#i mask everywhere i go but then again my mom's been dragging me out to more places

[nyuusayuri]

My "handsome" Stalker

Ateez Choi San x Reader (SMUT)

Warnings: stalking, signs of violence, dirty talk, possessive behavior, smut

For your information: I made up this story 10 years ago (when I was around 14-15), so I apologize if some things sound weird or rushed, but I wanted to keep as much of the original as possible.

In the middle of the forest, I got a strange feeling. A feeling I only had when something was wrong. And something was definitely not right here. I stopped and looked around carefully. It was getting a bit dark, but I didn't care. My eyes were good enough to see everything around me. When I looked back ahead, he was there. The man who hadn't left me alone for quite some time. He constantly followed me everywhere, never took his eyes off me, and allowed me no privacy. Who was this guy? A sick stalker?! Everything pointed to that being the case. I stared stubbornly into his eyes, which he hid behind black sunglasses. You could hardly see him. The only thing visible were his black hair. The rest was concealed under a black leather jacket, jeans, and black boots. Around his mouth and nose, he wore a mask.

It was intimidating to stand in front of a completely black figure that you didn't know, who was always stalking you, and was now out in the forest as it was getting darker. My limbs had stiffened, and I couldn't move an inch. "What... what do you want from me?!" As hard as it was for me, in all that fear, I tried not to show my anxiety. Did I even want to know what he wanted from me? Probably not. My gaze was fixed on him, but he didn't respond; he simply disappeared behind the bushes. Still frozen and shocked from the unexpected encounter with the unknown stalker, I stood there. Only after a while did the stiffness in my joints fade, and I continued walking through the small forest area toward my home. I took off my shoes and ignored the screaming of my quarrelsome parents, like I did every time, and went straight to my room, just to free myself from my jacket, throwing it onto the small sofa in my room and collapsing, with a loud sigh, into my cozy warm bed. Immediately, my eyelids, heavy from exhaustion, fell shut, and I drifted off into my own land with my own rules.

3 Weeks later

I was slowly fed up. This guy was still stalking me, and now the new bad boy at our school was also in the picture to annoy me. Jae and Sora helped me stay out of his way, but one day it had to happen. Unfortunately, that day was today. He and I had to work together on the same project, that's how we ended up at my house, and I swear I was so close to tearing his head off! He could never keep his hands to himself, and if my little sister wasn't here, he would have been dead a long time ago! I hated this guy so much! "San! Could you please focus on the screen and not on my cleavage?!" I shot him venomous glances, but he didn't seem to be impressed, because instead of trembling with fear, he just laughed. Had I mentioned that I hated this guy?! Because I'd gladly say it again. I hated him! "But you have two far more interesting toys to offer."

Disgusted, I redirected my gaze to the laptop in front of me and began searching for more information about Seoul before our time. After hours, we were both fed up, and it was already getting dark. Since I didn't want him to think about spending the night here, I dragged him straight to the front door. Unfortunately, my parents caught me in all the haste. They still believed that I should finally get a boyfriend, and they were okay with absolutely anyone at the moment. Just not for me. "Y/N sweetheart? Why are you in such a hurry with that poor guy?" I interrupted my mom before she could continue. "I have a lot to do, Mom. San should really be going now." Without waiting for another word, from anyone, I shoved him out the door and slammed it behind me. My parents just looked at me with wide eyes, confusion written on their foreheads. They were the kind of parents who never understood teenagers like me. So I didn't care any further because I knew it wouldn't do any good and immediately disappeared back into "My" realm. "What an idiot! If my parents dare to hook me up with him, I swear I'm gonna jump off a bridge!" I muttered, slightly annoyed.

Yes, I was easily provoked and thrown off course in the evenings. Grumbling, I threw myself onto the bed, pulled the blanket over me, switched off my bedside lamp, and fell immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep. The next morning, I had no desire to go to school. Especially because I had to see him again. It would be even worse if I had to see them both. If I encountered that weird guy from the forest in the same spot again. The thought sent chills down my spine. He scared me, but still... there was something intriguing about him that drew me in. Yes, it really sounded like I was losing my mind, but I was definitely still sane. That's why it felt so strange to me. After arriving at school, I initially had my peace and quiet. Jae and Sora weren't there today, so I could wander around alone all day. I actually had many friends at school, but I only hung out with those I cared about more.

With the others, I would just be bored and wouldn't fit into the group at all. And I could definitely do without that. So, I preferred to sit in a quiet place, put on my headphones, and listen to music. It was a nice feeling to be able to be by myself. At home, I had my family, who usually got on my nerves, and here I had my two friends, who constantly talked about some celebrities, fashion, or other stuff while I just stood there, lost in my thoughts. Today, I had settled once again into my usual spot and listened to Taeyeon's beautiful voice in her song "I." One of the few songs that calmed me down so much that I could relax deeply and everything around me felt like air.

After a while, I looked at the clock on my phone and realized that class was starting again. Thank goodness I had developed a sense for that, otherwise, I would have been late. Sighing, I sank down into my seat and rested my head on my hand. It was so boring without the two of them. But only in class. Suddenly, the shrieking of the girls echoed through the room, causing me to cover my ears and look in the direction where they had all gathered. Who else stood in the doorway? Of course. Choi fucking San. Why else would the girls start screeching like that? Without a word, I just walked right past them and couldn't help but feel his gaze on the back of my neck. Creep.

After school, the feeling of being followed overcame me again. I kept turning around and looking at the surroundings, but I saw no one following me. The few people who were walking around ignored me or gave me confused looks. Shrugging my shoulders, I continued walking. When I arrived home, it was really quiet. That had never happened before. For the past two years, there had always been pure terror as soon as I got home. After all this time, it was quiet in the house, but I didn't like it. Before I went to my room, I crossed the entire house and looked around. Everyone was gone. No one there. Strange. I was still quite uneasy, but I tried to ignore it and went to my room. My phone suddenly flashed and showed me a message from my mother. Apparently my parents and my sister are currently at the doctor's because she had the brilliant idea of ​​eating nuts at school despite her nut allergy. Can't say I was surprised to hear that.

Immediately, I sat down to do my homework because, 1. I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible, and 2. I knew I'd be sitting there for hours again. "Finally! Done." I exhaled and leaned back in my chair. After three hours, I had finally finished. To be honest, I was the kind of person who always got distracted by something without meaning to. That's why I spent a bit longer than others on my homework. When my stomach finally started growling, I walked into the kitchen, grabbed the leftovers from the casserole in the fridge, put it on a plate, and popped it in the microwave while leaning against the counter in our kitchen. Bing. I jumped up, took the plate out of the microwave, and sat down on the sofa, switching on the TV at the same time. I always watched TV while eating. It was completely normal for me.

Something shattered behind me. A small scream escaped my throat, and I immediately looked behind me in the apartment. No one there. But what was that? On the shelf above the TV, we had katanas on display. I couldn't handle those things, but it was better than being unarmed. I quickly grabbed one of the katanas, carefully took it out of its sheath, and walked cautiously in the direction from which the noise originated.

Keeping the sword poised in front of me, I walked through the hallway and discovered my mother's vase shattered on the floor. I almost stepped on the shards. I walked around it in a wide arc and moved toward my father's office. Light was on, and the door was ajar. Suddenly, I saw a shadow beneath the door. I felt fear. Real fear. Any sane person would have screamed and run out of the house, calling for help. But I was different in this situation. What I was doing was the last thing anyone should do.

The door slowly opened, and I held the sword ready to confront the intruder. My eyes widened when I saw who stood before me. The guy who kept stalking me. He was here. In my house! Oh my God! What now? I was frozen. My hands trembled with uncertainty. The last bit of my courage had vanished. The guy slowly approached me cautiously, reaching for his mask that covered half of his face and slowly pulled it down. At the same time, he removed his sunglasses. Did I want to see what creature was beneath that mask? I squinted my eyes and bit down hard on my lower lip. My heart raced uncontrollably, and the adrenaline surged through my blood, making me feel so nervous and restless I could hardly stand. I had never felt as much fear in my entire life as I did in that moment. "Look at me, Y/N." That voice. I knew it. Could it be? Was it really him? Hesitantly, I opened my eyes and immediately looked into the face of the person I hated most. Choi San stood right in front of me. He was the stalker?! Was this guy joking with me?! Angrily, I put the katana down and glared at him with hatred.

"Have you lost your mind scaring me like this?! Do that again, and I'll rip your head off!" I shouted at him, and he flinched slightly before grabbing my wrists and slamming me roughly against the wall. His face was uncomfortably close, and not a second later, as I was thinking about it, his lips were on mine. I fought with all my strength, but he was ten times stronger than me, so I eventually gave in. Still reluctantly, I reciprocated his kiss, and he immediately made it more demanding and wild. I didn't know why, but over time, I let him overpower me. I surrendered completely as he started covering my neck with kisses and sometimes began sucking on it. We then moved into my room; he immediately shoved me onto my bed and knelt over me. Again, he placed his lips on mine, and I automatically wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him even closer to me. Why did I suddenly have this desire for him? None of this made any sense. I hated him! And yet, here I was, wildly making out beneath him. His fingers slid under my shirt and slowly pushed it up. He stroked my stomach while sucking on my neck. Tomorrow, I would definitely have a hickey there.

Jae and Sora were back today. That mainly took away the boredom. It had been two weeks already, but I constantly thought back to that one night when he was with me and kissed me. But the worst part of it all was that I had reciprocated, and if my parents hadn't come home that evening, I probably would have... Oh God, please no! Not with him! Anything but that! My aching cheek brought me back to reality. My two friends were standing in front of me, and Sora had slapped me. That was the only way to pull me out of my daydreams. Still, it hurt. "Sora~. What was that for? That hurts." I whined with a pout. She just placed her hands on her hips and looked at me sternly. "Then stop daydreaming when I'm talking to you. You know how much I hate being ignored." Oh yes, that was true. And how much she hated it. Just as much as being interrupted. If she ever got a boyfriend, I hoped for him that he was deaf-mute.

He pulled my shirt over my head and pinned my wrists to the bed. I hadn't expected that. A bit surprised and nervous at the same time, I looked at him. "S-San? What-..." "Shh. Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. You mean way too much to me," he murmured against my lips, interrupting me and teasingly licking them. He was driving me crazy. I was already feeling so hot, and my body was practically screaming for him. He sat up and took off his coat and shirt as well. Could you believe it? He had an incredibly well-trained body, and so many tattoos adorned him, making him even more attractive. "Do you like what you see?" he grinned cheekily at me, and only now did I realize that I was staring. I turned my face away, blushing slightly, but didn't answer him. Again, he leaned down for another wild kiss and captured my lips. Suddenly, the front door slammed open, and we both stared in shock in that direction. Then our eyes met again. San pulled his clothes back on, freed me from my restraints, and ran to my window. "See you later," he winked at me and then jumped out of the window. Completely dazed, I remained lying in bed.

A few days later

Suddenly students started to run past us outside and formed a circle around a spot. What the hell? My expression became serious, and I marched outside to the yard with my friends directly behind me. I stopped and saw... my best friend and San? What had Wooyong done? He was the nicest person I knew and was pretty much always with me. Jae always said he wanted something from me, but I couldn't believe that. He was my best friend and nothing more. San seemed to be the one who was angry. I could tell by his gaze. He was tearing Wooyoung apart with just his eyes. I walked up to the two of them and stood between the two fighters. "What's going on here?!" I said seriously, crossing my arms over my chest. San simply ignored me, walked up to him, grabbed him by the collar, and whispered something in his ear that I unfortunately couldn't hear. I immediately pulled him away from Wooyoung, who shot him an angry look before disappearing into the school building, taking half the students with him. The rest scattered across the schoolyard. I could only shake my head and walked over to my best friend. "Wooyoung. Are you okay? What was that about?" "Nothing! That's none of your business." He turned around and just walked away. I watched him with wide eyes. What was that all about?

After school, I felt again that I was being followed. This time, I didn't care since I knew who it was, and I definitely had no fear of him. Out of nowhere I was grabbed by the arm and pulled into a wooded area. Totally surprised, I looked at the back of San's head and was literally forced to follow him. "San, what the hell? Let me go!" He didn't say anything but just kept pulling me along. Eventually, we arrived in a big backyard. "Wait a minute. Isn't this... my backyard?!" I looked at San, somewhat confused. However, he averted his gaze and pulled me into the house. He shoved me into my room and locked the door behind him. He angrily approached me and pushed me onto my bed, leaning over me and looking into my eyes intently. "Stay away from him! Do you understand?!" I blinked several times to comprehend what he meant. "What... what do you mean by that?" He sighed and lowered his head for a moment before looking back into my eyes. "Your friend just wants to get into your pants. Don't fall for that fraud!" "What?! Wooyoung is my best friend! He would never do that!" "Oh, really? Are you sure?" he said still seriously, leaning even closer to me. "Kim Sook. She was very close friends with him for two years until they ended up in bed, and then he left her hanging. My friend Mingi's sister didn't fare any better. So how do you know it would be different for you?! Do you really think I'd let that happen?!" he nearly shouted at me, and I stayed calm out of fear.

For a while, we stared into each other's eyes in silence. He was still so close to me; it made me quite nervous, but it also calmed me down. His closeness and warmth soothed me just like the wonderful, musky scent of his aftershave. Slowly, he bridged the last few centimeters and I could feel those wonderful, soft lips on mine. It was just a brief kiss, but it awakened so much within me. "I don't want to lose you to him," he whispered against my lips and kissed me again, this time with more pressure. I couldn't resist this guy, so I immediately wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. He supported himself on his forearms on either side of my head and let the kiss become more passionate while one of his hands glided from my neck down my entire body. A pleasurable shiver ran down my spine, and it felt like it was getting warmer in my room. His hand wandered under my shirt and slowly lifted it. His tongue teased over my lips, and I willingly opened them for him. San's tongue explored my mouth, played with mine, and with both hands, he massaged my breasts. Things got hotter and he leaned down to my neck, gently kissing his way down to my breasts, pulling my shirt and bra off. Normally, I would have turned red with shame, but at that moment, I was too aroused by the hot curly head above me.

His gaze devoured me, and he licked his lips seductively before leaning down to my breasts, circling my nipples with his tongue. Moaning softly, I scratched lightly down his back, enjoying the teasing of my breasts. Occasionally, he would bite lightly and suck on them. It was driving me insane, and my core started tingling with excitement. Impatiently, I squirmed beneath him and noticed his dirty grin as he kissed down my stomach. He wouldn't dare...?! No second later, my legs were pushed further apart, and I saw his head disappear between my legs. "San, stop that!" A bit embarrassed, I tried to stop him, grabbing his hair, but in the next moment, I had to stifle a moan and instinctively clutched his hair tightly. My strength slipped away in an instant, and I sank back into the pillows. He blissfully ran his long tongue along my wet core, skillfully teasing my sensitive pearl with the tip of his tongue, which only made me moan louder, my hips involuntarily arching up to meet him. His lips wrapped around my pearl, and he sucked on it hard, licking teasingly over my entrance while grinning at me. I couldn't do anything but surrender completely and let this man drive me crazy.

Moaning, I pulled on his hair and moved my hips against him, feeling that I was getting closer to my long-desired climax. Just a few more seconds, and I would finally go over the edge after his sweet torture on my sensitive clit. "San! Fuck!" I cried out, clutching his hair tighter, pulling on it as I arched my back and climaxed. Never in my life had an orgasm been as overwhelming as this one. Breathless and totally surprised, I looked at San, who was smirking cheekily, eliciting one last whimper from me followed by a reflexive arching of my hips as his tongue glided one last time over my now pulsating core. He kissed his way back up to me, sucking onto a spot behind my ear. I bit my lower lip to stifle any revealing sound, but just the tension in my body seemed to let him know that it was that spot I liked the most, and he traced it with his tongue. "Do you like that?" he whispered into my ear with his rough, deep voice, bringing another whimper out of me, and the only thing I could manage was a weak nod. San looked at me and didn't even try to hide his smug grin, to which I just rolled my eyes.

My gaze traveled along his face to his full, rosy lips, just waiting to press themselves back onto mine, showering me with their gentleness. "Do you want more?" It was just a soft whisper brushing against my lips that sent indescribable goosebumps down my spine, yet it was enough to stir up my loins and reflexively make my head nod slightly, though forcefully. God, what was this guy doing to me? Grinning, San stood up from me, and I became witness to an incredibly hot strip tease. It hadn't even occurred to me that he still had all his clothes on. But that I was getting this private show right now made me all the happier, and I could hardly wait to feel him inside me. To be taken shamelessly yet tenderly and passionately. He was driving me completely mad, and my clarity was dwindling as I was led to unleash the woman that had been slumbering inside me this whole time. A fiery young woman who had been waiting for the man who would cloud all her senses and send her to cloud nine, making her forget where up and down were. I immediately shook my head and tried to regain some clarity of mind.

This guy had managed to make me aroused just by my thoughts of the tattooed, dominant, and hot man who had such an incredibly bright smile and could easily wrap any woman around his finger. I still couldn't take my eyes away from that incredibly hot six-pack, scrutinizing every single one of his tattoos in detail. I just caught on the side how he grinned at me and slowly moved back toward my bed. Like a predator, he crawled toward me, pushing me back into the pillows. Again, he came so close, and his gaze made me hold my breath for a moment. His eyes were full of lust, and even his breath became a bit shallower, while his skin felt burning hot. "Do you have any idea how damn sexy you look? So helpless and so aroused. And all because of me." His rough voice made my core pulse even stronger, and I instinctively squirmed beneath him.

With a glazed look, he watched me until he grabbed my legs, spreading them apart and lying between them. He pressed his lips demandingly against mine and immediately deepened the kiss into a wild and intense tongue dance. San sucked on my tongue, licking and playing with it while his hands began to travel down my legs. Gently, he ran his right hand along my inner thigh to my core and paused just before reaching it. A bit confused, I was about to break the kiss and ask him what he was planning, when suddenly I felt something hard and pulsing at my entrance. Slowly and carefully, making sure not to hurt me, he entered my hot tightness. Piece by piece, deeper and deeper until he was fully buried inside me, letting out a quiet moan. With steady movements, he slowly thrust into me and gradually picked up speed, pounding harder and harder. "Oh my God. San!" Overwhelmed by this sudden and indescribable feeling as he thrust into me, I nearly screamed and clung to his back. "Found you."

Grinning, he grabbed my hips, pulling me closer to him and let his pelvis hit hard against mine. His thrusts became deeper and faster, and each time he hit that one spot inside me, drawing the most beautiful sounds from me and truly sending me to cloud nine. San's hands clutched the pillows beside my head, and his incredible hip movements grew more uncontrolled as he panted. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist and let him drive me onward. Finally, we both soared together over the edge and screamed each other's names into the room. Breathless and totally spent, he fell beside me after pulling out and draped the blanket over our bodies. "That was..." "Yes, that... was it," I finished his sentence, looking at him with a weak smile as I breathed heavily, which he returned by pulling me into his strong arms. "I love you, Y/N." That was the last thing I heard before my eyes fell shut and I drifted off into dreamland.

[imsodishy]

lol so after that unwritten ideas thing... i went and wrote a whole intro to an idea that's been shapeless in my head for months, tricked myself into writing damn it! Anyway... enjoy this thing!

There is nothing. For a long time.

And then there is, very faintly, soft noises. Someone speaking to her kindly she thinks. And then she remembers that she’s a person.

There is briefly red light and then darkness and then blue light.

Then there is sudden excruciating pain.

And then she is standing on a boardwalk, looking at the pacific ocean beyond, and she is Max Mayfield again. Which she hasn’t been. For a while. She thinks, anyway.

Actually, she has no idea how long it’s been since- Vecna.

She whips around, looking for him. Looking for the trick. For the horror to crack the day and come crashing in on her. The beach is packed, people everywhere. Looks like fucking tourists mostly.

She doesn’t recognize this moment. The boardwalk is familiar, but it doesn’t seem like a memory. Somehow she just knows. Stumbling blindly backwards she bumps into someone and they shake her off with a muttered, “Watch it.”

She takes off running.

It’s hard to keep her head on a swivel in the crowd and she collides with more people, getting her cursed out left and right but none of them seem wrong. Nothing has that creepy shadow hanging over it like the visions always did. The sky stays blue and clear.

It just seems… normal.

She slams into a trash can and it crashes to the ground, spilling garbage everywhere. She almost goes down in a heap after it, barely reels back, catches her balance at the last minute. Doubles over panting. Tries to think.

She remembers coming out of the trance in the attic, she does. But then she- she’s pretty sure she died. But unless heaven is a dirty, SoCal boardwalk, crawling with tourists, that can’t be right.

Maybe it’s hell.

“Hey kid!” She thinks maybe someone has shouted that a couple times now.

She looks up, squints into the sun at the figure of a man approaching like she’s a skittish animal.

“Kid, you alright?”

The figure resolves.

It’s Billy.

Which just raises more questions.

She doesn’t know whether to start running again, or scream, or cry.

So what she does is nothing.

“Kid? Can you hear me?” he sounds concerned. Gentle in a way she’s not sure she's ever heard from him.

He's not like the other Vecna visions of Billy. He’s not horribly torn and scarred, like he was the last time she saw him for real. Not flayed and frothing at the mouth. He looks… normal, but… different.

He looks older, not like, a lot, but a bit. His hair is longer than she’s ever seen it, curls hanging down over his shoulders, down to the bottom of his pecs. He's in a muscle tee and his shoulder is bare of the stupid smoking skull he got tattooed there as soon as he turned eighteen. His ear has like three more holes in it though, and there’s a gold hoop through his right nostril.

He's still got his mom's virgin Mary pendant though. That’s still there.

“Hey, you sick? Or did you take something? You don’t look good, kid.” He's still a couple paces away, not crowding her. Bent over to mirror her pose, hands on knees.

“What the fuck is happening?” she finally manages to speak.

“You wanna sit down maybe? You here with anybody?” He glances around.

“Billy,” she says, and she’s got no idea if it’s a question or not.

His head snaps around back to her and his face does a funny little wave from confusion to realization.  He laughs, says, “Small world, I'm a Billy too. What’s your Billy look like?”

“You’re my Billy,” she says, beyond caring what’s going on, desperate to just get on with whatever it is. No point dragging her heels.

She waits for the mask to split, but all that happens is this time the confusion sticks to his face, “Um, not really sure what you mean by that,” he’s still trying to be gentle.

“You’re Billy Hargrove,” she says, and he stands up straight like she electrocuted him, takes half a step back even.

“Excuse me?” His voice sounds so much more familiar now, guarded, sharp.

Max straightens up too, “You are Billy Hargrove. And I am Max Mayfield. You don’t know me?”

Nothing about Billy’s pose or face changes, no twitch or tell of any kind to hint at a monster beneath that face. With every passing second she becomes more sure that there isn’t one. Whatever this is, it’s not that. There’s fear, and confusion, but there isn’t the sense of doom sitting in her gut.

This isn’t Vecna, it’s something else.

“Am I supposed to?” Billy grunts, “Look, if you’re, like, stalking me or something there’s a bunch of reasons that’s not gonna work out for you. First off, I am too old for you, what are you, fifteen?”

She shakes her head harshly, the sheer gross factor of that thought popping her fear for the first time since she woke up. “Ew!”

“That’s what I'm saying!” he swings his arms wide and makes crazy eyes at her and abruptly he is her Billy. The Billy of every petty screaming match that went nowhere and just left them both pissed off.

She shakes it off, “No that’s not- not what this is.”

“What is it then?” he asks, still a little snappish.

“I have no fucking clue.” She's horrified to hear her voice crack. She kind of feels like crying, which is awful. She sniffs hard and tries to will her eyeballs to be cool, but she can see Billy see her struggling.

“Look, kid- what’s your name? Max?” he asks, softer again. She nods. “Okay, Max, is there someone we can call for you?”

Is there?

“We’re- are we in California?” she has to check, maybe she’s wrong about all of it somehow.

“Are we- yeah, of course we are. Where the hell else would we be?” Another good question. There’s a lot of them to go around.

Like: If she’s here, what the fuck is happening in Hawkins?

[axemetaphor]

managed to finally catch covid after dodging it for 2 years. not much has changed other than i leave my room even less (neither of my parents have it tho id swear my mom does and jsut got 2 false negatives, shes sicker than i am), my throat is itchy and i keep ramming my face into my coconut scented candle to make sure i still smell it (i do)

[smallraindrops-blog]

Call It Calamity.

4.2k

Hypnos/Zagreus, unrequited Thanatos/Zagreus

Warnings:just some kissing and alcohol uses. No beta at all.

Hypnos just wanted to be a good brother.

A/N: This is an au but it will run pretty close along the game, just with some differences.been wanting to write for this pairing for a while but wasn't sure I could get it right. Still don't, to be honest. Oh well hope you enjoy it.

The rumor mill was alive and well, even the underworld.

But this was a new one. And not one that Hypnos really believed.

Hypnos wasn't sure what to say when he heard that Zagreus had politely but firmly rejected Thanatos.

No one had told him really what happened, every worker shade Hypnos asked, he got a different answer.

A mistake surely. Even if Zagreus had rejected Thanatos, maybe he meant as a 'Not right now' while he worked though some family issues. And darkness knows with Hades as a father, there were issues.

Hypnos tapped his quill on his ledger, trying to listen to the shade that was telling him it was a bull shark, not a tiger shark that ate him and it was a common mistake really.

"Okay, just let me cross this out." Hypnos said, not really remembering what the shade told him. He just wrote tiger with a question mark.

His eyes kept going to the pool of Styx, waiting for Zagreus to come out. It took an hour before Hypnos just gave up. He made excuses as he quickly floated to his mother.

"Mom, have you heard?" Hypnos said quietly. He went to touch one of her flowers to fidget with something but she batted his hand away. She had gotten very fond of her purple flowers, and even taken up to watering them.

Hypnos wasn't entirely unconvinced that she didn't talk to them when no one else was around.

"Have I heard of what, my child?" Nyx asked. Her eyes watched him carefully, never leaving his face.

"About Zagreus and Thanatos. I've overheard some stuff." Hypnos leaned forward to whisper, "I doubt it is true but I haven't seen either of them."

Nyx sighed, and gave him a very pointed look. "It would be best not to bother them. This is a very personal matter, my child."

Hypnos crossed his arms, not liking the look she gave him. "I just wanted to know if you knew if Thanatos was okay since he isn't talking to me right now. I mean everyone but Zagreus seemed to know how Thanatos feels about him."

"I haven't heard anything, but even if I did this would be a matter best left alone."

Hypnos pouted, "Boo, you're no fun."

She shooed him away, a slight smile on her face. "Now go back to your work, and I will see you later."

Hypnos waved goodbye, a new plan on his mind already.

💤

It wasn't often that Hypnos traveled the underworld itself. Only when he knew Charon could see him for a chat and maybe buy something.

Thankfully for him, Zagreus left a breadcrumb trail of ruin, upset shades and broken urns everywhere.

Elysium was just as beautiful as Hypnos remembered. The lushness of it made him think of his cave with the soft as a cloud grass and poppies everywhere.

Darkness, he missed his cave. And having Thanatos closer and actually being friends with his own twin.

There was a lot he missed.

However, he didn't missed the sound of Zagreus's screams of rage. He drifted into the field and he ducked when an arrow went sailing past his head.

Zagreus in battle reminded Hypnos of the storms of old, more powerful than gods yet desperate with how little time they had left. Beautiful yet terrible.

Zagreus' sword swung down on an unlucky shade and shattered it. Zagreus stumbled backward, panting and sweating. His mismatched eyes darted around, looking for the next fighter.

Zagreus didn't see the two shades behind him, with their spear at ready. Hypnos bit his cheek for a moment, he didn't want to take the spotlight from Zagreus but he already made the trip and it would be a shame if Hypnos didn't even get to talk to Zagreus.

With a snap of his fingers, Hypnos casted a sleep spell over the shades. Zagreus whirled around, surprise on his face at the sleeping shades. After a moment, they melted away without ever waking up.

"Wow." Hypnos dragged out the word and grinned when Zagreus saw him for the first time. His mismatched eyes blinked, not quite believing what he was seeing. "Just some advice, always check behind you."

For a moment, Hypnos thought he saw a flash of hurt before Zagreus' face hardened. This was new, Hypnos mused but so was his presence.

"Hypnos, has Father sent you?" Zagreus asked quietly, his fingers curled tightly on the helt of his sword.

"Oooh, no. I came on my own will, Zagreus." Hypnos waved his hand. Zagreus didn't relax, his eyes still on Hypnos.

Hypnos rolled his eyes, "I just wanted to talk, really."

Zagreus held his battle stance for another moment, his eyes studying Hypnos' face. Then he relaxed, his lips twitched into a small, tired smile and his sword rested against him. Hypnos sighed, while this wasn't the happy, polite Zagreus he knew; this was better than the battle one he just met

"Hypnos, what could be so important you need to come out here to talk to me?" Zagreus froze, "Is everything alright at the house?"

"Yes, yes everyone is fine." Hypnos held his hands up, "I would have been waiting at the house but lately you've been taking too long to die."

Zagreus scoffed, "Excuse me?"

Hypnos wagged a finger, "You used to come back so quickly, but not anymore! Now I've to go forever without seeing your pretty little face, it's so cruel Zagreus." Hypnos joked.

He didn't see the faint blush on Zagreus' cheeks. "Haha, very funny. Alright, Hypnos what can I do for you?"

Hypnos smiled nervously,"I heard a rumour. Of course, I doubt it's true. But just in case, I heard that Thanatos had… talked with you." Hypnos hoped that Zagreus would get the meaning without Hypnos saying that his twin had hit on Zagreus.

The guilty look on Zagreus' face told Hypnos everything.

"Oh. So it is true." Hypnos said. "I mean you don't mean like forever though right?"

Zagreus ran his hand through his hair, his eyes not willing to meet Hypnos' and for some reason, it made Hypnos think of a little boy who did something he was told not to do.

"Really, I thought-" Hypnos spoke but the sharp look from Zagreus cut him off.

"Yeah, so did everyone else. Everyone but me." Zagreus snapped.

"I didn't… I just…" Zagreus struggled to find the words. "I just can't, not for Thanatos, not like that."

Hypnos didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything. For once in his life he didn't have a smartass reply.

"I'm sorry." Hypnos said finally, "I didn't realize we put this pressure on you. You know you don't have anything to feel guilty about, right?"

Zagreus shrugged, "Is this the only reason you came out?" His toes curled in the grass, leaving burn marks there. Hypnos crocked a brow, he hadn't seen Zagreus do that since they were children.

"I think I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay. I mean I know Thanatos doesn't want to talk to me anymore but I wanted to make sure he and you, of course, were alright. I just happened to find you first."

"Oh." Zagreus said softly. Almost sadly.

Hypnos frowned, he hated when he knew there was something he was missing and he didn't know what to ask or do to get the missing piece.

"You're a good brother, Hypnos." Zagreus said, trying to sound like himself again. He glanced at the chamber's door, Charon's bag gleamed in the glass. "I have to get back to this but I will let Thanatos know you were looking for him if he even shows up..."

After a moment of just studying Zagreus, Hypnos spoke. "Alrighty, but just one more piece of advice."

Zagreus turned back to look at Hypnos, his brows raised.

"I would suggest trying not to die. Crazy, I know." Hypnos said, not able to stop his lips twitching in amusement.

Zagreus laughed,"Oh fantastic advice, like always." He smiled, a real smile and not the tired, sad one he seems to always have lately. "Even if it means you will have to suffer without seeing my pretty face?"

Hypnos places his chest on his chest in mock agony. "Anything for your happiness, Zagreus."

He grinned at Zagreus' laugh. It has been while he heard Zagreus express some else behide urgency or anger.

"Oh, and here." Hypnos tossed Zagreus a small bag who caught it easily with one hand. The obels rustled noisily and Zagreus stared down at the bag.

"Are you sure? Three hundred is a lot of obels." Zagreus blinked, his face unreadable to Hypnos.

Hypnos waved the question away, "Think of this as a bonus of dealing with me taking up your time."

He yawned loudly, "I've better get back before your father notices I am missing. Good luck!"

And with a wave that Zagreus returned, Hypnos vanished.

💤

Of course, Hades noticed the exact second Hypnos abandoned his job.

After much yelling and banging his fist on the desk, Hades freed Hypnos.

He made his own escape quickly. When Hades got like this, It was best to stay out of sight until he got angry with something else.

Hypnos realized that he had missed Zagreus' return amist Hades' raging. He felt a pang of disappointment but shrugged it off. It's not like Zagreus won't be doing another attempt soon after he had some time to lick his wounded pride.

With a sigh, Hypnos returned to his much hated duty and waved forward the next shade.

💤

It was during Hypnos' napping that Thanatos finally showed up.

Hypnos tugged his sleep mask up, "Thanatos! I haven't seen you in forever. Or weeks since the whole you know what." He beamed until he saw how cold Thanatos looked at Hypnos.

"Is everything alright? I mean I heard what happened. I think everyone did. Um, forget I said that. I tried to find you but couldn't and mom wouldn't tell me where you were-" Hypnos rambled nervously.

Thanatos closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Like Hypnos was an annoyance that he wished he could be rid of. Which hurt but Hypnos would move past the hurt if it meant he could talk to his twin again.

"I need to talk to you. Alone." Thanatos said between gritted teeth.

"Are you going to kill me?" Hypnos eyed him. "Because even though you're our mother's favorite, she would be upset with you."

"Hypnos." Thanatos snapped. "Alone. Now."

"Fine! Fine. At the old hangout?" Hypnos asked.

When Thanatos vanished without another word, Hypnos rolled his eyes and murmured "Drama queen." And without even looking at the long line of shades, he followed his brother.

When Hypnos saw his old cave, he sighed happily. The bedchambers at the house were very luxurious and all but he missed this.

Thanatos stood in the middle of the field inside the cave, his arms crossed and his eyes on the river Lethe, the mist that covered the water drifted slowly, hiding the fast undercurrent under it.

Whenever someone tried to drink from the river, Hypnos had to warn them how easy it was for Lethe to pull someone under. And there were quite a few rescues he had to make. Not all of them were successful.

Hypnos floated next to his twin, he tried to decide what to say but settled on waiting for Thanatos to speak.

"Zagreus is getting closer to the surface." Thanatos said quietly, breaking the almost comfortable silence for the first time.

"So, he is." Hypnos agreed. "Once he gets a handle on the damn Satyrs, I don't think anything will be able to stop him."

Hypnos looked at Thanatos as he talked. "Hades had been leaving his desk more often."

Thanatos just nodded, the weight of the unspoken words, of their knowledge, of what hurt that Zagreus will have to face alone weighed on both brothers.

Hypnos stopped floating and stood, they were of equal height and for some reason, Hypnos felt this would be fair for both of them.

"Is this the only reason why you wanted to talk to me? Not anything else, you know like why don't we talk anymore?" Hypnos asked.

"I just don't understand." Thanatos said.

Hypnos tilted his head in confusion. "We all know why he really wants up there, Mom told us, remember? We would do the same in his place."

Thanatos shook his head, "Maybe not all of us. But that isn't what I'm talking about."

For the first time since coming into the cave, Thanatos looked at him. Hypnos was surprised by how sad he looked. There weren't tears but there didn't need to be.

"I don't understand what I don't have but you do." Thanatos said, his mouth twisted.

"Okay, now I don't understand." Hypnos said, "I don't have anything you don't. Unless you count our powers."

Thanatos rolled his eyes, like Hypnos was being dense on purpose. "Haven't Zagreus talked to you?"

"Sure, you mean about your feelings, right? He felt guilty, brother. He really did." Hypnos tapped his fingers against his belt, just to be able to touch something.

Thanatos didn't say anything for a few minutes then he sighed. "So he hasn't then."

"No we did, I found him in Elysium. We talked some." Hypnos watched Thanatos' face carefully, for any hints of what to say.

"Tell me brother, why did you, upon hearing Zagreus rejected me, seek him out?" Thanatos' eyes narrowed at him.

"I was worried! For the both of you. We all thought you guys were it, you know?" Hypnos pushed away the guilt he felt, he had no reasons for it. He never did anything to wreck Thanatos' chances. Not that he would be able to anyway.

"Oh, is that it? Do you really think I would buy that? I saw how your eyes followed him, you know."

Hypnos closed his mouth with a clink of his teeth, and both brothers stared each other down.

Hypnos crossed his arm to match Thanatos. "I have never said or done anything. I knew you cared for him, Thanatos. I wouldn't hurt you like that."

"Not even if Zagreus wanted you?" Thanatos asked.

"It is not really a problem since I can assure you that is not the case." Hypnos said dryly, not happy that Thanatos brought up the impossible.

Thanatos scoffed a laugh at him,"You're an idiot." And he stepped away, not even looking at Hypnos anymore. "I've been away from my job long enough and so have you. Goodbye, Hypnos."

"Hey-" Hypnos reached for his brother but was already gone.

Hypnos gave a shout of resentment, of hurt and kicked the grass. It didn't help the anger so he kicked again and again.

He sat down next to the river, crossed legged and head in his hands.

He loved his brother, really he did but blood and darkness he wanted to shake him sometimes.

💤

When he made it back, Hades wasn't at his desk. Hypnos' heart sank, and he just hoped Zagreus would be able to push through this escape.

Thankfully it wasn't that attempt or the one after that.

It was during Hypnos dealing with two shades, a pair of sisters, arguing over who was at fault for the cart tipping over when Zagreus' name appeared on his ledger. Next to his name, the word Redacted appeared.

Hades did it. The bastard really killed his own son. Hypnos' mouth twisted, anger burned hot in his chest. He would have to play dumb, the less Hades knew what Hypnos and his family knew, the better.

Hypnos looked over the still arguing sisters and noted down, 'killed by inability to communicate with their sibling.'

Hypnos totally wasn't projecting his own issues.

He saw Zagreus step out of the Styx. Even bloodied, Hypnos could see what his brother liked about Zagreus. Zagreus shook off the blood, and Hypnos' eyes unwillingly followed his movements.

Nope, Hypnos tore his eyes away. He didn't see anything, he told himself. Just his brother's crush, he reminded himself. Even if Zagreus didn't return Thanatos' feelings, Hypnos wouldn't do that to his brother.

"Hypnos." Zagreus greeted him and before Hypnos could respond, Zagreus shoved a bottle of nectar in his face. Hypnos grabbed it before he knew what it was and blinked at it.

"Oh for me? You shouldn't have!" Hypnos grinned. He shook the bottle gently, the liquid glittered in the candle light.

"It's my thanks for the gift you gave me before. It was a huge help." Zagreus said softly.

"Anything for you, Zagreus." Hypnos grinned. He could see a sadness that cling to Zagreus, and wondered if he should say something. His chest twisted with how helpless he felt. He wanted to take away the sadness and make sure he never felt it again.

"Do you want to go see my old hangout?" Hypnos said before he could stop himself. Zagreus perked up a little, "The cave, right?"

Hypnos grabbed Zagreus' shoulder and pulled him along for the ride. The sisters are still loudly arguing in front of the line.

💤

It was nice to return a second time. It was much calmer than the house. The house carried a heaviness to it that made it hard to call it home. And Hypnos had no plans for staying forever in that place.

Inside the cave, it was lit only by the numerous candles that floated about and the river Lethe's own light but it was enough to see most of the field inside.

Zagreus immediately began walking around, his eyes drifting from the river to candles to the little poppies dotted the land to the cottonwood that lined the cave's wall. Hypnos just watched him explore.

"This is much more calming than the house." Zagreus said as he turned back to Hypnos. "Why do you stay at the house? This seems much more like you."

Hypnos floated closer to Zagreus, "It was part of the whole deal, me and everyone else had to stay at the house. Or close to it, so Hades could 'keep an eye on us'. Charon is the only exception because he bonded too close to the Styx to stay long."

At his father's name, Zagreus sighed bitterly. "I swear, that old man causes everyone problems and for no good reasons."

"You telling me." Hypnos agreed. Normally he would try to be nicer but the word Redacted flashed into his mind. And an overwhelming sense of anger for Zagreus who just wanted to see his mother again.

"Come on, I know where the comfortable spots are." Hypnos floated toward the river, waving Zagreus along.

He and Zagreus sat close to the river, where the most plush grass grew. It took Zagreus a few minutes to settle, as if he had forgotten what it was like not to move all the time.

Zagreus's fingers dipped into the mist as Hypnos worked the cork out the bottle.

One loud pop later, and the sweet nectar was his. He took a sip from the bottle and hummed. "Thanks. Do you want some?" Hypnos wiggled the bottle, thinking Zagreus would say no like he normally did.

But Zagreus didn't this time. "Sure, thank you." He took the bottle from Hypnos and hummed at the taste.

Hypnos tried not to think about the fact Zagreus' mouth was where he was a moment ago.

Zagreus grimaced as he handed back the bottle, "I forgot how strong those are."

"Lightweight." Hypnos teased, his tone fond and Zagreus shoved at his shoulder with a laugh. He took a big sip and handed it back to Zagreus.

It's not weird if you don't make it weird, Hypnos told himself.

They passed the drink a few more times, until it was close to being empty. "Want the last bit?" Hypnos asked, feeling a slight buzz. Zagreus shook his head, his cheeks were more flushed than Hypnos.

Zagreus looked good like this, flushed and relaxed, and it took all of Hypnos' willpower to pull his eyes away.

Hydnos tossed the now empty bottle next to him and sighed. He bit his cheek, this was probably a mistake but Thanatos' words had been haunting him.

"Have Thanatos checked up on you?" Hypnos tugged at the grass, trying not to think about how close Zagreus was.

Zagreus shrugged, "Not really. He had been helping in some of the fights but he disappeared before I could talk to him."

"He had a weird conversation with me. First time in months that he talked to me and it was about you." Hypnos grumbled.

Zagreus' shoulders tensed up and he wouldn't look at Hypnos. "I have to apologize, Hypnos. I think I might have made it worse between you and Thanatos."

"Zagreus, whatever is going on with Thanatos and me has been going on for a long while. There was nothing you did to cause this rift." Hypnos leaned back on his hands. "I know he cares for you, always has. It was a weird conversation. He sounded like- like… I don't know. I can't explain it."

Zagreus said nothing to that. Hypnos noticed how Zagreus' toes curled into the grass. He almost said something about it but he didn't want Zagreus to get self conscious and stop so he kept his mouth shut.

Zagreus plucked a nearby poppy, full bloom and a vivid red. He spinned between his fingers before he turned to Hypnos who crooked a brow at him. Zagreus very carefully placed the flower on Hypnos' ear and smiled, "That is a good look for you."

Hypnos snorted, "Your highness, I do believe you're a little drunk right now." He grinned at the pout Zagreus gave him.

Zagreus simply plucked another poppy, and placed it in one of Hypnos' curls. His hand stopped and Zagreus lightly stroked his hair.

"Hypnos, would I upset you if I try something?" Zagreus asked softly.

"Probably not, you are already putting flowers in my hair." Hypnos said, alarm bells were going off in his head but he couldn't be bothered to listen.

Zagreus cupped the back of Hypnos' head, fingers buried in his curls and pulled him into a chaste kiss.

Hypnos' heart stopped for a moment and suddenly the talk he had with Thanatos came back in sharp clarity.

But all Hypnos knew at this second was how nectar tasted on Zagreus' lips and how warm the prince of the underworld felt.

Hypnos knew he was going to hate himself for this. But he did it anyway. May the fates and Thanatos forgive him, but Hypnos knew this would be the first and last time.

Hypnos pressed into the kiss, pleased at the soft gasp Zagreus gave and slowly they both deepened the kiss.

Hypnos wrapped an arm around Zagreus' waist and pulled him closer. They broke the kiss for a moment, for breath but Zagreus quickly returned.

Hypnos felt like he was drowning. Between the sweetness of Zagreus's kisses, the shared heat between them and his guilt of doing this, Hypnos was sure he might be going mad.

After somewhere between an eternity and a few minutes, Hypnos pulled away. He and Zagreus stared at each other, lips full and cheeks equally flushed.

Hypnos stared, trying to remember everything of this moment. His heart felt so full but he already could feel the cracks forming.

Zagreus was so beautiful, so unlike anything or anyone else he ever saw. Hypnos loved him for that reason alone.

"Zagreus-" Hypnos' voice cracked, "I can't, you have to understand. I really can't, not to my brother."

Zagreus shushed him, cupped Hypnos' face in his hands. "I know. You're a good brother."

And Zagreus kissed him again. Hypnos went along almost mindlessly.

"If I could, I would." Hypnos murmured against Zagreus' lips.

Zagreus pressed a quick kiss before pulling away. "You can, I'm willing to deal with whatever happens, are you?"

Hypnos hated how much he wanted to bend to Zagreus, to give in. "My brother will never forgive me.* He said weakly.

"He will, he is your brother and he loves you too. He just has a different way of showing it."

Hypnos mutely shook his head and Zagreus sighed.

"I will wait then. However long it will take." Zagreus said decidedly.

"What? Zagreus, no I can't do that to you." Hypnos looked into Zagreus' eyes as he pressed his forehead against Zagreus'. "Listen, I don't know if he and I will ever be friends again and I don't want you to lose out on something because you are waiting around for me to get my stuff together."

"I already decided. You're not the only with stuff left unfinished. I still need to find my mother and deal with my father. Will you wait for me?" Zagreus asked softly.

"Centuries-" Zagreus kissed him but Hypnos kept talking. "Millenniums. Zagreus, I didn't know this was a possibility. I thought you wouldn't even look at me twice."

"I thought you didn't notice me, Hypnos. I thought you just saw me as someone bothering you with how paperwork I must create."

"How could I not notice you, Zagreus? I just couldn't do anything about it." Hypnos said helplessly.

His and Zagreus' eyes meet, and Hypnos' heart shattered. He knew it was decided the moment they kissed, they would have to deal with the consequences of their actions. With his brother, with Zagreus' own family and everything else he couldn't think about right now.

But at least, it would be together.

This time Hypnos pulled Zagreus into a kiss.

All in due time. For now, Hypnos wanted to enjoy this time for as long as he could.

Fin

[reidgraygubler]

a different type of high (spencer reid/reader) pt 4

Title: A Different Type of High (part four)

Request: no

Couple: spencer reid/gender-neutral!reader

Category: angst in the first half, some fluff in the second half

Content Warning: mentions of death, talks about parent death, relapse scare, suicidal ideation, talks about drug usage and drugs, anxiety/panic attacks, explanations of nightmares/night terrors, swearing, intrusive thoughts,

Word Count: 4,514

Summary: Reader nearly relapses because of the anniversary of her mother’s passing. 

A/N: this one does deal with some heavier topics (see CW's), so please proceed with caution. I originally had t his as on big long part, but, uh, it was too long. So it’s two parts… anyways, thank you all for the love and support! check out my masterlist!

last part  series masterlist  next part

{***}{***}{***}

I sat in the living room with my eyes on the coffee table. Several orange pill bottles sat lined up on the edge. The way the light caught the plastic caught my attention, mostly in a bad way. I was already on edge, and my day was already ruined. Any number of things could have made my day bad, but we can easily put the blame on my mother. And, I’m not just saying that because she’s an easy target. No, I’m blaming her because she died a year ago on this very day.

I was hungry, and not for the food in my fridge. No, I was hungry for the high and the nothingness. The high that was dangerous and could likely kill me. Maybe that’s what I wanted. I mean, the only person I have in life to keep me grounded was Spencer… And we’ve only known each other for a short time. What if he’s faking it all? He doesn’t really care about me. He just says he does. Saying stuff I want to hear.

My body was on autopilot as my hand moved towards the bottles. The grip I had on the lid was tight like my life depended on it. Mostly because, in that moment, my life did depend on it. That was until a slip of paper caught my eyes. An unfamiliar handwriting was scribbled across the paper, but a more familiar name was at the bottom. 

Just because I’m at work doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about you! Please call me if you need help with anything! 

-Spencer

I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked at the note. I have no idea when he would have written it and put it there. But it was the exact sort of pick-me-up I needed to stop me from making a stupid mistake. 

I stood up and shoved the paper and bottle of pills in my pocket before making my way to the door. My keys and a small stack of quarters sat on the side table beside the door, they ended up in my pocket. 

My feet moved themselves, and I soon appeared at the laundromat down the street. There were a few people there, and I could tell they 

hadn’t been there for very long. I just hope my phone call to Spencer wasn’t too long and they didn’t listen. Although, why would they listen to a random girl’s phone call? They don’t care, they won’t care. 

I quickly made my way towards the payphones, going to the furthest one to ensure my own privacy (again, they won’t care). I fished out the quarters as I sat down. It was kind of amazing how quickly I dialed Spencer’s number, and more impressive how fast I remembered it. It was the next number I remembered after my address.

The phone only dialed for a few seconds before he answered. I would have assumed he was busy with work or something. But, I guess, like his note said, even if he was busy, he was thinking about me. I’m pretty sure he was just saying that though.

“Hello, this is Doctor Spencer Reid,” he spoke calmly like he didn’t know what was happening. Well, that was probably because he had no idea I was on the verge of a breakdown. “Hello?”

“It’s… It’s me… Spencer, Spencer, I…” I swallowed roughly as I stared blankly at the wall in front of me. I could feel my heart beating a million miles an hour and hear the beating in my head. It was nearly deafening to me. Being alone didn’t help the anxious feeling. “Are you home?” My voice was a light whisper, and I wondered if he even heard me ask. I don’t even know why I asked if he was at home. I knew he was at work. It’s only 3 pm. Maybe I was just hoping he’d be home, and he could come over and save the day, make me feel better somehow. How though? I’m not sure. Spencer’s a fix-it type of guy, I’m sure he’ll figure something out.

“I’m still at work. But I should be home soon. Why? Is everything okay? Are you okay?” He asked, his voice heavily laced with concern. It was that moment that I realized he did care about me. 

I closed my eyes and brought my hand to rest over my mouth to muffle any sobs. “Are you okay? I need you to talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.” He asked again when I stayed silent. I let out a deep sigh and shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me.

“I, uh, I… I want…” I let out another deep sigh, hoping he’d know what I was getting at. “Please don’t make me say it,” I whispered and looked at the counter. My fingers rapidly tapped against the smooth surface. We both knew I had to say it and admit my defeat and the fact that I was sitting in the laundromat, with a bottle of whatever drug I had hidden in my bathroom. “Fuck,” I shouted before slamming the phone down on the hook. The other few people in the laundromat looked at me with caution in their eyes. 

“What?!” I looked at them before I tightly tugged my sweater around my body before storming out of the laundromat. The pill bottle in my pocket rattled with each step I took, and it was getting very difficult to move without wanting to take anything. Tears sprung from my eyes, blurring my vision the longer I was outside.

When I finally made it back to my apartment, I stormed to the bathroom. My reflection scared me. I almost didn’t recognize myself. It was a little horrifying, seeing myself as so unrecognizable. So, I stared at myself, my hand in my pocket, rattling the contents inside.

I scoffed before shaking my head. My hand came out with the bottle, and my eyes looked down at it. My thumb fidgeted with the lid, wanting to pop it off and pour the contents into my mouth. But, instead, I chucked it to the sink, the lid popping off and pills flying everywhere, before I ran to my bedroom.

I pulled the blankets over my body to hide from the world. Tears were rolling down my cheeks and face and I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it. That’s a shame too… Nearly two months clean and all I wanted to do was not exist and ruin everything.

{***}{***}{***}

I jumped awake when a very loud banging came on the front door. I looked around my room before swinging my legs off my bed and leaving the room. I dragged my body across my apartment and to the front door, where the banging hadn’t stopped.

I pulled the door open and looked up. Spencer was standing there, looking at me with a frantic expression on his face. I stared at him with wide eyes, my earlier fears and anxieties quickly returning. I had nearly forgotten about calling him too. Damn it.

“You didn’t do anything, did you? You didn’t take anything?” He asked, looking down at me. I took a deep breath and shook my head. I stepped to the side and silently invited him inside. He stepped inside and looked back at me, before looking around my home. He was probably looking for any signs of current drug use. The only real sign was in the bathroom… Where the bathroom had a grenade of pills explode all over the place. We’ll just keep him out of there… For now...

“No, no, I didn’t. I swear I didn’t. I, uh... I took a nap and cried it out,”  I rubbed the underside of my nose. I pressed the door shut before turning around to look at him. He was looking at me, he still wore a panicky expression in his eyes and it made me feel sick. He doesn’t believe that I didn’t do anything. I wouldn’t believe me either.

“What happened?” Spencer finally asked as I walked up to him. He opened his arms up and allowed me to hug him. I honestly didn’t want to answer him. Everything about today was already awful, and I just wanted it to be over. “Can you tell me what happened?” He asked after a moment of silence. I let out a deep sigh after he pulled his arms away from me. He noted my deep breath and wrapped his arms back around me. 

I turned my head away from his chest so I could have a coherent sentence. Er, well, as coherent as it could get. “My… It’s the anniversary of… Of my mom's death,” I swallowed roughly. Spencer looked down at me before squeezing me harder. I pressed my face into his chest and shook my head. “And, I just…. Wanted to disappear. I don’t know…” I spoke, my words being muffled into his shirt. One of Spencer’s hands cradled the back of my head while the other held me closer to him. “I didn’t want to be alive at the moment,” I whispered. 

“Don’t say that,” he returned the whisper. His voice vibrated in his chest, and it felt good against my head. The way he squeezed me made me feel safer in the moment. “Please don’t ever say that again,” his voice cracked at the end. I bit my lips together as I started to cry. “Don’t even think like that,” his voice got even lower, probably because he was also crying and he was just trying to mask that fact.

“You don’t get to think that way either,” I looked up at him and furrowed my eyebrows. He looked at me as he remembered when he was gone for a week and how he stood in front of several people with loaded weapons. 

“This isn’t about me… It’s about you,” he whispered, bringing a hand to my face. His thumb brushed away the tears that were rolling down my cheeks, but that was basically useless because I couldn’t stop crying. But it felt good to cry, to be honest. “You’re still young and have so much to live for. Someone has to save you,” he looked down at me, his hand still holding my face. I feared that he was only doing it to make sure I was still here and alive. Which was a weird fear for me to have, and I suppose for him to have. 

“So are you, Spencer,” I whispered as I leaned into his touch more. He swallowed roughly as he kept his eyes on me. His eyes grew glossy the longer he stared at me. “You save everyone… But who saves you from yourself?” I furrowed my eyebrows. Spencer sighed deeply before hugging me again. 

“You do,” his whisper was hardly audible, so I was happy I heard his words. I wasn’t so sure what he meant by that. I mean, obviously, I was the thing that kept him sane while he was home. But, I don’t exactly know how I save him though. So, I was unsure as to why he told me that.  “It’s just been difficult for me recently. But, I’m working on getting better,” he spoke softly. And, I swear he said ‘for you’, but it was so quiet I couldn’t be sure. Even if he did say it, I’m sure I wasn’t supposed to hear it.

We stayed silent for a while, and we just stood in each other’s arms for even longer. Being in his embrace made me feel safe, and I know I said that earlier. But it’s true. I wonder if he felt the same.

“You alright?” Spencer looked up at me. I looked down at our hands and nodded. “You look like you haven’t slept in a couple of days,” he spoke, his tone was soft and gentle. I could tell that he really cared and was trying really hard not to sound mean. I didn’t mean to take it to heart the way I did, but I did.

“Not really,” I grumbled and looked down at the ground. I shrugged and quickly glanced at him. He was looking at me with an apologetic look on his face, silently telling me that he was sorry for suddenly offending me. I shrugged it off like it was nothing. It wouldn’t be the first or last time someone offended me over something so… small and unimportant. He shouldn’t be sorry, it’s my own fault. He was just asking if I was alright.

 “The last few days have been rough for me, ya know? Especially with this whole thing,” I sighed deeply and shrugged again.

“If I stay here, will you promise to get some rest,” Spencer offered, grasping both my hands. I looked at our hands with a dullness in my eyes. I was beginning to zone out because of how tired I was getting. Spencer lifted a hand and gently rubbed my shoulder. I sighed and looked down before looking up at his face.

“I’m having nightmares, and they’re really realistic… That’s why I’m losing sleep,” I whispered. Spencer looked at me before pulling me into a hug. “And they’re about everything. Me, my mom, you, drugs, dying, death… I don’t know,” I mumbled into his chest. I pressed my chin into his chest and looked up at him. Spencer looked down at me with a smile on his lips. We were really close to each other’s face, and I know he noticed that too. “I like when you spend the night,” I noted, changing the subject to something lighter, even though it was that much lighter. 

“Really,” he asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling lightly. I nodded and returned the smile. “Why’s that,”

“Because then I’m not lonely, and left with my thoughts,” I whispered as I stared at him. I’ve never noticed how pretty his eyes are, with their golden and greeny color. He looked at me like he saw something, but I was clueless about what he saw. “And, whenever I’m with you, I feel safe and at home, in some weird way. I’m sorry. I don’t know. The exhaustion is starting to hit me now that you pointed it out,” I sat back away from him. I pressed my hands into my face and shook my head. “I just never sleep anymore and I’m honestly used to it at this point. But I’m tired all the damn time,” 

“I’ll be here, you can rest. You don’t have to worry about anything hurting you,” he whispered before wrapping an arm around my body. I looked up at him and nodded. “Let’s lie down?” he asked softly. I nodded before going to walk to my bedroom. Before I even got the chance to step a foot away from him, Spencer picked me up and carried me. I looked at his face and furrowed my eyebrows. “I’m fully capable of walking, you know,” 

“I know,” Spencer smiled as he readjusted his hold on me. He was carrying me like a backpack, but on his front instead of his back. “But you’re tired,” he hummed as he held me tightly.

“Yeah, I am,” I looked at him with a smile. Spencer laughed at me and shook his head. Our faces were close again, closer than before. And, for some reason, I really wanted to kiss him. Which, again, is weird. He’s my best friend… And I want to fucking kiss him. It just felt like the perfect moment for us to kiss. But, I don’t want to ruin our friendship. I can’t lose the one thing that’s keeping me grounded. And he can’t lose the thing keeping him grounded.

Spencer carefully kicked my bedroom door open and walked in. He laid me down on one side of the bed before going to the other side. The blanket was pulled over both our bodies and Spencer was close to me.

“Please get some sleep,” he whispered, brushing hair away from my face. I looked up at him and nodded. “Do you want me to rub your back?” 

“I knew there was a reason I kept you around,” I laughed before rolling onto my stomach. “My bestest friend ever,” I hummed as he started running his hand along my back.

“Aren’t I your only friend?” Spencer joked lightly.

“Ah, not only that. My bestest friend,” I looked up at him and smiled. Spencer shook his head before brushing his fingers across my eyelids, somehow getting me to close my eyes. 

“Go to sleep,” he whispered. I giggled and nodded before moving closer to him. Spencer returned the laughter before wrapping an arm over me. 

{***}{***}{***}

I wrinkled my nose as I noticed a weight across my body. It wasn’t like an emotional weight like I’ve been so used to waking up to recently. No, there was something actually on top of me while I was asleep. So, when I opened my eyes, I wasn’t too surprised when I saw something on me. However, I was more surprised that it was another person. That’s right, Spencer stayed the night.

His arm was strewn across my torso, and his legs were entwined with mine. His head was resting on the same pillow as me. The way he slept so soundly and restfully made me mildly jealous. How come he gets to sleep so peacefully and I don’t?

I hope he was as peaceful as I thought. There was probably not a bad thing he was dreaming about. Unfortunately for me, I was freaking out because I dreamt that I watched my best friend being killed.

I laid back, pressing my head into the pillow before turning to look at Spencer. His nose twitched as he stirred lightly before hugging me tighter. I held my breath, worried that my breathing would wake up. But, it did. There was no need for worry. He must be having a good dream with all the humming and hugging he was doing. 

I looked at his face, mesmerized by the way he slept so soundly. The way his eyelashes pressed against his cheeks, and freckles dotted the bridge of his nose. His lips pouty and slightly parted. I didn’t even realize he was awake and I was staring till he said something.

“Hey,” he murmured, pulling me closer before nuzzling into me more. I smiled softly as I looked up at him again. “You don’t have to go to the bathroom, do you?” he hummed as he closed his eyes again. 

“No, I don’t,” I replied back, giving up on any chances of getting up. We might be here for a while, so there’s probably no point in getting out of bed with Spencer holding me hostage. 

“Mmm, good,” he opened his eyes and looked down at me. The tired smile on his lips made me feel warm and safe as I looked at him. “How long have you been awake?” he asked, his thumb rubbing circles on my shoulder.

“Not long,” I whispered, looking right at his eyes. He looked back at me and nodded. “How did you sleep,”

“I think that was the best sleep I’ve had in a very long time,” he closed his eyes again, “Something about your bed is very comfortable,” he looked down at me and smiled. 

“Is it the bed or is it because you’re sleeping with someone to cuddle with?” I asked myself as I stared at him. “I’m happy you find my bed comfortable,” I laughed lightly. My bed is not comfortable. So I know he didn’t find it that comfortable.

“How did you sleep?” he asked, placing a hand on my cheek. I swallowed roughly as I stared at him.   

“Better than the previous night,” I shrugged a little bit. Spencer frowned as he readjusted his hold on me. “Let’s make breakfast,” I spoke out loud before sitting up, pushing his arms off me. 

“Breakfast?” 

“Yeah,” I smiled as I slipped out of bed and grasped his hand to pull him out of bed. He grumbled before standing out of the bed. I smiled at him before practically skipping out of the bedroom. “I’m sure I have something!” I spoke out loud, knowing I have nothing much for breakfast.

 I went right to the kitchen, instantly eyeing up the loaf of bread that was probably a little stale. I grabbed it and opened the fridge, happy to see a carton of eggs. And with that, I made eggs in a basket. I hope that Spencer would enjoy that. Considering it was one of the only things I knew how to make.

“Coffee?” Spencer asked as he slowly walked into the kitchen. I turned around and pulled open a cabinet. A can of Folgers was sitting on the top shelf. I pouted as I stared at the can.

“I don’t think it’s good,” I muttered as I pulled the can from the shelf. “I probably had this stupid can of grounds for an embarrassingly long time,” I spoke as I looked into the can and noted that the grounds were kinda gross and kinda clumpy, causing me to pout. “No coffee,” I muttered, tossing the can to the garbage, only to miss and go over. The can landed with a clang on the ground. 

“We can always get some later,” Spencer smiled as he bent over to pick up the can. I raised my eyebrow at him as he tossed the can to the trash, without failing.

“We?” I asked, turning to watch him lean against the counter. He shrugged and smiled.

“Why not,” he shrugged again. I smiled as I looked at him. It was only then that I realized I was burning the food.

“Oh no!” I jumped around to the stove to remove the pan from the stove. “I hope you’re okay with burnt eggs and toast,” I pouted as I looked back at Spencer. He had stepped closer to the stovetop to watch me. He looked very amused with my laughter and urgency with cooking. “Don’t laugh!” I looked up at his face.

“I just don’t think I’ve ever seen you panic over food before,” he pointed out with a smile. I looked down at the burnt food as I carefully moved it to a plate.

“I’m hungry,” I muttered before shrugging. I looked back up at Spencer and shrugged.

“That’s a good thing…” 

“Being hungry? How is that a good thing?” I scoffed and raised an eyebrow.

“You have your appetite back,” Spencer pointed out before he lifted me up to set me back down on the counter. It was so effortless as he moved me. I was impressed that he barely strained to lift me (unless, he did and I was just oblivious to it).  We were at the same level now, and I was able to look him in the eye instead of at his chest. 

“Why’d you do that?” I looked at him before looking at the counter beside me. 

“So we can have an eye to eye conversation,” he smiled at me. I rolled my eyes and looked down at the plate of two burnt eggs in a basket. “Can I ask you a question?” he asked, watching as I started picking at the food. He smiled as he stood between my legs. 

“You just did,” I smiled, trying to pretend like I wasn’t suddenly anxious. Why ask someone if you can ask a question? Why not just ask the question? That’s like #1 reason why people get anxious. 

“I want to take you to the office, so you can meet everyone,” he whispered as he grabbed some food too. I looked up at him with wide eyes.

“You want to take me… To the FBI…” I stared at Spencer. I almost relapsed yesterday and had the worst day of the year yesterday... And, he wants to take me to… The FBI to meet his friends… I could feel bile rising from my stomach. It honestly took everything in me to hold back the sick. So, I slowly lowered my hand and food back to the counter.

“Yeah, they’re my family, and you’re my family… So, that also makes them yours,” Spencer smiled at me. I dropped my shoulders as I stared at him. I really didn’t want to argue his logic there, but I understand why he said that. 

“Won’t… They’ll… Spencer, that’s… I don’t think that's a good… They’ll ask how you know me,” I whispered as I looked away from him. He rested a hand on my knee and looked at my face.

“We won’t worry about that right now,” he whispered in a reassuring tone. I stared at him and shrugged.

“What’ll we tell them? When they ask, ya know?” I looked up at him. Spencer stayed silent as he looked around my kitchen. I could only assume he was thinking really hard about what we would say and how we would lie to his family. 

“I’m not sure,” Spencer shrugged as he grasped my hands. I looked down at our hands and felt a frown forming. “I don’t know,” he whispered and shook his head. It was obvious for both of us that we would have a hard time being around his friends. Everything about telling a bunch of FBI agents that you’re addicted/was addicted to drugs can be a little (alright, a lot) intimidating. What are they going to do? The worst thing is they arrest me and fire Spencer. “Don’t overthink it,” he looked up at me. I nodded.

“I just won’t think about it,” I forced a smile before shrugging. Spencer gave me a knowing smile. “If they’re your family, Spencer, then they’re my family,” I sighed deeply as I looked down at my legs. I pulled my hands from his before rubbing my hands up and down my thighs. “And, I’d love to meet your family,” I sighed even deeper as I looked up at him. His face lit up a little bit with my words, and it genuinely made me feel happy. 

“You’ll love them,” he whispered before pulling me off the counter. I wrinkled my nose before looking up at him.

“I mean, I’ve already met Emily. And, she seemed definitely cool,” I laughed as I grabbed the plate. I looked at the two burnt pieces of bread. I tossed them into the trash and looked up at him. “I just hope everyone else is just as cool as she is, and even as cool as you,” I cocked my head as I looked up at him. He stayed silent before pulling me into a hug. “When would you even want me to go?” I asked once he released me. My stomach felt upside-down as I asked my stupid question. “Whenever you want,” he spoke softly. I looked down at the ground and nodded.

 “I should let you get to work. I know you don’t like being late,” I pouted, “I’ll see you later?” 

“Of course,” Spencer smiled before hugging me again.

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series taglist: @shameleswhorehourstm, @itsametaphorbriansblog, @bxtchboy69, @sammypotato67, @seninjakitey, @thebluetint​

didn’t work: thatsonezesty13,  mediocrehamiltrash

[misslilli]

Thank you guys, for going on this adventure with me 🥰 I'm having such a blast reading your comments!

Felix Felicis

MSR. AU. PG-13. | tagging @today-in-fic | AO3

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 13 - Fantastic Mulders And Where To Find Them

[ DS ]

“Well, little lady, you’re pretty young and inexperienced, you’ll learn to distinguish when it’s appropriate to call in parents and when it’s clearly not necessary.” Stunned, I stare at the father of a girl in my class sitting across from me, trying to control my flaring temper. ‘What a misogynistic, condescending asshole!’

“I can assure you, sir, when a child comes to me with a concerning story from home, I will always want to clear it up with the parents. Now that we’ve cleared it up, I think we’re done here. Thank you for coming.” I get up and hold out my hand, hoping to end this nightmare of a conversation on a positive note.

Once he left, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, anger boiling in the pit of my stomach. There’s not much that I hate more than being belittled and I yank my book bag off my table angrily, spilling the cup of pencils in the process, scattering them everywhere. I want to scream. Okay, now I’m Pissed. Royally.

I pick up the pencils and shove them back into the cup before turning off the lights and leaving for today. As I head outside, I notice a small gathering of women down the front steps and they’re giggling and laughing at something Fox Mulder had said. At the sight of him, my heart skips a few beats. ‘Oh that’s just great. I’ll keep my head down and walk by quickly, I’m in no mood to be dragged into a conversation with the PTA brigade.’

I try to pass them by inconspicuously, walking briskly down the stairs and keeping my head down, but I’m stopped with a hand on my arm and a “Miss Scully, do you have a moment?” I turn to him trying to hide my exasperation. ‘Ugh, why do you have to be so damn handsome. And please, get your hand off my arm before I burst into flames. Victim: Dana Scully, cause of death: Spontaneous human combustion from being touched by Fox Freakin’ Mulder. Try and put that on a headstone.’

My mask of professionalism only slips for a brief moment, though, and I smooth out the frown on my face. “Yes, Mr. Mulder?” ‘Why is your hand still there? And why is it so hot all of a sudden, it’s freakin’ September.’

“I was hoping you could give me another opinion on something.” He leans into my personal space conspiratorially and I raise my eyebrow in a silent question. ‘Mmmh he smells really good too. Why, God, why? Ugh, that low tone of voice is driving me insane.’

“Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?” The women around me giggle and I blink at him slowly. ‘What the fuck kind of question is that?’ I draw myself up to full height - don’t you dare laugh - thankful that I wore my heels today and gather the few braincells I have left that are not occupied with wondering how that broad chest would feel under my fingers.

“Logically, I would have to say No. Given the distances needed to travel from the far reaches of space, the energy requirements would exceed a spacecraft’s capabilities.” I can tell that my answer somewhat surprises him but he’s not done yet.

“But there are obviously unexplained phenomena out there, now when convention and science offer us no answers might we not finally turn to the fantastic as a plausibility?”

‘What I find fantastic is your ass in those jeans…’. “What I find fantastic is any notion that there are answers beyond the realm of science. The answers are there, you just have to know where to look!” The other moms watch our argument as if they’re watching a tennis game.

He flashes me a wry grin. “That’s why they put the ‘I’ in FBI.” ‘Huh, so he’s with the Feds? I wonder where he keeps his gun. Well, I know where I’d check first but… Okay that’s enough. I wonder how many Hail Mary’s Father George will make me say for what’s going on inside my head.

Felix comes running down the stairs at this moment and wraps his arms around his dad’s legs. “Well thank you for this fantastic point of view, I’ll see you tomorrow ladies. Miss Scully.” He tips his imaginary hat to us and walks Felix back to the car. The little boy turns and waves at me, briefly. I smile and wave back.

My mood has miraculously improved during this odd bit of conversation and I bid the PTA moms goodbye as well, walking over to my bike to head home.

----------

[Felix]

“Hey dad, what did you and Miss Scully talk about back there?” I need to know. Please don’t let it be something embarrassing. Dad smiles at me in the rear view mirror.

“I asked her if she believed in aliens!”

“Noooo DAD, please tell me you didn’t!” ‘This is even worse than I thought. Can I give him up for adoption?’Dad shrugs his shoulders.

“She was having a pretty bad day, I just wanted to cheer her up. I think I did a pretty good job, too, she did smile at the end didn’t she?” Okay that is kind of sweet and yes she did, maybe I’ll keep him after all. I decide to change the subject.

“Dad, can we go to a soccer game sometime?” I just found out at recess today that our school has a soccer team and I really want to see that game. There’s another reason, too, but I keep this bit of information to myself.

“Sure, just tell me when!”

----------

[ FM ]

During the week, I’m treated to various stories from Felix’s school day on the car ride home, but his favorite daily segment of the Felix Show is “Dad, Do You Know What Miss Scully Did Or Said Today?” I’m bat-shit crazy about her too, so I get where he’s coming from, but he’s downright obsessed and I worry that this kind of attachment is not healthy for a kid.

I talk this over with our therapist on Thursday, in a one-on-one session and she thinks that maybe because he lacks an emotionally available mother, he looked for a suitable substitute and found it in his teacher. I shouldn’t worry too much about it, she’s sure when it’s too much, that the teacher is capable of handling the situation. She also promised to talk to Felix next time, to maybe tone it down just a little.

Our time is up before I can tell her about my own concerns about this situation. How I’d like to ask her out on a date but I don’t know if I should because I don’t want my son to get hurt in the process. I’m too inexperienced in dating to know the proper ways to handle this and frankly, the thought of getting back into dating terrifies me a little too. Okay maybe a lot. Felix is not the only one who has been scarred by the divorce.

----------

[ Felix ]

“Dad! Do we have any glitter glue in the house?”

It’s Thursday night and I’ve been working on my project for hours, wanting to get it just right. I had asked dad to write out a text for an invitation for me and I copied it onto the paper carefully. Pleased, I look at the two invitations I made, I can’t wait to hand them out. I really really hope they’ll accept the invite. My dad’s voice is getting louder while he talks, he’s coming upstairs. He enters my room and looks over my shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s in one of the drawers in the office. Tell me again why you’re making extra invitations when we had official ones made this week?” For someone who spends the whole day at work getting into other people’s heads, he’s not very good at understanding people.

“Because I reallywant them to come, dad! They’re my special guests!”

“Well, if there’s glitter glue, they won’t be able to say no! You did a really good job, Felix.”

“I hope so, dad. I’m pretty sad that mom’s out of the country and grandma can’t make it either.” He strokes a hand over my head.

“I know, son. I’m sorry!”

Chapter 14 - Last Chance For Spotting A Rainbow

Notes:

I stole some lines from the pilot. Please don’t sue. They’re just too good. Asdldlgdf

Also, the scene in the beginning is not entirely made up, a version of it happened to me last year.

[poepoe-thebunny]

Rudy/Tony and Fam during Quarantine

Cause this is where my life is at, apparently. I thought I escaped the “quarantine fever writing” that everyone else got. Apparently I was wrong. 

After another visit to the castle, the Thompson’s end up there in quarantine once miss rona hits the world. Thank god for WI-FI and working remotely, even if his parents look vaguely like zombies due to time zone differences. Tony can’t talk, his online schooling schedule is all sorts of weird and he’s pretty sure his teacher just wants to sleep until the whole thing is over. Honestly Tony can’t say he blames her. 

The Sackville-bagg clan, as it turns out, is a surprisingly overprotective bunch when they need to be, especially now that they have accepted their humans into the fold. Even with catching up on modern medicine and germ theory, they won’t allow anything to happen to their precious humans. 

(AU/headcanons incoming??

Rudy/Tony: 

- Think Rudy was protective before? Think again. 

- Rudy is over 300 years old, he’s old by human standards and he has met people who are old by vampire standards. He’s seen Things(TM) ok?

- He has been through more than one plague in his life. He has seen what it can do to the sick and the poor. He knows it’s a different now, that life-saving machines exist, that they’re working on a vaccine, that soap is widely available. 

- But he also knows it’s not. 

- Tony? Not going anywhere as far as he is concerned. Say hello to your prince, Rapunzel, cause Rudy is keeping Tony up in that tower if it kills him (again). 

- He knows where all of Tony’s masks are, and where he puts the extras. 

- He’ even shops online for masks with Tony, finding cool hand-sewn, gothic looking ones for Rudy himself to wear. He’s not sure if Corona even effects vampires, but Tony likes finding stuff to match his “aesthetic’ and it keeps his mortal happy. 

- He waits on his mortal hand and foot in between videogames and watching Netflix. (Tony likes How to Train Your Dragon and Paranorman, Rudy likes The Little Prince and Kubo and the Two Strings.). 

- Rudy’s first introduction to Tumblr is through Tony, and at one point they reach the Plague Doctor Aesthetics. While Rudy hasn’t spent much time in Italy, he doesn’t think they’re very accurate, and complains as such to his mortal. 

- Rudy is surprisingly easily offended about historically inaccurate things, and it sends Tony into laughing fits. 

- Rudy is Bad At Memes. Like, just in general he doesn’t always get them, and when Corona Memes become a thing he’s just constantly confused. Poor Rudy honestly. 

- Tries to learn to cook healthy human food, except he hasn’t had any major kitchen experience in 200-odd years and it comes out as a disaster the first few times he tries it. 

- It turns into a teaching session between him and the other adult humans, turns out the old couple who owns the castle like to feed people. Rudy walks into Tony’s room with a tray piled so high Tony can’t see his head. 

-Always offering to fly around the castle to get things for Tony, even if he isn’t sick. 

- TikTok dances. Tony shows him, then teaches him. Rudy is shockingly good at them, but Gregory thinks he’s cringy. 

Gregory: 

(Not me flexing my love of the good big brother trope, absolutely not, nope)

- Surprisingly rather take charge about the whole thing, he’s come around to the Thompson’s and the old couple. 

- While his parents help when they can, they sort of take a step back, and let the three siblings explain what’s happening in the world to the clan (if they are there). Being the oldest, Gregory sort of defaults to being the leader. 

-Checks in with the Thompson’s, as well as Otto and Emma (The old couple who run the place.) Asks if they need anything while they work/are in school etc. 

- Warns the clan to be very careful when visiting, not just for the Thompson’s, but also because Otto and Emma are getting on in years and could become sick very easily. Always asks for a heads up before a family visit. 

- Won’t tell anyone but, late at night if he’s not busy, he’ll do things around the castle for the humans, especially upkeep for Otto and Emma, while they sleep. 

- Dusting hard to reach spots like chandeliers, organizing books in the old castle library, moving heavy furniture and stuff since he can fly. 

-Low key drags Rudy and Anna into helping him clean 

(”But Gregory, this is our home now too! I’m sure they don’t mind.” 

“Humans are fragile, and they’re letting us stay here out of kindness, so don’t be rude. Clean up after yourself little brother.” 

“He’s right you know.” 

“Of course I am. And don’t think you’re getting out of cleaning the rafters Anna, and stop leaving your books everywhere for them to pick up.” 

 ‘hmph.” )

- Of the vampires he’s lowkey the best at cooking human food. Tony, Rudy, and Anna just walk into the kitchen at night and Fredrick is just watching his eldest, genuinely amused, as he dances around the kitchen in a “Kill the Cook (Too late, I’m already dead)” apron, blasting out dad rock from the stereo. 

-Bonds with the Thompsons over cooking human food, especially Tony’s dad after he teaches Gregory what an “air guitar” move is. 

-Gregory discovers pinterest food aesthetics, and is a machine of baking, mixing, and decorating sweet candies/cakes/brownies. He wants his food to look pretty dang it. 

- Anna and Rudy just watch, silently judging him. 

Anna: 

- She’s just thriving tbh. 

- She has internet access now, and her brothers have never been more terrified. 

-If Gregory is the vampire equivalent of a pinterest mommy, Anna is the vampire equivalent of creepy diy aesthetic tiktokers. 

-Not like, bloody horror diy, but like, the subtly creepy but still sweet kind, like the Addams family or Coraline. 

- She learned needle arts with her mom, so she’s out here sewing Coraline dolls, or patchwork dresses a la Nightmare Before Christmas cause she CAN. 

-Makes her own handbag with those felt cartoonish vampire faces and big fake bat ears on the side. 

-Learns more modern patterns and stuff, but will make masks for the humans as gifts, cause she doesn’t want them to get sick. 

- After watching Coraline together, she made “Other Me” dolls of her brothers, button eyes included, and stuck them in their coffins. She would make them “move’ by flying them around to different rooms when her brothers weren’t looking, just to freak them out. 

- Spoiler alert: it worked. They ran to Tony for help and she laughed over it for days. 

- Anna loves adventure books to Rudy’s poetry and Gregory’s fables/folk tales. She hates being excluded from her brothers “adventures”. 

-Tony introduces her to comics and video games and she just lives her best life. 

-One of her favorite comic book character is Cassandra Cain/Blackbat/The Orphan.

- She loves books like Matilda, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Giver, as well as games like the Lara Croft/Tomb Raider series. 

-VICIOUS at video games, this girl has no mercy, she will blue shell you so hard. 

The Adults: 

-Life is Hard(TM) right now, but the Thompson’s try to make the best of it. They’re very grateful to Otto and Emma for letting them stay. 

-They’re both working remotely, so they’re a little messed up sleep schedule wise. But that’s ok, their vampire friends don’t seem to mind. 

- Freda teaches Dottie how to make proper tea, cause she likes it and Dottie is sort of addicted to caffeine. Dottie teaches Freda how to make mochas and smoothies, Dottie likes mango-pineapple smoothies and Freda likes hot white chocolate mochas with cinnamon. 

-Surprisingly, Frederick and Bob become pretty good friends. Frederick understands the stress of having to care for your family in very uncertain times, and the two men bond over unsure parental decisions. 

-Bob is also surprisingly good at making Frederick loosen up, much to Freda and Dottie’s amusement. While initially awkward, they have a surprisingly snarky and sarcastic sort of friendship. Frederick deadpans insults at him and Bob cheerfully annoys him into Being Nice For Once while being completely aware of the fact that he’s annoying Frederick. 

-Meals where Bob cooks often consists of him singing oldies into his spatula, making bad impression of certain singers, including Elvis and Cher. He is occasionally joined by Tony and Gregory, making the entire family laugh. 

- Anna’s bones may be old, but she can hand sew like a goddess, and has occasionally taken to fixing up the kids’ torn clothes, as Dottie can barely keep straight lines and Freda prefers knitting. 

- Someone (read: Freda) mentions that Frederick can play the cello, and after a rousing performance, it turns out that Otto can play an accordion, and of course Bob can play the guitar. A jam session occurs as the kids just stare in utter bewilderment.

- Tony’s grandparents were kinda hippies, so Bob and Dottie know a lot of oldies and folk songs, which while different than from what they normally hear, Otto and Anna connect too. They swap songs back and forth, and it turns out Dottie can do a mean Loretta lynn impression. 

- Dottie likes the Beach Boys, and teaches the others how to Twist. As in, the dance, and Freda actually likes it quite a bit. 

[dragonfiremage]

Destiny - Chapter Two

 Author’s Note: First off, thank you so much for the wonderful likes, reblogs, and interest in this story. I honestly didn’t think much of it when I wrote this and published it on Tumblr. This was just in head bothering me and I needed to write it down. So I’m glad some of you are enjoying it!

Some of you have asked to be in a taglist, and to be honest, I really don’t know how to make one? LOL I stopped using Tumblr like five years ago and this is kinda new to me again so if you’re interested in a taglist and can message me on how to create one, please do so!

Again, please let me know what you think. I tried editing this as best as I could so if you see anything off, please let me know :)

Enjoy! <3 <3

[Previous - Chapter One] 

[Next - Chapter Three]

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Sneering, you whisper lowly, "Don't you dare use your fire on me." 

Zuko eyes were fixed on the horizon, his hold on the ostrich horse's reins tighten slightly as he could feel his Uncle start to lean toward one side, a tell-tale sign that he was starting to drift asleep.They've been traveling all day, making their way towards the Misty Palms Oasis, but the sudden attack from the Rough Rhinos had set them back a couple of hours. 

As the continued on their trek, Zuko started to wonder why they were going to the Misty Palms Oasis in the first place, but his Uncle had insisted. When pressing him further, all he got was some meaningless metaphor, that he was pretty sure that his Uncle made up on the spot, and some tea advice. 

The skies were starting to darken, the temperature cooling down significantly as well. Zuko looked above him at the vast expanse of the sky, the stars starting to twinkle even more. 

Zuko grunts in reply, nodding his head towards a village ahead before urgijg the ostrich horse to pick up some speed. “No - I think we still have a day and half’s worth of journey by the looks of it. We need to set up camp and get some more food.” 

Scanning the horizon once again, Zuko's gaze lands on some twinkling lights from a nearby village and he nudges his Uncle awake. Iroh jerks suddenly and clears his throat as if to cover the fact he was snoring just a second ago.

“Are we at the Misty Palms already?” Iroh asks. 

Iroh perked up at the idea of food. “Food sounds delicious right now. I could really go for some tea right now too. And music!" 

Zuko grumbled, Ugh, what now? I just want some peace and quiet. Why is it never JUST peace and quiet... 

Zuko nodded in agreement. They’ve been traveling all day under the hot sun and some needed refreshments to cool off sounded nice.  The thought of an actual bed and some real food had him urging the ostrich horse to go faster. He was tired of scavenging desert critters for food. As they got closer to the village, both Zuko and Iroh were surprised to see a crowd of people entering the village. The sound of music and cheers also started to become louder. 

They tie up their ostrich horse at nearby barn where they paid for extra feed for the poor ostrich horse. As soon as the animal was in the barn, it collapsed out of exhaustion and Zuko was glad that he could at least give the poor beast some rest. He hesitated...Did he just get sentimental over an ostrich horse? 

“Come on, Zuko. There seems to be an event going on in the village. From what I smell, there seems to be lots of tasty food as well.” Iroh wore a warm smile on his face as he rubbed his round belly in hunger. Zuko’s own stomach grumbled as if on cue, and he placed a hand over it. He looks at his uncle with a sharp nod. 

“Ok, uncle. But we should also find a place to stay for the night.” 

A group of kids ran past him, making him stumble towards a vendor who was selling hats. “Hey watch it! You’re going to flatten my them!” 

Iroh nods and turns to the village entrance where Zuko could see kids and other villagers happily run around. As they walk through the market, the sights of roasted pig chickens, roasted ducks, and much to Zuko’s disgust, roasted scorpions and beetles were also everywhere. He looked warily at the roasted critters and shivered in disgust. His Uncle, however, was happily munching away on anything he could put his hands on. The music was lively and it made Zuko almost miss home - the festivals that he used to go to, the markets that he and his Mom would visit… 

“Sorry..” 

The vendor glares at Zuko and shakes his head, pointing at the kids that had just ran past, “The event must be starting soon.” 

The vendor’s glare deepened, if that was possible. He waved a hat at their faces, “You guys foreigners or somethin’? This event is FAMOUS around these parts. Fighters from neighboring villagers train all year for this. On the second Tuesday of every month during this time of the year, these fighters go head to head at a chance to win the winning pot. Only catch is…no bending! It makes it more of even playing field, if you will. It's what we call entertainment around here. Tonight is the preliminaries so there should be lots of entertainment!” 

Zuko raises a curious brow. That definitely piqued his Uncle's interest. “Event?”

Zuko nods and thanks the vendor. Iroh looks at Zuko with excitement, his hands up in a fighting stance. “We should watch a couple of matches while we’re here, nephew. Participating in other cultures opens your mind to new opportunities and learnings!” 

Zuko couldn’t help but chuckle. "Let's go and watch then. But only a couple!... since we need to find a place tonight if we want to leave early tomorrow." 

Iroh nods in response, a gleeful expression on his face as he points at a crowd going to a large tent just outside of the market. 

Zuko would never admit it to his Uncle, but he was actually excited. It would be good to watch some entertainment. It would be a nice change of pace - traveling all day and all night, seeing nothing but sky and sand was becoming mundane. There had been already countless nights where he would just stare up at the night sky and watch the stars for entertainment. Watching sweaty people beat up each other sounded entertaining. 

The first few matches were boring, much to Zuko’s disappointment. It was either a quick match where one of the fighters would just overpower the other in strength or size, or it would drag on until the one of them collapsed in exhaustion. He thought about how easily he could defeat these any of these fighters with swing of fire bending, but then remembered that it wasn’t allowed. He grunted and crossed his arms, he thought this was going to be more exciting but all he was doing was sitting with a bunch of sweaty men who had been working under the hot sun all day. 

“Let’s go.”

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

The first few matches were boring, much to Zuko’s disappointment. It was either a quick match where one of the fighters would just overpower the other in strength or size, or it would drag on until the one of them collapsed in exhaustion. He thought about how easily he could defeat these any of these fighters with swing of fire bending, but then remembered that it wasn’t allowed. He grunted and crossed his arms, he thought this was going to be more exciting but all he was doing was sitting with a bunch of sweaty men who had been working under the hot sun all day.

The lights dimmed and the crowded began to murmur in excitement. Zuko looks around, curious at the added drama effects.

“Alright folks! This should be a good one. Introducing…your last year’s champion - the Blue Dragon!” 

The lights dimmed and the crowded began to murmur in excitement. Zuko looks around, curious at the added drama effects. 

From one end of the ring, a figure appeared and walked up to the stage, a blue dragon mask covering the fighter’s face. When the figure came into view, the crowd went wild. There were hoots and whistles all around the crowd, while others clapped. 

“And the formidable opponent - the Striking Scorpion!” 

The crowd becomes even wilder. Zuko sees more commotion at the front and notices people doubling their bets with coins.  A crowd of women at the front all swooned and fanned themselves as the Striking Scorpio flexed his arms to them, his white shirt straining against the muscles. Zuko rolls his eyes and looks over at the other fighter again, who was a lot calmer and stiller than the opponent. 

“I guess he’s the fan favorite?” Iroh whispers to Zuko who just nods in agreement. Zuko became more intrigued, this was the first fighter who wore a mask on stage and he wondered why. He strained his neck to get a good look at the him, but was completely blocked when the announcer brought out the next fighter which brought more people to their feet.

“Wait…she’s the reining champion!? How in the hog monkeys is she going to win? The Striking Scorpion’s biceps is twice as big as her head! She has no chance.” The men in front of him shook their heads while they expressed their disbelief, continuing to dismiss the Blue Dragon. 

Zuko’s eyes snapped back to look at the fighter. Wait...She?! How did he miss that? 

Under the twinkling lets of the tent, he could faintly see her but he could definitely tell that the Blue Dragon was girl. Zuko pursed his lips. Even though she was the champion, she was a lot smaller than the Scorpion. Though if Zuko knew anything, it was to never underestimate your opponent. After all, he did get beat by the young Avatar.

Suddenly, he was very interested in watching this match, his back stiffer as he sat back down. He looked over at Iroh who appeared to be swooning a lady to his right who was laughing and nodding at everything he was saying. His uncle can be such a ladies man. 

Zuko shook his head in exasperation and took a bite from his roasted pig chicken skewer, his gaze going back to the stage as the two fighters took their position as they stood on opposite sides of the ring. 

The two fighters faced each other, the Blue Dragon bowing in respect before going into a fighting stance. Immediately, Zuko takes note of the her stance. It was very similar to stance for fire-bending. The squared shoulders, strong footing. Zuko’s eyes narrow even more as he wonders if this fighter was a fire-bender. 

Interesting. 

The bell goes off and the Scorpion wastes no time by leaping high into the air with his arm drawn back, using his weight and gravity to land a hard hitting punch down to the ground where the Blue Dragon stood. Immediately, the fighters were surrounded by smoke and debris, not clear to the crowd if the Scorpion had indeed landed his punch. 

"Told ya the Blue Dragon didn't stand a chance!” The men in front of Zuko chortled with amusement as his friend smacks his own forehead in defeat.

"Yay the Scorpion!!” Suddenly someone in the crowd yelled in victory and then the crowd erupted with cheers. It soon faded, however, when the dust settled, and crowd gasps in disbelief when they realize there was nothing there. Zuko’s brows raise in question.  The Blue Dragon wasn’t there! Not even a body laid on the ground, unconscious. 

The Scorpion ignores it and continues to  shake his hands together in victory before flexing for the crowd of women at the front who all swooned. The crowd became surprisingly quiet, murmuring to each other about the Blue Dragon’s short demise. 

The crowd gasps again and points towards the corner edge of the ring. She had managed to avoid the punch altogether and was now just sitting on the ring's outer railing as if she had been there the whole time. 

"You're slow for someone who's supposed to be striking." 

Zuko choked on his piece of roasted pig chicken meat. How did she escape that?

“What in the hogmonkeys?!" The scorpion screeches. "Nobody avoids the Striking Scorpion!” The opponent ran towards the Blue Dragon as she took her stance again and when Striking Scorpion lunged forward, this time the Blue Dragon didn’t avoid it but remained rooted in her spot. When he got near, she shifted her foot to the left and she evaded his right hook. She dropped low and delivered an uppercut to the scorpion's ribcage.

It must have been some punch because now the scorpion was stumbling back and heaving, as if out of breath. He snarled at her, frustrated, and lunged at her again, his arm extending to deliver a punch. She ducked under his arm, grabbing it before spinning to get behind him and pinning his arm to his back. She used her momentum and her weight to let fall forward, bringing the Scorpion down as he lands face first onto the ground with one hand pinned behind him. 

The Scorpion groaned and yelped, trying to strike at her while pinned. He swung his free arm around, trying to grab at her and she was straining to hold him back properly. He managed to grab her arm and tugged, throwing her off a balance and making her roll forward. 

The Blue Dragon took an offensive and lunged forward. Before the Scorpion could even stand on both feet, an uppercut to his jaw sent him stumbling backwards and the crowd cheers.

The Scorpion growls, fuming at her. With renewed strength, he ran forward again, but this time, he seemed more tactical now that he realized that his opponent was playing smart. The Scorpion threw a right hook like last time, and just as he expected, the Blue Dragon shifted her weight so as to shuffle to the left, but the Scorpion quickly readjusted and swings his arm for a right hook. 

The Scorpion snarls at her. “You! No one gets to push me to ground." 

The crowd gasps as his fist lands across the cheek and she stumbled backwards, fall to one knee. The impact caused a crack on her mask and the Scorpion grins toothily. 

She barely had time to roll from her kneeling position to move before he was lunging at her again. She rolled to the side, evading a kick and flipping back to avoid another kick. It was like for few seconds - the Scorpion would continue to deliver blow after blow while the Blue Dragon continued to evade it. Zuko could feel the end of the match coming. One wrong footing, one miscalculation, and she could be off the ring. 

"Let's take a look at behind the mask!" 

Before she could flip out of the way again however, the Scorpion managed to grab hold of her foot and pulled hard. She stumbled forward right into another hook. Zuko grimaced when he heard the contact, but gasped when the crack on the mask deepened until it cracked all the way and split. The pieces falling to the ground with a clack. 

Zuko's eyes travels from the blue mask on the ground and then upwards, finally getting a look at the Blue Dragon’s face. And when he did, his eyes widens. A pair of amber eyes, just like his, gleamed under the lights of the tent. Those eyes…they were so familiar. He shook from his stupor. That was stupid. Just because she has eyes like his doesn't mean she was from fire nation or that he knew her.

The crowd goes silent. 

But it was the slight curl of your lips and the small dimple on the right cheek that had him go rigid next to Iroh. An image of a young servant girl grinning over a fruit pastry covered in flour flashes behind his eyes and he blinks back. 

His Uncle must felt his change because Iroh whispers, “Is everything ok?" 

Zuko shakes his head. It couldn't be. "She look familiar to you Uncle?" 

Iroh's gaze move from him to the now unmasked fighter. He strokes his beard, deep in thought. "Hmmm…she looks like a regular fighter to me!" Iroh laughs after some thought, but paused. "Though, her stance and movement is very similar to a fire bender. That might just be a coincidence, no?" 

Zuko's eyes narrows, he could tell Iroh knew something by the slight twinkle in his uncle’s eyes before dismissing it as a trick of light and returns his gaze back to the fighter. The prince couldn’t shake off this feeling though, like he knew her. It didn’t add up though, why would you be in the Earth Kingdom? The last time he heard of you, you were sent off to another palace to serve a high ranking general. He crossed his arms, deep in thought. 

He sees your grit your teeth, snarling at the Scorpion who was laughing and lapping up all the cheers from the crowd.

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

No, no, no, noooo! My mask...

The Scorpion was starting to make you mad. That mask took weeks to put together! "That was my favorite mask, you bozo! And now, you're going to pay." 

You run towards the Scorpion, and at the last second, you duck  and spin to the right to avoid his jab and you deliver a blow right under his left ribcage, mirroring the one you delivered earlier. 

The Scorpion huffs and gasps for air. He barely had time to avoid a kick before he scrambled away from your quick advances. 

Your opponent took a misstep as he stumbled backwards, giving you the opportunity to shuffle to your right and swing your arm for a right hook. You manage to connect your fist to his jaw as falls backwards at the impact, falling to the floor with a groan.  Smirking at your small victory, and as you scan the crowd, your eyes connect to pair of amber eyes like your own, his left eye surrounded by a scar. His eyes seem to shine under the lights and it roots you to your spot. The noise of the crowd disappears and it feels like your breath is stuck in your throat. 

It was him.

No one else has amber eyes that fierce with a scar like that. You knew of only one person who fit that description.

Zuko.

You couldn’t rip your eyes away from his, the sound of the crowd fading as you stood frozen on the ring as you stared at each other. Zuko had grown a lot from the young boy you used to know. His looks had matured and the scowl in his face was enough to tell you that things have definitely changed. But you couldn’t see passed the boy prince you used to know...the innocence in his eyes, the carefree way he would laugh. But this wasn’t him. He was different. 

The Scorpion uses your hesitance to lunge forward again, swinging for a right hook. It catches you off guard and you react too late. You could see Zuko’s eyes widen right before you saw stars. The hit makes you stumble backwards, the sound of the crowd coming back as as you taste the familiar copper tang coating your mouth. 

No more distractions. 

Wiping the blood that dribbled down your chin with the back of your hand, you narrowed your eyes at the Scorpion who was grinning smugly. 

You both lunge at each other at the same time, and at the last second, you notice that his cloth belt had become loose sometime during the fine. A smirk tugged at your lips and with a shuffle to the left and a duck to miss a swing, you did a quick maneuver with his belt and you were able to pull it free from its loops. You grabbed his wrists and spun to move behind him, tying his wrists together and pushing him forward towards the edge of the ring, letting gravity do the rest of the work. 

Without the Scorpion’s belt holding up his pants, it dropped to his ankles, and with his momentum pulling him forward, he steps on his on one of his loose pant leg and trips. Unable to steady himself without the aid of his hands, the Scorpion tumbles straight over the ring’s edge and falls over, disqualified. 

You smirk as the crowd erupts in laughter and cheers, some coins being thrown your way. You pick up your broken mask on the way down the steps, but not before catching his eyes again. 

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

It had to be you. When their eyes met briefly, it was as if Zuko was transported back to when he first met you - in the kitchens with you covered in flour. You still had that annoying sideways grin that you had when you were both younger, framed by the small dimple on your right cheek. 

And now, Zuko was unable to tear his eyes away from you. He reels back at the stark contrast between that eight year old servant girl that he used to know and the girl he sees in the arena. Here you were now, standing your ground against a man twice as big as you. 

He knew that you knew that it was him. The stare down made it obvious…otherwise, you wouldn’t have hesitated like that and moved out of the way before getting punched in the face. He actually felt bad for that. 

But the way you quickly out-maneuvered the Scorpion, using nothing but a cloth belt and momentum to win the fight made him oddly proud, the feeling swelling in his chest. You were a fighter, that much he could tell. 

But question started racing through his mind.

Why were you here? Why were you fighting? Did you leave the Fire Nation on your own? What happened to your family?

“You look deep in thought, nephew.” 

Iroh’s low voice cut through Zuko’s brooding. Zuko sighed before replying, “I…I can’t be sure, but I think that fighter - the Blue Dragon - I think I know her. Her mother used to be my mother’s right hand maid so I would see her at the palace from time to time. But..I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since I was eight...” 

He looked over at his uncle who watched as you leave the arena. “I remember your friend. I remember meeting a sweet little servant girl before I left for Ba Sing Se. She invited us for her tea party, if I remember correctly. Why don’t we stop by after and say hello?" 

Zuko looks over at the arena again, just as you leave the main stage and enter a separate tent that he assumed to house all the fighters. The rest of the night was dull compared to your fight, and especially since Zuko couldn’t sit still. His thought kept going over his childhood memories, straining to remember anything he might have missed that would indicate why you were here. 

Did you defect and become an enemy of the Fire Nation? Or did you just abandon your home to live here? 

Or maybe you just...vacationing here…? Zuko shook his head, that would just be ridiculous. 

Whatever it was, he was going to find out. 

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

Tonight’s matches were finally over and you sigh with relief at the the thought of finally going home and getting some rest. Your stomach grumbles loudly and you silently hope to the Spirits that a few vendors were still open. Some meat skewers sounded amazing right now. 

As you start to unravel your wraps, you glance up just as the Scorpion enters the tent and make eye contact with you before glaring and grumbling as he walk away, embarrassed at being bested by a belt. 

As you unravel the cloth, you could already start to feel the soreness already and you already started seeing the bruises blooming over parts of your wrists and all over your knuckles. A nice warm bath would do wonders right - 

"(Yn)!" 

Just as you were finishing unraveling the last bit of cloth, you hear your name, your real name, and you stiffen. Feigning deafness you continue to haphazardly unravel the cloth, your gaze to the floor. If you don’t see him, he doesn’t see you, you amusedly thought. 

A shadow looms behind you and, with a defeated sigh, you turn with an irritated tick on your brow. It took all your willpower not to squeal when you realize how much closer Zuko actually was to you. His stare was intense, holding so much heat that your couldn't help but turn away. 

You shrugs nonchalantly and turning back to your wraps as you removed the rest before proceeding to stuff it down your small bag. “I think you got the wrong person. My name isn’t (YN).” 

“What’s your name then?” Zuko asks, quickly losing his patience. He felt anger bubbling inside him, getting hotter and hotter as each second passed. He knew you were lying. 

Zuko releases a low growl, now even more impatient and angry. His eyes narrowing dangerously as he start to feel the familiar heat in his palm igniting slightly. "Answer my question!" 

You pack the rest of your stuff away in a small bag before swinging it over your shoulders. You reply curtly, "I will if you ask me nicely." 

A defeated sigh came that didn’t come from Zuko catches your attention as you turn and look past the fuming Prince to see a familiar face. Your glare morphs into a puzzled look before a smile breaking across your face. 

"Iroh?" 

Zuko turns to his uncle, confused. He forgot you knew his uncle, it’s been so long. Zuko's eyes flits between you and his Uncle squinted at you before his eyes widen with recognition as a smile tugs at his Uncle’s mouth. 

"(Yn)! " You walk pass by Zuko, completely disregarding him and wrap your arms around the former general, who just laughs warmly and pats your back. He moves away to take a better look at you, “It’s been so long. You’ve gotten so big! And, dare I say, more beautiful than I remember?” 

You laugh, the carefree sound has Zuko’s chest tightening. 

Zuko’s rant was cut short when you lean over and flick his forehead, the impact causing a slight sting that makes Zuko hiss. "Can you stop acting like a brat? I said if you asked nicely I would give you my name. But you don't get to talk to me like that and expect something from me."

But as Iroh and you continued to catch up, Zuko’s anger bubbles over and he lets out a angry huff, crossing his arms across his chest. He was close to hitting his head on the wall out of frustration. “You know, you could just have just that was your name instead of ignoring my question. How dare you ignore -" 

“So what brings you guys to the middle of nowhere?” You move towards the tent’s exit, Iroh falling in step to your right as Zuko glared at both of your backs, both of you continuing to ignore him as if he wasn’t there. He could feel the anger stirring inside him and he took several deep breaths to calm down.

Glaring, you look back at Iroh who has an amused smile on his face. His gentle demeanor calms you a little, especially with Zuko’s temper flaring wildly. 

Begrudgingly, Zuko followed the two of you out of the tent where you and Iroh were still deep in conversation as you head walk towards the direction of the market. “We are on our way to the Misty Palms Oasis. I think I know someone there who can help us with our journey.” 

Zuko immediately quieted, Iroh never mentioned that to him before. Why did he say that now, especially in front of you?

Nodding your head, “That’s at least another day’s worth of journey. I hope you get some good food and ample rest tonight.” 

Iroh nudges your arm gently and your attention returns back to him. “Which reminds me… (YN), what are you doing in the middle of nowhere?” 

You glance behind you, your eyes meeting Zuko’s briefly and he feels his heart jump slightly and he immediately hates the feeling which only adds to his scowl.

Zuko perks up, noting the slight falter in your steps and the way your back stiffens for a brief second. He narrowed his eyes. Were you hiding something? 

Instead of directly answering Iroh, however, you pause mid-step, and turn to face them both. With a strained smile, you offer, “If you guys don’t have a place to stay for the night, my place is just down the street. It’s a bit small, but there should be enough room for all of us. I can make us some food? I’m starving..” 

Iroh smiles warmly at you before turning to address Zuko. “I’m sure we don’t mind, right nephew?” 

Before Zuko could interject and point out the obvious way you deflected his Uncle’s question, you dug into your small bag, smiling when you find what you were looking for. It’s been so long since you've seen Iroh and the last time you saw him, he taught you how to play his favorite game.

You opened your palm out to Iroh, whose brows rose with surprise. There in the middle of your palm was a small, wooden Lotus tile. “And then perhaps, after dinner, we can play some Pai Sho?” 

Iroh laughs, his hand on his belly. "Let's see if you've gotten any better since the last time we played.”

You know Pai Sho? …’Since the last time’ what did that mean?! Was Iroh hiding something from him? Zuko looks back and forth between you and Iroh, confused before throwing his hands up in frustration. 

“Hold up. I don’t see you or hear from you for over five years and we're all going to pretend that everything’s ok and that we’re all friends?! Why does it seem like you guys are hiding something from me? Nothing is making sense and both of you are just ignoring me!” Zuko’s eyes flash, his jaw clenching when he saw his uncle look at him with exasperation, eyes pleading him to calm down. 

You sharply turn to face Zuko, your eyes narrowing and, immediately, Zuko shrinks back under your gaze. “You need to keep your anger in check. You’re being utterly insufferable right now, and I can’t deal with it. Either calm down or take a walk.” 

Behind you, Iroh tries to keep his amusement down. No one had every stood up to Zuko the way you just did. Everyone else was just too afraid to make his nephew more hot angry so they usually just give in to whatever request he has, but you had met him straight on without even flinching. This should get interesting. 

Calm down?! 

Zuko growled - that was the last straw! He's had enough of being treated this way, his anger finally simmering over. How dare you treat him like that?! You have some nerve to talk down to the prince and for this, you needed to taught a lesson in showing respect. He felt the heat in his body rise as licks of flame started to come alive in his palm. 

“Agh! I’ve had enough of you!” Zuko draws his hand outward his hand, his palm open and ready to shoot a ball of fire. But right as he felt the fire ignite from the palm of his hand, you lunge forward and enclose your hand tightly over his. You felt the heat radiate from his palm, his fire mingling with yours as you cover his hand to smother it. Zuko's fire extinguishes almost immediately and instead, a cloud of smoke seeped through your clasped hands. 

You moved too fast for him to react and, as Zuko blinks back in surprise, just now realizing how close you were to him. He was close enough able trace to your features more thoroughly with his eyes and feel your warmth radiate off of you. He stares down at you, your amber eyes meeting his with the same fervor. 

Sneering, you whisper lowly, "Don't you dare use your fire on me." 

Zuko's eyes widen at your icy tone, it was enough make a shiver go down his spine. Gone were the days of the pastry-loving, flour covered girl that he used to imagine you as and instead, the image of you standing defiantly in front of him with enough boldness to go toe-to-toe against him replaced it. 

Finally realizing that you had just snuffed out his fire with your own hand, Zuko stutterers in disbelief, “Y-you're a fire bender?!" 

You roll your eyes in response, releasing his hand and ignoring the shock feeling in your fingertips as it brushes against his rough palm. You mumble a reply, avoiding his stare. “Yes. I learned that I could fire bend when I was ten." 

Picking up your bag from the ground, you brush off some of the excess sand and swung the bag around your shoulders. As you walk pass Iroh, who was smiling innocently as if nothing had just happened, you glance over your shoulder and meet Zuko’s heated gaze. “You coming or what? You can sleep with the desert critters for all I care.” 

Iroh’s smile wavers slightly when he sees Zuko’s scowl. Iroh places arms across his stomach and with an incline of his head, he calls his nephew over. “Come on Zuko.” 

Zuko releases a breath that he didn’t realize he was holding, a low headache starting to bloom around his temples. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he takes several deep breaths of air and recounts the last few minutes. Your fire bending surprised him, but now he understands that some of your boldness might have come from the fact you were able to learn fire bending. After all, he was taught that anger and passion was the source of energy for fire bending. 

As he watches you converse with his uncle with such ease, Zuko realizes he has more questions now than he started with, and they need to be answered. 

@cirtruss

[heartofsnark]

Can You Feel The Sun? (Chapter Two): Here In Night City

Notes: This one has been done for a while, I’ve been pretty busy and overwhelmed with school for a while, but I’ve been having some fun silverv shenanigans on my personal account and I figured it was time to post it. I’m not sure how I feel about it? It went through some heavy edits, so there might be some typos and issues with that, and writing a montage...is new territory for me...

Word Count: 14799

Chapter Warnings: Canon Typical Violence, Casual Discussion of Suicide (its fairly common in Night City according to lore), Talks of Sex but nothing explicit

If you haven’t yet, you can read the first chapter here. 

V fiddles with the frayed edges of her hoodie, following behind Jackie. The night air chills her skin as they walk. It's not far from the bar where he stops a building, among the shorter cluster of buildings in Heywood, in no way stretching up into the heaven like many of the buildings in Night City. Jackie has no hesitation, taking the steps two at a time and swinging the front door open. She moves to take her mask off, not wanting to risk creeping his mom out, though her bruises and blood matted hair won’t do her any favors. 

“Ma! I brought a friend home!” He yells out, like they’re kids asking to have a sleepover and V finds herself smiling. V bounces slightly on the balls of her feet, looking around the living room, the little collections of knick knacks, little calavera skulls. The couch covered in blankets and the warm little cozy touches within the home. 

“Jaquito!” A woman’s accented voice rings out, Jackie’s mom coming into the living room, “where the hell have you been!? I’ve been worried sick!” 

Jackie’s mom is a woman somewhere in her fifties, if V had to wager a guess, with gray hair that falls down past her shoulders and blue eyes. There’s a softness to her as she looks at her son, something inherently maternal to her gaze. There’s wrinkled lines of worry around her eyes. 

“Ay, I told you Mama, it was just biz. Nothing to worry about,” Jackie waves off his mother’s concerns.

“And your friend?” The older woman’s eyes land on her, she looks down finding a spot on the floor to focus on. 

“Ma, this is V.” 

Jackie turns to introduce her and V starts to look up, then his green eyes widen for a moment. It’s the first time he’s seen her without the mask, she’s realized, and she finds herself hyperaware of her features, worrying about how they’re being viewed. Her hands fidget and nerves flush her face. She’s not even this anxious when a hookup sees her face for the first time. The idea of a potential bedmate rejecting her is nothing compared to this visceral fear that her new friend and his mother not approving of her . 

“Hi,” she signs, slightly stilted in her movements, feeling as if she might combust. 

Her already awkward gestures completely freeze when she feels Senora Welles cups her cheek, fingers rubbing over the purple bruises on V’s skin. The touch is kind and warm, stirring up memories of V’s own mother. Memories of being a child returning to camp after hours of scavenging through a landfill or exploring the new land just for her mother to come look over her for every bruise or mark she may have collected. 

“My Jackie drag you into one of his messes?” Senora Welles asks before V can go further down the slippery nostalgia slope. Fingers brush across the blood in the back of V’s hair, the worry etching the older woman’s expression only grows. The intensity makes the former nomad look at the ground, unable to maintain eye contact. 

“It was a client, mama,” Jackie answers for V, “First night in NC spent bleeding out in a dumpster, second will be spent on the street unle-”

“Say no more. I’ll get you some clean clothes, you can use our shower, and we’ll get some food in your belly, alright?” 

“Alright, thank you, so much,” V signs as Senora Welles pulls away. She doesn’t know what she did to deserve their kindness, but she’s thankful for it, nonetheless. 

She’s given a black t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants once Senora Welles has shown her to the bathroom. It’s modest with a tile floor, stickers on the mirror and sugar skulls beside it. V catches sight of herself in the mirror and blinks at what’s looking back at her, she understands Jackie and his mother’s reaction now. While she suspected and felt what she may look like. But her reflection staring back at her confirms it. Purples, blues, and greens scatter across her face like galaxies over her skin. Her eyeliner has smeared and smudged around her eyes. Her hair is in tangles, darkening red flecks of blood staining the bleached blonde and  dark brown of her roots where it sticks to her scalp the ponytail she tied it back in is now knots. She needs a cut and a touch up. But bleach may have to wait, when she tries to brush it out, it hurts, pulling at the not quite healed wound on her scalp and bringing fresh blood to the surface. She does the best she can for now before deciding it’s enough.  

V  triple checks the lock on the door, not out of distrust for the Welles, but her own paranoia and habit. Then she strips out of her clothes and takes out her hearing aids, stashing them in the medicine cabinet in hopes of protecting them from steam. She rubs at the reddened skin of her ears. She knows they’re necessary, but they chap and rub her ears raw after too long. There’s cream she has for it, that’s in her duffle bag, that was in her Rattler. She pouts at the realization before she turns on the hot water, stepping under it’s spray. 

The hot water is a welcomed relief to her aching muscles, as she washes away the grime, she starts to feel human again. She scrubs the blood and mess from her hair, careful of her still tender scalp as she washes away the mess that was her first day in Night City. 

V dries off and slots her hearing aids back in, they seem to still be dry. She throws on the clothes she was given. The shirt hangs off her shoulders and the hem hits at her knees, she gets the idea the shirt may be Jackie’s. She’s less sure of the sweatpants, they do sag on her hips and the legs go well over her feet, but with enough tightening of the drawstring they manage to stay up. Baggy, soft, and warm. If not for the still steady pain in her temples and the cramping of her empty belly, she could curl up to sleep. Her hair is still in absolute knots, so she ops for putting it up in a bun to save for a time in which she can handle combing through it. Then finally she leaves the bathroom, peeking around the corner. 

“Chica, in here!” Jackie’s voice booms and calls her into the kitchen. 

She pads her way in there, Senora Welles and Jackie are gathered around a table in the kitchen. He’s thrown off his jacket, showing the muscle shirt he wore beneath it. And despite having seen him all night, she truly feels like she’s seeing him fully now in the cozy lighting of the kitchen. Freckled skin, biceps the size of her head, a black and red tattoo on his wrist and forearm that’s cut off by a gold bracelet. The light catches off the cyberware across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. He grins widely as his mother fills a bowl with chili, the grown man shoveling it in his mouth without waiting for it to cool, like an overexcited child. 

“Over here, mija, take a seat and a bowl,” Senora Welles beckons her over. 

V climbs up into a seat, awkwardly tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear. Senora Welles fills a bowl to the top with chilli for her; the smell of the tomato, synth beef, and veggies making her stomach growl. She’s torn between gratefulness and feeling a bit like a mangy dog Jackie dragged in. It’s fine line between kindness and pity, she can only hope it’s the former rather than the latter. 

“Thank you, so much.”

The second she’s done signing another thanks, she’s shoving chili into her mouth and its so good. Perfectly cooked and with a hint of spice. She nearly inhales the rest of her bowl, barely coming up for air as she gobbles it up. A second bowl goes by just as quickly, she’s pretty sure Jackie’s on her third by the time she grabs the second. She’s slowing down by her third, her stomach not quite bursting, and she’s willing to push it just to keep eating.  

“Aye, you’re as bad as Jaquito,” Senora Welles teases, smiling as she calmly eats her own food. 

“Sorry, its just really good…” V signs with one hand, still eating with her other. 

“Told you my ma made the best chili.” 

“Hey, what did I say about talking with your mouth full, Jackie!” His mother scolds him. 

“V did it first.” 

“I don’t talk!” 

“See, she did it again!” Jackie teases when she signs again. V swallows her mouthful of chili and sticks her tongue out at Jackie. The joking around has eased some of the tension for V, Jackie still treating her like a new friend and not some sad sack he’s trying to help. 

“So, V,” Senora Welles says after a few moments, “where are you from?” 

“All of the everywhere, I think I was born in North Carolina? Maybe?” 

“You’re a nomad?” 

V chews her lip, the media talk about nomads is far from good, usually painted as asshole outlaws. Corps don’t like them. Corps own the media. So they make sure the media tells everyone that nomads are the violent assholes who refuse to fall in line, refused to sell their land, and then ran away to ruin everyone’s life when they lost the battle. Not that it stops them from lining a nomad’s pocket when they need work done. Which, granted, her own nomad family are…violent assholes and criminals, but that doesn’t mean they all are. And she doesn’t want to be painted with that same brush. And there are good solid nomad families out there, she’s met more than a few in Bakkers, Aldecaldos, and Red Ochre Clan; to name just a handful. 

“Formerly, yeah, was hoping to make a new life here.” 

“Your nomad family ain’t waiting for you?”  

“Uh, no, just…no.”  

Tears prick at the back of V’s eyes, threatening to shed as she thinks of her mom, put down in a med tent. The first time her father held a captive bolt pistol to the base of her skull, ready to kill her for her newfound disability. The way everything seemed to change when she lost her hearing. Her sister hunting her down like a dog, not caring who she has to shake down, what she has to burn to the ground; just to kill her on the order of their father. She bites down harshly on her lower lip, she doesn’t want to think about it. 

Then there’s an arm wrapping around her shoulders, Senora Welles having stood up at some point, and now gently tucking V’s head under her chin. A gentle one-armed hug, not tight or all-encompassing but warm and kind, without pushing her. 

“No worries, mija,” the older woman speaks against V’s skin, “you can stay here as long as you need.”  

“Thank you, that means a lot,” V’s not sure if at the angle, Senora Welles eyes can translate her signing, but she squeezes the older woman’s hand, hoping it can be communicated through touch if nothing else.  Appreciative as she is, there’s a small pit in her stomach, she’s already becoming a burden to someone new. 

A moment passes and then Senora Welles gives a soft kiss to the top of her head before taking away the dirty dishes. V starts to gather it as well, she’s eating their food and staying in their house, the least she can do. If she’s going to impose for any length of time, she needs to make herself worthwhile to have around, to some degree. 

“No, no, no, V. You’re a guest, go on and get settled in,” Senora Welles stops her before she can help any further. 

“Uh-“ 

“C’mon, jaina,” Jackie gives a quick pat to her shoulder, “I’ll show you where you can sleep tonight.” 

She gets up from her seat, feet padding up the stairs after Jackie. He barely fits between the banisters, his wide muscular frame completely blocking her view as they move through the house. He takes her up to a bedroom, its not particularly big, and she can’t help but think he’s had it since he was a child. There’s fitness posters on the wall, weights that she imagines Jackie could juggle if he wanted, a vanity with a rosary, but it’s what stacked on top of one of the desks that catches her eye. 

Two desks are flush against one of the walls, one with a large aquarium balanced on it. Vivid blue and white fluorescent lights illuminating the water.  Only one fish swims through it, gray with a fin, like a mini shark. V can’t help the noise of excitement she makes as she bounces on the balls of her feet over to the tank, sitting in the chair at the desk. She wants a better look at this beautiful baby. 

“V, meet Taco,” Jackie introduces her to the dwarf shark. 

“I’d die for him,” she signs, with zero hesitation. 

“I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Heh,” she giggles at his response, “must have cost you an arm and a leg.” 

“Think I bought him?” 

V’s nose wrinkles as she laughs, hands forming words, “forbidden shark.” 

V taps against the aquarium glass, getting Taco’s attention, she drags her finger back and forth across the glass watching the large fish chase her finger. Taco twirls and twists, trying to nibble at her finger through the glass. 

“So, what happens tomorrow?” Jackie asks, bed creaking under his weight. 

She turns in the chair, resting her arms and chin across the back of it as she shifts to face him. Jackie has sat down on the bed tucked into a cubby against a wall. Can he even fit on that bed? She’s still not even sure who’s sleeping where tonight, she has no intention of stealing the man’s bed, if anything she wishes you could buy him a bigger one to more comfortably fit him. 

“Tomorrow? Gonna get my shit back, hopefully turn a quick profit off the cargo, and get myself a place. I don’t plan on  making a nuisance out of myself, I promise.” 

She’s thankful for the hospitality and as much as she maybe shouldn’t, she’ll take advantage for the night. But, she has no intention of leeching off of their kindness. They may be opening their door to her, but no one wants a mooch. She’s an adult and needs to take care of herself. 

“Pfft, you ain’t no fucking nuisance, my ma’s probably just happy to have someone who’ll help with the dishes.” 

“I don’t wan-“ she shifts gears mid-sentence, “you don’t help your mom with the dishes?” 

“Eh, ya know,” he makes a vague wiggly hand gesture and scrunches his face up “it’s gross…” He shrugs. 

“Of course it’s gross, you dummy! She cooks for you for god’s sake, the least you can do is help clean up!” 

“I’m busy, okay!” 

“Unbelievable.”

“Look,” he laughs, “ that, this was not the point, Chica. So, before you climb up my ass again… Lemme ask,  what about the day after tomorrow? Day after that… you ice Sinclaire and then what? ” 

“Hmmm,” she hums, tapping her fingers against the chair before signing, “I hate to disappoint but I haven’t come up with any grand plan since the last time you asked. ’

“Figured as much, you ever do any merc work before this?” 

“Little things, smuggling jobs here and there, stayed out of cities so pickings were slim. You been doing it long?” 

“Most of my life; work for yourself, live for yourself. Only way there is, if you ask me.” 

“Probably be the easiest way to make eddies after I square away this cargo thing,” she admits, she never really put it into thoughts, but she always sort of assumed that’s where she’d end up once she landed in the city. The only other alternative would be some entry level job waiting tables or something and that might even be a pipe dream if they expect her to have cyberware or something resembling a formal education. 

“Already got a fixer who likes you,” Jackie tells her, “and not to brag, but with me as your partner you’ll be getting preem jobs right out the gate.” 

“Oh, so we’re partners now?” 

“Don’t see why not, already know we work well together, I could use an extra pair of hands and you could use really any help you can get, and… ” he pauses for a moment, finding his words, “I just got a good feeling about this, ‘bout us.” 

“A feeling?” 

“Yeah, that the two of us could make to the top.”

She’s trying not to laugh as she sees excitement fill his eyes, like a child on Christmas. It’s not as if merc work is new territory to her, she’s taken odd jobs in the Badlands. But, it is sparser than in the city and mostly smuggling. She can’t exactly proclaim it’s her dream job or what she wants to do forever, but she can’t think of a damn thing else she’d like to do. Death has been nipping at her heels since she was nine years old, she hasn’t thought far ahead, hasn’t felt she had any right to. 

And, she can’t really say she gives a fuck about making it to the top. Riches, fame, notoriety, being a legend. She couldn’t care less. She just wants to be in control of her own life, to feel like she has no restraints, and to build a life that has meaning to her. To be the person she wants to be, even though she isn’t quite sure who that is yet… She’s twenty, twenty-one this year, and she never even thought she’d get that far.  Its hard to really expect her to know exactly who she is or what she wants.  

But… could she really even get that far? Jackie seems convinced, but could she be capable of that? Is she strong enough? Competent enough?  

“I’m talking the major leagues, V. The top of the top, the mercs who get the best jobs, are swimming in eddies; Night City legends.” 

“That what you want?” 

“More than anything. Raised in shit, told I’d never climb out, but I’m gonna prove ‘em wrong. Don’t you want to? Show every son of a bitch who put you down, looked down their nose at you, that they didn’t know shit?”

Her father and his words come flooding to her mind; told she’s weak, worthless, defective, not worth the lead to blow her brains out. And yeah, she’d love to prove him wrong. To be strong and show she’s capable. To know she can take care of herself, that she doesn’t need anyone else to be okay. She’d love to prove to the people who told her she needed to get her hearing “fixed”, that she’s not fucking broken. Even now, people like Sinclaire take one look at her and see her as gutter trash.  She wants respect, the security that comes with it, not notoriety. Proving her strength, her capability, her worth by taking any job that comes her way is more than a little enticing, it’d earn her that respect both from others. 

But more importantly, she’d like to prove that to herself. To know in her heart she really isn’t any of those things. That she isn’t a burden. To prove to herself that she’s capable of more than being a burden, more than meandering along to her father’s orders. For once she’d like for others not to look at her like cockroach and more importantly to be able to look at herself and see more than a waste of space. To finally feel right in her own skin, take that voice of doubt that keeps asking her if she’s enough, and crush it. 

She could give a fuck less who knows her name, hell she prefers no one ever does. Its not the notoriety or fame. V greatly prefers being unknowable, between the mask and alias she’s a few blurry photos away from going full cryptid. And she likes that. If she keeps the mask on for business, keep work and personal separate with it, she could keep her privacy. Keep skeletons in her closet from coming back to bite her...

For so long she was told she was weak by The Herd. Weak for her disability. Weak for accepting her mother’s protection. 

An outcasts among outcasts, thats what the sheriff said, and he didn’t know the half of it. Nomads the outcasts of regular society, raffen shiv the outcasts of the nomads, and her an outcast among the raffen shiv. An outcast from the outcasts of the outcasts. So unwanted by the world and even her own fucking body. There has never in twenty years been a place for her in this world. But maybe she’s finally found it, working her ass off with Jackie and showing Night City just what she can do. 

“Lets do it,” she decides, she wants this, not to be famous or major leagues but to be untouchable, to prove a point, to take control of her life, to be more than anyone thought she could be, and to like what she sees when she looks in the mirror.  

“Fuck yeah,” he shifts to face her fully, catching her hand in shake, his large fingers blanketing her smaller ones, “this is the start of a beautiful thing, I just know it.” 

That night, Jackie sleeps on the couch in the living room, despite V’s constant insistence that she’ doesn’t want to take over his bed; his stubbornness wins out. And as he leaves to the living room she’s left with the weight of loneliness, of trying to sleep without the warmth of another beside her. It’s a dumb issue to have, keeping the world at arm’s length and keeping her walls up at all times, but needing a hug to sleep. Years of safety in numbers being beat into her head, sleeping alone feels like baring her throat for the wolves and expecting herself to find peace. 

As odd, creepy, weird as  it may be V takes advantage of the benefit that sleeping in Jackie’s clothes and bed has for her. Burying her nose in the pillows and blankets that smell like him, smell like another person, trying to convince her senses she’s not alone. Letting the smell of cheap cologne and some oil she can’t quite place soothe her. It used to be a band tee she stole from Ava, before…everything, though the scent has steadily faded over time, its still a source of comfort. And it was in her bag…in her car. Who knows if she’ll find it again… 

Then there’s her pictures and the old polaroid camera she fixed up to take them. A little treasure she found rummages through a landfill out towards Oregon. Photos of her sister, her mother, and Ava; of her life before she had to run. Back when she still thought that a family that doesn’t want you was worth having… Pictures from her time on the road; her and Sabrina, the sweet group of Bakkers who sold her the Rattler, and just any place, sight, or person that managed to make her day or make a few days. Loneliness colored a lot of that time, but she made her memories, people she’s sure forgot her when she left but whom she’ll never forget. 

Her mom’s guitar… the one thing she went back for the night she left, doubling back and breaking into her father’s tent for it when she realized she had left. Stepping into the lion’s den just to have it, she can’t play, she gave up on learning when her hearing went. But those early memories of sitting in her mother’s lap at camp with the guitar in her hands, small fingers callusing as they plucked at the strings…. 

And all of those could be gone. Every memory and memento could be gone for good because of one asshole. She digs her nails into her scalp and knots her hair, anger and anxiety pitting in her stomach, bleeding into each other. 

She burrows into the blankets and pillows, trying to prevent her thoughts from wandering, though it’s fighting an uphill battle, trying to think of the name of every star she knows in alphabetical order if only to bore her brain into sleep rather than letting it race in circles. She’s somewhere between Meissa and Merga when she finally falls asleep. 

And she awakes in the dead of night; chest tight and lungs struggling to get a deep breath of air. No nightmare this time, but a sense of panic and dread pumping adrenaline into her blood, making her heart race as she jumps out of Jackie’s bed.  She checks the door, she locked it before she went to bed, she needs doors locked. And she knows she did, but she needs to check it. She locks and unlocks it, no windows to check, so her focus is only on the door. And she does that until the tightness in her chest ease, until she can breathe a little easier, locking it for the last time before walking away from the door. Security, safety, a paranoia that tells her to never feel safe. That the world has always wanted her gone and one day death will knock at her door for the last time. 

Her body feels heavy as she wanders to Taco’s tank, the shark swimming in circles, V’s face bathed in the blue light from it. There’s still a shake in her hands, but her limbs are leaden as she sits down at the desk. She watches him swim and swish around for a few moments, sprinkling some of his food into the tank to watch him eat. 

“Really wish I could hold you, right now.”  

She speaks it out loud, softly to the swimming shark, needing to put her thoughts into the world but hands too shaky to sign worth a damn. Though they still ache and twitch to do so.  After a few more moments of watching the mini shark swim, she crawls back into bed to sleep for the rest of the night. Thankful, that she doesn’t wake until morning. 

The newly appointed merc is dragging when she wakes,  as always due to her lackluster sleeping patterns. To make matters worse, her eyes are red and itchy, sensitive even in the light of the house. A flare up, autoimmune disease coming back to kick her ass for stressing and not sleeping. Her joints ache, swollen, as she groggily stumbles her way from Jackie’s bedroom, when a sweet smell hits her nose, stomach growling. She

Senora Welles and Jackie are at the table, she made breakfast of course, because she’s entirely too nice. On the table is a spread of french toast with cinnamon whip cream on top. Jackie already has a stack nearly as tall as V on his plate, half eaten. 

Jackie yells out something, his mouth full, and she realizes the world is still quiet as his mother scolds him. Her eyes are too irritated and her mind too groggy for her to be able to competently read lips. She holds up a finger, asking them to wait a moment, and doubles back to Jackie’s bedroom. She grabs her hearing aids and contemplates grabbing her mask, just so it can translate for her.

Optic translations are pretty advanced for sign language, but they have limitations. Like people needing to look at the signer the entire time and name signs being essentially untranslatable since they’re personal to the signer. But she wants to eat and having to hold up her mask everytime she wants to talk is a pain. She turns on her hearing aids and leaves the mask behind, hopefully Jackie and Senora Welles will look at her if she has to say anything or she’ll just stay silent as she stuffs her face. Jackie raises an eyebrow at her when she comes back to the kitchen. 

“Forgot my ears,” she signs, tapping her hearing aid, and flinching when it gives a bit of feedback in reaction. 

“Ahh, well come sit your ass down, ma made tres leche french toast.” 

“Thank you,” she signs to Senora Welles who gives her a soft smile. 

“Something up with your optics, jaina? Looking red.”

“I don’t have optic implants,” she signs before pouring herself a cup of coffee. 

“Really? Guess that’d be why you don’t got lipreading tech and explain why they look like you rubbed peppers in them.”

“That’s just a flare up.”

“Flare up?” Senora Welles asks, concern darkening her expression. 

“Autoimmune disease, some days my body hates me more than others.” 

“That what happen to your…?” Jackie taps his ear, rather than say it outright. 

She nods, it attacked the inner ear most aggressively, completely destroying her hearing by nine. According to the clan doctor, all the times she complained about her ears hurting, dizziness, and ringing in her ears it’s because her immune system was aggressively attacking them. But, she was only ever told to walk it off, until inevitably the world went silent. It still flares up, deciding it doesn’t like the rest of her either. Her eyes are what worry her the most but what can she really do. 

“There ain’t anything that can help with that.” 

“Uh, heard medications can, but haven’t been to a doc since I was sixteen and I ain’t looking to break my streak,” she signs, unable to help the way she scrunches her nose. 

She hates doctors.  Her last experience with the clan doctor ensured she never wanted to deal with another, not to mention how many times she’s been told to pop by a ripper and just “fix” her hearing. 

“Hmm, you got any chrome, V?” 

“Nope.” she signs. 

“Seriously, nothing?” 

“Not even a personal link.” She shows the palms of her hands and wrists, thankful the sleeves of the sweatshirt lent to her cover the brand on her wrist.  

“Hate to break it to you, V, but you're gonna need some chrome. Personal link, neural port, bare fuckin’ minimum if you wanna get by in Night City.” 

She doesn’t answer, just pouting as she pours sugar and milk into her coffee, until there’s barely a hint of brown coloring. She isn’t against cyberware inherently and everyone’s choice is their own, but whether it’s the years of being told they’re cheap tools to make the weak feel strong or just her own discomfort with everything it entails, the whole thing makes her skin crawl. V already hates doctors and would rather dose up on bounce backs if she has to. She can stitch her own wounds, has before, whatever it takes to avoid them. 

Add in the fact most cyberware is made and licensed by corps, no. Sure, black alley shit exists, but just the idea of a corp having the right to her eyes. What if they revoke someone’s usage of them, spy through them, confiscate them?

“Once your two finish your business, take her to Viktor,” Senora Welles tells Jackie, before turning to look at V, “he’s a good man, I’d trust to take care of anyone, mija. I’m sure he can help with whatever you need.” 

“Okay, if he has your seal of approval, suppose I gotta at least see him.” V concedes, Senora Welles seems convinced this guy is good. Even if V decides to just try to go without, everything, it can’t hurt just to meet the guy. 

“Vik’s one of my closest friends, he’ll take care of you, promise. Though, uh, keep taking your coffee like that, he might have his work cut out for him.” 

“I like sweets,” she signs, shrugging before taking a drink of her coffee and another big bite of french toast. They’re incredible, cinnamon whip cream sticking to her lips. 

“You might as well inhale sugar.” 

“Bold of you to assume I wouldn’t.” 

They finish up the breakfast, V stuffed with a good three or more stacks of french toast. Senora Welles begins to collect the dishes. And no, V’s not letting this happen again. 

“We’ll do dishes,” she signs, starting to collect the plates. 

“We?” 

“No, no, you don’t have to, dear.” 

“I insist please, you cooked, it’s only right for us to clean up afterwards,” she signs with one hand then looks to Jackie, “right?” 

“Right…  we’ll take care of it ma.” 

“Thank you, Mija,” Senora Welles squeezes her shoulder, “I washed your clothes last night, I’ll leave them in the bathroom, once you two finish with the dishes you can wash up and get changed.” 

“Thank you,” V signs again before taking the dishes to the sink with Jackie. 

“One night here and you’re already the favorite, Jesucristo.” 

V can’t resist giggling at the comment, smile on her face. They don’t talk much as they wash dishes, mostly because she can’t sign and clean at the same time. It doesn’t take long before they’ve finished up. V going to shower and change, then they’ll head to the chop shop Padre mentioned. Then it’s time to end Sinclaire. 

“You ready to go, V?” Jackie asks when she comes back changed, mask with her for when she’ll need it. 

“Let’s get this show on the road.” 

“Me and V are headed out, Ma! Be back in time for dinner, promise!” 

The pair leave the house and make their way down the steps. The streets are jam packed with people and she’s still not used to the crowd, cringing as she has to weave through them. Jackie doesn’t have a car and her’s is indisposed wherever it is. She nearly trips over a bag of trash trying to keep up with her new partner. Why is the city so dirty? V never even let the camp site get this filthy and these city people just toss their trash out on the street?

“C’mon, we’ll take the train down to the chop shop, see if they got your car first,” Jackie’s voice cuts her off because she can start trying to clean the street. 

“I still don’t have any-”

“I’ll pay for us both.” 

“Sorry and thanks” 

“How many times have you said sorry or thanks since we met?” Jackie asks. 

“I wasn’t counting.” 

The station is already crowded and she’s cringing at the sight of two many fucking people. They fall in line, jacking in personal links, eyes glowing as they pay the fee then wait for the train. Mothers holding their children’s hands, homeless people with signs at the sides of the station, begging for eddies. 

“Too many times,” he says jacking in his personal link, eyes lighting up as he pays for both of their rides, “this is what friends and family are for, chica.” 

“To pay my way in the world?” She asks as they step into the crowded subway train. 

The crowd is forced to part around Jackie, everyone offering his broad frame more space, as his sheer size demands it. No one moves for V, she has to step and weave around people who easily crowd around her small figure without a second thought. Is it just the size difference? Or something more? 

She curls in on herself, shrinking as she maneuvers through people. Too many voices, layering together into cacophony. She can feel the warmth of everyone’s body, the stench of body odor and contrasting perfumes or colognes. She needs her own car, for sure, this is agony. She can’t do this daily. 

“To have your back, mija. Besides, acting like world’s doing you a favor by letting you exist, a good way to get your neck stepped on.” 

“But, you and your ma are doing me a favor. You gonna step on my neck for thanking you?” 

They’ve come to a stop, Jackie finding a empty pole on the subway train to hold onto. She looks up at him, waiting for his answer, blinking expectantly. He’s not seriously suggesting she not be grateful, is he? She’s no stranger to faking confidence or having an attitude, she’s not exactly a goodie two shoes. But she’s not about to be rude to people who don’t invite the behavior. Usually. 

“Don’t look at me like that.” 

“Look at you like what?” She asks, migraine forming as she’s surrounded by noise. 

“With those puppy eyes.” 

“Those are just my eyes, Jackie.” 

“Well, stop it.” 

“Fine,” she decides, kill two birds, one stone, “I’m gonna put my mask on and turn off my hearing aids for a bit.” 

“Why?” 

“Too much,” she signs and gesture vaguely to the entire subway. 

“Ah, not used to the city noise are ya?” He asks just before she turns off her hearing aids, sliding her mask in place. She breathes a sigh of relief, silence, glorious silence. 

“Its...a lot, but in general, world has either been silent or at least had a mute button since I was nine. First time I got my hearing aids, I broke down in tears, felt like the world was screaming at me and that was in the middle of nowhere. I’ve gotten use to them and its not even necessarly the volume, its just that its not cohesive if that makes sense. Not that any sound is too loud, just there’s too many of them.” 

“I think, I get ya, if it’s one thing drowning out everything else it’s fine. But, when you got twenty different things going on, it feels like your brain is going in every direction?” 

“Kinda? It’s just too much, like the world on low volume.” 

“Eh, have a feel you’re gonna be hitting mute on Night City a lot.” 

“Yeah, I kinda figure.” 

“Hmmm, probably should figure out a better fix than the mask too, can’t wear it all the time.” 

“I mean,” she shrugs, “ideally everyone in the world would just learn sign language to accommodate me.” 

“Yeah?” He laughs, apparently catching the joke, “Night City ain’t one for accomadating.” 

“A person can dream.” 

“Tell you what though, chica, teach me sign language, I’ll teach you, Spanish.” 

“You got it, and once you know ASL and I know Spanish, we can learn Spanish Sign Language, or if you prefer Mexican Sign Language. Or both.” 

“How many different kinds of sign language are there again?” 

“Not sure, but I probably can’t count that high. I mean there’s several variations even in just signing in English.”

“Oh…” 

“You have ASL which is the most common, you have Signed Exact English which has a lot more fingerspellng. You have Conceptually Accurate Signed English, also sometimes called Pidgin Sign Language which essentially uses ASL signs but follows word order and grammar rules from English. And-”

“I’m regretting this already.” 

“Then there’s different dialects used within different parts of the deaf community, like-”

“Well, lookie there, it’s our stop,” Jackie cuts her off when the subway train comes to a stop and she’s smiling behind her mask, watching the way the gears in his head turn trying to keep up with this information. 

V stays close to his back as he leaves the crowded train, taking advantage of the space the crowd gives him to give herself some space. The chop shop is just a short walk from the station and despite struggling to keep up with Jackie’s longer strides, they reach it without much issue. V making sure to turn her hearing aids back on before she enters the store.

“Can I help you?” A worker grumbles when the pair walk through the door. 

“I’m looking for a Galena Rattler, nomad vehicle, red. Someone brought it in here.” 

The worker scratches at the cybernetics etching his face, searching his memory for a moment before he finally speaks up. 

“Had something like that come in a day or two ago, had a dog bobblehead on the dash?’ 

“That’s the one.” 

“Bucket of rust was sent to the landfill as soon as it got here, probably scrapped by now.” 

Her heart sinks into her chest, her first car, her fucking home for the past four or so years; gone. All because some asshole had to fuck her over. She wants to scream, cry a little bit, kick something. 

“Sorry, kid, uh, I can get you the stuff we got out of it. About all I can offer you.” 

“Okay…” 

She nudges the floor with the toe of her boot, fingers fiddling with the hem of her shirt as she waits. It isn’t long until the worker emerges from the back room with her dufflebag, the guitar case, and her dog bobblehead. V checks through, all weapons and first aid shit gone. But her holophone,  her clothes, the clunky old little computer, her photos, and her mother’s guitar are all still there. Basically anything they couldn’t feasibly make a profit off of is still there. Photos mean nothing, a crappy landfill camera worthless, beat up acoustic guitar, and tech that dates back a good couple years don’t amount to much when you want cash. At least being generations behind everyone else has done her some good. Even if she still lost her car. 

Most of her mementos were saved, but a pit still forms in her stomach at losing her car, essentially her closest thing to home since she left The Herd. 

“C’mere, chica.”

 Jackie wraps his arms around her smaller frame, large arms encompassing her, threatening to crush the air from her lungs. Unlike the one-armed hug from his mother, this is overwhelmingly affectionate, surrounded by his warmth. She tries to think back the last time she was hugged like this, probably by her own mother, when she was fifteen? V freezes in his grasp, arms awkwardly hanging at her sides before she brings them up to lightly pat at his back. Not quite able to commit herself to hugging him back fully. 

“…” 

“Aye, Santa Madre. Is that how you hug, V?” 

She shrugs within his hold, unable to sign while being pulled so close to him.  He pulls away, leaving only a hand on her shoulder. 

“What’s wrong with how I hug?” 

“Everything, don’t worry though, we’ll work on it,” he tells her. 

“You’re weird.” 

“So,” Jackie switches gears, “Sinclaire, you got a plan yet?” 

“Sinclaire lives in the penthouse of a megabuilding. Intel says he should be there today, taking a day off tricking nomads I guess. Need to get in, figure out where the cargo is, and gut Sinclaire.”

“Got a netrunner who owes me a favor, she might be able to get in the subnet for the building, trip the cameras and get us in.” 

“Seriously, you wanna waste that favor on me?” 

“Eh, T-Bug will help me out again, even if she says otherwise.” 

Jackie rolls his eyes and pulls out his holophone, his optics lighting up bright blue as he dials a number, like many folks he has his phone hooked up to his eyes. . 

“Hey, Bug, calling in my favor.” 

V can’t hear the other side of the conversation, shaking her bobblehead as she waits patiently. Bobble bobble, the dog’s head bounces up and down. 

“We’re trying to get into Megabuilding 12, huh…oh I got myself a new partner, she’s cool, don’t worry. Just need you to hack the subnet, get us access, kill the cameras. Can you do that for me?” 

A smirk comes across Jackie’s face and he rolls his eyes, before looking to V, “Bug says she wants to be patched through to you, ain’t helping someone she don’t know. “ 

“That’s fine,” she signs, “I can sync my holophone to my mask just like optics.” 

Her mask will display the person just like optic tech can, she has it set so her avatar displays instead of her face so all they’ll see is a picture of the same expression on her mask, and they’ll hear the AI voice as she signs.  Jackie taps at his phone as he sends the call to V’s phone as well. Her mask lights up to let her know of the incoming call and she taps accept on her phone, a little video square shows up in the corner of her vision. 

T-bug is older than V, most folks are, with dark hair shaved down nearly to her scalp and dark makeup surrounding her big brown eyes. A skin tight black net runner suit clings to what’s visible of her body. 

“Hello,” V signs, letting the AI voice resonate through the connection. 

“No face, no voice; the hell are you dragging me into Jackie?” 

“Stop worrying Bug, V is good people, she just needs to get back at a client who fucked her over. You said you owed me one.” 

“Fine, but this goes sideways and I’m frying you both.” 

“Not sure you can fry V, but alright. Let’s get our asses moving.” 

They opt to walk to the megabuilding, not to leave any trace of traveling out there. It’s not far out and before too long they’re standing before the stairs up to the towering building. Megabuildings are impressive to say the least, giant ecosystems in their own right, rows of rows of the same apartments until you hit the top floors and lower floors dedicated to shops. V tucks her bobblehead into her dufflebag and puts her bag down in a corner by the stairs along with the guitar case, preferring to travel lightly as they axe Sinclaire, she doesn’t need to worry about bashing a guitar into a wall while she’s taking him down. 

“You play?” Jackie asks her after a beat of silence, eyes on the guitar case. 

“No.” Her answer is flat, monotone through the translator, and she offers no other explanation. 

“…talking to you is really gonna be like pulling teeth, ain’t it?” 

“You asked a question, I answered.” 

“Nah, nah, it’s okay, I spill my soul, let you in my home, my family, my bed; and you give me half assed hugs and one word answers, I get it, chica.”

“There’s nothing to get!” 

 “No worries, I got time, I’ll know you better than you know yourself, before you…well, know it,” his grin drops as he realized he said ‘know’ entirely too many times in that sentence

“Didn’t think that sentence through, did ya?” 

“Shaddup, let’s get this asshole.” 

T-bug’s avatar and quick flashes of technological info flashes at a camera as they enter the megabuilding. The imagery showing through to Jackie and V while none of the hundred or so residents buzzing around are any the wiser to what’s about to go down. 

“I’m in the subnet, I can see you on cams and cut off the feed to security. Getting you penthouse access now.” 

“Efficient as fuck,” V can’t help but sign, forever amazed at netrunners in general, let alone just how quickly T-bug has managed to take care of this. 

“Don’t work any other way, besides Megabuildings have shoddy security at best, this is nothing.” 

“Honestly, you could hack a toaster and I’d be impressed, this stuff is way beyond my comprehension,” V admits as her and Jackie reach the elevator, T-bug’s avatar just flashing before it opens for them. 

“Your mask can work for scanning, get a cyberdeck and I could send you some quickhacks and daemons; set you up with the basics.” 

“I’ll have to keep that in mind, never hurts to learn.” Even if she’s fairly convinced she’s too stupid to figure it out.  

“So, V’s managed to win you over already?” Jackie comments, grinning. 

“More like I’m trying to make sure you don’t call me over petty shit again,” T-bug insists, though there’s no real malice to her voice. 

V leans against the elevator wall as it lurches into movement, screens playing the news around them.  She smiles behind her mask as Jackie grins, winking before he responds to T-bug. 

“You say that but you and I both know you like being part of the team, Bug.” 

“Oh, brother,” T-bug says with a roll of her eyes and V can’t help but crack up, she can’t really imagine the two being fast friends; a loud energetic solo and a stoic netrunner. It makes her wonder how exactly they met or what favor T-bug might owe Jackie. 

“On your toes,” T-bug speaks up as the elevator comes to a stop, “two guards outside the penthouse door, I’ll run a quick hack to distract them.” 

“Get their backs to us and we’ll drop ‘em quiet, T.” 

The elevator door opens and there’s a clanging mechanical sound that rings out on the top floor halls. Jackie and V stay low as they leave the elevator; turning a corner to see two of Sinclaire’s guards. They’re looking over a vending machine that’s began to spew energy drinks out on the floor. She suddenly wishes she brought her duffle bag up with her, if only to take advantage and stockpile some drinks. 

They creep up behind them, V points at the guard at the left then herself, making it clear she’ll take him and Jackie nods. She gets behind her mark and lurches forward, snapping his neck with a crunch, feeling him go limp under her touch. From her peripheral she watches as Jackie crushes his target’s windpipe with one heavy press of his forearm. Two guards in a pile they stand up straight and make a beeline to the penthouse door. Jackie takes out his pistol, making sure its loaded, while V gets her own gun out, the one she stole from the 6th Street fuck. 

“You get a peek inside the penthouse, Bug?” 

“No more muscle inside, Sinclaire is in his office, its second door on the left going past the living room.” 

“’Preciate it, T-bug.” V signs as the penthouse door slides open. Jackie and her have weapons at the ready as they go in. 

Sinclaire’s penthouse is bougie as they come, more proof for her theory that rich people just have no fucking taste. Tacky and gaudy decorations in a lavish open room plan. The disgusting lack of taste nearly distracts from what he has that is of legitimate value; a bar stocked with expensive booze and a tv nearly as wide as a car. 

“Doesn’t seem like Sinclaire was hurting for eddies.” 

“That’s fine, plenty to sell off if he already moved the cargo.” 

“Place giving you sticky fingers?” 

“Mmhmm,” she hums as she rubs the dirty heel of her boot against the tacky zebra rug, satisfied when she leaves a smudge of filth in the white of it. 

They move through the penthouse, finding the office door, Jackie doesn’t jump to do anything, instead giving her a nod. He’s letting her lead the charge, take care of her own business on her own terms and she’s beyond thankful for it. No desire to be subtle, V kicks the door in, slamming her boot into the door and watching it burst open under her force. 

Sinclaire yells out, jolting at the sight of the two mercs bursting into his office. He’s still sat at his desk, hands raised in surrender as he looks at V, then his eyes drag over to Jackie. Staring down two barrels, he still finds it in him to sneer. 

“V…see you managed to find yourself a friend in the trash.” 

“Pair of crosshairs, both on ya, wouldn’t be mouthing off if I was you,” Jackie warns. 

“Someone wi-“ 

“Already iced your muscle and got control of the cams,” V explains, smirking as his ego deflates, “the only way you’re getting out of here alive is if you tell me where the cargo is.” 

“Seriously, all this over some ca-“ 

V cocks her gun and presses it to his forehead, finger on the trigger, held in one hand so she can still sign. 

“Either I get the cargo or I get revenge; take your pick.” 

“In the tank behind you.” 

“Jackie.” She doesn’t want them to both turn their back on Sinclaire, slimy fuck that he is. 

“What don’t trust me?” 

She cracks her pistol across his cheek, the force of it knocking him out of his chair and onto the floor. V steps on his back, gun still pointed at his dome as she presses her weight down on him. The pale of his cheek starts to turn purple and she feels just a touch of satisfaction knowing she’s dealt him even a fraction of the harm he dealt her. 

“Iguana, lesser Antillean I think,” Jackie calls out and with the new position she’s put Sinclaire in she’s able to crane her neck to see. A large tank with a bright green lizard, black around his face, and red spines down it’s back. 

“What!?”  Her voice comes out along with her signing, distorting and layering over the artificial one, unable to contain her temper as she looks down at Sinclaire, pressing her foot down harder on him, “did you try to kill me over a fuckin’ lizard!?” 

“You got any idea how much that thing’s worth?”

She pulls her foot off of him just to grab his shirt collar, dragging Sinclaire back up to his feet. V keeps one hand wrapped up in his collar and uses the other to press the gun against his back. She shoves him, he tries to resist, but despite their size difference V is easily able to out strength him. The former nomad drags him through his penthouse and out the door, across the hallway towards a door. Jackie’s steps echo through the building as he covers her, keeping a lookout for any new guards that may show. She kicks the door open from behind Sinclaire, the flights of stairs greeting them, one’s going down and the ones that go up to the roof. 

“T-bug, roof?” V asks, voice still distorted and echoing through the filter of her mask, unable to sign with her hand full. 

“No muscle up there, you’re good.” 

“Look, we can talk about this V, w-“ 

“Move.”  She jabs her gun into the small of his back, emphasizing her point. Sinclaire marches up the stairs as she forces him upwards, they reach the final door that leads out and V kicks it open like she did the last before making him walk through. 

The former nomad forces him out onto the roof of the megabuilding, cool air hitting her fevered skin. They don’t stop moving, V’s eyes trained on the edge of the roof as she pushes him forward. He babbles, utterances and insistence that they can work this out; but she’s pissed and he has to pay. He’s not going to get away with it, no one is ever going to get away with treating her like this again. 

Sinclaire stops moving, feet cemented in place just before he hits the edge, still trying to beg for his life as he resists her pushing on his back and neck. 

“V, please, please we can ta-“ 

His voice cuts to a scream as she shoves him as hard as she can with both hands, knocking him off balance and sending him over the side of the building. She watches as his body plummets; a low whistle ringing out beside her. 

“Long way down, ya know I heard folks die before they even hit the ground on falls like that.” 

“That’s a shame,” she signs, shaking her head, she wanted him to feel it when his head hits the concrete. 

“Feel any better?” 

“Yeah, lets klep the lizard and run before someone asks questions.” 

“No rush, pigs will just think he offed himself, happens all the time.” 

“Good to know.” 

“Still wouldn’t throw yourselves a party up there, NCPD might come check the area once it’s reported.” T-bug warns over the comms. 

“Yeah, in like two days, chill Bug,” Jackie assures her as him and V leave the roof, taking the stairs back down to the penthouse. 

There’s a weight off of V’s shoulders as she and Jackie return to Sinclaire’s penthouse office. She hefts a little sigh as she sees the bright green iguana and she’s reminded of Jackie’s earlier comment, called it a lesser antil-something. 

“You know a lot about iguanas?” she asks him, he has Taco after all, he seems to like fish and lizards. 

“Ah, saw something about ‘em on the science channel,” he looks to the iguana, calmly sitting in it’s tank, “you come a long way, my scaley friend.” 

She can see a softness in Jackie’s smile, and she can’t blame him, the iguana is adorable. Tentatively, V lowers her hand down into the terrarium. She nudges her fingers against the lizard, feeling it’s bumpy skin that’s been warmed under a heat lamp. It’s tail flicks against her just before it turns to knock it’s face against her hand, nuzzling under the touch. She can’t help but smile, signing with her free hand to Jackie. 

“Yeah, I’d kill me for him too.” 

Jackie laughs as the iguana latches it’s claws into her hoodie sleeve, before climbing up the length of her arm. She lets out a soft little exclamation as the reptile makes it’s way to her shoulder, burrowing itself into the junction where her neck and shoulder meet. 

“Awww cuddly fucker,” Jackie coos, smiling softly at V and her new snuggle buddy. 

“He’s…probably worth a lot…” She slowly signs, unable to have much energy at the idea of selling him. V wants to make the money she meant to make, iguanas are rare, but…he’s very cute.  And maybe she’s too much of a softie for animals.

“Yeah, a shame too, been wanting another pet, Taco’s got some age on him now…Had the name Manny all figured out too.” 

“Are the two of you, serious?” T-bug comments, rolling her eyes in the holoview, “all of this and you want to keep the lizard?” 

“I mean…I don’t want him to fall into the wrong hands,” V tries to defend herself. 

“Iguanas have very specific needs, not just anyone can take care of ‘em,” Jackie adds.

“But you’re like, an iguana expert, basically.” 

“Basically.” 

“And I mean, if you and Mama Welles don’t mind having me around a while longer, I won’t need the cash right away.” 

“Hell no, we don’t mind.” 

“Just keep the damn thing and shut up,” T-bug scolds, sick of them trying to justify it. 

“C’mon, let’s get Manny home and set up,” Jackie explains, unplugging the heat lamp so he can grab it along with the tank. 

“We gotta keep him warm, right?” 

“Yep, can’t let him get chilled.”

She nods, deciding to scoop up Manny and move him from her shoulder to putting him in her hoodie, hugging him close to her body over the fabric. V feels a bit like she’s cradling a baby, which isn’t terribly off base. Manny is now her child, she has decided. Jackie starts to carry the iguana stuff out of the penthouse, cutting through the kitchen with V trailing behind him. 

V jumps and yelps, a loud popping noises and sparks flying out of a toaster as she walks past. She clutches Manny to her chest, the iguana clinging to her under her hoodie after the startle. 

“Impressed?” T-bug asks, raising an eyebrow and V tries desperately to suppress her smile at the joke. A part of her mad that she was caught off guard by the trick, damn netrunners. 

“I’m something, alright, scared the shit out of me.”  

“Holy shit,” Jackie says with a smile teasing at the corner of his lips, “Bug making jokes, I must be dying.” 

“Fuck off, cutting comms, now.”  

“Talk to you later, Bug.” 

“Hmm, maybe, we’ll see how I feel,” T-bug teases, “nice meeting you V.” 

“Thanks again for the help, and the minor heart attack I guess.” 

“Anytime.” 

“I’m not sure if you mean the help or the heart attack.” 

“Could go either way.”  T-bug tells her before cutting communication, the woman’s face blinking from V’s mask. The merc laughs, softly at the exchange as she pushes the mask up onto her head.  T-bug seems nice underneath it all, colder than Jackie, but most people are. The teddy bear of a guy is hard to compete with warmth wise. 

She trails behind Jackie as the pair leave to the elevator. V leans against one wall of the elevator, against one of the bright screens that play ads, looking down at Manny tucked in her hoodie. He’s too cute. Jackie gives her a wink before he hits the button on the elevator and it lurches into movement. 

“Once we get little mano here set up, we’ll head over to Misty’s.” 

“Misty?” She fingerspells the name out, cocking her head to the side in question. 

“My mainline,” he gets a dreamy little smile on his face, “mi amada, you’ll love her, she’s the sweetest thing” 

“Oooooh~”

“Jesus fuck!”  V yells out and jumps to hide behind Jackie at the sudden keening moan in her ear, holding Manny tighter to her chest.

“Pfff,” Jackie’s shoulders shake, before he busts out in laughter, clutching at his stomach. 

Heat flushes up to V’s hairline as she sees the source of her distress, the screen she’d been leaning against now display an advertisement for Milfgaard some cougar website with a scantily clad older woman spreading her legs and moaning. She threw a man off a building and the scariest parts of her day have been a toaster and a porn ad. 

“My god, you’re wound tighter than a clock, Jaina,” he teases her. 

“Shut up.” 

“We have got to loosen you up,” he tells her as they step out the elevator and back out the lobby of the megabuilding. 

She carefully pulls her bag and her mother’s guitar case on her shoulders, making sure not to shuffle Manny too much before she trots off behind Jackie. There’s already cop cars pulling up behind the megabuilding as the two mercs disappear into the crowd. 

Once Manny is settled in his tank next to Taco’s and V’s stuff is put aside in Jackie’s room; her new friend is pulling her back out of the house. He’s pure excitement accentuated by a wide grin as he shows her the city and god it has it’s problems, what place doesn’t, but there’s something to it. She could write a list of flaws from the corps to the trash, to the cruelty, to the poverty, and homelessness that run rampant there. 

‘Hellooooo there Night City!’

But there’s an energy she can’t describe. 

Night City has a magic to it, it’s the only way she can define it. Neon lights distract her from the trash that covers every corner. The constant thrum of music helping drown out the just as constant sound of gunfire. Something is magnetic and she understands why so many people are drawn to such a place. 

‘Stanley,  here with you and we got another day ahead of us in this city of dreams!’

She meets Misty; Jackie’s mainline in her candle lit shop for tarot readings and chakra realignments. The pair adorable as Jackie spins the blonde goth around in his arms. She says V has a nice aura but her chakras are misalligned, which sounds dumb to the merc, but Misty says it with such a sweet smile and V loses the will to tell her as much. Turns out the oil smell in Jackie’s blankets is diluted cedarwood oil that Misty gives him to keep away negative energy and aura blockages. 

Misty reads her tarot cards not long after they meet, her cards frayed and worn, as she tells V what the hanged man card means. V doesn’t buy into any of it; but Misty is kind and earnest, the merc willing to entertain her eccentricities if only to say in Misty’s company. V learns her aura is a bright cyan blue, is given a chrysocolla crystal which provides energy for a fresh start, and lavender oil to encourage relaxation and sleep. How Misty knew her sleep struggles, she has no idea, but the lavender does help her relax so why look a gift horse in the mouth.  She signs a thanks while tucking the rollerball of oil into her pocket. 

‘Ooh, I love this town!’ 

V meets Vik the same day, trying to hide her nerves at being in a clinic as Jackie and the ripperdoc playfully punch at each other. He’s a sweet older man, tattoos and jewelry showing his love for boxing. He doesn’t even get mad the first time he tries to even look over her and she has a panic attack, accidentally kicking him in the groin, before the ripperdoc glove can even touch her. She apologizes like her life depends on it, hands aching by the time she’s done signing it. He laughs it off, laughs harder when she jokes about not getting candy for being a good patient.

The next time he tries, he stops himself. Face contorting when he’s able to get as far as a diagnostic report this time, seeming stressed by the results. He asks about her autoimmune disease, diagnostics picking up on her overactive antibodies. She can nearly see his heart sinking, like she’s his own child and not just a stranger who freaked out on his table one time. He’s horrified to know her condition has gone completely untreated, that her fear of doctors kept her from getting the treatment she needed. She doesn’t explain where the fear comes from, not wanting to recount her experiences with the clan doctor, the fear of having treatments done against her will. He warns her that while it’s not attacking her eyes or joints as aggressively, overtime and without any treatment it could take the eyes next, the muscles, the joints, the organs. Her entire body could with time destroy itself. Before he fathoms giving her implants, he puts her on immunosuppressants. Making her sure her health is stable, that her body has calmed in attacking itself . Only then, do they go back to the idea of installing cyberware, she even gets a lolly along with her shot and pills; Vik leaning into her dumb joke. 

She takes the personal link and neural slots well, cyberdeck and the like added. But the idea of losing her eyes is too much, he says he’ll work with her. He works with her lot, both on the money and with her own discomfort. Vik doesn’t press a “fix” for her hearing, instead beefing up her hearing aids so she has more control over the volume and so she can tune it to police scanners; not that she has any intention of doing contract work for the pigs, but it’s good to know what they’re up to if nothing else.  He doesn’t even get mad when she nearly breaks her personal link a day after him installing it, unable to stop playing with the damn thing. 

‘Love it like you might love a mother who popped you out on the steps of an orphanage once and now stops to ask you if you got a smoke for her!’

In a few weeks he’s gotten her contacts that work like optics and helped her fashion a choker with the same AI translator of sign language; for when she chooses to ditch the mask. He also has candy, leaning into her dumb joke, and for the first time she feels like she can trust a doctor. And she doesn’t go anywhere else, even if she catches a bullet in Pacifica, she makes Jackie haul her ass to Watson to see Vik. 

She soon learns that she and Jackie just work. There’s a synergy to their partnership, an understanding and balance that shows in their merc work. He’s stronger than her, knows the streets and people of Night City better than she could ever hope. But she’s stealthier, quieter, and cleaner in her work. She leads the charge when dropping targets quietly and he runs the show when they’re going in guns ablazing. Though he always tries to keep her safe, perhaps out of care and perhaps out of a sense of obligation. It’d be smothering if it weren’t endearing. 

‘Every new day here, means another hundred new arrivals!’

It’s not all cherries on sundaes, the two don’t always get along and butt heads more than once. Mostly over gigs; money vs morality. She won’t take corp or cop cash, unless it’s stolen; they want work they can find some other gonk. Jackie says cash is cash, no matter who’s paying. She gets the pragmatism but can’t do it, shutting down a fixer the second she learns their money is coming from Biotechnica. Jackie isn’t happy, but he respects the call. They agree to disagree, if he wants to take those gigs, he can do them without her. He doesn’t take it in the end, she wonders if he doesn’t want to solo it or if she managed to get him thinking about where his money comes from. 

“But only half these gonks will survive a year and that’s if it’s a good one.” 

They find a steady routine and flow; working gigs, grabbing lunch with Misty and Vik, more gigs, dinner with Mama Welles, maybe a few more jobs and maybe hitting the bars to spend the eddies they just made. Regular trips to the black market to pick up some ammo and firearms. He has a date with Misty about every week, something V always takes the time to mock. But it’s all in good fun. Some night her and Jackie fall asleep on the couch in a heap watching movies, waking up with Mama Welles having thrown a blanket over them. Other nights she spends at a Kabuki motel, wrapped up in whoever she picked up at the bar. 

She experiences her first braindance, loses a tooth when they sneak into the Riot nightclub, gets in another police chase, and sees her first pair of Mantis Blades when they’re coming for her head. V realizes Mama Welles runs the Coyote Cujo and gets better introduced to the staff there; including a busboy named Jake who finds his way into her pants quite easily.  

‘And why do these peeps come to NC?’ 

And then a month has gone by and she has no idea where it went. 

V spends her saved back money on a car before she rents an apartment; sick of using the train. Nothing like trying to move a dead body on public transit. Jackie helps her pick it out, the car sold to her by Padre, because every fixer apparently doubles as a car salesman. It only seemed right for her to buy from him and to get Jackie’s approval before she made the purchase. Her bobblehead sits on the dashboard proudly.  

She helps Jackie pick out a new deck of tarot cards for Misty,  spending an entire day browsing mystical shops before they find the perfect one. Misty adores them and gives the mercs readings as soon as she opens the box, feeling a connection to the cards. 

‘Well, to be street samurai like Morgan Blackhand and Waylon Boa Boa!” 

Misty and Vik hear her voice, no mask, for the first time on a sunny day after she accidentally launched herself down the stairs in front of the doc’s clinic in an office chair. Laughing as Vik asked her if she was stupid and telling him, “yes.” Because who is she to deny the truth? 

In between gigs, Jackie drags her down to Jig Jig street, the most perverse section of Night City. Sex shops, strippers, and joytoys as far as the eye can see. He gives her hell for the way cheeks flush red, they’re there for fun and not business so the mask is off, she’s still not used to the brazen displays of sexuality a person finds in the city. But, despite her awkwardness, she’s far from opposed to it. 

‘The greater the risk, the bigger the bounty!” 

She childishly demands Vik and Jackie teach her how to box when she finds out there’s a club for it that they both attend. V manages to last a round with Jackie, but only by being fast enough not to get hit, taunting him until he gets a punch in on the second round and knocks her ass to the ground. He apologized a thousand times but all she could do was laugh. Misty has it on camera, as she should. 

Misty shows V her little rooftop get away on top of her shop, her zen garden with plastic chairs where they can spend time together when they need a nicer view during lunch, Misty, Jackie, Vik, and V eat their Chinese food takeout or whatever they’ve decided on up there. Once or twice V finds herself going up there alone at night, just to take in the way the neon lights of the city hit the black sky. The city may have been named after its founder, but she finds it more apt to describe when the city is at its most beautiful. 

 She also gets to witness a rare spat between Misty and Jackie when she catches the merc’s dangling a target over the side of said roof to get information. Jackie letting go of the guy to try to apologize for ruining the aura of the roof; while V struggled to hold him up…and eventually dropped him. But Jackie bought Misty some sage to cleanse the roof, so all well that ends well. 

‘Or so they say!’ 

Another month gone by like she blinked it away. 

T-bug starts to work with them again, off and on. Jackie told her she only owed him a favor and didn’t work with him long term. But she reconnects, helping get them more jobs and helping the jobs run even smoother with a trusted security expert on their side. She teaches V how to use quick hacks, but the merc still prefers blades and baseball bats. Mostly just using them to blind folks before she stabs them. 

She catches a bullet in Santo Domingo, a 6th street member trying to settle a score and she refuses to go to anyone but Vik. The merc holds her hand to her wound as Jackie drives them to Watson. It’s the first time she’s ever seen Vik mad, he patches her up but he scolds her for hours after, that she should have seen the nearest doc. That she could have died. And she has no excuse, but she knows she’d do it again. 

‘But you can only be a major league player for so long!” 

A gig drags V and Jackie out to a supposedly haunted old building; Misty tags along, nearly bouncing at the prospect of contacting spirits. V learns that Jackie is afraid of ghosts and spends the entire job trying to entice the supposed specters into eviscerating her. They all leave unscathed though Jackie looked on the verge of tears. 

T-bug hacks a Militch training datashard at some point and V decides to try to play through it, interested in learning any new tips or tricks that could help her. The netrunning lessons are the most useful, Bug managing to help even an idiot like V figure out how to do some quick hacks and use daemons. She also gains a new appreciation for being called maggot by her friend. Bug definitely had way too much fun play sergeant. 

During a job, Jackie and V hear a man yelling into his phone demanding to know if the person on the other end fucked his wife. They lose their minds laughing and lose the person they were tracking for a good hour. Misty and Vik think they’ve gone nuts when they spend the rest of the day mimicking the stranger to make each other laugh; seeing who can scream “did you fuck my wife!?” the loudest without shame. Jackie wins. 

‘The faster you live, the faster you burn out!’ 

Vik catches her eyeing the projectile launcher system implant; essentially a rocket launcher that goes into the forearm. She’d love to have that sheer amount of firepower at will, plus unlike other weapon implants it’s only on one arm, less intrusive for the cyberware shy merc. The ripper offers to install it for her on credit and she nearly chokes, amazed that he’d be so kind, maybe he just trusts her when she says she doesn’t go to any other doc. But she refuses, not willing to take advantage of his good graces. Deciding instead to save up once she gets the apartment. 

She meets Cecelia, a waitress at Tom’s Diner, an older woman with pretty eyes. Jackie nearly rolls his eyes out of his head when V starts flirting, giving her even more shit about V’s taste in older men and women after she gets Cecelia in bed. Along with Jake, she becomes one of her rare repeat bedmates. They’re both significantly older than the young merc, each with children, and not interested in anything deeper than rolling around in the sheets, after all anyone with eyes can see V’s not stepparent material. There’s no danger of them wanting more, so V’s happy to return to them when she wants something more familiar than a one-night stand. 

‘If you don’t get a bullet to the brain first!’ 

Misty gets confused when V signs Jackie’s name sign, instead of fingerspelling it. Optics getting the translation off and muddled. So, the merc is left explaining the inability of optic tech to translate name signs due to their highly individualized nature. Jackie’s name sign to her is only that, his name sign to her. It’s not mind reading tech…yet.  Her cheeks flush red when she has to explain that Jackie’s name sign for her is a combination of the sign for the letter ‘J’ and the sign for ‘brother.  Fingerspelling J, then bringing that fist with the pinky out onto an “L” shape formed by her other hand. Jackie pulls her into a hug immediately after, nearly crushing the air out of her lungs. She’s less timid during this hug, he tells her she’s getting better, but it still needs work. 

Vik, Misty, and Jackie take to trying to learn more sign language; letting V teach them whenever they all find a spare moment. Mama Welles even uses a few, picking them up from V and Jackie. The merc tears up, none of them are fluent, but they’re trying. Trying to learn for her and she’s so rarely had anyone care enough to try for her; her sister and mother the only one of the nomad family who knew it fluently, who took the time to learn. Ava learned a few then stopped bothering. Years of no one caring enough to learn for her, but even with all the tech in the world to get around it, they still try. She doesn’t explain her tears, and no one makes her, Misty just gently rubbing her back as they continue with the  lesson. 

Jackie helps her with Spanish in return, just as they talked about. Some things are intentionally taught to her, other just picked up. Pendejo is forever ingrained in her head.  Though, a part of her wonders how much use it really will be, if maybe Jackie just likes that she has to talk during these lessons. She’s become more comfortable with talking with him verbally. It happens naturally, over their time together. That when it’s just him and her, she’ll find herself talking along with her sign language. But, she’s still tight-lipped when she ventures outside her new social circle. She doesn’t think she’ll ever have it in her to be completely verbal. 

Another month gone…

“NC’s Legends! Know where you’ll find most of them?”

Taco passes away, the mini-shark was an older pet even when Jackie first got him. He knew it was coming, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. They hold a makeshift funeral for Taco, Misty and V hugging Jackie as he cries. Mama Welles makes his favorite foods for dinner and V stays with him through a movie night. It doesn’t make things magically okay, he hurts and he grieves the lost of his friend. But he’s not alone and they fall asleep on the couch in a heap. He spends the next night at Misty’s and V finds herself wishing that Misty and Mama Welles got along better, that they all could have been there to support Jackie that first night. 

She knows he’s back on the upswing when they find an abandoned grocery cart and he offers to push her around in it. V calls it a dumb idea than promptly climbs inside. Jackie gets a long running start and heavy push of his foot before putting both feet up, letting them ride out the distance, giggling like children. Then they hit a hill and flip at the bottom of it, on the ground staring at the stars and giggling like concussed children. 

At some point in the month a client invites them to an orgy after they drop off the goods they were asked to steal. V finally gets her revenge for Jig Jig street, Jackie’s face turning red all the way to the tips of his ears. He refuses and runs to tell Misty as soon as he can, as if even getting the invite makes him feel guilty. Jackie’s the only one who ever finds out about whether V went, a secret she likes to keep close to her heart. 

V gets…acquainted with her first exotic partner, that is to say someone who’s had animal based body mods done. She’s seen the cat ears and tails and nearly got bit by a ganger with fangs; but the full anthropomorphic furry mods took her by surprise.  Some people played Sonic as a kid and just never looked back, she supposes. Not that she can judge, she did spot the heavily modded bunny exotic girl across a bar and decide why not. It was an interesting night, the fur took getting use to, and she thinks the girl was a little sick of V petting her ears after a while. 

Her and Jackie find an illegal firearms dealer, her best friend finding a pair of pistols he loves. They’re embellished with gold and he proudly brandishes them, spinning them in his hands and giving her a grin a mile wide. 

And another month finds it’s end. 

“The Graveyard.” 

She’s fallen into the habit of using her mask during her work and using the choker with the contacts during her personal time. It keeps business a bit more separate and she feels more secure in the hiding of her identity this way, most fixers and clients don’t know what V looks like. not that she worries much about The Herd anymore. The days blink by faster and faster without her ever thinking that her former family might have an inkling of where she is. Despite the polluted air, she’s breathing easier. 

There’s a few rumors among mercs and fixers about what her deal is, why she hides her face. From burns, cyberware gone wrong, to some mutated twin stuck on her head. She encourages them, finding each new crazy idea funnier than the last. Her favorite is just telling people she was born with a bad case of ugly and seeing their reaction. None of them are any the wiser when they pass her unmasked on the street, thinking her just some other Night City citizen and not the same merc. 

“Matters not where you’re from.” 

In her six month in Night City, she finally gets an apartment to herself. Not wanting to have spent half a year mooching off of the Welles family. Even if Mama Welles insists it’s no trouble, that she’s a delight to have around and her stress cleaning has done wonders for their home. She still can’t bring herself to spend the rest of her day living off their good graces. Mama Welles holds her face and kisses the top of her head before she leaves, making her promise to come see her again. 

Her apartment is in a megabuilding in Watson, one of the worst districts in Night City, though better than Pacifica she supposes. She’s on the eighth floor, the buildings all get nicer the higher up you get and have at least twenty levels. It is far from grand but it’s hers. Jackie and Misty help her move in, as well as decorate. Putting pictures and fairy lights up over her enclosed bed, another strand of lights across the opening for it and over top of the shuddered windows.  And install a sensor on the door that will make a bright red light shine if someone knocks, so she can see it if she has her hearing aids out. The apartment only comes with a microwave and vending machine as far as food goes, no kitchen or fridge. But there is a stash room for weaponry because guns are more important than getting to cook for herself.  But beggars can’t be choosers, Misty even brings some purifying crystals and burns sage to keep the energy clean even if the apartment floor isn’t. 

She gets to know some of her neighbors and people who run businesses on the services floor of the megabuilding. Wilson runs the Second Amendment gun store on the floor below hers, he’s a curmudgeon of an older guy who runs away most customers with his consistent yelling about respecting firearms. But he doesn’t seem to mind her, maybe because his yelling didn’t scare her away. 

“Matter not where you start.” 

Brooks is an  enby with green cat ears on the floor above her sells V edibles, pot brownies and cookies whenever she has the spare eddies. It helps her sleep a little easier on nights where she doesn’t have a partner and eases some of her anxiety that still pops up every now and again. 

The guy who lives in the apartment just below her own is a beat cop named Barry. Something she learns when she’s playing music with her hearing aids out, top volume so she can feel the vibrations rattling her bones and shaking the walls. It apparently shook his walls too and he came knocking on the door. She didn’t get a chance to read his lips when she answered the door, but judging by the drop on his face when she started signing, she suspects he might have been demanding to know if she was ‘fuckin’ deaf or something’. Despite his job, he’s an alright guy and they find themselves talking a few times after laughing off the exchange. If he quit, maybe she’d consider calling him a friend someday. 

“What matters here is the walk you walk.” 

Things in Night City are good, really good for her. There’s conflict and struggles along the way, she collects new scars. The bullet in Santa Domingo, a mantis blade catching her gut, wolvers skimming her back, and bit by a ganger with vampire mods just to name a few. Night City rattles and rolls her, some days she craves the clean air and open road of the Badlands. She’d be lying if she said otherwise. But there’s an ease in the city, in the people she’s found that make it feel like another home. 

She’s laughing and smiling more than she has ever before. V’s able to joke and play around, find a sense of humor and excitement in her life rather than just fear. She’s free to do her merc work, set her own rules and still make a mark. Her and Jackie are steadily carving their place into the ecosystem of the city. She’s showing her strength, her capability, her resilience. She’s not defective, she’s a merc on the rise, a couple fixers go to. She’s got money in her pocket; a roof and food she got with said money.

And she’s got a family, a real one, not made of blood but love. At least she loves them and she hopes they’ve managed to find something in her worth loving. In a dirty city of neon, she managed to find her place in this world, not where she expected but she’s exactly where she needs to be. 

‘In Night City, the city of dreams!’ 

[toomanyfandoms02]

Halloween // Matthew Gray Gubler x Reader

Another Story based on a gif/picture! (Hope this is kinda what you were thinking @aberrant-annie )

Summary - It's the first year that y/n and Matthew are a couple, and he insists that they have a couples costume for an upcoming party.

Word count - 2.5k

Gif courtesy of @nationgubler

It was that time of year again. The time where Matthew got impossibly excited, wore tremendously weird costumes, and snuck up behind me an ungodly amount of times.

Halloween.

Now you may be thinking, 'Halloween is a fun and *normal* time of year for many families!' But you only think that because you haven't met my boyfriend Matthew.

Now let's give a little background on the weirdo that is my best friend.

Matthew Gray Gubler is an actor, author, filmmaker, illustrator, fashion model, and painter. But what they don't put on his google search profile is that, before all, he is a Halloween Enthusiast.

He and I have been best friends for over 8 years, and every single one of those years he has effortlessly dragged me into any kind of spooky shenanigan that he could. This was the first year of the 8 that we are a couple, so he decided, in a fit of glory as he put it, that we *needed* a couple's costume this year for the Criminal Minds cast Halloween party. I was 100% down for this idea, but boy, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into by agreeing to it so easily. So let's go back to where this whole ordeal began.

The day was October 15th, and I was sitting blindfolded in the passengers seat of Matthew's car.

"Where the hell are we going?" I giggled, flailing my arms around the car, blindly looking for the trail mix I left in his car the day before. He grabbed my wrist, leading it down to the cupholder and putting my hand on the bag. He knew me too well.

"It's a surprise, obviously, just know it has to do with Halloween." He grabbed my hand and placed a gentle kiss to the top of it.

"Doesn't everything have to do with Halloween with you?"

"Maybe." He laughed.

We were in the car for around 15 minutes, all the while I jammed out to a mix of songs I loved and goofy Halloween themed songs. Matthew had made a playlist of the two as a compromise.

I heard the car click into park and listened as Matthew left the car and walked to my side, opening the door and leading me out.

"When will I be able to see again? This whole blind thing is not for me." He laughed at my remark, looping his arm through mine so he could lead me to what I could only assume was my death. That's when I heard it, the all too familiar laugh of a clown.

Here we go.

Without the notice of my lovely boyfriend I whipped my hand up to my head, removing the black cloth that covered my eyes, I only heard a squeak of protest from him before I saw 'The Haunted Jail' before me.

"Of course." I rolled my eyes in a playful manner, unhooking myself from his arm. "So, why are we here."

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could get some couple costume ideas from here. It's the jails doubles night so two workers tag team on a costume." He gestured wildly with his hands towards the sign that read *Doubles night! Couples get a 15% discount tonight*. I shook my head in amusement.

"Alright, let's go."

After walking through the 3 story building, we came out with a nice list of ideas for scary couples costumes. This consisted of :

•Beetlejuice

•Pupetmaster and puppet

•Purge

•Wedding gone wrong

•Twisted Alice and Mad Hatter

Then we just had to come to a decision, and soon.

We then sat in the car on our way home to dig out more decorations from the attic. Our house from the inside looked like someone had gotten murdered. There were giant floor and window stickers that resembled blood, fake knives everywhere, and caution tape. This all paired with the tape in the shape of a body on the ground near our fridge. But Matthew had so graciously pointed out that we needed to decorate the outside like we were a haunted house.

He was currently up in our creepy ass attic as I stood with crossed arms at the end of the rickety ladder that led up there. He popped his head out of the little square hole, wearing a jason mask. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head with the smallest smile.

"I'm gonna hand some boxes down to you." I heard him say behind the muffling mask.

The first box held large organized strings of orange LEDs and hooks to set them up on. The next box was filled with fake webs and the next was a huge box. I set it on the ground, prying it open to reveal giant spiders with tacky red eyes and long fangs.

"Are we gonna have these bad boys climbing the ivy outside?" He popped from the attic in a new, mask. A werewolf one I assumed.

"Yep!" He lightly set another box in my hands. "I hate the smell of these masks," He ripped the mask off, revealing his unruly hair and squinting eyes from the new amount of light. "why do I keep buying them?" It made my heart melt, messy hair Gubler was my favorite Gubler.

We dragged all of the boxes outside and decorated for what seemed like 6 hours, it was way harder work than what you would expect. We ended up with 2 giant spiders hung on the ivy, 1 crawling up the porch, and 2 more on the roof. The webs we had were strung everywhere, but the 'main web', as Matthew called it, was across the porch. We had LEDs lighting up most of the outside of our house, it made it look like a constant sunset, or constantly living in a horror movie. Whatever floats your boat. And lastly, we had bloody tomb stones scattered in the yard with fake hands reaching up at the sky through the ground.

Then it was October 16th. I had woken up groggily, feeling the bed beside me for Matthew, but only touching the soft white sheets. The time was 9:47 am and the sun was bleeding through the curtains. My legs hung over the bed as my limbs stretched, pulling down a shirt that was much to large for me *probably because it wasn't mine*. As soon as I stepped out of my bedroom I was met with a scream mask.

"**Morning!**" This made me scream.

"Damnit Matthew Gray! Christ, will the scaring ever end?" I say this but of course, it was really one of my favorite things about him.

"Not until Christmas." He replied with a cocky smile, kissing me softly. I grabbed the back of his neck, deepening the kiss and trying to make him take the hint. He pulled away swiftly. "I would *love* to continue doing this." He ran his hands down my arms and to my hips. "But I made you breakfast and eggs are better warm." He squeezed my hip and gently pushed me toward the kitchen.

Over breakfast we discussed what we were going to go as for the party. We came to the conclusion that doing purge killers would be the most fun. Now all we had to do was get the costumes.

So we left around 1 for Party City. The place had a surprisingly small amount of people, considering the time of year. However there was one girl in there that kept sneaking looks at Matthew. She was standing near some children's costumes. I quickly found out why when a kid came running up with an Alice and Wonderland costume. Shaking it profusely at her mom. The woman kneeled down to her size and gestured towards Matthew. I scrunched my face up.

*What was she telling her?*

Matthew had kept walking and I swiftly caught up with him in the mask aisle. As soon as I got there, the small girl I had just saw was tugging at his orange pumpkin T-Shirt.

"Hi! My mommy said she's a big fan of you on crimimal minds." I giggled a bit. She waved him down to her level, and he gladly came down to listen. "I think she might have a crush on you." I could hear her whisper. He looked back at me expectantly, I just smiled with a shrug. I wasn't much of the jealous type, Matthew was *extremely* loyal, I trusted him with my life. I shooed him towards the woman. He stood and waved at her, gesturing her over and backing up to be by me. I was trying to be inconspicuous and look at the masks. But clearly my lovely boyfriend had a different idea.

"Hi! What's your name?" He asked with a famous million dollar grin.

"A-ashley." She stood for a second, silently staring at him. "I'm sorry, I obviously didn't expect to be seeing you. I'm a just huge fan of yours. And it doesn't help that you are way cuter in person." She smiled shyly, hugging her daughter to her side. Matthew smiled politely but quickly snaked his arm around my hip. I turned to her with the kindest smile I could. I could see realization dropping from her eyes to the red tips of her ears.

"Well you obviously know I'm Matthew. This is my girlfriend, y/n." I leaned into him slightly. Me and Matthew hadn't exactly gone *public*. So it was an honest mistake that she wouldn't know we were together. But to be fair, we weren't hiding it either. "Would you like a picture by the way?" That seemed to distract her enough to knock her out of her clearly petrified trance.

"Yes! A million times yes!"

"I'll take it for you." I grabbed the phone she held out with a slightly tense smile. We took a few pictures and said our goodbyes as she checked out an left. We got back to looking at masks.

"Did you see her face when I grabbed your hips? I kinda live for that look." I smacked his arm playfully.

"The poor girl, she just flirted with you in front if your *girlfriend*. You petrified her!"

"Well I think you just made her a little jealous." He came behind me, wrapping his arms around my stomach and kissing my shoulders.

"Ok Gubler," I slipped from his grip. "we are in public." He groaned a little and followed me down the aisle. I grabbed the cool LED masks with the X's for eyes and big smiles, the typical Purge ones. I got me a purple one and him a red one. Next stop was fake weapons.

I gazed at all of the weapons on the wall. Machetes, guns, bats, nunchucks, knives, all of it. I then looked over to see my boyfriend squinting and tapping his chin in fake contemplation.

"Oh just grab the knife, I know that's what you wanna get." He whipped it off the wall and gave me a serious look, pointing the sharp styrofoam at me. He tapped it to my nose and couldn't contain his laugh as I looked him in the eyes with the biggest smile I could muster.

"You really know how to break me out of character."

So he did end up buying the styrofoam knife, and I ended up buying a plastic machete. As we left the store, the masks and weapons in hand he nudged me.

"So have you thought of what we are gonna wear?"

"Oh yeah. I already have the outfit, you're gonna love it, mine at least. We still have some spare fake blood at home right?" He narrowed his eyes at me, nodding suspiciously. "Great, then I just have to decorate the shirts." Which is exactly what I did when we got home.

I laid our two white button up's on our asphalt driveway, splattering them with blood. Matthew watched me. Sitting a lawn chair as I covered my hands in the blood and put a few handprints on random parts.

"Can I see the whole outfit you have planned now?" He whined.

"Nope, you have to wait. It's not that far away."

But he had asked me to show him everyday up until today, October 31st, party day. Now here we are, on our way back from a McDonalds run that took a *bit* longer than anticipated and we had a very slight chance of being late. We stumbled into the house and ran to the room.

"Why are we rushing anyway?" I took a pause, catching my breath. "We don't have to be exactly on time anyway." He agreed and we slowed down a bit to get our things together.

"I didn't want to have to rush out after seeing you in costume anyway." He said, slyly reaching into the closet and grabbing our button up's. I grabbed the rest of my things from a plastic bag under my side of the bed. I went to the bathroom and changed. My outfit consisted of a black miniskirt, a black cropped tube top, and black knee high socks. Paired with black heeled low-top booties. Then slung over it all was ny open button up. I sheathed my machete behind me and walked out of the bathroom to see Matthew in his bloody shirt and old dress pants and shoes. His giant knife was sheathed in a holster on his side. He ogled at me for a moment, shifting on his feet.

"Holy- wow." He breathed out. I waltzed up to him, unbuttoning a few more buttons and messing his hair to fit the part a bit more. I handed him his mask, with my eyebrows raised. He set it on the bed behind him, cupping my face and bringing me in for a kiss. I ran my hands down his half bare chest and I could feel him smile into the kiss, so I did too, and boy was he a sucker for that. He deepened the kiss and pull me towards him as much as he could, leading his hands lower and lower. Eventually he grabbed my butt a little and I let a giggle slip into the kiss. I parted from him, staring into those honey brown eyes. I felt like a teenager. He had not taken his eyes off me since I left the bathroom.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

"Alright." He slid he phone from his pocket, snapping a picture of me. What was I gonna do with this man? I grabbed our masks and we headed out.

We were only about 20 minutes late to the party. We turned our LEDs on and entered AJs house, as her door was wide open.

"You guys look *amazing*!" Kirsten gushed. "Especially you y/n. *Damn* do you rock those socks."

"I know right?" He lifted his mask, placing a kiss on my cheek.

The whole night was filled with chugging fun Halloween themed drinks, compliments on our costumes, slipping secret kisses, and quite the photo shoot.

*And man was I in for it when I got home.*

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

@spenciereiddd said they wanted tagged in some writing, so here ya go my dude.

[angelliev]

Lover Boy - JJ Maybank x OC - Part Five - Heaven is with You

Word Count: 3.4K

Summary: It’s the masquerade ball. Secrets are spilled. Aria will share a passionate moment with JJ and a heartbreaking one with someone else. Some people will put on a mask to hide their lies, while others with take theirs off to show their true self. 

Warnings: Smut, angst, cursing, alcohol/drugs, mention of abuse and pregnancy. 

A/N: Sorry I didn’t post yesterday guys! I was visiting family for the weekend. I hope you enjoy reading this one. I was definitely having difficulty writing because not only was it hard to decide what I wanted to do with the story, but I was also trying not to cry while writing this one. I hope you enjoy! (Not my GIF. credits to the owner. I don’t own the show or any of the characters.)

Lover Boy Series Masterlist

The hot sun beams down on me as I stay afloat in the pool. I am forever grateful for air conditioning. I don’t know how people do it. I’d melt away in the heat. I’m sitting by the edge soaking in the coolness of the water. I attempt to relax while soaking in the sun, trying to tan a little bit.

My grandmother Lorraine, comes outside. “Aria, what are you still doing in the pool? Come dry off and get ready.” She hands me a towel. “Where are we going?” I asked. “We’re going out for brunch, then to the spa and the tailor to pick up your dress. Now get out.” She demands. Lorraine Prescott is a lot like my father. Demanding and manipulative. Always getting what she wants.

“Thank you, but I think I’ll have to pass, I’m not going this year.” I decline. “No, you’re going. It’s the masquerade ball, you’ve gone every year and now you’re going this year, end of story.” She protests. “They do it every year and it’s not going to make a difference if I’m not there.” “Yes, it will. Your father is a very important guest, making you a very important guest, and it would be insulting for you not to go.” She argued. “I’m not going.” I still protest.

“Aria, get out the god damn pool you’re going! You’re such a fucking brat! Is it too much to ask for you to be a good daughter for once?” My father finally snaps and throws a plate on the ground, in result shattering it everywhere. I huff and pull myself out of the water. I couldn’t even look him in the eye without any trace of hatred in my own. He can just be so horrible sometimes. “Was that really necessary Claude?” My mom comes out very annoyed and angry which is very rare. I could see the guilt on my father’s face when he realized what he had said and done. “Aria, I’m sorry I didn’t mean any of that. I overreacted.” He apologized, but I didn’t care. “Your apology means nothing to me.” I spat and stomped away.

The whole day out was a drag. Lorraine was the phone the whole time and Jennifer was talking nonstop about her conceited self. She was mostly bragging about her perfect boyfriend Rafe Cameron. Lorraine is very fond of the Camerons, so it pleased her to know that her lovely granddaughter was dating someone of high class. When I get home and shower, I fling myself on the bed not ready for the night. My laptop starts to ring, alerting me that someone wants to FaceTime. I was more than happy to see my beloved’s face when I answered. JJ didn’t bother to wear a shirt as per usual, so I had to face the camera away from the door to make sure his face wouldn’t be seen if someone decided to barge in.

We talked about the usual stuff for a while. “God, I miss you so much babygirl.” His eyes turn dark as he eyed the silk robe hugging my body. The things I’d do to have him over he right now. “Me too lover boy. It’s a shame. I had a special surprise for you. I guess I’ll have to wait till next time.” I tease. “Oh yeah? What’s next time?” He asked. “My parents are flying to Las Vegas for a convention. My sister and her friends are taking a girls trip to Boston. So,” I begin to undo my robe, exposing my naked skin to him, making him smile and bite his lip. “We’ll have the place to ourselves. We can be as loud as we want.” “Mm, babygirl you’ve got me hard just thinking about the things I’m gonna do to you.” “I just can’t wait.” I can practically see the wheels turning in his head.

“Touch yourself for me babygirl.” He said with such lustful eyes. I couldn’t help but smile as I lay down and begin to rub figure eights on my clit. I then insert two fingers, letting them curl and thrust within me, chasing a high only JJ could give me. When I glance at the screen, his hand is running up and down his thick shaft. “Baby, I want you inside me so bad.” I cry. “Soon babygirl. Just imagine it’s my fingers curling inside you right now.” I let my mind race to the thought of him fingering me. God, I loved how his lengthy finger were always able to reach that sweet spot inside me. I just want to be engulfed in him. I just want him to kiss me with his undying passion and love for me. I just want to make love with him till I die. I just want him. Just as I’m about to bring myself to orgasm, a knock erupts on my locked door, the handle begins to jiggle.

“Why is this door locked? You know the rules!” Yelled my father. I let out an annoyed sigh before screaming into the pillow, sexually frustrated. “I’m getting dressed! Just give me a second!” I yell. “I got to go baby. I’ll call you as soon as I can.” I quickly shut the laptop and wrap my naked self in the silky robe. When I open the door, my father seems annoyed. “Why the hell aren’t you dressed?”

“I just got out of the shower and did my hair and makeup.” I say. Before my father could scold me anymore, my mother comes to my rescue. “Honey, I got this.” She says shooing him away and closing the door. “I can’t wait to see you all dressed up!” She’s referring to my spaghetti strap rose gold dress and matching color mask. I was a little astonished with the whole outfit. Normally, I don’t enjoy getting all dressed for events like these, but I sort of fell in love with this dress. I guess it sort of reminded me of the sundress I wore the night I lost my virginity to JJ.

“You look so beautiful sweetheart!” My mother gushed as she gazed at my appearance, kissing the top of my head. She has always been so sweet and kind to me. She’s always played with me as a child. Always encouraged me to pursue my dreams. Always accepted me for who I am. She has always had a warm heart and a kind soul. I wish my father was a lot more like my mom. “Thank you, mom. I love you.” I hold her hand. “I love you too, sweetheart. Now let’s go. You look like an absolute princess.” She compliments as she guides me out of the room.

Before I head downstairs, I head into one of the guest bathrooms, looking for a hand lotion. Without any luck, I open up the cabinet under the sink, and am still not having any luck as I’m rummaging around. Just as I’m about to ditch the idea, I found something much more interesting. My hand grips the Ziplock bag. I was taken by surprise as I scanned its contents. One positive pregnancy test and an ultrasound picture. I didn’t hesitate to take it out to examine. The fetus is tiny, so it couldn’t be that old. When I looked up at the patient’s name, my eyes nearly popped out of my sockets. Jennifer Prescott. I had to blink a few times to make sure it was real, thinking that the name would change, but it obviously didn’t.

“Aria come on!” Yells Lorraine. “Coming!” I frantically shove the evidence to the back of the cabinet before running downstairs, nearly face planting. “You okay? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Lorraine said. I just simply stared at Jennifer’s belly with wide eyes, still in shock. She just gives me the weirdest look as my eyes continued to stay glued to her stomach. “I’m fine. Just kind of spaced out.” I lied, finally getting a hold of myself. I sat uncomfortably in the car the whole way there. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. My picture-perfect sister pregnant? With Rafe Cameron’s baby? Are you shitting me? I didn’t have time to be bored at the masquerade. I just stood there like a fucking statue, earning a few bizarre looks from guests.

“Can you at least look like you’re having fun?” Asked Lorraine. “What?” I asked cluelessly, still gazing at Jennifer and Rafe. Does he know? Does anyone know? She just lets out a frustrated sigh. My father and a stranger approaches us. “Hello, I’d let to introduce you ladies to Francis Kline. Francis, this is my mother, Lorraine Prescott.” They two exchange handshakes as I sip awkwardly on my sparkling cider lost in my own thoughts. “And this is my youngest daughter, Aria Prescott.” I didn’t even hear my name or notice the hand extending in front of me, until my dear grandmother stomps on my foot. “Oh, hi. Nice to meet you.” I say quickly before sipping again. “Likewise. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Instead of shaking my hand, he lifts it up to his lips before planting a kiss. This caught my attention making me choke on my drink, and earning a glare from both my father and grandmother. I quickly snatch my hand away from him.

“Are you alright miss? Is something wrong with the drink? I’ll have it taken care of right away.” He tries to take the glass from my grasp. “No! I mean no thank you.” The three are staring me down, making me nervous. “I have to pee. Like really bad. Like peegasm bad. Excuse me.” I say very quickly and high with a charming attitude before walking away with speed. On my way to the bathroom, I grab a bottle of champagne. After ten minutes of searching the empty halls, I still can’t find one fucking bathroom.

Before I can turn the corner, a hand clasps over my mouth and pulls me into a dark space. I let out a voiceless scream and start flailing. “Babe it’s me! JJ!” I recognize the voice and stop flailing. The light turns on giving my eyes no time to adjust. “You scared the shit out of me!” I slap his shoulder and take off my mask. He laughs. “I can see that. What’s with the champagne?” “Oh, I was about to get wasted. Want to join?” I ask popping it open and making a mess. “You had me at wasted.” The two of chuckle. “So, what brings you here Mr. Maybank?” I asked with a horrible British accent. “I couldn’t help but notice my lovely girlfriend walking alone. Thought I keep her company. Plus, I missed her so much.” He mocks my funny accent. “Well, why don’t you give this lovely girlfriend a kiss?” He just chuckles before pulling me close and laying one on me.

“By the way, who’s room is this?” I asked after pulling away. “Rafe Cameron’s. Which reminds me,” He answers with a devilish smirk and leads me to the balcony. I am introduced to a beautiful scene I thought you’d only see in movies. Candles are lit, the sofa is covered in rose petals soft jazz plays in the background, and there’s a beautiful view of the ocean.

“Are you trying to seduce me Mr. Maybank?” I ask, still in trance. “Perhaps, is it working Ms. Prescott?” He lays kisses on my neck which I expand, giving him more access. “Yes.” I sigh and finally find his lips in a passionate and loving kiss. His tongue lips my bottom lip, and I gladly let it slip into my mouth. God, I could kiss him forever.

He pulls away to rip off his clothes. I do the same, kicking off my pesky heels and long dress. My body shivers when a brisk breeze attacks my skin leaving goosebumps, but I don’t care, because I know things about to warm up soon.

A moan escapes my mouth when his bare skin touches mine as we lay on the large outdoor sofa. “I still can’t believe your mine.” He says. “Always have been. Baby, I was made for you.” I declare. This makes him smirk as he removes my panties leaving me completely naked. Instead of immediately plunging in, his mouth attaches to my breast, his tongue swirling around my bud. His hand finds my wet core. “You’re so wet babygirl. Were you as hot and bothered as I was?” He asked looking up at me. “Yes. Baby I want you so bad.” I begin to ramble. “What do you want babygirl?” “I want you inside me! I want you to fuck me till I can’t walk! Please, I want you so bad it hurts!” God, I sound so desperate, but I don’t care. He’s the only person in this world I’d get down on my knees and beg for.

“Don’t worry babygirl. Daddy’s going to make you feel all better.” That name was always a turn on for me, always making me more excited if that was even possible. He teases my drenched pussy with his tip as he watching me writhe under him. “Daddy please. Please fuck me.” I plead once more. He smirks. “That’s a good girl.” A blissful sigh escapes from both of us as he enters me, the two of us finally connected, not an inch of him is left exposed. He stays still for a few seconds, enjoying the silky warmth of my walls that hugs his thick dick so tight. “God, you’re going to be the death of me babygirl.” He says before pulling out, only to shove himself back in.

We don’t even bother to hold back our moans. I just lay back and let the pleasure engulf my every thought. Time is irrelevant as he continues to slam into me, not holding me back, missing the comforting feeling of me being around him. My eyes were glued to the starry night sky above. I can’t help but think how erotic all of this is, as my boyfriend fucks me under the stars. I completely let go as the two of us drown ourselves in this euphoric warmth, until we both fall into pure bliss. I could have sworn I could saw stars in his ocean eyes when I gazed into them. It was then when I realized that I wasn’t lost in the starry sky, I was lost in his blue eyes.

We lay there together listening the wave as JJ smokes his weed. The two of us remain silent as we simply watch the sky. “Do you ever wonder what’s up there?” JJ asked out of the blue. “Where?” His words made no sense to me. “Heaven. What do you think is up there?” I give it some thought before answering. “You.” I answer. His brows furrow in confusion. “What do you mean.” “I mean that if I were to go to heaven, I’d see you. There’s no such thing as heaven if you aren’t there with me.” When I glance over at him, I could’ve sworn I seen tears welling up in his eyes. “Do you mean that?” He questions. “Every word.” He places a soft kiss on my lips. “Aria, I” He’s interrupted by the sound of a door slamming shut. I turn to see who the intruder was.

There stands Jennifer with a face painted in shock. My heart stops for a moment before dropping to my stomach. I quickly cover my naked self with the blanket and quickly grab my dress. “I should’ve known you were hooking up with him, after all you’d open up those legs to anyone, you fucking pogue slut.” She spat and turned to walk away. “Wait!” I ran in front her, the straps on my dress falling, as I blocked the exit. “What are you doing?” I ask desperate for an answer. “To tell mom and dad. I’m curious as to what he would say when I tell him that his youngest daughter is fucking some pogue. JJ Maybank of all people.” Fear started to kick in. What I said next was unplanned. “And I wonder how he’s going to react when he finds out about your pregnancy.” JJ, Jennifer and I all freeze when the threat slipped from my mouth

I can practically see the panic wash over her body as it shakes. “And don’t try to lie to me. I found the test and ultrasound photo. I know all about it, and I won’t hesitate to tell dad.” “Just wait!” She shouts, desperation laced in her voice. “Don’t tell dad or Rafe. At least not now. Please, I’m begging you. They’d kill me.” So Rafe doesn’t know. “You haven’t told Rafe?” I asked astonished, but then again, I wouldn’t either. “No. It’s complicated.” Her lip begins to tremble. I have never seen her so scared or lose her cool. She’s always so calm and collected. “Well uncomplicate it for me.” I demand. A moment of silence takes over the room. JJ looks down at his blunt with a questioning gaze.

“Rafe’s not the father.” She says. “What?!” Both JJ and I exclaim collectively. “Wait, I’m confused. So, who’s the father?” I asked, feeding my curiosity. “Andrew Coleman.” She sighs. “Who the fuck is that?” The name has never crossed paths with me before. “He’s a lawyer. He lives in Boston. I’ve been seeing him for almost three years now.” The news came pouring out of her mouth. Words can’t describe the astonishment that courses through the room. “That’s why you keep going to Boston. To see him.” She doesn’t even respond as I finally connect the pieces. “But what about Rafe?” The question made her snap all of the sudden.

“Who cares?! I hate him! He could go to hell for all I care! I can’t stand him! He deserves to die! After everything he has done to me! He’s a violent and abusive asshole! He beats me, cheats on me with my best friend, and expects me to fuck him! And you know what the worst part is? Everyone thinks he’s some kind of perfect golden boy, but they’re all wrong. He’s the fucking devil and I wish I put a bullet through is head when I had the chance!” Every word that escaped her mouth had rung through my ears.  She slides down to the ground as she sobs, her walls finally fall.

“Why didn’t you tell me this Jennifer? Why didn’t you ask for my help sooner?” I ask tears welling in my eyes too. “Because when I told dad that Rafe was abusing me, he called me a lying slut and said he’d kill me if I messed up my relationship with Rafe. He cares more about him than his own daughter, and I’m no better than him. I took out all my anger on you, because I was jealous.” Her confession felt like a punch to my stomach. “Why?” She just looks up at me.

“Because you got to live a life of happiness. With real friends and apparently a boyfriend who doesn’t hit you, while the man I love lives all the way in Boston. I should’ve been a better sister to you, but instead I lashed out at you all the time making your hate me, and for that I’m sorry.” Her words were genuine as she cried. I began to cry too.

“You’re my sister. I could never hate you. You might get on my nerves sometimes, but I could never forget the times you were there for me. Like when you carried me home after I broke my ankle after falling of my bike, or the time you stood up for me when that bully was throwing rocks at me. That’s the real sister I know. I just wish you told me all of this, so I could help you.” She hugs me tight and suddenly. It took me by surprise at first. I can’t remember the last time I shared a hug with my sister.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t deserve to have a sister like you. I treated you so horribly. I just want to make things right. Please forgive me. I can’t live with you never forgiving me.” She sobbed louder. “I forgive you, but I need you to let me do something. Both her and JJ looked at me waiting for what I said. “Let me help you leave the Outer Banks.”

[tricksters-captain]

Dinah Lance/Victor Zsasz/Roman Sionis imagines - Little Bird’s Secret - Part 1

AN: I think I’ll make this into a short series. 

Overall Summary: It’s finally your 21st and there’s only one place you wanna go! However, you may land in some unexpected trouble... 

Pairing(s): Sister!Dinah Lance x Sister!Reader, Victor Zsasz x Reader

Word count: 2,799

Warnings: Strong Language, Mutilation, Knives

It was your 21st birthday which meant you could finally head to the clubs out in Gotham. You had underage drank before like most people do in high school but you never bothered sneaking in anywhere with a fake especially because your older sister would never approve and she was kind enough to still let you live with her after everything your family had been through. 

You and Dinah shared the same father but had different mothers so it wasn’t even like you were fully related to each other but Dinah took you in after you escaped your dad’s grip when you were 12. Dinah saw how he treated you and the soft spot in her heart couldn’t turn a blind eye. 

“Happy birthday kiddo.” Dinah smiled brightly as she brought a small round cake with a ‘21′ on top. You sat up in your bed and rolled your eyes. 

“Not a kid. Legal drinking age now, sista!” You raised your arms and danced on the spot as your sister shook her head at you. 

“I know. I booked tonight off work so I could pick your drunk ass up later. I don’t want you taking a cab, they’re overpriced and usually some perv is up front.” Dinah squeezed next to you on your bed as you blew out your candles. 

“Aren’t you just the best big sister in the world.” You groaned sarcastically. You knew this meant that she’d probably be asking some favour next for doing this for you. 

“Hey! I am!” Dinah shoved your shoulder with hers. “The only thing I ask is that you stay away from my work. You don’t need to be involved with that club, and it’s overrated anyways.” Dinah fiddled with the rings on her fingers as she spoke. 

“You can always quit, D.” You reminded her as you read her thoughts on her opinion of her workplace. 

“Yeah right? And find a job that pays me this well for this little? Hell no.” Dinah scoffed, pushing herself up onto her feet again. 

“I gotta run some chores this morning for Sionis in order to get this evening off but I’ll see you for lunch.” 

“Love you, D.” You reached towards her and you both did the handshake you two have had for years whilst you read the birthday card from her. There was a small chain inside that fell onto your lap. 

It was a gorgeous gold necklace with two small birds on it. You knew they represented the two of you and you didn’t hesitate to put it on.

For majority of the morning you spent seeing your friends and receiving all sorts of gifts, including a lot of alcohol. By the time lunch hit, you made your way through the east end of Gotham to the cafe you and your sister always visited.

You sat down in your usual outside seat and waited for your sister. Ten minutes past and she wasn't here, you allowed a little leeway due to her job but another fifteen minutes was pushing it without a phone call. 

You waited a little longer, ordering another mimosa whilst you sat there alone before you finally spotted your sisters car pull up against the sidewalk.

In her passenger seat, sat someone you’d never seen with Dinah before. He had white buzzed hair and strange red scars all over his face and neck. 

“Shit, (y/n), I’m sorry!” Dinah exited the car and rushed over to you. 

You watched the man behind her slowly get up and round the car, leaning against the door watching you both with dark eyes. 

“D, what’s going on?” You asked, worry filling your face.

“I’m stuck at work still. I left my phone at the club by accident and couldn’t call.” Dinah explained, 

“So no lunch?” Your eyes couldn’t help but pass Dinah again to the man stood behind. He was distracting... Alluring almost. 

“Ignore him.” Dinah stepped in front of your view of him and brought your attention back to her. “Look, I’ll make it up to you, okay?” She pulled out some cash and you refused it. 

“It’s fine. Shit happens. You can take me for hangover breakfast tomorrow instead?” You suggested, Dinah briefly hugged you and apologised in your ear. 

The man lifted a cigarette to his lips as your chin met Dinah’s shoulder and you caught a glimpse of something shiny in his mouth. 

“If I don’t see you before you go out, text me when you need a ride.” Dinah backed away from you and clutched her car keys in her hand. 

“Don’t worry about me.” You brushed her off as she seemed slightly stressed about missing your birthday lunch but also because she was even seeing you. Roman must be a strict boss if she was worried about spending five minutes off the job. 

When you were getting ready to go out, your girlfriends came over and you all swigged at your champagne and occasional shots of tequila as you got ready. 

You applied your lipstick and fixed your dress as the alcohol buzzed inside of you. 

“You ready? Black Mask Club here we come!” One of your girls whooped which made the rest cheer along with her.

“You know we can’t go to the Black Mask. Dinah asked me not to since its her work––” 

“––You always gonna listen to Dinah?! You’re 21! Break those rules already!” With that the girls won the argument and dragged you out the apartment to the Black Mask club.

You felt the nerves bubble inside of you as you queued up for the club but when the bouncer let you inside, you forgot everything Dinah had said before. 

“Holy shit.” You gawked at the interior of the club. Red dominated the most of the club with black hands everywhere including two large statues with eyes on the stage. Living in the east end of Gotham and never really having much money all your life meant you had never seen something so fancy before. 

“Drinks!” The girls dragged you towards the bar and for a split moment you took a second to notice the man from earlier sat inside a booth with a group of women and one other very well dressed man. 

He noticed you too. 

The girls were busy ordering what seemed like hundreds of drinks from the bartender as you continued to observe your surroundings. 

“My guests of this evening! Please listen up!” A man’s voice boomed through the club causing the music to quieten and everyone to face the well dressed man from earlier. 

“That’s Roman Sionis.” Your friend whispered, wiggling her eyebrows at you, knowing you'd find him attractive. 

“It’s come to my attention that we have a birthday girl in the club this evening! Can Miss Lance please come forward?” You froze at Roman’s request but your friends soon ushered you forward. 

“Miss Lance! Happy Birthday! May I asked how old you’ve turned today?” Roman clasped his leather clad hands together as his eyes finally found you. 

“Twenty-one.” You felt your cheeks go red as everyone stared at you. 

“Can everyone give Miss Lance a hand? And free drinks for Miss Lance and her friends for the rest of the evening.” Roman raised his martini glass up into the air. “Happy Birthday Miss Lance!” An applause followed and your attention was stolen by Roman’s employee with the scars as he let out a loud whoop and clapped along for you. His eyes attached to yours.

“My, my, Miss Lance. I would have never known you were our very own Miss Dinah Lance’s little sister unless Mr Victor Zsasz here mentioned that he saw you earlier where your sister was unfortunate to miss your birthday lunch today.” Roman approached you as the girls handed you a drink. 

The man with the scars was whom Roman called Victor Zsasz. His eyes made something inside you flutter as he stared at you with such an intensity. 

“Yeah, we don’t look similar at all really. Different Moms.” You explained, feeling weirdly anxious around the charming man. 

“Well, enjoy your evening, Miss Lance. You look absolutely darling tonight.” Roman tipped his glass at you like before. You smiled thankfully at the man and watched him walk away. 

Zsasz remained stood on the spot, looking you up and down with his hands behind his back before Roman was quick to call his name. 

“Happy Birthday, little bird.” Zsasz muttered, his voice just as deep and magnetic as his look. 

“What was that all about?” One of your friends grabbed your arm and squealed, giddy at the event that just took place and the idea of free drinks all night. 

“I have no idea.” You laughed with your friends before heading to the dance floor. 

You couldn’t help but notice Zsasz watching you as you danced and you didn’t mind putting on a little show. 

You drank and danced for a couple of hours before your sister started to call you. 

“Shit. It’s Dinah.” You yelled over the music. 

“Ignore it! We aren’t done here yet!” Your friends retorted. 

“I can’t! She’s called twice now! Something might be wrong!” You always trusted your sister and you knew you’d be mad if she ignored you if you had called several times. 

You took your phone and half empty glass out onto the smoking area of the club. 

“D?” You shouted trying to be louder than the noise around you. 

“I just wanted to make sure you had died of alcohol poisoning yet.” Dinah responded, 

“No, I’m all good! I’m having a great time! You never told me how lovely your boss is! He’s giving me free drinks because it’s my birthday!” You let it slip before you even realised. 

“You’re at the club?! (Y/n), I told you out of every bar in Gotham that the Black Mask Club was the one I didn’t want you in! How could you just blatantly ignore me?!” She was angry. 

You bit down on your lip and frowned.

“What’s wrong, birthday girl? Nothing should be bringing you down on your birthday.” A strong hand had taken your phone and ended the call for you. 

It was Zsasz. 

“It was my sister. She’s mad because I came here when she asked me not to.” You pouted, the alcohol making the guilt you felt worse. 

“Don’t be sad, little bird.” Zsasz ran his finger across your cheek, his eyes glued to your face. “I got you another drink and something to bring you up.” 

You took hold of the glass and the pill from the man but hesitated to take it. 

Your wide eyes looked up at him as he took the pill from your fingers and placed it against your lips.

“That’s a good little bird.” Zsasz purred as you let him put it on your tongue. “Now swallow it.” 

You did as you were told and Zsasz flashed a golden smile at you. 

“Come on, let’s go inside.” He took hold of you hand and guided you inside and that’s what you could remember. 

When you opened your eyes it took you a few seconds to realise where you were. 

Your arms were restrained to the chair you were sitting on and so were your ankles. 

You were in Roman’s club but it was dark, not like earlier, the lights were almost all off and a single spotlight focused on you as you noticed you were surrounded by men in suits and guns. 

You fidgeted in the chair, the ropes were really tight and your throat and mouth felt bone dry. 

“Roman?” You squinted in the light to see him swagger towards you with Zsasz by his side. 

“I’m sorry about this, Miss Lance but it’s just something I have to do.” Roman responded, 

You heard the door beside you open and you came face to face with your sister.

She was being held by a large man who you recognised as security with a gun pointed to her ribs.

“Songbird! Welcome! Finally!” Roman burst into his persona as soon as he saw Dinah. 

“What’s going on, Roman?” She asked, looking between you and the man. 

“You see, little bird, you’ve been working for me now for years and it’s come to my attention that I never knew you even had a sister.” Roman stated, circling his finger so that Dinah could be sat down to listen. “It made me wonder, what else didn’t I know about you?” 

“You never asked if––” Dinah was trying to defend herself but Roman snapped. 

“I asked about your family once years ago and you said you didn’t have any.” Roman argued, whether he was telling the truth or not didn’t matter. You shouldn't argue with Roman Sionis. 

“I’m sorry. It must've been when (Y/n) had moved out for a little while. We had a fight. I didn’t expect to see her again.” Dinah quickly came up with something. It was true what happened but you only lasted 24 hours away from Dinah before you came running home apologising. You two were all you had and neither of you actually wanted the other gone. 

“How do I know I can trust you, little bird?” Roman pondered, “You’d never betray me, would you?”

“No. Of course not. I’ve been working here for years, Roman, you can trust me.” Dinah was trying her best to remain calm but seeing you in that chair tied up wound her anxieties.

Zsasz walked up beside you and his smell suddenly engulfed you. 

You closed your eyes, licking your lips to push back the dirty thoughts going through your mind. This was not the time to be getting turned on. 

You opened your eyes when you felt a cold metal touch on your skin under your jaw. 

“Prove it.” Zsasz tilted his head to Dinah. 

You looked up at him, the adrenaline running through you making your chest rise and fall noticeably fast. 

“Leave (Y/n) alone. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. She doesn’t have to be apart of this.” 

“Oh, I know you will.” Roman stated almost casually, “I believe you, little bird.” Roman then started to approach your sister, standing directly in front of her with his back to you. “But in order to trust you, I have to give you a warning.”

With the word ‘warning’ Zsasz had the knife on your upper thigh, slicing a deep line across the skin. 

You cried out as your sister yelled your name. 

Security had to hold Dinah to the chair she was in to stop her from lunging to you.

“Consider this the warning. You betray me. You betray her. ‘Kay?” Roman was still smiling through all of this. 

Zsasz cut the rope behind you loose which allowed you to apply pressure to the cut on your leg. 

Blood streamed down your thigh to your ankle and into your shoe as tears stung your eyes. It was deep and would scar, you could already tell. 

“I’ll see you soon, little bird.” Roman pulled off his gloves as he walked away from the scene. Not even bothering to look at you as he left. 

“I told you not to come here.” Dinah rushed towards you, grabbing some napkins from a nearby booth to help with the blood. 

Zsasz then followed Roman. 

You had to go to the hospital and get stitches for the cut which hurt almost as much as the knife due to their shortage of numbing cream. 

“I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t drank so much and let the girls drag me in there.” You apologised as you entered the apartment. 

“Don’t.” Dinah held up her finger, silencing you. “Just don’t.” 

You watched her walk into her bedroom and slam the door shut. 

Leaving you alone. 

You sighed, returning to your own room to get changed out of last nights clothes.

A few hours went by when you finally heard Dinah move from her room.

You chased after her as she stormed from the apartment, slamming the door.

“D!” You shouted down the hallway but she was already on her way down the stairs, still ignoring you.

“Dramatic.” A voice behind you made you jump, spinning around to face whoever it was. 

“Guess you really pissed her off, huh?” It was Zsasz. 

“What are you doing here?” You asked, cautious of the fact that this was the man that just added permanent scar on your leg. 

“Tell your sister that she’s expected back at work first thing tomorrow.” Zsasz brushed past you, goosebumps tickling across your arm as it connected with his. “See you around, little bird.” 

Zsasz stepped backwards away from you, towards the stairs and something in his eyes told you that he meant it. 

Next Part Coming Soon

[inside-of-a-fangirls-mind]

The White Wolf’s Dance; Chapter 4

Notes; AHHH I’m sorry this took so long, between helping my mom make masks for her job and my own job it’s been crazy. I didn’t realize this was already done and I edited it already. That’s my bad. It’s not my best but I hope you like it. 

Words; 3,451

Pairing; Geralt X Reader

Warnings; Smutty ish kinda. It’s in the beginning. Drunk reader. Maybe cursing? I curse a lot idk. 

(I do not own anything witcher or the gifs above!)

Tag List; @yuminyg​ @andyl394​ @grumgoblin​ @ayamenimthiriel​ @tapismyforte​ @wintersoldierslut​

(If you wanna be added to the tag list let me know!)

                      Chapter 4; Something Accidental 

"Y/N" Geralt whispered in your ear as your eyes met, his tongue whipping out to lick his lips. Your eyes glance down a moment before back into his gorgeous amber eyes.

"Geralt." You whispered back at his hand slide up to cup your face, you leaned in and closed your eyes and when his lips met yours you were nothing but a puddle of mush beneath the witcher. Your mouths moved in a rhythm that sent shivers through your body and had your heart racing.

He pulled back long enough for you to feel his hot breath on your lips, the way his pupils were lust blown started some heat between your legs. You bit your lip for a moment just gazing back at the man above you. "Y/N" He whispered again, forehead pressing to yours before pulling you into another deep kiss. Your tongues rolling over each others' as if you had down this for years. Every move in perfect sequence.

You moan into the kiss, reaching out to pull him closer to you, needing to touch him anywhere and everywhere. A small chuckle left his lips as he pulled away and trailed kisses down your neck. "You need to get up now." He whispered, his coarse voice shaking your soul.

"Why? I'm quite comfortable here?" You tease back before sliding your hands down his back and under his shirt, nearly moaning at the heat radiating off his skin.

"You gotta wake up now Y/N." He whispered before you were pulled from what you thought was reality. When you finally managed to open your eyes, Jaskier was standing above you shaking your non-hurt shoulder gently. "You gotta get up Y/N." His smirk told you all. You had been talking in your sleep again and now you were pretty sure Jaskier knew about your minor, itty, little crush on Geralt.

You let out a loud groan and pulled a pillow over your face. "Just leave me here." You muttered through the thick dense cloth. Your cheeks were probably bright pink, but it was better Jaskier than Geralt hearing you call his name.

"What and let you get back to your very sultry dream of our dear friend? Not a chance missy, Now up, up, up" He chants as he pulled the pillow off your head and went to the door. "If you aren't downstairs in a few minutes I'll have to entertain Geralt by telling him all about what I heard." He snickered.

You shot up at that moment and threw a pillow at him, but he dodged it and was already heading downstairs. You wanted to scream, but you dragged yourself out of bed and stood in front of the small mirror in the room. Trying to straighten out your hair. But it didn't look like there was any hope for it. You noticed a pair of pants and a button-up shirt left out for you, and while it wasn't what you normally wore it would have to do.

It took a while to change with your shoulder but you managed okay, only hoping Jaskier didn't say shit to Geralt yet. Slowly you made your way out of your room and down the stairs, hoping this wasn't a goodbye from the boys. You had grown to care about Jaskier in the last few days and fall ever madly in love with Geralt. Wait did you genuinely love him? You shallowed and tried to brace yourself for whatever laid at the bottom of the stairs.

Once you were at the bottom of the stairs you noticed the boys sitting with the blonde woman from before, talking up a storm. You walked into the sitting room offering a shy smile. "Hey, guys." You were a little nervous.

Jaskier got up and offered you his arm to help you sit down beside the blonde woman. Geralt sat alone in a red chair and Jaskier on another one. Only you and the woman were sitting on the couch. You rested your hands together in your lap unsure what to say.

"Y/N this is Keria." Geralt spoke nodding to the woman. "This is her place."

You offer a smile, "Keria, that's a beautiful name. Thank you for allowing me to stay here." You weren't sure what else to say this woman hadn't even said two words to you before.

"It's no problem, just repaying a favor." Her smile was bright and friendly and put you at ease. "You can stay as long as you need too, you got quite a battle scar."

You nod before looking to Jaskier, "Thanks Keria, it means a lot honestly. I will pay for my room and anything I eat. I don't wish to inconvenience you." She shook her hand before placing a hand on yours with another bright smile.

"Don't worry about it. Geralt and I go way back. It's not a problem. You just worry about getting better." She then turns to Jaskier, "I take it you'll be watching her then?"

"Yes I will," He nods before offering you a smile.

"Watching me?" You questioned looking from face to face to try and read the situation. Geralt didn't meet your eyes for a moment, thinking about what he was going to say.

"Yes," It was a little drawn out before he spoke again. "I've agreed to help Keria with a job, to repay for us staying here. We will be back in three days if all goes well." His voice didn't show any hint of emotions and your face fell.

"Well let me pack my things, I'll come too. It never hurts to have a little extra magick about." You smiled before starting to get up when Keira's hands set you back down.

"No, Y/n. This is something we have to deal with. I don't want you getting hurt so soon." Her smile was hiding something but you couldn't tell what. Other mages were the hardest to read.

"I'm fine really." You insisted before Jaskier shook his head at you. Giving you a knowing look.

"C'mon Y/N we will have together. You'll never even know you missed a fight. I'm sure we can start one at the inn." Jaskier teased giving you a knowing look.

"No fights while we are gone." Geralt sighed before looking at you, "And no leaving the house." Without another word he stood up and headed out of the room. Keira shortly followed as you and Jaskier stared at each other.

"What's that all about?" You whispered to him. Geralt was acting strange, maybe it was because of the bath this morning or maybe something was wrong.

"Well-" He started before moving over to sit next to you. "Keira has asked for his help to find a missing child. The boy was supposedly her trainee and he went missing on a trip to the town over. But leave it be. It's nothing fun I promise." His smile said he was hiding something but you didn't bother pressing the issue.

"Can you go grab my bag from my room Jaskier? You're a bit faster than me." You teased before standing up and gesturing to your shoulder.

"That doesn't affect your legs," he teased before getting up and fetching your bag quickly. You're pretty sure he thought you would run off if he was gone too long. Once he put your bag in your hands you dug through it for two different items then ran out the front door to where Keria and Geralt were.

Jaskier chased after you trying to stop you. Geralt was already on Roach's back and Keira on an all-white horse. "Geralt" You called out before they rode away. He glanced at you as you walked up to his house pushing the two items into his hands.

"What's this?" He questioned staring at the items then at you. You smiled before pulling open the tie on the little bags.

"Ones the coin I owe you, the other to keep you safe." You might have been staring at him for too long so you look away and pet roach for a moment. He didn't say a word as he put them into his pocket. "You take good care of them, Roach. You're such a good girl." You cooed to her as she pushed her nose into your hands.

"Don't touch Roach." Geralt whispered before picking up his reigns and offering you a slight smile. "Stay out of trouble. Don't wanna come back to you dead." And without another word the two of them rode off.

Jaskier walked up beside you, "What was that?" He whispered before urging you back inside.

You took a moment to look around, a beautiful field in front of you, dotted with a few trees, a nearby river rushing at the edge of your sight and one road. Leading from the edge of the far off trees through the field as far as you could see. "A talisman, I need him to be safe." You whispered before going back inside.

"Okay, I wanna hear all about this I'm not in love with Geralt nonsense." He smirked as he shut the door behind you two.

"I don't know what you're talking about." You hum trying to keep yourself busy by messing with things around the house.

"Oh please, you were moaning his name in your sleep, you can't fool me." He pulled you away from trying to touch a statue. "C'mon, tell Jaskier all about it. Maybe it will inspire me to write a song about you two." He teased before you let out a sigh.

"Only if you promise to not do that." You chuckled softly before taking a moment to think. "I don't know. He's just, he's." You try and piece together why you like him. "Maybe it's his eyes, or the way he acts all big and tough, maybe it's his smell or his jawline. Maybe it's the way no one has risked their life to save mine before. Or.." You gaze off into the distance not sure if you should go on.

"Or?" Jaskier pulled out a bottle of wine before pouring two glasses. Handing one to you and taking a sip from the other.

"Or, the way he smiles, the way he isn't phased by who I am. I haven't had a non-elf look at me the way he does before. Just it's something in his eyes, it feels like I've been lost for a while and when I gaze into them I feel like I've finally found home?" You questioned yourself as the words seemed to fly out without a filter. "No that's stupid. I don't even know him. It's probably just because he's good looking and has been taking care of me. It's nothing." You try and cover up what you were saying. It didn't mean anything. He was your hero and that's why you felt this way.

"That doesn't sound like nothing." Jaskier smiles softly before looking down at his wine. "It sounds like you are in love, though Geralt has only been in love once in the time I've known him. But you are so much more than her. Plus you can just tell in the way he looks at you he cares. Nevermind what he's said." Jaskier takes a sip of his wine before heading to the kitchen to find some food.

"Wait, what?" You follow him, drink in hand. "What do you mean nevermind what he said? What did he say?" You step in front of him, eyes wide, you needed to know if it was even possible he felt the same way.

"Y/N, He cares about you. You had him worried sick almost when you were just lying there. He kept asking Keira if she could heal you with magick if you would wake up if you'd be okay. He didn't eat for two days until I forced him to." Jaskier smiles before nodding to your wine in your hands. "Drink up we are going to have a fun night."

You can't believe what he said. Geralt does truly care about you, a lot. You down your wine before setting the glass down. "What else has he told you?"

It went on for hours, you asked and Jaskier would answer. Not like Geralt had admitted he had feelings for you, but he did care about you and your well being. And he even wanted to make sure you got back home safe when you were all better. After that, you don't remember much. Flashes of Jaskier singing to you, you playing with some fruit trying to juggle, and Jaskier and you drinking three bottles of wine.

Three days went by in no time, but Geralt and Keira were nowhere to be seen. You had finally begged Jaskier to let you go to the local inn, and he finally took you. He could use a crowd to sing to and test out some new songs anyway. You had slipped on one of Keira's dresses and hid your ears with a spell, a little lipstick from her makeup stash and you were ready to go. It wasn't an extremely long walk, she lived right outside of town and Jaskier sang to you the whole way. Once at the inn, you relaxed a little. Or maybe it was the three ales you had already drank that set your nerves at ease. Either way, Jaskier was playing a slamming song and you felt the need to dance.

You stood up from your chair and started spinning around letting the music move your body in any way that seemed fit. You were the only one dancing but all the men were cheering for you. Not like you wanted their attention, there was only one mans attention you wanted. You somehow end up dancing on a table, a few others had even started to dance around the inn. You were spinning before landing a jump off the table with grace only to grab a random guy's hand and start dancing with him. Everything felt amazing. Once Jaskier's song had finished another bard had picked up where he left off with another good song, or maybe it was just the ale. Jaskier grabbed your hand from the other man and spun you around the floor. The two of you laughing and smiling the whole time.

You couldn't remember the last time you had this much fun, it had been years. Finally, you weren't worrying about money or where you were going to sleep or having to steal some poor sucker blind. You had friends, no you had found a family. Soon enough Jaskier spun you into his arms before whispering to you, "We should get home. Geralt will be worried sick if we aren't there when he returns." You nod before downing another few ales. Jaskier pulls you out the door and the two of you make the walk home. You're laughing and skipping along the path, the sun was just starting to set.

"Jaskier, I wish this could go on forever!" You chimed up spinning around before stopping in front of him with the biggest smile on your face.

"Wish what could?" He was unquestionably a lot more sober than you were, and one of you had to be for the walk home. He knew how much you missed Geralt and just wanted you to have a good time.

"Traveling with you guys! Killing monsters, traveling the continent, times like this. Drinking together, dancing, just being a family." You looked up at the sky before screaming out, "I love my new friends!"

Jaskier just chuckled before looping his arm in yours, "I take it your shoulder is feeling much better. And I do enjoy this as well. I hope you'll stick around for a while Y/N." He smiles as you guys approach the house. Just as Geralt and Keira ride up.

"Jaskier? Y/N?" Geralt questions before getting off Roach and walking towards the two of you.

"Geralt!" You cheer before throwing your hands up, "How's it going my friend! I've missed you!" You run over to him and throw your arms around his neck before seeing Keira and running over and doing the same to her. "You guys have been gone forever." You drew out the last word before giggling.

"She's uh, a little drunk right now. She was worried sick since you two weren't back and we went out to get drinks. Nothing happened though, just her having fun and I earned a little coin." Jaskier smiled before you ran back over to his side clinging to his arm.

"We were dancing and drinking! I was spinning so much! I was even dancing on a table and everyone was cheering. Is that how it feels all the time Jaskier? To play in front of everyone and have everyone love you. It was amazing!" You blurt out swaying a little on the spot.

Geralt didn't say a word but shot a glare to Jaskier before walking over and taking your arm in his. "C'mon Y/N lets get you to bed." With that, he was taking you into the house and right up the stairs.

"Don't be mad at Jasky!" You whine before leaning on Geralt. "I was sad and he cheered me up, I'm very happy now." You hum as you two approach your room.

"I'm not mad, I just I don't want you getting in trouble in town." He sat you on the bed. "You should get some sleep, you're going to regret it in the morning." His voice was soft and tender, if you weren't drunk you would have known something was up.

"Geralt." Your voice was a lot quieter as you took his hand and smiled up at him. "I'm really glad I met you. You're amazing, you fight amazing, you talk amazing, you look amazing." You giggled before laying down on the bed and stretching out. "Why don't you lay with me? Just for a bit. I missed having you around."

Geralt didn't know what to say, he was more so in shock than anything. He cleared his throat before glancing at the door. "I should go, gotta put roach away and all that."

"Just for a minute, please!" You nearly begged him before patting the other side of the bed. He let out a sigh before sitting on the far side of the bed and laying down on his back.

"happy?" He asked glancing at you. You nod before putting your hand on his chest as you turn on your side facing him.

"Very." You smile at him before closing your eyes, you were finally able to relax knowing he was safe and sound. "I didn't get much sleep. I was so worried about you not coming back."

He reached into his pocket and slipped something into his hand. "Don't worry you kept me safe." He whispered before you swore you felt his hand brush your hair behind your ear. "You don't need to hide who you are, I will protect you." His voice was soft and calming and you lifted the spell with a single mutter.

"Thanks, Geralt." You mumble before drifting off into a deep sleep. Geralt doesn't move from the bed right away, he stays a little while. Watching you sleep. He doesn't know why he feels so close to you, you've only been in his life for a few days, yet he feels like he's known you forever. He couldn't afford to let you get hurt, he wasn't sure why but he knew he had to protect you and never let anyone hurt you again.

"Sleep well Y/N, I'll see you in the morning." He whispers before caressing your cheek and leaving the room. Jaskier is standing at the bottom of the stairs with a smirk on his face.

"So did you tell her?"

"Tell her what?" Geralt questioned looking at the bard with a strange look.

"That you love her. Geralt it's written all over your face." Jaskier crossed his arms as his smirk grew. "You know she cares about you. Missed you like crazy. Why not just tell her."

Geralt stared at him for a moment. "Witchers don't have feelings, remember?" He started to walk past him.

"Yet you do. Tell Y/N you love her or I will." Jaskier stared into his eyes before glancing at the stairs.

"I-" Geralt sighs before thinking it over. "I will when the time is right. Okay?" and with that, he headed outside to check on Roach. He knew you didn't feel the same way how could an elf love a witcher? How could anyone love a witcher? You deserved so much better.

If only he knew. 

Chapter 5

[uzumaki-rebellion]

“Black Boys Bloom Thorns First: Volume 2, Chapter 29″

"Oh my, time heals all but you outta time now (Now) Judge gotta watch us from the clock tower (True) Lil' tear gas cleared the whole place out I'll be back with the hazmat for the next round We was tryin' to protest, then the fires broke out Look out for the secret agents, they be planted in the crowd Said, "It's civil unrest," but you sleep so sound Like you don't hear the screams when we catchin' beatdowns Stayin' quiet when they killin' niggas, but you speak loud When we ride, got opinions comin' from a place of privilege…"

"Lockdown"-- Anderson.Paak

Califia stood before the march organizers and read off the things the group wanted to pass along to other protestors. Erik sat next to her on a chair and listened to her tick off each item.

"People should bring protective gear if they can. Goggles or sunglasses for pepper spray. If they have access, they can use the heavier gear for tear gas. Masks or bandannas for the face. Milk and water is good to have on hand to flush out the eyes if tear gas is used. Tattoos and other identifiable markings need to be covered. They should wear plain clothing or gear that doesn't have identifiable brands. A woman was arrested in the States because the Feds were able to trace a T-shirt she bought online at a specialty site. We have advised everyone to bring extra t-shirts and other clothing to switch out so they can disappear if surveillance photos are taken and the streets get hot. Confusing the enemy is the name of the game. We learned a lot from Hong Kong protestors in the past. Phones need to have GPS turned off and if possible, passcodes placed on them in case they are confiscated. No sharing selfies or uploading images…"

The list was long and her fellow organizers nodded in agreement with all the actionable items she shared.

Soliel stood next to her and read off her list of protest roles that would be fed out online to give everyone interested an opportunity to participate, especially those with disabilities and even those who wanted to march but were afraid of losing their jobs or being harassed by their own families.

"As long as we all fight in our own way, we can move this city and this country forward. The whole world. We expect the state to use whatever tools they can to make us look bad, so we must squash any groups that try to disrupt our peaceful march. There will be plants among us. We know this. But we can't allow them to bait us into a situation that would allow them to use violence against us. That is what they want. We'll have our shield soldiers briefed on how to defend us if the federals act out. Our flag bearers are young and move fast, so we will be made aware as soon as possible when the federals arrive in various locations. We have range soldiers, fire squads, and barricaders trained to act. There will be medics available, and as long as we follow our plans, we will have a safe and successful march," Soliel said.

Califia's chest eased with the tightness she had after talking with Erik. He listened on the chair and even asked a few questions about their safety if the police there took them to jail. They had bond pledges ready and lawyers on stand-by, but they hoped it wouldn't come to that.

When the meeting broke up, she walked outside to check on N'Jobu, Bakari and Besouro who opted to stand watch outside. As the organizers left their home, N'Jobu walked up and down the street. She worried that the spies sent to watch their house would take pictures of him, but he assured her that his kimoyo beads would mess up their tech. He planned on using a protective shield on her when they marched.

Besouro said goodnight, and her father and Bakari turned in for the night. She sat outside with N'Jobu and Erik.

"You feel comfortable?" N'Jobu asked her, tossing his arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah. I think we have it all down. The people just have to show up."

"How are you feeling?"

Looking into his eyes, she saw worry in them.

"Quiet…um…settled I guess. It's like the feeling I get when I used to dance at school. You rehearse and practice and understand your role, and now it just comes down to the performance. You hope things go well."

"They will," Erik said.

He sat on the small step that led up onto their tiny porch.

"Did we forget anything in there?" Califia asked, giving her son a smile.

"You had it all covered, Mom. Good job."

"Thank you."

His eyes glanced around the street. Then rested on N'Jobu.

"Baba, what's the matter?"

"Nothing. Just thinking about the march and us returning home."

Erik walked over to N'Jobu and rested his arms around his father's shoulders.

"I like having you around like this all the time. It's been fun here," Erik said.

N'Jobu stroked Erik's hands.

"I've enjoyed myself too, Son. What will you and Marisol do while we are at the march?"

"We'll watch it online, and then make dumplings with Auntie probably. She promised to make them on Saturday."

"Don't eat too many, you always get bad gas," Califia said.

"No, I don't—"

"You don't have to smell yourself when you go to sleep and start ripping bombs," she said rolling her eyes.

"Slander!" Erik said pushing on her arm. She pushed him back.

Down the street someone put on music in their home and Erik wiggled his hips and did a couple of backflips. Tapping his father's knees to get him to play, Erik hopped back from the porch to give N'Jobu room.

N'Jobu slid off his shoes and did an assertive swagger step that circled Erik. The boy's eyes kept watch on his father's hands, expecting the attack to come for his chest and not his feet. Erik stayed on the balls of his own bare feet, hopping up and down each time N'Jobu passed behind him. N'Jobu lunged forward but dropped to his feet tricking Erik into using his hands to go for his father's face. The moment Erik did that, N'Jobu cartwheeled into a side handstand using his legs to knocked Erik aside.

"Clever!" Erik shouted, hooking his fingers and jabbing N'Jobu with hard hits into his thighs. Their motion was fluid, and N'Jobu didn't allow it to move too fast.

"Alright little warrior, time for bed," Califia said.

Erik gave his father a hug.

"If you take a shower, try not to make too much noise, okay? Grandpop is having a hard time sleeping, so any noise keeps him up," she said.

"Okay. Night."

She kissed his cheek and watched him enter the house. The street was quiet then, and there were no more spies that they could see watching their home. The unmarked cars were gone.

Califia sat next to N'Jobu on the sturdy wooden chairs they propped out on the porch. Life felt good in that moment. She reached out and held his hand.

"When we have the vibranium, people can be protected from all police. All types of violence. We can create sources of energy that will lower the cost of living for everyone. People can really live. Sit on their porch and just watch the stars at night with their families and not worry about bills, or putting food on the table," N'Jobu said.

He cradled her fingers and kissed them. Califia stared into his eyes. She believed every word he said because the conviction in them was infectious. She had so many plans for when they began to remake the world. She wished Lia was alive to participate in shaping the future.

"Free education for all at any level. And that education will be equitable in quality everywhere. We can transform healthcare and the education of doctors and nurses on what true health and healing is. No more fossil fuels corroding the earth. People can work at what makes them happy, like my people at home. Wakanda isn't perfect, but we know how to run a society that treats people like humans and not capital gains."

She kissed his lips.

"What was that for?" he asked with a teasing quality in his voice.

"All that sounds so sexy coming from your mouth."

"This mouth right here?" he said pointing to his lips.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Let me test it again and see."

She climbed onto his lap and he held her sideways. Lowering her head, she licked his lips then suckled his top lip before going full open-mouthed kissing with him. His hand slid up and down her back and she felt a little something growing under her.

"We should take this to the bedroom," he whispered rubbing on her backside.

"We can't. Erik's sleeping in there, remember? Grandpop has his bed—"

"And Bakari's on the couch…yeah…that is a problem," he sighed.

They kissed longer, and when their necks began to shift left and right as their passion grew, N'Jobu broke away from her wet mouth. They didn't have a car, and the house was so small inside, they would wake up everyone even if they tried to sneak into the bathroom or kitchen.

N'Jobu's eyes darted to and fro, and then he had her lift up.

"What are you doing…babe…no…"

His jeans slid down to his thighs.

"Pull down your jeans, girl."

His erection was hot against her naked thigh. Dragging his fingers up and down her slit, he teased out her wetness.

"It just looks like your sitting on my lap," he whispered. His tone had gone heavy. He was ready.

She couldn't resist and sat down on his length and when she felt his balls, a groan escaped her lips and he covered her mouth.

"Shh, c'mon now. Let's pretend we're back in your grandmother's living room. You know how hot you get when you have to be quiet. Mmmm…shit…Califia…see, you do remember what that was like. Riding my dick. Up and down. Just like that. Give me what I want Califia. I'm your throne…I'm your throne…fuck!"

Califia shifted her weight and let it drop on his lap, allowing his dick to penetrate her deeper. He had her at his mercy, but she switched that up quickly.

"You like that Your Highness?"

His eyes grew big then narrowed with lust. This man. That royalty talk made him grow even stiffer. She rotated her hips in slow agonizing circles as she kept direct eye contact with him, biting her lip and pouting whenever he said her name in submissive whispers.

"You like that Your Highness?"

His head tilted back and his lust-filled eyes gazed up at the heavens filled with stars. She rocked forward and back letting his dick hit her walls with a different energy in the movement.

"I love it!" he gasped clutching at her covered breast.

She began a slow calculated bounce and his right thigh shook under her.

"Dammit!" he cried out while burying his face in her neck, gripping the skin there with his teeth.

"Bite me," she panted, wanting those gold panther teeth of his to dig into her throat and make her feel drunk with his power to weaken her flesh.

His loving never got old or boring or repetitive. N'Jobu's dick aged like fine ebony wine and he could still bring tears to her eyes when they made love. The tasty fucking he was giving her on the porch had her eyes swimming in water already.

"Fuck me Prince N'Jobu."

She whimpered when his eyes fell shut and he held her down on his lap so he could thrust up into her. She leaned forward again to adjust the side angle he had her in and allowed him to slam his dick into her with a faster rhythm. Her cheeks began to clap loudly and she worried that her family inside could hear it. N'Jobu gave no care to whoever heard him. He was inside his woman. That's all that mattered.

"Your Highness, fuck me harder!" she blurted out in a rush of desperate air.

He gave out a loud moan that he couldn't hold back, and now her loud ass cheeks were joined by the sound of her wet pussy being stirred like creamy cake batter. She didn't even have to play with her clit to keep it stimulated, the side fucking tugged on her stiff bud.

"Yes! Baby…harder…"

Tears dropped from her eyes and her mouth started to dry out from being open and yelping every three seconds. When she began to squeal and squirm from all his thrusting, she dug her nails into her knees and let go.

"I'm cumming Prince N'Jobu! I'm cummi-!"

She slammed her hand over her mouth as the contractions in her walls took over. She stood on tippy-toe as her pussy did all the work of milking his dick. He shouted a curse word in Wakandan and the swelling of his length released a torrent of hot semen. He shoved his dick into her deeper and allowed his release to coat every inch of her slick interior.

Panting, N'Jobu pulled out of her and she felt the back rush of his excess cum drip from her folds. She pulled her underwear and pants up.

Wiping his sweaty brow, N'Jobu stared at her face and they both laughed.

"We are a mess," she said.

She watched him slip a single bead from his kimoyo bracelet as he walked to the front part of their tiny yard. Digging a small hole with his index finger, he dropped the bead in like a seed and tapped it twice. Califia's eyes caught a slight bright afterimage in her retinas that felt like a muted camera flash.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Security. I just activated a surveillance sensor. It will protect the house and alert me of anything outside."

He tapped another bead on his arm. Their house popped up as an image floating above his arm. It rotated 360 degrees. She could see her father, Bakari, and Erik asleep inside.

They snuck into the house and took a shower together. Crawling into bed next to their son after changing into shorts for him and a nightie for her, they spooned Erik on either side of him, the child's snores giving Califia relief that he heard nothing.

N'Jobu stared at his son's sleeping face. Califia' stroked the boy's hair.

"I will give him the world," he said.

Califia nodded, but her man had to know that he was already their son's world.

Erik had it whenever his father was next to him.

###

At the starting point of the march, N'Jobu slipped a kimoyo bead inside the pocket of the black jeans Califia wore.

If any trouble occurred, he would activate a protective camouflage shield around her and him and escort her out. She seemed anxious but eager after Soliel's parents dropped them off and took Erik to stay with Marisol. Erik appeared disappointed once more that he couldn't participate, but he kissed them goodbye and N'Jobu felt relief that his son would be away from potential harm.

The weather was agreeable and he watched Soliel and the march leadership give final instructions to the large crowd that listened to them speak through megaphones. Califia passed out water bottles from the medic supply tent that was set up at the starting zone. There would be others dotted along the march route.

Despite the sad memories of losing Lia, there was a palpable sense of celebratory vibes wafting off the marchers. Some had posters with Lia's face on them, others had posters of other victims of police brutality and police misconduct. Califia wore a brown and beige Steampunk mask that covered the bottom half of her face with attached goggles with dark lenses that protected her eyes. Once Soliel stopped speaking, she too covered her face with a bandanna and dark sunglasses that obscured her face. The family of Lia would be direct targets, and relatives were advised to blend into the actual march and not center themselves for any reason.

More supporters arrived and by the time the march started at three, there was plenty of media and the frenzy to try and capture trouble wafted off of the press. Chants of Lia's name and Brazilian protest songs were sung, and N'Jobu felt proud of the family for keeping Lia's name and work alive.

Two hours in and miles of bodies marching through the streets, word spread through the crowd from flag bearers that the police were moving in to contain pockets of protesters who had broken off from the main march. There was to be a rally at the end in front of the city hall, and the joyful energy in the crowd shifted into caution mode. N'Jobu held Califia's hand and kept her next to him as they walked. The surge in numbers of people grew, and N'Jobu began to feel as if he should remove Califia and the family. Something didn't feel right.

His military skills went into hyperdrive and he searched roofs for snipers and spotted some along the route. They were near the front of the first wave of marchers, and he could see police barricades already blocking access to city hall and limiting the space they had been given permission to occupy.

The crowd grew tense.

Soliel chatted with some women who were to speak in front of the mayor's office and she signaled for Califia and N'Jobu to come next to her.

"They don't want me to speak," Soliel said, "there are some police here who many think we're part of the assassination of Lia."

"You have a right to speak without fear for the family," a young man said who was in charge of the speakers line-up scheduled.

Soliel's face was creased with worry.

Another woman held up her cell phone.

"A group on social media have threatened to make trouble," she said.

"I won't be scared off," Soliel said even though her voice shook. She looked at Aunjanue. Bakari caught up to them.

"There are some people near the middle of the line that are instigating trouble. Some police are getting a little heavy-handed," Bakari said. He scrolled his burner cell.

"Besouro and some drummers are trying to help contain it when I left."

"What do you want to do, Soliel?" Califia asked.

"We should speak. I will speak. They silenced my sister a year ago. We can't allow that to stop us now. Intimidation tactics are what they are known for. I won't bow down to it."

The rally commenced.

N'Jobu and Califia watched speaker after speaker give testimony about Lia and the work still being done to combat the problems of police brutality and the inequities in the city. Califia checked in with Soliel's cousin who babysat the children and things were fine. Soliel closed out the speeches and gave a fiery address. N'Jobu watched her pull off her t-shirt and standing in her bra, she showed everyone her old bullet wounds in her chest and arm. Her voice was guttural and Califia translated her words as fast as she could for him.

"They put a bullet in my sister's head, and they tried to kill me too. Look at me! Look at me! I am a Black woman fighting to honor my sister's memory. I have dedicated my life to doing work that helps my people just like my sister did. My family is still watched by the police. I get email threats every week since my sister has been gone. Why? Because they do not want anyone else to rise up and challenge injustice. The police do this. The same police who allowed my sister to be murdered by their own are out here standing among us. They are not here to protect and serve the people. They are here to uphold the will of the state. And the state says that Black people are not worth anything…"

The crowd booed and some made catcalls to the police surrounding the mayor's office.

"…they say we are not human beings who deserve to live dignified lives. My sister dared to speak truth to power and…"

N'Jobu watched the crowd carefully and then kept watch over the police on alert.

"Oh shit…" Califia said.

"What?"

"She named names. Told the crowd we know the individuals who killed Lia…."

Soliel held up her cell phone and scrolled it.

"She's now naming cops in the line up here and telling the people reports of their misconduct records…"

N'Jobu felt the energy around him get amped up. The anger was swelling from the marchers. The cops looked tenser. A few left their posts and threaded away from the protestors.

"I'm glad she did it, but that was not part of her original speech," Califia said.

Loud chanting started behind them and N'Jobu swiveled his neck to see where it was coming from, but it seemed to erupt from everywhere in a spontaneous show of power.

"Fuck the police!" Califia shouted her fist in the air.

N'Jobu's eyes darted around. Many cops had their hands on their weapons ready to discharge them as they held up riot shields to push back people. He slipped his fingers on his kimoyo beads. One false move and he would make Califia and himself disappear from sight. Califia caught his fingers on the beads and she clutched onto his arm.

"Soliel," she whispered.

"I slipped a bead into her jean pocket," he said.

Califia pressed her head onto his shoulder. The relief spilled from her.

"We are not afraid of you. You should be afraid of the power from all of us. We will change this city for the betterment of all. The world is watching us right now. My sister, Negra Li, she is watching all of us right now. Our ancestors are watching over us right now. Justice will come. Justice is here. I thank all of you for coming—"

An organizer rushed over to Soliel and tugged on her arm. Soliel stared down at her cell phone.

"I just received word that my home was firebombed. My home was attacked—"

"N'Jobu! The children!" Califia shouted.

N'Jobu grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the crowd.

###

Smoke rose up from the destroyed back half of Soliel and Aunjanue's home, and as it drifted up to the sky, the setting sun made it look monstrous like a snarling dragon sitting on top of it with a heated white-gray breath. Adrenaline coursed through N'Jobu. The fire department and police tried to hold him and Califia back as they all stared in disbelief at the destruction.

His heart began to beat again when he saw Soliel's cousin who was in charge of caring for the children standing near an ambulance with Marisol. The little girl was given fresh oxygen. That relief was short-lived.

"Where's Erik?" Califia screamed.

The cousin, Ines, began to cry with a bruised face and Califia shouted out in agony and lunged for the wrecked house again. N'Jobu grabbed her and held her tight, but she fought him. "Is my baby in there?! Is he in there?" she screamed at the firefighters.

There were already firemen going through the rubble in the back. He dragged Califia over to the cousin and Marisol.

"What happened?" N'Jobu asked trying to contain his anger.

"I was cooking and Marisol was with me in the kitchen. An explosion blew up the back….we were thrown onto the floor. I covered Marisol up…but JaJa, he was in the bedroom playing a video game. I called to him, but I couldn't get him because we were covered in debris and the house was burning…"

Ines burst into uncontrollable tears and Califia tried to comfort her as her eyes pleaded for him to find Erik.

"Go get him!" she demanded.

He moved with a swiftness as Dante and Soliel's parents arrived. Soon enough Bakari and Soleil showed up with many organizers.

"My son is in there get off of me!" he yelled pushing on a policeman. He kicked aside wood and concrete, shouting for his boy, his eyes filling with smoke…

"Baba! Mom!"

N'Jobu turned to find Erik running up to his mother. Califia grabbed him in a tight hug, lifting him off of his feet.

"Where were you?" N'Jobu said clutching for him too.

Guilt was on his face.

"I left the house…I snuck off to go to the march…"

His eyes took in Marisol and then he stared at the destroyed rear of Soliel and Aunjanue's home.

"What happened?" Erik asked. His eyes were wide like a baby owl.

Califia kissed all over his face.

"I should be angry with you, but being hardheaded saved your life!" she scolded.

Erik walked up to Marisol who was in the arms of Soliel.

"You okay?" he asked.

Marisol burst into tears.

"We thought you were dead!" she wailed.

The little girl said what they all felt and Erik hugged her.

Califia wiped her eyes.

Soliel lost it.

"They tried to kill my family again!" she shouted.

Aunjanue tried to hold her and Marisol's face crumpled.

"The police did this! The police did this!"

Soliel's parents pulled her and her family away from the ambulance and ushered them to a waiting car. N'Jobu grabbed for Erik and Califia's hands.

"Let's go," he told them with Dante and Bakari on his heels.

He hailed a cab two blocks away and Califia called Soliel's mother to see where they were headed. The new family home was the destination. N'Jobu checked their own rental property and it was intact.

"This is crazy," Bakari uttered.

The ride in the cab only lasted five minutes and they took refuge inside a single-story home. Both the children were checked thoroughly and Marisol was sent to go rest. Calls were made and fears were heightened. Califia's hands wouldn't stop shaking and N'Jobu rubbed her back.

"JaJa," N'Jobu said.

"I know you told me to stay at the house, but I watched the march online and I just wanted to be there. I caught the bus but a lot of streets were blocked off, so I just walked around until I found some marchers. I walked and then I came back."

Fate.

Fate had a way of working on N'Jobu, and he thanked Bast for whatever got into his son's head to leave.

"Poor Marisol, and Ines," Califia said.

"Shit," Dante said.

Califia's father walked to the front door and they all followed.

Groups of angry people were storming down the street yelling.

"This isn't good," Bakari said.

Erik tried to peek at the action but Califia pulled him back and took him to the room where Marisol rested.

N'Jobu heard bottles breaking outside. Soliel's father Andres closed the front door.

"We stay indoors," Andres said.

"They destroyed my home!" Soliel shouted. Aujanue tried to calm her again.

"We will go salvage what we can in a couple of hours, but right now, we stay here."

Andres's voice made things sound final.

The rest of the night was spent watching the news of the firebombing, screening phone calls from the police and media.

People took to the streets and whatever feelings of goodwill and hope that the march provided ended in anger and destruction of public property. Government property was targeted and they all watched in horror as the Sao Paulo community that peacefully assembled to celebrate Lia broke down into hopelessness. Hundreds of arrests were made. N'Jobu and Califia saw young people throwing Molotov cocktails at the police who shot back with rubber bullets and real ones. Complete chaos. Supporters stood outside and protected Andres's home.

Califia was able to slip his kimoyo bead away from Soliel when she changed clothes and returned it to him. N'Jobu spoke with Erik about what he saw in the streets. His son only reported positive things and he felt good about being a part of the memorial march.

"Will they be able to fix the house back up?" Erik asked when he rested between him and Califia for the night in the spare bedroom of Andres's home.

Bakari was camped out on the floor next to the bed on a small cot, and Dante was curled up in a sleeping bag directly on the floor to help his back.

"There was too much damage to save it," Califia said with bitterness lacing her voice.

"Are you guys still mad at me for leaving?"

"No, Son. We are happy that everyone is alive and well. Homes can be replaced. People cannot," N'Jobu said.

Erik rested his head on his mother's stomach.

"Why do bad things happen to us here?" Erik asked.

Califia looked at N'Jobu for the answer.

"Powerful people with ill intent often don't like to see good people change the world. They are afraid of losing their power to control others," he said.

"Marisol was so scared. I shouldn't have left her."

"Don't worry about that. You are safe and sound and here with us," Califia said.

"Will she have to see someone like Dr. Davis? Like I had to talk to someone about…you know…"

"Probably. Don't think about that. Get some sleep, okay?" Califia said.

"Will they stay out in the streets all night? Because of what happened to Auntie's house?"

"Most people have gone home. Luckily, no one was killed by the police—"

"But that woman got shot in the leg, Mom."

"She'll live, son. Everyone is upset and hurt by what happened. They had to act out those feelings. But it's calm now."

Califia smoothed hair from Erik's eyes.

"Somebody needs a haircut," she teased.

"You!" he said pulling a clump of her hair.

"Ow! Boy!" she chirped slapping at his hand.

Erik giggled.

N'Jobu was glad that he wasn't traumatized by the shocking events of the day.

Erik fell asleep and Califia eased him off of her belly and tucked him between them. N'Jobu reached over and stroked Califia's arm.

"I'm still so angry. If they were watching all of us, then they knew there were children in that house. They didn't care. Willing to kill our babies—"

"Shh, Califia. Not now. Don't wake him."

She stared at her hands.

"Look at my hands. They still shake. God, I want to strangle whoever did that to us. I just saw that rubble and knew Erik was under it."

She grew quiet.

"Califia?"

"You think he's okay? He seems calm about all of this."

"I think he's fine. No one was seriously hurt and we all came together quickly. There was no chaos like…like last time."

"I needed to be here for this…"

"But?"

"Maybe it was a mistake. Bringing him here. I could've come by myself…"

"We needed to be here together. All of us—"

"Don't just say that to make me feel better, N'Jobu."

"We can't control the actions of our enemies. The march was an overwhelming success."

"But after the march, we'll get blamed for what happened."

"People acted out of legitimate frustration and anger about what happened to Soleil's home. It was another attack on Lia's good name, and if people destroyed a few police vehicles and buildings, so be it. Why are you smiling?"

She shook her head, her smile deepening.

"What would the old N'Jobu say about you talking like this?"

"The old me was naïve and corrupt."

"Corrupt?"

"Corrupted by privilege. Isolation. Willful ignorance."

Her eyes rested on their son.

"He'll really be okay, right?"

"Yes."

She eased her head on a pillow and closed her eyes.

He drifted in and out of sleep. Their journey into the future would begin soon and he fretted about it until he saw Bakari wake up and go into the kitchen. N'Jobu followed him.

"Couldn't stay sleep," Bakari said pouring himself some instant coffee.

"Me neither. Part of me wants to run out and just beat the hell out of anyone affiliated with the police, and another part of me knows that it could be anyone out there against Black people."

Bakari nodded.

They sat at the kitchen table together and listened to the loud ticking of the grandfather clock in the living room.

"Erik?"

"Good. So far. He wasn't there so he's only concerned about where they will live. Marisol and Ines will have to process this."

"Marisol was laughing with Andres last I heard before I went to bed. Ines said she's been through worse, so…I don't know. Maybe this will pass by for them without much scarring."

"Bakari. When we return to the States, I will need your help with some legal things."

"Like?"

"I'm planning some things and it involves my family. I'll give you more details when there aren't so many ears around, but it's very serious and I need your complete confidence and discretion."

"Whatever you need man."

N'Jobu walked into the living room and peeked out of the large front window. He could see a few neighbors standing guard outside the gated yard, and not much foot traffic or cars rolling through since the police blocked off access near the house. He hoped things had really calmed down, but his gut told him to be ready for anything.

###

The local news was in a frenzy, but the story about the firebombing was picked up on international channels. N'Jobu laid low indoors with Erik. Califia moved in and out of the house to make statements with the press alongside Soliel. Later that day the family went to salvage personal items from the destroyed home. N'Jobu watched the children and cooked for them, checking his kimoyo beads for Califia from time to time.

The march organizers had a debriefing meeting that Soliel insisted on participating in that evening. Dante had a return flight back to Oakland, so goodbyes were given and Califia saw her father off in a cab before she headed out with Soliel. They were gone for hours, and when he didn't hear from them after too much time had passed without a check-in, he grew concerned. He asked Bakari to watch the children while he set out to track her with the kimoyo bead planted on her.

He tried Califia's cell phone, but she didn't answer it. Soliel didn't answer hers either and when he drove a few blocks away from the house, Califia's phone number popped up on his cell.

"Califia?"

The voice on the other end spoke rapid Portuguese and N'Jobu couldn't make out the words. It wasn't his woman speaking. He pulled over and parked. He saw a police vehicle on the corner and there were people lingering outside as the evening settled down.

"Hold on. I don't understand…too fast…slow down…vá mais devagar! Where is my wife?"

The voice became shrill. The only thing he understood was his name and Califia's.

"Hold on for a minute, please!"

Clutching the phone to his chest, N'Jobu swept his eyes back to the police car ahead of him. Something made him leave the car where it was and walk discreetly back to the house.

"Erik, come here!"

Erik bounded out of the bedroom. Bakari stepped out of the kitchen.

"What's up man?" Bakari asked wiping down a plate.

"Someone's on the phone and I can't figure out what they're saying. They're using Califia's phone."

Bakari reached for the cell.

"I can talk to them."

"It sounds urgent and Erik's Portuguese is better."

Erik took the phone.

N'Jobu tapped his beads and he could see that Califia was alive and stationary, but she wasn't where she was supposed to be. He wished he had given her a 4D bead, but he couldn't take the chance of his brother scanning it and discovering his whereabouts or seeing Califia with it.

"Baba, this woman says that the police raided Mom's meeting…the phone cut off."

N'Jobu felt his heart leap to his throat.

Andres and Soliel's mother stepped into the house carrying bags of groceries.

"Mestre, I need you to call Califia's phone back. Something has happened."

Andres took the cell and put it on speakerphone.

The woman answered again but her voice was quieter like she was trying to whisper.

"Turn on the TV!" Andres shouted.

Bakari snapped on the television and N'Jobu's eyes and ears were split between the cell and the news.

"Okay, that was one of the organizers—"

"Mãe," Erik said holding onto Soliel's mother whose hands shook.

N'Jobu held onto the woman's arm and helped her sit down on the couch.

"What is happening?!" N'Jobu demanded.

"The women were having a meeting and the police went there to charge Soliel with inciting a riot and there was shooting. An officer was killed and—"

All eyes went to the TV as reports of the dead cop was announced.

"Where are they?" Bakari asked.

Three women were seated on the curb of a street in handcuffs and N'Jobu recognized them from being in his house days earlier. There was no sign of Califia or Soliel. Aunjanue wasn't seen either.

"Shoot out?" Andres said with an incredulous voice as the TV reporter made ridiculous claims, "My daughter would never have a weapon—"

"Shh," Mãe said patting his arm.

"Baba," Erik said.

His son stepped next to him and held his arm.

"It's okay, Son. Your mother is fine."

He almost convinced himself.

The threads were coming together to tell a story that N'Jobu didn't like. Cops raiding Soliel's organization. He could imagine Califia or Soliel popping off and the cops retaliating for accusations and calling out names for Lia's murder. They had to be on the run if that many police were parading in front of the TV cameras. They would've ditched their cell phones to keep from being tracked.

When the news report went to commercial, N'Jobu turned to face Andres.

"They won't be able to come here. Where can they go that will be safe?" N'Jobu asked.

He couldn't let on that he had the exact location of the women. Picking them up from wherever they were would not be a problem for him, but if they were in deep and actually did kill a cop, he'd have to get Califia out of the country.

"They would head out of the city," Andres said.

N'Jobu held onto Erik's hand. His eyes glanced at N'Jobu's beads and then they were on his father's face. The boy was quick.

N'Jobu ran through plans in his head. They would have to leave all of their belongings at the rental property. There was nothing there they needed. Erik had his mother's laptop there with him. N'Jobu would leave it with Bakari to take back to the States.

The landline rang.

They looked at one another and then Andres answered it.

The man listened to whoever was on the line and his body language relaxed. He hung up and took a deep breath.

"They are fine, but hiding out with Besouro in his apartment. They can't stay there long because the police will probably start locking down streets since a cop was killed. There is now a manhunt for them."

That meant they had names.

That also meant that Califia couldn't leave the country by plane or car. She was stuck.

Unless…

"We can get Aunjanue and Soliel to the Mantiqueira Mountains, but Califia would have to stay with them," Andres said.

Erik's body grew tense against him.

"No. I will get her out of the country," N'Jobu said.

"Man, how you gonna do that? They will have this place crawling with cops, and they will be out for blood," Bakari said.

"Baba," Erik murmured.

Marisol walked into the room rubbing her eyes. Mãe ushered her back into the room she came from napping in.

"I will get her out of here."

N'Jobu's words were final.

###

He was taking a huge risk.

N'Jobu had War Dog allies all over the planet, but what he was attempting to do now could risk the greater mission if it failed.

He stayed secretive as he rode in a cab with Erik and Andres.

Favors had been called in from Andres's cadre of capoeira supporters and close family friends. Spiriting away three wanted women was going to be a delicate task. The police already had a woman in custody who was Soliel's right-hand soldier and she wasn't speaking to anyone but a lawyer. Bakari stayed in Andre's home contacting lawyer friends back home and discreetly checking to see if there was someone who could help him with Brazilian law where it pertained to American citizens accused of crimes.

Changing cabs a few times and walking for the last leg of getting to Besouro's apartment was tough, especially for Erik whose anxiety about his mother spiked tremendously. Entering the back of the twenty-story apartment building, N'Jobu used his kimoyo beads to scramble cameras outside the apartment and inside as they rode an elevator.

He was able to breathe normally the moment Califia was in his arms.

"Jobu!" she cried out when she saw him.

He hugged her so hard that he squeezed the breath from her chest.

"Don't talk about anything, not in front of Erik," he whispered in her ear.

She nodded and he released her to comfort their son. Erik did his best to appear brave but it didn't stop a few tears from trekking down his face once he was back with his mother.

Time wasn't wasted and Andres gave Soliel and Aunjanue wigs that Mãe sent with him and a change of clothes. They waited an hour and then one of Andre's friends called from a hidden car out on the street.

"Cali," Soliel said.

All the women hugged. There were no tears among them, just reassuring touches and kisses. Andres ushered them out.

Besouro cooked for them and they watched the news. Erik held onto his mother until she made him go lay down in Besouro's bedroom.

"Show me your roof access," N'Jobu said.

Confused, Besouro took him to the stairs of the apartment and they walked up ten flights.

"How will you leave here?" Besouro asked.

"I have a plan. We'll be leaving later tonight."

"Why do you need to see the roof?"

"Don't worry about."

"Don't worry about it? Are you insane? How can I not? I have to make sure Califia and Erik—"

"I will take care of my family."

Besouro's eyes look heated.

"They are my family too. They all are. Even you."

The man's voice grew soft.

N'Jobu held out his hand and Besouro clasped it in his and shook it.

"Thank you for protecting them. I promise you; I will take care of them and send you word when we are safe."

Besouro nodded, but N'Jobu could see great doubt there. The man was terrified. And he was putting his own life on the line for harboring fugitives.

"I'm going back down," Besouro said.

N'Jobu watched the man leave. When he was certain that he was alone he tapped his kimoyo bead.

"Lixesha lokuba ndimke."

Indeed.

It was time to leave.

"Your Highness, we shall arrive in exactly one hour. We have your coordinates."

"Thank you, Yonela," N'Jobu said into his beads.

He walked back down to the apartment and joined his family inside Besouro's bedroom.

"Listen to me carefully," he said standing in front of Califia and Erik as they sat on the bed.

Their questioning eyes made him smile.

"We are leaving the country. At midnight."

"I can't get on a plane, N'Jobu. I can't even drive out of Sao Paolo," she said.

"What about our stuff at the house?" Erik asked.

"That can be replaced later. When we get to Oakland we'll have to stay at my apartment. Understand?"

They both nodded.

He touched Califia's hair and she wrapped her arms around his waist.

Ten minutes before midnight, N'Jobu gathered his family and walked them into the living room.

"Don't follow us," N'Jobu warned.

Erik and Califia hugged Besouro and he looked so lost and helpless to N'Jobu.

"Send me word," Besouro said.

N'Jobu nodded then herded Erik and Califia out of the apartment.

They all stayed quiet walking up the stairs and when they reached the roof, they stared at him.

"What's going to happen Baba?"

Erik's earnest eyes made N'Jobu pat his shoulder.

"You shall see, my Son."

Califia's eyes just took in the roof.

"Baba!"

Erik touched the gums on his lower lip. Califia stared at her arms and hands.

N'Jobu could feel the vibration in his body too and turned to face the sky.

"Mom, look!"

Erik pointed above them as streaks of neon blue lit the black sky.

"What…?"

Califia couldn't even finish her sentence as the sky above them appeared to ripple as if someone threw a pebble into a placid dark lake. They were all enveloped in the ticklish field of the multi-spectral camouflage shield. Erik held his fingers up to try and touch the shield but then a loud gasp escaped his throat and Califia's as a Wakandan Battle Cruiser shimmered into full view above them.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Califia shrieked.

N'Jobu enveloped her hand in his.

"Baba!" Erik shouted jumping up and down.

The large Cruiser spun around and hovered at the edge of the roof. A large ramp silently eased out from it and two soldiers walked down the ramp.

"Your Highness."

Captain Yonela Majola greeted him with gentle eyes. Her second in command Lt. Deyi looked around the roof to make sure it was secure. His eyes took in N'Jobu's family and when he stared at the Prince, he gave a respectful head nod in deference.

"No matter what happens, you did not see these two. Understood?" N'Jobu commanded.

"Yes, your Highness," they said in unison.

They stepped aside making room for him and his family.

"Come," N'Jobu said holding Erik's hand. Califia walked right next to him, the ship overwhelming her senses.

"I can't believe this," she whispered.

Onboard, the rest of Yonela's crew bowed to him.

"Where would you like to sit, Prince N'Jobu?" Yonela asked.

Erik's eyes made N'Jobu chuckle.

"In the front for now," N'Jobu said.

"We are on course to rendezvous with a Royal Shadow Fighter in Guyana in good time. We will have to stay in hover mode for a day before we can transfer you," Yonela said, "It is the only way I can keep this operation covert."

"That is fine, Captain," N'Jobu said.

Lt. Deyi guided Erik and Califia to empty high-backed gray seats behind the Captain's floating chair.

"Baba, it's not attached to anything. How is that possible?" Erik whispered.

"I will tell you later. We have to leave right away. Califia, are you comfortable?"

Califia sat back in her chair. She looked around for a seatbelt and then her eyes regarded his. He sat next to her and took her hand.

"Whoa," she yelped when the gravity belts secured them.

Her eyes gazed down at her waist and then she touched her shoulders.

"I feel something, but there's nothing here," she said.

Yonela took her position in the floating chair. The chair turned around to face them.

"May I, your Highness?" Yonela asked.

"Proceed," N'Jobu said, taking delight in his family getting a feel of his old world.

Yonela's eyes took in his family.

"You do not exist," Yonela said.

Erik's eyes were bright. Califia was cautious and a bit nervous.

"We are loyal to our Prince. We would die for him. We will get you home safe…"

Yonela's English was simple and clear. She slowed down to make sure they understood every word. She handed them kimoyo beads from her bracelet.

"Keep these on you. They will hide you in plain sight on board this ship. I can communicate with you while you have them. Understand?"

They nodded.

"Good. Welcome aboard."

Yonela floated back around

"At your stations!" she commanded.

The other soldiers took their positions and Yonela swiped her hand in front of her face. Touching a glowing magenta rectangle near her right hand, she took her index finger and thumb widening the rectangle. As she did that, the viewscreen window before them widened.

"Wow!" Erik said.

Califia's eyes were wider too as they took in the landscape of the city.

"May I proceed, Your Highness?" Yonela said.

"Proceed," N'Jobu said.

Yonela's left hand swiped another small floating screen and they all felt the engines rev and the Cruiser floated forward.

The smooth ascent gave them more spectacular views of Sao Paulo. Califia pointed to their left.

"Those are the Mantiqueira Mountains," she said.

N'Jobu held her hand.

"They'll make it, my love," he said.

"Erik," Yonela said.

"Yes?" he answered.

Yonela tapped Lt. Deyi's shoulder and the man stood up from his floating seat in front of Erik.

"Would you like to sit next to me?"

Yonela's eyes twinkled as she turned her head to look back at Erik. The gray hair peppering her short dark curls were the only give away that she was much older than she looked. She was sixty and barely looked forty.

"Can I Baba?"

N'Jobu's eyes met Yonela's. He hadn't been openly forthright with letting her know that this was his own family. He had told the Captain that they were a mother and child he was close to and that they needed help escaping undetected.

Yonela's eyes looked even gentler after she received confirmation.

"Go ahead," N'Jobu said.

Erik wiggled in his seat, and the gravity belt released him. He jumped onto the floating chair.

"Easy, JaJa," Califia said, still holding N'Jobu's hand.

"You see that button there?" Yonela asked pointing to a glowing yellow circle.

"Yes."

"Tap it two times," she said.

Erik did and the lights inside the ship grew dim until it was almost completely dark and just the glow of the night sky and the lights of the city enveloped them.

"Good job, young Prince," Yonela said.

Erik's eyes gazed at the woman, and then he looked back at N'Jobu in wonderment.

Yonela's fingers moved swiftly across her floating controls.

"Stealth mode engaged. Radio silence maintained…"

The rest of the soldiers went about their normal duties.

Yonela kept the cruising altitude low so that Erik could watch them travel over the country of Brazil. N'Jobu felt Califia squeeze his hand and when he looked over at her, there was water in her eyes.

"Come with me," he said releasing her from her seat.

He took her to the upper level of the ship where there were showers and sleeping quarters. Grabbing fresh white cotton loungewear from a closet, he waved his hand for privacy and several soldiers moved away from their section.

He helped her remove all of her clothing before taking his off and led her into a shower stall, locking the shower door behind them. Fully lit with plenty of room for the two of them, he took soap and shampoo from the dispensers and lathered her hair and body as she wept, the stress pouring out of her. He held her, and when she was rinsed off, he made her sit on the shower bench with him. Rocking her in his arms he allowed her to cry until no more tears came.

He pulled her into the body dryer and when they were ready, they dressed in the comfortable and clingy loungewear.

"This way," he said.

She followed him to an empty wall in a corner and watched him wave his hand over a section of it and a bed slid out from the wall.

"Lay down."

She crawled onto the small comfortable bed and he climbed in after her and wrapped his arms around her.

"When you are ready, tell me everything."

She nodded and fell asleep on his chest.

The hum of the ship rocked them both into a much-needed rest.

Chapter 30 HERE.

###

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[notgonnarememberthis]

find your way (back to me) - chapter eight

Back at it again with another update cause I had to get this chapter down before it left my head. Honestly Em is a hero for giving me this idea bc I had stalled on the fic after Jessica’s escape. But because of their help I actually know a lot more than I even knew in the LAST CHAPTER much less as a whole. Loving the comments so ofc keep them coming cause i need validation.

The process of healing is frustratingly slow and Jessica finds herself lost in the cycle of sleeping, being questioned by officers, seeing Ainsley and occasionally Malcolm, and sleeping again. It’s a small comfort knowing that Malcolm, in all his determination is searching for the man behind all of this. Most of her though just wants him in the room with her, knowing he is safe.

The most frustrating, to her and investigators alike were her memories. She remembers the big picture. There was a wreck while she was traveling to a meeting for Eve’s charity. With the woman gone Jessica had preserved her legacy the best she could. The crash was unexpected. She’d checked Alphonso from the back seat already knowing he was dead. Two paramedics pulled her out of the car, put some kind of oxygen mask on her and she was out. Next came where it blurred. She was held in the dark by two men and they asked her to pick between her life or a stranger’s. No matter how many times she picked herself the other person would die. She was shot first, and then stabbed later.

She didn’t remember other conversations. Colette Swanson was the one to report to her what they found at the construction site. They found the room she was held in, two chairs bolted to the floor facing each other. They found the trail of blood where she had escaped. They found a young man matching the surveillance footage of the paramedic they’d found the day of the wreck. He was beaten to death, likely by his partner though the FBI agent didn’t expand on why.

She’s not shocked. Part of her knew this already.

What tears at her was they found no trace of the other killer nor Freddy in the vicinity. Gil tells her that no trace of blood should be a good thing.

It doesn’t feel like a good thing.

“Ms. Whitly.” She picks her head up from the spot she was staring at, smiling kindly at the doctor.

“Dr. Garcia, I hope you’re not planning to wheel me back for another surgery. Ainsley is getting off soon and she’s bringing Vionelli’s.” The surgeon chuckles warmly shaking her head. In the week she’s been stuck in the hospital Dr. Garcia had been a welcoming bright spot in her boring or traumatizing days. The day she chased away an officer who was getting a little too aggressive while questioning and insisting that she remembered. Waving a clipboard and getting in the face of an armed man, it was a sight that made her laugh no matter how much it hurt her side.

“Actually, I wanted to be the one to tell you that it’s looking like you could go home today.”

“Today?” She sits up a little, newfound energy overpowering the shot of pain that goes through her side at the movement.

“Your infection has cleared up and all of your baselines came through clear. Now you’ll come back in a week to remove the stitches and I want you taking it easy when walking. We’re going to send you home in a wheelchair.” Jessica must have made a face because the doctor gets serious, “I expect you to use it Ms. Whitly. Your physical therapy will be easier if you don’t push yourself too much. No alcohol or other supplements until you finish out your medication.” Jessica hesitates but nods. Anything that can get her past this as soon as possible she’ll agree to. “Well, in that case you might want to tell your daughter to bring a loose set of clothes and I’ll tell the nurses to get the paperwork drawn up.”

“Dr. Garcia?” Her question evades her as soon as she asks. Past conversations echo instead, The knife was two centimeters from nicking the femoral artery. The gunshot wound had been infected, but we caught it early. Your memory will return in time, it’s expected with the combination of anesthesia and your head injury. Yet, not once had the woman made the claim other doctors had. The one that she told herself, you got lucky. “Thank you.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the text it’s Ainsley, Malcolm, and Gil who come to escort her home. It feels like a bittersweet celebration. None of them will let her stay alone, despite her protests and the 3 details they set up along the house. All help is dismissed until further notice, and her home has already been searched five times for any possible cameras or bugs hidden. Gil tried to insist her stay with her but couldn’t fight more when she pointed out that she’d get around easier in her own home than his small apartment.

They celebrate with Vionelli’s, as promised, and sitting at her own table with her family surrounding her almost feels normal. She longs for a drink but her children made sure that all alcohol was removed from the home the second they were told she could come home. For a few split seconds she allows herself to believe this is a normal day. That she doesn’t ache all over, that there aren't several patrols outside guarding each exit of her home, that she doesn’t have the details of 3 days blurred as if she’d taken a few too many pills.

Despite her protests the three of them create a system. Malcolm will stay with her tonight, Gil’s insistence as he hadn’t slept much in 3 days. Gil will switch him tomorrow, Ainsley after that. Even though she tried to deny their pushes, she’s secretly glad to have one of them with her. At least she can be assured one of them is safe at all times. 

Much to her dread, Gil and Ainsley eventually leave. They linger longer than they should. None of them really tired enough to stave off their personal demons from the night. Gil gives in when Colette calls, Ainsley long after he is gone but her own detail looks tired and she shouldn’t probably get home.

Jessica makes her way back to her own bedroom. The clothes Ainsley brought are comfortable enough that she can just slide right into bed. Her medicine is slowly dragging her under and she’s grateful for the peace that the familiar setting brings.

“Goodnight mom,” Malcolm smiles at her, the expression not quite matching the worry in his eyes.

“Love you Sunshine.” She says as gently as she can, inordinately calm against the threat of sleep. Her nightmares are no stranger to her. The nickname helps as she watches him relax, even if only slightly.

“Love you too.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jessica wakes again with a gasp sitting up in bed, the pain that echoes through her abdomen making her regret the movement. The nightmare already faded from her as she settles back hissing through her teeth. She squints at her phone laying on her nightstand.

4:26 A.M.

She huffs covering her eyes. She can feel the beginnings of her medicine wearing off. She’s surprised Malcolm hadn’t woken her simply to take some. She peers through the dark spying her son curled in the chair in the corner of her room. He must have fallen asleep there after working on the case for most of the night.

Her chest aches remembering how after Martin she’d find him sleeping almost anywhere but his bed. That chair, specifically, was his favorite place to curl up. A flashlight and book lying abandoned on the floor by his feet.

She experimentally sits up again, slower this time. The pain is much more manageable in the slow, precise movements. As her eyes adjust to the dark she sees a cup sitting on her nightstand along with the bottles of medicine she’s supposed to take. Lying by the glass is a small card, a note hastily written.

Just as you like.

Her chest warms looking over at Malcolm again. The glass is still hot, he couldn’t have prepared it long ago. She tusks but slides the note in her drawer, standing. She suppresses the groan at the ache in her leg, not wanting to wake him when he’d clearly just managed to fall asleep. She grabs the spare blanket draped across the bottom of her bed and covers him. Even in his sleep he looks like he carries the whole world on his shoulders. Grabbing her tea and medicine she exits her bedroom.

She’s not sure exactly where she intended on going. The restlessness is enough to make her wander through the home on a good night. This, this is something else. A sense of dread that can’t seem to leave her chest.

She takes a sip of the tea enjoying the warmth that spreads across her. Her peace is only momentary though.

The tea doesn’t taste like what she drinks.

The taste brings her back twenty years. To Christmas morning with two children bouncing onto her bed excitedly screaming about Santa. To a golden tray loaded up with her favorites. To breakfast in bed. To the tea Martin had prepared for her.

Malcolm didn’t make this.

Panic fills her as she pushes herself through the home, steadying herself on the walls. She bursts into the dining room, looking for the bar cart.

She hears Malcolm screaming in her head.

Don’t drop the cup, it could be evidence.

She needs a drink

You’re not supposed to drink on your medication.

She doesn’t care. Not when she can’t get the taste out of her mouth.

Mother!

The cart is empty. Of course it is. Ainsley herself cleared it out. She has a stash in the kitchen. One she hadn’t touched since Malcolm’s months of silence. One only she knew about.

She grits her teeth using the table as a brace as her leg screams against the rush. She can’t think. Not when the memories are too loud. The good times taste like poison under his gaze, his touch.

She flicks on the light stopping dead in her path at the sight of a figure seated at the island, facing her. The glass slips from her hands spilling across the tile and scattering shards everywhere.

Freddy stares emptily at her. His skin is all too pale. A sharp cut against his throat and blood spilled all over his clothes. They’re the same clothes he’d been wearing when she saw him last. The eyes that had been so kind to her are frozen in choking horror. He probably couldn’t even scream.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shattering glass startles Malcolm awake. He's up and aware in a matter of seconds. The bed his mother had fallen asleep in is empty, the medicine he’d left on her nightstand is gone too. He tries to rationalize with himself. She likely woke from a nightmare. Went to look for a drink. He doesn’t need to jump to conclusions.

Her scream sends ice through his veins. He’s taking off after that, ignoring the soreness in his joints from the position he’d slept in.

He never should have let himself fall asleep.

He was supposed to be guarding her.

Now she’s-

“Mom!” He calls out to her. Her screams seem to echo off the walls. He suddenly feels too small, a child searching helplessly for his mother in a crowd of ghosts. “Mom!” He’s closer. She’s still screaming.

He rounds the kitchen to a sight that turns his stomach. His investigative sense tells him to preserve the scene, call 911. But his mother is backed up against the wall, eyes glued to the body meant just for her. He doesn’t give a damn about the glass the cuts his feet to get to her. He lifts her by the elbows pulling her back into the dining room.

“Freddy. It’s Freddy.” She sobs before collapsing on his shoulder.

In that moment, Malcolm freezes. Twenty years, not once did she cry for Martin. Not once did she cry for her family that had been burned up and destroyed. She didn’t cry when he moved away, not when he woke up after being taken by the Junkyard Killer, not when Ainsley confessed to her that she killed Endicott. But she’s clinging to him like her life depends on it, and she’s crying.

All he can do is hold onto her and text Gil.

[weasleydream]

The world cup

Hi guys! This is my very first imagine, so please, be kind and indulgent. Also, if you find some mistakes or if you just want to share your opinion, don’t hesitate!

Masterlist

During all the summer, only one thought was in my mind: the finale of the Quidditch World Cup. It was the only event I didn’t want to miss, the Quidditch being my favourite activity. Since my second year at Hogwarts, I had been a Chaser in the Gryffindor team. I could still remembered when Fred, George and I passed the test. The boys wanted to be beaters. We all passed the test without any difficulty and after four years, we were still in the team. 

Despite the fact that I was pretty impatient, I was not really happy when Mrs Weasley, Fred and George’s mother, woke me up. It was really early, in fact so early that it was still the night. Without being able to stop my yawns, I went down the stairs and sat next to Fred. He seemed to be as tired as I was and didn’t even greet me. George was half-sleeping on the table, along with Ginny and Hermione. The other boys were not on the kitchen yet. When they finally arrived, we ate silently our breakfast and went back into the rooms in order to get ready. 

I was still looking for my jumper when Mrs Weasley’s sweet voice arrived to my ears. 

-George! What have you got in your pocket?

Oh boys… I thought to myself. They had told me that they wanted to take some Ton-Tongue Toffees with them to sell them once arrived at the campsite. Obviously, their mother was ready and soon I heard her yelling about the twins’ OWL. Well, it’s true that they didn’t really excel but in their defense, they already had plans for their future and I was pretty sure their shop was going to be a success. That’s why they didn’t really work for their exams, they were too busy creating new products. Fred told me in a letter that his mother was really upset. With a sigh, I sneaked as quietly as possible in their room and put some sweets in my backpack. 

When I arrived outside, Mr Weasley, Fred, George, Ron, Harry, Ginny and Hermione were waiting for me. I quickly said goodbye to Mrs Weasley and run next to my best friends. I could tell that they were still angry because of their mother. Without even try to cheer them up, I took two Ton-Tongue Toffees and threw them in their faces. With a giggle, I saw their expression move from annoyance to admiration.

-Y/N, you are awesome! 

-Thanks, George, but I already knew it. 

-Mum could have caught you, said Fred, even if she sees you as the little angel whose job is making us geniuses. I’m pretty sure sometimes she gets suspicious of you too.

-Don’t worry for that, she didn’t catch me. And, between you and I, I think you already are geniuses. 

-That’s so sweet of you but we already knew it, answered George with a big grin. 

-Idiot. 

-At your service. 

The portkey, which turned out to be an old boot, brought us in front the biggest campsite I had never seen. And here we were, happily walking between the tents to find our location. After what felt like hours, we finally were able to enter our tents. Hermione, Ginny and I shared one, a little bit smaller that the boys’ one, but still spacious for three. I joined Fred and George and we started to explore the surroundings. 

-That’s incredible how some wizards think dresses with flowers are decent clothes for a man, commented George.

-It has to be comfy, imagine a pleasant breeze on your -

-Fred, George, Y/N!

I had never been happiest when seeing Lee Jordan, our Gryffindor friend. I could still hear Fred laughing at my embarrassment when Lee joined us. 

-So, do you have these sweets you promised me?

The boys started to talk about how the Ton-Tongue Toffee had been created, and how Mrs Weasley was furious when she heard that the twins tried it on Dudley, Harry’s fat and awful cousin. Since I had heard these stories approximately a thousand times, I decided to go on my own and keep exploring the campsite. I saw children with magical toys, wizards trying to start a fire without their wand and suddenly, two arms enveloped me into a hug. It only took me a second to understand that Oliver Wood was in front of me. Oliver was the Gryffindor Quidditch team’s captain and our keeper. This guy had a very great passion for Quidditch and I somehow knew I would see him here. 

-Y/N, I’m so glad to see you! Would you come in my tent?

I followed him while he was telling me about his new club. He had already told me this in his letters, but he seemed so happy with a big smile on his face that I just listened to him. He dragged me in front of his parents who seemed amused by the situation. 

-Mom, Dad, it’s Y/N. You know, she’s a chaser in Gryffindor’s team!

-The best might I add, I joked. 

-Well, Y/N, it’s nice to finally meet you, said his mother. Oliver told us a lot about you, he seems to really like you. 

I laughed, slightly embarrassed. But it was nothing compared to Oliver: his cheeks were red, I had never seen him like this. I had to admit that it was kind of cute. However, I decided to save him.

-It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs Wood. Maybe we’ll meet later. 

Oliver seemed relieved to get out of the tent. 

- So, who are you here with? he asked. No, let me guess… The Weasleys.

- Right on the money.

-And… Did something happen, you know… With Fred?

I didn’t expect this, to say the least. I looked at Oliver, at his red cheeks as I felt myself redden too. Fred was only my best friend, just like George. Well, I had always been a little closer to Fred but it didn’t mean I liked him more than that… Right? Moreover, I couldn’t admit to Oliver that he had been my first crush at Hogwarts. I mean, he had always been so gentle with me, since the beginning, and he was older, a captain and a marvelous Quidditch player. I really didn’t know what to answer, but I’m pretty sure my actual answer wasn’t very smart. 

-God, this is awkward. 

Oliver looked away, clearly as embarrassed as me. I finally saw the Weasleys in front of the tents. It seemed like they were looking for me because Fred looked relieved when he saw me. When they saw who was with me, the twins joined us. 

-Hey Wood how are you?

-Great, glad to see you guys. I’m sorry, I’ve got to go. Maybe we’ll see each other again.

And he left. Fred and George seemed to notice my embarrassment, because they exchanged a look and George asked me:

-Did something happen? With Wood? 

-No, I answered quickly. Nothing, don’t worry. 

The match was just… Wow. Incredible. I spent it between my favourite twins, always screaming useless advices and cheering when the Quaffle got through the bulgarian Keeper’s defense. And as if it wasn’t already a perfect night, the Irish team won and a wonderful celebration seemed to take shape. As we were heading back to the tents, I felt someone taking my hand and Oliver asked me if I wanted to go celebrate to his tent. Mr Weasley allowed me - “But please be careful or Molly is gonna kill me”- and I followed Oliver, missing Fred’s hard look. 

Some other Hogwarts students joined us and soon, we were all partying in Oliver’s tent. He managed to bring butterbeer and Firewhiskey. I guess I should have been more careful, but soon I felt my thoughts getting more confused. I still managed to keep an eye on my watch, because I didn’t want to betray Mr Weasley’s trust. When I finally decided to go back to the tent, Oliver grabbed my hand and kissed me. 

I didn’t really know what I was doing but hey, it was the Quidditch  World Cup, and it was a celebration party, why not enjoy this? I kissed him back, pulling slightly his hair. He seemed to enjoy it as he moaned lightly. I felt one of his hands on my back and the other on my cheek. I was barely aware that some people were cheering at us, but I heard very clearly the first explosion. As we pulled apart, I heard the first screams. Totally panicking, everyone started to leave. Oliver and I got out too, to see some tents on fire and a group a masked men. Their wands were raised and with horror, I saw Muggles flying in the air, as if they were attached by a rope. Spells were cast from everywhere. 

-I need to find Fred and George!

Oliver seemed to understand what I said even if the screams were deafening. He took my hand and started to run. I had managed to take my wand and cast a few spells when I heard a little voice crying, so low that I wasn’t even sure I really heard it. Nevertheless, I stopped and searched for the voice. Oliver joined me and together, we found a little boy. He was hiding on his tent and crying. I took him in my arms and started running. Oliver protected us with Shield Charms. A man stopped me and took the little boy from my arms. Oliver grabbed once more my hand and encouraged me -”Come on, Y/N, faster!”. 

-Y/N! Y/N, what are you doing here?

Bill was running toward me and pulled me in a relieved embrace. Then he urged me towards the place where the portkey had brought us earlier and left. I looked at Oliver, he seemed to be shocked. I turned my head and the horror filled my thought. We had a view of all the campsite. It was burning, the sky full of clouds seemed to become red. The screams were deafening, and the men with the masks were coming toward us. A red light hit the tree behind me, I felt it’s heat as it passed above my head. I let a scream out, took firmly Oliver’s hand and started running towards a safest place, at least I hoped so. 

I was beginning to think that we were going to die here, that I would never see my best friends again when I saw two familiar boys with red hair. Almost crying of joy, I let go Oliver’s hand and jumped into Fred’s arms. He stroked my hair, whispering some comforting words into my ear. George joined us, clearly as relieved to see me as his brother. 

-Thank you Oliver. You brought her safe. Thank you. 

-It’s nothing. I have to go back, I don’t know where my parents are. 

-Wait Oliver!

I came to him and hugged him. 

-Thank you. And Oliver… I’m sorry for what happened earlier. The kiss. It…

-It shouldn’t have happened, I know. 

His look was sweet. He smiled, patted my hair, teased me about my height like he did when he was still at Hogwarts, waved goodbye to the twins and left. I turned around and met George’s mocking eyes. 

-Did I hear right? You kissed him? 

Merlin, he won’t stop teasing me about this...