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#north end office moves
mastodonmoving · 14 days
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Mastodon Moving understands that every office move is different. They work closely with each client to develop customized moving plans tailored to their specific needs and circumstances. Whether you're in the Financial District, Charlestown, North End, Allston, Brighton, West End, or Beacon Hill, they can adapt their services to meet your requirements. Mastodon Moving specializes in office moves, meaning they have the expertise and experience necessary to handle the unique challenges that come with relocating a business. Whether you're in the Seaport, Back Bay, Downtown, or any other neighborhood, they understand the logistics involved in moving office equipment, furniture, and technology safely and efficiently. : When relocating an office, ensuring the safety and security of your assets is paramount. Mastodon Moving employs trained professionals who know how to handle office equipment and furniture with care, minimizing the risk of damage or loss during the move.
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roosterforme · 4 months
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Explicitly Yours | Bob Floyd x Reader
Summary: When Bob met you, he fell for you hard and fast. He thought you might be his perfect match, the one that would make his days feel full instead of lonely. He never would have dreamed you had a secret. But secrets are known to be revealed at the most inconvenient of times, and Bob's surprised hesitation could cost him the thing he wants most.
Warnings: Smut, oral, fluff, angst, misogyny, language, mentions of adult film industry
Length: 11k words (what have I done?)
Pairing: Robert "Bob" Floyd x Former Pornstar!Female Reader
This was written for International Bob Floyd Fucks Month hosted by @attapullman. Check my masterlist for more! Banner by @thedroneranger
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Bob was fresh off of a long deployment when he returned to work at North Island on Monday morning to find he would begin training as part of a new taskforce. He was tired and antsy, still overstimulated from being around so many people on the aircraft carrier, but he was also realizing how lonely he was. 
He'd arrived back to a sterile, empty, dusty apartment, slept for two days, and now he was back to work. He couldn't even have a cat or a houseplant. He really would like to have a cat or a houseplant. Mostly he thought about how nice it would be to have a girlfriend. A sweet one who would wait for him to return home so his apartment didn't feel so sad. One who didn't mind that sometimes he preferred it to be quiet. One who would let him dote on her a little bit when he was home.
When he was told to report to Classroom Six in his uniform instead of the tarmac in his flight suit, Bob knew it was going to be a long day. That idea only grew as soon as he walked in and was accosted by his friends. "You're back!" Natasha screeched, streaking across the room like a brunette cannonball and slamming into his arms. "It's not even fair that we weren't deployed together. I missed you!"
"Missed you too, Nat. Thanks for all the emails."
Then he felt Bradley, Jake and Javy all jostling him around until his glasses were crooked on his face. That's probably why he did a double take when he saw you. There was no way you were that beautiful. His glasses must need to be adjusted on his face. But he was wrong. You looked the same after he pushed his wire frames back into place. 
He swallowed hard and whispered, "Who's that?"
The guys all looked at him with matching smirks, and Javy told him your name. "Civilian. She's Warlock's new assistant. Got reassigned from a different department last week."
"She's real cute," Jake added. "And she looks so familiar."
"Why does she look so familiar?" Bradley asked, and Bob realized that the whole group was staring at you where you were conversing quietly with Warlock. "We've been trying to figure it out for a week."
You didn't look familiar to Bob. You just looked pretty with bright eyes and a friendly smile, both of which were trained on him now. Of course you were looking his way now, because everyone had mussed up his hair and wrinkled his uniform. He didn't mind so much that you caught him staring, because you were the kind of woman who must get that a lot.
"Lieutenant Floyd," Admiral Bates said as he stood, and Bob saluted his superior officer immediately. "Welcome back."
"Sir," Bob replied, doing his best not to let his gaze drift back to you. "Thank you."
Then Warlock called the room to order, and Bob ended up sitting in the front row, directly across from you. Barely six feet away. You were so pretty, it wasn't even funny. The curve of your face and your neck and the way you moved were mesmerizing. Smooth and fluid. Confident. Beautiful. You kept Warlock on task and seemed to have all the pertinent information about the class memorized. But all of it was lost on Bob, because he was way too distracted. 
By lunchtime, he had sweat through his undershirt, and he was sure his uniform shirt wasn't looking much better. The way you turned to look directly at him with a slightly guarded expression when you stood made him blush. It must be obvious to you that Bob couldn't keep his eyes off your face.
"Hi," you greeted. "Lieutenant Floyd."
Bob swallowed hard before something that sounded vaguely like Hello came out of his mouth. 
Your smile was tinged with a little sadness as you stuck out your hand. "I've been looking forward to meeting the last team member. Welcome back from deployment, Lieutenant."
And then you were walking away, but Bob was still sweating.
--------------------------
For the next four days, Bob got there early to ensure he had that same front row seat. He had a full blown crush. Heart pounding, palms damp, unable to focus on anything other than his crush on you. When he wasn't at work looking right at you, he was daydreaming about you. When he wasn't daydreaming about you, he was asleep and having actual dreams where you were his girlfriend. In one of them, you gave him a back massage, and he woke up with an erection. 
He could barely even look at you for the nauseous feeling that took up residence just below his pounding heart, but he couldn't look anywhere else. He'd never been like this before. Sure, he'd been attracted to many women in the past, but this was something else entirely. 
"But why is she so familiar looking?" Jake asked Bradley at lunch. "You sure you didn't fuck her?"
"Oh, I think I'd remember fucking someone that looked like that," Bradley replied with a chuckle. "Wait... did you fuck her?"
"I don't think so?" Jake replied, looking a little panicked. "She's not the one I went home with on my birthday, is she? Because you know I can't remember that night. And if I fucked her and can't remember it, then I deserve to be executed."
They both erupted into laughter with Javy, and Bob felt deflated. One of the three of them was definitely going to ask you out sooner rather than later, and instead of getting an occasional guarded glance in his direction, Bob would have nothing.
That night at the bar, he sat with his cup of peanuts and talked with Nat about work while everyone else played pool. "I guess we have another week or two of lectures ahead of us, but I can't wait to get back in the air."
"Yeah," Bob replied, glancing around the room in case the Hard Deck was your Friday night scene. It wasn't really his, but he came for his friends. And if he got to spend another week or two in the classroom, he wasn't going to complain; there would be no way for him to look at you when he was in the cockpit. 
"Bob!" Javy called as if he'd been trying to get his attention for a few minutes. He was waving a pool cue. "Take over for me. I need to go shoot my shot."
As Bob stood, he watched Javy head off into the crowd toward a woman who looked like you. He did a double take, his heart leaping up into his throat as Bradley started to push him closer to the pool table. Javy saw you. He was going to ask you out. A feeling of devastation filled his lungs, but then the woman turned around, and it wasn't you. Her smile wasn't nearly as pretty, and she didn't have the same eyes. 
Relieved, Bob sank the seven ball before running the table like he was some sort of pro. But he knew deep inside that he was going to have to ask you out himself or miss out on even having a chance with you. 
Every day the following week, he tried to give himself a pep talk. He could do this. Even if you said no, it would be fine. It would be good practice for him. But he knew it would not be okay. He liked the sound of your voice and the way you moved, and he thought about you in every room of his apartment doing a wide variety of things. Some of them made him blush.
He couldn't tell if it would be worse to never even try or to have to live with himself after you looked at him and said you weren't interested. At least if he kept things quiet, the guys couldn't find a way to make fun of him. And although they all liked to talk about you at lunch, to his knowledge, none of them had asked you on a date. Maybe they were as intimidated as him.
On Wednesday, you dropped your pen, and Bob picked it up for you. He got a "Thanks, Lieutenant Floyd," in response along with a cautious smile. Then on Thursday, he helped you move the projector before class started, and you said, "Thanks. You're a lot stronger than I am." He felt like he floated to his seat after that. 
On Friday, disaster struck. You were organizing your stack of notes at the end of the day when Bob stood. But then Bradley was there, leaning on the table in front of you after everyone had been dismissed. "Hey, so the guys and I were wondering if you ever made it out to the Hard Deck on Friday nights? I'd love to buy you a drink."
Bob nearly collapsed back into his seat as he watched your eyes searching Bradley's face like you were trying to tell if he was lying. "No, actually. I play Dungeons & Dragons most Friday nights."
A strangled sound escaped Bob. "You play D&D?" he asked before he could think better of it. 
"Yeah," you replied easily, giving him a little smile. "Been into it for years."
"Me too," he added, and you set down everything you'd been holding. 
"It must be hard to be part of a campaign when you deploy on occasion?" you asked, and Bob was convinced he wouldn't notice if a freight train was about to hit him. 
He nodded and took a step closer, watching you stand up. "It can be, yeah. But I've been in the same campaign for a few years, so I'd like to think I'm an integral enough part of it that everyone else doesn't mind waiting for me."
You laughed. It was so pretty. "I'm sure they don't mind one bit, Lieutenant Floyd."
"You can call me Bob," he blurted out, eyes going wide as you licked your lips and grinned. 
"Okay. Bob."
He could do this. He was already part way there, he thought. Just a little further. "Maybe you and I could get coffee this weekend and talk about our characters?"
When he was met with silence and your softly parted lips, he wanted to disappear. But your expression was trained on his face, and even though you still seemed a little hesitant, you asked, "Like a date? Because I'm free on Sunday."
-------------------------
You were laughing so hard, you had to set your coffee cup down next to your scone, and Bob was basking in the sound of it. "No, Bob! That's why I made my character a Rogue! Because I could never be such a scoundrel in real life!" He just listened to your laughter taper off while he grinned in the middle of the crowded cafe where you only seemed to be focused on him. 
"Well, that's why I made mine a Sorcerer. I don't know if you knew this about me, but I can't actually cast spells."
You started to laugh again. "Could have fooled me." But he must have been looking at you for too long, because you brought your hand up to your lips and asked, "Do I have crumbs on my face or something?"
"No, your face is perfect," he replied without considering his words, but your look of slightly embarrassed delight outweighed the tinge of mortification he felt.
You searched his eyes, seemingly always trying to gauge his sincerity. Then you surprised him when you said, "You're really sweet. It's refreshing." 
Bob looked down at his hands, unsure how to respond but pleased nonetheless. "Will you let me take you to a movie? Or dinner? Or both?"
"Yes."
The following morning at work, you were as focused on Bob as he was on you. The sweaty palms and erratically beating heart were back, only exacerbated by your alluring gaze and the promise of a second date on Thursday night. You agreed to dinner at an Italian restaurant, and Bob was already excited. 
"Why are you acting so strange?" Nat asked at lunchtime. "You're like both weirdly quiet and also talking so much?"
Bob laughed and said, "I went out on a date yesterday." And when he said it was with you, her eyes went wide. "We're going out again on Thursday."
"Bob!" she gasped, and now all of the guys were looking at him, and there was no way he would ever recover from this as Nat told them he got coffee with you.
"Welcome to the big leagues, buddy," Jake drawled, while Bradley glared at him. "Just wish I could figure out why she seems so familiar. Like it's just stuck in the back of my mind somehow. Like I know her."
"None of you know her as well as Bob does," Nat said with a laugh that made him smile. Before you and he parted ways at the coffee shop, you'd squeezed his hand in your smaller one, and it was already one of the sexiest moments of his life.
"Fuck you, Bob," Bradley grumbled. 
But it didn't matter. Bob really liked you and the fact that you talked about your Dungeons & Dragons character for a full hour. And your pretty face and your laugh. And the way you seemed interested in what he had to say. You were checking off all of the boxes for him. Smart, funny, kind of nerdy, interesting. He wondered how many dates he should take you on before asking you to be his girlfriend.
On Wednesday, as soon as Warlock dismissed everyone, you handed Bob a folded up note.
I can't wait for dinner tomorrow night. Here's my number.
He waited until he was home and sitting on his couch before he texted you. Less than a minute later, you responded. And that's how he spent the rest of his night. He didn't even eat until after nine, too wrapped up in what you had to say. Those intrusive thoughts and daydreams and real dreams about you in his apartment were starting to seem like they could be a reality. That's what he wanted. He could already picture you on the couch, wrapped up in the afghan his mom made, watching a movie with him. Or in his kitchen, helping him make dinner. 
He fell asleep on the couch in his uniform, too absorbed in this conversation to even go to bed properly. But that was fine, because suddenly it was Thursday, and not only would he see you all day at work, he'd get to eat with you and learn more about you.
Once again, Bob slid into that front row seat, and you had to work at keeping the smile from your face all morning. When you did look his way, he felt his breath catch in his throat. He was sure he'd pass out if you kissed him, and suddenly that was the only thing he could think about. Warlock talked about aggressive maneuvering, and Bob thought about your lips. Warlock talked about safety protocols, and Bob thought about your lips touching his.
It would be a miracle if he made it through dinner, but he had to try. You stood and started walking out of the classroom at the end of the day, but you turned back and said, "I'll meet you there at 7:30."
Bob offered to pick you up, but you said you'd drive yourself, and now he had more than two hours to kill. He took a long shower and fixed his hair before dressing in the outfit that Nat had pre-approved for him. He made sure his glasses were straight and that he had his credit card. The only other thing he could do was hope the conversation would come as easily for him this time, as it had over coffee.
He shouldn't have been worried about that. What he should have been worried about was the way his heart stopped when you walked through the front doors of the restaurant and directly for him, wearing a pretty blue dress with your face all made up like he was someone to impress. 
"Hi, Bob," you whispered. Then you kissed his cheek at the same time that he started to turn his head, and his lips nudged yours. He stood there shocked as you slipped your hand into his, and you started to tug him toward the waiting table when his name was called. 
His ears didn't stop burning the whole night. His brain kept circling back to the idea of another kiss. An intentional one. A kiss after a second date was not something he'd ever attempted before, but he was going to do it tonight. Based on the way you were looking at him, he had to. 
"Do you want more wine?" you asked, holding up the bottle. 
"Yes, please," he replied, because that would definitely help his cause. 
You smiled as you poured him some. "You have lovely manners." When you set the bottle down, you added, "And really pretty eyes."
Bob counted to three and then said, "I know we didn't even eat dessert yet, but I really like you. And tomorrow is your D&D night, but maybe you'll let me take you to a movie on Saturday?"
After dinner, in the parking lot next to your car, Bob kissed you. Intentionally. The first tilt of his head was hesitant, and when his lips met yours, he started to get nervous and pull away. But you let your fingers tangle in his hair, and you chased him for another kiss. "Which movie are we seeing?" you asked as you rubbed your nose gently along his.
"You can pick," he replied before kissing you again. "I just want to be around you." And then his hands found the small of your back and you inched yourself closer until your chest was touching his and your knee was bumping his leg.
You were smiling when he finally pulled his face away from yours. "I'll text you my address and the movie I want to see."
Bob smiled, too. "And then I'll pick you up, and we can go to the theater."
This was probably the best week of his life. He watched you pull out of the parking lot, and you waved to him through your window after you blew him a kiss. He went home and thought about what he might be able to cook for date number four. Perhaps you'd want to do the movie on Saturday and then have dinner at his place on Sunday? He'd figure it out. Either way, he was excited for more. 
"A third date?" Nat asked on Friday when everyone was taking a break in the classroom. "Damn, Bob." 
He eyed you where you stood talking quietly with Warlock, and you glanced his way, a soft smile on your lips. "I really like her. She's different. In a good way. And she makes me feel comfortable."
Nat rubbed his back in slow circles. "Make sure you put your arm around her during the movie. She might be expecting it. But if she doesn't snuggle against you, then you should remove it."
He nodded and swallowed. "Right. I can do that. Is it too soon to invite her over to my apartment for dinner?"
"I don't think so," she replied softly. "And maybe you should buy some condoms."
Bob's cheeks immediately flushed, but he didn't mind too much, since it was just Nat. "I don't think I'm ready for that yet."
"She seems sweet. Just tell her what you're feeling when the time comes."
Now everything was making Bob a little nervous as he drove through your neighborhood on Saturday night. He passed modern beachfront house after modern beachfront house, and then his GPS told him he had arrived. He saw your car in the driveway, but the house was gorgeous and must be worth a ton of money. Maybe you had a roommate? 
He parked his old truck and headed up the sidewalk with butterflies in his stomach and a bouquet of flowers in his hand. You opened the door before he even knocked, and then you were in his arms and invading his senses. "Are those for me?" you asked, kissing his cheek and poking the flowers. 
"Yes," he whispered, silently begging you to let him hold you for a few more seconds while he caught his breath and got himself under control. You turned him on in every way, and he'd never encountered this before. 
Your soft voice next to his ear as you chuckled and said, "Thanks, Bob," was not helping. You led him inside, and your house was incredible. There were no signs of a roommate, but there was a view of the ocean from the windows along the back of the house. He watched you bend in your little dress to find a vase for the flowers, and he felt completely overwhelmed. 
"Ready to go?" you asked, reaching for his hand a minute later. Your eyes were eager and sincere as you gazed up at him. Your fingers were laced with his, and Bob realized if he wanted to get to the next step with you, he needed to get through tonight.
"Yes." He kissed your lips softly, and you leaned against his arm as he walked you out to his truck. 
You spent the drive to the movie theater telling him all about your Friday night playing Dungeons & Dragons, and of course Bob felt more relaxed. He bought the tickets, and you got the popcorn, and when he put his arm around your shoulders, you snuggled against him, so he kept it there. By the end of the movie, the empty popcorn bucket was on the floor, and you had your palm resting on his thigh. 
"Did you like it?" you asked softly while the end credits scrolled. 
"Yes, I liked it," he promised, accepting another of your kisses.
"It's still early. Want to grab a drink somewhere?"
Bob really only knew one place, because he spent an awful lot of his free time there. "Should we hit up the Hard Deck? And then I can take you home and hopefully get another goodnight kiss?"
You had one eyebrow raised as you considered him. "Even after the third date? You're not going to try to make a move?"
Embarrassment flooded his cheeks as he muttered, "Not yet." And then your lips were all over his like he'd answered your questions correctly, even though he felt like his thoughts on the matter were actually probably wrong according to most people.
Eventually the two of you made your way to the bar, but visiting the Hard Deck was a mistake that he didn't see coming. You were tucked perfectly against his side as Bob walked across the parking lot and listened to you tell him how much you liked working for Admiral Bates. Then you ordered two vodka sodas, and Bob had to pluck your credit card from your hand to keep you from paying for them. 
"Hey!" you complained, but he just smiled. 
"I'll give it back later." He was rewarded with another kiss on the cheek, this one very close to his lips. 
"Well, look who's here," Jake drawled obnoxiously over the music from the jukebox and the noise from the crowd. "Bob and his friend."
You rolled your eyes and laughed, but you kept one hand linked with his as the drinks were set down. "Should we say hi to your friends?" you asked, and Bob nodded even though he really wanted to just find a small table on the other side of the room. But Nat looked excited, and the other guys looked annoyed, so Bob thought a short detour might be fun.
"Hey," Bob greeted everyone as you sipped your drink. 
"How was the movie?" Nat asked, elbowing Bradley in the side before he could say anything.
"Pretty good," you replied. "You know, for one of those Academy Award bait films." 
Bob laughed and looked at you. "I liked it a lot, actually." Or maybe he just liked sitting with his arm around you for two hours at a time, but he wasn't going to say that in front of everyone else.
Javy tapped a pool cue on the ground and asked, "Do you like to see a lot of movies?"
You nodded with a bit of an apprehensive look on your face that had Bob just about ready to pull you over to the table that another couple was vacating. "Yeah... I like films," you replied softly. 
And then Jake's jaw dropped open and he slapped the edge of the pool table. "Oh my god!" His green eyes were wide as he looked you up and down from head to toe with a smirk that made Bob want to stand in front of you. "That's why you look so familiar! You're Roxy Luxxe."
"Oh, fuck," Javy said as he dropped the pool cue on Nat's foot, and Bradley choked on his beer. 
But Bob just stood there and watched your posture stiffen and the look of apprehension on your face grow. "Who?" he asked softly, but you wouldn't meet his eyes.
"She's a porn star, Bob!" Jake said a little too loudly as he hooted. "A very memorable one, too. Played up different movie genres. Everyone I Did Last Summer. Sisterhood of the Traveling Sluts. Laid in Manhattan. Some real classics!"
"I retired," you said firmly, holding eye contact with Jake even though your voice sounded strained. "I left the industry five years ago."
"Guys," Nat said with a warning tone as she looked at Bob who was frozen in place, his head swarming with wild thoughts. An adult film star? You? But you worked at Top Gun and played D&D and liked scones. You went on three dates with Bob of all people.
Now Nat was physically moving Javy, Bradley and Jake back toward the game of pool, snapping her fingers at them as they continued to ogle you in your pretty dress. "So..." you whispered, turning toward Bob, looking anywhere but at his face. "That was... yeah..."
He had no idea what to say right now, and the longer he went without saying anything, the worse he felt inside. You used to have a job making adult films? Bob couldn't even handle watching those without blushing and stuttering. You must have had sex with dozens and dozens of different men and probably women too, and Bob suddenly realized he could go home and watch them for himself if he really wanted.
"Right," you said, finally looking at him as your eyes started to fill with tears. "Well... no hard feelings, Bob. I'll see you at work on Monday." Then you set your drink down, covered your mouth with one hand and made a beeline for the door.
Bob looked at the drink in his hand, and then at the one you set down. He left his on the table next to yours and followed you out to the parking lot. He looked around, calling your name and checking to see if you were by his truck, but you didn't respond. You were gone. 
Roxy Luxxe. That name was made up, and he didn't think it suited you as well as your real name. That one was perfect, and he liked it. He liked you. He could drive back to your house, but if you didn't want to talk to him, then what was the point? He'd already embarrassed himself by clamming up. But even worse, he thought he might have embarrassed you. 
"Damn it," he muttered, angry at Jake and all of them for making you feel small, and angry at himself, too. He got in his truck and drove himself home.
----------------------------
Well. You got three perfect dates before it all blew up in your face. Three amazing dates with Bob who was going to look at you like you were no longer worthy of his time now. Sure, you would have told him eventually. After another date or two, you would have brought it up in such a way that perhaps could have been a little bit more flattering or at least slightly tasteful. But of course you should have been expecting this. It wasn't the first time. Getting older only did so much for your face, and it didn't matter how much you changed your hair and makeup: Once Roxy Luxxe, always Roxy Luxxe.
You really thought none of them recognized you. It was almost refreshing that Bob had never heard of your alter ego. He probably never saw a single video of you having sex with Sam Slick or Dickie Divine. He didn't know exactly what your tits looked like, because you'd never taken your shirt off for him in person. He didn't know how you sounded when you faked an orgasm. As you ran down the block and got an Uber, you could hear Bob calling for you.
You weren't ashamed or embarrassed. You were not. This was your life, and you made every decision along the way for yourself. Nobody else. You put yourself through school. You bought the house of your dreams. You had an amazing job at Top Gun now for fuck's sake. But Bob was the first guy you met in a long time who made you think you could have a relationship with someone who wouldn't judge you for your past.
You walked from your Uber into your house and kicked your shoes across the entryway. More tears were filling your eyes, but you didn't want to cry again. Not over this. "But he was sweet," you whispered to your reflection in the hall mirror. His friends were kind of assholes, but he wasn't. Even if he didn't want to be with you now, which was understandable, those three dates were something else. Dungeons & Dragons discussions and coffee and pasta. 
You sighed wistfully at the flowers in your kitchen. Maybe a few more years and you'd look even less like Roxy Luxxe. That might make things easier to navigate. You made yourself a cup of tea and grabbed some crackers and sat out on your back deck where the moonlight reflected off of the ocean. The way Bob had wrapped his arm around you during the movie made it easy to imagine him here with you, keeping you warm. Instead you grabbed a blanket and snuggled in as you thought about how he would have been an excellent boyfriend. 
"You win some, you lose some," you told the night sky. If he was bothered by your past which you had designed so you could have a future, then he wasn't the one for you. You fell asleep outside in your dress, and the rising sun eventually woke you up. When you stretched and stood, the chilly air sent you running inside and toward your shower. 
The memories of last night were hanging out in the periphery of your mind. Going to work tomorrow was going to be awful. If you didn't like Admiral Bates so much, you'd request to work under someone else. But then again, why should you have to go to work feeling bad? Yeah, it was going to sting to see Bob, but it was still your job, and you deserved to be happy. 
You showered and took your time until all of your skin felt fresh and new, and then you threw on some oversized sweats after you moisturized. After breakfast, you could see if one of your friends from D&D was free to hang out. You were finally just about to check your phone to see if Bob had attempted to reach you when you heard a knock at your door. 
Bob's truck was parked in your driveway just behind your car. You could see it through the front window. According to your phone, he tried to call you twice, and he'd send you a handful of texts. But now he was here and knocking again. It was obvious you were home, so you wrenched your front door open and stood before him with your chin held high.
"What do you need?" you asked, already feeling weak at the sight of his pretty blue eyes and his glasses. 
"Hi," he said softly, just staring at you. He looked exhausted, like maybe he hadn't slept. Then he fumbled around in his jeans pocket and pulled out your credit card. "This is yours."
You plucked it from his hand and started to close the door. "Thanks for returning it. I'll see you at work."
Then he said your name. Your real name. "Wait. Please?"
You pressed your lips together. "What do you want, Bob?" 
The soft rise and fall of his solid chest held your attention while he started stuttering. "L-Look. I'm really sorry about last night."
You nodded. "Me too." It wasn't like you wanted to know, but you couldn't stop yourself from asking, "I take it you went home and looked up my videos?"
His eyes went wide as you crossed your arms over your chest. "I didn't."
You actually believed him, but you felt like making yourself hurt anyway. "Your friends have all seen me naked. Watched me getting fucked."
He seemed surprisingly calm as he half shrugged and kind of nodded. "So what?"
As you shifted your weight from one foot to the other, you said, "I'm not ashamed of anything I've ever done, okay? And I would have told you about it after another date or two... before we slept together." When he remained silent you added, "I started out in the adult film industry when I was eighteen. I quit when I was twenty five. I just turned thirty last month, and I guess I was silly for thinking enough time had passed. But last night was a prime example of why I haven't even tried to date anyone. Ever, really."
Bob was gaping at you now. "Not ever? But you're... you're so..."
"I know," you said, cutting him off before he could finish. "I'm hot enough to do porn, but nobody wants to date me." 
You started to close the door again, but he scrambled. "N-No, that's not what I was going to say. I was going to say you're flawless. A-And I shouldn't have let you leave the bar like that last night."
Your fingers loosened on the door, and soon it was drifting away from you, opening wider for Bob as he stood there with an eager expression. God, you just really liked him. And he seemed like he was being sincere. "What would you have done differently last night?" you whispered. 
He started to reach for you before tucking his fingers in his jeans pocket. "I would have taken your hand in mine as soon as I saw tears in your eyes." You bit your lips as he added, "And I would have told you that I like you so much. And if you wanted to leave, then I would have driven you home right away and walked you to your door."
He liked you so much. If there was a chance that Bob could be the kind of guy who still liked you with your past as Roxy Luxxe but also wasn't just trying to get in your pants and meet her for himself, then you wanted to give him a shot. "What would you have done after you walked me to my door?"
He was breathing deeper like he was nervous, and you wanted to touch him. "I would have asked you for that goodnight kiss that I'd been hoping for all day."
You were rushing for his arms, clearly surprising him in the process, but he held onto you as you gave him just the softest kiss. "I would have let you have it." Bob's hands found their way to the most respectful spot on your back, and you kissed him a little deeper. 
As soon as you broke the kiss, his fingers flexed against your back, and he said, "I want to go on another date with you. A bunch more. But I want you to be sure about me. I don't really care about Roxy Luxxe. I'm sure she was lovely, but I like you." You laughed. You couldn't help it. And he smiled as he asked, "Maybe you can think about it today and let me know at work tomorrow?"
"Okay."
He nodded and let out the breath he was holding. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."
Your back felt cold where his hands used to be as you watched him walk back to his truck. He waved to you as he pulled out of your driveway, and you waved back with a different feeling in your heart than you had twenty minutes ago.
---------------------------
Bob was disappointed to find he would be in the air on Monday. When he arrived on base, he changed into his flight suit instead of his khaki uniform, wondering what that would mean when it came to seeing you. He'd slept poorly, wondering what your answer would be, hoping you'd say yes to another date.
"Hey, Bob," Jake drawled as Bob zipped up his flight suit. "How was your night with Roxy Luxxe?" He had a devilish smirk on his face, and Bob's skin was crawling. All of the other guys were looking at him now, and he knew his face was beet red. 
"I guess she was as good as she looks on film if she rendered you speechless," Jake added with a laugh. 
"Whoa, no," Javy said, shaking his head at Jake before looking at Bob. "Cut it out, man."
Bob counted to five, took a deep breath and then raised his forearm, and at least Jake had the decency to look panicked. Bradley stepped into the fray as Bob used his arm on Jake's chest to push him back against the lockers. Sure, Jake was more muscular, but Bob was no slouch, and he had a couple inches on him. "Don't call her that again. Don't even talk about her. While you're at it, don't look at her either."
Jake raised one eyebrow and nodded slightly, and Bob released him, walking right out of the locker room and making a quick detour to the classroom. But you weren't there. He ran his hands through his hair before he headed outside to find Nat. 
"Hey, there you are," she said gently. "You okay? After the bar and everything?"
"I'm fine," he replied, still looking around. "Have you seen her?"
"Mmhmm," she hummed, pointing behind Bob, and he whirled around in time to see you walk out of the tower with Warlock and Cyclone. You looked as pretty as you always did, and Bob found himself wanting you the same way today as he had last week. All of the daydreams about making breakfast together after holding you in his arms all night were still there. So were the thoughts about you snuggled up, laughing on his couch. But now he could also imagine taking walks on the beach where you lived.
Your gaze met his, and he watched you excuse yourself from the admirals before heading his way. Nat squeezed his bicep, and muttered good luck before making herself scarce, and then Bob was standing there with you a respectable three feet in front of him. 
"Lieutenant Floyd."
He smiled softly. "Good morning."
"So..." you began, looking down at his boots and pressing your lips together. "I'm free on Wednesday night. Or pretty much all day Saturday." Your eyes trailed up his body until you were nervously examining his face. "What did you have in mind for our fourth date?"
He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He'd been so apprehensive, afraid you were going to tell him to beat it, he hadn't bothered to come up with an actual date idea. "Cooking dinner at my place?" he blurted out.
You nodded like that sounded good to you. "Wednesday night then?"
He couldn't remember if he already had plans, but if he did, he'd cancel them immediately. "Yes. Wednesday. The day after tomorrow. Wednesday."
Your soft laughter filled him up as you turned and started to walk away, giving him just one word. "Wednesday."
--------------------------
You showed up to Bob's place with just a bottle of wine. He promised to take care of the rest. An hour later, a completely homemade pizza with fresh mozzarella and herbs was baking in the oven, and you had your arms draped around his neck. His lips tasted like the pinot noir the two of you had started drinking while you made the pizza, and his body felt strong and sure. As of right now, you thought you'd made the right choice by coming here.
"I really like you," he whispered for the third time this evening, and you believed him. You liked yourself. Why shouldn't he? 
"I like you, too, Bob." You reached up and adjusted his glasses before letting your fingers trail back through his hair. As his hands slid slowly down to your hips, it was easy to imagine how he might be in bed. Authentic. Meticulous. Earnest. Just like he was at work. The thought thrilled you to no end, but you were also afraid of the way you'd feel afterwards if you rushed it just to get the first one out of your system. So you let him hold you like you were important. 
The timer buzzed, and Bob laughed as you jumped further into his arms. You buried your face against his neck. "It's not funny." But you were laughing, too, and his lips met your hair. "Okay, it's kind of funny."
His stomach was growling, so you slowly pulled yourself free of his arms so he could put on his oven mitts. "Looks good," he remarked, but your gaze was fixed on him. "What do you think, Honey?" 
Bob's eyes went wide as he set the tray down, like he couldn't believe what he'd said. Your heart was absolutely thundering in your chest. "Looks good," you whispered in agreement. You hadn't looked at it. You were sure it was fine. You'd eat anything anyway. But he called you Honey, and you didn't mind it one bit.
You shared the pizza side by side on his couch along with the rest of the bottle of wine, and Bob listened to you tell him about your friends you meet up with on Fridays. And then he told you about his deployment as he finished the last few drops of wine. 
"I never really talk about this with anyone but Nat. This is nice," he said softly.
"Is it lonely?" you asked, your voice barely a whisper as he set down his glass and looked at you. 
You didn't want to rush him, because you could tell what he was going to say was important. And it was. His voice was a little rough as he looked at you and said, "Somehow it's lonelier when I come home. It's worse than being on an aircraft carrier in that I can't really have anything for myself here. There's nothing waiting for me. And a lot of the time, I feel like it would be too much to ask someone to do that. To wait for me. It would be a lot for someone to accept."
When you crawled onto his lap, he didn't stop you. And when you tilted his face up to make him look at you, his cheeks flushed pink, but his hands found your hips again. "I understand exactly how you feel." 
Then you kissed him, and you didn't stop for probably hours or maybe days. It felt that good. When you ended up beneath his warm body, you were so happy he came to your house on Sunday morning with your credit card. "Bob," you whimpered, and that seemed to bring him back from wherever his head was while he kissed his way down your neck and along your chest. His hair was a mess from your fingers, and his lips were a little puffy from the kisses, and you were pretty sure he wouldn't let you down again even if his friends were idiots.
You'd broken the spell, but he didn't seem to mind as he stood and pulled you to your feet. "It's getting late. We have work in the morning. Let me walk you to your car?"
At this rate, you were afraid you'd let him do anything he wanted, because he held your hand the whole way there. And he kissed you just right and told you he'd love to spend part of Saturday with you.
"Come over," you told him, and he promised he would.
----------------------------
It was chilly as Bob watched the sunset over the ocean from your back deck, but his body was warm from the combination of having you and your fleece blanket wrapped around him. You fit perfectly in his arms. Frankly, you seemed to fit pretty perfectly in his life. He wouldn't mind spending all of his Saturdays like this, listening to your gaming recap from the night before while you occasionally kissed the side of his neck. Your fingers were laced with his, and when you asked if he wanted to share a bottle of wine you got when you were in Napa Valley, he responded with a different question. 
"Is there any chance you'd want to be my girlfriend?" You shivered in his arms, so he wrapped you up a little tighter. "I can't stop thinking about you being the one waiting for me to get home from a deployment."
You didn't speak right away which made him apprehensive. He'd somehow been the one to push things too fast. This was something he'd never managed to do before. You tightened your grip on his hand as you said, "Bob... people are going to recognize me. It's going to happen sometimes, no matter what I try to do about it, and I-"
He cut you off with a kiss. "I don't care about that, Honey." Then more kisses. The bottle of wine in your kitchen was left forgotten as you carefully slipped one leg over Bob's lap and sat straddling him. You kept the blanket wrapped snug around both of you, your body nestled against his as your foreheads met. "I just really like you."
The sun had disappeared below the horizon. Everything was pink and purple and dusky and dreamy as your cheek nudged his glasses making him smile. "If you think you can handle being my boyfriend, then I'm not going to try to stop you."
Heart pounding, he asked, "So is that a yes?"
"Yes." Your kisses were slow and soft, and Bob kept chasing the smile on your lips, because he couldn't get enough. With his eyes closed, all he could hear was the ocean below and the soft sounds you made. All he could feel was your body everywhere. You smelled familiar. You tasted good. 
As you ran your fingers through his hair, your other hand trailed down to his shoulder, along his bicep and then across his chest. When Bob dared to let his hands dip from your waist to your hips and butt, you scooted a little bit closer. He realized when your fingers skimmed his abs that he had an erection. 
Embarrassed, he tried to break the kiss and move his hands, but as soon as he started to move, you pulled away first. In the dying light, he could see your wide eyes and the alluring rise and fall of your chest. Part of your lace bra strap was showing, and your nipples were obviously hard. His cock throbbed in his jeans as you asked, "Do you want to stop?"
He knew you could read the desire on his face. When he started to shake his head, you rubbed yourself against his jeans where he was hard for you. "No," he grunted, head tipping back as he panted. "I don't want to stop."
"Good," you whispered next to his ear, lips barely grazing him. "Neither do I." You took his hands in both of yours and brought them back up to your body, encouraging him to touch every curve.
He gasped your name as he watched you slowly rolling your hips against him, seemingly in no hurry as you bit your lip. When he reached for the hem of your shirt, you didn't stop him, and he tossed it aside. Your body looked magical in the twilight, and as he reached for your bra clasp, realization hit him. 
You were used to a certain caliber of partner for these kinds of activities. Standards he probably couldn't meet. "You're hesitating again," you whispered, voice breaking a little bit on the last word. "If you don't think you want to do this with me, I completely understand, Bob."
It was getting difficult to read your expression in the darkness, but when you stopped touching him and pulled your arms to your sides, he started to panic. "It's not that," he promised. "But you've been with... p-professionals. Guys who know what they're... doing." He ran his hands through his own hair. "And I'm not the most experienced. I've only had two partners."
"Oh, Bob," you moaned, and his cock ached at the sound. He wanted you. His whole body was screaming for it, and then he watched as you unhooked your own bra and let it slide down your arms and fall from your fingers. Your body was flawless, back arched, every curve designed to make him crazy. He made a sound somewhere between a groan and a whine as you leaned in closer and kissed him. "You'll be so much better."
Your bare skin was everywhere as the blanket slipped from around you. Bob's hands splayed across your back to keep you warm, but the supple feel of you had him thrusting against your core as he gingerly ran his thumb along the side of your breast. "So much better!" you whispered before pulling his bottom lip between yours.
He was still a little nervous, throbbing against you in his pants like a teenager as he cupped your breast in his rough palm. When you trailed your lips down his neck, he said, "I just want to be good enough for you."
Bob was thankful it was dark and you couldn't see him blushing as you nipped his earlobe and giggled. "Bob. You're better, because you're real. And you're turning me on, because we're not faking anything." You moved your right hand down between your bodies and squeezed his cock through his jeans as you sucked on his neck. "There's nothing fake about this."
He was gasping as he reached for your hand. "Honey." He couldn't take too much more teasing, or at this rate, he'd finish before his pants were off. "Can we go inside?"
You were off his lap and reaching for him with both hands, pulling him to his feet and closer to you. "My bedroom sound good?"
"Yes." 
It was honestly difficult to walk. You led him through the sliding glass door and inside where the soft lighting somehow made your topless body look even more stunning. You brought him down the short hallway to your room, walking backwards and looking up at him with a smirk as you unzipped his jeans. He made another unintelligible noise as he watched the way your breasts swayed and bounced with each movement. 
Your bedside lamp provided the only light, and Bob was still looking around, trying to get his bearings, when you pulled his shirt and undershirt off. "Oh," you gasped, running your palms up his flat stomach to his slightly broader chest. "God." He couldn't fathom that you liked what you saw and felt enough to leave you panting his name, but you definitely were. Then your hand was down the front of his unzipped jeans, and he grinned as you tried your best to wrap your hand around his length, your eyes growing wide. "Bob."
And now he wasn't really nervous, because this actually felt really easy and good with you. You were giving him all the queues that you wanted more. You were kissing him as you stumbled to the bed. You were trying your best to get your hand around his cock, but you couldn't. He picked you up and hauled you up to the pillows, and you squealed. All he could see was your beautiful smile as you kissed him over and over, only pulling away to run your nose along his cheek and whisper his name. 
He watched you shimmy out of your yoga pants and underwear and push them aside, and it was no wonder you were able to make a career out of using your body the way you did. But if most of that was just acting, then he wasn't going to let you down now. He watched as your head tipped back, and you pressed yourself up against his hands when he gently squeezed your breasts. Mesmerized by all of this, he let his hands drift down over your ribs and along your sides until he was met by your hips.
Bob worked his hands slowly back up your body and down again, pausing to press his lips to your breasts as you arched for him again. You felt soft, and you were sensitive, running your bare foot up and down his leg as you whimpered. When he squeezed your hips again, he let his gaze fall below your belly button.
His voice was soft and deep as he asked, "Is it okay if I taste you, Honey?"
You instantly spread your legs a little wider, grabbed him by his hair, and said, "Please."
---------------------------
Bob's hands were huge, with thick veins and graceful, calloused fingers. All he was doing was touching you and kissing you, and you were very fucking worked up. This was already a treat, just being with a guy who wasn't grabbing at you and trying to shove his cock in your mouth. But it was more than that. It was the soft tone he used when he said your name and the way he was looking at you. 
Gentle but strong. That was how you'd describe your newly minted boyfriend. You smiled at him as he stroked his fingers down your sides. You hadn't had a boyfriend in years, and Bob was so sweet and handsome, it was absolutely outrageous. 
"Is it okay if I taste you?"
All of that and he wanted to go down on you? "Please." Your voice was needy, and your body was so ready for him. You eased your thighs further apart so he could see all of you, and you let your fingers tangle in his soft hair. You were so excited, and when the wire rim of his glasses brushed the inside of your thigh, you shivered with pleasure. 
Then his lips met your pussy, and you almost went through the fucking ceiling. Those big hands were at your waist, holding you in place on the bed as he licked up along your slit, slowly tasting every inch before he hummed softly. You wanted to watch, but you could barely lift your head off of the pillow as he licked up again and again before kissing your clit. 
When you managed to prop yourself up on one elbow, you got a great view of his big cock hanging out of his unzipped jeans when he lifted his head away from your body. "Does it feel good?" he asked, and you laughed. He pulled away from you further, concern on his face as you started to reach for him.
Your nails scraped along the day's worth of stubble on his cheek as you sat up and kissed him, tasting yourself. You licked at his lips and chin, cleaning up the wetness before you whispered. "It feels better than good."
A few seconds later, you were on your back again, legs over his shoulders as he ate your pussy with fervor. All of your nerve endings were singing his praises. He had you spread with his rough thumbs, and when he looked up at you, even his nose was wet. Your hands were fisted at your sides while you gently rolled your hips against his mouth and whined at the perfect feel of him. "Shit. Fuck," you gasped. He sucked on you with just the right amount of pressure, and your toes were literally starting to curl. "Bob!" 
All you got in response was another hum of pleasure that made you squeal followed by some seriously lewd, wet sounds. His broad shoulders pushed against the backs of your thighs, and you felt him teasing at your opening with the tip of one finger. Tongue circling your clit, he glanced up at you over his crooked glasses. His cheeks were pink, and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead as you reached for his hair again. "I want you to fuck me."
"Okay," he agreed, nodding his head like he hadn't brought you close with his mouth. He looked a little dazed and pussy drunk, and you thought you could fall in love with that expression on his handsome face. 
"Come here," you whispered, kneeling so you could kiss him. "You taste like me," you added, licking his cheek and chin. "And I love it."
"Honey," he growled, and when you looked down, you could tell he was aching. You pushed him onto his butt and helped him the rest of the way out of his jeans and snug briefs, his thick cock bouncing for you. Then you looked at him there in just his socks and glasses, and your entire body clenched with a need you'd never known before. 
You took his cock in both hands, leaned down and kissed away all of his precum while every muscle in his abs and both legs tensed up. "Holy shit," he gasped. When you tugged on his shoulders, he moved with you, covering your body with his own. His weight and warmth against your bare skin felt essential to your happiness, and when you kissed him, he said, "And you taste like me." 
His cheeks flushed a pretty pink as you ran your tongue along his lips. You couldn't get enough. He shifted his body slightly, and his cock came to rest on your slick clit, making you moan into his mouth. You arched away from him, moving your hips back and forth a few inches at a time, using his body to bring yourself pleasure as you clung to his arms. "God, Bob. You haven't even been inside me yet, and I'm a mess." 
The veins in his neck and forehead were more prominent as he panted, a bead of his sweat rolling down to the tip of his nose. You licked it away as you shifted your hips so he was positioned at your entrance. He was thick, and even though you were soaking wet now, you had to use one hand to help guide him. You shook your head from side to side, your body taking him slowly. He buried his forehead to your neck, and the bite of his glasses against your collar bone kept you grounded. 
"Honey," he moaned, clutching at your hips as he finally, finally bottomed out. You were completely full, already clenching around him softly and enjoying the rough feel of his trimmed hairs against your clit. He thrusted a few times like he couldn't help himself, and you kissed his forehead. "Am I hurting you?"
His neck was a little slick against your fingertips. You'd been fucked too rough or without enough lubrication to the point of it being painful several times before, but this was the exact opposite. "Bob, you feel incredible." He lifted his head and kissed your lips, rewarding you with another thrust. Your legs tangled with his as you pushed his hair back from his forehead and kissed him harder. 
His lips found their way to your neck and breasts, and his thrusts started coming quicker, but every smooth movement left you gripping at him, your body begging for more as you whimpered and whined. He murmured your name against your skin, sucking on your nipples until you were seeing stars. And each thrust filled you somehow better than the last. And every movement left you grinding your clit up for more. 
You were going to come. You were going to come so hard. You could feel it. The buildup was delicious. Lips and stubble and glasses on your breasts. Hands on your hips. Bob everywhere.
"I'm not wearing a condom. Honey," he panted. "I'm not wearing a condom."
"It's okay," you whined loudly, suddenly gasping and clawing at his shoulders for leverage. "You can come wherever you want."
He chose inside you. And you came, hard and long and loud, hands on his face while you kissed him. You knew he was going to be so much better. You called it from the start. From when he surprised you by asking you out for coffee. He was immediately better than anything else you anticipated for yourself, and even when he fumbled, he recovered. You ran your lips along his cheek and back to his ear and whispered, "You're so much better than faking it."
He rolled both of you onto your sides, facing each other while he was still deep inside you. "Please don't ever do that. Fake it," he said, voice deep and raspy as he ran his rough palm along your cheek. "I want to know I'm good enough for my girlfriend." 
You smiled and tucked your head under his chin, and he wrapped his arm around you. His skin was warm beneath your lips, and his words were soft and gentle. When he climbed out of bed, he asked where he could find a washcloth, and he came back with it a minute later, ready to help you get cleaned up. He even held your robe out for you and waited while you used the bathroom, but you did that quickly, finding you wanted to be right next to him as much as possible.
Bob looked delicious in his briefs and undershirt, and you wrapped your arms around his waist as you asked, "Do you want to go back out under the blanket? With the bottle of wine? We could look at the stars. Listen to the ocean before bed."
He kissed your forehead. "As long as I'm with you."
-------------------------
Six months later...
After eight weeks away, Bob was excited to get home. He really hoped this was the start of his deployments feeling lonelier than the time between them did. Especially since he was going home to you and the house where he moved all of his stuff as soon as you asked him to live with you. He couldn't wait to hold you all night and hear all about your Dungeons & Dragons campaign and ask how you'd been enjoying work.
As soon as the aircraft carrier started docking in San Diego, he was at one of the lower railings along with the other aviators, and he spotted you immediately. You were bouncing around at the front of the crowd shouting his name and waving like a lunatic, and he had missed you so much. "Hey, Honey!" he shouted, and you just jumped higher. 
"Damn, Floyd. That's your girl?" asked one of the guys he'd flown with.
"Yeah," he replied, never taking his eyes off you. "That's my girl."
Six and a half minutes later, he was practically running down the long ramp with his duffle on one shoulder to the spot where you were waiting for him. 
"Bob!" you screeched as he scooped you up in your tiny dress and kissed you until you were as breathless as he was. "I missed you. I love you so much, and I missed you."
"I want to go home, Honey," he said, kissing you again. "Take me home."
"Gladly," you gushed, grabbing his hand and leading him toward his own truck. "I have big plans for your big cock," you announced to everyone around you, and Bob felt his cheeks warm up. "Well, and the rest of you, too. We can make a pizza together and eat out on the deck."
"Anything you want," he promised, tossing his bag in the truck bed and pushing you against the door. "And I love you, too." 
You only let him kiss you for a few seconds, before you were pushing him away. "I know you do. Let's go home." You held his hand on the short ride, and when he pulled in the driveway, you yanked him right out and led him inside the house. 
This felt incredible, knowing you wanted him as badly as he wanted you, running hand in hand to the bedroom. Then you stopped short and turned to face him as he bumped into you with a laugh. "You know how you're kind of your alter ego right now when you're in your uniform? Lieutenant Floyd?"
"Yeah?" he whispered, leaning down to kiss you, but your lips curled into a smile as you backed away.
"Well... I thought you might like to meet my alter ego?" you asked softly, easing that little dress up to your hips and along your torso before pulling it over your head. You were standing there in the tiniest black thong and bra set known to mankind. "Do you want to meet Roxy Luxxe?"
Bob just nodded and reached down to palm himself through his khaki pants as he gaped at you and grunted, "Uh huh." If Roxy was just a playful extension of his girlfriend, then yes, he wanted to meet her. 
You bit your lip and coaxed him toward the bed, running your hands down your body to your hips where you played with your underwear. "Good. Because she wants to meet you, too. And she wants you to know she's only going to be available exclusively for Bob Floyd's enjoyment."
---------------------------
Thanks for reading this long one-shot! I wanted Bob to get to fuck a former pornstar, because nobody deserves such a treat the way Bob does! But then I got attached to them and had to make it special. Bob and the artist formerly known as Roxy Luxxe are adorable together. Thanks to @mak-32 @beyondthesefourwalls @thedroneranger and @sylviebell for your help!
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miniwheat77 · 9 days
Text
Alone with you. (141 x Reader.)
!smut, p in v sex, double penetration, gang bang, overstimulation, non con, proceed with caution, NO MINORS!
This was supposed to be my bday fic but I’ve had writers block, hope you enjoy!
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"So this is the culprit hm?" Laswell lifts up the bottle of pheromone perfume.
"Looks like it." You mumble. "Wonder how good it actually works. Might spice up my sex life." You joke. Soap laughs. "What sex life?" he snorts. Seeing Laswell roll her eyes at the both of you. "Exactly my point. Asshole." You mumble under your breath.
When Soap leaves the room, Laswell smirks at you. "I'm sure in super small doses it couldn't hurt." She winks. You catch the tiny vial in your hand that she had just thrown at you. You smile at her. "And that's why you're my favorite, Laswell." You laugh, following her out of her office. Tucking the vial into your back pocket. "Alright. I'm heading out. Graves said he has some leads in North America so I'll be over there for a couple weeks. Try not to kill each other while I'm gone." She smiles. "No promises. As always, safe travels Laswell. Ring when you get to where you're going." You call to her. She nods her head, waving at you. You disappear down the corridor, going to your room.
———
Later that same night, you make your way into the mess hall, cup in hand. It's got water in it. You haven't had the chance to eat yet. You sit down for just a second and a gasp leaves your lips when you hear a small pop come from your back pocket. "Shit." You mumble. You hear the others coming and choose to stay put, only turning to look at your backside when they're distracted. You notice that there's no liquid anymore. Had it absorbed that quickly?
You quickly head back to your room, trying to clean all of the glass out of your pocket. You change into some other leggings that you have since it's almost time for bed anyway it's not like anyone will care.
You make your way back out into the mess hall and take your seat once more. Seeing that Soap has set up across from you at the table. It's silent for the most part, until Soap starts to shuffle awkwardly. He clears his throat a couple of times, finally looking up at you. Only now does he suddenly feel very attracted to you. He was before of course but now, something is different. He clears his throat again and adjusts the way he's sitting. You glance around the room to see each of them stealing glances at you.
Is it the pheromone perfume doing this?
No… it couldn’t be. It was only a tiny vial.
You stand up to get rid of your tray and move to sit back down. “Y/N. Can I speak with you?” Your Captain grasps your attention. You nod your head, following him out to the hallways. “Did Laswell give you the pheromone perfume?” He crosses his arms. “Yeah, I was supposed to throw it away for her but I forgot about it and it broke open in my pocket.” He shakes his head. “Listen, the scent you’re giving off is way too much. Go lock yourself in your room and stay there until it’s worn off.” He finishes his sentence and then grits his teeth, like he’s holding something back. “Go on.” He breathes. You can’t help but notice the beads of sweat on his forehead. You nod your head. As you start walking down the corridor, you hear him.
“No, Johnny wait!” You turn back to see Soap trying to push passed him. Very clearly trying to get to you.
You hurry down the hallway and open the door to your room, closing the door behind you. “Jesus fuck.” You mumble to yourself. Is this stuff really this strong?
You take a deep breath, sitting at the edge of your bed.
For a couple hours, you hear nothing but silence. And it’s a bit deafening. It’s eerie like there’s something off. You lay down, trying to distract yourself but you end up falling asleep.
In your sleep, you feel someone moving next to you, dipping the edge of your bed down. You stir awake when you feel their hands on you. When you realize what’s going on, that someone is actually touching you, your eyes open completely. You jump away from them, seeing that it’s Soap. But he’s not there right now. His eyes are dark. “Johnny… what are you doing?” You breathe. “You smell so good lass. Can smell how fucking bad you want this…” he smirks. He moves off of your bed, circling around it to try to corner you. You make a split second decision and bolt for the door, sprinting down the hallway. You can hear his heavy footsteps chasing after you. You turn the corner, eyes widening and your feet skidding to a stop as you see your Captain and Gaz. They’re both standing there. Clearly blocking you from going this direction. “Nowhere to run, darling.” Gaz smirks. You breathe out.
This has to be some kind of sick joke.
Soap closes in behind you, they make slow steps toward you.
You take off through the mess hall. Seeing a window that opens and hurrying up to it, you pry it open and climb through it. Sliding out of their grasp just barely. You take off running, seeing the watch tower. Perfect.
You make your way up, slowly and quietly. You don’t know if they’re on watch since they’re not thinking right.
You move up inside, closing the door behind you. Breathing. You dig your phone out of your pocket, dialing Laswell immediately. “Y/N, I haven’t got to base just yet, I’m driving.” She mumbles. “I know- it’s not that.” You breathe, hands shaking. “The vial you gave me broke open in my pocket and my body absorbed all of it, now I’m in a freaking wild goose chase Laswell.” You pant. “What? It’s that bad?” She asks. “Yes! They’re like.. freaking zombies Laswell. They’re not even there.” You breathe. “You’ll just have to wait it out Y/N.” She mumbles. “Yeah.. Yeah I know.” You mumble. “Thanks Laswell.” You sigh.
You hear creaking, fear coursing through you. Just as you turn to look at the door, a hand snakes its way around your waist, tugging you into them, another hand clamping around your mouth. “Gotcha.” He whispers. His voice is deep and it comes out almost as a growl.
It’s Ghost.
He moves his other hand from your waist and grasps your phone, pressing the button to hang up. Lowering the phone down onto the countertop. “Didn’t lock the door sweetheart. Almost like you wanted this to happen hm?” He breathes, his warm breath right over your ear. “You know we’re not gonna hurt ya.” He brushes your hair out of your face. “Ghost, please-“ you whine. “You smell so good. Drives me crazy. I almost didn’t want to tell them you were up here.” He chuckles. Your eyes widen.
Just then, you can hear multiple footsteps coming up the metal staircase. Like everything is deafened around you and that’s all you can hear.
What are they going to do to you?
Ghost spins you around. You see the other three creeping into the room, Soap makes sure to lock the door behind himself. “Nowhere to run now, Dove. It’s just you and us now.” Gaz mumbles, stepping closer. You step back. But know it’s no use. You’re stuck, and whatever is going to happen, it’s happening now. “What are you going to do?” You swallow hard. Johnny chuckles. “Nothing you won’t like, darling. How about we get these clothes off of you, hm?”
“I- I don’t-“
“That wasn’t a question. It was an order.” Captain Price’s voice booms in your ears. His sternness always was intimidating. “Y-yes sir.” You breathe. You hope that as you reach for the hem of your shirt, they’ll start laughing. That this will be some kind of sick joke. But they don’t.
You tug your shirt over your head. Breathing out. You clench your eyes shut as they reach for their belts. Still dressed in their military uniforms. “Y/N. Look at me.” You tilt your head up, swallowing down the lump in your throat as you look at Johnny. “Nothing to be scared about. Just relax.” He chuckles. You nod your head. He reaches out, grasping hold of your upper arm and pulling you into him with ease. How easy it is for him to move you makes you realize just how powerful these men are. He forces you up against the small table in the watch tower. It’s old and you’re not sure if it’ll hold you.
You swallow hard, wincing as the table begins to dig into your pelvis. He makes you rest your hands on it. “Be a good girl.” He breathes. His voice sends chills down your spine. He reaches for your pants, tugging them down your legs. He holds them down with his foot, having you step out of them. “Good girl. Now listen.” He breathes. He raises his hands up, unclasping your bra and letting it fall over your shoulders and onto the floor. “Nobody will hear you, so you can be as loud as you want to. Alright? You’re going to like this, because you’re a naughty little thing. Promise.” He mumbles. He pushes you back down, forcing you over the table. A gasp leaves your lips as he pushes apart your legs.
He frees his cock from its confines and you can see the others standing off to the side. You clench your eyes shut once more, whining as he presses the fat tip of his cock at your entrance. You suck in a sharp breath as he pushes himself past your entrance, sliding in and bottoming out into you. You lurch forward with a hiss at the intrusion. “Oh- f-fuck!” You cry. Raising up slightly with a cry. He only forces you back down. “Shhh. It’s okay.” His attempt at soothing you is pathetic and half-assed. If you weren’t in this particular position, you might laugh at him.
But you don’t think you’ll ever be able to look at them the same ever again.
You rest your head on the table, breathing out. Take a deep breath, try not to lose control.
That’s hard to do, keeping yourself together around them when they’re as attractive as they are. And the way they’re touching you.
Just as soon as you’re full, he’s pulling out of you again. He lifts you up, shoving the flimsy table out of the way and kneeling on the ground with you. Ghost steps toward you and you look up at him, he’s still got his mask on. You can’t see his smile. “Look good from this position, darling.” He smirks. You swallow hard, he moves his jeans to the side and tugs his boxers down, revealing his length to you. He’s big. You swallow hard, looking down. “No need to be nervous now. Look at me.” He breathes. You tilt your head up again, feeling Johnny kneel behind you, moving his length up the expanse of your ass. You shudder as Simon steps forward. “Open your mouth.” He breathes. You’re trying to stay focused on Simon but the feeling of Johnny’s length pushing into you from behind has you wincing again. “Relax. Look up at me.” He lifts your chin forcefully. Pushing the tip of his cock past your lips. You take him down as far as you can, swallowing around his shaft. Hearing him gasp.
“Johnny touch her clit.” He breathes.
Johnny does it, listening to his LT.
He glides his hand over your hip and stomach. Calloused hands rough on your skin but his fingertips on your clit has your thighs ready to give out. He draws his hips back, thrusting back into your ass. Hearing you choke on Simon’s cock. You draw back, taking a deep breath. You rest your hands on his thighs, pulling him closer to you so that you can take him further down. “There.. see.” He breathes. “All you had to do was make her horny.” His laugh is deep and taunting. He tilts his head back, groaning out. You focus on the tip of his cock, knowing it’s got the most nerve endings. Being gentle but still sucking hard. It only takes a couple of minutes before his thighs are shaking.
“Fuck-“ he draws back away from you. “Wanna be in that pussy.” He breathes. “Gonna make me cum too fast.” He breathes.
He kneels down in front of you. Wiping your lips of saliva and clearing them. Johnny’s hard thrusts into you keep you wet, and you whine when he pulls his hand away from your clit. “It’s alright. Gonna get you nice and full lass.” Soap chuckles. You probably look fucking pathetic in front of them. Fucked out and desperate. You knew you needed to get laid but this…
This is too far. But it’s something you didn’t know you needed.
They raise you up, wrapping your legs around Simon’s waist. Johnny slides himself back inside of your ass, feeling you tense up. Simon glides his tip up between your folds, pushing past them. You whine out, starting to squirm. “S’alright.” He breathes. His voice is low. Only you can hear it. When they’re both bottoming out in you, your breath is gone. Lungs are empty and burning. You’re trying to catch your breath but it feels impossible. A sob gets caught in your throat and you clench your eyes shut as they start to fuck you. “Fuck- not gonna last-“ Johnny hisses. Ghost holds you still, both of them moving in unison as they thrust into you. You shake and cry, overstimulated and you haven’t even cum yet.
“Fuck!” Johnny slides out of you, pumping himself with his hand. He bucks his hips into you, resting his forehead on your back as he finishes. Simon doesn’t stop his thrusts, keeping up his bruising pace.
Johnny moves away from you, he’s been selfish thus far. It’s someone else’s turn.
Gaz takes his place. Desperate to feel you. He inches closer, spitting into his hand and gliding it over the tip of his cock. He slides into you again. Feeling you gasp out. Lurching foward into Simon. He laughs. “You’re doing good. Keeping up.” Ghost mumbles.
Gaz grips your hips and tries to hold you still as he and Simon fill you. You can feel yourself getting closer to your orgasm. Shivering as it inches closer and closer.
Chills start at your toes and work their way up your body.
“I- oh god-“ you whine.
You clench your eyes shut, letting it take over your body. You’re sure it’ll be the hardest you’ll ever cum. They don’t stop, riding out your orgasm as it washes over you. You know they’re not going to stop.
You relax, trying to pace yourself despite being overstimulated. You raise your hand up and rest it on Simon’s shoulder. Hearing Gaz chuckle behind you at your fucked out state. Simon’s breathing is getting a little heavier. He lowers his head, lips right by your ear. “So tight baby… getting me so close.” He grits his teeth. He starts to pant, cock throbbing and twitching inside of you. He groans out, sliding out of you. He grits his teeth and tries to contain himself as he cums.
He takes a second, panting. His head is buried into the crook of your neck as he comes down. He finally pulls away from you. Standing up and adjusting his pants.
Captain Price is quick to take his place. You’re ready to tap out but it’s clear that they’re not going to let you. Gaz grasps your chin, tilting your head back. “You’re doing good. Just a bit more.” He breathes, pressing his lips to yours. You can feel your captain’s hands on you, groping your breasts in his hands as he lines himself up with your entrance. “You still smell so good.” He growls. Gaz lets go of you and you finally get a good look at John. His eyes are dark, like the others. Their pupils are dilated, they look dark. Empty. Like there’s nothing there, only lust.
What the hell is this stuff and who made it?
You whine again as he slides into you. Tears filling your eyes. You clench your eyes shut and brace yourself for what they’re going to do to you. You rest your head on John’s chest as they start fucking into you mercilessly, John is desperate. He’s been waiting the longest. He’s eager and horny and the way he fucks you shows it. You’re sobbing into his chest in just minutes, overstimulated and overwhelmed. Your body shakes and you can feel the warmth pooling in your lower abdomen again. You can’t stay quiet. Moans spill from your lips uncontrollably and tears stream from your eyes. You’ve never been so overwhelmed in your life. “Do you feel good? Hm?”
“Yes!” You cry. “Tell me how good you feel.” He breathes. Forcing you to look up at him. “Tell me how good all of us have made you feel. And it better be good honey. Let everyone know how good they’ve fucked you today.” He forces your face up again by your jaw. “It feels so good- so so good- you’re fucking me so good.” A gasp leaves your lips as they thrust together at the exact same time. “Now what do you say hm? It was kind of us to fuck you.”
“Thank you!” You cry, head falling again. You chant it as they thrust into you. “That’s a good girl.” He chuckles.
They last another few minutes, but this time, neither of them pull out. Filling both of your holes up.
They ride out their highs before halting, cocks buried up inside of you still. You’re panting hard, clit throbbing. You don’t know how you’ve taken it or kept up with them to this point.
It’s Soap who lifts you up and carries you to your room. Your thighs shake uncontrollably and he helps you get cleaned up before putting you to bed. He makes sure you’re comfortable. And even when he leaves you alone, he’s still got that same dark look in his eyes.
Maybe you wouldn’t wake up alone.
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from-beyond-the-woods · 8 months
Text
Alright I'll bite. I live in Israel, yes. I served in the army, yeah. Does Israel mistreat Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank? Absolutely. My friends who are still enlisted tell me about the shit show that goes in there every day. I get it, there are a million reasons to hate the government and the IDF and whoever else you point fingers to. No side is innocent.
But assholes on motorcycles and in pickup trucks broke through the fence, entered civilian towns and military outposts alike, and just started MASACARING EVERYONE. THIS SHIT IS UNPRECEDENTED. And some MIGHT tiptoe around the point, and say that taking over outposts is fair because it's an occupation force and colonialism and what have you, but for fucks sake
They entered civilian homes. They shot everyone who moved. In locked houses, they set the home on fire and shot the families as they fled. I heard the phone calls - people screaming and begging for their lives as terrorists are walking around their home, stealing possessions, massacring everyone.
They didn't just murder colonialists, militants, occupying forces. They murdered kids who should've gone to school today. Parents working local agriculture, teachers, normal guys with an office job. They murdered dozens of elderly people who couldn't run away.
Not only murdered. Kidnapped. Living and dead, put on pickup trucks and herded back to Gaza. Stripped naked, desecrated and paraded around Gaza. I dare you to tell me the party goers, who were at a rave near one of the Kibbutzim near the fence, deserved to be shot at as they ran to safety. Hundreds of people missing. My Instagram stories filled with their faces, and a phone number attached - "help us find our loved ones. Contact lost. If anyone knows anything-" and at this point I skip them because there's nothing I can do.
My friends are enlisted down there. We're just a bunch of 20 year olds. My best friend is defending one of the villages who were infiltrated, she's trading shots with gunmen who already murdered half the place, she's messaging me once in a while to let me know she's alive. She should've been home for the weekend, we were supposed to watch Chicago now that it's on Netflix. Now neither of us sleeps, she's putting her life on the line and I'm wide awake terrified of the moment they call me and tell me she's gone.
This is mostly a rant. If you read all of it, thanks. I live up north, no need to worry for my safety for now. I don't have a good ending for this. Just, stay safe, I guess.
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gildedkrone · 8 months
Text
I'm the boy next door, let me come in🔞
Part 2 to this fic
Relationships: Ghost x verse!Male Reader Synopsis: You meet him years later and he still can't forget you. Master List
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Simon doesn't text back anymore. You aren't so much surprised as disappointed to know it would end this way. He has a wife to go home to, and your next client wouldn't wait for you to get over the very one-sided heartbreak.
The chat ended on a single message from Simon.
["Take care, luv. Hope this helps you with your dream."]
A transfer of ten thousand pounds into your bank account. You don't want to know how he acquired said information, given he is a military man, you wouldn't put it pass him to have used his clearence to search you up. Would it have killed him to do it in person? No. But anything, is better than nothing from a man you should have never gotten attached to.
It's a bittersweet end and the end of your "relationship" with the man.
---
A cigarette between his lips and his moment of peace was interrupted by his secretary entering his office after two knocks.
"Mr Riley, you have an upcoming meeting at two with the Mr Decartes, should I arrange for him to wait in the conference room?"
He flicks two fingers (yes) and snuffs out the cigarette. The Riley family always had a name in the military business, and the newly retired lieutenant returned home to Manchester to hold the reins to his family empire. Post military life is mundane, he supposed. There's no threat of being knived or shot when out bumbling about the streets of the city and most people give him a wide berth of space, if nothing but fear of his size. The skull mask is gone, replaced by a simple black mask concealing the bottom part of his face.
---
The train to Edinburgh is packed to the brim and per his request, the entire business coach is booked out to give him some semblance of privacy. The online meeting is rotting his brain with the incessant business partners and their multitude of requests. Eventually, the meeting ends not before the train is slowing to stop.
"Dear ladies and gentlemen, due to a railway signalling fault, we are unable to proceed to Edinburgh and the train will be stopping at Carlisle. Please speak to a train attendant if you have questions about transfers and continuing your journey."
Fuckin' hell and now even the train is conspiring against him. The attendant is apologetic and informs him of his choices. Return to Manchester on the train in three hours or wait for an unspecified time for the next train to Edinburgh. Either way, he isn't reaching his destination within the same day.
---
He has hours to burn, and he begins with getting coffee. Carlisle isn't a big city and he spends some time walking about the place and looking at things. Whatever British people did for fun. His mindless walk brings him to a flower shop and before his mind could object, he was pushing past the doors and the sweet chime into the cool and empty shop. There is nobody at the counter and he rings the bell.
"Coming!"
Sounds of shuffling as a man returns from the rear of the shop and you stop behind the counter.
"Hey, is there anything I can do for you?" You flash him a smile and he is taken back by the sight. It's the man he's had a fling with five years ago but there is no recognition in your eyes. Was it the mask?
"I'm looking for something for a business deal."
"Oh, do you know what arrangement you would like?" He looks confused and you continue. "We can make it in different sizes and shapes if you have any in mind?"
"Not really. Do you have pictures?"
"Sure do." You grab the folder of pictures and flipped to the business section. When you looked up, the man has an unfathomable look on his face. He takes his time reviewing through the photos and asks several questions about the shop. How did it come to be etc. You tell him about the ten thousand dollars a man left for you once and he knows, confirms it is you.
"So I moved from London up north here to settle down and open my shop. Business is doing well and I've just received a giant order for a wedding. Might need to hire some people to help me out there."
He doesn't know what his traitorous mind was on when he mouth blurts out how willing he is to help. He is dressed in some formal attire and clearly not a contract worker but he is insistent, so you relent and tell him to meet you after dinner. Especially knowing how difficult and costly it is to hire rush work.
---
Edinburgh is the last thing on his mind when he shows up to your shop at eight in the evening. He opted for a large hoodie and some sweats and you usher him into the back of the store where the greenhouse is. His mask is still on and the hoodie is drawn over his head and you crack a joke about dressing correctly since it's cold in the greenhouse.
You make the first of many bouqets and he examines the shape and quantity of flowers in it. The silence is amiable and the man is a fast worker. Precise and controlled, his first bouqet is beautiful and well made. You disappeared into greenhouse to get more flowers and he follows you back in. Midway through the gathering of some flowers and he speaks.
"You don't remember me."
You give him a puzzled look and set the flowers back down. Did you know him?
He sighs and pulls back his hoodie and removes the mask on his face. It's him. It's Simon.
---
"What are you doing here, Simon?"
He sips his coffee and the both of you are seated behind the counter.
"The train broke down and 'm was exploring the city. Stumbled upon your shop and …"
"Are you no longer in the military?"
"Left the job. Had to go home and run the business."
He is still an absolute looker even five years later and his fingers gently brush against yours where it stays.
"Simon, your wife--"
"We're divorced. She's no longer my wife." He elaborates something along the lines of a falling out between the two families over business.
"Oh."
His hands are rough and calloused, and they hold yours.
"It wasn't a possibility then, but … I--"
"Simon, we can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Did you really love me? We had a fling, not a real relationship. I am past the age of flings and I want a real relationship."
"I can give yer that. Only if you would let me."
"Si--" And the rest of the sentence was stolen by his lips against yours. He is insistent and all of the walls you imagined comes crashing down at the taste of him and the hand on your thigh.
"Luv, fuck, missed yer fuckin' lips." And your moan is breathy as his touch crept up your thighs.
---
You weren't sure how it happened, but the kiss ends with you and him in the greenhouse and his hands in your pants. He is pleasure incarnate and his hands move with an urgency to feel you. They roam across expanses of skin before digging into flesh and unbuttoning your jeans. Your mind is drunk on the pleasure and your dick is aching to be touched, with the way it bobs up and down.
The touches are something clandestine, and you used to be his illicit affairs. Now, you are his partner? Lover? The definition is irrelevant as he turns you around to face him before pushing you into the wall. His dick is freed from his joggers where they tented the garment obscenely and he hands rest at your hips.
"If yer asking how serious I am, 'm fuckin' serious about this." The whispers of past encounters are strong and he gives your dick a few strokes before he hugs you tight and your dick pokes against his ass.
"Fuck, Simon, you sure about this?" His response is a sloppy kiss and a muffled yes.
"Have you done this--"
"Nobody. There's nobody after you." Fuck, if that doesn't send your desires higher to know he saved himself for you all these years.
You finger him gently to loosen his rear and gently slide into him until he is moaning and spasming around your dick. He is impatient and tugs your hand but you refuse to fully bottom out, knowing this is likely foreign to him and unwilling to hurt him. Tight, warm heat hungrily swallows your length and you fight off the urge to slam your hips into him—to show him who controls his pleasure. Gruff and gravelly moans get louder with each thrust and with eyes lidded in pleasure, he takes dick so beautifully and you reward him with kisses and bites to his neck. He chokes at the feeling of skin breaking when you leave a hickey. The sudden imagery of domming him and making him beg to cum is fire in your veins and you slow your thrusts.
"C'mon, fuck, yer heathen, stop teasin'." He gets another kiss and he whines.
The great Simon whining like a pup and trying to get himself off on your dick after years of abstinence is making your head all muddy. His hips squirm and he grumbles when you pull out of him only to turn him around to face the wall. The smack of his hands against the wall is loud when you enter him without warning and he is practically clawing at the walls to remain standing under the onslaught of pleasure.
"Fuck, not gonna last if you keep doin' this," and true to his word, his greedy hole tightens around you as he tipped his head back into a moan. Your hand guides him through his orgasm as the wall is coated with pent up ball batter and you are finishing in him with a whine and whimper.
He felt as divine as ever, even when he is below you and twitching from the aftershocks of an orgasm. Mercifully, he doesn't fight your attempts to clean him up even if a clench of his core meant more of your cum is dripping down his thighs. Your dick jumps at the creamy sight but Simon is fully sated and you are content to wait.
Here in the shop, everything feels right. Hearts aligned in a bow drawn taut towards love are yours and his.
---
"Simon, the dog is fighting the mailman again."
"Fuckin', luvvie, its your decision to get a dog."
"You didn't say no when we were at the shelter."
He groans when you shift on his lap while keeping him warm and cozy as the dick in your ass pokes against your prostate. Pre spills from your dick and he swipes a finger through the milky substance for a taste.
"This is, all your damn fault," you choke out between pants when his dick juts into further into you.
"Can't blame a man for wantin' more, sweetheart. Now sing for me," and those hips are determined to be the death of you. Ah, the joy of pleasure and to die from it, you think you could die happy in the lap of your man.
Raspy growls and a man possessed to chase and seek pleasure after years of draught is a dangerous combination. Your head rests against his shoulder amdist thrusts jostling your body.
"Fuck it, he can deal with that damned dog while I make you cum, darling."
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inherdaze · 28 days
Text
dark red — megumi fushiguro
megumi x f!reader
18+ content, apocalypse au, slow burn, strangers to lovers
12k
summary: megumi finds himself growing closer to you as you both fight to survive in an infected world.
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October 30th. 
You eye your floppy, double-paged calendar lovingly as you uncap a marker, drawing a big ‘X’ across the date. 
Your eyes scan over the top page of it. It has some corny close-up stock photo of a bird with the month October printed in big, cursive lettering. It’s the type of calendar that your grandmother would keep in her office, very neutral with nature images. And for some reason, it’s like your comfort object. It made you happy, reminded you of simpler things and simpler times. It reminded you of life before- before the infectious bite.
The bite is deadly. 
Or, beyond deadly, since it doesn’t quite kill you. 
Your brain only rots away and hunger pools at the pit of your stomach, the only thing to sedate it being human flesh. Ah, yes, the infamous zombie bite. 
You and countless others had seen it plenty of times- in movies, in shows, in video games. Even funny little quizzes would pop up on your timeline, Who Would You Be In A Zombie Apocalypse?
Never would you have dreamed of it all coming true. 
When you think about it, it happened so simply, so quickly, that the sequence of events could be plastered onto an elementary foldable. You think that’s what’s probably going to happen, in the future, when humanity re-establishes itself. When.
Not an if, but a when. 
You were one of the few that strongly believed that humans could overcome such devastation and rebuild. Perhaps you could help in creating a better world. 
It happened as such: A disease was created. Created. This fact alone angered the population enough to start riots, protests, petitions. It was the beginning of the end. A disease that was supposedly heavily concealed and secured was created by the government, until all the scientists working on restricting the disease escaped the laboratory, no longer themselves. They’d changed, transformed, and it had only spread like a wildfire from there.
With people constantly out on the streets to protest and express their disbelief and opposition to diseases being formulated in the first place, it was not that difficult for it to spread. And spread it did. 
Humankind really took a hit. There was no organization, no plan, no stability to overcome the outbreak. The government was too busy trying to better their image and hide their mistakes that no one even considered a plan of action to tackle the sickness and the spread. It was literal hell. Infrastructure was being torn down, people were turning against each other, either locking themselves away from everyone else or going out into the world to try to play hero. 
You had a sliver of luck on your side. 
Now, you didn’t make it without pain and hardships, no, the world would simply be going too easy on you. But when you and your college friends decided to scram, to flee in prevention of being cornered, it played out rather nicely. Others had traveled back home, or hid themselves in their dorms, too scared to go out and face the world. Their poor choices usually resulted in them being practically overtaken with zombies, with nowhere else to run. 
You decided to keep it simple. To keep moving. 
Your plan was to move upwards, towards the North. When the disease had initially broken out and there was still debate on whether it was a legitimate issue or not, nobody had really taken it seriously if the government wasn’t taking it seriously. In the early stages, when everyone was wishy-washy and laughing about it on their timelines, an organization in the North was formed and said to have set up a base- just in case. 
It worked out in your favor. Just a little bit. 
You had left with your roommate, Nobara, and her girlfriend Maki. The three of you participated in all the chaos, too- what else could you have done? Law was no longer applicable. The three of you sought out to steal, to take, to do what you needed. You remember it all, the beginning of summer.
You focus back on your calendar. It’s late October now. 
You were also completely alone now. Nobara and Maki had given up their lives when the three of you scrambled around a sporting goods store for weapons and had been targeted by a herd of zombies. Maki was the strongest, so she took it upon herself to fend them off until it became slightly overbearing. Nobara had jumped in to help, the both of them hollering at you to hurry and find a weapon and run. One last look into their eyes was all it took, for they knew the both of them wouldn’t be able to make it out alive. 
You traveled alone, carrying a huge backpack with a bright red wagon trailing behind you at all times. All food, cooking ware, and clothing were stored in the wagon, protected by a tarp and a heap load of bungee cords. The backpack held all the little snacks, medicine, and bottles of hot water. It was never hot by choice. It just never cooled fully after you boiled it to fend away the bacteria. 
In the very back pocket, where a laptop would typically be, was your crumpled calendar. 
Every evening was the same- you had a three-step routine to provide yourself a feeling of stability in the midst of chaos; 1) Hide yourself amongst the trees, 2) Cross off the day in your calendar, 3) Go straight to sleep. It was a routine that had a sense of simplicity and discipline that you so desperately needed. You could not let yourself forget to mark off the days (you’d probably lose your mind from the lack of track of time) and you absolutely could not let yourself stay awake longer than needed. Sometimes, you would explore an unwelcome corner in your mind. A corner that whispered that maybe you’d be better off just dying, at this rate. No more struggles, no more worries, just sleep. Luckily, the sounds of nature and the idea of a better future always pulled you out of that spiral. 
You tuck your marker into your pocket and bring the floppy thing close to yourself before a feeling of embarrassment comes over you, as if someone is watching you from afar. 
With heated cheeks, you scurry to sloppily stuff it back into the back pocket of your pack before curling up against it, pulling your parka tighter against yourself to go to sleep. 
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When you woke up, everything was the same. The world was still falling apart, and you were still alone. 
You hauled yourself up and pat at your cheeks- they stung from the oncoming cold. You knew that winter would be difficult to handle- you figured it would probably be much worse than the summer. You’d just have to face it alone, with limited shelter and supplies. 
You pulled on your backpack, tugged at the handle of your wagon, and went on your way. 
You weren’t alone for long. 
You walked at the edges of the forest, smart enough to not make yourself a target in the middle of the road, but you still needed it to guide you. You were well hidden among the trees, but were close enough to peek out between branches and leaves to make out the pattern of the street. 
A loud snap had jolted you awake from your light daydreaming. You immediately stopped walking and slowly reached down to the wagon, trying to pull the tarp away as quietly as possible. 
Your eyes flitted among the scenery, mind on alert as you reached for the only impactful weapon you had- a bat. 
You managed to successfully grab it, and you held it out defensively, waiting for something to come rushing at you. A few minutes pass and nothing happens. 
Knuckles turning white from your grip on the handle, you stepped forward slowly, trying to find the source of the sound. It was a stupid move, you knew, but you also could not keep moving with the knowledge that there was possibly a zombie in the same woods as you. It would probably eat you alive- the idea and the zombie. 
You try not to trek too far from your wagon, and you promise to yourself that after a couple more steps, you’ll turn back around and you’ll act like this never happened to save yourself from panic later. 
Your little plan is interrupted when your eyes make out a figure not too far from yourself. It’s tall, and unnervingly still, with its back facing you. You can’t decipher whether or not it’s a human. 
You squint and make out the movement of clean, steady hands. You see, in one hand, a little radio, crackling and emitting fuzzy noises. The other hand is occupied by something that you cannot make out. It’s at that moment that you know you’re safe- at least you hope so. 
The sight of another human excites you so much, you cannot help the sudden adrenaline that surrounds your heart and the smile that reaches your face as you cheerily (and semi-softly) call out, “Hey!” 
The person whirls around and suddenly your heart drops, the adrenaline mushing into dread, your smile faltering. He faces you with a gun, held up high, level with his eyes in order to aim properly. 
He gives you a once-over before interrogating you. “What do you want?” 
“Oh,” You sputter, limbs feeling heavy with fear. “N-Nothing,” You try, “Just…. just bumped into you here.” 
“Okay,” He starts hesitantly, dark blue eyes showing you distrust. “Run off, then.” 
Your heart drops even harder, this time. To think that he doesn’t want anything to do with you, that he doesn’t even want to talk, to meet another human. You assume he’s alone, too, since he’s got a backpack that looks much heavier than your own right on his back, straps tight. 
It’s not that you necessarily expect anything from him- it’s just that this is a rare moment. You haven’t spoken to another person in months. 
The crackling of the radio fills in the quiet between the two of you before he pulls you from your thoughts, “We can part ways, now.” 
His voice is only slightly condescending, and he talks as if it’s an obvious fact. 
“Wait,” You lazily blurt, hand reaching out just a little as if he had offered something for you to hold onto. “Don’t you want to be friends?”
He scoffs at you, embarrassing you. “Friends?”
“W-well, not friends,” You struggle, ears and neck heating up, “Just, yunno, partners or- yunno?” 
“No.” 
His blatant answer makes you wince. As much as he makes you feel small, a sliver of desperation shines through your timid form and you try again. “You know what I mean,” You breath out exasperatedly, “There’s nearly no one else left in the world. Might as well work together. We can take turns patrolling and sleeping, and especially when it comes to gathering supplies- like the buddy system, kinda- and things will run smoother. We can put what we have together.” 
He knew you were right. He hated that he knew you were right.
Truthfully, Megumi had no intentions to create bonds and team up with people. He thought it would only slow him down, both physically and mentally- he went out of his way to avoid attachment. 
He responds with silence, so you give it another shot. 
“I’m moving North, too… if that’s… if that’s what you plan to do as well.” 
It catches him, and you knew you had won him over. And he knew, that you knew, that you had convinced him enough. The way that he had faltered and his stern expression melted into one of surprise told you all that you needed to know. 
You gave him a little smile to soften the blow of his loss. 
“Fine,” He says through gritted teeth, letting his arm fall to his side in defeat. He sees you keep your eyes trained on the gun, so he tucks it away in an attempt to ease your nerves. 
You tell him about your supply wagon and let him know he can probably lighten the load on his back by mixing his supplies with yours. While you lead him back down the path where you had abandoned your precious wagon, you try to get him to converse with you. His silent nature made you a little nervous, but you were deeply in need of human connection. 
“Oh! By the way, my name-” 
“No.”
You cough and look up at him, shock written across your features. “Huh?”
“We shouldn’t do that. Exchange names, I mean. It’s just the two of us, we’ll be fine without it.” 
“Huh?” You call out again, this time louder and with more confusion. He shoots you a glare that tells you to shut up. 
“But- why not? What am I supposed to call you?” 
“I already said, it’s just the two of us. Who else could you be addressing? Exchanging names makes us friends. We are, by no means, friends.”
You watch him speak with an unbothered tone, eyes not even meeting yours as he empties half of his supplies into the wagon. Your mouth is slightly agape and you falter to respond, but as he swings his backpack around, a flash of black and white catches your attention. 
“Are those…” You trail off before he finally makes eye contact with you. 
“Are those plushies?”
You see him freeze, and his pale skin blossoms with color. “No.”
“Oh, come on,” You huff out playfully, almost circling him to get a better look at the little fluffy keychains that hang clustered together at the zipper of his backpack. Two tiny but puffy little dogs of opposite colors stare right back at you, felt tongues poking out and all. 
“Huh. Didn’t peg you as a dog boy. Or an anyone boy, for that matter.”
“Are you done? We need to keep moving.”
“Alright, alright,” You huff, reaching for the handle of the wagon. He takes hold of it before you get the chance and starts walking, and you feel your heart smile at his silent offer to pull it for you. You didn’t think there was a deeper meaning to it, you were just happy that you didn't have to haul that heavy thing around for once. “No need to be snappy, Dog Boy.” 
He only groans in response. 
The rest of the day flies by in silence. You try your luck a few times to start a conversation, to pull anything out of him, but he’s so damn stubborn, either keeping his eyes  focused on the path ahead or fiddling with his radio. The radio gives him an excuse to tell you to shut up, since he needs to hear if there are any broadcasts or incoming news- signs of life. 
He finally speaks up when he claims it’s time to sleep. 
The two of you settle against a cluster of tree trunks, and you repeat the same thing you’ve been doing for months on end- laying against your backpack, looking at your calendar with a glint of hope and desperation in your eyes. 
Megumi watches as you pull and flatten it out before rummaging around for your marker. He narrows his eyes and tries to focus on the clunky piece of paper you seem to be carrying around. 
He makes out the rows and columns of dates, an unimpressed look dawning on his face. “Don’t tell me…”
“Hm?” You hum lightly, beckoning him to continue. 
“Don’t tell me you carry that thing around and actually use it.” 
“What else can I say? We’ll need it, in the future. Once everything starts going back to normal, people are gonna be like, ‘Oh no! What day is it? What season are we going into? Must we start a new calendar?’ And then, I’ll have my trusty calendar right here, with all the dates crossed off. Think about it. Very important.” 
He remains quiet as you make big ‘X’ on the final date, October 31st. 
“Hm. We met on Halloween. Funny, isn’t it? I think it suits you a little.”
He disregards your last comment and speaks with a monotone voice, “Don’t get ahead of yourself. Humanity will never recover- that thing’s useless. Just taking up space.” 
You fall quiet after that. Normally, you think, you wouldn’t be too iffed by some pessimism. But his comment regarding your calendar and how easily he dismissed your hopes had hurt, just a little. 
Maybe more than a little. 
You instinctively held the thing a little closer to you, as if to protect it. You avoid his eyes and silently decide that the conversation should probably end there. 
He sees you shift a little farther away from him, bringing the stupid thing closer to your chest. He can’t find it in himself to care. 
You admire that cheesy stock photo on the top of the calendar before flipping the bottom page to sneak at a glance for the photo for November. It’s a scene of a pathway formed by trees, nearly dead trees, with the leaves caught mid-fall, yellows and oranges everywhere. November is, again, printed in large cursive at the top of the page. 
You fold it back up and jam it into your backpack before pulling it down closer to your head, to use it as a pillow. You wrap yourself up in your parka and turn to sleep on your side, back facing Megumi. He sees it all from the corner of his eye and scoffs to himself, remarking how childish you are. 
Steady hands lay his gun next to him, close to his head- just in case he ever needs it throughout the night. He sleeps firm on his back, but he turns his head to look at you just before he dozes off. 
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Bathing becomes much easier, now that Megumi’s around. 
Before the two of you crossed paths, you would rid yourself of your clothes shakily, always leaving them on the rocks that kissed the lake. You couldn’t even clean yourself off properly, eyes always on the lookout for movement or an undead form to creep up on you. 
You had begged him. Shamelessly. The whole morning consisted of you yapping away, Please, Dog Boy, there’s a perfectly good lake right there, and a rock for you to sit on while you wait and patrol. I’ll patrol after. I really, really need this bath. 
He wouldn’t even look at you as he gave you a hard No.
Megumi was beyond dead set on moving forward. Over the last few days, he was always quick to shut you down and occasionally scold you for being so easily distracted and perhaps a little too light-hearted for your own good.
But this was your last straw. 
He only caved in when you threatened to wipe some of your sweat off on him. You had never seen him recoil from something so fast. 
After making him literally swear to not turn around and peek while you were bathing- to which he had rolled his eyes and told you he wouldn’t even dare to consider such a thing- you pointed to the rock for him to sit on before you began to strip. Megumi could only hear the light splashes of you walking into the water and your little cries of Oh my god, it’s so fucking cold. 
You gladly took advantage of such a moment. Finally, you had got to scrub every corner of your skin, finally got to really wash at your scalp, all without looking around in fear of what’s out there. 
And maybe you were taking a little too long, because after a while, Megumi coughed out to remind you that he was still there. His back was starting to hurt from sitting on the rock for so long without proper support. 
“How much longer are you going to take?” 
“Not too much longer,” You sing-songed, clumsily trying to dip your head in the water to wash out your hair. 
He rolled his eyes to himself at the tone of your voice. You were much too playful for his liking. 
“Don’t worry, Doggy,” You teased, though your voice was slightly muffled from your awkward position in the water. “You can bathe after this. Although, you might smell worse after- like wet dog.” 
He could hear you laughing to yourself like a child.
Megumi never responded to your little lighthearted jabs. 
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Life goes on as it always has. With Megumi so quiet, sometimes you ponder if you had been better off just walking away from him that day. And, if he wasn’t quiet, he was always on your back about something.
(“Why’s this water so warm?” 
“I boiled it. It’s from the lake. We can’t get sick, you know.” 
“You poured hot water into an insulated water bottle?” 
“My God, just- just drink the damn water, Doggy. Or don’t, not like I care. More for me.”
“Shut up. I’ll drink it.”)
The two of you were nearly on opposite ends of the spectrum, personality wise. You two would’ve probably clashed if you hadn’t taken things in such a jovial manner. He even started calling you Sunshine mockingly, as if to belittle you for being so stupidly bright and optimistic when the world was reaching its end. 
The first time he called you that, you had actually smiled. He had to refrain from reprimanding you for being so… so...happy-go-lucky. 
He couldn’t pinpoint as to why your preppy nature had irritated him so much, but his epiphany reached him one night when the two of you settled against a group of tree trunks, like you always did. 
You were, as always, cuddled up with your little calendar. Megumi discreetly watched as you marked off the day, taking note of how you had to redraw the ‘X’ a few times. Your marker was drying out. 
You were well into November, and you scanned over the rows of dates, spotting the box marked Thanksgiving. With your tongue slightly poking out, you poorly drew a little turkey inside the box. 
He watched as you scanned over the top and bottom page again, but he felt like your mind was elsewhere. 
“When’s your birthday?” 
Your question caught him off guard, and he flustered as he quickly looked away, fearing that you had seen him watching. 
“What?” 
“Your birthday. When’s your birthday?” 
He cast you an awkward sort of look. “December 22nd.” 
“Cool,” You replied almost automatically before flipping the page of your calendar. Megumi’s eyes only slightly widened as he witnessed you try to cram the words Dog Boy Birthday in the little box marked with 22. He was unsure if he was meant to see that. He didn’t want to embarrass you by mentioning it, but he felt like it shouldn’t go unmentioned, either. 
“You don’t need to do that.” 
“Why not?” You were being genuine. 
“Because,” He said without knowing what it was he wanted to say. “Because. It’s pointless.” 
“Pointless this, pointless that.” 
Your comeback wasn’t all that great, but you had brushed off his statement so easily- you had seemed to have grown accustomed to his little remarks, especially the ones with negative tones behind it. 
That’s when his revelation crashed over him. It hit him so strongly, and he was frozen in place as you mumbled a goodnight before cuddling up to your clunky backpack. 
You were so precious. Because despite all your banter, you were always playful about it, and when you weren’t being playful, you were being genuine. You always openly offered him things, the fair share of your supplies, always told him to get some sleep while you keep watch, always told him to eat up, have the last of your water bottles, always looked out for him in little ways that he did not bother to return. And, what irritated him so much about it was that you were so vulnerable, open, shamelessly smiling and laughing alone or at him, trying to get him to laugh too. And he hated how you had done all this, offered so much to him, remained open to him, only for him to constantly chastise you and feed you despairing comments. 
He wanted you to put up more of a fight. He wanted you to be able to be okay, without him. Megumi criticized himself after having that thought. He knew that your nature didn’t equate to weakness, but he couldn’t help but let his mind wander off a little…. 
You were so easy to trust him. At any moment could you have given up something to him and he could’ve just ran off with it, leaving you empty handed and destined to literally die. He thought that if something were to ever happen to him, and you kept going on with your open, kittenish self, that someone would come along and take everything you ever knew and had. 
Thinking of it made his chest pinch. He felt guilty for criticizing your calendar, the symbolization of all your hopes, on the day that you met. If he hadn’t realized this all now, he may have become the one to take all that you knew and had, figuratively. The way that he had belittled your dreams for the future had already spoken for itself. 
He laid down to finally sleep after swallowing down his thoughts, and he turned to look at your sleeping form, wantonly. He wanted to be better to you.
Suddenly, he thinks about how weird he looks, watching you sleep. His ears flush red and he turns to sleep on his side, back facing you, as if he needs to cover his tracks from the peering trees. 
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You’re woken up by a string of broken, awkward groans. 
You assume it’s Megumi. Your eyes are crusted with sleep, so you don’t even bother to flash him a teasing look as you lightly jab, “Hush, Doggy.” 
He doesn’t respond with his usual sneer or command to shut the hell up, but with an even louder, pained groan. 
You sigh to yourself. He’s probably having a nightmare. You feel generous enough to break him from his terrors and lazily sit up, roughly rubbing away at your eyes and reaching over to him. 
Your hands meet a still, soft and sleeping form, completely at peace. 
You do a double-take when the feeling of his form contradicts the pained sounds he’s making and suddenly, you’re up and wide awake, especially when you come to realize that the groans are not coming from him. 
Whirling around to find the source, you come to see a beat-down zombie, tumbling its way towards you both. It’s missing a leg and its steps are off-kilter, slow, and if you had it in you to laugh at it, you’d probably laugh. 
“Holy shit,” You whisper to yourself, body stilling out of fear. For a few seconds, you can’t bring yourself to do anything, and the creature crawls closer, despite it being so slow. 
You finally come to your senses and weakly shake Megumi to wake him up. 
He’s knocked out cold. You figure that it’s from exhaustion- the both of you had been taking a beating from your recent drop in supplies. The last thing the two of you ate was a granola bar for yesterday’s breakfast. It wasn’t even a whole granola bar- Megumi split it in half for the both of you. You had let him have the last drop of hot water, too. The both of you were running on empty.
You trip over yourself and hastily pull on your backpack, still focusing on getting Megumi to awake. 
“Dog Boy,” You whisper-yell, lightly kicking at his leg. It’s ridiculous, you think. All of this is ridiculous. You have only a sliver of time to spare, thanks to the zombie moving at the speed of molasses, so you settle yourself behind Megumi and wrap your arm across his torso, beneath his own arms, your grip on him loose as you drag his body further away. Your main priority now is getting away, creating distance between you and the undead figure. As you tug on him, his gun slips out into the sunlight and you gasp, using your other hand to grab at it shakily. 
You had no idea how to use it. 
You hold it up to the sun and try to look for the little safety knob that you often heard that guns have. You spotted it, but you couldn’t tell if it was on or not. 
You’re sloppily scooting back, heaving Megumi with you, nearly falling backwards from the weight of your backpack. If you’re being honest, the two of you hadn’t even gotten that far. With Megumi attached to his backpack, he was heavy, and with your newfound weakness from exhaustion, the two of you probably only moved five inches max. 
The creature looms closer, and on second thought, maybe using the gun isn’t that smart of an idea. It would be noisy, easily giving away your location and the two of you would instantly become magnets, become bait. You wouldn’t be able to drag Megumi away fast enough to save yourselves. 
You eye around for your bat but it’s much too far. It’s tucked away under the tarp on your wagon and the zombie is already too close, surpassing the wagon- there’s no way you could get it without actually surviving.
Tears prick at your eyes. No, you think, now’s not the time. Your hands are shaking- you’ve never been this close to a zombie before- and you’re thinking fuck it, your arm letting Megumi go to steady your grip on the gun. 
Megumi drops down on the ground with a thud as you release him, but you don’t have the time to fret over it and ask if he’s okay. You think your ears are playing tricks on you when you hear a groan that’s a little too close. 
You wrap your hands around the base and stupidly close your eyes as your finger lands on the trigger. 
Everything after happens too fast for you to register, almost like a dream. You feel cold hands wrap around your own and tear the weapon away from you, and then a few loud bangs go off, and then it’s quiet. 
“Christ,” He mutters, voice caked from sleep. His eyes are droopy, and he looks so jaded, you’re preparing for him to chew you out about how stupid you were being before offering a list of what you could’ve done better. 
But he only slumps from fatigue, closer to you, nearly into you. He’s the weakest you’ve ever seen him, but guilt nips at the edges of his heart for making you go through such a thing. 
“Are you okay?” He finally breathes out, lifting his head to meet your eyes. 
You’re taken back at the sudden display of concern. 
He sees your face flash with unfamiliarity as a response to his question. The guilt makes its way past the edges and into the depths of his heart, now. He hopes it’s not too late. He hopes that he hasn't already become that person for you, the one that takes everything you know. 
“Yeah,” You say quietly from the shock of it all. 
Megumi falls silent after that, tired.
A few beats pass and he speaks, “We need to keep moving,” He says weakly, convincing himself more than you. 
“Yeah.” 
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Lethargy is a plague between the both of you. 
Megumi tells you that you both need to find a store, and fast. He pulls out a map from one of his backpack pockets, and it’s so torn and dampened with water and other questionable substances that you can barely even make out the lines. 
But he reads it like a pro. He misses the look of admiration in your eyes when he finally concludes that it would be smarter to move in closer towards the suburban area. He says there’s a higher chance of strip malls and markets to sneak around and take from. You trust his word. 
The trek there is nearly torturous.
It’s getting colder, and you try not to think about how the two of you will survive when winter hits. Your feet ache and ache, and you’re sure that you’re slowing Megumi down- you swear you see him slow down his steps just the slightest. You have to refrain from complaining like a small child, asking over and over Are we there yet?
You finally reach a parking lot, and you think you could nearly drop down to your knees and kiss the gravel.
Your sense of euphoria is interrupted as a horrible stench reaches your nose. It’s unmistakable; it makes you double over and slap a hand over your nose and mouth, coughing roughly as you feel a series of gags coming on. 
Dead bodies were sporadically laying across the parking lot, some human, some zombie. Megumi looks at you pitifully, then looks away as you live through your coughing fit, not wanting you to feel worse about being seen in such a state. 
“‘So bad,” You finally manage to wheeze out, cueing him to look at you. 
He reaches into the wagon, towards the end of it, where the clothing was stored all lumpy. He had to slowly pull out whatever it was he was looking for so that nothing else spilled out, and he tugged one end of it slowly, revealing it to you. 
A big, lumpy scarf that has the most terrible pink camouflage print all across it. It’s horrendous, really. You remember you had stuffed it into your wagon a few months back, thinking about how you’d probably need it later. 
Now was later. 
He steps closer to you, close enough that it’s distracting and you nearly freak out at the proximity. He sees your confusion spark across your face and he hushes you before you even start. “To help with the smell.” 
That’s all he says as he reaches behind you, gently wrapping the scarf across your head, leaving you enough room to breathe but making it secure enough so that the scent is muffled. 
“‘M so tired, Doggy.” Your voice was stifled by the heavy fabric. 
“I know,” He says, and he does. 
You then feel bad for voicing your little complaint. Megumi was just as tired as you were, perhaps even more, and he hadn’t complained once, nor did he scold you for being a crybaby like you thought he would. 
Once he saw that you were satisfied with the scarf and concluded that you wouldn’t bend over and gag again, he smoothed his hand over his jacket awkwardly. “I’m gonna go inside and find more stuff. Are you okay with me taking your wagon and your pack?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Megumi has to lean in closer to hear your voice. “I understand if you don’t want to trust me with all your things.” “Our things,” you enunciate. 
“It’s-” He starts, then pauses abruptly. He doesn’t want to keep creating a divide between the two of you. “Yeah. Ours,” He affirms, searching your eyes for a reaction. He can tell you’re smiling stupidly (cutely) behind the scarf. 
“You’re sure?”
“More than anything.” 
He thinks, for a second, that your answer means something more. But you play it off, immediately taking off your backpack, so he chastises his previous thought as he takes your nearly empty pack into his hands. “Are you gonna stay out here?”
“Mhm. I’ll try ‘n find a place to sit.” 
“Okay. I won’t take long, I promise.” 
“Thank you.” 
He turns on his heel and walks in a straight line towards the entrance of the store, where you can make out the broken and crooked sliding doors that had probably been jammed so many times before they gave in. 
You take note of how many vehicles have been haphazardly left behind in the parking lot, mostly likely during moments of panic. 
If only... 
You begin to search the parking lot, bending down to get a clearer sight of all the miscellaneous objects scattered across the ground. Something glints in the corner of your eye, and you perk up, rushing towards it before scooping it up in your hand. 
It’s a clunky, round keychain that says Dog Dads Are The, and right below the text is an image of a dog taking a dump. 
“Huh,” You huff out with a little smile, “Perfect.” 
You take hold of the set of keys that are strung along the ring and single one out- vehicle keys. They’re the type of keys that you have to manually insert into the lock in order to actually open the car door. 
As soon as you stand up straight, you search for the oldest looking car throughout the entire parking lot. Your eyes fall upon a truck that looks like it’s been to hell and back, little scratches and scuff marks lining the sides with splotches of blood on the doors. You note that it only has two doors- the two of you will really have to squeeze in. 
If you ignore the poetic spots of blood, it's one solid color- a color that resembles dirt, you think. It looks like a little old farm truck, with crates stacked in the bed, and there’s a little figure of a cow swinging from the rear view mirror. 
You try your luck and insert the key, to which it fits. Your heart has never fluttered so viciously before. 
Turning the key, you see the little button on the inside of the door pop up. The door swings open ungraciously, a creaky sound ringing out. It makes you freeze, looking around to see if you had alerted anything that could be lurking. 
You decide to hold off until Megumi comes back. It’s completely dead quiet, and he might freak out inside the store at the sound of an engine. 
Just as he promised, he didn’t take long. He steps out to see you sitting in the truck with the door open, your knees brought close to your chest, and although the both of you are incredibly grimey, spent and hanging on to your final threads, you look so peaceful curled up like that. He thinks that maybe he would’ve liked to see you like that, under better circumstances. 
“Sunshine,” He starts as he gets closer, and you open your eyes and unravel from your coiled position. 
Megumi shuffles towards the bed of the truck and starts unpacking the wagon into the back. “Got some food,” he offers, unloading a loaf of bread that has yet to go stale. You hold it like it’s precious, waiting for him to unpack everything into your new truck. 
“Does it have gas?” 
“Dunno,” You say tiredly, and hopelessness sneaks up on you again. Perhaps you had put too many eggs in one basket. 
“Move over.” 
You scoot to the opposite side of the seat to make room for him. He plops down in the driver's seat and you perk up to hand him the keys, “Look, look.” Untangling all the keys from each other, you proudly hold up the keychain to his face. He furrows his eyebrows at first, but then his face melts into an amused expression as he reads over the whole thing and gets the joke. 
“Very funny.” He rolls his eyes, but you know he’s being lighthearted. 
He takes the key and inserts it, holding his breath in hopes that it’ll work, that the heavens are on your side today. 
They seemed to be, since after a few turns, the engine sputtered and coughed, and soon enough, it was settled. Megumi checks the gas level and nods approvingly to himself. He explains that it’s enough to get you a bit farther, but it’d be smart to keep an eye out for gas stations, or, better yet, other vehicles. 
You unwrap your scarf from around yourself and begin to unveil the loaf of bread as well, breaking the fluffy food in half to share. The two of you eat in silence, save for the low humming of the engine. You’re too tired to talk.  
Through the window, you see that it’s getting darker, and you remember your calendar. As you shuffle around to pull it out, Megumi seems to remember something as well, as he takes his bag into his lap and unzips one of the front, small pockets. 
You don’t notice his hesitation as you bring out the floppy thing and lay it on the dashboard, smoothing all the wrinkles away. 
He stares into his backpack pocket. He knows it’s okay to be vulnerable with you. He wants to be vulnerable with you. Embarrassment rushes up his neck and to his ears, but you don’t notice. You’re too busy shaking your old marker to force some ink to come out. 
“Here,” He breaks the silence, voice cracking from the lack of use. “Here’s…. I figured you might need it, I…” Megumi shuts himself up as he sloppily tosses you a pack of permanent markers. 
The way your face lights up makes it all worth it. He thinks he could face this type of embarrassing feeling every day if it makes you this happy. 
“D’awwwww,” You coo, poking fun at him. You’re as jovial as always, eyes bright as you uncap one of the markers and mark the day off, marveling at how smoothly the marker glides. 
He speaks up before he can stop himself. “I’m sorry.”
You pause and look back at him, the look on your face encouraging him to go on. 
“I mean, I’m sorry for… what I said on the day we met. About your calendar.” 
Your demeanor lightens again. 
“Ah, that- don’t worry, Doggy. I don’t even think about that, barely even remember it. It’s okay. You’re good.” 
He knows you’re being genuine, and that you really do forgive him. He sees it in the way you brush it off, going back to your markers and looking at them like they’re made out of gold. He feels something in his chest lighten, like the guilt from that night had been weighing him down this entire time. 
Once the both of you finish your chunks of bread, and after you tuck your calendar away, you curl up on opposite sides of the seat and sleep the most comfortable you have in ages. 
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Everything’s a breeze now that the two of you have the truck. 
It’s easier to fend off the cold, and the both of you have more energy since you don’t have to walk anywhere. The days seem to fly by faster, and with each passing day, you see Megumi opening up to you a little more. He’s not as harsh as he used to be, and even when he does mock you, it’s playful and light. There’s no more malice laced in his tone. 
He’s softer now, cares more now. He accepts your invitations and attempts at making it concrete that it’s the both of you, together, as survival partners or whatever he likes to call it. Your stomach feels warm whenever he agrees or accepts your little comments about things being ‘ours’, referring to you as ‘us’ and ‘we’ rather than correcting you to ‘I’ like he used to. 
It’s not enough for you, though. You can’t help but want a little more. You’re thankful that the two of you greet December, because a) you’re grateful to have even survived this long, and b) it’s much colder now, so he doesn’t question you that much when you coyly try to cozy up to him before bed, complaining about how you’re freezing and that you’ll die of frostbite. 
He sees through your little act. He never mentions it, but he does. Megumi’s more than happy to let you have your fun. 
Megumi’s usually the one who sneaks out into stores to refill your load of supplies, and you stay cozied in the truck. He says it’s because at any moment, if any one of you are away from the vehicle, someone just like you could easily take it. His statement is true, but he doesn’t mention his second, secret little reason- he likes to know that you’re safe and warm in there. 
 One day, though, you try to kiss up to him so that he’ll let you loot with him. 
The morning starts off with you feeding him little compliments that are definitely out of pocket. 
“Your hair looks rather nice today, Dog Boy.” 
“Oh….yours, too.” 
“Mhm. And that jacket you stole fits you well, I think. Really, uh, matches your vibe.” 
“Yep.” 
“Yeah. Your scarf looks real… real snazzy, too.”
That pulls a laugh out of him- he had been borrowing your pink camouflage scarf. He knew something was up, and you knew he did. You just wanted to get on his good side, at least for today. 
“What is it that you want, Sunshine?”
“I wanna help you today, when you go fetch supplies.” 
He’s driving, but you think that if he was doing anything else, he’d stop his movements. He recovers as fast as he had reacted and clears his throat. “Why?” 
“I need some stuff.” 
“Stuff.” 
“Yeah.” You hope he doesn’t ask for elaboration. 
“I’ll think about it.” 
You let out a groan and let your head rest against the window, putting on a dramatic little show so that maybe he’ll cave. 
He doesn’t seem to be caving in any time soon, and from afar, you can see the parking lot. You’re eyeing him nervously, unsure if you should bring it up or not, but you make the first move when you hold onto the door handle as if you’re preparing to get out once he parks. 
He’s hesitant, takes his time to park and drives through the lot as if every space was taken. He could’ve taken up three spaces, if he wanted. 
“Doggy. Stop stalling.” “I just think you’d be safer if you stayed here.” 
“I’ll be fast. I’ll get what I need and then come right back.” 
That seems to ease his nerves, so he silently agrees and parks perfectly between the two lines before shutting the truck off. 
You walk together to the entrance of the store, but as soon as you make it inside, he laughs to himself when you make a beeline to the sweets aisle. He couldn’t believe that you made such a fuss to join along just to get some of those mini cakes. 
  You stay true to your word and gather what you need before making your way back to the truck, keeping an eye out for Megumi. You hope he doesn’t see the small chocolate muffin that you’ve stuffed close to your chest in a weak attempt to hide it. He’d probably make fun of you. 
When everything’s done and he meets you back at the truck, he’s slightly surprised to see that you hadn’t eaten your little sweet during ‘dinner’. He doesn’t have the energy to confront you about it. 
Today’s the day, you think. 
It’s difficult and very painful to conceal your excitement for all the hours that you spend at Megumi’s side. You try to calm your nerves by making lots of conversation with him, now that he’s more responsive. At first, you were the one to talk about your family, your old friends, how you grew up. Lately, though, in his mission to be more vulnerable and open with you, he reciprocates and tells you about his past, here and there. 
Night falls. He’s closing up one of his stories about one of his old teachers that usually made you laugh till you cried. It makes you laugh this time too, except your heart is racing and you can feel your palms getting a little sweaty. 
The both of you go quiet as you eat lightly, taking only a few bites before calling it a night. 
“I have a surprise for you,” You suddenly say, and his face is plastered with confusion. “I need you to close your eyes.” 
He’s so obviously taken aback that you snort at him. “Just for a second, it won’t take long. Please.”
He complies and places his hands over his eyes to reassure you that they’re for sure closed and that he can’t see anything. Megumi hears you rummaging around in your bag that you kept at your feet, hears you tear something open, and then you fall quiet. 
You kind of want to throw up. You don’t know why this feels so difficult, why it’s making you so nervous. In the past, when Megumi was mean to you, you think that this might’ve been easier, because you’d be able to tell what reaction he would give. 
You can’t tell anymore. 
You collect yourself together before you speak up, finally, “Okay. You can look now.” 
He removes his hands to see you sitting sideways in your seat, to face him. Your feet are tucked beneath you and you hold out a sloppy, slightly smeared chocolate muffin with an unlit candle stuck on top. 
“Happy birthday, Dog Boy.” 
Your voice is so soft and quiet, and he feels something take over him for a second. It’s strong, this feeling of adoration and something else he’s too nervous to admit, even to himself. He’s about to ask how in the world you would know that today’s his birthday, because he didn’t even know- but then he remembers the night you had written it into your calendar. 
“You,” He begins, nearly breathless. “Thank you.” 
You smile up at him and scoot closer, pushing the muffin towards him so that he could take it. He does, and he removes the candle and puts it on the dashboard, letting it roll away carelessly. 
The muffin looks miniature in his big hands, which is to his advantage as he splits it into two, effortlessly. He offers you a piece and you take it with a big, gushy smile on your face. You don’t see him smiling back at you endearingly. 
You’re bashful like the two of you are having a lunch date in a school courtyard. You want to look at him, revel in his features, but you don’t want to be caught staring either. 
You throw yourself a bone and let yourself glance at him. He’s finished his piece, and all he’s doing now is swiping the crumbs off of his jacket. As he shifts around, you see a smudge of chocolate right by his lip. 
“Wait,” You start, leaning closer. “There’s frosting on your lip.” 
“Here?” He pokes his tongue out on the wrong side, and you have to bite back a little smile. 
“No, no- I’ll get it for you,” You offer, leaning in even closer to him, nearly crawling right on top. You stick your thumb out gently, your touch feather light as you bring it to the corner of his lip and wipe off the small spot of frosting. 
You linger on purpose, and his breath hitches. 
“Sunshine,” He breathes, hands frozen in the air. He’s unsure of where to put them. 
“Mhm?”
“Can I,” He starts, hesitates, then starts again. “Can I kiss you?” 
Your smile speaks for you, but the moment that you let out a breathy yes, he cups your face and slots his lips against yours. He’s so soft, despite it being winter and the both of you constantly dry and chapped. He holds you, moves you like you’re a glass doll, so cautious and gentle. Megumi begins to shift the both of you, sitting up before pushing you down onto the seat. 
It’s awkward. The truck is so small, the both of you clunking around, but you two take it like champs. He breaks away to give a little laugh against your lips, easing the tension, and it’s so wonderful, so beautiful, that you waste no time pulling him back down to kiss him just a bit harder. 
You figure that he’s hesitant, and you appreciate that he isn’t pushy and trying to cross all boundaries at once. You know that if you only wanted to kiss and call it a night, he’d be perfectly okay with that. 
But you’re as greedy as ever, and you want more of him. 
You start playing with his lips, pulling away to softly bite at them, dart your tongue across the bottom one. It makes him freeze for a second, feelings of surprise and excitement engulfing his heart, but then he indulges. Megumi gently pulls your bottom lip into his mouth and sucks on it, thumb softly caressing your jaw. 
And you’re so starved, having gone months without even shaking someone’s hand. His actions make you gasp out softly, and he feels driven to pull more out of you. 
Megumi catches himself in his thoughts and pulls away again, “This- Is this okay?” 
You’re melting beneath him. You nod rapidly, begging silently. “Yes,” You huff out, precious smile coming across your lips. “Please.” 
He nods and then dives back in to kiss you square on the lips before moving lower, planting kisses down your neck as much as he can before your puffy parka interrupts him. He smiles fondly and looks up at you, seeing if you would notice the obstruction. 
“Oh,” You let out, face hot. “Sorry.” 
You’re so embarrassed, but Megumi thinks he could just eat you up. 
You prop yourself onto your elbows as best as you can, messily unzipping the jacket and flinging it away. It’s not like it goes far, anyway. You hear the zipper scratch against the glove compartment as you thrash it away, and it makes the both of you laugh breathily. 
You watch as he takes it upon himself to do the same, undoing the buttons on his own jacket before carelessly tossing it behind him. The two of you are now just in long sleeves and cargo pants, and he looks at you with an inkling of concern. “It’s still cold,” He whispers, now that he’s lowering himself back over you, “Leave it on, yeah?” 
You want nothing more than to rip your shirt off, but you know he’s right. You know that if you take it off, the bite of the cold would probably dampen your mood. 
You can only nod obediently, eyes begging him again, for a kiss. 
Megumi sneaks back down again to pick up where he left off, kissing along your neck and down to your collarbone before your shirt blocks off the rest of your chest from him. He’s moved his hands lower to rearrange your legs, to make it more comfortable for the both of you, and you’re so pliant beneath him, wanting all of his touches. 
His hands reach the button of your pants, “I’m gonna…” he starts, but never finishes. He’s caught up in the way you lift your hips to help him slide down your pants, caught up in the sight of you in your underwear. 
As soon as he tugs them off and pushes them to the side, you hiss as the cool air kisses your skin, and he’s quick to soothingly rub at your thighs, hands trailing down to your calves. 
“I know,” He soothes, warming you up. “I know, baby.” 
Megumi wants to take it slow, he wants to be able to ride out the moment, but the way you whimper at his touch pushes him. “Fuck- fuck, okay.” 
His movements and options are limited due to the space of the truck. He can’t necessarily do everything he wants with you, but he's grateful for the moment regardless. 
He moves back down to kiss you, slightly softer this time, with his forearm propped beside your head to keep him up, and his other trailing up and closer to the space between your thighs. Just the movement of his fingers gently dragging across your clothed cunt is enough to have you rutting up into his hand, desperate for more, tired of his slow pace. He’s swallowing all your sounds, but he pulls back as soon as he slips his hand beneath your panties, wanting to hear you this time. Cold fingers meet your folds and you twitch, legs nearly closing around his hand, and he smiles as he tuts at you. “Relax,” He breathes out against your jaw before softly nipping at it, kissing it. 
You’re already wet, and he smiles to himself cheekily before lazily rubbing his fingers against your entrance to slicken them. It makes you sigh out, so pretty and light, and he just loves the way your chest rises and falls. 
What he loves even more, though, is the moan you let out the second that he starts circling your clit, the way your hands tighten their grip on his shoulders. You’re trying to push yourself up against him, trying to feel more, but all he does is smile into your neck, absolutely basking in the way you need him so badly. 
“Please,” You finally cave, voice airy as you softly drag your nails across his back to get his attention. “More, please, I want- I want you.” 
He reaches up to plant a kiss on the corner of your lips. “All you had to do was ask.” 
He smoothly pulls down your underwear entirely, and just the sight of your arousal clinging onto the cotton fabric is enough to have him swallowing, adam’s apple bobbing. Megumi slips only his middle finger into your core at first, and it’s enough to satisfy you for now, walls fluttering. His fingers are so long, and you think about just how big his hands are, and it’s enough to make you whine in your own little fantasy. 
He takes his time in pumping it in and out of you before slipping his ring finger inside, picking up the pace. Your thighs tighten around his hand and you sloppily try to pull him down closer to you, hiding your face into the crook of his neck as he curls his fingers. The palm of his hand presses against your clit and you cry out, fingers latching onto his hair as you start your little spiel of babbles. 
“Right there, right there, oh my god, there, there-”
You cut yourself off as he speeds up, your cute little incoherent sounds encouraging him. He wishes he could see your face, see the look in your eyes, but you can only squeal into his shoulder and knock your knees against his legs as you feel something within you tighten. 
“Right here?” He teases, fingers curling against your warm walls, and the feeling of it is enough to make him hang his head low, panting, cock straining at the thought of how you’d feel around him. 
“Mhm,” You choke out, too far gone to try and say something to tease him back. Your head drops back onto the seat and you feel your back arch up against him, heat swarming in your abdomen as you chant out breathily- Yes, yes, yes. 
Megumi feels you tense up, and then you’re twitching, crying into him as you come undone all over his fingers, earning a groan from him. He works you through it, lets you have your fun before your vision is blurring and you’re half heartedly pushing his hand away. 
You fall limp beneath him and watch him with a hazy mind as he brings his fingers up to his lips, lapping at them, sucking them clean. 
You turn your head to the side, suddenly feeling shy. He smiles down at you, “Don’t try to be modest, now.” 
It makes you laugh weakly, makes you swat at his chest so softly that it feels like a mere tap. He dips back down to pepper the junction of your neck and shoulder in kisses, occasionally licking and biting, hoping little bruises bloom across your skin. 
The both of you freeze when you feel something hard poke at the inside of your thigh. 
Megumi groans, and you know he’s embarrassed. He buries his face into the side of your neck, hand slipping beneath your shirt to massage at your waist. 
You want him now, fast, before the two of you call it a night, and you want to call out for him. 
But you can’t just say Dog Boy, please fuck me. 
It makes you wince at yourself, but you’re too shy to ask for his name now. 
“Baby,” You finally breathe out, your hand running up and down his arm. 
He hums contentedly into your neck. 
“Need you,” You start quietly, taking his hand in yours and guiding it to your heat. “Need you inside me.” You swear you hear him groan a low Fuck right into your skin. 
He heaves himself up, eyes glossed over with lust and a glint of something that makes your heart skip a few beats, but you don’t want to jump the gun with that just yet. You can only hope that he sees the same thing in your eyes, too. 
Megumi sloppily works on undoing his pants, heaving a content sigh when you rushedly swat his hands away and take the task into your own hands. 
He stuffs his pants past his knees, frantically trying to kick them off his legs as fast as he can. 
You nearly whine at the sight of him, like this, all for you, in front of you. 
He moves down to kiss you, pushing you back down to the seat, making sure you were lying comfortably. He takes his cock into his hand, smoothing it over your wet folds back and forth to prep himself. 
You’re panting, lifting your hips, urging him on. 
He finally aligns himself with your slit, but pauses for a second. 
“Megumi.” 
“H-Huh?” 
“My name’s Megumi,” He suddenly confesses as he pushes his tip in slowly. 
You think you carry the universe in your chest. It feels like it’s expanding, endlessly, painfully- a delicious type of pain. You’re too caught up in the newfound intimacy of learning his name that your jaw goes slack as soon as you feel him bottom out within you, breaking you from your trance. 
You feel so full. 
“Megumi,” You cry unabashedly, moving your hips, encouraging him to move. 
He groans, big hands planting themselves on your hips as he begins with slow thrusts, drawing out the feeling. He hits all the right places, but the pace he’s going at is devastating.
You’re whining, begging, babbling out for him to go faster, to fuck me, please, please Megumi, and the sound of your pretty voice crying out his name is enough to drive him insane. 
He loves torturing you, really. Loves the way you cry for him, the way you clench around him, the way your voice shakes. 
Megumi sets a fast pace, rutting into you like you’re the outlet for all his pent-up feelings. You’re squealing, and when the tip of his cock hits the spot that sends you around the world and back, you feel tears blur your vision. 
“Feels s-so good, Megumi,” You chatter dumbly, too lost in the feeling and the sounds he’s making. 
“Yeah?” He strains, grip tightening on your hips. “Look so pretty like this, baby. So fucking- oh, god- pretty.”
He enunciates his statement with a particularly hard thrust that has your toes curling, your hands tight on his biceps before he moves to fold you in half, squeezing you into a mating press as best as he can. His eyes zero in on where the two of you meet as he tries to etch the sight into his memory. 
“Megumi,” You cry weakly, “So much, so so good, so- ah!”
You can’t even form a single coherent sentence, and he thinks you’re so adorable. He watches as fresh tears cascade down the path of dried ones, and it only spurs him further. The two of you are so pathetically desperate to reach your orgasms, you don’t even mind when his thrusts become sloppy and off-kilter, when he starts groaning and even lets out the prettiest of sounds when you flutter around him. 
You manage to collect yourself for just a second. 
“Please fill me up,” You beg, nodding dumbly to egg him on. “Wanna- wanna feel you cum inside me, wanna- oh, fuck, fuck, baby, please-” 
He knows it’s probably not the smartest idea, but he’s too caught up in chasing his pleasure, and your little begs and mewls make his movements stutter before he finally stills inside you, pressing your thighs to your chest to steady himself. 
“Take it, baby. Fucking- god- take it.”
“Mhm,” You nod frantically, static invading your vision, “Make me yours, please, make me- I’m, oh, I’m yours,” You’re running your mouth nonsensically, and the feeling of his seed spilling inside of you is enough to push you past the edge until you’re crying and shaking beneath him. 
He wants to hear you say it for forever, telling him that you’re his. 
He leans in to kiss your forehead, “Say it again.” 
You think you could pass out, chest still heaving up and down as you come back down from your high, but you would do anything to please him. “‘M yours.” 
Megumi smiles to himself before he pulls out, the sensation pulling a hiss from you as he lets you relax your legs and tries to clean the both of you to the best of his ability, considering the circumstances. 
He helps you slide your panties back on, maneuvers your legs for you so that you can tug on your pants, worried that you’ll get cold fast. 
You let him take charge, too exhausted to even move. Megumi splays across the seat and pulls you into his chest, trying to pull his jacket over the two of you like a blanket. 
“Megumi,” You say sleepily, cheek smushed against the spot where his heart beats. He hums, encouraging you to go on. 
“My name,” You start, “My name is (Y/N).” And, before you let him speak, you turn your head to look up at him with a cheeky little smile. “Does this make us friends, now?” 
He laughs. It’s your favorite sound.
“I hope we can be more than friends.” 
You hum affirmatively and kiss his earlobe before nestling against him, falling asleep.
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The days are filled with love and gestures of affection after that night. Megumi is more comfortable now, though sometimes he pinches your side gently whenever you slip up and accidentally call him Dog Boy. He tells you that he demands reparations for your wrongdoings- he specifies that he would like to be paid back in kisses. 
Whenever you call him a sap, he pinches your side again. 
Although the two of you seem to be in your own little world, lost in love, the outer world has not changed. You add another step to your nightly routine, right before you go to sleep; Check the radio. 
Megumi leaves it propped on the dashboard at all times and frequently asks you to try and catch a signal so that the two of you can hear some news. Day after day, you find yourselves unlucky. You’re always greeted by the same crackle and fuzz. 
He’s been thinking hard lately, and you can see it. He’s always a little distracted, late to respond to you, or sometimes not even listening altogether. 
He’s thinking that at this rate, it may be smarter to settle down. To find somewhere to stay, to wait out the situation. Surely, with time, the zombies should die out. This cannot last forever. 
And while you’re splitting the food or reading outdated magazines that he grabbed for you at the store, he’s facing his own little mental battles. He knows that you dream of a better future, with people coming together and starting anew. And he knows that you’re becoming even more hopeful now that you’ve reached North and the camp should be within your sights at any time, but the journey itself is not promising. It’s colder, storms more often, the truck shakes and does not shield you from the cold all that well when the two of you are asleep. Megumi is nearly positive that the best idea, for now, is to settle down somewhere and to at least let the season pass. 
He’s promised himself that he’ll bring it up to you on this particular morning, as the snow kisses the windows and fights against the weak attempts of the windshield wipers. You’re rummaging through a magazine, reading it over for the nth time and trying to fill out one of the crossword puzzles you had previously left empty for times like this. 
“(Y/N),” He starts, mouth dry as he glances at you before looking back at the road. 
“Hm?”
“I’ve been thinking, recently…”
As he pauses to collect what he wants to say, you giggle to yourself. “I know. You always look kind of constipated, you know? You’re not very good at hiding it, Megs.” 
His face flushes red, and the both of you know it’s not from the cold. He appreciates that you’re not upset that he’s been keeping things to himself as of late, but he thinks he could’ve gone without the playful comment. 
“Anyway,” He stresses, though he doesn’t feel so panicky anymore. He strictly keeps his eyes trained in front of him, on the road, following the short, yellow lines that divide it down the middle. 
“I think… think we should settle down. The winter is only going to get harsher, and this truck is so old, I’m not sure how long it’ll last. We can find some place to stay- there’s empty houses everywhere- and we can sit out until the season is over. It’ll be safer that way.” 
His proposition hangs in the air. You’re awfully quiet, and for a second he wonders if you were even listening. 
“Megumi- pull over.” 
“Huh? What?” 
“Just- just stop the truck.” 
He thinks you’re angry, but you don’t sound it. He rushedly puts the truck into park and tries to catch a glimpse of your face, to see how you feel. 
You look focused. You don’t even bother to look at him; you’re looking past him.
He confirms that you probably weren’t even listening to what he said when you ask, “Do you see that? Over there?”
“See what?”
“That… that big white thing, like… look.” You point your finger in the general direction of what you see. 
“(Y/N), everything’s white- it’s snowing-”
You hush him, “No, no. It’s huge...it’s..”
You don’t finish. You’re tired of squinting to try and make out the shape of what you see, so you haul the truck door open and spill out of it clumsily, the snow catching you. Fear, hope, adrenaline, excitement; it swallows you whole and you think you could throw up. You trudge towards the front of the truck, snow pulling on your boots like it’s begging you to stay. 
Megumi follows after you, worried as to why you’re frozen in place, pushing past the clingy snow. Your name catches in his throat before he gets to call out to you. He finally sees what you see, just a few yards away. 
Children. Young, healthy looking children. They’re running around, squealing and throwing snow at each other, little hands covered in gloves and big, puffy jackets slowing down their movements. He sees people calling out to them, ushering them inside big tents- tents.
They’re caked with snow, but positively scattered all over the place. He sees people peeking out, zipping them up, running straight out of them to dive into inches of fresh snow.
You’re rushing back to the truck, feeling weightless as you snag your backpack from the passenger seat and haul it with you as you try to run past Megumi, towards the people. “Hurry, Megumi!” You call, a smile so evident in your voice. 
“I have to show them my calendar!” 
355 notes · View notes
phoenixsbby · 2 years
Text
It’s Not Me, It’s You - Hangman x Pilot!reader
summary: your ex is back in town and that might be the kick in the ass Hangman needs to change the parameters of your situationship.
readers call sign is “stinger”
WC: 7.4k (yeah, that’s my bad)
a/n: the death grip Hangman has me on these days …
warnings: swearing, mentions of sex
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If there was a body capacity limit set for the Hard Deck, a number of people allowed in before the windows, doors, and walls break open, it surely would have been long passed by now. The bar is packed to the brim with civilians and officers celebrating the safe return home of a handful of aviators. You were not included in that dagger team but, Hangman was and you’d gladly honor his safety with a cold beer and his close proximity. Every time he came back in one piece, it felt like the iceberg of dread that settled in your chest when he was gone broke into pieces and melted away. 
You used the excuse of bodies being jammed too tightly together to wiggle your way in between Hangman’s legs as he sat at the bar. Both of knew that even if you were the only two people there, you’d still end up in that position. So close to each other, your faces only inches apart, with your head angled down and his angled up to hear each other over the loudness of other conversations and the steady stream of music. 
These days, it felt like the closer you could get to Jake Seresin the better. It was much easier to give into the gravitation pull between you two than fight it. This magnetic force had always been there, since the day got stationed in North Island. There was a competitive spark between you that eventually caught and bursted into flames made up of equal parts admiration and attraction. 
“Admit it, Hangman. You’re jealous.”
“I’m not.” He shook his head, keeping his gaze down at the pavement in front of him. You trailed a short distance behind him, hot on his heels. You’d been bugging him about how you finished the flight simulation faster than anyone and managed to take down two ‘enemy aircraft’ without getting yourself hit. You were the only one in their group to simulate mission success.
But you had pulled an extremely risky, borderline insane move to do it. One that scared the shit out of your fellow pilots, Hangman included. One wrong move, one wrong flick of your wrist, and your jet would have gone down with you in it.
So no, Hangman wasn’t jealous that you proved yourself to be a better pilot than everyone else that day. He was pissed that you’d almost ended your own life trying to do it.
“Don’t be a sore loser. Just admit it, I beat you on this one. I showed you up.”
“Okay, fine.” He snapped, turning around so quick that he almost rammed his body into yours. “Congrats Sting, you showed me up. You beat the simulation and almost got yourself killed doing it. Congrats on being reckless and completely oblivious to how devastated I would be if you did manage to get yourself killed up there!”
You were stunned into silence, blinking rapidly up at him. Hangman’s chest connected with yours every deep breath he took, it suddenly felt like he couldn’t suck in enough air to satisfy his greedy lungs.
“How devastated we would all be.” He corrected himself before stepping back to remove himself from your proximity. Shit, he hadn’t meant to say that. He wasn’t ready to lay his feelings for you bare. He could tell, despite his lame attempt to divert the idea of him being utterly broken at the thought of you getting hurt, you understood what he meant.
“I-“ You shook your head, clearing away the haziness of surprise that his statement brought over you. “I’m sorry. I knew it was dangerous but, I also knew it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”
“I don’t ...” There’s no turning back now. “I don’t like the idea of you taking that risk.”
A knowing smile started to form across your lips as you stepped closer to him, silently coaxing him to continue. “Why?”
Jakes hands flexed and unflexed rapidly at his sides, his mind churned through ways to properly convey how he felt. When no words came to him, none that truly felt good enough to portray the feeling pulsating behind his ribcage, he settled by taking your face in his hands and connecting your lips in a slow, starved way. 
When he pulled back, your eyes fluttered open to take in the most content, gratified smile you’d ever seen on Jakes face. “That’s why.”
Since then, that’s all the relationship has mounted up to be. Prolonged glances and stolen touches in public, unleashed passion and devotion in private. It was more than just sex though. In between the time you spend naked, wrapped up in each other, there’s holding and longing and exchanging of sweet words. It’s always feels like more than what you’ve been calling it and you’d gladly call it what it was (a relationship - gasp!). But it’s always Hangman that seems to hold back, reluctant in a way to claim you as his. 
You’re afraid to push the matter because whatever this is between you - it’s working. You’re happy. So happy to be hear his laugh up close and feel his thumb trace relaxing circles on the back of your hand. If something isn’t completely broken, why try to fix it?  
You’re so lost in him, in his green eyes and mesmerizing grin, that Phoenix’s grasp on your shoulder makes you jump. When your eyes connect with hers, you see they’re blown wide and you notice how tightly her fingertips are digging into you. You furrow your brows and go to ask her if she’s okay but, she beats you to it.
“You’ll never guess who got called in for the new assignment.” Her eyes break away from yours, scanning the bar as if she’s desperate to spot someone. You wrack your brain for who possibly could illicit this kind of reaction from Phoenix and draw a blank because everyone you really know is already there. 
Rooster’s leaning against the juke box, smirking and listening intently to the pretty blonde in front of him. Fanboy and Payback are showing Bob a new (and totally incorrect) way to hold a pool stick. Halo and Fritz are playing darts, Harvard and Yale are making fools of themselves on the dance floor. Everyone’s accounted for.
“Who?”
“Atlas.” Oh, shit. Your eyes widen to match hers as she nods like yeah, oh shit.
Atlas. You haven’t heard that callsign, let alone thought about him, in years. Not since you’d both attended Top Gun together. Not since you both fell blissfully but ignorantly in love. Not since he decided to end the relationship because you’d been stationed on different sides of the country. Not since he broke your heart.
Oh, shit.
Speak of the Devil and he shall appear, only seconds after Phoenix mentions him, Atlas comes busting through the doors of the Hard Deck with a few other pilots you don’t recognize. Their grins are wide, their booming laughs only bolstering their presence. They strut into the bar like they own the place, like they expect everyone to get down on their knees and worship at their alter. You’d be damned if you ever got down on your knees for Alexander “Atlas” Madden again.
But you can’t deny his presence is like a black hole, you want to pull your gaze away but you can’t. You’re thankful to be tucked around the corner of the bar, away from the area he just strolled in. You don’t want to get caught staring, you’re not sure if you even want him to know you’re here but somehow despite all of it, you can’t look away. He looks good, he looks bigger and more confident, kind of like he’s glowing. God damn it.
“Who’s Atlas?” Hangman leaves the question dangling in the air between you and Phoenix. She snatches up the chance to answer while your eyes and your attention stay occupied elsewhere.
“Her ex.” Those words have Hangman’s gaze snapping toward the notorious Atlas almost as hard as yours did. 
“Why is he here?” Hangman’s eyes bounce rapidly between you and Atlas, desperately trying to catch your gaze and refocus it on him. But you’re entranced so, Phoenix fills in the blanks again.
“Well apparently he’s good, really good ...” Hangman looks over to Phoenix and notices she’s about as enamored with Atlas as you are. How good could this guy really be? 
“We have plenty of really good pilots.” Jake scoffs, bringing the beer bottle to his lips hoping some of the cold, bitter liquid will help cool his internal thoughts down. The room around him suddenly feels too hot, the clothes around his skin too tight as he watches you watch your ex. He thinks he can make out a glassy, fervent look in your eyes. 
It’s a similar look to the one you give him when his hands are roaming every inch of you, when he’s taking you to the edge of a very specific cliff, pushing you over, and making sure he’s there to break the fall, soft and steady.
Hangman swallows a much bigger gulp of beer.
“Yeah but, more than half of us just got back. We’re still in the debrief period.” The bottle freezes in its place. “We won’t have enough time to train between now and the scheduled fly out date.” 
Hangman himself had just gotten back, Phoenix and Bob too. You, however, had not been selected for that assignment. Instead, you’d been chosen for an up and coming smaller mission that required less pilots, the very same one that Phoenix was assuming Atlas was called in for. Oh God, you and Atlas were going to fly this one together.
The conversation Phoenix and Hangman were sharing registers somewhere in the back of your mind, realization that you were going to be sent out with you ex will hit harder later, you’re sure. For now, everything’s all too paralyzing.
“He looks ...” You mutter with a distant tone.
“Yeah ...” Phoenix replies with equal distance, stuck between Atlas’s pull and reality itself.
“Okay,” Jake brings the empty bottle back down on the bar a bit more aggressively than he intended, the loud clap of glass meeting wood snapping both you and Phoenix from your trance. “Penny, I’ll take another.” Penny shoots him a knowing grin before swiping away the empty.
“Do you really think he’s here for ...” For my mission? That realization is starting to sink its teeth in now, stinging at the backs of your eyes and inside your nose.
“Why else would he be here?” Phoenix says.
“Shit.”
“Yeah ...”
Somehow both of your gazes have trickled their way back in Altas’s direction and Jake thinks he may as invisible as a cadet at this point.
“Maybe you should go say hi.” He grumbles before taking a sip of his fresh beer. 
“No.” You shake your head and look down at him, finally. “No, I couldn’t.” 
“Hangman’s actually right, you should go say hi.” Phoenix adds, causing you to jerk your eyes back to her and miss the way Jake shoots daggers at her over your shoulder. “You don’t want any bad blood between you two during the mission.”
“There is no bad blood.” You scoff. Phoenix narrows her eyes and gives you her favorite thats-such-bullshit-and-you-know-it look because ... okay, yes, it is bullshit.
You can’t deny that it hurt when Atlas walked away from the relationship you’d built together. But you aren’t worried that the minute Atlas opens his mouth, you’ll instantly fall back in love. You’ve moved on. You are worried that he’ll open his mouth and somehow manage to make you feel unworthy again. Unworthy of the effort it would’ve taken to stay together. Not good enough to warrant someones full love. 
“Right. And Hangman totally isn’t about to crush that beer bottle with his bare hand.”
On cue, all three sets of eyes are darting to where Jakes hand is white knuckling the bottle. He hasn’t even noticed it himself, too busy with the idea of something happening between you and Atlas. Something that warranted bad blood. What’d this guy do to you and how hard was Jake going to have to hit him to make up for it?
Jake releases his death grip on the bottle and looks up at you, your eyes colliding with equal hints of vulnerability behind them. You open your mouth to say something, to ease the discomfort you’re sure he’s feeling given the situation when an achingly familiar voice calls out your name.
You feel Atlas’s large hand come baring down on one shoulder before it slides across your back to the other one. He pulls you against him before you can even manage to get a glimpse of his face up close and okay, now you’re hugging him.
He’s tall and broad and his chest feels harder against yours than you remember but, his scent is still the same - hints of green apple and mahogany. Breathing it in, breathing him in, your body almost instinctually melts itself deeper into his grasp.
Oh no, stop that. Your brain is screaming, Stop that right now!
“Atlas!” Your voice comes out muffled against his uniformed shoulder. You grip his forearms and force yourself back, putting a safe distance between your bodies and sending him a hopefully natural, breezy (because you are so breezy, totally not phased at all) smile. “Wow, hi!”
Your greeting comes out an octave higher than it should and has Phoenix and Hangman sharing a look behind your back.
“Wow is right!” Atlas eyes roam around your face then dip down to cover your body. “I can’t believe you’re here. You look great.”
Hangman’s knee comes in direct, hard contact with your backside causing you to let out a nervous laugh to muffle your reaction from the impact.
“You, too!” You keep your eyes glued to his, willing yourself not to look down at his body, not to look at his hand that’s still resting on your forearm. “What’re you uh, doing ... here?” You use your hands to motion to the environment around you, hoping he understands you don’t just mean the bar. You mean to say ‘What are you doing at this base? What are you doing back in my life?’
“Oh, you know how it is. My secrets aren’t really mine to tell.” He winks and Hangman shoots up and out of his barstool from behind you. He’s reaching a hand out from over your shoulder, giving Atlas that practiced, perfected grin he knows can charm just about anyone.
“Lieutenant Jake Seresin.” He places his other hand subtly on your lower back as if to remind you that he’s here for you. “Hangman.”
Atlas gives his hand a firm shake before introducing himself. “Lieutenant Alexander Madden. Callsign, Atlas.” His gaze leaves Hangman’s and flickers in Phoenix’s direction. His grin turns into more of a flat line as gives her a nod. “Natasha.”
“Alexander.” Phoenix does not send him a semi-smile back nor does she nod, the two just simply look at each other. A beat of silence skips by, the two holding each others stares like cowboys ready to grab their pistols, fire out a lethal shot, and claim that Wild Western town as their own.
You guess, in this case, you’re the town?
You clear your throat and draw both their attentions back to you.
“We should talk.” Atlas’s eyes soften a bit as he steps closer to you before his eyes dart back and forth between Hangman and Phoenix who flank your figure. “Privately.”
“I-“ Your tongue trips on the phrase ‘I think I’d rather die’ because Phoenix is right. If you two are going to fly together, you need to be on the same wavelength with no lingering tension to clog up the airways. “I would like that.” Okay, that’s not the right phrasing either because like is not the word you’d use to describe how you feel about having the impending conversation. 
If Atlas senses your discomfort, he doesn’t show it. A grin slides its way back across his lips.
“Great. I’ll grab a drink and then we can meet out back by the beach?” You simply nod, he shoots you another wink, and then he’s gone.
“What the fuck was that?” A harmony of voices surround you, your gaze flicking between Phoenix and Hangman. 
“What?”
“I didn’t realize you just turned thirteen. Congrats on entering your awkward, school girl crush era.” Phoenix snickers as you playfully smack her in the stomach. “Seriously, I have never seen you act like that before.”
“It was nothing.” You mutter.
“It didn’t look like nothing.” You spin your body to face Jake and meet his eyes, he’s grinning and the vulnerability you saw in him before is gone. He’s teasing you, just like Phoenix, like he really doesn’t care that you’re about to be out back, alone, with your ex. But why should he care? You’re not his girlfriend, he’s made that clear.
“It’s nothing.” You repeat, a hint of venom seeping into your tone. You’re about to add something alone the lines of ‘Atlas can eat a dick’ when the man of the hour calls your name across the bar and motions for you to follow him out. 
You spare on last glance at Hangman, hoping to see something change in his posture, in his eyes, that begs you not to go. But you don’t, they’re blank and that burns the back of your throat more than the tequila shot Phoenix had you take when you first got to the bar. 
“Don’t wait up.”
 ——
Hangman does in fact, wait up. He waits, and he waits, and he waits some more, hoping at any given moment, you’ll come back into the bar and seek him out. You’ll wrap your arms around him, run your hands through his hair as you kiss, and murmur ‘Atlas who?’ against his lips.
Every so often he’ll take a lap around the room, glancing out the back doors, hoping to catch a glimpse of you. Relief swells in his chest each time he sees you sitting a healthy distance from Atlas, neither of you making any advancements in hopes to get closer. He’s seen you smiling though, a few times you’ve thrown frisky punches against Atlas’s arm and reared your head back with laughter at something he’s said.
Hangman even bugs Phoenix for a solid thirty minutes about the story between you and Atlas but, she won’t budge. Something about being her being a good friend and all that bullshit.
In all honesty, Jake’s just worried. He’s not worried because Atlas is attractive and a good pilot, no, Jake Seresin isn’t self-conscious in that right. He’s worried because he doesn’t want Atlas to hurt you, to maybe break your heart. Clearly something had happened between you two, something that left Atlas feeling secure enough to approach you with a wide smile and open arms while you quivered and hid your figure behind the bar. That in itself has Hangman suspecting the something that happened hurt you an inequitable amount that it hurt Atlas.
And the idea of you hurting at the hands of anyone has powerful waves of anger crashing over him.
He’s being hypocritical and he knows it. Isn’t he hurting you in a way? He knows you want more than whatever situation he’s pushing you two into. He can see it when he looks into your eyes deeply, this little spark of hope, a silent question ‘Are you going to ask me now?’ ‘Are you going to tell me you love me?’
When he doesn’t, he can see the spark dwindle down to a just fleeting glint of light. The spark comes back though, somehow it returns every time he looks at you and he’s grateful he hasn’t snuffed out whatever’s inside you that allows the spark to catch at all. He’s playing with fire, one of these times, the spark will ignite and one of you may end up getting burned. He knows one day, he’ll have to draw out that fire and he’s thankful today is not that day when he see’s you come strolling back into the bar, Atlas free.
Your eyes scan the room until they catch onto his, then you send him that warm, all-consuming smile that had him gone for you since the first time he saw it.
“You stayed.” You lean your body against the bar beside his.
“Can’t let this Atlas guys ego get too big.” He wants to swallow the words back in because they’re not the ones he desperately wants to say. He wants to say that you’re crazy for thinking he’d actually leave you.
You roll your eyes but, your smile doesn’t falter, “Yeah, Atlas’s ego is the problem here.” 
The bar has cleared out, only a few locals and naval officers remain lingering past last call. Even if the bar was still cramped with people, it wouldn’t have stopped Hangman from reaching out, snaking a hand around your waist and pulling you against him.
He murmurs a soft “You love it” into your hair before swaying you gently to the music still streaming out of the juke box.
You wrap your hands around his neck and move your body in rhythm with his before replying, “Yeah, I do.”
With his body so close, you inhale his scent - cinnamon with lingering hints of whisky and mint. It’s warmer than Atlas’s scent, it floods your stomach with butterflies while also making you feel cocooned by a soft blanket, it both lulls and excites you. 
Being with Atlas again, back on the bar patio, felt comfortable. It was familiar in all the ways that taking the same route home every day is. But there’s nothing romantic there anymore, you don’t feel dizzy hearing his laugh or feel hot under his touch. It feels platonic, like the door to whatever could have been between you two is finally closed. 
Atlas was the past. Jake is the future, if he ever lets himself amount to that.
Jake pushes your body away from his, holding you an arms length away tightly by the hand before twirling you into back him and dipping you low to the floor.
A burst of laughter escapes you just before Penny rings the final call bell.
——
Prepping for your next assignment goes about as well as prepping for an assignment you know you’re going to be flying with your ex can go. You’re a little rattled to hear that the assignment will be flown with only two daggers; you, Atlas, and his WSO, Cujo. 
Yes, that’s right, his WSO’s callsign is Cujo. And when you meet him, you can completely understand why - the man is frightening. You never knew Atlas was assigned a new WSO. His old partner was quiet but unbelievably talented and they blended well together because he didn’t have a strong personality to clash with Atlases. Atlas liked submission, Atlas liked always being on top (in more ways than one). You have no idea how Cujo and Atlas can stand each other.
The first day is spent going over schematics, understanding the missions purpose and its parameters. It's safe to say that you, Atlas, and Cujo don’t do much talking let alone flying. You can’t say that you’re unhappy that you weren’t given free time to chit chat with either of them. Again, because ... Cujo. And because during your last talk with Atlas, he’d kept the conversation very casual with mainly surface level questions about how your lives had been since graduation and swapping old memories that had you chocking on your drinks with laughter.
He didn’t dare dip down into the nature of your split and what it meant to be flying together again and you didn’t press it. He won’t be staying in Fightertown after this assignment, there’s no need to open old wounds that took years to heal when you can forget they ever existed in couple days time. 
Atlas does not need to know that he has the emotional capability of a college frat boy and you do not need to know why you weren’t good enough to be loved by him. Ignorance is bliss.
Flight sims had been going well too, up until Mav decided to join in on the fun and imitate unexpected enemy aircraft. Then the bandaid you and Atlas slapped over your past was quickly torn off. 
“Holy shit! He just came out no where!” Cujo spun around in his seat, trying to spot Mavs F-18. 
“Talk to me, Sting. What do you see?” Atlas barked over the comms as you had just managed to turn your jet around to get a better look.
“He’s right on your ass, you got to move!” You pulled up hard, hoping to get a tail on Mav before he obliterated your partners. 
“Communicate, everyone. Come on, how are you going to get me off of him, Stinger?” Mavs voice crackled in your headset as you pressed to catch up.
“Atlas, break left hard and I’ll pull up and over him.”
“No way am I letting him in my blindspot.”
“But I-“
“Watch out!” Cujo broke up the back and forth when Mav did exactly what you instructed Atlas to do. With ease, he pulled up on the jet and let it course backwards over yours before bringing her back down with a direct lane to hit you.
“Shit!” With a last ditch effort, you nose dive, feeling the surge of gravity crush you back against the seat. It was no use, Mav was too quick in predicting your next moves and within seconds, he had you in lock. 
“Don’t worry, Stinger. Not every pilot can pull off a move like that.” Atlas spoke as you settled back up to an appropriate height.
“Where the hell were you after he got on my tail?” 
“I was trying to get in position-“
“And why didn’t you listen when I told you how to dodge Maverick?”
“That would have gotten us killed.”
“It wouldn’t have, actually.” 
“Look, just trust me on this one. It’s clear you don’t have as much experience-“
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re not ready for something like this!”
The words SCREW YOU were half way out of your mouth when Mav cut you off, “That’s enough! Head back to base, we’ll continue this tomorrow after you both figure your shit out.”
After jumping down from your plane practically before it stopped moving on the tarmac, you storm into the base and to the locker rooms. You’re shaking with anger, unkept, wild anger that you haven’t felt in years, an anger that no one besides Atlas has the power to resurrect from you.
Atlas is not mean nor is he a bad pilot but, he can be demeaning and a shitty teammate. As much as you try to shake off his snarky comments or the way he seems to want to do the exact opposite of what you suggest as his wingman, you can feel it picking away at you, at this wall you’ve built around you and your confidence as a pilot since you left Top Gun. He brings back this part of yourself that’s so insecure, so afraid to make one wrong move, that everything ends up going wrong anyway.
You haven’t been that kind of pilot in years, one who cowers and backs away from a fight. You’ve been growing and improving and had you returned to Top Gun now, you would graduate first in your class. But now Atlas’s stupidly hot face shows up and suddenly you’re mediocre and okay with it because he’s there feeding you these little backhanded comments.
‘Don’t worry, Stinger. Not every pilot can pull off a move like that.’
You have pulled off moves like that, much harder ones too. Yet he acts like he knows you, like you’re still that pilot helplessly in love and desperate for his attention.
With half-hearted effort, you toss your hemet across the locker room, only slightly wishing the locker it connected with to radiate a loud bag was Atlas’s stupidly hot face. Why did he have to show up? Why him of all people? You want this assignment, need this assignment, so you can prove yourself to leadership even more. 
“What’d that locker ever do to you?” Jakes voice usually eases the tension in your body but today, it holds no such effect. You’re as stiff as ever when he comes walking into the locker room. 
“Not in the mood.” You grunt, bending down to pick up the discarded helmet.
“I heard training was rocky today.” Jake takes a seat on one of the benches in the middle of the room and pats the open spot next to him. But his words send a fresh, white hot surge of anger ripping through you. 
“Oh yeah? Who’d you hear that from?” Your mind immediately conjures a picture of Atlas strolling around the base with a smile, searching for a replacement wingman. He’d ask, ‘Hey, anyone know where I can find a stable pilot around here to fly with?’ That dickhead.
“Mav may have mentioned that Atlas was getting under your skin a bit.”
“He is not!’ You raise your voice then clamp your jaw shut, clearly proving Mav’s point. All Jake does is raise an eyebrow. You deflate, releasing a long, shaky breath. “Okay, so, maybe he is. I don’t know why I can’t focus around him. It’s like now that he’s here, all these memories are resurfacing. Like the pilot I was when I was with him is threatening to wake up from hibernation and take control of my body.”
“You can’t let his guy tell you who you are. You know who you are. You’re a great pilot, a great partner. The Admiral pulled you for this assignment for a reason. You have just as every right to be here as he does.” Jake smiles and taps the bench next to him again. The comfort of his words has your muscles finally relaxing so you take a seat, pressing your body against his.
Jake reaches over and takes your hand in his, intertwining your fingers before asking, “What happened between you two?” You avert your gaze to your hands that he’s placed in his lap. 
“Same old, same old.” You shrug, really not wanting to get into it with Hangman of all people. You didn’t want him to see you the way Atlas did when you were together, expendable, replaceable. “We dated for a bit. It just didn’t work out, we wanted different things.” To say the least.
“Sting.” Ugh, you feel soaked with the amount of pity dripping through his tone. You don’t want pity, you’re not the same pilot, not the same woman who Atlas dropped. You’ve changed, made yourself indispensable. 
“He left, okay?” You snatch your hand back from his grasp. “He didn’t think I was worth the effort of a long distance relationship. He didn’t think I was worth anything apparently. I thought he lov-“ Your voice involuntarily cracks and you instantly shake your head. Fuck this, it doesn’t matter if Atlas didn’t love you. This isn’t about love, this is about getting the mission done.
“Hey.” Jake’s voice is gentle as he reaches to wrap an arm around you. You stand up to avoid the contact and will yourself to get it together. You can’t be crying over this, over him. But now that you’re thinking about, now that you’ve let yourself talk about it, you realize maybe you just are unloveable.
Is that why Jake hasn’t committed to you? Maybe he knew that once something better came along, a different opportunity, he’d take it without question the way Atlas did. 
“He’s an idiot for leaving you, Sting.” 
“Yeah because his loss is your gain, right?” You turn around to face him, clenching your fists at your sides. 
“Well, yeah.” Jake shrugs. “If that hadn’t happened you wouldn’t be here, with me.”
“But I’m not. With you.” You watch him drop his head down and release a sigh before standing up.
“Are we really going to do this now?” 
“I’m sorry to inconvenience you, Lieutenant. But it seems every time the mere idea of this conversation arises, you run away.” He visibly flinches at your words but, you can’t find the effort to care. You’ve been steamrolled with this idea that no matter how much of yourself you give, no matter how much you change, you’ll never be enough for the people you love.
“That’s not-“
“It is what happens! I get it! I get that I’m not worthy of you or anyones commitment, that I’m not good enough for someone to settle for but for the love of God, will someone just finally come out and say it?” 
“Y/N.”
“Is uh, everything okay in here?” You look over Jake’s shoulder and see a hovering Atlas in the doorway, still in his g-suit, looking like he’s ready to pounce on Jake should you ask him to. You let your eyes find their way back to Jakes and see him unfazed by the new presence in the room. He’s staring at you so deeply that you can feel him in your soul, roaming around, searching for something inside there. 
“Yes.” You croak out. “Everything’s fine.” 
“O-kay. Can I borrow you for a minute then?” That seems to wake Jake up from his stupor. He turns around with his hands on his hips.
“Now’s not the time, buddy.”
“But, I-“
“No, it’s fine.” You cut Atlas off. “We do need to talk.” Because there’s still a mission we need to fly together. You brush past Hangman, your shoulders briefly connecting before you hear him call your name like a plea.
You gesture for Atlas to lead the way and don’t bother to look back.
——
The sun has long set by the time you arrive home that night, the only light illuminating your way comes from yellowing street lamps and the half crescent moon. The conversation you had with Atlas has coated itself on your skin like salt water, sticky and uncomfortable. You’re eager to take a long shower to wash the day away and start fresh tomorrow.
When you pull in to see Hangman’s jeep parked in your driveway, you take a few seconds with your forehead resting on the wheel of your car before going in. How many hard conversations are allotted per day and how have you not already met that quota?
You’d given Jake a key to your place a month or so ago, telling him to make himself comfortable whenever needed and clearly, he’s taken your words to heart as he’s laying on your couch when you make it inside. For a second, you think he may have fallen asleep and almost let out a silent cheer but, his eyes crack open at the sound of the door closing behind you. 
“Hi.” He greets you, his voice hoarse and low. You bite your lip and try to shake away any thoughts that voice normally brings you. His shirt’s a bit rumpled, his hair slightly out of place from your pillows. Ugh, he looks down right cozy and you ache to cling to him but, you can’t. You’re not sure you’ll ever get to again. 
“Hi.” You lean against the island counter a good distance away from him. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you.” When you don’t reply, he sits up and clutches his hands together in front of him. “How did your talk go with Atlas?”
“Where do we begin?” Atlas released a breathy, forced chuckle from in front of you. You’d chosen to have this conversation outside despite the California sun beating down on you, causing beads of sweat to roll down the back of your neck.
“Why don’t we just cut right to it? Why’d you say those things to me up there?” 
“I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Except that you did. What you say, those comments you make, they mean something to me, Atlas.” He ran a hand through his hair and over his face before nodding. “You always did this at Top Gun. It’s like no matter how good I am, I’m never good enough for you.”
“Stop.” He took a step closer and you clamped your mouth shut. “You were good enough, you still are. But I wanted to be better. When I saw how well you were flying before that last run with Maverick, I was jealous. You’ve clearly improved since I’ve last seen you and it made me mad.”
“Wow, thanks you asshole.” 
“I know,” he sighed “I’m the worst.” You couldn’t argue with that.
“How could you go from loving me one minute to derailing me the next?” You refused to let your voice dwindle down, it remained sturdy when you added, “How can you say I was good enough back then but leave anyway?”
“I’ve got an ego that I can’t seem to control. You really were a great pilot then and I knew you were destined to keep getting better. I told myself I couldn’t live in anyone else’s shadow, let alone the girls that I loved. To me, you were as enticing as you were terrifying. I couldn’t love you completely because I saw you in two different ways; the girl who could give me everything I wanted and the pilot who could take it all away. I made a mistake.”
“Dude,” You shuttered “you need therapy.” You held his gaze with a straight face until you saw a grin poke its way out from both corners of his lips. Before you knew it, you were both laughing, with the smoke of the past clearing, the air between you felt light.
“I am actually seeing a therapist.” Atlas said once the cackling settled down. “I want to be better, do better, for the people around me.”
“Good, Alex, I’m really glad.” You gave him a genuine smile then because you were proud of him for taking that step toward improving himself. “I know we can fly this mission together successfully. We’re a team, this isn’t a contest anymore.”
“You’re right. We can do this together. I’d be honored to fly alongside a pilot like you, Sting.”
“Well then it’s settled,” You stuck out a hand in front of him to shake “teammates.” He connected his palm with yours and gave it a good squeeze. When you expected him to pull away, he didn’t. Instead, he kept his hand locked on yours and tugged you a bit closer.
“Y/N, I really meant it when I said I made a mistake all those years ago. As much as I needed to let you go then, I wish I didn’t have to. I also meant what I said about trying to be better.” He started to move his free hand up the length of your arm, your muscles strained in response. “If you could give me another chance, one more shot, I can prove to you that we can be what were then but better. I loved you, Sting. I’m positive I could love you again.”
“He said what?!” Jakes up from the couch now, approaching you quickly with frantic eyes. “Oh man, I know I should’ve hit that guy when I had the chance.”
“Relax, Caveman.” You cross your arms in front of you, taking in the site of Jake trying to occupy his hands. You can tell he wants to reach out and touch you but doesn’t know if it’s the right time. He runs them through his hair then down his shirt, he even shoves them in his pockets before ripping them right back out.
“Jake,” you groan and capture his hands in your own “your anxiety is giving me anxiety.”
“Well, what did you tell him?” He gives you a delicate look, one etched with soft features and the vulnerability you got a hint of back at the bar.
“I told him that I couldn’t be with him. Well actually, I think I said something along the lines of ‘it’s not me, it’s you’ because that’s what I realized - I was never the problem in that relationship. I also realized I can’t hedge my own worth on what some guy thinks of me, I know I’m good enough.” 
Jake smashes you against his chest, encasing you in his arms before running both hands up and down your back soothingly, finally able to put them to good use. 
“I’m proud of you.” He breathes into your hair before giving you another squeeze. For a second, you allow your body to morph into his, to be bundled up in his warmth and his smell and his comfort. You could allow yourself to stay here forever, to be content with whatever love and lust Jake can yield to you.
But after your talk with Atlas, you know this in your bones - you want more. To be given that from Jake would be a dream but, you aren’t going to settle for someone unwilling to take that next step, to show you how much you and your future together meant to them.
With a final kiss to the neck, you pull yourself out his hold and steady yourself. You try not to let tears build but, you can already feel the prickle of them against your dry eyes and a lump form in your throat.
“I-“
“Wait.” Jake silences you easily. “Back on the base, you told me that you didn’t feel worthy of someone’s full love. I’m so happy to hear that on your own, you’ve come to the realization that the statement is the furthest thing from the truth.” Well, you didn’t really say that ... “But, I want to reiterate it, in my own words.”
“I’ve known that I love you, like fully-completely-with-ever-fiber-of-my-being love you since before we kissed in the parking lot after you almost got yourself killed. I’ve known since before you let me win that game of darts after I got my ass handed to me by Maverick. I think I’ve known since the first time you smiled at me-“
“But that was-“
“Yes, your first day on base, I know. You just radiated this kind of energy that hit me like a drug, I was getting more and more addicted to you and I didn’t even know it. Now, I know it.” He drags a hand across the skin of your cheek, caressing it gently. “I thought that maybe if we didn’t exchange those words or took this to another level, that it would hurt less when I inevitably fuck it up. But it doesn’t matter, I’m in love with you, Sting. And I want it all, regardless of how much it could hurt.” 
You press your forehead to his, hoping every emotion too powerful to put into words will seep from your brain to his so he can understand how much he means to you. “I won’t let you fuck this one up, Seresin.” The promise comes out with your lips dancing over his.
“I’ll hold to you that.” With that, Jake connects his lips fully to yours. His kisses are greedy and captivating, igniting every cell in your body on fire. He guides your arms around his neck without breaking the kiss and nips at your bottom lip as he brings you forward. The swirling need grows stronger in your stomach as his wraps an arm around your backside and pulls you down to the couch, melding your body on top of his.
He detaches his lips from yours and quickly reattaches them to your neck, sucking lightly at all the different spots he’s learned make you buck your hips and moan his name. When you gasp, he thinks it’s because his tongue has found your favorite spot but, he’s stopped short by you pushing yourself up to look down at him.
“Wait, I forgot!”
“Forgot what?”
You smile, your pupils are blown wide, cheeks beet red, lips swollen. Jake takes a mental picture of you in that moment, hoping to store it in his mind forever. Right then, he’s sure he’s never seen you look more beautiful.
“I love you, too.”
——
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^ me bc this is not based on the true events of my life and is completely fiction
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hellfirecvnt · 11 days
Text
First Trip
Lee Russell x Fem!Reader pt. 1
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Summary: You're the new secretary at NJH. You've caught Lee's eye, but disaster strikes before anything can be done about it.
Read part two here. // Part three here. // Part four here.
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The bright morning sun rays crack through the window into your small house in the new town you've just moved to. It was your very first night in your new home and today, you start your new job. Your goal was to be employed by a school and you achieved that goal, even if it wasn't the position you'd hoped for. You applied as a teacher for a plethora of subjects, but the only open positions they had were in the office.
You pull into the parking lot of your new home school, North Jackson High School. You exhale the nerves out of your body and check yourself one more time in the mirror before stepping out of the car and making your stroll inside. As you get closer, you notice a group of students surrounding something in front of the school. You hear a man demanding that they disperse, but you can't see him past the crowd.
"You. Who are you?" A round man with pushed-back hair points to you the second you step through the door.
"I'm the new Secretary. You must be Mr. Russell," you say, smiling and extending your hand to him.
"Strike one. Fuck no, I'm not Lee Russell." The man speaks sharply.
"Oh, I- I'm sorry. You're Mr. Neal Gamby." Once you correct his name, he meets your handshake. "Did you say 'Strike one?'"
"Keep up with me, Mrs. Y/L/N. I don't repeat myself. Percival left a pile of fucking horse shit in the front drop-off lane." The strict man guides you into the office, ignoring your question entirely.
"Um, it's Miss, actually. I'm not married." You quicken your walk behind Gamby, already reading him for the pretentious leader he is. At least now you know what the hype was outside.
"Me neither. My ex-wife's a bitch. This is your desk." He quickly points to the desk at the front of the office where an empty chair sits next to a discarded name plaque that reads "Janice Smith."
"Thank you, sir. I'll be sure to-" When you look up, he's already walking away, continuing a tour you thought would end right here.
"This is my office," his voice is faint as he disappears behind a corner. You drop your things off at the desk and speedily catch him down the hall. "This is Mr. Russell's office." He intrusively swings the door open to an empty office. Leaving you without a face to the name Lee Russell.
"Thank you, Mr. Gamby. I-" he cuts you off.
"Now the last secretary was shit. She was terrible. She was so bad," he starts, but a passing teacher cuts in.
"She started a six-figure business and quit on you, Gamby."
"That's not true. Regardless, I expect better from you Ms. Y/L/N. Don't fuck me over." He disappears into his office and you begin to settle into your desk. You remove the remnants of Ms. Smith and replace them with photos of your pets. You're a well-organized person and a quick learner. You make it a personal goal to give that severe asshat nothing to complain about. Anything to make the job less boring.
Lunchtime rolls around and you find yourself a little lost and even overwhelmed as you enter the booming volume of the cafeteria. You glance around the room, noticing the faculty table seems a little full. It's only your first day, and you haven't had time to introduce yourself to anyone with Mr. Gamby making odd, redundant requests on a two-minute basis.
You step through the line and purchase an apple before making your way back to your desk in the front office. It'd be nicer to sit somewhere quieter anyway. As you cross the lunch room, you're oblivious to the pair of deep brown eyes you've caught across the room. Lee spots your lanyard and immediately turns to face Neal.
"Who the fuck is that, Gamby?" His voice is a low whisper. Mr. Gamby looks over and watches you as you exit through the double doors.
"That's the new office secretary, Ms. Y/L/N," Gamby answers dryly and returns his attention to his sandwich.
"You didn't tell me you were hiring anybody yet," his voice kind of fades off as he's lost in thought.
"Yeah well, she applied to be a teacher, but we're about overrun by those fuckers," Neal says, met by sneers from the teachers sitting within earshot.
"So you've got her doing desk bitch-work?"
"The fuck are you acting so offended for?" Neal's resting face is one with arched brows, but one arches even higher now as he questions his friend.
"Forget about it, Gamby. She married? Did you see a ring?" Lee glances at the door again, wondering if you plan to come back.
"No, she said she isn't married. And why are you asking? Has your divorce even been finalized yet?"
"Yes, idiot. It's been finalized for a month if you ever fuckin' listen to me." Lee reaches over and disrupts something on Neal's lunch tray. Neal swats his hands away.
"Knock it off! Why are you even focused on ladies and women when we're supposed to be concocting a plan against Dr. Brown?"
"Would you lower your fucking voice, Gamby? Jesus!" Mr. Russell hisses as he follows the other vice principal out of the cafeteria. As the two men round the corner, they come face to face with their higher up. Principal Brown.
"Gamby, there you are. I need you to head up to the office and show Ms. Y/L/N how to log into her staff portal." The woman is dominant and sure in her words. Mr. Gamby sighs before nodding complacently and heading up front. Lee nods to Dr. Brown and quickly follows behind his coworker.
"So what'd you have in mind?" Lee whispers as they walk, coming up quickly on the desk you reside at.
"Now who needs to lower their voice? It's Y/L/N's first day on the job and you want her to hear us plotting against the boss?" Gamby scolds him, right in front of you. You stare at both of them with wide eyes, silent.
"Ms. Y/L/N, I'm Lee Russell. It's wonderful to meet you, darlin'." Lee reaches a charismatic hand across the desk and you happily shake it.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Russell." You smile warmly, hoping to make a good first impression. Suddenly, the phone rings and you're quick to answer, allowing Neal and Lee to slip back into their bickering.
"Well, now she definitely knows something's up, dick head. Don't piss her off before we get Belinda fired," Lee whispers harshly.
"Um, excuse me, Mr. Gamby?" You gain their attention. "Your daughter's shoes seemed to have broken or something during gym class. She needs you to bring her a new pair."
"God damn it, Janelle." Gamby slams his fist on your desk before bolting out the door. You watch him leave, your eyes wide with shock.
"Yeah, he's on his way I think. Thank you, goodbye." You hang up the phone and return your attention to Lee. "Could you please help me log into this faculty portal thing?"
"Yeah, sure, doll. Let's see what we can do." He joins you on the other side of your desk and takes a knee next to your computer chair. You sit and allow him to walk you through the steps. He's so close and the entire time he's next to you, his pulse races. You finish setting up your account and thank him for his help.
"It's no problem at all, Ms. Y/L/N," he smiles, basking in the interaction with you. "You new to town?"
"Yeah, I am. I just spent my first night in my new house last night," you chuckle nervously. Still accepting the new life you're making for yourself.
"First night in? Why, you need to be shown around! You probably don't even know where to find the good bars." He gushes, charismatically.
"That'd be pretty nice if you're offering, Mr. Russell," you smile. He wants so badly to solidify those plans, but it's risky business being your higher-up and saying these things out in the open. Especially with how many people hate him and would gladly report him.
"Let's put a pin in that." He smiles brightly. "I'd love to stay here and talk with you, honey, but I'm afraid I have to run a few errands."
"Is it the plotting?" You ask, flat out.
"Yeah... It's the plotting," he sighs, shaking his head as he walks down the hallway to his office. You giggle as he disappears from view. You're no stranger to the inner workings of a dysfunctional school staff, it's entertaining to just be a secretary instead of a teacher in the middle of it.
After a while, Mr. Gamby returns from delivering new shoes to his daughter. He stomps through the door mumbling something along the lines of "Why the fuck Gail couldn't do it..."
"Hello, welcome back, Mr. Gamby." You wave, greeting him with a smile.
"Grab that ISS Board and follow me," he demands and you do as he says. He assigns the in-school suspension students to clean up duty for the "prank" left outside by the rival school's team this morning.
The next day, a pep rally is organized and Dr. Brown makes a hell of a speech, igniting school spirit all across the student body. You're just happy to be there, but you can see Neal and Lee leaning in to whisper things to each other. You only catch a small snippet from Lee.
"Look at Brown. She's all fucked out," he cackles with Gamby. You know he's speaking about her exhausted, spaced-out appearance, but hearing him use that phrase causes your cheeks to redden.
Throughout the day, you catch yourself attempting to eavesdrop on the two vice principals. Not to intervene or disrupt, but just for the tea. It's boring up front and they seem to know how to stay busy. You don't gather much. Tonight is the big game, and Lee and Neal have been out of sight, out of mind for a while now.
The day comes to an end and the students begin to prepare for the biggest game of the year. Gamby obnoxiously piles into the front office and summons you from your desk, demanding that you follow him with haste.
"We have to stop Mr. Russell from poisoning the North Jackson football team," he grunts as the two of you speedwalk through the corridors.
"He's doing what?!" But your question is left unanswered as the two of you enter the football field. Mr. Gamby quickly spots Mr. Russell across the grass and takes off at full speed after him. You try your best to keep up without exerting yourself.
"Lee! Stop right there. Don't do this," Gamby barges into the locker room behind him after the short pursuit.
"Don't do what? The thing I've already just done? I just did it," Lee shrugs, tossing the small, empty bottle of LSD at Gamby. The two men bicker for a moment before a match of tug of war breaks out between them over the large vat of dosed water meant for the players.
"I command you to let go!" Gamby thunders just before their hands slip, and all three of you become doused in the liquid.
"You fucking idiot! This shit gets absorbed through the skin!" Lee wails.
"What?!" The two men scramble out of the locker room and attempt to flee campus before the drugs kick in.
"Just get the fuck out of here!" Lee shoves Neal out the door and they leave you there, still in shock. The longer you wait, the more it sets in that you're going to trip on school grounds and there's no way around it. You take the drugs by the reigns and attempt to chase down your bosses.
By the time you find them, they're standing under the bleachers holding their arms out in front of two confused students like they have some sort of superpowers.
"You two," you say, voice barely trembling as you attempt to hold it together. You point at the students. "Get the fuck out of here and I won't let them write you up." The two kids nod and flee the scene. As they do, Neal and Lee raise their extended hands, gazing at each other with mouths agape.
"You two," you grab them both by the sleeve and turn them to face you. "This your first trip?" They look at each other and then back at you before nodding out of sync.
"North Jackson High Wins!" A voice booms over the field intercom. Gamby's eyes fall shut in relief, but Lee's just staring at you. It'd be hard to believe he heard the announcer at all with how he gazes into your eyes.
"You got beautiful eyes," Lee mumbles.
"You two need to come with me. We have to get out of here until this shit wears off." You take both of their hands and swiftly guide them back inside the school. You take refuge in the Circle room and place the privacy cover over the door window. "Here. Eat some popcorn. Calm the fuck down and maybe we'll all still have a job tomorrow."
"Ms. Y/L/N, I'm impressed by your initiation." Mr. Gamby misspeaks, staring intently into the pattern on the rug where he sits on a bean bag.
"Thank you, sir. I would've preferred not to be drugged by my bosses."
"Hey, now. Don't go around sayin' shit like that or we're all fucked," Lee chimes in.
"Don't start with me, Mr. Russell. You two were using The Force on some 9th graders who will no doubt have that information spread to everybody before 6 AM tomorrow !" You protest his light scolding. He chuckles at your response, unable to form a sensible response after that.
For the rest of the time in that room, you toss random activities at them to keep them busy. Sometimes it's just showing them the rug again if they've forgotten about it. Once you all come down, you're tired and sore, desperate to get home. The game is long over and the crowd has been gone for hours. The school is empty save for the three of you.
"I'll see you both tomorrow," you grumble, crumpling into your car.
"See you tomorrow, Y/L/N." Gamby waves you off as you pull out of the parking lot.
"She saved your ass tonight, Gamby," Lee smirks.
"She saved our asses tonight, Russell. Guess I didn't do too bad of a job hiring someone by myself, huh? Asshole." Neal settles into his car and pulls off, leaving Lee to sit in his car for a while.
He goes home to an empty house these days. He hasn't dated in 20 years. He wonders if there's any point in even looking at you that way after the mess he orchestrated tonight. He can't deny that your quick thinking saved their skin. You asked if it was their first time doing hallucinogens, and he wonders how often you partake to have been so coherent while they were melting face.
His ride home is quiet and he almost forgets to be pissed that North Jackson won the game and made Belinda look like a goddamn superwoman. He spends most of the journey thinking about you. It follows him home all the way up until he closes his eyes.
Suddenly work isn't so bad. He looks forward to seeing you tomorrow.
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queen-of-the-avengers · 8 months
Text
Knight in Shining Motorcycle: Part Two
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader
Word Count: ~2.7k
Warnings: feeling rejected and heartbroken, going on yet another bad date, belittling wait staff (by the date), fluff at the end
Summary: It's been a month since the incident with Jackson. It's been a month since you felt Bucky's arms around you. It's been a month and he hasn't said one word about it, and seems like he's gone back to his usual ways. It's time for you to move but why can't you?
read part one here: Knight in Shining Motorcycle
Squares Filled: seeking comfort in best friend (2020) for @star-spangled-bingo
Author’s Note: any and all comments are appreciated <3
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It’s been a month since you and Bucky shared a bed. It’s been a month since he saved you from that disastrous date with Jackson. It’s been a month since you felt his arms around you, and you haven’t felt them since. It’s like after that night, Bucky went back to his normal ways of fucking a new girl every week. He refuses to think about that night, talk about that night, and acknowledge that it even happened.
Sometimes, he’d bring two girls back to the apartment for a very long night of you wanting to kill yourself from the noises you’d hear. You don’t get it. You thought you two had something. Were you just a means to an end? Another girl to get into his bed even though you never did anything other than sleep? Another notch in his belt?
The only person you can find comfort in is your best friend and Bucky’s sister, Mia. She’s the only one who will hear you complain about him because everyone does it. All of her friends who have gotten involved with Bucky have complained to her about how he didn’t treat them right or they caught feelings but he tossed them aside like they meant nothing.
However, this time it’s different. It’s the way you talk about Bucky or the way she sees him with other girls that makes her think there is something more to this than meets the eye.
“He hasn’t said anything to you?” you ask and fiddle with your cappuccino.
“No, sorry, hun.”
“I should move out. I don’t know where I’d go.”
“I wish I could say you can stay with me. Ty and I just converted the spare bedroom into our home office.”
“I know. I appreciate the offer. I have a little money saved but I have to tough it out until I get enough to afford something small.”
“Ty’s sister is a real estate agent. I can give her your number and she can try and help you out.”
“Yeah, maybe. I’m still trying to figure things out.”
“Hey, can Ty and I borrow your car this weekend? Ours is in the shop and we planned a romantic weekend up north.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll drop it off the night before.”
“Thanks!”
You take a sip from your coffee and hear a motorcycle in the distance. You’d recognize that bike anywhere. Bucky pulls up near the cafe where you and Mia are and parks on the side of the road. He has a girl on the back of his bike that he no doubt met that day. Right in front of him is some fancy clothing store she wanted to go to. She gets off the bike, removes her helmet, and leaves him on the bike to go inside the store alone.
Bucky looks in your general direction but with his helmet on, it’s hard to determine exactly what he is looking at. Still, that doesn’t stop the glare you’re giving him.
“Just ignore him,” Mia says and pops a doughnut hole into her mouth.
“Easier said than done,” you mutter and look away from him. “That next morning, he acted like nothing happened. I figured he didn’t want to talk about it. Then a couple of days passed and he still didn’t mention it. Weeks went by and now I know he’s doing this to me on purpose. He’s being an ass.”
Bucky gets off his bike and takes off his helmet to get some fresh air, and he leans against the side of it effortlessly. If you were to do that, you’d surely knock the bike over. He waits for his fuck buddy to come out of the store, and she bounces over to him with a bag in hand. She wraps her arms around his neck and he pulls her in for a kiss.
It’s the kind of kiss that is meant for the bedroom but also the kind of kiss you want to show off to someone. You can’t be here anymore.
“I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”
You get up and toss some bills onto the table for your drink and leave in the opposite direction of Bucky and his new toy.
Bucky pulls away from the girl and looks over to where you and Mia are. When he doesn’t see you, he looks around for you only to see your retreating figure. He feels like shit for doing that. He absentmindedly rubs the knuckles that hold small scars from when he beat Jackson up for what he did to you.
You take the entire day to walk around town and be by yourself, so when you get home it’s already dark. Bucky is in the kitchen cooking something when you put your keys in the bowl by the front door. You round the corner and see him cooking something with only a towel wrapped around his waist as if he just got out of the shower. However, there isn’t any water on his body.
“Grab it while it’s hot,” he says.
“Really? You’re cooking in a towel? You couldn’t have gotten dressed first?”
He opens his mouth to reply but someone speaks from his bedroom that interrupts him.
“Bucky, where are you? I’m getting lonely.”
Bucky doesn’t feel guilty that he has a girl over. He feels guilty that you caught him. He sees the heartbroken look in your eyes that makes him want to shoot himself.
“Thanks for the offer but I’m not hungry. I’m sleeping over at Mia’s tonight.”
He lets you walk away.
The weekend comes quicker than you’d like. Without a car, you’re stuck in the apartment, and you’re not about to ask Bucky for a ride on his motorcycle. You’re stuck in your room on your phone when you get a message from Mia.
Hey, I know you didn’t ask for this but I hooked you up with someone Ty knows. He’s super nice!
like a blind date?
Yeah. I can tell him you’re not interested. I figured this is your chance to get over my brother.
yeah, i can try. where is the date?
At the new bar that just opened next to the cafe. His name is Travis. I told him 7 tonight.
okay. thank you. i’ll let you know how it goes.
Seven is three hours away, so you better get ready now. After taking a shower, you look in your closet for something to wear and come across the dress you wore for your date with Jackson. You haven’t worn it since because of the memories attached to it. Not memories of Jackson, memories of Bucky. Next to that dress is Bucky’s leather jacket he told you to keep. Like the dress, you haven’t worn it since and you’re sure as hell not going to wear it now.
There is a floral print dress that goes down to your ankles. It’s off the shoulders with long sleeves down to your wrists that bunches so the sleeves look flowy instead of compressed. The entire dress is flowy and light, perfect for a blind date. The match, you have chunky white wedges that give you a few extra inches. You keep your makeup light, hair down in soft waves, and jewelry that compliments the dress.
You leave your room and look at Bucky’s closed door. He’s been spending a lot of time in his room this past week with girls he picks up from anywhere. The only reason you’re telling him where you’re going is because you live with him. If you don’t, he’ll send an army to go look for you. There are noises and giggling coming from inside the room but when you knock, they cease.
One minute later, the door opens a crack and Bucky stands there with messy hair and sweats on.
“I’m going out. Don’t wait up for me.”
Bucky takes a moment to look at the outfit you’ve chosen and his demeanour changes immediately.
“Where are you going?”
“I have a date.”
“You don’t have a car.”
“I’ll Uber. Have fun with your girlfriend.”
You leave before he has a chance to say anything else. It takes the Uber ten minutes to get to you and another thirty minutes to get to the restaurant. Mia sent you a picture of what the man looks like but it was grainy and unclear. You step out with your phone in hand while looking around for Travis.
“Y/N?”
You turn to see an attractive man wearing a nice suit. You look at the picture once more to confirm it’s Travis, which it is.
“You must be Travis,” you chuckle nervously.
“Yeah. Wow, Mia sent me your picture but nothing compares to real life. You’re beautiful.”
“Thank you,” you blush.
“I made us a reservation. Shall we go inside?”
“After you.”
You two walk inside, get your table, order, and start chatting about your lives. Travis is a bit boring when it comes to having adventures. Unlike you. You can write a book about the adventures you’ve been on because you have Bucky as a roommate. When he’s not fucking some random girl, he’s actually pretty cool to hang out with. You two have been everywhere in town doing all sorts of things.
“So, what do you do for work?” Travis asks and sips his drink.
“Uh, I am an IT specialist who works from home. I get calls daily on how to fix computers and other tech-related stuff. It pays well and I get to stay home, so that’s a bonus.”
“That’s awesome. I’m terrible when it comes to computers.”
“What do you do?”
“I am a financial manager. Like you, it pays well but I’m stuck in meetings and in the office all the time.”
“Have you always wanted to work in the financial world?”
The waitress comes by with your food and sets the plates in front of you and Travis. You think she’s going to walk away and you can continue your conversation with Travis, but that’s not what happens.
“Am I supposed to be impressed with this?” he asks angrily.
“Excuse me?” the waitress stutters.
“I don’t even have to touch this to know it’s cold. Do I have to go back there and tell you how to do your damn job?” 
Your mouth opens in embarrassment and shock.
“I’m sorry, sir. I’ll take this back right now and have it fixed.”
The waitress grabs the plate without looking at you and leaves immediately. Poor thing looks like she is going to cry. Travis shakes his head and turns back to you as if this never happened.
“So, anyway, I went to business school and all that, but it’s nice to get out of the office every once in a while, you know?”
You have no idea what to say. Mistreating waitstaff is an immediate turn off. Everything attractive about this man suddenly turns sour. You’re lucky you saw this early on instead of at the end of the date.
“I’m sorry, I have to use the ladies room. I’ll be right back.”
“Oh, sure.”
You take everything you own with you because you’re not coming back to this table. You make it seem like you’re going to the bathroom in case he’s watching but once your table is out of sight, you find the first waitress you see which so happens to be yours.
“Hey, I am so sorry about the way he spoke to you like that. I don’t even know him. My best friend set me up. Listen, I gotta get out of here but the table we’re at is by the door. Is there a back entrance I can use?”
“Yeah, I got you. He gave me the ick as soon as I saw him,” she shutters. “Follow me.” She takes you through the kitchen and the back door that they use when they go on breaks. “Good luck.”
“Oh, and don’t be afraid to spit in his food.”
“Trust me, the cook’s all over it.”
You walk through the small alley next to the bar to the main street. You take out your phone to call an Uber, but luck has it so that you don’t have any service. You try moving the phone around, even walking down to the street light, but nothing comes up.
“Damn it,” you mutter.
You can’t call Mia. You can’t use your car because she has it. The only person you know is Bucky. Should you call him? He’s probably frolicking with that woman still. Even if you were to call him, he’d probably hate you for ruining his date. The only other option is to walk home even though it took thirty minutes to get here by car.
The road stretches through the mountain briefly which you don’t want to walk through but what else are you gonna do? If you can’t get service in a busy restaurant area, there is no way you’re gonna get service in the mountains. The walk gives you time to think about your life. You have a good job that pays well but you can’t keep living with Bucky if it means seeing him with all these women. You have a major thing for him and it kills you to know you’re not the one he’s going home with.
Ten minutes go by until you hear the unmistakable sound of a motorcycle. It races past you without a second thought, screeches to a stop, turns around, and slowly creeps up behind you. You don’t have to see who it is to know who it is. Bucky pulls up next to you and walks the bike to keep up with your pace.
“Get on the bike.”
“No, I’ll walk. Thanks.”
“Don’t be difficult, Y/N. Get on the bike.”
“How the hell did you even find me?”
“I asked Mia. She told me the guy you were on a date with. I looked him up, and he posted to his Facebook about how his date ditched him, and all women are beneath him. He’s a fucking loser. I mean, he still uses Facebook,” he chuckles. “I figured you were out here somewhere.”
“Stop stalking me,” you roll your eyes. “I’ll meet you at home.”
“Get on the damn bike.”
“No!” Bucky revs his engine and surges forward, parking right in front of you to prevent you from going further. You try to go around him but he moves his bike in your path. “Why the hell do you care about me? You’ve proven I mean nothing to you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” he asks and gets off his bike.
“You fucking know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, then you’re not worth my time.” You try pushing past him to continue your walk but he grabs your arm to prevent you from doing so. You quickly turn and slap his face. The shock is enough for him to let go of you. “Don’t fucking touch me. The last time you touched me, you left and never spoke of it again. Just go, please. You have a girl waiting for you at home. Just go to her.”
“I can’t!”
“Why not?!”
“Because she’s not you!” he yells loudly.
“Do better,” you scoff.
“Fuck,” he mumbles to himself. “I love you!” You pause to take in the information. “I can’t get you out of my fucking head. I’ve been trying all month to get you out of my head. None of the girls I’ve brought home have ever stuck because they’re not you. Being with you that one night has been better than anything I’ve done all fucking month.”
“Then why did you let me walk away?” you ask in a heartbreaking tone.
“Because I’m an idiot. Because you’re the realest thing I’ve ever had, and I didn’t want to fuck it up.”
Silence befalls the two of you, and you look around the desolate road.
“So, what are you gonna do about it?”
More silence. Bucky takes three big steps to get to you, grabs your waist with one hand, slides his other into your hair, and kisses you like he was supposed to a month ago. His lips fit so perfectly against your own like they belong there. You’ve pictured this moment in so many different ways, but this is not on your list.
“Are we really doing this?” you ask when he pulls away.
“Do you want to?” You nod with a smile. “You’re my girl now.”
“No more other women.”
“I’ve got the one I want.”
He leans down and kisses you again, this time, making your head soar to new places.
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x
Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)
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le-trash-prince · 4 months
Text
Dean & Kenta
So I am obsessed with the parallels between these two scenes in Episode 10, and I’d like to break it down a bit.
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Here we have two characters who have failed their father figures due to their involvement with Charlie's accident. These conversations both begin with physical blows.
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Both Kenta and Dean deny that they intended for Charlie to die.
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Tony tells Kenta not to bother coming back if he messes up again (I interpret this as a veiled death threat—does Tony ever let people just walk away?). And Alan asks North to call the police on Dean. Both Kenta and Dean are each facing exile from their families.
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There is, however, a contrast in the setting for these conversations. Tony and Kenta are at Tony's house, which we know is full of people. They are even out in the open, rather than in Tony's office. But they are completely isolated, as is the standard for this home. They are standing on a black walkway with a black doorway behind them.
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Alan and Dean, on the other hand, are surrounded by the X-Hunter team, by people who are directly affected by what is happening. Even though it is just the two of them talking to each other, North is literally right there with them. They are standing in a beam of light with a bright window behind them.
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I think there is a lot to be said about the connection these scenes draw between Tony and Alan, although I'm not equipped to comment on parenting styles (I welcome any input). But I don't think any other part of the series has drawn such a clear comparison between these two and the roles they are trying to fill. Their emotional reactions speak a lot to the difference in their character. While both are angry, Tony is filled with entitlement—his finances have been damaged by Charlie’s, while Alan is filled with grief—his family has been broken.
One thing I’d also like to highlight is Alan’s constant use of the word “family” towards his employees throughout the entire show (I know this can be problematic irl sometimes, but it’s quite apparent here that Alan really thought of them as his family), while that word seems to be entirely missing from Tony’s vocabulary, even though these people are legally his children. X-Hunter is Alan’s family, while the Chen Foundation orphans are Tony’s property.
Family is a recurring theme in Pit Babe (insert Fast & Furious reference here), and these scenes do a great job of showing contrasting perspectives on family. "Family is not everyone's safe zone." Family can hurt, family can heal, and family can fail you.
In the end, as seen below, Tony quite literally throws Kenta away from him, while Alan lets Dean slip from his embrace.
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Kenta ends the scene framed almost completely by black, but his face is bathed in light, and he is standing upright, while Dean is the opposite; he is on his knees, bracketed by light, his face entirely in shadow.
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I also find it interesting how much this dialogue of Dean's feels like it could have come directly from Kenta himself.
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To me, Kenta and Dean are on very similar trajectories, but moving in opposite directions. They have both been background characters, observers in someone else's story, and they're both unhappy with where they are.
Dean was revealed in his scene to be a traitor to his people, and I think Kenta’s scene is showing us that he is in the same position—without coming out and saying it directly. In my opinion, it’s some very nice visual storytelling that’s doing a great job of building up what is coming for Kenta’s arc.
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jocelynscrazyideas · 12 days
Text
Just friends? pt. 2 | Matt Rempe x Reader
pt. 1
Summary: making your way up to your dream job was difficult, but leaving it may be harder that ever.
Warnings: language, small portion of smut, eating, THE NOTEBOOK IS MENTIONED😛🥲
A:N- it’s really short but yuhh
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
It’s been a good month of dating my bestfriend. I’m just scared that if anything goes wrong, that we wouldn’t be the same.
I’ve understood that when or I should say, If we breakup, we of course won’t be friends, but I wnat to talk. Keep up in life. Support him.
Matt has made it clear that it’s me, and only me. I know, dating an nhl player will be hard, because there is always someone out there thinking your boyfriend is cute.
“Dumper?” Matt calls out for me. I’m getting ready in his bathroom. Today, it’s the first day in off season. The rangers had won the third round of playoffs, but we didn’t make it to the end.
You might be wondering why Matt calls me dumper. It’s a long story, taht im glad to walks down with you.
~memory~
“Matt!” I groan as he thrusts into one last time. He releases into me, I feel I’m going to cum as well.
“You cum dump.” Matt laughs out. He cleans us up, and stands up to throw the tissues he used to clean up away. “I do not!” I yell out, I know I do. It makes sense to me.
Why would I cum in like five different times if I feel I’m going to release at one time?
Matt comes down onto me and kissed me from my knee up. He hits my neck and sucks down until I feel nothing.
“Nice hickey.” He chirps at me.
“Oh yeah? I wonder wher i hit it from.” I sarcastically joke with him. He gets hurts from that and lays down on my bare chest.
His brown hair all over.
It’s dark. Bedroom lights are off and the only thing lighting the house is the stars.
He cuddles into me for a few hours while I talk and yap about school, and when I should get my job.
~
“Where are you?” Matt yells for me.
“Bathroom! I have the interview today!” I let Matt know that I’m fully booked, and don’t have time for him.
“Well can we watch a movie tonight? Play some uno!” Matt asked me as he walks into the bathroom. His warm chest connects like a puzzle into my back. He leans into me and kissed my neck. He lays his fluffy hair into the crook of my neck. “I love you.” Matt whispers into my ear.
“Three months.” I say. I pushed him off my shoulder and cussed at him.
“Hey shithwsd?” I laugh at him.
“Hm?” Matt moans in his sleepy voice.
“Go shower. I’ll drive you down to the office.” I follow up. Matt has locker clean out today, many last minute interviews and press conferences.
~
I dropped Matt off at the arena and sat in my car.
Maybe he’s the one for me. The one guy that I won’t mess up with.
~
“Hey baby! How was the interview?” Matt asked me as I walk into the kitchen. Matt is cooking us some dinner and I set my purse down. I fall on the couch.
“That bad?” Matt questioned.
I felt my heart drop. How do I tell him, “No it was good… it’s the fact they don’t have an official employment spot for me here in New York. If I took the job, I would have to move to Wyoming.”
Yeah, no.
“Um, it went pretty well.” I replied, my high pitched cracky voice squeaked out. I think Matt knows I’m stressed. I’m sure I have actual sweat droplets swimming down in my face.
“You’re lying.” Matt looked down at me. He standing above me form the couch.
“No im not.” I laugh out. I stand up and dance with him back to the kitchen.
“Oh my love. My little baby.” I say as I rest my head into his chest. He smiles down at me and he picks me up.
“Give me.” Matt gestured to my foot as he set me down on the counter top.
I eye the stove that he left on. “What are we eating tonight?” I ask him. I try to distract myself.
God. Maybe I shouldn’t take the job.
He looks back at the side over his shoulder, and continues to take off my left shoe. My right foot is hanging and I kick him.
“Oh, uh I made some eggs, just so we could eat some toast and eggs. I was lazy, sorry.” Matt explained. He turned red in embarrassment.
“No. It’s perfect.” It’s the little things. I have to take things into consideration, not just the fact he does big gestures. He does this small thing that matters to me. Like, cooking dinner every night. Or just listening to me talk. Even if he doesn’t care, or deep down isn’t listening, he still looks like he cares.
Matt smirked and he dropped my left foot, only to un tie my right shoe. Once he finished he picked me up and kissed me. “What movie?” Matt asked me as I sit in our couch.
He plates everything into a large bowl and hands me a few slices of apples. “You’d be such a great dad.” I muttered.
“I’m sorry. A father?!” Matt exclaimed. He looks me up and down, smirking. Teeth out. His eyes look at me, I feel him leaving closer.
He grips onto a blanket as he sits down on the couch right beside me.
He turns the TV on to play the notebook.
~
I cried at the en of the movie. Matt holds me as he sleeps in my arms. He snores and he shakes as I weep and cry.
Matt looks up as his head rested on my breasts. “Are you okay? Why are you crying?” Matt mumbled. He rubs his eyes once he kissed my left boob.
He gets up and puts out dishes away. He cleans up the couch, and picks me up. “The movie that sad?” Matt asked me. I understand this season was hard so I let him sleep during the movie.
“You’ve never watched The Notevook?” I inferred, I look outside our window and Matt sets me down.
“I have, but I always fall asleep.” He looks at me and he pulls his clothes off. He’s left in his under set and I do the same. I unclamp my bra and lay in bed. I slide my panties off and lick them to the floor.
Matt fliers with me and he tightens his arms around me.
“I love you.” Matt reminded me, for the hundredth time.
“I have to move, if I take the job.” I let out.
Matt loosens his grip and he breaths in. “So take the job.” He said.
“It’s hard, but we can always fly out together.” Matt implied. We lay in bed. Not thinking about anything, well other than the fact I could leave.
Right when life gets good.
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sapphire-weapon · 3 months
Text
So. Here's my thing.
In OG, Cloud couldn't have killed Sephiroth without Rufus. Rufus's call to move the cannon from Junon to Midgar -- as well as his relentless fight against Sephiroth and the Weapons -- resulted in the destruction of the barrier around the North Crater.
And in Advent Children, even though there is no more Shinra, Rufus still has the Turks recover Jenova's head -- which Rufus himself keeps safe on his person, until he personally destroys it.
In the novella The Kids Are Alright (written by Kazushige Nojima, who's writing the remake series), Rufus says:
"My father [...] invested most of [the immense fortune and power he'd gained] into new fields – on a massive scale, and without ethics. And one of those was the research of, and experimentation on, Jenova. Eventually this gave birth to a monster named Sephiroth. [...] My father took his leave from this stage early on, abandoning those of us left behind to suffer the nightmares in his wake. I am not my father. I will bring it to an end, once and for all."
Rufus is a real threat to Sephiroth.
That's why, at the end of Remake, the Whispers make it a point to draw Rufus's attention to the highway so that he can see the bullshittery going on around Sephiroth so that he focuses on that instead of getting lost in the political sauce.
And so when Rufus says during the ending of Rebirth: "I'm onto you. This war's nothing but a ploy to distract me from Sephiroth." and Sephiroth cops to it, this is an acknowledgement of that threat.
So, like. Rufus's motivations are not unclear to me. He used the name Sarruf, funded the Wutai resistance in order to depose his father, and then, once he was in office, saw the existential threat that Sephiroth posed and shifted his attention to that -- partially because he feels a responsibility to as the president of the fucking world, and partially just as a "fuck you" to his dad.
So why not just kill him? Why distract him with a war when you could just fucking kill him?
It made sense why Kadaj never killed Rufus in AC -- he wanted Jenova's head, and Rufus was the only one who knew where it was, so Kadaj couldn't just kill him outright.
But that's not an issue here. So why doesn't Sephiroth just kill him?
This is where the whole "multiverse" meta aspect of the plot completely fucking breaks down, because like -- it's framed, during that ending scene, that Sephiroth is keeping Rufus alive because he believes that Rufus will actually lead him to the promised land, but like
Not only is that weird because, in OG, it's the other way around, and Rufus follows Sephiroth thinking that he'll lead him to the promised land -- but it's weird because Sephiroth's clearly been peeking at the OG script, and he follows Aeris through realities and tells her to accept her fate because he knows she has to die because that's what the OG script says, but like
In that case, wouldn't he also know that the promised land doesn't really exist and/or is either the North Crater or Midgar it's not really clear?
And how the fuck is a war with Wutai going to allow Rufus to stumble on the promised land? He'll be busy fighting a war.
And how the fuck is he going to fight that war in the first place?! HE'S THE HEAD OF THE ARMY OF BOTH SIDES
AND SEPHIROTH KNOWS THIS
Like, I don't understand Sephiroth's motivations here at all. They don't make any fucking sense when you actually sit down and think about them a little bit (as opposed to not at all).
Is he trolling? Is that it? Is Sephiroth just being a big old fucking troll? Doing it for the lulz? Got a nice taste of Rufus's despair when he got infected with Geostigma and was like "mmm delicious daddy issues I wanna go back in time and taste that again"???
It's very stupid. It's very dumb.
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taeyegu · 1 year
Text
introduce me a good person — 014. the light
previous // next
word count — 839
warning(s) — wonwoo fainting lmao
by the time y/n finally arrived to wonwoo's office (thirty-five minutes late by the way), she finds wonwoo curled up into a shivering ball on his couch in front of his desk.
"wonwoo?" y/n's soft voice startled wonwoo and despite his messy appearance from almost having a mental breakdown at the thought of y/n ditching him, he got up to allow his friend in and to shut the door of his office.
"y/n, h-how are you?" wonwoo wanted the ground to swallow him up... it's been almost a few weeks since you've seen her and the most he can muster up is 'how are you'?
he was grateful to see her smile, "well i just got out of a five hour surgery if that gives you a hint." she giggled, "and by the way, i'm sorry for keeping you waiting, i wanted to freshen up a little bit before i saw you." the softness in her voice almost made wonwoo melt.
"no problem! i was fine!" his awkward smile totally gave everything away but y/n didn't bother to say anything. she was probably just as nervous as he was.
the two friends sat down across from each other. wonwoo took a deep breath to ready himself for this conversation. despite them being friends for a majority of their lives, this was probably one of the hardest conversations wonwoo was about to partake in. even his med school interviews cower in the face of wonwoo having to actually talk about his feelings in front of the person he's been in love with since he could remember.
"i'm sorry." the both of them announced at the same time.
"what? why are you apologizing y/n?" wonwoo was puzzled, "i should be apologizing, i was acting stupid this entire time."
"i know!" y/n laughed, "but i was being stupid too and i was basically egging on soonyoung, jun, and jihoon to help me." y/n startled twirling the ends of her hair. it was a habit she had picked up during their med school rotations as a way to help soothe her whenever she was nervous. however since they started their job at svt hospital, she decided to cut her hair shorter to keep herself from fiddling.
"joshua and i are just friends. i don't know whatever plan the three stooges put up but joshua and i are just friends wonwoo."
a huge weight lifted off his shoulders because honestly if this was going to be another unrequited love situation, wonwoo was honestly going to probably move to live at the north pole and wallow away in his sadness.
"oh thank god." he couldn't even hold that comment in, "y/n, i'm not the best at timing but you should know i've been in love with you for as long as i can remember." his deep voice tinted y/n's cheeks pink. "i thought i was always content with just being in your life but when i found out sejun was cheating on you, i couldn't control myself. i know you deserve the best... even if the best isn't with me."
before wonwoo could continue with his speech that he spent the last two days rehearsing in his room, y/n interrupted him.
"wonwoo you are the best for me." it was wonwoo's time to sit there stunned, "i liked you since college but sejun always told me that you only saw me as a friend and i just believed him since you two were friends/roommates--"
"i hated that guy with all my guts y/n, he makes me sick!" wonwoo interjected like a child.
"i realize that now..." a small sigh left y/n. "even though the timing for us is a little off, at least we're here now."
"that's all i could ever ask y/n." wonwoo reached across the coffee table to grab her hands. "but before we continue with anything else, i also wanted to apologize. i was being stupid and irrational. i hurt you and our friends and i'm so sorry."
y/n's soft hands covered his in a reassuring way. "i know i'm emotionally constipated but i'm working on it. i'm bettering myself for myself and hopefully for you too y/n."
"you don't have to better yourself for me wonwoo." y/n's gentle voice comforted him, "i love you just the way you are."
"i know but-- wait what?!"
"hm? did something happen?" y/n questioned, genuinely confused as his reaction.
"y-you just said that you l-love me..." wonwoo barely whispers.
y/n nodded confidently. "yes i did." she smiled, "you said you love me too!"
wonwoo felt his head spinning again. the love of his life knows that he loves her? it's not the end of the world but when did he confess? isn't love too serious right now? oh god why is he seeing the light right now.
and the last thing wonwoo hears is y/n's shocked voice calling out his name as he passes out on his couch.
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eveomo · 5 days
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bounties and blessings - arthur morgan x f!reader
chapter 1 (SFW, will probably be edited in the future)
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⋆ ˚。⋆౨ৎ˚ synopsis : after meeting a seemingly dangerous yet kind outlaw during a bounty, your world seems to get turned upside down after you can't seem to stop running into each other. could this be the beginning of something you've both been longing for?
⋆ ˚。⋆౨ৎ˚ warnings/tags : MINORS MAY INTERACT WITH SFW CHAPTERS (NSFW WILL BE TAGGED), depictions of violence, arguments, angst, eventual smut, unprotected piv sex, guns, gun violence, swearing, mutual pining, strangers to lovers, soft arthur, animal death, PTSD, mentions/depictions of abuse, attempted SA (very brief and for plot purposes only), NO PREGNANCY, NO BABIES, MC isnt a frail weak girl who constantly needs saving, often grammatically incorrect (probably)
⋆ ˚。⋆౨ৎ˚ contains : arthur morgan x f!reader, no use of y/n, reader changes the plot for the better
⋆ ˚。⋆౨ৎ˚ wc : 1.9k
posted to AO3 here
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It was a blazing summer day, sweat collecting along the brim of your hat as you rode your palomino arabian into Valentine, slowly making your way to the sheriff's office. As you approach the front of the decrepit building, you swing your foot over the saddle and dismount, grabbing the reins to hitch your horse. 
You pulled your bandana up a touch higher and pulled your hat down to cover your eyes before entering the building. Approaching the board, you scan for any bounties that would truly be worth your while. Then, your eyes caught a poster. 
$75 for some idiot that decided to shoot a rancher's son and a lawman for one cow? Easy money. Was it the biggest bounty you’d ever done? Absolutely not, but it offered more money than anything else pinned to the board. You tore it down and folded it before shoving it into your pocket and nodding at the guard seated at the front of the office. Turning on your heel, you exited the building and mounted your horse. 
          “You ready for some fun girl?” Patting her golden coat, you clicked your tongue and tapped your heels to get her moving. As you rode, you reached back to grab your canteen, guzzling down at least half of it with your horse huffing underneath you. 
          “It’s hot ain’t it, Lenora?” You soothed, petting her mane as you kicked your heels once again to get her into a gallop, welcoming the breeze on your face as you rode. Turning off the path, you began to wind and turn throughout the forest, seeking the abandoned cabin the man you were after was hiding in. Your heart skipped a beat as you spotted it in the distance, excited to have some income once again after having to run from the law after a bar fight gone wrong in another town. Having finally arrived at your destination just north of the Dakota River, you dismount and leave Lenora in the brush, sighing as you pull your bandana over your face and retrieve the lasso attached to your black leather saddle. 
Taking effortlessly light steps, you approach the back end of the cabin before hearing two other voices just west of your location. You crouch behind a broken down wagon sitting in the field surrounding the home as you take a deep breath and tune into the words drifting towards you through the wind. 
          “John, if you’re messin’ with me after last time I’ll give you a real reason to run from camp.” One gruff voice huffs out, while another insists that he saw something duck behind a wagon. Your eyes narrow and you peek your head around the wheel, deciding the coast was clear before darting out and crouching down below a window next to the back entrance. Confident that you were going to secure this bounty before unwanted competition appeared, you darted up to peek into the window, seeing your target shine his gun. Quietly, you edge the door open before taking light steps towards the balding man. With an incredible speed, you grab your revolver from your holster and knock the man unconscious with the grip. 
Letting out a pleased hum, you put your gun back in its holster and grab the lasso from your side and begin to secure him tightly. Before you can truly process the creaking of floorboards, you whip out your gun and turn around, pulling back the safety and pointing the barrel at the intruder's head. Unsurprisingly, the sight of a barrel pointing in between your eyes greeted you. 
         “‘Scuse me Miss, I don’t mean to be a bother but I think you’ve got some’n that belongs to me and my friend out there.” The man speaks first, a deep gruff voice with a clear southern drawl. You sized him up quickly, he was tall and broad, a blue button up with a brown leather jacket, a clearly very old hat concealing his head of hair, and a black bandana covering the rest of his face. Obviously another bounty hunter or an outlaw. 
Scoffing, you reply, “Clearly, Mister, this dope here is comin’ back with me. I knocked him out, I tied him up.” you emphasized, pointing behind you. Taking a step closer, you point the end of your gun closer to his head. “I’ve killed men much bigger than you for much less than this.” You watch his eyes narrow as he sizes you up, making you shudder. Admittedly, you were nervous. Somehow you had forgotten that there were others nearby, focusing on being quiet and quick rather than paying attention to your surroundings, and in front of you was a very large, clearly much stronger than you, man. 
          “Look, darlin’. You hand ‘em over, and the three of us can split it. Whatddya say?” One of his eyes squints while the other remains the same, revealing his hidden smirk. 
          “If you think you’re gonna intimidate me into splitting a $15 bounty, you’ve got me mistaken, sir.” Before he can think to answer, his friend calls out. 
         “Arthur! What’s taking so damn long in there? Thought’chu said it’d be empty!” As he looks to the side, you take his momentary distraction as an opportunity to pull a throwing knife from your thigh and dart around him, wrapping your arm around his throat and pulling him to the ground, disarming him and knocking his hat off in the process. He grunted with surprise as you pressed the blade to his jugular and leaned down to whisper in his ear. 
          “Here’s what’s gonna happen, Arthur. Unless you want to bleed out right here, yer gonna get up, walk out, and tell yer little friend that my friend over here-“ you nod your head to the direction of the still unconscious man laying tied up on the floor “-wasn’t here and y’all need to search for some other bounty. Whaddya say?” You drawl, mocking him for his earlier offer. He chuckles lightly before removing his instinctive grip from your arms and raising his in front of him in defeat. 
          “Alright, girl. You got me, okay? We’ll be outta yer hair now.” He grunts as you remove your vice grip from his throat and sheath your knife back into its strap, allowing him to stand. He picked his hat back up and placed it on his head, and then retrieved his revolver from across the room. As he did so, you heaved the large, unconscious man over your shoulder with a grunt and gestured for the outlaw to leave first. 
         “Damn girl, you are one strong lady.” Arthur comments with a laugh, shaking his head as he walks out with his hands up in an attempt to make you trust him. You roll your eyes and watch as he takes a step to leave before stopping. You raise a brow and sigh frustratedly. This wasn’t your first time fighting over a bounty, but the result of this particular conflict left your hands clean and your mind confused. 
          “What are ya doin? Git!” Your free hand falls down to your side, hovering over your gun holster, shooting a heated look in the outlaws direction. 
He scoffed before answering, “Would you relax? Was gonna ask if you was all alone out here.” 
You laughed and shook your head.
“Why on earth would I tell you that?” You’re not stupid, you know he could’ve killed you if he had wanted to, but he didn't. It’s not that you aren’t strong, in fact you were very strong,  but when you had him on the ground it wasn't hard to tell how abnormally strong he was. It would’ve taken nothing to pull your arm away and either stab or shoot you, but he didn’t. Why?
          “I dunno, maybe you’re lonely out here. You’re clearly strong,” he chuckles when he says this, gesturing to the man on the floor behind you, “but it ain’t very safe for a lady out in these parts.” He shrugged, seemingly trying to figure out why he even asked in the first place. He didn’t seem the type to care all that much about the going ons in other people’s lives, in fact he seemed like he would otherwise be guarded and closed off. 
        “I ain’t no lady, sir. I’ve done a lot of very bad things to a lot of people. Good and bad.” You shook your head, and continued. “It ain’t very safe for anyone out in these parts. Everyone robbin’, killin’, shootin’, I ain’t the only one that has to look out for myself.” With a sigh, you place your gun back in your holster. ‘Is this guy leaving soon or what?’ you think to yourself. He seems to think about what you’re saying for a minute, pulling down his bandana to scratch at his stubble. And oh, oh god. He’s hot. So hot you swear the colour drained from your face and immediately came back as a bright red. Your breath hitches in your throat and you clear your throat.
         “Well, I s’pose that’s true. Bye now, ma’am.” He speaks, snapping you out of your brief trance. You watch as he leaves, nodding at you as the door shuts behind him. You wait about 2 minutes to see if ‘Arthur’ and his friend ‘John’ would re-enter the small cabin, guns drawn. However, they didn’t, and so you secure the unconscious man onto the back of your Arabian, and leave.
𐂂
Truthfully, Arthur didn’t want to hurt a woman, whether she was pointing a gun at him or not. He could tell that she was bluffing the moment he unholstered his gun and pointed it right back at her, too clear that she wouldn’t have shot him unless he tried to hurt her. This worried him, why isn’t her first instinct to kill an intruder, especially a male intruder? Besides this, the gang could use someone who was strong, capable, and actually stealthy. You would be perfect for late-night stagecoach robberies, silently slinking into barns while someone else distracted the homeowner. Even if this was true, he knew Mrs. Grimshaw would be quick to make you clean laundry and chop vegetables. 
“Arthur! Are you even listening to me?” John speaks, interrupting his thoughts. 
“No.” Arthur replies cheekily, looking at John under the brim of his hat. He wasn’t listening, how could he? He had just missed an incredible opportunity to bring someone useful to the camp, and he didn’t. 
“I was asking what happened with that bounty, asshole.” John scoffed, riding alongside Arthur on their way back to camp, $50 sitting in each of their pockets from a couple street robberies. 
Arthur sighed before speaking, “There was a girl, she got to him first.”
“And you just left? Let her take him?” Astounded, John shakes his head and picks up his pace. “What is happenin’ to you, Arthur Morgan? Lettin’ some girl take our bounty?” 
“What’d you want me to do John, shoot ‘er? Dutch told us to keep a low profile, not to go around killin’ young girls for a $75 bounty.” He scoffed, hearing voices appear in the distance and the rather unappetizing scent of Pearson's stew. Whatever John said next, he didn’t hear.   Arthur hitched his horse and strode over to the collection box, giving $30 and keeping $20 before retreating to his tent and bedroll for the night. He kicked off his boots and sat down, retrieving his journal from his messenger bag to write about his day. He pondered what to write about, but he already knew. 
He wanted to write about you. 
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PLEEEEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS!!! i really struggle w accurately writing characters to how they are !!! if anything is corny/needs changes LET ME KNOW!! ok love u all hope u enjoyed!! chapter 2 should hopefully be out by next week<3
(also pls like + reblog ok thanks BAIIIII)
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thegildedbee · 9 days
Text
Family/Laugh: May 12 & 13 Prompts from @calaisreno
The exterior nowheres that Sherlock inhabits can be charted by his footfalls as he wends his way through the precincts of temporary cities. The silent drift of assimilating interior nowheres, however, seems to leave no traces, even as he feels unseen changes taking hold. His suspension in the January North of a darkness that persists until late morning, and then quickly returns in the afternoon, intensifies his perception that he lives in a shadow-world, a lone dark figure extracted from the frozen rain that curtains his days. 
The patterns he seeks to capture as he hunts amidst the ones and zeros of cyberspace are likewise intangible – extended solitary vigils as his fingers command the keyboard to winnow through the tangle of codes – as well as tangible, of meetings with the technological mix of people here at Tallinn’s crossroads: software developers seeking the leading edge at corporate labs, security experts at NATO’s Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, the underground hackers who traverse the landscape of the digital realm’s hollow earth. Both the intangible and the tangible are intense efforts to spy glimpses of Moriarty’s covert presence in the spaces between the ones and zeros, summoning up the networks and nodes of the intersecting spheres of finance, and energy, and communications, as made manifest in trafficking, and counterfeiting, and hijacking, across the physical and human worlds.
He’s accumulated an abundance of leads, some he’s near-certain he understands, and others he’s yet to decipher – but it’s enough to reveal to him his next move on the chessboard: St. Petersburg. He’ll take the train from Tallinn, without needing to step out for border control, which is handled en route. He’ll be leaving Estonia under a new identity; he hopes to keep Lukas Sigerson in his back pocket for later uses, but it’s time to make his presence difficult to trace: it's time to step away from Mycroft’s grid. He’s left seemingly inadvertent clues to allow Mycrofts’s people to (think that they’re) following him, along a pathway that connects the nefarious doings of Mexican cartels involved in establishing meth labs in Nigeria for the Asian market. Their pursuit of him will be turned to good account in dismantling that nexus, even when they realize he is elsewhere. 
St. Petersburg is a hive of hacking activity, the physical site of the infamous Russian Business Network, which catered to the needs of cyber criminals. It’s not surprising that it is the city where Vladimir Putin lived, received his education, and joined the KGB, as an agent in its foreign intelligence wing, before tunneling his way to Moscow. Sherlock doesn’t believe that there are many degrees of separation between Moriarty and the dark internet of Putin’s hellscape. 
He arrives at the end of Tallinn’s usefulness on a Friday evening. As he packs up his kit in the office space he’s made homebase through a courtesy loan in deference to his Norwegian technology credentials, some of the younger workers have swept him up into their murmurating flock as they celebrate the coming weekend in search of alcohol, bar food, and music. In London, Sherlock would have begged off such a request, were anyone intrepid enough to suggest it, and he would have been unperturbed at whatever anyone might think. But he’s not Sherlock, he’s Lukas, at least for a short while longer, and although his persona is reserved, businesslike and uninclined to make small talk, Lukas possesses an average quantity of affability; and remaining unobtrusive is best accomplished by being amidst the motions of others, rather than making himself conspicuous by setting himself off from the norms of sociality. 
He did not, however, anticipate the karaoke session, which is putting a severe strain on the bonhomie he is channeling to Lukas, as it’s clear that he’s going to need to accede to accepting a turn in the spotlight, lest he put a damper on the good spirits of his companions. He nevertheless protests with a smile, holding out his hands, but any input he might have been able to exert on the decision-making disappears, when two of his impromptu friends conspire to tug him toward the microphone, explaining that all three of them will venture forth together, with a song they insist is dead simple to sing, and that the well-lubricated crowd will be delighted to join in with them in belting out the familiar refrain. Which is how he finds himself being carried along within a punchy, melodic stream that turns out to be excruciating emotionally, as the verses unfurl. He listlessly despairs, marooned, a hollowed-out laugh echoing inside his head in response.
. . . When I'm lonely, well, I know I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you And when I'm dreamin', well, I know I'm gonna dream I'm gonna dream about the time when I'm with you. When I go out (when I go out), well, I know I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you And when I come home (when I come home), I know I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the man who comes back home with you I'm gonna be the man who's comin' home with you . . .
He’s exasperated at the universe conspiring to keep him unsettled, to deny him the solace of alone protecting him. He fears that he is fated to have any social contact whatsoever somehow conjure home and reminders of John. The song ends to raucous cheers, and the enthusiasm surges on, and he’s being importuned to name a new song of his own choice before being allowed to return to the table. He looks at the smiling faces helplessly, immobilized by the churning cacophony playing hide-and-seek inside his guts, incapable of conjuring up the simplest of answers. Undeterred, they jolly him along, prompting him to think of a film he’s recently seen, or club he’s been to, or a favorite television show. At the latter suggestion, his mind does slightly slip free, and there is John again, teasing Sherlock into watching another of his favorite shows, Sherlock pretending to be annoyed at being consigned to such a fate. He turns to the young people, and raises his voice to speak into the nearest person’s ear to be heard over the noisy crowd, and says with a question in his voice, Peaky Blinders? He seems to have pleased them, as they fiddle around to pull the selection, bouncing in high spirits and punching their fists into the air, as the music starts, a bell ringing out, and the slithering deep tones speaking of the edge of town, of secrets in the border fires, of a gathering storm -- and a tall handsome man, in a dusty black coat, with a red right hand. 
As Sherlock listens to the song unspool, his mind wanders back to the show's themes, reminding him of a line of thought he’d been considering the last few days – that to focus singularly on Moriarty and faceless confederates is not quite the right way to conceptualize the dead man's web: that there must have also been family members in leading positions, positions of trust. One of the deep divides between himself and Mycroft originated in Sherlock’s refusal in uni to agree to work for SIS. Mycroft knew that he would never be able to trust completely any of the professionals who worked for him – after all they are spies working for money. To be sure, he wanted Sherlock to sign on to be able to appropriate his intelligence, but even more compelling was the fact that never having to question the loyalty of a brother would have made him an asset par excellence. Mycroft considers getting what he wants to be an inviolable law of the universe, and Sherlock doesn't think his brother will ever be able to truly forgive him for the rejection . . . especially given Sherlock's devotion to the inferior endeavors of dedicating himself to a life of metropolitan crime-solving. Family; family is what matters. A Moriarty is gone; but there are other Moriarties yet to be unearthed. ........................................................ @calaisreno @totallysilvergirl @friday411 @peanitbear @original-welovethebeekeeper @helloliriels @a-victorian-girl @keirgreeneyes @starrla89 @naefelldaurk
@topsyturvy-turtely @lisbeth-kk @raina-at @jobooksncoffee @meetinginsamarra @solarmama-plantsareneat @bluebellofbakerstreet @dragonnan @safedistancefrombeingsmart @jolieblack
@msladysmith @ninasnakie @riversong912 @dapetty
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elisela · 10 months
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waking up + sterek pls and ty ilysm 🥹🥹🥰🥰
half my soul (as the poets say) sterek, long-distance relationship, au
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The first blush of dawn wakes him. Stiles isn’t used to an east facing room—his childhood bedroom was orientated to the north, his dorm to the west—and already it’s on his list of things to look for when he eventually moves. He needs to get blackout curtains or he’s never going to get a decent night’s sleep, but it’s been low on his priority list. 
He yanks the pillow next to his over his face and gropes for his phone on the nightstand. “Siri, call Derek,” he directs, voice scratchy. Calling is such a familiar motion that he could probably navigate the screen without looking at it, but the last thing he wants is to mess up and be forced to talk to someone else at 4:36 in the morning. 
“Jesus, I just fell asleep,” is how Derek answers the phone. There’s warmth in his tone when he adds, “go back to sleep, baby,” and Stiles grins sleepily into the pillow. 
“Kay,” he says, setting the phone on the mattress next to him and turning on his side. The pillow on his face blocks the light but even with Derek’s not-really-there presence, it still takes too long before he does.
“You’re up early,” Stiles says, tapping the speaker button before letting the phone rest on his thigh. 
“Out of coffee,” Derek grunts in response, a non-answer to the question Stiles hadn’t asked. 
“Poor babe,” he says, grinning as he taps at his keyboard to send the fifth email he’d composed in the seven minutes he’s been in the office. He’d had visions of being terrorized by senior staff and forced to do nothing but coffee runs for the first few weeks, but his boss had handed over access to his computer after the first day of orientation and Stiles had been killing it ever since. He moves two more emails into a folder labeled “Begging for Handouts”—he never said his boss was nice to others—and picks his phone back up. “Didn’t you just go to the store yesterday?”
“Yeah,” Derek says. He yawns, stuttering on the last sound, so familiar and ordinary that it makes Stiles’ heart ache.
“Forgot to put it on the list?”
“Forgot the list.” There’s a pause while Stiles navigates the app on his phone, adding a breakfast sandwich along with the coffee, then Derek speaks again. “It’s too quiet without you.”
He double-presses the side button to check out, then screenshots and sends it to Derek. He hates being gone. He hates even more that he’s having a pretty good time checking out their new city and getting their apartment ready while Derek is stuck back in California, finishing up his last few weeks of work and cleaning their old apartment out before their lease ends. “It’s just a few more weeks,” he says, bending down to fish his earphones out of his messenger bag. 
“Yeah,” Derek says, and then, “you didn’t have to do that.”
“Oh, I did,” he says. “You still need a good letter of reference, can’t have you biting everyone’s heads off at work because you’re not properly caffeinated.”
“Morning,” Stiles mutters in the general direction of the phone. Derek will hear it, he thinks. Maybe. It probably doesn’t matter if he doesn’t. “What are you and Laura doing today?”
“She insists I take her to La Palmera for the last time,” Derek says with a heavy sigh, and Stiles grins despite his exhaustion. They’ve gone to La Palmera—Laura’s favorite restaurant—for the “last time” five times now since he left. “You?”
Laying in bed all day, probably. The string of late-night work sessions have him feeling run-down, and the weariness makes him miss Derek. If he were home—
“I miss you,” he says, rolling his face into the t-shirt he’d flung on his bed the night before despite it no longer smelling like his boyfriend. His eyes burn and he blinks, trying to keep his breathing steady. 
“I can cancel with Laura,” Derek offers after a moment, and Stiles shakes his head before he’s even done with the sentence.
“It’s just a few more weeks,” he says, clutching the shirt a little closer. “Go have fun with your sister.”
He doesn’t make it out of bed until almost dinner.
Stiles wakes up slowly—a vague awareness of his dream floating away, light filtering in through the window—and then, once he registers the breathing, all at once.
Derek is in his bed.
He blinks.
Derek doesn’t disappear.
Derek’s arm gives slightly when he pokes it, pushing in towards his body, and sleepy eyes blink open. “Go back to sleep,” he says, voice sandpaper-rough.
“You’re here,” Stiles says, inanely. He doesn’t dare raise his voice over a whisper in case this really is a delusion and it breaks the spell. 
“Missed you.” Derek rolls over and Stiles finds himself being pulled in towards his warm chest, head fitting automatically in the curve of his neck. “Flew out last night, couldn’t wait anymore. Stuff’ll be here in a few days.”
The weight lifts from his chest and he feels like his breath comes freely for the first time all summer. “You didn’t tell me.”
“Last minute thing,” Derek says; Stiles can feel the way he frowns against his temple. “Sleep. Please. You can pretend to be mad at me in the morning.”
It is morning, he wants to say, but—Derek. In his bed. 
“Kay,” he says, and falls asleep before he can say anything more. 
still taking prompts if you want to send one!
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