#i answered an ask a while ago where i talked about how having the sunset moment on pabu come after she pushed his boundaries too far

[echojedis]

One day I’m going to write out my entire essay of tech/phee thoughts but I don’t want anything I say to be misunderstood 

[fluentmoviequoter]

A Home to Thrive In

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!neighbor!reader

Summary: You still live next door to Tim Bradford's mother, and when he visits for the first time in years, you have to decide if you're willing to let go of the idea of him you fell in love with.

Warnings: spoilers/rewrite for 4x09 "Breakdown", angst, arguments, discussion of past abuse, r is Tim's childhood friend, fluff and comfort

Word Count: 3.5k+ words

A/N: It's late. This may be terrible. I will reassess tomorrow.

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“Have you talked to Mom recently?” Genny asks. When Tim doesn’t answer, she sighs and murmurs, “Don’t know why I thought you would.”

“Isn’t it bad enough that you’re dragging me back into the Tom Bradford-centric world I’ve been trying to outrun since we were kids? Now you want me to tell Mom about everything that’s happened,” Tim argues. “I’m already working on a murder case that Dad hid for decades. I don’t need more family drama right now, Genny."

“She worries about you, Tim. Just wants to be part of your life again.”

Tim's phone rings, a saving grace, and he excuses himself as he pushes his chair away from the table and leaves his sister.

“Tim,” Lucy greets. “I brought Monica Ochoa back in.”

“The woman who was killed by the gun I found in my dad’s house. Why?”

“Because I knew there was more to her story. You- you couldn’t see past the version that you wanted to see.”

“What’d she say?”

“Your dad… Tim, Monica confessed.”

Tim hangs up on Lucy, walks directly past his sister while ignoring her questions, and gets in his truck to visit his dad. To see if he’ll tell the truth when he has no other choice or if he’s really the terrible man Tim thinks he is.

“You didn’t kill Frank,” Tim states.

Tom sighs before he counters, “Sure I did. Now, come on. Cuff me. Let’s just get this over with.”

“Monica confessed.”

“Leave her out of this.”

“Frank was beating her. She fought back. She shot him. She was terrified, so she ran to you. You came up with the burglary story, helped her stage the house, then you hid the gun in case the cops got too close, and you needed to frame someone else.”

“He was brutal, abusive,” Tom explains. “She deserves a medal for what she did.”

“He was abusive?” Tim repeats.

“What? You think I’m like him? I was nothing like Frank. I taught you what you needed to know, son. You’re a man now because of me.”

“No. I’m who I am in spite of you,” Tim replies. His dad doesn’t speak, and Tim nods as he adds, “Goodbye, Dad. I hope it hurts.”

In the hallway outside his dad’s room, Tim pulls his phone from his pocket and calls Grey.

“Bradford,” Wade greets as the call connects.

“I need to take some personal time,” Tim says instead of a salutation.

“Lord knows you’ve stashed up enough of it. Where are you going?”

“To see someone I should’ve visited a long time ago.”

“You did the right thing, Tim. Take your time and know we’re here for you when you get back.”

Tim ends the call, then texts his sister that he’s taking her advice. He hasn’t been home to his mom’s house in years, and he needs her, needs space from his family and his station, and needs to work through the events of the week on his own. Though he isn’t sure if he’s welcome or if his mother's new home will feel the same as it did fifteen years ago, Tim gets in his truck and drives toward the last place he felt at home.

Your evening walk is refreshing, and the sunset helps you focus on the beauty of the day as you wind down.

“Sweetheart!” your neighbor calls, waving from her porch.

“Mrs. Bradford,” you greet with a smile as you step onto her walkway. “How are you today?”

“Good, good. Talked to Genny earlier, she’s visiting Tim.”

You smile and nod, unwilling to touch the sensitive subject of Tim. Growing up with him, you saw the worst parts of his childhood, home life, and father, but that never added up to you. He ran away from his mother, from love and home just to outrun bad memories. A task you know to be impossible.

“How was your book?” you ask, moving away from Mrs. Bradford’s stressful family life. “Did you finish it last night?”

“I did. You were right, the twist at the end was a shock. I thought the vigilante did it!”

“Interesting,” you muse. “I was torn between him and the builder.”

Mrs. Bradford hums before her oven beeps.

“You take care of that,” you say as you wrap your arms over her shoulders in a quick hug. “We’ll talk about the book and start the sequel on Saturday?”

“Count on it. Have a good night!”

“You too!”

Headlights reflect off your front door as you push it open, but you don’t bother to turn around and see who it is. Two of your neighbors get home around this time, and there aren’t many visitors or tourists in your area. So, when you’re closing the curtains and notice an unfamiliar truck in Mrs. Bradford’s driveway, you decide to watch and ensure everything is okay.

“Tim!” Mrs. Bradford calls excitedly as the driver’s door opens. She rushes out and pulls him into a hug, and from the way he grips her and buries his face against her shoulder like he’s eight again, you know that this isn’t just a sorry I stopped calling, Mom visit. Something happened and that’s the only reason he’s home.

“Welcome home, Tim,” you whisper before you pull the curtains together and put the distance you’re used to back between you and Tim.

You kneel by your front door to tie your shoes. Then you untie them and loop the laces differently. Knowing that Tim Bradford is next door makes you hesitate to go outside. Yet, you don’t want to let him impact your life more than he already has. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that his mother already told him about your downward spiral, how you fell apart when he left without so much as a word. As a kid, you fell in love with Tim Bradford, and you stayed in love with the idea of him in high school. Then, when he disappeared without a word or trace, and you only found out that he was a cop for the LAPD through his sister, you decided that the idea of him was as good as you would ever get.

“You can do this,” you tell yourself as you stand and lay your hand on the doorknob. “It’s just the man who has occupied your every thought for years. Just walk by.”

The magnitude of your mistake hits you in full force when you’re nearly past Mrs. Bradford’s fence. Tim says your name and your heart clenches at the realization that you remembered his voice so well. Years of hearing it in your dreams will preserve your memory like that.

“Tim,” you reply, swallowing as you face him. “I didn’t know you were coming home.”

“It wasn’t exactly the plan. Genny showed up and everything just kind of blew up in my face.”

Kind of like what you put me through, you think. Rather than saying it, you nod sympathetically.

“Did my mom… did she tell you about my dad?”

“Tim, your mom tells me a lot. But no one close to your mom has brought him up in years.”

“Wish my sister had gotten that message,” Tim scoffs.

“I hope you enjoy the time with your mom,” you interrupt. “But I’ve got to get going.”

“Right,” Tim agrees. “I’ll see you around.”

You nod but feel your chest tighten as you hope he’s wrong. Losing Tim Bradford again is not an option, so you refuse to let him closer than he needs to be.

“I didn’t know she moved with you, still lived next door,” Tim muses as his mother ushers him inside for breakfast.

“You don’t know much,” she points out, not unkindly but not untrue. “She knows more than you. I’ve told her everything Genny passed along. You were so close as kids.”

“Yeah,” Tim agrees before he trails off. He remembers being friends, but not the kind of friends that would ask about each other. “I don’t think she wants to talk to me.”

“Well, you can hardly blame her.”

“What does that mean?”

Tim’s mother looks at him and presses her lips together. He has her eyes, but he doesn’t have her understanding or the intuition about people she tried to instill in him when his father wasn’t trying to teach him to be a man.

“If you can’t see it, Tim, it’s too late to explain it. She’s coming over for lunch and our duet book club tomorrow. You have thirty hours to read the book if you want to participate.”

“Thank you for letting me come home, Mom.”

She lays her hand on Tim’s shoulder and promises, “You’re always welcome here, Timothy.”

You knock on Mrs. Bradford’s door while Tim’s truck is gone. With one of her signature ceramic loaf pans in your hands, filled with your favorite cookies, you wait for the door to open to return her dish and offer some goodies.

“Sorry to…” you begin as the door opens. “Oh, Tim. Sorry, your truck was gone so I assumed your mom would be here.”

“She borrowed my truck to do something that she refused to have help for. Come on in.”

Tim opens the door for you, and for reasons beyond your comprehension, you accept his invitation and walk inside. After you set the pan on the counter, you turn around to leave, but Tim is leaning against the table and watching you.

“Enjoying your time off?” you question, wringing your fingers together behind your back.

“I am. Especially after the last case I worked on,” Tim answers. “My mom hasn’t told me much about you.”

You hum and look at your feet as you reply, “Not much to tell.”

“She seems to tell you a lot.”

“Look, Tim, I’m just trying to respect your boundaries. She told me that your dad was involved in something, a murder, but it’s not my business.”

“Frank Ochoa,” Tim interjects.

You furrow your brows as you ask, “Monica’s husband? But that was a robbery.”

Tim tilts his head to the side as he says, “My dad admitted to killing him. He was protecting Monica.”

You pull your bottom lip between your teeth and nod.

“But you knew that, didn’t you?”

“What?”

Tim stands from the table, his crossed arms falling to his sides. “You knew something and didn’t tell anybody, didn’t you?”

“Tim, I-“

“Look, I’ve been lied to by too many people this week. You still have the same tell you did in elementary school. What did you know?”

You clench your jaw and step to the right to go around Tim, but he moves to block you, and rather than running into his chest, you retreat further into Mrs. Bradford’s kitchen.

“This case – the people there – have been lied to, we’ve been wrong, there’s been no justice for decades. And you’ve known something the whole time? How can you live with that?”

“How can I live with it?” you repeat incredulously. “How was I – a child, Tim – supposed to go to the police and tell them that I saw Frank beating Monica over and over? They wouldn’t have believed me!”

“You didn’t try!”

“Yes, I did!” you yell. Wiping the single tear that managed to escape in your memories of the only time you tried to help your neighbors, you lose some of your fight.

“Doesn’t seem like you tried very hard,” Tim adds under his breath.

You laugh once and shake your head. “I told the police your dad was beating you, Tim. You know what happened? They came and asked him about it. He denied everything. After they left, he took you out into the backyard and demanded to know who you told. So, see if you can wrap your cop brain about why I was scared to tell on someone else.”

“I didn’t know you-“

“You didn’t know anything, Tim.”

Tim scoffs and argues, “Oh and you know so much about who I am now because of what my sister tells my mom?”

“At least I talk to your mom, Tim,” you snap. Immediately, you regret it. “I’m sorry,” you offer.

“I couldn’t,” Tim defends.

“Did you try?”

Tim’s truck rumbles as his mother returns from the store, and you hold Tim’s stare until the engine shuts off.

“Can I leave now, or do you want to blame me for something else?”

Tim steps back and opens his mouth, but you storm past him before he can say anything else. You return to your house after you hug Mrs. Bradford and tell her about the cookies. The idea of Tim Bradford that you’ve clung to since childhood is growing fuzzy around the edges, and alone in your house, you cry over what he told you today, the mistakes you made, and the loss of the Tim you were born to love.

Someone knocks on your door the following morning, and you stare at it rather than walking toward it.

“Sweetheart, it’s me,” Mrs. Bradford calls.

With a sigh, you stand and invite her in, not caring if she notices your teary eyes or unusual attitude.

“I thought you might want someone to talk to. Somewhere away from my son,” she explains as she leads you to your dining table. “So, I brought food and company. Choose what you want.”

“It’s not just Tim,” you explain. “I mean… he was right, but it’s different.”

“Different than when you fell in love with him?” she guesses.

You look up at her, wide-eyed at her question. She smiles and gestures for you to continue.

“I’ve been dreaming about him coming back, thinking that we could pick up where we left off, but he’s nothing like what I remember.”

“Time will do that,” she soothes, taking your hand over the table.

“It didn’t do it to me.”

“Sweetheart… you didn’t let it. I love you, you know that, but you cling so tightly to the past, to the familiar, that you haven’t allowed yourself to adapt to the beauty of the growth and changes around you. Haven’t even let yourself show the woman you’ve become.”

You lick your lips before sniffling and asking, “What if I don’t like it?”

“But what if you thrive in it?”

Wiping the back of your free hand across your face, you clear your tears and nod. You know that Mrs. Bradford is right, but you also know that there will be pain in the beauty when you choose to move forward.

“Does he hate me?” you whisper.

“Timothy? I don’t think he could ever hate you.”

“He can sure blame me for a lot, though,” you point out with a wet laugh.

“Beating himself up over that at the moment, if you’re wondering. And, when you’re ready to talk to him, maybe you should try getting to know who he is today.”

You nod and pull a homemade candy from her special-made meal. “Thank you.”

“Anytime. Now, are we going to keep crying over silly boys or try to solve a murder mystery on a pioneer plantation?”

Dressed in your favorite outfit, you shift from foot to foot on Mrs. Bradford’s porch as you try to get your courage up. Just as you lift your hand to knock, a throat clears behind you. You spin around quickly, then release a breath and press your hand over your racing heart.

“You could have told me you were back there sooner,” you point out softly.

“I wanted to see where this was going,” Tim answers, closing his tailgate. “Listen, about the other day-“

You raise your hand to silence Tim and shake your hand. “I came over here to talk to you. About more than that. Do you maybe want to go somewhere to do that?”

Tim nods and opens the passenger door of his truck, offering his hand as he helps you in without a word. The drive to the local high school football field is quick but silent, and when you exit the truck and join Tim on the tailgate to watch the sunset, you take a shaky breath.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that with your dad, the house, Frank, all that,” you begin. “But I’m sorrier that I didn’t do more back then.”

Tim nods and says, “You were right. They wouldn’t have listened, or it would’ve spooked my dad and made everything worse.”

“I guess we’ll never know.” You look at Tim’s profile and ask, “Are you okay?”

“No,” he admits without hesitation. “My dad was protecting Monica. He never did anything to protect us, but his mistress – broke half a dozen laws for her.”

“I knew that, too,” you whisper. “My mom made me stop sitting by the door after that year, which was probably a good thing. Uhm, are they going to prosecute your dad?”

“No. Not on his death bad. But it doesn’t matter. He’ll get judged soon enough.”

You nod, your eyes still on Tim rather than the pink sunset before you. His eyes have teared up, and everything inside of you begs for you to just let go.

“Tim, you’re nothing like him. You know that, right?”

Tim nods a tiny movement that breaks your heart. This isn’t the Tim you remember, not the Tim from elementary school or the one who was punished for your ill-conceived attempt to help. Most importantly, you realize, this isn’t the Tim you’ve dreamed of loving. Tim Bradford, the man before you, is who you can love, want to love, and desperately, wholly, devastatingly need to love.

With a deep breath, you release everything you’ve been holding onto. Your grip on your dreams, on your memory of Tim and what you thought you wanted, and the moment that trapped you in your position of being terrified to do the wrong thing in your efforts to do good weakens, and you feel like a flower in bloom. Everything seems new, the possibilities are endless, and you’re a new person who isn’t afraid to do right, even when it terrifies you and carries the potential to break your heart.

“Tim,” you whisper.

He turns toward you, drawn by the tone in your voice, and blinks past his tears. You shift on his tailgate and raise your arms toward his shoulders. Tim leans forward and meets you halfway, pulling you into his lap as you collapse into a hug that heals the broken edges of who you are. With Tim’s arms against your back and waist, you feel more at home than ever, and he feels the same. His mother’s house was never the home he was returning to, but a pursuit for this feeling, right in your arms.

“I’m so sorry,” you murmur against his shoulder.

He shakes his head, tightening his grip on you, and this version of you - unafraid, complete in Tim Bradford’s arms - is ready to thrive. You won’t heal overnight; neither of you will, but it’s a start.

His phone buzzes in his pocket, and Tim laughs against your neck before he pulls back gently to retrieve his phone from his pocket.

“My mom,” he tells you. “If you haven’t kissed her yet, what are you waiting for? Another set of wrinkles?”

You fail to stop the laugh that escapes at Mrs. Bradford’s bluntness. Then, you realize how glad you are that he’s reading her text messages.

“Well?” you ask. “Should we kiss or wait for more wrinkles?”

Tim pushes a stray hair out of your face and promises, “None of it was your fault.”

You nod and thank him, then brush your thumbs against his cheeks. “Last time we were on a field together, it was raining. I also wanted you to kiss me then.”

“You never told me.”

“How was I supposed to tell you that, Tim?” you ask. “I… I was caught up in an idea of who we could be, and I was scared to ruin it by doing something new.”

“And now?”

Rather than asking for what you want, you take it as you lean forward and kiss Tim. One of his hands moves to the back of your neck, and the first raindrop feels suspiciously like a teardrop as it runs down your face and onto Tim’s. You laugh as you run toward the truck doors, thunder rumbling as a storm approaches from the west. In the truck with Tim, you find yourself face-to-face with a better version of the dream life you craved in Tim’s absence.

Bonus:

“Get inside, it’s going to start raining again!” Mrs. Bradford calls from the kitchen when she hears the door open. “Don’t need you catching a cold on your time off, Timothy.”

You press your lips together and smile at Tim, who is drenched after offering you his jacket to hold over your head in a poor attempt to stay somewhat dry.

“She’s going to mother you, too,” he points out.

“Hey, I’m used to it,” you reply. “Like it, even.”

“Oh, dear,” Mrs. Bradford murmurs as she appears in the doorway. “Go get dried off and change, Tim.”

After he disappears into his room, Mrs. Bradford offers you a towel and a change of clothes. She smiles as she leans in and says, “Flowers that thrive need plenty of rain to grow, you know.”

[cherrycola27]

daylight

Series Warnings: Mature Content 18+. Language, drinking, and allusions to smut. Eventuallyfull smut. Military inaccuracies. Minors DNI. Banner Credit @thedroneranger

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...........................................

Chapter 3: Wounded the Good (Trusted the Wicked)

It had been just over a month since you'd come back into Bradley's life, and he still couldn't figure you out You weren't mean to him, per se, but the friendship the two of you had all those years ago was no longer there.

You didn't go out of your way to speak to him. You barely acknowledged him at work or when you were out with friends. And when he asked you a question, your answer was never more than a few words.

He thought maybe you were mad at him over the situation with Kat. But you didn't have a right to be mad at him for moving on. You left him. He just didn't understand

But Bradley did have a sneaking suspension that the box of letters Mav had dropped off to him the first night you came back might shine some light on your feelings. Bradley realized after a week or so that you'd probably brought it to give to him. That you'd kept it your whole deployment and how when he told Kat you were just a friend that it probably broke your heart

He also knew that you weren't aware he had the box. How could you know? As far as you were concerned, the letters were in the dump by now. Bradley had worked hard to keep the intrusive thoughts about reading those letters out of his mind But, as he sat on his couch with his third beer in hand, still frustrated about the talk he and Kat had about her moving in, again, he couldn't stop thinking about them.

So, Bradley let the intrusive thoughts win. He marched upstairs and unearthed the box from the pile of blankets and sheets it was under. He took it down to his living room and sat it on his coffee table before tracing his fingers over the painted designs and knickknacks that adorned it. He could picture you, sitting cross-legged on the floor of your bunk painting and gluing. He smiled at the thought of it.

Carefully, he undid the latch and admired the picture of the two of you taped to the inner lid. It was a blurry selfie of him kissing your cheek while you were laughing. It was taken on the beach at sunset. Both of you had rosy cheeks from the sun, and the wind was blowing the fine tendrils of your hair all around, but neither of your cared. It was the perfect photo of the two of you, well, of who the two of you used to be.

Bradley ran his hands over the papers in the box. There were hundreds of them. He wasn't sure where to start, but as he pulled the first envelope from the front, he saw the date in the upper right corner. It was from just about a week after you'd been deployed. Upon further investigation, Bradley noticed that the rest were dated and in order. Of course, you would be that organized. He took a deep breath and opened the envelope, and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper. Your neatly looped cursive covered the page.

My Dearest, Bradley,

I wanted to start this letter by saying l'm sorry. l'm sorry for leaving you in our house, in our bed. The truth is, I didn't think I could face you in the morning to tell you goodbye. Because I felt like telling you goodbye meant that we were really over, and that's not what I wanted.

Second, I wanted to say how crazy it is that I'm writing you this letter knowing you'll probably never read it. I can't tell you much about this mission other than it is highly top secret, and we can't have contact with the outside world unless it's an extreme emergency. Unfortunately, missing your fiancée, well, ex-fiancée, doesn't count as one.

But honestly, I'm writing this letter because I miss you. It's been one week since l've talked to you, and I miss you. I miss your smile and your laugh, and your voice. I miss your hugs and your kisses and your sweet disposition, Bradley.

I know that I can't send this letter to you, but in a way, writing it helps me cope with the fact that you aren't here. It helps me feel like l'm talking to you, and it makes this carrier a little less lonely. I don't know how I'm going to go five years without seeing you, but I can't wait to step onto the San Diego sand and see you again.

Maybe I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I hope that I'm going to see you again, Bradley. But l've heard things about this mission, and I know it's dangerous more dangerous than anything we've done before. It's the kind of mission that people whisper about in corners. The kind that makes you think someone isn't going to make it back. I hope that isn't true. I hope I make it back to you, Bradley. But if I don't, I hope this letter, and any other ones that I write to you make it to you. So you have a piece of me to hold onto forever.

I carry a piece of you with me everywhere. Your challenge coin lives in the pocket above my heart in my flight suit. I never fly without it. I like to think it brings me good luck. When I'm in the air and I have it with me, it's almost like I can hear your voice in my comms. I also keep my bracelet with me. I wear it every chance I get, and when I can't. It's tucked away in my bra to keep you close to me.

Bradley pauses as his hand automatically reaches for the chain under his shirt. The one that matches your bracelet. He wonders if you still have it, if you still have his coin too. He runs his fingers over the metal, soothing himself.

He keeps reading.

I hope you aren't angry with me, Bradley. I know it must have broken your heart to wake up without me. But I hope you understand why I did what I did. I hope you know that I never meant to hurt you and that I still love you. I'l| always love you. You are the first person I've ever really truly loved, Bradley.

I know this distance is hard for us. And I know it's wrong of me to want it. But I hope that when I come back, we can pick up where we left off.

I'll write again soon.

Love Always, Your Birdie

Bradley's breath catches in his throat as a few hot tears sting his waterline and drop onto the page. He quickly wipes them away, afraid of damaging your words. Everything made since now.

In the years that you were gone, you'd never stopped loving him, wanting him, longing for him. God, he felt like such an ass now. He quickly put the first letter down and grabbed the next one.

Then another, then another. After a few more, sleep tried to creep into his eyes. So, Bradley went to his kitchen to start a pot off coffee. He poured himself a cup and read another letter and started a cycle.

Coffee, letter, repeat. He spent hours wrapped in your words until exhaustion forced him to fall asleep at his kitchen table.

A few hours later, he's jolted awake by the harsh sound of someone pounding on his door. "Bradshaw, open up. Are you alive? You missed the game!" He hears Jake yell from the other side.

Bradley jolts up from his table and scrambles to collect all of your letters that are scattered across his kitchen and living room. In his haste, he doesn't hear the rattle of the spare key the Daggers know he keeps under the potted plant next to his door turn in the lock.

"Bradshaw, what the fuck is going on in here?" Jake drawls out. Bradley turns to face him, papers in hand, and a deer in the head light look on his face.

"Uh—nothing." Bradley mumbles. "It doesn't look like nothing. What are these?" Jake asks as he grabs a stray letter from the coffee table.

"Don't touch them. They're mine!" Bradley snaps as he snatches the paper from Jake's hand. But it's too late, Jake knows that they are. "Are these letters from Birdie?" Jake questions him.

Bradley sighs, no point in denying it. "Yes, yes, they are. She wrote them to me on her covert deployment. There's hundreds of them. Mav found them in a box outside the Hard Deck near the dumpster."

"Because she was going to give them to you the night she returned, but you dropped the Kat bomb on her." Jake says as the pieces click into place.

"Yup." Bradley replies, popping the p.

"And I'm guessing Kat doesn't know about these?" Jake asks.

"She does not." Bradley says.

"Well— this—" Jake says as he gestures to the sight before him, "seems messy, and I'd rather not get involved, so good luck with whatever this is. I'll just text everyone that you were hungover and not dead," he finishes before turning on his heels and leaving Bradley alone.

...............

It's hard at first, finding your rhythm and your place amongst the Daggers again. But after a few weeks, you settle in.

It's Jake who asks you first about whether or not they will see you in a plane again, and you brush him off, claiming you're trying to get used to California time again. It pacifies the group, and no one really says anything else.

After a while, you seem to find your groove, and you fit back in with your group nicely. You find yourself going out with them more and more. And even though it hurts you to see Bradley with someone else, you can't be mean to Kat. She's so kind and genuine and always tells you how pretty you look.

A part of you feels bad for not telling her the truth about you and Bradley, but it's not your job to tell her. You just have to keep coming up with clever excuses as to why you can't come over every time she invites you to dinner.

You've officially been back for two months when Nat tells you that it's time to get back into the dating game. She tries to set you up with Bob, and he is sweet, but you remind her how well dating a coworker went for you last time. So instead, one Friday night, you find yourself sitting on the couch sharing a bottle of wine with her setting up your Hinge profile.

She flips through your photos, selecting a mix of ones that show you in a casual light alongside ones of you in your uniform, flight suit, and plane. You insisted that you didn't want to hide the fact that you were in the military.

Once your profile was set up, she helped you swipe until you got some matches. Then she helped you with some pick-up lines and conversation starters.

That's how you met Lucas. He was a few years younger than you, but he had his own place, an MBA, and worked in finance. He didn't mind that you were in the Navy. He actually thought it was cool.

Lucas was sweet and made you laugh, and after a few days of messaging on the app, you gave him your phone number. Two days later, he called you and asked you out on a date, and you agreed.

Thursday night, you pilfered through your closet to find the perfect outfit. Lucas is taking you to Dockside, a semi-upscale restaurant at the marina.

You flip through dresses before finding the perfect one. Unfortunately, when you try it on, it's not very compatible with your back brace. The material does little to hide the outline of it, and the dip in the back makes the top of it visible.

You pull off the garment and fling it to the floor before letting out a frustrated sigh. Ziva hops up and quickly retrieves it for you. You take the dress from her, and she sets her head in your lap, awaiting a few pets.

You take it from her and scratch her ears. You turn your attention back to the dress before deciding that you can go a few hours without your brace. What's the worst that could happen? You also decide that you could keep it and a sweater in your car, just in case.

You slip off your brace and try the dress back on. You double-check that the scars on your back aren't visible before taking it off and tucking it and your shoes and accessories into a garment bag.

Lucas is meeting you at 6:30, so by the time you get done for the day tomorrow, you won't have time to go home and change, so you decided to bring what you needed and get ready in your office.

.............

Bradley had set with the knowledge of your letters for a week. He hadn't read anymore since the very first night because he needed to process. He waited until the end of the day Friday to talk to you about them. That way, if he made an ass of himself, he wouldn't have to see you for two days.

He walked down the hallway and knocked on the door to your office. "Just a second!" Your voice chimed out. A few moments later, he heard the lock unlatch before the knob turned.

"Rooster." You said half-heartedly as you opened the door. "What can I do for you?"

Bradley stood there frozen at the sight before him. You had changed out of your uniform into a dress. A dress he knew very well. It was a golden yellow dress that reminded you of Andie's from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which is why you had to have it.

But that wasn't why he remembered it so well. It was the dress you were wearing when he proposed to you, and the one he took off of you before making love to you that night. The last time he saw it was on your—his bedroom floor.

"Um—you're dressed up." Bradley sputtered out.

"Yeah. I, I have a date." You say shyly, feeling the weight of Bradley's gaze on you. "What did you need?" You ask him.

"I—I can't remember. Where are you going? With who?" Bradley asks you, suddenly feeling a pang of jealousy run through him.

"His name is Lucas. We met on Hinge after Nat set me up a profile. I'm meeting him at Dockside in thirty minutes, so if you don't need anything, I need to go." You say to him with an aggravated tone.

"Oh, well, where is Ziva?" Bradley asks you.

"Not that it's really any of your business, but Uncle Beau took her home for me. Now, unless you have something pressing, I need to leave." You huff.

Bradley shakes his head. You grab your things and push past him to go to the parking lot. Once you're safely in your car, you take some ibuprofen to hopefully prevent any unbearable pain tonight.

Ten minutes after you leave, Bradley gets to his Bronco. He slides in before grabbing his phone.

"Hey, Kat. I'm sorry about last week. Let me make it up to you. Let me take you to Dockside tonight. I'll pick you up at 7:00." Bradley says before handing up the phone and heading home.

................

Lucas is sweet when you meet him. He brought you flowers and kept his hand at a respectable spot on your back as the host guided the two of you through the restaurant. He pulled out your chair for you with a smile.

You were grateful that the chairs here had a higher stiff back. It would make sitting without your brace more tolerable.

After ordering wine and looking over the menu, the two of you fell into a comfortable small talk. One glass of wine and the salad course later, you felt comfortable around him.

He was interested in your career and laughed at your jokes. This date was actually going well until the host brought a new couple to sit at the table next to you.

"Birdie?" A familiar voice called. You looked over and saw Kat and Bradley standing there. Heat burned in your cheeks.

"Birdie, what are you doing here?" Kat asked as she looked between you and Lucas. "I'm, I'm on a date." You said to her. She nodded before turning to the host and asking to move.

"Kat, they are super busy. This table is fine. I promise I'll be on my best behavior." Bradley says before sending her a wink. Reluctantly, Kat sits down.

When your entrées were served, you realized you'd been talking so much about yourself that you felt embarrassed.

Lucas laughed and told you it was fine before you started asking him questions about himself. You tried to listen intently, but every time Lucas talked about managing a hedge fund or getting his MBA from Georgetown, you couldn't ignore the not so subtle groans and scoffs from Bradley.

After one particularly loud scoff, Kat kicked Bradley under the table so hard that the silverware rattled.

By the time dessert rolled around, pain had blossomed in your spine. You felt like you were burning from the inside out. You quickly excused yourself to the bathroom to take some pain medication. You took a few deep breaths before reapplying your lipstick.

When you walked back to your table, you could see Kat glaring at Bradley, and you assumed that he had done something when you were in the bathroom.

"Sorry for taking so long. I just needed to freshen up." You apologized to Lucas. "It's fine. I hope you don't mind that I ordered the chocolate melting cake for dessert. I've heard it's incredible." Lucas said to you.

"No, that's fine. I love chocolate!" You told him earnestly. And Lucas was right. The dessert was amazing. At the end of the meal, he quickly swiped the bill before you could even look at it. You noticed that Bradley and Kat also had their bill, opting not to stay for dessert.

After paying and leaving a good tip, Lucas helped you up, which you definitely needed but didn't want to ask for, before walking you to your car.

As you crossed the parking lot, you could hear the hushed whispers of a couple arguing. You turned to see Bradley and Kat in a spat. Surely, the result of his less than stellar behavior.

You don't know why he acted that way. You'd been more than civil to Kat at the various outings that the two of you had been at. He had no right to try and ruin your date.

You shook the thought of him from your head as you stopped beside your car. Lucas gave you a polite goodnight kiss before he opened your car door for you and made sure you got out of the parking lot alright.

When you finally made it home, you immediately ran inside and collapsed on your bed before grabbing your prescription pain medication and taking it.

Ziva came and rested beside you, waiting to assist you if needed, but you feel asleep before you could do anything else.

..................

Monday morning, you were fuming when you came into the work. You had time to recover over the weekend and really think about what Bradley had done.

You told him where you were going, and he purposely came to the restaurant to spy on you and your date. Where did he get off on that? You'd never done anything negative towards him and Kat. You'd always been civil to her. It's not like Bradley could be mad at you for doing exactly what he did. You had got to work early, and you clocked him coming down the hall a few minutes after you.

"Rooster!" You shouted at him. You could see the panic flash across his face before he quickly walked towards you.

"Yes?" He asked, feigning innocence.

You grabbed him by his collar and dragged him into your office.

"What the fuck is your problem?" You say as you haul him inside. "Excuse me?" He asks you.

"You heard me! You brought Kat to Dockside to sabotage my date. You were jealous that I was going out!" You yell.

"I did not. We had a fight earlier that week, and I had already planned this. It was just a coincidence that we happened to show up and be sat next to you. Honestly." Bradley defends himself.

"I don't believe you!" You tell him. "You don't like the fact that I went out on a date. Just admit it. The idea if me moving on bothers you. Which isn't fair because you moved on and got yourself a whole-ass new fiancée!" You scream at him.

"Leave Kat out of this." Bradley bites back.

"You didn't." You retort. "I mean, seriously, what is your problem?"

"I don't have a problem!" Bradley argues with you.

"Yes, you do! Lucas is a great guy, and all you did was scoff and make snide comments about him!" You say as you poke Bradley's chest.

"He's about as interesting as watching paint dry." Bradley rolls his eyes.

"Well, at least he was communicating with me." You cross your arms over your chest.

"Fine! Do you want to know what my issue was? It was your dress. You wore that fucking yellow dress. It was the same one you were wearing when I proposed to you!" Bradley throws his hand up in defeat.

You narrow your eyes at him. "Well, I am so sorry about that. Next time I wear something that you proposed to me in, I'll make sure Lucas is the only one who sees it. Now get out!" You state before opening the door and slamming it behind him.

A few hours later, there is a knock on your door. You aren't expecting anyone, and you're even more shocked to find that it's Kat on the other side.

"Kat. Did you get lost looking for Rooster?" You ask her. "No. I—I came to see you, actually." She admits.

You hesitate for a moment before inviting her in.

"I came here to apologize for Bradley's behavior this weekend." She says to you earnestly. "It's fine. Really." You tell her.

"No, it isn't. I don't know what his problem was." Kat says.

"Rooster was my wingman for years. When you spend a bunch of time with someone and go on deployments, you get—close." You trail off. Kat quirks an eyebrow at you.

"Like siblings." You finished quickly. "Rooster is like a brother to me. He just—wants what's best for me." You sigh.

"Well, it doesn't give him an excuse to act like a dick." Kat says. You laugh at her comment. "But seriously. I'm so sorry for how he acted. I hope he didn't ruin anything for you."

"No, he didn't. Lucas and I are going out again on Wednesday." You tell her with a smile.

"Good. I'm glad. He seemed nice." Kat smiles back at you.

"Also, Birdie, I was hoping that I could make it up to you. I was thinking we could get brunch on Saturday?" Kat asks you.

"Kat, that's really sweet, but I don't think I can be around Rooster right now. I'm still mad at him." You tell her.

"No, I didn't mean with Bradley. I meant the two of us. Like a girls' date!" Kat chirps with hope in her eyes.

You want to turn her down, but she's got such a genuine smile on her face, and you can tell she's trying to be nice. "Okay. I guess we could do that." You say. She squeals before giving you a quick hug.

"Yay! I'll get your number from Bradley, and I'll text you the details!" She cheers before walking out. "Sounds great." You call down the hallway before shutting the door behind her.

At the sound of the door closing a little too hard, Ziva perks up from behind your desk and gives you a puzzling look.

"Oh, Zee. Brunch with my ex-fiancées current fiancée. What could go wrong?"

Taglist: @shanimallina87 @teacupsandtopgun @desert-fern @wkndwlff @roosterforme @daggerspare-standingby @dakotakazansky @startrekfangirl2233 @na-ta-sh-aa @katieshook02 @beyondthesefourwalls @je-suis-prest-rachel @soulmates8 @diorrfairy @eli2447 @xoxabs88xox @djs8891 @roosters-girl @rosiahills22 @dempy @callsign-magnolia @gretagerwigsmuse @lt-spork @seitmai @kmc1989 @bcarolinablr @itsdesiree86 @waywardhunter95 @whatislovevavy @inkandarsenic @mak-32 @dingochef @princess76179 @schoollover @cheyrenee @sebsxphia @sylviebell @marvelouslyme96 @intrinsicreader @maverick-wingman-favorites @khaylin27 @toomuchfluffs

[stariekis]

EP 6 . the meeting (2) — note ¹ : the second part is finally here ~ and ou this is getting serious 🫷🏻our y/nwon are making MOVES ? we surely know that they are down bad for each other your honor ☝🏻 n e waysss my loves enjoy the episode <3 reblogs and feedback is welcomed ):

Jungwon returned to the backyard where the other boys where. Jay, Sunoo and Sunghoon were sitting on the porch while Jake, Riki and Heeseung where just messing around.

— 'Who was it buddy ?' Jay asked, jungwon's heart was still beating pretty fast as he sat on one of the chairs. — 'One of your sister's friend, they are now in her room' Jay nodded his head and looked at his phone again.

— 'Well Jungwon tell us' Jake approached the place where the other one where, Riki and Heeseung following after him. Jungwon looked at them confused — 'About the girl'

It is the right time to tell the boys that the girl from his university ? He wanted to but if he did they boys would probably tease him for the rest of the day.

— 'What about her ? It's just a girl i saw at uni nothing more' He answered playing with the ring on his finger while looking at his friends.

— 'Why are you so nervous then ?' Riki asked looking at Jungwon's hand playing nervously with the silver hoop. He stopped right after.

— 'You guys will never leave me alone won't you' All his friends smiled at him, the answer was obviously a no.

While the boys where talking in the backyard, the girls where having their own conversation in Yunah's room.

— 'This is the perfect opportunity y/n please let us help' Minji said while you were laying on the bed with your head hidden under the pillows. — 'You guys knew it and didn't tell me that's so mean'.

— 'But now we all know so we can help' Hanni said — 'Yunah ask your brother if we can hang out with them please' she added. You got up as quickly as possible looking at your friends with open eyes and tense jaw, Yunah on the other hand has a smirk plastered on her face.

She then started running downstairs, you and your friends running after her.

She opened the door that leads to the back yard, her brother and his friends looked at her with a shocked expression. — 'Slow down big girl, what do you want' Jay asked — 'Can we stay here for a bit with you guys?' Jay looked weirdly at his sister, she never asked him something like that before. But he didn't actually mind at all so he looked at his friends searching for their approval, all of them nodded their heads at the idea.

Jungwon and you, on the other hand, were a complete nervous wreck. Your eyes met and you smiled at him, the same way you always do whenever you are around him, trying to look relax and calm. Even though you weren't at all.

You and your friends stepped out of the house. All of them took all the empty seats, leaving the only one right next to Jungwon on purpose, they had a smirk plastered on their faces. You stood there, not completely sure if you wanted to sit there or run away once again — 'You can sit there, he doesn't bite i swear' one of Jay's friends, a tall and blonde boy, said. You giggled a bit at his comment.

You approach him and sat right next to him. The chair was pretty small, your and his knees were brushing against each other from time to time. You swear to good that you could pass out at that exact moment.

As everyone started talking with each other you and Jungwon just sat there, waiting for the other to start a conversation or not.

— 'The sky looks pretty today don't your think ?' You heard him asking, turning your head towards him and, when you saw his side profile looking at the sky, you looked up right away.

— 'It is really pretty yeah' Looking at the different colors of the sunset your smiled. What you didn't notice was that Jungwon stopped looking at the sky some time ago, his eyes were all over you now with a smile on his face.

After that the rest of the day continued perfectly. Jungwon and you talked a bit more and it wasn't awkward at all, finding out how similar you two actually were and how much you both have in common.

But, even though minutes ago you where wishing for the day to end, when you had to go back home you felt actually sad about it.

Hanni and Minji already left leaving you, Minju and Moka with the boys. — 'It was nice meeting you guys, you are actually fun to be around' Moka said with a sweet smile on her lips as she took Minju's hand in hers. — 'We should do this more often' she added.

— 'I don't know if i want to hang out with my brother more so we'll talk about that' Yunah stood right by their side. You got up from your seat, Jungwon had his eyes on you all the time and, when you made eye contact with him for the last time, he smiled and waved his hand. You returned the smile and followed your friends that were already going to the front door of the house.

Jungwon let out the biggest sigh ever. — 'Why were you so tense Wonie ?' Riki pointed out. Because he always gets this nervous everytime you were around.

— 'He is scared of women just like you Riki' Sunoo answered, and a whole new conversation started because of that. Jungwon thanked Sunoo on his mind for changing the topic.

He couldn't stop thinking about you for the rest of the day, he went to bed with your sweet smile plastered on his mind. And you were in a similar situation, the softness of his voice and the way your hands brushed against each other from time to time had your mind spinning.

previous — masterlist. — next

tag list (open.) : @wanderers-archive @ikeuizm @wonryllis @iheartjayke @lilacnini @isabellah29 @wwonwonism @bywons @jaeyunluvr @nishislcve @jiamini @ramenoil @copyhanni @ilovejungwonandhaechan @qaifiya @grah127 @dokidokior @sophi-eee

[fishsticksloser]

Hi if it’s cool I have a small request.

Could you write something where the reader hangs out one of the brothers (not the turtles they like). The brother then asks them to marry the turtle they like because he wants the reader as his sister

Eyes Wide Open

Mikey + fem!reader & Donnie x fem!reader

Warnings: mutual pinning, mentions of marriage, fluff, a sliver of angst, aged up, no tcest!!!!

A/N: I have no clue if this is what you had in mind, but I read your request and immediately thought Mikey. Mikey is so cute, he's such a genuinely sweet guy 🧡 I will write with all different turtles (ie talk to Leo -> marry Raph, etc.)

Leo | Raph | Mikey

You and Mikey sat on the ledge of a building, legs dangling off the side. You used to be scared doing that, you'd even panic when one of the boys did it, but it didn't bother you anymore.

You and Mikey swung your legs, just talking. About anything and everything. You hadn't been around in a while and Mikey was catching you up on everything you missed. Now you sat in a comfortable silence, watching the sunset.

"I want you to be my sister." Mikey suddenly says.

"I thought I was?" You laugh.

"No... I mean..." Mikey sighs. "We've known April for about 14 years. We've known you for about 2."

"Okay..?"

"You should marry Donnie."

"W-What!?"

"Then you'd be my sister."

"Mikey, I'm not just going to marry Donnie." Your heart was pounding in your ears. Had you really made it that obvious that you liked Donnie? "I don't think either of us would just run off and get married."

"I've seen how you look at him." Mikey continues. "I think you should do something about it."

Mikey doesn't let you answer, bidding you goodnight and heading back down to the lair.

Maybe you should say something... What's the worst that could happen, right? But this is Donnie you're talking about... He has to keep his 'emotionally unavailable bad boy' image up. Dating doesn't really fit into that.

You chose not to think about it anymore and went home. But as you laid in bed you continued to think about it. What was the real worst case scenario. Donnie wasn't the type to publicly humiliate you, so there wasn't really a fear of that. Would he tell his brothers though? How would they react?

What was the best scenario? He said yes... Right? Then you eventually run off and get married like Mickey wanted. That was the best case scenario, but like that would ever happen...

A few days later, you head to the lair. Even if Donnie didn't feel the same way, he still deserved to know and you needed this weight off your shoulders.

"Hey!" Leo smiles. "It's been a while! How are you?"

"Uh, good." You answer. "Where's Don?"

"In his lab like always." Raph answers.

You head to Donnie's lab, the door was shut so you knocked. You couldn't hear anything, but the door started to open. You slipped inside, seeing Donnie hunched over his desk like a shrimp. It wasn't unusual for you to hang around the lab, you actually quite enjoyed just being around Donnie.

"Hi, Donnie." You say, sitting in the chair next to him.

"Hey, y/n." He smiles, fiddling with some screws, goggles down. "I've kind of missed my lab partner."

"Sorry I've been gone so long." You laugh. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"Of course, go on." He continues to fiddle, it was a tad irritating.

"It's kind of important..." You press.

"Oh, okay." Donnie sets down his tools and lifts his goggles. He spins to face you, pulling his legs up, sitting cross-legged. He studied your face, waiting for you to talk. He noticed the hesitance. "Oh... This is really serious..."

He didn't like serious talks. Serious talks tend to be emotional and he's not equipped with the tools to deal with that. Maybe he should tell you to talk to Mikey, but... You came to him...

"Donnie..." You took a deep breath, wringing your hands. "I talked with Mikey a few days ago... And he told me that I should be honest with you."

"H-Honest?" Donnie questions. "I didn't know you lied to me in the first place..."

"I haven't lied... Per say... I just haven't told you."

"Oh."

You avoided his eyes, hoping that it would be easier to say, but it wasn't. He was staring so intently, concerned about what you were hiding. You were his best friend, he thought that you'd come to him if things weren't going well... If you weren't doing well.

"Don... I..." He watched you panic a little before shaking your head. "This is stupid... I shouldn't have listened to Mikey. I'm sorry for wasting your time."

"Are you sure?" Donnie asks. "I really don't mind, I'm just working on something fun... You seem like you really want to say something..."

"It's not that important..." You quickly retreat. You rush past the other turtles, not even saying goodbye.

"What happened?" Raph stood to follow you as Donnie rushed in.

"I-I don't know." Donnie answered. "She said she had something important to tell me then ran off before saying it... But she did say she talked to Mikey about it..."

All 3 of them turn to Mikey. Mikey shrinks into his chair.

"What did you say to her?" Leo asks.

"I just told her that she should do something!" Mikey squeaks.

"What did you tell her to do?"

"I-I... I told her that I wanted her to be my sister... Legally and everything you know... And I told her to do something about it."

"Hold on..." Leo stops Mikey's rambling. "You basically told her to admit she has feelings for one of us and she went to Donnie?"

"Are you saying y/n has a crush on Donnie?" Raph demands.

Mikey didn't answer. Donnie was frozen. That's what you were trying to tell him? Was it really that hard to talk to him? Donnie left the room. He needed to think.

"Now look what you did..." Mikey waves his hand towards the direction Donnie left in. "Now you've upset Donnie..."

Donnie was upset, but not because he found out from Mikey. But because he was so stupid. Suddenly knowing you had a crush on him revealed all the indicators of it. The way you'd brush your hand against his arm, bumping knees during movie nights, how you almost always brought his favorite snacks when you came to visit. He was upset because he had feelings for you and he didn't think you shared those feelings. He let you touch his shell, he always had his battle shell off around you. He made you things, hoping they were useful to you. He always sat next to you during movie nights, letting you curl into him. And he had made a chair set to your lumbar settings for when you were in his lab.

He had to tell you.

Late that same night, he snuck out of the lair... Not that he had to sneak out, he's 23, he can do whatever he wants. Donnie made his way to your place and knocked on your door.

"Donnie!" You choked as you opened your door.

"Can I come in?" He asks. You nod, slightly dazed. "I wanted to talk to you... It's kind of important."

"Oh... Uh, y-yeah." You both walk to your kitchen. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"No..."

"Okay..."

"I don't know how to do this..." Donnie murmurs. "Mikey told me..."

"I'm sorry - I really wanted to tell you, but I just..."

"It's fine. I haven't been completely honest with you either."

"What do you mean?"

"Y/N... I like you so much..." Donnie groans, he looks at the counter, avoiding your eyes. He realized why you had run away, this was difficult.

"Donnie, you don't have to pretend for me... Or Mikey." You tell him. "I know I should've told you, but that doesn't mean you have to fake it to make me feel better."

"I'm not..." Donnie frowns. "I... I'm an idiot for not seeing it, but then again... You didn't notice either."

"Don-" It's not that you think he's lying, although that's part of it, you're just waiting for him to shut you down.

"Y/N, please." Donnie whispers. He walks towards you, taking your hands in his. "I like you. I should've said something a long time ago... We both should've... Maybe then we'd be married like Mikey wants."

You laughed. You couldn't help it. Donnie's eyes met yours, he was smiling too. He wasn't lying, his eyes spoke truth. So you stood on your toes and kissed him, softly. Donnie let go of your hands and placed one on your hip, the other on the back of your neck.

"We did it!" Mikey whispers. Leo, Raph, and Mikey were crouched outside your window, watching it all unfold.

"Congrats, Michael." Leo wraps his arm around Mikey's shoulders and pulls him closer.

[centralperkchenford]

Pre-relationship Chenford spend a sunset together and they are honest about their feelings ❤️✨️❤️

Pre-relationship Chenford spend a sunset together and they are honest about their feelings ❤️✨️❤️

When the sun goes down

Lucy’s not sure how she found herself in this position—one minute she was with Angela, Aaron, Tim and Nyla at the restaurant on the beach and the next it was just her and Tim.

“Did they really just leave?” Lucy asks him staring at the empty chairs in front of her. Tim looks next to him and then back at her.

“I guess so.” He replies. Lucy sighs and leans back in her chair. She had a feeling this was all part of their friends plan to finally get them to talk.

They had been avoiding each other since Vegas and while it was awkward she still cared about Tim even if they weren’t talking at the moment.

Aaron had invited Lucy to dinner, and she said yes. And then Angela, Nyla and Tim had shown up.

“I think we were set up.” Lucy says. Tim looks at her and his eyes are wide but curious. “I mean. We are at a romantic restaurant. Outside and the sun is about to set.” She gestures towards the sky where its shades of pink, orange and blue. It’s absolutely breathtaking, and she gets why Angela wanted to sit outside.

“There’s nothing romantic about the beach.” Tim says. “It’s a sure way to die because of that—” he gestures towards the ocean.

Lucy shoots him an amused look and wonders how he got away with dating a lifeguard that practically spent her life at the beach.

“You and your beach hold up.” Lucy says rolling her eyes.

“It’s not a hold up. It’s the truth.” Tim says but he looks out and Lucy sees a small smile on his face.

He looks back at her and his face drops a little. And there’s a long silence again, the kind that Lucy hates.

“Lucy.” Tim says. “Are you happy with Chris?” Lucy blinks at him a few times before she answers.

She broke up with Chris a week ago, around the same time Ashley apparently broke up with Tim. It wasn’t working out between them and Lucy didn’t really feel anything for Chris not like she felt it with Tim.

“I broke up with Chris.” Lucy says quietly. “Last week.” There’s a beat of silence and she looks out towards the ocean again.

The sun is getting lower and lower, the sky was even prettier than before.

“You did?” He asks. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Lucy says. “I didn’t—he wasn’t..” She pauses and shrugs and there’s another beat of silence.

“Can I ask you another question?” He asks. She nods her head and looks back over at him.

“Sure.”

“Did you really think it was just pretend in Vegas?” He asks. She swallows hard remembering the awkward moment in the hotel room.

“I—” She pauses. “I don’t know.” Tim’s face falls a little at that but then he nods.

“Okay.” He says sounding defeated. Lucy sucks in a breath.

“I was scared.” She says. “It was like you were throwing this at me and I didn’t know how to answer.”

Tim is quiet so she continues. “It wasn’t pretend to me not since the first kiss in my apartment and—” She pauses again. Deep breath in and out. “I’m sorry I lied.”

“So it wasn’t pretend to you?” Tim asks a smile appearing on his face. She shakes her head.

“It wasn’t pretend Tim.” She says. She glances towards the beach again and hears Tim stand up. She looks over at him and he has a smile on his face. “Come on.” He says. “You have Ben looking at the sunset since it started.”

She stands up too and follows Tim down to the beach, he doesn’t go far so she doesn’t either but it doesn’t matter because the whole sky is full of color as the sun sinks down below the horizon line.

“It’s pretty isn’t it?” She asks Tim and she doesn’t look at him.

“It’s beautiful.” He replies and she turns to see he’s not looking at the sunset but at her.

She smiles a little bit. “Yeah.”

“Hey.” He says and she turns to look at him. “Do you want to have dinner sometime?”

“Yeah.” She says. “I would.” The sun disappears and she looks up at Tim. It’s dark but she can still see him.

And maybe being set up wasn’t so bad after all.

[rayrayvan]

I ruined it

warning: Fluff, maybe a little bit of angst

Shuri x fem!reader

You were chitchatting with Okoye, Nakia, Ayo, and Aneka on one of the terraces of the palace when Shuri walked in and interrupted the chats.

You were expecting a kiss when all she did was smile at you, which you were taken aback by. “Okoye, Nakia, and Ayo I need to speak to you-“ And her gazed fall to you then resumed “privately” She finished and walked out. They all looked at you and saw the saddened emotion painted on your face ‘What did I do? Did I upset her? What does she need from them?-‘ Your thoughts were spiraling and all came to a halt when Aneka asked if you were fine, you didn’t even notice the three women were gone. “I’m fine” was all you said and run to the door, not knowing which direction you were headed. Aneka catches up since she’s sworn to protect you “Y/N wait up!” Until you both were out of the palace and out in the city.

“Why were acting like that a while ago Shuri?” Okoye spoke when they see a troubled Shuri “Did you do something wrong?” Nakia asked “If you mean cheating no, I’d rather kill myself than cheat Y/N. I love her so much and I won’t have you deny this.” Shuri was getting defensive “Then what is troubling you, My Queen?” Ayo asked finally. Shuri was hesitant for a moment, then reached into her pocket. She was holding an indigo velvet box that contained her mother’s ring, Nakia gasped and clasped Okoye’s arm too tightly which caused the general to yelp “Are you finally going to ask her?” Nakia asked her and all she received from Shuri was a nod and Nakia embraced her.

“When? How? Where?” Nakia asked again a little too excited “ When? Tonight, How? Planned a perfect date night, Where? Out in the balcony” Shuri asked as she too was excited and a little nervous because she was worried about how you react when she’s going to ask you a question. 

While the four women were planning the perfect engagement night, you were crying outside, sitting at a cliff, that oversees the beautiful sunset of Wakanda “I mean what did I do wrong? Was I to layback? Was I not enough? I don’t get why she’s ignoring me Aneka” After that last statement, you cried even much harder. Aneka was looking at you pitifully “No Y/N you’re the perfect person for the ruler of Wakanda. You’re perfect with each other since you fill each other’s differences” Aneka tried to cheer you up but your brain wasn’t functioning well to comprehend what she just said to you “What?” was the only word you can muster right now “You two are meant for each other because it’s simple, opposites attract. For example, when you’re the sunshine, she’s the moon in your life. She’s layback and you’re more of a sunshine person. That’s how both of you work” Aneka stretched out what she was trying to mean “Thank you” was all you said to her and turn her back to the sun that was finally setting.

Back in the palace, Shuri was trying to get a hold of you “Grio track Y/N” Shuri asked the AI “I’m afraid princess she’s at the cliff with Aneka” When Grio informed her, she didn’t hesitate and fly one of her inventions to get to you. 

When she finally reached you, she told Aneka to wait inside the ship to talk to you alone. “Sthandwa, let’s go back to the palace and it’s cold out here,” Shuri told you when she approached your hunched figure “No,” You told her firmly “No?” Shuri repeated “That’s right no” now you were standing so close to her but with her towering over you, she was becoming more intimidating you had to gain your confidence back and continued “No because why did you not greet me the way you always did? Why did you ignore me? Why did you look at me like you did something wrong? Why Shuri? Why?” You were agitated right now when she was not answering you “I’ll answer on the way home, right now let’s go home” Shuri also told you firmly “Answer me please because you know how I think, you know how wretched my mind works, I overthink things that lead me to shut down, you know all of this so please I’m begging you tell me your answers to the questions that are invading my mind and heart” You were practically sobbing, demanding the answers to all the questions that are rotting in your mind.

“You want to know my love?” She asked you  “I don’t need another question when I already asked you so to answer your question, yes I want to know,” You told her angrily. She sighed and kneeled on one knee “Now why are you kneeling, if this is your way of asking for my forgiveness, I assure you-“ You paused when she revealed a velvet box that contains her mother’s ring “Because I want to do this” was all she said “I want to ask you to be wife, be the one to tend grow old with, rule with me, be the person I wake up every day, be the mother of our children. The first time I woke up with you by my side got me thinking ‘wow I want to look at her face every day when I wake up. You are the only person to keep me sane and kept me grounded ever since the death of my mother and brother, you were there when no one was. So I’m asking you to be my wife, please Y/N” Shuri finished her speech and that made you cry even more. Tears were gushing out of your eyes and Shuri stood up because she might have said something wrong “What is wrong Sthandwa?” She asked you that made you even cry harder. “I ruined it” was all you said to her which left her questioning what you meant by ruining it “What do you ruin it, my love, what did you ruin?” She asked you and wrapped her arm around your waist to pull you closer and to wipe the tears “I ruined it by being stubborn, I know you  planned the perfect engagement night but I ruined it and I want you to ask me again in your planned destination because I ruined your surprise “ You told her which made her giggle at your antics “My love, nothing is ruined, I don’t care about the venue or where I wanted to propose, the importance is I have you by my side, proposing to you anywhere is great if you’re there” She told and leaned in to place her forehead to yours “So what’s your answer?” She asked again and you looked up to meet her eyes “Yes” and when you told her yes over and over again she lifted you off the ground and spun you around. She met your lips and kissed you passionately.

After you both broke the kiss you then shouted “Yes, I’m going to be your wife!” to which she shouted back “Yessss, I’m also going to be your wife!” Laughter and joy were evident on both your faces. You two walked to go back to the palace and you can’t wait to tell the others.

an additional scene in the palace

Aneka leaned closer to Ayo “Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked her wife “Because we know you’re not good at keeping secrets my love” Ayo kissed her forehead and walked away only to leave a baffled Aneka “What? I know how to, Ayo, wait for me my love” Aneka tried to catch up with her lover.

(I got the picture from Pinterest)

[shanksbaby]

Kuzan x reader - Bike date

it's your first date with Kuzan, the former admiral of the navy; he has been a friend of yours for a long time, although your friendship was not deep, after all Kuzan has always been aloof …. That's why you were surprised when he asked you out.

yes, many times you have observed his attempts to date a "very sexy lady with super big bazongas", but he has never asked you out, not even the first day he saw you behind the counter of the bar where you work . So you just thought he wasn't interested in that sense.

you had to admit that you had a few thoughts about him, about his full lips …. but you had never thought of him in a romantic sense, probably because you were already resigned to the idea that the ex admiral could never see you in that sense.

and instead…

now you find yourself with him on a bicycle ….. in the middle of the sea. You're sitting behind him, and your weapons are wrapped around his abs, so you can admire their hardness, so much so that it causes a slight blush on your face that you hope Kuzan doesn't see.

"Oh? Arara, are you blushing?" he says in his neutral tone mixed with a teasing smile. He glances briefly at you, then returns to looking at the ocean.

"Hmph" you simply answer looking away, admiring the ocean…You always liked it, you always dreamed of crossing it, but you never had the chance; you don't have a ship or a boat. And then you wouldn't know how to support yourself. " Kuzan-san, why you took me here? I'm not complaining, it's just that as a first date…it's quite unusual"

"You mentioned a while ago that your dream has always been to cross the ocean." he says casually as he continues pedaling across the orange-colored ocean due to the sunset.

" Y-your remembered?" you reoly blushing, surprised by his words " But how? You hardly rememeber words sometimes!" true, it often happened that Kuzan did not remember the words. At first you thought he had a serious problem then as you got to know him better you realized it was just his goofy personality.

he doesn't reply except with a chuckle, glancing at you briefly, and then returning to set his eyes on the horizon. After a handful of seconds he replies "It may not seem like it but I'm an attentive man, it hurts me a bit that you think me of that way" he says jokingly.

you look at him with an expression of amazement, none of the bar customers usually remembered what you said, they were all busy downing the cocktails you made them. You instinctively tighten your grip on his chest a little tighter, which elicits a grin from him.

"The sunset is really pretty...isn't it?"you ask him while posing your forehead on his back, watching the orange sun illuminating the ocean. "I'm envious of your chance to travel on the ocean. A bit weird but it's beatiful"

"I am glad that you are enjoying it, i was a bit worried that you didn't like it, that you would find terrifying" Kuzan is a very laid back guy, he doesn't seem to care about anything, or so you thought at the beginning, so much so that his attitude slightly irritated you, but in truth he's a warm hearted man.

"I'm surprised you have the energy to pedal, in short, you're not very energetic" you tell him jokingly, slightly loosening your grip on his chest and slightly spreading your legs while the ex admiral's pedaling gets slightly faster.

"Ouch" he replies with a mocking expression of hurt " I only use it as a means of transport only for short distances. I use Camael instead for the long one"

"Camael?" you ask not knowing what or who is this Camael which Kuzan talks about.

" Oh, the penguin" he answer casually, you wait a few seconds hoping he can explain further but as usual he doesn't expand on what he said, he simply throws you an amused look at your expression. Typical of him and his mysterious nature, tsk.

"Elaborate, mystery man"

" There is nothing to elaborate, Camael is just a big penguin who I use as means of transport " he shrugs " He is also my travel companion " your expression is dumbfounded, a penguin as traveler companion? That's strange…Well, this man has always been eccentric, so it shouldn't surprise you too much.

"How come I've never seen it? Everytime you come to the bar you are always alone"

"It's a bar, not a nice place for a penguin. Besides he likes more cold place" he replies in that neutral tone, but you can catch an amused tone behind his apparent indifference, by now you've gotten to know him well. You actually know a fraction of the person about him. he after all he is not one to open up very easily

"Right" you reply, and looks back to the sea "Well, i suppose that you are taking me somewhere, we aren't just standing in the ocean for no reason " 'or at least i hope so' you want to add but you stop talking.

"It's a surprise " and you groans, which causes a chuckle by Kuzan, the bastard knows your hate for the surprises. Your expression changes to a slight pout, but quickly a smile spreads across your face.

after about ten minutes you finally reach your destination, a small island, uninhabited except by some species of animals and insects. He places his bike next to a tree, and then gently takes your hand to accompany you to the exact spot.

on the lawn there is a bottle of good wine and a basket containing food, both placed on a tablecloth. Nothing special, but at the same time it was very romantic. Kuzan must have noticed your blush because another chuckle escapes him.

"Wow, I didn't make you so romantic….I thought you were more….I don't know-"

"Really, what is your opinion of me?" he asks jokingly, as he sits on the tablecloth resting on the grass and pats another part of the tablecloth with one hand, a clear invitation to sit down with him. "I am not good at these stuff, as you probably know already... Actually, I haven't had a proper date in ages" continue following your movements with his gaze as you sit next to him.

"Actually, I must say you are pretty good. I am impressed" while you slide your hand next to his, touching it, instinctively Kuzan covers yours with his big hand, "The night is really beautiful…It's always been fascinating for me"

in fact the sunset has now given way to a starry sky, from that position you can observe some constellations such as the crown of Berenice or the Dragon; all of which made the night even more romantic.

"Yeah it is beautiful" he replies and gazes at you, you realize it after a few seconds and in fact your cheeks turn red, highlighted by the light of the stars.Kuzan can look at that blush all night long and his gaze doesn't move but stays fixed on your face. For your part, even if you want to move it, there is a force that does not allow you to do it

little by little the former admiral approaches your face, opens his lips, closes his eyes, and then rests his lips on yours. Before making another move, he waits and gives you time to pull away if the kiss wasn't wanted. But you don't do it, rather you start deepening the kiss.

"My my, I didn't make you such a passionate man, Kuzan-san"

[thesupreme316]

Had It Coming Part 4!?!?!?!!

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING SO HERE IT IS

Had It Coming Part 4 (Christian Cage x Female Reader/Hook's Sister/Jack Perry's Ex):

Summary: It seems that you and Christian are going strong. But how does that sit with your ex-boyfriend, Jack Perry?

Word Count: 2.3K (Please accept as an apology for being so late)

Supreme Speaks: thank you guys so much for supporting this series and showing it love. it really means a lot to me. okay, I ain't gonna waste your time any longer. Here is the anticipated part four of this series (it has a dark portrayal of Jack, you don't have to read if you're uncomfortable). Please remember that you are loved and appreciated.

Warnings: DARK PORTRAYAL OF JACK (tw: obsessive, stalking, in the denial stage, borderline yandere vibes tbh), suggestive mentions, explicit language, proofread to the best of my abilities

Taglist: @hooks-martin @sheinthatfandom @triscillal @cassie0sstuff @hookerforhook @batzy-watzy @wwenhlimagines

It’s been 33 days since he saw you walk away from him with his former mentor and best friend.

And Jack is going crazy.

He legitimately lost it.

Everyone can see it on his face. But they can’t help him…they can only watch as he unravels and continues to ruin his own life. After seeing you run off in the sunset with Christian, Jack became uncharacteristically silent. He wouldn’t even talk to Anna, and when he did, it was screaming and placing blame on her. Anna, who truly wanted to help him, was broken up with before she could even do so. You found that out in the locker room as she was crying to Tay Melo, a sight that was so bittersweet for you to watch.

Jack would walk around the halls, bags under his eyes, genuine stress marrying his facial features, wearing all-black clothes, hair matted, and not utter a single word to anyone. It got so bad that Tony wouldn’t even put him on the screen. He would spend his evenings in the arenas sitting in a corner on top of boxes, just looking over your contact. His thumb would caress your face through the phone screen as his eyes lingered on the contact name “Sunshine.” He tried texting you, asking for you to come back. You never answered. For some reason, he thought changing your name and breaking up with Anna would be enough for you to come back.

It wasn’t.

But even though you didn’t come near him, two people would come near him, offering friendship and shoulders to lean on: Austin and Colton Gunn. They would try their best to get Jack chatting with them as they filled his ears with loud jokes, obnoxious laughter, and weird banter. Although he never cracked a smile, the Gunns were resilient and still provided him with company.

“Hey, Jackie-boy,” Austin said cheerfully, walking up to the sulking wrestler, who would mumble a response. “How ya doing?”

“Man you should have been at the party last night,” Colton said bumping his shoulder. “You could use a night out. There was this insanely cute girl that is exactly your type-” Jack shook his head. Colton looked at his brother before nodding to Jack.

Austin sighed, “Look man, we get it that it’s been a rough month and a half. You lost your best friend, other best friend, title, and girlfriend-“

“I didn’t lose Y/N.” Jack snapped, looking up at the brothers.

Colton and Austin quickly side-eyed each other before Austin continued, “I was talking about Anna…but bro and I mean this respectfully, Y/N left you a while ago.”

“Anna and I were never together. She doesn’t matter to me. Y/N didn’t leave me. We are just going through a rough patch right now.” Jack said while running his fingers through his hair. “It’s not my fault.”

“We’re not saying that it is. We’re just trying to say that maybe there is no future where you and Y/N are together. You need to accept it.”

“No, I’m not going to accept it because it’s not true!” He shouted, startling the Gunns, with Colton hugging Austin in fear. Jack lowered his voice as he continued to talk, “It’s not my fault. It’s not her fault. It’s Christian’s fault.” He whispered to himself. “I didn’t lose my beautiful, innocent, and sweet girlfriend to Christian. That could never happen. He took her from me! Just like how he took my best friend and credit for my career. He just takes everything from me.”

Colton said taking a step forward, “Jack-“

Jack stood up from the boxes, looking into Colton’s eyes with anger, determination, and bitterness, “He filled her head with these images that I’m not the one for her. That he’s better than me. He basically kidnapped her, come to think about it. Yeah…he kidnapped my precious Y/N and started feeding these lies to her. And to make matters worse, Anna came back into the picture and distracted me from realizing it. That’s what happened.” He poked Colton’s chest as he finished his statement, “And I fully intend to get her back.” He swiftly walked away from the brothers as they stared in disbelief.

Austin looked up at Colton, “He is not okay. Where do you think he’s going?”

“It’s 9:00, he's off to do his favorite activity.”

That consisted of Jack watching you from afar when you were by yourself or with your girlfriends; curious if you missed him, if you cried over him, if you were dying to run back to him for safety, comfort, and love.

The answer was no. None of the above.

But the second he saw you with Christian, his stomach would turn and he would run away, not wanting to see the bitter and disgusting man with the love of his life. Jack is miserable, but you? Oh girl, you are thriving right now.

It seemed the longer you and Christian dated, the bigger the smile on your face would get. As Christian stated, if you wanted something, all you had to do was ask. And he has continued to keep that promise. Nowadays, all you have to do is look at him as it seems that he can read your mind. The newest Louboutin heels? He bought them in 5 different colors. You feeling stressed and want to escape? He booked a yacht. You want to ride something while on the yacht? He’s already underneath you, allowing you to take control.

He was a gentleman to you; dropping everything just to assist you, even for a second. You didn’t have to worry about doing a single thing. As long as Christian is beside you, you are sure to be treated like the Princess you are. Hell, he even changed your stance in wrestling. As you were no longer bound by Jack, you took the necessary steps to reconcile with your brother, Tyler (Hook).

As Christian filled your life with love, positivity, and care, you realized that the FTW championship wasn’t something you wanted. So after a couple of defenses, you relinquished it, crowned Tyler the official champion, and started to manage Christian full-time.

But this wasn’t a parasitic relationship where you got all the benefits. Oh no. Christian loved being around you. It just felt right having you near him, with a hand lingering around your waist. Not only did you feed every single one of his sexual and physical needs, you also met and exceeded his emotional needs. You made him feel heard and seen. You see him in a different light than everyone else. He is letting his humane side be seen more now that you are always with him. Because to you, he is more than your lover, he is your protector and motivation.

He is also a great man of taste…

“Willow, he is so sweet! Just yesterday, he drove 45 minutes to sleep beside me because I couldn’t fall asleep. And then, he brought a chef to cook my favorite breakfast!” You yelled out to your best friend while getting dressed for Dynamite.

“That’s great Y/N, I’m so happy to see you smiling again. I haven’t seen you this happy in a while.” Willow said with a grin on her face. To everyone, your relationship with Christian was no more than a typical “sugar baby” transaction. But it was nothing like that, and Willow saw that.

You stepped out in your new dress that complimented your skin tone beautifully. “I know, he truly makes me happy.” As you were about to speak again, there was a knock at the door. You squealed, running to open it and seeing a medium-sized bouquet of white roses. You thanked the man before closing the door. “He always sends me flowers every Wednesday.” You said as you put the vase down. Willow got up and examined them. “But he never gets me white; they’re either red, pink, or orange.”

“Maybe he’s full of surprises,” Willow said as she got closer to the vase. There was another knock at the door, you went to answer it as Willow started to speak again. “Y/N, there is-“ She was cut off by your sequel again. She looked back at you to see you give Christian a soft kiss.

“Hi Princess, how are you?” Christian said hugging you with one arm, the other was behind his back. He twirled you around, “You look gorgeous.”

“Thank you, baby.” You said, placing a kiss on his cheek. Christian greeted Willow while still trying to hide his arm behind his back. “What are you hiding?”

“Well, it is Wednesday and you know I give you flowers-“

You smiled as you cut him off, “Baby, I already got the flowers you sent me. They are beautiful.”

Christian’s face screwed up in confusion, “What are you talking about?” He moved his arm from behind his back to reveal a much larger bouquet of red roses. “The flowers I got you are right here, I wanted to personally deliver them myself today.”

The color drained from your face as you took your boyfriend’s flowers and looked behind you. Willow held the roses in one hand and a paper in the other, as she read the note, the color drained from her face as well. “You need to read this.” She gave you the note. It would have been a very sweet and flattering one….if it was sent from your boyfriend. 


Your laughter, a melody, a joyful song, In my embrace, is where you belong. Each moment with you, a cherished delight, You're my sunshine, my morning light. Love J

Your heart started racing as Christian ripped the note, took the flowers from Willow, and them in the trash. “He’s a piece of shit. That bastard.” He looked at you, who was in shock and disgust. He hugged you tightly, avoiding the roses he got you. “He just needs to leave you alone.”

“Yeah, I’m going to make sure of it.” You said before gently placing the red roses down on the table, taking over from where those distracting and bitter white roses once were.


“No, you will not. You let me handle it, I don’t him anywhere near you. He put you through shit before and I’m not letting that happen.” Christian said getting angrier by the minute, obviously not at you. “I’m going to get Luchasuarus to accompany you tonight. My woman will not go anywhere near him.” He said sternly.

Did you listen? No. Of course not. You left way before Luchasaurus got to your locker room door.

Your heels clicked along the halls as you were trying to find your ex-boyfriend. Anger was pounding through your blood as you carefully looked for him. You were about to turn to go down another hallway until you saw his matted hair in a bun. You stormed towards him, calling out his name. Jack turned around and immediately lit up at your figure getting closer, even though your facial expression was anything but happy.

"Y/N-"

You cut him off by sharply slapping him. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" You angrily asked him, not giving him a moment to register anything.

"Sunshine-" He sweetly started to say

"How dare you send me flowers and address me like that? We are not together. That was clear when you cheated on me with Anna"

Jack's face became angry as he spat out, "Don't talk like that. Anna means nothing to me. You love me and I love you. That backstabbing, lunatic, bastard is messing with your mind. Sunshine, just come back with me. Stop this little game of yours, you're letting him get the best of you."

"Jack, stop. I am with Christian; he treats me with love and respect. He actually cares about me and my feelings and treats me like royalty. Much better than the low-down and disgusting ways that you have shown. The only lunatic around here is you. You don't care about me."

"Don't say that!" He yelled, grabbing your arm harshly, "I love you Y/N! He's not the one! I am! Just come back with me and everything will be fine!"

You were struggling to pull your arm away from the man you once loved. Then a voice shouted down the hall, making Jack take his hand off of you. You turned around to find your boyfriend and your supposed bodyguard. Christian gently placed you behind him. "I'll talk to you later about this." He quietly said to you before turning his attention to Jack. "Listen, you have one more time to pull some shit like this-"

"Shut up! This is between me and my girlfriend-"

"MY girlfriend, MY woman, your ex. You have no reason to talk to her anymore. I'll be damned if you try to come between us or weasel your way back into her life." Christian stepped closer to Jack, looking down at him. "Leave her the fuck alone, little boy. Or the next main event for you will be your funeral."

Jack rolled his eyes as Christian grabbed your hand and kissed it before leading you and Luchasaurus down the hallway, away from your ex. You quickly looked back with bitterness and a glare as you turned the corner. But to Jack, that was a look of hope and desperation.

Desperation to get away from Christian, the man who drove you two apart. But also he could have sworn that your eyes were delivering him a message, a message of love and secrecy that was directly for him. "I'm going to save you from this Y/N. You don't have to pretend to have feelings for him much longer. I see your plan, and I understand it. It's genius. As those white roses signify, it will be a new beginning for us. And then, when it's all said and done, Christian will finally see who the real man is."

And according to Jack,

Christian had it coming…

And he only had himself to blame.

[avatar-anna]

for professor and h maybe like a bad pap expirence

The Professor Series

Harry Styles and Girlfriend Spotted on Secret Getaway

Singing sensation Harry Styles and his long time girlfriend Y/n L/n were caught sharing a rather intimate snuggle this weekend.

A photo of the usually reserved couple on their vacation in Bali, Indonesia.

While remaining mostly out of the public eye, Styles and L/n made their first public appearance together years ago at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, where Styles was debuting his film, Don't Worry Darling. Since then, questions have circulated, though no one has ever been sure when the couple began seeing each other, or how long they've been dating for.

One thing is clear, however: the couple is very much in love.

This weekend, Styles and L/n were spotted together on vacation in Bali. Photos of the couple doing more than just innocently holding hands began circulating a few days after they were said to have arrived.

Styles and L/n sharing a sunset kiss in the ocean!

Y/n L/n, or Dr. L/n, as her fans on social media call her, is known for her educational videos online and quirky personality, but it seems that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the Cambridge University professor (And thank goodness for that! Many often wondered how a woman like Dr. L/n garnered the affection of someone as sexually liberal as Styles).

“They were all over each other. I’m pretty sure they were on their honeymoon or something like that,” a source tells us.

Now we can’t confirm or deny rumors of possible wedding bells, but the source also said they saw rings on a very particular finger, so one can only assume!

Subscribe for more details about the world’s steamiest couple and photos of their getaway in Bali!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

You found Harry in his home gym, his hands wrapped as he repeatedly slammed his fists into a punching bag. Walking up to him, you waited for him to finish his last round so you could talk. Except he didn’t stop. Harry just kept punching, the same furious look on his face as the punching bag swung around from the force of each hit. You could almost picture the face he was imagining every time his fist swung back.

Hesitantly, you said, “Harry? Love?”

He stopped at the sound of your voice, his chest heaving. “What?” he asked, looking over at you harshly. When he saw your widened eyes, the anger was immediately wiped from his face. “Fuck, I—I’m sorry, darling. That wasn’t—I’m not angry with—”

“I know. I was coming to check on you, but I suppose I have my answer now,” you said, fiddling with the sleeves of your sweater. He’d been so quiet the last couple of days. You’d given him his space to work things out on his own, but you decided it was time to talk. Despite the sweat, you reached forward to cup his face. “It’s not your fault, you know.”

“You wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for me,” he said, not looking you in the eye. His voice was harsh, but you knew he wasn’t angry at you. He was angry with himself, but you didn’t want him to be. “The photographer I hired leaked our photos, even the ones we sent him to be developed, and now everyone knows—”

“Everyone knows what? That we have sex? We’re adults, Harry. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.”

Harry’s brows furrowed as he scanned your face. “You’re taking all of this surprisingly well.”

You shrugged, trying to appear like you didn’t care, but on the inside, you were freaking out. This was not at all what you were expecting when you and Harry went on vacation.

What the article said about you was humiliating, to say the least, and the way those photographs were leaked to the public when they were only ever supposed to be seen by yourself and Harry and the photographer was completely violating. The way the article hoped to perceive your relationship with Harry was out of line and unnecessary. Why did people feel the need to comment on things they knew nothing about?

You and Harry hadn’t even been on your honeymoon, not even close, but now everyone would think so, and everyone and their mother would bombard you with questions, thinking they somehow had a right to information that didn’t pertain to them. No one should ever have been subjected to what Harry went through as a celebrity. He was constantly being questioned about his personal life, despite saying that he preferred to keep his private life private over and over and over again. But he couldn’t escape it, not even in a remote place like Bali.

Harry decided that the two of you needed to get away from everything. There had been a lot of people following you around recently, and when he noticed that you were becoming anxious about leaving the house and going out on dates, he thought it would be a good idea to take you away from all the craziness, at least for a little while. A vacation was just the thing the two of you needed, so you found the most remote place you could go. But apparently that wasn’t enough.

Obviously you were upset, but so often Harry was the one to comfort you in these situations. You wanted to be the source of comfort for once, the one to coax Harry out of his negative emotions. So you set aside your feelings for a moment to help him understand that he wasn’t responsible for what happened.

Harry hired a photographer to capture a few moments of the two of you together. It wasn’t something he normally did, but he knew that this trip was going to be special, so he wanted to memorialize it. It shouldn’t have led to this.

Taking your hand in his, he kissed your knuckle where a ring now sat. “It’s not too late to back out, you know. I would understand if this life isn’t what you want. If I’m not what you—”

You leaned up and kissed him before he could continue. “I. Love. You. I don’t want to be with anyone else. That’s why I said yes.”

Harry grinned, the first one you’d seen in the last couple of days. “Yeah?”

You nodded. “And besides, while you were down here being all angry and punchy, I was working on suing the photographer. And the publication that posted that stupid article.”

Harry surprised you by lifting you up, and you instinctively wrapped your legs around his waist. “That’s my girl. My fiance.”

You laughed as he peppered your face and neck with kisses. “I can’t believe I said yes. Especially since marriage is merely a social construct that was originally used to—”

Harry cut you off by kissing your lips, his feet slowly shuffling the two of you out of the gym before you could talk yourself out of your decision.

The next day, you and Harry were about to go out to lunch, bundled up as much as possible to keep from being recognized. Before you left, though, you switched your ring onto your right hand. “That’s just for us,” you said, kissing his cheek. “They can have everything else, but not this.”

It was safe to say you didn’t make your lunch reservation.

[starluvsx]

⭑ 𝐁𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬

𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

Proofread: sorta....

Word count: 2.5k

WARNINGS: small mention of blood, swearing, just cute fluff besides that!

A/N: ik i said this would be posted a while ago but I've been super busy w school and everything and have just had no time to write but here it is!this is acc something i've had in mind but have been able to actually write so it was nice to finally finish it. ok happy reading guys!

"I'm hungry," Nick complained from the other side of the couch. Matt, who was too focused on his phone to even acknowledge anything else around us, simply blew Nick off. only telling him to grab something from the kitchen.me and Chris on the other hand weren't very tapped into the movie all four of us were supposed to be watching. It was a little boring, yes but what else was there to do? Summer break is normally fun but there are always a few weeks where you feel like you've done everything you can for this 10 week break.

" there's nothing good in there, can we go to the gas station or something?'' Nick asked as he hung his head off the edge of the couch we all shared. With the small back and forth happening right next time I was now paying less attention to the movie.

Matt, who was still looking at his phone aimlessly, answered Nick's complaint and question combination with "my car is still in the shop so unless you feel like walking 2 miles then go find something in the kitchen." annoyed. not really sure what he was annoyed about since he hasn't even done anything all day besides sit on the couch and sit around the house with us.

"we could just take the bikes.'' Chris said from behind me. Nick silently made his way toward the kitchen while we tried to figure out a plan. Looking around the cabinets and the fridge for something to his liking.

“You know I can’t ride a bike asshole” I sassed as I turned my head a little bit in order to see him.

“No I fucking didn’t, what are you talking about?” He retorted.

“Like everyone knows that?” I replied.laughing at the brunette’s confusion.Matt shut off the movie and put something on cable since at this point nobody was even paying attention to it.

"I'm just hungry and bored so can we please find some way to get to the gas station for the love of God."Nick said, walking toward us from the kitchen dramatically plopping down back next to Matt on the couch.

The four of us sat there and attempted to think of a solution. "I'll just teach you how to ride,"Chris suggested as he got up from the couch, pulling up his gray sweats slightly.the 3 of us looked at Chris so he realized what he just said "how to ride a bike guys, Jesus..." he clarified as he shook his head with a small smile at our immaturity.

The rest of us got off the couch and began to walk toward the front door to leave. As Matt opened the door my eyes were met with a beautiful pink sunset. The winding down of the summer day made the weather very mellow. Warmth and a soft wind hit my bare legs and arms. watercolor sky painting the scenery.

I followed the boys toward their bikes and grabbed the extra one which was Justin's old bike. blue and silver spikes stars were spread over the bike. not exactly something I would ride if I had the choice but i'm not in position to complain.

as I hopped on it I noticed Matt and Nick beginning to ride away "teach her and we can bring you guys stuff" Matt yelled from almost 13 feet away. I turned to Chris who was unlocking his bike for the chain

"Okay!" he yelled to Matt before turning to me."Alright, you know how to get on it so that's good."he joked before getting on his own bike. "ok try to move the bike" he said, turning to me.

"ok..."I mumbled as I placed my feet on the pedals. I lost balance once both my feet left their place on the ground causing me to frantically put my left foot back on the gravel. I turned to the boy in front of me. his pale skin glowing in the dwindling sunlight. He made a concerned face before getting off his bike in order to help me.

"let me try holding the bike as you put your feet on the pedals."he explained. Chris then came around to the back of me and placed his left hand on my waist and the right on one of the handles.my heart began to beat faster. I felt supported by Chris' hold so I put my foot back on the pedal. "So now move the pedals as if you were gonna ride for real." I did as he said and began to pretend to ride the bike.

"Now when I let go, keep pedaling forward."nerves shot through me as I looked out to the long empty street in front of me. the fear of falling over took over

"Chris im gonna fucking fall"I expressed

"I won't let go of you, just the bike. if you fall I'll catch you, promise."He reassured me. His words encouraged me to try so as soon as he let go I kept pedaling. The bike moved quickly under my feet but I wasn't scared because of the support Chris had on my hip.

Once I was about half way down the road nerves set back in and I began to feel like I might fall again. I wasn't steering the bike correctly and was sort of swerving. "Chris, Chris I'm gonna fall!"I yelled. I tried to straighten the bike but it wasn't working.

"No you're not kid, I'm literally holding you,"Chris said, out of breath from running to keep pace with me. The end of the road was nearing so I knew I would have to turn around soon.

"How do I turn?!"I frantically yelled. as the rounded curb got closer and closer.the wheels of the old bike wouldn't slow down as they glided against the pavement.

"What?" Chris yelled from behind me.I hadn't even realized he let go and that I was doing this on my own.

"How do I turn!?"I yelled even louder hoping he would hear and then teleport next to me and turn the bike for me.

"floor it!" he shouted as I was about to hit the curb. I then jerked the handles of the bike and turned sharply. my legs moving faster in order to keep momentum. "Hell yea!!" he exclaimed from the opposite side of the street. His excitement made me smile.

our happiness didn't last much longer though because I didn't realize there was a huge pot hole right in front of me. The front wheel got caught in the crater and sent me flying forward.

"oh shit!'' Chris yelped as he jogged over to me. Adrenaline was rushing through my veins still so I didn't feel much pain coming from my scraped up elbow or my cut knee. "you okay? No broken bones or concussions?"

I giggled at his concern and wiped up some blood that had been dripping down my leg. "dude you fucking did it, you learned how to ride a bike!"he said happily. a huge smile painted on his sun dusted face. eyes fixated on mine which were inspecting the sting from my cut began to set in causing me to let out a wince.

"Ok can we get inside now."I mumbled out of breath. my soft voice broke him out of his trance as he darted his eyes away from mine.

"oh yeah sorry." he said as he stood up and dusted off his knees that had tiny rocks scattered on them. I put my hand out for him to help me up and he did so. helping me limp back to the house.

Once we got inside he told me to wait in the kitchen while he grabbed our bikes that he realized he had left outside. While he was outside I hobbled my way over to the freezer and grabbed some ice, put it in a plastic baggie with a paper towel around it and placed it on my elbow.

When Chris came back into the kitchen he began looking for the first aid kit. "Sorry I took so long, your bike was like lodged in the hole." he explained, laughing a little. I huffed out a small laugh as well. "Okay here we go!"he said as he closed the cabinet, turning around with a red and white box in his hands.

He placed the box on the counter and began to examine what was inside of it, pulling out bandaids, gauze, rubbing alcohol and cotton balls.Chris struggled to keep the things in his arms as he walked over to me. The items catering once placed on the counter. 

"hop up."he instructed. I did as he said, hopping onto the counter and shuffling around so I was comfortable and didn't feel like I was gonna fall off. I turned my head to watch him mess around with the medical stuff. putting everything into place. "this is gonna sting a lot" he said as he stood in front of me. cotton ball that had been soaked in disinfectant In his hand. i bit my lip as the alcohol made contact with my open wound. a stinging sensation being sent through my knee.

The slight pain went away as he stopped cleaning the cut. opening a brown bandaid and placing it on the cut carefully. "See, all better!"he joked, making me smile at his small gesture. our eyes caught each other as he looked up. both of us admiring the other's features.

for the first time in I think forever there was a silence between us. once that had to be broken but not by words. I hopped down from my spot on the counter unexpectedly .My action made Chris back up a little.

Without saying anything I hugged the brunette in front of me.wrapping my arms around his neck as he did the same with my waist. I buried my head in his neck and smiled to myself.

Chris pulled away from the hug before I could. I was confused at why he would do this wrong as he normally is a very big hugger with me. my confusion soon turned to shock as the flushed boy in front of me cupped my cheeks and pressed his lips onto my one passionately.

My eyelids slowly sunk down as my body melted into the long awaited kiss. i have had a crush on him for God knows how long but never came even close to knowing he felt the same way, let alone making a move.the front door opened almost as soon as we pulled away from each other. making us white our heads toward the door almost immediately. 

"hey guys-'' Nick began as he and his brother trotted into the kitchen, bags of snacks in hand. "the fuck happened to you?" he asked me as he set the snack down on the kitchen table.

my heart was still beating faster than I could think but I had to make everything seem normal. i mean my best friend can't know I just kissed my other best friend who also happened to be his brother. "This kid tried to teach me how to ride a bike, '' I said with a small, awkward giggle.

"alright i'm going back to the couch." Matt said groggily as he walked back to the place where he had been for most of the day.

"yea same" Chris followed short behind Matt with his snacks in hand.i didn't take my eyes off him he sat back down on the couch.

"You sure he only touched your how to ride a bike?"Nick asked me from across the counter.leaned over,interested in the truth behind what had happened while they were out.

I took a sip of my red bull before choking on the drink at the question I had been asked. "Yes Nick, I've told you before, I'm not interested in either of your brothers like that."I reassured the brunette.i hated lying to him like that but I didn't really want to tell him just yet.especially If nothing ever came about with Chris.after all me and him are still just friends.

"Okay I'm just saying, you're awfully flushed." Nick said.

"There's nothing there, girl , trust me. I think they're watching La La Land in there," I said as I let go of the topic, making my way back to the living room.upon entering I saw both brothers on each side of the couch so I naturally migrated toward Chris. the boy who had made himself comfortable on the couch moved his legs in order for me to sit there.

Once the four of us were all curled up on the couch together it was almost impossible to ignore the fact that Chris' hand was placed on my waist.I leaned on him a little but not fully so as to not make it obvious that I had lied earlier.

I have had a crush on this boy basically since we met and now he's finally showing that he feels the same way, just without words which I honestly prefer.anyone can say anything but it takes a certain kind for passion driven by truth to actually act on your words.spoken or not.i don't know what we are but I feel like it's spelled out pretty clearly that it's more than what we've been letting on

[wannaeatramyeon]

Jake Kim x Samuel Seo: Better together

Samuel should hate Jake with every fibre of his being.

(A small, ugly part of him does. Green eyed and resentful and monstrous.)

Should have seen him as competition, only as the competition. A rival vying for the position at the top. Both racing towards the finish line, for the throne and the crown and the sceptre.

Except-

There is so much more to Jake Kim than meets the eye. He's not just the person he fights with. He's who he fights alongside, working towards a common goal, protecting Big Deal Street, together shoulder to shoulder during the Golden Era. The Yang to his Yin.

Until-

.

.

Jake is Gapyrong's son.

They're not brothers.

They're not brothers and it complicates and simplifies everything all at once.

Any camaraderie dissipates with that discovery. The closeness, the budding relationship. The smiles and the inside jokes and the laughter.

Quiet shared cigarettes passing between fingers and lips, standing close enough to breathe in each other's exhaled smoke. Drinks on the pier, watching the tide ebb and reflect the golden sunsets; mouth grazing metal where the other's had been only seconds ago.

All gone.

What remains, is anger and resentment, at least from Samuel.

What remains are barbed words and unwarranted sneers until blows are exchanged. Bodies marked by one another, just like their first meeting. As if all the days together, reading each other's thoughts with a look, the intimacy once upon a time, meant nothing.

What remains, is confusion, at least from Jake.

What remains, for them both, is hurt.

When your body mourns and your soul knows something is deeply wrong, yet the pain is too raw and too fresh so all you can do is sit with it. Try and make peace. Try and heal.

.

.

Samuel leaves.

Sinu is gone, Jake inherits Big Deal and all of its problems, and Samuel leaves.

The hurt and pain never heals. There is no answer and no closure because Samuel leaves.

Samuel leaves, taking away his smarts and his wits and a part of Jake.

Samuel leaves and Jake Kim no longer has an equal.

.

.

Jake taps on the name. 

Fingers moving of its own accord, possessed by a mind of their own, his current one cloudy with alcohol.

He expects nothing. An out of service automated message, his number to be blocked, the call to ring out at best. What he doesn't expect is the click of the phone and quiet breathing on the other side.

That Jake recognises, can never forget. The controlled, even, inhale and exhale. Has heard in time with own, has felt the heat prickling his skin. Breaths minging together, the gap never quite closing, the moment never feeling right. Back then.

Jake’s mouth runs. He hears himself asking when he's going to come back. He thinks there's a huff of laughter down the phone but he can't be sure.

He doesn't say anything else after that. Samuel doesn't speak at all. For a little while, they just listen to the sound of each other breathing.

.

.

A habit forms, and it's a terrible habit.

Jake allows himself to think about him when the world is hushed and the night is silent. When his only company are the twilight stars and the bitterness of beer.

He's never drunk, not even tipsy. Just enough to find an excuse and to pin his actions on liquid courage.

The calls are infrequent.

Nothing of consequence is ever spoken about, at first. They just listen to each other breathing, sometimes. Sometimes Jake talks. Samuel never reacts beyond a few grunts, occasionally a ghost of a chuckle but Jake can always feel his smile down the phone.

Maybe the worst habit of all is one Samuel can't break out of: he picks up every time.

.

.

"I've still got your old jacket."

.

.

"Things aren't great here."

.

.

"We're trying to make money through other means."

.

.

"I hate what I'm putting the boys through."

.

.

Samuel answers, he always does.

This time Jake knows there is something wrong. His breathing is ragged, laboured.

Jake asks, soft and not for the first time, "How you holding up?" and expects silence, just like all the occasions before.

Samuel's voice comes through. Strained and stiff, like he's ready to snap.

(Still, Jake can't help but think about how much he has missed hearing that timbre.)

He mentions the breakup of Gangseo Union and Gun Park's reaction. Words jumbling together, barely making any sense. Sharp and biting at times, lost and fearful at others.

Jake listens until dawn breaks and Samuel's voice turns raspy and hoarse.

In the cold morning light, their distance is apparent. The way their life is moving in different directions is glaring. More than anything, Jake wants to hold him and tell him it's going to be fine.

He can do neither.

Instead he offers a small vulnerability, another piece of himself, and tells Samuel that he misses him.

The quiet chuckle, the first sign of lucidity in hours, traverses the distance and makes its way to Jake's ears.

.

.

The ice breaks and thaws.

A bigger part of Samuel breaks and fractures too.

He gives in. He reciprocates.

Once in a blue moon, Samuel will call Jake. When his heart is weak and his resolve wanes and his defences are down. 3am calls to vent and talk and Jake will quietly ask "how are you doing" and Samuel will sigh and think about Big Deal.

Think about Jake Kim sitting on the other side of the phone. Probably lying in bed, body relaxed and easy, staring at the ceiling and smiling at his voice.

.

.

Barriers slam shut full-force when Samuel says he is joining Workers.

It's not a betrayal, it's not a personal affront, yet Jake can't help but take it that way.

He wants to demand how could you. To rehash old wounds and ask how could you leave Big Deal, how could you leave me, why did you shut me out, why did you hate me, do you still hate me?

No words come. Just quiet fury as an ache settles into his chest.

The barriers try to shut but it can’t close fully. Neither will let them. A sliver of light still peeks through.

.

.

The calls don't stop.

It's an addiction neither wants to nor can break off. Drawn together and inexplicably linked.

Jake doesn't use the excuse of alcohol anymore.

Samuel didn't have an excuse in the first place

It's a way of letting each other know that they're thinking about them. Even with everything they have to tiptoe around, the divergence of their lives, the issues and trauma, they're still there.

And each time one of them picks up, they're letting the other know that they're thinking about them too.

.

.

Samuel hears about Jake's arrest before it happens.

It's Jerry Kwon that texts him, and Samuel wonders how much he knows, if Jake has said anything.

Jerry keeps it to the point, details provided on a need to know basis. No questions, no forced niceties.

Samuel thinks the gambling ring could have worked but it's bizarre, really. A plan that seems like it was devised by himself, when in actual fact it comes from someone that prides themselves on better morals and principles.

He thinks of Jake's desperation to have arrived at that. Rather than feeling satisfaction and relishing in his defeat, like he would have for anyone else that he considers a rival, Samuel feels disappointment and empathy. And the feeling of cold dread and worry that he won't hear from Jake for months.

He doesn't know what to do with that.

Nevertheless, he marks his calendar with the day of Jake's release.

.

.

Jake has his first taste of freedom and calls him.

It's the first number he dials, the first person he thinks of, has thought of for months.

For years.

.

.

Jake says he wants to kill Gun Park and Samuel thinks it's the best thing he's ever heard.

Samuel’s brain whirs and ideas form.

The first time they lock eyes again, it's under circumstances neither of them wants.

Samuel, as a dog of the Workers, and Jake, desperately searching for Sinu and out for blood.

On Big Deal Street, an uneasy alliance is offered between both crews.

Jake Kim accepts. His mind tells him it's the right thing to do - compromise on his morals once again so that Big Deal survives another day and to refocus on their end goal. His heart tells him that he only accepted because Samuel is there.

Relief and elation floods his body. For the first time in years, they will be on the same side again.

Samuel anticipated bitterness and anger at seeing the son of Gapryong Kim. Despite all the nights and hours on the phone, had thought seeing him in the flesh was bound to bring out feelings of inadequacy and inferiority.

Yet today, his eyes rake over his strong, powerful figure and it arouses other stirrings.

Their time is cut short. Together they barely have time to reminisce under the ever watchful eyes of Eugene but Jake doesn’t miss the way Samuel looks at him and Samuel doesn’t miss the way it’s returned.

.

.

The calls continue.

Samuel gives information about their former No.1.

.

.

In the cell, surrounded by names etched on stone and reflecting the deterioration of Sinu Han, they both break in different ways.

Samuel wants to be King and Jake wants to kill him. To pummel his fists into his tear-stained face and scream. Tear him to pieces, searching for any traces of humanity left. How could he do this to Sinu, how could he do this to Big Deal, how could he do this to him. All those nights filled with hushed words for one another or falling asleep to quiet, steady breaths, and he had been hiding this.

Surrounded by names etched on stone and the tallying of days, Jake pins Samuel against the wall and crashes their lips together.

Unleashes all his fury and frustration and hate and passion in the cold, dank room. Haunted by memories and what-ifs, pushed over the edge and following his rage all the way down.

It’s ugly, it’s savage. There’s blood and bruises and sweats and groans.

Samuel meets him beat for beat.

.

.

The calls stop.

The partnership splinters.

Jake’s fingers still ghost over his name but he can’t bring himself to call him.

Samuel busies himself with Workers until he pushes all thoughts of Jake Kim from his mind. It doesn’t work.

He wonders why he doesn’t call. He wonders why he can’t make the first move.

.

.

In the middle of the fight, tensions running high, both sides ready to kill, Samuel receives a message:

‘All we’re missing is you lol.’

Hears “Yo Samuel, we still have your old coat.”

Sees the forced grin and the anguish in his eyes.

A last ditch attempt to bring him back to Big Deal. Jake Kim laying out his cards for all to witness, heart on his sleeve.

Everything becomes a mess, even more so, after that.

.

.

Jake’s own subconscious makes a fool out of him, mocking and sneering, inner voice reminiscent of Samuel’s dry and sardonic tone.

He’s all he can think about. Can’t even revel fully  in the joy of Sinu being back, partake wholeheartedly in the celebrations.

Because Sinu’s return only highlights, emphasises, what is missing.

.

.

Samuel traces his lips, wishes his fingers were the heat of someone else.

Presses his thumb to the pulse in his neck. Recalls purple mottled skin there, broken and bleeding. How he had relished the pain thrumming for days after as he thinks of who had bitten him.

.

.

Jake makes the first move. Jake always makes the first move.

Arranges a meeting under the pretence of preparing for the war against Workers. Of revealing his trump card and his agreement with Charles Choi. Of bringing Samuel back to Big Deal… But really, it’s to bring Samuel home and to his side.

Another last ditch attempt.

(In truth, there will never be a last anything where Samuel is concerned.)

.

.

Samuel barely hears the conversation.

All he remembers is the request to meet at the pier once again and agreeing to it before he can even consider what it truly means and the consequences.

Samuel doesn't think anything of the way he prepares, the extra care in how he dresses, how he pauses to consider his cologne.

He doesn't dwell on the fact that he arrives there hours earlier than planned, and how Jake is already waiting.

.

.

The plan is half baked at best and of course it’s on Samuel to pick through the holes and relay the groundworks. Seal any chances of mistakes and create an unshakeable foundation.

They’re always worked better together, the two of them. Jake can’t help but smile as Samuel tells him the new plan. It’s better than anything he could have thought of.

He offers again for Samuel to rejoin Big Deal. For the war he says. For me, for us he means.

Samuel hesitates. The offer is tempting. More tempting that it should have any right to be.

For the first time since disbanding Gangseo, his future is hazy and distorted, vision compromised. What would it mean if he stays at Workers? What would it mean if he fights by Jake’s side?

He tries to think what the end game looks like. Attempts to figure five moves ahead, ten, twenty. 

(Has tried to visualise making the right moves before even Gangseo Union. Learned to strategise with his mother and her hair-trigger temper. Before he had any strength, before he knew he could be punishing also.)

The decision is taken out of his hand when Jake grabs his. Confesses something they both know, but have never dared to utter out loud.

“I want you,” Jake offers simply, tracing over the tattoos on Samuel’s knuckles. “It’s always been you.”

It’s everything and nothing. 

There must be a catch. 

Samuel wants to throw up. He wants to call him crazy, a fool, tell him that he has truly lost the plot. He wants to jump and shout and come apart at the seams. He wants time to stop and live in this moment forever. He wants to rewind back the years so he can never meet Jake. He wants to recoil and flinch and snatch his hand away - but the softness, the tenderness of Jake’s touch he knows in his bones will one day kill him.

Will drag him and his dwindling sanity down. His inferiority, his superiority, all his complexities will be taken apart by Jake Kim.

But maybe. Perhaps. They can rebuild each other. They’ve always worked better together, the two of them.

Samuel still can’t see the future clearly. However, it’s one he thinks he can settle for. With Jake Kim. Drawn together and inexplicably linked. Better side by side than apart. 

They stand there for hours. Until the moon brightens the sky and the stars glitter and Jake’s fingers intertwine with his. Both staring out at the water, the ebb and flow of the tide.

Samuel wants his confession to be drowned out by the waves, but. The words have choked him for the last couple hours, maybe even for years. He doesn’t want them to choke him forever.

Spoken into the air and carried away by the wind, “It’s always been you too.”

Jake hears him. He always has.

[abyster]

"Pocket Doctor" / Simon "Ghost" Riley x GN!Reader / Head-canons

SWF; Fluff ; Mentions of canon violence; Reader is war survivor; Illness; No mentions of Y/N, bad English.

Disclaimer: I got this idea basically from myself cause a few days ago i've found out about my scoliosis lol. That's the reason why you getting some sweet stuff right now ;)

(Maybe i will write some domestic head canons later)

So, lets get started

°When you got into team, they noticed something off about you. Maybe it was your behaviour, maybe exceptional mannerism of yours, or the fact that you were always wearing a respirator. Guys tried to make jokes, to liberate you a bit, which rarely worked. The first time they heard you chuckle was when Ghost said some stupid joke over the coms. Team can not believe it and still think that it was just an radio interference.

°When you met Ghost for the first time the only thought was "He is so big...Damn, is he German?"

° " How can a such a young person have such old eyes?", Price asked you once, laying in med bay. After a short pause and a quick glance he got his answer.

"I read a lot"

°Being field medic means making controversial decisions. The Team questioned your morality a lot of times which blowed their minds when they tried to think like you. And they stoped for their own good. Sometimes, you just need to stop asking questions. It can be for the best.

"A doctor with a gun, ironic, is it not?"

"Shut it , Skull-boy."

°When you cooked something , guys were head over the heels for you. With "It's a one time event, and I won't cook for you ever again." you put the dish on the common table and tried to go out into the sunset. Obviously no one let you to do so, and you got to know others a bit better. "Huh, never thought that something interesting was about them , besides the files"

"This is delicious, where did you learn to cook like that?" Price asked you.

"I've learnt everything by myself. It was hard getting food in warzone, so i tried to make cool stuff basically from shit and sticks." Price fell silent. It's a good thing that due to Ghosts and Soaps drunkenness they will not remember a thing from this talk.

Hours went like the minutes. It was over a 11 pm and while you were able to drag Soap into his room (After he got beaten up in alcohol competition by Ghost) , when you returned into the living room and saw Ghost, big buffed 6,4 guy , laying on the couch like a starfish, the first thought was "Nuhuh, nope, not gonna do this" . Turning your back to him, you went straight to your room. Well, about 5 meters until you decided to cover the poor guy with your big scarf.

In the morning you head a few knocks on your door.

"Come on in, mysterious stranger." You said with your back turned against the visitor. While looking into laptop you waited for his next move.

"Thank for blanket" Ghosts voice was quite recognisable, just as his heavy steps.

"It's a scarf" Silence fell as you were thinking of answer . "You are welcome. Put it on bed, please"

° After that accident Ghost became a bit less colder to you. It appeared in small details. The tone he spoke to you changed a bit, he knew what kind of tea you preferred.

"You sure you are not brit too, Doc?" Mockingly asked Price at your quiet tea session in kitchen.

"Shut it, moustache-man."

If tea is not up to your liking, Ghost will not stop until he will find tea type that you will like. Sweet big boi :)

° Raindrops washed away blood from your face, as you were sitting near stone wall and wincing painfully. You both needed to take a break from all of this. Ghost thought you were out of your mind when you started to read to him poems on another language.

"Huh, that one sounded nice. What's it about?"

"Uhhh, basically about tha fact that humans are not birds, but all have wings. In metaphorical sense obviously. Yeah, i'm going crazy a bit, sorry". Then both fell silent . Being talkative was not one of Ghosts character traits. So you tried again.

"Hey, remember when you said about being a Doc with a gun?"

"What about it?" Answered Ghost, with his soar voice.

"I... I do not like guns . Like, at all. Only in case of self defence."

"You realise that you were creating a bio weapons just like... a year ago?"

"... There is a difference." You coughed blood while Ghost helped you to stand up. "I guess he doesn't like me at all"

° There was a strange connection between you and Simon, no one denied it. A lot of thing happened between you and Ghost since you joined 141 squad. Mainly it was a small intimate things you both enjoyed. The way you fixed his masks "out of boredom", the way he behaved himself around you. For once, you have found a great listener. It is a shame though, that he has fallen asleep during most of your lections on quantum mechanics. After that every morning he went straight into your room to return scarf that you lend to him. Sometimes it felt like you do not need words to communicate. And when you did, it was a story for another day.

°You and Soap were heading towards meeting room when to yours surprise he spoke "You said you did not have a favourites."

"Huh ?I do not". With a tilt of a head you answered.

"Then why do you always laugh over Ghosts jokes? They're stupid as hell"

All of a sudden you stopped in the middle of the hall. So did Soap.

"Oh"

°While on missions, he thought you were just being overdramatic with how exhausted you were. Truth came out when Soap searched for shirt you borrowed from him and found an X-ray image of your spine and Ghost came in. After that there was a big talk about how even they let you into an army.

"Yep, that's one of the reasons i do not like to actively participate in missions... I'm also flat footed by the way :) "

°With that kind of relationship Simon met a lot of your quirks. If you meet him in the corridor and you are going in the same direction , things happen.

Glance was shared between you and the guy in skull mask. You hands were straightened and pointed into his direction. You know, no one was surprised when they saw Ghost giving you piggyback ride to the meeting room. No one dared to say a thing.

°First time when when you hugged Ghost was in quite drunk state. You did not regret anything, though.

Ghost will remember until the end of his life how team stared at you both when you hands embraced Simon and you whispered "Boobs~". Who would Soap be, if he didn't took a picture?

° When you cuddles for the first time it was your initiative, which is not surprising. Ghost did not gave his answer right away, but if you wanted to, he was willing to try. Usually he is big spoon, but when you held his face in your hands he melts. Out of words when you gave pecks on his mask.

"Hey, Ghost, you wear mask because of anonymity or it's a phycological thing?" That question got him in stupor.

"Why are you asking?"

"It's nothing, really", after long stare from Simon you gave up, "I'm just interested in length of your hair. I mean, if you do not show your face than you cut your hair by yourself, and if you not...Sorry, i'm mumbling again"

"Is' alright ...I have short hair."

"Huh, cool. Can i touch it ?"

"Hm...Maybe"

At that evening, at the dead of night, Simon Riley was curled in your embrace, while your fingers played with his hair. Yep, he definitely need a normal haircut.

° When you both got your vacation time, since he had nowhere to go, the guy was quite shocked with the fact that you invited him to your apartment. Like, really-really shocked.

° "Hey, remember the thing i said that "If i truly love a person, i would rather cure anything that's possible in the person that i love, than to buy him flowers?" Simon gave you a nod, drinking tea at your kitchen.

"Well, here is a therapy abonnement just for you..."

[themadsquirrel09]

Find you ☆ Chapter 1

Fandom ☆ South Park

Ship ☆ KenMan ♡ KenEric (Eric Cartman x Kenny McCormick), Clybe (Bebe StevensxClyde Donovan) and Creek (Tweek TweakxCraig Tucker). There might be some glimpses of other ships.

Characters ☆ Kenny McCormick, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovsky, Stan Marsh, Liane Cartman.

Rating ☆ M

Warnings ☆ Swearing, violence, fluffiness. They are aged up here. It starts when they are 14 but happens mostly when they are 18, at the last year of school. 

Summary ☆ Cartman has to move out of South Park when he is 14, but he makes a promise to Kenny before he goes away, will he keep it?

About it ☆ I wrote the first version of Find you years ago, it seems that before 2010, so yeah, it was horribly cringy to re-read, but also inspiring, so I decided to make it better, keeping the name and some stuff I like about the old version, but changing most of it and continuing where I left it. I have my own way to navigate things, if it maybe gets confusing, feel free to ask me.

☆ 636 words ☆

With love: (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Stan

“Hugin and Munin fly every day

across the Gaping Ground.

I worry that Hugin may not return,

but I am more worried about Munin.”

The colors of the sunset get mixed in the tears I can’t hold back. He pulls me into a hug and I hold him close. I don't know how much time passes. I didn’t know I had so many tears for him. 

Liane’s voice breaks the moment.

“Sweetie, we should go.”

“Come on, Ken.” Says Stan, placing a hand on my shoulder. I see Eric’s face, tears are falling, but he has a calm expression, then he lets out a devilish smile. He grabs my hand and we run out of there.

“Let’s go to Stark's pond!” I say.

We get there between laughs and sobs. “Stop crying, asshole, you are making me cry.”

“No, you are making me cry, Kenny!” He looks at me with clear eyes; we are so close to the pond I can see the dancing water reflected on them. I wrap him into an embrace. Why does he have to be soft?

“Don’t go.” He hugs me back and I enjoy his warmth.

“And what do I do then, Kenny, live in your house? You are poor!” The laughs mitigate the tears. “For now I have to go, but I want to come back,” He grabs me by the shoulders and looks me in the eyes. “I’ll find you again, ok?”

I don’t know what to say to that, it is Cartman the one talking, but he seems serious about it, so I just nod. We hang out there for a while, thinking of ways to keep in touch and making plans that might never come true. After a while, a car honks at us; it is Liane. He shoots a glance of disgust at her, but his expression shifts when he turns and smiles at me.

“See you, Kenny.” He says sweetly, then he is gone.

☆ 4 years later ☆

Since Cartman moved out it has only been the three of us, we stick together somehow. I find myself thinking about him in the bad times, but mostly in the good times; that’s when I really wish Eric was here.

I get close to the bus stop and see my friends in the distance.

“Hi, guys!”

“Hey, Kenny!”

“I thought you weren't coming.” Stan says, I shrug. 

“I don't feel like staying in the house all day long.” 

“But you are sick.” Kyle insists.

“I don't give a fuck.” I say to him, smiling. He frowns. 

“Fine!… What did Cartman say?” 

“He asked if you finally got sucked by your own jewfro.” Stan chuckles and Kyle looks up at his hair busting out from a hat that he doesn't dig like the one from our childhood.

“That fucker,” He looks pissed, but then he smiles. “How’s he doing?” The bus arrives and we keep talking as we step in, then I take the window's side. Eric moved to New York when we were fourteen, 4 years ago. We are far away, but it seems he has changed for good. Maybe I'm really sick if I think someone like Cartman has changed.

It is our last year of school; the same people and very unusual situations. It is South Park after all. When I was little, I thought alien abductions, cosmic horrors and endless deaths were something that just happened. Sometimes I wonder why do I stay?... Karen, that’s the easy answer, but this place also feels right for me; this town where all the weirdness unfolds and I’m just part of the unexplained. 

I also have this strong hunch, like I’m waiting for something that will happen soon.

Next

⋆✧────── ☆ ──────✧⋆

All kinds of support are really appreciated! ♡ 

If you want to help me keep writing, you can buy me a coffee here ☕

You can also commission me, here you have the info 💌

[normal-about-the-dca]

Going through your blog since I came across a lovely post with Luna and Moon and now! Obsessed with Robots in Ponyville!

So I have a few questions and feel free to answer as many or as little as you want!

How does DCA react to colourful, talking, magical ponies?

Is the virus present here and does that affect much of the story and is there any effort to help get rid of it?

What role do they get (ie childcare, baking, etc) and where do they live during their time in Equestria?

Whats Twilights initial reaction and if this happens post Equestria Girls does she write to have any input from Sunset about these human looking robots?

Since we have an idea of Luna reaction/relationship with Moon whats it like with Sun? And how does Celestia react/interact with either of them?

Thank you so much for an amazing idea to brainrot over!

Anon I am BITING YOU!!! I AM BITING YOU (POSITIVE)!!!! I'll answer with a bulleted list under the cut so as to not clog people's dashboards with a super long post. I am SO EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT IT!!!

Okay! Both are honestly terrified at first, but they react in different ways. Sun is the first to encounter the ponies and Moon's later direct encounter is informed by his memory of Sun's. Sun is a people pleaser, so he seems like he's going with the flow. He's not. He's just biding his time until he can find a way out of this mess. Moon decides to cause as many inconveniences as he can because he's not sure if the ponies are being genuine in their attempts to help them. He operates under a "you can't hurt me if I hurt you first" mindset.

The virus is very much still present! It's not as intense as it was in the Pizzaplex since the Daycare Attendant is no longer connected to the network, but it did fundamentally change them. The effects of the virus play a big role in both Sun/Moon's arcs. If the can get rid of it or not? Time will tell.

They live in Ponyville for the time being! They don't intend to have a permanent residence, so they kind of live with each of the Mane 6 for a while... Minus Rainbow Dash and not just because she lives in the clouds.

Twilight is FASCINATED. Equestria has never seen machinery as advanced as the DCA let alone anything that runs without magic. She's read about the multiverse theory of course, but seeing living(?) proof of it is mind blowing! I'll be honest, I didn't even consider EQG. I'm thinking Equestria Girls happens much later in the Robots in Ponyville timeline, if only for my own peace of mind. So Twilight has no idea what humans are.

Sun is very wary of both princesses. Luna because of the similarities between Nightmare Moon and his own lunar counterpart, and Celestia because he cannot understand her own actions. Moon kind of resents Celestia for what she did to Luna all those centuries ago, even if her sister has forgiven her. Celestia, like Luna, sees herself and her sister in the animatronic's relationship and wants to help them. She is annoyed by Sun's attitude, but doesn't show it most of the time. He may or may not occasionally manage to get under her skin.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING!!!! There's so much more I wanna get into, but that would veer into spoiler territory. I am currently writing a fic for the au, slow going as it may be, and I don't want to spoil it all before it's done. Thank you again for the wonderful ask you made my day!!

[abarbaricyalp]

Hi! If you're still doing the Sambucky romance ask: 🚨

You know I love a good 'mission goes awry' prompt. Sometimes Sam loses his clothes in those ones 😊 From this prompt list

This one got away from me. I don't even know what this is. CW: Mild violence, some monster things

🚨 When a mission goes awry

Bucky blinked and the giant lizard he'd been trying to choke out was no longer in his arms.

Oh no, this was not happening again.

He slowly got to his feet, squinting through the fog that was moving like it was alive. It was almost like the atmosphere of rolling around in arid dirt with the lizards, but wet where that had been dry.

"Sam?" he called out cautiously.

He was answered by an animalistic screech that had him covering his ears and turning tail.

He'd been here before. He hadn't liked it.

The multiverse had broken four days ago. Bucky and Sam had had nothing to do with it, thank you very much. They hadn't even known the multiverse was real until a handful of months ago. Bucky was still fucked up over the reality stone. He could not handle a broken multiverse.

Except that now, he had to.

If he'd thought blipping out of existence had been bad, blipping into another Bucky Barnes's existence was much worse. There did not seem to be a version of him that sat on a beautiful front porch at sunset beside Sam and watched the bees tend their garden while eating homemade blueberry pie. It was always some kind of fuckery.

This fuckery was vampires. The fog had kind of suggested it, but he was never going to forget that noise or the claws and teeth that came with it. How come vampire him was always fighting some kind of harpy?

Like he said, he didn't know anything about the multiverse. He didn't know how multiversal travel should work. Over the past four days, it had worked by swapping him and Sam with another Bucky and Sam every time they were in a fight. And Sams and Buckys got into lots of fights! The world-- every world apparently-- constantly needed to be saved. Actually, Bucky should talk to his therapist about that.

"Sam!" he called again as he ran, looking for any space in this dilapidated graveyard to hide. Last time, it had been a dilapidated castle. Much easier to hide in. Especially because he refused to jump into any of the wrenched open caskets in their upturned Graves. "Could really use some help, birdbrain!"

As if on cue, the harpy and another figure plummeted to the ground just a few feet in front of Bucky. It was a clash of talons and feathers--the worst bird fight Bucky had ever seen between New York pigeons escalated by about 100.

The harpy was a grotesque thing, half human, half bird, all demon. The man on top of it was disarmingly. Sam was always beautiful. It was just that vampire-Sam also had some bird mutation, which gave him huge wings, which grew from and encompassed the upper half of his arms and he had these bird eyes in this molten gold color that were uncannily round with the color spreading from edge to edge. When he was on the attack like this, he had a sharp break and talons instead of fingers.

Bucky was still very much into it.

The harpy wrenched itself away with another ear splitting screech and a trailing line of blood from a new wound on its gross scaly bird neck. It screeched one more time for emphasis and took to the sky, off kilter but still powerful.

When Sam turned to him, he was mostly human--or vampire?-- again. His gold eyes narrowed when he found Bucky. "You again," he groaned.

Vampire-Sam didn't like human-Bucky, Bucky had discovered last time he was dumped in this penny dreadful novel come to life.

"Have there been many others?" Bucky asked. "Have you been pulled away much?"

"Yes and yes," Sam answered. "I just got back from a cow farm in the 1900s."

Bucky grimaced. He could not fathom a cowboy version of himself. Cowboy-Sam had to be super hot though. "I think they're called ranches."

The vampire scoffed and waved a razor-nail tipped hand dismissively. "Leave," he ordered. "And bring James back."

Bucky didn't actually know how to leave, but the vampire had some ability to manipulate these crossovers.

Bucky landed in a new environment, which still didn't have giant lizards. "Oh goddammit," he growled and shoved himself to his feet again. "Sam!"

. . .

Sam landed face first in the sand. He pushed himself up and spit out wet sand before turning over onto his back. This was driveline the Gulf, he decided. No white sand beaches here and the ocean beyond was a tumultuous grey-green beneath the brilliant sunset painting the surface of it.

"Buck!" he called into the sky.

A few seconds later, the sounds of someone shuffling through the shallows interrupted the lapping of the waves. Sam looked over and felt his mouth literally drop open. He blinked against the shine of the sunset and watched Bucky come out of the waves, water cascading off of him like a commercial. He shook his shaggy hair out of his face and hiked a surfboard closer to his side as he hit the shore and had to drag it through the wet sand. He was all lithe silhouette and obvious muscle. He was missing his arm, no prosthesis in sight, and he looked like a walking advertisement. Sam's mouth was kind of dry.

He grinned a little at Sam, dropping the board into the sand to wave, and then jogged over. His pleased expression quickly fell though and he dropped to his knees next to Sam with a worried frenzy to his movements.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, man, I just tripped," Sam said.

"I would say so, yeah!" Bucky agreed. "Why do you have legs?"

Sam's brain shorted out for a moment. Normally, he had a response for everything, but he'd never been asked why he had legs. "Because I was born with them?" he hazarded.

But his response was lost in a flurry of movement and curses as Bucky got his arm around Sam's chest--wow, that was a nice feeling--and hauled him into the water. Sam futilely tried to get his feet under him, but Bucky was really strong and fast and the sand was at the soupy-sinking moment of a tide change over loose sand.

"The water will help," Bucky said in a way that suggested he was still trying to convince himself of the same thing. "Oh, God, what if it doesn't?"

Sam was more confused than he ever had been, and he'd seen people get really big and really small, talking raccoons, an assortment of aliens, rocks that altered reality, time, and space, and literal gods.

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked. "Who am I here?"

Bucky squawked a little. "You're forgetting who you are? The Little Mermaid didn't cover that!"

Sam's eyebrows went up. "I'm a merman?" he asked in surprise. His mama had always said he was a water baby.

"Sam!" Bucky whined desperately.

Sam finally took total mercy on him and put a hand on Bucky's shoulder to keep him still. "Hey, calm down. I'm not your Sam," he said. "I guess you haven't had to deal with any of this yet."

Bucky stared at him, blue eyes almost orange in the sun, wide and a little naïve. God, he seemed so young. "Deal with what?" he asked

"The multiverse," Sam said. "I'm not your Sam. We swapped places."

Bucky's tanned skin drained to a more familiar color. "You have to switch back! He can't be outside of the water for long."

And, oh yeah. Shit. Sam didn't know how to control any of this. He wasn't sure how to intentionally swap out with a specific other Sam.

"Okay, okay, calm down, kiddo," Sam said softly. "These things are triggered by fights. Were you part of a battle or something?"

Bucky's face screwed to one side. "No. Why would I be? I was on the waves. But Sam wasn't with me. He could've been dealing with anything down there."

Sam looked to the expanse of ocean that Bucky gestured to. There was no way Sam could figure out where the other Sam had been, much less take up his fight again.

"Listen, I'll try my hardest," Sam said. "But I don't know how to bring him straight back. I'm not in charge of this."

"I don't care about any of that. I don't care about your multiverse. Make it bring him back," Bucky said. There was a familiar steel edge to his voice, the tone that came out when his own Bucky skipped worry and went straight to fury. The kind of emotion that usually led to Bucky making bad decisions.

"I'll try," he promised. "I need you to take a swing at me," he said, standing up and shaking water off of his arms. There was no way to wring out the suit, so that was just going to have to stay. Maybe multiversal travel came with free air-drying.

"What?" Bucky asked, looking askance. "I'm not hitting you."

"My adrenaline doesn't get right if I start it. You have to start it."

Bucky's eyes pinched in. "I ain't been in a fight in years."

Wow, Sam thought. A well adjusted Barnes. Who knew. "Come on, kid. Otherwise, I'm gonna go find a jellyfish to antagonize."

Bucky sighed, squirmed for a second, and then swung at Sam.

. . .

Bucky wandered around the great forest with deep skepticism. He wasn't sure what multiverse this was, but it seemed to be one that wasn't inhabited by anybody. What kind of fight had been happening here?

Up ahead, the dense, dark copse eased some and sunlight dappled the ground. He jogged over to it, hoping to shed some light on the situation. God, he wished there was a Sam around to say that to. The trees opened to a rolling hill and a sprawl of space that stretched on for forever.

Bucky rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes and blinked at the image before him. Despite the fact that he'd just walked out of a forest, New York City was ahead of him. The buildings were half destroyed. The other half of them had been taken over by the flora of the area. Vines seemed to be tearing apart concrete and rebar. Trees grew through the middle of roads. Flowers covered every ugly grey space available.

It was kind of beautiful, if not for the fact that this was Bucky's home and every childhood memory he had was now buried. Coney Island was underwater.

Suddenly, something wrapped around Bucky's ankle and yanked him down to the ground hard. He kicked his other foot at the binding, expecting a lasso of some kind or a rope trap. Instead, he found another vine, dragging him back into the forest and a massive bush that was growing by the second.

Bucky began to kick harder and reached for the knife strapped to his thigh.

"Wait!" someone called and suddenly a man was springing into action, dropping himself across Bucky's thighs, facing his legs. He began, not to hack at the vine, but to untie it from Bucky's leg. He made remarkably quick work of it. Bucky couldn't get his charger untangled that fast. He sat back as the vine finished coiling into the bush and let out a satisfied sigh. Then he glanced over his shoulder at Bucky and grinned.

How come they were always so handsome?

The other Sam stood and offered his hand down to Bucky to haul him to his feet. "Don't think too negatively about the plants here," he said. "They always know."

Bucky nodded his acknowledgement. He took in the look of the other Sam. This one had intricate gold designs on his face and down his arms. They were radial in nature, making him look even more like sunshine than usual. "You from around here?" he asked. "What is this place?"

Sam shook his head. "Nah. I was dropped here a while ago. I'm just a fast learner."

"Yeah," Bucky agreed, feeling just a little breathless after that close call. "I kind of figured with the whole--" He gestured to his face. "This seems like some future of the Earth I'm from. I know all those buildings."

Sam nodded. He walked a few steps out again, closer to the crest of the hill, and then sat down like the grass hadn't just tried to kill Bucky. "We're not even from Earth. I don't know how we keep getting caught up in Earth nonsense."

Bucky snorted. "Trust me, Earthlings get caught up in plenty of intergalactic nonsense too." His eyes went to the markings on Sam's arm again, thin, lovely lines sprawling from his elbow.

"Blue," Sam said, lifting Bucky's chin with a gold streaked finger. "Yours are blue." He traced a crescent shape around the corner of Bucky's eye. "You don't have as many. Have you ever seen yourself in one of these things?"

Bucky's face warmed and he gently removed it from Sam's touch, looking back to the death of one New York and the birth of another. "No. I think that's one of the rules. Only one of us at a time."

Sam nodded. "I've noticed that as well. But it usually begins to resolve itself when two people are in the wrong universe."

"Yeah," Bucky agreed again. "I've noticed that too."

Sam grinned at him. He was so handsome, it hurt. "I will be very happy to leave this planet again."

"Yeah, we kind of suck."

Sam reached up to trace another crescent along the joint of Bucky's right shoulder. "Maybe not all of it," he hummed.

Bucky blushed again and pulled out a knife as he turned away. "Let me go instigate something to get us out of here," he muttered. Even walking away, he could feel Sam's radiance

. . .

Sam did end up underwater, but it wasn't any kind of water a merman would want to live in. Maybe a bogman. He spit out marshy water and tried to ignore how many mosquito larvae were definitely in his mouth. There was a conveniently placed liana-type vine right on the bank and he hauled himself out of the water.

Sam was not a bayou man. There were enough horror stories in high school about idiots going missing at night and he'd been in the med-clinic waiting room once when someone had come in with an alligator bite that had taken half the meat of his arm with it. Sam did not like the bayous in practice. Which was to say, he had no idea where he was or how to get out of it.

A howl pierced through the quiet then, which only worked to send Sam's heart tripping in his chest in triple speed. He could totally use this vine to climb into a tree.

Actually, he had wings. He snapped them open and water gushed out of the pack.

Two water universes back to back, he thought with more irritation than he'd felt in a long time. Just his damn luck.

There was another howl then, much closer. Sam did begin to climb into the tree. He was stopped by a curious, "Sam?" and he looked down to find a familiar, uncanny face.

"Hey, Jamie," he greeted, relief flooding through him so quickly he almost went lightheaded.

The genetically-spliced, lab-grown werewolf looked at Sam with wide eyed curiosity. Actually, he was always wide eyed. He very much so had a dog's eyes. It had been a while since James and Bucky had swapped places in the middle of a battle (a precursor to this problem?) and Sam had ended up fighting next to the giant wolf instead of his partner. Bucky and a rougarou-Sam had shown up a while later and the fight was over pretty quickly after that.

"Is Sam around by any chance?" he tried.

"You know he isn't," James answered. It was difficult to read his expressions. He had a broad, flat nose that was as reactive as any puppy's, but usually only with disgust and anger. His pointed ears, too tall to be hidden behind his long hair, were under much better control. Sam had a cat. He looked at the ears for behavioral indicators. "I only just got back myself. I was on a planet called Venus, but not our Venus. It was...interesting." Now his nose scrunched and a cute little blush crept along his furry face.

Sam tried not to let his scowl show too much. This Sam had magic in him, which would move this all along much faster. Still, without sulking too much, Sam asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I could rip something open with my teeth. I've barely sat still for five minutes over the past week. I'm going from one fight to the next. Have you ever seen a fight on a planet of pleasure?"

Sam grimaced. "Yeah, I can't really blame you for getting mad. And I probably wouldn't stop you from going full wolf."

"As long as it's not towards you?" James finished, taking the words right from Sam's mouth.

"Wow, all Sams really are the same, huh?"

James grinned, showing off all of his long, sharp teeth. "I can send you on," he said. "Sam showed me how. I just don't know where you're going to land."

"Wow, look at you," Sam complimented. "Please do. I don't wanna start a fight with you."

"You haven't found another way for the quiet places?" James asked, raising his bushy brow. "And they say I have the anger issues."

Sam tsked at him and gestured for him to hurry up.

. . .

A galaxy stretched out below Bucky. It was like something from a painting, all swirling colors and bright spots of planets. Jewel toned galactic highways with actual jewels embedded into it. He sat in red dirt and traced nonsense letters beside himself because it kept him calm.

There was no one else up here. He'd never been sent somewhere where there was no one else. True, this was an entire planet, but it was also an empty planet and Bucky had walked for ages across barren plains and deserts before he'd finally come around one swooping crest and found this view. He'd given up at that point and decided just to wait for something to happen.

It was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. An entire cosmos swirled below him, full of twinkling lights and shining colors. He wondered what lived down there. What music did they listen to and what foods did they like and how did they sleep at night? Surely, something was falling in love at that moment. Something was laughing, something else was crying. He wondered if they were being affected by this multiverse bullshit too. Were there missing citizens? Was some version of Joaquin running around one of those lights trying to get back to wherever he belonged? Was something that lived here now fighting the lizards Bucky had been taken from?

Sam could be down there: a thought which almost made leaping off of this planet a feasible idea. He hadn't considered what would happen if he died in one of these places. Usually, all of the dangerous ones kept him too busy to wonder. The glitch would send him on before it got too hairy. The quiet ones, it was obviously not a problem. But if he did manage to leap off of a planet, would he just float aimlessly for eternity? Would he have to swim through zero gravity space to find some alien to duke it out with? Or if he did blip out with someone else, what would happen to them? Did they land on a planet again? Surely not every Bucky in the multiverses would do something as stupid as jumping into space.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," someone said from behind him.

Bucky whirled around, on his feet instantly. But all that adrenaline drained just as quickly. "Sam," he breathed. Then he was crossing over the red dust on silent steps and clutching at Sam--his Sam--as tightly as he could. It didn't matter how many times this happened; it always felt like this one could be the last.

Sam hugged him back tightly. "I knew this one was you," he said as he pressed his face to Bucky's hair. "You're always mopey-er than the others."

Bucky rolled his eyes, but he still laughed a little. "If you'd been here as long as I have, you'd be moping too," he promised. "Are you okay?" He pulled away to hold Sam's face gently. "Everywhere you went wasn't too bad?" He looked to be in one piece and the exhaustion on his face was par for the course at this point.

Sam smiled and turned his face to kiss the inside of Bucky's right wrist, feeling the flutter of his pulse for a few seconds. "It was pretty quiet. Didn't get dropped into the middle of any fights this time. What about you?"

Bucky shook his head. "I'm fine. I mean, it wasn't quiet, but I'm fine." He smoothed his thumb over Sam's cheek before stepping into his space again. "God, I missed you."

"You say that every time," Sam laughed. "From my experiences, all Sams are the same."

Bucky shook his head. "None of them are you."

Sam held him for a while longer, pressing half kisses to his head, before he finally said, "Come on, sweetheart. Let's head home."

Out of all of the nonsense about this multiverse glitch, the only fast rule was that universal pairs could send themselves home. It was like the glitch evened itself out when they found each other again. All was right in the world for those few moments.

Bucky had to agree. "Yeah, doll. Let's go home."

. . .

Back in the real Colorado, Bucky was instantly taken off his feet by a charging lizard the size of a minivan. Wheezing on the ground--the ideal position to watch Sam go soaring by above--Bucky had to at least admit, it was nice to be back where he knew the monsters and the people and the rules. At least he was home again.