#so anyway this is an open blanket statement of permission. do it

[natjennie]

if there's one thing I'm good at it's for coming up with ideas that would make really good fanfics and never ever writing them.

[roosterbruiser]

Okay but as someone w lupus who is not doing too hot rn, I would drop kick someone into the sun for a good blurb of Bradley taking care of me 🫣

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐏𝐮𝐭

𝐚 𝐑𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞

You aren't sleeping very soundly. Try as you might--drawing the curtains closed, putting a pillow over your face, getting under a weighted blanket, playing white noise, turning the fan on high, even putting a few drops of lavender essential oil on your pillow--the deep and all-consuming sleep you crave just isn't coming.

And it isn't just that you can't sleep--it's that you just don't feel good. You're certain you have a low-grade fever, your joints are aching, and you're sluggish.

After trying to be a productive human for a few hours, you decide to just give into the desire to lay down and sleep. Except the closest you come to sleeping is fluttering in and out of awareness with a sudden jolt.

Bradley comes home, lug-sole boots thundering against the entryway tiles, without a care in the world. He tosses his keys in their designated metal bowl with a resounding clang. He's even still crooning some Peter Gabriel song that was playing in the Bronco on his drive home. Needless to say--he seems to be making as much noise as humanly possible, entirely and blissfully unaware of the throb in your temple.

"Baby!" He calls out dramatically, unlacing his shoes and tossing them aside (another bang, bang!). "Where are you? M'gonna explode if I don't kiss you right now!"

Any other day, you'd be elated to hear such a romantic--albeit melodramatic--statement. But right now, your throat is aching and your eyelids are heavy and you're tired in the very marrow in your bones.

He starts for the stairs, still humming loudly along to a song that is just not playing, and calls out your name. You don't have it in you to raise your voice--which is the only way he'd be able to hear you, anyway--so you just wait underneath your pillow and wait for the sound-bomb that is your boyfriend burst through the door.

Burst through he does--letting the door slam against the wall (a habit you are really trying to get him to break seeing as he's put a lock-shaped hole in the wall. He says he just gets too excited and you think it's endearing, but you're also sure that he's getting tired of spackling the same spot every weekend) as he enters the room full of song and cheer.

But then he sees you.

You look just as tired and worn down as you feel; fingers a blue-tint, body covered entirely by the weighted blanket you only break out when he isn't home to lay on top of you, and pillow pressed against your face a tell-tale sign that something isn't right.

"Oh, baby," he whispers softly, immediately hurrying into the bedroom, now mindful of his footfalls. He presses his hands against yours, tutting when he feels how cold your fingers are. "You should've called," he says soberly, stroking the soft skin of your hand with his calloused thumb. "Would've come home, baby."

You groan, shaking your head, unwilling to open your eyes.

"You're government property," you tell him softly, muffled by a mouthful of pillow. "Can't just tell the Navy to give my boyfriend to me for a day."

Even without looking, you know he's grinning. Even as shitty as you feel and you're cracking jokes.

"Don't you know the Navy answers to you, baby?" He chuckles, bending down to press a fleeting kiss to your hand, patting your forearm.

"Hah," you manage dryly.

That's how he knows you really don't feel good--you can't keep riffing with him. His chest is aching just looking down at you. Poor thing, he's thinking.

"Let me tuck you in," he says softly. "Permission to move the pillow?"

You grumble, but shoot him a thumbs up.

It's so bright in the room, even with the curtains closed. You have to blink a few times, squinting up at him. And he's smiling in that soft way, pitying you and loving you all at once. He hates when you're sick more than anything in the world, but boy is it a breath of fresh air just to see that face of yours.

You frown, your cheeks pink.

"Hi," you whisper, voice ragged.

He strokes your hair softly, slyly checking your forehead for a fever. Then he leans down and presses his lips against yours; it's a soft and sweet kiss, one he's been looking forward to all day.

"Hi," he mumbles against your lips. "Y'look beautiful."

You scoff.

"Shut up," you mutter, sighing. "I'm sick."

He kisses you again, nuzzling his nose against yours. He's grinning now.

"And those two things are mutually exclusive?"

You don't have it in you to retort, so you just roll your eyes.

"M'gonna grab a survival kit," he starts, stroking your cheek carefully, noting how pink it is in comparison to the rest of your peaked face. "Don't go anywhere, okay?"

You glare at him--he just can't help himself today, apparently. You have just enough energy to stick your tongue out at him and he walks out of the room chuckling.

He's good at taking care of you--it's because his mom was good at taking care of him when he was sick. She spoiled him and even if he didn't physically feel good, he loved being showered with attention. So he gives you the same treatment. It's not that he likes when you're sick, but he likes to spoil you.

You drift off for the few minutes he's gone and come to as he pads through the door with his arms full. He kneels at your bedside, humming quietly, in full nurse-mode.

"Open," he hums, holding a thermometer to your lips. You comply without a grumble and he pats your cheek. "Should I crush your pills up and hide them in applesauce?" He asks.

You narrow your eyes at him, shaking your head. He has a shit-eating grin spread across his pretty face, chuckling to himself.

You have to admit--he is endearing when he's like this. You know he's only trying to lighten your mood and honestly? It's working. Damn Bradley Bradshaw.

He's humming to himself as he moves to pull the covers up around your feet and slips a pair of fuzzy socks on you. He even leans down and presses a kiss to the top of your socked feet, which would make you gag if it was any other man than Bradley. But that's the thing about Bradley--you were totally and completely in love with him and he returned those feelings tenfold. Hell, he was obsessed with you! There was not even one part on your body he didn't adore, not one state of being that he wasn't enamored with.

He tucks you in with a gentleness only someone as lovely as Bradley could possess. Then he swiftly grabs the thermometer from your lips and reads it with his eyebrows pinched.

"What's the prognosis?" You ask, resting your cheek on your shoulder.

He opens his mouth, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Says you're hot," you and Bradley say in tandem, your tone dripping with faux-mockery and his dripping with genuine charm.

"Am I getting predictable?" He asks, popping a bottle of fever reducer and placing two on your tongue, effectively rendering you wordless again. He holds a straw to your lips and you drink as much as you can before collapsing back into the pillows.

"Only sometimes," you say quietly, eyes growing heavier by the second.

You honestly just feel better in his presence--the ache in your skull dulled by his grin, by his careful touch, by that glimmer in his eyes that makes you gooey inside. So when he kisses your forehead again and tells you that he's going to put some soup on, you are not surprised to feel that tell-tale exhaustion flood you. It's one you can't evade; within minutes, you're slumbering under the blanket he tucked around you, lips wet with icy water, feet warmed by socks he bought for you.

"Nurse Bradley reporting for duty! May I offer you a sponge bath--!"

He stops speaking as soon as he sees your slumbering form.

He isn't gone for very long--maybe fifteen minutes--but when he comes through the bedroom door carrying a tray of chicken noddle soup and saltine crackers and finds you finally resting, he's relieved.

He knew you were tired and he knows how difficult it is for you to sleep when he's not home. He sets the tray down on the bedside table as carefully as he can, quickly stripping to his boxers, climbing onto the bed beside you. You rouse only for a moment as he tangles your limbs in his, tucking your head under his chin, slotting his leg between yours.

But he's quick to press soft kisses to the crown of your head, stroking your hair.

"Shh," he whispers. "S'okay. Just couldn't leave you all by yourself in this big ole bed, baby."

You smile through your exhaustion, wrapping your arms around that warm and taut torso, nuzzling your face in his neck. He smells so good; like the nice soap you buy from his shower this morning, like jet fuel, like salt air. It is a scent that entirely overwhelms you with adoration and comfort.

"You liiike me," you mumble, yawning.

He laughs, kissing you again and again, letting himself get lost in your sweet scent.

"More than that," he whispers. "I love you--so much. Just so, so much."

You're slipping away again, mouth parted, face blanched in the infinite warmth of his tanned skin.

"I love you too," you whisper, muffled by his throat. "Nerd."

His heart is so full right now that he's certain it's going to burst--he loves you more and more every single day. It's something that overwhelms him at times, something that wets his eyes, parts his lips. And right now, with your bodies an endless and intricate pile of flushed and goosed skin, he feels it now. His heart lulled to a steady rhythm that he knows is the cadence of your name, his eyelids heavy with something close to sleepiness, his fingers tingling as they comb through your hair.

Bliss. That's what he's feeling as he holds you, as he thinks about reheating your soup when you wake up, as he mentally marks what time you will need another dose of fever-reducer. Total, absolute bliss.

here is my tag list!!

𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐛, 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧, 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬! 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐲, 𝐉𝐚𝐤𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐛!

[outtoshatter]

20 Questions for fic Writers!

finally getting to the tag games i've been forgetting! thanks for the tag @sugareey-makes-stuff this looks so cute and fun!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Just 93....for now! I have a secret little goal to hit 100 before the end of the year but realistically that probably won't happen.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,864,258! I'd like to hit 2mil eventually :D

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Just Teen Wolf for now! Although I've been trying to get myself to be inspired by others, it's just not happening. Although i finally finished watching Superstore the other day and intensely plotted out a fic that would fill in some missing stuff that was bugging me. but I likely won't do that lmao

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Haaa Son of the Sheriff [Teen Wolf, G, 3k words] Nature of the Beast [Teen Wolf, M, 56k] No Mercy [Teen Wolf, M, 64k] Love Don't Lie [Teen Wolf, T, 2k] Ride with me [Teen Wolf, T, 4k]

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! almost always. sometimes I don't know what to say but I try to respond anyway. I didn't before, at first because when I joined ao3 the authors' whose works I commented on didn't respond so I just thought that was the culture, and then occasionally now because I'm just...very drained from pulling the story out of my head. MOSTLY though I genuinely love talking about my stories with people, especially when they have questions about my worlds; I put a ton of thought and care into my worlds and LOVE when people are interested!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ah...hmm. I don't know! i always aim for happy endings, they bring me the most joy in writing. Uhhh maybe Pulling Strings? It's more open than angsty, buuuut it is less outright happy than my other fics!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

HAPPIEST. That's so hard!! Because see above, all happy endings. I'll say an even tie between The Next Chapter and Fractured Starlight, just going by most recently picked fics!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

klfjsalkfslka I don't know that i'd call it outright hate. but i've gotten some WILD comments before. That were unquestionably FUCKING rude. But i don't know if it counts as hate. I have an entire folder i have named Hall of Shame of some of the worst offenders. It's gotten less bad now that I've archive locked all my fics, which made it so much more fun to post. I think the worst was either the several-paragraphs long, two part comment about how the reader was disappointed in me (??) and just a bunch of other rudeness, OR the person who, after I deleted their comment that pissed me off, pasted their comment back in with a bitchy little addition to let me know they felt entitled to leaving rude stuff on my fic. so i deleted it again c:

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I don't write a lot of it! Definitely not PWP. Just emotion-focused sex scenes if it happens and works for the rest of my plot! it's just not as fun as action scenes for me most of the time c:

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Nope!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I'm hesitant to call it stolen but someone did ask me permission to translate my fic, and I granted it, but they did not link me to it, or even post it on ao3, which bothered me. but i found it. and. they had translated it, sure, but they'd also changed it from a sterek fic....to a Derek x Peter fic. which was. a weird thing to do. that was not what we had agreed upon so i just messaged them mainly asking like. for why.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

LOL. Yes! 4 on ao3, and two out there...on other sites. that was annoying D< I am flattered people wanted to translate my fics! I now have a blanket statement on my profile for this sort of thing, including that I want translations only on ao3, and not posted elsewhere because of...well. #11 lol

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No :c I'd like to try! But i have so many to-write fics!! I have some vague plans for a fic with @dappledawndrawn but like. my list. it's so long. (Also add in my fears that I'd be overbearing or something and i will procrastinate this forever.)

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

I'd have to say sterek lmaooo. I have others I like and even love a whole lot I just haven't become obsessed with finding out how to fit those other ships in a whole bunch of other worlds like I have with sterek. Maybe one day! Mostly they're book ships hahaha

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oh man. ;-; the third of my fairy tale series. I started it like 3 times but could never get it right! i had it all planned out and everything it just would not work. So annoying.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Worldbuilding for sure. Plotting, foreshadowing. Building the tale itself i guess? And action oh man am I obsessed with writing action and I am good at it. I love building worlds, blowing things up, and telling the tale of why, taking the reader on the twisty, interesting, exciting journey to the satisfying conclusion.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Personally, I think I need to work on my descriptions of characters, and tbh I have trouble writing emotional scenes! I'm working on it though.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've done it before! Looking back, I was annoyed at myself xD I mostly now stick to just writing it as regular dialogue, then "-in [x language]" afterward. I don't have anything against it I suppose, but usually it's not really important to the plot to have a single line in a different language than the rest of the fic (special cases happen) so I just don't hahaha

19. First fandom you wrote for?

e.e This question always happens on these things lkfdsalkfjdskaf SIIIGH it was Maximum Ride. c,:

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I am ever proud of Are You Ready? it's my baby, my love, I am so so proud of it and how my writing improved just trying to do justice to that story. So.

Thanks for the tag! Tagging @raisesomehale @rosieposiepuddingnpie @2dents @cephalog0d @halevetica @tkwritesdumbassassins @evanesdust and anyone else who might want to play who i didn't tag lfkjdslakjfs sorry

[epicseptic]

Erseptyl

Ch1 | Where it begins

Word Count 3,573

I haven't continued this au for a long time but I'm ready to get back into it! I'm very out of practice with writing but I guess I have to start somewhere. Thank you @geekyfox2 for helping me out with this!

. . . .

Jackie was used to getting up early in the mornings. He ran the only horse stable in all of town which was fully open to the community. People who traveled in and out of town to deliver parcels or explore the city often left their horses in his care so that they could take care of their business or so that they could spend the night at one of the many inns without worrying about their steeds' wellbeing. It was a never ending job but Jackie loved it. He loved working with the noble stallions and tending to their every need. It had always brought him a warm sense of joy and purpose to serve his community.

It used to be such a delightful job…

Things just hadn't been the same as they were in the past. The town used to be absolutely bustling with vendors beckoning on the side of the roads. Travelers from faraway villages toured the sights and shopped for souvenirs while children ran and laughed in the streets.

It used to be such a lively and welcoming place to be, but there was none of that now. Ever since the prince had suddenly vanished 3 years ago.

No one knew what happened to him. They were all told that the prince was tragically killed in the night, but they were never told how. Neither was there ever a body to bury. There was no evidence of a murder either but what were they supposed to believe?

The royal bloodline was destroyed and the throne was quickly succeeded by the second in command to the prince, and he was an awful man. Because of him, no one dared step foot outside anymore. Not unless they absolutely had to anyway.

People still worked their jobs but the streets weren't as lively or populated as they used to be. Businesses were failing due to the lack of customers and there were no more tourists to bring them their business. Only few people visited the town now, but only if they were permitted by the king to bring trades to supply the shops. Nothing more, nothing less.

In fact, by order of the new king, no resident of the city was even allowed to leave the city walls unless they were given royal permission. Failure to abide by his rules would lead to an unrecoverable punishment. More often than not, that punishment was served with death. 

That's right. Anti had everyone in town wrapped around his little finger. To him, they were nothing more than pawns on a chessboard. They were just his tools to provide for him and his ultimate goal to expand his empire with the threat of war.

Ever since he came into power… It seemed as though life had literally been sucked away from the town.

Jackie still tended to the stables despite it all, but there really wasn't much to do anymore. The only horses he had left were his own, his brother's, and the kind old blacksmith down the road. Unfortunately, no travelers meant no horses, and that meant no income. Nobody had need for a stable anymore, not even the king. The selfish prick…

"It's just another quiet day, isn't it Sam?" Jackie was gently brushing through his steed's shiny, brown coat while the horse himself munched away at a pile of hay. The little glutton practically ignored his master's statement but then again, it wasn't like he was going to respond with words or anything. Jackie simply sighed in response to the silence.

The day really was quiet. It always was. It didn't help that the air was always so crisp and chilly, and the sky was always covered by a gloomy blanket of clouds. It made everything feel so… empty. It's like the earth itself was mourning. Kind of like a dry, lifeless tree in the middle of a scorched, vacant field. Colorless and gray…

It was depressing to say the least and even though he tried not to let it get to him, he couldn't stand this feeling anymore. Every day he was walking on glass shards and he was tired. Tired of feeling like a caged bird. Did anyone else around him even feel this way? He solemnly looked to the ground and sighed.

"Things really aren't what they used to be-"

"Mornin' bro!" Jackie felt an abrupt slap on his back, interrupting his private heart to heart with his horse. The scare caused him to drop the brush in his hand and he quickly whipped his head around to find Angus walking behind him.

"Oh… hey," Awkwardly, he offered his brother a friendly smile.

"Hey, Sam is looking pretty good there," Angus remarked, nodding his head in the horse's direction. He turned his attention to the horse in the next aisle over with a beautiful white and tan pattern. "Huh. So is Patches… Did you fix her up already?" He seemed genuinely astonished at how quickly his brother was able to get everything done. 

"Yep, I'm pretty much done with everything here. I fed the horses, cleaned their hooves, fixed their shoes, brushed their manes and coats-"

"Geez!" Angus interrupted. "Save some work for the rest of us! How are you gonna get through the rest of the day without crashing?" He gave a light-hearted chuckle and ruffled up his brother's hair, earning a frustrated growl from him.

"Heh, I think I'll manage," he said plainly as he ran his fingers through his hair to smooth out the now messy strands. "Think we should start heading over to Shawn's right about now?"

"Might as well. It's still early but it's not like there's much else to do." He suggested rather calmly.

Shawn had been a good friend of theirs ever since they moved into town. He ran his own general store and had been incredibly successful ever since he opened his doors. When they had first met Shawn, his store was being robbed by a couple of outlaws.

At the time, Jackie and Angus had only been living in town for about a month and were on their way to do their weekly supply run when they saw people screaming and running away from the shop's front doors. Without hesitation, the two of them rushed in and drew their weapons, ready for confrontation.

When they entered, four men were haggling and threatening poor Shawn to hand over his coins, pointing daggers to his face and blocking any possible escape. The pair split up the group and swiftly tied them up, turning them over to the authorities and overall earning the shop owner's respect.

Shawn wasn't always the best at communicating his emotions, but the pair knew he was grateful nonetheless. After that whole fiasco, they were always more than welcome to come by the shop for anything.

In fact, ever since the stable's business began to falter, Shawn kindly offered his friends a job to earn some extra money. It was such a kind thing for him to do, especially since his own income took a bit of a fall itself.

The shop wasn't far; just up the road from the stables and up a small set of stairs next to a soup kitchen. It was only about a ten minute walk to get there and the brothers chatted amongst themselves the whole way. 

"Hmm… You think we should make a casserole for dinner?" Jackie asked, looking straight up at the cloudy sky above. He was almost trying to make their schedule sound busier than it really was.

"Sounds good to me!"

"Pfft, everything sounds good to you. You eat like a hog-" Jackie jested.

"Not true! I don't eat asparagus. It's disgusting-"

His defensive response made him chuckle. "For being the older one, I think you're being a little dramatic. But whatever, I won't put any asparagus in the casserole-"

"Shhh-" He suddenly ordered, putting his hand out in front of Jackie, signaling him to zip it.

All joking suddenly stopped and Jackie focused his attention forward. In front of them were two guards performing their daily patrols. Their uniforms were an ashy shade of black and their eyes, as usual, were hidden by their hoods. They were faceless; like they were purely made from shadows. One thing was for sure, they didn't feel human.

Hundreds of these guys suddenly showed up when the new king had come into power. They appeared from nowhere but they carried out every one of the King's sinister desires. They enforced every outrageous law and detained anyone who merely looked at them wrong.

THEY were the reason the streets were empty. It was because of them no one dared to leave their homes unless it was absolutely necessary for survival.

Jackie knew better than to look into their eyes - if they even HAD eyes anyway. The two soldiers were walking in their direction, heading down the path they just came from. Jackie kept his mouth shut and stared at the road ahead of him and Angus did the same. However, Jackie could feel the weight of their gaze on him and just as their shoulders had passed each other, his eyes couldn't help but dart up to catch a glimpse of the soldier closest to them.

The man was looking directly at him and his breath hitched in his throat when he met his cold eyes. For a short moment, he waited for that dreaded call to halt and stay where he was, but thankfully the soldiers ignored him without a single word.

He sighed with relief before flinching at the sound of Angus' subtle tone.

"Never know what will get you in trouble these days…" He took a peek behind him to give a disgusted glare at the men walking away from them before turning his head back around.

Jackie watched him and silently agreed. At this point, if even one thing was out of place, you could easily be arrested or fined. It was unfair, yes, but that was how they liked it. The soldiers wanted a reaction out of people - to hear them plead for mercy - so that they could arrest them for being disorderly. It was entertainment for them…

With a shake of his head, he pushed those bitter thoughts away from his mind. It was too early to be tiptoeing around these assholes. He just really didn't want to think about it right now. "C'mon, we're almost to Shawn's. Let's just go…"

—

The door to the general store swung open and the sound of a brass bell rang to alert the shop owner of a customer.

Shawn turned his head to glance at the door from behind the counter where he was unpacking some boxes.

"Well you guys sure are early," he remarked, stopping to reach below the counter for another, rather large, box. "Your shifts don't start for another couple of hours."

"Eh, business at the stables is slow as ever. We decided to make ourselves useful over here," Angus fidgeted with a price tag on a jar of raisins that was sitting on a shelf.

"Don't touch that, you'll break it."

"Whoops-" he quickly let go of it per the shopkeeper's request, not even questioning how Shawn knew he was touching it when he was crouched down behind the counter. "Sorry."

Jackie on the other hand snickered at the nervous look on his brother's face.

"Well, in other words, I'm actually glad you guys are here-" Shawn called out from behind the counter, standing up and heaving a heavy crate onto the counter with a loud thud. "I finally got a new shipment and it's a rather large one. I need you guys to help me stock the shelves."

Jackie instinctively walked to the counter and started picking apart the contents of the box. "Are these all just fruits? Don't you need other stuff too?"

"Oh trust me, there's about a dozen more crates in the back." The shop was in dire need of a restock indeed and Shawn had been waiting at least a month for this shipment. He'd requested an order for fruits, spices, bread, candy… Everything a general store should have and it seemed like he finally received all he'd been waiting for. "Well, it looks like we've got a long day of sorting ahead of us. On your feet, get started!"

—

The day dragged on and on until the sun was beginning to set behind the horizon. Angus continued tidying up and sorting the merchandise on the shelves while Jackie carefully swept up the dirt tracked onto the wooden floors.

Business was no better, with only a handful of customers coming in to shop. Shawn stood by the counter where he added up the store's weekly earnings. Suddenly, his voice broke the silence.

"Ugh, I tell you, this shop isn't going to last another month at this rate." He dropped a handful of coins onto the counter out of frustration. The sound of small metal coins against the wood counter startled the other two men from their concentration.

"Well, there's not much else we can do about it." Angus was the first to speak up with a dismissive shrug. "Unless, of course, you would rather complain to the king and let his men dismember you." He was being a bit spiteful but Shawn seemed to take it in a totally different direction.

"Hah, how much do you think each appendage would go for? 50 shillings?" Shawn laughed, genuinely intrigued by Angus's sarcasm.

"Do you really think you are worth that much? Sounds narcissistic if you ask me."

Jackie quietly listened on to their conversation, sweeping away at the dirt that was caught between the floorboards, not really engaging in their spiteful exchange.

"You are right, Angus. Perhaps the king would rather display my mug on his mantle!"

He stopped sweeping and grimaced at the awful image of it.

"Please, that honor probably belongs to the prince, dude."

His blood suddenly ran cold at the mention and his grip on the broom tightened.

"I'll admit, you may be right. I mean, as much as you'd like to pretend, he's sure not in the dirt-"

"Shut up!" Jackie's voice suddenly interrupted their incessant, insensitive joking. They hadn't noticed his expression until they heard him interject. He was trembling and he dropped the broom he was holding onto the floor. "I cannot believe you guys would joke about this! How tone-deaf can you be!?"

After years of suffering in this tyranny, he felt his quiet, brave demeanor beginning to crack. He had suffered quietly for so long but he couldn't bite his tongue anymore. Not at this. He'd reached his boiling point.

Angus was shocked to say the least. He'd never seen an outburst like this come from his brother before and he was instantly concerned. "Whoa, we didn't mean any harm. It's just… We just thought cracking some jokes would be a good way to lighten the mood."

"Don't you think you went a little too far!? Do you not see the hell we are living in? Does it mean nothing to you!?"

"Jackie, calm down. We have been living this way for years now. Don't you think it's time to move forward? Stop grieving over what happened and accept that we are in the shit?" Shawn tried to reason with him, but Angus quickly noticed that his tone was too harsh.

"Now wait a minute, Shawn. Jackie, you know he doesn't mean-"

"How can you be so insensitive! How can you so easily move on when our people are being oppressed and murdered in the streets!?" He balled his hands into fists. He couldn't control his frustration; he was so disgusted at how they could mention the prince's name like this. "And the prince? The prince was a symbol of our freedom! Don't you dare speak ill of him!"

"Is that the problem? Jackie, the prince is dead, gone just like the king and queen. I'm sure he doesn't care what I say about him." He had a very calm expression on his face. It was like he was stone. How could he be so cold toward their situation? "Look, I am just saying, the sooner you stop caring about the past, the sooner you can move on and ignore it." 

Shawn really wasn't one to sugarcoat his words… But it wasn't something Jackie could accept. He would never, ever forget that day… The day all of the townspeople were called to the main square where the horrific, life changing news was broken.

—

The morning was particularly cloudy. So much so, it hardly seemed like the sun had even risen. The bells tolled, ringing loudly and calling everyone to gather in the square for an important announcement.

It was Anti himself that stood upon the center pedestal with a couple of bodyguards at his sides. He wasn't even phased when he spoke the words. Like he felt no emotion at all…

Jackie remembered every word of his speech.

"Good people of Erseptyl, I bring you solemn news today. It pains me to tell you that the young prince is no longer with us. It is truly a tragedy that we should lose the last remnant of our beloved royal family at such a crucial time-"

Upon hearing the news, pained cries of grief and panic erupted from the crowd. Jackie could remember his heart dropping when he learned of the prince's fate. Over the sound of people wailing and screaming, Anti had to raise his voice to continue.

"Yes, a truly sad time this is for all of us. But fear not, good people. You will not be without a guide, for I have a solution for you. From this moment on, as the late prince's royal advisor and second in command to the throne, I will be taking on the burden of being your King…"

Was he allowed to do that? Could he really just claim the throne like this? Weren't there rules for situations like this?

No one had the courage to question him. They were all stricken with grief and fear. They couldn't speak. All they could do was cry and murmur to each other about what they were going to do next.

Jackie didn't have the courage to ask either. Even his normally fearless brother had an empty, thoughtless look in his eye as he stared down at the ground in horror.

It was so unreal, you could mistake it all for a joke. Just a cruel prank that went a little too far.

Everything became all too real when hundreds of guards began flooding the streets and lowering the kingdom's flags from their poles. Oh gods. They were serious…

The entire bloodline… Gone.

"I have worked alongside both the late King and the Prince. I know the ins and outs of this kingdom and I know, better than anyone, how to lead this kingdom down the path of its true potential."

It was unthinkable. How did this happen? Why? Why all of a sudden?

It was all happening too fast! Just slow down, please!

"Believe in me and I promise you, you will never know a ruler quite like me…"

No, it was a lie. This was fake; a setup. His words were so sinister… Something was wrong. This didn't just happen!

It's too late to ask questions…

—

"Do you not remember just how beloved he was? He was the kindest, most fair ruler we'd ever had…" He spoke fondly of the old days, but his tone was twisted with heartbreak. Kind of like being homesick…

Shawn simply shook his head and sighed. "Why do you care so much about the prince all of a sudden?"

"All of a sudden…?" He was shocked. How could they no longer care!? "This is nothing new, Shawn! Did you never question it? The prince's sudden disappearance? The sudden rise to power? Did you not see something wrong with it? Or do you just fail to care…" His tone only became more and more bitter while he glared in Shawn's direction.

"Listen to me. You are stuck in the past. I do not question it because it will fix nothing. The prince is dead. Move on. I have and I'm doing just swell." He was genuinely trying to reason with him.

Angus watched them from the sidelines, arguing back and forth while they glared intently at each other. "Uh, guys… Let's just change the subject-" He wanted to be the peacemaker, but neither of them would listen.

"You know what, Shawn? You want to live in this hell hole? Be my guest, but you can do it without my friendship." That was it. Shawn was never going to listen and he was only wasting his breath on him.

With that, Jackie kicked the discarded broom across the floor, its long handle bumping into one of the shelves with a loud crack. He stomped his way to the door and pushed it open, but he stopped for a moment to say one more thing.

"I do not care what you think, but Anti will never be my king, and if I ever find a way out of this shit, I'm taking it. With, or without you guys." With that said, he let the door swing shut behind him, leaving his brother and a very confused shopkeeper to finish the shift all on their own.

[k-evans-reads]

Playing With Fire

Chapter 2

We do NOT give permission for our works to be reuploaded, translated, or reposted on any other site. Our work is our own. 

Summary: After a change of heart nearly ten years into her career as a pediatric intensive care unit nurse, Ellie Maxwell has moved back home and returned to her old job at the local bakery, where the regulars are the firefighters from down the street. When sparks begin to fly between Ellie and the guarded, closed-off Chris, will anything come of it?

Pairing: Firefighter!Chris Evans X OFC Elizabeth “Ellie” Maxwell

Word Count: 4,836

By: @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour

Warnings: None.

Previous | Main Masterlist | Playing With Fire Masterlist

A soft groan came out of Chris’ lips when he felt himself slowly waking up. He couldn’t even be bothered to open his eyes, just letting his body adjust to the morning. He felt the soft blankets and his comfortable bed and the feeling of sunlight coming through to warm the bare skin on his chest, but it was only a moment later that he finally figured out how he had woken up. 

“Daddy! Daddy are you sleeping?” He knew who the owner of the tiny voice was without even opening his eyes but that was done for him when he felt her little hand on his face, her thumb pulling open his eyelid as she said louder, “Daddy!” 

“What is it, Hazel?” He asked, his voice rough as he rolled his shoulders, feeling the tense muscles in his twenty-eight-year-old body relax with the action, before he turned his head to look at the curly-haired girl grinning at him. 

“Dodger is hungry!” The tiny voice squeaked, the bed bouncing as the four-year-old clambered to the end of the bed, sprawling on her stomach next to the dog. 

He chuckled, head tilting as he watched the pair while he raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh Dodger’s hungry? Or is it you that’s hungry?” 

“We’re both hungry!” She giggled, rolling back over to look at him, her frizzy curls bouncing as she did. A mischievous look spread across her face before she added, “And Mommy promised you’d make French toast for me!” 

“Mommy told you that?” He asked her, before he sat up and reached for his phone, thumbing through the notifications before he dropped it on the bed as he looked back at Hazel. 

“Uh-huh,” she grinned, before her face fell and she whined, “I’m hungryyyyy!” 

“Okay we’ll make some French toast, but that means no chocolate milk,” Chris sighed, climbing out of bed and reaching for the t-shirt resting on top of his dresser, pulling it on quickly before he glanced over his shoulder at his daughter. 

A pout appeared on her tiny face, Chris smiling instinctively before she asked, “Why not?” 

“Because French toast is sweet enough already so you can have one or the other, not both though,” he sighed, leaning over to scratch Dodger as he pushed Hazel back lightly against the bed, making her giggle loudly again. 

“That’s no fun,” she sighed, but the smile on her face betrayed her as she tried to remain annoyed with him.

“Well would it be fun to have all your teeth fall out from too much sugar? Huh?” 

“They fall out anyways, daddy,” she informed him with a scowl, Chris huffing out a breath of laughter at the matter-of-fact statement that was technically correct.

“You still aren’t getting any chocolate milk,” he replied instantly, before he turned and told Hazel to hop on, leading Dodger and carrying Hazel out of the bedroom. He paused along the way, setting Hazel down before he let Dodger outside into the backyard, the chilly upstate New York morning making the early wintertime known. He watched the dog for a moment through the glass door, and once he was sure nothing could go wrong he turned back around and headed into the kitchen to make them breakfast, just as Hazel reached him. 

He lifted Hazel onto the counter, sitting her down a safe distance from the stove as he cracked two eggs into the bowl, quickly washing his hands before he began whisking it together in the cinnamon, milk, vanilla, and salt mixture. “Remember you’re going to Nana’s today, right?” He asked Hazel, watching her carefully as she swung her legs back and forth excitedly, watching his hands before her wide brown eyes moved to look at his. 

Her tiny brows furrowed as her lower lip stuck out again, Hazel asking, “How come I won’t be with you?” 

“Because I’m helping at the toy drive we’re having at the station, remember?” 

“Can’t I come with you?” She asked again, Chris sighing as he dunked some bread into the mixture before he placed them on the griddle. They’d had this conversation multiple times over the last week so that she’d be prepared for this, Hazel not liking it when he left her when it was her time with Chris. 

“Well you can but it would be kind of boring for you so you’ll have a lot more fun at Nana’s house,” he began, placing the fork back into the bowl as he moved to stand in front of Hazel, his arms caging her in. 

One of her small hands moved to play with the silver chain of his necklace from where it rested over his shirt, quietly asking him, “Are you going to be gone all day?” 

“Nope, you and I will be together tonight,” he reassured her, before he reached over and flipped the toast and turned his attention back to Hazel, running a hand over her curls on his way to let Dodger inside as he smiled, promising, “I’ll bring you home some cookies and we’ll watch a movie tonight, okay? I’ll get pizza on my way to get you from Nana. It’ll be like when I get you from Mommy’s house around dinnertime some nights.” 

Hazel nodded, glancing down before he moved back to stand in front of the stove, moving the toast onto a plate and cutting it up for her. He knew she was used to this, it had been her life for nearly two-and-a-half years now. She was nothing if not resilient, and she proved that to him every single day. “Can we watch Little Mermaid?” She asked, a tiny grin on her face when he turned to look at her, a matching smile on his own.

“Whatever you want, honey,” he agreed, before he placed her on his hip, one hand holding her plate, and led her over to the table, sitting her down. He grabbed the syrup out of the fridge and poured her a cup of regular milk before he lightly shoved her head with a smile, Hazel laughing as he told her, “Now eat your breakfast and go grab your backpack then we’ll head to Nana’s house.” 

Doing as he asked, she slowly ate her breakfast, dropping a few pieces to the happy dog circling her before she hurried off to her room to pack up the toys she wanted while Chris took a shower and changed into a sweater and khaki pants before going out to the living room where Hazel was busy trying to put her headband on Dodger. 

“Alright, ready to go Hazel Bo Basil?” He clapped his hands, laughing to himself as he watched her try to shove the headband on Dodger a final time before she gave up.

“Yeah, I got my toys!” She told Chris with a smile, pointing over to her tiny backpack, which seemed to be packed full of her things.

“Then c’mon, half pint. Let’s go get you dressed and head to Nana’s house,” he said, jerking his head towards Hazel’s room and holding out his hand to her. 

Chris snickered as she skipped off ahead of him while Dodger trotted by her side as they headed to her room, getting her changed before heading out to the car. It didn’t take them long to arrive at his childhood home, walking into the front door and calling out, “Hey Ma, it’s us!” 

“Nana! Where are you?!” Hazel cried, tearing off through the house, head spinning as she tried to look for her beloved Nana. 

“I’m here, sweet pea,” Lisa called back, Hazel bounding into the kitchen followed by Chris. He smiled as he watched Hazel hug his mother, leaning against the doorway as he observed the pair. Lisa squeezed her granddaughter tightly, but pulled back to tell her, “Guess what though? I have a brand new doll house up in the playroom that I think needs some attention.” 

“Ma, you spoil her way too much,” Chris shook his head, watching as Hazel gasped and turned, heading into the playroom. 

“I’m a grandma, that’s my job,” she waved a hand, scoffing at Chris as he stepped further into the room, coming to sit at the large island. “Besides, I got all of Carly’s kids just as many things so don’t feel bad.” 

“Well with a new dollhouse waiting, I think she’ll have more fun here than at home,” he chuckled, leaning back to glance in the playroom across the hall, smiling faintly as he could barely see Hazel but could hear her playing happily. He dropped her backpack on the island before he looked at his mother, telling her, “Thanks again for taking her for the day.” 

“It’s no problem, you know I love to get to spend time with Hazel,” she reassured Chris, running a hand over his shoulder as she walked by him to move Hazel’s bag and hang it on the hook by the backdoor. 

“I thought about telling Ashlee she could keep her for the day and I’d just come pick her up afterwards but I already only get half the week with her anyway so I hate giving up any of my time,” Chris admitted, frowning to himself as he stared at the countertop in front of him. 

“Well I’m happy to get to have her,” Lisa chuckled, before she waved a hand and told him, “Now head to your toy drive, don’t worry about anything here.” 

“Alright but don’t give her too much candy, Ma. I’m going to bring home some cookies from the bakery,” Chris sighed, grabbing his keys from where he’d dropped them on the island earlier, standing up and glancing into the playroom again, standing on his toes to sneak a peek at Hazel playing happily. 

“Carly mentioned she stopped in there and there was a new girl,” Lisa mentioned quietly as she walked him to the door, adding, “Apparently she’s been making some really good stuff. The kids are obsessed with her cupcakes.” 

“Oh yeah, her name is Ellie. I’ve talked to her a couple times… she’s nice,” he shrugged, jaw set a bit before he chuckled, “She’s no Dottie though.” 

 “Should I be worried that you’re more interested in a woman in her 70’s than a pretty young nice girl?” 

“I’m not interested in anyone, Ma. That’s pretty much the last thing on my mind,” he admitted with a huff, leaning his hip against the table in the entryway as he looked at his mother. 

“Maybe it shouldn’t be,” she told him quietly, a single eyebrow raised as she looked at him. “I mean, it’s been over two years since your divorce and you pretty much just work and spend time with Hazel.” 

He sighed again, shaking his head as his jaw clenched and he looked at the ground. “I know but, I don’t know, bringing someone into Hazel’s life is a big step,” he said, knowing it was something he had to approach extremely delicately, even if that wasn’t the whole truth as to why he was so closed off to the idea. 

“Well I know Ashlee has dated around quite a bit,” Lisa muttered, Chris nodding, knowing she was right about that. 

But before she could speak up again, he mentioned, “She hasn’t had any of them around Hazel though. That was the condition of our divorce is nobody spending the night while Hazel is in the house and nobody being introduced to Hazel unless it’s a serious relationship.” 

Lisa reached out, placing a hand on his arm as she quietly asked, “But how is anyone going to make it to ‘serious’ if you aren’t open to it?” 

“I don’t know Ma, it’s just not my priority right now,” he cut her off, before he clenched his jaw again in frustration and then took a deep breath to calm himself down. He quietly told her, “I need to get to the toy drive but I’ll see you later.” 

“Alright, have a good time,” she nodded, squeezing his arm before she dropped her hand from it. 

“Bye Hazel Basil! I’ll be back soon, okay? I love you, sweetheart,” he called, brows raised as he waited for a response. 

She didn’t disappoint, Chris able to perfectly picture her head tilted back all the way while she yelled out, “Okay! Bye Daddy! Love you!” Chris shared a grin with Lisa, both shaking their heads before he slipped out the front door, tightening his black jacket over himself as he quickly walked back to his car and headed to the fundraiser. 

He watched from the bay doors of the station as a car pulled into the lot, Ellie climbing out before she pulled out cookie boxes, stacking them on the trunk of her car quickly to get out of the cold. Chris jogged over, seeing Ellie pause as the sound of his footsteps on the pavement echoed and smiled gratefully when Chris appeared with a grin on his face, coming to a stop in front of her as he asked, “Need a hand?” 

“If you don’t mind, that actually would be great,” she admitted, stepping aside as Chris moved to stand next to her, leaning down to pull more out of her car. 

Chris leaned down, expecting to see only one or two more boxes in her car but was met with several, frozen in shock at the variety of cookies that he could see. “Holy shit, are all these boxes full of the treats for the toy drive?” He asked, turning his head with a shocked expression on his face and his jaw dropped. “I thought we said enough for around fifty people?” 

She smiled sheepishly at him, shrugging as she bit her lower lip and avoided his eyes, busying herself with balancing the few boxes she had on top of each other. “I know, but I just wanted to make sure there were options and enough for all the families of the kids too,” she confessed.

“Well I know none of the guys will be upset about having some extras,” he reassured her, straightening up when he had balanced his stack and turning to her with a small grin as he added, “Thanks again for coming to help today. We all really appreciate it.” 

She assured him it was no problem as she followed him inside of the fire station and into the hall where they were hosting the fundraiser, Chris leading her to a table for the cookies and helping her organize them onto the trays, easily taking her directions in displaying the individually-wrapped cookies.

Chris lost track of him at some point between the cookie organizing and the fundraiser starting, possibly when he left to put the cookie boxes in a different room. At one point he wandered over to Mark, following him to their station, and before he knew it, they were knee-deep in gift wrapping the donated gifts for the foster kids. 

He slipped out of his folding chair a few hours in, making his way across the room to Ellie’s table with a small grin, tucking his hands in his pockets. He watched her smile easily at the others, her blonde hair tucked behind her ears while she worked. Chris felt drawn to her in a new way, and for the first time in nearly six years. It almost scared him, the attraction catching him off guard, the feeling of something inside of him stirring just by looking at her. He didn’t realize he was staring until Ellie happened to glance up, catching his eye and smiling over at him, making the feeling swirl inside him that he hadn’t felt in so many years. 

 “Looks like this table is getting a little swamped,” he called out, Ellie turning her head back to her gifts with a slightly-frazzled smile and looking away from Chris’ eyes. “Guess you didn’t realize what you were getting into when you offered to help, huh?” 

“Are you kidding? Spending an afternoon wrapping Christmas presents for kids is pretty much a dream come true,” she laughed, ripping off a piece of tape and keeping her attention on the present.

“No offense Ellie, but it sounds like you should aim a little higher,” Chris tried to playfully scoff with a smirk, coming over to sit down in the empty chair next to her and getting to work on wrapping another gift, Chris watching her out of the corner of his eye as he carefully cut a piece of wrapping paper from the roll. 

She shrugged, pursing her lips as she folded the paper at the ends. “Maybe,” she admitted. 

“Everyone loved the cake you made for the chief. It was a big hit this week,” Chris told her, foot tapping nervously before he saw Ellie smiling instinctively at the easy compliment, Chris feeling warmed by that grin.

She turned her head to look at him, giving Chris a small smile as she said, “I’m glad it was. With how many of the guys from this fire station have come in since I started working just raving about Dottie and how much they adore her, I thought there may be a riot when they found out I was baking it and not her.” 

“Well once we all tasted it, I think you won all of us over,” Chris laughed, the sound echoing through the wide space. “How has your first week at the bakery been?” 

“Really good. I always love spending time with Dottie so that’s been nice,” Ellie replied as she finished wrapping the gift, putting it in the pile on the floor next to the table before she reached for another one, settling into wrapping again. 

Chris looked at her for a moment, finding a hint of insincerity in her voice, knowing there must be more emotions behind her decision to move but ignored it, instead commenting, “You mentioned before that this wasn’t the first time working at the bakery, right?” 

With a nod, she recalled, “Yeah I worked at the bakery in high school a bit and then in my first couple years of college before going to New York City and working. That turned out to be a bust so now I’m back here,” before she paused, shrugging as her cheeks turned pink. “Dottie always reminded me I had a job if I wanted one so I took her up on it.” 

“What turned out to be a bust in New York? Was it the fact your roommates were all rats? Or the fact you had to go to sleep to the sound of sirens?” Chris asked her, attempting to get a little laugh out of her, despite a hint of curiosity in his voice when he did so. 

She shrugged, a frown on her face as she cut the paper from the roll and carefully began folding it over the packaged toy. “More like the fact I was a nurse and wouldn’t admit it was the wrong career for me until a few months ago,” she admitted to him with a humorless chuckle. 

“Well all of us around here are pretty glad you decided to come because those new iced shortbread cookies you make are in all of my dreams now,” Chris chuckled, the low voice rumbling as he watched Ellie turn to sneak a peek at his finished present. “What’s that look for?” 

“Who the hell taught you how to wrap?” She asked, jaw dropping as she looked over the gift. 

“I thought I was doing a pretty good job!” He replied indignantly, turning his eyes to the gift and inspecting it more.

“That’s what I mean! It’s so good!” She told him in shock, shaking her head as she compared her own presents to his, muttering, “Now mine look like garbage compared to yours.” 

“Well it’s not like they can fire you when you’re doing it for free,” Chris countered, a small chuckle bubbling out of him as he added his own to the pile of completed gifts.  

“I seriously need to take some lessons from whoever taught you to wrap,” Ellie said quietly, watching him carefully as he got to work on the next gift, his pale cheeks tinted pink.

“There’s a lot of little kids in my family so I’ve had a lot of practice,” he tried to play it off, even though he knew the real reason was because of the years of presents for Hazel, shrugging sheepishly and avoiding both her eyes and the truth as they both focused on the fundraiser’s goal and wrapped the gifts quietly. 

Chris expected a silence to fall over them, both of them just focusing on wrapping the huge pile of gifts but it surprised him when the conversation kept flowing, Ellie asking him about the fundraiser and bringing up Chris easily sharing memories from some of the other ones, including when he dressed up like Santa to hand out gifts for the kids. He surprised even himself when he just kept talking. Because of what had gone on in his life, his number one priority was Hazel. He wanted to give her a good life, protect her, and shield her from the hurt he’d always caused with his and Ashlee’s divorce. Because of this, he had put up walls and it never had been easy for him to actually share with a stranger so quickly, but here he was, chatting away with Ellie, their conversation kept going so effortlessly until they had finished the entire pile of gifts and had them neatly stacked and all wrapped. 

“I thought we were going to be here forever wrapping those,” Chris sighed, leaning back in his seat as he raised his arms above his head, stretching his muscles from a long day of wrapping the gifts. 

A laugh came out of Ellie as she did the same, checking her watch. “Well, it has been almost three hours,” she told him quietly. 

“Shit, are you serious?” 

Chris almost didn’t believe the time as he looked at his phone, wondering how that much time could have passed. He normally was so reserved… so guarded around other people but he thought he had a good reason. Most people in his life were either in his inner circle and extremely close to him or were people he just had more surface interactions with, there wasn’t much in-between. His past and his life with Hazel was something he was protective of, making him usually have a wall up when meeting new people, which is why he didn’t understand how he had ended up talking so easily for the past three hours. He didn’t understand what it was about her that put him at ease, but the idea almost frightened him, making him clam up a bit as he stood there looking at her kind face. 

“I didn’t realize how late it was, I need to get going,” Chris told her quickly, standing up and glancing around the room for his jacket, luckily finding it hanging on its usual hook on the wall. 

“Fun plans tonight?” Ellie called innocently as she followed him, grabbing her own coat from the hook next to his. 

At the thought of snuggling on the couch with his sweet daughter, his face betrayed him and he smiled from ear to ear saying, “Just some plans with family, but I’m bringing the pizza so there will be an uproar if I don’t come on time.” 

And Chris knew that was true that his sassy little daughter would be extremely unhappy if didn’t keep his promise so with a swift goodbye to Ellie and a couple of cookies in a bag for Hazel, he walked out to his car to go pick up the promised pizza and drive back to his mother’s house. 

He’d barely stepped inside of his childhood home when he saw Hazel bouncing excitedly, running up to him once the door shut behind Chris as she yelled, “DADDY!” 

“There’s my girl!” He grinned, wrapping his arms around her as she hugged his legs. He crouched down to her level, eyes moving over her happy face as he asked, “How was your day with Nana?” 

Chris listened intently as she launched into a long story, her brown eyes getting big while she listed everything that her and his mother did that day. By the time Hazel finished, she was almost out of breath, making Chris laugh as she took another big breath and asked, “Daddy, did you bring pizza?!” 

“You bet I did, it’s in the car,” he chuckled, nodding his head over to the well-loved playroom as he asked, “Why don’t you go clean up the toys and then we’ll go, okay?” 

“But I-”

“No buts, go clean up the toys and then we’ll go watch our movie,” he instructed, watching as a pout settled on her lips and she stayed quiet for a moment. 

When Hazel let out a little sigh and trudged out of the room, Chris and Lisa couldn’t help but share a look, silently laughing at her dramatic antics before they heard her putting all the toys back in the box. As she was cleaning up, Chris walked over to grab a glass and fill it up with water as Lisa took a seat at the barstool across from him, giving Chris a quizzical look. 

He ignored it for a moment and instead just told her, “Thanks for watching her Ma, I didn’t realize it would take that long.” 

“Yeah I was kind of surprised you didn’t text me, you must have been really busy,” Lisa commented, leaning an elbow on the countertop as she looked at him. 

“We were, there were a ton of gifts to wrap which is great, but it took a while,” he shrugged, not particularly wanting to give away the fact he’d been so easily talking with Ellie all afternoon, pausing to take a sip of water before he added, “But Ellie was saying that-”

“Ellie?” Lisa asked, her eyebrows raising in surprise. “You didn’t mention she was going to be there.” 

“Yeah she offered to help,” he shrugged, brows furrowing slightly as he paused before he shook his head, not wanting to give his brain time to think about that strong attraction he felt to her or how he’d caught himself looking her up and down more than once during the day, instead just continuing, “Anyway, Ellie was saying that she wants to take gift wrapping lessons from whoever taught me so apparently you’ve taught me well.” 

Lisa laughed, nodding knowingly as she said, “It’s having all the kids that make you have a lot of practice.” 

“That’s what I told her,” Chris laughed, smiling.

Lisa smiled back before she was quiet for a moment, tapping her nails on the countertop before she asked, “...Did you tell her about Hazel?” 

“What? No,” he replied quickly, looking at her in confusion as that guard he had became evident again. “Why would I have told her about Hazel?” 

"Because she’s your daughter and that’s a normal thing to bring up in conversation, especially if you’re interested in someone,” Lisa told him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, despite Chris not even being on the same page as her. 

“Ma, I don’t know if I’m interested in her. I barely know her,” he sighed, placing the glass down on the counter.

“Well maybe you should make an effort to get to know her,” she suggested, just as Hazel came running back into the kitchen.

He smiled at Hazel happily as she came to a stop in front of him, grateful for the interruption as she told him she was ready to go home. After hugs and kisses from both of them to Lisa, they headed home, Chris looking forward to getting to spend time with his favorite girl together on the couch, something that felt like a rarity these days as Hazel got more and more energetic. These were the moments he loved, just getting to hang out with his precious daughter, but as she fell asleep curled up against him, his brain started to drift. He thought about the days during the week that he didn’t have Hazel and how lonely he was. But if he was being honest, he even felt lonely sometimes when she was here. He craved that family life, the one he knew never really existed even when Hazel was a baby. He wanted someone to share his life with, someone to lean on during those hard days, someone to love Hazel as much as he did… someone to love him. It almost scared him to admit that, to open himself up to the deep hurt that he experienced before, but for the first time in years, he felt like he maybe was ready. But that word “maybe” still lingered in his mind, knowing he had one job and one job only- to protect Hazel as much as he could.

A/N: Well this is why we've been a bit secretive about this story! And why there was no sneak peek this week! Hazel is one of our favorites already, and it's been so fun to get to play with a child character now instead of at the end of a story. Her relationship with Chris is just so precious and we can't wait for you all to learn more about her.

[kohakuarisaka]

Untamed (chapter 5 of 5)

Takami Keigo x (fem!)Reader

[ SUMMARY ] Every year, without fail, Hawks went into a rut: when autumn began, and then again in early spring. He would honker down up north in a secluded cabin. For the first time, he brought you with him.

[ WARNINGS ] R18+ for graphic sexual content and language. Non-canon compliant: Hawks’ quirk does not work like this. Reader is a hero that works at Hawks agency. Pre-existing relationship. Reader is a female with female genitalia. Feral behavior. Rutting. Biting. Spanking. Slight BDSM. Consensual sex. Wing kink. Oral sex. Romantic relationship.

Chapter 1 • Chapter 2 • Chapter 3 • Chapter 4 • Chapter 5

[ My BNHA Fanfic Masterlist ] ~ [ Also on my AO3 ]

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It was dark by the time you woke, that much was clear since Hawks had pulled the curtains back and the only source of light was coming from the fireplace. Your chest, facing the fire, felt warm; but, your back, despite being wrapped in blankets, felt bare and cold.

Hawks was no longer nuzzled in the assortment of bedding with you, and while that shouldn't have mattered to you that much, it strangely did. You felt a tinge of anxiety as you sat up; but, then, you spotted him, or more accurately his wings, as he was fumbling around with something in the kitchen.

He had seen or felt you stirring, that much was clear when Hawks came speeding around into the living room with a water bottle in hand. His hair was a scraggly mess and he was naked, glistening with various fluids and clearly very unwashed.

"Here," he offered, slinking back into the mess of sheets and pillows.

You chugged half the water bottle down, parting with a sigh and watched Hawks hastily gulp down what was left before carelessly tossing the bottle away. It didn't land on the ground, zipped away and tossed in the trash by one of his feathers.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

One of his hands caressed the side of your neck, fingers wrapped loosely around the back and thumb prodding at your jaw. He turned your head slightly one way, then the next, examining you.

His concerned tone and the worry etched all over his face, along with his examination, had you frowning. Annoyance surfaced at Hawks behaving as if he had something wrong or even hurt you.

"Why wouldn't I be?" you asked bluntly, not bothering to mask the irritation in your tone.

His eyebrows lowered slightly and his lips puckered into a pout. However, there was some ease on his face, pleased to know you hadn't lost your wits or bite. That was always a good sign.

"You know why," he uttered lowly.

"It was so horrible. That's why I begged you to keep going," you replied dryly.

It was worth the sass to watch his cheeks darken just a little bit. Hawks was very rarely the kind of get shy; but, he had exposed a very hidden part of himself to you, something dark and feral that wasn't exactly good for a pro hero, or any person for that matter.

"Keigo," you uttered, shifting your tone to something gentler. "I really did enjoy it. It didn't hurt or anything. You just wore me out, and - aheh - that was a new record for us, yeah?"

His frown slowly shifted into a faint smile. "A record for me," he uttered, shifting his gaze away. "But, I didn't get you there nearly as much."

"Come on, you know it's not that easy; and, it's not like it didn't feel good - every second of it," you protested, hand landing on his chest, right over his heart.

Hawks' skin felt sticky, no doubt with your combined sweat and possibly other fluids. But, you didn't dare retreat, staring at him with dedication until he finally looked back at you.

"How was it for you?" you asked sincerely. "Was it good - was I good?"

Hawks' eyes lit up as if he couldn't believe you had to even ask.

"Holy fu-" he breathed. "I didn't wanna make you worry or anything, so I didn't say it; but, alone, I wouldn't, y'know, masturbate. Just-" He paused to take a deep breath. "-week long stiffy."

He paused again to let out a brief, debilitating laugh. You, however, weren't laughing, frowning at the winged hero.

"So, I wasn't sure what to expect," he continued. "With you here and - well, you know, so I could-"

Hawks paused, leaning in to kiss you in an attempt to wipe the sour look off your face and to get himself to stop blabbering on senselessly.

"But, babe," he continued hastily, "goddamn, you were so, so good. Never felt so satisfied in my fucking life."

For a man who was always so secretive, always wearing a mask, the truth sounded so good on his lips, like he couldn't wait to tell you, like the weight of the world just lifted off his shoulders. He was wearing a small smile, eyes wrinkled at the corners, with a faint red tint on his cheeks.

"You satisfy me, too, y'know?" you whispered softly. "Always. So, I - I'm happy that I can give you that, too."

"Oh, babe," Hawks replied, matching your tone, albeit more sweetly. "This isn't new. You always make me feel so good. That's why I always come back, begging for more."

"Begging, huh? That's an option?" you teased hoarsely, leaning in to peck at the corner of his lips.

Hawks smiled, turning his head to kiss you properly, parting with a wet smack after a few seconds.

"If it's what you want?" he offered, whispering against your lips. "Me begging? Dirty girl."

You laughed softly at his teasing. If you were being honest with yourself, you were enraptured at the mere mental image, not that Hawks was too above getting on his knees for you, typically to reach your sex with his mouth. He didn't mind doing it on concrete, either, especially after a patrol, with his jumpsuit clinging to his sweaty body.

"Could I beg for something right now?" you asked softly.

"'course, babe," Hawks replied, his smile unwavering.

"Can I take a shower?" you muttered.

His brow lifted, eyes widening almost comically, and he flushed with embarrassment. "Yeah - yeah - you don't have to ask - oh - ohhh - I kinda growled at you huh-" Hawks cut off with nervous laughter, one of his hands flying up to push sweaty hair out of his face.

"You know," you began, voice a little hoarse, "you could do that outside of your rut, too?"

Hawks licked his lips before they curled into a grin. "Yeah? You like that? I can do that. Whatever you want," he replied suavely, as if you had just given him permission to do something quite dastardly.

"Ugh-" he stammered, charmed expression immediately shifting into something adorably nervous. "Before you - can I - can I look?"

To make his point clearer, Hawks slowly pulled the blanket off your body, sliding it away from your legs until you were nude to the air inside the cabin. His hands touched your knees but didn't pry them apart. Instead, you opened your legs for him, feeling a flush of nervousness as something very wet gushed from your folds, the hypersensitivity making the feeling intensified.

Hawks looked down, cheeks red and eyes comically wide; instead of following his gaze, you watched him, intrigued by the expression he was wearing. If you were being honest, it looked like the face a child made the first time they came across porn on the internet.

"Oh," he blurted dumbly.

If he didn't look so damn cute, you probably would have smacked him. It was embarrassing, if the mess looked how it felt, which it did. Hawks could see thick globs of his seed oozing from your cunt, like something out of a porno and not reality.

He swallowed loudly, resisting the urge to use his fingers to smear it all over your sex.

"Keigo?" you uttered, catching his attention suddenly.

"Sorry," he replied hoarsely. "That's really fucking hot."

His bold statement had your heart thundering with praise. However, as much as he might have enjoyed the sight of his seed dripping out of you, you were quite over it. That must have been written all over your face, for the winged hero flushed nervously.

"I'll - ugh - get you to the - the shower," Hawks stammered, standing up and carefully bringing you with him.

You didn't protest when you lifted you into his arms and carried you across the cabin, heading for the bathroom. More oozed out when he set you on your feet, and Hawks paused to stare, watching a heavy droplet slide down your inner thigh.

You dramatically cleared your throat and Hawks jolted as if you had slapped him. He staggered away, leaning into the shower to turn the nozzle. He remained standing nearby, one hand under the running water to check the temperature.

After a minute or so, and some fiddling with the knob, he pulled his hand away.

"There, scalding, just how you like it," he teased.

"Oh, shut up," you huffed harmlessly, carefully stepping past him to enter the shower.

You were surprised when he followed in after you, not because you were discomforted by his accompaniment, but because you were surprised you both managed to fit. The shower was clearly not made for couples. It made you wonder if Hawks ever expected to have someone else here with him.

Hawks carefully slid into the spot behind you as the warm water gently pummeled your front, soaking your hair and washing away the sweat. He tucked his wings in tight against his back to avoid smacking the walls and waited for his turn under the stream.

However, that thought died when he caught the sight of your back, littered with pink bruises and two large marks the shape of his teeth. Without thinking, he arched over you to kiss at the bite marks he had left over your shoulders and upper back. You whined at the sudden touch and the slight pain that blossomed on the bruised skin.

"Sorry," Hawks uttered sharply and suddenly, reeling back so quickly that he smacked into the wall, as if he had lost control for a moment.

"I should leave-" he choked out, pushing the sliding door to the shower back open.

You sharply turned around to stop him. As you took in the sight of him, you realized that he was hard again, which was likely what prompted his retreat. Well, it was an attempted retreat anyway, for you grabbed at his arm, stopping him halfway out.

"Keigo, it's okay," you uttered softly, pulling him back into the shower.

He looked comically terrified as you dragged him back into the stall and under the flowing current of the shower head. His hands smacked onto the wall and his feet skidded against the tiles as he tried not to collide with you. His wings shuddered behind him, feathers trying to remain tucked in tight against his back, resisting the urge to flex out.

"Can you be gentle?" you asked, in less of a questioning tone, and more of a guiding one.

You could see the fear melt away and unbridled, raw passion began to glow in his gold eyes.

"Fuck - really? Y-yeah," he breathed.

His tone, so grateful, so happy, tugged at your heartstrings and made your clit throb faintly between your legs. You were ashamed to think that you could still get aroused after such an eventful morning. Yet, you had no doubt, he could easily slip in right now without any preparation. It was an exciting thought.

You turned around slowly, folded your arms against the wall and laid your cheek against them, before propping up on your toes, presenting to him. Hawks braced an arm on the wall with a sudden smack that startled you. He let out a low exhale, and you wondered if he nearly fell over.

"Fuck," he sighed, confirming that suspicion. "I really - really gotta make it up to you," he uttered, hands slowly sliding over your plump hips.

"Nothing to make up," you protested softly. "'m enjoying myself, too."

He didn't pull or move you, but brought himself in. You felt the tops of his thighs against the back of yours, his knees getting knocking against you, toes curling where they touched your own feet.

You weren't surprised at how easily he slipped in. Hawks, however, clearly was, for he whined like an injured pup, and you felt his head fall forward and collide with your back. A drawn-out shudder ran through him, from head to toe, and you felt every inch of it.

"Ohhhh fuck," he groaned into your skin. He leaned back enough to kiss at one of your bruises. "No more bites," he promised. "Just - mmm-" he cut off and you felt the heat of his tongue lapping at the bite marks while he grumbled out a please hum.

Instead of one of his feathers, a long, calloused digit dipped between your folds to flick back and forth at your pearl in long strokes, forcing a pleased whine from deep in your throat.

As you requested, he set a steady pace, just enough force to be enjoyable, but not anything like this morning. Like this, he reached that perfect spot that made you keen. He seemed to be enjoying the drag well enough, if his soft moans and huffed exhales were anything to go by.

"That's perfect," you sobbed, nails scratching against the wall tiles.

"Yeah?" he uttered hopefully.

His boyish tone caught you a little off guard, not that it was unwanted. He seemed excited at the thought of getting you to come. It was hardly a priority for you most of the time. It felt good and that was all that mattered; Hawks, however, was a man on a mission.

"Like that?" he groaned, right into your ear.

He didn't change anything, but desired the confirmation that he was doing it right.

"Yes, Keigo," you uttered weakly. Immediately, you changed your mind. "No - harder," you added on insistently.

He obeyed, delivering a little more force to the movement of his hips, and then, it really was perfect. You pushed back against the wall, legs straining to keep yourself upright, to meet his thrusts, to keep him at that perfect angle. You threatened to fall when your orgasm hit you, but Hawks had an arm wrapped around your waist in record time.

Your combined screams echoed in the tiny shower stall, and you realized faintly that he was coming, too. His wings unconsciously jutted out and smacked the wall. Hawks, however, couldn't be bothered to care, and kept thrusting into you until every drop was spent.

You tilted your head back and he lowered his, meeting you in a sloppy kiss that was mostly tongue and teeth. His cock softened, surprisingly, and popped free, leading you to wonder if you had finally exhausted him, at least for today.

The pleased, blissed out look on his face was something downright pornographic, but beautiful as ever. Even when you turned your head away from the kiss, he lingered, lips brushing your cheek. His tongue darted out to taste your skin, and you growled.

"Guh - stop that," you scolded him, arm shifting back and threatening to elbow him.

He didn't apologize, unsurprisingly, but he did stop.

Hawks reached up, uttering, "the shower head detaches", and pulled it down to make his point. Sure enough, it extended with a metallic sound as the internal hose dragged.

"Actually," you uttered. "You said you'll make it up to me?"

Hawks hummed agreeingly.

"Clean me," you demanded softly.

He chuckled into the space above your shoulder, whispering, "yes, ma'am."

In the days that followed, Hawks bent you over the chabudai, propped you up on the counter tops in the kitchen, against the door when you threatened to step outside without him. You were almost embarrassed to admit that his angered state had aroused you senselessly.

On one of the warmer days, he took you outside, held you up against a tree with your legs wrapped around his waist, and fucked you until you forgot how cold it was. At some point, his momentum had become too feverous, and knocked some snow off the tree, which coated the both of you.

Together, you melted the snow off in front of the fireplace. He stared at you, then, as if he couldn't believe you were real. You could practically see the gears turning in his head, as he wondered if this was a fever dream and not reality.

"Birdie, talk to me," you asked, breaking him out of his stupor.

"I'm just so happy," he answered, looking a little weak, for just a moment.

"Me, too," you whispered, feeling him fold over you, bringing you into an embrace, before his wings followed, wrapping around you like a crimson blanket.

When the final day came, you spent the morning cleaning the cabin together, just the same as you did when you first arrived. Hawks cleared the ashes out of the fireplace while you dusted. He put covered the furniture, using his wings to gain some height to make it easier, while you folded the freshly washed bedding and tucked it away in the chest upstairs.

He looked like a new man, if you were being honest. His feathers were bright and shiny, elegantly draped behind him in their neat assembly of twin wings. His skin practically glowed and his eyes were sharp. There was bounce in his step and he was practically buzzing with energy. You couldn't help but feel smug at the sight. His rut was ending well satisfied for the first time in his entire life-

-because of you.

When everything was done, Hawks suddenly descended upon you, arms winding around your waist and lips assaulting your cheek in feathery kisses.

You giggled at the onslaught, ceasing when he whispered into your ear, "one last time? -before the taxi arrives?"

You couldn't help but roll your eyes a little, scolding harmlessly, "horny bird."

"Ahuh," he agreed with a smirk.

You pushed against him until he let out go and glanced around the room, debating on what position and location suited your fancy. Hawks watched silently, intrigued and excited, as you walked around the cabin. He followed, hot on your heels, reaching for you every time you paused only to be shrugged off.

Luckily, it didn't take you long to choose a spot, grab Hawks by the arm, and drag him. He didn't have to be told twice, and pinned you there, leaning over you predatorily. Limbs tangled and lips met in a hurry to have each other one more time before you were whisked back to your hero lives.

[agustdakasuga]

A Place Called Home | Chapter 4

Genre: Hybrid!AU, Poly!AU?, Soulmate AU, romance, fluff, humour

Pairing: OT7 x Reader

Characters: vet!reader, Arcticfox!Seokjin, Panther!Yoongi, Goldenretriever!Hoseok, Wolf!Namjoon, Calicocat!Jimin, Tiger!Taehyung, Rabbit!Jungkook

Summary: Having saved your own injured hybrid, you were determined to try and help any other hybrid that crossed your path who needed saving. But being a vet in a small hospital wasn’t enough for you. You wanted to do more, you wanted to make a difference. You wanted to give them a home.

You try to visit Taehyung as much as you can, wanting him to be home with you as quickly as possible, but suddenly, your own exhaustion catches up with you, causing you to stay home. But at the same time, a certain wolf begins to show signs of consciousness

After you finished visiting Taehyung, you headed back home. Hospital shifts were getting longer and going to visit Taehyung afterwards was taking a toll on you. You were getting burned out. 

“Jagi?” Jin came down the stairs. You shot him a tired smile but your legs slowly gave out. Luckily Jin had quick reflexes and was able to catch you in time. His eyes widened in panic as he scooped you up into his arms, bringing you to the couch. 

“Jagi? Can you hear me?” He asked worriedly. You let out a soft hum. Bringing his hand to your head, he felt your slightly raised temperature. 

“You’re having a fever, jagi. Wait here.” Jin left you to go get a thermometer. The front door opened, signalling Yoongi’s return to the house. Your vision blurred slightly, eyes opening and closing. 

“Kitten!” Yoongi saw your state and rushed to your side. 

“You’re sick.” He frowned. 

“I’m fine.” You smiled. Jin came back with a thermometer and some fever medication. He placed the stick into your mouth and waited. The moment there was a beep, Yoongi took it out. He frowned when he read the temperature. You were definitely sick, he didn’t need a thermometer to tell him that. He could smell it from you the moment he walked in. 

“I just need to sleep.” You sat up. 

“Kitten, you’re not fine! I told you not to over exhaust yourself. Let’s bring her to the hospital for an IV.” Yoongi told Jin, who nodded in agreement. You protested but Jin was already carrying you up, Yoongi grabbed the car keys. 

“You’re over reacting.” You chuckled. 

“No, that’s what you get for not taking care of yourself. You’re not superwoman, jagi.” Jin frowned. You pouted but snuggled into Jin for warmth as you shivered slightly. 

“Dr (y/l/n)?” Head nurse Park was shocked to see your hybrids carrying you in. She signalled to the others to bring a gurney in. Two other nurses hurried over, letting Jin put you down on the bed. He laid his cardigan over you as you shivered from the lost of his body heart.

“She’s sick and slowly losing consciousness. Can we get her an IV?” Yoongi asked. 

“Of course. Follow us.” She told the worried boys as the nurses wheeled you to a private room. You didn’t even make it to the room conscious. On the way there, your eyes closed and you slowly slipped into darkness. 

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The constant beeping woke you up. You frowned, annoyed by the sound before opening your eyes. Looking around, you remembered that you were checked into the hospital by Yoongi and Jin, having passed out from exhaustion. Yoongi was sleeping next to you, head buried in his folded arms as he held your hand. Jin was curled up on the small couch, a blanket over him. 

“My boys.” You stroked Yoongi’s head, waking him up. He yawned and stretched his limbs. 

“You’re awake. How are you feeling?” He asked. 

“I’m fine, Yoongi. Sorry to worry you two.” You smiled, continuing to stroke his head, his furry ears between your fingers. 

“You better be sorry. I told you to take care of yourself and not over work yourself. You do everything on your own without letting me and Jin hyung help you. And look what happened, (y/n).” Yoongi frowned, crossing his arms. He was really upset with you. 

“I know, Yoongi. I’m sorry.” You apologised again. Yoongi looked at your guilt ridden face and sighed, leaning in to nuzzle your neck. You combed your fingers through his hair, making him purr in satisfaction. 

“Jagi?” Jin sat up from his couch, rubbing his eyes as he let out a big yawn. You smiled, opening your other arm. Jin shuffled over, pressing his face into the other side of your neck. 

“Head nurse Park is never going to let this go.” You groaned. 

“Good. I hope she constantly reminds you of this.” Yoongi smirked, making you shove his shoulder. 

“Doc?” Speak of the devil, head nurse Park came in, making the two boys pull away from you. Their eyes trained on the older lady. She held your file in her hand, frowning at you and shaking your head. You let out a whine, making your two hybrids smile in triumph.

“Dr (y/l/n), you’re lucky you had your hybrids at home to bring you here. I am always telling you that yes, hybrids’ health are important and I know you want to help them but your health should be the first priority.” She lectured.

“Yes, head nurse Park.” You pouted. 

“Anyway, I don’t come with good news for you. Your labs came back and your blood count is low. You’re anaemic so we’ll have to keep your here for another day.” She informed. 

“Noooooo!” You fake cried. 

“Ha! Good for you!” Jin crossed his arms, reaching over to hi five Yoongi. You glared at them. 

“Wait, is there any cause for her anaemia?” Yoongi stood up. 

“Not for sure. Could be exhaustion, missing meals, anything.” Head nurse Park shrugged. As she listed the reasons, Yoongi turned around and shot you the dirtiest glare ever, making you whimper and shrink back. Despite being a doctor, you were the worse patient. You didn’t want to stay in the hospital, you wanted to go home. 

“If you promise not to do anything strenuous, you can go home.” Nurse Park said. 

“You can count on that, I have two wardens at home that will watch me.” You side eyed the two hybrids that stood on either side of you. 

“Alright. I’ll bring your discharge papers. Also, director wanted you to take a week off. She wanted to make sure that you’re in good health before you come back.” She informed. 

“A WEEK?!” Your thoughts immediately went to the wolf hybrid that was still in the intensive care unit. You had to find a way to still check on him even if you were not allowed to return to the hospital. But nonetheless, you nodded your head and signed your discharge papers. 

“Can I just stop by to see how he is?” You asked Yoongi before you could leave. He looked at Seokjin before the two of them nodded, following you to the ICU ward. 

‘Kim Namjoon’

You could finally put a name on the patient name plate on the door. You knocked lightly before going in. Thanks to his hybrid wolf side, his healing was a lot faster than others. His superficial injuries was mostly gone, making it seem like he was just sleeping. 

“He should wake up soon. It’s not good for him to be under for so long. But I guess he’ll have to hang on for another week.” You sighed. 

“We should go.” Yoongi came to you. You nodded and followed your boys out. Just as the door closed, there was a crash from the room. You met eyes with Yoongi and rushed back in. 

“Stay back!” Namjoon growled, showing his canines. 

“Okay, I’ll stay back Namjoon. Don’t worry. I’m not gonna hurt you.” You held your hands out. 

“Yeah, that’s what they all say.” His back was hunched, tail rigid. He was in attack mode and you knew better than to try and provoke him. Yoongi stayed by you while you motioned for Seokjin to leave and get the nurses in here. Namjoon’s eyes shifted from you to Yoongi, trying to yank out the tubes and machines that were attached to him. 

“Namjoon, let her help you. You’ll do more harm trying to remove that yourself.” Yoongi spoke. 

“Yoongi? Min Yoongi?” Namjoon stared at him. Yoongi nodded his head. 

“I thought you were dead.” Namjoon scoffed. 

“I would be if it weren’t for her. Same for you. Come on, we’re brothers. You can trust me. She won’t hurt you. She just wants to help, she’s a doctor.” Yoongi persuaded. Namjoon glared at you but nodded. Yoongi’s tailed curled around your waist, seeing how shaken you were. 

“I’m fine.” You forced a smile. With shaky hands, you proceeded to remove all the machinery and IV needles from Namjoon’s body before stepping back. 

“What happened to you?” Namjoon asked Yoongi. 

“They left me for dead. She isn’t like those humans that we encountered, trust me. After she saved me and nursed me back to health, I let her become my owner.” Yoongi explained. 

“You’ve become domesticated?” 

“Beats being injected with steroids and hormones then thrown in a cage to fight to death.” Yoongi shrugged. You winced at his statement, hating illegal hybrid rings. Yoongi held your hand, squeezing it to help you breathe and remain calm. The door behind you opened and Namjoon immediately got on defence again. 

“Director!” You bowed. From the way your addressed her, Yoongi guessed that this lady was your boss. 

“How are you feeling, dear?” She asked. 

“I’m fine, madam. Please don’t worry.” You bowed your head.

“Good job taking care of Namjoon while he was recovering. He looks mostly recovered. I read your permission request. Considering that Namjoon is awake and your hybrid does know him, I will grant you permission to let him continued recovering from your home.” She nodded her head.

“Thank you!” You smiled and Yoongi let out a sigh of relief. Namjoon frowned at the director’s words. 

“Did anyone ask me what I wanted to do? For all I know, you could keep me at your house for your own illegal business.” Namjoon scowled. 

“Of course we will take your opinion into consideration, Namjoon. If you’re not comfortable with Ms (y/l/n) and her hybrids at her home, we can send you to a shelter. Unfortunately, you cannot leave yet as you have not fully recovered. You just woke up from a two week coma, we will need to monitor you closely.” The director said. 

“Fine. I’ll go.” Namjoon rolled his eyes. 

“Thank you-”

“I’m not saying I trust you or anything. But seeing as Yoongi is there and shelters are too noisy, it’s choosing which hell is worse.” Namjoon glared. Yoongi hissed slightly, not happy with Namjoon attitude towards you. 

“It’s okay. Let’s go, hmm?” You put a hand on Yoongi’s shoulder, feeling a wave of giddiness. Yoongi and Seokjin must have sensed this because Seokjin proceeded to put his arm around you to steady you. You just had to do some quick paper work and get Namjoon’s file. The nurse put it in a dark blue folder with yellow crescent moons on it.

“This is your room." You brought him up the stairs. Namjoon peaked into the room. 

“I have my own room already?” Namjoon raised an eyebrow. 

“Of course, you’re entitled to your own privacy here. And I already prepared it because Yoongi asked if you could stay here when you woke up so I just got it ready for whenever. I’m sorry if it’s not to your liking. We can go shopping to get what you need.” You nodded. 

“Why are you doing this?” Namjoon asked. 

“Huh?” You looked up at him. 

“Nothing.” He shook his head. You shrugged and heard Yoongi calling for you to head to bed so you could begin your week long rest. 

“Alright! You’re such a nag, Min Yoongi!” You shouted before smiling at Namjoon. 

“It’s Seokjin’s turn to cook dinner so until then, you can do what you want.” You gave him another smile before bowing your head and walking away. Namjoon closed the door to his room and shook his head, a human has never smiled at him before. Yet, you bowed your head and are providing him food and a place to stay until he recovered. 

“What a peculiar human.” He scoffed and went to take a shower. Namjoon was woken up from his nap by arguing downstairs. 

“You guys will wake Namjoon.” You frowned. Namjoon stood at the top of the staircase, listening and watching. 

“We’re just asking that you rest one day, snowflake.” Jin shook his head. Yoongi was sitting on the other end of the couch, arms folded, a frown on his face. He was not happy, he was very ticked off. 

“I need to see him. He’s alone with his captor possibly in the next room. He’s scared.” You said. 

“Do you think it would make him feel better if you go visit him and collapse right in front of him? You can always go tomorrow, kitten.” Yoongi sighed. You wanted to go see Taehyung like you did everyday but of course, considering the events from today, the two hybrids didn’t want to let you go. 

*KNOCK KNOCK*

“Coming.” You stood up and went to open. Even Namjoon perked up when he heard you unlocking the front door. 

“Good evening, madam. I’m here to send your hybrid home.” The officer said, looking bored as hell. Beside him, Taehyung stood there, with a collar around his neck and leash was hooked on, which the officer was carrying. You frowned at that. Who still put hybrids on leashes? They are people!

“Taehyung.” You called and he looked up, eyes watery as he leapt into your arms. 

“Why was he on a leash?” 

“He’s a wild animal, madam.” The officer reasoned. 

“You have no right to call him that. He didn’t commit any crime. He was called in as a witness. I don’t see you doing this to other witnesses.” You glared at him. The police were supposed to be protecting everyone, hybrid or not. You were disgusted with this man. 

“Madam, it’s a small issue. He’s already back here, isn’t he?” He rolled his eyes. 

“I’m reporting this to officer Jooyeon. I will not let this go.” You saw the small officer’s face pale slightly as pulled Taehyung with you, slamming the door in his face. You were angry but your priority now was a shaken Taehyung. 

“(y/n)...” He whimpered as you sat down on the couch, keeping your arms around him. He buried his face into your neck. 

“It’s alright, baby. You’re home. I’m sorry you even had to go through a second of that. That was wrong.” You hushed him, stroking the space between his ears. From the posture of Seokjin and Yoongi, you knew that they were angry too. Leashes and collars were downgrading. The government had already said there was no need to leash hybrids. 

“Are you hungry? Jin cooked.” You asked. 

“Yeah...” He nodded. You smiled and held his hand, bringing him to the kitchen. Jin gave Taehyung a hug while Yoongi ruffled his hair. Taehyung gave them a small smile. You were happy at their attempts to comfort him.

“Stranger.” Taehyung’s eyes widened. 

“Oh, Namjoon. You’re here. This is Taehyung, we’re fostering him. Taetae, this is Namjoon. He’s friends with Yoongi and he’ll be staying with us as he recovers.” You explained. The two gave each other acknowledging nods. Namjoon sat next to Yoongi.

“Here. More red meat and greens for your iron deficiency.” Jin slid the plate over to you. You pouted, nodding. 

“You’re sick? No wonder you smelled different.” Taehyung held your hand worriedly. 

“I’m fine. You know these two over react.” You chuckled. As always, Yoongi took your plate and sliced your steak for you. You grinned and knocked foreheads with him, beginning to eat. It was way too much that you tried to sneak some to Taehyung. 

“Ahem.” Yoongi cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow at you. Taehyung blinked in confusion, not even noticing that extra meat had been added. Your cheeks turned red. 

“I didn’t give you more steak for you to give it all to Tae. You need to eat more, snowflake.” Jin frowned, proceeding to give you some of his steak. After dinner, everyone helped with clearing up, except Jin, who cooked. The boys had only let you wiped the table. 

“I’m heading into the backyard with Namjoon for a walk.” Yoongi wrapped an arm around your waist, kissing your temple. 

“Namjoon, is it okay if I look at your injuries? I just want to make sure there is no infection.” You asked. Namjoon stiffened at your question, he was obviously still guarded around you. 

“Fine. Yoongi.” He looked at the panther. You all went up to Namjoon’s room and he lifted his shirt, showing you the main abdominal scar where the life ending cut was meant to be. Seeing the faint line where the stitches was, Yoongi hissed, remembering his own scar that was there but now faded. He looked away, tail curling itself around your ankle. 

“It’s looking good. No sign of infection.” You smiled when you finished checking his other injuries. 

“Let’s go.” Namjoon said to Yoongi and they left. You went back to your room, seeing Taehyung stand by the door to wait for you. The hybrids knew you didn’t really like them going in when you weren’t in there. 

“Come on.” You led him into the room and went to shower. He waited for you in bed, having already showered. When you came out, however, you went to see Jin first. 

“Goodnight Jinnie.” You smiled, entering his cold room. 

“Goodnight, snowflake.” He kissed your cheek and nuzzled it. As you left, you turned off the lights and headed back to Taehyung. Taehyung almost pounced on you when you returned. You laid in bed and he was quick to attach himself to you, purring as you massaged his scalp.

“Tell me why you’re sick.” Taehyung said. 

“I’m not sick, Tae. Don’t worry. I was just careless and didn’t take care of myself, as I should be. The doctor just said I needed to eat better and rest more. So I’ll be home the whole week.” You sighed as you informed. 

“So you’ll be with me the whole week?!” He perked up, a smile finally appearing on his face. 

“Yes. My boss forced me to take a week off. Besides, Namjoon is here so I don’t have to worry as much. He woke up just as I was leaving the hospital this morning. Call it fate, I guess.” You giggled. 

“I miss you and the hyungs so much while I was there. I missed your cuddles, Jin hyung’s cooking and Yoongi hyung’s explanations of basketball, even though I don’t even have an interest in basketball.” He said and you couldn’t help but smile softly. Taehyung was integrating well into your family, much faster than you even expected. 

“I’m glad to hear you like it here, Tae.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah. I know Yoongi doesn’t really show it but he also cares for you. He’s just guarded, you know?” You stroked his ears. 

“I know. Yoongi hyung helped me with my nightmares. He promised me I would never have to go back, like you.” He said. You were a little surprised, not knowing that Yoongi did such a nice thing for Taehyung but you expected it. Yoongi was nice, even if he doesn’t like you saying that he has a soft heart. 

“(y/n)?” Taehyung called. You hummed in reply. 

“Can I...” He stopped halfway, making you look at him. You noticed that his human ears and cheeks were red. 

“Scent me?” You completely with a laugh. He nodded like a child that was caught doing something bad. 

“Come here.” You gestured as you nodded. Taehyung cautiously moved to press his face into your neck. You gently caressed the back of his neck. He purred lightly, his orange and black tail curling itself around your thigh as his hands squeezed your waist lightly. Slowly, he moved to nuzzle your cheek like a a house cat would. 

“You smell like me.” He blushed as he pulled away, resting his head against your chest comfortably. 

“Goodnight, Tae.” 

“Goodnight, (y/n).” He pressed his lips against your forehead before the both of you fell asleep.

[diavolosthots]

Hi there! I love your writing so much, your angst is one of my favorites to read because they always hit me in the feels. Can I request a hc or imagine (I can’t remember what they’re called) about Diavolo x Satan where Satan feels insecure because he thinks that Diavolo is with him as he was once a part of Lucifer, who doesn’t hold romantic love for Diavolo. You can add some smut if you want, I’m perfectly okay with the angst either way 😁!

I wrote this and posted it on AO3 first but here it is. Hope you like it anyway!

Warning: like 1 dust crump of slight NSFW if you look hard enough

Love's Poem (SATAN X DIAVOLO)

Love is such an unpredictable thing.It comes so unexpectedly and knocks you over, or it will come gently and embrace you in its arms. Love is also odd. You may feel it strongly, almost too overwhelming, you will find peace in it, almost as if a blanket is draped over your shoulders. Love may come in full force, or it will come agonizingly slow. In Satan’s case, love could’ve been anything, but it was always there, he noted. Despite his exterior and the picture people painted of him, he always wanted to feel it, to experience it, to have it… and only in his books did he ever find it. It’s almost sad, really, pathetic. Or at least, Satan thinks so. A millennia old being holding on to such a childish dream, and yet… he can’t seem to let go of it. He has hope for it and he longs for it, but he isn’t foolish. He won’t blindly reach out for it. “Patience is a virtue.” he says, even if he finds it hard to be patient for a lot of things. He craves to be in love so desperately, laying there day and night with his nose buried in a book that tells of things he has yet to experience. A poem. A poem is what he yearns to create with someone else; a poem of their lives together. 

In all his yearning and waiting and desperation, though, he failed to realize that the poem had long started to be written. He failed to realize its soft touches, its gentle glances, and its sweet words calling out to him. He was so preoccupied with the paper it was supposed to be written on that he failed to notice the ink creating words on it. When he finally did notice, though, it was neither calm nor overwhelming. It was there, and Satan felt as if it had always been, because it had been. Still, when he realized whom he held it for, he was taken aback. Diavolo was never someone he excessively thought about… or so he thought. Diavolo, too, took a while to see Satan in such a new light and only when the two of them shared a moment over some literature did the Demon Lord realize just how deeply he could feel for the fourth born.

But Satan was unsure. He was questioning the demon’s motives, and quite honestly, he was scared. Scared of giving his all only to be left in the dust. To him, as much confidence as he bears and he truly does, coming from the Avatar of Pride himself and all, to himself, Satan was no one special. He’s attractive, very much so, and of course highly intelligent, but he also realizes how much of a brat he can be, or a bore, depending on the day. Diavolo was a manchild with insecurities, and Satan had said that more than once. Yet, their relationship blossomed and Satan found himself quite attached to the man, and vice versa. Diavolo felt like he had someone to confide in, someone who gave it to him straight but also comforted him. Someone he could experience things with and have a calm, peaceful evening with every night. Satan appreciated being brought out of his room, in which he would otherwise have been holed up in, and although he wasn’t after Diavolo for the money, status, or fame, he also appreciated the extravagance that his life brought to him. They balanced each other out, in the most unlikely ways, and both of them knew it.

Still, on one some days, Satan felt more like a shadow than anything. “Lucifer will come by today” again. “You won’t believe what Lucifer told me earlier” yes he will. “Lucifer” this “Lucifer” that. He understands that the two of them are close, after all Diavolo considers the first born his best friend. It angered Satan, though. Was he not enough? Does Diavolo still have to bring up Lucifer when he knows how the former feels about him? It’s not for a lack of communication, either. Satan has voiced his distaste quite a lot and changed the subject on more than one occasion, but a part of him also feels terrible for wanting to keep the Prince’s best friend away. “Satan!” especially when the guy so happily calls his name. “Hm?” It was nice outside, although when is it not in the Devildom. It rarely ever rains or snows or storms, and the temperature is always perfect to the demons. Satan was sitting under one of the trees in the courtyard at the House of Lamentation, reading one of his many books although he had a feeling that won’t last long. “Hm? That’s all I’m getting?” The pout that graced the Prince’s lips made Satan smile and a soft blush tint his cheeks. He looks up at the man, pursing his lips up into a kiss and waiting for Diavolo to take it. This is what he means when he says he wants a romance like in the books he reads. 

Diavolo leaned down to give one to him happily before falling into the grass. Somewhere behind them, they could hear Barbatos gasp, probably because the butler knows just how clumsy his Lord could be, but Diavolo waved him off and laid his head in Satan’s lap, who laid his book on top of Diavolo’s face. “Hey! I came all the way here and I got the cold book?” “You disrupted my reading” all meant in good humor, of course. Diavolo pushed the book off of his face and reached a hand up to brush along Satan’s cheek, which made the latter blush deeply. He’s still not fully used to this type of affection. “Hm… you look so handsome today. Did you do anything special to yourself?” Satan rolled his eyes although he did manage to turn his head and kiss Diavolo’s hand before it moved behind Satan’s ear to scratch it. Satan groaned softly, shivering slightly. Diavolo knows damn well that that is one of his weak spots. “There it is…. Good kitten.” Satan knows it’s a mock and although he’s blushing profusely, he’s also flicking Diavolo’s forehead, making him laugh. “Watch it. Kitten’s can claw.” Diavolo only growled playfully in response. 

“Can you believe us? A few months ago you didn’t even like me.” That’s not entirely true, he was just vary of the Demon Lord for over a few millennia, “and then Lucifer told me to just go for it.” Ah yes, Lucifer. Satan held back the urge to roll his eyes. “And then he said ‘Lord Diavolo, you would be not only blind but also a fool if you let this opportunity pass’ because he knew way more than either of us did.” The hell he did. “And you know what I said?” No, but he’s sure that Diavolo’s about to tell him. “I said, ‘Lucifer, my friend, don’t you worry. I will never take your beloved brother and son without first asking for permission’” Satan’s eye is twitching now and he finally found it in himself to say something, too, “is that all?” Diavolo’s smile slowly dropped when he saw Satan’s reaction and he was genuinely confused, slowly lifting his head from the guy’s lap and looking at him confused, “yes? Is something the matter?” He’s trying. He’s trying so hard not to snap right now so he just closes his eyes and just breathes for a couple of moments, “you know Lucifer said that when you--!” 

A growl escaped Satan and this time he actually did snap, whipping his head around to look at Diavolo. “Yeah? He said that? Must be nice. Anything else he said? Anything else he would like to add to our relationship or does he want to include himself next?!” Diavolo just stared at him blankly for a moment, unsure on how to approach this, “what? No. No, it’ll always be just us.” Blatant. Fucking. Lie. “apparently not! It’s Lucifer this, Lucifer that, and if you want Lucifer that badly, you can go and get him. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to know that he ruined yet another thing!” anger is getting to him and the next thing he says was neither thought out nor actually meant to ever leave his lips, “you’re probably just with me to get back at Lucifer, am I right? Poor little Lucifer wouldn’t give you his heart so you go to the next best thing; me!” Diavolo was taken aback by that last statement and for a moment he just stared at Satan, his mouth hanging open, but it soon turned into a glare. 

“Is that what you think? That my feelings are a lie? If you believe me to be such a liar, why are you with me?” Because he loves him, duh. He hates how much he feels for him but he can’t stop it, that’s why constantly hearing about Lucifer drives him insane. “I only want you, Satan, and I thought I made that pretty clear, but apparently not.” Diavolo sat up on his knees and for a moment he thought the guy was going to get up and leave, but he didn’t. Instead, he slammed his hands flat against the tree Satan was leaning against, glaring down at the fourth born before his eyes soften. “Stop being so jealous of your brother.” “I’m not jealous! You’re the one who only ever talks about him when your attention should be on me!” No matter how nice Diavolo was being right now, Satan is still glaring at the Lord, who turned his head and nodded at Barbatos. For what, Satan didn’t know, but it was for something. “Look at me Satan.” His eyes turned back up to look into Diavolo’s gold ones, holding so much softness and love, “I love you and only you.” 

Satan rolled his eyes and he was about to push Diavolo off and away, but the latter cupped the blond’s face and kissed him softly before resting his head against his. “Lucifer is my best friend, yes, but you’re my lover and if I wanted to pursue anyone other than you, I would’ve, but I didn’t. Don’t be angry.” Although it is hot when Satan gets angry and if this wasn’t such a serious discussion, Diavolo would’ve definitely made a move. The blush returned to Satan’s cheeks and he tried turning his head away, but Diavolo wouldn’t let him. “No. Say it back. I know you do.” Satan mumbled it under his breath because he knows he loves the guy too. “What? What’s that?” “I love you too…” “a little louder, Satan.” The blond glared at him and Diavolo couldn’t help but laugh, kissing him again, this time a bit deeper before he grabbed Satan’s hips and fell back into the grass with him, making sure the demon landed on top. “I said I love you too…” He’s been atop Diavolo so many times, but every time he feels like it’s the first time. “There you go. It’s way easier being honest, isn’t it?” Diavolo’s hips playfully snapped up against Satan’s and the blond’s blush deepened, barely able to steady himself on Diavolo’s chest.

“Whatever… Just don’t forget I’m your only one.” 

[crowdedimagines]

Leaked Pt. 2 - Harry Styles

PART ONE

Harry and I follow Gemma back into the house. I cross my arms over my chest, fighting the chill from outside that seems to linger in my bones now. We take a seat back at the table, everyone seems to be stressed and tired of talking, I don’t blame them. I’m thankful Harry and I got a break from it.

“Alright, so we were able to detect what they had access to and what was downloaded from the online server.” Andrew, whose name I learned, says looking at both Harry and I to explain.

“So what else did they get?” Harry questions, he sits up a little straighter in his chair.

“It looks like they also had access to some audio files.”

“Audio files?”

“What? The studio version of medicine?” I tease, assuming that whatever it was can’t be too bad. Harry’s had songs leak before, even if it’s something that ended up being scrapped it can’t be the end of the world. It can’t be as bad as a leaked image of us across twitter.

“No, it looks like they only took several files dated July 15th of 2019.”

“July 15th?” I raise my brows.

“What happened-” Harry starts to question the significance, but it instantly clicks for me. All of the humor and lightheartedness I had is knocked right out of me.

“Fuck-” I pull my hair back over my shoulder. The chill that clung to my bones is gone now, now I can feel myself break out into a sweat. Harry turns to look at me and as soon as our eyes meet I can tell that it’s clicked for him as well.

“It’s our song” Harry states, his voice so quiet that I’m sure not everyone in the room caught it. His voice is soft and low, barely registering.

“Your song?” Anne prompts, her face full of concern as she notice’s the color that’s completely drained from our faces.

“Can we clear out the room for a few minutes?” Harry asks, he takes his hand in mine and nods for Anne and Gemma to fill the seats that have now been vacated.

“Can I?” Harry looks at me for permission before continuing. I give him a soft smile and nod, at this point I’m glad they’ll know. I’d rather they know than the whole world.

“July 15th was the day Y/n and I got back from the hospital.” Harry swallows, “The day before Y/n had suffered a miscarrige.”

The silence in the room is louder than I could’ve expected. Gemma and Anne look at each other, obviously shocked before turning their attention back to us. Their expressions seem just as solemn now.

“So the audio file is?” Gemma looks between us confused.

“So together we wrote a song for our daughter.” I nod, tears slipping without being able to stop them.

“It was really therapeutic, I think we both sobbed through practically the whole thing.” He looks to me and I just nod and agree. Harry’s hand still hasn’t left mine.

“I’m sorry that you guys had to find out this way.” I pull my head up to finally make eye contact. Tears are still slowly streaming, but I’m able to blink past them, “We had been so excited to tell you guys that we were expecting and it was only a few weeks after that we had already lost her.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” Anne says, her eyes filling up with tears of her own at this point.

“So this was right before you guys broke up.” Gemma realizes, “Is that-?”

She doesn’t seem to be able to finish her own thought. The air in the room is a little too heavy. If I wasn’t drained before, I am now.

“Partly.” Harry nods.

“It wasn’t a lie that the stress of always being apart tore us apart, but going through something like that and then having to fly across the world. We didn’t get to heal from that together, and it ruined our relationship.”

Third Person POV

Slowly the group makes their way back in. Harry makes it very clear to all of them that they need to do everything in their power to stop that audio file from seeing the light of day. It crushed him to see the defeated look on Y/n’s face. She looks exhausted. Harry can’t pull his eyes from her saddened face every couple of seconds. The last thing he wants is for her to feel emotionally exposed as well as physically.

“Y/n, why don’t we go off to bed.” Anne gets up from her spot and places a gentle hand on the younger girl's shoulder. She only nods and lets Anne lead her up stairs. No one else at the table comments, no one dares. Harry’s eyes follow her as Anne wraps an arm around her shoulder and they walk up the stairs.

Anne leads her to Harry’s room, knowing that she was bound to stay there after everything that’s happened today. No one can blame her for being so tired, it was only a few hours ago that she landed. She’s had her body exposed to the world and now there’s the potential for one of the most intimate parts of her to be exposed as well. Today has been the day from hell for Y/n.

Y/n changes into one of Harry’s shirts and tucks herself in under the covers. It’s been over a year since she’s been in this bed. Anne comes back in to check on her, noticing her eyelids are falling heavy as they talk.

Anne curls up in the sitting chair on the other side of the master bedroom. It doesn’t feel right to leave her alone right now in this state and she doesn’t exactly feel like participating in the conversations downstairs anymore. It leaves a bitter taste in her mouth hearing people speak so casually over something so personal.

It’s a few hours later when Harry makes his way upstairs and he’s surprised to see either of them in his room. He looks like the definition of exhausted. His mom looks up from her book and glances over to see that Y/n is still asleep.

“Is she alright?” Harry asks, looking at the girl curled up in his bed.

“She will be.” Anne sets down the book. She pulls the blanket off of her shoulders and folds it up neatly.

“Did you guys get anything decided?” Anne questions, making her way over to her son by the door.

“Yeah, Jordan and Jeff both agree that it might be in our best interest to release a statement. If it gets out we’ll obviously need to address it. They want to talk it over again tomorrow morning once Y/n is feeling a bit better.”

“Sounds great, love.” Anne presses a soft kiss to his cheek before letting herself out.

Harry breaks his stare on the love of his life so he can get ready for bed himself. He brushes his teeth and does his night routine as quietly as he can. From what he remembers, it always used to wake Y/n up anyway, but she’s exhausted.

He finally finishes up and hovers over his side of the bed, unsure if he should cross that line. Sure she’s laying in his bed, but that doesn’t mean it’s an open invitation for them to share the bed.

“Just get in already.” Her voice surprises Harry. Her eyes didn’t even flinch to open. Harry doesn’t need to be told twice, he slides in on his side.

“What are we going to tell the fans?” Her voice a soft echo in the silence.

Harry lets out a long sigh, moving to lay on his back.

“I don’t know. How much do we want them to know? Neither of us have ever let the fans in like this before.”

“But aren’t they going to figure it out anyway? We know that they’re smart, and our lyrics were hardly veiled.”

“I think I would rather tell them. If we can’t stop it from getting out there, I would want to avoid as many conspiracy theories as possible. How do you feel about it?”

Y/n reaches out her hand to connect it with Harry’s. His head snaps over to look at her and she’s staring down at where her fingers fiddle with his rings.

“I feel comfortable with that. The whole world is going to know now.”

His words fill the silence, Y/n only letting out a sigh in response.

“I should call my parents and let them know. Y/S/N too. They deserve to know before the story breaks.”

Y/n shifts back onto her side facing away from him, letting Harry’s hand drop in the process. He turns to his side, facing the same direction as her. She turns back, looking over her shoulder towards him.

“Thank you.” Her voice a soft whisper, her eyes meeting his after glancing over his bare chest.

“What for?” He clears his throat, his voice catching from speaking so softly.

“For being you Harry. For being understanding and loving in spite of everything.” She turns back to rest her head back on the pillow, “I don’t think there’s anyone else I would want to have to go through this with.”

Harry scoots closer, he hovers his arm over her waist before settling it when there weren’t any protests. Y/n places her hand on top of his, holding it securely against her.

“I will always love you, Y/n. I wish we didn’t have to go through this, but I’m glad to have you too.”

Those are the last words they exchange that night.

Y/n’s POV

The sun is rising, alerting me that I need to get up and get ready. I manage to snake my way out of Harry’s grasp before he can wake up as well. I make my way to the bathroom and take a long shower.

“Jordan brought in your suitcase last night.” Harry informs.

“Oh, great. Thank you!”

He simply nods before going into the bathroom himself to get ready for the morning. I wrap the towel a little tighter around my body and quickly make my way downstairs to grab my bag. By the time I get back to Harry’s room I can hear the water running in the shower. It gives me enough time to get dressed and escape down to the kitchen before he exits.

“Good morning!” Anne smiles from her spot at the stove.

“Morning.” I smile, I take a seat next to a sleepy Gemma.

“This coffee isn’t even helping.” Gemma groans, throwing her head on my shoulder and closing her eyes.

“That’s because Mum made it.” Harry says as he walks in with a wet head, “Have Y/n make the next batch. That’ll surely get you wide awake.”

“Sounds like an excuse to get my world famous coffee if you ask me.” I eye him with a smile.

“You caught me, love.” He grabs plates for everyone and starts setting the table, noticing his mother is getting close to being done with all the food. I tap Gemma softly on the shoulder so I can get up and make a new pot of coffee. Harry always used to tell me my coffee was his favorite, it always packed a punch.

We all settle at the table, Harry with a large mug of the hot coffee.

“Anne, everything looks wonderful.” I smile looking over everything she’s prepared.

“Thank you.” She grins.

We all dig in, too hungry to prolong it anymore.

“What time is everyone getting here?” I ask, mainly waiting for Harry to answer.

“Within the hour.”

“Have you guys decided what you’re going to do?” Gemma sets down her fork to look at the both of us, prompting me to turn and look at Harry.

“We’re going to tell the fans. We want them to hear it from us, take away the power from the person who hacked my phone.” Harry explains.

“Yeah, that reminds me. I need to call my parents.” I dab the corners of the mouth with a napkin before excusing myself.

Harry’s POV

I watch as Y/n leaves the room to make the call privately.

“So, how is she?” Anne asks, focusing on me.

“With all things considered, I think she’s doing alright.” I take a sip of the coffee that’s still warm, “We both agreed that we’re going to tell the fans today. Clarify a few things.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” Gemma nods.

“Me too. It’s nice having her here again.” My mum smiles looking at me.

“Mum, don’t go there.” I warn.

“I didn’t mean anything by it!” She defends, “I just said it’s nice.”

“She’s right.” Gemma chimes in, “Y/n has always been our favorite. We all know that your story with her is far from over.”

I simply shake my head, knowing better than to argue with these two. It’s a short while later Y/n makes a reappearance, her eye’s red and puffy.

“Alright, everyone’s in the know.” She sighs.

Right on que there’s a knock on the door. I’m sure it’s just starting that our teams are showing up. Ready to start a new day.

“Alright, so Harry said that you guys agreed on putting out a statement. We can get started on that today. We need to decide how we want to do it, we have a few options.” Jordan explains, “We can type up a statement from both of you and release it on social media or if you guys wanted to say something.”

“Like a video?” Y/n asks.

“Exactly. It’s totally up to you guys, it’s a matter of preference.” Jeff cuts in, “Sometimes it's a little more comfortable to do it that way so you can say exactly what you want and people can hear your tone, but at the same time it’s a lot more personal this way.”

“What do you want to do?” Y/n suddenly turns to get my opinion.

“I’m fine with either-”

“C’mon, what’s your head saying.” She has a soft knowing smile on her face. I smile back at her because how could I not.

“I think that if we’re coming clean and trying to be honest about things, it could be good to have it actually coming from our mouths.”

“I agree.” She turns back to look at Jordan and Jeff, “So how exactly do we go about that?”

“So we’ll start by-”

Jeff stops speaking as his phone buzzes, he glances down quickly and his eyes widen for a second. Whatever it is it’s enough to have completely captured his attention.

“What is it?” I ask, I start spinning one of my rings subconsciously. It takes what feels like minutes of pure silence, but in actuality it’s only a few seconds for him to answer.

“The audio file is out.”

Fuck.

~

i’m sorry for all the switching of POVs but that’s the best way i felt I could communicate how i wanted things to go. 

PART 3?!?! how are we feeling? mini series?

[yes-or-no]

Andrew Almost Stabs Nicky for the Thousandth Time - Part 2

(tw torture, child abuse, sexual abuse mention, suicide mention, knife and blood/injury mention)

Part 1

* * *

Neil turned his head as the door clicked open and Aaron walked in, his face flushed and a ghost of a smile on his lips. He’d been with Katelyn, no doubt. The smile disappeared the instant he saw Kevin’s face and worry filled his eyes when he followed Kevin’s gaze to the floor, where Neil was crouching in front of Nicky, tending to his neck.

“What the fuck happened?” he asked. “Neil what did you—“

“Shut up Aaron, I didn’t touch him,” Neil said before Aaron could accuse him of something. Neil turned back to Nicky. He had a smile on his face, but Neil could see past it. There was sill fear in his eyes, and his hands were still trembling.

“You’re doing that wrong,” Aaron pointed out, gesturing to the cotton pad Neil was using to clean Nicky’s cut. Neil ignored Aaron and looked at Nicky.

“Hey, Nicky,” he said, trying to get his attention from whatever world Nicky was in right now. He looked at Neil. “I’ll talk to him, okay?” Nicky shook his head.

“No, it was my fault, I shouldn’t have—“

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Neil cut in. “You shouldn’t have touched him. But Andrew can’t shove a knife against your throat every time you do something stupid. You’d be up against that wall all the time if he could,” Neil said, trying to get some sort of reaction from Nicky. It worked, and Nicky huffed a laugh. He was still shaken, but he’d relaxed slightly. “Are you going to be okay if I...” Neil trailed off, gesturing to the door. Nicky nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “Go kick his ass for me,” he joked. Neil hadn’t seen Kevin move into the kitchen but when he came back he had a tub of ice cream and a spoon in his hands. He walked over to Nicky.

“What?” Nicky gasped. “No vegetables?” Kevin glared but shoved the tub of ice cream to him. Neil stood and turned to Aaron. He threw the bottle of disinfectant to him as he made his way toward the door.

“You do it properly, then, Doctor,” Neil said, finally answering Aaron’s comment from before. Aaron only levelled a sneer his way and walked over to Nicky.

* * *

Andrew was sitting on the edge of the roof, his legs dangling off the side of the building and a cigarette burning between his fingers. He didn’t turn at the sound of the door clicking open. Neil cleared his throat in case Andrew hadn’t heard and approached slowly. Andrew didn’t pass Neil a cigarette like he usually might’ve, but he didn’t object when Neil grabbed the packet next to him, took one out and lit it. Neil sat where the packet had been, keeping his distance from Andrew and letting his own legs hang in the cool afternoon air. Andrew let the smoke escape his mouth. Neil took note of the tremble in Andrew’s fingers. He thought back to his first trip to Columbia with the monsters, when he’d first witnessed Andrew going trough withdrawal from his medication. It had been the first time Neil had seen Andrew looking weak. Andrew flicked a rock off the ledge and watched it fall.

“It’d be easy, wouldn’t it? Tragic, too. Perfect end for a traumatised Fox like me, no?” Andrew pulled one knee up to his chest and puffed on his cigarette. Neil breathed in the smoke of his own cigarette and tried not to imagine watching another person he loved die. He’d seen enough of that already.

“If you wanted to die, you’d have done it already,” Neil shrugged, looking out over the campus. “So there has to be something you want to live for.” A moment of comfortable silence fell between them like a blanket over the troubles of the day. Andrew’s next words were quiet, like he didn’t quite want to say them.

“You,” he said. Neil snapped his head to Andrew. He hadn’t been expecting that bit of honesty. “And Aaron, and Kevin and even fucking Nicky,” he said, stubbing out his cigarette. Neil did the same and shifted closer to Andrew, but still kept his distance.

“Why?” he asked. Andrew knew what he meant. Why’d you react so badly?

“He touched me without my permission,” Andrew said. That was enough, Neil understood. But he’d seen the way Andrew’s eyes had shifted at Nicky’s words. He knew there was more to it than that.

“When my dad found out I was ticklish,” Neil started, and it got Andrew’s attention, “he had—he had Lola run knives all over my body. Any time I flinched, or squirmed or laughed, the knives would cut me, just slightly. Every day until I could keep still with a straight face. It took three weeks,” Neil finished. Andrew’s eyes raked Neil’s torso like he could see the scars underneath. He nodded. Andrew knew what Neil was asking. I gave you something, now you give me something. Andrew knew, just like Neil did, that he didn’t have to return the favour. That if he decided he didn’t want to talk about it, Neil wouldn’t push. But Andrew watched his trembling hands for a moment and looked back at Neil.

“Drake found out I was ticklish,” he said simply. Neil felt the words like a blow to the gut, even if he’d been expecting just as much. He nodded. Andrew turned and laid along the concrete ledge, one of his legs still hanging. Neil lit his cigarette again, breathing in the acrid smell of the smoke.

“Nicky’s pretty shaken,” Neil said. Andrew blindly threw another rock off the edge and Neil watched it miss a student on the ground by a few inches.

“I warned him.”

“You can’t keep putting a knife to Nicky’s throat when he does something dumb.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, Junkie.”

“I can’t.”

“What?” Andrew sat up, shoving his hands in the pocket of his hoodie and staring at Neil.

“I don’t know how many times you’ve told me I can’t put a leash on you. I don’t want to,” Neil said. Andrew raised his eyebrows. “I can’t tell you what to do and I don’t want to tell you what to do.” Neil thought back to the day Andrew had put Neil’s hand on his chest. I won’t be like them, Neil had said. I won’t let you let me be. Neil knew Andrew was thinking it too. “He needs to know something, even the smallest amount, or one day, Nicky’s gonna grow a spine and he’s going to walk away.”

“That’ll be his choice, then,” Andrew said.

“And you’ll let someone that’s supposedly one of your reasons to live go just like that?”

“One down, three to go,” Andrew said, locking eyes with Neil. He’d been holding four fingers up but now there were only three.

“No,” Neil said. Andrew blinked. “You’re not getting rid of me, Drew.” Neil stood and walked closer to Andrew, but stayed out of arm’s reach. “I’ve been running my whole life. I’m tired of it. I’m not running anymore. Not from you.” Neil waited for Andrew to say something, and after a while he started to think that maybe he should have kept his mouth shut. Neil wasn’t very good at doing that, though. Finally, Andrew stood, leaving only inches between him and Neil.

“What would you have me say to Nicky?” Andrew asked, like he didn’t really care for the answer.

“I- you don’t need to tell him why. Not really, anyway. I think just be real with him, Drew. Sit him down and tell him that he needs to respect your boundaries and you don’t want him to touch you unless he specifically asks.”

“I’ve told him,” Andrew responded dryly.

“With a knife to his throat.”

“That should get the message across clearly enough, I think.”

“Andrew,” Neil said because he knew not to say please. That seemed to get Neil’s message across clearly enough, because Andrew took the cigarette—almost burnt down to the butt—from Neil’s hand and let it drop to the ground.

“What are you tired of running from?” Andrew asked. There was a glint of something in Andrew’s eyes then. He wasn’t used to asking for help, but Neil thought this was something close to that. Andrew was admitting something—that he needed Neil.

“Reality,” Neil said. “I’m not used to being a real person. You proved to me that I could be. With you.” Andrew looked away, like the statement was too heavy to bare right now.

“Yes or no?” Andrew asked. Neil furrowed his brow, confused.

“Yes,” he said anyway. Andrew nodded.

“I don’t want to be touched right now,” Andrew said. It was Neil’s turn to nod this time, and as he did so, he shoved his hands in his pockets. Andrew took his own hands out of his hoodie and placed one on Neil’s chest, using it like a spacer between them as he leant and kissed Neil.

Andrew tasted like smoke and vanilla and Neil had to clench his hands into fists in his pocket to stop himself from reaching for Andrew, from pulling him closer and kissing him deeper. When Andrew finally broke away, he handed Neil his lighter and the pack of cigarettes in his pocket.

“I’ll talk to Nicky,” he said. Neil nodded. As Andrew made his way to the door that would lead him downstairs, he glanced back at Neil.

“Don’t run away, Rabbit.” Neil only sent him a two fingered salute in return.

[teenwerewoofs]

[Podfic] I Got You Flowers

Written by lavenderlotion

Read by bri

Teen Wolf - Chris Argent/Stiles Stilinski - Rating: T

Summary: The door swung open, and Stiles’ mouth fell open right along with it. Chris was standing there, wearing tight jeans that clung to his thighs and a button down shirt that clung to everything, and Stiles took a long moment to remember how to breathe. When he did, he flushed darker red, not able to tear his eyes away.

He knew Chris was hot, but dear god. This was just—this was just ridiculous, really, and Stiles had no idea what to even say. His throat was so dry that he wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to get words out, let alone a coherent sentence with how it felt like his brain was melting right out of his head. Stiles had no idea how the hell he got someone so hot to go out with him, but damn, did he feel lucky.

Additional tags: Alternate Universe - Human, Deputy Chris Argent, Awkward Stiles Stilinski, Insecure Stiles Stilinski, First Dates, making Out, Tooth-Rotting Fluff

Podfic length: 0 - 10 minutes

Audio format: MP3 or Streaming

I love doing nervous Stiles lol.  I talk faster anyway so it always seems to fit so well for me.  Also, picturing Chris Argent in a deputy uniform and then tight jeans?  Yes, please. 😍 

I just love Stargent so much. 😭  Blessings to every Stargent author that also puts a blanket permission statement in their AO3 profile - y'all are the real MVPs.

If podfic isn't your thing, check out the original here.

And absolutely check out the other work by lavenderlotion on AO3!

[hale-13]

The Trouble with Tabloids

By Hale13 for @jenniboo311

“Oh look at this, this is a good one: ‘Some suggest that Parker’s powers include the male spider’s ability to hypnotize females.”

“Stop, c’mon,” Peter says back, slightly irritated at her teasing.

“Yes my Spider-Lord,” MJ says, dropping her voice in pitch and, against his will he starts chuckling. It makes him feel lighter and calmer and warm.

“Can we just like sit up here all day? It is so crazy down there.”

MJ hums and flicks over to the next page, still skimming. “I mean we could,” she says, neutral. “But would it really help anything?”

Or

MJ reads the Daily Bugle and Peter is an nervous mess about returning to school after his identity is reveled to the world.

Words: 5313, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandom: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)

Relationships: Peter Parker/Michelle Jones, Peter & May, Peter & Ned

Read on AO3 or below line break

“Does any part of you feel relieved about all this?” Michelle is curled up on her side, the half priced Christmas twinkle lights she picked up off a dusty shelf when they went thrift shopping a few months ago hung up haphazardly behind her. They make the edges of her hair glow red and throw strange and beautiful shadows across her face. Peter is almost too distracted looking at her to register her question.

“What do you mean?” His voice quiet and questioning. His living room is completely dark – his face lit only by his phone screen where he holds is just above his chest.

MJ’s face scrunches a little and she readjusts her head on the pillow, a few stray fractals of light bouncing off the broken black dahlia necklace and painting rainbows onto the wall and ceiling. “Now that everybody knows you don’t really have to hide or lie to people.”

Peter feels his hackles rise just a little at that comment but he’s too tired and burnt out to really be upset. He feels like he’s been fighting for years even though its only been a few weeks since Beck outed him to the world. His head pulsates with the starts of a headache and he just sighs. “For the record,” despite his desire to sound neutral his voice has a bit of an edge, “I never wanted to lie to you. But how do you tell someone that you’re Spider-Man?”

MJ hums noncommittally, it’s the sound she makes when she disagrees or has strong feelings about something in particular but doesn’t feel like arguing – he’s sure it will come up later and that her opinion will probably be correct. It makes him feel thankful and pissed simultaneously but he takes a deep breath and tries to let it go. Anger seems to be his default emotion these days. Anger and frustration and a dash of hopelessness. “Are you ready for tomorrow?” MJ asks, changing the subject abruptly and Peter settles a little more firmly into the ancient couch that May picked up from one of their neighbors. It groans under him.

“Sure,” he replies with a bit of a crooked smile that he can tell doesn’t reach his eyes – the little image in the bottom of his screen that shows his reflection makes him look pale and washed out and so so tired. No wonder May had been hovering so much recently. “I’ve always wanted to try and balance being a well known vigilante while going to high school.”

MJ chuckles and gives him a fond smile. The school year technically started a few weeks ago but Peter has been on unofficial home arrest while the NYPD and FBI and the freaking UN sorted out what to do with him. The unaltered footage from EDITH along with the character witness statements and testimonials from Happy and the newly returned to Earth Nick Fury (shape-shifting aliens what the fuck?) made it clear quickly that he was innocent but just opened the door for a whole host of other problems.

Like a large portion of conspiracy theorists still saying he killed Beck and that the government was covering it up. Or the fact that his address had gotten leaked and people had camped outside with signs or support or hatred and he and May had needed to move somewhere new. Or how Ned had been accosted by a crazy Fox News journalist on his way home from school one day.

That had made Peter see red and it was only May and Happy taking his web-shooters and phone and nearly restraining him that kept him from leaving to do something he would probably (maybe) regret later.

Jimmy Woo, the FBI agent over his case, had advised him to just lay low while the local and worldwide organizations hashed everything out. Peter was still too young to sign the Sokovia Accords but they couldn’t have him running around and ‘causing untold destruction’ in other countries. And, well, the NYPD still wasn’t his biggest fan when it came to the low-to-the-ground and neighborhood problems he liked to deal with.

As it was, he was now allowed to continue being Spider-Man in New York City but he would need special permission from local governments to act anywhere else. This suited Peter just fine; he would rather not leave home anytime soon after his last ‘vacation’ and Spider-Man was a Queens hero anyway. The clock on his phone ticked over to one in the morning just as his battery bar turned red.

“Hey,” Michelle said, pulling his attention back to her. She gave him a tired smile and pulled her blanket up higher on her shoulder. “We’ll be there with you the whole time.”

“I know,” Peter whispered, fingering the stitching of the t-shirt he had stolen from his girlfriend and was wearing. It still had just a bit of her scent that he could probably only pick up due to his enhanced senses and it made his chest feel a little full. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“You will,” MJ said, ending the call and leaving Peter alone. The shadows that stretched across the walls from his dim phone light looked foreboding and he stared at them until his screen went dim. He really should get up and go to bed. He should pack his book bag. He should definitely charge his phone.

Instead, Peter creeps to his room and shimmies into his suit, jumping out his window into the cool night. ———————————————

Peter crawled back through his window just before his alarm goes off at six, tired and sweaty and still freaking out a little but feeling marginally better now that some of his nervous energy was gone. May is sitting at their little kitchen table nursing a cup of coffee in her robe and looking just as exhausted as he feels. He can tell she knows that he’s been out all night but he’s thankful she chooses not to say anything as he makes his walk of shame to their cramped single bathroom to shower.

When he emerges about twenty minutes later with damp hair and layered up in his favorite flannel shirt and a plain white t-shirt May has brewed another pot of coffee and has a stack of toast and jam on the table and his heart clenches. Toast and jam has always been his go-to for mornings where his anxiety is at an all time high and his stomach is twisting and he wraps his arms around May’s shoulders from behind in a fierce hug and tucks his face into her neck like he’s a little kid again. May gives him a kiss on the temple and lets him soak in some comfort from her before she shoos him over to his seat to eat.

They both sit in silence; Peter munching on his toast and drinking black coffee full of sugar to perk him up and May nursing her own cup and staring at the wall. May’s knee bumps against his when she scoots a little closer and he can feel a little bit more of the tension leak out of him – as long as he still has her he’s okay. No matter what happens with school and Spider-Man and the Avengers he has May.

“I’m so proud of you,” May tells him a few minutes later as he’s chewing on his last piece of toast and Peter can feel the tears pooling in the corners of his eyes but he refuses to cry. He sniffs and coughs, choking on emotion and May scoots her chair over more to pull him into a hug and he just lets himself be held for a minute.

“I love you,” he tells her, leaning into the hug for just another second before pulling away. May smiles, her own eyes watery and she fidgets with his hair, smoothing out the wild curls and fixing his collar. He knows she hears everything else he’s trying to say: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I didn’t want this.

“I love you too,” she says; It’s okay, its not your fault. “I have the next week off so if you need me for anything – and I mean anything – I want you to call me okay? I’ll come get you.”

Peter nods even though he would never call her to come bail him out and goes to the sink to rinse his cup and brush the crumbs off his plate. “I know May and I will, I promise.” Liar. The knock at the door interrupts them and Peter glances at the clock; its later than he thought. May bites her lip like she’s waffling on saying more but relents and goes to answer it. He can hear her greeting MJ and Ned, can hear the brushing of clothes as she hugs them both and Peter takes just a moment for himself. He closes his eyes and takes a fortifying breath – in through his nose and out through his mouth – and straightens his spine, squares his shoulders.

He can do this.

And he’s does. He’s fine as he slinks out of his building (the first time leaving as Peter Parker since his arrest and meeting with multiple government organizations and moving) and down the steps to slide into Happy’s car with Ned and MJ on either side of him. Ned is wearing the ridiculous letterman jacket from Acadec that he spent way too much money on and MJ is wearing a dark blazer he’s never seen before but instantly loves. He would probably love everything she wore to be honest.

“Hey kid,” Happy says. He looks completely unruffled in his usual dark suit and tie but Peter can hear his heart beating faster than usual as he double and triple checks his mirrors before pulling away from the curb. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Peter says but his voice is all wrong and he clears his throat to try to get rid of the lump that’s formed there unsuccessfully. Michelle slips her hand in his and squeezes tightly and Ned presses their sides together in a quick moment of support on his other side.

Ned’s phone buzzes against Peter’s leg and he fishes it out, unlocking it and reading through the message before typing a short reply. “Flash is meeting us out front,” he says. And that, probably, had been the biggest surprise from this whole identity reveal mess but it probably shouldn’t have been. When they had come back from the blip, fifteen kids out of their class of forty-three, they had come to an understanding.

The apology and forgiveness had gone unsaid between them but, suddenly, Flash wasn’t as terrible to be around. There was still some ribbing and snarky commentary but nothing to the intensity of before. No more ‘Penis Parker’ no tripping him in the halls or pushing him into lockers like before.

If the Blip had done one thing it was reset everyone’s preconceived notions and priorities.

After Beck had released his heavily doctored video, Flash had practically beat down Ned’s door and asked how he could help. With his large Twitter, Instagram and TikTok following, he had been able to help get the word out about local protests and had been the person behind #NY❤️sSpidey and #PeterParkerisInnocent trending on twitter for multiple days.

Peter had uninstalled all social media from his phone weeks ago to protect his sanity and had basically only been texting May, MJ, Ned and Happy but he really appreciated the sentiment and had dropped in on Flash when he was in the park the other day as Spider-Man to say a quick ‘thank you’ as he patrolled. Flash had looked stunned and excited in equal measure but had offered a scoff and a fist bump that Peter gladly returned before swinging off.

“Well shit,” Happy muttered as he turned into Midtown drawing Peter out of his thoughts.

The school was a madhouse – news trucks were lining the perimeter, their cameras and newscasters being careful to not step onto school property and under close watch from the scattering of NYPD and SRO on the scene. That was fine, they had expected that.

What Peter had not expected, what no one had prepared for, was the literal mob of protestors with signs and banners and t-shirts screaming and chanting behind a series of guardrails that fringed the path up to the school. His classmates were walking up the path mostly unmolested and filming and taking pictures, some of them lingering around the front entrance or on the steps or surrounding lawn as they watched in fascination. A couple were enthusiastically talking to a cluster of cameras and reporters near the subway entrance.

“How did they know I was coming back to school today?” Peter asks, mouth and throat dry and making his voice croak.

“Someone must have slipped it,” MJ says, not sounding surprised. There had been a school wide assembly the Friday before where Principal Morita had announced Peter’s imminent return and had put some ground rules in place – don’t treat him like a zoo animal, no crowding the halls, no harassment – but Peter didn’t really expect anyone to listen. He’d had his own meeting with May and Morita via Zoom a couple weeks before to hammer out the details of his continued education at Midtown and his tardy and absence policy. The man has assured him that he would do everything he could to keep Peter’s school experience as normal as possible which had bolstered May’s confidence but Peter had known it was more of an empty promise than anything else.

“It’s fine Pete,” Ned said. “They can’t do anything to us.”

Happy met his eyes in the rear view mirror and raised a questioning brow and Peter gave a shake of his head. He wasn’t going to back out now, besides, the car had been spotted and multiple cameras were pointed in his direction and the mob was screaming and waving their signs even more aggressively now.

Happy pulled to a slow stop in front of the path and put the car in park. “I can have them removed if you want,” he offered. “Or find a back entrance? You don’t have to deal with them Pete.”

Peter looked at the crowd again and gnawed at his already ragged lip. “It’s okay. It’ll just make it worse if I try to avoid them.”

Happy muttered something about self-flagellation under his breath with a fond eye roll but didn’t fight him. “Just don’t say anything,” he advises. “Don’t look at them and don’t say anything. Just keep walking until you’re in the school okay? I’ll be here right at four-thirty to pick you up after decathlon.”

“Thanks Happy,” Peter says, trading seats with Michelle so that he’ll be the first to emerge from the car and tightening his backpack straps. He wishes he had his red and black suit with him instead of the Iron Spider in its housing units on his wrists – the weight, minuscule as it is, is always comforting on his back. He wishes he was wearing his mask. He wishes he could just be plain Peter Parker again. He takes a deep, fortifying breath and opens the door.

The angry roar of the crowd when they see him nearly deafens him and he fights the urge to cover his ears and protect his sensitive hearing. Flash materializes out of nowhere to stand staunchly at his side as MJ slips out of the car, clearly nervous but ignoring the mass of people and grabbing his hand. “Nice hair Eugene,” she teases as Ned joins them and closes the door. Flash rolls his eyes at her and pushes his shockingly blonde fringe out of his eyes.

“You wish you could pull this off,” he offers in response and her smile becomes more genuine at the ribbing.

“Maybe red,” she muses, adjusting her own bag on her shoulder before she starts to walk up the sidewalk.

The path is only wide enough for them to walk two by two and MJ pulls him closer and holds his hand tighter as they face the school. Peter tries to ignore the signs and screams as he walks resolutely toward the door but he can’t completely block them out, especially after seeing a blown up copy of his year book photo with devil horns calling him a murderer. The woman holding it, wearing a t-shirt with a similar message and a button with Mysterio’s helmet on it, spews even more vitriol when she sees him look her direction. Her face is red and angry and Peter redirects his attention back to the school.

His classmates crowd the stairs and most of them have their phones out to livestream him coming to school. He feels like a bug pinned under glass and he can feel his breath speed up in his chest but he tries not to show it. Ben had always told him that he was an open book and that anyone could read his every thought on his face. It had been funny back then but now Peter just wishes that it was anything but true.

It, unfortunately, doesn’t get any better inside. The halls are lined with curious teenagers and teachers alike who all watch him walk down the hall and film him and get way too close for comfort. Morita had told him that he can’t, technically, enforce the no phone rule before school officially starts for the day and after it ends so Peter will have to deal with it.

His locker is also, unfortunately, down a completely different hall than Ned, MJ and Flash’s so they have to separate if they plan on being on time for home room. He’ll meet Ned there but he won’t see the other two until second period and he has first period, APUSH, completely alone. It’s almost enough to send him over the edge.

“I can walk with you,” Ned offers, adjusting his bag but Peter just shakes his head. He can do this. He has to do this.

The heckling gets worse once the others leave and his classmates get bolder – pushing into his space and taking selfies with him and asking invasive questions. He’s never been popular and he’s always been ignored and its just getting to be too much but at least he understands why some celebrities go off the deep end and straight up punch paparazzi now.

He makes quick work of getting his locker open and stowing his extra notebooks and gym bag before hassling in the direction of his home room. Ned meets up with him halfway there, a little out of breath from clearly rushing to meet him and pushing through the crowd, and the groupies back off a little once he’s around and forming a barrier between them and Peter. Ms. Warren glances at them from her desk when they enter and her eyes linger on Peter a little longer than normal but she otherwise ignores them and Peter feels honestly faint in relief.

“Dude,” Ned tells him as he slips into the seat to Peter’s right at the scratched up black lab table. Peter groans and drops his head onto his crossed arms, not really knowing how to respond. “At least you have Dell for APUSH – he won’t put up with any shit in his class.”

“Yeah,” Peter responds. “Lucky.”

Ned winces and goes to say something else but the bell rings and the school morning newscast starts playing on the TV. Ms. Warren turns it up just as Betty Brant says “This morning our very own Midtown Avenger joined us back in classes. In case you missed it, Jason and I were live on the scene for his-,”

Peter crammed his headphones in and turned on the white noise to drown out the sound of the newscast and pointedly ignored Ned’s sympathetic looks and Ms. Warren who looked at his headphones in blatant disapproval but didn’t ask him to take them out. Thank God.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he peeked at the message coming through – a single eye rolling emoji from MJ followed by Must be a slow news day. He smiled despite himself and tucked the phone back away just as the bell rang.

His first class alone was a nightmare – Mr. Dell had assigned them all seats and had put Peter front and center in what was, probably, an effort to keep his classmates for hassling him too much and keep everyone’s attention on what he was teaching and not on Peter. It didn’t really work since people kept taking sneaky Snapchat pictures and videos of him under their desks when Mr. Dell’s back was turned. Peter set his jaw and tried to ignore it but he knew he would have to borrow Ned’s notes if he even hoped at passing the class.

His AP English class was a little better since he had both Ned and MJ with him but Mr. Harrington who was, arguably, his favorite teacher and one that had, apparently, really gone to bat for him against the PTO and school board so that he could keep his scholarship and go to school, was a little oblivious. His classmates were even more bold and blatant and he was clenching his jaw so much he thought his teeth might break.

“Come with me,” MJ said, pulling him out of his desk right as the bell rang and rushing out the door.

“Where are we going?” Peter asked, stumbling after her as she pulled him toward one of the stock rooms, pushing him in and closing and locking the door behind them.

“To the roof,” she answered, standing on an overturned bucket to open up the small window. Peter blinked in surprise.

“But you have art this hour.”

“And you have a free period,” MJ said like it was obvious, hopping off the bucket and herding him to the window. “Ms. Goode loves me anyway so she won’t care if I miss a class. Hurry up and get sticky.”

Peter let out a bark of a laugh and climbed up the wall, pulling Michelle through the window after him and carefully avoiding the classrooms and front of the building until they reached the roof. The sun was bright and warm on his skin and he laid on his back just reveling in the silence. “This is nice,” he said, catching the book MJ dropped before it hit his stomach without opening his eyes and positioning it behind his head as a pillow. She settled in next to him, rustling with some paper and he cracked open one eye to glance at her. “What is that?”

“The Daily Bugle,” she answered, flicking through a couple pages and skimming the words, ignoring as Peter choked on his own saliva and fell into a coughing fit.

“You’re actually reading that garbage? You know what they’re saying about me right? Jameson keeps calling me a ‘Spider-Menace like that even makes sense-.”

“It’s actually pretty hilarious,” she said interrupting his tirade and stopping her flicking to read through a page. “Oh look at this, this is a good one: ‘Some suggest that Parker’s powers include the male spider’s ability to hypnotize females.”

“Stop, c’mon,” Peter says back, slightly irritated at her teasing.

“Yes my Spider-Lord,” MJ says, dropping her voice in pitch and, against his will he starts chuckling. It makes him feel lighter and calmer and warm.

“Can we just like sit up here all day? It is so crazy down there.”

MJ hums and flicks over to the next page, still skimming. “I mean we could,” she says, neutral. “But would it really help anything?”

Peter sighs and flops over on his stomach to beat his head gently into the book. “Probably not.” His stomach growls and he sighs – at least lunch is next. MJ’s hand skims down his neck to sit in the small of his back.

“I can think of something that could take your mind off it,” she says lightly and Peter feels his cheeks heat just a little but rolls his head over to smirk at her.

“Do tell.”

She gives him a little smile of her own before poking him until he moves enough for her to perch on his lap. He curls block out the sun and she’s at just the perfect height for him to lean forward and pull her into kiss.

They slip back into the window of the stock room just before the bell rings to end third period with their lips swollen and their hair a little more messy than it was before but with bright smiles and less tense muscles. Peter keeps his ear to the door and waits for the hallway to clear before they slip out and make their way to the lunch room.

Both of them had brought lunch so it was easier to creep in unnoticed through the side door and join Ned and Flash in the back corner of the cafeteria. It didn’t take too long before their classmates started murmuring and pointing and, despite the numerous warnings from various administrators and the fact that five of the sophomore level teachers were seated at their own table near the front of the room, many of the students took notice of their sudden appearance and were attempting to take surreptitious pictures and videos of them on phones hidden under tables and halfway in hoodie pockets. Peter felt his ears turn red as he ducked his head closer to the table and nearly into his sandwich. MJ glared at the table closest to them and the few girls seated there at least had the decency to look ashamed though they didn’t tuck their phones away.

“So this is fun,” Flash muttered as he picked at the flavorless and congealed school spaghetti on his tray. His normal table of friends and groupies were seated a few tables away and looking at him with jealously. Awkward silence followed his deadpan grumbling and Peter shifted uncomfortably.

Michelle rolled her eyes and snorted indelicately before glancing at Peter with clear mischief in her eyes and slapping her copy of the Daily Bugle on the table before flipping it open to a page she had earmarked. Peter groaned and dropped his head to thunk on the table dramatically as MJ said “ Did you know that Peter can hypnotize females with his spider powers?”

Ned snorted so abruptly some of the water he was drinking dribbled out his nose causing him to cough and gag and Flash to thump him on the back. “Oh my God,” Ned said reverently, touching the gossip rag and cradling it like it was special as his eyes darted across the page. “This is the best thing I’ve ever seen. I need to get this framed!”

Peter whined and thumped his head on the table a few more times. “Yo Parker, this says you lay eggs,” Flash pointed out, skimming the edge of the page where a bullet pointed lists of ‘Fun Facts!’ were.

“I don’t lay eggs!” Peter groaned out in dismay, giving MJ his best betrayed look. She ignored his misery as she gleefully looked at the paper upside down to read the other inaccurate facts listed about him. “This is abuse,” he muttered, trying to pull the paper away from Ned but failing as his friend dodged and Flash batted his hands away.

“Does your ability to hypnotize only work on females? What exactly is the process?” Ned teased, voice shaking in mirth. “Wait! Wait what do you make them call you? Master of the Spiders? Arachnid King?”

“Spider Lord,” MJ provided with a shit-eating grin that had Flash and Ned sputtering with laughter and drawing even more attention their way.

“Oh come on,” Peter begged. “Don’t let anyone hear you or they’ll believe it!”

“Of course Spider Lord,” Flash intoned with barely concealed glee causing Ned and MJ to cackle more.

“You’re all the worst,” Peter told them without heat. To be honest this was the best he had felt all day – he hardly noticed the extra stares and muttering anymore. The bell announcing the end of their lunch rang and he hurried to cram the rest of his sandwich in his mouth as quickly as possible; they all had to hurry since they had gym and had to change before the tardy bell rang in ten minutes.

The heckling continued up until they split off to enter different locker rooms and Peter abruptly clenched his jaw as he realized the majority of his class was not only early to class to change but also waiting in the locker room and looking busy while they waited for him. Ned shot him a wince as he ducked into one of the stalls to change. Peter could feel the eyes following him as he did the same.

“Come on Parker,” he told himself as he took a few moments to center himself. “It’s just gym. You’ve done it a hundred times. This time’s no different.” He took as much time as possible to change, only sneaking out just before the bell rang and the majority of the room emptied.

MJ had saved them seats a bit away from the rest of the class and Peter squeezed between her and Ned, taking her hand and giving it a soft squeeze. Coach Wilson, looking particularly bored, was lugging a couple bags of foam balls from the locked equipment closet and Peter felt his stomach turn with dread. He detested dodgeball.

“You know the drill,” Coach Wilson drowned from the middle of the court. “Split in half, game starts on my whistle. Not you Parker,” he called over the din of talking and scuffing tennis shoes. “New PTA rules – you can watch and do individual work but no more team or contact sports.”

Peter felt his face flush again as he lowered himself back into his seat as the class broke out into louder conversations around him. Ned clapped him on the shoulder and said “Don’t worry about it man,” and Peter opened his mouth with the intent to thank or reassure his friend that he was okay but Ned, taking advantage and wearing a smirk, loudly went directly for the kill. “Besides, its unbecoming of a Spider Lord to comport himself like one of us mere plebes.”

Flash promptly tripped down the stairs and barely caught himself from falling on his face and breaking his nose on the floor, MJ had to sit back down to get herself under control as the rest of their class just stared at them with confused looks on their faces.

“I can’t believe you’ve done this,” Peter told Ned seriously causing his friends to break out into laughter again. If you can’t beat ‘em right?

“You’ve been an awfully good sport about this,” MJ told him later, leaning against a neighboring locker as he packed his bag and grabbed his decathlon binder. He shot her a questioning glance as he zipped up his bag. “The Spider Lord thing. It doesn’t actually bother you right? Because Ned already changed your name in the group chat and I’d hate to hurt his feelings by changing it again.”

“No its fine,” Peter reassured her. “It’s a little funny.” He slammed his locker shut and took her hand, “We’re going to be late Captain,” he told her, walking in the direction of the library. And maybe it didn’t bother him but it didn’t stop the wheels from turning. The attention rankled and he just wanted to go back to being Peter Parker again, to be completely anonymous.

He may know a guy who could help with that – it would only take a quick trip to Bleeker Street.

[kiss4kazu]

Hi! could I request some headcanons for what kissing Ashe and Dimitri (Felix too if thats not too much if not its fine) would be like for the first time?

☆ first time kisses with ashe, dimitri, felix 

↳ ashe babie boy 

although ashe is really innocent and pure i think he’s easily one of the most romantic in blue lions and would really go above and beyond always for the person he loves. 

i know a lot of people probably see ashe as someone being too reluctant and nervous to actually ever make a move first but i think if he really liked someone, he’d be extremely obvious about it, blushing like crazy, a stuttering mess, etc and after enough pep talks from sylvain he’d finally make a move to ask u out on a date and it would be an absolute wreck.

would literally put together something so fckin cheesy n corny but in the most adorably ashe way that it makes you want to punch him from being so precious

like a cute picnic or something by a lake and he’d make cute little cakes with some help from annette and it would just be so pure. 

he’d rehearse how he’s going to confess in his head like a million times but when the moment actually comes it ends up just being a jumbled up mess filled with “ums” and he’d try to stick to the script him and sylvain came up with and get out a “y-you’re r-really… u-uh… p-pretty..” but then he’d fuck it all up by saying something weird n dorky like “a-and you s-smell really nice… w-wait that’s weird i’m sorry-” and you’d just hold back ur laughter, ur heart swelling with so so much affection for him. 

ofc he’d ask for permission to kiss you, cheeks crimson and his eyes looking up at yours like tht one starry eyed emoji. you’d give him a vocal response, since he rly needs that reassurance. no stutters just “of course ashe” and he’d smile so so big and then just swoop down totally uncoordinated. 

would probs miss your lips and have to readjust. 

kissing ashe for the first time would be … messy. he’s not experienced at all, and doesn’t know what to do with his hands and he’d honestly be a dead fish for a good few moments. but as you ease him more into the kiss, he’d loosen up a bit, tilt his head and just stop overthinking. his lips would be really warm and would taste so sweet from the cake and he’d smile so hard into the kiss that your teeth end up bumping into each other and you’d pull away laughing

ashe kisses are the best honestly the butterflies fireworks the whole shebang yknow. 

as he gets more confident he’d probably try out a few things he’s seen in books like slipping his tongue in and would be completely taken aback by just how nice it feels. would probably whine into the kiss, cradle your face in his hands, and once you guys pull apart for some air he’d just breathe heavily against your lips with the dopiest smile on his face :( <3 

he’d be rly slap happy after kissing you for the first time and would probably tackle u onto the picnic blanket laughing from happiness kissing your face everywhere and showering you in compliments, shoving his face into ur neck and just breathing in ur scent. 

he’s very clingy ok. 

↳ dimi !!

whew. ok so we’re gonna do academy phase dimi since feral dimi is uh… probs not sfw & violent skjdfjslkjfd  

academy phase dimi knows NOTHING about kissing n he has 0 experience so it takes him forever n a day to finally get the balls to kiss u and when he does … whew. 

i can imagine kissing dimi to be during like , a deep convo or something late at night, when he’s having trouble sleeping or something and ur just running ur fingers through his hair, listening to him as he vents and admiring the sound of his voice bc he’s always more talkative at the dead of night when he’s sleep deprived. 

he’d just look at u so so lovingly and it would be suffocating and ur just staring at his lips but u know ur probs way in over ur head bc uh he’s the future king of faerghus 

but then he’d ask for permission too like ashe tbh bc he’s just polite like tht and has too good mannerisms 

plus he cares a lot about your comfort and would never want to make u feel unsafe or uncomfy especially by his doing

and you would nod with quickness n he’d waste not a second to connect ur lips 

kissing dimi is like a trance tbh, type of kiss that feels like something in u is short-circuiting 

literally the type of kiss that makes ur knees buckle u know the ones. 

he’s a rly rly good kisser n it makes no sense bc he’s literally never kissed anyone before in his life n it kind of makes u mad bc why is he perfect 

a rly rly passionate kisser and he can be kind of rougher than he intends to bc he’s not good with fragile things 

clearly v dominant in the kiss, one hand with an iron grip on ur hip the other tangled up behind ur neck, gripping ur hair. after a while gets reluctant and starts to overthink things and pulls away apologizing for being too rough

you’d probs have to reassure him a million times tht its okay dimi ur not hurting me!! 

he’s rly touch starved tbh so he always tends to take pecks into full-blown makeout sessions or when he intends to just kiss ur forehead he ends up kissing ur cheeks too, ur jaw, down ur neck just riling himself up tbh and then he finally  looks up at u with his eyes all dark n ur just like … here we go

did i mention he groans a lot during kisses bc he does 

dimi’s other sides shining through when his emotions overwhelm him is just .. dimitri 101. 

he’s rough, seemingly an expert at this shit, his tongue shoving past your lips and completely taking u off guard. he’d literally kiss you so hard your head would spin and he’d do it all with a blush on his face bc he’s still a shy babie.  as soon as the moment is over he’s back to stuttering n being all awkward boyish prince. 

he’s also the type to shower u in compliments between kisses.

kisses lips “you’re so gorgeous” smooches neck “so amazing” kisses jaw “goddess i love you” 

im scream crying

↳ felix too bc WHY NOT ! i love him 

listen. 

this little fucker kisses the life out of people u heard it here first folks. 

he’s 100% a heat of the moment type of kisser. it could go two ways tbh. like if you got hurt or something on his behalf he’d scream at you with glossy eyes for a good 5 minutes and then just stare at you all >:( and then he’d just grab you and  kiss the fuck out of you.

probably the most passionate kisser out of the three, he kisses to the point where u can’t feel ur toes and stuff he’d just completely indulge without any fucks given bc he almost lost you and he’s not good with explaining his emotions so hopefully this helps you understand. 

the other way i can see a first kiss going down with felix is more.. vulnerable, despite his hard exterior. he is rough and mean but it’s not bc he’s genuinely a bad person he just has walls built up so high tht its impossible for anyone to rly climb over 

to get a kiss from lix, u definitely have to have climbed over tht wall of his, or just fly a wrecking ball through it n send it crumbling to the ground

you’re literally the only exception, the only person who can rly get through to him 

he’d probably turn to you for comfort a lot, when dimitri agitates him with memories of glenn or his dad says something that ticks him off and he wants to punch something he’d just go to you instead, knock on ur door and just waltz in like he owns the place, sitting down on ur bed and u would know he wants cuddles bc this is how felix communicates 

if he had to actually say “i want cuddles” out loud he’d probably shoot himself in the foot with an arrow so he’s glad u understand, u always understand him just by looking at him n it’s reassuring bc he’s never been good with words.

its kind of cringe to him that he likes being held but shocker he likes being held 

he also rly rly likes it when u play with his hair he’s like a cat he will literally start nuzzling into you, so warm and pliant to your touch

ok im getting distracted back to the kissing shit

felix would probably just be rly overwhelmed with emotions n he doesn’t rly know how to tell u “i like u” so he just says “im going to kiss you.” like a literal statement n then he does it n ur just like o-o bc wtf. 

if ur not responsive at first he’d just pull away after a while and wouldn’t meet eyes with u and be all blushy. 

would let out a tch like the little shit that he is, and u have to turn his face so he’s properly looking at u again and meeting eyes with u 

he looks so vulnerable and stupidly gorgeous so u kiss him this time so he knows the feeling is mutual and it’d take him a min to really gather whats happening but once he does he’d literally. suck. the. life. out. of. your. face. period. 

felix kisses r rough n messy n just completely self-indulgent and he groans shamelessly when u pull his hair tie out from his bun and tug at his hair yes i have a thing for felix’s hair leave me alone.

gives 0 fucks would literally shove his tongue down your throat pull you flush against him and he always calls sylvain insatiable but rly its this fucker who’s insatiable he is literally eating your face. 

you’d have to pull him away from you and he’d just pant so hard against your lips and look at you like he wants to devour you and its kind of overwhelming bc he’s fucking hot !!!!! 

would shove his face into ur neck and mumble out an “i like you”  and u would tease him n be like “what did you say i cant hear u?” and he’d elbow u in the ribs  and groan into ur neck and u would laugh n kiss his head, telling him u like him too

at tht he’d lift his head up, his hair falling over his amber eyes and u would just push the strands away from his face and kiss him softly one last time before going back 2 ur conversation about punching sylvain’s face or sumn

anyway i love felix thanks 4 coming to my ted talk. 

requests are open! <3

- vivi ★

[moonlit-mizukage]

Chapter six:  Hello Mrs. y/l/n, do you have a second to speak with us?

Summary: Popular punk band, Skull crusher, had to find a new drummer due to the sudden disappearance of the last one. As band manager and lead singer, Semi Eita’s girlfriend, Y/l/n Y/n brings Kyotani, a rising internet drummer they found online into the picture. Everything was great at first, then Kuroo, the lead guitarist, started getting creepy messages and presents. Y/n is determined to find out who is trying to sabotage the band when things only take a turn for the absolute worst. Who could be the mysterious stalker really be? Is it their new band mate? Or could it be a close friend of one of the members?

Tw: Swearing, mentions of body parts, mentions of vomiting

Word count: 1K 

An: I posted a Matsukawa smut yesterday even though I said no updates cause of my test jfkvbardfsl Requests are still open as well !! Also Smau pictures will return soon don't worry!!

AN: Also come hang out in my discord server! I haven’t been super active lately but as soon as the weekend comes I will be again!! 

_______________________________________________________________

Third Person Pov 

Y/n sat on the couch in Semi and her’s shared house. Semi had a blanket wrapped around her as he held her close to him. They left the venue not too long ago after they called the police about the contents inside the box. The band had followed choosing to stay and comfort Y/n as they have never seen her so terrified in all their years together. 

“Do you think this could be related to the letter?” Matsukawa said, finally breaking the silence. 

“I think it might be, we should definitely consider it at least.” Akaashi said back. 

“Who the fuck just does that?” Kyotani said angrily.

“Sick people.” Semi said. Kuroo and Y/n remained silent on the couch.

A few more minutes of silence passed as a knock was heard from the door. Semi stood up and headed over. 

“Hello, we just have a few questions about what happened tonight. Our team has run some DNA samples on the item and we need to discuss further before we release that info to you.” Said the police officer at the door. 

“Okay come in. The whole band is here.” He said as he moved aside allowing the two men to come in. 

“Hello Mrs. y/l/n, do you have a second to speak with us?” 

“Yes Sir.” She said as she led them over to the dining area’s table. 

“After running some DNA tests, only two people’s fingerprints were on the box. One of the matches was yours. We would like to take a statement about what happened. If my partner or I feel you may be holding information, a lie detector test may be ordered.” He said reading off his sheet. “Any questions before we begin?” 

“No sir.” She looked around him at Semi who was standing in the kitchen doorway watching. 

“Why did you grab the box in the first place?” He asked. 

“Can I just,” She let out a loud sigh “Can I just tell you the full story of what I know? I just think it may be more helpful this way.” 

“Okay go ahead Ma’am.” 

“Well first we found a box, and it was empty, well actually Matsukawa and Akaashi did, and it was addressed to Kuroo and so I opened it, with his permission of course, I screen their fan mail cause of some crazy stuff that has happened in the past, but I opened it and it said like try again I think? But anyways after the show Yachi and Kiyoko found it. I opened this one too.” She said barely pausing to take a breath.  

“Did you leave the area at any time during the night?” The one officer asked her.

“Yes I did. I went to the washroom last song and missed the encore. Can I ask why?” ‘

“We know from the security guards no one else besides staff and your friends were backstage. You just confirmed the suspicions. After gaining the information from the other women at the scene, we know no one else besides backstage staff had access to this area.” 

“Does that mean it was… it was someone one behind the stage?” 

“Yes we believe so at least, whoever it was, was extremely careful in their work. No fingerprints of the perp were left behind.” He said back monotonously. . 

“I thought you said there were two different DNA prints on the box?” She asked. 

“Yes the other belongs to the owner of the finger.” 

“Can I ask who it is?” She asked nervously. 

“It belonged to Sawamura Daichi.” 

“Daichi?.” She said feeling herself become dizzy. ‘ Is he… is he.. alive..?” She asked with disbelief in her voice. 

“We believe it is a possibility. Due to the finger being fresh, we assume it happened earlier today. There were no signs of decomposition yet.” Y/n stood up and ran over to the sink throwing up as Semi held onto her, basically holding her up at this point. 

The police moved to the other room and talked to a few others before heading out. Y/n was now drinking water at the table, tears streaked down her cheeks as she stared off at the wall.

“Hey are you guys okay in here?” Akaashi said as he walked in the dining area followed by the other guys. 

“Holy shit Y/n??? What’s wrong??” Kuroo came running over to her sitting down in the other chair beside you. She looked up and around at all the other guys there.   

“The finger it was… it was..” She swallowed a large lump in her throat, “it was Daichi’s.”

“Daichi’s, he's- he's alive?” Matsukawa said as he sat down quickly. 

 “They said the finger was pretty fresh like today's fresh.” Semi spoke up. 

“Well there was a lot of blood on it.” Kyotani added. 

“So he is alive?” Akaashi asked. 

“Yeah, they said no one entered the back area other then Y/n after she came back from the bathroom.” Semi added. 

“Does that mean… it was an inside job?” Kuroo asked. Fear was seen in his eyes as he asked. 

“They said most likely. We have to keep our eyes open from now on guys. The only ones we can trust are each other.” Semi said. Y/n was no longer listening at that moment. Instead she sat staring at the wall as to what was assumed thinking about Daichi. 

“Who do you think it could be? Like maybe we should get a suspect list going?” Matsukawa suggested. 

“The fucking bitch who wouldn’t stop touching Kuroo and I tonight.” Kyotani said. 

“What was their name?” Akaashi asked as he pulled open notes on his phone.  

“That Nametsu girl. The new stage crew member.” Kuroo said. 

“Okay, anyone else we can think of.” Akaashi asked. 

Everyone went silent for a moment looking as if they were hard debating saying something they may regret. 

“Yukie.” Y/n said just above a whisper. 

“What was that love?” Semi asked her as he moved a little closer to her. 

“The letter…. It smelt like Yukie.” 

______________________________________________________________

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Taglist: @satan-ruler-of-hells @elianetsantana @elephantloser @putmeinyourdeathnote @levithansbabygirl @megumitodoroki @idontknow-whatto-callthis @jellyfishsart @freakydeaky226 @atria-avior @doodletingz​ @kac-chowsballs @twistedvalkyrie @ranu-chan @why-couldnt-it-be @thisnoodlewritesao3

[nightswithkookmin]

You need to back up your ON break up theory with more than just fake subs and vague statements about 'claiming behavior'.

During the period you allege they were broken up, Jimin pulled Jungkook in a hug on run behind, Jungkook called Jimin sexy at a press conference, Jimin and jungkook did that whole 'how does it feel to be in the same unit'/'time to change' flirty thing, Jimin grabbed Jungkook by the lapels... and more. Begging pardon but if they were grieving the loss of their romantic relationship while trying to be professional colleagues and pals.... isnt that sort of insensitive? Like I know you admitting you might have read it wrong and have changed your view in light of new footage might be a blow to your ego, but I don't think you are thinking rationally when you insist on this break up theory. It's sad because I found so much meaning and connection in some of the stuff you have written, particularly pertaining to internalized homophobia, racism, mysogynoir and bts changing over time to become more enlightened, but your devotion to this ONE theory, and defensiveness whenever it is (rightly imo) challenged makes me wary of your theories in general, which might be extremely unfair to you, as a thinker. Your log is really funny and great in a lot of ways so i cant really quit you.

Ahhhh it's been a while I got one of these...

Hello, how you doing! Lol. Silver is that you?

Chilee, it's the name calling for me.

Ego, irrational, charlatan, Tuktukker- I'm desensitized to such ad hominems at this point. You don't throw words like these around and expect me to sit at the table and talk. Imma yeet myself out real fast. Lol.

There's just something different, wholesome almost, about this post though. Sounds constructive I think. Or maybe it's because I just woke. Chilee. Lol.

It doesn't feel at all like you are attacking me. It's strange...

You're gaslighting though but it's fine. I've built a resistance to that from years and years of dealing with my abductors or family. Potato potahto.

I often put my sanity before other's insanity which is why I don't indulge posts such as these and I'm not sorry about that. I mean is this an Ask or Submission? I don't- what am I supposed to say? What is the call to action?

Sigh.

If I come across as defensive sometimes, 10 out of 10, it's probably because the person on the other end is being offensive. Straight up. Cause and effect, the science don't lie.

You don't expect me to not defend when I'm being attacked. That's just tacky.

I don't think there's anything wrong with challenging views and notions because at the very least, that's about the exchange of ideas and I welcome it.

I set the limits at the racial slurs, the mocking tones, the emotionally charged rants meant to disparage me and my entire ancestry rather than argue a point, the interference with my personal life and business all because I hold a different view on a topic, the doxing, gaslighting, the bad mouthing, spreading lies about me, turning my friends against me, stripping away my rights and copyrights, harassing people who enjoy my work among- other things.

I usually exercise my right to self preservation in these instances- imma block, delete, ignore, forward or clap back. Word. Lol.

I'm sorry, but if you have to attack the individuality of a person to argue your point, you've lost the argument and you never had one to begin with.

Take for instance, the bit you wrote about me taking a blow to 'my ego' - do you see the problem with that?

What has holding a view different from yours on a particular subject got to do with the ego?

Do you mean to say the only way I can hold an opinion different from yours on a matter is if I were hubristic?

Are you projecting? What's happening? Lol

And if I call you out for this, I'm defensive? Way to add gaslighting to your bigotry and intolerance of opinions that don't align with yours. No offense.

I give myself permission to hold unpopular views. I give myself permission to think differently from others. I give myself permission to see what I see and believe what I believe and form an opinion on what I see and believe divorced from others' views and based on my own understanding of the workings of this world or in this case Jikook.

No amount of name calling will change this fact. We see things from different perspectives after all.

You need to back your ON break up theory with more than just fake subs and vague claims about claiming behavior.

Lol. Fake subs? You mean the Hajima bit from the On comeback special I put in my video? Interesting.

I think I see what you mean about my break up theory and I agree to some extent. Like, come up here with charts and paragraphs and excel spreadsheets on why I think Jikook were broken up?

I would be happy to do that kind of analysis.

I think the problem for me here is, I feel tasked to convince rather than to share my opinion on the matter or even expand on my theories for discourse sakes and that makes me really uncomfortable.

Not to psychoanalyze you, but I feel when you ask this of me you are not just asking me to divulge my thoughts on a topic but to disabuse you of your own biases surrounding the topic.

I don't think this is about my opinion at all. I think it's about your own beliefs about Jikook. And there's nothing wrong with that. If you believe in something you need to stand for it. Just don't mind if others do same and don't call them names for doing so. Because if you do mind, then that's bigotry.

The fact is my opinion contradicts your beliefs about Jikook and you either want to punish me for it hence the slurs, are in denial, or you want to believe my point of view- can't really tell.

I think there is a limit in general to how far I can prove Jikook in anyway and that has nothing to do with lack of evidence, my ego or my rationality. And yes, I often shroud my beliefs in vague expressions because I don't want to set myself up or open myself up to legal suits. I can only prove Jikook to a point and nothing beyond my belief. Beyond that, I would be skating on thin ice and making bighit a tad richer.

During the period you allege they were broken up, Jimin pulled JK in a hug, grabbed Jungkook by his lapel, JK called Jimin sexy, they did the flirty challenge...

So if I understand you correctly, all these is what makes Jikook a couple to you and indicate they are dating?

Alright then.

Hobi calls Jimin sexy all the time. BTS calls eachother sexy all the time. I don't think that's a sign they are in a polyamory.

Jungkook plays with his hyungs' dick and ass and talks about falling for them most times. I don't think that makes him gay or in a relationship with any of them.

Lemme just cut to the chase. I've reached my photo limits. I have said a countless times now, that I don't view skinship and all these interactions you've pointed out as indication two people are dating- especially not two Koreans working within the homoerotically charged space of Kpop.

And I have given out a few of the metrics I use in considering whether any ship in BTS is real over the course of my blogs- intimacy, exclusive behaviors such as and not limited to claiming eachother and exercising certain rights and authorities over eachother and against the group, stress trails as a result of keeping their relationship a secret, the microaggressions, breaching the fourth wall and others.

I think what this comes down to is differences in perspectives on a fundamental level. Not egos.

I don't see the things you see as the signs Jikook are real and dating, as signs Jikook are real and dating. If I did, I would be seeing every ship in BTS as real but I don't.

And you consider the metrics I use in ascertaining Jikook as vague something something. I think we are at an impasse.

But explain the bit about 'insensitive' to me please. I would love to engage in that discourse. Why would it be insensitive for two exes to act cordially with eachother within a workplace in the aftermath of a breakup?

Then the bit about grieving...

So grieving is one of your metrics for accessing whether or not two people are broken up?

That's interesting. I mean I don't disagree but I also don't think Jikook are gonna come to work with oversized pajamas, dark shades, boxes of tissues and a blanket slung over their shoulders because of a broken heart... it's 2020 not Manila. They've grown, are learning and getting better at dealing with their emotions on camera because, as Suga pointed out, they are aware the least bit of tension translates to the screens.

I mean Jimin said it himself in his 2020 interview, he's learned to react less intensely to certain things. And sometimes, he tries to downplay certain things. He tries to perform Jikook when Jikook are not in a great place. It's only in recent times, On era, where JK has opted out and not gone along with it.

I think he does that and uses their shared 'Jikook agenda' and performances of Jikook as a means to fix things or break the ice between them at least.

But clearly Jk wasn't having it that day as he kept putting up boundaries with Jimin throughout that Run episode- unless of course you are disputing this as well on the grounds Jimin dragged his ass into a hug. Chilee.

I think most people wouldn't have felt there was something off with Jikook in that On period at all had it not been for Run 116. It's similar to how, had it not been for Jimin's birthday saga, the Esquire shoot behind scenes and Grammy reaction video, no one would have felt there was something going on between Jikook in the October timeline.

I think we would have seen and felt the less interactions and professionalism between them in the aftermath of it but for the most parts, moments like the couch scene in the Grammy reaction video wouldn't have made sense to any of us especially as we had just witnessed JK in the ON:E concert rushing to comfort and console JM when he was tearing up at the end of the concert.

At least when he pushed JM into a ditch somewhere in the dark in Soop we know he had been drinking and they were playing competitive sports. Even with that he still showed some concern when Jimin fell and injured himself afterwards.

I think we would all be wondering if Jikook were fanservice at that point, a fanservice relationship where JK only consoled Jimin when he cried infront of thousands of people at concerts and nibbled his ear while he was at it.

And I think we would be on opposite sides of the argument: me, arguing Jikook were experiencing a hiccup in their relationship and you, rationalizing that moment with anything from 'JK don't have to be at JM's beck and call' 'he is an introvert who is shy to show affections publicly' to even something about the weather.

But I would have looked at this moment from the October pop up video behind scenes and assumed JK was mad at Jimin for something JM had done and had done something in retaliation and was now feeling sorry he did.

And I would have based it off of this moment, or a countless similar ones from around On era or the previous eras where JK had done this exact same thing- frozen in place and staring at Jimin in the middle of a shoot or interview after sliding his hands down Tae's chest, clung on to the others unnecessarily to get a reaction out of JM.

Would I have been right? It really doesn't matter to me as long as it makes sense to me. I ship Jikook in a way that makes sense to me. Jikook are gay, in a gay relationship with each other and are human like anyone of us- that makes sense to me. Whether I am right or wrong.... who cares and why does it matter?

Personally, I think the only person grieving in that period was JK not JM and I don't think he grieved for long before he switched off his humanity and went stone cold tit for tat terminator on JM and BTS's ass. Lol. He had JM looking all kinds of subdued in that era. Lmho.

People grieve in various ways. In my opinion. For Jimin, I feel he puts on a strong facade most times when he has to film during such times and lately I feel he masks his emotions with anger.

Jk masks his pain with anger too sometimes but I feel in recent times, he is leaning more towards indifference. I think he tries not to be as affected by certain things as compared to the early half of 2020...

But I understand what you mean when you talk about grieve. I think for me rather than look for physical evidence of grief like a sad face, a tear drop dripping down a face, I love for vulnerability in them.

JK's is easy to tell because he tends to open himself up to others such as Tae or Jin or Hobi- and I don't mean like his interactions with them. I mean he leans on them for moral or emotional support.

In the Holiday remix video where he was hiding behind Jin, I felt he was feeling very vulnerable and exposed after that intense moment with Jimin.

It's what he does when he is feeling vulnerable. He turns to others especially Jimin and if Jimin is the cause of his vulnerability he turns away from him like he did within On era or even in Run 116.

When he is in a good place with Jimin, often he is closed off to the others. Jimin does the opposite. He shuts himself up entirely from the group. I don't think he likes to go through his pain by himself.

I've always found that bit fascinating about them. Jk opens himself to people when he is at his lowest while JM closes himself off when he is at his worst.

It played out in their rainy day fight as well. In JK's vulnerability, that's when he let Jimin in, lowering his walls while JM on the other hand closed himself off to him.

Can you give me more than they were together in that period because they played with eachother's lapels?

You don't think I'm thinking rationally when I insist on my theory? Uhmmm... okay? What is rational in this case?

Listen, I recieve a lot of hate for my 'irrational thoughts and opinions' out in these streets. I've lost potentially great friendship on this platform because of it. As I type this, there is someone in someone else's DMs persuading them not to read and engage with my posts because I'm extremely evil I think Jikook break up from time to time in their relationship.

If I genuinely believed in the slightest least or had the least doubt that Jikook were together in that period I would change my mind on the topic- damn my pride and ego. It simply isn't worth the hustle.

If it helps your sanity, please stop reading my blogs. My blogs are not for everyone. It makes some people happy, it makes some people mad and some people experience both.

My gratification is in sharing my thoughts and chronicling Jikook's journey for my own appeasement and support of Jikook. I owe it to them as a believer and a supporter to humanize them as much as possible.

I do not seek to convert others, change minds, or convince anyone of my opinions or to disabuse anyone of theirs.

Let's just agree to disagree on the matter please. Or if you can drop the ad hominems, I would be more than happy to go back and forth with you on this very topic. It's actually shaping out to be one of my favorite Jikook eras. I love me some terminator JK. Lol.

Signed,

GOLDY

[janesramblings]

Drowning

This idea came as an alternate ending to 2x3. It doesn’t actually include anyone drowning (not literally anyway), so enjoy. Also it’s pretty long, sorry. 

“What are we celebrating?” 

“The five of us,” Nancy answers Bess with a grin. She bumps against Ace, deliberately or not, she can’t tell, but the feeling of his jacket against hers sends sparks up her arm.

“Sounds good to me,” Ace says, smiling down at her. Nancy isn’t quite sure when it happened, but some time in the past few days, Nancy found herself looking forward to Ace’s smiles, and the way that he runs his hands through his hair when he’s stressed. When he’s gone, she misses the way he stands right behind her, far enough to give her space to think, but close enough to provide assistance if she needs it. 

Nancy pushes through the door of The Claw, the lights flicking on. She flinches and turns back to see Nick with his hand poised over the light switch. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“Yeah. I’m good.” Nancy tightened her grip on the strap of her bag. She hates how after all the close encounters she’s faced, even just the lights turning on scares her. She catches sight of Ace looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Are you sure?” Bess asks.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I mean, we did just return your mom’s bones to the sea,” George says. “Ow!” she adds as Bess elbows her in the side.

“Really, I’m fine. I’m just going to clean up and change.” Nancy holds up her hand, blood still dripping from the wound.

“Okay,” Bess says. Nancy takes Bess’s affirmation as permission to turn on her heel and make a beeline for the stairs down to the lockers. She pulls off her jacket and bag and stands in the middle of the room, in front of the bench. She knows she should find the first aid kid and clean up the cut on her hand, but all she wants to do is sit and sort through all her emotions. She thought she had moved on after she buried Kate. She had locked up her emotions in a box to never be opened again, but learning about Lucy and watching her bones float away threw that box open. 

“Nancy?” Nancy turns to see Ace at the top of the stairs. He’s taken his hat and coat off, and the white box in his hands is held in front of him like an offering. 

“Yes?”

Ace steps down the stairs slowly, his eyes trained on her face. “You’re crying.” It’s a statement. Not a question.  

“Am I? I didn’t notice.” Nancy brings her hand up to wipe her tears away, but Ace beats her to it. He traces his thumb along her cheek. Normally, being this close to someone would freak her out, but all Nancy really wants is for someone to hug her and tell her everything will be alright, like Kate used to do. 

“You were,” Ace confirms. “Here, give me your hand.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you’re bleeding like there’s no tomorrow.” Nancy flinches. Ace smirks. “Bad joke?”

“Bad joke,” Nancy agrees, holding her hand out. She usually doesn’t let anyone fix her injuries, but Ace is different. She watches as he wipes up the blood, cleans off her hand, and wraps gauze around it. He looks like he’s hacking Nancy thinks. He has the same focused look in his eyes. Like the only important thing in the world is making sure her had is fixed. It makes her feel warm inside, almost as if someone had pulled her out of the sea, wrapped a blanket around her, and handed a mug of hot chocolate. 

Nancy didn’t even know she was drowning until Ace pulled her out. 

“All set,” Ace says, letting go of Nancy’s hand. 

“Thanks,” Nancy says, stuffing her hands in her pockets. 

“Any time.”

Nancy drops onto the bench, and Ace follows suit. “Want to talk about anything?” he asks.

Nancy, in a moment of boldness, lays her head on Ace’s shoulder. He doesn’t say anything. Just wraps his arm around her. “AJ said something interesting, before he ran off. After he tried to kill Hannah.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. He said that all those years alone with his demons...” Nancy trails off, trying to find the right words. Ace doesn’t prompt her. He just tightens his grip around her shoulders. “He said it was like being dead.”

Ace turns his head, looking down at her. He leans forward and rests his chin on the top of her head. Nancy shifts closer to him, her head in the crook of his neck. Ace’s arm slides down, joining his other one to hug Nancy tightly. 

“I wanted to give her a burial.” Her voice is muffled against his shoulder. But they’ve never really needed to speak to talk to each other. 

“I know.” She feels his chin against her head. It’s comforting. She’s never one to ask for protection, and she probably never will, but on the rare times she asks, people are hesitant to give it. She’s not quite sure why Ace is willing to throw away his life to help her, but she’s grateful. 

“I can’t lose two moms,” Nancy says, voicing a thought that had been haunting her for days. 

“I know.”

“I can’t lose Carson either.”

“Nancy, I know.”

Nancy presses herself against him as she lets the sobs overtake her. Ace doesn’t say anything. He just hugs her tightly and rests his head on hers. “Thank you,” Nancy mumbles into his neck after she’s run out of tears.

Ace puts his hands on her shoulders. She pulls back to look at him. “I know I always say any time when you thank me Nancy. But I mean it. Any time. I’ve,” he pauses, his voice cracking. “I’ve never had a friend like you.”

Nancy laughs and wipes her tears. “I’ve never had a friend like you either.”

Ace smiles and leans forward a little, and Nancy feels a jolt of excitement. “We should have a burial for Lucy anyway. Somewhere she spent a lot of time, or something.”

Nancy glances down at her lap, trying to hide her disappointment. She really had thought he was going to kiss her. “I would like that.”

“Good.” Ace stands. He holds a hand out for Nancy, and she takes it. “Come on. Let’s get some dessert. We deserve it.”

Nancy follows Ace back to the main floor, where they spend the next hour sharing a day-old slice of cake and a bag of M&Ms, the only dessert they could rustle up. Every time they reached for the chocolate at the same time, Nancy could feel sparks shoot up her hand. She ignored the feeling, talking the Bess the entire night until she and Ace were the last ones left.  

“Hey,” Nancy says as Ace pulls on his jacket.

“Yeah?” he asks, turning to look at her.

“Thanks for letting me cry earlier. I, I was,” Nancy pauses and throws her hands in the air, trying to find the right words. “I felt like I was drowning, you know? And like, I just needed an anchor.” Nancy looks up at him. Somehow, he’s gravitated towards her, a strange look on his face. “You were my anchor,” she finishes. “So thank you.”

Ace shrugs one of his shoulders, smiling a little. “Ah you know me. Ace the Platanchor.”

“Yeah, well,” Nancy takes a step forward, closing the space between them. “I, was kind of hoping we could get past platonic.”

Ace’s hands circle her waist, but he pauses. “Are you sure? Because you really haven’t been in a good place and you just lost Owen and I don’t want you to do something you’d regret.”

“Ace will you just kiss me?”

“Yes ma’am.”