#parents have been working their whole lives to get me here. and turning the opportunity down would be a disservice to their sacrifice

[bixels]

The idea that uni protesters are "elitist ivy-league rich kids larping as revolutionaries" on Twitter and Reddit and even here is so fucking funny to me if you actually know anything about the student bodies at these unis. Take it from someone who's going to one of the biggest private unis in the US, 80% of the peers I know are either from the suburbs or an apartment somewhere in America, children of immigrants, or here on a student visa. I've heard about one-percenter students, but I've never met one in person. Like, don't get me wrong, the institution as a whole is still very privileged and white. I've talked with friends and classmates about feeling weird or dissonant being here and coming from such a different background. But in my art program, I see BIPOC, disabled, queer, lower-income students and faculty trying to deconstruct and tear that down and make space every day. So to take a cursory glance at a crowd of student protesters in coalitions that are led by BIPOC & 1st/2nd-gen immigrant students and HQ'd in ethnic housings and student organizations and say, "ah. children of the elite." Get real.

[notjustjavierpena]

I have recently watched scenes from a marriage with oscar isaac and my mind which connects everything with hubby javi immediately went to this:

imagine wife’s and javi’s friends are going through a divorce, there’s cheating m, miscommunication etc and just a very hard time.

I feel like Javi and Wife would have a conversation about this due to the proximity of it happening to their friends. One about trust and if they’re happy. It’s not about insecurity or anything just them both communicating effectively and giving the other reassurance that this is not on the cards for them.

I just value their relationship so much.

Reassess

Series Masterpost | Main Masterpost

A/N: Hiya anon! I hope it’s okay that I tweaked your request slightly to fit my version of hubby and wife. Enjoy ❤️ Thanks so much for proofreading, @angelofsmalldeath-codeine !!!

Summary: You and Javier’s friends are going through a divorce, and it suddenly makes you wonder about your own marriage.

Pairing: Javier Peña x reader (no y/n)

Tags: +18, talk about divorce, talk about cheating, brief descriptions of piv sex with creampie, hurt/comfort, love!, mention of pregnancy and pregnant reader, cuddling, kisses, Javier is a great husband and you are anxious

Word count: 1.6k

Link to this work on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54352768

Reassess

Jonathan and Mira are getting a divorce. The news had been announced to you by Javier when he entered the dimly lit living room on a Thursday night, looking paler than a ghost after what you had wrongly assumed to be a same-as-always phone conversation about football, work and going out for a beer in the near future. 

“No!” You had instinctively covered your mouth with your hand to suppress an animated gasp. Apparently, Mira had come clean about seeing another man a few days earlier and it only took shy of two days for their whole marriage to crumble. The thought was and is terrifying. 

It seems to dampen the mood between you and your husband significantly. There are more pregnant silences, longer stares, more hurried kisses, and worried faces in the middle of your daily routines that become opportunities for reflection when doing something mundane as folding laundry. However, the elephant in the room becomes most unbearable when Javier rolls off of you after making love to you a week after the news hit. 

He stares up at the ceiling and pants as he tries coming down from his high, reaching up to run his fingers through his slightly sweaty hair. You shift on your side of the bed to turn your body towards him, and gently lay a hand on his chest, “That was really good.”

“Hm? What?” He replies, “Oh right, yeah.”

“Honey,” you furrow your brow, “I don’t think I particularly like having sex with you if you’re not here with me.” 

“Lo siento (I’m sorry),” his eyes find yours, his voice is genuine, “I can’t stop thinking about Jon and Mira.”

Your eyes soften at that. It is nice to know that he is as shaken by this happening as you are, and in such close proximity to your own marriage too even if it technically has nothing to do with you. It suddenly hits why it has been so hard to start up a conversation about it. 

“Me either,” you sigh and scratch his chest gently with your nails and lay your head on his shoulder. He takes hold of your wrist and rubs the back of your hand with his thumb in soothing circles, “I can’t believe they ended up like that, who would have thought?”

“And Ava?” Javier sounds devastated and turns his head toward yours so he can rest his lips in your hair. 

“She must be so confused,” you mumble back, lost in thought. Ava is Mira and Jonathan’s daughter who sometimes has play dates with Inés, and to think that she has to deal with her parents not being able to work as a couple, especially since Mira apparently had to go sleep with someone else, is a scenario that you find nauseating when your brain automatically starts imagining your own children in the same scenario. You don’t think Lucas would ever forgive you if you caused that much hurt to his father, “I don’t know what Mira was thinking. Ava has to deal with her mom having hurt her dad. Why would she put her through that?”

“Jonathan said she’s in love with this new guy,” Javier argues. 

“I suppose sometimes you just fall in love with someone else,” you say without any emotion in your voice except for maybe a hint of disgust. 

“Are you happy? With me?” The question has been looming over the both of you since the news hit. It was only a matter of time before one of you would start reassessing your own marriage. 

You lift your head up to look Javier straight in the eyes, and even if you knew it was coming, you still feel taken aback by how much it makes your guts turn to even be told to consider it. The answer is so clear, “What? I—“

“That’s not an immediate yes,” he furrows his brow in concern. 

“Don’t be absurd,” you say back, “I love you so much it’s ridiculous.”

“But do you ever worry about us?” He continues. 

“This is the part where you say you love me too,” you joke without much humor in your voice. 

“Are you kidding? I’m nothing without you,” he lifts the hand you still have on his chest to kiss your palm, “Te amo tanto (I love you so much) but I need you to answer the question.”

“I don’t ever worry about us, no,” you answer truthfully and Javier visibly relaxes, “I know you. I trust you. It doesn’t even occur to me that I could have anything different in my life, you know? It feels like I would always have found you somewhere else if not here.”

“Perhaps they looked for something else when things became routine,” he suggests, resting your hand against his cheek.

“It’s never routine for me to tell you I love you,” you tell him with a little smile, “There’s no going back to the way things were before you.” 

“The idea of having anything else but this,” he trails off for a second, weighing his words and reaching out for you with his free hand. He cups the back of your knee to pull your leg over his naked body, “It’s just not in the cards for me. I’ll never love anyone the way that I love you.”

“Is this code for you’re stuck with me?” You crawl closer to kiss him on the mouth and tighten the leg around him, “Hm?”

“Sí (yes), you’re stuck with me, baby,” he says against your lips. 

“Do you promise that?” You whisper after pulling back a little, smiling softly as you look down at his mouth. He initiates another kiss after nodding. 

You kiss for a while without rushing it, deeply until you share each breath in your intense embrace. Despite just having had sex with him fifteen minutes ago, you want him again in a way that has him as hard as when you first got together. He fucks you open slowly with you on your back, makes you come on his cock with an almost pained tone in your whimper. He is everywhere on you, soaking you in love. The way he gasps along with you as he comes inside of you has your heart pounding in your chest. 

“No quiero a nadie más que a ti (I don’t want anyone else other than you),” he says when basking in the afterglow. However, you have already gotten out of bed to get cleaned up in the bathroom. In contrast to your husband, your afterglow is replaced by anxiety that you have just promised isn’t there. 

“I don’t want to end up like that,” you say while peeing with the door open. Javier moves on the bed to be able to look at you. 

“We won’t, te lo prometo (I promise you that),” he is quick to answer. You try to give him a smile but he notices the way you falter, “Anything you want to talk about? Anything on your mind?"

“They used to be so happy,” you sigh deeply and get up after finishing your business. You move to the sink and start washing your hands, your back suddenly towards him, “Makes me wonder if we're strong enough to weather anything.”

You hear the weight of him shift on the mattress and a second later, the soft pads of his feet across the tiled bathroom floor. He is behind you, looking at you in the mirror. You feel grateful for the sincerity in his eyes.

“Baby,” he tuts, wrapping his strong arms around you from behind and resting his chin on your shoulder. One of his hands goes down to lay on your stomach right below your belly button. You have just started to show, and the both of you have already talked about how early it is that your belly has started protruding but none of you have any clue why yet as you haven’t had your first scan. 

Javier kisses your bare shoulder, “This is my life, and I love it, and I would never hurt you… I trust you not to hurt me too.”

You silently turn off the tap to dry your hands but Javier doesn’t let you move. He lifts your chin so he can stare at you in the mirror, “I need you to trust me when I say that ten years with you have only made me want ten, twenty, thirty more. I love you. I choose you every day. Jonathan and Mira didn’t choose each other. We’re not them.”

“I love you too,” you shake your hands dry instead and then turn in your husband’s arms. You hug him close and he walks you out of the bathroom whilst still holding you tightly. 

“Three kids so far,” he reminds you whilst guiding you back to bed, “A decade down the line. We must be doing something right.”

“But what if—“

“You worry too much, mi vida (my life),” he says and smacks your ass as you crawl back into your bed. You glare back at him but he just snickers while crawling in too, “Get comfortable and go to sleep.”

“I don’t know if I can,” you say truthfully.

“Of course, you can,” Javier joins you under the covers. He lays down close to you and without saying a word, reaches out to gently and repeatedly stroke his hand over your hair. The warmth of his palm soothes your worry, each caress easing away the weight in your chest. 

You wonder if Mira left because Jonathan didn’t do this sort of thing anymore. Javier has done it for ten years. This fact makes sleep find you easily.

.

.

.

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[forget-you-morelike-fuck-you]

Eyes of a Stranger- E.M.

Did anyone ask for a Soulmate!AU? No! Did it bring me joy to write? Of course! Here you go my thirsty friends! Love you!

You move across the country to start looking for your Soulmate. Enter: Eddie Munson.

Masterlist

TW- Cursing, drinking, super fluffy fluff at the end

Pairings- Soulmate!Eddie x Reader

Word Count- 4,891

There’s a gap in your vision. There has been since you were born. It’s one of the facts of life. Everyone is born without their full color spectrum. There’s some chemical imbalance that prohibits it before the right time, and you hate it. You always have. Everyone talks about how beautiful brunettes are, or how delicious chocolate looks melting in a fondue pot, or bread, or even your childhood dog, but you can’t see it, and no matter how hard everyone tries to describe it to you, it never makes any sense when you look and see shades of grey. 

Your parents told you the stories of how they met, how their vision suddenly became full technicolor the moment they locked eyes on each other. How the colors finally swirled into place, completing the puzzle they’d spent their whole lives wondering about. It was one of your favorite bedtime stories, and you remember begging to hear it over and over again until their comforting voices lulled you to sleep.  

They were some of the fortunate ones. It’s not entirely uncommon for people to go their full lives without finding their soulmates. The world is wide, after all, but people can find love elsewhere, even if it’s not with the person they were meant on a cellular level to be with.  

As you grew, you found some small comfort in that fact, allowing yourself to explore the world past the missing warmth of brown that people describe. You let yourself have romantic partners no matter the color of their eyes, explored the nuances of casual and more serious relationships. How could you ever miss something that was never there, anyway? Of course, underneath that lies the crippling fear that you wouldn’t be one of the lucky ones. Sure, there are stories of people finding soulmates even in their last few years of life, but it doesn’t bring you any ease to think that there is someone out there, waiting for you, and the more time you spend apart is one less moment you’ll spend together.  

So, as you near your 23rd birthday, you decide to leave your hometown. You’ve spent your whole life intentionally meeting the eyes of nearly everyone you’ve come across, hoping to find the person that will make you whole, to no avail. It’s time you find new eyes to search.  

There are so many places, so many people that the only way you could ever decide on where to go is to not decide at all. You taped a map to the wall and threw a dart. First, it landed in America, then, on the American map, it landed in Indiana, and on the map of Indiana, it landed on a little town called Hawkins. “It’s as good a place to start as any,” You mumble, taking the dart out of the wall. The goodbyes to your family and friends are hard and tearful, but they know just as well as you how important this is. A couple of your friends had already found their soulmates, and every time you saw them together, your heart ached for their happiness.  

The journey to Hawkins is hard and long, moving all your belongings, finding an apartment with a rental agreement for just six months—if you don’t find your soulmate there, you’d move on to the next place—and a job that could support you while also giving you the opportunity to see a lot of people in a day. But you did it, and a few days after leaving home, you’re settling into your new apartment in the heart of Hawkins Proper. 

It’s small, and the plumbing creaks when you flush the toilet or turn on the shower, but it’s yours for the time being, and that’s enough for you. You arrange your sparce furniture the best you can to make it feel homey, and figure if things go well, you can always get more. The job you found is nice, and the people you work with are kind and funny, and soon you’ve made a little home for yourself in this strange, new place. 

“Y/N!” Your coworker, Steve shouts from across the Family Video. You look up from the shelf of movies you’re stocking over to where he stands behind the counter, his arms laying on the surface, shaggy bangs falling into his face as it always does when he doesn’t put a whole bottle of Farah Fawcett hairspray in it. 

“What’s up?” You call back, glancing between him and the movies as you put the cassette tapes back in their proper spaces. 

“I’m going on my lunch. You want something from the Dairy Queen?” You ponder his question for a moment, your mouth quirking as you think. 

“Yeah, can you get me an Oreo blizzard? And a chicken strip basket? I have cash in my purse,” You raise your eyebrows at him, and he gives a solemn nod. 

“I got you. I’ll be back in ten.” Steve turns and starts toward the back exit, and you go back to your work stocking the tapes, emptying the basket of returns as you meander from shelf to shelf finding the proper places. 

You hear the doorbell ring, and you raise your head, looking toward the door to the customer coming in. “Welcome to Family Video!” You greet. The man walking toward the horror shelves, and he looks over his shoulder in your direction and gives a nod. His eyes are obscured by a pair of dark sunglasses, which always irks you only because you won’t have the opportunity to look into his eyes.  

You walk back toward the counter to prepare to check the man out when he’s finished his selection when he looks back over to you. His dark, shaggy curls flop over part of his face as he calls out to you. “Do you guys have Pet Semetary in yet?”  

“Uhh, let me check,” You go over to the computer and type in the title. When the page loads, you let out a noise of recognition as you look back over to the man. “Yes, we do. But it’s still in the New Releases. Let me go find it for you,” You make your way around the counter to walk over to the New Releases wall, scanning the titles with your eyes, hands on your hips until you spot it. You bend over to pick it up and bring it back over to the counter, where the man is waiting for you to return. 

“Thanks,” he says, giving a small smile. He looks to be about your age. The hands he has rested on the surface of the counter are littered in heavy silver rings, and he’s clad in a faded, moth-eaten Iron Maiden shirt with an acid wash jean vest over it. There’s a small hoop in one of his nostrils, which glints lightly under the fluorescent lights hanging above you. The mostly black curls that hang around his face are highlighted grey where the light hits, so you assume it must be brown. He’s handsome, for sure. His relaxed features give him a refreshing air about him, like you know he’d be an easy friend to have.  

“No problem. Will this be all for you today?” You ask, your customer service voice lilting in the air. He pouts his lips for a moment, looking down at the candy selection below the counter before picking up a king size Reese’s and placing it and sliding it toward you.  

“This too, please,” he says, his pretty smile returning to his boyish features. 

“Sure,” You scan the candy and place it in a plastic bag with the movie. “Can I get your name please?” You ask, moving over to the computer to pull up his profile. 

“Oh, hey Munson. What’s up, man?” Steve comes from behind you, having returned from his break, and you look over your shoulder to his award-winning smile as he offers a hand to the man to clasp. 

“Harrington,” he says in greeting, a breathtaking toothy smile curling at his lips as he takes Steve’s hand in a light slap. “You know, just hanging out,” He shrugs. “What about you?” 

“Oh, you know, I’m just... here,” Steve lets out a small laugh. You watch the interaction, waiting for the two men to finish to complete the transaction. Steve looks over to you and gestures in your direction. “This is Y/N, she’s new in town. Maybe she should come out with us next time we go out to the bar. She needs more friends,” Steve jokes, and you hit him lightly in the shoulder, scoffing. 

“Oh, shut up, Steve. It’s not like I’m a loner. I’ve got you and Rob,” You justify. 

“Yeah, only me and Rob. There’s a whole wide Hawkins out there still to discover, Y/N,” You roll your eyes and shrug off the arm he’s casually rested over your shoulders at that and settle your gaze back on Steve’s friend, who holds a hand out for you to shake. 

“I’m Eddie, nice to meet you,” You take his hand and shake it briefly, a friendly smile forming on your lips. 

“Nice to meet you, too. I’m Y/N L/N,” He gives a quirk of a smile as your hands leave each other. Steve tuns to you, his hand on your shoulder as you look away from Eddie’s face to listen to him. 

“Well, I put your lunch in the break room, if you wanna go ahead and eat. I can finish taking care of Eddie if you want,” You give a nod, moving out of the way for Steve to take over the computer. You give one more small wave to Eddie. 

“It was nice to meet you!” You say. 

“Yeah, you too,” he says. “And you’re definitely welcome to come hang out with us sometime. We usually go chill at the Hideout at least once a week so, you know, you can get the details from Stevie, here,” You can see him quirk a playful eyebrow over his dark sunglasses as he reaches over to clap Steve on the shoulder. A chuckle passes your lips at the nickname, but even more at Steve’s dry reaction to it. 

“Okay, thanks,” You turn to Steve. “I’ll be back in 30 Stevie,” You give Steve a playful bump of your hip before turning and walking toward the back. 

“Yeah, ha ha, whatever, dude,” He scoffs, feigning annoyance. You give another laugh as you push the door open, the smell of your lunch wafting through the otherwise stale air of the back. 

The end of the day nears, and you and Steve are cleaning up the store preparing to close when he mentions Eddie again. “So, I think we’re gonna go out Friday night if you wanna come with us. It’ll be chill. Just some drinks, maybe some pool. Then we usually go to Benny’s after for some burgers. You in?” You shrug, pushing the dust mop across the floor. 

“Yeah, sure. Not like I’ve got anything better to do,” Your eyebrow quirks in thought then as the silence comes back over the store. “Can I ask you something?” 

Steve looks up from where he’s wiping down the counters. “Sure, what’s up?” 

“Has Eddie... has he found his soulmate?” You try to say it casually, but Steve lets out a taunting sound, his elbows going to rest on the surface of the counter as he wiggles his eyebrows at you. 

“Ahh, you like him?” His sugary tone makes a heat break out on your face, and you roll your eyes, trying to brush it off. 

“Not necessarily,” You try to defend yourself. “I just don’t like it when people come in with sunglasses. It’s a pet peeve, I guess. I just don’t like the not knowing part,” You hear Steve scoff from across the store as you reach the far wall with the dustmop, turning around and starting back the other way. 

“Well, no, he hasn’t found his yet. What color are you missing?” He inquires.  

“Brown,”  

“Oh really? Eddie’s eyes are brown.” Steve muses. You scoff at that. You may find Eddie attractive, but what are the freaking odds that the first place you’d moved to would be the home of the one person on the planet you’ve been waiting for your whole life? 

“Come on, Steve. There are 7 billion people on this planet. What are the chances, really? I was just curious,” 

“It happens every day! Everyone’s got someone out there, Y/N. Why couldn’t it be Eddie? Hell, why couldn’t it be me? Or Robin? Or Keith? Just because the chances are slim doesn’t mean they’re zero,” It’s almost like he’s reminding himself of that, too. You’re not the only one that struggles with not having their soulmate. Steve is nothing if not a romantic, you’ve learned. You’ve caught him more than once smiling at the store TV on a slow day, with what as well should be heart eyes while watching some sappy romance movie. You can only imagine that he’s wishing that it were him with his soulmate. You definitely do, from time to time. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But that doesn’t change the fact that the chances are incredibly slim. Like, one in 7 billion slim.” You wouldn’t mind if it were Eddie. You wouldn’t mind if it were anybody. Maybe it’s your quarter life crisis talking, but you’d throw yourself into the arms of anybody who made you see brown. It’s all you’ve ever wanted. 

You used to imagine what your soulmate looked like as a kid. It was actually a school assignment once, in first grade or so. An art project. You remember your parents had it hung on the fridge for a long time, sloppy first grader scribbles with big grey circles for eyes and pink hearts littered around the piece of paper.  

Friday is busy. People like to rent movies in preparation for the weekend. All day it’s person after person as you, Robin, and Steve rotate around the store putting movies away, stocking candy and popcorn, and checking customers out at the register. You’re over near the 18+ section putting away the Z movies when you hear Eddie’s voice over the din of people milling around the store. “Hey, guys. We still on for tonight?” You glance over at Eddie, who’s in a black and white t-shirt that looks just a tad too small—a blessing for you as the sleeves hug his generous biceps, black ink peeking out from beneath— and torn jeans today. There’s a chain hanging from his belt loop and as your eyes look to his face, you see he’s not wearing sunglasses today. Maybe you’ll be able to look and finally put your nagging thoughts to rest. 

“Excuse me miss, can you help me?” You turn to look at the middle-aged lady who’s gently tapped your shoulder, taking in her blue eyes as you stand to talk to her. Like Steve said the other night, there’s a chance your soulmate could be anyone. 

“Of course, what can I do for you?” You keep your attention on her but flick your eyes toward the counter, where you see Eddie still talking to Robin. Just a peek. Just one, and you can stop thinking about it. The lady’s voice pulls your eyes away at the request for the location of a movie, and you dutifully show her the way, taking glances where you can, only to see the shaggy mop of curls obscuring a proper view of Eddie’s face, which you know has that pretty smile as he laughs at a dumb joke Robin threw his way. When you reach the right shelves, you have to bend down to get the movie she’s looking for, and you hand it to her quickly. As you turn back to where Eddie and Robin were standing, talking, laughing, just a moment ago, you find the spot empty. Damn it. I’ll see him later, you think, shrugging it off as you make your way back to the basket of movies waiting to be put away at the back of the store. 

The last dregs of the day give you a bit more energy as the store gets increasingly quieter as less and less people come in in the final hour of open time. There’s more laughter among the three of you, joking and talking about your plans for tonight.  

“So, do you want us to pick you up?” Steve asks, looking to you as you sort through new returns.  

“Yeah, that would be great!” You give him a smile. “Can you pick me up at about 10:30? We’re meeting Eddie at 11, right?” 

Steve nods, tying up a trash bag to take out to the dumpster. “Yeah, that’s cool,” He says. 

“Oh, and you don’t need to wear anything super fancy or whatever. It’s a pretty seedy dive bar, we’re going to, so jeans is fine,” Robin adds. You nod appreciatively at the advice and take a moment to write down your address on a stray post-it to hand to Steve. 

“Here you go, and my phone number is on there too, just in case you need it,” Steve takes it, looks at it for a moment, and then stuffs it into his pocket for later. 

“Awesome. Well, if you want to go ahead and clock out, Robin and I can finish up here. We’ve just gotta finish counting the drawer and take the trash out.”  

“Thanks! I guess I’ll see you in a bit, then,” You wave to both of them and make your exit to the back of the store to where your car is parked and drive home to your apartment. You decide to take a quick shower to strip the layer of grime accumulated from your work day from your body, letting the warm water carry away the stress down the drain. After that, you dry your hair roughly with your blow dryer before making your way to your tiny bedroom closet to look for something to wear.  

You know Robin said not to wear anything fancy, but you do want to look nice. There’s a 1 in 7 billion chance that Eddie is your soulmate, but even if he isn’t, it would be nice to have someone as good looking as him flirt with you for the night. You decide on a hand me down pair of bellbottoms from your mom that makes your butt look incredible and a simple black halter top. You pair it with a nice long necklace that trails down your cleavage, just to give a path for Eddie or whoever to look down and some small gold earrings. You want to do a nice neutral makeup look, but browns are obviously a difficult color to work with, so you make do with orange and peach tones. 

You’re only waiting for about 10 minutes until you hear a knock at your door, and you open it to a smiling Robin. “Hey! Are you ready?” 

“Yeah, let me just grab my purse,” You walk across the room to the kitchen counter to your waiting bag, already packed with your essentials for the night before walking back, key in hand to lock the door behind you.  

The drive over to the hideout is short, and Steve pulls into one of the only parking spaces available. “I thought you said this was a seedy dive bar?” You say, an eyebrow quirking up at all the cars littered around the lot. Steve makes a face in the rearview mirror as he puts his car into park. 

“Yeah, but it’s still one of the only bars in town. There aren’t many places to choose from on a Friday night,” You let out a scoff at that, but shrug it off as you click your seatbelt off and open the door to get out. 

You follow Steve and Robin into the bar, handing your IDs to the bouncer to look at before he gives you a curt nod and lets you through. The bar is pretty packed. It’s not very big, so it seems even more crowed as groups of people hover around the pool tables and high tops around the edges. There’s a small wooden stage near the front, and the light is off. There’s no one playing tonight, you guess. 

“Hey! What do you want to drink? First round’s on Steve!” Robin shouts over the din of the other patrons.  

“Rum and Coke?” You suggest. You don’t really drink much, so it was just the first drink that came to mind. Robin nods in acknowledgement and shouts your order to the waiting bartender. You look around, your hands fidgeting with the strap of your purse over your shoulder as the nerves set in just a touch. You make brief eye contact with anyone you can, trying to pass the time before Robin bumps your hip with hers, hands occupied with drinks. She hands you yours and you take a big gulp, grimacing at the taste. Okay, maybe you won’t order this one again.  

“Steve saw an open table at the back, let’s go!” You nod and follow her through the crowd, taking special care not to bump anyone and spill your drink. Finally, you reach the four-seater table pushed almost completely to the back wall, and you climb into your seat, pushing your purse against the side that’s on the wall to the side.  

“So, what do you think?” Steve asks expectantly, arms gesturing to the scene around you. You give a laugh and an incredulous shake of your head.  

“It’s exactly what I expected, but also the complete opposite at the same time,” Steve shrugs. 

“Yeah, it was for me, too,” He laughs. Just then, Steve’s eyes look over your head, and he stands and waves his arms above his head. “There’s Eddie,” He explains as he sits back down. You heart beats hard in your chest suddenly. Chill the fuck out, Y/N, it’s not a big deal, You think to yourself as you take another big drink from your cup. 

A few minutes go by, and Eddie still hasn’t made his way to the table, you assume because he’s busy getting his drink, so you take a brief glance back and see him, drink in hand, a flirtatious smile on as he talks to a pretty girl standing over by one of the pool tables. She laughs at something he says, her blonde ponytail swinging. You can feel a heat fan over your cheeks as you turn back around, and you try to continue your conversation with Steve and Robin casually.  

Come on, be serious. You don’t even know this guy. He’s just some cute dude that happens to know your friends. It’s not your business who he flirts with— 

“Hey guys!” A shiver shoots up your spine as you feel the sudden warmth of a body right behind you. The unexpected closeness of Eddie as he comes to sit in the chair next to you makes you lose all the nerve you had spent all day building up. “Sorry, it took me so long. I just ran into Chrissy,”  

“Don’t worry man, you’re good. You remember Y/N, right?” Steve gestures to you, and you give him a small smile, looking toward his face but directly at him, looking away quickly to take another drink. 

“Of course, I do. I couldn’t forget a face like that. How’ve you been?” He asks, voice lilting sweetly. You nod exaggeratedly as you swallow, pulling the cup away and setting it down a little too harshly on the grey table, his casual flirtation nearly making you choke. It does nothing to calm your nerves.  

“I’m good! You know, just... hanging out.” You can’t help the awkward overtone to your voice as you avoid eye contact. You glace over at Steve and he shoots you a “Buck up, buttercup!” look. 

“Y/N’s on a soulmate journey!” Steve exclaims suddenly, practically forcing you to confront your fear of looking at Eddie. Your eyes widen to the size of saucers, immediately regretting telling him when you had that conversation the other day. You bow your head low to try to hide the raging heat spreading over your entire body.  

“Oh, really? How’s that going? Where have you been so far?” Robin asks excitedly. “You know, I’ve actually been thinking about doing something like that, but I barely have any money to support myself, let alone to galivant across the country just to look at people,” She says. You lick your lips and nod, intent on keeping your eyes on Robin’s though you can feel Eddie looking toward you with interest. 

“This is actually the first place I’ve been. I’m only gonna be here for six months, then I’ll move on to the next place,” You explain. 

“Well, why Hawkins? This seems like a pretty nowhere place to start,” Eddie asks from beside you, and you shrug. 

“I didn’t really pick it myself. I just threw a dart at a map. Well, several maps,” Your eyes flick up as you remember looking everywhere for a proper map of Indiana before finally settling on a small, printer paper sized one you found on the internet.  

“Ahh,” You let your eyes wander over to Eddie’s hands, which lay on the table, decorated fingers wrapping loosely around his drink, which appears to just be whiskey on the rocks. “What color are you missing?” He asks casually. You freeze up, just for a second, your lips trying to catch up with the short circuit happening in your brain. 

“B-brown... What about you?” You’re tempted to peek, but you want to wait for his answer. You don’t know which answer would make you feel more at ease, but you’re on the edge of your seat in the moment it takes him to answer, and you take another drink to help calm the quick thrum of your heart in your chest, feeling a bit disappointed as you drink down the last dregs. 

“Oh, me? I’m missing Y/E/C.” He says. You can feel his eyes on you, and your quick glance to Steve and Robin give you encouragement, both of them practically begging you to look at him, and you take the leap. 

You look up to Eddie’s face, letting your eyes meander up his face until your eyes settle on his. They’re a rich black color, and you’re so close to looking away, the dejection building in your core when it happens.  

Your parents were right, the color really does swirl into place. You watch, mouth falling slightly open as the black transforms into this warm, dark color you can’t describe. How could you? It’s the first time you’ve ever seen it. Brown. This is brown. You let out a little laugh as more brown starts settling into the scene around you. The tables, the bar, the water stains on the plaster ceiling—all different shades of brown, and it’s immediately the prettiest color you’ve ever seen.  

“Oh, my god.” You manage to mutter. It’s all so overwhelming you feel like you could cry, but Eddie’s gaze on you keeps you steady. His smile widens, pure joy glinting in those beautiful eyes. 

“I had a feeling, but... I didn’t think it was possible,” Eddie breathes as he scans over every feature of your face. You scoff, thinking about all the time you’ve spent over the past few days thinking about him. 

“Me too,” You laugh. You reach a tentative hand forward, and Eddie takes it midair, guiding it to his face. You feel your skin vibrate as you touch him, your thumb gently swiping over his cheek. Your reverie is interrupted by Steve and Robin, who start yelling across from you. 

“WE’VE GOT SOULMATES OVER HERE!” The whole place erupts in applause, and you and Eddie giggle as the whole place starts chanting, “KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS!” There’s a hint of hesitation, but then a playful glint in his eyes as Eddie looks back to you. 

“Would that be okay?” He asks, brows furrowing as he reads your reaction. You give a little nod, briefly pulling your bottom lip between your teeth. 

“Might as well. Looks like we were made to,” You muse, batting your lashes flirtatiously. Eddie gives you a quick toothy smile before settling his hands on your face, and it’s like time moves to a standstill as your lips touch, gently at first, to test the waters, but then you slot your mouth onto his fully as the electricity streaks through your body. His lips move perfectly against yours, and everything around you becomes white noise as you throw your arms around his neck, pulling him closer. 

As you part, you’re both grinning like love drunk idiots, giggling as your foreheads rest against each other. “A dart on a map, huh?” Eddie muses. You shrug, laughing again at the sheer insanity of it all. 

“Yeah. A dart on a fucking map!” Eddie’s lashes barely brush yours, his warm, sweet breath fanning over your face. 

“Thank God for that fucking dart, then.” His lips search for yours again, and you meet him in the middle with a smile that has your cheeks aching.  

1 in 7 billion has never seemed better. 

[dotster001]

Requests are open!! May I request a Lilia x reader that is lovers to enemies?? (You can choose why or if the ending is angst or fluff.) stay safe!!

A Lesson in Humanity

Summary: Lilia x gn!reader

CW: death, war (not on screen), injury, (how do I say this next one without spoiling the whole thing? Um...) There are drugs involved, angst, alternate universe

M/F=whichever parental term you'd have Silver refer to you by.

A/N: this ask....when I started it I thought it would be short and easy.... 😂

Your kingdom was on the outskirts of the Valley of Thorns. Despite the fact that in the last century, nobody had even heard from the queen, let alone glimpsed her army, tensions were always high, both for the fae who lived within the human kingdom, and the humans who lived in the fae one. 

But a new era was dawning. And you'd worked hard to get here. You'd quickly risen through the ranks, and become your Queen's favorite diplomat. When you shared your dream of peaceful relations, she had fallen into the dream right alongside you.

So here you were. At the palace in the Valley of Thorns. Awaiting an audience with the Queen of the dark fae. You were surprised to see an older woman, similar to what the Queen was described as, but aged like a fine wine, and with an aura of power that nearly sent you to your knees.

As she walked in, behind her walked a boy, no less formidable, his emerald eyes icy and piercing.

And behind him, with a light hearted skip in his step, a man. His dark hair in a loose braid that exposed the magenta streaks in his hair. His eyes were just as incisive as the boys, but his face was less lined, less tense. He seemed to be enjoying things.

“Y/N L/N. Welcome to our kingdom. We are most excited to see what changes you can bring to our court,” the queen (?) said.

You bowed deeply, taking the opportunity to collect your thoughts in the midst of these very intimidating people. 

“I am honored to be given this opportunity. I hope I don't let you down,” You said as you rose from your bow.

“See that you don't.”

The first visit was spent with you doing most of the talking, discussing where your kingdom was at in the modern era, discussing ways you hoped to improve relations, offering up various items you'd been given permission to trade in order to set up a trade route between your nations. You were exhausted. The two pairs of emerald eyes seemed to be searching your soul, while the magenta pair seemed thoroughly amused.

At length, you were dismissed for the evening, and the man with magenta eyes escorted you to your room.

“Chin up. You did well,” he said lightly as you walked.

It was the first time you'd heard him speak, and you were startled by the deep tone.

“Oh. Uh, thank you,” you choked out.

“Fu fu, you can relax around me. I'm trying to achieve the same things you are.”

He stopped walking, and held out a hand to you.

“Lilia Vanrouge,” he said.

You knew that name. Why did you know that name?

“Y/N L/N,” you shook his hand in return.

“Word of advice, don't give the fae your name,” he grinned maliciously.

You held back an eye roll. “Aren't we trying to do away with the old stereotypes?”

His grin deepened, and his eyes darkened. “That's not a stereotype, darling human.”

You didn't believe him, you really didn't. But he was definitely holding onto the bit for a slightly uncomfortable amount of time. Maybe fae humor was just different.

“Anyway, I'm sure you'll learn all about that during your stay here. Just as I'll learn about your human customs when I live with you.”

“Are you the fae diplomat, then?” You asked.

“Of course I am! Don't I seem so reliable?” 

He began walking again, and you hastened your gait to catch up. For someone with such short legs, he was fast.

“In the spirit of honesty, Y/N, the reason you recognize my name is because you have heard of me.” He stopped abruptly, turned to you, and gave a mock salute. “General Lilia Vanrouge of her majesty's armies.”

You knew fae lived for a long time. But this man was a murderer. He'd killed many humans in his time. He was the Boogeyman that parents told their children about. And now he was fighting for peace? 

You almost couldn't believe this was the person whose name was only spoken in whispers.

“You're confused. But that's fine. You're young. When you live a couple hundred years, you gain a perspective on things. Rest assured, I am the largest proponent of peace in this kingdom. I am your ally. And I will do what I need to do to make things right,” he said firmly. And you believed him. Seven help you, but you really believed him. So you nodded, and he smiled brightly. He pointed to the door down the hall.

“That's where you'll be staying. If you need me, just say my name, and I'll be there.”

And in a cascade of pink sparks, he was gone.

….

You'd both fallen hard. Perhaps it was your shared passion for a similar goal. Perhaps it was the allure of being from different species. Perhaps it was the day you'd seen him training shirtless, and couldn't look away.

But your relationship was a fire that only fueled the desire to bring the relations between your kingdoms closer. You complimented each other. Brought out the strengths in each other. And the last three years had breezed by, both of your dreams coming closer and closer to fruition.

Lilia broke the kiss you'd been trapped in for the last five minutes, and breathed against your lips.

“You should come live with me.”

“You say that everytime we're alone together,” you giggled, chasing his lips, him playfully dodging.

“And I mean it every time. Come live with me.”

“I don't think that my queen would be pleased to lose her favorite diplomat.”

“Sometimes I think she's in love with you, too, and she's using your position to keep you from me.”

“Very funny,” you snickered, “she'd rather the three of us be a package deal.”

“Fair,” he whispered, kissing you again, seeming to distract himself with you by accident, before pulling away again.

“But I'm really serious this time,” he said sternly, reaching into his pocket, and pulling out a black ring.

“Lilia,” you breathed out.

“I've been thinking about how we aren't getting any younger.” 

You held back a snort at that. He looked exactly the same as the day you met him. But you remembered like it was yesterday the day he'd noticed a single silver strand in your hair. Just one. That's all it had taken for him to lock himself in his head for an hour as he held you tightly. You hadn't had any since, and you'd been pretty certain it was probably from stress, but Lilia had been a little shaky ever since then.

“We love each other. We shouldn't let that slip away,” he whispered.

You found yourself nodding, giving into his love filled eyes, but as you felt the cold ring slip onto your finger, you spoke up.

“One condition. We'll be engaged, but we won't get married until we've brought about peace.”

He groaned. “That could take forever!”

“Think of it as a way to celebrate the future unification of our people.”

He whined, imitating a child.

“Fine, but only if you live with me,” he pouted.

You rolled your eyes, but couldn't hold back a grin. 

“Okay, Vanrouge. I think we can work that out.”

….

The letters from home were….concerning. You'd thought you were making progress, but the queen had just announced her engagement to a fae duke she had met during one of her visits to the Valley of Thorns. And the reactions were less than ideal.

You put away the reading glasses that you were using, and rubbed your eyes with a groan. It always felt like one step forward, ten steps back. 

Lilia would not be excited to postpone the wedding again. When you'd gotten the newest prescription of reading glasses, he'd been far more insisting about getting married sooner rather than later. But you intended to make him keep his promise.

“Why are you so distressed?” A voice called.

You turned to see the young fae prince, watching you expectantly.

Over the years you'd learned that he seemed cold, but that didn't mean anything. He was a sweet kid. He viewed Lilia as a father. It was endearing. A glimpse at a future you could have one day.

”I'm alright, your highness. Just feeling overworked.”

He tilted his head to the side, thinking. “Perhaps grandmother would allow you and Lilia to go on a trip.”

“That sounds nice, your highness, but I don't have time for-” you trailed off as you heard shouting in the hall outside, some knights bursting into your study and talking over themselves.

That is until they saw the prince, and shut themselves up, bowing deeply and apologizing to the prince.

You sighed internally. Both you and Lilia knew that treating the boy like a god was leaving him very lonely. You'd both been discussing ways to socialize him a bit more, but it was just as difficult as bringing lasting peace. And it didn't help that, despite his youth, he already possessed unmatched power.

“What's going on?” You interrupted, making the knights turn back to you.

“General Lilia, he-”

“We tried to stop them-”

Thunder boomed outside, and you quickly turned to the prince.

“Your highness, I'm sure he's fine,” you assured, trying to calm down what was already a torrential downpour. He turned to you, eyes distressed, and he nodded, only to be interrupted by the knights.

“He's not.”

“We're doing what we can, but-” 

“It looks bad.”

“Where is he?” You asked, grabbing Malleus' hand as you stood.

“Medical wing.”

You intended to walk Malleus and yourself to the medical wing, but the world around you burst into green sparks and darkness, and the next thing you knew you were looking at a non responsive Lilia.

“Thank you, your highness,” you groaned, trying to catch your bearings again.

He didn't respond, simply staring at Lilia. You looked over at a doctor, and they shook their heads. You released a sob, and fell to the floor, crying into his stomach. Thunder boomed, and you felt Malleus' much smaller hand fit into yours, squeezing it tightly. You sat up, and pulled him into what you hoped was a comforting hug. He didn't cry, but you could feel him shaking.

“Oh crumbs!” You heard a shout, followed by a sharp intake of breath, as the bed next to you jostled.

You looked over and saw Lilia staring at you with wide eyes.

“Sevens! You scared the hell out of me!” You sobbed, throwing your arms around him. “Don't ever do that again!”

“I don't intend to. The underworld seems very boring,” he groaned. Before you could ask, you were unceremoniously pulled away as the medics began to work on him again.

You turned to Malleus, but he was gone.

“What happened?” You asked over the hubbub.

“Apparently the Queen was betrothed to a human lord, when she was just a child, and he's not happy that she broke it off for a fae. He's sending an army, and I got run through by his scout,” he laughed bitterly. “I'm getting old, Y/N, I'd never have missed him in my heyday.”

“Oh hush, middle aged is not old,” you laughed through the tension, brushing away more tears. This was not good. Not for Lilia, not for you, not for your dreams….and not for the kingdoms. But at least he was alive.

Green sparks filled your vision, and Malleus had returned.

“My grandmother wants an audience with you when you can move, Lilia.”

Lilia nodded, and reached out for Malleus. “It's going to be okay. I promise.”

The next week went by in a blur. Even though Lilia had assured you that now that he'd seen the underworld he had no intention of going back, there were several rough nights, where he was racked with fever as infection came and went.

The second he was allowed to leave the bed, he took his requested audience with the queen. After a tense hour, he had sat you down on the sofa in your study, as he paced. At length, he sighed and turned to you.

“An army is indeed coming. It's nothing we can't handle, but considering how injured I was, the queen is rightfully concerned.”

You nodded.

“She has asked me to take the prince, and live in the forest with him until she deems it safe. In the meantime, I'm supposed to teach him, train him, and make sure that I heal properly. Come with me.”

You bit your lip. “Is that an option right now? Won't they need me, at least on the human side of things?”

“This isn't the time for a diplomat. This is the time where the royals have to hold the discussion. This is the time where advisors write up a peace treatise, and make promises. They don't need diplomats until later. And I'm certain your queen would rather know you were safe with me until she needs you.”

He made good points. And you had no idea how long this would go on. The thought of being without Lilia after having to see his dead body was not a thought you enjoyed having. So you agreed. Despite your hesitation, you decided to trust him.

….

The cabin was quaint. It was cozy,  very domestic, and, after banning Lilia from the kitchen, it was very safe. And with Malleus, you could almost pretend the three of you were the picture perfect family. Lilia handled the magic training, you handled the literature and the manners, and the emotional aspect of parenting. (Lilia had tried that last one, but had ended up making the young prince cry. Now only you are in charge of emotional development.) 

A warrior-strategist, and a scholar. The perfect parenting team to make one well rounded individual. Hopefully.

Lilia was in contact with the queen, but evidently the army had been more formidable than anyone could have expected from a rebel offshoot. Evidently, some fae had joined this human in his crusade, also unhappy at the attempts to bridge the gap.

You had attempted early on to keep track of the passage of time, but soon lost track. It was long enough that Malleus had had a growth spurt, and now towered over both you and Lilia. He was, evidently, in his angsty teenage phase, despite being a couple hundred years old. But in this time, he'd grown strong, learned self defense, and gained control over his magic.

It was wonderful to watch him grow. But the longer you were here, the more concerned you got for the future of your dreams.

“Y/N, I'm back,” Lilia called. You and Malleus were in the kitchen making dinner. Lilia had been out scavenging for berries as a treat for after dinner.

“In the kitchen!” You called. He peaked in.

“Can you come out here, please? I need to talk to you.” 

His expression looked serious, so you gave Malleus a couple instructions on what to do next, then walked out into the living space with Lilia. He was facing the window.

“Is it news from home?” 

“No. Please sit.”

You sat down, waiting with nerves on edge about what he didn't want to say in front of Malleus.

He turned to you, and you noticed a bundle in his arms. Then the bundle moved.

“What is seven's name?” You stood up, rushing to him. 

A child. Not just a child. A baby.

“Lilia, what is this?”

“I would think that was self explanatory, my love,” he snickered, gently passing you the baby boy. He was beautiful. And very asleep.

“His parents-”

Lilia shook his head, removing his coat, and setting down the basket of berries.

“I can't explain it, but he's been abandoned for a long time. No one is coming for him.”

“How do you know?”

“The magic on him serves a very specific purpose. No one is coming for him.”

The boy opened his eyes, his auroral hues blinking up at you sleepily. You were so absorbed in them, that you were surprised when you felt Lilia 's arms wrap around the both of you.

“You're a good parent. You've proved it with Malleus.” He whispered in your ear, a seductive lilt in his tone. “And a human child raised by a human diplomat, and their fae general husband, alongside the future fae king, would further the relations of our people.”

You nodded slowly.

“Can we keep him?” He whispered, his lips pressed directly to the shell of your ear.

You looked at the boy, then at Lilia, who was solely watching you, fixing you with the saddest expression.

You smiled softly, leaning in to kiss him.

“Of course we can.”

…..

It had taken Malleus some time to adjust to the new baby. But soon he was reading to it, telling it all about his kingdom, promising to take care of him forever.

Within a couple years(? To be honest you couldn't be sure, time living with fae went differently) Lilia insisted that Silver start training with himself and Malleus. You protested; your son had difficulty staying awake, and didn't have nearly the power that they both had, but both Lilia and Malleus had been insistent. They could feel the magic inside the boy, they assured you. And besides, with his build, and clear intelligence, he would make a great knight. Malleus would want people he was close to as his advisors in the future, and for that they would need experience. And with Malleus and Lilia pouting at you like that, and Silver just happy to be included, you couldn't say no for long.

You knew time was passing, but only because Silver was growing. You were told Malleus was probably at his full height and appearance, but you could barely test the passage of time that way anyway.

One day, an unfamiliar man arrived at the cabin. He slipped you a business card, that read,

Dire Crowley, Headmage of Night Raven College

“I'm here to observe your boys. Both of them will be old enough to attend not that far apart, and we like to scout early. The Dark Mirror says both show a lot of promise.”

Lilia seemed ecstatic, so you nodded along. They wouldn't be ready for college that soon, would they?

The scouting went well, but you found yourself increasingly concerned when you heard some of the things that both boys had done to train. Things you hadn't heard about.

But you didn't say anything. Not until the boys were in bed, and the Headmage was gone.

“When did you take them to the middle of the forest and leave them?” 

“Oh, that, don't worry about it, they're fine.”

“And what's this about you going with them? Wasn't the whole point for them to build relations with their peers and gain independence?”

“It's just for protection-”

“So, Silver and I will be alone for a year, then Silver will leave me the next year, and I'll be all by myself, when the boys are supposed to be figuring out how to live without you, and you are supposed to be helping me clean up after the war?” 

“There's a long time before then-”

“Is there?”

“Yes. And you can come with me. When we're married we can get married student housing-”

“We don't even know if we'll be married yet!”

“Why not?”

“Look at us, Lilia! We've been living in the woods for who knows how long, because of the dangers back home! Do you call that peace?”

He stared at you, then said, “Let's call it off. The promise. Let's just get married now.”

“First off, that's a terrible idea, based on how different our parenting style appears to be. Which, again,” this brought you back to what started the conversation, “how did I not know about your training exercises?”

“The boys and I knew you wouldn't like them, so we all agreed not to say anything.”

“I would have noticed if my sons were missing for a week!” You shouted.

“M/F?” You turned around, and there was Silver, looking at you with sad eyes.

“I'm sorry,” he whimpered.

“No, it's not your fault, baby, I just get worried about you, that's all,” you hugged him close, noticing Malleus staring at you from within the bedroom. He didn't move to get up, just looked at you for a moment, then looked away.

“You go back to bed, love, Father and I are done chatting,” you said. You watched Silver walk back to bed, shutting the door behind him. Then you walked to your bedroom that you shared with Lilia, hearing him follow close behind.

You snatched a pillow off the bed, grabbed your sleep wear, and walked back out, shutting the door behind you before he could say anything, and setting yourself up on the couch for the night.

It was three days before you spoke to Lilia again. Not that he didn't try. And not that the boys didn't seem to be trying to guilt you. You just…had to reflect.

Perhaps you weren't on the same page anymore…

That third afternoon, you went out on a walk to clear your head. Perhaps this was your fault. You'd lived with fae for so long, that you'd forgotten that there would be things you disagreed on, based on your species, and cultures. Perhaps you should have just talked to him, instead of being angry. You sighed, and returned back to the cabin.

When you stepped inside, you were greeted with soft pink lighting, and roses lining the walls, and windows. And standing before you, was Lilia.

“Before you yell at me again, the boys are camping outside tonight. I didn't drop them in the middle of the woods.”

You smiled softly. Until the smell hit you. Sevens. Lilia had made you dinner.

“I made you a romantic apology meal. Just for the two of us. And the boys were so sweet, they insisted on making things for themselves so that you and I could have all of it.”

You bit your tongue. He was trying to apologize. No need to say anything. 

“Well! Dig in!” He said excitedly as you sat at the kitchen table.

The dinner was silent at first, Lilia eating, and you trying not to die.

“I heard from my queen. We can come back now. Though,” he groaned bitterly, “you have a lot of work cut out for you on your end, from the sounds of it.”

“I always do. Did she say why?”

“No, just that it wouldn't be easy to handle.”

He went quiet again, then put his silverware down, looking directly at you.

“I meant it. We should throw out our initial deal, and just get married when we get back.”

You opened your mouth to protest, but he cut you off.

“Even if we get a lasting peace between our two kingdoms, it won't really do anything. Not right away. It'll take years and generations for our nations to fully achieve the dream across every nation of fae and human. I can't wait forever. And neither can you.”

“Of course I can wait,” you laughed. “Until we live in a world where children don't have to hide in the woods, it feels selfish to get married.”

He huffed. “I get that. I do. But what happens if it doesn't happen in your lifetime?”

“Lilia,” you sighed tiredly. “I'm asking you to respect this one request. I let you do a lot, live mostly the way you want me to, all I ask is that we wait. In the meantime, we teach our boys how to be good men.”

He looked like he wanted to fight, but seeing the certainty on your face, he fell into silence, eating the rest of the dinner quietly, then pushing out of his chair, slipping into your lap, and trapping you in a passionate kiss.

The next day was spent packing, and preparing the boys for royal life, and what that meant for them. And then, just like that, your days spent in the cabin in the woods were over.

The castle looked untouched, but the destroyed landscaping spoke volumes. Everything in your study was as you left it. But you didn't have time to enjoy it, because the Queen had informed you that your Queen had died, and left the Fae duke she'd married, now the king, with a half human child. Apparently, both of them needed you. You were sent on your way before you had a chance to talk to Lilia or the boys. 

It wasn't for several more months that Lilia could come join you. He barely wanted to let you go. You couldn't blame him, nor would you try to stop him. You felt so ragged. So worn down. You just needed him to hold you for a while.

He told you Silver had to remain in the Valley of Thorns now that he was officially training, but that he had his birthday party next month, and both his queen and your king had given you leave to attend. 

You were so glad. Things around here had finally been settling, so you'd hoped to come see Lilia and your boys in a more permanent capacity soon.

He'd begrudgingly left, his face pained as he separated from you.

You were so tired. And as the next month went by, you began to think to yourself that, if Lilia asked you to go forward with the wedding this time, you'd say yes. You were so tired. So much pain. So lonely. You needed your boys.

And it wasn't until you were at Silver’s party that you realized what was wrong.

You knew it was Silver’s birthday. But how was he eleven already? That….that couldn't be right? You'd barely aged a day, since….

Your eyes widened, and you were rocked with a wave of nausea. Silver looked up from his cake, his eyes wide in concern.

“M/F, are you alright?” He whispered.

“Yeah, I just need to grab something from my study before I forget.”

Before he could say anything, you rushed out of the party room, and into your study. You locked the door behind you, and turned to the mirror you had hanging on the wall. 

You stared in increasing horror. You should be showing signs of aging at this point. There should be more lines on your face. More of your hair should have changed color. This wasn't right.

You hadn't heard him enter the room, but Lilia scared you when he pressed his lips to your neck.

“If you're worried, you're as beautiful as the day I met you,” Lilia whispered seductively.

“That's the problem, isn't it,” You laughed dryly. “I shouldn't be.”

You felt him stiffen behind you, before laughing it off.

“Well, you do need prescription glasses now, but I'll always love you, no matter how old you get.”

“Lilia,” you said, feeling empty. You turned to him, horror beginning to overtake your features. “How long did we live in the woods?”

“Listen-”

“Please, I'm begging you. Tell me this isn't something you did. I'll believe you, just explain what's going on.”

“Y/N-”

“There were no mirrors in the cabin, and I had no way of tracking the days…Sevens, you did that on purpose!”

“Now hang on-”

“What the fuck did you do?” You finally screamed out, the full implications sinking in.

He froze, his expression unreadable. Then he began to tremble ever so slightly.

“I can't lose anyone else. Especially not you.”

You sat on the floor, your body no longer able to support itself.

“Oh sevens…”

“I slipped a potion into your food every single day. It extended your life, and froze your body from that point on.”

“Lilia,” you spoke hoarsely, “why didn't you ask if that was what I wanted?”

“You wouldn't even marry me! Why should I have believed you'd agree to immortality?” He shouted, beginning to pace, in anger or fear, you couldn't be sure.

“So,  what then? You were just going to keep me drugged on this forever and ever? When did you plan to start drugging Silver? When he's fully grown, or can you even wait that long?”

“That's not fair!”

“I'm tired, Lilia! Without you telling me how long we lived there, I can feel that I shouldn't still be continuing the way I am!”

“That's just because of the withdrawal!” He said, hastily pulling a bottle out of his pocket. “Take some more, you'll feel better.”

“No!” You pulled the engagement ring off your finger, and made your way to the door.

“You're acting like a child,” he shouted behind you.

You ignored him as you opened the door, only to see Malleus standing in front of it, an emerald fireball in his hand.

“Please, Y/N, just listen to Lilia. I do not want to have to hurt you.”

“Step aside,” you said.

“No. You're acting irrationally. You need to relax,” Malleus said firmly, and you began to feel drowsy.

“No, Malleus, this is wrong,” you groaned out as you felt your consciousness fading.

"I thought so too. But Lilia showed me that it was the only way.  You both are my only family…”

You wanted to protest that this is not how you treat people you love. But all you were aware of was Lilia’s arms around you as you collapsed.

You awoke to the cold metal of a spoon pressed to your lips.

“Eat,” Lilia said lightly. He didn't seem nearly as distraught as he was during your argument.

“What happens if I stop taking the potion?” You asked with a glare.

He stiffened, setting the spoon down.

“You've already been off it for several months. I'm certain you're already feeling the effects. Your outside will remain the same, but age will quickly catch up to your mind and your inside. I give you three months before you are bed bound.”

He pressed the spoon to your lips again, seemingly believing that the revelation would make you want it. You kept your mouth firmly shut.

He stared at you, the anger quickly returned to his face. He threw the spoon across the room, then buried his head in his hands.

“You can't do this to me. You can't let me watch you die.”

“I'm going to do exactly that!”

“You! Fine! Get out then!” He shouted. “Give up on me and our dreams. I just hope you realize how stupid it is before it's too late.”

You stood up, your legs feeling weak, but you couldn't let him see the weakness. You might lose your only chance to leave. You stormed out.

You hastily packed up the things in your study, then quickly made your way to the training barracks. 

Silver was taking care of the horses. He looked up at you excitedly.

“Hello, M/F!”

“Come on, Silver, we're going on a little trip.”

“A trip?” He looked around, but nodded.

“Okay.”

You couldn't leave him with Lilia. Lilia, the one who always claimed to love and care about humans, but who clearly didn't seem to think of them as equal enough to decide, or even be asked, if they wanted their entire life to be altered.

You saddled a horse, and and helped Silver into the saddle with you, then urged the horse to a run.

The sky quickly broke into emerald lightning and thunder, torrential rain soaking the both of you.

Lilia must have told Malleus that you'd left. Just like with Lilia, you'd thought Malleus loved and respected you. And maybe he did. Perhaps Lilia had twisted him to his view point, manipulating that pure love he had in his heart to his own ends. 

At this point you couldn't put anything past Lilia.

“Y/N L/N!” 

As the voice called your name, you lost all control of your body, pulling the reins and halting the horse.

You sat frozen in place, unable to even look at Silver, who was turning to look at you, asking in concern about what was wrong.

But you couldn't move.

“Y/N L/N,” Lilia floated in front of you, not so gently extricating Silver from the saddle. “Enlighten me. What gives you the right to steal my son?”

Never give the fae your name. You could cry now. The one who had warned you was now teaching you the lesson.

“I thought he was our son,” you spat.

“The paperwork only has me as his legal guardian. And you never married me, nor signed any adoption paperwork. So, what gives you the right to steal my son?”

You choked on a sob. And with a hoarse shout, you spat, “I hate you!”

His eyes went cold. “No. You don't. You will take that back this instant, and properly apologize to me.”

You found yourself dismounting the horse, tears flowing down your cheeks as your free will was gone, your name abused.

“I'm sorry.” You spit out. “I'm sorry that I tried to save Silver from a fate he didn't deserve.”

Lilia's glare sharpened. And with that he vanished with Silver, leaving you alone in the rain.

Nine years later

History repeats itself. Lilia had never expected his young Lord to fall in love with a human.

“I want you to hold onto this feeling. Remember that humans live short lives. That's the way things have to be.”

Now that he was nearing graduation, he was beginning to see what you meant about nurturing Malleus’ independence. Letting him go was not going well.

He sighed, having finally arrived at his destination. He  held up the magenta rose he'd brought with him, staring at it. He still felt embarrassed looking at you, even after all this time. 

By the time his head had cleared, and he'd realized just how far he had gone, it was too late. He was so tired now. And he deserved it.

This exhaustion. Was this what you felt in your final days?

He looked down at the grave, placing the rose alongside the others that he had brought over the years.

Nine roses. One for each year. None of them showing any signs of age.

Perhaps he hasn't completely learned his lesson.

He supposed he should bring Silver and Malleus to your grave one day. Maybe it would give Silver closure. Maybe it would remind Malleus not to make the same mistakes.

Maybe it would lift some of the guilt from Lilia's shoulders.

He sat down on the grass, sighing heavily. He was getting old.

“I have a lot to tell you. It's been quite a year…”

....

Tag list- @shytastemakerthing @eccedentesiast-sapphic @leoll

[themorningsunshine]

Pretense

(Requested)

Masterlist

Pairing - Bucky Barnes x f!reader , platonic Avengers x reader

Summary - You have been with orverprotective parents your whole life, and it never bothered you as much. You know they mean well. Until they spew lies in front of your friends and ruin everything for you, including your chance at love.

Warnings - shitty parents, angst, fluff, misunderstandings, a lot of crying, slight language. not proofread 

Word count - 7k (I need to be stopped) 

a/n - This was requested by the lovely @caritobbg​​. I thought it would be a short one shot but it instead turned out to be the longest fic I have ever written. I tried to do the idea justice, hope you lile it, girl. 

"Yeah, dad. I am at the tower."

"What do you mean why? I live AND work here."

"Yeah, I am taking care of myself, mom." "No, they don't fight each other all the time."

"No, Tony hasn't filled the tower with deadly robots." "No, Steve doesn't conduct history lessons here."

You sighed as your parents asked you for the 10th time this week if you were being kept hostage at the Avengers compound.

Your dad spoke from the other side of the phone. "You know we worry about you, princess. We just don't trust those superheroes."

You smiled a little at the nickname your dad had always called you since you were a little girl. "Yeah, dad, I understand that you worry about me but they are my friends and I trust them. I really wish you could trust them too."

Your parents had always been a little too protective of you. Being an only child, you were the object of their affection more often than not. It had never bothered you as much. You know they meant well.

But it had gotten much worse now. About a year ago, Tony Stark himself offered you a job to work with the avengers considering your skills and obviously, you said yes. It was an opportunity of a lifetime and you had found a family in the team too.

You hadn't told your parents about your new job for 6 months because you were afraid of their reaction. As you had anticipated, they didn't take their little girl working for superheroes very well.

Okay, that was an understatement. Your parents didn't trust the Avengers and they surely didn't trust them enough to be able to protect you. They took any chance they got to convince you to leave the job. All you wanted was for both of your families to get along. Maybe it was too much to ask for.

"Dad, we are friends. We look out for each other. We have each others' backs. Give them a chance, please. Why can't you try to trust them?"

"Hmm. Let me see. Your 'friends' consist of ex-assassins, a witch who used to work for Hydra, a "genius" and his scientist friend who created a robot that wanted to kill the whole of humanity. Oh, and the scientist also has huge anger issues. Like he literally turns into a monster when he is angry. Your best friend has killed more people than she can count. And this group of yours almost broke up once when the best friend of one killed the parents of another. Oh, and that soldier of yours has also reportedly killed a president. You are right. What's there to not trust?"

"Dad, he was brainwashed!!"

"Doesn't make him any less unstable."

You sighed. These arguments with your parents were a dead end. You knew you weren't going to get anywhere.

"Alright, mom, dad. I gotta go."

"Okay, sweetheart. Just take care of yourself. At least until we come to meet you next month."

You smiled at that. "Can't wait. I want to introduce you to everybody. Love you, guys. See you soon, Bye"

"We love you too, princess."

Your smile dropped as you hung up the phone and realization struck you. Your parents were going to visit and as much as you wanted them to meet everybody, you were scared. You could never be sure about how your parents would react. They were too unpredictable.

You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn't hear footsteps approaching.

"You okay, doll?"

The voice startled you as you turned back to be met by the beautiful blue of Bucky's eyes. You kept a hand on your chest to calm your breathing. "God, you scared me, Buck."

Bucky just chuckled as he looked at you, eyes filled with concern. "Well, maybe you should be careful who sneaks up on you, doll. This is not really the safest place on Earth."

"The only person who sneaks up on me is you, Bucky." You replied with a smile of your own, as you felt your concerns slipping away.

"Exactly my point. I am not really the most trustworthy person either."

"Then why do I trust you with my life?" The words slipped before you could think about how they would sound. Your cheeks turn little red as you look down at your feet. "You are too good for your own good," Bucky replied with a slight blush of his own and he meant it with everything he had. You were too pure and too trusting for this world. He would never know how he got to even call you his friend.

His eyes squinted as he noticed something. "Doll, there's something in your hair."

Before you could react, he took a step towards you and with gentle hands removed a piece of confetti out of your hair.

You ran your hands through your hair before looking up to thank him when you realized how close the both of you were standing. You were pretty sure he could hear how fast your heart was beating.

The both of you stood there staring into each other's eyes until Bucky took a step back, red color creeping up to his cheeks. He rubbed his neck, flustered, before finally speaking, "Um, I should - I should go."

You nodded your head, trying desperately to get your heart to beat normally. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see you around."

As Bucky walked away, you couldn't wipe off the smile from your face when suddenly your conversation with your parents hit you again.

God, it was going to be a long month.

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"And if you need anything, you can also ask Jarvis." You explained to your parents with the widest grin on your face.

"God, I can't believe you guys are finally here."

Your parents smiled at you before your mom engulfed you in a hug, 7th in the past 1 hour.

"Okay, guys. You know I love you both so much, but we are going to go in now and meet everybody. Can you please, please be nice?"

Your mom put her hand on her chest with a dramatic expression, "You don't trust us?"

You chuckled at how dramatic your mother could sometimes be. "I do, You know I do. But I also know as a matter of fact that both of you aren't very fond of my friends. And all I am asking is that you give them a chance. They are great people, mom. They are really really great and I care a lot about all of them. So, I just need you to be a little open-minded about them. That's all I am asking. Can you do that for me?" "Of course, we will, princess. We hate these inept superheroes but not as much as we love you."

Your parents then looked at each other a too long, which you didn't think much of, too excited at the prospect of your parents and friends getting along.

You took them inside the compound as they looked around in what you hoped was awe.

"Good morning, J.A.R.V.I.S" You greeted the AI just like you did every day.

"Good morning, Ms l/n"

Your parents looked around in shock trying to figure out where that voice came from when you chuckled. "Mom, dad, I told you, you need anything, just ask J.A.R.V.I.S"

Your dad narrowed his eyes at you. "Where is this JARVIS of yours?"

You giggled before replying, "Everywhere and nowhere." Troubling your parents never got old.

"Stop putting forward riddles, we are not in a fantasy adventure movie." Your mom complained.

"Sorry. Sorry Mom, dad, meet J.A.R.V.I.S. He is an AI that operates the whole tower, literally. If you want to know anything, just ask him. Tony created him. That man is such a genius."

Your dad almost rolled his eyes. "Why couldn't he just hire a human to work for him, just like normal people do?"

You sighed, just hoping that the day goes smoothly.

You couldn't be more wrong.

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"And this room is the briefing room." You opened the door to let your parents in but they just looked around from the doorway.

You had just started showing your parents around the compound, readying yourself for the inevitable. The whole team was pretty excited about meeting your parents and you knew sooner than later that someone will run into you.

The inevitable happened as soon as you stepped into the dining room.

Tony was standing there, getting his morning cup of coffee and his face told you he hadn't slept very well last night. Ever since he picked up the mission to update the compound's security system last month, he had hardly been sleeping. You were worried about him.

"Tony?" You said in a soft voice so as to not startle him.

"Oh, hey, kiddo. Awake a little too early today?" He said with a tired smile on his face, taking a jab at the fact that you were definitely not a morning person.

"Are you okay, Tony?"

"Hmm, yeah. Totally." He then looked at your parents who were standing beside you with a scowl on their faces. "Won't you introduce us?"

"Oh, right." A wide grin spread on your face as you turned towards your parents. "Mom, dad. This is Tony. Kind of the co-leader of the group. Tony, these are my parents."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs l/n. You have a great daughter."

Your cheeks turned red until your parents began speaking.

"So, he is the guy who has his head so up his arse that he doesn't care about anyone besides himself?" Your dad with a scowl on his face.

You gasped as Tony's eyes widened. "Dad, what are you talking about?"

"He is Stark, right? That's what you said about him after the first day you worked here."

Your eyes widened as your mouth fell open. What was happening? You hadn't even told your parents about your job for the first 6 months. Why were they -

Your eyes frantically searched for Tony's and you felt a slight pain in your chest when you saw how hard he was trying to feign the hurt in his eyes. You needed to set this right. "Tony - "

"Oh, and could you please stop annoying our daughter with all the science and tech talk? That stuff bores the shit out of her." Your mother interrupted you before you could even say anything.

You looked at Tony, desperately trying to explain to him that it wasn't true. You had told your parents how much you loved listening to Tony rambling about his latest creation. You loved how passionate he was about his work. You couldn't imagine your parents using that against you like this.

Before you could say something, Tony spoke, "Oh, I am sorry, I didn't know me talking about what essentially pays your salary irritated you so much." He said with a snarl in his voice that he had never used with you before. Even though the both of you weren't that apart in age, he was like a dad to you and you would never hurt him.

"Tony, it's not what you think." You said, desperately asking him to give you a chance to explain yourself when some more people walked through the door.

You watched as Nat and Wanda entered the kitchen, engrossed in their talk, smiling when they see you.

"Heya, girl"

You internally panic. You didn't know what your parents were up to but this couldn't be nice. You just wanted to take them away from here.

Tony speaks up before you can do anything, "Her parents are here. And they have something very interesting to say. Turns out our goody two shoes has some very different thoughts about us."

"Tony, no. It's not like that. I don't know why - "

"Hey, let me guess who are these two." Your mother exclaimed, conveniently shutting you up.

Wanda looked between you and Tony in confusion before smiling at your parents. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Y/n talks a lot about you."

Your mom looked her up and down before saying with disdain in her voice, "Redhead. A pretty face. You must be the witch."

Wanda's smile wavered but she didn't let her discomfort show.

"You're the one who is so desperate for love that she is dating a toaster."

Wanda gasped as her smile fell. She looked at you, confused and hurt.

"Mom, what are you - "

"That's what you told us, princess. That she is dating a toaster. What's its name again? Vi - Vis.." "Vision. His name is Vision and he is NOT a toaster." Wanda then looked dead into your eyes. "But it's good to know that that's what you think, y/n."

You shook your head frantically. "No, no, Wan. It's not like that. You know that's not true. I would never say that."

Wanda's eyes didn't waver and dread filled you. Your friends were not trusting you.

"What does she say about me?" Nat spoke up. She asked as if she couldn't care less but being her best friend for almost a year now, you could read it in her eyes that she was almost as afraid of the answer as you were.

"You're the black widow, right?" Your father questioned.

Your mother spoke up without waiting for a reply, "You are the useless one. No, like, really, the three of us always wonder, why are you even a part of the group? There are supersoldiers in here, witches and literal gods, what do you do? Throw some punches? Kicks?"

"Gods. That reminds me, where are the self-proclaimed gods/aliens of yours?" Your dad snickered, amused.

"Which one?" Your mom questioned in reply. "The doofus or the monster which can never be trusted?"

You had had enough. You exclaimed, "Okay, guys. Enough. Stop talking."

Your dad smirked. The audacity. "Come on, princess. Aren't you tired of pretending? Don't you want your friends to know what you actually think about them?"

You opened your mouth to tell them that whatever they were saying was as far from the truth as it could get when everybody in the kitchen heard footsteps approaching.

You heard Steve before you saw him, "Who thinks about what?" He asked, genuinely curious.

Your heart started beating frantically when you realized he wasn't alone. Sam and Bucky had entered the kitchen with him. But unlike the other times, your heart was beating with fear. This couldn't be happening. No, no.

"Y/n's parents are here. They were telling us all the great stuff she says about us to them." Wanda said with pure disgust in her voice. You had never seen her this mad.

"Guys, trust me. It's not - " "Come on, y/n. Let them speak." Sam said before turning towards your parents. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr and Mrs l/n."

Your father rolled his eyes before saying, "You're the one who got kicked out of the Air Force and then kissed Captain America's arse for a job."

Sam's jaw dropped but before he could say anything your mom replied, "No, honey. Y/n told us it was that Ant-man."

Your dad shook his head. "No, no. Antman is the one who went to jail. He is Falcon."

You were seeing red now. You knew that your parents were a little too overprotective of you and hence didn't like you taking this job. But you thought meeting your friends and realizing how caring and nice everybody was would change their minds. You never thought that they would ever do this to you.

You desperately wanted to explain yourself. To tell your friends that this was all a lie but you couldn't. You could see it in their eyes that they already hated you. And with your parents standing right there, you knew it would be impossible to give them. Maybe you could talk to them after your parents left. You just hoped they would give you a chance to explain yourself.

When your dad's eyes landed on Bucky, panic swelled inside you. Nononono.

"Oh, and you must be the winter soldier. That metal arm makes it pretty obvious though." Your dad said as he pointed towards Bucky's left side with pure disgust in his eyes as if it was the most horrifying thing he had ever seen.

Tears welled in your eyes as you saw how Bucky pulled his sleeves to cover more of his arm and blocked it from view.

"Do you have any idea how difficult you make it for people to work in this compound? Y/n complains to us how she has to walk on eggshells around you, scared that anytime you would get back to being the assassin that you have always been." Your mother uttered the words with a permanent frown on her face.

"But can you blame her though? You can not just kill hundreds of people and live freely, pretending to be a hero."

"Enough." You shouted. You couldn't take it anymore and your parents had gone too far.

You looked at Bucky, about to explain to him that none of it was true. That you were never scared of him. Not even for a second. Because you loved him. Since the day you had met him, your heart had held nothing but love for him.

But the look that you saw in his eyes made you stop in your tracks. He wasn't looking at you with hate or anger. No, it was much worse. He looked hurt. As if someone had pulled his heart out of his chest and stomped on it. You couldn't help but notice that his eyes held a little bit of understanding too as if he didn't blame you for thinking that way.

Your chest hurt and you wanted nothing more than to reach out to him.

"Wow. That - that was." Steve broke the silence, but it was the first time you had seen him out of words. "Is that really what you think about us, y/n?"

"No, no, Steve, None of it is true."

"Come on, princess. You don't have to put up a facade anymore. No more pretense."

"Stop it." You shouted at your parents. This was the first time you had ever raised your voice at them, but you couldn't care less. They were ruining everything.

"Guys, you need to trust me. Please." You looked at everybody, begging them with your eyes and words to just trust you.

"I don't understand. Why did you pretend to be our friend for so long? Why pretend to care when that's what you really think?" Wanda spoke, bewildered.

"No, no. That's not - " You spoke, tears at the brim of your eyes. This couldn't be happening.

"For the money, of course. Come on, why would someone live in the most dangerous place on earth if not for a buttload of money?" Your dad said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No, no, no, please. You guys have to trust me, please." You looked around at everybody, frantically searching for even a hint that everything was not ever. That they could trust you. But all you got was hurt faces and built-up walls.

"Why are you doing this to me?" You shout at your parents. You were extremely close to sliding on the floor and crying your heart out.

"We are trying to help you, princess. We are freeing you." Your mom said with a smug expression.

"You don't have to do that anymore," Tony spoke and all the eyes in the room looked at him. Hope swelled in your chest.

"You don't have to stay here and pretend to like us. I really really want to fire you but you know too much and your statistical skills are too good to be wasted. So, you will be transferred. Somewhere far from us where we don't ever have to see your face." Tony spoke with a sense of finality in his voice and your heart broke into a hundred pieces.

You looked at your feet and swallowed the lump in your throat before looking at him and whispering, "You don't have to do that." You then turned and looked into the blues of Bucky's eyes which you were so familiar with and all you could do was whisper, "I am sorry."

You didn't wait for anybody's response before walking out and towards your room.

There was nothing that you could do anymore.

You were not going to take that transfer.

This job was never about money to you. You had found a family here, and you loved them with everything you had. But it still wasn't enough for them to trust you.

You cried and cried and cried till you had no more tears to let go before getting up and packing your bag.

You had to leave. You couldn't face them again.

There was only one thing left to do.

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The compound was silent.

It was as if nobody even lived here anymore.

Everybody sat at the dining table staring at the food in front of them, nobody taking a bite.

It was as if a part of them was missing. As if the one thread that had bound them together was somehow suddenly torn apart.

There was an unspoken agreement between them. Nobody would talk about what had happened earlier that day. The wound was too fresh to be confronted.

Nobody knew where you were right now. But everybody just assumed that you were in your room.

Steve was very close to barging into your room and bringing you to the dining table. He couldn't count the number of times he had told you that you shouldn't talk while eating and even after choking on your food twice, you hadn't listened to him and Steve was glad. There was nothing he wouldn't give right now to bring back the lively chatter that had always surrounded the dining table. But he had to remind himself that everything he had thought was a lie, a pretense.

Tony was angry. He was seething. He had cared for you like you were his own daughter and you had thrown all of that into a drain.

Wanda just wanted to know how you were so good at acting. How you could pretend to be her best friend when you hated her all along?

But Bucky just wanted to know one thing - why. He didn't blame you for thinking that way about him. You weren't the only one who did. But he wanted to know why you would pretend to be his friend, to care about him when you thought him to be a monster. Why did you comfort him after all those panic attacks and nightmares telling him it wasn't his fault when you blamed him for every single thing? Why had you let him fall in love with you if you couldn't even stand him? You had to know that it would leave him devastated. He didn't blame you for hating him, but how was he supposed to live without your light now? Especially when he knew it was never for him?

Nat couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't just let everyone swallow themselves in silence for a person who never even cared about them in the first place. She harshly got up before walking towards the living room for a bottle of wine.

She shook her head when the memories of all of you hanging out at the same place plagued her mind.

As she walked past the bookshelf, she noticed something which had never been there before.

She frowned as she walked towards it to realize that it was a pen drive. She slowly picked it up to find a note attached to it which just read, "Sorry".

She was so engrossed that she didn't hear footsteps approaching until a hand took the pen drive from her. She looked up to realize Tony was looking at the drive intently as if scanning it with his eyes.

"What's this?" He asked, confused.

"No idea. Found it on the bookshelf."

Tony read the note and recognized the handwriting almost instantly. "It's y/n's."

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Everybody sat in the living room staring intently at the screen before them.

Tony had assembled everybody and they had all agreed to watch the pen drive once. Maybe it would answer their questions. Maybe it was just an old pen drive and had to do nothing with what had happened today but they had to know.

The system finally finished scanning the drive after what felt like a lifetime and your face flashed on the screen.

Your tears-stained cheeks and red, swollen eyes, told them that the video was indeed today's.

"Hey, guys." You sounded broken and defeated.

"I am not even sure that you are going to watch this." You let out a sad chuckle.

"But I just needed to say this 'cause it feels like if I don't, it will swallow me whole. And you guys deserve to know the truth, too."

"I just - I want you all to know that all that you heard today, none of it was true. Not even a single word of it. And I need you guys to know this." You looked directly into the camera as if begging them to trust you and nobody dared to move.

"I - I don't know why my parents did what they did. I have no idea. I can tell myself that they were trying to protect me, but who am I trying to convince? 'Cause, you don't protect someone by taking away the best thing that ever happened to them." You sniffled, rubbing your palms on your face to wipe off the tears.

"And that is what this team was for me. This job, this team, was the best thing that ever happened to me. And it was never because of the money or the luxuries of living in the tower, it was you guys. You were a family I found in a city I knew nothing about. And that was what mattered to me."

Tony wanted to shut the video off, to tell everybody that maybe you were lying here too, pretending, but he knew it wasn't true. Your eyes shone with guilt and desperation and eyes never lie.

The video continued. "And maybe you are not even watching this video. Maybe you will never know how I actually felt and will hate me forever, but if there is even a slight chance that you are watching this, and there is a small part of you that can trust me, I want you to know what I actually think about you.

Tony, you were like a dad to me. You always looked out for me and were so damn concerned about me the whole time and I can't thank you enough. Thank you for always looking out for me and I never for a second got annoyed by you talking about tech, you might not know this but your eyes shine brighter when you are talking about your creations and I would never get tired of that. The only complaint I had for you is that you need to take care of yourself more. Stop sleeping in your lab and eating shawarma all the time in the name of food, it's not healthy. Take care of yourself, Tony, 'cause there are some people who will always need you."

Tony looked away, blinking hard so as to not let the tears roll down his cheeks. All the times when you brought him food in his lab because he hadn't left his spot for hours and then you forced him to finish it all, you didn't do it as a pretense, you did it because you genuinely cared about him.

"Nat, you're the bravest and the most badass person I know. Don't tell anyone, but you are my favorite fighter. I admire you so damn much. Who cares that you can't lift things with your mind or fly? You can kick people's asses without blinking an eye. You inspire me so much."

"Wanda, you and Nat are my best friends and I am so proud of you. After everything you've lost, gathering the courage to love again is the most courageous thing I've ever seen. You and Vis make me believe in love. Hell, I even had a speech ready for your wedding as your bridesmaid." You had a small smile on your face as if remembering something, "Now that I am not going to be there anymore, Nat, I am going to ask you to give a great speech from my side too. I know you are not a very emotion-oriented person, but please try. 'Cause Wanda deserves nothing but the best."

Wanda sniffed audibly and Nat kept a hand on her shoulder.

"Thor, prince of Asgard, Son of Odin." You said in the voice that Thor had taught you to intimate a long time ago and chuckled. "I know you are the one who stole all my pop tarts." As Thor's eyes widened, the video continued, "Don't act surprised. Why do you think I never changed the place of keeping my pop tarts even after they went missing every single week? I am not upset, nope. I don't even like those that much. I just need you to know that I won't be there to keep those tarts there. Ask J.A.R.V.I.S., he knows where I brought them from. He will tell you."

"Sam." Sam looked up from his spot as he heard his name. "I am a little upset with you. You never let me use red wig." You pouted and Sam chuckled. "But you do know that you are the funniest, smartest, and one of the most deserving people to be on the team, right? Hell, bringing you to the team was the best decision Steve ever made."

You stopped for a moment looking down at your feet, when you breathed, "Bucky." Your voice was much softer now as if his name was a prayer.

Bucky looked up into the camera, his heart beating a mile per minute. If this was all a lie too, he didn't want to know what you had to say. Even if it was actually how you felt, he wasn't sure he was ready for what you were going to say.

"I - " You stopped and took a deep breath. You looked vulnerable as if you were apart to lay your soul bare in front of you. "Bucky, I just - Whatever you heard today, it is not true. None of it. Since the day I met you, I have never been scared of you. Not for a single second. You know I don't blame you for anything that Hydra did, you have to know. I don't think you were a monster. I think you are the sweetest, kindest and bravest person I know. I wasn't lying when I told you that I trusted you with my life. I trust you, I care about you, and I - "

Bucky's breath hitched in his throat as you suddenly stopped.

"Well, there is a major chance that you're not even watching this, so .. why not? It's not like I am ever going to get a chance to say it to you. So, here it is -

I love you, Bucky. I am in love with you. I have been for a very long time now. I could tell myself that it was just a small crush and it would go away sooner or later, but who am I kidding? I want to spend every single moment of my day with you. You're the first thought that comes to my mind when I wake up and my last memory before I fall asleep. When you are around, I can't stop looking at you and when you are not, all I want to do is look at you. I know that you might never feel this way about me, especially after today, but I just had to say it once."

You took a deep breath before speaking with finality in your voice, "I just hope that one day you guys will know that it wasn't a pretense. That this team was everything to me. I found a family, a place to call home, I found love. I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me."

The video stopped and everybody bowed their heads down while Bucky just stared at the screen desperately, as if you would walk out of it.

You loved him.

You wanted to be with him and god if that thought alone wasn't the best thing that had ever happened to him. He didn't think you could love him. He had accepted the fact that he was destined to love you from afar, a love that you would never know about.

But you felt the same. He didn't have to watch you fall in love with someone else and get your happily ever after, because you wanted that to be him.

You could be his happily ever after.

Before he could let himself be hopeful, realization struck him and left him breathless.

You had said that you would never get the chance to say it to him personally. The things that you had said, the finality in your voice, it had all sounded like a ... goodbye.

He stood up abruptly, only to realize that all the eyes were on him.

Some were filled with tears, others were trying really hard to keep their emotions in check. No, no, this couldn't be. How was he supposed to live without you now that he knew that you loved him too?

Without muttering a word to anybody, he rushed out of the room, through the corridor, and towards your room. You couldn't have gone yet. No, no, he would beg you to stay, get on his knees and ask you to forgive him.

He stood outside your door for a moment, taking a deep breath, mentally preparing himself.

He brought his hand to knock on your door, only to realize that it wasn't locked.

With bated breath, he pushed the door open.

It was vacant. Everything that you had put in to make it a home, was gone.

You were gone.

✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*

The whole team stood in the living room, waiting.

Bucky walked in, his head shaking and arms trembling.

Nobody uttered a word as they waited for him to give words to the inevitable. He looked up, tears brimming his eyes as he whispered, "She is gone."

Everybody gasped as guilt filled them.

Only if they had trusted you.

"No, no. We cannot give up. We need to find her. I am going to find her. We cannot give up this easily." Bucky said, praying that he was right, that not everything was lost. There was still hope. There had to be.

"He is right. We can't just let her go." Wanda said, tears straining her cheeks. "There has to be a way." Sam agreed.

Tony suddenly lightened up as he took out his tablet. "We can track her. If she hasn't switched off her phone, we can find her exact location." He had enabled a tracking sensor in everyone's phone some time ago. He remembered the way you had pouted and teased him that it was an invasion of privacy, but had finally let him install it nonetheless.

He let out a sigh of relief when he realized he could still check the location of his phone. "She is heading towards the airport."

Dread filled everybody as Tony's words sank in. You were leaving. Forever.

"She is in a cab right now. I can figure out its number, but it might be too late."

"I have to go," Bucky exclaimed. "I am not going to let her go. No. I need to find her." He looked around, ready to fight anyone who came in his way.

But everybody just gave him a reassuring look as Steve whispered, "Go, get the girl, Buck."

✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧✧༝┉˚*

You looked through the window as the city lights bristled by.

Your cheeks were still stained with tears as you left behind the place you had called home.

But there was no other option. Your parents had left you with no other choice.

It hurt that they had actually been successful in their mind games, but there was nothing you could do. Your parents had taken from you, the best part of your life.

You were going to miss the city, the team, and your friends, but there was one person you were going to miss the most.

Leaving him was like leaving a part of your behind and you knew that Bucky Barnes was always going to have a piece of your heart, even if he didn't know about it.

You swallowed the lump in your throat as the cab came to an abrupt, sudden stop.

The cab driver looked back at you before asking, "Ma'am, are you okay."

You nodded your head before asking, "Are you?" After he nodded, you continued, "What happened?" "A man just rushed his bike past us, way beyond the speeding limit, and then stopped it right before us, in the middle of the bridge."

You frowned as you looked in front of the cab.

Your breath hitched in your throat as you recognized the bike and the man getting down from it.

"Bucky." You breathed before opening the cab door, against the driver's protests, your legs on autopilot.

When your eyes met Bucky's, you could see him visibly relaxing with relief.

"Bucky, what are you - " You exclaimed against the sound of the wind.

He got down from his bike and started walking towards you quickly. "Doll, how could you?"

Your heart skipped a beat at the nickname before you lowered your head. Of course, he hated you after what had happened. He didn't trust you.

You looked up to realize that he was a couple of feet distance from you now. You opened your mouth, apologies about to come tumbling from your lips when you were cut off by him.

You gasped in shock as Bucky closed the little distance between the both of you, pressing his lips to yours, in a gentle, yet desperate kiss, as if he was drowning and only the feeling of your lips could bring him back to the shore.

When the surprise finally washed off, you brought your hands to his chest as his led down to your waist, and you kissed him back. You didn't understand what was happening. But if it was goodbye, you wanted it to last forever.

When the necessity to breathe arose, Bucky pulled back but stood close.

He leaned in and touched your forehead with his before closing his eyes.

You breathed him in. He smelled of fresh coffee and pine. He smelled like home.

"How could you leave me, doll? Without even saying anything. Not even a goodbye?" He tried to be upset with you. But who was he kidding? You could stab him through his chest and he would still thank you.  

Tears brimmed your eyes as you took in a deep breath, you wanted to savor this moment. "Buck, I - I am sorry. Whatever my parents said today, it was a lie. A huge lie. I wanted to tell you, but - "

"It's okay, doll. I trust you. But, I - I need to ask you something." He took a deep breath, already dreading your answer to the question he was about to ask. "Did you mean it?"

"Of course, I didn't. None of it. I don't blame you for anything, Bucky. I am not scared of you. I have never been."

"That's not." Bucky closed his eyes shut, praying that he could word his feelings correctly. "We - we saw the video."

Your eyes widened as realization struck you. He knew.

You had stupidly confessed all your feelings on a video. What were you thinking? He would be so embarrassed right now but you couldn't back out now.

"Buck, I - I do love you. That is the truth. But you don't have to say anything. I understand if you don't - "

Before you could finish your sentence, Bucky brought his fingers under your chin to make you look up at him before leaning in to press his lips against yours once again.

Hope swelled in your chest as you brought your arms to encircle his neck and kissed him back.

He pulled away a little too quickly to look up at you with a small smile on his face. The look in his eyes made butterflies erupt in your tummy with a ferocity you had never felt before.

"I love you too, doll. I do. With everything that I have. I love you and I am so so sorry that I didn't give you a chance to explain. I am so sorry that I didn't trust you.

I never told you this because I - I am not good enough for you, doll. I don't deserve you."

You shook your head, about to correct him, when he continued, "And I think I still don't. Being with you puts you in so much danger too, maybe I shouldn't even be with you. But I am tired of pretending that I don't want to. I am tired of pretending like I don't want to spend every single moment for the rest of my life with you. So, if you'll allow me, doll, I'll spend the rest of my life, trying to be the man you can proudly call yours 'cause I love you so damn much."

Tears were now flowing down your cheeks for a completely different reason. You leaned in to kiss him again when the both of you were interrupted by the cab driver shouting from the cab, growing impatient, "Madam, do you want to go or not?"

Bucky looked at you with hopeful eyes and you turned back to yell to the driver, "Never"

[sunlightmurdock]

My Future In You | 2.2 | Bradley Bradshaw x Reader

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Synopsis: Bradley’s twenty-two years old and not where he’s supposed to be. He’s supposed to be out of the academy by now. Instead, he’s retaking his senior year of college and praying to god that he gets into flight school. Mav’s gone, his mom’s gone. He’s mad at the world. Then, a hook up at a Halloween party changes his future even more than he could have imagined.

Warnings: accidental pregnancy, references to abortion in a few chapters, angst, will be fluff eventually, enemies to lovers kinda thing, requited love but they’re idiots your honour, smut, pinv, unprotected sex, mentions of pregnancy / birth complications

…

A little past 1am, legs stretched out ahead of you, draped across Bradley’s legs. Some old straight to TV movie playing, giggling like a couple of teenagers. Bradley loudly voices his complaint as he picks up a m&m that had been thrown at his forehead.

He’s in just a pair of shorts, his hair dry now and his curls a little shorter than normal. Navy regulations. You kind of miss the length that he used to have on the back and sides, but this look suits him too.

“I’m just saying, you’re the one who fucked my roommate.” You shrug, mock-nonchalantly, and pretend to focus back on the movie in front of you. It’s some dumb story of a small town cowboy.

In the mood for dramatics tonight, Bradley throws his head back and groans.

“Before I even met you!” He chides, sitting forwards and snatching the candy from you before you have opportunity to turn any more of them into projectiles.

“Then you texted her after you’d already knocked me up.” You remind him, playfully calm.

“Ah, ah — She texted me, it’s not like I would’ve fucked her again — and let’s not forget that you had a whole boyfriend until you were in your second trimester.” Bradley points out.

“And stop saying knocked up. Makes me feel weird.” Grumbling like a discontented teenager, Bradley nudges your leg with his so that you have to look at his face and see his little frown.

All of that seems so far away now. Ryan. Your roommates, who you’ll probably never see again. Christmas with your family. You’ve barely even thought about it all since you got here.

“I’m sorry, Bradley — how should I be phrasing it?” You tease.

His lips tug at the corners, threatening to disrupt his dramatic frown and disarm his little act. A small shrug of those broad, tanned shoulders.

“All those couples at the parenting class keep saying ‘when we found out we were expecting’. That works.”

“Mm, but when I found out I was expecting I cried for three days and when you found out you implied that I was a whore and offered me money. Our story doesn’t really sound like theirs’.” You remind him. He presses his lips together in a line. That feels so far away now too.

He remembers the anger he felt towards you back then, which is a complicated thing in itself. He remembers why, and how — and everything about that first week, actually. He remembers being so furious at you for making that choice without him. A complete stranger, complicating his future when he had just stepped out of his complicated past.

The anger still makes sense to him. He doesn’t feel it anymore, he isn’t proud of the way he acted, but he can look back now and know that it was all just fear.

Going from being a scared little boy and looking after a sick mother, to being an adult and having nothing to care for but himself, to then meeting you. It hadn’t felt fair to have that all stripped away before he had started it.

But now, when he thinks of this living room being empty, or that small room being an office instead of a nursery, it makes this all seem so much more bleak.

The movie credits roll, leaving you even more confused about what the plot was supposed to be. Bradley sits up and pushes himself onto his knees, then parts your legs for him to dip between. You’re sighing softly now, contented as he presses his lips to yours.

“I don’t think you’re a whore,” He mumbles against your mouth, making you chuckle softly against him. “And I’m glad that I knocked you up, for the record.”

Another soft chuckle. He presses his lips warmly to your skin. Cheeks, jaw. A gentle tour of your face.

“You are?”

“Yeah, you’re hot pregnant,” Bradley beams at you, earning himself another little laugh. “And — y’know, I’m excited for the kid too.”

Looking up at him, your fingers circle over his smooth, freckled shoulders. A few moments of silence pass between the two of you before a commercial comes on and disturbs the bliss.

“Time to put the baby to bed, don’t you think?” He asks. You glance down at your swollen stomach and back up at your new boyfriend. Smiling at him, you give a defiant shake of your head.

“We aren’t tired.” You decide.

A soft groan and he cups your belly in his hands, feeling soft fluttering kicks to unfortunately support your claims. Smile growing into an embarrassingly amused beam, you watch Bradley as he pushes your shirt up and peppers kisses across your stomach.

“Tell him to give his old man a break, some of us have to be up in a couple hours,” Bradley murmurs into your skin, earning himself an applause of his new favourite sound. He looks up grinning at your laughter. “What?”

“You, being somebody’s old man,” A quick scrunch of your nose and a shake of your head, laughter still bubbling through you. “Weird to think about.”

His cheeks redden like the tops of his ears, then he grins. Sitting back on his heels, his hands slide along your stomach to rest at the very bottom. Again, he feels a soft little kick against his palm.

“Y’know, I think he’s nocturnal. I barely felt him this morning and now he’s wide awake.” You explain.

Another shrug, smiling as he leans down and kisses your stomach once more. “Wanted to stay up and watch a movie with his folks.” Bradley muses, making you smile. Absentmindedly, you card your fingers through his fluffy, air-dried curls. His lips press warmly to the underside of your belly, “No harm in that.”

Fingers trailing from his auburn curls, down over the tanned muscles in his shoulders as he peppers kisses across your stomach.

“He’s got you wrapped around his finger already. Old man.” You tease, nudging at his leg with your foot. He chuckles softly, cool breath tickling your skin. Another kiss, then he looks up at you.

“Me? — Mama’s the one letting him stay up late.” Bradley prods, sitting up and bringing his mouth to yours once more. The kiss is slow, lazy, his hand cupping your hip. When he leans over you now, your stomach always bumps into his middle. He’s going to miss it when it isn’t there anymore.

Turning his head, he presses his face into your neck and nips softly at your skin. You hum, keening towards the feeling. It becomes growingly tender, lips replacing teeth, tongue soothing over the warm spots left behind.

Finally, he sits back up and kisses your lips chastely. “Will you come to bed with me?”

“You can go ahead, I won’t wake you up.” You promise.

“I know, but I like falling asleep with you.” He squeezes softly at your hips, remembering to be gentle with your sore joints these days. He sits forwards and kisses your mouth again, then again after that. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that he isn’t going to stop until you agree.

Pushing against his bare chest, he sits back on his heels and raises his eyebrows at you.

“Fine…” You huff, extending your arms for him. Slipping his hands into yours, he’s on his feat with an annoying level of ease that you can no longer manage. He tugs you up with him.

“I’ll lock up.” Ducking around you and kissing your neck, he leaves you with a gentle pat on the ass and then moves to make sure all of the doors and windows are locked and that the lights are off. You pad along the hallway to your shared bedroom and peel your shirt over your head.

Over the past month, you seem to have really popped. The kid is really making himself known in there. Enough so, that you’re well into the stage now of wearing exclusively maternity clothes or stretching out Bradley’s old gym clothes. Tonight, given the lingering heat, you opt for an old basketball shirt that Bradley hasn’t fit into since high school. Before he grew a foot and lost eighty pounds in his junior year.

It’s not huge on you at this stage of your pregnancy, but gives you the reprieve of a waistband pressing into your stomach.

Bradley’s chest hits your back before you even feel him approaching, turning his face into the crook of your neck, almost knocking you over with his weight.

His hands skim under the shirt and up over your stomach, making an all-too-familiar beeline for your breasts. He groans softly into your skin, growing half-hard against your back.

“Mm-mm,” You’re smiling and shaking your head at him all at once. “You need to go to bed, remember?”

“Fuck,” He breathes out, eyes closed, soft skin under his palms. If he pressed any harder into your back, he would knock you onto your front. “I do.”

Your palm slips between the two of you, reaching back to cup him over his shorts, stroking just loosely over the length of his hardening cock.

“Would be pretty difficult to sleep with that, though.”

“You’re such a tease.” He mumbles into your neck, kneading softly at your breasts. He rolls his hips forwards slightly, using your hand for friction on his increasingly hard cock.

“Are you flying tomorrow?” Your head falls back to rest against his shoulder, his lips sucking softly at the curve of your neck. His realization courses through him like relief, you can practically feel it.

His head shakes quickly. “In a classroom all day.”

Your palm squeezes softly around the tent in his shorts, a quiet hum, mock consideration, leaving your lips. His hands push at the shirt, slowly dragging it up your middle and tugging it over your head.

His eyes feel heavy on you, hands trailing featherlight along your sides. Bradley reached out slowly, pressing a soft kiss to your shoulder as he takes hold of the band in your hair. He’s especially gentle as he takes it down and turns his face towards your hair.

Illuminated by the soft light of the bedside table, Bradley’s becoming increasingly gentle with you — each time that you’ve slept with him recently, you can feel that he’s being more careful than he would normally be. He knows that you’re sore and more tired than you would normally be, but he never once declines the opportunity to have you.

Today is no exception as he turns you towards him, palms skimming along your back, squeezing at your ass as he holds you against him. Laying you down slowly on your shared bed, he notices your lips quirk softly as he covers your body with his.

“What?”

“Nothing.” You give a small shake of your head and lift to kiss him, still smiling when you pull back. He squints at you, studying the amusement on your features. It just makes you want to smile, is all. Him being so wordlessly soft; knowingly gentle. It doesn’t take a conversation or a warning. He knows your limits.

He knows you so well these days. The kind of shampoo or deodorant to pick up. Exactly which spots to press his fingers harder into when he’s giving you a foot rub. Exactly how to make you scowl at him and melt into his arms moments later when he’s being annoying. Your chest heaves with a particularly deep breath.

Bradley’s lips are on your chest, his hands skimming along your thighs, kneading at the flesh.

“Tell me you want me.” It’s a pant, really, just breathless. He rocks himself against your core, sitting back on his knees and squeezing at your hips. He takes that plush, pink bottom lip between his teeth and just stares down at you with the prettiest mahogany coloured eyes you’ve ever seen.

Teasing at an almost smile, you bite the inside of your cheek to contain it. A soft shake of your head and he smiles back at you. You glance down, watching him palm over the tent in his shorts. Finally, you meet his gaze once more. “I don’t think your ego can handle being any bigger than it already is.”

“It can take a little more,” Bradley hums. He exhales, adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he watches his ring and index fingers dip through your folds, gathering your excitement on the digits. “Tell me you want me.”

You do. So badly that it makes you hot. Makes your muscles go tense. Makes your chest tighten.

“I want you,” It’s an admission that you never would’ve given him months ago, weeks ago even. There’s a lot about you now isn’t the same as it was a few months ago. It’s right on the tip of your tongue. I love you. It’s insane — terrifying, actually. You swallow and stick to what you know, “I want you.”

It would slip so effortlessly off of your tongue. When he’s buried into you, breathing hard into your ear, your face buried into the curve of his neck and god — he still smells exactly like him, now mixed with your body wash that he’s adamant he doesn’t steal. So natural, just another breathless, meaningless exhale in the middle of sex.

“You feel so good,” Bradley groans out, his thick fingers sliding along the nape of your neck and up into your hair. He curls them into your roots and flexes his fist just softly. Just the right amount of tug, a gentle pull that has you moaning against his jugular. “Fuck, baby… you…”

He turns his head, lips grazing your jaw and working lazily along to your lips. When he gets there, finally, it feels like your heart is going to explode out of your chest. He kisses you slowly, his tongue in your mouth and his hand in your hair. In your shared bed.

The mattress is softer here and he never wakes up with a sore neck because of the shitty pillows. Sometimes he wakes up with a sore neck because of how his body is wound around yours, but he doesn’t mind that as much. Moaning into his mouth as he fucks into you slowly.

“You’re so fucking hot.”

A breath catches in your throat and you aren’t sure whether it’ll turn into a laugh or a cry. Ultimately, it settles into a soft moan, your breath tickling his earlobe and making him shiver. Then, it becomes a laugh. He sits back on his knees to get a good look at that grin on your face.

Stretching out his shoulders, he guides your thighs over the tops of his. He gives them a soft squeeze and slows down a little, giving a breathless nod. “I mean it. You’re so fucking perfect, just like this.”

He wets his lips with his tongue, eyes trailing ever so slowly along your body, rocking his hips forwards tenderly. Briefly, you think that he’s going to say it. It doesn’t happen. Just more expletives, shallow breaths, eager grunts. More kisses, his hands on your skin.

After, when you’re settled into his old basketball shirt, under your sheets, and he is wrapped around your body from behind, his big palm sprawled out over your stomach — you’re okay with it. The silent knowledge that he must be on the same page.

The next morning, he has to be up before the sun is even halfway risen. He’s growing proficient at doing it without waking you. Showering silently and dressing in the bathroom, laying his clothes out the night before. It always makes you stir when he slips back into the room and leaves you with a chaste kiss on the lips, and a soft peck at the top of your rounded stomach. Still, you’re okay with that too.

You squirm a little, laying back against that perpetually uncomfortable plastic-leather mix exam chair. The gel is a lot more uncomfortable when you’re still hot from the mid-day Florida heat than it had been on those snowy mornings back in Virginia. Still, it’s all routine by this point. The cold jelly on your stomach, comfy pants that can easily be pushed down a little, warm sweater to combat the always high air conditioning.

You’re missing the part of your routine that has always made you comfiest: Jake sitting outside in the waiting room. He’s states away, Bradley’s stuck in work, you’re all on your own. It’s just a routine check up — just to check if he’s breach. You’ve been telling yourself that all morning. It hasn’t stopped you from sitting on the carpeted floor of his nursery and staring at his crib, still in the box.

Your heart swells at the idea of meeting him. You’ve been picturing him a lot recently. Your nose, Bradley’s lips. Soft morning cuddles, sleepless nights, constant diaper changes — it’s easy enough to tell yourself that you’re ready, it’s just more of a complicated thing to be certain that you are. Even if you’re not ready, he’ll be here in a few short weeks. You need to remind Bradley to pick up screws for his crib.

The doctor’s brows knit together, she adjusts her glasses and wiggles the wand a little bit, then looks back to you. “Hm, have you been experiencing reduced movement at all, Miss Seresin?”

The question throws you. Blinking at her, chilled from the whir of the air conditioning, you shake your head. Your throat squeezes. “No, not at all. He was kicking a lot last night.”

Both of you look back to the screen. He’s moving now. Little legs just kicking softly in that familiar black and white hue. A quick glance across, you stare at your sweater on the chair where Bradley should be sitting. It’s too cold in here. You’re not sure if you’re allowed to move to get the sweater.

“Hm,” She nods her head slowly. Her face is calm enough, her tone doesn’t give you any clues. The thought that crosses your mind hits you like a speeding semi. Blunt force, speeding — out of left field. Six and a half months of no contact and all of a sudden, sitting alone in this exam room, too cold, you want your Mom.

It’s clear that you’re panicking, and the doctor continues with as much caution as she can. She speaks to you like she’s trying to soothe a crying child, but it isn’t patronising. Her neatly groomed brows raise at you, “Any fatigue, bleeding, stomach pains?”

“I’ve been tired, I guess.” You squeak. She softens, reaching out and placing her hand into yours. Your throat tightens. “Is he okay?”

“Yes, he’s just looking a little bit smaller than we would have expected for this stage in the pregnancy,” Your heart sinks, and the side of the exam table suddenly feels especially empty without Bradley there. The doctor continues on as comfortingly as she can. “I’d just like to run a few tests while you’re here — just to make sure that we’re prepared to make the end of your pregnancy as safe and comfortable as possible.”

As she turns and leaves you trapped in that little grey room with the closed blinds, shutting out any semblance of sunlight, all that you can think about is the first appointment that Bradley ever came to with you. Everything going on back then and how badly you had wanted him to not even show up. How confusingly nice it had felt to have him holding your hand through it. Your head falls back against the exam chair and your eyes burn with tears.

You leave the office with a pamphlet on fetal growth restriction, potential causes and side-effects. It might not be that, she tells you, some babies are just smaller and that’s just fine. They just want to keep a close eye on you these last few weeks. Early delivery is a possibility.

You’re dialing the number out of pure instinct. Flowing tears, running to Mommy — there’s a natural link there. Some kind of hardwired impulse, probably. Chest heaving, blinking back searingly hot tears, you listen to it ring and ring. It’s just a Wednesday morning, maybe she’s at the office. It just keeps on ringing.

Bradley frowns as he listens to the busy dial tone, pulling back and checking his phone. You’d promised to call him when you got out of the appointment. He checks down at his watch. Maybe Jake got a couple of minutes to call you. He has to be back in class. He texts you that he’ll catch you at home and turns.

If his mind were clearer, he might have noticed the stare on him as he turned. The familiar blue eyes, blown wide open. Maverick pales at the sight of the boy at the end of the hallway. Familiar sandy brown curls, a brief look at Bradley’s face. The mustache he had been trying to grow when Mav saw him last has grown in now. Maverick swallows.

He hasn’t seen this kid in almost two years. Not a single phone call or text. He hadn’t even known where Bradley was living after he moved out of the house in Norfolk. And now he’s here, standing at the end of a hallway in a random Navy base that Mav wasn’t even supposed to be at this week. Dressed in his khakis, he’s a kind of familiar that makes Pete Mitchell’s stomach churn.

“Bradley?”

…

@chaoticweirdogeek @alanadetigy @itsmytimetoodream @oldnatgwenaccount @khaylin27 @bioodforbiood @luckyladycreator2 @mizzzpink @cherrycola27 @unordinare @shanimallina87 @marvel-f1-and-more @heli991113 @pauv-0414 @ghxst-heart @momc95 @asteria33 @lilyevanswhore @diamond-3 @galaxy-moon @jostyriggslover96 @forgiveliv @shawnsblue @little-wiseone @lovemesomevesey @alm334 @averyhotchner @diorrfairy @thedroneranger @batdanceq @wkndwlff @littlemissobsessedwitholdermen @sunflowerziva @cassiemitchell @himbos-on-ice @bradshawseresinbabe @damrlovq @fudge13 @xoxabs88xox @mak-32 @slutfordw

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Find Your Way Back Home: Part One

Pairing: No Pairing (for this part)

Word Count: ~2.5k

Warnings: minor angst?

Summary: You're tired of living and not doing anything with your life. The group home you're in doesn't provide many opportunities to go out and find yourself, so when you meet Sam and Dean Winchester, you fall into the hunting life. Best thing to ever happen to you, honestly.

Author’s Note: This is the first part of six parts of the commission for @winchester-sinchester. Dean is eighteen, the reader is ten, and Sam is fourteen.

x

Kids climb the jungle gym savagely trying to outdo one another. Kids swing high on the swingset to the point where they might fall off and onto their asses. That's something you’d like to see. Parents are seated on the bench with phones in their hands or to their ears, calling out to their kids to get back up once they’ve fallen.

You should be having fun out there with the rest of them but you’re off to the side by yourself away from it all. You’ve always been an outcast in your group home. It’s better than being the center of attention. There is a whole forest surrounding the park, a forest that must have secrets of its own. Secrets that are begging to be found by someone like you. All the parents including your fake ones are too busy on their phones to notice what’s going on, so you sneak off towards the forest without a look back.

You’re not going to go too far since the forest is pretty big and you don’t want to get lost so you always stay far enough into where you can see the park if you were to look behind you. You take two steps to the right when you hear gunshots and bottles shattering. You veer off the path a bit until you come to a clearing where two boys are. One of them looks old enough to be in high school and the other looks like he is just starting high school.

The younger one aims the gun in his hands at the bottles before shooting, and the glass shatters everywhere. They’re far enough away from the park where the noise isn’t going to be a bother to the kids playing. This neighborhood isn’t the best anyway, so gunshots aren’t unheard of here. The younger kid shoots another bottle which prompts you to walk closer to them.

“Can I join?”

Both boys jump out of their skin when they hear you, and the older one narrows his eyes.

“Beat it, kid.”

“Let me shoot just one.”

“I’m not gonna ask again.”

“Just because I’m a kid doesn’t mean I can’t shoot a gun.”

The older kid turns to you and crosses his arms to look intimidating but it doesn’t work.

“How old are you?”

“Ten.”

“Where are your parents?”

“Dead.”

The older boy thinks for a second before nudging the younger one.

“Give her the gun, Sammy.”

Sammy hands you the gun handle first so his hand is wrapped around the barrel. You take it and step to where he once was before aiming. Years of using your fake dad’s guns are finally paying off. You hit the third, fourth, and fifth bottles with precision, shocking both boys.

“I’m impressed. Where did you learn to shoot?” the older one asks and grabs the gun from you.

“My dad who is not really my dad has a cool gun collection. He doesn’t notice when we get into them. Not like he’d care anyways.”

“Your dad who is not really your dad?”

“Yeah, my parents died when I was two or three. I’ve spent my time in a group home ever since. The mom doesn’t really stick around a lot. I think she’s only with her husband because of the money he gets from all the kids he has. The dad is cool so as long as you don’t piss him off. Like I said, he lets us use his guns for target practice so that’s cool.”

“I’m Sam,” the younger one smiles. “That’s my brother, Dean.”

“Nice to meet you, Sam. I’m Y/N.”

Dean’s phone chirps and he checks it immediately.

“Shit, we have to go.” You get kind of sad at the thought of not hanging out with them anymore. “See ya, kid.”

Sam and Dean leave the bottles where they are and leave with the gun. You have no choice but to go back to the park, your fake parents having no clue you even left. There is something about the brothers that sticks with you even after a few days have passed. You can’t wait to see them again, so when your fake parents take the kids back to the park, you run over to the same place last time.

Sam and Dean are in the same spot shooting bottles once again.

“Hi, Sam. Hi, Dean.”

“Hey, Y/N,” Sam smiles and shoots another bottle.

“Question. Why is Sam the only one shooting?”

“Sam needs the practice,” Dean answers.

“Why? Why are you shooting to begin with?”

“Because we have free will.”

“What do you want to shoot at later?”

“Do you always ask a lot of questions?” Dean asks you.

“Only when I’m curious.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

Despite how cagey Dean is toward you, you like being with them. They’re a lot better than the kids at the group home.

“Can I try shooting again?”

“No, Sammy needs to do this.”

“It’s Sam,” the younger brother grumbles.

“Just shoot.”

Sam gets in a few good shots before lowering his weapon.

“I’m good, Dean. I’ve been doing this for weeks.”

“Oh, you think you’re ready now, huh?” Dean looks at you who stares at him with wide eyes. He looked like he was going to continue with the threat, saw you, and backed down. “Come on, we should be leaving.”

“You just got here,” you complain.

“Kid, we have shit to do. Sammy, come on.”

Dean walks away but Sam stays where he is. He takes out the phone his dad allowed him to have for emergencies and hands it over to you.

“Put your number in. We can talk later.”

“Okay,” you smile. Dean turns back and sees this. He lets Sam have his friend and this moment. When you’re done, you hand it back to Sam. “Text me.”

“I will.”

Sam runs off with his older brother, leaving you alone. This time, you head back to the park with a smile on your face. The days after are spent with your face in your phone texting Sam. You keep asking about Dean but he doesn’t say much about him. Sam is nice and is your first real friend, and you’re not going to let someone like Dean scare you away from him.

A week later, you’re lying on your bed reading a worn-down book when your phone rings. The group home has a small library filled with books that are well out of your reading range in the opposite direction. They’re all kid books but they pass the time. You smile when you see Sam’s name pop up on the screen.

“Hi, Sam,” you answer.

“Hey, we’re outside. Wanna go to the beach?”

You scramble off the bed and look out the window to see the shiny black Impala waiting outside. With a grin, you grab your jacket and meet the brothers in the car. Sam is sitting in the backseat to give you the front while Dean is behind the wheel. His father gave him this car when he turned eighteen, a car he is in love with having.

Dean takes off to the nearest beach which isn’t far from where you’re staying. Since you’re much closer to Sam’s age than Dean’s, he lets you two have your fun in the sun while he stays back and keeps an eye on you two.

“Is he always this serious?” you ask and make a pile of sand.

“Yeah. He can be a hard-ass but he’s a good guy. He’s looked out for me my entire life.”

You look back at Dean to see him watching you with a close eye. He doesn’t want you and Sam to get close because then he’d have to break both your hearts when they up and move to the next town. John is working a demon case not far from here that has been taking a few weeks which is why they haven’t moved away yet.

When the sun got too much to bear, Dean took you and Sam to get ice cream across the street. The cold treat is a nice stark to the hot summer sun.

“So, do you guys have parents?” you ask as you eat.

“Mom died when I was a baby,” Sam answers for Dean. He knows he doesn’t like talking about Mom. “We just have a dad.”

“What does he do?”

“Something that moves us around a lot. As soon as he’s done, we won’t be here anymore,” Dean says.

He might sound harsh but he has to make you understand Sammy isn’t always going to be here. He doesn’t want to involve a kid in this life even if was forced onto him and Sam. You hear the sternness in his voice. That’s a stop-asking-questions-before-you-get-hurt stern.

You and Sam keep texting well after the beach date just because it’s nice to have a friend even if you’re four years younger than him. You’re well beyond your years, something the group home forced upon you. The kids here are worse than the parents because they’ll hurt you without a care in the world while the parents have some sort of heart when it comes to kids.

One night when you can’t sleep, you grab your phone and text Sam in hopes that he is up. He’s usually pretty quick with his responses. The past couple of weeks, he’s been answering late at night because he can’t sleep. He claims the monsters in the closet are going to get him. Ten minutes go by and you start to grow worried.

Your fake parents aren’t going to notice if you leave, so you decide to go over to where they’re staying and see if they’re okay. You pack light with only what you can carry and sneak out through the window. Luckily your bedroom is on the first floor. You take a rock and place it on the window sill to keep the window from closing and locking on you. You’d really rather not sleep outside.

The reason you are able to hang out with Sam and Dean almost every day is that they live so close to your group home. You keep to the shadows in case anyone is out at this time. You don’t want a repeat of what happened last time. You got caught and woke up your fake dad. He wasn’t happy, to say the least.

You get to the motel they’re staying in and find their room on the second floor easily. You knock three times and wait three minutes but no one comes out. You knock two more times but decide that it’s easier if you break in. Your fake parents like to keep things hidden so you’ve gotten good at picking locks.

You get into the room in two minutes but no one is inside. The beds are messy as if someone was sleeping in them recently. It doesn’t look like foul play since nothing is out of order. However, there is an entire wall of news clippings about the murders that have been happening in town.

Bodies Drained Of Blood. Vampires? Are Our Kids Safe? BEWARE MONSTERS AT WORK.

Many articles about the murders in town all point to a single kind of monster: vampires. Alongside the news articles are pages from books about vampires. Lore about vampires. What makes them tick, what makes them dead, and everything in between. Is this what Sam and Dean have been doing while in town? Is this the kind of work their dad does that causes them to move around a lot? Hunting vampires across the country?

There are vials on the desk in the back filled with some kind of blood, and you look at the notes next to it. Dead Man’s Blood. Nearly lethal to vampires. There is an address for the old Mill on the outside of town. That’s where Sam and Dean are, you bet. You grab a few vials of Dead Man’s Blood and leave the room. It takes longer to get there since you’re a ten-year-old on foot but you make it in record time.

You’ve been here a few times with your older siblings while they smoked weed and played Indie music. Even before walking inside, you can hear the screams of people coming from inside. You quickly sneak inside and follow the sounds of despair down to the basement. You haven’t seen John but assume he is somewhere here fighting off vampires.

In the basement is another vampire with a terrified Sam and Dean (more so Sam than Dean). Sam is clutching his older brother while Dean holds a machete in his hands trying to protect  Sam. They haven’t seen you yet otherwise Dean would be trying to protect you too.

“Give it up, kid. You’re not getting out of here alive.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” you say from behind them.

You jump onto the vampire’s back and slam the syringe of blood into his neck. The vampire grabs at you to fight you off, only managing to throw you off him. You knock into the wall with a grunt as the vampire goes down. Dean runs at him and swipes his machete into his neck.

That’s when John comes down with a bloody machete sling over his shoulder. He grins at his sons before noticing you.

“Where the hell did you come from?”

“She saved us, Dad,” Sam says.

“How did you know where to find us?”

“The news clippings on your wall. You’re very thorough.”

John doesn’t like that you’ve been inside his room and looking through his things, but he will deal with it later.

“Get to the car. I’ll meet you there,” John orders his eldest son.

Dean takes you and Sam outside while John gets rid of the bodies so that no one will know what happened there.

“So, this is what you really do? Kill monsters?”

“Yeah,” Dean sighs.

“Not sure I believed in vampires until tonight. Is that the only monster out there?”

“No. This world is filled with monsters from your worst nightmare.”

“Dean, don’t scare her.”

“She’s the one who broke into our motel room, stole from us, followed us here, and took down a vampire.”

“Is this why Sam is the only one shooting?”

“He needs the practice,” Dean says and shoves his hands into his jacket pockets.

You look around the place and think about what you’ve just gone through. That was more thrilling than anything you’ve ever done in the group home.

“Okay, I’m in.”

“Kid, go home,” Dean rolls his eyes.

“What home? I don’t have one. Do you think they care about me? They only care about the paycheck I bring in. I have to fight other kids, older kids, just for a slice of damn pizza most days. I hate it there.”

“Dean,” Sam whispers and nudges his brother.

Only Dean can make this decision. If it were up to Sam, you’d already be in the car. John might not be keen on having another kid with him if Dean says yes, but he’d come around once he sees how resourceful you can be.

“You got heart, kid. You can’t come with us but that doesn’t mean you can’t help. I’ll give you some books to read. Do your homework and maybe you can help us on the next hunt we have.”

“Deal,” you smile.

x

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[swanhild]

WiP Snippet

Thank you @polutrope and @sallysavestheday for tagging me to share something I'm working on! So here's Maedhros and Fingon being overly competitive shit-talking their family dancing at their wedding in that post-canon fix-it fic that feels like it will never be finished (with bonus appearances by the parents and some siblings and other relatives):

While Turgon possessed many talents that he excelled in, dancing wasn't one his strong suits. It was a fact that Fingon sometimes couldn't resist teasing him about if an occasion presented itself, but right now he simply chuckled softly and said, "I can't decide who's more awkward- your brother or mine." Glancing away from Caranthir and following Fingon's line of sight, Maedhros, too, was amused by the somewhat stiff way Turgon led Elenwë around the dance floor. "Let's not be too harsh on them. They're trying their best," he nevertheless defended their younger siblings, smiling and feeling rather fond of every single member of their family who had come to celebrate with them today. Turgon noticed them watching and nodded at Maedhros and Fingon with an unnecessarily grave expression on his face as he and Elenwë twirled past them. Maedhros had to hide his face in Fingon’s hair so Turgon wouldn’t see him laugh, though Fingon had no such qualms. “I’m certainly grateful we have Turno and Moryo here now to make us look better. I was starting to think we'd be the worst dancers at our own wedding." “What? You’re a good dancer. And so am I,” Maedhros protested. “Yes, but we’re surrounded by show-offs. Just look at them!” Maedhros turned his head in the direction Fingon had indicated and took in the sight of Celegorm effortlessly lifting Aredhel into the air as he spun her around. For two people who spent significant amounts of time crawling through forests, covered in mud and blood, they did admittedly look stunningly elegant and in tune with each other tonight. Next to them, Elrond and Celebrían made an undeniably graceful picture as well, and so did Galadriel and Celeborn, though Maedhros was mostly struck by the unusually soft and adoring expression on Galadriel’s face as she stared into her husband’s eyes. He wasn’t sure he had ever seen his feisty little cousin look like that. “Not to mention uncle Arvo and aunt Eärwen over there! We just can’t compete with that!” Fingon continued, with feigned despair. Arafinwë and Eärwen practically floated around the dance floor, looking very much as if they had spent their whole lives doing nothing else. But then Maedhros’ attention was drawn to his other uncle and aunt — now officially his parents-in-law — and grinned. “I think we can compete with your parents at least. They're not as bad as our brothers, but they won't be winning any awards for their dancing either." “The only reason they're better is because they've been practicing for weeks. Ammë’s not very enthusiastic about dancing, but Atar secretly loves it, so he's been taking full advantage of the opportunity. They are rather unevenly matched in terms of skill and passion though,” Fingon said, before suddenly stopping. “Speaking of parents, Russo, look!” Whipping his head around, Maedhros followed Fingon’s gaze towards the edge of the dance floor where his own mother sat at one of the tables, looking strangely flustered and conflicted. His father was kneeling in front of her, extending his hand and asking her for a dance. With his breath caugth in this throat, Maedhros watched as his mother hesitated, a myriad of emotions flickering across her face in rapid succession. For a few tense moments, Maedhros was sure she would refuse. But then she rose from her chair in one fluid motion and accepted his father’s outstrechted hand. Together, they made their way towards the twirling and swaying crowd. Maedhros quickly buried his face in Fingon’s hair again, but this time it was to hide the tears that had suddenly sprung in his eyes.

(and yes, Fëanor and Nerdanel eventually get back together in this, because I want them to)

Zero pressure-tagging @queerofthedagger @melestasflight @gardensofthemoon @elevenelvenswords @chrissystriped @thecoolblackwaves and anyone else who sees this and would like to share something!

[averagewriter-inthedark]

Hollywood’s Angel 🎬 | Javy ‘Coyote’ Machado Imagine

TGM Masterlist

Characters & Pairings: Javy ‘Coyote’ Machado x actress!reader (romantic)

Content warnings: slight profanity, fluff | female!reader (she/her) | wc: 5k

Requested 📨 Yes/no (for @stephthestallion 🤍)

Premise: Lights. Camera. Action!! Whether it be on the big screen in movie theaters across the globe or at home streaming the latest hit show, the name Y/n L/n would forever be known one of the world’s greatest entertainers. From humble beginnings the odds didn’t appear in her favor at first, but sometimes taking a risk could lead to endless opportunities. And maybe even love along the way…..

Note: This was so fun to write and I’m so sorry it took so long. I’ve been so busy lately with work and trying to get stuff settled. I hope I did this work justice for you 🥹 Also Y/Z/S stands for your zodiac sign.

—————————

“Hello, my name is Y/n L/n,” A beaming smile was sent to the camera once the producer gave a thumbs up. “And I’m here to do the Wired autocomplete interview.” She clapped her hands, “Let’s do this.” Handed a card stock with a printed google web search filled with blanks save for the, ‘Who Y/n L/n….’, her eyebrows rose with curiosity.

“You know I’ve watched dozens of these interviews in my free time. My favorite being the one with Ryan Renolds and Jake Gyllenhaal.”

“Have you ever searched yourself?” The producer asked off screen. Y/n’s response was a cheeky smirk.

“A long time ago when I was teenager and social media was first becoming a thing—you know when we had MySpace, but since then I have not. While I love the internet sometimes it can be a little,” she makes a face, “too much you know.” Focusing back on the card stock, Y/n takes a deep breath as the nerves start to arise. “I’m starting to feel a little worried but what I’m gonna discover is searched about me on Google.”

Her fingers grip the first piece of paper, reading off the statement as it peels away, “Who is Y/n L/n?” An instant chuckle leaves her lip, turning to the camera. “Y/n L/n is um…,” she shrugs, not sure how to really answer the question, “a 28-year-old woman who started out as a child actress in the mid 2000s. She’s a Y/Z/S, a newly-wedded wife, producer, and sometimes sings and dances or models in her free time.”

In truth, Y/n L/n was so much beyond that. Her name and legacy was embedded into history at such a young age the whole world knew who she was by the time she was 14.

Born to a middle class family in 1995 in New York City, Y/n’s parents were hardworking people who raised her and her siblings to appreciate the beauty in life. Though there were times of struggle, living paycheck to paycheck and having to sacrifice the lights in order to have food on the table, there was always love, support, and care in their family. Y/n witnessed her parents do everything they could to provide for them, her mom working double shifts at the hospital and dad on the road thirty weeks out of the year as a truck driver, and made the vow to repay them. Whether it be working her ass off in school in order to graduate from a prestigious university with a degree that would get her a stable career, or succeed in her dreams of breaking through in the entertainment industry.

Acting, singing, dancing. One could consider it the love of her life. Being on stage to a crowd made Y/n feel on top of the world. Playing dress up and house with her friends and family, pretending to be someone else was so much fun to the little girl. Y/n loved the little school plays she would do in preschool and kindergarten.

“One day,” she said to her childhood best friend while they swung on the swing set, “I’m gonna be on Tv like Disney Channel,” a squeal left her when she leaned back a little too far. “In front of cameras where I get to be someone else.”

Little kids always tend to dream big. Their desires and goals often shift. One day they wanna be a popstar. The next a veterinarian or an astronaut. But Y/n always knew what she wanted in life. To be in Hollywood with her face on the big screen for the world to see. To give back to her parents and support her family so they could accomplish their own dreams and aspirations.

She was destined for greatness. Now fast forward to the present, and Y/n is celebrating 20 years of being in Hollywood.

“Who was Y/n L/n’s first TV role?” The next question read, mentally traveling the actress back to the year 2003 when she was eight years old. She had been in Los Angeles to visit her grandparents and practically begged her grandma to take her to open auditions. Whether it was for a commercial or as an extra in a show, Y/n simply wanted to at least try despite being so young. She’d maybe auditioned for six roles in various media before getting a call back.

“My first role,” she begins with a grin at the memory, “was Rosie Whittman on Law & Order: SVU. Season five, episode 25 which was the season finale and the most viewed episode of the season,” Y/n remembered how intimidating the whole experience was, but loved every minute of it. “I was eight-years-old. No agent, no experience in Hollywood and was only in town to visit my grandparents for the summer. My grandmother took me to auditions that were open—because I didn’t have an agent and was a nobody,” she couldn’t help but laugh. “My parents obviously let me watch SVU as a child, but I wanted to audition for every open casting I saw so it took a lot of convincing on my part for my parents to allow my grandma to take me.” Boy it sure was a lot. Y/n was fighting for her life on the phone while her mother voiced disapproval.

“I was a pretty confident child,” a smirk takes her features, “I went in and did my thing—impressing the casting director, the producers, and Mariska Hargitay who happened to be there to do a chemistry read— since the character I was auditioning for was being questioned by Olivia Benson for what she witnessed.” Y/n pauses for a brief moment. “And yeah, Mariska was very impressed with me, going as far as to set me up with my first agent. I really owe my entire career to her and I love any chance we get to work together. She took a chance on me when I was just a child with big dreams with little connections and,” Y/n lifts her hands, “look where it got me. Here with Wired to see what people have been searching for about me over the years.”

After a few more questions about her personal life before she was an Emmy winning actress, Y/n moved to the next card. “What was Y/n L/n’s breakthrough role?”

Y/n made a face to the camera, “This is an interesting question. And I say this because depending on who you ask, the answer might be different.” She tilted her head back and forth, “Most would say Wren Stone—after all I played that role for nearly a decade. I got quite a bit of recognition in the 2000s as Viper in the X-Men films and of course as Padaline in the Hunger Games franchise—you could say people who grew up with those films know me best by that. But,” she licks her lip, “I would consider my run as Jodie Pip to be my breakthrough role.”

Jodie Pip, the longest running companion to the Tenth Doctor in the BBC hit series Doctor Who threw Y/n into worldwide recognition. After appearing in episodes of television hits like Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl, and Dexter, Y/n took a risk by traveling to England in hopes of securing a main role in a show rather than a supporting one. She was itching to play a character for longer than one episode. And sadly, Hollywood just wasn’t doing it for her.

Therefore going across the Atlantic seemed to be the solution. A decision which would change her life for the better.

“Picture this: you’re twelve-years-old in a country you’ve only been to maybe once and this time around you’re looking to permanently move there. Your family is back in America waiting for the call from your Agent, who’s your legal guardian at this point, to tell them you’ve got a contract and will be there for God knows how long.” Y/n lets out a sign, reliving the nerve racking first few months in England with only her agent and Godmother with her. “It was a stressful time. I was losing hope while waiting patiently for a sign. Getting the call that I got the part—I was going to be the companion to one of the most iconic television characters of all time…” she shrugs as if it was obvious, “Getting to work with David Tennant, Freema Agyemen, Catherine Tate, and Alex Kingston….It was the best day of my life.” Placing her hand on the next slip, she adds, “I cried for a good couple hours—pure happiness.”

“Is Y/n L/n British?” A full blown laugh escapes, hand flying up to muffle the sound. “Oh my Gosh this is too funny. The amount of people I meet every year—whether it be costars, colleagues, or fans at cons—who are so surprised to discover I’m not British,” she raises a hand in defense, “It doesn’t happen quite as often as it did ten-fifteen years ago. And I understand why people assumed I was because for so long I played characters who were.” Making herself comfortable in the chair, Y/n explains her career further in depth.

“First was Jodie, who I played for three years from 2007 to 2010 and then again in 2013 for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special. Playing her put me on the map in the UK. I was on Skins for several episodes, one season of Merlin. I had supporting roles in the Golden Compass and Nowhere Boy. And because I had worked with Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall on Doctor Who, I booked Eurydice on Sherlock and Shania on Broadchurch years later—getting to work with the lovely, talented, and amazing David Tennant for a second time.” Y/n’s face turns semi serious, “I love that man. He’s like my work dad for real—he was at my wedding,” she counts off on her finger, “I was at his. I’m Godmother to his daughters..he’s my ride or die.”

Getting back to the original point, Y/n snaps her fingers twice, “But back on track. Jodie, Eurydice, Shania..then of course playing Wren Stone on Game of Thrones for eight years had everyone on the planet believing I was British.” Wren Stone was the bastard of Jon Arryn in HBO’s critically acclaimed series Game of Thrones based on the books by George R. R. Martin. A ward of the Arryn family due to her status, Wren was introduced in the first season and went on to become a close ally to the Starks as well as a one of the longest running characters on the show when she appeared in all eight seasons. A fan favorite, her surviving the last season was one of the only good things to come out of it.

Cause…well we don’t talk about season 8.

“The last BBC show I did, what had me move back to the U.S permanently, was Killing Eve since it was with BBC America. By the time I booked Hunger Games and Ellie,” she corrects herself, “Negasonic Teenage Warhead in Deadpool, people were like, ‘you do a great American accent.’ And I just smile and nod, going, ‘yeah, I’m from New York.’ Their reaction,” she laughs, “every time was priceless.” Going to remove the next strip, Y/n pauses and looks back at the camera, ending with a wink, “Considering I’m joining Bridgerton this upcoming season as Sophie Beckett, I feel I will be having this question come up again a lot.”

‘What are some movies Y/n L/n has been in?’

“Well,” the actress rubs her chin with a knuckle, deep in thought. “I’ve been in a few—give or take,” she winks again. “My first movie role was X-2 in 2003, playing Viper although the role was minor compared to what it was in The Last Stand and Days of Future Past. In Spider-Man 2 I was in the train scene for a brief moment,” she pauses to laugh, “now that I think about it I have been in several projects related to Marvel. X-Men, Spider-Man and Deadpool. Not to mention I'll be taking on the role of Felicia Hardy in the MCU—that I’m really excited for. Umm what else,” she clicks her tongue to think.

“I had a small part in Constantine with Keanu Reeves, who along with David Tennant is someone I’ve worked with several times and love him to death,” she points a finger up, “The Golden Compass and Nowhere Boy as I mentioned earlier. In the 2010s I was in several features like Snow White and the Huntsman, The Help, New Year’s Day, Furious 7. I was in Catching Fire and parts 1 and 2 of Mockingjay—again I would say is one of my most recognizable roles. John Wick Chapters 2 & 3. In 2017 I was in The Greatest Showman. Oh!” She exclaimed with a grin, “Can’t forget I was in three Bond films: Skyfall, Spectre and the most recent No Time To Die. Another example of why the whole world believes I’m from England. Honestly England is my second home and where my career initially took off. I miss it there terribly, but coming back to the States has been a blessing—being close to my family and getting to do projects in Hollywood which was my dream since I was a little girl.”

Biting her lip the actress finishes up with, “my most recent movie roles have been Annihilation in 2018, Knives Out, Dune, The King’s Man, Uncharted, and Mortal Kombat—both of which are based on popular video games.” If she were being honest, playing Mileena in Mortal Kombat was one of her favorite movie roles to date—especially after having to fight with the studio to give the character justice when they were the ones calling her for the role. As a fan of the game and character, Y/n wasn’t going to settle for a small cameo. Ed Boon loved her interpretation of the character so much he asked her to voice Mileena in the next installments of the game.

Not to mention in the last several years any project with Y/n attached to it already had support and a loyal fan base to promote the show/film. After winning five Emmy’s—for her roles in Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, and Euphoria—Y/n was a household name.

So yeah, she wasn’t gonna be cheated out.

“Last year I was in Elvis plus back to back features with A24. X and Pearl were a lot of fun—and we’re currently filming the final installment to the trilogy, maXXXine.” Moving on she revealed the next statement, “Who was Y/n L/n in Euphoria?”

“In Euphoria,” she clears her throat, trying not to physically cringe at the thought of its creator, “I played Rue’s cousin Reece, who like every character on the show was dealing with difficult issues. I did a lot of research into my role so I could remain authentic and true to the character and the real life struggles people like her face.” Y/n softly smiled, “I won the Supporting Emmy next to Zenday’s leading—and it was a wonderful feeling to be recognized for a fifth time by the Academy while next to one of my best friends. Zendaya and I met when we were teenagers and have been so close. Working together on Euphoria was a wonderful experience and I’m so blessed to have received the honor alongside her.”

‘What episode of Black Mirror is Y/n L/n in?’

“Nosedive,” she turned to the camera, “it was in season three with Bryce Dallas Howard and Michaela Coel—both whom I adore. Aaaaand the episode was terrifying.” She simply said with a blank expression. “Watching it back gave me actual chills because one day technology will be so advanced that what took place in the episode could become our reality. And when I read the script my immediate reaction was like, ‘this is gonna be intense,’ and sure enough it was.”

‘Does Y/n L/n sing?’

A childlike grin appeared once again, “I do sing! Anytime I get a chance to sing I immediately say yes. It’s something I love. All the time on set I’ll be humming a tune or belting out lyrics to whatever music is playing. I got to sing a lot in The Greatest Showman so I was very happy about that. It’s my actual voice in the karaoke scene in season 2 of Euphoria. The one at Maddy’s birthday party—I had to beg them to let me do it live and not pre recorded. So when you see Lexi, Maddy and Kate filming me it’s actually Maude, Alexa, and Barbie using their personal phones, not the ones their characters use.” Offering a smirk she finishes with, “A little BTS you may have not known.”

‘Who does Y/n L/n model for?’

“Hmmmm” the actress puckers her lips. “As someone who was a fashionista growing up, I am filled with gratitude at being able to answer this.” Where could she really start with this? Having been labeled a fashion icon in 2020 Y/n had a long resume of working with brands and designers. “To start, I am an ambassador for Prada as well as its subsidiarie Miu Miu. We’ve partnered together for years and I’ve gone to the Met Gala with them a few times—most recent being in 2022. I’ve done campaigns for Calvin Klein and Stella McCartney. I recently did a collaboration with Dior. This year I went to the Met with Chanel—wearing vintage Chanel and ended up doing a campaign with them. Donatella Vesache and I have worked together.” Y/n scrunches her nose, “Every year I look forward to fashion week as you can imagine.”

‘Does Y/n L/n have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?’

“If you asked me this the other day I would’ve said no,” she replies cheekily, “But….if you’ve seen the news recently then you would know that I’ve been selected to receive one this year and I….can’t even put into words the feeling. I better stop before I get emotional,” she felt her eyes well up slightly. “I’m extremely honored and blessed to receive such recognition. All I dreamed about as a kid was to have my name on one of those stars and now it’s coming true. I’m overjoyed.”

‘What did Y/n L/n win the Tony for?’

“I won the Tony back in 2018 for my role in Wicked.”

“Will Y/n L/n be in DW 60th special?” Throwing a look to the camera, smirk threatening to appear on her lips she goes, “I don’t know…you’ll have to watch and find out.”

“Is Y/n L/n in Stranger Things?”

“I am not, but I would love to be,” she shrugs with a smile. “I love that show and everyone is so talented. I can’t wait for season five—it needs to hurry up before I lose my mind.”

‘Who is Y/n L/n in Star Wars?”

“So I voiced the absolute badass and Jedi master Ahsoka Tano during Clone Wars from 2008 to 2014, returning for the Rebels series form 2014 to 2018,” she pauses to cross her legs to make herself more comfortable. This was one of her favorite characters to play and despite the criticism and dislike for Ashoka in the beginning, she grew to become a fan favorite in the Star Wars fandom. “I was thirteen when I first voiced Ashoka and I got the privilege to bring her to life again by playing her in live-action for the Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett—not to mention getting to have a voice cameo in The Rise of Skywalker.” Y/n gets ready to move on, “Now you’re about to see Ashoka again for her spin off show coming this summer on Disney plus.”

‘What all has Y/n L/n and David Tennant worked on?’ The question made her chuckle, surprised it was a top search on Google.

“David Tennant—the man, the myth, the legend. I’ve been lucky to work with him on several projects over the years,” the memories appear in her mind as she recalls them. “We first met in 2006 after I got the role of Jodie Pip opposite his Tenth Doctor. That lasted almost three years but during that time we both did Clone Wars—he voiced Huyang and he actually will be retuning as Huyang for the Ashoka series.” The moment she got the news the woman had FaceTimed him screaming. Although he was only voicing the droid they still made plans to reunite since they hadn’t seen each other since before Covid when Y/n moved back to the states.

“Broadchurch happened a few years after we both left Doctor Who—around the same time as the anniversary special—and then I got to work with him again when I appeared in an episode of Good Omens as one of the demons passing judgement on Crowley. Finally I wanna say before the Ashoka series the last thing we did was Staged back when quarantine was a thing.” Y/n’s face turns serious, “Anytime I get to work with David I take it. Like I said, he’s my ride or die,” she crosses her fingers, “we like this. And I love when people send me those YouTube videos where it’s like, ‘Jodie Pip and The Doctor sharing a brain cell for 10 minutes straight,’ or ‘David Tennant and Y/n L/n being a father-daughter duo on and off screen.’ Really brightens up my day.”

A few more questions went on, Y/n answering as best as she could with details. Doing this interview really gave viewers a more personal outlook on the actress. She was known for being reserved and private in her career expanding two decades. As a child star, her agent really shielded her from a lot due to the cruel nature of Hollywood and the media. And as a result of criticisms Y/n only was active on social media when it came time to promote projects and events.

She had a large and loyal fan base. Probably one of the largest for a celebrity due to her being in so many popular shows and high-grossing movies. On TikTok she & her characters were the most edited when it came to fancams. Pinterest had its own board dedicated to all the outfits Y/n wore.

She was Hollywoods Angel. Fans loved her, celebrities adored her. Before joining the cast of Bridgerton she met them at the Bafta’s the year prior and had them all starstruck when she approached. Nicola Couglan, who plays Penelope Featherington, even mentioned in an interview how the cast pretty much lost their minds when they found out she would be coming onto the show.

“No one knew about the end credit scene at the end of series three,” she told Graham Norton, seated alongside her costar/leading man, Luke Newton aka Colin Bridgerton on the show. “It was a big secret between Shonda and the crew. After we wrapped up, they went ahead and secretly filmed the scene with Sophie getting ready for the masquerade ball,” Nicola raises her hands, grinning from ear to ear, “and when I tell you we all were freaking out.” The audience laughed, Graham leaning foward in his seat with an awe-struck expression.

“So how did you find out? Was it when you watched the finale?”

Luke was the one to answer. “When I watched the episode,” he points to Nicola, “and I think you said you did this too—same with some of the others, I exited Netflix once the credits started to roll. Not thining much of it,” he shrugs, “then later that night Claudia Jessie who plays Eloise FaceTimes the iMessage group chat we have—.”

Nicole gently cuts in, “I’m surprised so many picked up.” That ignites a laugh from everyone.

“Yeah,” Luke agrees as he sits up. “Luke Thompson, Johnny Bailey, Simone, Nicola, Bessie, and I all answer—one after the other—and Claudia is shouting, ‘Did you see the end credit scene!?!’ Of course I’m confused because I’m like, ‘what is this, the MCU?’” Nicola bursts into laughter along with Graham. “Everyone’s asking what the hell she’s talking about because we’ve all seen the finale and were texting about it—but nobody mentioned an end credit scene. It completely went over our head. So…as you can imagine we all turn our tv, still on FaceTime mind you, and low and behold not only is there end credit scene….but Y/n L/n is gonna be Sophie Beckett.” Just the name alone ignites eruption from the crowd.

“Wow,” Graham exhales, “And you guys met her at the Bafta’s last year, yes? I remember seeing a picture of you two and other cast mates from Bridgerton with her.” Nicola nods excitedly.

“We did. It was such a surreal moment. She was with her then fiancee and the Euphoria cast—it kinda looked like a school mixed with Euphoria cast on one side and us on the other. But she came over and we were all buzzing in the corner, ‘Y/n L/n is coming over here. Oh my God-oh my God.’ Most of us have been watching her since she was on Doctor Who so this was like meeting your childhood idol,” Nicola used her hands to emphasize the point, “And she expressed how she was a fan of the books and loved the show. She even made a joke like, ‘Tell Shonda to call my line.’”

“And did you?” Graham asks for the audience and viewers at home, on the edge of his seat. “Cause didn’t they work together before on Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal?”

Luke nods, “we brought it up during press for series 2. I forgot Y/n was on those shows actually so when I told Shonda I thought ‘there’s no way they’re gonna get her’.” He glances at Nicola, excitment on his features, “I think everyone is ready to get back to set and start filming series four. I know I’m already missing everyone and I’m excited to pass the torch to Luke and Y/n.”

Coming down to the final cardstock, Y/n was sad to end the interview. It was fun seeing what people searched on the web and giving a more in-depth look at her life.

Peeling back the paper on the final card, the statement read, “Who is Y/n L/n’s husband?” Cue the butterflies in her stomach, picturing the man’s gorgeous face. “My husband is Lieutenant Commander Javy Machado. Although he is known to his colleagues as ‘Coyote’.” Lowering the cardstock she went on to say, “Javy and I met four years ago in 2019, he’s a fighter pilot for the Navy and was stationed in San Diego for an assignment. It happened to coincide at the time I was filming a small part in ‘Friend of the World’.” A small independent film her friend was producing and asked if she would take a small role to help promote the project. It’d been the first film Y/n had taken on after moving back to the States following her nearly 12 year residence in the United Kingdom.

If she thought hard enough, Y/n could feel the warmth of the sun on her arms and smell of the ocean salt water as her eyes landed on a group of people playing football with two balls. Instantly drawn to the man sticking his tongue out at his friends when running backwards to the end line. “My costars and I had wrapped up for the day and decided to go to the beach. We were waiting for this bar to open at five so we strolled for a good bit to pass time. That’s where I saw him playing football with his colleagues,” a shy smile stayed on her lips the entire time Y/n relayed the story.

“And then when the bar opened that night we formally met.” Man what a night it was. Every social media platform was buzzing with pictures and videos of Y/n behind the bar of The Hard Deck surrounded by patrons. The bartender, Penny, was so cool and didn’t mind the actors coming in despite the madhouse they caused. She did, however, have to close the doors once it got too packed due to locals sending word the five-time Emmy award winning actress was there. Before she knew it, Y/n was making drinks with her while taking pictures and signing autographs to everyone who approached. Y/n even rang the bell a couple times and bought the first round for those in attendance.

And when Javy appeared in front of her, it was like time had stopped. The noise eloping them was muffled, movement slowed to where the only clear focus was on each other.

“Hi,” he beamed, looking at her like she was the only person on the planet. “I know you’ve heard this all night, but is it alright if I get a photo with you?”

“Of course,” Y/n found her voice after a second, smiling wide as she inched closer to the bar counter. Javy thanked her, moving so his back was to the surface since the bar stood in between them and positioned his phone so it captured both of them. They posed, Javy snapping a couple pictures with Y/n making a kissy face at one point. When it ended Y/n motioned to the draft beers beside her, “Can I get you anything? Round is on me.”

Well Javy couldn’t say no could he? Pocketing his phone he replied, “Whatever you recommend, I’ll take.” Had he been to the hard deck several times in the past two weeks? Yes. Did he know what all was on draft and bottled? Sure did. But he wasn’t gonna pass on the chance to flirt with one of the greatest actors Hollywood had ever produced.

It was Y/n L/n for Christ’s sake. Hollywood’s Angel as they called her.

But what the pilot didn’t expect was to have found the love of his life. The same went for Y/n. Sure they had a moment movies often depicted as ‘love at first sight’ but c’mon, that was only in the movies…right?

Well perhaps it wasn’t just in the movies.

“Okay I see you!” Javy hollered from the side, standing on the red carpet a few paces away from where Y/n was posing for the cameras. Dressed to the nines in a black tux, Javy hyped up his fiancée like he always did at premieres and carpet events. This one happened to be at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of Elvis. “Give me face—yes ma’am! Work it-work it! Mmmh.”

Giggling the whole time, Y/n reaches out with her hand for him. He skips over, stopping to snap a picture on his phone. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, the two embrace for the photographers—who eat up every second they get with the couple. Ever since they announced their relationship in 2020 they were the it couple of Hollywood despite Javy not being in the industry. But his energy, personality, and of course his adoration for Y/n, made him well liked by her fans.

He worshiped the ground she walked on. Never did he give any indication he was with her for malice. Social media accounts he had were private and mostly to keep in touch with people he worked with. Her family loved him and his loved her. Whenever reporters approached him to try and ask invasive questions Javy would redirect to whatever project was staring in. “Isn’t the show amazing? I would say this is her best work yet—and the cast was amazing throughout.” He was definitely a keeper.

With similar personalities, though Y/n was more reserved in the public eye, the two were like a lock and key. Fitting together with a love so natural they couldn’t believe they got to experience it. They enjoyed going to concerts and the movies—getting into disguise whenever they didn't want the paparazzi following them. Sang and danced in the kitchen while they cooked, having their own karaoke parties with friends.

At one point in their relationship Y/n was to play a fighter pilot. So, what better way to prepare for the role than to shadow her partner and his colleagues. Once they got the green light from the Navy, Y/n had to do all the necessary training a pilot did to get into a jet. From there she was allowed to get in the backseat with either Javy or Natasha flying.

Flying with Natasha went smoothly….but her boyfriend was a different story. Of course she trusted him with her life and knew he would never put her in harm's way, but damn did he unlock his inner Maverick when she got in the plane with him.

“Javy Machado!!” She screamed, holding onto her seat for dear life when he flipped them upside down. “I swear I will kick your ass in the afterlife if you kill us!”

“Relax, baby,” he laughed, earning a groan from his girl. “I promise we’ll have a graceful landing.”

“It won’t be graceful when I’m puking my guts out!” She actually did vomit in the bag he provided her with before they took off. Instead of embarrassment she was just annoyed with him, but still enjoyed the ride no less. “I’m sticking with Natasha from now on.”

When it came to the squad, they were Y/n’s biggest supporters. After the initial shock and fangirl/fanboying—nearly shitting their pants at the fact their best friend was dating an absolute Icon—Y/n became part of their family. They pre-orders tickets to her movies, attending midnight premieres and after parties the actress invited them too. Sunday nights were reserved for watching her HBO shows, while Netflix series that were to binge watch were planned accordingly.

Nat loved having another gal in the group. It was a breath of fresh air and the two would go to lunch or have their own movie nights. “I’m surprised Machado hasn’t crashed in yet,” the pilot commented with a mouthful of popcorn as they sat in Y/n’s living room. Javy was in his office playing COD with the guys after pouting when Y/n said no to him joining in on their girl time.

“He’s occupied with his game. I’m surprised we haven’t heard any screaming at the tv yet.”

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT, JAKE??”

“Spoke to soon.”

The couple were stars at award shows. It was no surprise they were always the best dressed. People constantly tweeted their excitement to see them attend, and expressed disappointment when they would not. And often the two’s reactions to cringe/unexpected moments resulted in them becoming popular memes—something Y/n already had a reputation of long before they got together.

2022 Oscars? Y/n’s Twitter froze due to the amount of tags from the snapshot of her and Javy’s expressions to Will Smith slapping the shit out of Chris Rock. “Did he just—?” “he did.” “Holy shit. Where’s the popcorn—I feel I need some right now.”

2023 Met Gala? People kept replaying the moment the couple did a double take at seeing Doja Cat dressed up as Karl Lagerfields cat. “What the actual…” “now that’s what camp should’ve been.”

And of course they couldn’t forget the most recent one of their unimpressed look from Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue at the most recent Oscars. “Should I go up there and pull a—.” “Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Machado.”

Expect YouTube to be filled with videos complications titled, “Y/n L/n & Javy Machado being flabbergasted at award shows for 15 minutes straight,” and, “Y/n L/n & her husband Javy being Hollywoods favorite couple.”

Then there was Javy’s to die for reaction to Y/n recieving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at only 29 years old. The only other day besides their wedding day where the man was in a heap of tears. “I’m just—,” he sniffed, “so proud of you, baby. You’ve earned this.”

When it came to live reactions at events years after getting married and Y/n embedding her legacy as the greatest actress of her generation, let’s just say Hollywood’s Angel and the Navy’s Coyote would always be its champions.

………….

TGM Tag List: @avaleineandafryingpan @caitsymichelle13 @poppyalice2001 @cutelittlepotatofry @luckyladycreator2 @americaarse @elenavampire21 @back-tooo-black @wildellaa @artemissunn @pinkpantheris

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Still With You | A Jeon Jungkook Series Chapter 1

Summary: A stranger turns up at the store that catches your eye Pairing: Luna (reader) x Jungkook and Jimin, f2l love triangle Word Count: 4.7k~ Warnings: Explicit language but that's about it lol Start from the beginning

Two years prior

I stir awake to the sound of the birds chirping outside my window as they always do. "Fuck" I say under my breath, stretching and wiping the sleep out of my eyes. I roll over and check the notifications on my phone and widen my eyes in panic realizing I didn't set an alarm and was bombarded by texts from my boss and coworker two hours ago. 

"Shit!" I say jumping out of bed and rushing around my apartment trying to get ready. I throw on my shoes and jacket and run out the door making my way to the subway station as quickly as I possibly can. My job is only three stops away from my place but those stops seem to take twice if not three times as long as they usually do in my mind.

Bolting out of the station I make my way over to the convenience store I work at. "Fuck me, what took you so long? Your shift started 3 hours ago" my coworker says stating the obvious. "I know shut up I forgot to set an alarm last night" I say rushing past them and into the break room to throw my stuff into a locker. 

I tiptoe past my bosses office but he can't help but hear my lame attempt at being undetected. "y/n" I hear being said from inside, (he only ever calls me that when he's mad at me). I'm in trouble. 

"Yes?" I say rolling my eyes before taking another step. "Get in here. Now!" he says in a tone I can no longer ignore. 

"Hi" I say dragging out the last letter as I make my way in until I see his face become even more furious. "Sit" he barks. "Yes sir" I say under my breath just loud enough to be heard but not enough to merit a second glance.

"Three times, three times this month have you been late and we're barely past the second week" he spits at me "And let's not forget the amount of times you've been late since you started working here" he says taking a deep breath at the end and leaning back in his chair pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation. 

"What am I gonna do with you?" he says rhetorically. "I-" I start. "I've had enough of your excuses y/n, I can't keep letting you break the rules like this. I've got a business to run and you working here hasn't made my job any easier" he breathes out. 

"I know I really do but I-" "Can you please just listen and stop trying to wiggle your way out of being held accountable. I would've fired your ass a long time ago if your father and I weren't brothers. I'm doing this not only for you but for the sake of your parents. Try to understand how your irresponsibility affects not only me but everyone around you. I'm not sure how much longer I can put up with your antics". "Please no! Uncle you know how much I need this job! If you were to cut me off then I know for a fact that I'm not gonna be able to make it in this city" I implore. 

"Maybe you weren't cut out to live in this city. There are a lot of hard workers out there, people who would kill to live here and you're just spitting in their face by wasting the days away sleeping in and daydreaming. You're not taking advantage of the opportunities that you could have if you worked a bit harder and just grew up" he says raising his voice and getting out of his chair to tower over me. 

I cower back inside myself taking my much deserved verbal beating and just be thankful that he isn't a violent person. 

He takes a deep breath and goes back to his seat and calms himself down. "Just please" he says in a softer tone "Start to get your shit together kid. You've got your whole life ahead of you and I would hate to see you end up like me, running a convenience store in the wrong part of town.

"But I thought you loved your job?" I question. "Ha! Yeah right, that's just what I tell people so I don't have to deal with their pity. Are there good days? Sure, but there sure as hell are more days that go to absolute shit that outweighs those good days". I nod my head in silent agreement, having a few stories of my own in my back pocket. 

"Listen up! You've got one more chance girl you hear me? One. More. I really shouldn't be doing this but I want to see if you can turn things around with this last push" he finishes. "Really? Thank you so much uncle I won't let you down!" I say going up to shake his hand furiously. 

"I'm pretty sure you will but hey, I've always been a gambling man" he says with a smile on his face. I go to tell him how bad that habit has become, but under the circumstances, I decide to let it go this time. After bowing to him a few times I quickly rush out of his office before he can change his mind and get to work.

I pass by my friend and coworker Grey at the counter on my way out and prepare myself for yet another lecture. "Old man gave you another chance huh?" she says blowing a bubble in her Polar Ice gum. It's one of her habits that annoys me the most but hey, she's a pretty good friend besides that so I can't really complain. 

Good friends are hard to come by these days so when I find one I tend to let them stick around. "Yeah thankfully, it pays to have connections sometimes" I say shrugging my shoulders as I put on the hideous green vest with the store's logo adorned on the top left side along with my name tag placed right below. 

I grab a box full of candy and head over to their designated spot in the store to get started. Straightening up the area before restocking the shelves I start from the bottom and make my way towards the top. I shake my head at the amount of open wrappers and half eaten candy bars I come across left by the many delinquents who occupy the store on a daily basis. 

"I'm surprised there are any left at this rate" I say under my breath. "I know right? Kids these days just aren't taught right from wrong anymore" I hear someone say in agreement. "The adults aren't any better" I retort hearing the voice laugh at my off the cuff comment.

I widen my eyes realizing I have no idea who I've spoken to and quickly stand up while keeping my face to the ground as I apologize to the unknown voice. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to- What I meant to say was- I'm sorry" I say tripping over my words in apology. I hear him let out a short scoff laughing at my attempt to repent for my honest criticism. 

"Hey it's okay. I appreciate your honesty. It's refreshing to say the least" he says, easing my nerves a bit. Feeling a little bit more comfortable I slowly stand up straight but as I do I realize I've been speaking to the most attractive man I have ever laid my eyes on. Pouty lips curved into a crooked smile, skin the color of sunlight, sharp catlike eyes that seem to see through my entire existence, and hair the darkest shade of midnight black I've ever seen. 

I freeze, mesmerized by his beauty balancing an air of androgyny with an adorable boyish charm. "Hey" he says while extending his hand towards me in greeting. "I'm Jimin" he finishes with a slight smile, giving me butterflies. 

"H-hey" I say taking his hand "I'm Luna" I say nervously in response."Luna? Huh, but your name tag says y/n though" he replies. "Oh well my real name is y/n but I go by Luna most of the time" I admit."Luna is a really pretty name. Did you grow up in Seoul?" he asks tilting his head a bit."Well I was born here but I grew up in America and came back when I was about 8 so yeah pretty much" I say, answering his question as calmly as I can.

"Oh wow that really cool! Was it hard for you to learn Korean at that age?"he inquires in pure curiosity."Well we always spoke Korean in the house so it was pretty easy for me to transition here. Although it did take a while to get rid of my American accent" I laugh. He smiles a bit at my openness which makes my heart flutter "I'm sure it was adorable". "I-" I start but am soon cut off by Grey. 

"Hey Luna can I get your help with something?" she questions. "Um yeah just a second. Sorry but I've really got to get back to work" I say picking up the box full of candy I have yet to put away and turn towards the front of the store. "Yeah sure no worries. Hey Luna" he says making me look back at him after turning to walk away. 

He comes towards me and reaches into the box to grab a chocolate bar. "Sorry I just wanted to grab one of these before you go" he says teasingly when there's clearly a whole shelf of that exact one right next to him. "Oh okay, um bye" I say and quickly scurry down the aisle towards Grey.

"You okay?" she says raising a brow at me. "I thought he might be bothering you since you guys had been talking for a while so I wanted to give you an escape just in case" she says, concern clearly her motive, none of which is written on her face or in her voice. She almost sounds uninterested if you didn't know better. "

Yeah no I'm fine don't worry. He was nice" I say clearly blushing. "He's cute huh?" she says looking me up and down, reading my body language. "What do you mean?" I ask, trying to play coy but I can't help but smile at the thought of our interaction. "Obviously he is if you're acting like that. What's his name?" she asks, intentionally getting louder and louder. Meanwhile looking around the store to gauge his distance, doing it loud enough to embarrass me but soft enough not to gain his attention.

"Is he single?" she asks, finally bringing her wandering gaze back to me but can't help but give me a slight smirk. "Shhhh" I say covering her mouth in an effort to keep our conversation away from him. 

"Okay yes, he's cute but can you save the teasing for later, or never? He's still in the store and I'm pretty sure I've already made a big enough fool of myself for the day as is" I say in a hushed tone keeping the conversation hopefully between the two of us this time.

"Alright I'll be quiet. Did you finish up over there?" she questions trying to mark off the various tasks on the nightly checklist. "No, not yet. I started to clean it up but then he started talking to me until you called me over" I admit. "Okay well once he leaves get back on it okay? Why don't you take a turn minding the counter while I start sweeping?" she suggests. 

"Yeah I can do that" I say getting nervous for the next interaction I have with him. "You'll be fine" she says dryly observing the way I start to fidget with hands. "You set me up didn't you?" I say coming to the realization of the predicament she's put me in. "Yup" she's says with a devious smile as she scurries off to the cleaning closet taking away my last hope of escaping. Well I guess in the meantime I'll take a second to calm down before he-

"Luna?" I hear Jimin say. "Yes" I reply whipping my head around towards the direction I heard him speaking from realizing he's just a few feet behind me. "Oh I just wanted to let you know that I'm ready to check out" he says smiling down at me. "Oh right yeah let me ring you up" I say while rushing over to the counter. He follows close behind me and meets me on the other side. 

"Okay that'll be $4.03" he nods and hands me a 10 dollar bill. I take it and can't help but feel a spark between us when his hand bushes against mine. I jerk back slightly and busy myself with finishing the transaction. "$5.97 is your change" I say going to give it back to him again making our hands touch yet again. 

"Thanks Luna" he says sliding his hand away from mine slower than necessary prolonging our touch. "See you later?" he says with a slight questioning tone behind it while turning to leave. "Yeah sure, see you later" I say while nervously reciprocating his goodbye. I hear the bells on the door jingling solidifying his departure and I can't help but let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay that was adorable" Grey says sneaking up on me, another smirk accompanying her teasing tone. There are very few things that Grey takes pleasure in and one of those, unfortunately is teasing me mercilessly when it comes to guys. 

"Don't do that!" I say, clutching my chest in surprise, slapping her shoulder right after. "What? Come on dude don't act like you wouldn't do the same if the roles were reversed" she says laughing at my surprise. 

"Whatever" I pout. "That guy is pretty hot though not gonna lie, no wonder you're blushing" she says continuing to tease me. "Yeah he was" I say starting to daydream. "Oh girl you got it bad!" she says scoffing and shaking her head. "I do not! He was just really cute okay. Leave me alone" I whine starting to get fed up with her teasing. 

"Whatever you say dude. So what was his name again? Jaemin? Minji?" she questions, listing off names that she obviously knows are incorrect. "Jimin" I say glancing out the window. 

"Wait why?" I ask, whipping my face back to her in a panic. "I'm just gonna try to see if I can find him on sns or something. I wanna see if he's single before you start falling for him" she says switching between apps doing her best to find him. "I'm trying to protect you okay?" she explains while patting my head. "Are you sure you aren't just doing it because you're nosy?" I question, crossing my arms. "Same thing" she says waving me off as she continues to scourer the internet for our resident hottie of the week.

"Okay found him! Park Jimin, 21. Oooo he's younger than you" she teases. "Yeah yeah what else does it say?" I question leaning in closer to see what she's found. It's really true what they say about girls being FBI agents when it comes to social media. "Mmmm not much, he's into dancing and fashion, huh, that's interesting" she says looking puzzled. "What? What is it?" I ask, getting even closer feeling a bit anxious. 

"Oh nothing, there's a picture of a girl on here though but you can't see her face. He didn't tag her either" she says still preoccupied with finding more information. "So he has a girlfriend?" I conclude, feeling a bit dejected. "Well that's the interesting part. That picture was from a year ago but that's the only picture of her. In fact that's the only picture he has of any girl on his entire profile." she says. 

"So ex girlfriend? But why keep the picture up if she's his ex?" I question. "I don't know dude I think unfortunately the results come up as inconclusive" she lets out feeling deflated. "Oh well, I guess if he comes back we'll find out eventually" I say.

"If who comes back?" a voice says behind us. I turn around and immediately smile at the owner of the voice "Kook!" I say getting up and rushing over to give him a hug. "Oh just this hottie that was here earlier" Grey says. "Ooo scandalous! But aren't you guys supposed to be working and not stalking cute boys on the internet?" he says with a knowing smirk. 

"It's called multitasking" I say while he gives me a kiss on the crown of my head. "Ew gross please stop I don't want to have to bleach my eyes again" Grey whines, shielding her eyes with her hands, hiding us from her vision. "Don't hate just because you're not a fan of friendly affection" Jungkook says teasing. 

"More like any affection at all. Especially PDA. Come on guys get a room" she says in disgust. "How many times do I have to tell you Grey, we're just friends" I say, shaking my head at her and pulling away from Jungkook's embrace. Grey glances up at him with a knowing look and sees him shaking his head prompting her to change the subject.

"Anyways, Jungkook what are you doing here this time?" she asks sounding uninterested as always. "Damn Grey can't I stop in to see my favorite girls every once in a while?" he says, draping his arm around my shoulders. "Don't call me that" she says with a deadpan expression. 

"Okay fine. My favorite girl and her tagalong?" he corrects with a cheeky smile. "You know what? Why don't you just call me by my name okay?" she argues. "Not a fan of the pet names? Okay okay I get it" he chuckles. 

"Luna" he says in an effort to gain my attention. "Yeah?" I acknowledge, turning to face him. "What are you doing this weekend?" he asks with anticipation written all over his face. 

"Um nothing to my knowledge" I reply and quickly hear someone start to talk over us before anyone can speak again. "Good, because you're working two ten hour shifts this weekend" my uncle says while bringing out another box of assorted products to stock. 

"Uncle please" I say with painful annoyance. "No I don't wanna hear anything. You need to make up for the hours that you missed and Sunghoon has the weekend off so I need you to pick up the slack" "But sir I was just-" Jungkook starts trying to come to my aid but is cut off yet again. 

"Jungkook I don't need any lip from you either" he says authoritatively while walking away to busy himself with a task in another part of the store. "Yes sir" he mumbles, bringing his head down and slightly pouting. I swear if he was a bunny I would see his floppy little ears start to droop.

"Sorry Kook, but what was it you wanted to ask me? Maybe we can still do it after I get off?" I offer, giving him a soft smile. He looks at me, still a little sad but I can see a little glimmer of hope coming back. "Well I wanted to see if you wanted to have a picnic or something since our friendship anniversary is coming up" he says returning the soft smile I'm giving him. 

"Has it really been another year? How many does that make now?" I say in surprise. "Fifteen!" he answers, satisfied with the answer and feeling proud of how long we've known each other. "I can't believe it's been that long!" I say starting to reminisce about all the memories of our many adventures together. 

"Yeah but I guess having a picnic late at night isn't as fun as it would be during the day" he mumbles, drooping again. "I've got an idea!" I say with a mischievous smile. "Really? What is it?" he questions, interest peaked. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about any of it. I'll take care of everything! The only thing you need to make sure of is to bring a car. You think your brother would let you borrow his?" I question. "I think I could make that happen" he says with an inquisitive smile clearly suspicious of what I'm planning. 

"Don't give me that look!" I say, hitting him on the shoulder. "It'll be fun!" I say excitedly. "I'm sure it will be but usually when you get this excited about things they tend to be illegal" I widen my eyes at his sudden call out. "Shhhh pipe down. I don't need my uncle to catch onto the things I do in my free time" I say slightly panicked.

"I heard that!" my uncle says from the other side of the store. "Plus you're not slick Luna. I've known about your delinquent activities for a while now but it's never gotten serious enough to bring up. Just don't get caught, I'm not about to bail your ass out of jail. Got it?" he warns while coming over to talk to us again. 

"Yep got it" I say nodding my head in agreement. "And that goes for you as well" He says pointing at Grey. "Hey what did I do" she asks, slightly offended. "Don't play innocent with me. I know you're the mastermind behind these schemes half the time" he says nodding towards her. "How do you know that?" she says, crossing her arms over her chest trying to act cool but still visibly surprised at his knowledge of our delinquency. 

"You do realize that most of the time you're hatching your plans in my store? I know everything that goes on in here" he says mirroring her posture, crossing his arms over his chest. "Fair enough" she mumbles, admitting to her part in it.

"Why aren't you giving Jungkook a lecture about all of this too?" she pouts motioning towards him. "Because I know he's smart enough not to get caught and he's also the reason you guys don't get caught 95% of the time" he says clapping him on the shoulder. 

"He's got a point there" Jungkook admits. "Okay okay whatever. The point of this lecture is don't get caught and don't do anything too crazy. We got it. Anything else?" I say clearly ready for this conversation to be over. 

"Yeah, you get back to work! He says pointing a finger at me. "And Grey start paying for the gum you chew or I'm gonna start taking it out of your paycheck." he threatens pointing towards her as well. 

"Don't you already take it out of my paycheck?" she questions clearly done as well, grabbing another box of products to start restocking. "Ya! Don't get smart with me young lady!" he says following after her. "Yeah yeah" is the last thing we hear as they head further into the store.

"Sorry Kook I guess it's time for you to head out" I say giving him a shrug. "That's alright I should probably get going anyways. I've gotta get to class" he says while giving me another kiss on my head. "That's right, Mr. College Man can't be late to art class" I say smirking at him. He rolls his eyes "Love you loser" he yells as he towards the exit. "Love you too weirdo" I respond waving him off. I watch him leave but I can't help but feel disappointed by his departure.

Jungkook is going to the best Visual Arts school in Seoul and I'm so proud of him! He could've left us behind after high school and made friends with the rich kids in his classes but instead he still comes in and hangs out with us as often as he can. We all grew up together and I honestly don't know what I would do without these two. 

Grey on the other hand is trying her hand at producing music. It hasn't been taking off but she's gotten a few jobs here and there working for smaller artists that are just getting started as well. She's been building a portfolio and honestly she's really good! She just lacks the confidence to take the next step. I've been pushing her to try to apply at different schools to get proper training but she doesn't think she's good enough yet and needs to make sure she stands out so she can land a scholarship. Otherwise even if she did get accepted she wouldn't be able to afford it.

Me on the other hand? Well honestly I have no clue what I want to do. I've worked just about every part time job you could imagine just trying to stay afloat. I don't have time for dreams. At this point I feel like I'm just existing, which is a sucky way to live out your 20s but unfortunately that's the life I'm living. 

Growing up I had many different dream jobs that I had thought about. Fashion designer, Makeup artist, Dancer, but at the end of the day like Grey, I've gotta build up my portfolio to really stand out and I just haven't had the time to do any of that. 

Just like I've been encouraging her to take that next step, Jungkook has been the one in my corner. The one who's always had so much hope and confidence in me and my dreams. Whenever I needed someone he was always there for me. He even spent the night in the hallway outside of my apartment just because he still wanted to be there for me even though I didn't want him to. 

Jungkook is one of the only people in this world I know I can trust. Without him I don't think I'd be here today. 

I've gone through so much and when it got to the point where I felt like I didn't want to exist anymore he was the one that brought me back, nursed me back to health and made sure that I was never left alone. He is my safe place and he always will be. 

I don't know what I ever did to deserve someone as pure and loving as him. He's my best friend and my rock. Life wouldn't be as bright and colorful without him.

"Hey lady are you gonna ring me up or what?" I hear an old man say breaking me out of my daydream. "Sorry sir I didn't mean to make you wait, my apologies" I say while giving him a shallow bow. "Yeah whatever just get on with it" he grumbles, clearly not phased by my apology. I ring up his various items which include a couple bottles of soju, a few bags of snacks, a cup of ramen- "Oh and a pack of cigarets" he slurs. 

"Of course sir" I respond while turning my back to grab the ones he selected. "That'll be $20.35" he tosses the money onto the counter while I place all of his items into a bag. "Thank you sir have a good day" I say while he stumbles his way out of the store. 

"Are people always that rude?" the next woman in line says while placing her items on the counter, glaring daggers into the man's back. "Yeah but I'm used to it at this point. As long as they don't get nasty or angry it doesn't really bother me. It's to be expected working in this part of town" I finish off while scanning all of her items. 

"That doesn't make it right" she say counters, clearly upset for me. "It's alright, for the most part I kind of ignore it" I say before telling her her the total. She swipe her card and I hand her the bag with her items once the transaction goes through. "Well for your sake I hope they cut you some slack" she say before walking away from the counter and saying goodbye. "Thank you, have a nice day" I say to her, genuinely meaning it this time around.

"You too kiddo" she says before walking into the outside world. 'Why can't all customers be like that?' I think, having a warm feeling after the interaction. "Yah! Quit Ignoring me. I'm ready to leave" the next customer says sneaking up on me. This is gonna be a long day.

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[zeezelweazel]

Bottom!Trans!Lottie got me good, because this girl is so much taller then me, bigger then me and I just can make her tremble like that?

I could innocently hug her and she would fold?

I have all this power over her?

I could just, bother the living hell out of her, I am a menace to society and she would feel the whole extent of that.

Like, ups, my hand brushed you a bit to close to there? I am so sorry babe.

Mh? What I am doing? Well your lap is rather comfortable. *proceeds to watch a movie with her and move a lot during it, feeling her getting hard*

And she couldn't do a single thing.

Though of course if she tells me really nicely whats bothering her, and begs I could help her out. >:)

Lottie Matthews| Movie Night|

______________________________________

THE FIRST FULL TRANS LOTTIE FIC LET'S GO

It's very short though, oops

I've been wanting to write this for some time lol sorry it took so long

TW: teasing, handjob and blowjob (Lottie recieving)

____________________________________________________

It was finally holiday season. Christmas is something everyone happily awaits but for the Yellowjackets it's the perfect opportunity for some well deserved rest.

For you and Lottie it was the perfect opportunity to spend night after night sitting on her couch watching shity Christmas movies. As usual her house is completely empty. Both of her parents are working abroad, some business trip she says, so she'll spend the holidays alone. You can't have that.

You're currently sitting on her lap watching Home Alone. You throw an occasional giggle here and there but Lottie's been awfully quiet. You turn to look at her, just to make sure she's doing okay, but as you move your hips you feel something hard press against your butt.

You look up at Lottie's face and she seems to be looking anywhere but you. You smirk as you perfectly understand what's going on. Your poor baby got all hard with you sitting on her lap.

"What's wrong Lot?"

Lottie's eyes snap back to you so quickly and her face flushes from embarrassment. She opens her mouth only to close it and swallow hard. You grin at her inability to answer. Lottie is so cute when she's embarrassed.

You want to see how long she'll last. How much time it'll take her to give up and beg you oh so sweetly for relief.

Time and time again you grind back against her hard cock and listen to her breathy whines. She tried so hard to hide her arousal from you but it was impossible with how you're sitting on her lap. She can't escape any of your ministrations and after a few minutes she has completely given up. She's fully pressing up against your ass now and her whimpers are getting louder and needier. You pause the movie and get up. Lottie is flushed red and looking at the floor. You chuckle and hold her face in your hands, your expression innocent and sweet.

"You needy little slut. All I wanted was to watch a movie and here you are grinding against my ass."

Lottie whimpered and pouted she looked at you waiting for you to do something but it was clear that you were waiting for a certain something. Lottie gulped and forced a breath out of her nose.

"Please Y/N I need you."

You pulled back pretending to think about it and almost awed at how adorable Lottie looked when she tried to chase after your touch. You slowly dropped to your knees and smiled up at her. Her eyes widened in excitement as she stumbled to get her sweats off. You noticed her hands were trembling and decided to help her a little.

You roughly pulled down her pants along with her boxers and her cock sprung out and hit her stomach. It was throbbing and twitching, clearly begging for your touch.

She didn't even have a chance to beg again. Your hand went to the base of her cock slowly pumping up and down. You took the tip in your mouth all while making eye contact with her. Her hips were trembling with effort Lottie was desperately trying not to thrust into your face.

You slowly started taking more of her in your mouth but yiu never quite manage to take all of her. She's too big. You gag against her dick and saliva trails down the side of your mouth. Your hand never stops moving.

"Y/N, I'm gonna come."

She sounded so positively ruined it only sprung you on. You hollowed out your cheeks and gave her a hard suck. That's all it took for Lottie to cum. Her thighs were shaking and her hips were now uncomfortable as they grinded on your face.

You looked at her in the eyes as you swallowed her load and she looked away embarrassed. She grabbed a pillow and covered her private parts. You raised your eyebrow at her but Lottie continued looking around.

"Lottie... Did you get hard again?"

Lottie dropped her head on her hands and after a while she nodded.

You smirked wide and pushed her down the couch.

"Best Christmas ever."

Lottie whispered right before you pulled her in for a deep lustful kiss.

____________________________________________________

[ellatoone7]

Follow you wherever (Alessia Russo x Reader)

Lying on the pitch has always been comforting for you, when you were much younger and your parents forced you to play sports you'd just lie down on the grass while making daisy chains.

Alesia being a football maniac was funny to you, while you lay down on the grass Alessia would be tearing it up on the pitch. Just like now, as you watch her take shot after shot.

Eventually, when she finally tires, she makes her way over to you, flopping down with a huff, "My left foot is so bad." You scoff gently before looking over at your blonde…friend?…girlfriend?…you didn't really know.

Sure, you had kissed a few times (loads of times) but you hadn't exactly discussed what you were. You knew you loved her and she knew she loved you. You had technically been seeing each other since you were 5 when she got on one knee and asked you to marry her back in juniors.

"Your definition of bad is different to mine." Alessia throws you an appreciative glance before leaning in to kiss you softly, you push her back reluctantly leaving your hand on her chest.

You give her a quick kiss on the cheek before falling back down on the grass, Alessia copies you. The skyline started to darken, you were in awe at how the moon looked.

"Look at the moon.

"I have to tell you something."

All your thoughts of the sky vanish as Alessia cuts you off, you sit up giving her your full attention. "I got a college offer." Your head snapped towards her, "Less…Oh my god!" You jump at her nearly knocking her over.

"I'm so proud of you." Alessia gives you a weak smile, "I'm not gonna go." You pull back giving her a stern look. "Yes, you are." She shakes her head.

"No..."

"Yes.."

"No..

"Yes."

It went back and fort, "Alessia Mia Teresa Russo, you are fucking going to that college." She huffs at the use of her full name, "Its in America." All your defence crumbled as she stared at the ground, worrying her lip between her teeth.

"Oh...wow…okay!…UCLA?" She nods making you swallow roughly, "How long?" Alessia took a deep breath, "4 years..." The silence hangs between you, suffocating.

"That doesn't change anything." Alessia scoffs, changes everything!" Her voice raises indicating she's getting frustrated.

"Less, please. You're goi-“

"No I'm not! America is all the way across the world, I'll be away from my family, I have a good thing going here and most importantly you are here!"

"Don't do that!"

"Do what!"

"Blame me for not following your dream!"

"I’m not blaming you."

"You're going, end of story."

"I am not leaving you."

"Alessia! We don't even know what we are!"

That seemed to stun Alessia as her mouth open and closed desperate to come up with an answer, "Your my..”

"You're going."

"Please."

"Im not letting you waste this opportunity!"

"What about us?"

"What about us?"

"I love-

"-Don't you dare do this to me."

"But, I don't want to leave you." There's a tremble in her voice that makes your heart ache,' "Less, we have the rest of our lives to be together. You're 17, you've been working for this your whole life."

"It's so far away."* You nod gently biting your lip before moving closer to her, "I know, but it will be so worth it. You'll get recognised over there. Do you know how big that would be."

The silence hangs between you once again, 'When do you leave?" You dreaded the answer because no matter how prepared you could tell yourself you were the idea of Alessia being all the way across the world scared the shit out of you.

"Next week."

"Promise me you'll go?"

Alessia hesitated before turning to look at you, "I promise." You nod giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek, "I'll get Ella to look after me, yeah?" Alessia scoffed giving you a teasing nudge before wrapping her arms around you.

As you stood there hugging her, you already knew you'd be following her out. The goodbye the next week was one of the hardest things you've ever had to do.

All Alessia's family was there along with some of her England team mates to wish her the best, Ella had her arm wrapped around you for comfort while you watched your girlfriend walk away.

You lean your head on the brunettes shoulder when she's out of sight and she presses a quick kiss to your temple.

"It's gonna be okay." You sigh nodding, "I know. I'm going after her.?"

Ella huffed knowingly, "I figured."

…

3 months had passed, you were exhausted after the 9 hour flight but you knew it would be worth it. You were so grateful for Lotte, you had told her about the plan and she was fully on board, sick of hearing her blonde friend mope about you.

After reuniting with her you finally got some rest in the car as you knew it was going to be a long drive. Once you got there you were practically shaking, what if she's found someone better over here? What if she's not happy to see you?

That all vanished when you saw her though, she hadn't spotted you yet so it gave you time to look at her, 3 months wasn't a particularly long time but absence makes the heart grow fonder.

You wish you had a camera the moment Alessia saw you, she froze in her place the glass of whatever she was drinking was out of her hands and next thing you knew you were wrapped up in her strong arms, her face buried into your neck.

You could feel her tears dropping down your neck as you let out a watery giggle, "| missed you." Alessia had to choke down a sob as she clutches onto you for dear life.

You didn't notice Lotte and the other girls leave Alessia's dorm room, you both were too caught up in your emotions to even think about anything else.

You stood there for hours just holding each other, Alessia's face was bright red and her eyes were puffy when she looked at you, her green eyes pierced into yours, "FaceTime does not do you justice." You giggle before cupping her face and brining her into a searing kiss.

Alessia eagerly reciprocated as she grabbed you waist pushing you back into her study table, your hands tangled into her hair pulling her as close as you can as she hoists you up, your legs immediately hook around her back and that's when you knew things were getting very heated.

You and Alessia had been threading carefully back in England never going further than making out on her bed, you and her had always wanted it to be the right time and you just knew there would be no better time than now.

"I missed you so much..." Alessia breathed out as she kissed your neck placing you down gently on her small bed before immediately crawling on top of you.

…

You woke up to the sun peaking through the curtains, Alessia had her arm draped around you as she slept behind you. You stretched out your legs feeling the slight soreness from the night before.

Alessia stirred, she placed a soft kiss to the back of your neck before pulling you closer. "I can't believe you're here." Her morning voice was a rarity to you, whenever you had sleepovers at each other's house you were never allowed to sleep in the same bed.

You had heard it a few times over the phone but it was always hard to catch her due to the time difference. "I've missed your stupid face, you know. She rolled her eyes playfully before pinching your side, you rolled over in her arms to face her.

You leaned in to give her a lazy kiss, Alessia sighed against your lips, her eyes stayed closed after you pulled away, "God, I've missed that." You hum while she busies herself playing with your hair.

You both catch up not that you have to as you've spoken every day since she's left, she cried for another 10 minutes when you told her you were staying for as long as she was.

You spent that whole day wrapped up in each other, making up for 3 months. You were heading back from a restaurant she took you to, you spent the whole night putting on fake American accents while laughing like crazy people.

You found a patch of grass and next thing Alessia knew you were lying there, arms spread out a blissed out smile drawn across your face.

You stared up at the sky getting that sense of deja vu as Alessia grabbed your hand brining up to her lips before peppering it with kisses.

The moon was breathtaking here, you thought it was pretty in England but this was a whole new level.

"Look at the moon..." Alessia let out a chuckle, "It'salmost as pretty as you." You scoff playfully giving her a nudge.

You both spent the rest of the night giggling while staring up at the stars.

[warriorofthought]

Don't huge my Mom!

Summary: Your Son doesn't want your husband, Bucky, to hug you.

Word count: 1109

Warning: nothing 

Bucky x Reader x Son 

You and Bucky have been married for over six years and you adopted a sweet boy a few years ago.

This one loves you both like you were his real parents. 

Your five-year-old son is sitting on the couch with you, watching his favorite show.

Your attention is caught by the sound of the key in the lock as it is unlocked.

"Mommy, Daddy's here"

"Yes, little man, go say hello to him".

You lift your son off your lap and he walks right up to the front door. You, of course, also make a move toward the door. 

Once there, Bucky has just pushed the door shut again. As your Son Benjamin takes hold of his legs. Immediately you hear Benjamin's sweet laughter as Bucky lifts him up into his arms and gives him a big cuddle. 

"Daddy, you're finally home. Mommy and I missed you soooo much." As he speaks, he uses his arms to show the length of how much he has missed Bucky.

You watch the spectacle with amusement from the side. Then Bucky's eyes fall on you. 

"Hello Love." 

Bucky walks up to you with Benjamin and pulls you into a tight hug and Benjamin is squeezed between you both.

But you both are pushed apart by Benjamin, rather Bucky is pushed away from you by his Son.

"No daddy, mommy is mine. Go away," your Son says with a cute pout on his face and you have to laugh.

Bucky, on the other hand, rolls his eyes and makes sure you have a good grip on your Son before he gives you a kiss on the forehead and walks into the living room.

"Now the mini-creation of us won't even let me hug my wife," he mutters, sitting down on the sofa.

You look at Bucky from the hallway. He looks really handsome. Your eyes move from his hair to his forehead, over his face, down to his jaw. Then to his chest and back up to his neck.

Then your eyes meet his and you see that he is also staring at you with a grin on his face. Then he winks at you "Love, do you like what you see?"

You quickly look away from him, down at your son playing with your hair. You cough briefly, then realize your cheeks are heating up and probably turning red.

You quickly head into the living room, sit your Son back down on the sofa and, at his request, run another episode of his favorite show.

Then you turn back to Bucky and see that he has been watching your every move.

"I- You should go freshen up, meanwhile I'll put the food on the table." You stutter and quickly disappear into the kitchen. You hear Bucky softly chuckle at your behavior.

Soon Bucky came back downstairs ready and changed. He has shed his work clothes and is now wearing something loose. His hair is still wet.

He saw your Son still watching his show, so he took the opportunity to go into the kitchen.

You are just finishing the sauce for the salad and heating the food when suddenly you feel a pair of hands around your waist. Immediately Bucky's own scent rises to your nose.

Then you are pulled to his chest, you let your hands move to his and you intertwine your hands together.

Then Bucky turns you around, his forehead rests against yours and as you look up your eyes get caught in his.  Then you feel his breath brush across your lips. Your heart skips a beat. 

No matter how long you've been married, this man always makes your heart bounce with joy.

"Bucky, not here. Benjamin might see us" you say, squirming in his arms only for him to grab your wrists behind you and press his whole body against yours. 

"He's not here, let me spend some time with my wife after a busy day" he whispered in your ear, resting his head in the crook of your neck.

Then suddenly you both jerk apart after hearing a yell from your Son, "Daddy, what are you doing to my mommy? Don't hug her, she's my mommy," he said, stomping his little feet on the floor and putting his hands on his waist. In a very sweet way that makes you giggle as Bucky finally breaks away from you and groans in frustration. "That idiot always spoils my romantic moments with my wife," Bucky mumbles, but it was loud enough for you to hear, so you give him a slap on the forearm.

"Hey, he's your Son Bucky, don't call him an idiot," that's what you say, somewhat amused but also serious, shaking your head and telling him to sit down at the table.

He does so while rolling his eyes and sitting down on the chair with Benjamin on his lap. Then you serve them their dinner and you sit down next to Bucky and eat your food while you watch Benjamin refuse Bucky's help to eat. Because he is already a big boy. 

Shortly after dinner you put the dishes in the sink and go upstairs to put Benjamin to sleep while Bucky washes the dishes.

You kiss Benjamin on the forehead and smile as you see him in his deep sleep. 

You then leave his room and go to the bedroom but you don't get far as you go in you are pushed against the wall by your husband, he stared deep into your eyes and kissed you slowly as you close your eyes and return the intense kiss. He takes you in his arms and put you on the bed and then he lay down with his head on your belly.

"I've had a very busy day today," he said as you chuckled and began to stroke his head as his face nuzzled against your stomach. "Cozy," he whispered as you continued to stroke his head. Then you both float in those sweet moments, but it's not long before your son comes into the room crying.

You both quickly get up and walk towards him. "What happened, baby?" you ask him as he hugs you while Bucky pats him on the back. "I want to sleep with you and Daddy," he said as Bucky chuckled, took him in his arms and walked to the bed. "Then let's sleep with mommy and daddy, my little prince." You smiled and joined them on the bed, Benjamin between the two of you. "Good night, my two most important people," Bucky said and kissed you both on the forehead and the three of you fell asleep relaxing.

[thebluestbluewords]

"The council," Evie says brightly, "Is prepared to release more young VKs, on the condition that we find them appropriate foster families." 

There's a moment of absolute stillness, and then-- 

"And that's a good thing?" 

"Nope, no way--" 

"They don't even fucking trust us--" 

"Hey!" Evie shouts. "Everybody shut up. One at a time, please. Freddie, you can go first." 

All the eyes in the room swing over to Freddie Facilier, who crosses her arms over her skinny chest and scowls back at them. "Pass. I can't say anything nice right now, so I'm taking my Auradon lesson, just like they want us to do, and saying nothing at all." 

Of course. 

"Fuck's sake, Fred," Mal bites out. "You were literally just saying that they don't even fucking trust us. Finish the thought or get out." 

Freddie pushes off the wall, the whole long line of her rolling upright, from her shiny purple boots to the tip of her sleek pigtails. She looks mad, and it makes her look like her father. "I said pass, princess. We can't all pretend we love these Auradon folks when they keep coming up with new hoops for us to jump through. My baby sister's the circus freak here, and I can't even get her over without a goody-two-shoes grownup to what, adopt us both? Let them take my sister off the Isle, just to lock her up with some prissy princess family who's gonna treat her like dirt because of where she comes from? I can't just sit back and watch her go through what we did alone, and if she's locked up with some Auradon family, instead of here at school with the rest of us, she's gonna feel more alone than a mouse on main street. I'm not doing it. If they wanna make your market kids go through foster families, fine, but I'm not gonna sit here and just let it happen to my sister." 

She pushes her way towards the door, stepping through the whole mess of them, the tangle of kids and homework and jackets thrown across the floor barely impeding her path. 

"Wait." 

Freddie doesn't turn her head at the sound of Evie's voice, but she does pause, which is something. "I don't much care what you have to say, blueberry. You're the one working with them."

Mal's watching Evie's face like a goblin watches the sun, which is why she sees the flash of discomfort that flickers across the set of Evie's mouth, in the corners of her eyes, before she smooths them out into her perfect mask again ."I know. I am working with them, which is why you don't have to believe me when I say this is the best thing that could happen to us." 

Freddie turns, snapping a hand to her hip, her feet still pointing towards the door. "Talk." 

"We have an opportunity to invite families to apply for the VK foster program," Evie says, quick and smooth, like she's been rehearsing it. They sleep in the same room, in the same bed most nights, but Mal's not a member of Ben's junior court representatives, and she's only an associate for Evie's upcoming Isle project, so she's not allowed to know what goes on in the phone calls Evie has with the Bureau of Isle Affairs offices each week. An admirable commitment to Auradon standards of privacy, that's what Evie has, and it's not Mal's place to resent her for apparently rehearsing a whole speech about the VK program without asking her to listen to it even once. It's a good thing that Evie has so much moral integrity when it comes to her secret projects, that's it. There's no reason at all for Mal to feel jilted by the fact that Evie hasn't practiced this speech with her even once, even though they're girlfriends and roommates and ex-rivals. "We can hand pick the families we invite, so there's no chance of horrible people like Audrey's parents applying and making our new kid's lives a living hell." 

"Just whatever assholes can hide long enough to make it through your vetting program." 

"Yes. But--" Evie raises a hand before Freddie can jump in. "The requirements for being a foster family are flexible. The only hard requirement is that there's one adult over eighteen for each minor foster kid placed in the household." 

"We're nearly eighteen." Mal realizes. "Eves." 

"We meet the rest of the requirements too," Evie says, her eyes bright with what might be tears or her own cleverness. "Or we will, once I have my castle set up. We can take one VK for each of us." 

"Four." 

"We can get our friends on board. Jorden already said har family would do it, and Ally's working on her mom as well. Lonnie's not eligible because of her international citizenship, but she's asking all the people she trusts to ask their parents, and she has a lot of friends across all the sports teams she's been in, and the hip-hop club, and the school paper.”

[ur-lll]

So, this is the first part. It's the first time I write something so long, especially in English. It's not my first language so be nice ahah.

TW: swearing cursing bad words. I'm serious, I don't want to be responsible for you, kids, swearing. Also it's kind of sad. So don't read it if you don't like sad things. :(

--------- Roots of your problems : part 1

- Is it painful?

- What? To marry?

He chuckled loudly, yet he silenced himself fastly, as if it helped for her not to get offended by her little stupid question. But she felt so stupid for asking that to him. How could someone who’s never been married tell her how is that to be married? Well, atleast that's what Clef always said. ”I've never been married”. Alto lies a lot. Like, all of her childhood he used to lie, and lie, but somehow she doesn't think that it's one of his lies. How can a man like him lie about being married? He doesn't look like he has a wife or kids at all. And Marzia felt an embarrassment by asking something so stupid from a man who aren't even able to fall in love (at least that's what she thought about him and that's what she said to her)

And she was twelve once. She doesn’t go to school. When your adoptive parent works for a super-top-secret organisation and your sibling starts college to get a job at the same organisation it’s not like you have time or an opportunity to live a normal life. To be honest, it was ok for her to get an education at home. Marzia never liked other people, it was tiring to even be at the same room (it wasn’t the same with Michelle or Alto. Maybe it's because they’re not, exactly, ”people”?). People are gross. They're loud, they're stupid, they're nosy and Marzia didn't like them at all. Some of them were tolerable enough, like Glass. Their visits were long and she got used to him.

- She needs to socialise. You know how is it important for her age…Michelle, you have to…

- I know that. You see, she doesn't want to. She doesn't even pay attention to me, it's like I'm dead to her. I'm so, so fucking tired.

No. No, that's not true, she doesn't see him dead. Why did he say that? Maybe that's because she doesn't notice him sometimes? But that's not on purpose, that's just how her brain works, that's it. Sometimes it's just hard to talk, but he is dear to her. If only she was able to tell, things would be easier.

When she turned eighteen, she realised, that it's hard to find friends in the Foundation. Marzia didn't have even one, but somehow, she ended up in a group of pathologists. That's how she met Clem, who just got out of college straight to the Foundation. She was older, she was fun and she was like a star. Like a sun, but Marzia is nothing but a moon. She's not even a fucking planet, she doesn't deserve any of her warmth, but yet, somehow, she's here for her. So they're friends, for the first time Marzia had a friend who wasn't looking at her like she was a burden.

Oh, how she tried to shapeshift. She had a great example to follow, it was easy to pretend to be someone she wasn't. She tried to wear makeup and bright, extravagant clothes, she was unhinged, she was loud and sometimes it was too much of her in the room and she felt embarrassment when her laugh was just a bit, just a bit off. It’s like she was laughing a little bit longer and louder and somehow, she found herself crying while laughing. Because she couldn’t stop. She was trying, but she was laughing and laughing while tears are rolling down her cheeks.

And Marzia, stupid, little Marzia, Marzia with no friends at the age of eighteen, Marzia with no goals for the future, Marzia, who's life for the next fifty years is gonna be this stupid, concrete base, dusty shelves full of books and articles and paragraphs she'll never be able to understand, she was so lucky to have someone at her side, to have a person, the only person in the whole world who LOVES her and doesn't even wait to be loved back. And she was grateful, and she was trying so much to not be this stupid, little Marzia with her stupid socialising problems.

And they're sitting in front of fireplace. It's almost midnight and Clef and Michelle are already sleeping in their rooms. Clef doesn't like Clementine, neither does Michelle, but still, he allowed them to have a sleepover, and they're talking till the midnight and they're laughing and hushing at each other and Marzia knows that Clef is not sleeping. He's waiting. It's like he felt all this shit that was hiding inside Clem, he knew it. He felt it. But Marzia didn't care at all, he can think what he wants, she liked her. Even if she's evil. Even if they're doomed as a couple, and it won't be the last time it happened to Marzia.

- I want to show you something. Can I...uhh...trust you? Can I?

Clem nodded without saying a word. Her dark brown eyes reflected gold from a fire next to her. She was in flame herself, she was that flame from a fireplace. The only one who understands her. Her only friend. Her lover. And her eyes got wider as something tickled her ear as Marzia tucked hair behind it. Marzia handed her a flower. And Clementine knew about Michelle. She knew everything about her family, everyone did. And her face acquired a grimace of regret. She stood up immediately.

- I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I can't. I don't want to...Shit, why did you do that to me? You know how complicated it's gonna be. I thought you aren't...you can't...warp...- She got silent, pursing her lips. And Marzia knew, she wasn't able to deal with a reality bender. She didn't want to have problems, to be in danger and to have her family and her friends in danger. And more, she didn't love Marzia back. She liked her, yes, but she didn't love her.

- I'm sorry. I'll call a taxi.

And Marzia is looking at her. And a big, painful lump got stuck in her throat.

- Marzia.

- Yes?

She was hoping so much that she'll change her mind.

- I won't discuss it ever again. And I don't want to talk again. Please, leave me alone, ok?

The door closed.

And the first abnormal spot ended, pulling her out of her own memories.

Now Layla is here.

- We got everything we wanted. Let's get out of here.

[cute-bag-of-bones]

Can't trust a supe.

Part 1: "Uncle" Billy

Warnings ⚠️: Swearing, death, killing, body horror, gore. It's The Boys so all related warnings apply ✌🏻

      My life isn't a happy one, but it used to be. I used to have the best life a kid could ever want. Two loving parents that worked from home, a huge house full of people who cared about me on a bunch of land. Now I know people will say "but Simon your dad was a cult leader and your mom was a crazed geneticist." Which is all true but they loved me and that's all a parent really has to do in my opinion. My life was perfect till the day he ruined it all. Vaught's swinging big stick, Homelander. He attacked my family's compound and destroyed it all. Only bodies and rubble were left when he was done. I only survived because one or my Father's followers shielded me from the falling debris. That was 7 years ago and now I'm a 17 year old living in and out of shelters. I can't even use my real name because of the slander Vaught slung to justify homelanders borderline war crimes. I swore if I ever saw his lipless face again I'd kill him. I just needed to figure out how first.

    

      I wasn't sure if I could trust this British guy who called himself Billy Butcher. He kept showing up and trying to talk to me. Finally he asked if I wanted to get even with Homelander. How could I refuse? He asked to meet during the day at the park. He kinda sketched me out. The long coat and sunglasses he gave me school shooter all grown up vibes but if he actually had a way to kill Homelander I was more then willing to look past his unfortunate fashion choices. 

      So here I sat at the park waiting for this limey bastard. Sure enough he strolled up and sat down next to me on the bench. He leaned back and looked over the whole park. I turned to look at him and asked him what he needed me to do but before any words could leave my mouth he stopped me.

      "That the fucks the matter with you? Face forward, don't look at me." He said as he chewed on some gum. I look forward and lean against the arm rest. Trying to look as nonchalant as possible. 

      "You are the one who wanted to meet in public." I say taking a quick glance at him.

      "Yeah I did because you're a damn supe." He said it with such malice. I froze for a second. If I was smart I would have walked away and never looked back but I have never been known for my brains. 

      "How did you-"

      "I have my ways. I know who mommy and daddy are as well. I know everything there is to know about you right down to what's in your bag." He said as he shifted in his seat a little. I leaned down and pulled my bag into my lap to hold close.

      "You going to blackmail me or something?" I ask looking over at him no longer caring to play alone with whatever game he had. 

      "No nothing like that, I want to give you an opportunity. We have a common problem. I have this time coming together and we need someone with your particular set of skills." He said as he finally turned his head to look at me. His sunglasses made it impossible to see anything other than my own reflection. 

      "You really think our problem can be fixed? You got that kind of juice on your team?" 

       "Gotta try right? We are getting there. If you don't want to help then fine. I guess you don't want these." He said as he pulled a manila envelope from the inside of his jacket. He smirked down at me. 

      "And what's in that?"

      "The only file Vaught had on your dearly departed mom. She wrote it herself. Could be something interesting in there. Maybe something that could make sense of it all." He tapped his gloved fingers against the envelope then slipped it back on his jacket.

     "What would I have to do?"

     "Come with me and meet the team. I can't talk about it out here. Never know who's listening." He said as he pointed to the sky before standing up. I should be more careful about strangers. He could be a lot of very dangerous things. 

       He walked us to a ran down looking building. He walked down some steps and banged on the door. 

      "Oi cunts let me in!" He shouted. Soon the door unlatched and opened. We walked into this sad gray concrete room. A tall skinny man leaned against the sink with his arms crossed. He looked scared shitless. Like he could vomit at any second. He looked completely harmless. The second man was shorter with a shaved head. He looked much less harmless. 

       "I thought you were getting someone who can help!" He had a thick French accent when he spoke. 

      "She can. She's a supe don't you worry Frenchie." Billy said as he walked past the man. Frenchie how original. He looked at me with almost pleading eyes. Now that I really look at him he seems just as harmless as the pipe cleaner leaning on the sink. 

      "I don't even know what the problem is." Billy walks over to another door and unlocks it. He swings it open and there is an empty cage. My eyes widen as I look at the men in the room. Billy looks in the cage.

      "Shit no no wait a second. The bugger is invisible." He grabs a cattle prod and jabs it onto the cage. I hear a man scream. The man in the cage uncloaks himself. It was translucent from the 7 butt naked and sitting criss-cross applesauce on the bottom of the cage.

     "What the fuck thats almost worse than what I thought you wanted! Whatever it is I'm out hell no!" Billy quickly steps out of the room and shuts the door. 

      "You're the only one who can do it. His skin is like fucking Dimonds! But I was thinking maybe the inside isn't." Billy yelled over my protesting. 

       "What is she super strong or something?" The thin man asked. 

       "No!" Billy and I shout at once at him. 

        "Fine I guess you rather the news have these." Billy says as he opens his coat to show the file. 

        "I thought you weren't going to blackmail me fuck! Fucking dick!" I shout as I stomp my foot. Billy smirks as he nods like a lunatic. Frenchie and the thin man look back and forth at each other confused. I guess Billy had not informed his team about anything of his little plan. 

      "You can do it. The  file says you can anyway." Billy says the same smirk painted on his stupid face. 

       "If he finds out-"

       "If cuntlander finds out you'll get your chance to kill him. Or wait till he comes for you after he finds out who your mom was." 

        "Fuck!" I felt completely cornered. I couldn't kill someone who had never done anything to me. no matter how much of a douchebag they seemed like.

       "Wait, who's her mom?" The man asked.

     "Homelander's old cock warmer" Billy says with a knowing look. 

      "Stop it!"

      "Oh yeah moms got around alright. She was two-timing New York's favorite supe with New York's most notorious serial bombing cult leader. A bit of a whore if you ask me." I wanted to leap across the room and strangle that dumb British asshole but I knew my strengths were not in a physical fight.

       "You're Alphonse Bishop's daughter!?" The thin man said with a look of shock. Billy let out a hardy laugh. I had had enough of this. 

      "That's it! Give me the file or I'll just kill you!" I screamed at Billy. 

      Frenchie's attention turned to a laptop. 

      "Oh look at the big bollocks on this one! Yeah go on kill me might as well because if you don't get in there and kill that cunt we are all dead!" 

      "Butcher we have a problem." Frenchie said. Billy and the other man huddled around the laptop. 

      "Is that-"

      "He's searching for something." 

I come over and stand on my tippy toes to see over the men. It was Homelander he was surveying the area likely looking for his fellow 7 member. It was chaos for a moment. They scrambled around trying to figure out what happened. They talked about a chip of some kind. I was too busy staring at the screen as Homelander flew around. 

      "You two stay here." Billy said as he and frenchie ran up the steps. They were out the door before I could stop to ask for an explanation. 

      "I'm Hughie Campbell by the way, it's good to meet you." The man said, looking over at me as he stuck his hands in his pockets. It took everything in me not to break his jaw right then and there. This wasn't his fault I shouldn't be mad at him. 

      "You should get out of here." I say as I sit down on a stool.

       "Butcher told us to stay." 

       "Yeah if he told you to lick his balls would you? He's gonna get you killed. Let him and the Frenchman sort it out." I say as I motion to the door with my head. He puts on a stiff upper lip and shakes his head. 

         "No noway, I got to do this. He needs all the help he can get, but if you want to go I won't stop you. I'll tell Butcher you overpowered me." He says with a little laugh. Oh if he only knew. He didn't seem like Billy was blackmailing him. What on earth would make someone want to help that maniac. 

         "Nah I'm as good as dead the second I see Homelander face to face anyway. I'm going to rip him apart." I say as I stare at the looping footage of him zipping around. Hughie gives me a strange look. 

      "How are you-" he was interrupted by the other door being opened. Translucent somehow had gotten out of his cage. The 3 of us just stared at each other for a second before finally he spoke. 

       "You kids are gonna let me walk out of here." He says as he starts to walk to the exterior door. Hughie to my surprise steps in front of his path. 

        "No, I'm sorry we can't let you. just go back in the room please." He begged. Translucent laughed a little. He looked over at the laptop and saw Homelander was near. 

        "Yeah I think I'm just going to go outside." He said pushing past a defeated looking Hughie. I could tell Billy would tear this kid a new one if he just let translucent walk out. I got up and quickly put myself between him and the door just as Hughie did. He looked down at me for a second before rolling his eyes and giving me a strong push to the side. I bumped into the table with my hip.

       "You going to push a kid?" Hughie shouted as he grabbed translucent from behind and tried to pull him down to the ground. Translucent went invisible and started to beat the snot out of Hughie. His skin may be invisible but his insides were not. I looked inside of him. Like most supes he was stronger than average but I was sure I could still do something. I saw his skeletal system wrapped in muscle and nerves move as he continued his assault. I tighten his muscles in his right arm making it go stiff. He started to scream which normally wouldn't be a problem but Homelander might hear so I tightened his vocal cords. Now only small mouse-like squeaks escaped his lips. Hughie wiggled himself out from under the invisible man and pushed himself up against a wall. I couldn't see Translucence face but the muscles were constricted in his face. Even without the skin I could make out the expression of fear. I had to be quick about whatever I was going to do to him. 

       I couldn't hold such a targeted effort for too long. He tried to get to his feet so I tightened his joints connected to his knees. I struggled to hold him

 He was fighting against me. I felt a popping sensation and without warning he was ripped apart in all directions. Invisible bloody pieces are sent all over Hughie and I. He looked over at me almost more scared then before. 

      "Was that…" his question slowly trailed to silence as I nodded at him quickly. He slipped on the blood covered floor for a second as he got to his feet.

        Billy and Frenchie came running in. They started to speak but stopped as they realized what was covering us and the walls. 

        "What'd uncle Billy tell ya! Easy peasy. " He says as he hooks his elbow around my neck to pull me closer to his side. Frenchie almost trips over a particularly invisible pile of human. 

         The clean up was somehow more grizzly than the murder itself. Hughie was sent home to shower and try to forget what he saw. It was mostly picked up and Frenchie left to go talk to some girl. So Billy and I were left.

       "My mom wasn't two-timing Homelander. Her and dad had an open relationship and Homelander knew that." I say looking down at Billy who was on his knees searching for the last bits of translucent. 

        "Is that so?" 

        "Yeah and if you ever call my mom a whore again or say she was Homelander's cock warmer I'll pull your tongue out through your asshole." He let out a chuckle as he got up. He got out the file and held it out to me. 

     "I wrote the number of my business cell down on it if you change your mind about helping out. Either way, with or without you, I can promise Homelander is going to die." I grabbed the file but Billy didn't let go. "Stay out of trouble, if you don't you'll be seeing me again and I won't be there to ask for your help." His tone was dark. I could tell it was a genuine warning. I pulled it from his hand and walked out. 

       I wasn't even sure what was in this file but whatever It was, was worth it. It had to be. I killed a man for it after all.

Part 2 will probably be out tomorrow if not then definitely the day after. Thanks for reading! 💖