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#just watch me be wrong and they explained it in the show why ethan went to jesse for help. sometimes i forget plot points while posting lol
keraxxx · 1 year
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HIII could you do something where the reader tells bf!ethan how bad her days was and told him someone was really mean and upset with her and they end up going missing the next day bc ethan obviously killed them?
A/N: Hi and of course! This idea is perfect! I’ve been wanting to write something like this omg. I hope you enjoy!
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No one can hurt you.
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Ethan Landry x Fem!reader
Warnings: crying, mentions of bullying, cursing, description or murder, not proof read.
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God you were tired. After that long day at college you couldn’t take it, especially after that one girl keeps running her mouth. She always would talk shit about you and it ruined your day. You just needed to see Ethan and talk to him, hold you for at least a second. So that’s what you did, you went to visit him.
You walk to his dorm and gently knock on his door, trying hard not to get anger and pound on it. You wait patiently as you hear shuffling inside.
Ethan opens the door confused bit his face immediately lights up he was so happy to see you. You were his girlfriend and he loved you more than anything in the whole entire world. “Hey baby.. are you okay?” He frowns as he sees your eyes swell up like tears. He invites you inside immediately, his dorm mate no where to be seen.
“Ethan.. I can’t take this anymore.” You finally let out a sob as he takes you into his arms. “Baby.. what wrong?” Ethan hugs you tightly and rests his head on top of yours in an attempt to comfort you. You couldn’t form any words, you just cried. “Shh.. calm down and explain to me what happened.” He brings you to his bed and sits you down.
“This stupid bitch!” You yelled. “She-she won’t stop talking shit about me! What did i do to her? I just need someone to explain to me what the hell i did!” You vented and sobbed. Ethan just say in silence, listening to your cries. “I can’t stand her! I want her to disappear! Maybe then all these people will stop ruining my day with these stupid insults and rumors.” You wipe your face and look at Ethan.
His face was twisted into a frown, his brows furrowed. You could tell he was mad, words couldn’t even explain how he felt right now. “That’s interesting.” Is all he says as he holds your hand, his other caressing your face. “I need you to calm down.” He says calmly, his eyes look innocent but you can tell something inside him had just snapped.
You breathe in and out a few times. “I’m sorry..” He shakes his head. “No need to apologize I understand.” Ethan hugs you again and your arms wrap around his neck. “God i’m so sorry.. I just wish it was me and you.” You say softly into his ear.
“Don’t worry.. it’ll be okay.” He says as he pulls away to kiss you softly.
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After you had left, Ethan was sitting in his room, his hands folded into each other. He was moving his knee erratically as he started to think. He didn’t want you to be upset about the girl but he also did want you to be worry for about why she was going to go missing the next day.
“Fuck it.”
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You where scrolling in your phone in your bed as a news article popped up. A news article about your college. You immediately read the title.
“Young girl missing in College.”
You scroll down to see the image of the girl. It was her. The girl who always had something to say. Your eyes widened in shock as you gasped. You couldn’t believe it. Maybe the universe was on your side? No, this is bad. You had to show Ethan.
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“I just can’t believe it! I was just talking about her yesterday right? God this is such a nightmare!” Ethan laid back as he watched you pace around the room nervously. “Everyone must be so worried! Her family, friends! I feel so bad.” You say as you pout and walk over to Ethan. You lay down next to him and you both face each other. “How are you not worried?” You say frowning.
Ethan chuckles. “Why should I be? She was rude.” He smirked before kissing your forehead. “Don’t worry about it.. She probably just passed out drunk somewhere.”
But he knew what you didn’t. He knew that she was screaming in the alleyway last night for help. He knew and you didn’t.
“I would never let anyone hurt you. You know that right?” He smiles softly and innocently.
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nicohischierz · 6 months
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betty: brandt clarke
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tagging: @ivy-34, @francesfarhadi, @hzstry8, @cixrosie, @itsnotgray, @estapa94, @trevs-swiftie, @heartz4hischif you want to join the taglist let me know!!
when starting the school year, brandt assumed he would see you sitting with an empty spot beside you for him.
but he was wrong.
the spot you usually accompanied was empty and he assumed you were off sick today. and for the rest of the week, he just assumed you were sick seeing as he never saw you anywhere. but then again, how do you recognise someone who is actively avoiding you.
it wasn't until ethan cardwell mentioned that you were in his homeroom, that things made sense to brandt.
the young boy went home and began writing a letter to his best friend.
betty, I won't make assumptions about why you switched your homeroom, but I think it's 'cause of me
it was the end of summer break and one of the guys in your year held a party. one that you attended with brandt and some of your friends. the two of you were having a good time dancing around.
brandt didn't know what happened because one second he was having the time of his life and the next you were cussing him out with tears streaming down your face.
he couldn't remember who had their arm wrapped around your shoulder, but he remembered her coming over to him. her scent filled his nose and he immediately felt nauseous thinking of you
betty, one time I was riding on my skateboard when I passed your house it's like I couldn't breathe
it had been three months since you started avoiding brandt. he'd get weekly updates from his teammates who were still in contact with you.
one day, things got a bit too much. brandt had been worried about hockey, his draft year coming up and you.
he took out his skateboard, one he hadn’t used in a long time, and rode until his mind was clear.
well until he came across a house he hadn’t been to in a while.
his breath was caught in his throat as he watched you in your window. he noticed someone else come up behind you and kiss your cheek.
you heard the rumors from inez, you can't believe a word she says most times, but this time, it was true
the night of the party when you were on your way to the bathroom, one of your classmates stopped you. inez was one who knew everything so when she wanted to speak to you, you got worried.
“betty, i need to tell you that i saw brandt and audrey over the summer together. at first i thought it was a coincidence but then i saw your story in europe and when i looked up i caught brandt and audrey kissing!” she exclaimed.
tears began to fill your eyes and you brushed past inez towards brandt. you saw aurora lingering nearby and you saw red. you pushed brandt and cussed him out.
ryan grabbed your shoulder and pulled you away from brandt and drove you home that night. he stayed with you as you cried about your lost love.
The worst thing that I ever did was what I did to you
brandt remembered the promise he made to you before you left for europe.
you were to come back with your mind made up on whether you were willing to try be a couple.
he never meant to end up in aurora’s bed.
he never wanted to hurt you.
But if I just showed up at your party, would you have me? would you want me? would you tell me to go straight to hell? or lead me to the garden? in the garden, would you trust me if I told you it was just a summer thing? i'm only 17, I don't know anything but I know I miss you
it was now your birthday.
the boys on his team had spoken about being invited and ethan handed brandy his invite too.
ethan explained that whilst the two of you weren’t talking, your family missed brandt and this was the only setting you felt comfortable seeing him.
so brandt took it with a stride.
he’d always bought your birthday present and he had it wrapped and hidden in his room until your birthday.
brandt knew he messed up with aurora and he was going to do everything in his power to get you back
The worst thing that I ever did was what I did to you
but if I just showed up at your party would you have me? would you want me? would you tell me to go straight to hell? or lead me to the garden? in the garden, would you trust me if I told you it was just a summer thing?
brandt expected nothing less than your garden party for your birthday.
the sun dress you wore highlighting every part of you that he loved. it also happened to be the dress he picked out.
brandt waited until the party was in full swing before approaching you.
“hey, can we talk?” he asked softly.
you looked around and nodded, leading him up to your bedroom.
“this summer, i was walking home just thinking of you when she pulled up like a figment of my worst intentions. she said "brandt, get in, let's drive" and suddenly those days turned into nights i slept next to her, but i dreamt of you all summer long,” he rambled.
“you wanted to be with me, so why did you end up in her bed?” you asked.
brandt shrugged. “when she was driving me home, she let me talk … about you. she said she’d help take my mind off of you and i thought it would ease my pain but it didn’t”.
you moved your hand close to his as you sat on your bed. he was quick to intertwine your fingers and place a hand on your cheek.
“the only thing I wanna do is make it up to you,” he whispered.
brandt didn’t have time to think as you placed your lips on his. the kiss was better than anything he had dreamed of.
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Things I Noticed While Writing Light The Fuse: Part 15, Episode 5
This Magic Moment to end off this half of the series, so excited to write what happens next 😊
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They're watching each other again, they're always watching each other when Matty drives. I wonder what they're thinking about, if Ethan is still thinking about how it didn't make sense, or how they accept him and want him there, if he's wondering if he should really stay because there's no need to go back even if he's wrong? And Matty, if he's wondering (my hands no joke just type wonderful on instinct) if he'll stay, or how he's feeling after their talk, if he's okay, or maybe if he's wondering what else Ethan might be hiding from them or if he's ready to keep accepting him no matter what the truth is.
I need to talk to everyone who worked on this show or I will end up haunting the earth with unfinished business
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This song is so them-coded I needed to make it theirs only to make it hurt, I'm all for a good song being ironically played in serious scenes, it's hilarious to me and this is the other scene I filmed on my phone to share the first time I saw it, but c'mon, does it not fit them being in love exactly?
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Sure doesn't look too happy to see her even though she should be signifying that he can go home soon huh. She even told him she'd be down there and he looks more shocked than relieved, and half of me is like 'she's there to take him home and he doesn't want that' and the other half is like 'he told her the times and now she appears and this is bad news' like how I wrote it in my fic, but this is canon Ethan so he could also be thinking anything with how he doesn't look too worried when they arrive
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Poor Matty he's just glancing over at a passing car, he's heard her voice, seen her here, and also meets her and never once does he connect the dots I need to protect him from the oncoming heartbreak he goes through enough
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Thank you, dear god, if I saw anyone else play Johnson it wouldn't have worked even half as well, there is only one Johnson and he can only be played by David Dastmalchian and I stand by that so hard.
Also lol at Matty leaning back so far and seriously cause he's in the shot
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This is also unforgivable, how dare she do this right after sending the Brawlers after him, she's officially put him into danger by association and she knows it and she still gives him this wave, as a character she's so fascinating but my god I can't forgive her
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And then it's over. You can only pray that this has nothing to do with what you talked about yesterday, Ethan, and that they'll still love you when it all comes out
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The casual pull up, this is just another normal drop, things are calm, Ethan gets to toss Matty the bag this time, he fixes his sleeves Johnson-style, and then it all goes to hell. This is probably the first time Matty's seen anything like this, since he got here after the war and all, and Johnson's probably thinking 'oh no not again' after so long of things being good, but Ethan, with him seeing this and then throwing away his phone next ep, he knows that this is his fault
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Matty freaking out and explaining things to a couple random Brawlers before turning to Johnson as he walks away, Johnson motioning for someone to come over, and Ethan for some reason went to talk to his own random Brawler, interesting choice there, I wonder what he said
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This shot has an interesting cut, on Hulu it starts later and goes for longer, and on Amazon it starts sooner and ends halfway through, so I spliced them together to make one big shot. I know they did it since the following scene was cut and they needed to keep the Joel continuity, but still, I loved seeing all the differences between the two as I did this ep
Oooooooough Matty all curled up while he talks to Joel, he's the only one who wants to become a Brawler and he's the one panicking the hardest here outta all of them, even Ethan is just standing around while Johnson sits off to the side, why wouldn't he also be talking to Joel about this? I'm telling you, he only talks to people whenever Matty can't, and I will bring this up again when I do ep6 and 10
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This scene was cut entirely, which is a shame since it's so good. We got Matty being all panicky and fidgety, we got Meredith being sisterly to Lyla which is always nice, we got Avron 😒 and we got a nice shot of Johnson they robbed from us. The rest of their convo is unintelligible, I can make out Matty saying 'He just-' and then that's it, with whispers of them still going, wish the Brawlers could've talked a little less here
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I love the reveal that Bash did this cause Percy was his brother, every reveal is great in this show, but this is about the Phoenixes so we must look at them. Of course they gotta go back to show them what happened, but what I wanna know is why Ethan is the one chosen to drive back. I wrote Matty as being too wired to concentrate, and Johnson is taking his sweet time back there (he throws out his cigarette twice lol) but you'd think that Ethan might also be too wired since he saw an actual dead body like an hour before, even if they don't know each other that well.
There's also something in the backseat of the third gif and I still have no idea what it is
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Like is this a piece of film equipment? I have no idea what that thing is in both show and real world context, it almost looks like a speaker or something
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Bonus Meredith and Lyla cause this shot was also cut, the rest of the ep is the same from here
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All three of them waiting outside and giving them time to inspect/grieve 🥺 they didn't even try to stop Bash when he rushed out, they just get back in the car and wait for Joel to follow. Matty doesn't even really look in, he's just looking down and away, which Johnson does at the same time I just noticed
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Matty is driving, but there's no one in the backseat unless they turned into shadows or I'm blind
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RIP Gary, your promised rematch with Matty would've been legendary
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It's hard to see cause this is the world's darkest bar but Johnson actually reacts to this one, he touches his forehead just over Joel's shoulder near the end
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Matty once again looking to only Johnson while he's already looking at them and not the carnage /)o(\ This is what your loyalty to Doris did, Ethan! Just tell her to fuck off instead of answering her ;w;
And that's it, I won't do the rest of the eps until I'm done writing Light the Fuse, which I was hoping to be doing this whole time but it's been so busy I haven't had a chance to sit down and write anything OTL but since this ended up finishing on a Tuesday, I'll give myself one more week to try and stock up (since I've got nothing to post heh ;w;) and then in a few months when this fic is all done we can look at more details together~
Thanks so much for joining me so far, this has been a lot of fun and I can't wait to get back to working on both the fic and this series again asap ❤️💙💛
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hay-389 · 1 month
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A little snippet of something I’m working on. It’s mainly supposed to be from Morgan’s POV, but there will be a little of Tony’s, Pepper’s, and Peter’s added in the full story.
So, at the end of the school day, roughly around 12:00 pm, she sat coloring at a table waiting to be picked up. It was a Friday which meant her dad would be getting her. Usually Uncle Happy and her dad rotated shifts and on occasion when her mommy didn’t have any work she would show up and surprise her. Morgan knew the schedule like the back of her hand so she wasn’t surprised when her dad strolled into the classroom like clockwork wearing his usual pair of black shades and baseball cap.
“Daddy!”
“Hey there Morgana, ready to make a prison break?” He knelt down to her level, eyeing the picture she had all her focus on before he interrupted.
“Whatcha got there, kiddo?”
Tony picked it up off the table and held the slightly crinkled paper up to the light to get a better look.
“That’s you daddy,” Morgan informed him, slightly rolling her eyes and huffing because it was obviously him dressed up as Iron Man. She used the perfect shade of red and yellow to color his suit in. How could he not tell?
“Right, of course, that’s me. And I’m totally kicking those guy’s butts because they’re the super villains hell bent on ruining the day.”
Geez, did she have to explain everything to him?
“No daddy, you aren’t fighting them, you’re flying away.”
“Now why would I fly away from them when I have perfectly good repulsors on my hands that can blast them into next Sunday? Hmm.”
“Because, those are the bad people who took you away. That’s you escaping them.”
For just a moment Morgan watched as the wide grin across her father’s face fell into a grim expression. It didn’t last very long, just a few seconds, but she knew she saw it because it was very similar to the one he sometimes wore when telling her stories about her dead brother.
“Who told you that, Morgan?”
“Ethan.”
“Well,” her father spoke, exchanging his rather sad look for a smile. Morgan thought it looked kind of fake. “I think Ethan is too nosey for his own good. Let’s get out of here.”
Her father didn’t say anything else, instead grabbing her book bag and lunchbox from her cubby, then waving goodbye towards her teacher and helper as they left the classroom. She held his hand as they walked to the car and occasionally looked up to see her dad staring down at her drawing. It didn’t seem he liked it all that much. Had she upset him by coloring it?
Morgan stayed quiet as she was buckled into her car seat and even when they pulled away from the school and started heading towards the ice-cream shop she knew he was taking her to. It was normal every Friday for them to stop—it was their own little secret. She would get two big scoops, one cotton candy and one chocolate, in exchange to keep quiet about it from her mommy who didn’t like it when she had loads of sugar.
“What’s wrong, Mo? You're usually bursting my eardrums with all the talk about how school went. Why so quiet?”
“Daddy,” she asked, a serious expression on her face she clearly inherited from her mother. “Did I make you sad?”
Tony startled at the question, his fingers drum, drum, drumming on the steering wheel trying to think back on why she would assume such a thing.
“When you saw my drawing you looked unhappy.”
Huh, maybe she had inherited Pepper’s scary ability to be able to read him like an open book too.
“No kid, your picture didn’t make me sad. I love your drawing. I just…I haven’t thought about that in a really long time.”
“How come?”
That was certainly a good question. A complicated one asked by someone way too young that if she really understood the horrors that went on in that cave in Afghanistan, then she probably wouldn’t have asked it in the first place.
It’s been over a decade since Tony found himself clawing his way out of there, about 13 years now. Since then he’s had so much happen in between that time. He became an avenger then fought aliens. He watched his son grow up into this bright brilliant teenager only to lose him in his arms not long after. He got married to Pepper and had Morgan. He gave up being Iron Man and moved upstate to a quiet little cabin in the middle of the woods. Those were just the major events, not even including all the other shit he had to deal with along the way.
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zponds · 1 year
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The Genie Team - Season 9 — “The Tragedy of Penn Central” (part 1)
One day at the National New York Central Railroad Museum in Indiana, Max looks at some old photographs that were taken long ago during the days of New York Central System. And May (who’s in her Hoenn outfit form to conceal her genie identity), is going through files of old photographs, when an unknown photograph slips out from one of the files. May is about to pick it up, but stops when she sees what’s in the photograph: a logo of something called Penn Central. May is quite taken aback as she’s never heard of Penn Central before, and when Max wonders what’s up, May shows him the Penn Central logo photograph, and Max becomes just as taken aback as his sister and genie. At that moment, Becky (in her human form) comes back in from outside, having looked at and taken photographs of Mohawk #3001. She wonders what May and Max are looking and she asks, but the Maple siblings say nothing, so Becky looks at what they’re looking at, and she too becomes taken aback. Meanwhile, along the Keystone Corridor section of the Northeast Corridor, Ash (in his Sinnoh outfit) and Dawn (who’s in her winter outfit to conceal her genie identity), are watching trains go by. They see Glenn, one of the four GG1’s, flying by train that’s 15 Pennsylvania Railroad passenger cars long. Dawn says that she enjoys seeing the four GG1’s flying by whenever she gets the chance, and Ash agrees with her. At that moment, Ethan, one of the three E4’s, zooms by, but he’s pulling something that catches Ash and Dawn by surprise; three jade green cabooses with “Penn Central” written on their sides, as well as weird logo symbols of what look like a “P” and a “C” meeting. After Ethan zooms by, Ash and Dawn are confused, as they never heard of this “Penn Central” before. Dawn gets a notification from Ellie, and when Dawn checks said notification, it says “All Genies, gather at the Genie School of Friendship. We have a mater to discuss.”. Dawn tells Ash about the notification and she teleports him and herself to the Genie School. When they arrive, they see all the genies and their masters. With everyone present and accounted for, Ellie asks if anybody had any weird discoveries regarding this “Penn Central”. May and Max explain their Penn Central logo picture discovery, then Dawn and Ash discuss their Penn Central caboose sighting. However, Darien and Serena (Sailor Moon) notice me sitting on a nearby bench, holding Mina’s lamp, and Mina is sleeping inside her lamp. Darien wonders if I’m paying any attention to the discussion at all. As Darien, Sailor Moon, Hunter, Temacu, Grant, and Amanda approach me, I look at Mina’s lamp and I gently rub it, and Mina comes out. She notices me feeling down, but before she can ask me what’s wrong, Darien and Sailor Moon grab my attention, asking me why I’m not paying attention to the meeting at all. Mina becomes confused, so Sailor Moon tells her about the meeting and its subject; Penn Central. When Mina hears this, she becomes more confused as she’s never heard of Penn Central. I moan sadly having heard “Penn Central”, and Mina asks if I know anything about this Penn Central. I say that Penn Central was in fact real, but I can’t explain about it as it’s way way WAY too depressing. Mina comforts her master, me. Although I do add that if the genie team wants to know the story of Penn Central, they should hear it from an engine who actually went through it. Mirabelle and Sally think that they should talk to Torpedo and Paul about it. Reluctantly, I agree, and the genie team and I set off to find and gather the two.
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transbibennyweir · 4 years
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thinking about how in the last eps ethan was the one to get jesse for help and everyone was like Why Him but ethan really thought jesse would be useful enough to help them out..... maybe i’m forgetting a plot point but why did ethan trust him? if season three happened would it be ethan that thinks maybe jesse could change for the better? like i’m really interested in their character dynamic and how it would evolve after the final esp with what everyone else would think
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malleux · 4 years
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idk if my request went through cuz my internet went weird just now-- but anyways, could I perhaps get a soft corpse x reader in which they're all playing among us and Rae or Sean invites (y/n), who none of them have every heard of, and she's just very shy but has an adorable childlike voice, and is an incredible imposter? Like she's just super convincing just like corpse, and can tug at the heartstrings with her voice? thank you!
spell. | corpse husband
part two ; part three
-> Pairing: Corpse Husband x Fem!Reader
-> Fandom: uhh youtubers? idk
-> Genre: Fluff, Crack
-> Warnings: Cursing
-> A/N: hi it’s a long overdue corpse fic :) it’s not the absolute best and for that i’m super sorry i’ve just got to get in the groove of writing for him!
corpse husband taglist is closed!
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You were never one to enjoy the spotlight. Instead, you were often found in the background of things, just observing the extroverts who managed to get themselves in the middle of everything.
You had a nerve to admire them- their ability to just get out there and show their true selves, despite so many people watching their every move. Just the thought of it made you shudder. Yet you couldn’t help but also be rather envious of them.
Them, in question, being Sean McLoughlin.
You weren’t quite sure how you became associated with Jacksepticeye himself, choosing to focus on the present and future with your friend rather than dwelling on your past. He was just Sean, your internet friend. And also Jacksepticeye- a famous youtuber with millions of followers.
Sean was who you aspired to be in life. Outgoing, happy, out there, everything positive in life that Sean had, you wanted.
He’d confided in you often about how nervous he’d get before streams or videos, fearing that he’d say the wrong thing or upset his fans, but he still put on a brave face and went out into the chaos. That’s what you admired. His ability to conquer those anxieties.
You wished you could do that. You were simply too nervous.
Which is why when Sean facetimed you one night- morning, actually, seeing as it was 3am in California, where you were- asking you to join a game of Among Us for one of his videos, you adamantly refused.
“Why? Please, Y/N, we need one more person.” Sean begged, “It’ll be me, you, Felix, Ethan, Corpse, Julien, PJ, and Dave. Not everyone’s playing today, it’s a smaller crowd.”
“But it’s still a lot.” You groaned, “I don’t even know them. I just know you.”
“They’re nice! You literally watch their videos.” He argued back.
“That’s the point, Sean! They’re famous, I’d just be some random chick in the game that everyone asks where the fuck she came from.”
“No, you’ll be the girl that everyone adores. Now get on, we’re playing in ten.”
You sighed as the phone hung up and turned on your computer. A Discord invite was waiting for you- Sean must have invited you for you to talk to everyone as you played. You accepted with shaky fingers and put your headphones on, pulling up Among Us and typing in the game code.
“Hello everyone- wait, who’s pink?”
“She’s a good friend of mine,” Sean explained to Felix, “Say hi Y/N. We’re streaming live right now.”
“Hello,” You couldn’t help the meek tone in your voice, smiling shyly as if you were actually on camera. “Wait, you’re streaming? Sean, I thought you said it was a recording for a video.”
“I, well. It’s a video all right.”
The group laughed, but you stayed silent, fixating your attention on a lower voice that chimed in at the end.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Y/N. I’m Corpse.”
“The King of Imposters.” PJ joked, making Corpse laugh.
You giggled a bit, “Hi…”
Felix gasped. “Corpse, her voice is like, the total opposite from yours. Her’s is so cute.”
Corpse laughed as well. “Agreed. I like it.”
As the game loaded, your heart practically dropped.
Imposter.
As if your nerves weren’t bad enough as they were. But, on the bright side, you were with Sean as the other imposter. At least it was someone you knew.
You both split up, you heading towards Electrical. Corpse and Felix were close behind you, Felix following you into the room while Corpse left. You pretended to do your task for a minute before moving to your left a minute and killing Felix.
You rushed out of the room and then headed to Navigations, making sure to avoid anybody who could have seen you leave Electrical. A few moments later, a body was reported.
“Where was it?” Sean asked Julien, the reporter.
“Electrical.”
“I saw Y/N go in there with him at the beginning of the game.” Corpse joined in, “I saw them as I was going to the Reactor.”
“I was in Electrical with him,” You admitted, still acting a bit shy. What could you say, deep voices and new people made you nervous. “But after that I left and went to do my task in Navigation. Felix was still alive and there when I left.”
“Did you pass anyone sus on the way there?” Sean asked.
“No, if they came in after I did it must’ve either been from the other way or after I was already in Electrical.” You started picking at your nail polish- a habit of yours when things got a little overwhelming.
“So you’re saying that it could’ve been from the direction Corpse was in?” You could hear the smirk in Sean’s voice.
“Whoa, whoa, hold up. Why are you so quick to throw me under the bus? I’m just a crewmate.” Corpse questioned, “You’re pretty sus if you ask me.”
Sean scoffed, “I’m just inferring that the culprit came from your direction. Never in my words did I say it was you. Sounds like you’re getting a little too defensive for someone who’s ‘just a crew mate’.”
“Uh, guys,” You quietly spoke up. You didn’t expect anyone to hear you, but Corpse and Sean immediately quieted down at your voice. “I hate to interrupt, but we’ve got to vote. I don’t want us to argue…”
Sean laughed. “Oh little Y/N, you’re too sweet. I’m skipping this round.”
As you voted to skip as well, your stomach clenched when you heard Corpse quietly repeat “Little Y/N”.
꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂
“It’s Y/N, I’m fucking telling you! Y/N!” Julien was practically screaming at this point. You tried to stay calm, focusing on keeping your voice steady.
The group had been calling you cute and adorable practically all night, so you were seriously about to put that to use.
“I was in Medbay with Corpse, isn’t that right, Corpse?” Your tone was sweet and slightly flirty- hopefully he’d get the hint.
Corpse hesitated for a millisecond- long enough for your breath to catch, but short enough for nobody else to notice. “Yeah, she was with me.”
“She was with you after she vented there!” Julien cried, “I can’t believe this- she killed Ethan and vented away right as I went into the room! You all are fucking nuts if you don’t believe me.”
“I don’t even know how to vent…” You murmured innocently, but in reality you were smirking. Julien was definitely telling the truth, and you were internally beating yourself up for letting yourself be so reckless after a kill, but nobody was seemingly buying his story.
There was only you, Corpse, Julien, Dave, and PJ left. Sean was voted off after fucking up his alibi, leaving you alone with the rest of the group.
Corpse sighed. “You all heard the girl. She doesn’t even know how to vent.”
“Wh- she just fucking vented!” Julien exclaimed, “Corpse, man, she’s got you under some fucking magic spell if you can’t see all the evidence. Guys, back me up here.”
“She’s sus.” Dave admitted, “And Corpse defending her makes it even more sus.”
“The spell she tried on him obviously got the best of him. I say we vote Y/N.” PJ agreed.
“There’s no spell, guys, oh my God.” Corpse laughed, “I just don’t think it’s her. I’m skipping.”
“I can’t believe you guys don’t believe me!” You whined, deciding to go further with your emotional tactics, “I’m literally about to cry. It’s not me!”
And yet, despite your protests, Dave, PJ, and Julien all voted you out. Crewmates had won the game and you were giggling nearly like a maniac as everyone gushed about how you did as an Imposter.
A bit later, you had to say goodbye to your new friends and face the reality that their fans would definitely find who you were by tomorrow. Or like, in a few hours, because it was already 4am. Corpse was in California as well, wasn’t he? He should be getting some sleep too, you thought. But maybe sleep schedules were different for Youtubers. You didn’t know.
You pondered the thought for a moment before the notification sound for Discord alerted you of a new message on your phone.
Corpse:
Just letting you know, your voice definitely had me under a spell. I’d like to hear it more often
10K notes · View notes
andvys · 3 years
Text
Fine line part two 
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warnings: angst, slow burn
pairing: Ellie Williams x reader (eventually)
author’s note: hi! I'm sorry if the first few chapters are gonna seem a little boring, I promise it’s gonna get a whole lot better!
The next day you woke up feeling even more tired and exhausted than the day before and for some reason your back felt really sore, you could probably blame it on the sofa. 
After you came home yesterday you went straight into the bedroom, packed your backpack and prepared yourself for the upcoming trip. You couldn't wait to get out of Jackson after finding your boyfriend, well, ex boyfriend cheating on you. 
You felt nothing but hate and disgust for that man and for some reason it wasn't even hard to hate him. 
Instead of sleeping in your bed you decided to sleep on the sofa in the living room, you sure as hell wouldn't sleep in the same bed where he probably cheated on you.
It was 6 am now and Ethan wasn't home yet, you knew his shift ended at 5 am. He was supposed to be home a long time ago, you didn't need to think hard enough to know where he was right now. ‘At least I won't have to see him right now.’ you thought to yourself.
You felt stupid for not realizing that he was cheating on you earlier. The signs have been there for a while now but you ignored them. He always came late or he had to take double shifts, his behavior was off and he couldn't even look you in the eye. 
To be fair you had to take double shifts as well after the herd attacked, so you didn't even think anything of it but still the way he behaved around you was enough to know that there was something going on.
What annoyed you was that you had to find out through Ellie. Out of all people it had to be her, she was probably celebrating your miserableness right now and now you had to spend weeks alone with her, she would probably make it a living hell.
Snapping out of your thoughts, you put your shoes on, grabbed your backpack and left your house.
-
When you arrived at the gates, Ellie was already there, along with Joel, Maria and Tommy, it looked like Joel was showing her something on the map.
“good morning.” you smiled at them, ignoring Ellie’s gaze on you.
“good morning y/n.” they greeted you. 
“did you get a good night’s sleep kid?” Joel asked. 
“yeah.” you lied, you barely slept last night, your mind was racing, you were mad at Ethan and you were anxious about the trip.
“that’s good, it’s probably the last time you got to sleep well for a while now.” Maria said. 
It was true, you knew you wouldn't sleep well out there, even when someone was with you. 
“that’s true.”
“alright, well you should go now. We explained everything to Ellie, already, she’s gonna fill you in.” Maria told you. 
Great, more conversations with the girl that hates you.
“you take care of each other out there alright?” Joel said, looking at both you and Ellie.
Ellie nodded her head.
“of course.” you told him, smiling at him. You knew he was worried about Ellie, you remember how worried he was when Ellie just started going on patrols.
He hugged Ellie tightly before hugging you as well. 
You liked Joel, he was one of the people in Jackson, who was never pushy about anything or who asked too many questions, if anything he was the one who made you feel most comfortable here.
“good luck out there.” Tommy said, smiling at you.
“thank you, see you soon.” you told them before looking at Ellie, who was watching you intently. 
They said their goodbyes before leaving but not before Joel hugged Ellie one last time, making you smile to yourself. It was sweet to see the older man this way.
“let’s go.” you said once they left.
Just when you were about to walk through the gates, you heard your name being called causing you to halt in your steps.
Anger rushed through you when you heard his voice, you clenched your jaw and curled your hand up into a fist.
“y/n wait!” 
Ellie glanced at you as you turned around.
He stopped in front of you, “hey babe, leaving witho-
You interrupted him with a punch to his face.
He cried out in pain and surprise as his nose made a loud cracking noise, his hand came up to his face, clutching his nose in pain.
Ellie looked at you in surprise, she didn’t expect this kind of a reaction from you but she was impressed. He deserved to be punched a long time ago.
You heard someone gasp, looking over his shoulder, you found a few people staring at you in shock. 
You were lucky Maria already left or you’d get some real scolding right now.
“what the fuck y/n?!” he exclaimed “what is wrong with you?”
“what is wrong with me?” you chuckled “fuck you, we’re over, go back to your bitch.” you told him angrily.
He looked at you in shook, his eyes widened and he tried to say something but no words came out.
You glared at him before turning around to leave. 
Ellie stood back for a second, impressed about you punching him. Looking at Ethan, she smirked at him before turning around to follow you.
Seeing you being so violant towards the guy that she hated so much made you seem a little bit more likable now.
-
“that was a good punch.” you heard Ellie say after a while. 
You were walking for hours now, you were sure it was afternoon already.
You were surprised to hear her say something, so far there wasn't much conversation between you, you only talked about the trip and what Joel told her.
Looking over at her, you noticed that she was looking at you.
You almost had to laugh at the look on her face, it seemed to be really hard for her to give you a compliment, if that could even count as one.
“thanks?” you said, furrowing your brows. 
She nodded before looking away again. 
“can I ask you something?” you asked.
“sure.” she mumbled, sounding annoyed.
"why did you tell me.. or- why did you tell me to go look?” you asked, talking about last night.
She frowned at your question and looked at you. 
“why wouldn't I?” she asked 
You snorted “well, you hate me.” you pointed out, looking at her “so.. you could’ve just ignored that and let me find out differently.”
“I hate Ethan more though, seeing him miserable is kind of nice plus seeing him getting punched was kinda worth it.” she shrugged.
You chuckled “why do you hate him so much?” you asked, you were genuinely curious about her answer.
A weird expression appeared on her face, it was a mixture between hatred, anger and something else that you couldn't make out.
“He’s a dick.” she pointed out “and he's good for nothing, I mean, he can’t even fight or use a gun properly.” she scoffed, shaking her head.
You couldn't help but chuckle. It was kind of true, he really was bad with guns and fighting wasn't his thing either.
“alright..” you mumbled, as you looked at her once more before going back to looking out for infected.
-
You were walking through a wooded area when you came across a small cabin.
Ellie looked at her map, realizing that it’s the cabin Joel marked on the map. 
“we should rest in there, Joel said it’s safe.” Ellie told you.
“alright.” 
It was getting dark and cold outside, it was about time to fine a place to set up camp in. Being outside at this time wasn't safe.
This was the moment you dreaded the most, you hated going to sleep whenever you were outside of Jackson. It didn't matter if you were alone or with someone, you never felt safe outside, to sleep.
Ellie grabbed the keys out of her backpack Joel gave her and opened the door.
Walking inside you turned your flashlight on, since it was too dark in the cabin to see anything, you shut the door and locked it with the keys Ellie gave you after she unlocked the door.
“hold on.” Ellie said as she found a fireplace in the middle of the room. 
There was enough wood laying there to start a fire, Ellie took care of it while you walked around the cabin, making sure that this place was actually safe, the door was locked and there were no broken windows so there was no way that it wasn't safe but still, you could never know.
Once you made sure everything was safe you went back to where Ellie was, who was sitting on the sofa, looking at the map again. 
The room was light now and you could see more, it was cozy but it was small, so there wasn't much space to get away from Ellie.
You pulled your backpack off and put it on the floor, you looked around the room before sitting down on the chair by the table in the kitchen area.
Looking at Ellie, you noticed she had a frown on her face, well, it looked like a frown, she was just really concentrated. 
Her being distracted gave you the chance to watch her, you always thought she was beautiful, those green eyes of hers made you feel weird whenever she would look at you. 
It was probably because you knew how much she hated you. 
You had to admit, Ellie was the prettiest girl you have ever seen in your life but she was probably the most infuriating person you have met and you couldn't help but hate her at times, especially when she was being a complete asshole to you. 
You tried to befriend her at first but she just kept being in asshole to you so you stopped trying, knowing that you were never gonna be friends with the girl.
It got even worse when you started dating Ethan, if she was mean before then she definitely became even worse after that.
You knew they hated each other but you never found out why. You never noticed them glaring at each other or making mean comments before you and Ethan started dating, it happened shortly after you got together, so you had no idea what that was about.
“what?!” Ellie asked, snapping out of your thoughts you realized you were staring at her and she just catched you. 
You blushed before looking away, you hated it whenever someone would find you staring at them, it made you feel like a creep.
“nothing.” you mumbled. 
“sure.” she scoffed before grabbing her backpack and getting up to walk towards the kitchen area where you were sitting. 
She sat down on the chair opposite of you and pulled some food out of her backpack. 
‘Jerky of course’ you thought to yourself. Dina told you about how Ellie would steal jerky all the time, when she just came to Jackson, fearing that they'd run out of food.
It was kinda cute, imagining her teenage self stuffing her pockets with bags of jerky. Shaking your head. Ellie was not cute.
“eat something.” she said. 
“I'm not hungry.” you mumbled, crossing your arms over your chest, you leaned back in your chair and watched her as she looked at you with a stern expression on her face.
Seeing Ethan cheat on you made you feel sick. 
Deep down you knew it didn't hurt you the way it was supposed to hurt you, you just felt disgusted by him.
You knew you didn't give him what he wanted from you, you were dating for a while and you avoided his touch all the time, you didn't know why but you always felt gross whenever he would touch you.
Not sleeping with him didn't give him an excuse to cheat on you though, he could've just left you, if he wasn't happy. 
You didn't even know why you didn't leave him sooner, you didn't even love him, you never did. 
You didn't know why you started dating him in the first place.
“you okay?” Ellie asked, noticing the frown on your face.
“yeah.” you mumbled, getting up from the chair you looked at Ellie who was watching you already “there’s a bedroom, you can sleep there, I'll take the couch.” you told her, not giving her a chance to say anything before you walked over to the couch and sat down, taking your shoes off before you laid back against the soft cushion, you looked at the ceiling and tried to think of something that would distract you from your disgusting ex boyfriend.
Ellie looked back at you, she sighed in annoyance before getting up to go into the bedroom. 
She turned on the flash light and looked around the room. The bed was big enough for two but there was no way that she would share the bed with you.
She put her backpack on the floor by the door and looked at the two blankets on the bed, she knew there were none on the couch and you would probably freeze at night. 
She thought about it for a second before shaking her head, ‘you were in the bedroom before, you knew there were blankets, you would've taken one if you needed it.’ she thought to herself.
She took her shoes off and laid down on the bed, covering herself with one of the blankets. Thinking about today, she realized it wasn't bad for a first day, you weren't bitchy or annoying but she was sure it was yet to come. 
Unable to fall asleep she looked at the ceiling before looking down at the other blanket. ‘y/n must be freezing right now.’ she thought to herself.
She didn't like you but she still felt bad to know that you were sleeping on the couch without a blanket or a pillow while she got to have the whole bed for herself.
She rolled her eyes before throwing the blanket off her, sitting up she grabbed the other blanket and went back to you.
“hey I hav-” she started before realizing that you were sleeping already. 
She walked over to you and checked if you were actually sleeping before covering you with the blanket. 
She looked down at you, you looked so peaceful right now, it was rare to see you this way. You were always stressed and Ellie was sure she has never seen you without a frown on your face. 
She hated to admit it but you looked beautiful this way, you looked beautiful either way, even with that frown on your face. 
Shaking her head, she frowned at her thoughts before turning around to walk back into the bedroom.
She knew this trip would change your relationship, she just hoped you wouldn't hate each other even more after that.
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Text
New Beginnings
Will halstead x nurse!reader
Summary: you find out your pregnant surprising you and Will.
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a/n: i literally can't stop crushing on fictional characters. This is based on the episode where April is pushed by that one guy but this happens to the reader, so yeah. Also slight inspiration from the office when Jim and Pam find out they are expecting. Hope you enjoy it! also I want to make a part two but I'm not sure lol :)
You and Will being together was a bet everyone was a part of these days. You two just had something, but you two being so oblivious had no idea. You were a great team in the ed, knowing all of his moves, and treatment plans. You were his secondhand and he couldn't be more grateful. He of course started to grow feelings for you quite fast. He just couldn't handle how smart you were and of course beautiful.
“She likes you too,” Maggie said as Will frowned, “what?” he asked as she giggled, “you know what i'm talkin about. Everyone sees how you look at her, just ask her out.” she said as he shook his head, “oh no, i'm not doing that. You don't even know if she does like me.” he said as Maggie laughed, “aha so you do like her! Finally took me months to get it out of you,”  She said as Will tried to hide his smile as he nodded “okay yeah, fine i do like her, but we are colleagues, it wouldn't work out.” he said as Maggie shrugged, “you never know if you don't try.” she said walking away and leaving him alone with his thoughts.
There were moments where you two would join forces and figure out what was going on with patients. It almost looked like there were two doctors, you had a lot of knowledge in your head, sometimes you even forgot you were just a nurse.
“How do you know all this? You're smarter than me.” he said as you giggled “i just read a lot, Will, also not to brag but i was at the the top of my class. They were even surprised when it told them i would be a nurse, said i would excel in surgery.'' you said as he smiled, “well you would. Me and you make a pretty great team.” he said as you giggled getting back to your diagnosis.
These feelings he had for you of course had developed in you as well. You probably felt something for him the first time Maggie introduced you to him. You were slightly nervous, which was so obvious to Maggie. April was also in on it too, wanting you to just tell him what you were feeling.
“You know your crushes are better than the tv drama I am watching.” April said as you frowned looking at her, “what?” you asked as she giggled, “don’t play dumb with me, you like Will.” she said as you shook your head and began to blush, “no i don't, we are just friends.” you said as she shrugged, “if you say so, but i see the way he looks at you. He always chooses you to help him with patients.” she said as you sighed, “that's not true, i help Ethan too, and corner. I alternate all the time.” you said as she pulled out a tally of the times he asked you to help.
“Explain this, you can't say it's nothing because it's dated too,” she said as you laughed looking at her as if she was serious, “April, are you a nurse or a stalker.” you said as she laughed, “I'm serious, you should just tell him how you feel. He likes you back and I know it.” she said as you looked at her, “how do you know?” you said as she shook her head, “not saying, just do it.'' she said as Ethan called her over as you were left with all the tools in hand.
Months later Will had asked you out and you said yes of course. One date had turned into two, and well you were now 1 year into your relationship. Of course Maggie and April had no idea of this. You were surprisingly very secretive. They had no idea about you, nor did they suspect anything. You two did your own thing in the hospital and once you got to your apartment your hands were on one another after a day of no touching.
Once you enter your apartment, his hands were all over you as he brought you lips onto his. You smiled as you placed your hands on his hair, missing how soft it was. He missed your touch, he was so deprived. You were the only thing that kept him alive as he would like to say. Barely making it to the kitchen he placed you on the kitchen counter as you legs were on his waist as he took your shirt off and kissed you some more. He knew all your soft spots. His touch made you feel safe, no matter what. You took his shirt off as he kissed you some more as he took you to the shower, where you two caught up with the eachothers touch that you couldn't feel when working, not even a hug or kiss.
As you walked into the ed alone, Maggie had looked at you weirdly, you looked over at her and touched your face, “what is something on my face?” you asked as she shook her head, “no, you just look a little pale, you okay?” She asked as you nodded, “I feel fine, I was a little nause this morning, but I'm okay.” you said as she nodded “okay, you sure?” she asked as you nodded. You headed over to patients making sure they were all okay and stable and had everything they needed.
Just then two guys walking in caught your attention and Will’s as well, “y/n you busy?” he asked as you headed over, “I'm with you.'' you said as you were putting gloves on to see blood on the guy as you headed to treatment three.
“Alright fellas, im dr. halstead, follow me.” he said as the guy spoke, “don’t need this.” he said very slurred as the friend answered, “hey, just let him take a look.” he said as you turned around motioning him in, “im fine,” he said as you spoke, “alright come on, let's get you on this bed.” you said as he replied, “no, no, just wanna go home.” he said as he sat on the bed, “okay what happened,” Will asked as the friend answered, “we went out to party after the game, and he sees these cards fans..” he said as the guy on the bed answered, “douchebags wearing a ‘cubs suck’ shirt. Yet we won. How could we suck douchebag?” he said getting up from the bed as you placed him back, “sir sit down.'' you said as he was back on the bed and got up again, “stay on the bed.'' you said as he turned to you, “let me go!” he said as he pushed you to the side as you hit the door on your abdomen, Will quickly gave orders to the friend and to security, and was quick by your side, “you alright y/n?” He said seeing your face for any expression as all you could do was nod and bring air back into your lungs.
“Give him five of haldol.” he said as he picked you up and took you two treatment 2 so he made sure you were all fine.
“Your lungs are fine,” he said as you sighed, “okay, can i get back to work?” you said as Miss Goodwin, Maggie and April were there just to be sure you were fine, “just hold on.” Miss Goodwin said as he was examining you some more.
“Will, I'm fine.'' you said as he pushed around your abdomen, “does it hurt here?” he said as you flinched, “ow,” you said as he smiled,  “okay on a scale from one to ten how bad was the pain?” he asked as you spoke softly, “three?” You said as April spoke, “That means it's  seven or eight.” She said as you rolled your eyes, “I'm fine, really.”
“You're probably okay, but i would like to get a chest x-ray to be safe.” he said as you shook your head, “no way.'' you said as he became serious, “y/n, you have some pain and tenderness. A broken rib could have punctured your liver or your lung, I want to make sure you don't have a pneumothorax.'' he said as you scoffed looking over at the girls, “y/n, we don't want to see you wheeled back here in a gurney.'' Maggie said as you spoke, “guys I'm fine, you are all over acting a bit.'' you said they all eventually convinced you to do it along with some tests of course to rule out everything else that could be bad.
With your x-ray, nothing bad was seen, but Will being very cautious placed the tests in order as he waited with you. Luckly the curtain covered you two so he laid on the bed nearby, he was very worried you could tell, “Will...honey, I'm okay. The x-ray showed nothing, so it's probably nothing.” you said as he nodded “well if it's nothing, there is no harm in doing tests. I just want you to be okay.” he said as his voice grew shaky, “Will I’m not going anywhere okay? I'm here. I'm healthy.” you said as he nodded. “Yeah I know.” he said as you wiped his tears away and kissed him, “i'm here for the long haul.” you said as he smiled.
Minutes later, Natalie was back with your tests along with ob, “hey y/n, so your tests look well, nothing is wrong, however we do have some good news for you.'' she said as you frowned, “okay, why is ob with you?” you said as natalie looked at you with a smile, “well that's the good news, you are 5 weeks pregnant. Congratulations,” she said as you grew shocked, eyes widened as you smiled, “woah, really? I- um, i don't know what to say.'' you said as she smiled, “well i'm hopeful this is good news, did you want to call the father? she asked as you looked over at Will who was shocked as well.
“Uh well, actually he is in this room, he's just shocked as i am.'' you said as natalie gasped along with the ob. You weren’t sure if Will wanted kids this early in your relationship, so this was a surprise to the both of you. He then began to worry wondering if the hit you took hurt you more than it should.
“Is she okay? Are they okay? It's just they both took a hit, she got pushed and hurt her abdomen.” Will said as Natalie nodded, “well that's what we are hoping to see. There is nothing that indicates, but we wanna do an ultrasound to be sure,” she said as you both nodded.
As they showed you your small creation you were both in awe, Will was probably more excited seeing that you were pregnant. And of course now your relationship was public.
“Everything is fine, the fetus is well, and the placenta seems to be great. I'm so happy for you guys! We will give you guys some space, congratulations again!” she said as her and the ob left giving you time to process this.
Will sat beside you as he placed his hands on his face and gave your knuckles a kiss. He was filled with joy. You were having a baby, his baby.
“You okay Will?” you asked as he nodded, “yeah, i'm just, i'm gonna be a dad.” he said softly as you nodded, “yeah you are, sorry i worried you.'' you said as he shook his head, “no, the good thing is that you are both fine. y/n, you have no idea how happy i am.'' you said as you smiled as you placed his hand on your belly that would soon blossom.
“I'm happy, over the moon to be exact. I just, when she said that i worried, since maybe it's too soon.'' you said as he shook his head, “no, it's not too soon. This is our timing. Might be in the wrong order, but don't worry, I'll put that ring on your finger soon.'' you said as you blushed playfully slapping him, “im serious honey, before you know it you'll be Y/n Halstead.'' you said as you smiled, “does have a nice ring to it.'' you said as you kissed him and from afar, Maggie and the others were all happy. Maggie, being the winner of the bet, had been collecting her money. She knew it the whole time. There was no doubt you two were in love. So in love that you were starting a new life with one another. It was meant to be.
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halcyon-writings · 3 years
Text
plans we made
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kento nanami/reader
- you thought it would be a normal night, that he’d be back in the morning.
notes/warnings: manga spoilers, i like to think i can write fluff but then the angst creeps behind me like joe baker does to ethan in re7
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You’re preparing for bed, when you hear his cell phone ring. With a silent but resigned understanding, you reach over to the night stand, handing it to him as he enters your shared bedroom.
While not privy to the conversation, you take a few keywords from the call, Shibuya station, and curses.
The call is short, and Kento’s answers are clipped, he’s in work mode now. You watch as he gets ready, then again, you had known something like this was coming. From the things he had talked to you about it that is.
He’s tying the uniform tie you know he has different patterns of, and you sit up, beckoning him over as he does dutifully. You loop the fabric once more. While he leans forward and presses a soft kiss to your forehead.
“Try not to stay up,” He murmurs against your hair, you of course snort quietly.
“I won’t if you try and take it easy,” You answer smartly.
“Aye aye,” A feint smile on his lips and soon enough, he stands back up fully, “I’ll see you in the morning.”
You lean back onto the pillows, bringing the blankets around you as you hear his footsteps growing further away as he leaves. However it doesn’t shake the unsettling feeling you have in the back of your mind.
It could’ve been only minutes, or even hours, but unfortunately not sooner enough, you sleep.
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When you come to, you look over to the clouds, they’re just rolling in, the sun is hidden.
Then the familiar pitter patter of rain starts, until it’s essentially down pouring.
Your hand reaches forward, but the other side of the bed is cold, you sit up, feeling the familiar dreaded feeling in your mind stir. The rest of your home is silent, your eyebrows furrow as you inspect it, things from the previous night left the same, untouched.
Had he come home last night?
You tighten your robe around yourself, as the slight chill in the air perhaps isn’t the only reason your hands shake.
Perhaps the work they had called him on was taking longer than planned, you attempt to rationalize to yourself as you prepare breakfast.
But then a day passes. And so does another, and then another.
You thought it would be a normal night, that he’d be back in the morning.
A knock on the door startles you one morning and you jump, the stove is turned off and the pan is moved off of the heat while you wipe your hands on a kitchen rag.
You know Kento wouldn’t knock, and he rarely told anyone of his home, not unless he trusted them completely.
You open the door to find a glasses wearing man, in a suit but with bandages peaking out from under his collar. He’s looking at anything else but you, but you’re far more concerned about why he may be here in the first place.
“You’re ______, correct?” He seems to stop himself before quickly bowing, “Ichiji Kiyotaka, I’m an associate of Nanami-san.”
You nod, quietly stepping aside to allow him in, your eyes trailing to the brief case in one hand and then to the file filled with papers in the other, clutched tightly to his chest like a lifeline.
“I’m sorry but I don’t really have a lot for a guest currently,” You admit half sheepish, “I wasn’t expecting anyone right now, could I at least offer you something like a water?”
At this he shakes his head.
You clear your table, knowing that whatever he was here for had to do with the items he carried.
“You may have to sit down for this,” He begins, but he half stammers the rest, that dreadful feeling returns as you fiddle with the rings on your finger.
“Kento Nanami has died.”
You hear your ring fall and clink on the floor.
You don’t even know how you’re not a mess, but you pick the ring up with shaky fingers, putting it back in its place.
“Explain.”
And he does.
You were never a sorcerer. Whether it was fortunate for you or unfortunate was never clear. On one hand, Kento had done his best to keep you away from such things, wanting this place to be safe for both you and him. But on the other, you could barely wrap your head around it, curses, jujutsu, all of it.
But you know that the man before you is telling the truth. Not from the tears gathering in his eyes, but the way he pulls out the very papers you could remember Kento filling out one day, as he would tell you it was a surprise.
“Have you ever thought about moving?” He had asked one day, before all of this, before it all went wrong.
You had remembered shrugging with a curious look on your face, “If I could, but you know work is a lot, and moving is expensive.” He only hums.
There were plenty of times you knew that whatever work that involved his skills as a sorcerer always ended with a hefty check, and while that was nice, you just never got used to it, you simply liked to work because it was something to do.
“Perhaps one day,” He offers and you smile and nod. “One day, I’d love to go wherever as long as it’s with you.”
“This is something he left to me to handle,” Ichiji says, “Jujutsu sorcerers always see the most risk when it comes to their jobs, and it’s not rare to see any sort of will left for family and loved ones.”
That makes your blood run cold, while you knew it was a dangerous occupation, from the nights Kento would return more bruised than anything, and then one time some months back with his side stitched up. But now it all had hit you.
“May I...?” He has the documents in his hand. You can’t even speak, your throat burns too much to even try, so you just nod.
“This shows all that he has left behind for, signed to a _____ _____. From funds to property. Both here and internationally.”
You just look confused, before Ichiji slides another paper your way, the manila folder he had carried close to his chest.
When you open it, it doesn’t look like much of anything, a simple map of a small town, houses clearly marked. Your eyes take several looks at the map, until you finally notice the familiar neat handwriting that you knew belonged to him.
It was a small house, at least how it looked on the map, but undoubtedly something he took time to meticulously pick out. The words you read makes it feel as though your heart has stopped.
The house is circled. And next to it?
‘A place to grow old in.’
A hand moves to your mouth as you try and take a deep breath to calm yourself, before your eyes trail again, a small place, he labeled “Bakery- for breakfast.” The noise that leaves you sounds like a choked sob and a laugh. You look into the manila folder, finding a short envelope and within it a key.
You can’t help but think bitterly to yourself, he always had a plan, didn’t he?
You close the folder, before your eyes meet Ichiji’s once more. Prodding him to continue, because if he didn’t, you weren’t certain on if you were going to breakdown or not.
He explains the aftermath of Shibuya, that with this new rise in curses, they were spread thin, and that making sure to let anyone know that may have had a loved one that had grievously been injured or died was less enforced than making sure to get any sorcerers here.
But he couldn’t not do anything, he had owed it to Nanami for saving his life after all.
“So what now?” You ask once you clear your throat, “Is it too dangerous to be here?”
“Right now, it’s... uncertain,” He says nervously. You had some hope that this was at least one of the things he had permission to talk about. At least you were somewhat aware of how shitty the higher ups were in this line of work.
“But it’d be best to move to a more secure location.”
You look back down at the folder, then at the key in your hand, “I’ll.. I’ll pack a bag then.”
Ichiji nods, he stands, as you lead him to the door, he offers his condolences for what had happened. Before looking at his cellphone, giving a hurried goodbye.
The door shuts with a soft click, and your back meets the door as you slide to the floor with a tired exhale. You don’t even know if you want to cry or go back to bed and pretend it’s a nightmare.
You simply don’t know anymore. The ring on your finger feels heavy.
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nancydfan · 3 years
Note
Okay but honestly everyone (besides Mia) doubted Ethan and his abilities the entirety of the game- especially Chris.
Obviously all the lords are like “ha ha you’ll never get past me!” And then insert picacho surprised meme when he does.
Even Miranda seems to be like “whAT THE FUCK” when Ethan stumbles his way back to fight her after she swore she killed him. Like yes she knew he was “special” somehow but never realized the full extent of his abilities.
But Chris himself doubted Ethan the most honestly.
I feel like when Chris and his team found and got Ethan and Mia out of the Baker’s house in RE7, he probably just thought Ethan was lucky. I mean, here’s this totally average guy and you’re telling me he killed/ severely injured the members of this family who had been infected with the mold, as well as killed Eveline himself? Like Chris was probably like while this man definitely was able to fight his way out there’s no actual way he was able to do this on his own, maybe he’s over exaggerating or whatever.
But he doesn’t say anything, and offers to teach Ethan military training (at least I think it was Chris, only because they seem to be more familiar with each other in RE8) because even if he’s over exaggerating the man clearly has talent and capabilities to make it out of that house in relatively one piece.
And then they get into training and Chris is incredibly impressed. For what appears to be your typical average dude he’s got pretty good fight tactics and techniques, and can handle a gun pretty well. Of course there’s always stuff to improve on and Chris teaches him to the best of his abilities, and here he gets to know Ethan.
This is a man who always offers help to anyone who needs it, and goes out of his way to comfort people whenever they need it. He truly loves his wife, he never makes a “gotta get back to the old ball and chain” or other “I hate my wife” jokes, he truly appreciates her and respects her with every part of him.
He has a great intuition, both in fighting and just when reading people. When Chris or someone around them has an off day he immediately picks up on it and is able to sense what that person needs. With Chris he will casually mention that his door is always open, he might not know the answer but Ethan is always willing to listen if Chris needs it. And though Chris at first insists that he’s fine, somehow Ethan Winters gets him to open up a bit (not completely, but Ethan’s genuine kindness begins to crack Chris’ ‘tough guy’ mask he puts on that lets Ethan see a glimpse of the real him. Chris’ squad is in utter shock of this because it took them YEARS to achieve this), and they both can sit down and share the horrors they both have experienced and for once in Chris’ life he starts to feel that maybe he can actually recover from what he’s seen.
Ethan also somehow knows exactly what to say. Though sometimes he’ll have to pause to get the right words and thoughts together, when he finally speaks his words are exactly what Chris (and others) needed to hear, even if Chris won’t admit it.
Ethan is the guy who when he sees injustice he doesn’t stay quiet, he is loud and makes sure that whatever happened doesn’t go unnoticed. He somehow remembers everyone’s birthday and gets them the present that they actually want, even if the person and Ethan have only talked once.
And though Ethan has the capability to be serious when needed he can be light hearted and funny, and though sometimes his jokes are simple puns or the same reiteration of the joke you’ve heard 100 times you can’t help but laugh because he somehow made it sound different, somehow breathed some fresh life into it. He has his favorite shows that he always makes sure he is home by to watch, and though he is at his core gentle and kind he can also be tough, and isn’t afraid to call you out when you’re wrong.
Ethan is the least judgmental person you will ever meet, and is truly open minded and will listen to you completely and openly. He isn’t afraid to change his opinion when he realizes he was wrong. When him and Mia throw a Christmas party they always invite Chris and he is always touched by it.
It is through their time together training that Chris realizes that while yes Ethan is a completely normal man he is far from completely ordinary and boring.
And when he announces he’s going to be a father Ethan’s eyes completely light up, and he spends hours of talking about all the beautifully mundane things that accompany preparing to become a parent and dealing with the trials of Mia’s pregnancy. There is no doubt in Ethan’s voice or heart that lead anyone to believe that he thinks that there’s a possibility that Rose might be unhealthy due to both of their exposure to the mold. Ethan runs on optimism and truly believes that she’ll be alright, that though they’ve been through hell him and Mia finally got the happy ending they deserve, and Chris has never been so happy for him.
And then, of course, everything comes crashing down.
When Chris learns that Miranda has infiltrated the Winters’ home he is infuriated on their behalf (can’t this family catch a fucking break?) and does all he can to help them (but little does he know he actually will make it worse). He doesn’t tell Ethan whats going on because they need the element of surprise to get Miranda and Chris knows Ethan will not lie low until he gets there. While Ethan was incredibly lucky to survive Dulvey there’s no way he can survive Miranda’s wrath.
(Also I think there was a document saying they didn’t know if Ethan was compromised or not, hence why Chris didn’t tell Ethan immediately what was going on but still he was over the line)
When Chris discovers that his team escorting Ethan, Rose, and Miranda had crashed and died, leaving Miranda in sole control of Rose he is devastated but thinks to himself that he must keep going, there’s no time to grieve or feel guilty for mistakes when Miranda is moments away from completing her ceremony.
And then he gets word that Ethan Winters has been spotted in the castle. And he shakes his head because of course he’s still alive, Ethan must run on luck and sheer will because how else would he have survived the crash?
And though Chris wants to go after him to tell him to sit his ass down so his team can do their job he can’t because again time is a luxury he can’t afford and he hopes Ethan’s luck saves his ass again this time. And though he hopes for the best can Ethan really take on these god-like creatures?
And then he again gets word that Ethan Winters somehow is defeating all of the lords. He’s going through them as if they’re simply ants beneath his feet and somehow he is still going. And though this is great Chris and his team are rapidly losing the element of surprise they’ve been trying to maintain since coming to this village.
And when he encounters Ethan again it almost hurts to see this man who once sat with him for hours talking about nothing, offering to help him with his taxes look at him with such fury and disdain that it almost sends shivers down his spine, that even though Chris is a highly trained operative he for some reason feels like if Ethan chose to kill him Chris wouldn’t last long. He wants to explain but time won’t let him (or is it the fear that he was wrong all along and once he spits his words out he’ll realize this).
And when Chris runs into Ethan at Karl’s factory he finally gives up and figures that he could use Ethan’s luck on his team, if Ethan can eliminate the four lords without any military help then he’s got to be able to have a shot and killing Miranda with Chris’ and his team’s help.
And when he hears Miranda kill Ethan on the phone it is a blow to his gut that he wasn’t expecting, because Ethan Winters has made a bigger impact on his heart than he thought possible. And it is in this moment of grief that he realizes his mistakes, that he was wrong to alienate Ethan, the man who went through hell twice without looking back to save his family.
The guilt only gets worse when he finds Mia, because he has to explain to her that it’s his fault that her husband is lying dead without his heart due to Chris’ own negligence. And when Mia tells him that he doesn’t understand how special he is he desperately wants to hear it, despite his mind telling him that’s she’s wrong, he wants Mia to tell him that Ethan can survive the impossible because he wants a second chance to make things right.
And when he gets the report again that Ethan Winters is somehow alive and is on his way to the ceremony site Chris’ heart soars and he wonders how could he have ever doubted Ethan Winters and his ability to come back to the people he loves time and time again.
(Also I could be wrong here because I don’t remember if Miranda blocked Chris out once she realized he was there but the rest of this is going to go off of the assumption that Chris was present and could see what was happening)
It is not until Chris makes it to the ceremony site and sees the battle between Miranda and Ethan that Chris truly realizes that he has severely underestimated this man for 3 whole years.
He’s seen Ethan fight before- he saw it in training and heard his squad give him the summary of what they saw when Ethan fought the other lords, but this is the first time Chris has seen Ethan TRULY fight, and on his face where Chris is so used to seeing compassion and love and carefreeness is suddenly replaced by anger, resentment, and pure determination because his daughter’s life is on the line and he will fight until there is nothing left of him to keep that little girl safe.
Chris watches in awe, because even though Ethan looks like he is barely staying together, like he is one breath away from falling apart he is still fighting. Maybe it’s because the mold is being destroyed or maybe Ethan’s injuries are so severe that the mold can’t be bothered hiding itself anymore but he finally sees the proof for himself that Ethan Winters is no longer human- Miranda is tearing into him and Ethan does not care- the long gashes she makes onto his body are desperately trying to suture themselves back together with small tendrils of black, this mold desperately trying to keep Ethan together when Miranda is so intent on tearing him apart.
He watches in amazement as Ethan somehow manages to avoid her claws and her own tendrils of mold reaching out to pound him into dust. He watches in amazement as it doesn’t matter how much Miranda damages Ethan- he gets back up again to unload another round of bullets into Miranda without slowing down, and watches in amazement as Ethan actually begins to win this battle- this perfectly normal man versus a god-like creature and Ethan is actually winning despite all the odds stacked against him.
This is Ethan Winters, he thinks, and while the mold might have given him regenerative properties the mold did not give him the drive and determination Chris sees before him- though Ethan Winters is infected but he is still Ethan Winters, each bullet he fires is coming from him, and his pure will to survive and save his daughter. The mold did not change him to a super hero because this is who he is at heart, a man who is willing to risk it all just to make sure the ones he loves are all right.
And if he didn’t already respect Ethan before he certainly does now, and he curses himself for being so ignorant and not letting Ethan in when he had the chance.
But that’s alright- because Ethan Winters has just eliminated Miranda before his eyes and is running to his daughter, and now Chris will have a lifetime to make it up to him.
But then he sees Ethan collapse to his knees in front of him, and his feet are moving before he even thinks to go because there’s no way, this man did not survive this hell just to die on him now.
Chris is relieved that Ethan is still (barely) conscious as he puts his arm around the man to help him out. Time has never been on their side and it certainly isn’t now, as Chris practically drags Ethan out because he has failed him too many times and he refuses to fail him again.
He tries to get Ethan to keep fighting because it seems that all of the life has drained from this man, the only part of him that’s full of life is the arm carrying his daughter because even when he’s on the brink of death he will not let anything happen to her. Chris brings up Mia and it pains him to hear the loss in Ethan’s voice, as if he’s already decided he’s a lost cause. Chris will not let this happen, he points out that they’re going to blow the village sky high and that’s why they need to get a move on and-
Suddenly Ethan is pushing Rose into his arms, and Chris can’t believe he gets the privilege to hold this man’s daughter after all he’s done and Ethan is draping Rose in his worn out coat and begging Chris to teach her to be strong and Chris won’t have this, Ethan Winters will not die on his watch he will get home to his family and live to live a perfectly normal life, when suddenly Ethan pushes Chris out of the way of a mold tendril that acts as a barrier between them and Chris watches in horror as Ethan stumbles backwards, the man looking more and more like a walking corpse versus the man he just saw moments ago, full of life and determination to kill Miranda.
“Goodbye, Rosemary” Ethan chokes out as he starts to stumble his way back to the ceremony site, and Chris can almost feel the pain of Ethan’s loss at not being able to be with his daughter and wife just within the utterance of these two words.
And Chris is calling Ethan back because dammit it doesn’t have to be like this but Chris knows what a man hell bent on something looks like, and Ethan is already almost out of his sight and the whole village is collapsing around him.
Cursing Chris turns around, cradling Rose close because Ethan somehow miraculously chose to trust Chris in protecting her and like hell will he let something happen to her after this. Chris will teach her to be strong and how to be brave, and not because he’s a man and Mia is incapable of it, but Chris will teach Rose how to be strong like her father was, and how to defend herself because both he and Ethan know that Rose’s abilities will make her a constant target for people to use for their own gain.
When Chris hands Rose back to Mia the joy on her face is short lived and suddenly she’s demanding where Ethan is, begging them to put the plane back down because there’s no way in hell he’d leave them willingly and just as Chris utters that Ethan chose to sacrifice himself the bomb goes off and he feels another blow to his chest, and it’s as though he can’t breathe for a second. He sees the realization hit Mia, and that though Ethan has survived the impossible time and time again can he really survive being blown to bits?
Chris can barely contain the grief and guilt that is consuming him as he looks out the window at the site where Ethan Winters’ luck has run out, the site where Ethan Winters has now died for the second time.
He glances back at Mia and Rose, and each sob Mia lets out cuts him like a knife because he knows he is responsible. He promised this little family that he would protect them and he failed. He failed Mia, he failed Ethan, and now he has failed Rosemary as she must now navigate her life missing a father who would have done anything for her.
Chris will not let Ethan die in vain. He will protect Rose, he will teach her how to fight and how to defend herself. And though he wants to reach out and comfort Mia he knows it will be unwelcome, but looking at Rose he will not fail her again.
He made a promise to Ethan Winters that he fully intends on keeping.
I’m sorry what did I do to be so emotionally attacked like this 😆
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I’m SOBBING OMG. Ty really. I feel like I have nothin I can add to this because GAH MY HEART. You get it. You understand these characters and I was smiling so huge as you described Ethan because YES ALL OF THIS. Then the pain as Ethans end approaches. AND CHRIS’ PERSPECTIVE THROUGHOUT AND HIS PROMISE GOING FORWARD.
Anyway someone get me tissues. This was so beautiful. Bless you 💜💜
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wiypt-writes · 4 years
Text
Leave No One Behind
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Ch 14- Well, fuckin’ Shalom.
Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​
Summary: After another dangerous encounter with Ahmed’s troops, Ari is back into a corner and comes out fighting.
Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW, 18+) Violence, angst and death.
Pairings: Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz
A/N: It’s Hannah’s birthday today so Happy Birthday, Firefly!
Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.
Leave No One Behind Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Chapter 13
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Ari pushed a grumbling Simon off his face and sat up, trying not to move too much. Once out of bed, he stretched before sorting himself out in the bathroom and dressing as quickly and as quietly as possible so as not to wake Hannah who was, thankfully, fast asleep.
After the events of the previous day, when Rachel had gotten him and Sammy out of jail and they had driven back to the resort only to find Ethan was shutting them down, Ari had had a rough night, memories of the ordeal making his already light sleep almost impossible at times. He had spent a few hours wide awake in the dark, lying still to avoid disturbing Hannah, simply staring at the ceiling of their hut as his restless mind continued to deny him a peaceful sleep.
He had been, and somehow still was, physically and emotionally exhausted. The mere thought that Hannah had intended on ending what they had just a few hours ago still made him shudder. Following their heartfelt conversation on the dock they’d stumbled into the hut, and he’d loved her softly, slowly and intimately in the shower before they’d collapsed into bed. All of that combined with the whispered sweet nothings they had shared in the still of their hut might tell a different story, but Ari was well aware he had fucked up and almost lost her a second time.
And it made him sick to his stomach.
Ari shook his head, a reflex action, almost as if it would shake the thoughts from his mind and he sighed gently into the quiet of the hut as he finished buckling the laces on his trainers, turning from where he was sat at the edge of their bed to look at his Firefly sleeping with Simon who had curled up by her side. He smiled softly at the scene as he leaned in to place a loving kiss on her head before leaving the hut.
A few minutes later, Ari emerged in the breakfast area after a short stroll down the beach. The bruises and cuts on his face and over his left cheekbone were beginning to heal but the dull sting of his skin was a clear reminder of what had gone down in that prison cell in Khartoum and the depth of Sammy’s anger towards him. Still, as arranged the previous night, Sammy showed up along with Jake and Max early so no one else was around. As he brewed a pot of coffee, Ari went over his plan to set off to find Kabede and explained his last-minute decision to only take Max and Sammy with him, leaving Jake in charge of the resort and the girls. He wasn’t willing to take any risks after the events of their last mission only a couple of days before.
“Don’t lose sight of them, Jake. However feisty they get, especially Hannah.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Jake agreed as he took the mug Ari was handing him and Max snorted.
“You know she’s gonna give him a hard time, right?”
“I don’t much care.” Ari snapped at Max with a stern voice, causing the man to raise his hands in mock surrender. At that Jake sighed so Ari turned to look at him, his voice softer. “If she’s getting an attitude, tell her to take it up with me when I’m back. There’s a reason why her and Rachel don’t know where we’re going. And they won’t need to either until it’s done.”
As he finished instructing Jake on how to act upon a more than probable tantrum on Hannah’s part, Ari could clearly see Sammy rolling his eyes.
“More lies, huh.”
“Will you stop with your comments, Sammy?” Ari groaned. He’d had enough of the man’s accusatory looks and snarky comments to last him a lifetime. “I get it, you hate me, you already made your point.” And to make his, Ari gestured to the bruising around his face.
Sammy didn’t answer, but simply maintained giving his so-called best friend a cold stare until Max’s groan put an end to the war of deadly stares.
“Come on guys. This is it, we’ll be out of here in a few days. Let’s go find Kabede, give him the news and-” he sighed, “-wrap it up and get out of this fucking sandpit.”
Ari looked at Max at he spoke and then back at Sammy who scoffed and, without so much as a word, started walking to the jeep as he lit a cigarette.
Ari looked down and sighed, hands on his hips before his head tipped up to the sky. He then turned to Max, who simply shrugged and stuffed a piece of toast in his mouth as he followed Sammy.
***
When Hannah woke later that morning, she instinctively turned and reached for Ari, missing his touch. She was used to waking up him either holding her from behind, sometimes peppering kisses on the back of her neck or, as the case usually was, hearing him groaning and cursing as he pushed Simon off the mutt’s preferred sleeping pillow, his face. But that morning there was nothing, because Ari wasn’t there. Blinking she laid still, listening for any sound that gave his whereabouts away, but she could hear nothing at all, no sounds of the taps running, or the water from the shower splashing down into the tray. Frowning, she stretched her arm and her hand felt Ari’s side of the bed to find it was cold, well, as cold as it could be in a beach hut in Sudan with no air-con.
As she sat up, Hannah thought to herself that the most likely explanation was that Ari had just gotten up and gone for a run after he had been unable to sleep following the events of the previous thirty-six hours or so. He’d been restless all night, and no matter what she had tried to do to help, and she had to admit she had tried a lot of things to help him relax so to speak, Ari couldn’t settle completely.
Hannah sighed, remembering her attempts to soothe her Lobo’s uneasiness as her eyes roamed the hut and when her eyes landed on Ari’s bedside table she noticed his watch wasn’t on it. He never wore his watch when he went running as it irritated him but, strangely enough, his running trainers were gone too so she was at an utter loss.
“Where’s your daddy, huh?” She asked softly as she looked at Simon who moved his tail and gave a little yawn and a huff in response making her chuckle, scratching his ear. “You couldn’t care less, huh?”
Pondering, Hannah got up and, after washing and dressing, she went outside. The sun was particularly scorching that morning and she had to pull her shades down as she greeted some of the guests who were already milling about. But as hard as she tried to spot Ari, there was no sign of him on the beach. She made her way to the main building, Simon hot on her tracks, and found Jake and Rachel serving breakfast.
“You slept in.” Rachel said as she greeted her with a warm smile.
“Yeah sorry, must have been tired after everything. Guy was tossing and turning all night.” She apologised in her thick, Spanish accent, as she looked around at the various tables sporting the guests. “Where is everyone else?”
“Luca says the guys went to the market.” Rachel deadpanned, but Hannah could read the disbelief behind her words so she frowned at the blonde woman.
“To the market? Ari?” She scoffed, dropping her voice. “And with my brother?” Hannah then turned to look at Jake who had approached them but he only shrugged as she arched her brow. “You’re full of shit.”
“Hey, that’s what they told me, Red.” He repeated as he started walking into the kitchen area to fetch another tray of toast.
“Where are they really?” Hannah inquired, following him.
“Told you. Market.” Jake answered as he left the tray on the serving counter by the kitchen.
Hannah noticed he was avoiding her stare and when their eyes met for a split second she took advantage of it and glared at him. “I know you’re lying.” She hissed.
But Jake wasn’t going to give in that easily. Whilst he feared Hannah’s rant, he also feared Ari’s should he blow their cover, so he was determined to play the part he had been asked to till the very end. Thus, he had no choice but to shrug again, the expression on his face unreadable, and keep on with his breakfast duty- to bring a pot of coffee to a guest table. 
Hannah huffed in frustration and turned to Rachel. “Do you believe him?”
“Not a single word.” Rachel smiled
“Then where the hell...” she began to ask, more to herself than to her friend and team mate. And the frown on her face softened as her eyes opened wide when it suddenly dawned on her what was really happening and she groaned.
“Kabede.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.” Rachel nodded with a little sigh.
“What the fuck... why didn’t they tell us?” Hannah scoffed, her hands laying on her hips. And Rachel thought she couldn’t look more like Ari when she did that even if she tried.
“I’m betting on Ari’s stupid sense of protection.” Rachel shrugged.
“Yeah well, he’s gonna be the one needing protection when he comes home. Fucking asshole.” Hannah growled as she grabbed a piece of toast and chewed it, angrily.
****
When Ari, Max and Sammy reached the shanty town, it was instantly apparent something was wrong. They found Kabede slumped against a wall, a stab wound to his chest that Sammy suspected had resulted in a punctured lung. But his injury was completely forgotten by the man when Ari informed him that Mossad had pulled the plug on the mission.
“Mission? This is not a mission for me. This is my life. My family. You go.”
Ari was torn. Kabede was right, this was more than a mission. It had been his life for two years and on top of that, he wasn’t sure he could go back to Israel knowing that they were leaving over three hundred innocent lives behind to their fate at the hands of a tyrannical regime which, most likely, would torture and kill them once they were found.
Ari swallowed and looked at Max and Sammy, jerking his head and the three of them headed out of the hut into the heat of the sun.
“You wanna pull off one last rescue, don’t you?” Max asked once they were outside.
Ari looked at him and it was all the answer he needed to give as Sammy groaned at his silence.
 “I can't force you guys to do this one. This is up to you. You know the risks.” Ari spoke calm but determined, his mind made up.
“I'm in.” Max deadpanned as he nodded.
Ari then turned to Sammy who rolled his eyes. He looked back at Max and asked him to give Sammy and him some alone time and Max obliged, heading away without a glance back.
“Whatever you want to do, I'll back you up.” Ari told Sammy once he found the words to convey the most honest message he could give his friend. It was not the time for absurd displays of testosterone and he knew it.
 Sammy scoffed and blurted out a “Fuck you.” before bringing the cigarette to his lips.
Ari stood there, his arms folded but didn’t protest at his friend’s jab. He lifted his head to look at him instead and spoke softly. “You're right. I'm an asshole. I let my ego get in the way. I get an idea, and I go with it. I don't listen. I take risks. Sometimes it works, sometimes people get hurt. I'm sorry. And if you wanna go home, I'll back you up.”
“I'm not going home without Hannah, Ari. How can I? How can I leave her here with you?” Sammy snarled though he knew better than to raise his voice where they were.
“I’d never do anything to...” Ari began to defend himself but was cut off.
“To what? Put her in danger? You already did! By simply bringing her here, her neck has been on the block, in fact all our necks have.” Sammy hissed gesturing at him with his hand before throwing his cigarette down and stamping on it, looking up at Ari before shrugging and dropping his head again.
“Here we go again, huh?” Sammy spoke after a few seconds, his eyes piercing Ari’s before he shook his head as he walked off.
****
When they arrived back at the resort, Ari was on edge for a number of reasons and his anxiety was compounded when Hannah railed at him for leaving without telling her where he was going. After a very heated exchange, he finally managed to calm her down enough to get her to listen along with Rachel and Jake as he filled them in on what he, Max and Sammy had found. When Ari explained that he needed either her or Rachel to go with them to pick up the refugees, Hannah nodded and said she would go, much to Sammy’s annoyance. But as usual, she paid her brother absolutely no attention whatsoever.
The problem Ari had, was that he was back to operating with no plan. His priority was getting the refugees out of harm’s way but after that, he was flying blind and banking on managing to talk Ethan around. But, as usual, he was in act now, think later mode. And for the most, it was working. The collection went without a hitch, and a few hours later, just as darkness had fallen, they were pulling back up to the resort.
And then they spotted the military jeeps.
Ari exchanged a look with Hannah who let out a curse and an exhale as she too spotted their unwelcome visitors. Ari hopped out of the truck, and motioned to Max and Sammy, indicating the jeeps. They both nodded to show they’d understood, and then he took Hannah’s hand.
“Follow my lead, okay?” He looked at her, squeezing his fingers around hers and she nodded as they headed inside. Ari began to laugh and Hannah, picking up on his signal, grinned at him as he closed the lattice door behind them, his hand still round hers, the other running through his hair. He gave a little false surprised start as he looked at the man in front of him, his best acting skills on show as he gave the man a smile and a puzzled look.
“Colonel. To what do we owe this pleasure?”
“I was just treating my men to some of Abu Aziz's famous cooking.” The man drawled back.
“Great,” Ari let go of Hannah's hand and planted his palm on the base of her back, guiding her forward, “let's not keep him waiting.”
They both walked past him, smiling at a few other guests, but Ahmed didn’t follow. “Stop.” He spoke loudly and Ari did as he was told, glancing at Hannah before the pair of them turned to look at him. “I just want to see what is in the back of your truck.”
“What for?” Ari shot back, a frown on his face, his stomach in nervous knots.
“It will please me.” Ahmed gave a huge grin displaying his bright white teeth before he barked something in Arabic to a soldier who obediently ran off.
Ari looked at Hannah, then to Rachel, fake puzzlement on his face as the two women both gave an exaggerated shrug, feigning nonchalance. There was a lot of shouting, as they all waited with bated breath, but eventually Ahmed’s smug grin slipped and Ari felt a huge wave of relief wash over him.
But, his relief didn’t last long. As they sat for dinner, the soldiers continued to patrol around the resort and the tension in the air was palpable, not merely across the team but also the guests. Ari was getting more and more frustrated and nervous as the seconds passed not least because he actually had no idea where Max and Sammy had hidden the refugees. He cleared his throat a little, his right arm leaning on the back of his chair, almost facing Hannah who was sat next to him, her body language tense. His left hand dropped to her back, gently rubbing circles over her T-shirt which was tacky with sweat as they both watched a soldier who walked amongst the tables, with his rifle held in his arms.
“Is there something I can help them find?” Ari turned to Ahmed.
“They are just doing their jobs.” The man shrugged before he looked at Nathifa who had come to clear away their starter plates, and began speaking once more in Arabic. Ari, Hannah, Jake and Rachel all exchanged a look. Whilst they had no idea what was being said, they could hazard a pretty good guess the man was digging for information. As he watched, in the corner of his eyes, Ari saw Rachel glance around, before she turned to him, taking a deep breath.
“I'll be right back,” she stood up. Hannah’s eyes followed her before she glanced at Jake who met her puzzled expression with one of his own. Giving a little cough, she reached for her glass of water at the same time Ari shifted in his seat, his hand dropping to Hannah’s thigh as he spoke to Nathifa who was now visibly distressed.
“Nathifa, go help Aziz with the food.”
Taking her leave, she did just that and a few minutes later their main course arrived. But, unlike normal, the entire resort was pretty much silent bar the chatter of the soldiers who were raucous around the table. Ari really wasn’t hungry, none of them were, they were too nervous as it wasn’t just their safety that was on the line but the hundreds of refugees hidden around the place, not to mention the guests who were all equally as tense at the armed guards. Taking Ari’s lead, Hannah forced herself to eat, keeping up appearances, and after what felt like a lifetime Ahmed placed his knife and fork down, letting out an appreciative noise. 
“This was delicious.” He waved his arms over the table. “Maybe I'll bring Abu Aziz to come cook for me, hey?”  He let out a chuckle as Nathifa made to move away with the plates, but in a flash he reached up and grabbed her arm, once more speaking in Arabic. And none of them needed to be able to understand the language to know the man was being forceful, and the young girl was scared.
Ari took a deep breath through his nose as Hannah’s hand dropped to his thigh and he steadied himself, quelling the anger that was simmering in his mind at the assholes treatment of the girl he had hold of. When he spoke, his voice was calm but stern, a far cry from how he felt inside. “Don't do that,” he shook his head, his gaze locked on Ahmed, who simply stared back at him, that arrogant, smug nature he exuded was almost suffocating. The man tossed his head at Ari, goading him further as he made a simple noise of questioning whilst he continued to feel up the young woman, his hand round her waist, rubbing up and down her thigh.
Ari clenched his teeth together, Hannah’s nails now digging painfully into his leg through his denims and he was aware of the deathly silence that had filled the room, all eyes now on him and Ahmed waiting to see how the clash of the two alphas was going to play out.
“Do you know why I love Hadandawa women?” Ahmed snorted as his hand slid round to Nathifa’s ass. “Because they are absolutely wild in the sack.” With a laugh he pulled her onto his lap as the soldiers around laughed as she let out a sob of protest.
“Hey!” A voice shouted from the rear of the room and Hannah turned her head slightly to see Rachel had returned and was stood a little behind them, her eyes fixed on the scene as it played out, her face set in anger. And then, in the corner of her eye, Hannah saw Ari slipping the steak knife off the table, his hand clenched around the wooden handle. His entire body was coiled like a snake, ready to attack, and Hannah knew he’d reached the point where if he was pushed anymore he wouldn’t think once, let alone twice.
Ahmed ignored Rachel completely, and continued his disgusting little monologue. “Because they don't feel anything down there.”
Hannah glanced at Jake, who shook his head slightly as he too had noticed Ari take the knife, and Hannah realised then she had to diffuse the situation before someone got killed. Ari might be fast, and strong, and in normal circumstances she’d bet on him to win, but these soldiers had guns. And he wouldn’t stand a chance, none of them would.
“Their fathers cut them when they are very young, so...” Ahmed chuckled, his hand straying across Nathifa’s thighs travelling slowly upwards. “You have to be very rough for them to feel anything at all.”
Hannah felt Ari besides her, moving as if he was going to get up, but before he got the chance, she reached over and deliberately knocked the water jug across the table. There was a sudden flurry of activity, as the liquid spread across the table, some of the soldiers jumping out of its way, and Ahmed made a clicking noise and pushed Nathifa up off his lap as the pool of water spread towards him. The sudden movement caused the girl to stumble to the floor and before Ari could stop her, Hannah jumped up to help.
“Do you have to be rough with your girl, Mr Thomas?” Ahmed asked, and Ari’s eyes flicked to his, his palm gripping at the knife even more as the man’s eyes moved to Hannah, a grin on his face. “Does she like it? Maybe I should try and see.”
And that was it, Ari was done. No one threatened his girl, no one.
Ahmed’s hand moved towards Hannah as she helped Nathifa to her feet, but his fingers had barely brushed her arm before Ari was out of his chair and right in front of the asshole.
“Don’t you lay a finger on her,” he hissed, the blade of the knife pressed into the man’s neck, fury radiating from every inch of his body as he glared at the man who dared to threaten his girl. Around him, soldiers were all raising their guns as everyone else stood stock still, the sound of his own breathing was all that Ari heard for a moment before Ahmed smirked.
“Or what? Huh? What is it that you are planning on doing with that knife, Mr. Thomas?”
“Hopefully just eat my dinner.” Ari’s voice was low but threatening, because consequences be damned, he wouldn’t think twice about slitting the man open, ear to ear. The two men faced off, neither backing down, the tension simmering until Ahmed eventually gestured for the soldiers to lower their guns. As they did so, Ari let out a deep breath, the hand holding the knife dropping slowly, his eyes not leaving Ahmed for a second.
Which was a mistake, as he missed the soldier approaching him from behind. The first he knew about it was a scream from Hannah at the same time he registered a searing pain as he was clubbed on the back of the head by the butt of a rifle. With a grunt, Ari fell to his knees, hands clutched to the back of his head as stars exploded in front of his eyes. His hands clutched to the back of his head in an attempt to alleviate some of the pain as he slumped back against the leg of the table, his head spinning. He blinked as Hannah dropped to her knees in front of him, her hands reaching to cup his face as he struggled to focus. He was aware that a few people were talking, and then there was a flurry of movement, and he blinked again, the room fading back into view as Hannah looked at him, her eyes full of tears.
“Lobo? Hey, let me see.” She whispered and he shook his head, swallowing as he brought his hand back in front of his face to check for blood. There was none.
“I’m okay.” He nodded to her, and she looked at him for a second before she stood and offered him her hand. He took it and rose to his feet, the other hand still pressed to the back of his head as he watched the remaining soldiers leave the room. The last one had barely left before he moved and pulled Hannah to him, his arms wrapping around her as he grimaced against the throbbing in his skull. Taking a deep breath he held Hannah’s trembling frame tightly, pressing a kiss to her head.
“Did he hurt you?” he asked, cupping her face and she shook her head.
“He barely touched me, Ari. I’m more worried about you.”
“He shouldn’t have even done that.” Ari ignored her concern as he shook his head, swallowing. He turned his head to glance around at the guests who were all watching with trepidation. With a nod, he gestured to the kitchen just as Max and Sammy both appeared and the team headed away from prying eyes.  
Ari immediately headed to the lattice screens over the windows, his hand wrapped around Hannah’s as the pair of them watched the jeeps driving off.
“They're gonna be back soon. With numbers.” Ari said, as he turned to look at his team over his shoulder as he felt that horrible, shitty cold feeling of dread flood his system. Their timescales had just shrunk, dramatically.
“Especially when they figure out they're one man short.” Max sighed.
“What do you mean?” Hannah frowned. “What did you do?”
At that, Max shot a pointed look at Rachel as Sammy looped an arm round her shoulder, giving her a squeeze. Ari blinked as Rachel looked up at him, swallowing, and he gave a groan as he realised what was going on.
“Where is he?”
Less than a minute later the group of them were looking at exactly where he was. Dead on the floor of a hut. As they all stared down at the deceased soldier, none of them sure what the next steps were, Ari was frantically wracking his brain for a solution. This was his responsibility as leader after all.
But, it was Sammy that broke the silence to state the obvious. “We need a plan, Ari, and fast.”
Painfully aware that Sammy was right, Ari rubbed his face with his hand before he took a deep breath. He had been hoping to back Ethan into a corner and force him to backtrack and effectively mount one last rescue op before they all bailed, but that had completely gone out of the window. There’s no way they could even attempt it, not now that Ahmed was into them and one of his soldiers lay dead by his feet.
This was a fucking mess, and Ari suddenly found himself wishing there was one of Bowen’s dammed cargo planes coming for them…
Oh. Oh...
“Okay.” Ari gave a nod as the bones of a plan formed in his mind, letting out a deep exhale as he turned to Rachel and Jake. “Buy me a day, make sure they're taken care of but completely invisible. Don't let the staff in here.” Rachel nodded as he looked round at the guys in turn as he spoke. ��Max, Sammy, take the truck, get the rest of the group.” He then looked at Hannah, squeezing her hand. “You and I gotta call Ethan.”
And you’re not leaving my side till we’re out of this fucking country…
Hannah looked at him, frowning a little and Ari knew why. Given that Ethan had warned him not to go near the remaining refugees he knew he was in for it. But he didn’t give a shit. Ethan could yell at him all he wanted, Ari’s priority now was his team and the hundreds of frightened people they had hid at the resort.
Quietly they all left the hut, peeling off in different directions. Rachel and Jake strode back up to the main part of the resort to see to the remaining guests that were still milling around following dinner, whilst Max and Sammy headed off to the trucks. Ari led Hannah back towards the resort a little behind Jake and Rachel, running through his plan in his head. It was such a long shot, but the only one they had.
“What are you gonna do, Ari?” Hannah’s voice was soft and he paused, turning to look at her.
“I’m gonna tell Ethan we need imminent extraction.”
“What? He can’t. There’s no exfil plan!” Her eyes widened as she shook her head. “And even if he could, now we have like three hundreds refugees after he told you not to get them!”
Ari dropped his head, hands on hips. “I know, sweetheart, which is why we’re gonna have to play the Bowen card.” His eyes met Hannah’s as she hesitated, and then frowned, opening her mouth to no doubt protest but Ari cut her off. “He knows who we are and what we’re doing, Han. He even mentioned your father’s name.”
“Yes, but what the fuck makes you think he can help when our own government can’t?” She shook her head. “Ari, this…”
“He talked about cargo planes, didn’t he?” Ari pressed. “Coming to evacuate them all?”
“Yeah, but... “
“We just have to convince him to get us one.” Ari shrugged, as if it was an easy and obvious solution, but he wasn’t fooling Hannah. She scoffed and snorted.
“Why would the US give a shit about-“
“You got a better idea?” Ari snapped, “because if you have, now is the time to share it.”
 Hanna’s mouth pressed tightly into a thin line and she folded her arms across her chest, looking away. Ari gave a sigh, and when he spoke his voice was softer, contrite almost, but still carried an unmissable tone of frustration.
“Just hear me out!” Ari implored as Hannah continued to stare into the distance. “Because it’s the only thing I got. And last time I checked I was still in charge.”
Hannah raised her eyebrows at that, and after what felt like an age, she turned to face him, her face stony and Ari took a deep breath as she looked at him.
“Go on then.” She instructed as Ari raked his fingers through his hair, the way he always did when he was stressed or thinking.
“We reach out to Bowen tomorrow, come clean,” he licked his lips, the salty taste of his sweat mixed with the sea air stung his tongue as he took a deep breath. “If we can get Ethan on side he might be able to pull some strings, get our people to call his.”
Hannah blinked, before she shook her head, letting out a deep breath from her nose. “If you say so.”
Her tone was flat and Ari’s shoulders sagged a little as he glanced out over the dark surface of the ocean. She didn’t think it was going to work, and even he had to admit he wasn’t sure it would either. But right now, he could see no option. They were past being discreet, this wasn’t merely dangerous, it was now a straight out battle between life and death, and he wasn’t going to sit around and simply wait for the inevitable to happen.
“Hannah, I know it’s a long shot…” He turned back to look at her as she gave a derisive snort as she met his eyes.
“Long? That’s an understatement-“
“-but right now it’s the only shot we have!” His voice rose once more as he threw his arms out to his side, his palms slapping against the outside of this thighs as the snapped back down. “So I’m gonna take it, with or without your help.”
Hannah’s tongue poked the inside of her cheek and Ari could tell she was biting back another response, undoubtedly a smart quip about this being no change from normal, that he came up with these off-the-cuff ideas and ran with them, because he was a reckless asshole. But this time was different, he was in a corner and there was no alternative but to come out fighting. And, unlike normal, he was unable to find it in him to assure her it was all gonna be okay because he didn’t know it would be, not for certain. And he couldn’t lie to her.
Instead he waited, impatiently, simply watching as she stared back at him, an expression on her face so like Sammy’s when he too thought Ari was being a dick, as she shook her head, her tongue making a clicking noise against her teeth. “Fine.” She popped her shoulder. “Let’s call Ethan.”
*****
As predicted, Ethan blew his absolute fucking shit. He railed at Ari and Hannah over the radio, firing Ari, again. Both of them knew better than to interrupt his mad rant so they let him continue his angry diatribe until he finally finished and Ari picked up the conversation calmly and quietly. As he spoke and explained the spark of idea, Ethan’s logic kicked in and he agreed to do what he could at his end, but reminded them what they were already painfully aware of, essentially they were on their own. This whole operation had been illegal and off radar of the main Israeli government, so whilst Ethan was certainly able to provide them with a glimmer of an idea as to where they could exit the country, it was completely up to them to sort the when and how.
They spent the rest of the evening going over how they were going to approach Bowen and pull this off, Ari growing increasingly frustrated at the fact he didn't have the answers to Jake and Rachel’s questions. Eventually, Max and Sammy arrived back, and their attention then diverted to getting the remaining refugees quickly and quietly into the huts, providing medical treatment where needed and then some food. By the time that was done and the group reconvened in the kitchen area, it was almost half past three in the morning. To Ari's surprise, when he explained his plan to go to Khartoum and that he wanted Hannah to go with him, Sammy raised no objections, most likely because he was as keen to put as much distance between her and the potential returning soldiers as possible. And, whilst they were effectively about to officially blow their cover to the CIA, the US Embassy was the safest place for any of them to be.
They both took a quick shower and changed, Hannah dressing in a pair of faded jeans which grazed her ankles along with a pair of sneakers, whilst Ari pulled on a denim shirt and a pair of dark jeans before he sat on the edge of the bed to push his feet into his trusty boots as Hannah tied her hair back with a scrunchy. They then took Simon down to Max knowing the dog would try and follow the jeep unless he was occupied, and made a swift and quiet exit.
Ari could have driven the long journey to Khartoum with his eyes closed, it felt he'd done it that often over the past two years, but he was glad his eyes were firmly open as they both got to see the stunning sun rise over the desert horizon. It was a slight reprieve in an otherwise tense journey, both of them caught up in thoughts about what they had to do. At one point, however, Hannah fell silent mid discussion and Ari turned to see she'd fallen asleep. With a soft smile, he turned his attention back to the road happy to leave her to it. She might be exhausted but she was safe.
They arrived at the US Embassy at just gone Nine-Thirty, and a flash of Ari's 'Guy' Passport saw them through the guarded gate.
“Can I help you?” The receptionist looked up and Ari flashed her his most charming smile.
“We’re here to see Walton Bowen.”
“Do you have an appointment?” The woman beamed back, batting her eyelids at Ari, but before he could try and win her over with any more of his charm, Hannah rolled her eyes and cut in.
“We don’t need one.” She gave the woman a curt smile. “Tell him Guy Thomas and Rosa Gomez are here. He’ll see us.”
The receptionist blinked and Ari looked away, fighting the smirk that was threatening to spread across his face at Hannah’s tone. She kept her eyes on the receptionist, her mannerism not faltering for a second and the woman behind the desk gave a little cough as she reached for the phone. After a short conversation she replaced the receiver and looked up.
“He’s going to send someone down to collect you, in the mean time I’ll need you to sign in as Visitors.”
“Thank you.” Hannah replied sweetly as the woman slid over the register she needed them to fill in before she moved to a filing cabinet at the back. “What?” Hannah raised an eyebrow at Ari who simply shook his head.
“Nothing, Firefly.”
Less than five minutes later they were being led into the office upstairs, Bowen greeting them both in the main part before he led them through to a smaller room at the back which was clearly his office. They both politely declined his offer of something to drink, taking a seat opposite where Bowen himself sat at his desk. Ari’s hands clasped together in his lap as he took a deep breath, his eyes on Bowen,
“So, are you going to finally tell me who you really are?”
Frustration filled Ari’s system at how deliberately obtuse the guy was being. “You know who we are.” Ari’s voice was calm but authoritative, indicating that he wasn’t in the mood for whatever stupid horseplay Bowen was trying to tease them into. “I wish we had time to play games, but we don't.”
“Right.” Bowen was completely unfazed by Ari’s tone as he leant back in his chair, gesturing to them both “But I'd really like to hear it. From you.”
At that Hannah stiffened and took a deep breath, she was pissed off too. Ari gently laid a hand on her arm, as he turned to Bowen.
“Hypothetically?” Ari spoke, his eyes fixed on the man. “I'm the Israeli government.”
“Well fuckin' shalom.” Bowen’s voiced was laced with sarcasm as his eyebrow raised, a smirk on his face. Ari took a deep breath as he narrowed his eyes, Hannah making an angry noise through her nose as she shook her head, glancing around the room, teeth worrying at her bottom lip in a nervous, yet irritated manner.
“Let's assume for a second that we know something about these disappearing refugees.” Ari broke the tense silence. “And, we theoretically need your help getting about four hundred of them out of the country, immediately.”
 “Oh?” Bowen questioned, although both Ari and Hannah could tell he wasn’t in the least surprised. “How would I do that?”
“You mentioned planes.” Hannah looked at him as she crossed her left leg over her right. “Here on the ground in Khartoum, cargo planes.”
“Uh-huh.” Bowen replied, taking a deep breath before he shook his head. “Even if I could help you, Ari and Hannah.” He paused, levelling Ari with a look as Ari stiffened at the use of their real names whereas besides him Hannah merely blinked. “I don't have that kind of pull.”
“Okay, look,” Hannah uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, hands resting on her knees, “my dad didn’t found Mossad for you to come in riding shit shot over everything we’ve done or are trying to do.” She paused as Bowen took a deep breath, not an inch of surprise on his features confirming Hannah’s suspicions that he knew a dammed site more than just their names. “These are our people. They’re hungry, sick and being persecuted in a way you couldn’t possibly imagine. So much so that they’re willing to risk their lives to escape. Now, if we don’t find a way to get them out of here, then you’re gonna have a massacre not only on your hands but your conscience. So, I’ll ask again, are you gonna fucking help us or not?”
Her voice as steely, and as Ari looked at her, she was radiating a deathly, silent fury, fire burning in her eyes and for the first time since they’d started their meeting, Bowen’s cocky demeanour faltered a little as he shifted uncomfortably under her glare.
Despite everything, Ari couldn’t help but smile at how quickly Hannah had turned this round on Bowen by calling him out and he was reminded exactly why he had wanted her on the mission in the first place. Sure, her skills lay in the medical field but in situations like this she was fearless, quick thinking and had an authority about her when she was in this mood that could make the bravest of men quake in their boots. Right there and then, he didn’t think he could love her any more if he tried.
And he was also highly inappropriately turned on.
Bowen sighed and shook his head, an apologetic look on his face, his body language now shifting from cautious to open. “Honestly, the best I can do is talk to my bosses.”
“Well then,” Hannah nodded to the two phones on his desk, her arms folding back over her chest, chin jutting upwards in a display of defiance, “get talking.”
Bowen looked at her before he took a deep sigh and picked up the phone. From then on in it was a flurry of calls, back and forth it went as Ari explained in detail his idea and what he had agreed with Ethan.
For hours the wrangling went on until Bowen made the final call and informed them there was nothing more he could do formally. Ari, frustrated by the amount of red tape the man seemed to be caught up in had started pacing up and down, hand running through his beard. Hannah remained nervously in her seat, her foot tapping the leg of Bowen’s desk as the man gave her a small smile.
And then the red phone rang.
All three of them looked at it, Hannah rising to her feet as Bowen took a deep breath before he reached to pick it up, but Ari stopped him, hurrying over from his spot in the doorway, panic flooding his system as he suddenly realised there was a pretty big chance this wasn’t gonna go the way they wanted.
“Wait, wait, wait!” His large hand curled on the receiver to prevent Bowen answering as it continued to ring shrilly. “I don't know what this person's gonna tell you. They may tell you to throw me out of the building or the country, but I promise you, what you do right now will be your legacy.” He paused as Bowen looked at him. “When you look back on this moment, it will either fill you with great pride, or great shame.”
Bowen looked at him, before Ari moved back and he picked up the phone. “This is Walton.”
Ari and Hannah exchanged looks, her hand slipping into his giving it a squeeze as Bowen spoke. Eventually, he put the phone down and took a deep breath.  
“They told me to throw you out.” He shrugged and Hannah felt her heart sink.
“Fuck!” Ari slammed his hand on the desk before he stood up, both hands flying through his hair.
“But lucky for you, we’re cut from the same cloth Ari, I don’t much care for stupid decisions from up the chain either.” Ari blinked, his hands dropping to his side as he stared at Bowen, who shrugged a little. “You’re right, I don’t want four hundred deaths on my conscience so I’ll get you a plane, but I can only get you one.”
Ari let’s out a sigh of relief, his mouth dry as he thanked every single one of his damned lucky stars. He turned to Hannah who was looking up at the ceiling, swallowing and blinking back tears, letting out the breath she had been holding pretty much since the phone rang.
“We got a thirty minute window tonight.” Bowen continued, as he turned and walked to a filing cabinet, pulling out a scroll “I can’t buy any more time.” With a flourish he unrolled the paper out onto his desk and Hannah instantly spotted it was a map as he pinned it down with a stapler at one side and a book at the other. He glanced up at Ari then Hannah, pointing to it.  “You mentioned an air field?”
****
By the time they had fleshed out their plan, which involved numerous calls on secure lines back to Mossad HQ, it was almost two in the afternoon, and Ari was conscious that they needed to go if they were to stand any chance of meeting the schedule. After bidding Bowen a hasty good bye, they made their way swiftly to the jeep, hopped in and Ari sped away from the embassy back down the main road that would lead them out of Khartoum for what Ari was hoping would be the last time.
They felt like it was taking forever, and this time it was the setting sun that filled their eyes as Ari navigated the jeep down the deserted dirt track through the desert, once more avoiding the main road. They made small talk, a mix tape playing over the speakers as they went, Hannah mostly concentrating on going over their plan so they had it down to the last detail. But after a few hours, Ari had fallen silent and had taken to huffing impatiently, the foot which wasn’t pressed on the accelerator was jiggling nervously and his jaw was clenching in that tell-tale way. After half an hour or so of watching this silently, Hannah instructed him to pull over and take a moment before they had an accident, something he was extremely reticent to do but obliged anyway because she knew she was right. He needed to stretch his legs and clear his mind as much as he could. He would be no use to anyone if he arrived home in this state. He needed to be calm, focussed and together.
Ari left the ignition running, in case they needed to make a quick get-away and climbed out of the vehicle where he had pulled off the dirt track slightly and parked in the shelter of two sand dunes. He cracked his neck, ran his hand through his hair and began pacing a little, his toes scuffing at a few loose rocks as he took a deep breath, while Hannah watched from her spot against the rear fender of the jeep where she leaned back against the warm metal, her eyes tracking his every movement.
Ari bit his lip as he paced, running anxious hands through his hair, wringing them together, murmuring to himself. He thought back to his conversation with Sammy the day before and the incident in the dining room which until now, he had managed to compartmentalise. He was so desperate and determined to get this escape out properly without further damage to any of them, not least make sure Hannah was safe, that he had focussed all his energy and mental capacity on plotting and organising their route out. But now, the realisation of how close he had come to risking everything getting blown in a split second crashed over him, and it felt like a knife in the gut that was being slowly twisted, compounded by a constant hammer on the head, reminding him of exactly how dire the situation was.
Abruptly, he quit pacing and stalked over to Hannah, his hands cupped her face and crashed his lips to hers in a kiss that was bruising and possessive, but ever so careful as well, a combination Ari managed effortlessly when it came to his Firefly. “I love you. I love you so much...” he mumbled against her mouth.
She made no protest, bar a huff of surprise, but she welcomed him, almost like she needed the release as much as he did. Their kisses became more heated, and before he knew what he was doing, Ari's hand was fumbling for the door. Then effort was clumsy at best, teeth clashing together as he blindly pried the door open and pushed her inside till she was lying on the backseat.
Hannah grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down to her, furiously kissing him, teeth clashing, beard scratching as she emptied every single emotion she was feeling into his mouth as he pressed her into the well-worn, creaky back bench of the jeep, groaning as he ground his hips down against hers. It wasn’t comfortable, trying to contort his large frame across the rear of the car but, right at that moment, comfort was the last thing on his mind as her hands tangled into his hair, nails scraping his scalp as she keened underneath him.
Ari pulled away if only for a second but Hannah's eyes told him everything he wanted to hear.
"Make me yours, Lobo," she whispered against his ear as his lips nipped and licked at her neck.
"You're already mine, Firefly," he all but growled, moving so that he had one leg bent on the bench, the other extended into the rear foot-well. The clanging of buckles, zipping of trousers and the rustling of fabric filled the car as, with a swift, hurried movement, Ari undone his belt and jeans, shoving them and his boxers down over his hips, just enough to allow his erection to spring free.
With a feral movement, he swatted Hannah’s hands away from where they were fumbling with the flies at the top of her own faded blue denims and quickly pulled them and her panties down over one of her legs, leaving her to kick them off the other, or not, he didn’t give a shit as long as they weren’t in the way. He shoved her legs apart as best he could, the tight position of the back seat giving them little room as she braced herself against the door arms above her head palms flat against the door.
Ari wasn’t wasting any time, because they simply didn’t have any to waste. Not only were they up against the clock due to their schedule, if they got caught as they were, out in the open, well, there was a jail cell waiting for both of them, and all things considered, had he been thinking straight he wouldn’t have instigated any of this. But he wasn’t, he never was as far as this woman was concerned.
Laying back over her, with a long, deep rut forward he thrust up into her, making her groan loudly as he nipped roughly at her neck whilst he retracted his hips and thrust back into her, harder still. A few thrusts later, his hips were set in a rhythm, snapping back and forth with a pace and a vigour that was merciless as he pistoned in and out of her again and again. His hands firmly gripping her hips as his lips met hers in a hard, deep kiss which was furious, tongues lashing against one another, obscene noises filling the vehicle, the inside of which was already hot and sweaty thanks to the heat of the day still being present, and was growing muggier by the second thanks to the heavy, exertive activities taking place on the back seat.
After a particularly deep thrust, an animalistic growl burst from his throat as one of her hands snaked into his long hair and gave a tug. As he glanced down at her, he could see the pupils of her eyes were blown wide with a desire he would never tire of seeing.  She titled her hips up against him, causing him to drive deeper and she let out an almost primal cry he had never, in all their times of being intimate together, heard her make before. It simply revved him up even more, his rapid movements growing even more urgent.
“Fuck, Lobo,” she moaned, her head falling back, smacking against the metal of the car door as Ari thrust into her harder over and over again and it wasn’t long before he felt the tell-tale flutter of her clamping around him, a sign she was close and her hands flew from where they’d been braced against the door to his back.
“Firefly,” his hand reached up, grasping her chin between his finger and thumb, forcing her face round to his and his lips claimed hers once more. “Come on, baby,” he panted against her mouth, his thrusting pausing for a moment as he ground up against her, causing her to cry out. “Cum for me, Hannah.”
Another rotation of his hips saw her mouth drop open in as she chanted his name, again and again, her tight heat gripping him like a vice as she came, her back arching, hands clawing at his skin over his denim shirt. The bite of pain from her nails overwhelmed him and he felt his own stomach tighten.
“Shit, Hannah, I’m gonna…” His words tumbled into her hair as his movements became desperate before his hips stuttered as he came with a surge that made the world around him go silent, almost like someone was squeezing the air out of him inch by inch.
They lay there in a tangle of clothing and limbs, chests heaving, sweat glistening on every part of their bodies that was exposed, clothes sticking to the parts that weren’t. Ari held his girl to him, panting and shaking, and he was desperate not to let her go, but he was also painfully aware that their stolen time together today was coming to an end. As he managed to gain enough control push himself up on his arms, Hannah looked up at him, gently brushing the tendrils of hair that had fallen over his face back, raised her head, her lips pressing gently to his in a soft, tender kiss, a stark contrast to the violent ones they had shared moments before.
“Marry me.” He said softly, his eyes only on hers, awaiting her answer. 
Hannah blinked as the two simple words resonated in her brain and those gorgeous eyes that Ari could stare into all day long grew wide in surprise. “What?” Her question was nothing more than a breathy whisper and Ari took a deep breath, before he spoke again, his voice clearer than it had been moments ago.
“Marry me, Hannah.”
As he watched her process his request, her eyes began to water and a single tear trickled down her cheek. Ari reached up to wipe it away, his hand shaking a little with nervous apprehension. Had he overstepped? It really wasn’t how he’d ever seen himself asking her, in a million years, but he wanted her to know just how much he did love and need her, especially as they were about to embark on the most dangerous part of their mission yet.  And if it did go wrong, then at least she would know what she meant to him truly.
“Han?” He managed to croak her name out as she laid there, simply looking at him. And after what felt like an age, she gave a sniff and then the faintest nod.
But a nod nonetheless.
“Yeah?” Ari inhaled, hardly daring to believe it but then her face cracked into a huge smile and she nodded once more.
“Yes! A million times yes! It’s always been you, Ari Levinson.”
He spluttered a happy chuckle as her words sunk in and the sheer joy flooded his system at her answer, the love he felt for her warm in his chest like a talisman as she beamed at him. Grinning like  the Cheshire cat, he closed the small space between them, sealing their engagement with a kiss. As much as he wanted to slowly make love to her until the sun crested the dunes and the stars started to shine, they were on a time crunch and this little detour would have already set them back some. But it was all fucking worth it, it would be. He had to believe it, or no one else would. 
They made themselves presentable and began the rest of their journey back to the resort, time no longer on their side. And as Ari drove, Hannah's left hand nestled lovingly and snuggly in his right, he pressed his lips to her knuckles. 
“I didn't mean for this.” Ari sighed as he glanced at her and then back to the dirt road ahead. “Well, I did in a way but not for it to end like this. I don’t know how I would have made it through any of this without you.”
“Ari.....” Hannah gave a little tsk. “You’ve pulled a lot of missions without me in the picture.”
“Maybe but,” Ari shook his head, “this is different.”
Hannah sighed now herself and leaned over to kiss his cheek, “the Red Sea Diving Resort will always have a place in our hearts, huh? If we make it, that is.”
“Don’t...” Ari shook his head. “Don’t say that. It’s gonna be fine.”
“I really wanna believe you.” She whispered, looking down at their entwined hands, taking a deep breath. “In an ideal world, then yeah, but I don’t know, Ari. I’m scared.”
He felt defeat in that moment, for he wanted nothing more than for Hannah to feel safe and secure. His body slumped a little in his seat and for a little while he didn't utter a word, his mind reeling and when he spoke his voice was a sad, barely there whisper. “I’m sorry, Firefly. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this. Fuck...Sammy’s right, I’m an asshole, I...”
“Hey!” Hannah cut him off sternly, “You listen to me right now, I wouldn’t change this, any of it for the world. It brought you back to me and even now I’d go back and do it all over, just to make sure we had these last two years.” She trailed off with a little swallow and a shrug as Ari took a deep breath. 
“We’ll have more, Han. We didn’t go through all this to fail now. We’re gonna make it. We have to.” It was a plea more than a statement, his eyes searching hers as she held his gaze, pleading with her to give him this, assure him he was right, because for once in his life, Ari Levinson wanted his gut feeling to be wrong.
And she did.  “Okay. If you’re telling me that then I trust you.”
Despite the tension of the day, Ari felt himself relax a little, both from the touch of her hand against his and by her words. He pressed a soft kiss again to the topside of her hand.
He couldn't admit it, maybe later once this was all over he would, but he was scared too. 
**** Chapter 15
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interstellarflare · 4 years
Text
He’s So Jealous || Chicago Fire/MED/PD Preferences
Author’s Note: All gifs belong to their original creators: @owenelliot @thompsonconnors @lonewolfmeri @lorybest​ @chicagofireadventures​ @alberto-rosende​ @justmefawning​
Connor Rhodes
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A new Doctor had recently transferred to the MED, and Sharon had asked you to show him around. Dr. Ian Blake was smart, kind, and an overall nice person. He listened to everything you said, memorised where all of the different departments and wards were, and was very obviously doing this just to gain your attention, and to blatantly flirt with you in front of your colleagues. Connor was furious. Yes, the two of you had only been in this relationship for a short while, but seeing someone else flirt with you caused a wave of unbelievable anger to surge into his chest. Throughout the entire day, Connor kept telling himself that it meant nothing, that you weren’t interested in this new guy. But when he overheard Dr. Ian ask you out for coffee, he couldn’t take it anymore. He stormed into the break room, not saying a word as he angrily took your hand in his own and dragged you away to a vacant storage room, where he then kissed you passionately. Connor wasn’t one to complain, but when you pulled away from him and lightly pushed him away, he couldn’t help but pout. “What are you doing?” You questioned, raising an eyebrow in wait for his response. Connor shrugged “I’m trying out something new-” “Oh my god, you’re jealous of Dr. Ian!” You exclaimed, laughing to yourself quietly as Connor folded his arms over his chest. “I heard him ask you out for coffee, and I just...I don’t know, it was stupid”. You smiled at his childish pout, before reaching up to cup his face in your hands “Connor, you know I was going to say no before you pulled me away right?” You told him, standing up on your tip-toes and placing a kiss to his brow “Now come on, I’ll make it up to you after work. Tonight, at Molly’s?”. Connor nodded, smiling to himself as you disappeared from the storage room. 
Will Halstead
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Will wasn’t usually the type of person to get jealous. But when he did, he became distant, mumbling short responses to long statements or questions. You had been visiting the ED a lot lately, whether it was to meet Maggie, April or Natalie for lunch, or it was to see him and drop off something you had baked early in the morning. But a few times now, every time you had walked into the ED, Connor had been there to meet you. At first you thought it was strange, but then you thought nothing of it as Connor always directed you to wherever Will was, stopping to have a conversation with you on the way. Will began to notice your interactions with Connor, and for some reason, he began to doubt himself. One particular morning, you entered the ED with a bright smile on your face, the smile widening when you spotted Will talking to April. April waved you over, whilst Will suddenly became very engrossed in his work. You couldn’t help but feel hurt by his actions, but brushed it off as you approached, “Hey...” You greeted happily “are we still on for dinner tonight?”. When Will didn’t respond immediately, you knew something was wrong. “Uh yeah, sure...excuse me” he mumbled, stepping around you and disappearing into Trauma 3. You stood bewildered, trying to ignore the painful tugging in your chest. “What the hell was that?” You asked April, who merely shrugged her shoulders “I don’t know, but I did hear him say something to Natalie this morning about you. I didn’t hear what it was but you could try asking her”. So you did, and you couldn’t help but feel guilty. Will was jealous of your friendship with Connor. He thought that maybe he wasn’t good enough for you, and you felt horrible. You wanted to talk to him, and try to make him understand that he was enough, that you cared about him. But every time you tried to approach him, he disappeared into a restricted section, or he went to tend to a patient. So, you thought that maybe you could get through to him some other way, and a brilliant idea formed. When Will finished his shift, he walked into the break room to retrieve some paperwork he had left there earlier when he spotted something familiar. It was a beautiful vanilla cake with buttercream icing. Specifically, your vanilla cake with buttercream icing. His favourite. Beside the cake was a letter, written in your delicate handwriting explaining everything. You apologised, telling him that you didn’t mean to make him jealous, and that if he still wanted to come over for dinner, he was welcome to. He headed to your apartment as soon as he left the MED.
Ethan Choi
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It was just a regular coffee date. You and Ethan had decided to meet up at the same cafe where he ran into you that day after Ethan finished an overnight shift. Even though he was tired, there was no force on earth that could stop him from seeing you. After ordering your regular and making your way to a window-side booth, it was then that you noticed black marker scribbled on the side of your cup. Curiously, you turned the cup to examine it closer, and blushed nervously as you immediately turned it away from you. “What is it?” Ethan asked, tilting his head to the side in wait for your response. You shook you head, releasing a small huff “It’s nothing, they just got my order wrong that’s all”. Not at all liking your answer, Ethan examined the styrofoam cup himself and couldn’t help the jealousy building in his chest. The barista behind the counter had written his name and number on your cup, with a small winky face drawn at the side. When Ethan huffed angrily, you winced. “It’s okay...” You tried to reason “he’s looks like he’s in his twenties. And besides, I’m sitting with you and not him”. His jaw clenched, his eyes not leaving your coffee cup. “Is he looking this way?” he asked, causing your eyebrows to furrow “Yes, why?”. In one swift movement, Ethan moved into the seat beside you, placing a long and lingering kiss to your cheek before wrapping his arm around your shoulder. Pulling you into his side, it was then that Ethan’s eyes met the barista’s, who’s brown hues widened in shock, realisation and fear. When the poor boy disappeared, scurrying into the back of the cafe, you rolled your eyes and leaned your head against Ethan’s shoulder. “You can be a real arse, you know that right?”. Ethan hummed, kissing the top of your head “Tell me something I don’t know, but no one messes with you”.
Kelly Severide
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Just as your relationship with Kelly was starting to get back on its feet, the world had decided to throw you a curveball. You had been tending to a patient who had come in last week, who fell from a great height and managed to break two vertebrae in his lower back. Every chance he got, he flirted with you non-stop, to the point where it was getting on your nerves. His pick-up lines were crude, they weren’t romantic at all, and you wanted nothing more than for him to get better as soon as possible. One such shift, Kelly entered the ED and ran into Maggie, explaining that he was here to take you out to lunch. “Before you do that, you might wanna rescue your girl first...” she teased, handing a clipboard off to Ethan who walked past “her patient’s been hitting on her every single visit, and I have a bad feeling that she’s going to snap any second now”. Without wasting a second, Maggie pointed him in the direction of Trauma 3, where Kelly spotted you talking to your patient with your arms folded over your chest. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in going out with you” Kelly heard you say, to which your patient rolled his eyes. Now Kelly wasn’t usually the jealous type, he was more protective. He was the type that wanted everybody else to know that you were his girlfriend. Before your patient could make another snide comment, Kelly decided that enough was enough. He knocked on the glass pane of the door, smiling brightly as you turned to face him. Your shoulders sagged with relief, a long sigh escaping you. “Kelly, thank god...” you spoke loudly, watching as he entered the ward with his hands tucked innocently into the pockets of his jeans. “I just came off a call, and I thought to myself, why not take the woman I love out to a beautiful lunch...” he began, now wrapping his arm protectively around your waist and pulling you into his side. You knew what he was doing, and you couldn’t help but smirk out of knowing and embarrassment. “I’m sorry, who are you?” Your patient interrupted obnoxiously, his glare zeroing in on Kelly. But before you could respond, Kelly’s arm around your waist tightened “I’m Kelly, and she’s taken”. An embarrassed blush formed on your patient’s cheeks, as his gaze suddenly found every inch of the trauma room very intriguing. You laughed, looking up at the man beside you with a smile “Come on, I have about five more minutes and then I’ll meet you out front, okay?”. Kelly nodded, placing a kiss to your temple in good measure and disappeared from the ED, waving to Maggie triumphantly as he passed.
Matthew Casey
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If Matt was jealous, he did a good job at hiding it. But sometimes, he would slip up, meaning that his jealousy was out in the open for you to see. He tried not to be irked by the guy in the corner booth, who was practically eyeing you up and down. But he just couldn’t, and you could tell that Matt was struggling. You knew that the guy had been staring at you since you walked in. To be honest, it kind of creeped you out, but you found it adorable that Matt was trying so hard not to do anything he would likely regret later. In the two months the two two of you had been dating, you knew Matt wasn’t one to openly display his jealousy. Placing your hand on top of his from across the table, you met Matt’s gaze with a warm smile “Did you want to go somewhere else? I really don’t mind if we do”. Matt shook his head “No, no it’s okay, I’ll just keep pretending that it doesn’t bother me, and we’ll have a good day”. You laughed, rolling your eyes as you stood up from your seat, swinging your bag over your shoulder before urging Matt to stand. He did so with a a confused expression, smiling faintly as you stood in your tip-toes to reach him. But his smile grew as you placed your lips against his in a soft and slow kiss. The cafe was fairly busy, so no one was really taking notice of this affectionate display. All except the guy at the corner booth, who’s gaze now focused on the constantly moving world outside. When you pulled away, you smiled brightly “Come on, we’ll have coffee at my place”. Matt chuckled, nodding his head in agreement “I’d like that very much”.
Blake Gallo
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A patient you had saved from an overturned car had been coming to see you every single day for the past two weeks. For the first couple of days, you thought it was really sweet. But when he constantly tried to ask you out, that was when you began to grow annoyed. One particular day, you had been working on Truck 81. Herrmann had broken something before blaming it on Cruz, and no one really wanted to fix it. So here you were. And at the same time every single day, your former patient arrived. But while you were oblivious to his arrival, a certain young firefighter was. Blake couldn’t stand the guy, and boy did everyone know it except you. As you lay beneath Truck 81, Blake made his move as the guy approached, under pressure now as Matt, Kelly, Herrmann and Mouch watched on with interest. “Hey, you here to see Y/n again?” He asked casually, to which the guy nodded “Yeah, is she around today?”. Blake shook his head, “Listen uh, I’m just telling you now because Y/n’s too nice to tell you this herself, but she kinda has a boyfriend”. He hated how amazing he felt when the guys face fell slightly, but he was completely oblivious to the fact that you were leaning against the 81 out of sight, arms folded over your chest in amusement as Blake said goodbye to your pursuer. When Blake turned to make his way back inside, he froze. There you were, a smug smirk on your face as you tilted your head to the side. “So, who’s this mysterious boyfriend of mine you mentioned, hm?” you asked, biting your lip in wait for his answer. Laughing awkwardly, Blake was lost for words. He looked anywhere but at you, before walking away and disappearing into the firehouse with his head down. You rolled your eyes and shook your head as Cruz appeared by your side. “You know that mysterious boyfriend is him, right?”. Your cheeks flushed a deep red, before you returned to the much needed maintenance on Truck 81.
Jay Halstead
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A new med student had been enrolled at the MED, and it was your responsibility to show him around the hospital. He was to be present when you took care of a patient, so he could learn from you and get a grasp on what life was like at the hospital. The only downside was that every time Will left the room after making sure the two of you were capable of performing a task on your own, he would flirt with you. Relentlessly. Your shift was almost finished for the day, and you were looking forward to the moment when Jay walked through the ED doors, where he would then sweep you off your feet and into a romantic evening of chilling at your apartment with pizza and wine. But until then, you were stuck with Clay. He followed you around like a lost puppy, even when he had nothing else to do. “Come on Y/n, just one date...” he spoke cooly, stepping in front of you and almost making you run into his chest “I promise I’ll make it worth your while”. Trying not to visibly cringe, you stepped around him and continued on “I’m sorry, but I’ve told you before I have a boyfriend, so please can you stop asking” you pleaded, walking past Maggie’s station and placing a clipboard before her. Before Clay could respond, the doors to the ED opened to reveal the younger Halstead. When his eyes met yours, he smiled, and you raced over before wrapping your arms around him. “Wow, hey. Not even a ‘hello’?” he asked jokingly, laughing as you pulled away from him with an awkward smile. When his gaze moved behind you to Maggie, who was in turn pointing to the med student at her desk, Jay put two and two together. So this was the guy you had mentioned. You had told him about Clay about a week ago, but at that point his advancements towards you had been harmless flirtations. But now, his plans had obviously changed. “Come on, let’s just go-” “Hang on...” Jay whispered, his eyes meeting yours with a smirk “do you want him to leave you alone?” he asked with a slight wink. Your eyes widened “Whatever you have planned Halstead, you better not-” Jay suddenly stepped forward, looping his arm around your waist and pulling you against him as he kissed you deeply. You smiled against his lips, pulling away with a light laugh. Jay grinned “Now we can go” he mused happily, waving goodbye to Maggie as you both left the MED with now sign of Clay anywhere. 
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aprilsrant · 4 years
Text
Honey Honey! | Oliver Wood x Slytherin!Fem!Reader.
PAIRING: oliver wood x slytherin!fem!reader.
SUMMARY: (Y/N)’s friend takes his plan one step further, determined to get the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain and the overthinker slytherin together. 
WORD COUNT: 2,032.
PREVIOUS PART: Lay all your love on me.
NEXT PART: When I kissed the teacher. 
REQUEST: literally one person asked for a part two and I had to do it. I have in mind another part, and possibly last one, so if anyone is interested let me know!
WARNINGS: I don’t think so.
A/N: Please remember English is not my first language, so there might be some mistakes, you can always correct me and I’ll fix it. And yes, the title is another ABBA song because why not? 
I still can’t believe the first part got like 150 notes. Thank you so much! 
Masterlist.
Gif below it’s not mind, credits to the person who made it.
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Three days after the party in the Ravenclaw Common Room, that same one in which she almost killed one of her best friends, the unexpected happened.
His mouth lifted in a grin, white teeth showing, eyes sparkling with excitement and, at the same time, craziness; Dorian, the one who barely escaped his early death, sat beside them, leaning his body on the big root of a tree near the Black Lake, orange and brown leafs beneath him. The other tree exchanged glances. 
The afternoon was about to take an interesting turn. It’s not like he was never happy, but this particular kind of happiness came with blaring red lights, screaming and alerting everyone close enough.
Silently agreeing to ignore the boy’s strange, but not new, behaviour, (Y/N), Isla and Ethan kept working on their assignments. Before any of them could write something on the pieces of parchment, Dorian fakely cleared his throat. None of them looked at him, suppressed smiles on their faces.
(Y/N) had finished writing a sentence for her Charms essay when he tried to catch his friend’s attention again. But now using a different strategy. After the third long sigh that left his mouth, Isla, with lips pressed in a thin line, finally turned her head in his direction.
“Yes, Dorian?,” she said. Her harsh tone rivaling Professor McGonagall’s. 
In an impossible way, his grin grew larger, resembling the Cheshire Cat from the classic Alice in Wonderland. Dorian fixed his position, making himself more comfortable against the root, legs stretching (a few inches away from Ethan’s ink bottle), eyes closed and fingers gently hitting each other, taking that typical stance of someone who’s planning something. 
“What is it?,” asked Ethan impatiently.
“I come here bearing good news, no, excellent news and you treat me like this?” Always the exaggerated, Dorian feigned a hurt expression, right hand going to his chest and grabbing the part where his heart was placed.
Having enough of his games, (Y/N), who wanted nothing more to finish her paper and take a nap before dinner, decided to step into the conversation. “What excellent news?”
Dorian dropped the wounded act and smiled at her, glaring at the others as if he was saying ‘this is what good friends are supposed to be like’. He changed his posture once more —he really couldn’t stay still—, now sitting closer to them with his legs crossed, hands playing with one of the chocolate sweets Ethan had been trying to transform. The corner of his mouth never lowered. 
“Nice to hear you’re interested, my dearest (Y/N), because this concerns you directly.” She regretted ever asking him the minute that answer rolled from his mouth and his dark brown, almost black, eyes shined with mischief. Ethan’s and Isla’s confusion showed through their faces. “I just, like just, saw you know who and he,” Dorian stopped talking when he saw his friend’s disturbed expression. Rolling his eyes —how could they be that dumb?—, he explained. “Not that You-Know-Who, the other one… Ugh, I’m talking about Oliver Wood.” 
Their mouths took the shape of an O, realisation finally coming to them.
“He asked me what day you would be free to tutor him, so now, thanks to me, you have a date with Oliver this Saturday morning.”
(Y/N) and the other two stared at him. While Isla and Ethan broke into a fit of thrilled laughs and big smiles, high-fiving Dorian for his “work”, she was trying to control her anger and the words —the majority of them being insults— ready to leave her throat.  
Why was he so keen on her and Oliver being together? Why couldn’t they understand that she was not the kind of person who would act on her feelings? 
Yes, she had made it obvious that she liked the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, but that didn’t mean she wanted to do something about it. She had always been awkward and, of course, situations with strangers (did she consider him one?) tended to go that way. The girl knew that if something, anything, went wrong with him she would overthink nonstop.  
Saying nothing, (Y/N) quickly grabbed her things —a dark blue bag with white dots forming the constellations, the parchment on top of it and the quill on her hand—, stood up and left with a quick step carrying her body, ignoring her friends screaming her name to come back from near the Black Lake’s shore. 
Entering the castle, bustling with cheerful students making their way outside to enjoy the warm and sunny afternoon, she decided this was the perfect moment to take that much needed nap, even if she hadn’t finished her assignment yet. 
The Slytherin was walking down one of the corridors, this one less transitaded, when she saw the particular crimson fabric of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team’s robes. She lowered her head, hoping it was one of the Chasers or any other member that wasn’t him.
Noticing the person wearing the uniform passed right beside her and didn’t say anything, she sighed in relief.
“(Y/N)?” said a disembodied and sweet voice from behind her. Even if she couldn’t actually see the person calling her name, she knew perfectly who it belonged to. 
Bloody hell.
Before turning around to face him, she closed her eyes, preparing herself. She’d never mind his presence, or him calling for her —hell, (Y/N) dreamed of that happening every now and then—, but now was definitely the wrong time for this. She was angry with Dorian for trying to set her up, exhausted from not being able to get used to the routine again and annoyed because of the amount of homework. 
Finding his black shoes extremely interesting and intriguing, she murmured a small response.
“Fancy to see you here, I’ve been trying to talk to you since the party but I didn’t want to bother you in class, you always look so focused on the lessons, and with Quidditch practices I couldn’t find you in your free time,” Oliver continued. He had been trying to reach her? Her? “I found Dorian instead and he said you were free to tutor me on Saturday morning. If you can’t or don’t want to or whatever, you don’t have to. I know I should have talked to you first, but I didn’t see you anywhere and I was getting desperate because I can’t lose this opportunity and… and I’m rambling a lot, sorry.” He stopped tapping his thumb against his broomstick’s handle.
All at once, the feeling, more like an intuition, that he could be nervous around her engulfed (Y/N), spreading a warm sensation through her body. 
She wanted to say no, even when this was the chance she’d wanted for too long but (Y/N) knew herself. The endless overthinking that she’ll have to endure before, during and after their “study date” —what if she was a horrible tutor?; what if he didn’t understand anything she’d said?; what if she wasn’t good enough?; what if he never wanted to speak to her again after it?; what if he failed and blamed it on her?; what if all this was a big and cruel joke?, would he do that to her, to anyone?—.
She really did want to say no, but how could she when he looked like that? Upper lip biting nervously on the bottom one, his cheeks of a rosy colour, constantly shifting his body’s weight, fingers fidgeting. 
“I, um, of course, no problem,” she assured. 
Why did she have to be such a people pleaser? 
And why did she have to like him so much that when he smiled, relieved because of the answer, her heart stopped for a second and her stomach turned upside down?
|||
(Y/N) was sure Oliver had never wanted to revise Transformation so early on a Saturday, especially when his team was just a few hours away from playing their first Quidditch match of the season. She wasn’t so thrilled either, weekends were the only days she had to sleep till lunch, her roommates knowing that waking her up before one in the afternoon would lead to a pissed (Y/N) and no one liked that version of herself.
“Look, we can reschedule if you want,” she said after watching him fail once more at conjuring birds from the tip of his wand, “you are worried about the match and that’s making it impossible for you to focus on this.”
The Gryffindor glanced at her through his eyelashes, a frustrated look in his eyes —(Y/N) couldn’t figure out if it was because he was losing his time here with her while he could be training with his team one last time or because the only thing coming out of his wand were yellow feathers—. 
Running both hands across his face, he replied, “I-I don’t want you to waste your time, but I suck at Transfiguration and we haven’t even started with Potions, which is worse, and you make it seem so easy because you’re amazing at this. But I’m not and Professor MgGonagall said that if…”.
For someone who had a brave and confident exterior, Oliver Wood did ramble quite a lot.
“I know what MgGonagall said,” (Y/N) interrupted, choosing to ignore the part where he complimented her, “and you are not wasting my time, Oliver. I agreed to help you, remember?” He nodded his head slowly, watching his hands. (Y/N) thought he looked like a kid getting reprimanded. “Now, try one more time.”
And one more time he failed, yellow canary feathers falling down to the floor,  joining Oliver’s past attempts at mastering the Bird-Conjuring Charm. 
She saw him scratch his forehead with his eyes closed and lips barely visible because of the way he was biting on them. 
“You’re not doing the correct hand movement, I think that’s why it isn’t working,” (Y/N) noticed, “look, give me your hand.” She grabbed his right hand, the one holding his wand, delicately, fingers barely touching the skin. Taking his wrist and positioning herself on Oliver’s side, she showed him how to do accurate motion. “And you just say Avis.”
The next time he did the incantation, a loud blast, pretty much like the sound of a gun being fired, resonated throughout the place. Once the smoke dissipated, several yellow birds flew from the tip of his wand to the empty classroom they were practising in. Twittering and chirping filled the room, but as quickly as they did, they became background noise when Oliver let out a loud laugh at his achievement. 
He turned around, a big grin on his face and brightness in his eyes, now a completely different person. She smiled at him, his excitement starting to feel contagious.
“See, you don’t have to be so hard on yourself,” (Y/N) murmured. If only she’d take her own advice. “I think you’re good to go and-and do whatever you do before a Quidditch match.”
“Thank you, for agreeing to this.”
She shook her head, the corners of her mouth slightly going up. “No problem.”
Oliver walked towards the door and before he opened it, the boy asked, “will I see you at the match?”
“Maybe.”
“Nice, it’ll be good to see you there,” he’d smiled at her one last time and left the unused classroom. 
Biting down the nail on her thumb, (Y/N) let out a silly giggle, one of those that only escape people’s mouth when they are drunk or can’t get that one person out of their minds. Perhaps she was reading into this situation the wrong way, but for just a tiny moment she didn’t care. She enjoyed the warm feeling on her stomach, as if a ton of thestrals had suddenly decided to fly across it, and the erratic pace of her heart every time Oliver would glance at her or say anything remotely kind. 
Then the realisation came and with it, tangled like some kind of broken and dark creature, her severely damaged pride. She had to admit to Dorian’s face that he was, in fact, correct and that his ridiculous plan may actually work.
TAGS: @peeves-a-legend​ (amazing person and writer, read all of her work!).
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urlocalbunny · 3 years
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My request is... Boys making reader cry. It could be in an argument, by accident... As you want! 💗💗
Aaron:
You and him were arguing because you had a few disagreements over the last few days where he took more days than normal to come back home after full moon.
"I mean, where have you been this whole time?! This isn't fair at all. I was worried sick about you and you're still here trying to sound right."
The thing is, it got very cold over the days and he was practically freezing, so he stopped by some places he knew to camp while coming back home at night. He got pretty upset when he found out you and him would fight.
"Well, maybe if you stopped to listen for five minutes, you would understand that it's snowing like crazy and I went too far, that's something I have no control over and it happens time to time. I can handle myself, y/n. I'm sorry if it's not the same for you. I know I'm too much already."
You felt guilty when the silence showed the window slamming against the frame. Snow poured inside but nobody bothered to close it. He was, indeed, having a hard time coming back home. You immediately started crying because you were so worried about when he would be back, that you forgot about how he would come back. In fact, he should still be on the road. He hurried home for you.
As soon as Aaron sees the tears threatening to spill, his voice also cracks. "No... What have I done... My beloved, please don't cry. I'm so sorry. I did my best and the fact that you seemed to be angry with me frustrated me, but please... Don't cry. What can I do to make it feel better?"
You hold him tight, apologizing and explaining how worried you were and how you didn't even care about the snow outside. He let a single tear fall into your cheekbone, as you hugged and apologized to each other.
Raphael:
The fight of the day was when Raphael had one of his days where he would think about Mag again. You felt insecure while you watched the scenes unfold, and how much he still felt attached to the woman he once loved.
Raphael barges in the room, making you stop the keys on the piano and watch him, but his face didn't look so happy. He leaned against the door frame in such a weird way that it looked ominous.
You both started an argument because apparently, Raphael could feel your self-loathing over the whole situation and he seemed angry because you interfered with whatever it was that he felt. He was trying to get a point across that you didn't quite understand, until Raphael groaned and looked at you dead in the eyes as if he could see you and said it.
"Y/n. You will never be like Mag. Get this through your head once and for all!" Now, what Raphael was trying to say was that you didn't have to worry because you had another space in his heart that Mag wouldn't take away from you even if she was alive and tried, but you was so drunk in your own insecurities, that the remaining thought was the exact opposite.
When your sobs filled the room, Raphael dreaded the very first day he thought about Mag after meeting you. He ran towards you, cradling you and explaining he loves you now, and Mag was a part of his past life. But that's another story and he misses the life around that time and her company rather than her romantically.
You slowly feel the parts you didn't understand making some sense. "You are not understanding what I mean." "You are special to me, but it is different." "Mag is not here anymore, you are. I just miss her and need some time." "You are here in front of me, what are you scared of?"
You sighed in shame because you had made a mistake when it came to his healing, but Raphael didn't budge as you held each other close in the small bench.
Beliath:
Again, Beliath didn't spend the night at home and you were starting to get pissed. It's not that you cared about his parties, but damn, you were supposed to at least kiss and hug for a while, right?
"We're night creatures, Beliath. Night. It means we're only awake at night. Can't you spare some time for me? This is starting to get ridiculous." "Well, why don't you come with me instead?! You're saying this, but you're also barely making an effort too!" "So at least you're admitting you're lacking?!" "Don't be silly."
You sniffle, then attempt to strom off, but that's not on Beliath's plans. He blocks the door and you yell something he doesn't comprehend because of the sobbing. You are still young as a vampire and pushing him off proves itself hard while trembling in anger.
He sighs and rubs his face while his voice softens. "I'm an asshole, right? I just don't know what to do now that things changed. I thought you didn't need me anymore and I wasn't there for you... The truth is that I miss you every day. Not being able to sense you is... It's weird. I'm so sorry, baby. I've made you cry..."
You look at him, surprise in your eyes as you feel more tears prickling your eyes. You touch his face as he frowns and his sorrow surfaces. "I told you before... I don't know what to do with this and now that I'm feeling things for myself, I... I feel like you'll hate me."
"Beliath. I've seen you with purple eyes, all white and with weird ass veins in your body, clutching your stomach and being a drama queen. You're my man now." You look at each other for a while.
"You sure know how to cheer a man up." "..." "Don't you dare laugh at me." "I'm not g-HAHA-"
He hugs you to muffle the sound, sighing as a smile graces his face.
Vladimir:
Vladimir really didn't mean to be this negative on you and he didn't realize how much his whirlwind of emotions could resonate on you. He just wasn't sure of how much you loved him.
The argument started for a stupid reason. It was just a bunch of chores that he got into and he got a little weak from hunger. He didt realize he skipped a bite and you went to check on him after feeling rather weird.
The thing is, you tried to make sure he wouldn't skip meals anymore and it turned into an argument because he can't seem to understand that sometimes, he isn't being judged. People just genuinely love him.
After a while of slamming doors and arguing, Vladimir rubbed his face and sighed.
"I think you could understand that I'm over three hundred years old, y/n. I'm not stupid!" He sat down in the bed, glowering at you.
"Good God, Vladimir, that's not what I mean!" You sniffled, grabbing onto your pants and squeezing them. "Can't you just see I'm trying to take care of you?! I'm your partner, for fuck's sake. I honestly don't get you and I'm not capable enough to get through to you, a-and you're so over your own head that it gets hard for me to help you. Am I- am I even doing this right?"
He simply shuts you up with a kiss that knocks your breath out of your lungs and makes your head spin sweetly when you open your eyes. He's looking right at you, palms drying your tears and running on top of your face and neck.
"... I am sorry for doing this to you. Confusing you. It is being hard for me too, so please, just- please wait a little longer. I should not have worried you. You are more than what I could have asked for, my love."
Ethan:
Not understanding your man is something you had to get used to at first with Ethan. He didn't want to be understood and you had to deal with it for a while now.
The thing is, you never really knew when Ethan could strike with his good mood either. Sometimes it would be a little scary given your rough beginning. So when Ethan suddenly popped out of your door and caged you in his arms, you were a little scared.
He let a big, long sigh out, resting his chin against you for comfort. He seemed to be panting and that was all you needed to know that he was probably having a hard time keeping it together.
"It's going to rain. Don't leave me alone. Please." You didn't realize it, but you'd started sobbing. That was the first time you felt like Ethan really needed you. He cupped your face, a worried frown gracing his features.
"Babe, are you alright?" "It's just that I... I thought you'd never ask me to stay with you." This answer doesn't make Ethan happy. He closes the door, heading towards the bed and sitting with you, scoffing. His eyes scan your face as he dries your eyes.
Guilt crawls up his whole body, eating away at the little sanity he's saving. His arms tighten around you as tears stream down his face. He feels safe, sorrowful, small but at the same time, your protector.
He wasn't open to this things before. But, as the rain falls against the walls, he realizes it doesn't matter as long as it's good for you and him.
Ivan:
Being a chalice was stressful. Especially when you were a young vampire's chalice and significant other. Sometimes, Ivan didn't quite measure how he expressed his anger, and a hungry youngling was equally disastrous.
While Aaron and Vlad did their absolute best to handle the situation with you, it was hard for them to mingle into your affairs when you were romantically involved.
That's why Ivan was baring his fangs at you as you spoke to him as if he was a five year old to try and get him to move his ass off the bed and do something about his life.
That wasn't really nice of you considering he was having a really hard time with his maturing right now, you could confess, but he was really getting stressed out. You wanted to stop and admit you were wrong, but the pride swelling inside of you stopped you.
Although you felt your emotions as a human girl, Ivan was not a human anymore, when he finally snapped at you and calmly told you to stop trying to control him and changing him to your benefit, your next best reaction was to sit and cry.
"Why do you always have to be like this?!" You yelled, sobbing uncontrollably and fisting your pants angrily. "I can never win, right?! Ever since I tried to get my life together it seems... It seems like I'm supposed to be dead. But guess what? I am!"
Ivan stood there, quiet. You kicked and screamed, ashamed for throwing a tantrum, but you never really had the opportunity before in your life. He sat down beside you, holding your hand and giving it a squeeze.
"I understand you, love." He said, as he dries your tears. That was enough for you to apologize and make amends. Tomorrow was a new day.
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vintagedolan · 4 years
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warning: this fic/blurb is, as the title suggests, dark. it’s supposed to be unsettling, but I can’t really give warnings without spoiling the whole thing. if that’s not your thing (think like, criminal minds, crime show type stuff), please please please skip this one! i love you!
word count: 4.9k
Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. Grayson pulled you closer to him in the dark, uneasy and confused. 
And then, it clicked.
“Why do you have pants on?” He whined, hand moving over the running shorts you’d left on before you climbed into bed. It was true that you usually just slept in panties, but you hadn’t thought much about it, too excited to get into bed and get cozy after your shower. 
“I was cold, didn’t wanna take em off,” you explained, putting your phone on do not disturb and sitting it on the little bedside table that Gray had built for you. You rolled over into his arms, his left hand sliding down over your ass.
“I can warm you up,” he mumbled, using his grip to press your entire body up against his, pulling you over so you were almost laying entirely on top of him. It was true - he was always warm, tanned skin radiating a heat that could cure your cold fingers when you reached out for him in the middle of the night. He’d let you do it every time, even if they felt like ice cubes and made him flinch.
His hand moved again, up over your ass to your back, and then his finger dipped under the band of your shorts, seeking out more skin. He grumbled a bit when the fabric tightened against his hands the further he reached over you.
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re too tight,” he pouted. “My hands don’t fit.”
“Maybe your hands are just too big.” 
“Maybe you’ve just got too much cake.” 
You planted a hand on his chest, sitting up and giving him the most incredulous look your tired eyes could muster. He stuck his bottom lip out at you, tired eyes pleading. 
“Take em off.”
“Considering you actually just used the word cake to refer to my ass in a sentence? Access denied,” you teased, ducking back down to curl up against him and closing your eyes. His chest rose with a sigh.
“Can I at least have a kiss?”
You smiled but stayed still just to see what he would do. He waited for a moment, and then you felt him shift underneath you.
“Hey. Hey you. I know you aren’t asleep yet.” He poked at your side and you held it together until he actually started tickling. When you broke you giggled against him, lifting your head up and pressing your lips to his. He hummed against you, lips chasing yours for a moment as you shifted and got closer to him. He squeezed your ass as best he could, pulling back a tiny bit.
“Hits different when you’re in underwear.” He answered your unasked question with a shrug, and even with just the moonlight coming through the blinds you knew he saw your eyes roll. 
“I’ll just be over here-” you tried to roll away, but his hand caught the back of your head before you got far.
“Ah ah, don’t think so. You know I’m kidding.” He kissed you again before you could protest, not that you were going to. It felt too good to be in his arms for you to ever complain, and you melted into him, safe and content. You kissed lazily for a while, little mumbles of “missed you today” and “love you” the only things causing your lips to leave each others. Eventually, with a few last minute stolen kisses and a few more pressed to your forehead, you settled in.
The two of you fell asleep the same way every night, ever since the first time you’d found yourself staying over; him on his back, arm wrapped around your shoulders, lips on your forehead, you cuddled up against his side, leg over his waist. You’d drift as you slept, sometimes waking up to get back into each other’s arms. But no matter how far away you got, you were always touching somehow. Sometimes it was just your hands, sometimes one leg tangled with yours.
But when you woke up that night, it was his arm, thrown over your waist, heavy and warm. 
You blinked a few times, trying to get your bearings in the dark, reaching over for your phone. 
3:12 in the morning. 
You huffed out an annoyed breath, unsure of why your body had woken you up. Grayson stirred a bit, sensing you moving in his sleep. You reached over, playing with his hair to keep him soothed. 
Mouth dry, you waited until he started snoring again to coax his arm off of you and get out of bed. Any other night you probably would have just rolled back over, tucked yourself under Grayson’s arm and tried to go straight back to sleep. But you were so thirsty, you knew that you didn’t have a hope of getting back to sleep without at least a glass of water. 
So you headed out of the room as quietly as you could, making sure the door didn’t squeak.
You were glad that the construction was over and you were back in the house - it was easier to navigate in the dark. Still, you let your fingers run along the wall so you made sure that you weren’t going to run into anything as you made your way through the house.
The kitchen was better lit than the hallway most nights, simply because of the security lights outside that lit up the backyard. 
That was the first sign that you should have noticed. 
But you weren’t awake enough to notice, to realize that you shouldn’t have had to reach over and flick the light switch to get to the cabinet.
You should have just stayed in bed.
For a split second, you thought maybe it was Ethan, up late, unable to sleep.
You were wrong.
The man was standing by the bookshelf that Grayson had made when the lights flooded the room. He had a bag with him, a large backpack that matched his black hoodie. He turned to you, eyes wide as he realized you were there.
It all happened very quickly after that.
You must have screamed, but you didn’t hear it. Still, you knew you must of, or he wouldn’t have run towards you instead of out the door. Before you could move he was right in front of you, breath hot and horrendous in your face as he grabbed you and covered your mouth with his hand.
“Where do they keep their watches?”
You’d seen enough crime shows, binged through episodes of criminal minds, seen so many ‘un-subs’ that surely, surely you knew what to do. But there, staring one in the face? Your mind went blank, blind panic taking over as you realized that this was real, this could be it.
Your first instinct was to tell him, tell him exactly where the watches were in Grayson’s closet, the second drawer down on the right. That’s what you’d always been taught. Give them what they want and get the hell out of there. 
But then you thought about Grayson, Grayson in his room, entirely unaware of what was going on. The love of your life, vulnerable in his white sheets, sleeping peacefully like you’d left him just moments ago. There was no way in hell that you were going to put him in danger. You’d rather die.
“I said where do they keep their watches?” He repeated, his hold on your arm tightening as he pulled his hand back just enough for you to talk.
“Fuck you,” you spat, trying to wrestle yourself out of his grip. He was stronger than he looked, and the effort was futile. 
“Hey!” wasn’t what you were expecting to hear, but he could have said anything and the same relief would have washed over you. It was unmistakeable, and close. 
Grayson was awake.
You turned to look at him, beg for him to help you but you were yanked suddenly, spun around. His hold changed, moved from your arm to around your shoulders, across your chest. And then you realized why he’d pulled you over to the other end of the kitchen, what he was reaching for.
The knife block. 
“Come any closer and I’ll kill her right now,” the man threatened, and between the new feeling of cold metal against your neck and the panic in Grayson’s eyes you knew you both had to take him at his word.
“Okay, okay, no one’s coming closer. Just don’t hurt her, please don’t hurt her.” He was begging like you’d never heard him before, a raw fear in his voice that broke you at your deepest level. 
You thought about moving, trying to fight him off somehow. Grayson could take him down no problem if you got out of the way, that much was obvious. But the knife complicated things - you knew how sharp they were just based off of Ethan’s stitches. 
Oh god. Ethan. You felt a pang of guilt that you hadn’t thought about him yet, and you prayed his deep sleeping wasn’t too deep tonight.
Somehow, it seemed that Grayson was on the same wavelength. You’d been keeping your eyes on him the whole time, but you missed when they flickered to the hallway behind you. Little did you know, Ethan had woken up to the voices, come out quietly, seen everything. Now all Grayson had to do was stall until his brother could get the security from the end of the driveway to the house. 
“Get your watches. I want your watches, and I know which ones you have. Don’t bring me the cheap shit.” The man spoke up again, voice demanding.
“You can have whatever you want, but I’m not getting anything if you don’t let her go.” Grayson’s feet were set, his voice stern. 
“Get the watches. I’m the one with the knife here, and you won’t be the one paying if you don’t do what I fucking say.” 
“You hurt her and I’ll fucking kill you.” Grayson’s negotiating facade cracked for a moment, eyes burning in anger. He took one step forward, unable to stop himself. 
Your neck was wet. 
For a minute you thought you were crying, but you felt the sting, realized what had happened. The blood trickled down from where the man had pushed the tip of the blade in just enough to break skin.
“Back. Up.” He snarled.
You panicked, starting to writhe, desperate to get away from him. The knife cut in a bit further and you gasped at the pain.
“Baby don’t! Stop, stop don’t,” Grayson panicked, holding his hands up and taking a step back, eyes never leaving yours. “Okay, okay you win, I’ll get the watches, I’ll get them!”
“Grayson don’t.” Don’t leave me please don’t leave me.
“Shut up.” The knife moved again and you fought the urge to squeeze your eyes shut - if anything was going to happen, you wanted Grayson to be the last thing you saw.
I love you you mouthed to him, feeling the blade move against your skin as you spoke. 
The sound of the door busting open was enough to make all three of you jump. 
“HANDS! LET ME SEE YOUR HANDS!” 
Suddenly the kitchen was very crowded - Ethan was there with the two security guards that worked nights for the boys - James, and Deandre, all of their eyes wide, bodies tense. You felt small surrounded by so many tall men - intimidated instead of relieved. 
“Drop the knife and show me your hands. NOW.” Deandre demanded, gun drawn and pointed.
The man hesitated, cursed under his breath. It felt like an eternity before the knife clattered to the floor, too loud against the wood. It left a scratch there that you’d find three months later. 
His arms released, rising up above his head in surrender. Immediately, another set of hands was on you, strong and firm and warm. Grayson pulled you harder than he ever had, moved you so fast you could barely register what was happening until he had you pressed up against his back. He’d put himself in front of you, standing tall and strong. You took in your first deep breath as you clung to the back of his shirt, your adrenaline pumping, heartbeat in your ears as James pulled the mans hands behind his back into makeshift handcuffs and led him outside. 
As soon as he was out of eye sight Grayson spun, arms wrapping around you.
“Oh god. Oh god, I’m so sorry angel I’m so sorry, I love you so much.” The words barely registered to your ears he said them so fast, hot tears falling against your skin as he pressed himself to you. 
“Ouch.” 
You hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but he’d pressed up against your cut on your throat, causing it to sting. The pain was the only thing you could process, your mind foggy. 
Grayson pulled back, unwilling to let go of you entirely but far enough for you to see the sadness in his eyes. “Ethan, go get something for her neck, just grab whatever we have.”
“The cops are outside, maybe we should wait-”
“I don’t give a fuck about the cops bro, just get me some damn gauze or something. Please.” 
You watched Ethan walk away, or at least, you tried to - he was blurry, his form swaying around in your vision. Your heart was beating too loud, your head felt funny. You reached up to your neck, hand coming away wet and cold with blood.
“I think I’m - I don’t feel so good.”
Next thing you knew, there was something hard against your back, and too many voices.
“Y/N? Y/N can you hear me? Open your eyes if you can hear me.” It was a different voice, not the one you wanted to hear.
“Gr-Grayson.” You croaked it out.
“I’m right here baby, I’m here.” You forced your eyes open, searching for where his voice was coming from - he sounded too sad, and your fingers twitched, anxious to find him, to comfort him. When you blinked enough to actually see, there were three faces above you, contrasted against the lights and the white of the ceiling. Ethan, Grayson and another face, all three with the same look of concern painted across them hovered over you as you realized where you were. The kitchen floor.
“What happened?” 
“You passed out on us,” Ethan answered, letting out the breath he’d been holding.
“Oh. Sorry.” 
“Don’t be. It’s your bodies defense mechanism. Too much going on at once,” the third face said. You looked down, saw the patch on his shirt. Paramedic.
“It’s not cause of the blood? She didn’t lose too much?” Grayson spoke up then, and your eyes went back to him, frowning.
“No, the cut on her neck is superficial. Neck wounds just bleed a lot initially but it’s already stopped. We’ll get you bandaged up, get you some water and you should be good as new!” 
Good as new. You weren’t sure how you were ever going to be good again, especially when you saw the look on Grayson’s face. He was as easy to read as your favorite novel - angry, livid actually, unable to process anything other than the rage you knew was building up inside him the longer he sat there. 
“Can I sit up?” 
“Yeah, just stay sitting for a bit and we’ll take it in stages okay? Fellas, can one of you get some water for her?” 
“Yeah, I got it,” Ethan patted your knee before he got up from where he was crouching, heading to the fridge. You started to sit up, body still unsteady. The paramedic helped you, moved you slightly to position you against the cabinets.
“The police are gonna need pictures of your neck, for evidence. I need to take them before we bandage you up.” 
He wasn’t asking. 
You felt sick to your stomach as you nodded, turning your head slightly to the side to expose your neck as he fumbled for his camera. 
The only thing that kept you from crying right then and there was Ethan coming back down onto the floor and pressing the cup of water into your hands. 
“Drink it bup, you’ll feel better.” You waited until the paramedic was done to bring the cup to your lips. The water was cold, nice against your dry throat, the whole reason you’d even gotten involved in the nightmare in the first place. You gulped it down, passing the glass back to E.
“More?”
“No, I’m okay. Thank you.” Your voice felt robotic, unattached as you kept your eyes on Grayson as the paramedic wiped your neck off and put a bandage on that felt large and sticky with antiseptic. You didn’t care- you were just waiting for what you knew was about to happen.
All it took was James reappearing in the room for him to explode.
“What the fuck happened! You realize how much we pay you two fucks, and somebody got past you, and inside the fucking house. Explain yourselves. Now.” His voice was booming as he passed you, headed straight for James, hands in fists.
“Gray, gray easy, easy,” Ethan cautioned, rising quickly to cut his brother off, getting chest to chest as he continued to yell over his shoulder.
“You see her? You see her right? You let that happen you useless fucking idiots-”
“Grayson. Stop.” 
Something about the tone of Ethan’s voice pulled him out of it just enough for him to stop seeing red, to speak at a normal volume.
“I wanna know what the fuck happened. How the fuck he got in.”
“So do I. But I’ll handle it, okay? You’ve got other things to focus on right now. More important things. Take care of her, I’ll handle it.” 
I’m right here, you wanted to say, but instead you grabbed onto the counter above you, pulled yourself up to your feet. The paramedic stayed close until you got your bearings, offering you a small smile of encouragement. 
Grayson turned then, looked, really saw you for the first time since you’d passed out. The guilt was so blatant on his face that you knew he would be crying if he wasn’t trying to keep it together for you. 
He turned away from Ethan, walked towards you slowly, not wanting to startle you.
“I-I-” you tried to find words, but your brain was still fuzzy. 
“It’s okay baby. Just tell me what you need. Tell me what to do to make it better.” 
You looked around, past him, watched the cops unpacking the backpack onto the coffee table - the play button, a few vinyls. 
“I need to get out of here. I don’t wanna be here right now.” You were proud of yourself for getting cohesive sentences out, even if they did make Grayson’s face drop. 
“Okay. We’ll go, we’ll go right now. E, can you call Nick and ask if we can stay? He’s closest.” 
Ethan nodded, immediately pulling out his phone.
“Let’s get you a new shirt.” Grayson wrapped his arm around your waist, led you out of the kitchen and back towards his room. His hold was so firm that he practically sat you down on the bed, only leaving you so he could go get you something to change into.
You didn’t realize until he moved that he’d sat you directly in front of the mirror. Bad move.
You didn’t look like yourself. Your eyes were too wide, still frazzled. Shoulder too stiff, muscles all tense. But all that was commonplace when you saw the blood. It was a darker red than you expected, soaked into Grayson’s WZRD shirt that you’d slept in. Some of it had even gotten on your shorts. The cut was bandaged, but you still brought a hand up to it, gently running your fingers over where you could feel it was. 
Grayson interrupted your gaze, moving in front of you and crouching down so you didn’t have to look up, like he might do with a child. You didn’t mind - it was nice to feel bigger, more powerful. 
“Does it hurt?” 
“Not really. Just feels weird.” 
“Do you want a t-shirt or a hoodie? I grabbed both.”
“Hoodie.” You didn’t care if it was 80 degrees outside - you felt comfortable in them, felt less exposed. Safer. 
He didn’t question it, just reached forward for the hem of your, his, ruined shirt, pulling it as gently as he could over your head.
It got worse. You hadn’t thought about the fact that the paramedic had wiped your neck off. Your chest, your skin that had been hidden underneath the fabric was stained an angry red, and you couldn’t help but gasp at the sight. You barely recognized yourself.
Grayson followed your eyes, seeing what you saw, immediately moving to block your view of your reflection.
“Hey, shh shh, it’s okay. I’ll get you cleaned up, it’s okay. I’m gonna get a washcloth.” He stood up, went to move away from you and the panic that rose in your throat made you feel like you were choking. As quickly as you could you shot a hand out, caught his arm, held on as he turned back to you.
“Please don’t leave me by myself.” It came out as a whimper, involuntary, weak. But you didn’t care. The thought of being alone was too much to handle, even if he was just behind the bathroom door. 
“I won’t baby, I promise. You wanna come with me?” 
You nodded, keeping your hold on his arm. It felt nice, like an anchor, reminding you that Grayson was there and if Grayson was there you were safe. So you held on while he got the washcloth, wet it in the sink, cleaned you off. When he pulled his cudi hoodie over your head you got your arms through as quickly as you could, reaching back out for him. He held your hand while he moved around the room, packing an overnight bag for the two fo you. It helped you to keep breathing steadily, even when he led you out the bedroom door, past the kitchen counter - he was careful to block your view of the blood on the floor. When you got to the door, Ethan was there, brows furrowed as he watched the cops mull around outside, checking to see how the security system had been breached.
He paused, looking at you, lips moving as he tried to start talking, hesitating, stumbling over his words. 
You let go of Grayson for a moment, closing the distance and wrapping your arms around E.
“Thank you,” you mumbled into his chest, glad to feel him there and whole and unharmed. 
He squeezed you against him, resting his cheek on top of your head. “I’m just glad you’re okay. Try to get some rest, don’t worry about anything here okay? Either of you,” he looked up at Grayson, letting you go. “Take the tesla, the porsche is blocked in.” He passed his brother the keys, giving him one of those twin looks that you couldn’t read. Grayson nodded, wrapping an arm around you again.
“I don’t know if he’s still out there. Just - just don’t look, okay?”
You did as he said, burying your face in his chest before he opened the door. He practically carried you to the car, guiding each step you took until you got to the door, climbing in. He ran around the side to get in the driver’s seat, immediately reaching back over for you once he got back in. 
You felt lighter as soon as the car cleared the gates, and you curled up against Grayson as best you could, wrapping both arms around his right one, resting your cheek on his bicep, careful not to press on your neck. The last thing you wanted was for it to start bleeding even more. 
The drive to Nick’s went faster without the usual traffic - you were there in less than ten minutes, walking up to his apartment door. He answered almost immediately. 
“C’mon in guys,” he stepped aside, letting you and Grayson pass. “I grabbed some extra blankets and pillows for the bed. It’s a twin, I haven’t had a chance to get anything bigger yet, and I can get you anything else you guys need, like chargers or-”
“Thank you Nick. It means a lot, truly. We just need to get some sleep is all,” Grayson cut him off gently, practically holding you up against his side with how tight he had you pressed to him. 
“Yeah right, of course. Well if you need anything, you know where I’ll be. Glad you guys are okay.” 
“Thanks man.” 
Grayson led you to the right, into a small room that was definitely meant to be an office and not a bedroom. The twin bed was pressed up against the far corner, the extra pillows and blankets stacked up at the end. Grayson dropped the bag by the wall, moved towards the bed and started to arrange it with his free hand.
It didn’t make sense why it happened then. Why everything came crashing down at that moment, watching him shuffle around pillows to make the bed the way he knew you liked it. 
Alas, you fell to pieces, the weight of everything that had happened suddenly sinking it. Just how close you’d been to being seriously hurt, killed, how much danger the love of your life had been in. 
He was startled by the sobs that started to rip from your lungs, but he caught you anyways, arms winding around your waist as he sat the both of you down on the edge of the bed, you on his lap.
“It’s okay baby, you’re safe. You’re safe it’s okay, I’m here. I’m here.” He repeated it over and over, rocking you back and forth. The thought of him being hurt had your mind spinning, and you reached down, caught the bottom of the shirt you didn’t remember him putting on, tugging it up in a bid to get to his skin, to get closer to him. He let you do it even if he didn’t understand what you needed, desperate to help you in any way that he could. 
Once he was shirtless you pressed a kiss to his shoulder, his neck, his chest, anywhere you could reach, letting your brain accept that he was okay, that he was safe. You hadn’t realized how much of the weight had been because you were worried about him, what could have happened, what almost happened. Each kiss settled you even more, your tears ceasing as he held you. 
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” you whispered against his collarbone when you finally found your voice, leaning back so you could kiss his lips. He kissed you back, but you could feel his confusion at your words.
“I think I’m the one that’s supposed to be saying that right now. I’m so sorry. I should have checked the camera before we went to bed, hired more security. I just never thought -”
You cut him off again with a kiss. “Don’t you dare blame yourself. This isn’t your fault.” 
“It is though. My lifestyle, putting shit about my life online, that’s why he chose our house, why all of that happened.”
“Baby stop. It’s okay. We’re okay now.” 
He was quiet then, hands moving up to your face, thumbs tracing over your cheeks. It relaxed you slightly, calming your body in a way that only his touch could.
“Seeing you... like that.” He couldn’t make himself say it. “I’ve never been more scared in my life.”
“I’m glad it was me and not you.” You didn’t skip a beat, bringing a hand up over his when he cringed at your words.
“Angel please, please don’t say that.”
“It’s the truth. I’d do it again if I had to.” 
He tilted your face up. “Look at me. You aren’t ever going to have to do anything like that. No one is going to hurt you, ever again. I won’t let it happen. Okay? That’s a fucking promise.”
“That sounds nice.” You rested your cheek in his palm, just watching him look at you for a few moments, comfortable silence filling the room.
“You tired?” He asked eventually, noticing your drooping eyelids as the rest of the adrenaline finally made it’s way out of your system. You nodded against him, holding on as he stood the two of you up so he could pull the covers back. 
While you were pretty sure Grayson outgrew a twin size bed when he was 12, you were thankful for it that night. He not so subtlety moved you over so you were by the wall, his body broad enough that you couldn’t even see the door as you curled up in his arms, let him press you against him as close as he could get. He’d put himself between you and the outside world, any danger that could possibly ever come your way - and he did it every night after that too, made himself a shield of sorts even back in your room at the house. 
He never drifted from you in his sleep again.
read part two here
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