#oc aanya reyes

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me (10/?)

EZ Reyes x OFC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @noz4a2: Ez & oc are married 2 years, Ez leaves on a run and while he’s gone oc gets into a bad car accident, she almost dies. Instead she is in a coma for 6 months. During that 6 month time Ez goes everyday or as much as he can, reads to her from her favorite book, etc. After 6 months she finally wakes up, but has retrograde amnesia & doesn’t know who Ez is or their life together. So he is determined to help her get her memory back and goes about wooing her again.

Warnings: 18+, we live and breathe melancholy in this fic

Word Count: 4.5k

A/N: She’s a bit of a longer chapter but think of it as my way of making up for the gaps between updates. 😅 I’ve had a couple of these scenes sketched out for a while now and I’m so excited to share them with you guys. Hope you enjoy! xo

Chapter Index

EZ Reyes/Remind Me Taglist: @ly--canthrope @queenbeered @sincerelyasomebody @beautifullboo @thesandbeneathmytoes @appropriate-writers-name @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @kelpies-shed @louisianalady @gemini0410 @paintballkid711 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @sesamepancakes @buckybarneshairpullingkink @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @plentyoffandoms @georgiaaintnopeach @twistnet @themoonandthewicked @garbinge @bucky-iss-bae @enjoy-the-destruction @encounterthepast @bport76 @rosieposie0624 @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @mijop @xladymacbethx @blessedboo @holl2712 @lakamaa12 @masterlistforimagines @lilah1903 @toni9 @shadow-of-wonder​ @crowfootwrites​ @redpoodlern​ @punkgoddess-98​ @black-repunzel99​ @lexondeck​ @fanfic-n-tabulous​ @amorestevens​ @angelreyesisdaddy04​ @mijagif​ @frattsparty​ @winchestershiresauce​ @bellisperennis0​ @beardburnsupersoldiers​ @mveggieburger​ @thanossexual​ @xeniarocks​ @choochoo284​ @littlekittymeow​ @beardsanddetectives​ @bruxasolta​ @i-love-scott-mccall​ @doritosandjellybeans​ @withmyteeth​ @flacalatke​ @samcrobae​ @langiinspirations​ @bigcreatorwombatdreamer​ (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, let me know!)

 EZ and Angel walked through the door a few hours later. Aanya watched them walk through the door before peeking out the kitchen window to look at the driveway. It was impossible not to notice that the only vehicles in the driveway were Felipe’s truck, and the van that Angel had shown up in, in the first place. She didn’t say anything at first, just continuing washing the pans that she’d used to make dinner while each of the Reyes brothers grabbed a beer out of the fridge.

When they each sat down at the table, Aanya dried off her hands and turned around to face them, “How’d it go?”

Angel sucked his teeth, shaking his head, “EZ didn’t like any of my suggestions.”

Aanya smiled, shaking her head, “He didn’t?”

“Angel was ready to get you the racing car that you asked for,” EZ laughed.

Aanya laughed, “And you didn’t let him?”

He shook his head, “No, I didn’t,” he took a sip of his beer, “We found a car. Just had to bring it to the yard to tune up a few things on it. Should be good to go in a couple days.”

“Okay,” there was a soft smile on her face, “Sounds good,” she paused, focusing on Angel, “Do you have time to stay for dinner? I made enough.”

Angel’s knee-jerk reaction was to say yes, knowing that Aanya had always been a good cook. But it still felt like he was intruding. She and EZ had hardly any time together, and it felt wrong to hang around when that was the case. Aanya seemed to be handling everything pretty well considering, but there was still hesitancy running around Angel’s mind.

He shook his head, “Nah, that’s alright. ‘Preciate it, querida, but I’ll let you two relax.”

“Angel?” she waited for him to look at her and she offered him a soft smile and a nod, “It’s okay.”

It blew his mind that she was able to stand there and say that so calmly. It felt wrong that she was the one providing him with reassurance, but now he definitely couldn’t turn down the invite. Nodding, he conceded, “Okay.”

“Good,” she waved for him to come over, “Since you’re staying, you can get the plates so I don’t have to climb up on the counter.”

He chuckled, taking a swig of his beer before getting up and walking over to her, “Yes, ma’am.”

Aanya was quiet for most of dinner, content to listen to EZ and Angel banter and bicker back and forth. She listened to them go back and forth about the car, and a little bit about the club. The names didn’t ring any bells for her, but she wondered if she saw any of the men that they were talking about if she would recognize them. It was far reach, she knew, since she didn’t remember EZ and they were married, but she couldn’t give up hope.

Angel took off shortly after dinner was over, leaving Aanya with a hug and a chaste kiss on the side of her head out of habit. She didn’t recoil or pull away, which was a relief because Angel had regretted the action as soon as he’d done it. The headlights of the van came through the kitchen window and then disappeared as he pulled out of the driveway, leaving just his brother and Aanya behind as they finished cleaning up everything from dinner.

“Thank you,” EZ said as he stacked the freshly washed and dried plates back into the cabinet, “for cooking, and for inviting Angel.”

She smiled, nodding as she packed up what little there was for leftovers, “Of course,” she felt EZ staring at her, and when she turned around to face him, she saw the pensive look on his face, “You okay?”

He nodded, “Yea, yea. I just, I feel like I should be asking you that. But I know that getting asked that over and over again gets old fast.”

“It’s all still a lot,” she told him, “but I can’t just hide and not do anything. I’ve just been trying to think about, you know, what exactly I’m supposed to be doing.”

It was impossible for him to miss the way that she was toying with the wedding band around her finger. He never mentioned it at all, and Angel’s words had been running on repeat in his mind—she didn’t need a husband right now, she just needed someone to be there for her. He tried to remember that. He had no intentions of taking his wedding ring off. No matter what the immediate future looked like for the two of them, she was still his wife as far as he was concerned. He wondered if she just left her band on because it was there when she woke up, if maybe she was hoping that one day she’d look down at it and it would jog some memories of some kind.

He pried his eyes away from her fingers, “I don’t think there’s a rulebook for this, Aanya. I think we just gotta…figure it out along the way. One day at a time.”

She gave a slow nod, “Right,” she paused, tucking her hands into her pockets before meeting EZ’s eyes, “Can I ask you something, Ezekiel?”

“Always.”

“Was this…did they talk to you about any of this? All the time that I was, you know, did the doctors ever tell you that this was a possibility? Give you some sort of plan?”

He shook his head, “No. The main question was, um,” he felt tears stinging at his eyes and he tried to ignore them, “Most of what we talked about was about whether,” he sucked in a breath, pinching the bridge of his nose to try and combat the tears, “whether or not you were going to wake up.”

Her lips dipped into a frown, and she wished that she knew what to say or do to try and provide some comfort. But she was adrift without a paddle. There were a few beats of silence between them before Aanya took the time to change the topic, hoping for something a little lighter to talk about, “Can I ask you something else?” she asked as she walked the containers of leftovers to the refrigerator, setting them down and trading them for a beer bottle.

A tiny smile curled the edge of his mouth as he watched her twist the top off the bottle, “Sure.”

“What do you…do?” she laughed when she heard how ridiculous the question sounded and took a sip of her beer, “All we’ve talked about is me. But what about you? When you don’t feel like you have to hover over me,” her smile was soft, understanding, “what do you do?”

Having this conversation with her once when they had first started dating had been one thing. The stakes had been so much lower back then—he wasn’t in love with something to lose yet. Now he was, though, and he wished that he didn’t have to dump everything on her.

“I, uh, I work at a scrap yard,” he nodded towards the door, “Angel, too. Nothing glamorous,” he shook his head.

Aanya didn’t have to know him well to be able to see that he was holding something back, “Something else?”

“We’re also both in the MC…”

She nodded, “I saw your bike. And your brother’s,” she motioned to her torso, “vest.”

“Kutte,” he offered up the proper word for it, “It’s called a kutte.”

“I’m assuming that you have a kutte too?”

“Yea.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

He sighed, “The things we do with the club. It’s not…it’s not all one-hundred percent legal.”

“Right.”

Neither of them said anything for a bit. EZ was trying to figure out how many curveballs he should be throwing at her at once. She was in the unfortunate position of everything being a curveball. She didn’t seem fazed by the information, though. EZ wondered if nothing was surprising to her now that everything was. He remembered what it was like when he told her about all of it the first time around—it definitely put things on pause between them for a minute and EZ had been nothing but understanding. But she knew him back then. He wondered if she was going to be just as understanding with a stranger now. After all, he hadn’t even gotten into the worst of it.

All Aanya could think, though, was that at one point in her life she had trusted this man enough to decide to spend forever with him. At some point in the last five years of her life, he made it clear to her that whatever the level of risk was, whatever complications there might be, it would be worth it. And he had believed him. Even now, knowing that she had nothing to offer him anymore, he still did his best to be what she needed. Despite whatever he was trying to protect her from with what he and his brother did with the club, he had never spoken to or looked at her with anything but softness. That had to count for something.

“Did I know?” it felt strange to talk about herself like she was a stranger, “Before the accident, I mean, did I know what you all did?”

He nodded, fighting the urge to let his eyes drop to the floor, “Yea.”

“And I stayed?”

He couldn’t help but to laugh, “For some reason, yea.”

She smiled, shaking her head, “I’m assuming the reason was probably you, Ezekiel.”

He shrugged, feeling a little more at ease as a smile crossed his face, “Maybe.”

What was left of their evening was quiet. Each of them was occupying an opposite end of the couch. EZ was scrolling through one TV show after another, trying to find something that would keep his attention. Meanwhile, Aanya was curled up on the other end of the couch, her nose in a book that she had chosen after spending a long few minutes sitting in front of a shelf and reading over each title. EZ had watched her with interest, and even though almost everything about the situation felt heavy most of the time, he couldn’t help but to think that she was going to get to experience some little things for the first time again. He wondered if all the books would still hold up and be as loved as they were the first time around. He wondered that about himself, too.

As the end credits started to roll on the television, he turned and looked over at her. A tired smile stretched across his face as he took in the sight of her. She was still curled up, but she was fast sleep with the book propped open against her chest. The familiar sight of it got a laugh out of him—she’d never been good at putting a book down even when she was dropping off from exhaustion.

Shutting off the television, he got up with every intention to go to bed. If it had been six months ago, he would’ve simply scooped her up and carried her. That felt like an uncrossable boundary right now, though. Gnawing at his bottom lip, he tried to decide if he should wake her, or just drape a blanket over her and let her sleep on the couch.

Lifting the book off of her, he tucked a bookmark into it before setting it on the coffee table. Reaching for her, he gently rested his hand on her shoulder, giving it a light shake to rouse her from her sleep. She let out a grumble to fight it off, and EZ just laughed and shook her a little more.

“C’mon,” he held his hand out to pull her up off the couch, “it’s been a long day. You should get some real sleep in your bed,” he helped her up, smiling as she stretched, tiredly rubbing at her eyes, “Head up, I’m just gonna shut all the lights off down here.”

She yawned as she nodded, already shuffling off towards the stairs, “Okay.”

Hardly a couple minutes had gone by when he went upstairs. The hallway light was still on, Aanya’s bedroom door still open. He flipped the switch as he made his way down the hall. Aanya’s door was open so he looked inside as he passed, and he smiled at the sight of her completely passed out, arm hanging off the edge of the bed. He let himself linger for a moment before heading down to the guest room.

When Aanya woke up the next morning, the house was silent. Pulling herself out of bed, she changed into a comfortable set of clothes, brushing her teeth and doing her hair before heading downstairs to find something to eat.

She noticed the note stuck to the coffee pot, smiling to herself at EZ’s scratchy handwriting, “Had to bring the truck to Pop and head to the scrap yard. Call you later about the car. -EZ”

Once she had finished eating and cleaning up after her breakfast, she was forced to reckon with a silent house. She had never done well with silence, always playing music or leaving the television on. Walking into the living room, she contemplated turning the TV on just for some background noise. Something about the silence felt heavier than it should’ve, though.

It was the first time that she was left completely to her own devices since she got out of the hospital. She didn’t have a task to complete, something concrete to focus on, or any company to distract her. It should’ve felt like a relief, but it quickly started to feel overwhelming. Gnawing at her bottom lip, she pulled her phone from her back pocket and contemplated calling EZ. She didn’t know what she would even say, though. It felt childish to say that she just didn’t want to be alone. And she had a feeling that there was more on his plate for the day than just putting in a shift at the scrap yard. If that was the case, she wasn’t going to try and meddle with that, either. But, as she looked around the house, this place that was apparently hers but no longer felt like it, she knew that she couldn’t spend the entire day cooped up by herself. Swiping on her phone, she looked up the numbers for any local taxi companies.

EZ had reached out a few times throughout the day, a few texts and a couple phone calls. All of them had gone unanswered. He tried not to let it affect him too much, knowing that she probably just wanted and needed the space for a bit. It was a lot of reminding himself that she didn’t see him as her husband right now, that checking in with him might not be at the top of her priority list. He wished that she’d answer, though.

“Car should be good to go in a few,” Creeper’s voice snapped him out of his train of thought.

EZ turned to him, eyebrows raised, “Shit, really? That was fast.”

He wiped the grease on his hands onto a rag before toying with it as he spoke, not able to meet EZ’s eyes, “Anything for Aanya.”

He could still hear the guilt in the man’s voice, but he knew better than to try and debate the feeling away. He was living with enough of his own guilt to know. Instead, EZ nodded, “Appreciate it, man.”

It looked like Creeper was on the brink of saying something else, but before he could, Angel’s voice interrupted the conversation, “Yo, EZ,” he walked, standing between the two men, “Bish needs us to run to the warehouse.”

EZ hesitated. It was local, and it wouldn’t take long, but he wanted to get back home as quickly as possible, especially if the car was about to be ready. Running his hands back over his head, he replied, “It’s gotta be today? The car, I just—”

“I can drop it off,” Creeper offered, “Imma be a little late here tonight but I can bring it over when it’s done. Catch a ride back here after.”

“Perfect,” Angel was just relieved that he wasn’t going to have to tell Bishop no, “Let’s go, Boy Scout.”

EZ huffed out a sigh but he couldn’t shoot down the idea. Clapping Creeper on the shoulder, he thanked him before heading off to change out of his work shirt and into something clean before slipping into his kutte. As he walked towards the clubhouse, he typed out a quick message to Aanya to let her know that one of the guys might be stopping by later to drop off the car. He wasn’t expecting an answer at that point, but he didn’t want to not let her know.

The day came and went faster than EZ had expected it to. However, when he came home, he came home to an empty driveway. This meant one of two things—either Creeper had dropped the car off early and Aanya had left with it, or she was still just home by herself. Assuming that it was the latter, EZ walked inside and was met with a silent house, no music, no television, no sounds of her rustling around in her restless ways. He called out for her and was met with silence, and it was only then that he started to feel a slight sense of panic. He walked quickly through the kitchen and saw that everything was as he left it in the morning with the exception of his note to her being moved. He made his way through the house, still calling out for her, hoping that maybe she just didn’t hear him, or that she had her headphones in and was listening to music too loud to notice anything happening.

But still, the deeper he went into the house, the lack of response persisted. The living room was empty, eerily untouched with no television on. He ran upstairs, his voice becoming more frantic as he continued to call out for her.

“Aanya!” he yelled, clearly distraught.

He opened up the door to what was once their room and saw the bed perfectly made, but all of her belongings were still there which provided a slight sense of comfort, but the fact that there was no trace of her was making him worry. Surely, she would’ve reached out if she had left for the day. That was all that was running through his head. He went down to the guest room and threw open the door, but was met with another empty room.

He could feel the anxiety starting to bubble up, a burning feeling in the back of his mind. He continued calling out her name despite the fact that it was blatantly evident that she wasn’t home. He raced down the stairs, boots clomping loudly against the hardwood. He was just about to race back through the kitchen and out the door when he heard the front door opening with its signature creak.

Aanya stepped inside, eyes wide when she not only saw the frantic look on EZ’s face, but also the sound of his labored breathing. She held a large box tight to her chest, eyebrows raised, she looked at him, clearly very confused.

“What’s going on?” she asked, “Is everything okay?”

He stopped, shoulders dropping along with all of the worry that he had just been experiencing. All he said was, “Hey.”

She tilted her head, shifting to better accommodate the large box in her arms, “Are you alright? Is something wrong? You sounded worried.”

He shook his head, “I just, I didn’t think that, I didn’t know where you were. You weren’t home, there was no car in the driveway but Creep didn’t tell me he already came over—”

“He didn’t,” her voice was still soft even though she was cutting him off, “I just called a cab. I just…needed to get out of the house for a bit. Was going a little stir-crazy. I was going to call you but I figured you had more important things to take care of after the last few days…last few months.”

She finally took a step towards the kitchen table and set the box down. When she turned around and fully faced EZ, his eyes were wide—he was finally clam enough to really take in the way that she looked.

He tilted his head, “You…cut your hair.”

She laughed, a little bit of nerves flashing across her face, “Yea, I just, I figured if I’m not feeling like myself there’s really no harm in changing things up, right?”

He chuckled, nodding, “Yea, I guess not.”

She tugged at the now shoulder-length curls, “Well, what do you think? Does it look good?”

He smiled, immediately nodding without a shred of hesitation in his response, “Yea, of course it looks good. Looks great. You, you always do.”

She laughed, and couldn’t deny the fact that she felt her cheeks starting to warm, “Well, that’s reassuring. I think I like it. I’ll see how I feel about it in a couple days. Regardless, it’s not like I can glue it back on.”

He smiled and shook his head before his eyes finally fell to the box on the table. He gestured towards it, “So what’s this?”

She sighed, giving a shrug, “You know, I had such a great vinyl collection,” she looked from the box back to EZ, “Did I ever have it, any of my records? Did I ever bring those here?”

His brows knitted and he shook his head, “I never…I never knew that you collected them. You must’ve stopped before we met?”

She sighed, “What a bummer. I had a lot. I wonder if I ended up giving them away to somebody, or donating them somewhere. They crossed my mind today, though,” she gave a nervous shrug, “I went to town today, just to get out and wander around. Upside of this town being so small—I can’t get too lost. I found this little second-hand shop that had a little bit of everything, but this was just sitting at the back of one of the shelves. They offered a good deal,” she smiled sheepishly, “and I couldn’t just say no, so I had them set it aside for me and then I went and picked a couple records to bring home and get my collection started again,” she glanced at the box, “Of all the things I can remember, of course that’s one.”

Despite the fact that there was a little tinge of exasperation in her voice when she said it, both of them had to laugh, because of course, why wouldn’t she remember that?

EZ walked over and pulled the lid of the box open to take a look at the records that were inside. He laughed, “Quite the diverse collection.”

Aanya smiled, “What can I say? I guess I like a little bit of everything.”

“Where do you think you wanna put it?”

She shrugged, unable to stop her laughter, “I didn’t think that far ahead. Maybe the living room? Part of me thinks the bedroom, but we’re down here more often so it’d probably be best to keep it downstairs, right?”

He nodded, “Yea, we can find some room for it. We can clear off part of one of the bookshelves and keep it there.”

With no hesitation, he picked up the box and carried it out to the living room. Aanya chuckled, not thinking that he would take to the idea so quickly. Maybe she should’ve known better. She might not remember everything that he’d ever done for her, but he seemed extremely quick to accommodate her whenever he could.

She followed him with a couple records tucked underneath her arm. He started reorganizing everything for her, finding the perfect spot. It was like it was supposed to be there the entire time. She tossed one of the records on to make sure that everything was actually working properly, and both of them had satisfied little grins on their faces when music began to fill their living room.

Before he could stop himself, EZ shook his head, “I can’t believe that I never knew you were into vinyl records. How did that never come up?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. I mean, is it something that you’re into?”

He had to admit to her that he sure he enjoyed music, but it wasn’t something that he was exactly passionate about. He liked it well enough, he enjoyed not having a completely silent house, especially once she came into his life, but if someone was to ask him, he wasn’t sure he wasn’t sure how many different artists or songs he could say that he truly loved. He just knew that whatever she was into, she enjoyed it so much that it was hard for him not to enjoy it too. He didn’t exactly know how to say all of that, but he did try his best.

For a couple minutes, he allowed the only sound in the house to come from the record player. Finally, though, he couldn’t help himself anymore and he asked, “So…how are you?” her statement about needing to get out hadn’t slipped his mind at all, “Are you okay?”

There was a long pause and he could tell that she was truly thinking hard about it. But she finally gave a small nod, “I think so. I don’t know, when I woke up, everything just felt wrong. I know I need to face it, and I know that everything that I did today isn’t going to fix whatever it is that’s wrong with me, but it didn’t hurt either. I feel a little better,” she shook her head, “But I was sitting here, trying to think of a plan, something to do to get my mind working the way it’s supposed to again and it just got overwhelming. And all of a sudden I just, I couldn’t be here anymore, you know? So I called a cab, and I went to town. And, I don’t know, I think it worked out alright. I could’ve come home in a lot worse shape than just with a new haircut and a record player.”

It got EZ to laugh despite the fact that his heart ached at hearing how lost inside her own head she was. But he agreed, “Yea, things definitely could’ve gone a lot worse.”

“Is your friend still coming by with the car?” she asked as she finished unpacking the records she’d picked up that day.

“Oh, um, good question. I’ll give him a call. If he can’t make it tonight, we can always go pick it up tomorrow.”

Aanya nodded, “Okay, sounds good.”

He couldn’t not watch her as she fussed with her records, organizing them just so. He smiled past the strange heaviness in his chest, “Okay.”

[xlostparadise-a]

welcome! 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒 is a fandomless, low activity, private/mutual only!, multi-verse/multi-ship blog featuring a collection of original characters. each oc has their own sideblog, which can be found below the cut! themes; mostly love & betrayal. occasionally featuring crime, addiction and family. triggering topics and mature content, be warned. // loved by cindy, 25+, pst, she/her

» guidelines » muses » wanted plots

** please note: the section below is a work in progress as of 3/15 ! **

open/available muses:

» genevieve skyes » jay godfrey » danny reyes » wyatt goodwin 

muses/blogs coming soon:

» landon novak  » daniel bennett » eden summers 

muses on hiatus as of 3/15 (blogs coming soon):

» caleb williams » andrés rivera » robert camden » elijah montgomery » jason freeman  » adem durmaz

exclusive/selective muses:

» marcelo cortez » aanya devi » james walker » kaitlyn isenhart » ezra oldenburg

royal/historical muses:

» henry rothschild » ophelia rothschild 

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me (14/?)

EZ Reyes x OFC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @noz4a2: Ez & oc are married 2 years, Ez leaves on a run and while he’s gone oc gets into a bad car accident, she almost dies. Instead she is in a coma for 6 months. During that 6 month time Ez goes everyday or as much as he can, reads to her from her favorite book, etc. After 6 months she finally wakes up, but has retrograde amnesia & doesn’t know who Ez is or their life together. So he is determined to help her get her memory back and goes about wooing her again.

Warnings: 18+, language, angst

Word Count: 5.3k

A/N: I've had a good portion of this chapter written for a long time and I'm so glad it finally gets to see the light of day.

Chapter Index

EZ Reyes/Reminde Me Taglist: @rosieposie0624 @queenbeered @choochoo284 @thesandbeneathmytoes @meadowofsinfulthoughts @mijagif @withmyteeth @kelpies-shed @louisianalady @gemini0410 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @buckybarneshairpullingkink @amorestevens @garbinge @enjoy-the-destruction @bport76 @nessamc @winchestershiresauce @artemiseamoon @littlekittymeow @frattsparty @fanfic-n-tabulous @beardburnsupersoldiers @justazzi @solidly-indulgent @danzer8705 @samcrobae @langiinspirations @bigcreatorwombatdreamer @lightblindingme (If you want to be added to the taglist, please let me know!)

When he walked into the clubhouse, he was torn between getting a drink, and just heading right to Templo before the meeting was even called. Letting out a sigh, he turned and was about to start heading towards the latter when someone let out a short, sharp whistle.

EZ turned around to see Bishop sitting at one of the smaller tables in the clubhouse. They locked eyes for a moment before Bishop waved for him to come over. EZ quickly strode over to the table. He sat down across from the club president, suddenly getting washed over by the feeling that whatever Bishop had to say was important, but it wasn’t a Templo discussion.

“Yea, Bish?” EZ broke the silence, attempting to test the waters.

“It was good seeing Aanya today,” he said with a nod.

EZ had been so caught up in everything that had happened since they left the clubhouse, he hadn’t even thought about the fact that the two of them had seen each other. His eyes widened slightly as it all came rushing back. He nodded. “Yea. She’s doing alright.”

“Alright is good,” Bishop said, “especially given everything.”

He exhaled sharply before agreeing. “Especially given everything.” He paused, waiting for Bishop to start whatever conversation he’d called him over for. When he didn’t, EZ said, “Something you need to tell me, Bishop?”

“You think that you’re still going to be able to do this?”

“Do what?” There was a long second of silence. “The club?” When Bishop just gave a wordless nod, EZ didn’t hesitate to reassure him. “Of course.”

“I know last time we talked,” it was evident that Bishop was working hard to choose his words carefully, “this wasn’t how you were expecting things to go. With your girl, I mean.” He saw the conflicted expression on EZ’s face and sighed. “No one would blame you if—”

“I’m not backing out of the fucking club,” his voice was quiet, but angry in its firmness.

Bishop didn’t take the bait, keeping his tone even. “You know I gotta ask.”

“No, you don’t.” EZ shook his head. “I can handle it, Bish. I’ve been fucking handling it.”

“And we’ve been using the fucking kid gloves when we’re dealing with you,” he shot back. He saw how it put EZ back on his heels. “Shit is still moving. We still have business to work. If your priorities need to be elsewhere, then fine. But I need every man on fucking deck, and I need to know if you can handle that.”

For a few seconds, EZ was looking everywhere except for at his club’s president. When his eyes finally landed on him again, he said, “Why are you doing this right now?”

Bishop leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “It was good seeing her today. It was. But if I was in your position,” he exhaled sharply, shaking his head, “I don’t know if I would be able to do that and this.” He stopped for a moment before elaborating. “And actually be able to do both well.”

“I’m not you,” EZ said, jaw clenched tight as he tried to keep his feelings from exploding out of him.

“I know,” Bishop conceded. “Which is why I’m even more fuckin’ worried.”

“You don’t know—”

“I know that you’re all she’s got here,” Bishop cut him off.

“So I’m expendable from the club?”

Bishop fought the urge to roll his eyes. “That’s not what I said.” He dragged his hand down over his chin as he thought through his next sentence. “Guys like us, we usually don’t even get lucky once. And that’s…there’s no other way someone like Aanya ended up with someone like you. That was luck. Fuckin’, divine intervention if you ask me.” He paused. “Don’t be so arrogant that you think you’re gonna get that lucky twice. She needs you. You…you need her.”

He saw the look on EZ’s face and knew he was about to fire back with another angry comment, so he held his hand up to silence him. “I’m not gonna go around with you on this all fuckin’ day.” He stood up, pushing his chair back in the process. “We got shit to handle.” He started to make his way towards the back room, barking out, “Let’s go!” to the rest of the guys as he went.

It took EZ a few seconds to be able to get himself up and out of his chair. Despite his initial anger, he knew that Bishop was just looking out for him. More than that, Bishop was looking out for Aanya. It was a good thing of him, acknowledging the fact that there was something in EZ’s life outside the club that might demand more of his time and attention. That wasn’t a courtesy he was known to extend to his men, and with good reason—he didn’t run a successful charter by letting everyone put the club low on their priority lists.

But the conversation brought EZ’s mind back to things that he hadn’t allowed himself to think about for a while. Because Bishop was right: this wasn’t how EZ had pictured things being when Aanya came out of her coma. And luck wasn’t anywhere near a strong enough force to credit for EZ ending up with Aanya in the first place, but it was the closest thing he could think of. He knew that. He knew Bishop was right about that too. He just didn’t want to think about it, because if he did, he was going to have to come to grips with the fact that he might not get lucky a second time around. There was always the lingering possibility that she wasn’t going to fall in love with him again. He had tried not to dwell on it too much because of everything else that she was dealing with, but the selfish part of him couldn’t push it from his brain.

In light of all that, he’d been so wrapped up in her being back and not having her memories that he hadn’t really thought much about the club at all. He showed up for Templo, did his shifts at the yard, but he hadn’t had the mental space to think about the business side of it all, the side that paid all their fucking bills. Truthfully, he didn’t know what was going to happen when he got taken off the reserves bench. When Bishop needed him to start going to late or out of town meetings and on runs again. Leaving Aanya to her own devices for a few days or a week before all of this had happened was one thing. But it would feel cruel to leave her now. Now that Bishop had put the idea in his head point-blank, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to do it.

“Yo!” Angel called to his brother from the Templo doorway, “You comin’ or what, boy scout?”

EZ nodded, finally forcing himself to focus on the present and get out of his chair. “Comin’.”

Aanya unlocked the front door of their house, stepping inside and being confronted with silence. She softly closed the door behind her as she slipped out of her shoes. She made her way through the house to the living, room, flipping on the lights as she went. She felt a little silly turning on a few extra lights, but it made the house seem less empty.

She set her book on the coffee table and went over to the record player that was perched on the bookshelf. She smiled as she walked her fingers along the vinyls that she had, trying to decide which one she was going to play first. Once she chose, the house was immediately filled with the sound of an acoustic guitar being strummed as the record began to spin. Aanya smiled to herself as she adjusted the volume before going and plopping herself down on the couch to get comfortable and try to get some reading done.

She pulled her legs up onto the couch as she leaned onto the arm of it. Reaching forward, she easily wrapped her fingers around the book on the coffee table, lifting it and placing it in her lap. She dragged her fingertips down the cover of it, rereading the title and mentally preparing to dive in.

She cracked open the cover, ready for whatever journey the book was about to take her on. But before she even got to read the first sentence written in the novel, she was hit with a punch of emotion that knocked the wind right out of her. Looking in the margins of the first page, she saw handwriting that she immediately recognized as her own.

She swiped the pad of her pointer finger over the tiny letters scribbled on the side of the page. She knew the writing was hers. Upon reading it, it sounded like something that she would write. But she didn’t remember writing it. She didn’t remember reading the book at all. No wonder it had ended up in the Previously Loved section of the bookstore—she put it there.

She let out a shaky breath as she contemplated shutting the book and setting it down. She anxiously pulled her teeth along her bottom lip as she tried to figure out if she was emotionally prepared to forge ahead. It felt like a cruel scavenger hunt that she hadn’t agreed to go on, finding little pieces of this woman that she apparently was now that she had no recollection of.

Tears stung her eyes, causing her to try and blink them away. After a few controlled breaths, she decided that it was at least worth a shot. Maybe it would help her remember something. Maybe there was a reason that this was the book that she decided to take home with her once again.

She read the book, and her notes in the margins. She read them like she was reading ones left behind by a stranger, because essentially, that’s exactly what they were. Aside from the initial jarring sensation of the reality of it, it wasn’t as strange as she thought that it was going to be. She picked a pen with a different color ink to make new notations in. There were a few things that caught her eye that apparently hadn’t the first time around, which was interesting. She tried to frame it like that: interesting. She hoped it would make it more bearable.

She had no concept of time as it flew by. She had enough lights on in the house to offset how it was getting darker outside so it didn’t even make it onto her radar. She hadn’t even noticed the fact that the music stopped when the record reached its end. In the course of reading, she had flipped completely around on the couch, draping her legs over the arm of it while her back laid flat against the cushions. She had the book propped on her chest, her pen perched nimbly between her fingers in such a way that it wouldn’t interfere with her turning the pages.

The only thing that brought her back to reality, that let her know how much time had gone by, was the sound of the door opening and EZ’s boots clunking against the floor. Her eyes widened as she sat as upright as she could manage, propping herself on her elbows. Her book was still open to the same page, laying face-down on her stomach.

“Ezekiel?” she called out, although she was fairly certain it was him.

“Yea?” he called back.

“Are you…home early?” she half-laughed as she asked. She already had an inkling as to what the answer was.

He laughed as he walked into the living room, his footsteps much quieter now that he was just down to his socks. He must’ve left his kutte behind in the kitchen as well, because all he had on was his t-shirt. One look at her sprawled out on the couch and he knew exactly what had happened.

He walked over, hands resting on the back of the couch so he could lean and brace himself against it. If it had been about seven months before, he would’ve leaned down to kiss her. As it stood, he simply just gazed at her and shook his head. “I’m not home early, no.” He watched as Aanya dropped back flat against the couch cushions again, and the smile on his face grew. All the stress from the club was momentarily pushed from his mind. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “But!” She held up the opened book that had been resting on her stomach with a smile and said, “I made some good headway on this.”

His smile softened a bit, shrank to be a little smaller. “Is it good?”

She nodded. “It is, yea.” She paused, looking at the expression on his face. “There are some upsides to being able to experience things for the first time again, I guess.”

He let out a breath, some of the tension disappearing from his shoulders knowing that she knew. “I was going to—”

“It’s okay,” she said earnestly as she slipped her bookmark between the pages and set the book aside on the coffee table again. She swung her legs so that her feet were on the floor, forcing her to sit upright and turn to face him. Pushing her hair back out of her face, she said, “It was a little weird, seeing my handwriting in a book that I haven’t read.” She paused. “I mean, I’ve read it, but…”

“I get it,” EZ said with a nod.

The two of them lingered in silence for a moment before she asked, “Did you eat?”

He shook his head. “No, didn’t get a chance to. Shit with the club was…” he sighed, not really wanting to get into it with her. He changed tracks. “I didn’t have time.”

“I don’t want to cook,” she said honestly. “And judging by the look on your face you don’t want to either.” She saw the way he laughed quietly as he nodded in agreement. “I know for a fact there are three different kinds of cereal sitting on top of the fridge.”

“Cereal?” He laughed as the word came out like a question.

“You don’t seem like you eat it for breakfast,” she countered, “so we might as well eat it for dinner.”

He smiled as he nodded. “That’s fair.”

He watched as she hoisted herself up off the couch and made her way towards the kitchen. She moved through the house with so much more certainty than she had before, and it hadn’t even been that long. It put him a little bit more at ease. Maybe the more comfortable she got, the easier it would be for her memories to come back. He could hope, at least.

He followed her into the kitchen, and he couldn’t help but to laugh softly as he asked, “You gonna climb up onto the fridge to get it?”

“Was hoping you would help me out with that one.”

He chuckled, slipping past her with ease as she grabbed bowls from the cupboard for them. “I got it.”

When they both walked back into the living room, cereal bowls in hand, for a second EZ almost felt like things were how they used to be. Aanya plopped herself down on the couch, pulling her legs up so that she was sitting crisscross, all without spilling anything over the edges of her bowl. EZ sat on the other end of the couch from her, each of them leaning against the arm of the couch closest to them. Aanya already had a bite of cereal tucked into her cheek when she asked EZ to pick something to put on the TV. It took him a moment to really process what it was that she had said because his brain was so busy replaying every other moment that somewhat mirrored that.

“EZ?”

He shook his head a little to try and get his thoughts back into order. “Right. Sorry.”

“Want me to pick?” she asked as she gestured towards the remote with her spoon.

“I got it,” he said with a half-laugh, trying to smother his emotions with the sound.

They were a few episodes deep into nothing serious. With the way that things had been going, EZ figured a mindless sitcom was about the speed that both he and Aanya could handle. He thought that maybe she would tap out of it, that when she finished her breakfast for dinner she would dive right back into her book. But she didn’t. She set her empty bowl on the table, keeping the spoon and twirling it between her fingers as she watched the show. Every now and then EZ realized that he missed an entire chunk of the show because he was too busy looking down at the other end of the couch where Aanya was sitting and chuckling quietly over what they were watching.

When she had been quiet for a while, EZ looked back down towards her again. She hadn’t fallen asleep yet, but he could tell that she was getting closer and closer to it as the minutes ticked by. She was sinking a little heavier against the arm of the couch, spoon discarded and hands stilled. Her eyes were getting heavy but there was still a drowsy smile on her face.

“Aanya?” he spoke up, a little quieter than he intended.

She looked a little more alert at the sound of his voice. “Yea?”

He nodded towards the stairs. “If you’re tired, you can head to bed. You’ve had a long day.”

“Most of it was spent on the couch reading,” she argued softly as she tried to bite back a yawn.

EZ chuckled as he watched her try to fight off the tiredness. “It was an emotionally long day.”

She had no choice but to concede to that. “A little, yea.”

He leaned forward and braced his arms against his thighs. He nodded towards the stairs again. “Go ahead. I’ll throw these in the dishwasher and shut off the lights.”

“You sure?” she asked as she slowly rose up off the couch.

He nodded. “Positive. Go get some rest.”

“Thank you.” She strolled by him, resting her hand on his shoulder for a moment in a soft gesture of thanks. “Goodnight, EZ.”

“Goodnight.”

He had both their sets of dishes in his hands as she watched her disappear up the stairs. Her footsteps were slow, quiet. EZ found himself smiling even though he was also feeling the exhaustion of the day. He took his time rinsing the dishes before putting them into the dishwasher. He meandered through the house, shutting off all the lights and the television as he went. When he reached the top of the staircase, he shut off the one light that illuminated them and finally cast the entire downstairs into darkness.

He walked down the hall, and when he reached the door to their previously shared bedroom, he saw that it was closed. He contemplated knocking, wanting to say an extra goodnight, but he stopped himself. His hand was raised, ready to rap his knuckles against the wood, but he didn’t. Letting out a quiet sigh, he softly rested his fingertips against the expanse of the door for a moment before prying himself away and continuing the walk down the hall to the guest room. He lingered in his own doorway for a moment, looking back at the shut door down the hall before finally flipping the switch and making that hallway dark as well.

He closed the guest room door but not all the way, leaving it cracked. He never really thought much about whether or not to shut the door all the way until Aanya came back from the hospital. Before that, it was the default that the door was always closed. But he didn’t want to close it now and end up inadvertently shutting her out.

He peeled his shirt off and tossed it onto the dresser. Running his hands down his face, he collapsed back onto the bed. His legs were still half hanging off the mattress when his eyes started getting heavy. He didn’t even want to take the effort to pull himself fully onto the bed. So, he didn’t, allowing his eyes to finally shut.

EZ woke to the sound of screaming. He leapt off the bed, body operating on what felt like autopilot, grabbing his baseball bat as he ran out of his room and into hers, ready to swing. He stormed in but was met with an empty room, save for Aanya sitting on the bed, sobbing into her hands. His arms drop back to his side, letting the bat tap lightly against the ground as he lowered it.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered between sobs. “It was just a bad dream. You, you can go back to bed. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He leaned the bat against the door and turned on the light before he walked over. He sat on the edge of the bed. “You don’t have to apologize. Anything I can get you?” He saw the fear in her eyes and all he wanted to do was hold her.

“I don’t know,” her voice wavered as she spoke.

“You want a hug?” he offered.

She nodded but didn’t say anything. He shifted farther onto the bed and pulled her into him so that she was leaning against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and took a deep breath, fighting the urge to kiss her. She trembled in his arms as the tears continued to flow. He gently rubbed her back, wishing that there was more that he could do to help her. The warmth from his chest radiated against her cheek. It almost felt like it was coursing through her entire body. It didn’t fix everything, but the warmth, the comfort, it certainly didn’t hurt.

They sat like that for a few minutes until she calmed down. She pulled away from him slightly, wiping the tears from her face as well as his chest. She was halfway through apologizing for crying all over him when she realized what he was wearing.

“Did you…do you wear jeans to bed?” She sniffled, a hint of a smile on her face despite the tears still welling in her eyes.

EZ laughed. “Uh…yea…sometimes,”

“How is that comfortable?” She chuckled, wiping at the last of the tears on her face.

He shrugged, just glad to see her smiling. “It’s just a habit, I guess. You, uh, you were never a fan.” A small smile passed over his face for a moment. “You’re responsible for me even owning a pair of pajama pants.”

She laughed. “I see they’re doing you a lot of good.”

“Old habits die hard.”

The smile on her face was a tired one, but genuine nonetheless. “I guess so.”

He rested his hand on her shoulder. “Do you wanna talk about it?”                         

“You know,” she shook her head, “I don’t, I don’t really remember being in the accident. Not here.” She pointed to her forehead. “But things like this makes me feel like I do. Times like this, or even sometimes when my mind just…drifts. I don’t know if it’s something my brain is just making up, or if it’s a real memory it’s trying to work through. Something from here.” She gestured to the back of her head for a moment before letting out an exhausted laugh. “Not that that’s really how the brain stores memories.”

EZ shot her a smile, shaking his head. “Nah, front-to-back memory storage sounds right. That’s definitely what they teach in medical school.”

“And you’d know what they teach in medical school?” She said it as a joke, not realizing how close to the truth she was skirting.

He let out a short, dry chuckle, trying not to think about all of that on top of everything else that was happening in the moment. They could only piece apart one tragedy a night and Aanya was a much more sympathetic victim as far as he was concerned.

“A little, yea.”

She looked over at him, confused. “How?”

It felt silly, to sit there and talk about his incredibly short stint in college while she was battling and trying to figure out what was a nightmare and what was a memory. But if a distraction was going to help her keep it together, he wasn’t going to take that from her.

“I, uh,” he looked over at her for a moment, “I was pre-med for a little bit.”

“You were? What,” she sniffled, “what happened?”

He exhaled, the breath pushing past his lips after exerting more effort than it should’ve taken just to breathe. “It’s complicated. Long story short, I did not become a doctor.” He punctuated his sentence with a soft chuckle, one that felt more genuine than the first.

It got Aanya to laugh a little. Her heart was still speeding inside her chest, her mind still reeling, but there was still a tiny shred of ease to be found in the midst of it all. Even if he didn’t say it, even if she didn’t ask, she knew that there was much more going on with EZ than she could try to fathom. And things with her were what they were. She couldn’t articulate it, but it felt like there was something to be said about that, about the fact that they were there together still, in whatever capacity they were.

She dropped her head against his shoulder with a heavy sigh. There were a few moments of silence. It was just Aanya focusing on the rise and fall of EZ’s torso as he breathed. Her eyes drifted shut for a moment, not that she was going to be falling back to sleep anytime soon. His skin was warm against her cheek, and part of her was aware of the fact that maybe it was too much, too familiar, but she was too drained and exhausted to care. With the way that it all was, she wasn’t going to be turning away anything that made her feel just a shred more normal, no matter how fleeting the feeling was.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, eyes still closed.

He reached and rested his hand on her leg, the callouses on his palms not feeling as harsh against her soft skin as she thought they would. He waited for her to flinch, to pull away, but she didn’t. He eased into it, allowing his head to rest against hers for a moment.

He kept his voice at a whisper too. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

She hummed softly. “I woke you up.”

He chuckled. “I’ll be alright.” He paused. “I’m sorry.” He turned his head slightly and was centimeters away from pressing his lips to the side of her head when he managed to rein it in. Instead he just rested his forehead against the side of her head. “If I could fix it—”

“You would,” she finished the sentence for him. “I know.”

“Do you need anything?” he asked as he fought to keep his composure.

She shook her head as she peeled herself off of his shoulder. “I’m okay.” She paused for a moment before correcting herself. “I’ll be okay.”

It physically pained him to peel his hand off of her thigh, but he managed it. Aanya was wiping the lingering tears off of her face as he discreetly reached up to brush them from his shoulder. He knew that he should get up and head back down the hall to his room, but he couldn’t quite force himself to stand up.

“What’re you thinking, Ezekiel?” she asked, tiredness thick in her voice now that her emotions were starting to level out again.

He looked over at her and shook his head. “I’m not.” He paused. “How often…has this been happening every night?”

“No,” her reply had no hesitation. “Not every night. Only a couple times.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he made sure to keep his voice soft.

“There’s nothing we can do about it, right? It’s just,” she gave a helpless shrug, “just a bad dream.”

EZ frowned, knowing that she wasn’t wrong. His nightmares were all memories, but he knew better than anyone that there wasn’t anything to be done about them once you were having them. By then, it was already too late.

“Right.” He rested his hands on his knees. “If it happens again, I’m…I’m right down the hall.”

Her smile was tired, weak, but genuine. “Yes, you and your baseball bat.”

He chuckled. “If someone had been breaking in, it would’ve been useful.”

“And you would’ve gotten a homerun?” she asked with a soft laugh.

“Yea,” he nodded, “something like that.”

He finally stood up and took a step towards the door. He grabbed the bat as he went, keeping a loose grip on it. Looking back over his shoulder, he offered one more goodnight to Aanya. She answered in kind, her voice making it sound like she was already halfway to falling back to sleep. He lingered in the doorway for a moment as she crawled back beneath her covers. Once her head hit the pillow, he shut the door behind him and made his way down the hall.

When he stepped back into the guest room, he walked over and rolled the baseball bat back beneath the bed where it had been a little while before. He was about to lay down, attempt to tuck himself in and go back to sleep, but he stopped himself. With a deep sigh, he walked over and pulled open one of the dresser drawers. He dug around in it for a moment before his hand landed on one of the pairs of pajama pants that Aanya had gotten for him over the years.

He pulled them out and slid the drawer shut. When he walked back over to the bed, he undid the button and zipper on his jeans, pushing them down so the denim pooled around his ankles. Stepping out of them, he unfurled the pants in his hand and stepped into them. He let out an exhausted chuckle when they were situated on his hips.

They were more comfortable. They always were. He knew that, too, even before he had Aanya kindly forcing him to wear them to bed instead of his jeans. He got into bed, laying on top of his blankets still as he looked up at the ceiling. At least this time his head was rested on his pillows. He toyed idly with the drawstring on his pants as the memory of getting them flashed through his mind. Aanya had the same pair in shorts form. That was what she always did at first. It was how she convinced him to wear them, because she knew that he was too soft to say no to something for the both of them.

And it worked. It worked like a fucking charm every single time. Even when he was still living in his trailer there were countless nights that were just the two of them laying on the crappy little sofa-turned-mattress in matching pajamas, each of them with their nose buried in a book. It felt strange at the time, but it felt good, too. It was all so simple back then.

Letting out a heavy sigh, EZ forced himself to get underneath the covers, to let himself have that small bit of comfort in the middle of everything else. Putting one hand behind his head, he let his eyes close, knowing that even if he wasn’t going to fall back to sleep at this point, it was better than nothing.

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me (13/?)

EZ Reyes x OFC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @noz4a2: Ez & oc are married 2 years, Ez leaves on a run and while he’s gone oc gets into a bad car accident, she almost dies. Instead she is in a coma for 6 months. During that 6 month time Ez goes everyday or as much as he can, reads to her from her favorite book, etc. After 6 months she finally wakes up, but has retrograde amnesia & doesn’t know who Ez is or their life together. So he is determined to help her get her memory back and goes about wooing her again.

Warnings: 18+, language, little bit of fluff and a little bit of angst

Word Count: 5.3k

A/N: The way that I would defend Laura with my whole life. I love her.

Chapter Index

EZ Reyes/Remind Me Taglist: @rosieposie0624 @queenbeered @choochoo284 @thesandbeneathmytoes @meadowofsinfulthoughts @mijagif @withmyteeth @kelpies-shed @louisianalady @gemini0410 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @buckybarneshairpullingkink @amorestevens @garbinge @enjoy-the-destruction @bport76 @nessamc @winchestershiresauce @artemiseamoon @littlekittymeow @frattsparty @fanfic-n-tabulous @beardburnsupersoldiers @solidly-indulgent @samcrobae @langiinspirations @bigcreatorwombatdreamer (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

When the two of them were standing in front of the bookstore, EZ could feel Aanya’s nerves intensifying again. He couldn’t blame her, but he still wished that he could make them all go away. He reached over and gently set his hand on her back between her shoulders. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked over at him, feeling a little more at-ease when she saw the smile on his face, when she felt his thumb tracing back and forth lightly against the fabric of her shirt.

“If you’re not ready, we can always come back a different day,” he reassured her.

She nodded, clearly still nervous but also determined. “I know. I know. I just…there’s no use in waiting, right? It’s not going to change anything?”

He couldn’t lie, so he shrugged. “I…I don’t know. It might not.”

She let out a long breath. “Okay.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “Ready?”

She nodded back as she reached for the handle of the door.

When Aanya pulled the door open, the same bell that had been there for years chimed to announce hers and EZ’s entry. EZ knew that Laura was around, that she said she would be there, but he didn’t want to call out for her and overwhelm Aanya.

He looked over at her, to see if there was anything in her facial expression that would make it seem like she was starting to remember things. As he studied her face, he found himself smiling even though the knot in his stomach didn’t subside. Recognition wasn’t quite the word he’d use, but there was definitely a sense of peace in her expression as she looked around. Her body relaxed a bit. Losing herself in the stacks was probably the closest she’d get to feeling at home for awhile yet.

Before EZ saw anyone, he could hear them. He heard not only Laura’s laugh, but also Angel’s coming from the back of the store. EZ wondered if they had missed the sound of him and Aanya coming in. He wondered if that would make things a little easier on Aanya. She might be able to poke around for a minute or so before Laura realized that they were there. He’d be sure to razz Angel about hanging out in the bookstore to talk to a cute girl later.

Aanya stood just inside the entrance for only a few seconds before she drifted away from EZ to start scanning the shelves. Her fingers delicately traced along the spines as she looked. EZ lingered close by, but not right on top of her. His hands came to rest, gently gripping the sides of his kutte as he watched her. She reached up for a book that was on a higher shelf, and he saw the wedding band still wrapped around her finger. He reminded himself to take a deep breath before he got too lost, too emotional about it.

The sound of a couple of the books on the shelf toppling over once Aanya removed one got Laura’s attention. She came out from behind the register and made her way towards the front of the store, leaving Angel behind to sit and wait for her, which he did happily.

She was halfway through the typical spiel of asking if there was anything that anyone needed any help with when she saw who it was that was standing in the middle of the aisle skimming through one of their newest arrivals. Her breath got caught in her throat, tears instantly appearing in her eyes as she took in the sight of one of her best friends really standing there in front of her for the first time in months. Alive, awake, and flipping through books like she had never left.

“Aanya?” It came out as a whisper, as a question.

She turned at the sound of her name, offering up a kind smile to the emotional young woman standing a few feet away from her. “Yes?”

“Holy shit,” she said with a choked laugh. Laura closed the distance between them in what seemed like one large stride. She threw her arms around Aanya in a hug, unable to stop herself.

Aanya stumbled a step, not quite expecting it, but she laughed as she wrapped her arms around Laura. She felt the way that Laura’s arms wrapped tightly around her, squeezing her tight like she was making sure that Aanya was real.

When Laura stepped back, she immediately wiped at the tears that had fallen onto her cheeks. She flashed an awkward smile. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean, to, shit,” she laughed and buried her face in her hands for a moment before making eye contact with her again. “I’m Laura.”

Aanya recognized her only from the pictures on the wall at the house. She nodded, thinking hard as she repeated her name back to her, “Laura.”

She nodded encouragingly. “Yea. We, um, we work together…here. You’re actually,” she laughed, “you’re my boss.”

Aanya’s eyes widened in surprise. “Your boss?”

Laura laughed. “Yea! You’re, like, the coolest boss ever honestly. The lady they’ve had here the last few months while you’ve been gone sorta sucks,” she joked. She took a deep breath, still trying to calm down. “You run shit, though. You’re, you know, you’re pretty badass.”

Aanya laughed softly. “Badass?”

“Yea.” Laura gestured around to the store. “You’ve pretty much read this entire place front to back.” She paused, seeing how Aanya was turning over everything that she was saying in her mind. She cleared her throat. “Sorry. I don’t mean to, you know, I don’t mean to just dump a bunch of stuff on you. I just, fuck, I missed you.”

“Don’t apologize.” Aanya shook her head. “This is…it’s why I wanted to stop by.”

Laura gestured back over her shoulder. “You wanna look around? I can walk through with you.”

Aanya nodded tentatively, “Y-yea, okay.”

Laura gave her a warm smile. “C’mon. We’ll talk books. Can’t go wrong with books.”

Aanya visibly relaxed a bit at that. “That’s true.”

Laura practically whisked Aanya away deeper into the rows of books. EZ stayed back, smiling as he watched the two of them wander off and chat. Laura was right—books were a safe topic. No matter what, Aanya could talk stories for hours.

He took the opportunity to make his way to the register to bother Angel while the girls were preoccupied. He strolled over, seeing how Angel had pulled up a chair on the opposite side of the counter so that he could sit and talk with Laura before.

The smug grin on his face was impossible to miss. Which was why Angel started shaking his head the second he laid eyes on his brother. “Don’t even start.”

EZ laughed, feigning ignorance. “What? I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to fuckin’ say anything. It’s all over your stupid face.”

He rolled his eyes as he laughed, leaning against the counter beside Angel. “Just never thought I’d see the day you willingly hung out in a bookstore.”

Angel did his best not to engage on the topic, knowing that EZ would get him all twisted up in knots with no trouble at all. “You’re the one who told me to check in on her.”

EZ nodded. “Yea. Seems like you’re taking that job super seriously.”

Angel rolled his eyes, drumming his fingers against the countertop. “She’s Aanya’s friend.”

EZ looked around the store for a moment, easily spotting the two women as they talked and laughed together. They each had a book in their hands as they spoke. He kept an eye on them as he continued talking to Angel. “Looks like she might be your friend too.”

He sucked his teeth, shaking his head. “Shut the fuck up.” They were both quiet for a moment before they started laughing.

On the other side of the store, Laura and Aanya were talking in the section of the store that Aanya had always loved most. They were perusing over all the previously owned books, the ones that had been donated over the last few months and the ones that had been on the shelves for much, much longer than that.

“You know EZ’s brother?” Aanya asked as she pulled a title from the shelf that she recognized.

Laura laughed nervously, feeling her face heat up. Aanya wasn’t even suggesting anything—it wasn’t like she knew anymore. Still, though, just the prospect of saying any of it gave her the jitters. She tried to sound as normal as possible as she said. “Yea. I met him through you and EZ.”

Aanya nodded, filing the information as she went along. She cracked open the book, scanning the inside cover for any notes that might’ve been left behind by its previous owner. “Are you two friends?”

Laura gnawed at her bottom lip as she hugged her book to her chest. She glanced over at Angel for a brief moment, not wanting to make it too obvious. She nodded, looking down at the floor. “Y-yea. Yea I’d say we’re like friends at this point.”

Aanya heard the shift in her voice. Looking up from the book in her hands, she saw the giddy expression on Laura’s face. Her face brightened, keeping her voice quiet as she asked, “Oh, are you two dating?” Suddenly she was wondering if that was something that she was supposed to know already.

Laura’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull. “No, no.” She laughed and shook her head. “We’re not—god I wish,” she chuckled, cheeks feeling like they were on fire, “We’re friends. Just friends. And even that’s kinda…kinda recent. I’ve just had a crush on him for, lord, a few years now. Since whenever he tagged along with EZ one day.”

Aanya laughed softly, finding comfort in the familiarity, in the normalcy of the conversation. “Does he know?”

She raked her fingers back through her hair. “I mean, if he doesn’t, he’s a lot denser than I thought,” she said with a laugh. “I can’t tell if he doesn’t know, or if he knows and is just being very nice about it and not saying anything.”

Aanya looked over at EZ and Angel. The two of them were at the counter talking and bantering between themselves. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she could try to imagine how the two of them were when they got left to their own devices. It certainly must’ve been entertaining.

“He seems nice, though?” She phrased it as a question, allowing Laura to correct her.

Laura nodded with no hesitation. “He is. He’s been great during…everything,” she didn’t quite want to say what exactly everything was. It wasn’t as though Aanya was unaware of it. Clearing her throat, she slid her book back onto the shelf. “He’s sweet. I just, you know, I don’t know if he feels the same way at all. Besides, you said it yourself before, he’s a bit of a troublemaker.”

Aanya hummed in amusement. “Did I?”

Laura laughed, nodding. “Yea. You reminded me pretty frequently, actually.”

Aanya chuckled. “Maybe it doesn’t count anymore.”

They let the topic fall by the wayside as they both continued to look through the books in front of them. Laura had a pretty good idea of what they had in stock, even in their used section. But even in the last few months when she had really been trying to keep track of everything more than usual, she was no match for how Aanya had been.

Laura watched as her friend looked over all the books in front of her. There was a rhyme and reason to how they were organized, sure, but it didn’t stop Aanya from pacing back and forth. Her brain was working overtime to not only recognize titles but try to figure out how long she had been familiar with it. She couldn’t help but to hope that maybe she could start clawing her way into more recent memories. It was a big ask, a bit of a pipe dream, but she couldn’t help it.

“Hm,” her brows knit together as she grabbed a book off the bottom shelf. She turned it over in her hands, a smile tugging on her lips the longer she looked at it.

Laura smiled when she saw what book Aanya had picked out. “You know what’s funny about that one?”

Aanya pried her eyes off of the cover so she could look at Laura. “What’s that?”

“This one,” she tapped the cover, “was actually originally yours. You brought it in, donated it. Then when someone came asking for a recommendation, you recommended it to them. They took it, and then when they were done they brought it back and redonated it because they wanted someone else to be able to read it too.” She paused, gestured to the book. “Open it. There are two sets of handwriting in the margins.”

Aanya followed the direction gladly as she cracked it open. She smiled, shaking her head as she looked over all of the notes along the margins of the pages, the passages that were underlined not just by her but also by whoever else had purchased the book after the fact.

“I’m assuming I told you before where I got this, then?”

Laura shrugged, leaning back against the shelf. “Tell me again.”

Aanya’s smile shifted from nervous to borderline beaming as she delved into the story. “I read the English translation of this for a class in college.” She was still skimming through the pages as she spoke. “The woman who taught the class was one of my favorite professors, favorite people ever. And I told her how much I liked the book. So she asked if I knew how to read Spanish. Which,” she laughed, “I didn’t. Not well, at least. I was learning, though. I was taking entry-level courses. I wasn’t fluent, but, you know,” she shrugged. “Anyway, she said that if I wanted to give it a go, the original story was written in Spanish and just like anything, some of it gets lost in the translation of it.” She tapped the thin novel against the palm of her hand. “She gave me her extra Spanish copy to learn from. The one she had without all her own notes that she used to teach.” She laughed softly as she thought back on it all.

Laura had heard the story before. She knew the stories behind most of the books that Aanya donated to the bookstore. Usually it was because she let Laura read them first. Other times, though, Laura just asked out of genuine curiosity. Most of what she learned about Aanya and her life was through stories related to the myriad of books that she had donated over the years.

She had never been one to be bothered by Aanya telling stories, even if she’d told them before. But now, Laura would be happier than ever to sit there and listen to her recount every single story she’d ever told. She was so aware of the fact that she almost lost the opportunity to ever hear her tell stories ever again.

As Aanya was speaking, she couldn’t help but to think that those memories felt so clear. They felt so fresh. It was difficult for her to wrap her mind around the fact that she could remember certain things with such clarity, and yet there were whole years of her life simply missing. Maybe the reason that older memories felt so fresh was because they were some of the first ones in her mental timeline now. She couldn’t pretend to grasp how it all worked. It was exhausting trying to figure it out.

“It’s really good to see you,” Laura said when they reached a lull in their conversation. She knew that it didn’t carry the same weight for Aanya as it did for her, but she couldn’t not say it.

Aanya hummed, a warm smile on her face. “That’s good to hear.”

Laura watched as Aanya looked back and forth between her and all of the books. She knew that the question was a little pointless, but she couldn’t help but to ask. “So, you know, how are you? Aside from the, you know,” she shrugged, “the obvious.”

Aanya laughed. “Aside from the obvious?” She paused. “I’m doing okay, I think. I don’t, you know, I don’t have too much to compare it to.”

“You look like you’re doing well,” Laura offered up supportively.

Aanya opened her mouth like she was going to ask a question, but then she stopped herself. She gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head as she went back to dragging her fingers along the beat-up book spines in front of her. Laura saw all of it, waiting a moment for Aanya to change her mind and say whatever had been on her mind. When she remained silent, she attempted to pull it out of her.

She made sure her voice was gentle as she asked, “What?”

Aanya’s lips turned down into a slight frown as she thought about what she wanted to say. She didn’t want to come off foolish, or worse, cruel. “Can I, can I ask you something?”

Laura nodded. “Of course.”

The few seconds it took Aanya to ask her question seemed to stretch on for an hour. “Do you…how well do you know EZ?”

Laura took a deep breath as she thought about how to answer that question. She and EZ were familiar enough with each other. Friends might’ve been a tiny bit of a stretch. It wasn’t as though the two of them had a habit of hanging out at all. Usually any time that Laura and Aanya spent together was with their other friends from the bookstore. But he’d always been perfectly kind to her whenever they spoke. The times that he dropped by the bookstore to see Aanya and Laura was there, he always made a point say hello and ask how she was doing. Truthfully, even in the midst of everything that he had been going through with Aanya, he’d always been nice to her. Distant, and understandably so, but nice. Plus, the distance had managed to put Angel right in her path so she had even less of a reason to complain.

The look on Aanya’s face made Laura realize how deeply she’d been thinking on the question. She hoped that Aanya didn’t take it to mean that Laura had anything negative to say.

“Sorry,” she apologized with a shake of her head, “I just got caught up thinking about the answer to that.” She took a breath. “Yea, I know him well enough, I think.”

“You like him?” she asked, a curious lilt to her voice.

“Not as much as you,” Laura joked, getting them both to laugh. “But no, yea, I like EZ. He’s always been nice to me. You…you always had good things to say.”

“Yea?”

She nodded. “Always.” There was a long pause as Laura tried to figure out of the question she wanted to ask was appropriate or not. “Do you…” her voice trailed off, not sure how to end the question once she started it.

Aanya pushed her curls back out of her face with a deep sigh. “It’s tough not knowing anything about this person who knows so much about me. It’s…it’s weird.”

Laura chuckled softly. It seemed like an obvious enough sentiment but she hadn’t really thought much about it. She had been so focused on the fact that Aanya had a whole chunk of her life missing, that all of these people were strangers to her now. She hadn’t stopped to think how weird it must be to live with someone who you don’t know anything about, and who knows essentially everything about you. EZ knew things about Aanya that she no longer knew about herself. It was a strange thought, and Laura couldn’t believe that it hadn’t crossed her mind until now.

“I bet,” she finally said with a nod. She paused for a beat before saying, “He cares about you, though. He always has. If, you know, if you’re asking what I think of him because you’re afraid that he’s not a good guy, then you don’t have to worry about that.”

Aanya nodded. “I thought so. I just…wanted to make sure.”

“Right.”

Suddenly Aanya felt like she had a million questions to ask about him. She knew that she could just ask EZ, but she didn’t know how she was supposed to go about it. How was she supposed to look this man, who was apparently her husband, in the eye and ask him about things that were probably so innate to her a mere few months ago? He knew what had happened—it wasn’t like he was going to get upset with her for not knowing. But that wasn’t really the issue. It was so much more complex than that.

“It’s okay, you know,” Laura saw the uncertainty all over her face, “feeling that way. No one can blame you for any of it.”

“It’s just been strange, I guess. Like, we share a house and he’s been doing all of these things for me and I don’t even really know him. I haven’t even stopped to think about it because there is just…so much.”

“I can’t even imagine,” Laura told her honestly. “But, Aanya?” She waited for Aanya to look over at her again. “I know it’s easy for me to say, and that the whole thing feels so weird. But, knowing EZ, I think he’d rather have you asking him about it all. He’ll tell you anything and everything.”

Aanya didn’t doubt that. Every time EZ looked at her, she could feel how much he cared, how much he loved her. She felt bad that she wasn’t in the same place as him anymore. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, it was just how things were now. She didn’t want to unintentionally keep harping on that point by giving him a third-degree questioning about himself and their life together.

“I just…I have to get ready for the answers, I guess.”

Laura nodded. “You’ll get there.” She offered an encouraging smile.

Her feelings snuck up on her, but Aanya felt a tug at her heartstrings when she took in the look on Laura’s face. It crossed her mind that this must’ve been why the two of them became friends before—she was very easy to talk to. Aanya had to imagine that when the topics of conversation were a bit lighter, that Laura was probably fun to chat and joke around with too. If she was hanging out and getting along with Angel, she must’ve had a decent sense of humor.

Their conversation was interrupted by the chiming of the bell on the door. Both of them turned to look and see who was walking in. Laura let out a deep sigh, knowing that she was going to be pulled from their conversation even though she really didn’t want to be.

Aanya saw it on her face too. She nodded towards the door. “It’s okay. I won’t keep you.” She gave Laura’s shoulder a light squeeze. “Thank you.”

Tears instantly welled in Laura’s eyes and she pulled Aanya into another hug, unable to stop herself. “If you need anything, you can always stop by. Or call.” She stepped back and took a breath to try and get herself together. “I’ll help however I can. Or even if you just want to, you know, just go grab a drink or something, I’m game for that.”

Aanya chuckled, nodding. “Sounds good.”

“It was really good seeing you,” Laura said, her words as genuine as they’d ever been.

“You too,” Aanya replied with a smile.

With that, Laura scampered off to help the pair of customers that had just walked in. Aanya took a deep breath, giving herself a couple seconds to try and get herself together. She was about to turn and walk out of the current section that she was in, but then she thought better of it. Looking back at the shelves of books, she scanned until she found a title that piqued her interest and swiped it off the shelf.

She wandered back to the register, book grasped in her hand. EZ and Angel were still lingering by the counter, laughing at a conversation that Aanya couldn’t even try to guess at. Judging by the way that EZ was shaking his head, whatever Angel said must’ve been pretty funny.

“Have you ever left this place empty-handed?” Angel asked, seeing Aanya before EZ did.

She chuckled, shaking her head, “Wouldn’t know.”

Angel’s eyes went wide and the smirk instantly dropped from his face. “Shit, querida, I didn’t mean—”

She waved her hand dismissively, a warm smile still on her face. “It’s okay, Angel. Really.”

He nodded, but she could tell that he didn’t really believe it. “Right,” his voice dropped to just above a whisper, like he was trying to stop himself from saying it but couldn’t quite manage it, “Sorry.”

EZ gave Angel an out he desperately needed as he brought himself into the conversation. “What’d you find?”

“Oh,” Aanya’s voice brightened up as she held the book out, “I don’t really know. The title seemed interesting, though.”

EZ’s expression dampened for half a second before he recovered. He nodded as he turned it over and looked on the back cover, eyes scanning over it for a brief moment before he handed it back. “Should be good.”

Aanya wanted to ask but she didn’t get to when Laura popped up behind the register, ready not only to ring her out but also the other people whenever they were ready. Aanya fumbled for a moment before pulling a few dollars out of the pocket of her jeans and setting them on the counter.

She shared another quick goodbye with Laura before turning to head back towards the door. She waited a moment to see if Angel was going to be leaving with them or hanging around. She and EZ both smiled for different reasons when he stayed put in the chair he’d been in since before they arrived. Aanya said goodbye, giving him a quick hug. He and EZ exchanged a, “Later,” knowing that they were going to be sitting across the Templo table from each other sooner than not.

When the two of them stepped back out onto the sidewalk, Aanya let out a breath that she hadn’t felt herself holding. She hugged the book to her chest as the two of them started walking back towards the car. EZ kept looking over at her, waiting for her to say something about all of it. He didn’t want to pepper her with questions, knowing that it was all a lot. But he wanted to know how she felt, if anything felt at all familiar. Although, judging by the book in her hands he had to assume that nothing had really cleared up for her.

“You have to get back, right?” she asked.

EZ nodded as he pulled the car keys out of his pocket. “Yea. If you need anything I can shoot home right after.”

“I think I’ll be alright. I’ve got a new book, anyway.” She was smiling as she reached for the handle of the passenger door.

The drive back to the scrapyard was comfortably quiet. Music was playing softly from the radio. Aanya was looking out the window, fingertips drumming lightly on the cover of her book in time with the music. EZ was looking over at her whenever he could, trying to figure out what it was that she was thinking.

“Ezekiel?” she said, turning to glance over at him as he drove.

He kept his eyes on the road, eyebrows lifting slightly as he responded, “Yea?”

“Thank you.”

His brows came together as he pried his eyes off the road for a brief moment so he could look at her. He took in the expression on her face as he returned his attention to the road, not feeling at all like he had a better idea of what she was thanking him for. “Thank you? For what?”

“I know that this isn’t easy. I just, I don’t know, I know that none of this is what you signed up for. When you,” she fiddled with the ring on her finger, “decided to marry me, you weren’t planning for me to wake up one day and not remember who you are.”

“I don’t think anyone plans for that,” he replied honestly. “But you don’t need to thank me. Wish there was more I could do.”

Quiet took over the space between them again. EZ was fighting the urge to reach over and take Aanya’s hand in his own, or rest his hand on her thigh. He adjusted his grip on the steering wheel and forced himself to focus on the road.

When they rolled back into the clubhouse lot, EZ found himself leaning back and trying to melt into the driver’s seat behind him. His hands were still braced against the steering wheel as his head dropped back and his eyes closed for a few seconds.

Aanya watched him, curious about what he was thinking but not quite sure that she wanted to ask. She gave it a couple more seconds before she said, “You okay?”

EZ opened his eyes, looking over at her with a nod. “I’m good.”

She laughed softly. “Are you sure?”

He chuckled, understanding why it was difficult to believe what he was saying. He unbuckled his seatbelt as he spoke. “Just mentally preparing for the club.”

“Hmm.” Aanya nodded, not quite sure what she was supposed to say to that. “Is everything okay?”

EZ shrugged, nodding. “More or less. It’s just,” he paused, trying to think about to how explain it in broad strokes without having to dump everything on her at once while they sat on the lot in her car, “we got a lot of shit we’re trying to change and work out. A lot of arguing about how to do it.” He looked at the expression on Aanya’s face as she tried to piece it all together. He flashed her a smile. "It’s all good. Arguing is what we’re best at.”

It got her to laugh. “At least you’re good at it.”

They each got out of the car, and Aanya walked around to the other side to meet him. EZ leaned back against the side of the SUV, hands holding onto his kutte as he looked at Aanya standing in front of him.

“Do you think you’ll be late?”

He shook his head. “Not too late, no. Why?”

She shrugged. “Just wondering. Thinking about dinner.”

“Oh. You can grab something if you don’t wanna cook. Don’t worry about me.”

She nodded. “Okay. Sounds good.” She pulled open the driver’s door of the car. “Have fun arguing with everyone.”

EZ laughed. “I’ll try. If you need anything—”

“I’ll call,” she finished the sentence for him.

A slightly embarrassed smile curled his lips. “Right.” He stepped away from the car as she shut the door. “Drive safe.” he said as he walked up to her rolled down window.

She smiled. “Always.”

With that, she turned and began pulling off the lot. EZ stayed put, lingering until her car was out of sight. He let out a deep sigh before turning and forcing himself to walk over to the clubhouse. For months, things with the club had seemed so inconsequential in light of his wife being laid up in the hospital. All that time he had been assuming that when she woke up, things would go back to normal. But now, it still felt like whenever he was at the clubhouse, he shouldn’t be, even though realistically he knew that him being home wasn’t going to magically get everything back to normal with him and Aanya either. He shook his head at himself as he reached for the door to let himself in.

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me (12/?)

EZ Reyes x OFC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @noz4a2: Ez & oc are married 2 years, Ez leaves on a run and while he’s gone oc gets into a bad car accident, she almost dies. Instead she is in a coma for 6 months. During that 6 month time Ez goes everyday or as much as he can, reads to her from her favorite book, etc. After 6 months she finally wakes up, but has retrograde amnesia & doesn’t know who Ez is or their life together. So he is determined to help her get her memory back and goes about wooing her again.

Warnings: 18+, language, alcohol, melancholy feelings

Word Count: 4.1k

A/N: This fic is my main priority for NaNoWriMo. I originally wasn't going to edit & post anything from it until the month was over but I need to focus on something today and my brain isn't functioning well enough to write yet. So, editing and posting it is!

Chapter Index

EZ Reyes/Remind Me Taglist: @queenbeered @thesandbeneathmytoes @kelpies-shed @louisianalady @gemini0410 @paintballkid711 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @sesamepancakes @buckybarneshairpullingkink @plentyoffandoms @garbinge @bucky-iss-bae @enjoy-the-destruction @bport76 @rosieposie0624 @mijop @blessedboo @i-love-scott-mccall @withmyteeth @punkgoddess-98 @black-repunzel99 @lexondeck @redpoodlern @amorestevens @mijagif @frattsparty @winchestershiresauce @bellisperennis0 @beardburnsupersoldiers @mveggieburger @thanossexual @choochoo284 @passionatewrites @samcrobae @langiinspirations @bigcreatorwombatdreamer (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

Over the next few days, EZ made a conscious effort to try and stop treating Aanya like she was made of glass. He wanted to protect her from everything, but the reality of it was that it wasn’t going to do her any good. That thought hadn’t really hit him until he saw the way that the guys were treating her at the scrapyard. His heart had lurched into his throat when they acted so familiar with her, thinking that it would upset her, but it didn’t.

Some of her memories were gone, but she was still Aanya. He knew that, but seeing it in practice with other people gave him an entirely new perspective. She had never really been shy, at least not in the time that EZ had known her. So while she was technically meeting everyone for the second time, it didn’t change how she was with new people. She’d been comfortable and confident five years ago, there was no reason that she wouldn’t be again.

He could also see that having the noncontingent freedom of being able to come and go from the house was a relief for her. EZ would’ve taken her anywhere that she wanted to go, but the freedom of being able to take herself in her own car without having to ask or feel like she was intruding on his schedule was nice. EZ had been so wrapped up in his willingness to do anything for her that he didn’t think about the fact that Aanya would always do whatever she could for herself if she could help it.

EZ came down to the kitchen in the morning to see Aanya standing at the refrigerator. She had the door of it pulled open, leaning lightly against it as she scanned each shelf. She raked her hand back through her hair, and EZ caught a glimpse of the pensive look on her face.

“Looking for something?” he asked as he shrugged his kutte on over his t-shirt.

She glanced back at him over her shoulder. Her eyes widened in surprise, not having heard him walking without the sound of his heavy boots on. She smiled. “Sort of.”

He walked closer, looking over her shoulder into the fridge. “What d’you need?”

Her laugh had a little bit of nervousness to it. “Um. There’s…did you know there’s a cat that comes by here?”

EZ laughed, a real laugh as he shook his head. “Yea, I know.”

“What?” Aanya laughed but she couldn’t hide her confusion.

“You're like his best friend.”

“Oh?”

He nodded. “Yea. He must’ve realized that you’re back, because he didn’t come around much while you were in the hospital.” EZ stepped away from the fridge and walked towards the closet by the door. “Couple years ago you insisted that we leave a little bit of food out for him. You said he looked too skinny. And I said that if we do that, he’s never going to stop coming around looking for a free meal.”

Her cheeks felt warm as she smiled. “And now here we are?”

He nodded as he pulled the giant bag of cat food back to the front of the closet where it was easier to see, easier to reach. “And now here we are.” He paused, looking at the way Aanya was scanning over the bag with a happy but thoughtful look on her face. He gestured towards the cupboards. “We just use one of the plastic bowls for him.”

She immediately turned to grab one. “Did we name him?”

“You call him Hunter.” There was a smirk tugging at his lips as he said it.

Aanya could hear it, too. Once she picked a bowl, she turned back around to face him. “And what do you call him?”

EZ chuckled. “Meatball.”

“Ezekiel,” she laughed, shaking her head.

“What? He went from too skinny to clearly never having to work for his meals.”

She smiled and rolled her eyes as she walked over to the closet. “He is cute, though.”

“That’s what you said before, too,” he said with a smile.

She laughed quietly as she filled the bowl. There was something reassuring to her about the little pieces of consistency when he said things like that. It was scary, not remembering so much, but there was something akin to comfort about the fact that there were still things about her that were the same. She was still herself. She had to keep reminding herself of that even when the gap between what she remembered and what she should remember seemed too big to close.

“No scaring him away,” she said with a smile as she reached for the doorknob.

He shook his head, hands gripping onto the edges of his kutte. “Yes ma’am.”

The second that she pulled the door open, the cat appeared. He let out a quiet meow as he padded right up to her. He paced, rubbing against the bare skin of her legs as he purred. She laughed quietly as she crouched down, not just to place his food out for him but also to pet him. The second her fingertips touched the top of his head, he eagerly pushed up into the contact, eyes squeezing shut as his purring grew louder. Aanya giggled, shifting herself so that she was kneeling next to him and his bowl.

“He doesn’t look that heavy,” she said to EZ, eyes still fixed on the cat who was now tucking into his breakfast.

He laughed. “Yea, because he’s had to work for his food for the last few months.”

“So mean,” she said in an exaggerated tone.

EZ smiled as he watched both of them, a pair of old friends. “Yea, clearly it was so bad that he came running right back.”

Aanya hummed in amusement. There were a few beats of quiet, the only noise coming from the cat who was tucking into its breakfast. Her fingers were still deftly trailing along his back as she turned back to look at EZ. “Do you have plans today?”

He shrugged. “Just some stuff with the club. Why? Need something?”

She shook her head. “No, no. I’m, I was just,” she gnawed at her lip in thought as she tried to figure out if she really wanted to say it, “I was thinking of going to the bookstore.”

EZ’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh.”

She saw his hesitation. “You don’t think it’s a good idea?”

He shook his head, feeling bad for adding to whatever doubt she was already battling with. “No, no it’s not that. I just, I wasn’t expecting that to be what you said. Sorry.”

“I have to go back eventually, right? Will they…they’ll let me back, won’t they?”

For the sake of not stressing her out more, he wanted to say, “Of course they will,” but the reality of it was that he wasn’t completely sure. If her memory didn’t start coming back, he couldn’t say for sure whether or not she would get her old job back. They wouldn’t kick her completely to the curb, but it might not be exactly what it was before. Then again, if her memory didn’t come back, how much was that really going to bother her?

“I hope so,” he replied honestly. “You’re one of the best people they’ve got.”

She let out a soft laugh, one that had a little bit of sadness to it. “You have to say that.”

He managed a smile past the aching feeling in his chest. “Doesn’t mean that I don’t mean it.” He paused, clearing his throat. “But yea, did…did you want me to go with you?”

She took a deep breath as she thought the question over. “If you have stuff you need to do—”

He didn’t let her finish the thought. His voice came out gentle as he dropped down so he was sitting next to her on their steps. “If you want me to go somewhere with you, do something, then I’ll be there. The club can wait. What are they gonna do” he laughed softly, “fire me?”

It got Aanya to laugh. “I’m sure you have something like that.”

“If it’s for you,” he waited for her to look at him before continuing, “they’re not going to have a problem with it.”

“They all seem sweet,” she said with a nod.

EZ had to laugh a little at that. He knew too many things about too many of them to be able to say that and truly mean it. He’d had a helping hand in too much bloody, messy business with them to be able to talk about them in that light without it being just a little sarcastic. But they were all good to Aanya. No one could deny that.

“They’re good guys,” he finally said. “They care about you a lot.”

Despite not knowing the full scope of things anymore, Aanya knew that that was no small thing. There was something to be said about all of EZ’s friends, the other members of his club, being on her side. It was a little daunting in some respects, but more than anything it was reassuring.

“So,” she let her gaze wander back to the cat who was now laying, splayed out on his side next to her on the steps, “you wouldn’t mind going with me then?”

He shook his head, no hesitation in his response. “Of course not. When do you wanna go?”

She shrugged, “This afternoon, maybe?”

He nodded. “Yea, okay. Yea.” He paused, thinking about the plan of the day. “I can meet you over there? Or if you wanna come grab me from the yard we can head over together?”

“I’ll pick you up, yea.”

EZ couldn’t help but to feel relieved at the ease with which she responded like that. “Okay,” he stood up, brushing the dirt from his jeans, “then I'll see you later?”

“I’ll see you later.”

Every fiber of his being was fighting the urge to lean down and kiss the top of her head. He could deal with pretty much anything, but not being able to hold her the way that he wanted to, or kiss her the way that he was used to, was a battle he was constantly fighting. He settled for a gentle but loving squeeze on her shoulder before descending the steps.

Aanya watched as he walked off to his bike. He swung his leg over the bike, flashing Aanya a smile before letting it roar to life. Hunter lifted his head up off the step, but didn’t make any other moves like he was afraid or intended to leave. Aanya looked down at him, laughing as he almost immediately hunkered back down ready to resume being pet.

When EZ got to the compound, he started making his way over to the front office to see if there was anything on the legitimate side of their business that needed to be taken care of before everyone showed up and they got into all of the club shit. He heard the music from inside the office before he even got to the door. He couldn’t help but to laugh and shake his head as he stepped through, Chucky almost always leaving the door propped open when he could.

“Hey!” EZ called out over the music, “Chucky!”

Chucky looked up from the notebooks in front of him, eyes wide as he reached over to turn down the radio that was blasting. He had his usual grin as he looked over at EZ. “EZ Reyes!” he called back loudly despite the fact that he had quieted the music.

“Got any work for me today?” EZ asked as he walked up, leaning against the counter.

Chucky frowned pensively as he shuffled through the papers on the counter. “Nothing outside the walls here.”

He chuckled. “Alright. Sounds good.” He rapped his knuckles against the countertop. “Thanks, Chucky.”

EZ was halfway back to the door when Chucky spoke up again. “EZ?” his tone was quieter, more earnest than it had been.

It didn’t go unnoticed by EZ. “Yea?”

Chucky hesitated for a moment before asking, “She’s okay?”

EZ gave him a sad smile. He shrugged, not wanting to lie but not wanting to make things out to be worse than they really were. “She’s trying, Chucky.”

“They said she can’t remember anything?”

“Not the last few years, at least.”

Chucky’s frown deepened. “That’s sad.”

It wasn’t anything that EZ didn’t already know, but for some reason hearing Chucky say it like that put a knot in his stomach. He focused hard to take a deep, controlled breath. “It is. We’re, uh, we’re trying to get it back.”

He nodded. “Good.”

EZ contemplated not saying it, but it wasn’t as though Chucky wasn’t going to find out anyway. “She’s coming by later.”

His face brightened. “She is?”

“Yea. She’s picking me up—we gotta run a few errands then she’s gonna bring me back.”

“Need me to clear your schedule?” he asked.

EZ laughed softly, liking the way that Chucky made his yard schedule sound packed, like he was really that busy of a man. “I’ll handle it.”

Chucky seemed a little more at ease as he nodded, returning his attention to his paperwork. “I accept that.”

EZ was back towards his bike as he pulled his phone out, shooting a quick text to Laura. He felt bad that he had basically put everything on Angel in terms of keeping her in the loop. He was just running out of mental and emotional bandwidth.

“You working at the store today?”

He didn’t even get to put his phone away when the response chimed through. “All afternoon till close” a second ding, “Everything okay?”

The guilt was starting to feel heavier on his shoulders. “Aanya wants to stop by.”

He was rewarded with a phone call. Laura’s name flashed across his screen, and the second that he hit the accept button she was talking—he didn’t even get to try and say hello.

“Aanya’s coming?” She sounded eager, emotional.

“She wants to, yea. I just, I didn’t wanna bring her there if you weren’t there.”

“Holy shit.” She let out a choked laugh, trying to keep her feelings in check. “Okay. Okay, yea.”

He hated that he had to ask, but he said, “Did, uh, did Angel tell you?”

“About her memory?” her voice dropped considerably as she asked the question.

He sighed deeply. “Yea.”

“Yea,” she paused, like she wasn’t sure what else to say, “he told me.”

“Okay. You’re, you know, you’ll be good with that?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks, Laura.”

She let out a small sigh of relief. “No problem. I’ll see you guys soon, yea?”

“Yea.”

They said a quick goodbye and EZ finally stopped pacing alongside his motorcycle. After tucking his phone away, he shrugged off his kutte and draped it over the seat of his bike. Unclipping one of the bags on the side, he pulled out his Romero Brother’s shirt. Pulling his clean shirt off over his head, he tossed it into the bag before buttoning up his work shirt, wanting to have something that was somewhat clean to change into when Aanya showed up later. He tucked his kutte away as well before finally letting himself start doing his job.

EZ had completely lost track of time. He was dripping sweat, finally stepping back to catch his breath. When he turned around, he flinched slightly at the fact that Aanya was standing behind him. He managed to wrangle his shocked expression in, giving her a smile on top of it.

“Hey,” he said with a slightly awkward chuckle.

“Hey.” Her voice was bright, warm, the way it always seemed to be, “Sorry—didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

“It’s okay.” He pulled the collar of his shirt to wipe at the sweat on his face. “Just didn’t hear you come up.” He paused, really looking at her for a moment and unable to do anything besides smile. “You good to go?”

She shrugged, nodding. “Yea…are you?” she asked with a laugh.

He laughed, shaking his head. “Just, uh, give me five to change and wash my face and I’ll be good to go.”

He walked over to his bike, grabbing his clean shirt and his kutte out. Turning around, he found Aanya once again looking over all of the other bikes that were parked there. He smiled at the way that she would occasionally stand up on her tip-toes to look over the top of the bike, hands clasped behind her back so that she wasn’t touching it. A few of her curls fell in front of her face, and EZ could’ve sworn that his heart was skipping every other beat inside his chest.

He cleared his throat, more in an effort to get himself together than to get her attention. When she looked over at him, he gestured towards the clubhouse. “I’m gonna get changed. You can come in if you want? A couple of the guys are around but you can hang out and wait—I’ll be quick.”

Her smile was genuine even if there was a touch of nerves in her voice as she said, “Sure.”

EZ held the clubhouse door open for her, letting her walk in first. She was hardly two steps inside before she stopped to gawk at everything. He chuckled softly as he walked in after herm positioning himself so that he was standing beside her.

“It’s not much, but,” he shrugged, “you know.”

She hummed, half in amusement, half in approval. When EZ took a few steps farther in, she followed suit, her head on a swivel as she tried to take everything in as she walked. He walked with her over to the bar, letting her know that she could take a seat.

EZ gave her shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll be right back.”

Aanya nodded, giving him a smile to let him know that she was alright. “Okay. I’ll…be here,” she replied as she laughed softly.

The bathroom door had hardly shut behind EZ when a woman appeared on the other side of the bar in front of Aanya. She smiled as she leaned against the bar. “Hey! Anything I can get you?” She saw the slight unease on Aanya’s face and elaborated. “We have water and soda back here, too,” she said with a laugh.

Aanya’s expression relaxed slightly at that. “Water would be good, yea.” She paused, watching as the young woman dug into cooler for a cold bottle of water. “I’m sorry, have we…have we met before?”

The girl’s eyes widened as she stood upright again. She shook her head as she set the water bottle down. “No, we haven’t. Sorry.” She laughed, shaking her head at herself. “I’m always forgetting to introduce myself.” She held her hand out. “I’m Stephanie. You can call me Nails, though.”

Aanya smiled at that. “Nails.” She shook her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Aanya.”

Nails’s eyes widened at that. “Oh! Aanya.”

She had to let out a soft laugh at the shift in expression on Nails’s face, the change of tone in her voice. “So you’ve heard, then.”

Embarrassment flooded her entire expression. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be—”

“It’s okay,” she spoke kindly, her words genuine. “It’s really okay. I guess I didn’t think much about the fact that everyone here might know, even if they don’t know me.”

“I’m one of the few new people.” She laughed awkwardly, “It’s not like the club is really known for bringing outsiders in all the time.”

Aanya laughed at the phrasing. “Outsiders. Right.”

Nails was still mentally kicking herself for being so obvious. “I really am sorry.”

Aanya shook her head before taking a sip of her water. “It’s okay. To be honest, I’m just glad that you weren’t another person that I’ve forgotten.” She let out a small laugh, trying to find humor in the midst of the heart wrenching chaos.

“Well,” Nails reached and grabbed a beer bottle for herself, popping it open on the edge of the bar, “glad I could at least do that for you.”

The clubhouse door swung open and both girls turned to look and see who it was. Nails immediately found herself standing up a little straighter, even though it wasn’t necessary. Her hand tightened nervously around the beer bottle in her hand as she smiled at the man who’d just walked in.

Aanya smiled too, out of politeness, as she tried to figure out if this was someone else she knew. He didn’t look like someone who would be new—he walked with too much authority for that. Plus, with the way he stopped in his tracks when he saw her, she had to assume that he knew exactly who she was and the mess that entailed. His lips curled into a warm smile as he finally got his feet working, walking over towards the bar.

Nails was the first of the three of them to speak up. “Hey, Bishop. Need anything?”

He looked over at Nails, shaking his head with a smile still on his face. “I’m all set.”

Aanya took immediate note of the name that Nails had said, trying to run it back through the rolodex of her memories to see if she could place it. She couldn’t, but she hoped that that wouldn’t always be the case.

Bishop watched Aanya study him for a few moments, not taking it personally when her face didn’t light up with any kind of recognition. “Hey, sweetheart.” He stopped in front of her, not crossing the boundary of hugging her. “It’s really good to see you.”

She smiled, feeling a bit awkward like she didn’t quite know what to say. Bishop could see it all over her face and offered her an out. “You waiting on EZ? I can grab him off his shift—”

Aanya gestured towards the bathroom. “He’s just getting cleaned up. We’re going to the bookstore.”

Bishop nodded, knowing that it was no small feat. “That’s good.”

Before the conversation could go any further, the bathroom door opened. EZ walked out, sweaty work shirt clutched in one hand. He glanced over at the bar, seeing that there were now three people there instead of one. His eyes grew wide as he tried to walk over fast, but not so quickly that it was obvious.

“Nails, Bish, hey,” he said, looking at all of their faces to try and get a feel for how things had been going in the few minutes that he was preoccupied.

“Aanya said you’re going to the bookstore,” Bishop offered up.

EZ nodded. “Yea, but I’ll be back for—”

Bishop waved him off. “Whatever you need.” He was tough on EZ a lot of the time, but there was no way that he couldn’t not soften up a bit when he had Aanya sitting there watching the two of them interact.

EZ looked over at Aanya. “Good to go?”

She nodded, hopping off the seat at the bar. “I’m ready.”

They both said a quick goodbye to Nails. EZ grasped Bishop’s hand in a handshake that quickly shifted into a hug. Bishop gave him a couple extra supportive pats on the back before releasing him. When he turned to Aanya, he pulled her into a gentle hug, pressing a chaste kiss to the side of her head that way that he had for a long time now.

“I’m glad you came by,” he said earnestly.

She smiled as she nodded, stepping back when he released her from the embrace. “Me too.”

EZ felt a pang in his chest watching the two of them, but he tried to push those thoughts to the side as the two of them started making their way back towards the clubhouse door. He didn’t miss the way that Aanya’s eyes drifted over to the Santa Maria statue with the bullets slung across it. She lingered for a beat, studying it for a moment before continuing on through the door. EZ wondered if she had something that she wanted to say, but he couldn’t force himself to ask.

“You wanna drive?” he asked as they got closer to her car.

She thought on it for a moment before tossing the keys to him. “I’m still not sure of the best way to get there.” She paused before sheepishly admitting, “I used the GPS to get here.”

He flashed her a smile that was warm enough to melt her nerves away. “Hey, it got you here. Don’t worry,” he hit the unlock button, “I got you.”

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me (11/?)

EZ Reyes x OFC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @noz4a2​: Ez & oc are married 2 years, Ez leaves on a run and while he’s gone oc gets into a bad car accident, she almost dies. Instead she is in a coma for 6 months. During that 6 month time Ez goes everyday or as much as he can, reads to her from her favorite book, etc. After 6 months she finally wakes up, but has retrograde amnesia & doesn’t know who Ez is or their life together. So he is determined to help her get her memory back and goes about wooing her again.

Warnings: 18+, language, alcohol, little bit of yearning

Word Count: 2.8k

A/N: Shorter chapter but also much, much lighter emotionally compared to some of the others. I love Aanya with my whole heart in every chapter, but something about the softness and starts of acceptance in this one really get me. We also get a couple guest appearances from a few of my favorites. 🥰

Chapter Index

EZ Reyes/Remind Me Taglist: @ly--canthrope​ @queenbeered​ @sincerelyasomebody​ @beautifullboo​ @thesandbeneathmytoes​ @appropriate-writers-name​ @tomhardydallasstarsgirl​ @kelpies-shed​ @louisianalady​ @gemini0410​ @paintballkid711​ @chibsytelford​ @yourwonkywriter​ @sesamepancakes​ @buckybarneshairpullingkink​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​ @plentyoffandoms​ @georgiaaintnopeach​ @twistnet​ @themoonandthewicked​ @garbinge​ @bucky-iss-bae​ @enjoy-the-destruction​ @encounterthepast​ @bport76​ @rosieposie0624​ @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo​ @mijop​ @xladymacbethx​ @blessedboo​ @holl2712​ @lakamaa12​ @masterlistforimagines​ @lilah1903​ @toni9​ @shadow-of-wonder​​ @crowfootwrites​​ @redpoodlern​​ @punkgoddess-98​​ @black-repunzel99​​ @lexondeck​​ @fanfic-n-tabulous​​ @amorestevens​​ @angelreyesisdaddy04​​ @mijagif​​ @frattsparty​​ @winchestershiresauce​​ @bellisperennis0​​ @beardburnsupersoldiers​​ @mveggieburger​​ @thanossexual​​ @xeniarocks​​ @choochoo284​​ @littlekittymeow​​ @beardsanddetectives​​ @bruxasolta​​ @i-love-scott-mccall​​ @doritosandjellybeans​​ @withmyteeth​​ @flacalatke​​ @samcrobae​​ @langiinspirations​​ @bigcreatorwombatdreamer​​ (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, let me know!)

With the way that things ended up the night before, EZ decided it would just be easier for everyone if he picked the car up rather than Creeper coming to drop it off. When he told Aanya that in the morning, she offered to go with him. As much as EZ didn’t want her to feel like she had to just stay home by herself all day, he knew how overwhelming the yard and the clubhouse could be for anyone, let alone someone who was going through what she was going through.

Morning trickled into the afternoon and soon enough, they were getting ready to head out. “You sure you’re up for it?” EZ watched as Aanya pulled on an old pair of beat-up sneakers, ones that started off white a long time ago but didn’t stay that way for long, “A lot of the guys are going to be there.”

Adjusting her shirt, she looked over at EZ with a smile, tilting her head slightly, “They know me, right?”

He nodded, “Yea, of course.”

“Then it might be good for me to see them.”

EZ wished that he could shake the nerves as easily as she seemed to, even if she was faking it to an extent. It was convincing. He forgot about his unease for a moment as he watched her go to fix her hair. She clearly still hadn’t fully adjusted to it being shorter as she reached to pull it into a lower ponytail than she was able to do. He cracked a smile when he saw her shaking her head at herself.

“Still up to take the bike?” he asked, pulling on his kutte.

Her smile grew, “Yea, I think so.”

He grabbed her helmet from the closet, and it was impossible not to reflect the smile on her face as she took it from him. He opened the door for her, following behind her as she clipped the helmet on.

“Think a ride on the bike will make up for me vetoing the racecars?” he swung his leg over his motorcycle before turning back to help her on.

Placing her hand on his shoulder, she hoisted herself onto the bike behind him with ease. Muscle memory served her even when the rest of her memory wouldn’t, “Better make it a really fun ride, Ezekiel.”

His heart fluttered in his chest at the humor in her voice. It all felt so familiar. After he put on his sunglasses, he strapped on his own helmet. Turning his head, he was about to ask Aanya if she was ready to go, but her arms were already slithering around his torso. Despite the second-nature feeling of the motions, her hold on him still tightened slightly when the bike started up, getting a laugh out of EZ that he was glad she couldn’t hear over the sound.

It didn’t take long for Aanya to relax, arms still looped around EZ. Once that happened, though, and EZ was confident in the fact that she still enjoyed it, he took the longest way to the scrap yard that he could. They weren’t on anyone’s timetable but their own.

The gate was open when EZ got there, and as he rolled to park his bike alongside everyone else’s, the relaxed sensation he’d felt on the ride over began to waver. He’d let the guys know that Aanya was coming with him, and to take it easy on her. They knew the situation, and he just hoped that they would be able to keep it together.

Aanya hopped off the bike first, setting her helmet down and shaking out her curls. EZ watched, absentmindedly going through the motions of taking off his own helmet along with his gloves and his sunglasses. He would’ve stared at her much longer if a familiar voice didn’t force him to refocus his attention.

“EZ-peasy!” Chucky’s voice rang out as he made his way over, “Thought I saw your—” he stopped mid-sentence when Aanya turned around to face him. His features became saturated with emotion at the sight of her. His voice was hardly above a whisper as he tried to talk through the lump in his throat, “Mrs. Reyes.”

Her heart softened at the sight of him, a man who clearly cared so much, “Hi,” she offered him a small wave.

EZ’s heart dropped into his stomach. He had been so busy keeping in touch with the MC that he hadn’t thought to reach out to Chucky. Based off of the man’s reaction to seeing her, EZ had to assume that he wasn’t fully up to date on everything that had been going on. He opened his mouth to try and run interference, but he was a few seconds too late.

Chucky stepped in, wrapping Aanya in a hug, “You’ve been missed.”

She hesitated for a moment, but quickly leaned in and reciprocated the gesture. It was the most affection that someone had shown her since she was released from the hospital. He was the first person who didn’t treat her like she was about to break. She closed her eyes as a smile spread across her face.

Even when he let her go out of the hug, Chucky couldn’t quite manage to pull his eyes away from her. Aanya studied his expression, feeling like there was something so different, yet so familiar and safe about him.

EZ cleared his throat, “Hey, Chucky, did Creep give you the keys for the car?”

The sound of EZ’s voice got him to divert his attention. Turning to face the biker, he shook his head, “No keys, EZ Reyes.”

“Alright,” his hands landed in their usual resting place on the edges of his kutte, “He here?”

He nodded, “I’ll go get him.”

He shot the smaller man a smile, “Thanks, Chucky,” EZ watched as he set off on his mission before turning back to Aanya, who was also still watching him scamper across the yard, “You okay?”

She looked over at EZ, smiling, “I’m okay,” she nodded in Chucky’s direction, “He’s sweet, isn’t he?”

He chuckled, but he nodded, “Little off-beat, but yea. He’s a good guy. Cares about you a lot, about all of us.”

“I can see that.”

“I’m sorry,” EZ apologized, shaking his head, “I didn’t think to give him the heads-up about…”

“What?” Aanya let out a soft laugh, “Have you been busy or something?”

Something about the smile on her face made his nerves subside, “Little bit, yea.”

“I’m the one who forgets things. You’re not supposed to be doing that too. Nothing will get done,” she shook her head, a touch of laughter in her tone. Drawing her eyes back to EZ’s, she saw the slight look of shock on his face, and she softened her smile, “I can still be funny.”

He smiled, “Right,” clearing his throat, he stepped in closer to her, “Listen, the other guys all know that things are…different now. But I can’t promise that they’re going to know how to handle it.”

“Do any of us?” she shook her head, reaching to give his arm a reassuring squeeze, “I know it’s not easy, but whatever happens, it’ll be alright. I know things are hard, but I can’t be in a bubble away from everything, from everyone. Even if it hurts, I need to do all of this.”

“You’re always right, huh?” he tried to stifle the emotions growing in his chest with a laugh and a shake of his head.

“I try my best to be.”

Her hand dropped back to her side and EZ immediately missed the contact. She was looking around the yard, studying everything as best she could. As he watched her, EZ started thinking about all the times before when she’d come with him to the clubhouse, the times that she showed up unannounced just to visit or surprise him. Nothing ever went unappreciated, but there was an entirely different depth to it now. It seemed like she was in her own little world as she stepped closer to the other bikes that were parked not far from where EZ had parked his. She didn’t touch any of them, but her eyes slowly raked over each one.

Looking up, she saw him staring at her. Smiling she pointed to one of the bikes, “I like the gold.”

EZ laughed, shaking his head, “Of course you do.”

“Yo, EZ,” Creeper practically ran up to him, “Chucky said that you and Aanya came through.”

“Yea,” EZ nodded towards where she was standing and looking at the bikes.

“Holy shit,” tears welled in his eyes as a smile broke out across his face, “Aanya.”

She looked back to him, smiling. When she saw the keys in his hand, she put it all together. Gesturing to the keys, she guessed, “Creeper?”

“Yea,” he walked over to her, he held his arms out, “Is it alright if I…”

She nodded, “Yea, of course,” she stepped into the hug that he was offering.

He hugged her tight, and for a moment Aanya couldn’t help but to think that his muscles were firm enough to be bulletproof. He sucked in a deep breath, all the emotions, all the misplaced guilt he’d been battling with for months finally coming to a head, “It’s so good to see you, mama.”

She chuckled at the term of endearment, “I’ve never felt so popular.”

Letting her go, Creeper quickly reached and wiped the tears off of his face, “Shit, you’re the only reason we’ve kept EZ around this long.”

EZ laughed, shaking his head but not arguing at all.

Aanya smiled watching the two of them. Looking at Creeper, she said, “I heard that you’re the one I should be thanking for fixing up my new car?”

Creeper smiled, “Made it as new as I could for you.”

She cupped his arm for a moment, “Thank you.”

He nodded, “You need anything, we’re all here for you.”

“Thank you,” she repeated herself, not sure of what else to say.

He dangled the keys, “Wanna see your new whip?”

She laughed, nodding, “Sure. EZ said it wasn’t a racing car, so I would like to know what we ended up with.”

Creeper draped his arm around her shoulders, guiding her towards where the car was parked, “He didn’t do too bad.”

EZ followed as the two of them walked together, but he gave them their space. She seemed so comfortable, and he was hoping for the best. He hoped that that comfort would lead to more, maybe some feelings, maybe some memories. Of all the places he thought that she would take to quickly despite her memory loss, the yard and the clubhouse was nowhere near the top of the list.

For all the jokes she’d made about wanting a sports car or something that she could race in, Aanya was truly thrilled with what EZ had ended up finding for her. No matter what it was, she never would’ve been anything but grateful for it. However, the SUV that Creeper was beginning to explain the ins and outs of was much more than she thought that she was going to end up with.

“I could live inside this if I had to,” she laughed as she opened the trunk, looking at all the space behind the back seats. She turned to EZ, “Where did you find this?”

He shrugged, holding onto the edges of his kutte, “I know some guys.”

She pulled the trunk door shut before walking over to EZ. She paused for a moment before wrapping him in a hug, “Thank you, EZ. So much.”

He didn’t think it was possible to go weak in the knees from a hug, but he did. Squeezing her tight for a moment, he soaked it all in, “Don’t need to thank me. I’ve got you.”

When the two of them broke off their embrace, Creeper gave them each a moment to get their minds right again before cutting into their conversation. Spinning the keyring on his finger, he waited for Aanya to look back at him.

“Ready to take her home?”

She nodded, laughing as she fumbled to catch the keys when he tossed them to her, “A joy-ride sounds nice.”

“If you’re ready to take her, she’s ready to go.”

Aanya said her goodbyes to Creeper and Chucky, sharing a couple more long hugs as the men tried to wrap their minds around the fact that she was really there with them again. Part of her wished that she had more to offer them, but there was something comforting about being there with them nonetheless. She’d have to ask EZ just how much time she spent with him there, how well she really knew all the men that he worked with.

When the two of them got home, the first thing EZ did after Aanya hopped out of the car was ask her how it felt to drive it. Her smile was bright as she told him it was all much more and much better than she expected. Every time she thanked him, he reassured her that she didn’t have to.

Once they were settled back in at home, it didn’t take long for Aanya to make her way over to the record player that was now in their living room. Flipping through a few of the records sitting on the shelf next to it, she found one that she wanted to listen to and carefully placed it on the player. Once the needle hit the track, she turned the volume up just enough so that the music filled the entire first floor of the house. It wasn’t blaring, but it was enough to get immersed in.

EZ heard the music as he started getting things out to make dinner. A smile spread across his face at the sound. She always had music going. They had speakers scattered all over the house, and despite that being the case, there were still times in the past when EZ would come home and Aanya would just have her phone in her back pocket, playing it from there rather than hooking it up to anything. Most the time she wouldn’t use headphones, and EZ always enjoyed the feeling that she was sharing it with him in a way. He felt like that now, too, as the piano notes flowed from the record player into the kitchen.

“It just sounds different on vinyl, you know?” she said as she walked into the kitchen.

He nodded, a small smile curling his lips, “I’ll take your word for it.”

She laughed, “You’ll see. Promise. The old records just…feel different. I don’t know how to explain it.”

The words I love you were dangling on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to badly to say it, but couldn’t help but feel that it would be suffocating for her. She’d handled everything so well the entire afternoon, he didn’t want to ruin that by pushing it too far. There was no rushing it, and he knew that, but he wished that he could just snap his fingers and fix everything.

“Can I ask you something, Ezekiel?” Aanya said as she walked, swaying to the beat as she made her way over to the refrigerator.

He nodded, not quite looking at her as he started chopping up vegetables for dinner.

“Remind me, do you dance?”

He laughed, shaking his head as he set the knife down. Turning to face her, he saw the way she was swaying to the music while she looked for something to drink in the fridge, “Not well.”

“Hm,” her hum turned into a laugh as she grabbed a beer bottle for herself, “me either,” she tilted the bottle towards him, “You want one?”

He shook his head, “I’m good.”

She took a sip before gesturing to the counter where he was working, “Anything I can do?”

“I think I’m all set. I won’t ask you to grab the plates this time,” he chuckled.

She laughed, “Thank you.”

The two of them shared a brief look, one that said everything that they didn’t want to say out loud. Her smile was genuine, but he could still see the I’m trying in her eyes. He gave her a small, almost imperceptible nod--I know. Both of them went back to what they had been doing, a tentative sense of ease between them.

The music played while they ate, Aanya making sure to pick a new record before they sat down to dinner. She picked another one still when they two of them started cleaning. It all felt so domestic, so habitual. She wondered if things were always like this with the two of them. It was a routine that she felt like she could fall back into if given the chance.

It was difficult for EZ to not be constantly staring at her as she did everything. Setting the table, having dinner, helping him clean up afterwards. If she noticed him staring, she didn’t say anything about it. He was a little thankful for that, not sure how he would explain the behavior. He was glad to have her back, glad that their house wasn’t filled with silence anymore. He tried to chalk it up to the music, but he knew it was her that made their house feel like home again.

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me: Chapter Index

Status: Ongoing

Chapter list under the cut!

Characters: Aanya Reyes, Laura Martinez

Prequel/Spinoff: Tempting Offer

One, Two, Three, Four 

Five, Six, Seven, Eight

Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen

Fourteen,

[drabbles-mc]

Tempting Offer

EZ Reyes x OFC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @garbinge: Ok and 43 with whoever your heart desires as well cause I’m a sucker for a good ol true love trope (from This List)

Warnings: so much fluff

Word Count: 3.3k

A/N: I’m still not out of my writing slump. Still got a lot going on. But Anj sent me this request literal months ago and it’s been living in my brain ever since. Plus, I haven’t updated Remind Me in a hot minute so I figured doing a fluffy little prequel/spinoff would be a nice change of pace for a story that is so heavy with angst haha. I have a future chapter planned that actually references what happens in this story, so I’m excited to be able to share the real context for it all with you guys. Hope you enjoy! xo

EZ Reyes/Remind Me Taglist: @ly--canthrope @noz4a2 @queenbeered @sincerelyasomebody @sadeyesgf @thesandbeneathmytoes @appropriate-writers-name @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @kelpies-shed @louisianalady @gemini0410 @paintballkid711 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @sesamepancakes @mayans-sauce @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @plentyoffandoms @georgiaaintnopeach @twistnet @themoonandthewicked @bucky-iss-bae @enjoy-the-destruction @encounterthepast @everyhowlmarksthedead @rosieposie0624 @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @mijop @xladymacbethx @blessedboo @holl2712 @lakamaa12 @masterlistforimagines @kkim120 @toni9 @shadow-of-wonder @crowfootwrites @redpoodlern @punkgoddess-98 @black-repunzel99 @lexondeck @mrsstevenbuchananstark @berniesilvas @lovebishoplosamiguelgalindo @amorestevens @angelreyesisdaddy04​ @samcrobae​ @langiinspirations​ @bigcreatorwombatdreamer​ @lightblindingme​ 

She knew who was at the door before she’d even heard the knock. She laughed as she made her way through her apartment, trying to slide her earring into place as she did. Pausing in front of her door, she took a moment to take a deep breath and get herself mentally prepared. It wasn’t their first date, but she still had the jitters as though it was.

Undoing the chain on the apartment door, she pulled it open. EZ was standing on the other side, hands hooked onto his belt since he hadn’t worn his kutte this time. Without a second thought his eyes scanned her over, a smile immediately taking over his features the longer that he looked at her.

“You look beautiful,” he nodded.

She bit down on her lip for a moment, her face heating up at the compliment, “Thank you,” stepping back, she waved for him to come in, “You can come in, I just gotta grab my shoes and purse and I’ll be good to go.”

“Take your time,” he lingered close to the door, glancing around her apartment.

It was the first time he’d ever stepped inside. He’d picked her up and dropped her off the last few times they went out, but he never went past the threshold of her place. She didn’t necessarily offer, and he wasn’t going to push it if she wasn’t ready or comfortable. However, as he stood there and looked around her living room and into what he could see of the kitchen, it seemed exactly like the kind of place she would live. It also made him very nervous to ever have her over at his trailer. Her apartment felt so fresh, all warm colors and walls covered with bookshelves. The one big set of windows that she had, had a bench with a few plants on it that were coming along well for being in a small apartment.

“Alright,” she was pulling the back of her shoe over her heel as she half walked, half hopped towards him. Standing upright as she landed in front of him, she flashed him a smile, “I’m ready.”

“You sure?” he chuckled.

“Positive,” she motioned for him to open the door, both of them walking through before she turned to lock it behind them. As she followed him, tucking her keys into her purse, she asked, “So do I get to know where we’re going tonight? Or is it a big surprise?”

He smiled at her as they walked down the flight of stairs to the ground floor of her apartment building, “It’s not a big secret.”

“Are we taking the bike?”

He shook his head, “It’s within walking distance.”

“Ooo,” she smiled over at him, “now you’ve got my attention.”

As the two of them walked along the sidewalk, EZ listened with genuine interest as Aanya recounted her day to him. He reveled in her stories of new books that she’d gotten into, and strange customers that she’d encountered during her day. Although if EZ was being honest with himself, he would have sat there and listened to her read every page of the phone book and he still would’ve kept his interest. She had more love in her words than most people had in their entire bodies, and he was captivated.

He stopped outside the door to a small diner, smiling over at Aanya before pulling the door open for her, “Right this way.”

Her face lit up, “I haven’t been here yet!” she walked through the door and turned around to face him, “I always meant to come here and just never made the time.”

EZ nodded as the two of them walked and found a booth to sit in, “My pops is really good friends with the woman who owns the place—she’s been buying from him for years.”

“You know,” Aanya casually flipped through the menu, “I’ve been to your father’s shop plenty of times and I’ve never seen you there.”

The statement got him to look up from the menu, “You’ve been to the shop?”

She laughed, looking over at him, “Of course. Only butcher in town, Ezekiel.”

“He’s never mentioned that he sees you.”

“Something tells me your father isn’t one for gossip,” she laughed for a moment before she paused, “You talked to him about me?” her lips curled into a smile.

“Well,” he drummed his fingers on the tabletop as he bit back a shy smile, “yea. Of course.”

They’d long since finished their dinner, but the two of them were perfectly content to just sit at the table and talk. The waitress knew EZ well enough and she very casually brought over coffee for each of them when she saw how good of a time the two of them were having. It’d been a long time since she saw EZ bring anyone around, let along someone who had him smiling the way that he was.

“I just can’t believe,” Aanya laughed between sips of her coffee, “that I’ve already met your brother. I should’ve known! I should’ve known that was him.”

“Why would you have known?” EZ chuckled.

“Because he was at your father’s shop! And he had on, you know the,” she gestured vaguely to her shoulders and chest, “the vest.”

EZ smiled, “The kutte?”

“Yes!” she pointed at him and nodded, “The kutte.”

“I feel like maybe I should mention that not everyone in a Mayans kutte is a Reyes brother. Angel just so happens to be both.”

She chuckled, nodding, “I figured that much.”

“I think Pop would lose his mind if there were any more of us,” he smiled.

Aanya laughed, “I think Felipe is usually on the brink of losing his mind anyway.”

“Raising Angel will do that to you,” he replied without missing a beat, both of them laughing.

“I’m sure you weren’t a cakewalk either, Ezekiel.”

“Well what makes you say that?” he leaned back in the booth, feigning offense before giving in and laughing.

Shaking her head and taking a moment to finish her coffee, she replied, “Your very sweet and handsome smile doesn’t fool me, EZ. I’m sure you’re just as much of a troublemaker as your brother.”

“You think I’m handsome?” he smirked.

Laughing, she nodded, “Of course I do.”

The two of them walked back to Aanya’s apartment. Along the way she’d casually linked her arm with his, leaning against his side as they walked. EZ tried not to get too lost in the sensation of it, trying to focus on what she was saying to him. He was trying to focus but there was something so comfortable, so right, about the feeling of her leaning into him the way that she was.

They made their way up the stairs, and EZ leaned against the wall next to her door as he watched her slip the key into the lock. The smile on his face was practically a permanent feature whenever he was with her, and it had been a long time since someone made him feel that way.

“I had a really good time tonight, Ezekiel,” Aanya leaned against her doorframe with a smile.

He adored the way his name sounded coming from her. With a slight nod, he replied, “Me too.”

“I’ll give you a call tomorrow when I’m done with work?”

“Yea, yea that works,” he reached forward and gently slid his hand into hers, “Let me know if any of the new deliveries look any good.”

“I always think they look good,” she chuckled, “If you want a real critic’s opinion, you should come in and talk to Laura. It’s…it’s hard for me to find a book I don’t like.”

“If you want, I can bring you some pretty terrible books.”

Rolling her eyes, she laughed, “Tempting offer, but I’ll pass.”

“Alright, but you’re missing out.”

“I guess I’ll have to live the rest of my life knowing that,” she laughed, shaking her head. Looking up and meeting his gaze, her smile softened, “Thank you for tonight. Get home safe, okay?”

“Always do,” he smiled before lifting her hand up and pressing a light kiss to her knuckles, “Talk to you tomorrow.”

Standing up onto her toes, she placed a brief kiss on his cheek, “Goodnight, Ezekiel.”

“Goodnight,” he smiled as she walked through the door and closed it behind her. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself not to linger as he made his way back down the stairs, replaying the night over in his head with a smile.

The next morning, both EZ and Angel had shown up to the carnicería first thing to help Felipe with a large delivery. Angel had immediately gotten on his little brother’s case when he saw what a good mood he was in. EZ had always been the biggest morning person out of the three men, but even with that being true he still seemed peppier than usual. After a lot of questioning from Angel as they carried in one box after another, he caved and told them about his date from the night before.

Angel shook his head, wiping sweat from his brow, “No way. No way she’s real, bro. I just don’t buy it.”

“What do you mean you don’t buy it?” EZ laughed and shook his head, “She literally stops here all the time. She’s seen you here!” he gestured to the shop in its entirety.

“Really?” Angel seem perplexed, “She talk to me before?”

“I’m assuming not if you don’t remember.”

“Not everyone’s got a memory like yours, Boy Scout.”

“Nah, but you’d remember her.”

Angel rolled his eyes, mocking his brother, “You’d remember her. Jesus, EZ. Two dates with this girl and you’re already in love with her?”

“Four dates.”

“But who’s counting?” Angel smirked, “Look, I’m very happy for you and your very real girlfriend.”

EZ gave his brother a shove, but before it could descend into an all-out wrestling match, Felipe started ushering them both towards the door, “Go finish this somewhere that I don’t need to pay for everything you break.”

“Love you too, Pop,” Angel laughed as he let his father push them both out the door, the sign on it still saying that the shop was closed.

Despite the fact that they didn’t get to talk for their whole ride over to the clubhouse, as soon as they parked their bikes Angel was right back to giving EZ grief for the girlfriend he was convinced didn’t exist. EZ shook his head and laughed, taking the jokes and low-level verbal abuse in stride the way he always did. He knew that arguing past a certain point just made it all that much more fun for Angel.

By the time the afternoon rolled around, Angel had moved on from making fun of EZ and has started going in on Coco and Gilly. EZ couldn’t say that he was upset about his brother’s shift in attention. He did, however, find himself frequently checking his phone to see if she’d texted or called. It wasn’t often that she messaged him while she was working, but it didn’t hurt to check.

He was just about to slide the phone back into the pocket of his kutte when it started to vibrate. Glancing down at the screen, he smiled when he saw Aanya’s name lighting up the screen, “Hey.”

“Hey!” her voice was bright, happy, on the other end of the line, “I’m just getting ready to leave—they got someone else in to close up tonight.”

“Oh, nice. I’m, um, I’m still at the scrapyard,” his free hand gripped the edge of his kutte.

“That’s fine, I figured. I thought of you earlier, though, when I was going through the new shipment of books that came in.”

“Did you?” he scuffed the toe of his boot against the dirt.

“I did. There’s one in here that I think you’ll really like. Can I swing by and drop it off?”

“You don’t gotta drive all the way out here. I can swing by your place if you want.”

“It’s fine, really. Besides, I have all this extra time on my hands now,” she laughed.

“Alright,” he didn’t have it in him to tell her no, “If you don’t see me, the guy Chucky who works the front office can come and get me.”

“Perfect. Alright, I’ll see you in a little bit.”

He knew that telling Angel that she was coming was only going to make the situation worse. If there was no time for him to prepare comments beforehand, there was the possibility that EZ could just do a normal introduction. It helped that everyone was relatively busy with club business.

EZ was walking back down the steps of the clubhouse, about to head towards the front office when he saw Aanya walking next to Chucky. The two of them were talking and EZ couldn’t help but to take on her contagious smile. He couldn’t hear what the two of them were saying but Aanya looked thoroughly amused, and knowing Chucky he had to assume it was something good. When she locked eyes with him across the yard, EZ could see her thanking Chucky before turning and heading in his direction. EZ immediately spotted the book hanging from her hand as she walked up to him.

“He seems so fun,” she nodded back over her shoulder in Chucky’s direction.

“Yea,” EZ laughed, “he’s somethin’ alright.”

EZ was too busy looking at the woman in front of him to see that Angel had seen her come onto the yard, watching intently as she walked over to his brother. Angel saw as the woman laughed at something his brother said, and for a second he really couldn’t believe that EZ had been being honest with them this whole time. Angel really thought that his little brother had just been exaggerating to get him and the rest of the club off his back.

“Looks like you’ve been working hard,” Aanya smiled as she reached up, cupping one side of his face in her hand as she thumbed a streak of dirt off his cheek with her thumb.

He felt like his skin was on fire at the contact, but he tried not to let it show, “Just trying to stay busy.”

“That makes two of us,” she laughed, “I hope you don’t mind me just popping up like this. I don’t want to intrude on everything you’ve got here.”

“You’re not intruding. If anything, you’re a very welcome distraction,” he chuckled.

“At least I’m welcome,” she smiled.

“Always,” he couldn’t stop looking at her.

The two of them stood there for a few moments before Aanya cleared her throat, remembering why she’d shown up at the scrapyard in the first place. She held the book close to her chest for a moment before handing it over to EZ.

“Just came in today, so I haven’t read it. But I read the first chapter or so while it was slow this afternoon and it seemed like something you’d enjoy.”

“I’ll be sure to write up a full report when I’m done with it,” he smiled.

“Lucky for you, I grade papers as generously as I review books,” she laughed, resting her hand against his chest. Her fingertips traced along the stitching of the leather covering his torso. Looking at his prospect patch for a moment, she looked back up at him, “Kutte.”

He laughed, nodding, “You got it.”

“It’s my one new piece of information for the week.”

“That and all the first chapters of books you’re going to be reading for the rest of the week,” he gave her a knowing look.

“Like you wouldn’t do the same thing if you worked there,” she lightly patted his chest.

“Maybe,” he rested the hand that wasn’t holding the book over hers, completely enveloping it.

“I don’t know how late you need to be here tonight, but if you want to come over later, you can.”

He raised his eyebrows, surprised by the invitation, “Yea?”

She nodded, “Yea. If you have plans with your brother or something I totally understand. Just thought I’d mention it.”

“I’ll be there,” he didn’t have plans, but even if he did he would’ve dropped everything for her, “I’ll give you a call when I leave here in case you need anything.”

“Sounds good!” she felt her heart beating a little faster in her chest, “Alright. I’ll let you get back to work. I’ll see you tonight?”

He nodded, “See you tonight.”

He was expecting her to flash him a smile and a wink before turning and walking away. But, much to his surprise, she gently cupped both sides of his face in her hands and pulled him down into a kiss. It took him a moment to really register what was going on, but once he did, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. He could feel the way she smiled into their kiss and in that moment, he realized that there was nothing else in the world that he’d rather do. He’d drop damn near any and everything to be able to kiss her like that all the time.

She pulled away, hands still resting on the sides of his face. She smiled as she took in the slightly dazed look on his face. Tracing her thumbs along his cheeks, she gave him a soft peck on the lips, “Bye,” she let out a quiet laugh.

It was hard to get himself to force out the one-syllable word as he stared at her. He’d never been good at taking things slow, and as he stood there looking at her, seeing the way that she was practically glowing, he knew that he was very quickly falling in love with her. He wished he knew how to articulate the way that she made him feel, but instead he settled for getting his thoughts enough to say goodbye to her until he saw her again later.

He’d offered to walk her back to her car but she waved him off, insisting that she was fine and if nothing else Chucky would gladly escort her, which EZ knew was true. He watched her as she sauntered back towards her car and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. His fingers curled tighter around the book in his hands, pressing it against his chest.

The feeling of his phone vibrating in his pocket snapped him out of his daze. He reached into his kutte and pulled it out, sighing when he saw that Angel had sent a picture to the group chat with all the guys. Not knowing what to expect, he opened the message and saw a picture of himself and Aanya, one hand on his cheek while the other held the book. The next message was a text from Angel, one that made EZ shake his head, “Guess boy scout wasn’t lying after all. She’s real”

Before EZ could try to respond and come to his own defense, Gilly sent a message to the chat, “Still don’t buy it. I wasn’t there. Didn’t happen”

Knowing that it was just going to descend further into chaos, EZ decided he might as well play into it, “Alright. Guess you won’t care if I leave early to go and see my not real girlfriend then. See you guys tomorrow”

Angel called out to him from across the yard when he read the message, “Hey, hey. I don’t think I said all that!” Angel walked over to his brother, laughing the entire time, “Nah, nice to see she’s a real person.”

“Yea, that’s one of my favorite things about her,” EZ chuckled and shook his head, tucking the new book close to his chest.

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me (9/?)

EZ Reyes x OFC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @noz4a2: Ez & oc are married 2 years, Ez leaves on a run and while he’s gone oc gets into a bad car accident, she almost dies. Instead she is in a coma for 6 months. During that 6 month time Ez goes everyday or as much as he can, reads to her from her favorite book, etc. After 6 months she finally wakes up, but has retrograde amnesia & doesn’t know who Ez is or their life together. So he is determined to help her get her memory back and goes about wooing her again.

Warnings: some light angst but overall this is a little bit of an emotional reprieve from everything in the 8 chapters before this

Word Count: 3.4k

A/N: I can’t explain myself for the gaps between updates lmao. But I think about these two all the damn time and I promise I have been plugging away at scenes for them. Bear with me. It’s a quiet chapter, the two of them grappling for some kind of normalcy, but I really like how this turned out.

Chapter Index

EZ Reyes/Remind Me Taglist: @ly--canthrope @queenbeered @sincerelyasomebody @sadeyesgf @thesandbeneathmytoes @appropriate-writers-name @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @kelpies-shed @louisianalady @gemini0410 @paintballkid711 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @sesamepancakes @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @plentyoffandoms @georgiaaintnopeach @twistnet @themoonandthewicked @garbinge @bucky-iss-bae @enjoy-the-destruction @encounterthepast @rosieposie0624 @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @mijop @xladymacbethx @blessedboo @holl2712 @lakamaa12 @masterlistforimagines @toni9 @shadow-of-wonder @crowfootwrites @redpoodlern @punkgoddess-98​ @black-repunzel99​ @lexondeck​ @mrsstevenbuchananstark​ @lovebishoplosamiguelgalindos​ @amorestevens​ @angelreyesisdaddy04​ @mijagif​ @frattsparty​ @winchestershiresauce​ @bellisperennis0​ @beardburnsupersoldiers​ @mveggieburger​ @thanossexual​ @xeniarocks​ @choochoo284​ @littlekittymeow​ @beardsanddetectives​ @bruxasolta​ @i-love-scott-mccall​ @doritosandjellybeans​ @samcrobae​ @langiinspirations​ @bigcreatorwombatdreamer​ (If you want to be added to the taglist let me know!)

The house was silent the next morning when Aanya woke up, but she did immediately pick up on the smell of breakfast being made downstairs. It took her a few moments to reorient herself to her current situation. Everything still felt foreign when she woke up and for a small stretch of time, she forgot the events of the previous day.

It all came rushing back, though, as she looked around the room. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she peeled the blanket off herself and swung her legs so that her feet landed on the floor. She braced herself against the edge of the bed for a second as she contemplated how she was supposed to navigate the rest of the morning, and by extension the foreseeable future.

“Just breakfast,” she thought to herself as she stood up and made her way into the hall, “Just get through breakfast first before you worry about the rest of it.”

As she made her way down the stairs, she could hear the muffled noise of the television in the living room. There was a warm sense of familiarity in it combined with the scent of breakfast coming from the kitchen. Not a memory, per se, but a comfortable feeling. And she was more than willing to settle for that for the time being.

EZ hadn’t heard her come downstairs, so when she cleared her throat upon entering the kitchen, he spun around quickly. Aanya flinched slightly at his reaction, not expecting him to react that way. An embarrassed smile spread across his face as he looked over at her.

“Sorry about that—didn’t hear you come downstairs,” he stepped to the side and gestured to the stove, “I made breakfast, though.”

She chuckled, “I see that,” she surveyed everything that he was doing, “Anything I can do to help?”

He shook his head, “It’s almost done. If you wanna maybe grab a couple plates?” he paused, realizing that there needed to be more to that request, “They’re in that cabinet there,” he pointed with the spatula in his hand.

EZ watched as Aanya walked over and opened up the cabinet. Glancing up, she saw that the plates were on the top shelf. In that moment, despite the fact that she had years missing from her memory, she knew that it must’ve been EZ who organized the cabinets and cupboards because she never would’ve put items that she uses so frequently so high up. Standing on her tip-toes for a moment, she tried to reach them, but she knew that it was going to end badly. So, with hardly any hesitation at all, she lifted her leg up onto the counter, proceeding to push herself completely up onto it so she could kneel and grab a couple of plates off the top shelf and safely set them down on the counter beside her before climbing off.

While she was doing that, EZ looked on with a smile on his face. A scene that he’d watched play out so many times over the years and it took him until that moment to realize just how much he’d missed it. He remembered the exact conversation the two of them had had the first time Aanya realized that he had put the plates just up out of her reach. She’d chastised him and said that she was going to move them down, but for whatever reason she never got around to it. Instead, the two of them spent the last few years with EZ always being the one to get the plates while Aanya got the glasses and silverware, or she would simply just hoist herself up onto the counter the way that she just had.

When she got down and turned around, she saw the slightly dazed look on EZ’s face and suddenly felt very self-conscious. Pushing her hair back out of her face, she tilted her head to the side, “Everything alright?”

He snapped back to attention, realizing how he must’ve looked. Clearing his throat, he nodded, “Yea, all good. Sorry—forgot that those are a little tough to reach.”

“Not impossible, though. My legs still work just fine,” she picked up the plates and brought them over to the table.

The silence between them throughout breakfast was only a little uncomfortable, which was expected. They each had so many questions and neither of them knew where to begin. Aanya asked EZ what his plans were for the next few days, and he gave her the honest answer that he had no idea. She appreciated the candor, but she couldn’t help but to feel a little bad that she’d thrown one wrench after another into all of his plans without even meaning to or realizing it.

“One thing, though,” EZ said as he leaned back in his chair, “I do need to do some grocery shopping today,” he paused as he tried to read her expression, “Would you wanna go? You don’t have to. Just…didn’t know if you’d wanna get out of the house.”

She paused, really thinking about her answer before giving it, “That might be good, right?”

“Yea,” he nodded slowly, “and if you’re uncomfortable I can always just bring you back here. No big deal,” he didn’t want to make it seem like some huge excursion and turn it into something unbearable.

“Okay,” she drummed her fingers on the tabletop, “Alright. I guess I’ll…go get ready then?”

He chuckled, nodding, “Sounds good.”

They were riding in Felipe’s truck on the way to the store, and EZ fought to keep his gaze on the road rather than looking over at Aanya the entire time. She watched the buildings pass by and he’d see the way her brows would knit, like she was trying to will the memories back into existence.

“I’ve been really bad at shopping lately,” EZ admitted as they walked into the store, “so anything that you see that you want, get it, because I probably don’t have it at home.”

Aanya laughed quietly as she gave him a nod, “That’s fair,” she walked over, grabbing a shopping cart as she began to make her way deeper into the store. She got a few strides ahead of EZ when she paused, turning around with an embarrassed half-smile on her face, “I shouldn’t be the one leading the way, huh?”

His chuckle was soft, not wanting her to think that he was laughing at her, “I was gonna let you—you seemed pretty certain.”

Aanya followed him through the store, occasionally taking something off the shelf and tossing it into the cart. EZ kept an eye on it, not for any other reason than to see if some things were still the same despite everything else changing. A smirk pulled at the edge of his mouth as he watched her stand up on her tip-toes and pull a box of cereal down off the top shelf.

When she turned back around, she saw him watching her, and nerves instantly came over her, “What? It’s breakfast and dessert.”

He laughed, nodding, “You’re…you’re completely right.”

The only conversation that passed between them as they made their way up and down the aisles was about what foods to get and what meals to make with it. Pragmatic discussions were easy, they didn’t require either of them to put any work into remembering anything in particular. It was comfortable, a conversation that could’ve happened between roommates not romantic partners. And EZ could see it on Aanya’s face that it was the break that she had been needing after how much her brain had been straining to recall everything that was gone.

As the two of them were loading groceries into the back seat of the truck, EZ mentioned the fact that he wanted to stop by the carnicería. Aanya gave a shrug as she swung the door shut, “Okay.”

He saw how unbothered she seemed by it, and he took a deep breath before making his next point, “Pop’s shop,” he fumbled over the words, “My…my dad’s.”

“Your father owns a butcher shop?” she sounded impressed.

“Yea,” EZ chuckled as he said his father’s famous line, “Only butcher in town,” he paused, his face sobering up a bit, “You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to.”

She saw the look on his face and realized why he was so hesitant, “Does he know?” despite the levity that had been in her voice all morning, she sounded serious.

“I, uh,” he shook his head, “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to him. Angel said he was gonna call.”

There was a long stretch of silence as she thought over the options. She gave him the simple answer of, “Okay,” before turning and hopping back into the passenger seat.

As he walked to the driver’s door, he wondered if he was being too protective or not enough. He couldn’t just shut her up and lock her away from everything in fear of overwhelming her, but he also didn’t want to toss her out without a life raft, leaving her to sink or swim.

When he parked outside the butcher shop, he immediately turned and looked over at Aanya. She was studying the outside of the building, the was so unassuming for people who didn’t already know what was inside, or rather, who was inside. EZ waited for her to speak up, give him some kind of inclination as to what she was thinking, but she remained silent.

“I’ll be quick,” he finally offered up, “Really.”

Pressing her lips together for a moment, she considered her answer. Finally, she shook her head, “I’ll have to do everything eventually, right? So I might as well…”

“It’s your first real day out of the hospital, Aanya,” he tried to sound soft but not patronizing, “If you want a day to yourself I get it.”

She nodded slowly, “This was part of my life, right?” she gestured to the storefront.

“Yea,” there was a warmth building in his chest at the thought of it.

“Then it can’t hurt to go in.”

EZ had always known that she was brave, even if it wasn’t in the loud, reckless way that people tended to think of bravery. But he always knew that there was a quiet courage inside of her, and it shone through in moments just like that. She’d woken up with everything ripped out from underneath her, and yet she still managed to get herself out of bed. EZ didn’t know if he would’ve been able to do the same if he were in her shoes.

The door chimed as the two of them walked in. Felipe called out from the back that he’d be there in a minute. EZ chuckled, “No rush, Pop.”

Aanya quickly skimmed over the meat counter, but was quickly drawn away by the bookshelves on the opposite wall. EZ stood back and watched her, smiling to himself as she hovered over certain titles, ones that he knew she’d given to him in the past and he had subsequently passed on to his dad to read next. The pages were rattier than they’d been when the books were in her care, but they looked at home on the rickety old shelves.

“How is—” Felipe stopped himself short as he saw Aanya standing and flipping through a book. He cleared his throat, trying to look less emotional than he felt, “Aanya.”

She looked up from the book, offering him a shy smile, “Hi. Mr. Reyes, right?”

Felipe nodded, wanting to come around and hug her, but knowing that it wasn’t the time for that. Taking a breath, he tried to focus on why they showed up, “What can I get you two?”

Aanya stood back and watched the two men interact. EZ told him about what they’d bought at the store before showing up, and before he even finished talking, Felipe was grabbing things to wrap for the two of them to take home. It was such an easy conversation. Aanya could see past the gruff manner that Felipe used to talk to his son that there was a lot of love there. The grumpy old man act only went a few layers deep.

Felipe looked over at her, seeing the way she was watching them with the book still open in her hand. He shook his head at her, “No matter what he says, don’t suffer through that book,” he gestured to the one she was holding.

Her and EZ both laughed, and he tried to come to his own defense, “It wasn’t that bad, Pop. It’s a good book.”

He shook his head once more before focusing his eyes on Aanya, “Don’t do it.”

She smiled, nodding as she closed the book and slid it back onto the shelf, “I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”

Felipe looked back to his son, “That everything, then?”

He paused, giving it some thought before nodding, “Yea, I think we’re all set. Thanks, Pop.”

“Love you, son.”

“Love you too.”

Felipe looked over to Aanya, a small smile coming across his face for a moment, “If you ever want some real book recommendations, feel free to come back.”

She laughed, nodding, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

As the two of them sat back down in the truck, she looked over at EZ and asked him, “Does he always pretend to be that bristly with you?”

He chuckled, shaking his head, “He’s not pretending—trust me,” he threw the truck into reverse, “He’s always been nice to you though.”

Her quiet chuckle dissolved into a hum of sorts, “Always at your expense?”

“Always,” one end of his mouth quirked up into a smirk as he thought about it all.

The drive back to their house was quiet. Aanya toyed with the handles of the grocery bag on the seat next to her. She helped EZ carry everything into the house, and she watched carefully as he started to put everything away. She set a pot of coffee to brew as he finished unpacking everything, trying to keep herself busy, make herself useful.

“Thank you,” she said as she handed him a mug.

He shook his head, “Don’t need to thank me—putting groceries away isn’t that hard.”

“No,” she chuckled for a moment before her expression sobered again, bracing herself against the edge of the counter, “Thank you for…pretending that any of this is at all normal. I know it’s not. But I also, you know, don’t really know what else…”

“Hey,” he reached and rested his hand on hers for a brief moment before pulling back, “You don’t need to thank me for that either,” he waited a few seconds before shifting gears in the conversation, “You think you’ll be alright here if I step out real quick to go with Angel to pick up a car?”

She raised her eyebrows slightly, surprised by the question, “Um, yea. Okay.”

“You sure? I can, I can stay—have them drop it off.”

The word them made her more nervous than she cared to admit. So she insisted, “No, really. It’s alright. I’ll be fine here.”

He watched her expression for another couple seconds before giving in, “Alright. Angel’s gonna pick me up in an hour or so. Then, hopefully, when I come back it’ll be with a brand new ride for you.”

She laughed, “Sounds fancy.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Shaking her head, she told him, “Four wheels and a working engine, EZ. That’s all I need.”

His eyes grew a little wider at the statement, “What?”

Looking a little confused, she repeated herself, “Said all I need is a car with four wheels and a working engine. You know. The basics.”

It was the same thing she’d said to him a few times over the years when she needed to get a new car. She never did get herself anything fancy, always buying something used which contributed to the shorter lifespan. But she insisted that buying new just wasn’t her thing.

“I might be able to get the guys to fix it up a little bit. Add some extra stuff for you.”

“Turn it into a street-racing car?” she laughed.

“Let’s not get carried away,” he chuckled and shook his head. Taking a breath, he continued, “But yea, once we get your car squared away, I can give my dad his truck back.”

“What’ll you have?”

He shrugged, “The bike.”

“That’s…that’s all you drive?”

He smiled, nodding, “Yea, pretty much.”

She chuckled, “What if you need to go shopping? Or do…anything, really?”

He laughed, “Well usually, I’d just, um, well, we’d use your car.”

“So that’s why I can’t have a racing car?”

He nodded, unable to not feel emotional and a little choked up at the fact that he was standing in the middle of his kitchen, able to listen to her talk and joke with her. Even if things were different now, she was still his wife, and he still loved her, and he still thought that she was one of the greatest people on the planet. And she still made him happier and laugh more than anyone else in the world.

“Yes,” he forced himself not to get too lost in his own feelings, “that’s the real reason why.”

With a shake of her head, Aanya picked up her own coffee cup and quietly made her way out of the kitchen. She walked through the living room, making her way towards the stairs. She hadn’t really looked around the house too much, still not quite feeling like she had the right to despite the fact that this was where she lived now. But as she got closer to the stairs, the framed photos hanging on the wall caught her eye when they hadn’t before.

She stopped, looking closely at them. The warmth seeping through the ceramic mug was the only thing grounding her as she studied the photos, knowing the woman in them was her but not having any recollection of them being taken. She looked so happy, though, and so did EZ. That’s the way people should be, she supposed, especially in their wedding photos. But the longer she looked at them, the more she wished that she could remember it all. EZ looked so handsome in his suit, his brother, too. Although it was hard for her to reconcile the man from the previous night who was sitting in her kitchen in a leather kutte and dingy jeans, with the man who had a suit on and his arm thrown around EZ in the photo on the wall. But it was him, and they all looked so happy.

EZ stood in the doorway that led from the kitchen to the living room and watched her as she stared at the photos. His heart ached, and he wanted to say something, tell her how happy they were that day, and all the days after that too. But the words got caught in his throat as the memories of the day all came rushing back. The way she looked in her dress, the way she swore that she wasn’t going to cry during her vows but ended up a teary mess anyway, just like him. He thought about their first dance, and the way that she let his brother twirl her around the dancefloor too. He wanted to talk to her about all of it, but he couldn’t get the words out. Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a deep breath, and before he could stop her she made her way up the stairs.

When Angel got to the house, EZ made sure that he went upstairs to say goodbye to Aanya before he left. Knocking on the bedroom door, he listened, waiting for his cue to enter. When he opened the door, he stepped in to see Aanya rifling through the top shelves of the closet, clearly trying to come across anything that she recognized.

“I’m heading out. You need anything before I go?”

She shook her head, “No, I don’t think so. When I’m done making a mess in here, I can get started on dinner,” she laughed quietly.

He smiled, “I can do that when I get back.”

“It’s okay. Really. I…I need things to do.”

“Okay,” he nodded, “I’ll keep you updated on any car modifications.”

She laughed, “At least make sure it’s a car I can drift in.”

“You can drift in any car if you try hard enough,” there was a boyish grin on his face.

Aanya couldn’t help but to give him a smile in return, “Drive safe, EZ.”

“Always,” he fought the urge to follow it up with an I love you, but he stopped himself, the opportunity passing him by as she turned back around and went back to opening old boxes that had been collecting dust in their closet.

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me (8/?)

EZ Reyes x OC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @noz4a2​​​:  Ez & oc are married 2 years, Ez leaves on a run and while he’s gone oc gets into a bad car accident, she almost dies. Instead she is in a coma for 6 months. During that 6 month time Ez goes everyday or as much as he can, reads to her from her favorite book, etc. After 6 months she finally wakes up, but has retrograde amnesia & doesn’t know who Ez is or their life together. So he is determined to help her get her memory back and goes about wooing her again.

Warnings: angst, hospitals

Word Count: 3.6k

A/N: It’s been a long long time but we are back at it, my friends! I really love this story and I think about Aanya all the time. I just haven’t had the inspo and I didn’t want to force it. But our girl is home now, and we love to see it. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Index

EZ Reyes/Remind Me Taglist: @ly--canthrope​ @queenbeered​ @sincerelyasomebody​ @sadeyesgf​ @thesandbeneathmytoes​ @appropriate-writers-name​ @tomhardydallasstarsgirl​ @sillygoose6969​ @louisianalady​ @gemini0410​ @paintballkid711​ @chibsytelford​ @yourwonkywriter​ @sesamepancakes​ @mayans-sauce​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​ @plentyoffandoms​ @georgiaaintnopeach​ @twistnet​ @themoonandthewicked​ @garbinge​ @bucky-iss-bae​ @enjoy-the-destruction​ @encounterthepast​ @everyhowlmarksthedead​ @rosieposie0624​ @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo​ @mijop​ @xladymacbethx​ @blessedboo​ @holl2712​ @lakamaa12​ @masterlistforimagines​ @kkim120​ @toni9​ @shadow-of-wonder​ @crowfootwrites​ @redpoodlern​ @punkgoddess-98​ @black-repunzel99​ @lexondeck​ @mrsstevenbuchananstark​ @samcrobae​ @langiinspirations​ @bigcreatorwombatdreamer​ @lightblindingme​ (If you want to be tagged in this fic specifically or any of my stuff let me know!)

After a few more discussions with the doctor, and a long conversation between EZ and Aanya, she was getting ready to be discharged from the hospital and go back to the house that she’d shared with EZ. He’d gone home the night before and gotten things ready for her. He did a deep clean of everything, changed the sheets and pillowcases on the bed for her. He moved a lot of his things into the guest room since that’s where they decided he would stay for the time being. It killed him to think about not falling asleep with her in his arms, but the thought of at least having her back home was enough to give him hope.

Neither of them knew how to make the situation feel more normal. EZ wanted her to be as comfortable as possible, but what could he really do in a situation where she was returning to a home that she didn’t even know anymore?

She stood up out of the wheelchair that they’d wheeled her out in. Truthfully, being able to breathe the air outside the four walls of her hospital room, and wear clothes besides the paper gown she’d been living in, made her feel like a completely new person in the best of ways. She stood still, letting her eyes fall shut for a moment as she soaked up the sensation of being outside. Even though she hadn’t been awake for most of her stint in the hospital, her body knew that it hadn’t been outside in far too long.

EZ watched her as she soaked up the sunshine and fresh air. A smile spread across his face at the way she took so much joy in something so simple. He adjusted the bag that was on his shoulder, happy to wait for as long as she wanted to stand there.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and looked back over at him, curls tousling lightly in the breeze, “Where’d you park?”

He nodded towards the lot, “Not too far. Just a couple rows in. I can pull it up if you want?” truthfully he was kicking himself for not doing that right off the bat, but he’d just been too excited about her coming home to think of it.

She shook her head, “No, no. My legs could use the work, honestly. They’ve gotten enough rest.”

He smiled, nodding, “Right. C’mon,” he gestured for her to follow him, fighting the urge to reach out and take her hand in his.

He stopped at Felipe’s truck and unlocked it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Aanya studying it, hoping to maybe have it jog some sort of memory. He caught the almost imperceptible shake of her head and his heart sank a little further in his chest. She took a deep breath as she walked around to the passenger side and slid in.

He turned the key in the ignition and looked over at her. She was looking out the windshield, clearly deep in thought. He rested both hands on the steering wheel before asking, “You’re sure this is alright? I…I can always stay with Angel or my dad if you—”

“It’s okay,” she nodded, her voice was soft, “I think it might be better for me to have some company, anyway.”

He nodded but didn’t say anything more as he put the truck in reverse and pulled out of the parking spot. The first few minutes of the ride passed in silence before Aanya reached forward and turned the radio on. EZ smiled to himself as she clicked through the stations, trying to find one playing something that caught her interest.

“One day,” EZ chuckled as he drove, “when my dad gets a truck from this century, you can hook up my phone.”

Aanya laughed, finally settling on a station playing country music, “Judging by the condition of this truck, I don’t think he’ll be giving it up anytime soon.”

“No,” he looked over at her for a moment and smiled, “Probably not.”

Aanya was looking out the window for the whole drive home. Some things looked a little familiar, but there were a lot of things that she didn’t really recognize. Not much really stuck out to her as having any kind of sentimental value. But she felt a warmth in her chest as they drove through the small town, like it was the kind of place that she could fall in love with a second time around if that was the case.

EZ pulled into the driveway of their house, and Aanya studied it closely from the passenger seat. She was already starting to feel exhausted, trying so hard to trick herself into remembering something, anything. It was a quaint little house, and she had to imagine that it was an easy decision for them to make to get it. She let out a deep sigh as she raked her fingers back into her curls.

He looked over at her, wanting to be able to say the right thing to make it all better for her, but he had no idea what that was. She drummed her fingers on her leg for a moment before looking over at EZ. She saw the weak smile on his face and offered one in return.

“Let’s, uh, let’s get you settled in then, yea?” he finally said, taking the key out of the ignition.

The two of them walked through the front door of the house, and EZ couldn’t stop himself from watching Aanya’s expression. He so badly wanted everything to come rushing back to her, even though he knew that that wouldn’t be the case. She looked around the kitchen and dining room, taking in everything.

After giving her a beat to soak it all up, EZ cleared his throat, “I’ll show you the bedroom and stuff. I, I know you’re probably exhausted.”

She nodded, “Yea, okay.”

They walked through the living room and made their way upstairs. EZ stopped just outside the bedroom that he’d grown so accustomed to referring to as both of theirs. He took a shallow breath in, reminding himself that for the foreseeable future, that wasn’t the case anymore.

“Here’s your room,” he gestured for her to walk inside, and he followed, “I put fresh sheets on the bed and everything,” he dropped the duffel bag next to the bed, “But obviously if you need anything just let me know. I, I’ll be right down the hall,” he nodded in the direction of the guest room.

“Feels like I’m at a hotel,” she laughed nervously as she sat delicately on the bed, fingertips tracing lightly over the stitching of the comforter.

“A hotel with terrible room service,” he offered up a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

“Speaking of which,” she rested her hand over her stomach, “I’m starving.”

EZ’s face brightened up at the thought of having a concrete task that would be helpful for her. He nodded, “Yea? Okay. If, if you want, I’ll pull something together. You can, you can just rest.”

“I still know how to cook,” she didn’t like the idea of him doing everything for her, “I didn’t forget everything, you know.”

His expression softened, “I know. But I just, I know today is a lot. And I’m not the best cook, but it’ll still be better than hospital food.”

She chuckled, conceding to his offer solely because she could feel the tiredness creeping into her limbs. EZ gave her a slight nod before turning and heading back downstairs to get started on making something to eat for each of them. Once Aanya heard the quiet clamor of him pulling things together in the kitchen, she stood up and started looking around the room.

It felt like she was snooping, like she was going to come across something that she wasn’t supposed to. Even though she knew it was technically her space, it didn’t actually feel like it. She opened the dresser drawers and looked through the clothes inside. Some of them looked familiar, but most of them didn’t. There were a few college t-shirts and hoodies buried at the bottom of everything that struck a chord with her, but that part of her life was apparently so long ago now.

She crouched down in front of the bookcase, dragging her fingertips lightly along the spines as she took in all the titles. Only a few were ones that were stored in the deep recesses of her memory—ones that she must’ve gotten in school and never given away or returned. She thought about all of the bookshelves that they had throughout the house, or at least the ones she’d taken note of on their way to the bedroom, and she wondered how many memories were locked away in the thousands of pages throughout their home.

Aanya repeated the process with pretty much everything in the room. She leafed through the entire closet, noting that some of the things hanging inside of it were definitely EZ’s. It sent a shot of heartache through her at the realization that she was uprooting him within his own home. She tried to shake the thought from her head, to bury it underneath the curiosity of everything else, but it was all overwhelming and emotional in its own rite.

She collected a few of the books and a journal from the shelf and sat on the bed, skimming through them. An old photo fell out of one of them, a very blurry polaroid of her with some of her friends from college. She smiled at the faces grinning back at her, recalling how she ended up with the book that was in her hands. With a heavy sigh she tucked the photo back into the pages and moved onto the next one.

EZ didn’t think that it necessarily took him a long time to whip something up for them to eat, but apparently it took long enough. When he walked back into the bedroom, he found Aanya fast asleep, books scattered next to her. He sighed, letting a small smile pass over his features as he grabbed a throw blanket from the foot of the bed and lightly draped it over her. He picked the books up and stacked them on the bedside table so she wouldn’t run the risk of rolling onto them and waking up because of it. He watched her for a moment, a little happy and a little sad at the same time over the sight of her sleeping in her own bed again. Before he lingered too long, he grabbed the plate he’d brought up for her and made his way back downstairs.

He knew that Angel was planning on stopping by, but he still flinched slightly at the sound of the front door opening. Angel looked eager as ever, glancing around the kitchen as he walked in.

EZ shook his head slightly, “She’s upstairs, asleep.”

Angel nodded before pulling out a chair and sitting with his brother, “Long day.”

“Long day.”

There were a few beats of silence before Angel reached over, resting his hand on EZ’s forearm, “I’m sorry, Ezekiel.”

He took a deep breath, giving a slight nod, “Thanks. It’s alright. It’s just, it’s good just to have her home. It’s just a big adjustment, for both of us, but obviously her more than me.”

His tone was hushed, “She doesn’t remember anything?”

EZ shrugged, “Not about me, at least. Or Santo Padre in general, really.”

“Fuck,” he shook his head.

Before they could continue their conversation, there was the sound of footsteps on the hardwood of the living room floor. Both men turned to see Aanya, curls a slight mess from her unexpected nap, walking towards them. Her eyes were glued to the floor as she walked closer to the kitchen. When she finally looked up, her eyes grew a little wider. She tugged nervously at the bottom hem of her t-shirt.

“Oh, uh, hi.”

“Hey,” Angel wanted to get up from his chair and hug her, but he refrained, “it’s good to see you, querida. I’m, I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Thank you,” her voice was a little quieter than usual.

EZ could see the look in her eyes and spoke up, “This is Angel,” he smiled, “the second-best Reyes brother.”

It got her to laugh, her voice had a little more confidence to it, “Right. Thank you.”

Angel’s quiet chuckle served to put them both at ease, “Of course.”

She made her way over to the counter and collected up her plate. Angel and EZ were trying not to stare at her, but they also didn’t want to start up another conversation without her if she was going to stay with them. She took a deep breath as she made her way back towards the table.

“Not to be rude, but I was just gonna eat this upstairs?” she curled her toes against the floor, “I’m just…tired.”

EZ nodded, leaning back in his seat, “Yea, of course. Whatever you want—it’s your house too,” his smile was soft, kind.

“Thanks,” she glanced over at Angel, “I’ll see you around?”

He nodded, “Yea, I’ll be here.”

The two of them sat in silence, waiting for her to head back up the stairs. EZ knew all the sounds of the house by heart, and even though it was incredibly muffled, he heard the sound of the bedroom door shutting a few moments after she had disappeared back upstairs. He looked down at the empty plate in front of him on the table, quickly getting lost in his own thoughts.

“Has she asked you anything?” Angel’s voice snapped him out of it.

EZ forced his eyes back to his brother. He shrugged, “A few questions here and there. Nothing major. I think today she’s just getting used to not being in the hospital. Honestly, if I were her, I wouldn’t even know where to start. Like, what the fuck kind of questions is someone supposed to ask when the last five years of their life are just gone?”

Angel shook his head, knowing that there was nothing that he could offer EZ or Aanya. If either of them asked him to do something, he would in a heartbeat, no questions asked. But getting back into some kind of routine, to try and start figuring things out all over again, was something that the two of them had to do on their own for the most part.

Despite the futility of it, he still asked, “Anything I can do? For either of you?”

EZ sighed, running his hands back over his head, “I don’t know. I, I don’t think so.”

“Pops know she’s home?”

He shook his head, “I haven’t told anyone, just you. The guys know that she’s awake but I didn’t mention that she was coming home so soon. I didn’t think that it would all happen so quickly. It almost seemed too easy. Like,” his mind began to race, “they really just had to send her off with some man that she doesn’t even know anymore. I don’t…I don’t get it.”

“Well, memory or no memory I’m sure she’d rather be here than still in the fucking hospital.”

He chuckled dryly, “Yea, I guess. I just, I wish that she knew it was home.”

“Doc say anything about her memory?”

He let out a deep sigh, “Nothing that gave any straight answers. It might come back, it might not. If it does come back, it might take a while. Maybe some things will come back, but not others. It’s just,” he shook his head, “I can’t wrap my fucking head around it.”

“Yea, well, that’s because you can’t fucking forget anything.”

“In another universe, I can just take some of my memories and put them in her head.”

Angel chuckled, “The thought of more you’s being in a different universe is fuckin’ terrifying.”

It got EZ to let out a genuine laugh, “The only scary part is that it means there are also more of you.”

A few beats of silence passed between the two of them before Angel finally spoke up, “You want me to call him?”

He nodded, “Yea. Just, just tell him not to stop by yet though. I don’t know when she’s gonna be up for seeing a bunch of people that she essentially doesn’t fucking know,” he sounded angry but he wasn’t, he just hated that there was nothing he could do for her.

“Hey,” Angel’s voice was gentle, “give it some time. Who knows, maybe being out of the hospital and back here again will be good for her. Might jog her memory or somethin’.”

EZ shook his head, trying to ignore the tears gathering in his eyes, “But what if it doesn’t happen? What if she never remembers?”

Angel couldn’t bring himself to lie to his brother and act like that wasn’t a very real possibility. If the doctors said it themselves, numerous times, that there was just no way to be sure one way or the other, he couldn’t sit there and say otherwise. Angel sighed, “If she doesn’t, the you two just gotta start over again. You’ve got a brain full of cheat codes, EZ,” he tried desperately to lighten the mood enough so that he wouldn’t have to watch his little brother break down, “You love her. And somewhere in there, is a woman who loves you too.”

“But that’s the thing,” he shook his head, “What if we have to start over, and she doesn’t fall in love with me again? I can’t go my whole life knowing that marrying the love of my life was a fluke. I can’t do that, Angel.”

“Don’t think like that. Give it time. She’s got a lot of shit going on right now. Fuck, it’s her first day out of the hospital in over six months. Focus on just being what she needs you to be. She doesn’t need a fuckin’ husband. She needs someone to just be consistent and treat her like a normal human being. Be that. Because I don’t think a lot of people will be able to do that.”

“I don’t,” he took a deep breath, trying to get himself together, “I don’t even know what to say to her. For six months I’ve been dying to get her back and now—”

“And now she’s here. And it’s not gonna be easy but when has anything ever been easy for you? Or for her?” Angel reached and placed his hand on the back of his brother’s head, “The two of you will figure this out.”

He nodded, looking back up when Angel’s hand dropped back to his side, “Thank you. I’m sorry, it’s just, my brain is going at a mile a fucking minute trying to figure out what to do next.”

“Well,” Angel leaned back in his chair with a quiet laugh, “I suggest grocery shopping. You’ve been living off of Pop’s cooking for too long. Can’t let her know that.”

EZ chuckled, nodding, “Yea, probably. Maybe that’ll be the task for tomorrow.”

“I’ll talk to Bish if you want—let him know that you’re gonna need a few days.”

“Thank you.”

He nodded, “Of course. And I’ll, uh, I’ll talk to Creep about the car, too.”

“Fuck, right, right. Thanks.”

“I got you,” he stood up, adjusting his kutte, “Alright, I’ll let you do what you gotta do. Gimme a call if you need anything, alright?”

EZ nodded as he rose to his feet as well, “Yea, thanks, Angel,” he stepped in and wrapped his brother in a hug, “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Angel clapped him on the back before turning and heading towards the door.

Once he was by himself in the kitchen again, EZ set about cleaning up. He put the leftovers neatly in the fridge and took mental notes of some of the things he was going to need to get from the store in the morning. He wondered if Aanya was going to want to go or not. It felt silly to overthink such a simple task, but he just didn’t know what the right move was going to be.

After shutting off all the lights downstairs, he made his way towards the staircase. There was light creeping out from underneath the door to Aanya’s bedroom, and despite his better judgment, he lightly tapped his knuckles against it.

“Yea?”

He let out a sigh of relief, opening the door slightly to poke his head inside, “Hey. I just, I just wanted to see if you needed anything before I went to bed?”

She was wrapped up in blankets, clearly on the verge of falling back to sleep again, “I’m good. Could you hit the light, though?”

He chuckled softly, nodding, “Yea, of course,” he drummed his fingers against the door for a moment, “If you need anything, I’m right down the hall.”

“Okay,” one end of her mouth kicked up in a tired smile, “Goodnight, Ezekiel.”

He couldn’t help but to smile at the familiarity of the sound of his name the way that she said it, “Goodnight.”

He closed the door behind him and walked down to the guest room. With a deep sigh, he peeled off his shirt and fell into bed, letting his face stay buried in the pillow for a few moments before finally rolling onto his side. He stared at the wall, trying to quiet his racing thoughts as his brain conjured up what the future was going to look like. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to close his eyes, trying to take comfort in the fact that they made it this far.

[drabbles-mc]

Drabbles-MC: Mayans MC OC Masterlist

I've got a lot of love for each OC that I've created for my various stories, so I figured I would start compiling all of them!

Mayans MC OC list under the cut.

Olivia Castellano (featured in the series For Both of You)

Moodboard

Aanya Reyes (featured in the series Remind Me)

Moodboard

Playlist

Laura Martinez (featured in the series Remind Me)

Moodboard

Kiara Rojas (featured in the series Learning Curve)

Moodboard

Daniela "Dani" Reyes (featured in multiple Mayans one-shots Here and an upcoming Mayans series)

Moodboard

[drabbles-mc]

hiiiiii. ok so from the original characters ask reblog…kind of a big one but I love ur ocs and I want you to talk about them. hehe.

9. What is one of your character's theme songs?

12. Which OC is most likely to kill somebody

14. Which OC/s do you relate to the most?

15. Which OC/s make you think of yourself the most?

17. Who is your favorite OC?

20. Do any of your OCs have pets? What kind? NAME?

34. What scene that you've written/imagined is your favorite?

thank u and sorry for so many, feel free to pick and choose lmaoooo I have no self control 🤣

Hiiii I love you 💛

9. What is one of your character's theme songs?: I know that for Natalie, I linked I am not a woman, I'm a god by Halsey, and I stand by that one for her haha. But also, for Aanya, the love of my life, her song is Starting Over by Chris Stapleton. Firstly because I think the vibe is very accurate for her in Remind Me, but also because I hc her as a country fan 😌

12. Which character is most likely to kill somebody?: Diedra Lowman. Hands down, no contest. 😂 And not even because she wants to or anything like that. She is just willing to do whatever it takes to protect herself and the people that she loves.

14. Which OC do you relate to the most?: Probably Chris Teller. The internal battles she faces when it comes to her family are something that I feel deep in my core. Being caught between wanting to get out because you know things aren't really going to change, and wanting to stay because the guilt of feeling like you're ditching your family is enough to ruin the joy of any freedom you'd get from leaving? Been there. It sucks and I just want to hold her. Wanting better for people who don't want it for themselves is rough.

15. Which OC makes you think of yourself the most?: Honestly, probably Veronica. She gets her sadness from me tbh 😅 But also, she keeps her head down and is constantly just trying to keep everyone together and make the best out of things for her family even though they don't make it easy for her. The caretaker in her she gets from me, especially when she stretches herself too thin for the sake of everyone around her. Veronica Winston, my beloved.

17. Who is your favorite OC?: Ohhh boy this is a tough one. I love them all. I think I've spent the most time on Chris, so I'd have to say her. The history and stories I've built up for her in my head I have poured my whole heart and soul into and I just adore her so much. Despite her flaws she is everything I wanna be.

20. Do any of your OC's have pets? What kind? Names?: Olivia and Javi have their dog Bosco. In my head I've always pictured him as a shepherd. Audra, who I haven't really formally introduced on this blog yet (but you know all about her lol) for SURE has a therapy dog. Undecided on the name/breed still though haha. Also, Aanya doesn't own any pets, but she definitely leaves food out for the stray cats that live by hers and EZ's house. 🥰

34. What scene that you've written/imagined is your favorite?: OOOOOF this is a tough one. Tbh, I've planned out a big blowout fight between Opie and Chris in one of my stories and writing it really ripped my heart out. It was also the scene that made me think about Chris's backstory with Opie before the timeline of the fic that I was working on. I love when I make myself cry lol

Thank you thank you thank you for these!!! xo

[drabbles-mc]

OC Moodboard: Aanya Reyes

“She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.”- J.D. Salinger

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me (7/?)

EZ Reyes x OC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @noz4a2​:  Ez & oc are married 2 years, Ez leaves on a run and while he’s gone oc gets into a bad car accident, she almost dies. Instead she is in a coma for 6 months. During that 6 month time Ez goes everyday or as much as he can, reads to her from her favorite book, etc. After 6 months she finally wakes up, but has retrograde amnesia & doesn’t know who Ez is or their life together. So he is determined to help her get her memory back and goes about wooing her again.

Warnings: angst, language, hospitals, smoking/alcohol

Word Count: 4k

A/N: Back with an update! We got some big big stuff happening this chapter. It’s a turning point for the whole story. Hope y’all enjoy it! xo

Chapter Index

Join my group-chat here: (X)

EZ Taglist: @queenbeered​ @sincerelyasomebody​ @sadeyesgf​ @thesandbeneathmytoes​ @appropriate-writers-name​ @tomhardydallasstarsgirl​ @multiyfandomgirl40​ @sillygoose6969​ @louisianalady​ @gemini0410​ @paintballkid711​ @chibsytelford​ @yourwonkywriter​ @sesamepancakes​ @mayans-sauce​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​ @plentyoffandoms​ @georgiaaintnopeach​ @twistnet​ @garbinge​ @bucky-iss-bae​ @enjoy-the-destruction​ @samcrobae​ @xladymacbethx​ @langiinspirations​ @bigcreatorwombatdreamer​ @encounterthepast​ @rosieposie0624​ @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo​ @mijop​ @blessedboo​ @holl2712​ @lakamaa12​ @masterlistforimagines​ @kkim120​ @toni9​ @shadow-of-wonder​ @themoonandthewicked​ @ly--canthrope​ 

As the days turned into weeks, it was hard to miss that EZ seemed to be handling things better than he had been. The club noticed it, and so did Felipe. There was something to be said for the fact that once he had no safety net underneath him, he was able to pull it together a little bit more. They just hoped that it would stick.

Despite the fact that she had been under for months, the doctors refused to give up on the possibility of Aanya waking up. That was the only thing that kept Ezekiel from losing what little was left of his sanity. He might’ve been able to toughen up and build up a few walls in order to keep himself from completely falling apart, but those walls were made of glass, not stone. He was one piece of bad news away from going off on a complete bender, whether or not anyone else knew it.

He was sat by her bedside, working through yet another novel. He’d lost count of all the ones that he had gotten through since she was admitted to the hospital. Most of them he cycled out, but there were a few that he kept there. He wanted her to have pieces of home for when she woke up, even if that possibility seemed like it was getting further and further away.

As he was turning the page in his latest book, he heard a knock at the door. He looked up and saw Laura standing in the doorway, a nervous smile on her face.

“Hey,” she didn’t step past the threshold, “Sorry, didn’t know you were going to be here.”

He shook his head, “No need to apologize,” he motioned for her to come in, “I don’t bite.”

She chuckled as she walked in, taking a seat in the chair next to his. There were a few beats of awkward silence before EZ asked, “Angel bring you?”

She nodded, “Yea. I asked him to drop me off here.”

“He leave?”

“No, no. Just, uh, said he wanted to give me some time. I think it’s….” her voice trailed off for a moment as she tried to put together the right sentence, “I think it’s hard for him. I mean, it’s hard for everybody, but…I just don’t think he knows how to cope with it.”

He nodded, “Sounds about right,” he looked over at Laura, “You two seem to get along well, though.”

She chuckled, “Don’t give me that look. It’s not like that,” she paused, drumming her fingers on her knee, “It’s been nice having him around sometimes though. He can be sweet when he wants to be.”

EZ laughed, “Yea. Wish he wanted to be that way more often.”

The two of them laughed for a moment before silence fell over the room. EZ looked over at Laura and he could see it on her face that she wanted a few minutes for herself, but she was never going to ask him for that. She was too respectful of the situation. He took a deep breath and tucked the bookmark into the book that he had been reading. He set it aside before standing up and stretching.

“I was about to head out. You good here? Angel is bringing you home?”

She nodded, “Yea, yea I’m good. I, I didn’t mean to rush you out.”

He shook his head, “You didn’t. Don’t worry,” he flashed her a smile before turning back to Aanya, pressing a kiss to her cheek and whispering a quick goodbye. He leaned down and gave Laura a hug before stepping out of the room.

Angel was seated just outside, scrolling on his phone. He heard his brother’s heavy footsteps and immediately jerked his head in that direction. He stood up, stepping in and wrapping Ezekiel in a hug.

“Hey, didn’t know you were here.”

He shrugged, “All good. No one needs my permission to come and visit.”

Angel nodded before asking, “You got a few minutes? Wanna grab coffee?” he nodded towards the room, “Got a feeling she might be a minute.”

EZ shrugged, “Yea, sure.”

The two of them made their way to the hospital cafeteria together in silence. Angel wanted to ask about Aanya, but he felt like it was a minefield that he didn’t want to navigate. EZ didn’t really talk to him about it all that much—and he figured that meant it was something he didn’t want to discuss. How much was there to really say, anyway?

“Doctors say anything yet?” Angel asked as he handed his brother a cup of coffee, “Any updates?”

EZ shook his head as the two of them sat down, “Nothing new. She hasn’t gotten worse…but…”

Angel pinned his lips together, regretting asking the question, “Shit, EZ, I’m sor—”

“Don’t apologize,” he shook his head, his tone gentle, “You don’t gotta…you can ask me shit, you know. About her. Avoiding it isn’t gonna make it go away.”

“Just feels like that’s all anyone talked to you about for a while. Didn’t want to keep piling onto it. You’ve got enough shit going on in that pea-brain of yours,” he managed to smile.

EZ laughed, “I know,” he drummed his fingers on the side of the cup, “How’s Laura?”

Angel shrugged, nodding, “She’s doin’ alright. Bring her by here every couple of weeks to visit. I don’t know if she comes here without me. She, y’know, she misses her.”

“Yea,” a faraway look passed over EZ’s face for a moment. He shook his head to try and force the thoughts away, “Thank you for being there for her.”

Angel shrugged, “Don’t gotta thank me. She’s cool—smart. Not in an annoying way like you,” he laughed.

EZ smiled, “Good, means you can be the annoying one out of the two of you.”

They strayed and started talking about the club. They kept it vague, knowing that they were in public. There was another run coming up soon and EZ was still, for lack of a better term, benched. They figured he would be until Aanya was back. At first it didn’t bother EZ, but being the one to always stay home was starting to wear on him mentally. He knew that the guys wouldn’t ever say anything, but there were times when EZ felt like he wasn’t really in the club. It felt like he was hearing about everything second-hand.

Angel saw the shift as the weeks went by. He didn’t mention anything to Bishop, figuring that it really wasn’t his place to be speaking up for his brother, but there were a few times when he almost did. Figured it would almost be like a reward for not completely losing his mind for all the shit that he had been going through over the past months.

“He’d let you go, if you asked,” Angel said when there was a lull in their conversation.

“Hm?”

“Bish,” he elaborated, “If you told him that you wanted in on it, he wouldn’t tell you no.”

“Am I finally off probation?” there was the slightest hint of bitterness to his voice as he took a sip of his coffee.

“You know it wasn’t like that.”

He sighed, “I know. I know it wasn’t I just,” he leaned back in his chair, “Fuck, Angel. I want to go but then I feel shitty for that, for leaving her.”

“You’re not leaving her. Not like you’re going on a, on a fucking vacation.”

Angel could see it on his little brother’s face that there was more that he wanted to say, but he didn’t. And Angel wanted to push the topic farther, but he didn’t. They each sat and finished their coffee, thinking about everything that was happening around them. It was rare that the two of them had any time together with just each other. They were always with the club, or with Felipe. It’d been a long time since the two of them really hung out at all.

“You think I should ask him?” EZ’s brows furrowed in thought.

Angel sighed, “I think you should do whatever is gonna make you beat yourself up a little less, Boy Scout. Otherwise what the fuck are the rest of us gonna do?”

It got EZ to crack a smile, “Can’t have you getting bored.”

Angel took out his phone to check the time. With a small nod, he stood up and stretched before picking his coffee cup off of the table, “I’m gonna go check on Laura. You all good here?”

He nodded as he stood up as well, “Yea. I’m gonna head out—stop by Pop’s before I go home. Haven’t seen him in a week or so.”

“Alright,” Angel tossed his cup in the garbage before stepping in to give his brother a hug, “Love you.”

“Love you,” EZ clapped him on the shoulder before turning and walking away.

When EZ got home after visiting his father, he tossed his kutte onto one of the chairs at the kitchen table. He looked around the kitchen, the way everything looked like it was perfectly in its place. Part of his brain was thankful for the sight, but another part missed the mess that he would come home to some nights when Aanya had been up to something in the kitchen. If she got inspired for dinner there would be pots and pans strewn everywhere—she never picked up the habit of cleaning as she went along. If she set about a baking project there would be flour smeared all over the counters, waiting to be wiped up when she was all done. When they first started living together it used to drive EZ insane and if he was around while it happened, he would take it upon himself to tidy up as she got through her process. But now he missed the mess. He missed the sound of timers going off, and her music filling the entirety of their little home.

He slowly made his way upstairs and went directly to the bathroom to take a shower. He fought to push away the memories that flooded over him as the water beat down his back. He braced his arms against the wall and took a deep breath, trying to keep himself in check. For a moment he wondered if leaving for the run next week would be the kind of switch-up that he needed.

After his shower he walked into the bedroom. For the last few weeks, he had forced himself to sleep there. The first couple of nights he got no rest whatsoever, but he was finally at a point where he could force himself to actually close his eyes and get to sleep. He never strayed to her side of the bed, though. It was always left perfectly made.

As the end of the week crept up on him, EZ finally made a point to pull Bishop aside to talk to him. The two men walked into Templo, carefully sliding the door shut behind them. They didn’t bother taking their usual seats at the table, opting for the two that were closest to them.

“What’s going on, EZ?” Bishop leaned back in the chair, trying to get a read on EZ’s expression.

“I wanted to talk to you about me going on runs,” he paused, looking down at his hands that were rested on the tabletop, “Not this one. I, I know that’s too short-notice. And I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet anyway,” he shook his head, “But next time around I wanna at least be considered for it.”

Bishop nodded, knowing that this conversation was going to happen sooner rather than later. He could feel the restlessness in EZ when they all sat at the table together and organized their runs. But Bishop was in no place to be pushing him. Regardless, he was glad to hear that EZ was getting back to being ready to be in the thick of things again.

“Alright. I’ll take it under consideration,” he searched EZ’s face, “Anything else you wanna talk about?”

There was a long stretch of silence before EZ finally said what was on his mind. “When I start going back on runs, Bishop, I don’t want that shit to be like it was a few months back. I’m sick of feeling like I’m on probation with the club,” he sighed, “Worse than being a fucking prospect.”

Bishop chuckled, “I get it. Keep your shit together and you won’t have to worry about it,” he stood up from his chair, “You and Chucky keep it locked down while we’re gone?”

EZ nodded as he rose out of his chair as well, “Of course. Even if I don’t, Chucky will.”

“Thank god for that,” Bishop chuckled as she headed back out into the expanse of the clubhouse to round everyone up to get ready for the run.

It was late in the afternoon by the time that everyone had left for the run. The clubhouse had been taken over by an eerie silence once more with only EZ inside of it. He sat at the bar for a few minutes before heading outside to his bike, pulling his work shirt out of his bag. He carefully draped his kutte over the seat of his bike before pulling on the Romero Brothers shirt.

Chucky was scuttling around the lot as usual, always taking care of something. EZ needed a monotonous task to help clear his head, so he headed deeper into the depths of the scrap yard to find something to start piecing apart. If he kept his hands busy enough his mind would follow suit.

It was starting to get dark when EZ felt his phone going off inside his pocket. He stopped what he was doing to answer it, thinking that it was one of the guys calling to give an update on where they were at in their travels. But instead, he was met with the hospital’s number flashing across his screen. His hands trembled as he hit the accept button.

“H-hello?”

“Ezekiel Reyes?”

“Yea, speaking.”

“I’m calling from St. Mary’s about your wife.”

His chest heaved as he pictured the last time a phone call started this way. He tried to stay positive as he replied to her, “Is everything alright.”

“Your wife is awake. Dr. Chase would like for you to get here as soon as you can.”

His entire mouth felt dry as he tried to force the words out, “Shit, okay, yea. I’m…I’m on my way. I’ll be there soon.”

He shoved his phone back in his pocket and immediately took off across the yard. When he reached his bike he shoved the kutte into the side-pouch, desperate to leave as soon as possible. Chucky had seen him running and came out of the office to make sure that everything was alright. Running usually never spelled out anything good for the men in the MC. And, given EZ’s personal track record, he had every reason to be worried.

“Ezekiel Reyes,” Chucky jogged up to his bike, “What’s going on?”

“It’s Aanya,” he was strapping on his helmet, “She’s awake. I, I gotta go.”

Relief spread across Chucky’s face as he nodded, “Go see her. Take care of her.”

EZ came flying through the hospital doors, still in his Romero Brothers shirt. He felt like his heart was in his throat as he ran up to the nursing station. They all knew him at that point, and no one was surprised by the urgency of his actions.

The nurse could see the eagerness in his face, “Dr. Chase is on his way down. There are a few things he wants to fill you in on before you see her.”

He nodded, unable to form words. He fidgeted as he stood there, each second feeling like an eternity as he waited for the doctor. When he finally rounded the corner, EZ ran up to him.

Dr. Chase motioned for him to slow down, “Ezekiel—”

EZ cut him off, “She’s awake? You gotta let me see her, Doc. Please,” tears were already gathering in his eyes.

“You can,” he nodded, “there were just a few things that I wanted to talk to you about first.”

“What happened?” the worst of possibilities started to flood EZ’s mind.

“All things being considered, she is extremely physically healthy. Her body is doing everything on its own that it needs to. Reflexes are good.”

He was waiting for the other shoe to drop, “But?”

Dr. Chase sighed, “She seemed to be experiencing some memory loss.”

His heart plummeted into his stomach, “Wh-what? Does she know who she is?”

The doctor nodded, “Yes. It’s not that severe, thankfully. She is experiencing retrograde amnesia, which isn’t uncommon in patients with circumstances like her. She has a lot of her memory, but the last few years seem to be, well, for a lack of better term, missing.”

“Missing?” he felt sick to his stomach.

“You know her better than we do. We were hoping that you would be able to help us figure out a more accurate timeline for her and where it all starts to fade.”

“Fuck,” his voice was barely audible.

“Seeing you might help,” he was honest, “but I need you to be prepared for the possibility that she might not remember you.”

He had no idea how to respond to that statement. How was he supposed to prepare for that? Still, he needed to see her, so he nodded. The two of them walked through the halls together, EZ feeling as though his legs might give out at any moment.

They entered the room and tears instantly filled EZ’s eyes. She was awake, alive, sitting upright in her bed as though the last six months hadn’t even happened. She turned when she heard people walk in, and when her eyes met his, EZ thought that he was going to collapse. She smiled, but EZ knew her well enough to know that there was a hint of confusion there.

“Aanya,” he finally forced out.

She tilted her head slightly, still smiling, “Yes?”

His heart grew heavier with every breath he took, “It’s…it’s me. Ezekiel. EZ.”

She pursed her lips slightly, clearly trying to wrack her brain for answers, “I…I’m sorry, EZ. I don’t…”

How he was still standing, he didn’t know. He looked over at the doctor as if to ask if he should tell Aanya the truth about who he was. When Dr. Chase nodded, EZ forced himself to take a deep breath as he sat beside her bed, “We’re…I’m your…your husband.”

There was no hiding her confusion, “My…husband?” she watched EZ as he looked at the wedding ring on her finger. She followed his eyes, immediately noticing the matching ring on his hand. She let out an unsteady breath as tears gathered in her eyes, “I don’t remem—” she choked back a sob as she turned to the doctor, “How do I not remember?”

Dr. Chase kept his tone even, “Your head underwent a lot of trauma. It’s not uncommon for there to be some memory loss, especially after being under for so long.”

The words provided little comfort, but Aanya kept it together enough to ask, “So it’ll come back?”

“That’s a possibility, yes. If it does, it may take some time. It’s not something that can be rushed,” he paused, looking back and forth between the two of them, “I realize this is a lot to process. I’ll give you two a minute.”

He stepped out, shutting the door behind him. EZ stayed by Aanya’s bedside, completely unsure of what to say or do. He wanted to hold her, to crawl up into the bed with her and wrap her up in his arms, but he couldn’t.

“Can I get you anything?” he finally said, “How are you feeling?”

She managed a small smile, wiping tears off of her cheeks, “I’m not too sure how to answer that right now,” she twisted the blanket in her hands, “Could you grab me a glass of water, though?”

She sipped on it quietly, unable to meet EZ’s eyes for more than a moment at a time. He gnawed at the inside of his cheek, “I’m sorry,” he looked down at his hands, “I can’t fuckin’ imagine how all this feels for you.”

“It just feels like…a lot.”

As much as he didn’t want to leave, he offered, “If me being here is weird, or too much, I can leave.”

She shook her head, reaching out for his hand for a moment, “No, please, I…it’s nice to have the company. I don’t want to be alone.”

He nodded, settling back into his chair, “Okay.”

A few beats of silence passed before Aanya nodded towards the books on the bedside table, “Are those all mine?”

EZ smiled for a moment, nodding, “Yea. Well, one of them your friend dropped off for you. Laura?” he saw her shake her head, not knowing who it was. Before she could get too overwhelmed, he grabbed the stack of books and leafed through them.

She reached out when he got to their copy of By Night in Chile, dragging her fingers along the cover, “I know this one.”

He smiled and nodded as he handed it to her, “This was the first book you ever recommended to me. You read it in college, right?”

She nodded as she flipped through the pages, recognizing her own handwriting, “Yea, that’s right.”

It was difficult for EZ to wrap his head around the fact that she remembered a majority of her life, but not the parts with him. Maybe it was selfish, but there was so much that he felt like he was trying to process. He watched her flipping through pages of books, wondering how he could look at her and see his wife, the person that he planned to spend his entire life with, and when she looked at him she was essentially looking at a stranger. He couldn’t wrap his mind around that. He tried to ignore the sensation of tears gathering in his eyes as he looked at her.

He could see it in her body language that there was so much happening inside her head, even if she wasn’t saying anything about it to him. She probably didn’t even know where to start. He sure didn’t so he couldn’t even imagine how she felt in the middle of it all.

“It’s so good to see you awake, Aanya,” his voice came out as a whisper even though he didn’t mean for it to be.

She looked over at him with a tired smile on her face, silently nodding. There was a long stretch of silence between the two of them as she fidgeted with the hospital blanket between her fingers. EZ saw a few stray tears escape onto her cheeks and all he wanted to do was wipe them away and hold her.

She reached up and brushed them away, “I’m sorry. I just, I don’t know what to say, or do. I…I have no idea how I should feel right now.”

“That’s okay,” he nodded, trying to sound more certain than he felt.

“What do I do now?” she sounded so helpless, something that EZ wasn’t used to with her.

“I, um,” he tried to keep his own emotions in check, “I can go grab Dr. Chase if you want? He, uh, he definitely has more answers than I do.”

She nodded, “Could you, please?”

Without another word he nodded and got up out of his chair. He paused in the doorway for a moment, not wanting to leave her side now that he had her back. He took a deep breath before forcing himself out into the hallway to go and find the doctor. All he could think about was the fact that everything was going to be upside-down now. They had a whole life to figure out all over again.

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me (6/?)

EZ Reyes x OC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @noz4a2:  Ez & oc are married 2 years, Ez leaves on a run and while he’s gone oc gets into a bad car accident, she almost dies. Instead she is in a coma for 6 months. During that 6 month time Ez goes everyday or as much as he can, reads to her from her favorite book, etc. After 6 months she finally wakes up, but has retrograde amnesia & doesn’t know who Ez is or their life together. So he is determined to help her get her memory back and goes about wooing her again.

Warnings: angst, language, hospitals, smoking/alcohol

Word Count: 3.1k

A/N: I know I’m super inconsistent with updated my multi-chaps but I appreciate all the patience and love nonetheless! We get a good dose of Chucky in this chapter! And we are letting EZ have one happy and fun night in the middle of all the mess he’s in. Love that for him.

Chapter Index

EZ Taglist: @ly–canthrope @queenbeered @sincerelyasomebody @sadeyesgf @thesandbeneathmytoes @appropriate-writers-name @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @multiyfandomgirl40 @sillygoose6969 @louisianalady @gemini0410 @paintballkid711 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @sesamepancakes @mayans-sauce @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @plentyoffandoms @georgiaaintnopeach @twistnet @amandinesblogofstuff @garbinge @bucky-iss-bae @enjoy-the-destruction @samcrobae @xladymacbethx @langiinspirations @bigcreatorwombatdreamer @encounterthepast @everyhowlmarksthedead @rosieposie0624 @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @mijop @xladymacbethx @blessedboo @holl2712 @lakamaa12 @masterlistforimagines @kkim120 @toni9​ @shadow-of-wonder​ (If you want to be tagged for this fic or and of my other writing, let me know! xo)

The time came for the guys to head out for their run. Despite the lingering feeling of doubt in the back of Bishop’s mind, he was leaving EZ and Chucky behind with no extra backup. He hoped that he was just overthinking, and that things would go fine. Maybe it would be the kick that EZ needed to start getting himself back into a sustainable routine.

“We’ll update you on the burner,” Angel said as he clipped his helmet on, “Any shit goes wrong here, call.”

“Got it,” EZ nodded as he watched the rest of his club get ready to take off, wishing that things were different and that he could go. But he knew his mind wouldn’t be in the right place if he left.

“Chucky’s got this shit on lock,” Coco piped in with a laugh, “Boy Scout isn’t gonna have to do shit.”

“Alright,” Bishop called over to the group of them, trying to hide the smile on his face, “Let’s go. We got a lot of ground to cover.”

The three of them said quick goodbye’s and then Angel and Coco hopped onto their bikes, ready to follow everyone else out. EZ stood back and watched as all the motorcycles roared to life, and there was a pang of envy coursing through him as they all turned and peeled out of the compound. Chucky waved them off as he shut the gate behind them. He turned back to EZ with a bit of a smile on his face.

The two of them hadn’t really talked since Aanya’s accident. EZ felt a little guilty about it because he knew that Aanya had a soft spot for Chucky, and vice-versa, but it felt like there were so many people to try and keep up with. It was hard enough to keep up with himself. Not that Chucky was the kind of person to purposely make EZ feel bad about it, but that almost made EZ feel worse.

“Ezekiel Reyes,” he walked up to him, “You and I are captains of the ship this week, yes?”

EZ chuckled and nodded, “That we are, Chucky.”

“Is there anything that you need me to do?”

He shook his head, “Just do what you usually do, man. If I need extra help with anything, I’ll let you know, alright?” when Chucky nodded in response, he continued, “If something happens, just give me a call. I’m gonna get some work done in the yard.”

“Lo accepto,” he gave one final nod and took off towards the office, leaving EZ there shaking his head with a hint of a smile on his face.

EZ didn’t remember falling passing out on the couch in the clubhouse. After getting some work done, he’d come in to get a bottle of water and catch his breath. He sat down and leaned back, just wanting to close his eyes for a few seconds. The next thing he knew, he was being gently woken up by Chucky. He had no sense of time and wondered how long he had been out for.

“I wouldn’t recommend sleeping on this couch all night, Ezekiel Reyes. It has no lumbar support.”

He couldn’t stop the smile that found its way to his face, despite the fact that he was still dazed and exhausted, “Good to know, Chucky,” he pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes for a moment, “What time is it?”

“It’s 8:47.”

“PM?” when Chucky nodded but didn’t say anything else, EZ sighed, “Fuck. I can’t believe I passed out for that long.”

“What the body isn’t given, it will take,” Chucky gave him a slight nod, “I will see you in the morning, Ezekiel.”

“Goodnight, Chucky.”

The next few days passed without incident. EZ was able to keep himself plenty busy at the yard. He couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t impressed at how well Chucky ran things. He was always so wrapped up with the club that he never really took the time to think about the more legitimate side of things. Chucky was, for lack of a better phrase, a good soldier. He kept things running smoothly with little to no help from the rest of them. It made EZ wonder how things ran before Chucky landed at their doorstep.

He walked into the office at the end of the day to see Chucky’s intensely focused expression as he looked at the computer screen. EZ hung back, leaning against the doorframe for a moment.

“Chucky?”

He spun around, eyebrows raised, “Yes?”

“You good if I head out for the night? I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”

He nodded, “Everything will be under control until you get back.”

EZ chuckled, nodding, “Good to know. Good night, Chucky.”

When he got onto his bike, his initial instinct was to head to the hospital. However, as he started to ride, he went through a completely different set of motions. He found himself parking outside the bookstore, unable to really remember getting there in the first place.

It was almost closing time, and the store was completely devoid of customers. But he knew enough to know that someone would still be inside. He sat on his bike for a few moments, trying to figure out if he really wanted to walk in. The onslaught of memories that he was hit with whenever he walked in were almost debilitating. And yet, he found himself swinging his leg over his bike and stepping up onto the sidewalk.

The bell chimed quietly as he walked in. He couldn’t see anyone, but sure enough he heard Laura’s voice coming from somewhere in the stacks, “Sorry, we’re about to close!”

“Not here to make a purchase,” EZ replied with a chuckle.

Laura all but sprinted up to the front of the store. Her face went back and forth between relief and concern as she took in the sight of EZ. She wasn’t sure when she was going to see him next. She understood why he didn’t want to come around the shop anymore, but she couldn’t deny that she missed him. Aanya was the link that connected the two of them and she hated that she felt as though she lost him.

“EZ,” she stepped in and hugged him, “It’s so good to see you.”

There was a brief moment of hesitation before he wrapped her tight in a hug, “It’s good to see you too.”

“Is everything alright?” she stepped back.

He nodded, “Yea. I mean,” he let out a hollow chuckle, “as it can be. I just, I figured I should stop in. Didn’t know if Angel mentioned that they’re out of town for a bit.”

She nodded, “Yea, he let me know before they left.”

“You alright? He’s not, you know, annoying the shit out of you?”

She laughed, shaking her head, “No, no. Your brother has been very sweet. You’d be proud.”

He chuckled, “I’m sure,” a beat of silence passed, “You need a ride home?”

Laura shook her head, “No, actually just sent for an Uber a minute or so before you walked in. I’ll be alright.”

“You’re sure?”

She nodded, “I’m sure. Thank you, though, for stopping in. I appreciate it.”

EZ said a quick goodbye and gave her one last hug before leaving the store. When he climbed back onto his bike, he got hit with a wave of exhaustion. Despite his brain telling him that he needed to go to the hospital, he just couldn’t force himself to do it. It was the first time that he went home without making it one of his stops.

Walking through the door into an empty house never got any easier. True to his word, his father had continually bringing food by to make sure that EZ always had things to eat. Despite the fact that EZ had told Felipe numerous times that he could take care of himself just fine, his father never listened.

Even if EZ hadn’t gone and looked in the fridge, he always knew when his father stopped in during the day because the dishes were all miraculously done and sitting in the drying rack. Felipe didn’t always have a lot to say, but he always did whatever he could for his sons. And what EZ was currently going through hit a nerve very close to home. For that reason EZ was actually surprised at how often his father was around. He figured Felipe would want some space from it all for the sake of his own sanity.

EZ pulled out his phone, putting it on speaker as he pulled dinner together for himself from the food his father had brought over.

“Hey, Pop,” he said when he heard Felipe’s voice on the other end of the line.

“How are you?”

“I’m good. Just wanted to call and thank you for the food. And the dishes,” he chuckled, “You really don’t have to do all of that.”

“If that’s all that I can do right now, I’ll do it,” he paused, “You heard from Angel?”

EZ sighed, “Not really. No news is good news, though. Got the update that they made it safe and haven’t heard much since.”

They made small talk for a few more minutes. It wasn’t that EZ wanted to, but he also knew that Felipe just needed whatever reassurance he could get that his youngest son wasn’t about to fly off the rails. Talking on the phone with him for a few minutes about sports and the shop seemed like the least he could do.

“Alright,” EZ took a deep breath, “I’m gonna shower and head to bed. I’m beat.”

“Get some rest. Have Angel come see me when he gets back, please.”

“You got it. Night, Pop.”

“Goodnight.”

Before EZ knew it, it was time for the rest of the club to return home. He’d quickly grown accustomed to it just being him and Chucky at the scrapyard. As much as he missed being part of the action, he started to understand why some of the guys opted to stay back every now and then. It was simple, almost monotonous. Plus Chucky proved to be good company as well as a good employee.

“Last day of the dynamic duo,” EZ said with a laugh as he wiped his hands off on his jeans.

Chucky smiled at him as he carried a few cases of beer towards the clubhouse, “And a pleasure it has been Ezekiel Reyes.”

He just smiled and shook his head, letting Chucky head off and finish up with the clubhouse. From what EZ had heard from Angel the trip had gone well, so everyone was sure to be in a celebratory mood when they all got home. He wasn’t particularly in the mood for a party, but he knew that he had to be there. Bailing would only solidify their beliefs that he wasn’t ready to really be a part of things.

Before they all got back, he left the yard and went to the hospital. The guilt of going home had been sitting heavy on his chest all day, even if he hadn’t wanted to admit it. Part of him was expecting to walk in and have things be different, like his absence would’ve caused some sort of cosmic shift. He knew that that wasn’t how the world worked, but he couldn’t get the thought out of his head. He knew that if he didn’t make time to go it would be bothering him all night again.

He walked into the room to see everything was virtually unchanged. Not a single thing was out of place. He sat down in the chair, reaching forward and taking Aanya’s hand in his own. He knew that he shouldn’t, but he felt like he should be apologizing. He tried to push down the negative feelings, instead opting to reach over and grab the latest book that he had been reading to her.

EZ hardly even noticed the nurses that would float in and out of the room now. He spent so much time there that they just became part of the room. They all knew him, too, and knew that sometimes it was best to just go in and silently do their jobs. He wasn’t ever rude to them, but they could tell by the look in his eyes when he wasn’t in the mood to be spoken to.

Time was irrelevant as he read page after page of the novel in his hands. He had completely lost track of it all until his phone started going off in his pocket. With a sigh he tucked a bookmark into the page and answered the phone.

“Yea?”

“Where you at, Boy Scout?” Angel said, concern laced in his tone.

“Shit,” EZ pulled the phone away from his ear to look at the time, “sorry. I’m at the hospital. Lost track of time. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

“Everything good?”

“Yea. Just…just visiting. I’ll see you soon.”

He hung up, not giving his brother the option to press him farther. With a deep sigh, he set the book aside and rose out of his seat. He stepped closer to the bed, leaning down and lightly pressing his lips to her cheek.

“I’ll be back,” he whispered as he gently trailed his fingertips along her curls, “I love you.”

The ride back to the clubhouse gave him enough time to get himself together. By the time that he rolled into the yard, the party was underway with music blaring and a fire already lit in the firepit. He took a deep breath as he unclipped his helmet, taking off his shades and leaving them with his bike as well. Everyone seemed relaxed, happy. He tried to embody those same feelings as he walked into the thick of things.

“Ah,” Angel walked up to his brother and wrapped him in a hug, “the Golden Boy decided to show up to the party!” he laughed, “Thought you were going to leave us hanging.”

EZ chuckled, shaking his head, “Nah. Sorry, just lost track of time,” he found himself subconsciously running his thumb along the wedding band on his finger.

“Guess who beat you to the fucking party,” Angel said with a laugh as he stepped to the side.

EZ couldn’t hide the surprise on his face when he saw Laura sitting at the picnic table with Coco and Creeper. She looked like a completely different woman than who he saw in the bookstore a few days before. She didn’t even look over at him, too busy laughing at a joke that Coco had made.

EZ looked back and forth between her and his brother expectantly, waiting for some kind of comment or explanation from Angel. Angel saw the look on his little brother’s face and shook his head, “Nothin’ like that. Just wanted her to know that she’s got a lot of people who got her back if she needs it. Plus, she needed to fuckin’ unwind a little,” he laughed.

“So,” Angel asked as the two of them found their seats at the picnic table with everyone else, “how was it working with Hands for the week?”

EZ laughed, “I like Chucky. He’s a good dude,” he glanced around the yard, “He around here somewhere?”

Angel nodded towards the clubhouse, “Helping behind the bar. You know how he gets when we all come back from a run.”

EZ smirked, “Right. Host with the most.”

“Somethin’ like that,” Angel laughed.

After a few moments of getting his bearings, EZ rose from his seat, “Gonna grab a beer. You guys want anything? Laura?”

They all shook their heads, giving various versions of the answer no. He made his way inside the clubhouse, slammed instantly with a wave of heat and the sound of music that wasn’t muffled by the walls. As he made his way over to the bar, he spotted Bishop, Hank, and Taza at their usual table together, watching the party unfold around them. They each had a beer in hand, a cigar was resting in the ashtray in front of Bishop. EZ helped himself to a beer from behind the bar and made his way over to the table, knowing that he should probably have some kind of conversation with the office-holders of the club.

He walked over, taking a seat once Bishop gestured for him to do so. Bishop nodded, a smile crossing his face, “Glad to see that Chucky didn’t let you burn the place down while we were gone.”

EZ laughed, “He runs a tight ship. Thought I was gonna get to take it easy this week but I guess not.”

All three of the men laughed and for a moment, the entire group of them felt the most relaxed they had in weeks. Things felt like they were heading back towards some state of normalcy. EZ could see it in Bishop’s eyes that he felt reassured by the fact that EZ was able to handle himself alone and keep things afloat here at home while the rest of them were out handling business. He was glad that he didn’t spare any extra manpower, forcing EZ to either put up or shut up and get things taken care of.

“We’ll give you the run-down on everything tomorrow,” Hank spoke up with a nod, “Go enjoy the party. You earned it.”

“We all did,” Bishop said, glancing around the room at everyone present.

EZ made his way back out onto the deck to sit with Laura and the guys. He found his spot next to Angel again and they all instantly started ragging on him for not bringing any of them beers despite the fact that they had all told him no. And it got EZ to have the first genuine bout of laughter that he had had in a long time. He shook his head as he pressed his bottle to his lips, listening to Angel and Coco fire back and forth at each other.

Laura’s eyes met his from across the table and she offered him a small, reassuring smile. It was still strange for him to see her there—it didn’t seem like the place that she would want to be spending her time. But he also thought that about Aanya when he had first met her and she melded into things perfectly in her own way. Laura gave him a slight nod before pressing her beer bottle to her lips and jumping back into the banter that she had going on with Creeper before EZ rejoined them.

He sat back, mostly silent, enjoying the comfort of the clubhouse and the brotherhood that it housed. He pulled a cigarette out of the pack he kept in his kutte, lighting it as he chuckled at a comment from Angel. It was the first time in a while that his chest felt like there wasn’t a giant weight resting on top of it. He took a long drag, allowing himself to enjoy the peace for the night.

[drabbles-mc]

Remind Me (3/?)

Ez Reyes x OC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @noz4a2:  Ez & oc are married 2 years, Ez leaves on a run and while he’s gone oc gets into a bad car accident, she almost dies. Instead she is in a coma for 6 months. During that 6 month time Ez goes everyday or as much as he can, reads to her from her favorite book, etc. After 6 months she finally wakes up, but has retrograde amnesia & doesn’t know who Ez is or their life together. So he is determined to help her get her memory back and goes about wooing her again.

Warnings: hospitals, mentions of death, language, angst

Word Count: 3.1k

A/N: We get a little glimpse of the club in this one, as well as some nice exchanges with Felipe. Thanks for everyone who’s been showing me love on this story (and all my others, too). It means a lot! xo

Chapter Index

EZ Taglist: @ly--canthrope @queenbeered @sincerelyasomebody @sadeyesgf @thesandbeneathmytoes @appropriate-writers-name @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @multiyfandomgirl40 @sillygoose6969​ @louisianalady​ @gemini0410​ @paintballkid711​ @chibsytelford​ @yourwonkywriter​ @sesamepancakes​ @mayans-sauce​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​ @plentyoffandoms​ @georgiaaintnopeach​ @twistnet​ @amandinesblogofstuff​ @garbinge​ @samcrobae​ @xladymacbethx​ @langiinspirations​ @bigcreatorwombatdreamer​ (If you want to be tagged in this story or any of my other writing let me know!)

He spent the whole day glued to her bedside. He faded in and out of sleep, occasionally stirring when doctors and nurses would filter in to check on Aanya, but sometimes even then he would sleep through it. His hand stayed clasped around hers the entire time, regardless of what state of consciousness he was in.

There was a light knock on the door and Angel poked his head in. EZ stirred, running his hands down his face. Angel felt his heart sink inside his chest, “Hey. The guys are out in the waiting room. If you don’t wanna see ‘em I get it—I can send them home. They just wanted to check on you.”

EZ nodded, taking a deep breath, “That’s alright. I’ll…I’ll be out in a second.”

Angel nodded but didn’t say anything more before disappearing back out of the room, giving EZ a couple seconds to gather himself. He took a deep, unsteady breath. He knew that he couldn’t hide away from everyone forever, but he wished that he could. He pressed a soft kiss to Aanya’s hand before getting up and walking out to the waiting room, not even sure what he was supposed to say to any of them.

The group of them certainly stuck out in the waiting room, and it got EZ to crack a smile if nothing else. Coco was the first one to break out of the group and walk up to EZ to give him a hug. The rest of them followed suit, offering up their apologies for everything that had happened.

“Any news?” Bishop asked, afraid for the answer.

EZ shook his head, “Not really. Doc said there’s still too much swelling to really have a good idea of what’s going on. They’re trying to fix that problem before they address anything else.”

“We reached out to Rogan.”

Confusion flashed across EZ’s face, “About what?”

“The other driver.”

The fact that there was another driver involved in the crash had been the farthest thing from EZ’s mind. If the circumstances had been different, he would’ve been more concerned, but anyone who wanted to behave that recklessly and endanger everyone else around them wasn’t going to be renting out space in his brain when he had so much other stuff to deal with.

“What’d he say? Where are they?”

“Dead,” Coco interjected.

“Good,” the word fell from EZ’s lips before he could stop it. He felt guilty for saying it, but not guilty enough to try and take it back.

They all lingered there in silence for a few moments, not sure where the conversation was supposed to go from there. This was uncharted territory for all of them. Sure, at one point or another each of them had been shipped off to the hospital because of injuries that came from club business, but that was something they all knowingly signed on for. And it was always injuries that they were guaranteed to walk away from. But this was different. She hadn’t done anything wrong. And yet she was still laid up comatose in a bed just down the hall. No one had the right words to say.

“You need anything, you reach out, alright?” Coco phrased it as a question, but it was an order.

EZ nodded, “Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it. I just…I don’t know what the fuck to do.”

“We’re here for whatever you need,” Bishop nodded before stepping in to hug him, “You can go back. We just wanted to stop in and check on you.”

As the rest of the club started to leave, Angel hung back for a moment. He waited for EZ to meet his eyes, “Pop said he’d stop by the house when he’s done at the shop.”

EZ nodded, “Thank you. And thanks for handling everything with the club. My brain just isn’t fucking—”

Angel held his hand up to stop him, “You don’t gotta explain shit, Ezekiel,” he wrapped him in a hug, “I’ll talk to you later.”

He was about to head back to the room when he heard someone clear their throat. He turned, not even noticing that Creeper hadn’t left. EZ raised his eyebrows slightly, inviting Creeper to say whatever it was that he had to say.

“I’m so sorry, brother,” he shook his head, “I saw her that afternoon and she was fine. I shoulda just—”

EZ shook his head, resting his hand on Creeper’s shoulder, “Don’t apologize, man. You didn’t do this. Nothing any of us could’ve done would’ve stopped it. Please don’t blame yourself for this. It’s not on you.”

Some of the tension disappeared from his body but the sadness was still present in his eyes, “We all love her. You know that, right? We’d do anything for her.”

EZ nodded, “I know. Thank you.”

He pulled EZ into a tight hug, “I’ll be around if you need anything, alright? Whatever you two need, I got you.”

EZ nodded but he didn’t know what else there was to say. His brain couldn’t come up with anymore words to say to anyone. Creeper clapped him lightly on the back before turning and leaving the same way the rest of them had gone. EZ let out a long sigh before he made his way back down to Aanya’s room. He collapsed down in the chair by her bedside, resting his hand on top of hers as he searched her face for any sign of her coming back to him. If he looked past the cuts and bruises, she looked peaceful, like she was just in the midst of a really good sleep. But he knew better.

He gnawed at the inside of his cheek, trying to fight back the tears, “I know you always hated it when I’d get angry,” his voice shook, “But I don’t know what the fuck else I’m supposed to be feeling right now,” he pressed the back of her hand lightly against his lips, shutting his eyes, “I’m so sorry.”

The rest of the day slipped by with no changes, and no real updates from any of the doctors. He would’ve tried to stay longer if he didn’t know that his father was going to be waiting for him at the house. He tucked his bag underneath the hospital bed and placed one last kiss on Aanya’s hand before leaving for the night.

When EZ rolled into the driveway at his house, his father’s truck was already there. He knew that Felipe was already inside—their whole family was very, “Let yourself in,” when it came to visits. Whether or not someone was home, family was always welcome inside.

He walked in and found his father at the stove. He looked over at EZ, concern all over his face, “Mijo,” he walked over and pulled EZ into a hug, “lo siento.”

He only said three words, but they were enough to strip away what little was left of the strength EZ had for that day. He broke down, sobbing onto his father’s shoulder. Felipe gently rubbed his son’s back, his heart hurting from knowing how it feels to lose the love of your life.

They stood there silently for a few minutes, EZ finding some much-needed catharsis as the tears poured out of him. There was something different about the energy that surrounded his father—EZ always felt safe.

“I made dinner,” Felipe finally spoke up, “Figured you wouldn’t be eating let alone cooking.”

EZ chuckled, peeling himself off of his father and wiping the tears off of his face, “Thanks, Pops.”

The two of them ate dinner in silence. Felipe wasn’t going to push EZ to talk about Aanya if he wasn’t ready to do so. He also assumed that all of his conversations the past few days had been about her and it might do him good to get a bit of a break from it, even if that break was just quiet.

When they were both done eating, EZ got up and started putting all of their dishes into the dishwasher. Felipe watched him without saying anything, letting his son go through whatever motions he had to. EZ put on a pot of coffee to brew before disappearing upstairs, coming down hardly a minute later with a book in his hands.

He sat back down across from his father, the only noise in the house was coming from the coffee maker. “This was,” EZ took a deep breath, “This was in her car. Sticky note inside of it had your name on it so I’m assuming she grabbed it for you.”

Felipe took the book, a small smile on his face as he skimmed through the pages, “It’s going to stand out in the shop—it’s so new and clean.”

EZ chuckled, nodding, “Yea. Maybe lend it to Angel so he can’t complain about all of your books smelling like a butcher shop.”

Felipe smiled, “I do that and it’ll come back to me smelling like cheap beer and cigarettes…which isn’t much better.”

He smiled for all of a moment before it fell from his face. He looked across the table to his father, “What am I supposed to do, Pop?”

“Take things one day at a time,” he sighed, “I can see it on your face that your mind is already fast forwarding. Don’t do that. I know it’s tempting, but don’t. You’re setting yourself up for more hurt.”

“I just feel like there’s something that I’m supposed to be doing but I don’t know what. I see her lying there in that hospital bed and I feel so fucking useless.”

“Keep going to see her. Keep checking on her. But don’t forget about the rest of your life, too. She never wanted you to give up your life before this, she wouldn’t want it now.”

“How am I supposed to think about work? About the club? How am I supposed to be worried about any of that shit when I know what state she’s in?”

“If you want her to have a life to come back to, you’ll figure that out,” he said things in such a matter-of-fact tone that no one felt like they had any room to argue.

“I just want her to be okay.”

“Aanya is strong. Always has been. She wouldn’t be able to handle a life with you if she wasn’t.”

EZ smiled, wiping tears off of his face, “I know.”

Felipe poured them each a cup of coffee and they shared a few minutes of silence together at the table. They each sipped from their cups, minds somewhere else entirely. EZ became very aware that this was one of the only times that it was ever just the two of them in his house. Whenever Felipe came over, it was usually because Aanya wanted everyone over for dinner. Other than that, EZ always went to visit him at his own house, knowing that his father was a homebody by nature.

When the coffee was gone, and the sun had long since set, Felipe stood up to let himself out. He walked over, wrapping his son in another hug, “I brought enough food to last you a while. I’ll be back soon with more. So you better eat it.”

EZ chuckled, grateful for how his father watched out for him, “Thanks, Pops.”

“I love you.”

EZ nodded, “I love you too.”

The next morning, EZ went right to the hospital to check on Aanya. Same as the day before, the nurse told him that they didn’t have any updates for him yet. He was upset, but he knew that there was only so much that they could do. Her doctor popped in mid-morning to give EZ updates on the procedures that they were trying to help with the swelling. The medical jargon was too much for EZ to understand, but if whatever they were doing was going to help him get his wife back, he was all for it.

He reached for his bag that was underneath the bed. He hug around, fingers finally landing on the books that he had put in there. He looked over all of the covers before finally picking one. He held the book delicately in his hands as the memories started to wash over him. The smile on his face combatted the tears rolling down his cheeks as it all came back to him.

He’d always meant to stop in at the bookshop. It was a local spot, not one of the big chains. The display window was always being updated and he knew that if he went inside, he would probably find something that would pique his interest. So one morning after helping his father at the carnicería, he made a point to at least go in and peruse.

Shortly after the bell on the door signaled his arrival, a young woman popped out of one of the aisles. EZ stopped in his tracks, instantly wishing he had popped in sooner. She flashed him a grin as she pushed her thick waves of hair behind her shoulders.

“Hey!” her voice was cheery, but not overwhelmingly so. She greeted him like he was an old friend, “Anything I can help you find?”

He shook his head, trying to force words out, “Um. No, I don’t think so. I just, uh, just stopped in to look.”

She nodded, “I’ll leave you to it, then. If you need anything just give a shout, someone will pop up and give you a hand,” she laughed as she disappeared back into the stacks.

After a few minutes of wandering, dragging his fingers along the spines of dozens of books, EZ made the decision to find her again. There were a number of books that he considered buying, but something in him was saying that he should ask for some extra input.

He found her standing in the middle of the fiction section, reading a book she had pulled off the shelf. He smiled to himself for a moment before clearing his throat to subtly get her attention. She looked up from the page she was on, smiling at him and making his heart skip a beat or two.

“Yes?”

“What do you recommend?”

She smiled, closing the book and sliding it back to its rightful place, “That’s a loaded question…” her voice trailed off, waiting for him to fill in the blank.

“Ezekiel,” he chuckled as he held out his hand, “You can call me EZ if you want.”

She shook his hand, “Nice to meet you, Ezekiel. I’m Aanya. Follow me,” she waved him on as she crossed to the opposite end of the store. “Now I don’t know what kind of stuff you usually like to read. But this is my favorite section of the store.

He looked at the sign above the shelves and couple of bins on the back wall of the store. “Previously Loved has a nice ring to it,” he chuckled as he looked over the novels in front of him.

“I thought so,” she nodded, “There’s a little bit of everything back here. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a copy that someone made notes in or highlighted some stuff,” she skimmed over the spines wistfully, “That’s my favorite thing about used books.”

“Yea?” he couldn’t help but to smile at her.

“Oh absolutely. You get to see what the last person got out of it. My books are always marked up.”

“Any of these previously loved by you?” he scanned the titles.

She smiled, nodding, “A few. So, tell me, Ezekiel, what kinds of books fo you read?”

He shrugged, “A little bit of everything, I guess. I’m not too picky.”

She looked him up and down, “Hmm. I think I might have something for you,” she walked to the end of the shelf, scanning carefully until she found the book that she was looking for. She smiled as she handed it over to him, “Ever read Bolaño?”

He shook his head, “Can’t say that I have.”

“Well, if you take that home with you, you’ll be able to say it,” she smiled, biting back a laugh.

He looked down at the cover in his hands, “By Night in Chile. This one of your previously loved?” he smiled.

She nodded, “One of many.”

“I’ll take it.”

They walked to the cash register and she rang him out. He held the book gently, not wanting to ruin it. She smiled as she handed him a receipt, “You’ll have to let me know what you think. If you like it, I have some more suggestions for you.”

He nodded, unable to stop smiling, “Sounds good. Thank you, Aanya.”

“No problem. It was nice meeting you, Ezekiel. Hope I’ll see you again soon.”

“You will,” he thanked her once more before leaving the store, stomach full of butterflies.

The weight of the memories made his chest feel like it was going to cave in on itself. It felt like it was just yesterday that he saw her pop up out of nowhere in that bookstore, and yet she made him feel like he’d known her for a lifetime. It was hard to reconcile those mental images with the woman who was laying in front of him.

“I know I told you I was going to give this one to Pops to read,” he managed a small smile, “But I just couldn’t do it. Didn’t want to risk losing it—not when your writing is all over the inside of it,” he sighed, “I figured it’s been a while since the last time you read it. I haven’t looked over it in a while either,” he opened the book to the first page, “Hopefully you won’t be sick of my voice by the end of this,” he pressed his lips together into a thin line, trying to gain a little bit of composure before delving into the book, “I am dying now, but I still have many things to say. I used to be at peace with myself. Quiet and at peace. But it all blew up unexpectedly…”

The sound of his voice reading her page after page of the book that brought them together drowned out all the other sounds in the hospital. He couldn’t hear the beeping of the monitor at her bedside, or the shuffling of nurses and patients out in the hall. It was just the two of them, and a good book to share. His hand strayed absently to hold hers as he dictated line after line to her. After all, what else was there for him to do for her?