as you simply roll your eyes, “Yeah well it was a long night.” You mutter unenthusiastically, earning the tiniest laugh from Bucky which causes you to throw him a glare. Knocking that smile right off of his handsome stubbly face.

“Well we got all these shakes here if you two love birds want one. Hate to have em go to waste.” Adds the smiling man with a nod, if he doesn’t just love seeing you looking like shit. No Sam I do not accept this invitation for you to tell me how crazy I look.

Sam means well of course, but damn he loves teasing you in front of Bucky for a fun reaction out of him. And it’s kind of working, but not on Bucky.

“It’s fine Y/N, you don’t have to have one if you don’t want to.” Calls Natasha before taking a sip from her mug. “Just ignore Sam, he’s been annoying since the gym.”

Before Sam’s even able to speak you quickly narrow your eyes at him, holding up a finger before making hasty steps across the room. Stopping right in front of him, “Give it.” You deadpan.

Brows raised in surprise he glances from a confused Bucky, then back to you again, “Listen I only made so much, Y/N this is my breakfast okay you can’t just...”

Ignoring his rushed rambling you pull out the whole glass blender full of protein shake before taking a step back as the whole room goes quiet, then never breaking eye contact you heartily drink up the whole entirety of its cold contents without missing a beat. Yeah, definitely needed that.

After you’re finished you lick your lips in satisfaction, taking a step closer towards a speechless Sam as you set the blender back in its place. Giving him a satisfied smirk before walking back over to Bucky where you tug on his jacket to follow you down the hall and away from everyone else.

Sometimes you can’t help but be a little dramatic.

——

Laying sprawled out on yours and Bucky’s giant mattress, you stare up at the ceiling as he folds your clean and freshly scented laundry, your mind swirling with thoughts of what duties you have to be apart of today. Blah, work.

Sighing gently you glance at Bucky to see if he heard you, not getting anything from him you sigh again with more grandeur this time. Nothing. Rolling your eyes you suck in a deep breath before practically soft yelling out your exhale like the dramatic little beast you are.

Glancing over to Bucky, you watch as he turns around to put some of your pants away in a drawer. Okay then, that’s how it’s gonna be. Quickly sitting up, you smirk a devilish grin before silently reaching over to pick up a small pillow, once in hand you don’t think twice before launching it at full speed directly headed for the back of his head.

But before your decently soft projectile can smack his precious flowing locks does a metal arm swiftly reach up to catch it mid flight. Oh, shit. Bucky’s head turns to you, brow raised at you before tucking the pillow underneath his arm, and going back to his usual domestic duties for the day.

Okay, killer of fun Mr. James Buchanan Barnes.

Frustrated from lack of a reaction out of him, you stand up on the bed like a warrior about to give a great battle cry. Eyeing his cute butt up for a moment, you smirk once again before launching a sneak attack pillow right for his head. It sails magnificently across the room before a metal hand stops it in its place. 

Well, shit.

This time he gives you a proper look, full of mischief and a new profound playfulness that sends an excited thrill throughout your entire being. As fast as one of Thor’s lightening bolts does the pillow soar in your direction, but conveniently for you he’s forgotten just how quick you can really be. This is just what you wanted.

Dodging to the left you watch in almost slow motion as the fluffy cloth just misses your face, instead opting to smack against the back wall with a loud thud. Snapping your attention back to Bucky he narrows his blue eyes at you suspiciously while you let out an admittedly scary villainous chuckle.

Let’s party my love.

He hands you a smirk right before shifting his body to the right, arm cocked back and thrust forward just as quickly, launching his second pillow attack without an ounce of mercy. You see it coming a mile away and as graceful as a dancer do you flip off the bed, landing perfectly on the carpeted floor just as the pillow smacks hard against the door. Thwack!

Slowly standing, eyeing him up like a lioness to her prey, you give him a satisfied smile, “Missed.” You tease.

Letting out a breathy laugh, Bucky takes a cautious step in your direction as he tests the waters, “Y/N what are you doing?”

“Getting your attention you ass.”

Chuckling he takes another step forward, “Was I ignoring you?” Duh, that’s why I, oh wait he’s playing you.

“Well you certainly weren’t doing anything interesting.” You sass as he steps again closer, this time about an arms length away.

The corners of his eyes crinkle in amusement, “Okay that’s fair, but was the pillow really necessary?” He asks, though his tone is still humorous.

Not falling for his alluring charm you tilt your head to the side, a knowing smile breaking out across your face as he tries to register what your true intentions are. “Yes, and so is this.” You quip before dropping to the floor for a side sweep of his legs, in an instant he’s on the ground and looking wide eyed up at you.

God he looks beautiful. No, focus.

“Y/N!” He whines breathlessly, brows furrowed as he holds himself up by his elbows, “Now you’re gonna get it!”

Taking a quick step back you snort, “Oh really now?”

And he’s fallen for the plan.

“Yes, and when I get you, you won’t be laughing anymore.” He grumbles, trying to keep himself from laughing as well.

“Alright then hot stuff try and bring me down.” You snap back playfully as he rises to his feet, “First one pinned has to run with Sam later, and we both know how much fun he is to run with.”

Bringing his arms up into a defensive position he readies himself for an attack, “Yeah, I’d rather not be his jogging buddy today. I mean it is raining outside, but I know you’d look real nice after a wet run.” Teases Bucky with a smirk.

“Touché you smartass.” His lips twitch into a grin as you ready your own stance. “Now let’s dance.”

[bilgisticallykosher]

Not going to tag every side, even if they were technically all mentioned but. I'm. Very screaming still.

Pre-episode. Squealing, so much squealing. Remus. I'm just. Remus, but intense. Remus 💚 Anyway, I see Thomas looking horrified- OH ARE WE GETTING TO THE DREAM THING? Are we dealing with The Thing from DWIT??? Aaaaa. Also, Logan? I thought it was supposed to be Virgil. Hm.

Okay, let's- hnnnnnng content warning I happy flapped. Frick I keep squealing, the green smoke and the bear trap in the A of asides. Omg omg omg.  FORBIDDEN FRUIT! Is it two am or pm? Gasp! NICO! No Nico, don't jk the date, please. I'm begging you, I can't. (Edit: legendsgates told the server that it was Thomas who texted Nico, not vice versa.) Oh no, he slept through the text notif? Oh no. Logan! Oh, it's two pm. I mean, I figured because of sunlight, but. FFFF 69TH! *snicker* Thomas smirked, too.  

Ooh, daily schedule. Degree a couple degrees! Five am Thomas is a bastard. Logan is… very whelmed by all the Thomases. Oh boy, this schedule is… not going well. Snort. Don't mention it. You don't have the time. Did he schedule time for scheduling? That's a lot of alarms. 

ARM!!!! Oh is that a bear trap? Oh. Yup. Whoops, that's- oh. Nope. He's fine. Old?? Aging? NICO IN REAL LIFE OMFG AAAAH! HE HAS A FACE!!! Oh. Aging. Hm. Okay, so he bear trap was less physical, more like Remus is trapping Thomas's thoughts. Neat! Also I have to take a break right, now I cannot handle the dramatic music and his face omfg. Aaaaaaaah. Okay I'm good maybe. Oh! That's the face from the thumbnail, nice. Green light in his hair looks nice. 

Aw, Logan is concerned about him. He's a good boy. And yikes that's a lot of um. Filth. Is that a nail? "Muck" is- Remus, points for effort, but no, dear. I mean, only if you say it outloud, backwards. K-Cum. Okay, you know what? I'll allow it. 

Remus. Rearranging his sentence is less intimidating than you think. I think he's putting back(?) Caressing? A book of Broadway… something. "You couldn't turn anything on, if you tried." WOW, WAY TO BE WRONG, LOGAN. I mean. You know. Uh. I'm just holding this attraction for a friend, it's not mine-

Thomas looks resigned. Hmm. Shiny green notebook, nice. Does that say "call updog?" Mmm. Yep. Yep it did. Lot of Updog on there, on the other hand, Remus's handwriting is gorgeous, wow. Dinner with Updog (can't cancel that again) I may have injured myself laughing at some point. 

This. This is that point. Oh my gosh. Who. So freaking close. The freaking tension! Did they censor damn? Yeah, sounds it. FFFFF LOGAN. Janus and Logan wine moms confirmed. Oh my gosh. He just freaking rips the cork out with his teeth. Chug. There's, like so much tension in this episode. Predicting that the screw is him "screwing" with his mind? Yep, nothing. Hmm. What if I choke. Is that Remus's influence? Or Virgil's? "I'd be screwed" Ha! Oh, wow, Logan! Look how much you're putting Thomas's mental health first! Wonder what was on Remus's second list…

Okay what's going on with the roomba. Ayyyy, Intrusive Thoughts! He's so good in this, Logan. WHAT KIND OF RUBE GOLDBERG GARBAGE- oh, garbage disposal, wow this was well set-up oh my gosh, the drawing attention to the garbage disposal, the book he placed there. Never stack your knives on top of anything, guys! 

The little 'yes!' Oh. Oh. Um. Okay. Wow. "I don't care about the knife, but the soap!" You guys, no, this can't be canon help. Oh he's cleaning! Ohhhhh, eyepatch. Love it. This feels very reminiscent of Dealing With Anxiety way back when. But with more Remus! Oh no he got his string caught in his weiner.

Bratwurst, whatever. I bet that was not originally in the script. I.e., accident. Hey, Kingdom Hearts! I know he is. Thomas, Logan, or Virgil? The chords before "He said you're wanting to be more honest"!!!!! 

Cue freakout. Yeah, it's Virgil. Man if Remus keeps setting these things up, he's like a genius, the physics involved, geez. Oh. Well, listen, not all experiments work the first time. Oh nope. There it- nope. Hmm. Pink panther-esque? Um, sir that's glowing. Sir, that's a keyblade. Oh, Nico again. Coffee, he says, after guzzling wine. Puzzle? Cognitive distortions!!! "It was a stab" Virgil!!! Logan's such a good boy, oh my gosh, I can't. Yeah. Sounds pink panther. I beg your pardon??? Whomst? Love the 'ooh~' in there. Haha, just stops at Logan. Oh, he's trying to get to Logan- ffffff, Remus, oh my gosh. Okay, why are there text alerts but no new texts? Remus, did you wear his shirt while getting stabbed? Rude. Ha! Got an ad for Anxiety/stress, that's funny. Aw, ketchup. Logan how can you be so wrong? Ha! Solenium lycopersicum again. "Yes. You. Am." Help I love him so much. Nico napkin? It's not me, right? He's not contacting him? (Edit: It was me. 😔) Okay, so the thoughts are being very tied up into anxiety, with like being alone, but he's also obviously scared to take a step towards relationship? Maybe??? Man, Remus is so good at these things. Okay, also stress about someone being in his house? Just high stress in general, I gu- !!!!!!!!! Oh hi. 

No, Remus, your puppet is being mean- oh, no, that's the, he's just stabby. Mutual stabby? You have no idea how hard I'm looking at his eyeshadow right now.!!!! MUSIC??? Song? Oh, okay, cool. Ahhh, what your momma gave ya. Remus, omfg he's so pouty at lack of stabbing. It's not lost on me that the lighting is purple. WOW, Logan. Willing to see his merit. Squeak squeak flick. He's not pretending he doesn't- yeah. Oh tongue lollipop. What was in his ear??? That he ate???

Manicure on severed hand. Ignoring dummies for dummies. Aw, does Nico have a carrot next to his name? WOAH WHAT!!!! Holy crap, fandom was right-

WAIT ARE HIS EYES ORANGE NO WAIT NO. 

THEY ARE! 

No, I wasn't ready for this theory to be right! Idk if…… rage/anger/wrath is orange through Logan or if that's a Logan thing or if he's turning into orange, gosh, I,,, really hope not. Nico calling! Ohhhhh, Remus likes that. 

Ahhh, Nico. Aww they're cute. Wait, is Logan supposed to be angry at Thomas? Oh. I really liked Procrastination as orange, and. Hmmmmmm. Oh man. We got some. Good, yet heartbreaking Logan there. 

Oh my gosh. I'm like. Almost shaking. Oh my gosh. I like. Don't know what to think. Love that totally real phone convo, though with Hello Fresh. Aaaa, what even do I think?! I'm so concerned! On multiple levels! But aw, Nico. I'm reeling. That angry Logan changed everything. Squints that seems lot a lot of paprika. Nico date! Patton!!! Roman!!! Virgil!!! Aw, Logan. Rome didn't fall in a day. "He's giving him permission," WAIT HE'S ANGRY ABOUT THAT TOO??? Okay, Logan's calming down, being okay. OH NO OH NO OH NO THAT WAS HELLA COOL WITH JANUS BUT THE EYES!!!! Crap, orange is anger. Damnit. Chills.

ALSO I had a belated realization at about Janus being in the tree and freaked out about it all day so expect something on that soon.

[creepypocky]

Hello dear! May I have a romantic and Nsfw creepypasta match-up please? Feel free to ignore this if they are closed but if you do choose to do this then thank you so much! I hope you have a great day/night!

Zodiac sign: Leo sun, Aries moon, Leo rising

Personality Type: ENTP

Pronouns: She/her

Sexuality: Straight (For now might be bi but i'm going with straight)

I'm 5'4 and I have a very tiny body frame so i'm extremely petite and pretty small. I'm not very curvy and I literally have the body of a cereal box...lol but its fine because I have nice hips and thighs. I have thick brown hair that goes down to my back and it gets tangled pretty easily but its kinda fluffy. I have brown eyes and tiny freckles all over my face and body. I also have a very strong grunge style, like Flannels, band t-shirts, combat boots, leather jackets etc. But i'd also always enjoy a nice oversized sweatshirt or hoodie with a pair of skinny, ripped jeans and some converses or something along those lines.

For my personality.....this is where things get interesting. At first people find me very intimidating due to my resting bitch face and cold exterior but I promise i'm not like that ALL the time. When you get to know me, i'm a big extrovert, goofy and about everything that comes out of my mouth is sarcasm or some dry humored joke. I'm also that one friend in a group where they literally will do the stupidest shit ever like for an example one time it was super dark outside and my other friend was there, while I was trying to climb a tree and I failed and fell out of the tree, and landed on my back. I got straight up after that somehow it didn't hurt.....like at all? But yeah i'm super reckless and sometimes people have to save me from myself if you get what I mean. I also have a very strong "I don't give a fuck" attitude and I will not hesitate to stick up for myself or my friends....like i'm the type of person where if someone glares at me, i'll glare right back. I can have bad anxiety and I can be very self destructive. This is where my feisty, stubborn, hardheaded side comes in. If I want something then i'll fight for it even if it hurts me and i'll get into a bad cycle of putting myself down and trying to do better even if I did great the first time but I always push myself too far and other people have to stop me because I usually can't see it when its happening. I also cover my emotions up and I have a lot of trouble talking about whats bothering me or what problems i'm having emotionally so I put up a wall and I act tough, or happy and sometimes i'll be the exact opposite but I try to hide it.

Weird things about me: I've grown up in the south all my life so sometimes when I talk a few words they'll come out sounding WAYYY more country and southern then I wanted, I don't have an accent but sometimes my words just come out that way. I also love the smell of cigarette smoke....let me explain. When I was a kid my parents smoked a lot and I was used to smelling it and now it reminds me of home and is sort of comforting.

Things I like: I love swimming (I was on a swim team for about 9 years), I love horror movies, I like rain and the sounds of thunderstorms because its calming to me, I also love the smell of rain, I like cloudy days, cooking, listening to 80's and 90's rock but mainly 90's because 90's is the best, My favorite bands are Bush, Audioslave, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkoln Park, Pearl jam but i'm pretty open to anything. Things I dislike: Spiders.......I will scream if I see a spider.

So for the nsfw part.....I'm very shy and i'd like it if someone guided me. But i'm 100% a Bottom and I love praise and maybe a tiny bit of degradation. I also have a big ownership kink like if someone tells me that i'm their's....then I might die. Also if they told me that they "Needed" me I would also die on the spot...in a good way. I'm also a sucker for marking like lovebites and hickies? Yes please. But please tease me and edge me because I prefer not having control so someone else being in control is just...lovely. Also pet names! Like Sunshine, Babygirl, Doll....AHHhh I might melt. Things I don't like are impact play or the whole "Daddy kink" It kinda just makes me cringe

I also don't think I really have a type but.....I do tend to love people who are brooding, and intimidating on the outside but a big teddy bear on the inside because that's how I am sometimes. I hate people who are fake or just passive aggressive because they are super annoying to deal with and honestly if you have something to say then just say it to my face rather than behind my back.

Hello :)

|| I enjoyed reading through this. I'll definitely work on it now. ||

I match you with ~ Jeff The Killer!

First off, he really likes your size and style, he has a think for small girls that can still be tough and that’s something he loves showing off when you get together lmfao, he’s like, “Yeah, my girls strong. Fuck you gonna do about it?”

Now, Jeff is a really unstable, violent guy. A lot of people (even me) don’t even see him ever being interested in being in a relationship, so when the creeps saw Jeff with his arm around you, they were immediately baffled by it.

The truth is, though, this man totally wants to have someone by his side, someone that accepts him even though he’s a killer. Someone that’s open to his feelings and is willing to look past all of the horrible shit he’s done.

You’re like that to him, it took him a very long time to get used to how he felt for you at first. At first he thought his brain was just being stupid, but Jeff isn’t dumb. He knows what these feelings feel like, and he recognized them almost immediately after that.

Jeff is really insane, and he constantly leans on you for support and depends on you to keep him leveled at times. It can get pressuring, but despite it all he always makes sure to not blame you if he ends up doing something dumb because he knows it’s not your fault.

He finds your clothing style pretty hot, he really loves badass kind of outfits with leather and band names, because as I said, he loves to show off that his girl is “cool” or something.

He thinks your resting bitch-face and cold exterior is really badass too, being around you always gives him so much confidence and its a great change from the usual fake confidence he has around everyone that he keeps up as a defense mechanism when in reality he was always pretty insecure.

I honestly think Jeff is an extrovert too, like he loves being around people and interacting with them (When they’re not normal people and don’t think he’s hideous, that is). I canon this mostly because when hes alone, then he’s also alone with his thoughts and his thoughts always end up wandering to his insecurities and what he hates about himself, but you often catch him during these times and you reassure him that everything will be okay and that you still love him.

He totally relates to being the friend that says stupidest shit, you two will often just go up to one of the creeps and just start spouting random shit. He honestly fucking loves being goofy with you, and you two are always creating awesome memories together when you prank the other creeps and sometimes each other and he honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.

When you do stupid shit that gets you in trouble or puts you in danger, he’s always quick to get to you and make sure you’re okay, he would probably panic a lot though. Like, “What the fuck, dumbass?” “How the HELL did you do that???“ as he’s frantically trying to solve the situation. Will most definitely sit there and laugh at you for a good 5-10 minutes once the whole thing is dealt with though.

You being able to stick up for your friends is one of the great qualities about you that he absolutely adores, especially since before he became a killer he would always get bullied and nobody would ever stick up for him, so one day when you defend him against a bunch of assholes it just warms his heart up and makes him feel so loved, but he most likely wont admit that.

He’d let it slip eventually though.

When you’re feeling self-destructive, he is 100% there for you. Although he’s not really the best at giving advice, he’ll still sit there with you and let you talk your heart out and will listen to every single word because he wants to show that same contribution towards you that you’ve shown him. He’ll constantly reassure you that not everything is your fault and that you’re strong, and he’ll make little promises to you.

If it was a person in particular making you feel that way though, he’d definitely make sure to pay a visit to the motherfucker.

He admires your determination to fight for the things you want, but to an extent. He hates it when you overwork yourself or push beyond your limits to the point where it destroys you, and he wants you to know that you’re not alone and you can ask for help, you don’t have to destroy yourself. He’s more than willing to stay right there, by your side.

He understands hiding your true emotions, because well, he’s had to do it a lot around the other creeps and around his family when they were still alive. So he won’t ever push you to talk about somehting if you don’t want to, but he doesn’t want you to pretend to be okay either. He’s more than willing to just lay with you and do whatever you want if it would make you feel better.

He honestly likes how you have a southern accent at times, when he’s feeling upset or like his sanity is draining, your accent really soothes him so sometimes he’ll ask you to lay it on thick because he could honestly listen to you talk to him and listen to your accent all day if he wanted to.

It’s good that you like cigarette smoke because I canon this man smokes very often.

When it storms at night, he’ll always hold you close to him with a blanket and just listen to the storm sounds with you because it soothes him too. This man is really pent up from feeling driven to constantly murder and just sitting with you listening to the rain and thunder is one of the main things that level him.

He’s really not the best.... at cooking.... but, this means you can cook often for him since he won’t for himself. B)

He will just put you in a car and drive for hours to no destination and blast that 80s and 90s music just to see that smile on your face.

This man will 100000000000% destroy any spider within a 10 mile radius of you.

He understands not liking people who are fake because there were a lot of people who talked shit about him when he went to school, and when he has a problem with someone he will always say it to their face and make them understand that they’re a piece of shit to him.

NSFW:

You like being dominated and guided? Good, because this man is at least 95% a top. He thinks it’s adorable that you’re shy and will most definitely be willing to guide you through the whole thing and tell you exactly what to do for him.

Jeff is really possessive tbh, so when he’s fucking you he will constantly say shit like,

“Fucking mine”

“You’re nobody elses“

“You belong to me, only”

This man will definitely bite you everywhere, he lives to just throw you down onto the bed and start biting everywhere on your body and making sure to leave marks just so you know exactly who owns you.

Don’t worry honey, he will spend hours just filling you with his cock and telling you that you cant cum unless you beg more, or he’ll just pull out right when you’re about to cum on him and just slap your folds with his fingers as a way to make fun of you.

He’ll call you things like, “baby” “dollface” “darling” when he’s feeling passionate but oh boy if he’s feeling angry or he’s punishing you? Be prepared to be degraded all night.

There we go <3

Sorry if this is too long lmfao, I just think that Jeff is a really misunderstood piece of shit. I hope you’re having a great day and taking care of yourself, and I hope you enjoyed this matchup. :)

[bitchiha]

i need some fluff huhu. can i have naruto with mom reader hc or imagines? thank u 😍

A/N: ive never done anything like this before but I like this idea 10/10

Also special credit / mention to @softnaruto because we talked about some of these ideas but w Iruka not a mother figure lol

✎ Being Narutos Mother Figure *sparkles but they’re on fire bc this is chaotic*

Overall, before I get into the details, I’d say this is a very chaotic task lol. You’re probably half dead after dealing w his ass for so long, but seeing this boy that you thought of as your own son grow up before your eyes is so rewarding. It’s great, so wholesome 100/10.

You and Iruka definitely co-parent

Naruto would be constantly protecting you from Jiraiya. Like he doesn’t want the man near you. Runs over to you whenever Jiraiya is nearby and starts screaming “Missus Y/N, run! Pervy Sage is here, I’m doing you a favour, believe it!” No but in all seriousness, take Narutos advice because I know Pervy Sage is tryna hit it.

You end up having to talk to Jiraiya eventually though because you need to know what’s going on with Naruto and the Akatsuki and what you can do to help. Naruto will watch over the interactions like a hawk. Will whip a chopstick at Jiraiya if he tries anything on you, “Back it up pervy Sage! I said three meters apart, there’s no excuse!” So you’d have to meet eachother in secret because you won’t be able to discuss much when the blondies around.

Also, the amount of times you’ve chased his ass around the village after he got into some major trouble is too many times to count. He’s running as fast as he can away from you because he knows you’re gonna whoop his ass lol. Probably even uses his shadow clones, but you know better than to fall for those stupid tricks. No but fr, it’s a really good workout tbh you probably ran a marathon.

You treat him to ramen whenever he comes back from a mission. Sometimes Iruka comes along as well and you both alternate who pays the bill. Naruto always challenges you to a ramen eating competition. Luckily Iruka is there to hold you two back because he knows neither of you are financially stable enough to endure that damage to your wallets.

Literally everyone; Konoha 11, kakashi, iruka, Jiraiya, Tsunade, etc... always threaten Naruto by saying that they’ll tell y/n he’s not cooperating. It works like a charm everytime. There’s no way he wants to hear you lecture him for a good 2 hours. He’d rather get rasenganed into the face than listen to your horrible attempts at being wise.

You always ruffle Narutos hair when you see him. It’s like your signature sign of affection. You also call him “kid” all the time or “youngster” even though you’re like the same age as Kakashi and therefore not old yourself.

He calls you miss. He sometimes calls you Aunty y/n. Refuses to just call you y/n because he wants to be respectful, he looks up to you as a figure of guidance no matter how much he’ll deny it. So no matter how many times you tell him not to call you miss, he will.

Lots of walks! Like you’ll wait for him with Iruka at the village gate when Narutos supposed to return from a mission. It’s like parents picking up their kid from a field trip aweeee. You’ll pack some snacks for the three of you and he fills you in on his missions. He’ll always be like, “Awe no way! Thanks Missus Y/N. You’re the best!” When you give him all the food you packed.

He always comes to you for advice or to rant to you about Sasuke, Sai, Sakura and literally all the other Konoha 11. Lol, but he will rant about you to Iruka and Jiraiya all the time, little does he know you do the same.

Would purposely set you into mama bear mode on Sai for his own amusement. Like he just gets a kick out of watching you confront Sai about calling Naruto some absurd obscenity and watch poor Sai just stand there like: (°_°) lol what do I do? Naruto is snickering behind a tree because he just made that all up. Yamato probably has to intervene when he sees it. Will have to woodstyle justu you when he realizes you’re in mama bear mode.

Hes such a troublesome rat. You love him though. He’s your troublesome rat-son.

Naruto is used to you being hot headed like Tsunade when he gets into trouble, but if you ever take the disappointed route instead, he will cry lol. Like he hates that you’re actually disappointed with him, he didn’t mean to trick you into yelling at Sai, please forgive him.

All celebrations are done with Kakashi, Iruka, Naruto and yourself. Since you all don’t really have any real family to celebrate with, you’ve made your own. It’s so chaotic tho lol.

These events are always ‘surprises for Naruto’ so the cooking is up to you and Kakashi, but Kakashi is so fast at cooking he doesn’t even let you do anything. You have to physically stop him so you could do some of the work. Meanwhile Iruka sets up decorations for the event and he’s probably singing festive songs LOOL. Plus he can’t sing so it’s an extra headache ontop of you yelling at Kakashi to let you do some work.

Then you all surprise Naruto with your half burnt food (while you were fighting the food most definitely lit on fire) and extremely cheesy decorations. Oddly Iruka even decorated the floor. Like wtf. Anyways, Naruto doesn’t really care about how bad it actually was, he was just happy to have people around him that cared enough to invite him to a celebration.

The food is inedible so you go to Ichirakus instead and somehow persuade Iruka into paying for all four of you <3 this happens every holiday so he ends up just saving his money in preparation for it.

Naruto tries to be a matchmaker for you LMFAO. He tries to get you and Iruka together which ends so awkwardly omg, then he’ll try and get you and kakashi together which was even more awkward and DONT get me started on Yamato omg.. He was so nervous he just stared at you the whole time like a googley eyed tree frog or something. Each time you catch onto Naruros little Cupid schemes you tell him to buzz off and that you’re not interested, but he doesn’t listen.

Your other holiday celebrations may be badly executed, but you actually host the best birthdays for him!! You pair up with Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi, Iruka and Sakura to throw him really memorable birthdays. They may not make up for all the ones he missed celebrations for already, but you do your best to make these extra memorable.

At the end of the night after every birthday party, you walk him home and pat his shoulder sadly talking about how he’s growing up so fast. You probably end up crying because you're sad the little doofus is maturing somewhat. You tell him that and he laughs. Once you’re at his apartment door he’ll grin tiredly and give you a big hug. “Thanks again, aunty y/n.” You probably cry again on the way home bc he actually hugged you. That’s so sentimental omg. That is roughly about what happens every single birthday.

For your birthdays he treats you to ramen and gets you some weird kitchen gadget or something. Figures you’re an adult and they probably need these things. You don't, but you appreciate the gift anyway. 

He buys you flowers every Mother’s Day. It makes you so emotional. You definitely cry. “Awe missus y/n! Not again. You’re so emotional.” He probably starts crying too though lol.

It breaks his heart to see you cry omg. Poor baby is like a lost puppy when you cry. Like not you’re over exaggerated crying, but your said painful crying. Once, after hearing some distressing news about the Akatsuki, you just break down. Naruto has become a son to you after all and you want to protect him so badly, but how can you do that when you’re up against powerful rouge ninjas? You cried in front of him for the when you two were having your weekly dinners at your place, all the sudden you just burst out crying and it hurt him so much because he knew it was because you were so worried about him.

Honestly, he probably ruffles your hair —like you do to him — in attempt to cheer you up. “It’s okay, Aunty y/n. I’ll take care of it, everything will be okay, believe it!”

Oh yah also, speaking of weekly dinners! You guys definitely get together at least once a month or if it’s a good time, once a week to have dinner. We all know Naruto only survives on ramen, so you try and cook him healthy food, but my god he resists so hard. Then you give him that warning look and he chows down that salad so fast lol.

It would be 10/10 he's a great kid

[tinawritesstuff]

You’re home

Pairing: Henry Cavill/ First Person Reader

Wordcount: 1.4K

Warnings: kinda angsty if you squint a little? It’s mostly tooth-rotting fluff lol

A/N: a little something I’ve been meaning to write for a while now. Hope you guys enjoy it! 

The weather outside is freezing, the trees and the garden are painted in a thick layer of white thanks to the constant snowing. I swear I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The smell of coffee fills my nostrils, making me take a deep breath and inhale the addicting and intoxicating scent. There are only a few things that relax me and take me to my safe space: coffee, a book, winter and Henry.

Oh, Henry.

He’s been away for two months now, very busy doing reshoots for the second season of Witcher, and to say I miss him wouldn’t do justice to what I’ve been feeling. But I guess no one can really blame me, right? Because we spent six wonderful months together because of lockdown, so having to go back to not having him around every day has had me on edge since he left.

I look outside the window, watching the snow fall while sipping from my mug. The day is grey and I can’t help but feel like it matches my mood.

Have you ever felt like you have too many emotions inside and just need to let it go? Well, that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling lately, specially since Henry got called to work again.

I know it’s not healthy to emotionally depend on someone else, because most of the time I find myself yearning his presence and just needing him with me. And it’s not fair to either of us.

I hear my phone ringing, and to say I run to see who’s calling would be an understatement. When I reach it, I see that the ID is my mom, to which I let out a groan of frustration. I was hoping it to be Henry.

“Hey, ma”

“Hello, dear. How are you today?”

“I don’t really know, to be honest” I shake my head, with a horrible feeling settling in my throat “I- I feel like I have a thousand of emotions stuck in my chest, and I can’t pinpoint exactly what I’m feeling”

“Oh, honey” she sighs “Why do you think that might be?”

“To be honest, it started when Henry left. And I can’t help but feel stupid, because we’ve been apart for longer periods of time before, and I’ve never complained about it. It never hurt like it does now”

“Darling, things like this are never stupid. Have you talked to him about it?”

“I haven’t really had the chance to. He’s been so busy and I honestly don’t want to bother him with this nonsense.”

“Listen to me, if that man loves you, and I’m certain he does, he will make the time to hear about your feelings and won’t think they’re nonsense, at all” she says in a stern voice and it makes my heart sink.

Because she’s probably right, and I should tell him about it. Otherwise, I’m sure I’ll be bottling up all that’s bothering and one day everything will explode. And it won’t be nice.

After some more catching up, she hangs up and I go back to…, well, look out the window. What I wasn’t expecting was to see Henry’s car pulling over on the entryway and parking there.

I hear the door opening, and Kal’s claws scratching the wooden floor as he makes his way inside the house. Next thing I know, I’m being thrown to the ground by the big, fluffy pig that attacks me with kisses.

I laugh while scratching his ears, and I hear the male deep laugh coming our way.

“Kal, hey, down boy. Let momma breath, c’mon”

“Oh no, please! I’ve missed him so much, let him stay like this for a little longer. I don’t mind” I say smiling up at him from the ground.

It’s unbelievable how much my mood changed the moment I saw his car pulling over. Which reminds me:

“What are you guys doing here?! I thought you wouldn’t be here until the holidays”

“Well, I don’t know if you’ve seen the news, my lovely, but England has gone back to lockdown. Starts tomorrow morning. So, we’ll only be working on the studio scenes.”

He helps me stand up and brings me close to his body in a bear hug. Oh, how I’ve missed him. His warm, his scent, his hugs, all of him.

I feel the tears pooling my eyes, because the mix of feelings is overwhelming and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Before I realize it, I’ve become a sobbing mess crying on his chest.

“Oh, no, no, no. Little love, what’s wrong? Why are you crying like this?” he asks with concern filling his tone.

“I-I’m sorry, I-I-I j-just mis-ssed you a lot” I say the best I can between sobs.

“Okay, come here”

He picks me up, bridal style, carries me to the living room and sits down on the couch with me on his lap. I let out all the pent-up frustrations, all the dark emotions I’ve been feeling the last two months, and in the meantime, he just caresses my hair, soothing me and whispering sweet nothings in my ear to calm me down. After some time, the tears stop running and the sobs become little exhales of air, trying to regain calm and control of my breathing.

“Atta girl, you let it all out. Don’t think there’s anything else in you to cry about, eh?” he jokes and I let out a teary giggle. “Want to talk about it?”

“I don’t even know what’s wrong to begin with. All I know is that these last two months without you have been a hell to live. I’ve been feeling so lonely. And I’m not saying it’s your fault, not at all, because it’s your job and you love it and I shouldn’t be feeling like this and I shouldn’t be selfish; but truth is that I miss you every time you’re gone, and this one has taken a toll on me.”

“Oh, nugget” he sighs and pulls me closer to his body “I’m sorry to hear that, but there’s nothing selfish about you missing me and needing me here. In fact, I’ve been feeling the same way since I left” he shrugs and kisses my hair “I want you to tell me when these things bother you, especially when I’m away, because loneliness can get tricky and I don’t want you to feel that way. Okay?”

I nod my head and snuggle closer to his body, feeling his strong and big arms engulfing me in a tight hug. We stay like that for some time, quietly cuddling while watching the snow falling through the big window behind the T.V., until he breaks the silence.

“Where’s the Christmas’ tree?” he asks glancing around

“Oh, yeah” I let out a little embarrassed laugh “I haven’t put up any of the Christmas’ decorations, including the tree, because I didn’t want to do it alone. I was going to wait for you to come home”

“I was supposed to come home on December 23rd! You were planning to put the decorations up two days before Christmas?!” he exclaims funnily and I laugh at his mannerisms and efforts to lift up my mood.

Have I said how much I missed him? I think I have.

“Well, yeah. I told you it was bad” I shrug and he grabs my face to leave a little peck on my forehead

“We can do it any time you feel like it, my love” he whispers and caresses my cheek with one of his hands “I don’t think I’ve greeted you properly, lovely. What do you say?”

I shake my head, and that’s all the answer he needs. Henry leans down and kisses me fully in the mouth, taking every ounce of air I have in my lungs. The kiss is soft, but deep. There’s no rush, we have all the time in the world. At least until he has to leave again.

I grab a handful of his curls to deepen the kiss even more, to show him how much I yearn for him, how much I’ve missed his touch and the feeling of him against me.

When we are in need of air, we break the kiss and smile like fools to one another. There’s no need to say anything. He’s here, he’s home with me.

“What do you say we put the Christmas tree up, right now and when we’re done, we watch some Christmas special?” I ask while stroking his cheek, softly, making him lean into my touch.

“I’d love to.”

General taglist: @milkathedudz  @little-baby-vixen

Henry Cavill taglist:  @tillthelandslide @cavill-sass​ @al-wiisa​ @kmuir1​ @hoeforhenry​

[smutty-ki113r]

Could I please have a romantic matchup?

I’m an introverted she/her Virgo (Leo cusp) and I'm bicurious.

I'm 5'5 with long dark brown (almost black) hair and coffee brown eyes. In terms of body shape I’m a less extreme version of an hourglass with thick thighs and comfortable size tiddies. My style is summed up as a tired college student who rolled out of bed.

I tend to have a very stoic appearance at first sight, but I’m usually a wreck inside. I’m a huge romantic with a passive personality. I’m so touch starved, I just want someone to cuddle with me and tell me it’s all gonna be okay.

Super insecure about a lot of things, but the main ones are my acne scars. I have really bad impulse control and I can’t help but to pick. By the time I finally realize I should stop, it’s usually already too late.

I love playing all kinds of games, whether it be monopoly, resident evil, or solitaire. I’m one of those people that’s almost always listening to music regardless of genre (except heavy metal). But I’m a super big sucker for a sweet love song or some cavetown. If there were an award for overthinking at all hours of the day, I’d definitely be at least an honorable mention. Super into baking with an insatiable sweet tooth.

My obsession with psychology is also there. Horror and all things creepy never fail to intrigue me. I love the outdoors, but I never seem to actually be able to drag myself outside.

Loud noises and yelling scare me really bad to the point I start to tremble and tear up. But I have a hard time handling silence too unless I’m with someone who can quiet my mind.

I carry a good bit of trauma with me. It can be overwhelming, and there are days where I can’t bring myself to get out of bed. Days where little things send me spiraling and I have panic attacks over what seem like nothing.

I’m usually pretty good with people even if I don’t like them. I have a really hard time voicing my opinion, so I can and do get put in situations I don’t want to be in. I’ve always been the therapist friend even if I didn’t like someone. People I DO like get a million and one chances no matter how many times they hurt me, I just never seem to learn. That means that when I do finally give up, everything has been shattered with 0 chance of ever going back to normal.

My ideal date would be going to a cafe on a snowy winter day. We’d get warm drinks to go (preferably hot chocolate) and then walk through the fancy neighborhood in town hand in hand looking at all the lights. Inevitably we’d come across some mistletoe, and my partner would look at me with the dopiest grins and they’d drag me under it. Oh whoops! Looks like we have to kiss!

I’m literally so worried this is not going to the right place. I’m sorry if it isn’t, obviously feel free to delete it if that’s the case.

Thank you for taking the time to read and give me a matchup <3 Looking forward to it.

P.S I absolutely adore your writing and the blog’s aesthetic. It’s super calming and easy on the eyes.

You’re all good it’s def in the right place. After a lot of consideration I match you with…..💗LAUGHING JACK💗

For a lot of reasons actually, I feel like overall he would be a lovely and caring partner for you.

Touchstarved? Jack is your guy, once you get him to warm up to you that is. He’s been like that for a while and once he finds out you like him he will not let you go. I fully believe he would be the kindest to their s/o to you’re in good hands claws. He’s really attentive and could help you realize that you’re anxious, for the acne scars too, probably holds your hands and gets you to focus on him.

Jack likes games too, probably board games or hide and seek. Anything sort of childish, it’s actually really fun. SWEET TOOTH? Yeah there’s not a better guy for you. Provides you with any and all candy and saccharine things you would like. Jack could drag you outside, probably to the forrest where he’d play tag with you. I warn you, you’ve got to run for your life because once he catches you he will lift you off the ground and give you a bear hug.

LJ is naturally a loud guy but he keeps a soft tone around you, he dosen’t want to scare you. Everyone else, yes. You, never. Trauma you say? Jack has a fuck load of trauma too, you guys can probably trauma bond. But you both take it out in different ways, Jack is more violent, towards others obviously. It would be a nice change of pace for you to have someone to lean on, that’s what Jack would do. He’s not one to use a therapist friend.

For sure, Jack will take you out in the winter and make your the tastiest hot chocolate. Giving you sideglances as he takes your hand and leads you through the snow to a beautiful winter wonderland of trees decorated with lights. Since he’s so tall he would probably hold the mistletoe himself and give you a nervous smile, hoping you want to kiss him. It will be a passionate one filled with joy and warmth, he’s never been happier. He only hopes you feel the same.

THANK YOU! I spend so much time organizing my blog, one day I literally sobbed over my master list because I thought it was disorganized. But anyway, whatever happened to you, I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve that. It was not your fault and I’m here to let you know it’s all going to be ok. Ive got a bit of trauma myself, can’t remember most of my childhood. Your panic attacks and breakdowns aren’t for nothing, and they’re not stupid. I know it must be hard but try not to throw yourself into other’s problems, it can be so draining. I know you just want to be a good person but being the therapist friend is exhausting, I should know. And then you never say anything because you don’t wanna come off as rude and you feel like a burden. You deserve better than people who are going to use you and then throw you away.

*gives virtual hug* it really is all going to be ok, I promise. I love you.

[bonjour-rainycity]

The Long Way Around ~ Chapter 7

Link to previous part: https://bonjour-rainycity.tumblr.com/post/623403705475219456/the-long-way-around-chapter-6

Pairing: Jasper x Reader

Word count: 2208

Warnings: None

Y/n’s POV

It’s been around six months since I joined this new life. I can feel my newborn strength fading by the day, though my bloodlust does not show me the same mercy. I’ve yet to have a true encounter with a human, and I hope to avoid one for a very long time. I have no doubt in my mind that I would lose control. Jasper says it’s normal, that I’m doing well, and that I shouldn’t worry about the future and instead focus on improving today. Some days I believe him, some days I don’t. I guess it all comes with the territory of being thrust into a life you never thought could exist.

My case hasn’t had any leads since they arrested my assailant, though, since there’s no body to find, I don’t suppose I can assign any blame. I’m old news now, except for the occasional plea from my parents or a friend for anyone who knows something to come forward. Those break me every time. It pains me more than I ever thought possible to see the people I love hurting and know their hurting is in vain, but not be able to do anything to ease it because I will literally kill them. Carlisle and Esme have taken a few trips on my behalf, for which I am endlessly grateful. A run-in at the grocery store here or a quick drive by their house at night. It’s not much, and it hurts deeply to not be able to take the errands myself, but I think it would be worse not to know how they’re doing.

My self-control has gotten slightly better. I’m down to hunting only about once a week now. I fill my newfound free time with odds and ends. I read books, decorate my room, let Alice do my hair, work on learning Spanish, and play board games with the other vampires in the house. It’s nice to start seeing them more as friends rather than roommates. It certainly makes shoving myself into their daily life much more bearable.

Jasper still doesn’t let up with his constant babysitting of me, but I don’t mind it like I used to. In all honesty, we’ve become pretty great friends. He definitely knows me better than anyone else in the house, and I would seek out his company even if it wasn’t a necessity. Right now we’re reading through all the Harry Potter’s together just to pass the time. Esme was very encouraging of our project, even buying two copies of each book for us and one copy of each book in Spanish, to help with my studies. She’s so thoughtful. Jasper didn’t like the books at first, but at my and Bella’s behest, stuck with them. I think he had trouble getting into them because he didn’t grow up reading them. But now we’re on book five, and if we go more than two days without reading a chapter, he bugs me about it. It’s kinda cute. As both of us tend toward the introvert side of the spectrum, we spend much of our days in one of our rooms. Seldom are we apart, so it surprises me when he sends Emmett, Arthur, and Rosalie with me to hunt and doesn’t include himself. Hurt that I really hope he doesn’t notice pricks at me. He probably just needs a break, relax. You guys do spend a lot of time together…maybe you’re getting on his nerves. But I don’t protest outwardly, not wanting to seem annoying. Besides, I like everyone in my entourage just fine and spending quality time with them wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

“Have fun. I’ll uh, see you later.” While Jasper’s voice is calm, he looks anywhere but my eyes.

I try not to let my hurt show, but I know he must feel it. “Okay, you too.”

He offers me a smile that seems strained.

Once more, I brush off my insecurities and follow Rosalie outside to meet the guys. Emmett is grinning broadly, wringing his hands together.

“Since we ditched the wet blanket, I thought we’d hunt something a little more fun today,” He proposes, a gleam in his eye. Despite my down mood, I can’t help but be terribly interested.

“What did you have in mind?”

{***}

Bears. Bears were what he had in mind. I let out a shout of exhilaration as I wrestle with a grizzly five times my size. It’s a ridiculously intoxicating feeling to grapple with one of nature’s most feared predators and come out on top. It makes me feel so capable. And, unsurprisingly, grizzly blood is leagues better than that of a puny deer. I make a commitment to do this much more often.

By the end of it, my clothes are history, but thankfully, Rosalie thought to pack a change in our backpacks. She leads me behind a tree to change, laughing when we hear growls from both men and bear. They’re nearly indistinguishable, and the difference wouldn’t be perceptible at all to human ears.

But Jasper’s absence is still bothering me. This seems like something he would love, and it’s weird that he seemed intent on avoiding it. Did I do something to upset him? I weigh my options, and decide Rosalie is a trustworthy enough person to risk asking. It’s better than not knowing and letting my insecurities run wild.

Still, I try to sound unaffected, not wanting to reveal how much I actually care. “I wonder why Jasper didn’t want to join? Bears are so much more fun.”

Not at all fooled, Rosalie chuckles. “Jasper had some business in town to attend to. He can’t take you with him, for obvious reasons, and I guess he thought the three of us wouldn’t be that bad of a trade.”

I nod, feeling a bit better. It’s just an errand then, nothing I did personally.

But Rosalie grins, not done with me yet. “Why?”

“I don’t know, I just hoped I wasn’t annoying him or something.” I shrug, wanting to exit this conversation as quickly as possible.

“Please, I don’t think Jasper could ever be annoyed by you.”

Wait, what? “What do you mean?”

Rosalie laughs, pulling a twig out of my hair. “He hangs onto your every word. He waits on you hand and foot.” When I don’t respond, Rosalie raises her eyebrows, disbelieving. “You really haven’t noticed?”

I shrug, quickly running through the past six months of my new life. “I guess I just thought it was his job.”

Rose scoffs and shakes her head. “No. Now that he knows your limits he really only needs to be with you when you hunt.” She shrugs. “He enjoys your company.” Then, with the teasing smirk of an older sister, she begins to walk away. “Do with that information what you will.”

She leaves me, and I stand, stunned. So for the past who knows how long, Jasper has chosen to spend all that time with me? The realization makes my dead heart feel something I don’t recognize, something tender. Since Edward’s not here it makes no sense to police my own thoughts. And, if I’m being honest with myself, I totally seek out Jasper’s company too, regardless of the need for oversight. With him, everything is just so natural; I feel perfectly at home in this completely strange life. I gulp, not really sure what that all means.

Thankfully, Emmett saves me from figuring it out at the moment.

“Hey kid, let’s go! It looks like it’s gonna rain.”

We speed home, all wary of Alice’s reaction if we were to ruin even more items of her carefully curated designer clothes.

As it is, she gives me a disapproving look the moment we walk through the door. “Next time, please wear something more expendable.”

I frown, feeling bad, and Arthur grabs Alice’s hand and distracts her with a kiss before she can chastise me further.

“Sorry, Alice.”

But she only smiles, all traces of a sour mood gone.

I can hear Jasper shuffling papers down in the basement and I automatically take a step in that direction. Then, I pause, deciding that it might be beneficial to test Rosalie’s theory. So instead, I drop my bag by the couch, turn on my heel, and head upstairs to my room. I pick book off my shelf and wait.

Not three minutes later I hear his steps on the stairs and his knock on the door.

“Hey, can I come in?”

I pat the spot on the bed beside me. “Of course. How was town?”

He raises his eyebrows.

I smile guiltily. “Rosalie mentioned you had business there.”

He chuckles and sits, seeming more comfortable now. “Yeah, town was good. Got everything taken care of.”

Now it’s my turn to raise my eyebrows, but it quickly becomes apparent that he does not intend to expand upon the term ‘business’, so I let it go. “Emmett took me bear hunting.”

Jasper grins and pulls his legs into a criss-cross, leaning his back against the wall. “What’d you think?”

“So much better than deer,” I enthuse. His grin widens. I make a face like I’m suddenly remembering something. “Oh, I left my bag downstairs. Be right back.”

And before I can even swing my legs off the bed, he’s standing, shaking his head. “No, you look comfortable. I got it.”

A thrill so strong I know he feels it rushes through me. Rosalie might not have been too far off. Still, I school my expression by the time he returns.

I express my appreciation and decide to try the next reaction I want to test. I recount, in excruciating detail, my bear hunt. And, just as Rosalie said, he hangs onto my every word. He laughs at each bad joke and grins at each clear exaggeration. He actually listens. I can’t believe I’ve never noticed this before.

And then I feel a little bad for experimenting on him without his knowledge, so I try to make up for it. “Is there anything you want to do tonight?”

He shakes his head immediately. “I’m fine with doing whatever.”

“No,” I laugh, grabbing his arm and giving it a light shake. “You always have to do what I do and you’re such a good sport. It’s my turn to try something you like.”

He thinks, and then smiles almost self-consciously. “Well, okay. There’s this cliff and waterfall  about eighty miles north of here that’s absolutely gorgeous. And, being virtually indestructible and all, it’s really fun to jump from the top and land in the pool of water beneath it. I haven’t been in forever.”

I smile as I stare up at him, game for anything he suggests. “Let’s do it.”

“Really? You’re sure?” I definitely am, but even if I wasn’t, his wide, excited beaming would make me say yes. It’s just too sweet to turn down.

“Absolutely.”

He stands then, evidently ready to put our plan in action. “Just don’t tell Esme.”

I want to question why, but suddenly remember Esme’s tragic experience with cliffs. I agree readily. As quietly as possible so as not to attract attention, we decide to gather our necessities and meet at the stairs in five minutes. I throw on a swimsuit Alice had the forethought to buy under an unassuming outfit. I grab one of my towels from the bathroom and toss it in my backpack. After a moment’s consideration, I add The Order of the Phoenix, feeling that it can’t hurt to bring it along. As planned, we join at the top of the stairs and walk slowly down, trying not to be too noticeable. But of course, it doesn’t work out that way, and we’re spotted the minute we make it to the kitchen.

“Where are you two going?” Esme’s question throws me off guard, and I panic.

“Hunting.”

Jasper eyes me clandestinely, obviously not pleased with my lack of improvisation finesse.

Emmett appears then, teasing. “What, bears not enough for you?”

Thankfully, Jasper’s at the top of his game. “Interacting with the humans in town today was a little much for me. I’d rather err on the side of caution.”

“What do you need Y/n for? To watch and shout encouragements?” Emmett laughs heartily at his own strange sense of humor.

Esme smiles, and I can’t tell if she fully believes us or not. Nevertheless, she lightly pushes on Emmett’s shoulder, directing him out of the kitchen with instructions to “leave us be”.

Once outside, I work to hold in my giggles until we’re out of earshot.

“Well, remind me to never involve you in a lie.” Jasper’s voice is teasing, and he pokes me lightly in my side.

I roll my eyes, unable to stop the laughter. “I panicked! I didn’t expect anyone to actually ask. Did they believe us though?”

Jasper shakes his head slowly, considering. “They were definitely suspicious. But for now, we’re in the clear. Just remind me to catch a deer or something on the way back so I won’t be a total fraud.”

I smile, mirth emboldening me to take his hand. And with that, we break into a run, excited to reach our destination.

A/n I work like every day this week so I probably should have spaced out posting these chapters. Whoops! Buuuut I’ve had a really fun time writing them and I’ve just been excited to get them out. So this week will probably be slower with the updates, sorry! Still, let me know what you thought about this chapter and if you would like to be added to the tag list!

xx, 

Bjr

Link to next part: https://bonjour-rainycity.tumblr.com/post/623575983503638528/the-long-way-around-chapter-8

Tag list: @puer-de-infinitate @charliestuff @hindustani-diaspora @one-thread-can-save-a-life @salsameter @enchantedcruelsummer @meashy-moo @sana-li