#so he and one of his employees are building shit like right outside my door basically

[sputnikscock420]

Feeling trapped in my room because there are currently too many Problematic Sensations™️ outside of my room

[toutallyahoe]

━ stress relief (not really) ,, that's not my neighbor

requested by: – pairing(s): francis "milkman" mosses x male reader word count: 2503 warnings: cursing, monster fucking, blowjob a/n: joining the bandwagon on save the cow, milk the milkman teehee

switching from 3rd pov to 2nd pov for you tumblr gremlins

Looking at the ID and entry request that was pushed into the hatch, you took the bottom folder as you opened the page to flip through to the correct file and make sure the numbers were right on the ID of the individual in front of you. Also sent a quick glance at the list of people who should have been out and saw that yes... he was out.

Honestly, you have been doing this for months now. Miraculously surviving and not letting any doppelgangers in the building. Getting an employee of the month award for doing better than another doorman (Henry) and surviving. You were used to this job already and knew the tenants well even outside of your work hours, but it wasn't wrong to just double-check like always.

That's how you survived after all.

As you looked at the file and read through it, mentally listing the numbers down, a pain went through your head as you let out a hiss.

"You alright?" Looking at the security window, outside the clear glass, the Milkman's (or also known as Francis Mosses) tired eyes looked at you in worry as he tilted his head, a frown on his lips as he looked. You only nodded as you sent Francis a forced smile, not wanting to show any problem with anything. Having to work as a doorman, you should be calm and professional while not showing any weakness unless you want the doppelgangers to use that to their advantage.

"Yeah, it's nothing," You said as you looked back at the ID and file, sighing a bit in relief as you looked at the numbers. Clear. It wasn't a doppelganger... well... sparring a glance at the security window again, you squinted and the Milkman outside and he looked normal... no imperfections whatsoever from what you remembered... so it wouldn't hurt to answer Francis, right? The worried look on the Milkman's face was not one you wanted to see. "Just a headache, that's all."

"Oh... stress?" You let out a snort as you heard that. What else were there? When the lives of multiple people in this building and your own is in the hands of one single individual... one wrong mistake would lead to the whole building being painted in red. With innocent lives slaughtered by a doppelganger that was just unknowingly let in... who else wouldn't be stressed? The D.D.D. didn't give any training prior to this other than an old tape that you had to watch as you were plopped down into the job. It was truly a miracle you survived this after your first shift. No wonder almost 99.99% of the doormans die.

"You know how it is," You shrugged as you put back the folder in its place. Double-checking your checklist and the files you got one last time, you nodded in approval as you sent Francis a smile. "Well, yer all clear," You said as you reached out to unlock the door. Francis nodded in thanks as he disappeared to come in.

You let out a sigh as you locked the door when you made sure Francis came in, you then slouched in your chair. Closing your eyes as you raised a hand and rubbed your forehead to ease the growing pain you were feeling. God, you would love to get a fucking day off one of these days but unfortunately, there is no rest for the wicked... and that means no rest for the doorman as well.

"Are you really alright?" You let out a surprised yelp when you felt someone grabbed your shoulder from behind. You only calmed down when turned around to see it was just Francis who looked at you in worry. "You look stressed."

"Jesus, Francis," You breathed out as you sent out a glare while putting a hand over your heart, breathing in and out as you calmed yourself down. "You scared the shit outta me."

"Sorry," Francis said. "Just worried about you." He added as he squeezed your shoulder gently. Your glare softened after that. You and Francis had been... awkward to say the least. Not after Francis had one day went down on his knees to suck on your dick as you worked. To "relieve stress" and a "thank you" as Francis had said. You were haunted by the happenings of that day. With how the tired Milkman you have been seeing for months just on his knees, underneath your desk and shyly unbuckling your belt and pulling down your pants to suck you off. It was a pretty sight...

Unfortunately, before things got more heated, a doppelganger appeared in the security window to ruin things... which you knew was a doppelganger very well due to... well, it was very awkward when that doppelganger was pretending to be the very Milkman that was milking your dick at that very moment already. Long story short, the D.D.D. was called and both you and Francis (the real one) didn't do anything other than that. It had been awkward ever since as neither of you two talked things out.

"I'm fine, no need to worry," You said, patting Francis' hand on your shoulder as you sent the man a tired smile. "Just a headache like I said... it'll pass."

Francis let out a hum, his tired eyes looking at you as he thought for a moment and then smiled. "Stress, right? How about I help you with that?"

It was like what happened before. Francis was on his knees, tucked comfortably underneath the desk as he was in between your legs. His tired eyes were half-lidded as he focused on the bulge in front of him. Something in his eyes that you can't put a finger to it. Not like you would focus on that when Francis' hands went to grab your inner thighs, rubbing it gently as it seemed like he didn't know what to do before he leaned forward and mouthed at your cock through your pants.

Softly groaning at the sight, you leaned back in your chair as you just watched Francis keep this up for a bit until he was done with the tease to then unbuckle your belt and unzip your pants to pull it down. Nuzzling at the bulge on your underwear as Francis breathed in and softly moaned.

"Taking your time?" You can't help but asked, you weren't really complaining as either way you were getting a blowjob here by the tired yet handsome Milkman. Taking the hat off and putting it on your desk, you ran your fingers through Francis' short brown hair as the man let out a keen noise at your actions. "I don't mind... but someone may arrive soon and you wouldn't want anyone to see you like this, right, Mosses?"

Francis hummed as he looked at you, eyes shining. "Can't I admire you?" He asked as he nuzzled his face back at the bulge, taking a deep inhale as he dug his nails into your inner thighs. "I want to savour this..."

An amused huff left your lips as you stared down at Francis. Something about this man was being affectionate right now and sure, maybe you didn't know Francis Mosses that well as you both had only done this once before and it was even cut short before you could come in that warm mouth of the Milkman but it was rather cute. You didn't expect Francis to have a side like this... unfortunately, you remembered what happened last time as well.

"Well, if we continue with this pace, we might get caught," You said as you pet Francis' head, pausing for a second as you continued. "You can admire later... if you want, we can continue this after my shift..." Hesitant, you were, but you finally said it. And you hoped that if Francis agreed, you both could talk about... you two as well.

"Hm, yes," Francis murmured as he finally pulled down your underwear.

Francis inched closer to your thick cock, gulping the saliva that was produced in his mouth as he stared wide eyes at it. The hand that gripped on his hair brought him back from his thoughts as Francis mumbled a quiet sorry as he then grabbed your dick with his hand. Stroking the shaft as Francis looked up for a moment to see you watching him. You nodded at him and that gave Francis the courage as he leaned close and pressed a soft kiss on the tip, smearing pre-cum on his lips that Francis immediately licked. A pleased hum left his lips as he continued on. Pressing another kiss as he then sucks on the tip, tasting more of your seed. It didn't take long before Francis got down on the cock, swallowing it down in his throat so eagerly.

Francis did have a little bit of trouble as you were rather big and he barely even have any experience of how to take a cock with his mouth, but that didn't stop him. He eagerly descended down huge dick and Francis can't help but moan as he felt the way your cock twitched on his throat. He was even more pleased with himself when he heard you moaning and praising he was doing better than last time.

Francis squeezed your thighs at that last comment with his other hand that wasn't on your dick as he tried to get used to such a large thing inside his mouth, but after a while, Francis slowly bobbed his head up and down on your cock. Softly moaning at times as clumsily sucked.  

"Use your hands," Francis heard you say. It took a moment but once he realized what you meant, the hands that stopped their stroking earlier were now back with their movements again, stroking the part where he couldn't fit in his mouth. "That's it."

You can't help but grab a fistful of Francis' short brown hair as you guided the man to suck you more better. Francis was very clumsy and clueless at this like last time... even more clumsy than before honestly but it was fine as the Milkman made up for being very eager. You didn't miss the occasional glances Francis throw your way as he sucked on your cock. It was very cute. Especially when you would give the man praise after catching his eyes, it only makes Francis more eager to suck on your dick more. Truly adorable.

Francis pulls back and gave a kiss on the tip of your cock before sucking and flicking his tongue on the slit, making sure to catch your eyes as he did. Francis knows what he was doing now from what you can tell. It seemed like the man had grown brave after some time on sucking your dick. A loud, deep growl escaped from your lips as you watched Francis take your cock back in his mouth. Fucking tease.

"This is your fault," you grunted as you grabbed a fistful of Francis' hair. You planned to punish Francis for this. Pulling Francis a little bit away from your dick, the Milkman was confused as he whined a little until you pushed his head all the way down. Francis let out a noise akin to choking as he gagged a little at your cock, tears in his eyes. Francis' body shook as his eyes rolled back. Dry cumming from just that. And you realize what just happened.

Shit. That was hot.

"Suck," You commanded and Francis complied, seemingly not mentally present as he did. Francis continued to go down your cock until it hits the sensitive spot in the back of his throat, moaning immediately.

Grabbing the sides of Francis' head, you decided to take matters to your own as you fucked your cock down the Milkman's throat. Using Francis' warm mouth as your own fleshlight and it seemed like Francis didn't mind. Just letting you be as Francis would eagerly suck on your cock.

It didn't take long until you reached your peak as you breathed heavily. Feeling Francis' throat tightened around your cock, you can't help but shove Francis' head down again while you came. Spilling your load down Francis' throat who didn't have a choice but took it. Not like Francis wouldn't have it any other way anyway.

You slumped in yout chair as you let go of Francis' head, breathing heavily as you looked down at the Milkman and was surprised that Francis never break away from your dick. Instead, Francis caught your eyes as the man gave you a grin while your cock was still in his mouth. You were truly surprised. It seemed like Francis had swallowed your cum but you expected Francis to break away and catch his breath, maybe spit out your cum but no... was this the same Francis who had trouble with sucking your dick earlier, right?

You shake your head and decided to just focus on looking at the man who's still on your cock. Taking the time to admire the pretty sight of Francis as you ran your fingers through Francis' short hair, wiping the sweat on Francis' forehead— did Francis always have a mole there?

A cold shiver suddenly spread throughout your body as you looked at the mole on the right side of Francis' forehead. You didn't notice it before as it was hidden from sight with the hat and Francis' short brown hair but... Francis must have, right?

You didn't pay mind to Francis slowly bobbing his head up and down your dick again as you tried to remember if you ever saw Francis had a mole there from the last time the Milkman had sucked you off. That day was hazy for you as you had to deal with Francis literally sucking you off and then deal with a doppelganger that looked like the same man that was sucking you off underneath the desk and then calling the D.D.D. to clean up the imposter...

Yeah... Francis must have a mole, right? You just didn't notice it before. Yeah, that was righ—

"[Name]?"

You froze as you looked at the security window... the individual that was on the other side of the glass window had an all-familiar white attire, "Milkman" on their hat, and tired eyes that looked at you in worry. Similar. So fucking similar.

"You alright?"

Fuck.

The individual outside was none other than the Milkman, Francis Mosses.

"Problem, dear?" You looked down at your legs and you felt your heart drop at seeing the "Francis" that was kneeling in front of you give you a smug smile, your cock still on his— it's lips. "Francis'" hand gripped at your inner thighs, the nails looked more like claws to your mind now as you felt your body shudder. Those tired eyes looked at you with sick amusement. "You looked stressed."

Fuck indeed.

[zepskies]

Smoke Eater - Part 1

Pairing: Firefighter!Dean Winchester x F. Reader 

Summary: Dean Winchester is the cocky, but well-respected Lieutenant at Firehouse 25. He leads by example, but he’s also known to break a few hearts. He’s starting to crave something he’s never had, though. Something stable. Something real. 

That’s when he meets you, on a truly terrible day, trapped in a rickety old elevator.   

AN: "Smoke eater": a self-appointed slang term for a firefighter.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!! 🥳❤️‍🔥 You guys really warmed my heart with all the excitement for this story. I'm very happy to bring you the first chapter. I hope it doesn't disappoint! 😘

🔥 Series Masterlist

Word Count: 4,000 Warnings: Tense situations, brief mention of claustrophobia, and a good old-fashioned meet cute.

Part 1: "Class and Style"

Come on, come on, come on!

The toe of your heeled foot tapped on the floor as you, once again, waited for the elevator to make its slow climb back up to the 22nd floor.

In your hand was a tray carrying two steaming lattes: one small, plain hazelnut, and the other a venti caramel frappe with all the sugary bells and whistles. Complete with extra whipped cream, because your boss was a goddamn child.

I shouldn’t even be getting his coffee, you thought sourly. This is his assistant’s job!

And if this elevator didn’t climb any faster, having to stop at Starbucks during your meager lunch break for your boss’s morning fix would make you late for a very important sales meeting.

“Let’s go, Betsy. Come on,” you muttered. “You can do it.”

Yes, you’d named the contraption that usually managed to carry you all the way to your correct floor. When she wasn’t broken down for maintenance. 

The four walls of the narrow elevator shook and creaked as it cleared the 20th floor. You inhaled sharply, but resisted the urge to grab the inner guardrail. This thing was old, just like the rest of the building.

But then, Betsy screeched and made an abrupt stop.

You were woefully unprepared. You slid in your heels and gasped—both at the jolt, and at the hot lattes tipping out of your hand and down your blouse and skirt.

Shit!

You didn’t even have time to wince at the scalding hot coffee, as you nearly rolled an ankle in the spillage. Luckily, you were able to grab at that guardrail. You sucked in relatively even breaths as you realized what happened…

The elevator stopped, but not on your floor.

“Oh, God…” you uttered, staring up at the red, digital “21” above the metal doors. It was blinking, but not moving. Just like you weren’t moving. Which meant…you were stuck.

Okay, not a big deal. You’re fine, you thought, trying to calm yourself. All you had on you was your phone, your ID, and your credit card. You’d decided to leave your purse in your desk, since you were just walking across the street.

But that was okay! Because you still had your phone…

“No service. Of course,” you muttered, raising your phone high to try and get a bar. This elevator was a dead zone, and it always had been. Fucking hell…

So you did the only thing you could think of.

You shouted for help.

You pressed the emergency alarm, several times.

You could hear it blare and echo outside of the chamber of the elevator, but no one seemed to hear you. Your work building was huge, made up of several departments and hundreds of employees here at Savage & Co. There was always plenty going on, especially in the middle of the morning.

Maybe no one could hear you.

“All right. Don’t…don’t panic,” you told yourself. Even though your heart was beginning to pound.

You finally pressed the “Call” button outlined in red. You didn’t know if it worked; half the floor buttons on the console didn’t even light up anymore.

But to your relief, the sound of a phone line ringing echoed through the small speaker. After a few rings, someone answered.

“Fire Department.”

“Oh, God. Yes!”

With a hand on the rail, you managed to kneel down next to the speaker. Your free hand brushed a strand of hair away from your dewy face. There was no AC in here, and you were starting to sweat. Thankfully, the rest of your hair was pulled up into a clip.

“I’m stuck in one of the oldest elevators known to man,” you told the disembodied voice.

“Sorry to hear that. What’s your name?”

You gave them your name, along with the address of your company’s building. The voice promised that they were dispatching a until to come and get you out soon.

“How soon is soon?” you asked.

“…About forty-five minutes, give or take.”

Jesus Christ.

You baked inside Betsy for close to an hour. While your makeup slowly melted, you found a corner of the ground that wasn’t covered by a coffee puddle, and you pressed the alarm button at random intervals. Still, no one seemed to hear it. You used the empty coffee tray to try and fan yourself.

Your phone was also useless. You tucked that along with your credit card into your bra for safe keeping. You’d definitely missed your meeting about the prospective Zimmerman account—one you and your coworker Josh were competing to nail down, as the top performers in the sales department. You couldn’t even catch up on your emails.

Damn it, Nick’s gonna chew my head off, you thought. But then you frowned, your brows furrowing. Well, it’s his fault for not maintaining this damn building. And for ordering a damn caramel frappe! What is he, a 12-year-old girl?

Your skirt was still sticky on the side. With a sigh, you leaned your head back against the metal wall and closed your eyes. Ah, well. At least I’m not claustrophobic.

“Fire Department!” called a man’s voice from above. “Can you hear me down there?”

You gasped and opened your eyes. Your gaze raised heavenward, and you called out to the voice.

“Hello?!”

“Ah, we found you. You okay, ma’am? Are you hurt?”

“Y-Yes…” You shook your head, even though he couldn’t see it. “I mean, no. I’m not hurt.”

“Good. That’s what I like to hear,” he said. “You’re stuck between two floors, but we’re gonna get you out, all right?”

“Okay.” You sucked in a shaky breath and grabbed the rail so you could get back onto your feet. “I’m stuck on the 21st floor right?”

“Well, in between 21 and 22. Hold on one sec.”

 You stood there with bated breath, just waiting for something to happen. You heard tools whirring, felt the elevator shutter for a moment, but it didn’t budge. Until you heard a thump on the roof. You looked up, but of course you couldn’t see what was happening.

Until a square patch in the roof was unscrewed and drawn back, revealing a firefighter in almost all his gear: wearing a gray shirt tucked into navy pants, red suspenders, black boots and gloves. All he was missing was a jacket and a hardhat.

He did wear a harness, and he held another one in his gloved hand, as well as a charming, almost boyish grin on his face.

“There you are,” he greeted.

You didn’t know if it was the lack of AC, or his ridiculously handsome features, but you felt your face heat up further.

“Uh, hi,” you said, very eloquently. You offered a smile back. “Thanks for the rescue.”

“Well, we haven’t gotten there yet, but we will,” he said, still with that grin as he lowered the second harness down to you. “I’m Dean. What’s your name?”

You gave it to him as you took the harness.

“Nice to meet you, despite the circumstances,” he said. “I’m sure you didn’t have this on your bingo card today, did ya?”

You snorted in response. “Not even in my fortune cookie.”

It earned an amused look from him. Then he proceeded to instruct you on how to put the harness on around your waist and shoulders and clip the straps together.

“Okay, good. Now tug it, make sure it’s tight enough,” Dean said, motioning with his hand. You obliged him.

“Perfect.” He nodded, before crouching down and lowering his hands through the compartment. “All right, now. Just take my hands. I’m gonna pull you up.”

You looked up at him, then and at the narrow escape hatch with uncertainty.

“It’s okay,” he said, noting your reluctance (and your white-knuckle grip on the guardrail). “It’s perfectly safe.”

“Yeah, I doubt anything about this situation is safe,” you replied wryly. You glanced at the elevator’s metal walls. Even now, they groaned under Dean’s shifting weight.

“I mean, I’m sure you’re strong and all,” you said, with a vague gesturing hand at him. You couldn’t quite tell from your limited vantage point, but Dean could barely fit his broad shoulders through the hole he’d opened up. He was probably a big guy.

Still, you didn’t like the idea of your legs dangling in mid-air. 

“I’m a woman, but I’m still a full-grown person,” you said, your brows beginning to furrow in worry. “People are heavy, and this thing is rickety as hell, and that’s a really tiny window…”

“All right,” Dean gently interrupted. He looked like he was trying hard not to chuckle, and you didn’t appreciate it…even though you were biting your lip, trying not to smile too (more in embarrassment).

“I promise you, the line’s got you,” he said. And he tugged on the sturdy rope that connected to your harness.

His eyes met yours directly, firm and assuring. They were green, you noticed, even in this fluorescent lighting.

“More importantly, I’ve got you. And there’s no way I’m gonna let you fall,” he said, with what seemed like every conviction in the world. “Just take my hands.”

He leaned in further so you could reach him.

…And damn it, you believed him.

Staring into his eyes, you found the courage to suck in a deep breath and release the guardrail. You reached up and let his hands curl tightly around yours. You gripped him right back.

“All right, pull up!” he called back over his shoulder.

You couldn’t see them, but you heard the voices of other firefighters as they slowly retracted Dean’s harness line as well as yours. When he was able to plant his feet on the roof of the elevator again, you held your breath as he pulled you all the way up as well.

You lost a heel along the way though. It fell off your foot and hit the bottom of the elevator below.

“Woops,” Dean said. His arms wrapped around you, and he held you securely against him when your heel (and bare foot) also met the elevator roof, a bit awkwardly. You both peered back down through the square hole.

“Want me to get that for you?” he offered, with another one of those grins.

Now you knew you were blushing. Stop it!

You shook your head as you clung to his arms. You felt the strength in them, and it steadied you, along with the easy way about him that said he was more than comfortable with the perils of rescuing trapped women from old-ass elevators.

“Don’t even worry about it,” you told him. “I just want to get the hell out of here.”

Dean chuckled then. “I hear ya. Let’s go, then.”

He glanced up and called out to a “Benny” and a “Gordon.” You assumed they were the men securing the harnesses that held you and Dean.

“Okay. You ready, sweetheart?” Dean asked.

“Yeah,” you replied with a nod, even as you bit your lip again at the endearment. Usually when men called you sweetheart, (like your boss), it was like nails on a damn chalkboard.

But somehow, it didn’t seem so sleezy coming from the charming fireman.

You craned to looked up at his face. He was much taller than you, even with half your heels. Dean met your eyes again, and for a moment, you were tense. The elevator shaft was dark and cold, but the light from the open doors of the floor above allowed you to see his face, decorated lightly with stubble, and his brown hair that spiked to one side.

Your mouth parted, though you didn’t have a clue of what to say next…

You were saved when the lines went even more taut, and the firefighters on the floor above brought you and Dean all the way up to the 22nd floor. He helped you reach out to a bearded fireman, who supported your arms and carried you out of the elevator shaft, onto solid ground.

A small crowd had formed in the lobby. Zachariah the CFO was there, along with the building manager, and your friend Andréa, who looked both worried and relieved to see you. And even your boss, Nick, came forward to meet you once Benny and Dean helped you take off the harness.

“You’ve had a busy morning,” Nick drawled.

You resisted the urge to roll your eyes. “You could say that.”

Technically, he was everyone’s boss: Nick Savage, CEO of Savage & Co. He’d inherited the company from his father. However, Nick believed his one sad year of college business classes made him an expert on running your sales department with a firm hand.

“Well, it’s good to see you’re all right,” he said. Though his eyes glanced down your stained, white blouse, down to your bare foot. His gaze made your spine prickle. And not in a good way.

You crossed your arms on reflex. “I know I missed the meeting—”

“We recorded it. You’ll be able to watch it later, take notes, all that good stuff,” he said, his head tilting in that lazy way of his. He gestured at you with a finger. “But, uh…once you’re done cleaning up, think you could nip back out and get me that coffee? Since, you know, you’re kind of wearing it.”

Behind you, the team of firefighters discreetly watched the scene while packing up their gear—some with curiosity and bemusement, others (namely Dean) with a subtle frown.

You were livid.

But you managed to keep it down, just beneath your skin, as you bent down and took off your remaining heel.

“I’m requesting the afternoon off as personal time,” you informed him with (mostly) all due professionalism. There was a fire in your eyes, however, that not even you could tame.

“But don’t worry,” you said. “I’ll still land the Zimmerman account by Friday.”

You turned and dropped your shoe into a nearby garbage can. You didn’t want to be reminded of your boss every time you saw the coffee stains.

Before you left, you stopped in front of Dean and the other firefighters.

“Thank you very much for all your help,” you said, giving them all a smile. Your gaze lingered on Dean, who smiled back at you and nodded, his hands resting on his belt.

“You got it, sweetheart.”

Your lips twitched. Then you continued on your way towards the exit door, to the stairwell. You shoved it open and walked bare-footed up to your office to get your purse. 

You’d left Nick silently fuming in the middle of the hall. You knew there wasn’t too much he could do with an entire crowd of witnesses.

He soon huffed and let your behavior roll off his back, as he became distracted by Zachariah and the building manager asking about the last time the elevator was properly serviced.

Meanwhile, Dean and Benny shared an amused look as their team rolled out.

Damn, Dean thought, remembering how you’d stopped in your little storm out, just to thank them. And how you’d held your head high as you walked away on bare feet.

He could admit, you had both class and style.

“Really, Grandpa. I’m fine,” you insisted.

Now in the comfort of your own home, and in your pajamas after a nice hot shower, you stirred a pot of chicken soup for your Grandpa George. He eyed you from the kitchen table with a measure of suspicion.

“Well, it’s lucky for you we’ve got a responsive Fire Department,” he said. “In the sleepy little town I grew up in, you’d be lucky if the whole damn building didn’t cave in before somebody got to ya.”

You shot him an amused look.

“Thanks. Makes me feel better about stepping into an elevator ever again.”

George seemed to consider the prospect, but he soon waved a vague hand.

“Ah, you’ll be fine,” George said, waving a hand. “Even if one of the cables snapped, you’d have three more holdin’ you up. And it should only need one cable to support the compartment, make sure the whole thing doesn’t fall to the damn ground.”

Your grandfather had been a technician for sixty years, so he knew a little thing about commercial building maintenance. However, right now, he wasn’t making you feel any better about your somewhat perilous experience. You paled a bit at the thought of cables snapping, leading to a long, Tower of Terror-style drop.

Except there’d be nothing to catch you at the bottom.

“It’s okay. I’ll just start walking up all 22 floors up to my office every day,” you said, smiling wryly. “I’ll finally have thighs like Wonder Woman.”

George laughed, though it soon ended on a cough. You eyed him with a frown as you ladled out a bowl of soup for him. You went over to him, both to set down the bowl in front of him and rub his back.

“Still with that cough. I don’t like it,” you said. “I’m making an appointment with your doctor.”

George shook his head and grabbed his glass of water.

“Just something caught in my throat.”

“Mhmm,” you replied. He was the absolute king of downplaying. It used to drive your grandma nuts.

You sighed and raised a hand to your forehead. An ache was building behind your eyes. Or maybe it had been there since you left work early today, and you were just now realizing how tightly wound your spine was.

“You okay?” George asked. You read the concern in his eyes and tried to relax your face from its scrunching.

“Yeah. Just a tension headache.”

“Hmm. Maybe you should spend less time worrying about me, and more time taking care of yourself,” he pointed out. “You had a stressful day. Why don’t you go relax? Or better yet, go out! Go see your friends. Get in a bar fight. Something productive.”

A grin curved your lips as you raised a brow.

“A bar fight would make me more productive?”

George grinned up at you. “Well, at least it’d get you out of the house.”

You pursed your lips. There was a reason you didn’t go out very often, and your grandfather knew it. You were the only one who could watch out for him now, even if he didn’t think he needed it. Your mouth opened to reply, but before you could, your cell phone rang through the house.

For a moment, the two of you stared at one another. Until George raised his brows.

“You should get that, huh?” he said.

You narrowed your eyes at him, despite your small smile, and you raised a finger as you went to get your purse over in the living room.

“We’re not done, old man,” you said over your shoulder.

“Oh, believe me. I know,” he grumbled, delving into his soup with a spoon.

Meanwhile, you fished your phone out of your purse and answered. A genuine, if tired smile graced your lips. It was your best friend, Andréa. She worked with you at Savage & Co., over in Marketing as a graphic designer.

As fate would have it, the two of you were hired on the same day five years ago. She’d invited you to lunch that day, and from then on, you two had been rocking through corporate life like Thelma and Louise—if Thelma had been a Greek artist and Louise had been a sarcastic saleswoman. 

“Hey, Dre,” you greeted.

“Hello, my love. Congratulations for surviving your near-death experience, and getting to serve Nick Savage a bit of humble pie,” she teased. “I thought you were going to lobby your Prada heel at his head.”

You huffed and plopped down on the couch with your feet up on the coffee table.

“First of all, let’s not be too dramatic. I was stuck in an elevator, not a Chilean mine shaft,” you said wryly. “Second, you really think I would throw away Prada? Even if it was coffee stained… Those were just my $30 Steve Maddens.”

And yet, they had been your most comfortable heels. Maybe you should just find some sensible flats in the back of your closet and be done with it. But you liked the height and confidence that a nice pair of heels gave you—especially in that office filled with “Mad Men” wannabes.

Every male on your sales team thought he was Jon Hamm in a room full of George Costanzas.

Nick Savage was the worst out of all of them.

You dealt with it, however, and sometimes even thrived on being the only woman on the team. Mostly because you needed your job.

It paid well enough, but most of it went into the upkeep of your grandparents’ old house, and for the past few years, their extensive medical bills…

“Still, at least you got a Mission Impossible-style rescue out of it,” said Andréa. Her tone turned both leading and flirtatious. “Tell me you got that fireman’s number. Dear God Almighty, what a Grade-A Hottie.”

You chortled through your blush at remembering Dean, the firefighter who saved you. You could admit, he’d been one fine specimen of a man.

“Grade-A Hottie. What are we, in middle school?” you retorted. “Besides, he was just doing his job.”

“Ugh, you’re so pragmatic it hurts,” your friend lamented. “You really need to live a little, while you’re still hot and firm.”

You laughed fully at that one. “Yeah, I think taking the stairs from now on will help with the ‘firm’ bit.”

Just like the strength of the firefighter’s hold had been. You’d felt entirely secure after he’d pulled you up on the elevator roof. His arms had reassured you even more than the harness, if you thought about it. (And your face heated up further at said thought.)

“I do wish I could say thank you again, somehow,” you mused out loud, not really thinking about who exactly you were talking to.

“Oh, yeah?” Andréa said. You could practically hear her mischievous grin. It made you slightly nervous. “Well, it’s not unheard of for a grateful civilian to stop by a firehouse. You could bring him lunch or something!”

“Ah, I don’t know about that,” you said. Your instinct was to withdraw inward at the thought of putting yourself out there like that. Besides, you didn’t want to bother him while he was at work.

“What’re you talking about? Firefighters love food! Believe me, my cousin Meg is a paramedic,” Andréa said. Then she gasped. “Oh, girl. I have the perfect idea for you. Why don’t you bake something for the whole firehouse? That way it takes some of the pressure off, but you still get to see him.”

You became more contemplative then.

Bake something, huh?

Now, that you could do. Andréa knew all too well that the one thing that could get your gears turning was getting your apron on, as baking was your ultimate hobby. It made you feel creative, and damn-near stress free…

And her idea wasn’t too shabby, the more you thought about it. It was something kind that you knew you could do. And more than anything, you really did just want to say thank you, one more time.

You smiled.

“Okay. I think we have a plan.” However, your smile soon fell. “Wait, I have no idea what firehouse he works at.”

“Hmm, my cousin might know,” Andréa said. “Let me reach out to her…what’s his name again?”

“Dean,” you replied. Another small smile reached your lips, against your will.

“His name was Dean.”

AN: Ah, the first chapter! Launching a new story is always so exciting! 🥰 What did you think of the reader and Dean's first meeting?

Also, feel free to imagine Mark Pellegrino's "Nick" for this (I am). He didn't have a last name on the show, so I created one for this story, as he's going to be an important antagonist throughout.

And just so you guys know, my knowledge of the inner workings of fire departments and law enforcement will largely come from my own research and being a huge fan of procedurals, like Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Law & Order, etc.

Yes, aspects are fictionalized on those shows, but a lot of it is rooted in real-life protocol and stories. All the love and respect for creator/executive producer Dick Wolf. 😂

...Oh, and the elevator scene was inspired by true events. (Yes, I've been stuck in an elevator before. 🫠 Two ridiculously hot firefighters pulled me out, but by then I was melting from the lack of AC, had no makeup, and was dressed like a female!Dean, plaid and all lmao.)

Anywho...

Next Time:

“Protect and serve,” Dean teased back. “That’s our motto, you know.”

“Isn’t that for police officers?” you quipped.

He chuckled a bit. “Hey, if the shoe fits.”

“Well…” you considered that with a tilt of your head, more seriously than he expected you to. You met him with a more earnest gaze. “I think it does.”

Right then, Dean had a feeling, deep in his gut, that he needed to know you.

Keep Reading: PART 2

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[nevernonline]

✧.* he's not into you; hvc

synopsis: curious what the problem is in your dating life where you just can’t seem to get guys to commit fully to you beyond a second date, your work associate offers his help.

part of my ninety minute movies one shot series. ♡︎

paring: vernon x fem! reader.

genre: co-workers2friends2lovers (? lmao)

warning/s: mentions of substances (alcohol, weed, cig, vape etc.) swearing, very bad jokes!, sexy time (y/n has female genitalia!) pls no minors!!

word count: 6.3k

content: . non-idol idolings, some other svt members. y/n and vernon work at a bar.

note: our next stop in my fav little movie inspired writings is he's just not that into you!! a true classic in my eyes. and who better to be our male lead than bernon himself, a perfect silly goofy man. i acc tried to edit and be good?? for once.. lmao. love u xo. HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Waltzing around your co-workers behind the bar like a choreographed dance, handing out drinks to some of your familiar customers, soaking cherries in alcohol, and stuffing your tips inside of your folder for the night it was a perfect distraction from the thoughts running through your mind about that awful date you had gone on the night before. 

You were convincing yourself all the guys you’ve been out with just weren’t for you, maybe to make yourself feel better, maybe just to put blame on someone else for the reasons you can’t seem to surpass a second date. 

“Y/N, could I get two vodka martinis. One dirty and one with a twist, twice shaken please.” 

“No problem, Som.” 

Somi was one of your co-workers and someone you’ve become close friends with working with her over the course of a year when the bar first opened. standing by your side on  the busiest night of the week, the other was Vernon,  he was slightly newer and unfamiliar standing next to you behind the bar, girls flirting with him left, right and center hoping to crack open his quiet yet charming exterior. 

Taking orders upon orders your body was craving a moment to yourself, being an introvert and working in a high volume environment with the type of company that spends hundreds of dollars a night just to sit at a table and feel important takes a toll on you. 

“Vernon, would you be cool if I stepped outside for a second?” 

“Yeah, no problem. I’m good.” 

“Alright, thanks I’ll be back in five.” 

“Sounds good.” 

Nothing more than his simple answers, for the most all you know about him is he’s your age, in college not sure what major he could possibly be studying, and he lives decently close to the bar, coming in on his days off with groups of his friends to have a drink of his own made at your own hands. 

Stepping outside the employee entrance into the back of the building, feeling the cool air light up your body, you decided to light up something of your own, a small perfectly rolled cigarette wrapped up in its signature strawberry flavored paper and vanilla tobacco inside. 

Three minutes into your first break of the night, the door slid open revealing the quiet boy standing in its frame. 

“Shit. I’m sorry, I actually need your help. A big group of finance dudes came in.” 

“It’s alright, I’ll save it for later.” 

Dipping the pastel candy like cigarette into the ashtray, basically kissing it and saying you’ll see it soon, you stepped back in with Vernon to your front strolling through the back room full of fresh liquor bottles. 

“This is a weird question. But what were you smoking? It smells good. Actually, normally cigarettes make me nauseous as hell.” 

“Oh. It’s a vanilla tobacco, but my rolling papers are strawberry so it’s kind of sweeter that way.” 

“No wonder. I always thought you smelt like vanilla musk, but I knew it was something different. I just assumed it was perfume. I like it.” 

“Thanks, Vern.” 

“Yeah. Want to take the table? Or wait for them to come up to us?” 

“I’ll go.” 

“Alright.” 

Cutting around the marble countertop, trying to avoid the patrons sitting at the end of the bar. You spot the group of men wearing their fancy suit jackets, and various colors of button down tops. One of them in particular was your date from a few weeks ago. The one who left you a post it note on your nightstand to wake up to basically telling you he wouldn’t call but thanks for the fuck. 

Swilling your pride, you stayed walking towards them, now with the pretty smile usually wiped across your face lost and turned into a closed lip grin. 

“Hey, what can I get for you guys?” 

“I’ll take you with a side of bourbon on the rocks please.” 

“Clever. I’m not on the menu. Anything for you.” 

Your fingers pointed towards the rest of the helm just patiently waiting for more unusual comments and weird flirting tactics. 

Your date though, kept his head buried in his menu, avoiding making eye contact with you out of his own embarrassment making you decide to fuck with him a little in front of his annoying crowd of friends. 

“And anything for you, Chris? Jack Daniels and Coke with a splash of cherry I presume? Or are you going to write your order down on a post it note?” 

His crowd erupted in laughter, clearly aware of his tactics when he leaves girls and decides to not call them back.

He muttered back it was fine as you walked off back to Vernon watching on with a smirk on his face. 

“You know him I assume?” 

“Unfortunately I do.” 

“Can I ask how?” 

You contemplated telling him a lie, just something simple like he was an old friend or an ex-boyfriend, but in order to keep him from opening up to you, you chose the real reason. 

“Actually we went out a few weeks ago. In the morning I woke up to a note taped to my pillow saying how he wasn’t interested in seeing me anymore but thanking me for being a good fuck and being so accommodating and sexy.” 

“No fucking way.” 

“I’m not kidding.” 

“Want me to spit in his drink?” 

“Yes. But I don’t want you to lose your job. It’s alright, not the first time for me unfortunately and actually maybe one of the nicer ones.” 

“Not the first time a dude you’ve fucked wrote you a note saying he’s not into you?” 

“There’s been worse believe it or not.” 

“You’ve piqued my interest.” 

“I’m sure.” 

“How do you meet dudes like that?”

“I’m a lucky girl, now do me a favor and take these drinks to them, because if I do I’ll probably say some shit I’ll regret.” 

“Alright. What’s his name?” 

“Who?” 

“Asshole over there.” 

“Chris” 

“Cool. Thanks.” 

“Vernon why?” 

“No reason, keep working.” 

“Don’t do anything stupid.” 

“My whole vibe is stupid, be back in a second.” 

Watching the boy out of the corner of your eye, you watched as he placed everyone’s drinks for them, reaching Christopher last, pretending to trip over his chair, spilling the alcoholic concoction over his pants. 

“Dude what the fuck?” 

“Oh shit, my bad. Let me get you a new one.” 

“Why the fuck are you so clumsy, how am I going to get a girl here when I look like I pissed myself?” 

“The girls that come in here don’t want some bitch who drinks cherry whiskey and Coke, they like real men. But I’ll be back in a second.” 

“What the fuck did you just say?” 

“You heard me, man. One second alright I’ll be back with your bitch drink.” 

Chris’s friends seem to be enjoying watching his night being turned into a shit storm, assuming they maybe don’t enjoy his company much either. 

“Why did you do that?” 

“He seems like a tool, he’ll be fine.” 

“Well thank you. It was funny, I had to hold my laughter in so he doesn’t think I made you do that for me.” 

“Safe bet.” 

Your night continued on until midnight when all the happy and drunk patrons exited the restaurant and you got to cleaning up the bar space, leaving you, Vernon, and Somi alone in the dimly lit room. 

“Vernon? Want to stay and have a drink as a thank you for helping me out. Somi would but she has to get back to her ball and chain.” 

“Are we allowed to do that?” 

“Well my dad owns the place, I don’t think he cares much.” 

“You’re dad? Wait what the fuck, I never put that together.” 

“Yeah. Him and his friends.” 

“Holy shit.” 

Laughing along with Somi at his amazement, you bid her goodbye before sliding into a bar top table, holding the glass of vodka in your well manicured fingers. 

Much to your surprise your more than shy coworker decided to stay with you sliding in next to you holding his own glass of beer. 

“So wait. I’m confused. Your dad and his friends opened the bar. Why do you want to work here?” 

“Easy. I always liked the idea of being a bartender and my parents would kill me for being a kid who didn’t have a job or work ethic and just using their money.” 

“Got it. Aren’t you in school?” 

“ I haven’t decided what to go for yet so I’m taking some time. Not sure yet. You?” 

“Journalism.” 

“For real? That’s cool as hell.” 

“Yeah.” 

Your phone lit up on the table blasting the ringtone really loudly in between you and Vernon, flashing the name Matthew on the screen. 

“Hey. Yeah, this is her. Oh really? Can you hold on just ONE second. Thanks.” 

Vernon waved you along letting you go on with the conversation with the guy who's been taking you on dates for the past week, curious why he’d be calling you late. 

 “Wait since I’m out of the loop, who was that?” 

“You really want to know?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Okay, so his name is Matt. We met at the coffee shop a few weeks ago. He was cute. He paid for my drink and we just sort of hit it off.” 

“Have you guys slept together?” 

“Yeah. The first day we met.” 

“Y/N no. You’ve got to make these guys wait. Like they’re getting exactly what they want from you before you even know if they’re fucking idiots or not.” 

“Really? Does that actually work though? I mean you heard him say he likes his ex there’s nothing I can change about that?” 

“Did you ask when his last relationship was before you guys started dating?” 

“Yeah he said he’d been single for two months.” 

“Two months? And he’s already back with her? Or was he always seeing her when you guys were together? What kind of dates did you go on? Dinner? Or?” 

“Coffee sometimes, then he’d just come hangout at my place most of the time.” 

“So you never went to his?” 

“No.” 

“So he was cheating on his girlfriend with you?” 

“What? No, he said he was single.” 

Vernon ran his hands through his hair and let out a sigh before looking back at you. 

“You guys met for coffee, you’d have him over to your place during the day, you’d have sex and he’d leave? You never saw his apartment? He just confessed that he’s been seeing his so-called ex over the phone the whole time you guys were quote on quote dating. He definitely lives with her and was fucking you for fun. You weren’t dating.” 

“Speaking from experience, Vernon?” 

“No. I’ve only ever dated one person seriously.” 

“So why are you giving me advice about my dating life?” 

“Because I had a successful five year relationship and you’ve had none? And you seem to need it.” 

“Wow. I would normally be pissed, but you’re right. I can’t seem to tell what I’m  doing wrong actually. Maybe I'm destined to be single.” 

“Not true. You’re pretty, nice, and you’ve got a cool ass life. You’ll be fine, you just need some editing maybe.” 

“So what? You want to be my relationship guru? Or?” 

“Yes.” 

You outstretched your hand to his and he shook it for you, confirming your now partnership where he would help you with your dating life. 

“Wait, before we go further. Try this.” 

Lifting the straw to your lips for you, Vernon offered you a sip of the drink he made.

“Wait, that's good, what is that?” 

“That assholes drink.” 

“I hate that I actually fucking like it.” 

“Me too.” 

You and Vernon spend the rest of your night together shooting the shit and getting to know each other more, once two am rolls around you both decide to head out and walk home. 

“This is me.” 

Much to your surprise Vernon swipes his key card to enter the same building as you. 

“Wait, you live here? How come I’ve never seen you in the building?” 

“I just moved in like three weeks ago. I spend most of my time in my apartment with my cat if I'm not at school or work.” 

“What floor?” 

“Seven.” 

Pressing the number seven on the elevator button before you tapped number thirteen, you and Vernon rode silently up to your separate homes. 

Before stepping off onto his floor, he pressed the hold door button.

“Come over tomorrow around six? I know you have the night off so we can hangout or whatever.” 

“Okay. What should I wear?” 

“You’ll figure it out. You always look nice. Casual is fine.” 

Rolling your eyes to his back as he strode off to his front door, you yelled a goodnight out of the door before they clocked shit and ran you up to your own place. 

Waking up the next morning you stepped out of your bed and pulled out all the ingredients to make a perfect cup of coffee, something that was like a religious ritual for you to clear your head before starting your day. 

After the brew was finished dripping though your pour over carafe you decided to take in some sun on your balcony and prepare your mind for the rest of the day until you were set to get ready to hangout with Vernon. 

The unexpected invitation to go on a quote in quote fake date with the boy had your head confused. What should you wear? What should you do with the little information given to you about what’s going on? 

After spending a few hours outside with your coffee and disconnecting from your phone, you decided to head back inside and go through your closet in search of the perfect casual outfit. 

Placing options on your bed, you hopped into the shower and spent time under the hot steam scrubbing your body from head to toe. After you were satisfied with your cleanliness, you stepped out and sat at your vanity, drying your hair and curling the front two pieces of your perfectly done up-do, painted your nails a perfect cherry red color, and put on your typical makeup look. 

Sliding your slippers back on you stood now in front of the three tops hanging in front of you feeling them for the perfect vibe. Eventually selecting a simple white button down top to match your gray pleated short skirt, slipping up a pair of simple tights and black heeled knee high boots. 

Finally the time came for you to run down seven floors and step off to find Vernon, knocking on the door to the left of the elevator a woman who you’ve seen around the building once or twice answered. 

“I’m sorry, I think maybe I have the wrong apartment. Excuse me-“ 

“You’re y/n?” 

“Yes. Hi.” 

“Hi, I’m Vernon’s friend Chae. I like your outfit, it's super cute.” 

“Oh. Thank you.” 

Stepping into the similar shaped apartment to yours, you notice the colorful paintings all over the walls, the beautiful soft blue couch, and the cozy smell of fresh linen hitting your nose, as you walked in further you saw a group of various people sitting around in his living room, some pouring themselves drinks, some standing around eating snacks and talking. 

“Would you like water or a beer or anything?” 

“Oh no, I’m alright for now thank you.” 

“No problem, I’ll just go see what he’s up to. Excuse me.” 

“Sure.” 

After waiting five minutes in the threshold of Vernon’s front entry, he peeled around the corner, dressed in an oddly similar outfit to yours, minus the heels and mini skirt. 

His crisp white shirt and matching gray coat and pants, a black leather bag, carrying a pair of nice black sneakers in his hand. 

“Hey, sorry I accidentally spilled cola on my other shirt, I had to change.” 

“That’s alright. I like your outfit though, you look cool.” 

“Thank you, I like yours too. I told you about casual dress though.” 

“This is casual?” 

“If you say so. Want a cocktail or something?” 

“Uh, sure? Wait though I thought we were going out or something, I didn’t know you had company. I can leave?” 

“No. Well, we’re going out a little later to a party,  I wanted to invite you, come on.” 

You stepped into his kitchen where he had various types of alcohol scattered on the counter, next to slices of pizza and a couple bags of chips. 

You looked around the room at the new faces, some of them you recognized from Vernon bring them to the bar with him. 

“Want the asshole special again? I actually made myself one.” 

“Weirdly I do, yeah.” 

Vernon laughed as he mixed you the same concoction he spilled the night before, handing it over to you gracefully. 

“Thanks.” 

“Yeah, no problem. This is a weird question, but did you roll any of your cigarettes or have any of those cute papers you use? I told my friend about them and he wanted to find some to roll a joint with.” 

Digging through your bag you pulled out the small case full of tobacco and papers from inside, holding out the pack to him to give to his friend, someone who you’re sure you’ll meet at one point or another. 

“Wow. Thank you.” 

“It’s cool, I have a bunch anyway. So, what does this have to do with you being my relationship guru anyway?” 

“Nothing actually. Just wanted to hangout with you more.” 

“Oh, right.” 

Something about Vernon being so kind to you and sticking up for you last night and today was making you see him in a different light almost like you were starting to have a crush on him. But he could never be into you that way, especially seeing how he interacted with his friend Chae. 

Walking around his apartment and saying hello to his friends, you chose a seat adjacent to the couch, one that was unoccupied and slightly out of the way. 

Some of his friends knew who you were without you even having to mention it. Talking and getting to know them. You excused yourself to the bathroom, but stumbled upon a room adorned with movie posters and music equipment. 

“The bathroom is right here.” 

Vernon pointed to the unlatched door down the hall, the same position as yours. 

“I know. I live here too. I was just being nosy.” 

“Oh. That's cool, you can check it out if you want.” 

Stepping into his office space, you smiled looking around at his various media and collectables, staring at the framed record on the wall signed by an artist you like yourself. 

“This is yours?” 

“Yeah. I got it as a birthday present when I was like eighteen. I love it.” 

“Sick.” 

“Sick? You’re so weird. Do people say that shit still?” 

“Fuck off. People definitely still say that.”  

“Not cool people.” 

“You literally told me I was cool yesterday?” 

“I spoke too soon.” 

As you and Vernon were standing in his room laughing, Chae appeared behind you both without your knowledge and gripped Vernon’s side, scaring the both of you with his reaction and finding her laughing her ass off. 

“You should have seen your guys’ faces. It was too easy.” 

“You’re such an asshole, I almost hit you.” 

“I’d like to see you try, big boy.” 

You just smiled, feeling a little awkward watching Vernon flirting with his friend.

“We want to head out, are you guys ready?” 

“I’m good, I think Y/N had to use the restroom though?” 

“Yeah. It’s okay, I think I might just head back to my place. I have a headache, but you guys have fun.” 

“No way, come on, take some tylenol and let's go.” 

“Chae. Let her leave if she doesn't feel good.” 

“She obviously wants to leave because she found your weird collection of fucking disney vhs tapes, not because of her headache.” 

“Not true.” 

“It’s fine. I’ll come, just let me use the restroom fast. I’ll meet you.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah.” 

Leaving you to do your business, Chae handed you two small white pills from her bag, and a swig of her beer to wash them down with before heading behind Vernon as they got ready to leave for the next location. 

After a few minutes  of walking you and Vernon’s friends  pulled up outside a bar you’ve never been to but heard a lot of your friends enjoyed, amply titled Love Bites.  

Vernon held onto your shoulders and walked you into the front door of the bar, pushing you towards a table where he told you to sit down and wait, as he walked away and left you with his friend to order everyone a round of drinks. 

The seat next to you that you’d hoped Vernon would fill was taken by a dark haired boy you hadn’t recognized from earlier back at the apartment. 

“Y/n? Hi, I’m Joshua. 

“Oh. Hi, nice to meet you.” 

“Vernon’s friend just so you don’t think I’m some random dude.” 

“Right. I figured.” 

“Actually I was the one who asked for the papers, thank you by the way.” 

“Yeah, no problem. Do you smoke? Like weed or?” 

“Yeah, just weed. I used to smoke cigarettes and vape for a while or whatever, but I stopped for a while. I just realized it was a boring habit.” 

“How’d you know I had strawberry papers, did Vernon tell everyone?” 

“No, no. He just said you were cool. Very friendly, but you didn’t talk about yourself enough and that you have nice smelling cigarettes that you smell like sometimes. Nothing too much really.”

“Oh. No dirty details about my weird dating life he pressed me about?”  

“Nothing about that, but he knows about my awful habits too. He always tells me I need serious help.”

“Yes. Me too, I called him a relationship guru.” 

“He thinks he is, but he’s had a crush on the same girl for a while. I'm not sure who she is, he never told me anything more about it. I’m not sure he’s the guy I’d trust to set me up that's for sure.” 

“Oh really? Is it, you know?” 

You pointed with your eyes across the table to Chae who was seated next to Vernon’s side. 

“I don’t think so. She’s definitely been in love with him forever, they were friends when they were kids and rekindled a few years ago when she moved back to town. She's really obvious about it, but he never said anything.” 

“Ah, I don’t know he seems to flirt with her alot.” 

“He’s just like that with everyone, overly friendly, kind of dorky.” 

“I see that.” 

You spent the entire night talking and getting to know Joshua, surprisingly finding out a lot of things that made you more and more intrigued about him. 

When the night finally came to a close, you left with his number and a plan to go out with just the two of you a few days later. Maybe Vernon being your friend was going to pay off more than you knew and his relationship guru advice brought you right into the hands of his very good friend. 

In the next few weeks you continued working and getting to know the pervious shy boy you thought Vernon was and going on actual good dates with his friend Joshua, who much to your surprise wasn’t the type to fuck you and forget you on a first date. 

Months passed by as your casual dating with Joshua went on and on, thinking that while it was good something with him was missing. But, you kept giving him a chance anyway. Unaware what that something was. 

On a night where you were getting ready to go out for a date you found Vernon outside of your apartment door, knocking on it wildly waiting for you to come and answer. 

“Is everything alright?” 

“Y/n.” 

“Want to come in?” 

“No. Yes? Is that alright?” 

“Are you okay? You’re acting weird as hell.” 

Vernon just nodded his head and sat down on your couch. 

“Are you getting ready to head out? You look really nice. I feel like I’m interrupting something.” 

“No. I just got home from a date actually. Why?” 

“Fuck. I’m sorry.” 

“It would help if you stopped saying sorry and told me what was wrong.” 

“Chae.” 

“Oh?” 

“She was over at my apartment. We were just playing video games and having some beer or whatever, but she tried to kiss me. And I let her at first, but I didn’t want to kiss her. I never have. I know she’s pretty and whatever, but like..” 

“Wait. So why did you come up here?” 

“Because I didn’t know what else to do? She’s still downstairs, she said she won't leave until we talk about what happened and she’s crying. I tried to tell her I wasn’t interested in her romantically and I liked being her friend, but she won’t take no for an answer. I just didn’t know what else to do. I’m sorry I interrupted your nice night like this.” 

You walked over into the kitchen and poured Vernon a glass of water to hopefully settle him from rambling so much. 

“Can I ask you why you aren’t interested in her? I always assumed you guys had something going on.” 

“No. Never. She’s not my taste, I mean she’s really cool. But we’re really similar and I don’t want to date someone who reminds me too much of myself otherwise I’d get bored, but never break it off maybe because I’m too nice or maybe because I feel too comfortable. Does that make any sense?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Plus, I told her I liked someone else anyway and she got even more upset. She started accusing me of being a liar and leading her on.” 

“I’ll be honest and when I first met her I thought you liked her too, but the more I got to know you I realized you pretty much act that way around everyone you’re comfortable with.” 

“Right.” 

“Want me to help you get her out of your apartment?” 

“You would?” 

“Yeah. I still owe you for spilling that drink a long time ago.” 

“My god, no you don’t” 

“Shh, in my heart I do. Are you staying here or coming?” 

“I’ll come.” 

Heading down the elevator still in your nice date outfit, you grabbed his keys and unlocked his front door to find Chae still sitting on his couch, waiting for him to come home. 

Looking her up and down you found her dressed in shorts two sizes too small with Vernon’s T-Shirt draped over her body. Clinging to his pillow and looking you up and down. 

“What the fuck is she doing here, Vernon? She’s not a part of this at all.” 

“Actually, I’m here to ask you to politely get the fuck out of his apartment and stop making him feel bad for not liking you.” 

“You’re such a bitch, he does like me. The person he doesn’t like is you, so maybe you should get the fuck out of here. He just feels sorry for you.” 

“Chae, that’s not true and don’t talk to her like that.” 

“You’re actually defending her? She hasn’t been nice to me once since she met me. She just acts like an entitled brat around me all the time, making me feel stupid. She’s not a part of this conversation at all, don’t you understand how insane this is?” 

“She is a part of it actually, because she’s the girl I have a crush on and if I wasn’t so focused on making everyone else around me happy at the price of myself I would’ve been able to tell her that already instead of doing it like this.” 

“Verno-” 

“Her? You fucking like her? Seriously? She told me she never would date someone like you and that you’re dorky and a loser.” 

“What the fuck is wrong with you? That’s never happened. You’re the one who parades around making me feel like an idiot and that I'm not good enough to be friends with Vernon. You know who’s being an entitled brat? You. You’re kicking this poor guy out of HIS apartment for not liking you back like a child, you’re sitting on his couch in HIS clothes, waiting for him to come back to you to try to pressure him into being with you when he told you he likes someone else. If you’re such a good ass friend to him like you constantly claim to be, then maybe be that good friend and get the hell up, give him his shirt back and get the fuck out or you can talk to him like the adult that you are and try to understand how he feels and continue being his friend. If you don’t like either option I don’t know what else to tell you. So, what will it be?” 

“If I talk to him, you need to get the fuck out of here, I don’t want you around.” 

“Fine with me, but stop being such an insufferable bitch and maybe have some compassion. Goodnight.” 

Not wanting to wait around for the elevator, you slammed Vernon’s door shut leaving them to have their conversation and walked up the seven flights of stairs back into your cozy home untainted by her bad energy. 

Hours later after you were showered and ready to destress from the absolute chaos your night has been, you poured yourself a glass of wine and sat on your to smoke a nicely rolled joint as a treat to yourself, leaving your phone inside your room and out of your eyesight. 

Suddenly mid-inhale another knock came to your door, half of you wanted to pretend you were asleep, but another part of you assumed whoever it was must have an issue with you smoking inside your home. 

Looking through the peephole of your front door, you saw for the second time in the night Vernon standing outside, now in his plaid pj pants and a hoodie pacing around waiting for you to answer. 

Taking in a deep breath you opened the door and took one look at his messy hair, realizing he must have been trying to sleep, but couldn’t. 

“Yes?” 

“Can I come in?” 

“Be my guest. Sorry I’m smoking weed inside, it smells weird.” 

“Can I have a hit actually?”

“Sure.” 

“Thanks.” 

Handing over the pink flower, Vernon took an incredibly long hit of the weed, exhaling it creating a cloud over the two of you. 

“Wine?” 

“Uh, not yet. Can I confess something to you?” 

“Is it about the girl you like?” 

“Sorry you had to find out like that. I was planning on telling you, but then you started seeing Josh and whatever else it just got away from me, it wasn’t the right time I know. I just let it slip.” 

“It’s okay, Vernon” 

“It’s not, especially when you’re not single. I feel like I ruined any relationship we had with saying it, even our platonic one.” 

“When you talked about ruining my nice night before? Didn’t you wonder why I was coming home from a date at 7:00pm? It was because I actually just broke it off with Joshua. He was really nice about it of course, but I just felt like we were friends and nothing more.” 

“Oh. So you’re not?” 

“Dating him? No.” 

“So I didn’t ruin it?” 

“My night? Not at all, it wasn't that great anyway.” 

“Seriously?” 

“Yeah.” 

Vernon took the opportunity to steal your glass of wine and downed it right then and there whispering a small sorry to you for doing so. 

“Okay, so. I knew I liked you the moment we started working together. I wasn’t sure how to tell you ever, I wasn’t even sure how to talk to you because you made me feel so awkward, not because you were mean or anything, just because I knew I’d sound like a fucking dumb ass. But, that night we first walked home together and had a drink. I found out so much about you, I liked you even more so I asked you to come and hangout with us at my place, I figured I could get some courage to finally ask you out, which ultimately I failed at again and it just spiraled out of control. It’s just gotten more and more bad for me, like bad in the sense I just can’t stop falling for you and you didn’t know. Until I essentially fucked it up further telling you I like you infront of Chae, which was a mistake too. I keep fucking it up.” 

“You're doing pretty good if you ask me, but you should’ve just told me a long time ago then none of this crazy shit would have happened.” 

“That's charming, no?” 

“Only because it's you.” 

“Look, I don’t need an answer from you now or ever, just know I wont be fucking weird about it anymore. I’ll let you go to bed. I’ll see you in a few days at work and everything will be good.” 

Vernon got up and tried to walk towards your front door for an exit, but you caught up to him in time, grabbing him by his shoulders and spinning him around just in time to plant a perfectly placed kiss on his pink lips. 

“I like that you’re fucking weird and for your information I admire your dumb vhs tape collection.” 

Vernon took his opportunity to kiss you again, even longer this time than the first one, pushing his tongue into your mouth, making you moan as his hands snaked their way around your body. 

“You taste like vanilla too.” 

“Nice?” 

“Perfect.” 

“Would us having sex count as us fucking on the first date?” 

“This would be considered fucking before the first date.” 

“Ah, I see. Is that a no-no?” 

“I’ll let it slide.” 

Vernon lifted you up, prompting you to wrap your legs around his long torso, and carried you onto your couch, setting you down to be perfectly face to face with his enclosed penis, now beginning to grow inside of his pants. Dipping your fingers into the waistband of his pants you grazed the tips of your fingers over the head of his dick, making him shiver from the cold touch of your hands. 

Unwrapsping him like a present, his penis flew from his waistband and you quickly wrapped your lips around the soft pink skin, slightly creating a suction cup with your lips as his hands found their way to the back of your head and he fucked your face gently. 

As his speed picked up, the head of his dick was pounding its way to the back of your throat making him weak in the knees and unsure how much longer he could go on like this without relieving himself inside of your mouth. 

In order to savor this moment further, he against his better judgment pulled you off of him and got on his knees in front of you, running a finger down your neck, placing soft kisses on your lips and all the way down to your sternum, his fingers following along. 

Pushing over your panties to the side he ran those same fingers up and down your wet center, making you moan and push onto him, begging for him to put them inside of you without many words. 

When he was finally done teasing you, he placed his first two fingers at the entrance and ran his thumb over your clit making you squirm and let out a small moan, trying to grind your way further onto him. 

With the same speed as before he started pumping his fingers into your wet center, crawling his way into your body and making you overwhelmed with pleasure. 

Suddenly he was four fingers deep stretching you out as a preparation for you to be comfortable fucking his much larger dick when suddenly you squirted all over his bare chest, slinking back onto the couch in a fit of heavy breathing. 

Vernon didn’t let you off the hook though, he grabbed onto you hips, carrying you onto the floor under him. Finally fucking you through your previous orgasm, riding into the sensitive waters of your clit, softly sucking on your nipples as he slowly thrusted himself onto you, almost like it was the only way to cure the aching in your center. 

As the sweat and your bodily fluids mix their way together, the heavy breathing slowed to near silence, watching him in ecstasy fucking into you, noticing the beauty of the way his eyelashes ran across his cheeks and the small light gold flecks in his eyes. He’s never been more beautiful to you than he was tonight. 

Suddenly in your daze his lips came onto yours before he slightly lifted them off of you to whisper while they still grazed over the top. 

“Can I come inside?” 

“Please.” 

And with your verbal confirmation Vernon filled up your body with his semen and rode into his very own orgasm as well. 

Kissing you once again he got up and ran into your bathroom to grab a clean towel for you both to clean up with and laid back down next to you on the floor. 

Suddenly the two of you erupted into laughter, just thinking about how stupid you both were to see chemistry between you was about as hot as the sex you both indulged in. 

“I can’t believe you were going to leave.” 

“I can’t believe I thought you weren’t into me.” 

“Who said I wasn’t lying?” 

“The way you were moaning and fucking into me told me all I needed to know.” 

“Ok, hot shot.” 

“So about that first date?” 

“It’s on.” 

[lemony-and-zesty]

Omg not another drabble for hitman!JD :]

This one’s for you especially @elijah-doodle ;)) Since you wanted to know and all :)

Silly side note cause I thought it was funny but this is titled “The one that got away” in my drafts 😭😭

———————

The small apartment John Dory found himself living in was pretty peaceful, all things considered. Especially this early in the morning. JD was fast asleep in that slab of concrete he called a bed, finally having managed to pass out a couple hours ago.

There was a sudden, loud knock on the door.

“Hey! Git up! Boss wants ta see ya.”

John Dory groans, throwing an arm over his eyes.

“C’mon kid, he ain’t gonna wait long.”

He crawled out of bed, rubbing a hand down his face before huffing out an, “Alright, alright. Gimme a minute.”

The voice at the door seemed appeased at this, and JD could hear his footsteps fading.

Stupid.

He took his time getting ready, it really was too early for this.

After sliding on his coat and goggles, he yanked the door open. He wasn’t surprised to see the other troll hadn’t gone far.

He gave JD a sharp nod, “Good. C’mon kid.”

JD held his tongue at that.

He let the other man lead him, despite knowing the way like the back of his hand. Best not to start a fight over something stupid.

They left the apartment building off into a back alley.

JD shoved his hands into his pockets and let his mind stray for a bit. As per usual, he found himself thinking about his brothers. He can’t help but wonder what they’d be up to now. Shit, how old would they be again?

He starts trying to add it up in his head, counting it out with his fingers.

It’s been, what? 10, no 15 years? Maybe? He couldn’t be sure until he got a glimpse at a calendar.

His mind continued to wander for a bit before he’s suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder.

Reacting quickly, he spins around and sweeps the assailant’s legs. They tumble to the ground with a, “Aw SHIT-“

JD unsheathes the spikes on his glove’s knuckle, preparing to strike the person before coming to a dead stop.

Oh.

Oh fuck.

“-HELL kid, the fck’r ya doin!”

JD stumbles back, his hands going to his coat. He brushes at it, not just trying to play it off but also to soothe his shaking hands, “Sorry. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

The man who’d been walking him glared up at him - partly out of shock, partly out of fury. After a moment he shakes his head, “Whatever kid.”

JD snarls at that, “For the love of- Stop. calling. me-“

The door behind JD slams open, “Ah! Johnny! You’re right on time.”

A stocky pale yellow troll with golden, slicked back hair dressed in a gray pinstripe suit sets his hands on JD’s shoulders turning him around and lightly shoving him into the room he’d just burst out of, “Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

He kicks the door shut behind them, not sparing the man another glance.

He leads JD to his desk, his grip tightening on his shoulders before releasing him altogether.

“B-Boss I can explain-“

He holds a hand up to silence him as he rounds the desk and takes a seat, “No need. It’s not my business what you get up to outside of work. As long as you don’t kill any of my employees, I couldn’t care less.”

JD gulps, once again rubbing his hands against his coat.

“Now, what is my business is, well, my business. So,” He reaches into a drawer, pulling out a slip of paper - his next hit, JD assumes - and sliding it across the desk for him to look at, “Let’s talk business.”

John Dory freezes the instant his eyes see the paper. No, not paper. The poster. It was a poster for a concert for an up and coming solo artist.

No. No no no no no.

Staring back up at him were the eyes of a troll he hadn’t seen in 15 or so years.

No. Anything but this. Please.

Staring up at him was none other than Floyd. His baby brother.

[cherryfairytwist]

RickFic Ch9 Cognito Inc.

(Tags: misunderstanding, accidental drugging, substance use, rough sexual encounters, implied group sexual activity, mature, minors do not interact)

—- HELLO —-

—- INITIATING DOWNLOAD SEQUENCE MEMORY CLUSTER #9 —-

—-PULLING UP EARLIEST ASSISTED MEMORY RECORDS —-

—- NARRATION SIMULATING NOW —-

The tracker notification went off on Rick’s robot arm as he sat tinkering on something in the garage early one morning. He looked up from what he was going to check. His eyes squinted in disbelief once he noticed Astrid’s location was showing her in Washington D.C. 

“What?! Is this for real??” He said with increasing irritation as his eyes went large in rage. 

He rushed to portal himself down to his basement lab not wanting to waist any time. Once out of the portal he sat down in his chair facing his mega computer. He pulled up the large map of the United States checking again to see Astrid’s location dot still in D.C. He slammed his fist down on his chair’s arm in annoyance and then threw his keyboard across the room.

“You fucker! Y-you would do something like this wouldn’t you Mr. President- COMPUTER zoom in on tracker’s location.” before seeing Astrid’s location, he assumed she was at the White House but found she was actually somewhere else in D.C. 

He arched his eyebrow in confusion but could remember this other location creeping up in his brain from somewhere before. 

“Oh that’s right.. wait- you got to be kidding me! N-Not them….” He slapped his hand over his face groaning realizing where Astrid was.

“Cognito Inc. What a bunch of hacks… Why would she be there…?” He asked out-loud to himself before telling the computer to zoom in more. 

He watched the map zoom in so much it was practically a Birds eye view of the building. Rick irritatedly tapped his fingers on his chair remembering his own brief run in with Reagan Ridley and her father Rand Ridley in the past. 

“The Ridleys have been a forgotten pain in my ass even before the current President. What are they up to these days? The last I heard about them was when they tried replacing the previous President with a robot or some stupid shit.” He grumbled to himself while picking back up his keyboard and looking up anything he could find on Cognito’s current activities. 

~

Astrid stood gripping her communicator nervously right outside of the Cognito Inc. building. It had been a long time since she last saw Reagan. Even though it was the weekend, meaning there wouldn’t be as many people in the building, she still had to sneak inside without anyone finding out she was there. It would technically be going against the orders her handler had given her as well as probably alarming the higher ups at Cognito… she hadn’t exactly left there on a good note in the past. She noticed one employee was on their way towards the front door from the parking lot. In an attempt to keep the building cameras from seeing her she crouched down behind some cars outside and let out a small yell, 

“Ahh! Oh no! Could you please come help me..?” She called out to the random employee in the parking lot luring them back out. 

He walked back out into the parking lot and back behind the row of cars Astrid was hiding behind. He then came over to her, to him she looked like an older office woman in a navy suit skirt outfit with a coffee stain on her skirt. He then crouched down to help her up. 

“Oh goodness you’re such a sweetheart, thank you dear.” Astrid said in the fake voice before knocking him unconscious onto the ground next to her. 

She quickly dragged the unconscious man behind her hiding him in a bush right near the car line. Still crouching she shifted to look just like him. Nothing extraordinary, just an average looking middle aged man in scubs with a lab coat over top. Astrid stood back up and proceeded to walk over towards the building front door pulling out the key car they had swiped from the real employee. Once inside they went to the elevator without suspicion. After the door had shut Astrid let out a small sigh before punching in the floor number  to the main atrium, Astrid had a feeling Reagan would be in her office. While the elevator started to lower, Astrid zoned out thinking of their past together. 

Back then Astrid had been brought in by the Agency to partner with Cognito Inc. for a few assignments. It had been right around the time Reagan and her team had gotten back from their moon mission stopping Buzz Aldrin from moving the moon away from Earth. The Agency had a hidden base inside the Moon, so after hearing Reagan’s team was responsible for preventing Buzz’s plot they sent in a small Agency team as a sign of good faith in “partnership”. One of the individuals being brought on that team was of course Astrid.  She reminisced about the first day her team came to join Cognito Inc. 

Astrid remembered walking in with the team of eight highly trained foot soldiers, her handler, two coordinators and two other lower level handlers who oversaw the foot soldiers. Even while surrounded by her team members, she remembered seeing Reagan’s curious face from one of the upper floor’s balconies as the crowd of Cognito employees all gathered around impressed while meeting the new team in the atrium. 

~

Reagan frustratedly sat down her almost empty coffee mug on a desk. She had been working in her lab overnight nonstop trying to keep busy with projects. After finally reaching back out to Astrid her nerves had gotten the better of her for the past few days. She hadn’t been sleeping or eating much, all she could do to get the anxiety to go away was by crunching overtime at work. But now it was the day she was supposed to see Astrid, she just couldn’t seem to focus. It was already the afternoon and she was starting to worry that Astrid might not show. 

“Fuck… I look a mess.” She said tiredly after seeing her face in the reflection of a half finished robot she had been working on. 

She left to go to the bathroom and freshen up. Once in front of the mirror she tried washing her face with cold water to help her feel less dead. Her mind started to trail off to the first time she had met Astrid. She had been standing on one of the upper levels in the main hub of the building looking over the railing down at the intimidating looking team that rolled in from the elevators. She had heard from J.R. that a supposed mysterious alien Agency had wanted to partner with them. She curiously looked down over the rail at the new group being swarmed by other curious employees. She spotted one individual from the foreign team that seemed to stick out from the rest, she did not look intimidating like the other group members. She had long dark black hair and wore a dark plaid skirt with a white collared button up short sleeve shirt. She also wore big rimed black glasses and dark thigh highs with matching dark loafers. Gigi came up from behind Reagan and gossiped, 

“Ooo look at how fine those soldiers look in their uniforms! I like how their Agency styles them. I’m going to have to get me one of them hunks.” She laughed and checked her hair in her phone’s camera. 

“Looks like you’ll have plenty to choose from.. but who’s that one girl down there?” Reagan asked hoping Gigi might know. 

“Oh that cute shy looking girl with the glasses? I’m not sure, they work for an alien company so I don’t think they have Earth social medias. I wasn’t able to find much on them actually. REAL mysterious~” she said playfully and intrigued herself. 

“But I hear some of those team members are handlers for the super soldiers. So maybe she’s one of them?” Gigi guessed thinking about information she head through the grape vine. 

“A handler Hu? She must be really smart then, she looks so innocent though… I don’t think I could imagine her giving any of those soldiers a kill command ha!” Reagan snorted thinking about it noticing her cheeks were feeling a little flushed. 

“Me either girl, but damn she IS cute… you have a crush already? It’s good to hear after that little fling you had with Masters.” Gigi arched her eyebrows in amusement trying to mess with Reagan. 

“I-it’s not like that..! Ha.. literally I haven’t even met her yet. Besides after Masters I’m so done with relationships for a while….” Reagan quickly tired to cover for herself not wanting Gigi to have the upper hand. 

“Well then if you’re not going after her I might just try to take a crack at it. Been a while since I got to have a fling with a real cutie like her.” Gigi said playing koi knowing it would get under Reagan’s skin. 

“Well.. good luck with that.” Reagan awkwardly replied before noticing the girl from the team looked up and made eye contact with her from far away. 

She looked up shyly at Reagan with a smile before turning to talk to the other team members as J.R. walked up to greet them. 

Reagan blushed and looked away, retreating to her lab in an attempt to escape Gigi but not before hearing her say,

“I’m going to try and introduce our team to their’s later this evening at the welcoming party.. if you’re not a scaredy cat you should come introduce yourself too.” She called out. 

~

Astrid snapped back to reality as the elevator door opened to the main hub of Cognito. She walked out still shifting to look like that male employee she was impersonating. A few other employees called out greetings to her thinking nothing out of the ordinary while she too responded with casual and vague responses to keep up the appearance. She recalled her way around the other level stairways making her way towards Reagan’s lab. Being back in the building made her think more about that crazy night she first met Reagan’s team. She couldn’t help the flashbacks flooding her mind. 

She remembered sitting in the company’s bar McUltra’s after hours. Most of her team had already made their way to their guest rooms for bed by that hour (Some empty office rooms had been renovated into hotel rooms at the company). Cognito had thrown a welcoming party hours ago that she hadn’t been able to enjoy much with her handler team being around. They had all wanted to take first impressions seriously. Her current handler, having always been the most agreeable handler she’s had, said she could enjoy herself after hours if she wished but that he was going to retreat to bed himself. She had asked if she could share a guest room with him but he had insisted she could have a room of her own if she wanted. This gave her mixed feelings. She always had feelings for him, taking any opportunity she could to be alone with him, but after multiple times with failed attempts to get his attention in that way she started to lose hope. She started to think maybe it would be good to have a room to herself if he didn’t seem to care. She took some more sips of her cocktail while looking around the almost empty bar. Her eyes caught a glimpse of Reagan coming in to meet up with her Cognito team in a corner booth. She smiled at Reagan shyly already a little buzzed trying to work up the courage to maybe try and make some friends. She glanced over at their group and heard a few hushed whispers and laughs from them as their eyes all landed on her. She curiously looked at them wondering what office friendships were like here compared to friendships she had back at the Agency. Having never been to Earth before she was newer to their social interactions and wondered what their reaction might have meant. 

~

Reagan looked up at her reflection in the mirror and tried to fix her messy hair. She frantically messed with it hoping to look somewhat presentable before Astrid might show up. She sighed and contemplated if she should try to put makeup on or not. She then decided against it thinking about how Astrid had always been around Reagan without her makeup done. She then rubbed her face in embarrassment thinking about the night of the party. 

Reagan had just joined her team in McUltra’s after the welcoming party in hopes of avoiding the gathering. She quickly began to feel butterflies once realizing the new girl was in fact still at the bar once she arrived. 

“Looks like you made it just in time Reagan! I was going to introduce us to the new girl once all the commotion died down.” Gigi said cheekily. 

“Yeah the new girl is hot! I hope she has a thing for party guys like myself.” Andre said cockily pushing his hair back. 

“She’s supposed to be an alien though right? Maybe she’d like something more like me ya know?” Myc said while wrapping one of his tentacles around Andre’s shoulder playfully. 

“Honestly she’s a bit too young for my taste, also she’s not blond or nothin!  I don’t think I want to deal with whatever secret freaky alien form she might be hiding.” Glenn interrupted and decided to make his exit, “ I think I’m going to head to bed myself.” He said drunkenly standing up and heading towards the door. He then turned and waved goodbye to them before leaving the bar. 

“Alien or not, she seems pretty nice though! We should invite her over!” Brett said with a cheerful smile and wave in Astrid’s direction catching her attention. 

“Oh come on Brett I’m sure she just wants to unwind from a long day without us bothering her-“ Reagan said awkwardly before seeing Astrid wave back to Brett mirroring the friendliness. 

Reagan could not help feeling a slight competitiveness creep up on her as she thought about the new girl. Yes their alien agency sent them as a helpful hand but, recently Reagan’s team had been assigned a couple of missions by J.R. that had failed or just barely succeeded. This lead to J.R. frequently bringing up how the new alien team would help clean up all the messes at Cognito. Naturally this made Reagan feel as though her impact and importance to Cognito was now lower on the scale. It made her a bit bitter even. 

“How is she supposed to clean up world threatening messes….?” Reagan murmured to herself annoyed while watching the seemingly innocent new girl shyly walk over to greet them. 

“Hey sweet thing! How’s it hanging?!” Andre called out to her from the other side of the round table sitting in the booth. 

“Yeahhhh hey there cutie!” Myc also chirped. 

Reagan rolled her eyes at them and continued to chug on her beer wishing to be as intoxicated as them. 

“Oh my, hello young lady! You’re the new girl right? My name is Gigi. I’m Head of PR & Media Manipulation Department here at Cognito.” She said turning up all the charm and reaching her hand out to shake. 

Astrid reached out and shook it with an awkward smile while glancing at the rest of the team.

“Don’t mind these two idiots. They say all kinds of garbage. But you can come sit down right next to me if you’d like.” She said with a sweet smile before quickly shooting a smug look at Reagan. 

Which Reagan shot back an unamused glance in response as Astrid squeezed into the booth to sit in between Gigi and Andre. 

Gigi continued with the introductions, “This is Andre, he’s our Biochemist. That, on the other side of Andre is Myc. He’s a freaky mushroom so he’s our Spore Supplier.” She said annoyed trying to get their introductions quickly out of the way. 

“Hi! And I’m Brett! I’m the co-leader of the gang!” He said enthusiastically beaming and reaching out his arms to hug Gigi and Reagan on either side of him. 

“Oh hi!” Astrid giggled at them and then looked over at Reagan, “So if he’s the co- leader, who’s the leader?” She eyed curiously hoping it was Reagan. 

“That would be me. But I’d say it’s more of a team effort I guess.” She said casually annoyed knowing how difficult they were all going to be if she claimed too much fame.

“Yeah… leader.. ANYWAYS- What about you?” Gigi asked Astrid giddily. 

“Well.. my name is Astrid.. and I’m a specialist on the Agency’s team. I’ve been advised by my higher ups to not divulge too much about my job…but I’m sure you all will see soon enough haha. I mean.. since we’ll all be working closely together now.” She said looking down and smiling. 

“Oh no worries! We totally get it. That’s like our company’s thing too. “Secrets” haha!” Andre wiggled his eyebrows at her and then started to rummage around in his coat looking at different little containers from his pockets. 

“Well Astrid, would you like to join us for some drinks and some STRIP POKER?” Myc blurted out with no hesitation. 

“What a bad joke.” Reagan groaned and glared at him “we just play normal poker sometimes..” she quickly added trying to save face in front of Astrid. 

“Oh strip poker is a great idea!” Andre chirped in while shuffling the cards.” 

“I mean if everyone is playing I guess I’m in….?” Brett hesitantly agreed hoping for the groups approval. 

“Um… I’d like to play a few normal rounds first if you all don’t mind… I mean I haven’t even had a drink yet…!” Astrid joked shyly with a hint of pink in her cheeks. 

The gang all laughed except Reagan who continued to pound her beers while looking down at her cards that Andre had just delt out.

Everyone grabbed their cards and took a look. 

“Well let me get you a drink then hon! Drinks on us tonight, how about that? Think of it as our personal welcome to our cute new partner~” Gigi teased as she got up, walking over to the bar to order more drinks. 

As they waited for her to get back, Brett went to choose a song from the Jute box while Andre and Myc started cheekily asking a range of odd questions to Astrid. While they chatted Reagan groaned to herself looking back at the table where six of her empty beer bottles sat. She then got up to go order something stronger with Gigi. 

“Reagan stop being such a sourpuss. You’re just mad she seems to be liking us just fine. You jealous..?” Gigi snorted and rubbed her elbow against Reagan while standing next to her.

“I’m not jealous. You guys are just being weird like always. Besides I just have a lot on my mind right now. We need to show J.R. We don’t actually need them to clean up our failings!” Reagan insisted back at Gigi frustrated. 

“Oh relax Reagan! They were a gift to us for our non-failure! You’re always stressed out. Just have some fun for once and then get some beauty sleep. You’re not getting enough of that lately.” Gigi joked back. 

“Not everyone is blessed with good looks like you or the new girl. Lack of sleep isn’t my problem.” Reagan said casually after sipping on her jack and coke feeling more of a buzz finally. 

“Reagan… are you saying I’m pretty..?” Gigi arched her brows at her and slyly grinned. 

“Uh.. yeah I mean.. you are an attractive woman.” Regan said not quite getting the implication Gigi was sending her way as she returned back to the table. 

In her lightly buzzed state Reagan thought about a way she could prove her status while also showing off in front of Astrid. She had learned keeping Brett around got the team to listen to her so why not hope Astrid could be another version of that? If she could get Astrid to like her, then of course the rest of the team would follow orders better. 

Gigi watched Reagan rejoin the group still waiting on the tray of drinks at the bar. She also thought about her own motives. She had been getting tired of the same shit in the office lately. After going on a few failed dates she also thought about wanting to spice things up in the office. Being around Cognito so much started to make her realize that normal dating became harder. It was hard to relate and find time… but with everyone ALWAYS being here… she had started to think about what it might be like if she could drum up some kind of office romance drama. Her deep dark secret was hoping for an entanglement with the gang and the new girl. She’d never admit it, but she often wanted to find excuses to maybe get some action with Andre or Brett. And who knows… maybe if she was drunk enough, Reagan too. She glanced over at the table laughing along with Astrid. 

“Damn she is cute.” She mumbled amused and buzzed, “the boys and I are ganna love you.” She said before receiving the large tray of shots from the bar tender. 

Two hours had gone by and the whole gang was trashed. Everyone had been drinking non-stop after quite a few rounds of “normal” poker which lead to Andre doing drugs and also letting everyone else in the group do some as well. He had taken a wild mix of substances. In his drunken state he remembered Gigi whispering in his ear something about how fun it would be if everyone had some aphrodisiacs if they were going to play strip poker. He quickly took that opportunity to dose some weed he had with super strong aphrodisiac powder. After smoking some himself he offered,

“Y’all want to hit this…? It makes you feel really good while drunk.” He coughed out a few clouds. 

“Oh is that weed..?” Astrid asked wanting to partake. 

“Sure is hon, some of the best type around.” He laughed goofily. 

Myc and Gigi partook right after Astrid. And then after a bit more convincing and seeing how everyone else in the gang had some, both Brett and Reagan followed suit. They had been begrudging at first but Brett’s need for approval made him agree. Reagan just decided, 

“why not?” She said now drunk and hoping it would help her to relax enough for some decent sleep later that night. 

In annoyance after losing one too many rounds, Myc had taken the round table and thrown it across the room over near the door leaving them sitting in a booth, only the curved couch remained. A while ago the bar had officially closed but the staff let them stay after hours if they promised to lock up behind themselves when they were done. 

Slowly the drugs began to take effect causing the game to devolve into somewhat a half strip poker game. Obviously Myc had no clothes so they all made him start to balance empty shot glasses on his head instead. Brett sat in his boxers in the booth, next to him Gigi sat with her heals and blazer off, still in her dress. Andre still had all his clothing on minus his shirt however, he still wore his lab coat unbuttoned as well as his pants. Astrid had her clothes still on but with her shirt unbuttoned and her thigh highs slipped down to her ankles. And finally Reagan sat slouched in the booth wearing her open lab coat over her gray sports bra, she was missing her button up shirt. 

They were all bordering the line on becoming black out drunk on top of being crossfaded. Not to mention all of their hormones were starting to go into hyperdrive. When “stripping” during the game everyone would sort of get touchy to help the others remove pieces of clothing. Even laughing as people started to fuck up since their balance was going to shit. Everyone’s legs had started to stretch out and touch each other’s. Astrid blushed a bit thinking about the possibility of where all this might be leading and wondering  if everyone in their group seemed to be on the same page or not. She thought about how fun this dynamic might turn out knowing none of them knew who she really was. She had her own mischievous intentions tucked in the back of her head. 

“Okay Astrid looks like you need to take off a piece for real this time!” Myc said cheekily, “here, want me to help you out..?” He drunkenly asked inching his tentacles closer to her shirt’s sleeves. 

“Oh give her a break you pervert. Like she’d be interested in you!” Gigi said in an attempt to help Astrid if she felt uncomfortable. 

“You know what, it’s fine actually. You can help me Myc…. I’ve never really done stuff like this with new co workers before.. I’m feeling a little bit shy.” She lied, lowering her gaze while slowly unbuttoning her shirt further and allowing Myc to slide it off her arms lightly. 

The group got quiet seeing her sitting in a black lace bra. Brett nervously played with his fingers while Gigi, Andre and Myc went ahead and soaked up the sight. Reagan look down at her cards intently trying to seem unbothered although she was dying of embarrassment and jealousy knowing the gang had all seemed to get on Astrid’s good side except her. Reagan pounded another rum and coke hoping to loosen up enough to figure out how to flirt with Astrid as well. 

“Oh holy shit! So like… you’re a monster fucker..?!” Andre asked excitedly wondering about her being an alien an all. 

“Well… yeah I guess..! Haha.. y’all make me feel like I’m dirty or something… I mean I am an alien.. I think you earthlings call it being pansexual…? I guess I’m sort of like that?” Astrid replied flirty. 

Everyone quickly shot excited glances at each other trying to pick up on the vibe realizing that Astrid seemed to be game for any of them. Reagan swallowed down the rest of her drink hard.  

“It’s odd.. I can’t read your mind like I can read everyone else’s.. thats how I knew you had to be some kind of alien! I wanted to know if you liked us.” Myc brought up. 

This caught Reagan’s attention so she made a mental note while quickly scrambling up from her seat to go behind the bar and get herself another drink. She started to panic knowing she wasn’t good with social or flirty situations. She grinded her teeth in discomfort also thinking about how the whole team seemed to be getting touchy with each other. Never in a million years did she think something like this would occur. It had never crossed her mind. 

“You don’t need to read my mind for that. I’ll tell you anything you’d like to know.” Astrid said with a shrug. 

“Well now that that’s settled I guess it just leaves one more thing! What do you think of the team so far?” Gigi flirted back playfully in attempt to redirect things to her plan. 

“Oh yeah! Do you like us Astrid?!” Brett asked cheerfully and less inhibited from all the drinks. 

Reagan practically almost spit out her drink after having returned to the booth. She quickly pretended to be adjusting her coat and pants while sitting down knowing this night was about to get weird. She quickly chugged her new drink until it was empty. 

“Yeah I like you guys… I’m looking forward to seeing you more in the next coming days.” Astrid said with a flirty smile at them. 

“You’re so fucking hot.” Myc quickly blurted out. 

“Jesus… Let’s show the new girl a good time! We can do that guys, right?” Gigi said confidently trying to break the ice as smoothly as possible. 

“So what I’m hearing is that everyone is on board to keep playing strip poker for reals?! I think everyone might have a little crush on you Astrid!” Andre said wiggling his eyebrows excitedly. 

“W-Wait guys I mean…” Reagan stuttered out finally feeling all the drinks hit her at once, “s-should we really be doing this at the b-bar..? W-What if the janitor comes in and like see us..?” She blushed and messed with her hair drunkenly trying to reason with them. 

“We could fix that problem easy! Let’s just move this poker party up to the Holo-chamber! I mean what else is it good for? That way we can have some privacy and get to know our new friend a little better~” Gigi said sweetly as she placed her hand lightly on Astrid’s leg, looking back at the gang with a look implying they better play the fuck along. 

“Oh a Holo-chamber? That’s cool you guys have one! I’d like to see it anyway even if everyone isn’t feeling like playing the game anymore…?” Astrid tried to reassure hoping to also not make Reagan feel like she was on the spot. 

“No no no! We’re PLAYING this game. Right guys? Let’s head upstairs!” Myc insisted as well not wanting Reagan to ruin his chances. 

“Fuck yeahhh I’m down! Let’s get crazzzy~ let’s get REAL weird~.” Andre said in a relaxed party guy voice while also standing up. 

The rest of them looked at Reagan waiting for her reply. Brett looked down at Astrid as if checking in one more time to see if she was really okay with it. Once he saw she was sitting smiling back at him earnestly, he caved instantly. 

“S-sure I’m up for anything if y’all are!” He laughed and then stood up quickly pounding his drink as if he was getting ready to run a mile. 

Reagan fidgeted with her lab coat button nervously while standing up knowing everyone was still looking at her. Gigi hoping to rush Reagan’s answer, pulled up Astrid from the booth and draped her blazer over her as if getting her ready to leave. Reagan then ruffled her hair in frustration and blushed, 

“Yeah fine. Let’s give you the tour while we are at it.” Reagan said trying to sound cool. 

Everyone cheered and started to grab a couple of drinks before leaving. Gigi lead Brett and Astrid to the door quickly while Myc and Andre quickly went to grab some beers to take with them. Reagan then caught up to Gigi at the door just as she was leading the others out. She grabbed Gigi by the shoulder pulling her behind the group for a quick word. 

“H-hey-!” She said under her breath, “ I need to talk to you for a sec.” She said through gritted teeth while trying to sound playful. 

“Sure…” she motioned for everyone to go ahead toward the elevator. “What?!” She asked annoyed hoping to rush out of the conversation. 

“Are you crazy?! Are you really t-trying to get all of us to like….. “ she rubbed her face in embarrassment, “do STUFF with the n-new girl?! This-this is highly unprofessional!” She raved at Gigi flailing her arms in emphasizes.

“Oh come on Reagan! Just because you’re too embarrassed to make any moves of your own doesn’t mean you can lecture me! Without me all of you would have fumbled this chance! A “Thank You” would be nice! Just relax….. if you’re really not into the idea then just go home already. I’m having some fun. If you don’t want to join then don’t.” She said sternly looking Reagan in the eyes. 

Reagan looked up at Gigi a little embarrassed trying to say something but no words left her mouth. Gigi’s face softened looking at how pitiful Reagan looked and tried to put her at ease. 

“Hon… it’ll be fun. You need to stop worrying so much. I know this isn’t really your field of expertise but look at it this way… would you rather try out something kind of crazy for once and find out you might like it? Or would you rather let the chance slip by and be left to wonder?” She said while rubbing Reagan’s shoulder. 

Reagan rolled her head back in announcing but then took a deep breath and relaxed a little, “b-but Gigi she’s like w-way out of my league… I mean to be fair even y-you and Brett are.. but we are all co workers… and I can’t stand Myc!! what if it gets weird-?” She started to ramble on before Gigi interrupted her. 

“Andre! Come here a second you left something in the booth back here! Y’all go on ahead without us! We’ll meet you up there in a minute!”Gigi called to him just as the rest of the gang was about to get on the elevator. 

As Andre walked back towards them Gigi started to push Reagan towards the elevator and whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry about all that I’ll help you out. Just get on that elevator and turn back up the team leader meter! The New girl seems to like honesty and confidence. Just show her around the conference room and brag about all the perks of working here! I’ve seen how passionate you get when you talk about that stuff! Just be yourself but stop letting your nerves take over. I’m going to get some help from Andre to make things less awkward. TRUST me!” 

She then shoved Reagan into the elevator so fast it made her run right into Astrid and Brett before the doors closed. 

Gigi turned back to Andre waiting in the hall, “okay get the aphrodisiacs ready! Looks like everyone is on board now and Reagan might need a little more help because she’s nervous. But you better keep Myc away from Reagan.. you know she can’t stand him, as a matter of fact I can’t stand him either honestly.” She said with an eye roll. 

“Uh… I kind of already used the aphrodisiacs… like…earlier…when we were all smoking. It was in the weed!” He said laughing nervously. 

“You drugged us?!” Gigi yelled at him.

“I thought you meant for me to use them then!! I don’t know- I figured you knew Astrid was into some kinky shit, like you found out through her social media like you do for politicians we honeypot sometimes…I also figured that you had talked to the team before hand…Damn it’s not like I roofied us!” He said laughing nervously realizing he had assumed. 

“You idiot! She’s an alien! She literally just came to Earth today! She doesn’t even have an Earth social media!! Also, did  you not see how awkward the whole group was earlier..?! Of course they didn’t know!!” She fumed. 

~ 

Reagan drunkenly fell forward right into Astrid as the elevator doors shut behind her. Brett’s arm instinctively shot out to try to steady Reagan by holding onto one of her outstretched arms. Her other arm flew up against the back of the elevator attempting to keep her from slamming into Astrid. Astrid’s hands shot out in front of her and gently grabbed hold of Reagan’s waist to steady her. This left them in quite the entanglement as the elevator lurched up causing Reagan to hold on in her stance. She stared at the floor seeing Brett’s arm snuggly between both her arm and Astrid’s, looking past that she could see her legs had tangled into Astrid’s as well. Once her mind caught up to her body the blood rushed to her face. With her head still down she shut her eyes tightly in drunken embarrassment while trying to keep it together. After regaining composure and gaining confidence she attempted to look Astrid in the face. After climbing her neck and face with her vision, she froze like a deer in headlights as their eyes met. Astrid looked back at her with comforting eyes and a koi smile. Reagan felt an overwhelming sobering sensation. Looking into Astrid’s dilated pupils caused a creeping sensation, like she was standing at the edge of a black hole. 

“Uh- y-you okay Reagan..?” Brett asked drunkenly trying to steady her. 

Reagan suddenly realized she was back in the elevator and had just run into both of them knowing Myc was right there watching all of it. She sprung backward and steadied herself. 

“Dayyyyymmmm Reagan. I’ve never seen you pull moves like that before.” Myc joked sarcastically from behind.

Reagan looked back at Astrid as if checking to see what she experienced a minute ago was a hallucination or not. 

“You good Reagan?” Astrid asked nicely in a cool tone. 

Her face looked back at Reagan with a relaxed smile. Reagan felt her heart flutter and she quickly about-faced to wait for the elevator door to open.

“Y-yes! I’m fine.” She said copying the relaxed tone while trying to loosen her shoulders. 

The elevator door opened only a few moments after. Suddenly Regan felt Astrid’s arms tangle around one of hers and pull her forward. Astrid playfully dragged her forward and into the hallway in front of them.

“Come on! I’m excited to see the conference room! Come show me.” She said with a smile as she also grabbed Brett’s arm and pulled him along behind them. 

Brett obediently followed suit while keeping up with the now silly and drunk Astrid. Reagan also found herself at the mercy of Astrid’s pace and tried to sober up enough to direct them the right way.

“Oh! Uh… that way over there..!” Reagan said trying to inform Astrid. 

Myc followed behind relaxed and chuckling as they all turned the corner to the meeting room. Once inside Astrid let go of the two and actively went to go investigate the area curiously. Myc walked in casually and sat himself down in one of the office chairs. 

“So yeah.. this is where the magic happens. Hope it’s up to your alien standards?” Reagan tried joking. 

“Oh it’s nice! I’m so used to laboratories and testing arenas. This looks so official and business like…. Oh I like your statues and decor.. very occult!” She said in an enthusiastic voice. 

Reagan suddenly couldn’t help but grin and let out a small laugh. She just now realized she was also talking to a fellow nerdy workaholic. Her stomach still felt as if it was full of butterflies, however her brain felt less burdened thinking about how Astrid might have been more like her than she had thought. Astrid turned back in curiosity wondering why Reagan might have laughed. Reagan smiled back at Astrid more confidently and walked over to her. She turned on all the conference room TVs and then put her arm around Astrid’s shoulders as all the screens played different kinds of classified information. 

“W-WELCOME TO COGNITO INC. !” She announced proudly. 

Astrid looked around with wide and excited eyes at everything she was witnessing. Seeing the secrets of Earth and the American government being revealed to her so nonchalantly thrilled her. After noticing the shift in the dynamic Brett instantly perked up, making him compelled to stand next to them happily explaining some of the different footage in excitement. After a few minutes of them chatting, Myc groaned and started to mess with a trinket on the conference table in boredom. 

“C-Cognito is a shadow government h-here on Earth. We are the ones ac-actually running things. There are a few other shadow groups..but we are all s-sort of in competitive collaboration you could s-say…You- YOU ASTRID- were assigned t-to us because we- Brett and I- were able to thwart B-buzz Aldren’s attempt at taking the Moon out of Earth’s orbit…. I think I heard from our boss, J.R., that The Agency h-happened to have a base on the other side of the moon…?” She asked drunkenly but confident trying to break the ice. 

“You’re right! My higher ups were thrilled after hearing the news. They really had not thought Buzz would have taken things so far. I mean for the longest time he was known as some stoner sex hippy. They just figured he’d keep to himself and his moon people… an oversight on our part really. So they wanted to give me a chance to prove myself by showing off all my hard work and training with all of you.” She said back inspired while earnestly looking back at Reagan. 

Reagan felt a squeeze in her chest thinking about how cute Astrid was. Her drive and enthusiasm was something she related to deeply. She wanted to take Astrid under her wing and work together with her. She even considered the thought of how it might feel to finally have someone on the team who looked up to her and treated her with respect besides just Brett. She continued to squeeze Astrid’s shoulders in encouragement as Brett added in,

“Oh my gosh..! Haha- wow! You’re just like us then hu? We are trying to help Reagan get to the point where she’s the one running this place! So I guess we both have great goals!” He said with a big grin while pointing his finger up to the ceiling. 

“Brett-!” Reagan laughed but tried to hush him in embarrassment. 

“Really?! You want to take over the shadow government? How are you going to do it..?!” Astrid asked wanting to know more. 

“B-Brett made it sound like it’s some-some kind of secret take over..! Haha .. no. My dad and J.R. helped b-build this place… I mean I’m just trying to prove, n-now that my dad is out of the…company, that I would be the p-perfect candidate to run this place soon.” She said trying to say it nonchalantly hoping to come across as more humble. 

“So you really are the team leader?! Not just your team’s leader but you lead the company in more ways already now too? How exciting! You must be amazing.” She said admiring Reagan. 

Reagan blushed and brushed back her hair with her hand while still keeping a firm grip on Astrid. She started to feel her ego boost like crazy… making her feel even more in the mood to get a little wild. 

“Aw Reagan is too humble, you are right. She really is amazing!” Brett insisted earnestly. 

“UHG. Are you guys done…?! This is such a mood killer. Let’s go to the Holo-chamber already! I want to continue our game!.” Myc said drunkenly annoyed. 

“We’re supposed to wait up for Gigi and Andre… there’s no sweat in taking our time.” Brett said blushing being reminded of the group’s original plan. 

“Well guess who’s here just in time.” Gigi said while entering into the conference room followed by Andre. 

“Finally we can get to the action!” Myc hollered. 

“Geez man chill out… we can take a moment to smoke and get some jitters out ya know. I got something special for all of us that might make this party just the right vibe.” Andre said while pulling out a bottle of pills in one hand and a tiny box in the other. 

Everyone peaked over to look at what he was presenting. He looked up at all of them with a grin and popped a pill into his own mouth and tossed another to Gigi. He then took a small quill from the box and pricked himself on the finger with it. 

“Okay so… I heard that some of us are feeling a little nervous- so I got some stuff that will help the body and mind relax as well as get the blood pumping..if you know what I mean..” he said with a laugh and wiggle of his eyebrows. 

Brett and Reagan looked at each other and then everyone else in the group. Before Reagan admitted she was the one who was nervous earlier, Astrid quickly outstretched her hand to Andre.

“Oh gosh I’m glad.. haha I’m having a great time but I feel so nervous still!” She giggled and batted her eyelashes at him. 

Andre took her hand in his and grinned back at her, “No problem little lady. However I can help!” He said pleased while pricking the back of her hand. 

“Do me! Do me!” Myc said insistently after her and reached out one of his tentacles to Andre. 

Andre reached into his box and pulled out a different quill and pricked him quickly. He then turned to look at Reagan and Brett who had now also outstretched their arms and shyly smiled at Astrid. Reagan felt better knowing Astrid also felt a little nervous so it boosted her confidence. Andre switched out the quill and pricked both of them and then turned to Gigi and pricked her as she let out an irritated “ow!” 

“Okay here, I can tell you three probably will want a pill too-“ he shuffled out some from the bottle into each of their individual hands, “you Myc…I don’t think you’ll need it but if you want?” He asked tying to lead Myc away from taking it. 

“Nah I’m good if you think so. I know I have a much HIGHER sex drive than probably most of you.” Myc said braggingly. 

Gigi rolled her eyes but quickly turned some of the screen’s channels to footage of concerts and events that were being driven by the Illuminati or places where Cognito was testing out party drugs on unsuspecting groups of festival goers. She then turned up some music to help set the vibe to be more fun as well as playing music videos with subliminal messages on the remaining screens. She then waltzed on over to Brett and plucked the pill from his hand and then held it over his head. 

“Come on Brett! Be a good boy and open up for me.” She said playfully waiting for him to do so. 

Looking up, he complied absentmindedly as she dropped it in his mouth. A small little dry cough followed after his swallow. Gigi then leaned over and whispered into the girls’ ears, 

“Now you two should feed em to each other~.” She said with a wink as she turned to go talk to Andre. 

“Uh..okay here-“ Reagan pulled Astrid back over to her gently by the waist and held the pill up in front of Astrid’s mouth. 

Astrid smiled and opened her mouth letting Reagan place it on her tongue, “Thank you…uh here you go too-“ she held up the pill to Reagan’s mouth. 

Reagan stuck her tongue out a little shyly as she spotted Brett handing both of them a water to drink. They all took a swig to help it go down easier and laughed. They looked over and saw Gigi had started dancing with Andre to the side of them. They joined in on the vibe and were quickly followed by Myc. After they had danced for a while, also having little chats in-between songs, Myc started to try and dance with Astrid. His long wiggling tentacles bounced around in front of Astrid as he bobbed his head back and forth. Astrid laughed in amusement while danced along with him. Reagan suddenly felt the aphrodisiacs hit hard. The room started to feel warmer and more comfortable, while the music also started to sound better. Reagan glanced around at everyone and started to pick up on how they were all staring to feel. Gigi was already grinding on Andre while Myc was starting to rub his tentacles on Astrid’s legs as they danced. Reagan stepped backwards a little while still dancing and bumped into Brett, he helped steady her but didn’t take his hand off her waist like he normally would have done. 

“Oh Myc-! Ha-! How’d you know I like being lifted?!” Astrid squealed out while laughing. 

Myc had wrapped a few of his tentacles around her. He proceeded to lifted her up and down in the air as if she was a dumbbell. Then cockily laughed while continuing to show off. 

“Yeah!! You like that…?! I’m pretty strong aren’t I?” He laughed. 

“Uh… Reagan…? Is this okay? Like are we all going to really go through with this?” Brett said while breathing a little harder now that the drugs had started to affect him too. 

Reagan, for the first time in a long time, felt her thoughts go almost blank. She felt like her whole body had relaxed and her stress seemed to evaporate. With this new found comfort, she regained more of her confidence. She turned her head to whisper back into Brett’s ear,

“Brett. As te-team leader, I order you to enjoy yourself AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE tonight. I-if you w-want to do this or go h-home… do what you really want to do.” She said earnestly to him. 

“Okay.. so this is okay..?” He asked leaning his head down onto her shoulder and neck while still having his hand on her waist, pulling her in a little closer. 

“Y-yes…. BUT TH-THAT IS DEFINITELY NOT.” She quickly yelled through gritted teeth now watching Myc’s tentacles start to sneak their way underneath all of Astrid’s clothing as she was tangled up in his other arms. 

Astrid let out a little gasp in surprise to Myc’s actions, “I-i didn’t realize you’d be so forward…!” She moaned out embarrassed. 

Reagan pressed past Brett and angrily whispered into Gigi’s ear, “I’m finally s-starting to enjoy the night but h-how are we going to deal with him?! It’s making my blood b-boil knowing what kind of guy he is! AND h-he’s all on her..There is no way in hell I’m touching Myc-!” She was cut off.

“Don’t even worry about it. We have it taken care of.” Gigi smiled back at her smugly. 

“W-What do you mean…?! He’s about to-“ Reagan raved and was cut off once more. 

“Chill Reagan~ you think I was going to risk getting mushroom herpies again after I caught them from Myc that time him and I joined in on that reptilian orgy..? Which- by the way I cured myself of..being a chemist and all…just putting that on the table- but also I wasn’t about to sit here and watch him also possibly infect the new girl or any of you guys.” He said with a laugh as he lit up a cigarette. 

“W-wait… is that why you didn’t give him that pill earlier-?” She asked realizing Andre had purposely tried not to give it to him. 

“Yep. Gave him a different quill too. So he’ll start to think he’s getting really horny because those quills are not only an insanely strong muscle relaxer, they also have aphrodisiac like side effects. But I gave all of us a pill that would counteract the sleeping side effect of the muscle relaxer…so we’ll still feel the best parts but not fall asleep.” He grinned and took a puff. 

“You think I was about to let Myc touch me? Oh hell no. Andre and I thought up how this would be the best way to keep him from being a total creep. And the best part is, in the morning, he’ll think he just partied too hard and ended up missing out on the real fun because he had too much.” Gigi said with a sly smile. 

Right after Gigi finished her sentence, a thud was heard from behind Reagan. Judging from the laughter that erupted from both Gigi and Andre, Reagan realized the drug must have fully kicked in causing Myc to pass out.

“I’ve spent PLENTY of time figuring out Myc’s tolerance to things…This was the perfect chance to see follow through.” Andre slapped his knee in amusement and then swung his arm around Gigi’s shoulders in triumph. 

Reagan turned to see Astrid still tangled up on the floor in Myc’s tentacles next to his now unconscious body. Astrid looked at Myc in shock and then up at the other group members in confusion. 

“I-is he okay…?!” She asked worried. 

“Ha! D-don’t worry about that.” Reagan laughed out in amusement now completely relieved. 

“Yeah honey he’s fine. He’s just like that…he gets a little too excited sometimes and just… well you see what happens.” Gigi stifled a giggle knowing she was making it sound like Myc couldn’t handle sexual stimulation. 

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh except Brett who had no idea what was going on. 

“Oh.” Astrid said awkwardly now feeling let down from the assumption she had previously about Myc. 

She tried to squirm out of his grasp but then looked back up at the rest of them defeated,

“Umm… a little help..?” She looked up at them with doe eyes. 

Everyone quickly went to help her untangle from the tentacles, standing her upright. 

“So I heard you like being picked up! Haha check this out.” Brett said happily while he lifted Astrid onto his shoulder like it was nothing. 

“Oh Brett! You’re strong!” She said gleefully kicking her feet and laughing as he started to do  squats while keeping her on his shoulder. 

“You don’t know this yet- but carrying the team is basically part of my job! When missions get dicey I’m here to carry anyone who needs it!” He said proudly. 

“So I guess that makes me officially apart of the team now..?!” She laughed jokingly. 

“Oh you’re definitely stuck with us now Astrid. If Brett has carried you then it’s official.” Gigi said amused joining in and squeezing Brett’s cheek.

“Let’s go to the holo chamber now! Myc will be fine. He’ll sleep it off.” Andre said with a smile as he turned with Gigi to leave the conference room. 

“It’s not the f-first time he’s had to sleep one off.” Reagan laughed and caught up with Andre and Gigi in the hall, throwing both her arms over their shoulders drunkenly pleased. 

“I bet we can beat them to the holo-chamber!” Brett said playfully as he started to sprint through the door with Astrid still on his shoulder, she let out an excited whoop while they flew down the hallway. 

~ 

Gigi stood inside the holo chamber inputting commands into the panel turning it into an upstairs V.I.P. section of an exclusive sex club. The walls were covered with dark red velvet and multiple red velvet curtains hung in all the right places to keep privacy from the rest of the booming club down below. Fancy couches and seats were scattered about in the tent like area. Andre stood next to her looking back at the rest of the gang,

“Looks like it’s all set. Any last requests before we get to it..?” He asked excitedly. 

Brett continued into the hollow chamber while Astrid stood on the other side of the entrance from Reagan. Reagan searched Astrid’s face for any hint of hesitation, 

“S-so is this really okay…? You’re okay with all of.. this?” Reagan said while lightly placing her hand on Astrid’s waist starting to hope for more. 

“I don’t know…What do you think team leader? Is it alright for us to be doing this?” Astrid responded looking up through her eyelashes at Reagan. 

After that Astrid was quickly dragged into the holo-chamber by Reagan. They joined the others in the exclusive area with the gang as club music boomed in the background. Gigi quickly grabbed Reagan by the face and proceeded to kiss her all over, leaving lipstick stains all on her skin. Reagan then quickly sat back on the couch trying to catch her breath after not having anticipated Gigi’s boldness.  

“Wow…” Reagan said surprised but not entirely opposed trying to figure out how it made her feel.

“Can’t blame me for going for it. You’re next Astrid!” Gigi said while grabbing Astrid and pulling her down onto the couch next to them. 

She proceeded to kiss Astrid all over just like she had done to Reagan, only for Astrid to quickly grab Gigi by the chin and start French kissing her on the mouth deeply. Andre, Brett and Reagan watched wide eyed at Astrid’s sudden forwardness. Reagan clenched her fist not being able to help the envy boiling up inside her. Gigi quickly pushed Astrid away and gasped for air,

“Holy shit… that was so hot. I’m literally on fire right now. You’re such a sneaky little thing!” She panted with a smile. 

“My turn!” Andre said as he went in to make out with Gigi and slid in between her and Astrid. 

While they continued to kiss Brett shifted awkwardly on the couch opposite trying to adjust himself, his body betraying him.

“Brett? You okay big boy,..? How about you lift me in a different kind of way…” Astrid said going over sitting down on his lap concealing his boner. 

He laughed embarrassed and tried to help steady her. Reagan looked at them still not quite knowing what to say, but then Astrid turned and called for Reagan. Once she came over, Astrid grabbed Reagan by her lab coat collar. She pulled Reagan down onto the couch next to Brett really close and then got up. 

“I’m going to go grab another drink… you two should have some fun.” Astrid said springing up and then quickly disappeared behind the curtain. 

Reagan and Brett both breathlessly looked at each other not quite knowing what to do. 

“Wait it’s the holo-chamber… can she even get real drinks from the fake bar in here…?” He asked trying to cut the tension. 

“I know J.R. H-Had it programmed to actually serve alcohol for spe-specific types of government sex stuff… Not sure if it’ll work or not without specific commands..” she contemplated.

“So…is this still.. okay..? He asked clearly turned on but trying to make sure Reagan was feeling the same. 

“We… well.. we c-could just try something small r-right?” She answered back awkwardly as she leaned up against his chest and hovered her face close to his. 

“If it’s weird we can just pretend like it didn’t happen in the morning right..?” Brett said trying to help her. 

“S-sounds good.. o-okay shut up and-“ Reagan was cut off by Brett pressing his lips hard against her’s. 

With both their eyes shut tight they continued to kiss for a moment. Which then lead to them starting to lightly French kiss. 

“Oh DAMN- don’t keep him ALL to yourself!” Gigi said after noticing them and quickly grabbed Brett’s face away. 

As Gigi continued to straddle and make out with Brett, Reagan quickly felt jolted out of it and looked around the club starting to feel nervous and struck with the realization of what she had just done. But before she could start panicking, Astrid reappeared from the curtains holding two drinks. She slid over next to Reagan on the couch and handed her one of the drinks with a sweet smile. Reagan felt her panic melt away as Astrid put her hand into her’s with a light squeeze. 

“F-fuck… I never really thought I’d do this with my co-workers.. I’m not sure how I feel..” Reagan said mostly mumbling to herself.

“Hey Astrid, shotgun..?” Andre asked with a grin as he took a huge puff from his joint, implying he’d blow some in her mouth through a kiss. 

“Shoot~” Astrid said leaning in for the kiss from Andre. 

While Reagan saw the two making out in front of her she jolted up and hit the holo-chamber door to open up back up to the lab.

“Uh..I’m not s-sure if the alcohol in here is real- I’m going to go grab some of the stuff we brought up with us..” she blurted before disappearing. 

“There is a cozy little sex room over there… just putting it out there- I’m definitely more dominant and into some kinky shit… and I really want to try out some of the toys and equipment in there…Andre! Brett! Come with me.” Gigi blurted out after releasing Brett and dragging both the boys to the back room. 

She shoved both of them inside and then looked back at Astrid, “Are you two going to join..?” 

“Uh.. yeah! We’ll catch back up with you in a minute.. I’m going to go have a one on one with Regan.. I noticed earlier she seemed nervous. I just want to go check on her.” Astrid said. 

“Oh perfect!” Gigi said delighted thinking that would be exactly what Reagan needed. “See you soon cutie!” She winked at Astrid before disappearing into the sex room. 

Astrid walked through the holo-door just in time to see Reagan had tripped over some of the liquor boxes Andre had left in the panel room outside.

“Ow…. Fuck.” Reagan mumbled out landing on the floor after twisting her ankle. 

“Oh Reagan! Are you okay…? Here I can heal you-“ Astrid rushed to dote on Regan before she quickly cut her off. 

Reagan felt like she would be fine physically, but in her head she secretly just wanted to get Astrid alone. 

“N-no no! I can fix it…J-just… need to go to my lab. Could you help me there..?” She drunkenly tried to play off Astrid’s worry. 

“Sure…? Um how do I…?” Astrid asked not knowing how to get out before Reagan barked out a command to the Holo-chamber panel room to open up into the hallway. 

“Computer! Open exit p-panel.” Regan commanded as the exit door opened to the side of them. 

“Is it okay is I lift you?” Astrid asked looking into Reagan’s eyes in an attempt to see how she was doing emotionally. 

“Y-yeah… I mean I can manage though I’m sure I’m heavy-“ Reagan’s rambling was cut short as Astrid picked her up princess style with ease. 

Reagan’s eyes went wide as she was pulled off the ground by Astrid as if she had weighed the amount of a rag doll. She’d never had anyone pick her up like that except for Brett… and the fact Astrid seemed to do it with unnatural strength made her shocked into silence. Astrid continued to exit the holo-chamber with Reagan in her arms out into the hall again. She then looked down at Astrid waiting for further direction towards the lab. 

“Oh-! That way..!” Regan blurted trying to get Astrid to stop staring at her. 

While Astrid walked through the empty building’s hall, Reagan looked up at her, taking in all the details of Astrid’s appearance up close.  She looked up and saw that Astrid had an ear bud in her ear and it made her curious,

“Wait- is that an ear piece…? I-is your team listening to all this..?!” Reagan asked panicked with embarrassment. 

“Oh this? Haha! No! I mean it is my ear piece to hear my team but I turned off their channel hours ago when they left. I also use it as a music  listening device. Here, you want to listen too?” Astrid  placed Reagan on the ground for a moment as she plucked the other ear bud from her skirt pocket and put it into Reagan’s ear. 

As the song Écoute chérié by Vendredi sur Mer started to play in Reagan’s ear, Astrid quickly lifted her back into her arms and continued on towards the lab. Reagan pointed out the lab door and they both entered through. Reagan had not heard the song before but she felt her heart start to skip a beat while listening to it in Astrid’s arms. 

“J-Just set me down o-over there on my desk…” Reagan said, “could you grab those pills over there by my monitor and that scanner over there near- yeah that!” She directed Astrid as she looked around the lab for her items. 

“Thanks.” She said to Astrid as she was handed a pill bottle and scanner. 

Reagan quickly took her pain killer and scanned her ankle, “L-like I thought. Just a sprain. I’ll be fine now that I have my meds.” She said starting to sober up now that she had Astrid alone. 

Astrid stood between Reagan’s legs dangling off over her desk. She slowly looked up into Her eyes, “Are you sure you’re okay…?” She asked earnestly. 

Reagan instantly folded, she couldn’t keep it to herself any longer, “H-honestly Astrid… I’ve never been good with t-touch and tonight… Jesus.. tonight was just a lot. I was starting to get uncomfortable in there and I just needed a breather…” she tried to explain but was cut off.

“You couldn’t stand the thought of hooking up with your co-workers..?” Astrid asked assuming. 

“No. H-how about y-you let me finish what I’m I’m going to say first.” Reagan said snappily as she grabbed Astrid by the face. 

“I couldn’t stand knowing I was about to have to share y-you with them.” She said doubling down and grabbing Astrid by the hair suddenly. 

“Ah!” Astrid gasped in surprise and enjoyment having not guessed Reagan would change up the dynamic so quickly. 

Astrid lowered herself down a little, holding her head near Reagan’s thighs, “Well you are the team leader…I can help put your mind at ease. You have so many things to worry about that are more important than something like that…” Astrid cooed softly while sliding her hands up Reagan’s pants to unbuttoned them. 

“T-that’s right… I need your attention on me so I can show you a thing or two…” Reagan said rolling her head up in pleasure while sliding on her robot arms that where laying on the desk behind her. 

Once she activated the arms, one slapped Astrid on the ass while the other grabbed her waist. Astrid let out another surprised moan in enjoyment while pulling down Reagan’s pants and underwear. 

“Oh you like that you little slut..?” Reagan groaned out.

Once Astrid went down on Reagan she desperately clung on to her lab coat trying to steady herself from the robot arm continuing to slap her from behind vigorously. After some struggled moans and rough touching, Reagan started to get close and pushed Astrid away causing her to stumble backwards falling onto the floor. Reagan enjoyed the sight of Astrid disheveled on the laboratory floor. Her hair was messy, legs weak and spread out while her skirt was up, showing off her panties and bruised ass. She looked down at Astrid’s face which was out of breath and panting looking back up at her. 

“Fuck.. I want to do more things to you but the laboratory is only so comfortable…” Reagan panted out annoyed.

“D-do you want to come stay the night in the guest room Cognito gave me..?” Astrid breathed out to her. 

“Yes..” She answered. 

They both proceeded to sneak up to the top floors of the building trying not to wake any of Astrid’s fellow teammates in the nearby rooms. They both got a little carried away getting rough and tossing each other against walls, making out and then shoving away to then run off while the other chased after close behind. With them both being occupied with each other, the same song they had listened to earlier continued to play on loop in both their ears because Astrid forgot to change it. 

“Here we are.” Astrid whispered while pulling out her key card for the guest room.

—- PART NINE COMPLETED —- 

—- SHUTTING DOWN —-

—- GOODBYE —-

[isbergillustration]

Getting friendly :) Ft. the chapter from last week because i have yet to start the one due tomorrow;

«What’s your name?» 

It’s taken John months to ask, first because it didn’t occur to him, later because he felt awkward about not doing so sooner. 

NAME? 

«Yeah, your name. Mine's John.» 

Some of the creature's eyes narrow. 

JOHN 

«Yeah, I’m John. My  name is John. And what is your name?» 

JOHN 

John sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, nails scraping his scalp. It was getting too long. 

«Okay. Do you want to be John too?» 

JOHN 

It seemed this was as far as he was going to get. 

- 

«That’s ten fifteen, please. I- ten fifteen. No, you don’t have to- okay, then. Thank you, have a good night.» 

The old lady who looked at him with a suspicion that felt unearned left, the bell over the door sounding its muted alarm. John leaned against the counter. The light above him was bright, too bright, and he could not see anything beyond the reflected shelves beyond the windows. Nothing existed outside this tiny shop, and the very occasional customer. Outside it was dark. The sun would not rise until hours after his shift ended, by which time he would be dead to the world.  

The shop was a small one, only the sorts of products for which one might run down the street, having forgotten them earlier. Most of his customers were other late workers, or students staying up too late to study. They had an entire branded fridge dedicated to energy drinks.  

The bell chimed, low but still painfully pitched, and he looked at the door. It had not moved. Instead, when he turned back, he saw the thing. The creature. John Junior? Or senior, if it was older than him. Probably it had to be? The idea that it was not felt somehow upsetting to him, as if it conferred onto him some sort of responsibility.  

It barely even startled him now, when it appeared. But. But he had not seen it here before. He glanced at the camera. So did nearly twenty eyes.  

«What are you doing here?» he hissed, though the camera did not record sound. 

He angled himself so as not to look as if he were speaking. Probably no one would ever check this tape, and he thought they were deleted automatically after a while, but he couldn’t be sure. Whether or not the thing had been caught on film it would be too late to do anything about it now. Still, he felt his heart beat in his wrists.  

Oh. Oh unless it was here to protect him again. Maybe the shop was about to be robbed? People would definitely check the tape then. Shit. He looked around. Could he barricade the door? No. Someone sufficiently determined would find their way in, and he was not about to pay for any damages or losses. He didn’t make enough here for that. He- 

The bell chimed, and was this time followed by a gust of cool air. Then, an almost familiar face. 

«River?» 

She gave him a tired smile. It was, after all, nearing four am, though time seemed less real in his fluorescently bright bubble. Her dark hair was pulled back, and she had a long scarf wrapped several times around her. She looked around. 

«Huh. I thought I saw someone in here with you?» 

He glanced around. The thing was gone.  

«Nope, just me.» 

He sounded less confident than he wanted to. The back of his neck prickled. 

«You all right? Bit far from home, aren’t you?» 

They were half an hour's tram ride from the apartment building.  

«Staying at my girlfriend’s.» 

She wandered around the shelves, occasionally disappearing from view, picking up a couple of things before dumping them on the counter. Instant noodles, a bag of coffee, some pain killers. 

«Wild night of romance?» he asked, scanning her items and giving her his employee discount. 

She laughed, but it sounded hollow. As he bent down to get her a bag he noticed gold dust across the back of his hand. It did not come off when he brushed it. He pulled his sleeve down. 

«No. Helping Max look for a new job.» 

«Shit,» said John, «she get fired?» 

«Something like that. Stressful as hell.» 

«Oh, yeah, I get that. Hope she finds something.» 

«Me too. Rent’s bad in this part of town.» 

She took the bag with a quick thank you, and turned. 

«Oh, hey, you’ve got- looks like a feather in your scarf?» 

He had vague memories of being a child and getting told off by his dad for picking up stray feathers. Something about parasites. He only retained the vague idea that touching them was bad. 

«What? Oh- again.» 

She gingerly picked it free and leaned over the counter to drop it into the bin. 

«Again?» 

«I fed some birds a couple of times and now I think they’re following me.» 

«Oh,» he said, «yeah. I’ve heard they do that I think. Crows and things. Looks like that. Well, okay, well I’ll see you.» 

She called goodbye and disappeared into the void of the outside. A few browning leaves had drifted in through the door, and they crunched without anything seeming to have stepped on them.  

- 

The stain would not come off. He scrubbed it in the sink at work, then at home, then doused his hand in hand sanitiser. Nothing. Not even any gold flakes in the sink. What the fuck? The implications were bad. Some permanent stain from his connection to the creature? No. No it had to be like that kind of persistent paint or ink, the stuff that stained your skin for days before wearing off. Something like that, it had to be. It had to be. 

«Where are you,» he demanded of thin air, «when I need you to fucking answer me?» 

Not there, it seemed.  

It took him ages trying to fall asleep. It always did, these days, but this morning felt particularly bad. At last as the sun started to creep in through allegedly black out curtains he drifted off. 

The next day it was still there. He scrubbed until his skin hurt, and then exfoliated for good measure, but it made no difference. In the end he stuck a plaster over it. That ought to do until it went away. Ought to hide it. 

Later that afternoon he thought about why hiding it felt so important to him. If it was real, and everything pointed to it being real, then having someone else confirm it would be an immense relief. It would mean he wasn’t crazy, wasn’t talking to himself. But then, the possibility of it being all in his head was a sort of lifeline of hope, too. It meant he didn’t quite have to adjust his understanding of the world and reality yet.  

He had considered telling River. They weren’t very close friends, but she seemed receptive to this sort of thing. She had shown him her collection of crystals and threatened to read his fortune in tarot cards. He didn’t know, though, how much was affectation and aesthetics and how much was true belief. And proof was hard. He had taken a photo of the creature, early on, but it didn’t photograph well, and the picture had gone missing a short time later. He kept losing track of things lately.  

The cleanliness of his apartment had begun to decline some time ago. Not from intentional neglect, but because John would begin to vacuum the floor, full of good intentions, and suddenly realise he had been sitting on the floor, back against the sofa, staring at his phone, the vacuum abandoned halfway through the task. A third of his laundry would make it into a closet, the rest would lie unfolded on a chair. Mugs of crusty dried coffee made it as far as the counter next to the sink, but no further. Everything was too much, was the thing. And it simply kept growing. 

- 

John went out into the woods. He was not an outdoorsy person, but he had the vague idea that looking at trees was meant to be good for you, and therapy waitlists were six months long. He caught a bus, and took it as far out of town as the local routes would go, up into the hills surrounding the city on three sides. If there were fewer trees he would have had a great view of the ocean, but thick pines made the path as dark and enclosed as the alleys in the city. 

The air was fresh, too fresh, cold and stinging and making his eyes run. In his pockets were a couple of müesli bars and a thermos full of coffee which would, if history was any judge, imbue the coffee with an unsubtle metallic flavour. He was as prepared as he could get, he thought, until he within five minutes of leaving the bus stop accidentally stepped in an ankle high puddle with his very much not waterproof sneaker. He stared down at his wet foot with helpless resignation. 

The woods were cold, but the path went uphill, and soon he was that combination of clammy and sweaty and cold which usually kept him away from this sort of activity. It was too late in the year for insects. This, at least, was a mercy. It was oddly quiet out here. Usually he would hear birds he could not identify, the scurrying of squirrels or other little critters in the dead leaves by the side of the path, but there was nothing. Nothing yet. 

At the top of a hill, where there was something like a clearing, he took a rest. More of the cloud filtered grey light managed to reach the ground here, and a tree had been felled and laid across one side to serve as a sort of bench. By the time he had got his coffee poured into the lid mug, the angel thing was sitting next to him. Of course it was. Its hands were placed in its lap, and though it still appeared not to have a body, just a barely not hollow pliable exoskeleton of gold, it managed to sit awkwardly.  

“Why are you doing this to me?” 

It did not answer. Its head, or hood, or whatever it was which had the eyes, was turned up to the bright grey skies. On impulse, John leaned against the thing, and found it to be surprisingly soft.  

JOHN 

“Yeah?” 

SAFE 

“Good to know.” 

They stayed like that for a while, and John managed not to think about what was happening. Just that he was as comfortable as you get outside in the woods, and how the coffee might be giving him some sort of metal poisoning. After a little while, he felt a hand on his shoulder. The thing had hands the colour and feel of a bog body or mummy. Hardened skin like bark tight around the bone. If anything it had could be described as bone or skin at all. He wondered idly whether it would kill him if he painted its hard blackened nails sparkly gold to match.  

[thesadiebee]

Addicted to Love: Chapter 2

Pairings: Jake x reader, Josh x reader, Danny x reader, Sam x reader!platonic

Authors Note: I promise the next chapter will bring a little spice to the story ;)

Warnings: none :)

Word count: 1,721

The blaring sound of your alarm comes way too soon, interrupting your deep slumber. With a big stretch you reach over and turn off your alarm and check your phone for any new messages.

Josh: Goodluck with your interview today. You're gonna kill it mama ;)

You cant help but smile at Josh’s text. You send him a quick reply back and decide to get ready for the day.

You: Thank you Josh!!

You quickly shower, making sure that you smell fresh for your interview. After applying some light makeup and doing some light waves in your hair, its time to pick out an outfit. “Okay now, what does one where to an interview?” You think outloud. After rummaging through half of your closet you settle on a black square neck body suit tucked into some lightwash baggy mom jeans. You accesorize with a simple black belt, some jewelry and settle on some black chelsea boots. Satisfied with your outfit, you grab your purse and head out the door.

The drive to the job site is fairly short from your new apartment. You check the time in your car and relax knowing you still have ten minutes. You quickly check your appearance in your rearview mirror and decide to pull out your phone. Letting your curiosity get the best of you, you open instagram and search Josh’s name. You audibly gasp at what you find.

“Holy shit. He’s famous!” You exclaim. Sucking in a quick breath you hit the follow button and quickly stuff your phone into your pocket. That’s a whole new can of worms that can wait until after this interview. You exit your dark green Subaru Outback and enter the building.

The building is classy yet casual at the same time. The flooring is a nice black marble, the light fixtures are victorian style chandeliers, but the walls are covered in collages of photographs and pictures of awards that employees have earned in the past.

You walk rather slowly as you enter to take in your surroundings. You approach a woman at the front desk. Shes beautiful with shoulder length blonde hair and bright green eyes. One she notices your presence she smiles up at you.

“Hi! Welcome to Flashbulb Journals! How can I help you?” She asks in a sweet voice.

“Im here for an interview actually!” You announce rather excitedly.

The girl at the desks smile widens. “Oh my gosh you must be Y/N?? Im Summer!” Summer reaches out her perfectly manicured hand for you to shake. You gratefully shake her hand and nod. “Its nice to meet you Summer!” She flashes another one of her perfect smiles and starts typing away on her computer.

“Okay so, our boss, Esmerelda is wrapping up a meeting with one of our clients right now, but I can go ahead and send you up to her.” Summer says and starts to make her way from behind the desk. You follow behind her as she leads the way around the building. You enter an elevator and make your way up to the second floor. On the way up Summer asks about where youre from and your hobbies before you finally make your way to the bosses office.

“Well this is it! Youre gonna love it here I can tell!!” Summer exclaims. “I haven't even interviewed for the job yet!” You say with a giggle. Summer rolls her eyes. “Trust me when I say you basically already have it. Esme will adore you.” You cant help but feel a little warm inside at Summers exclamation. It gave you just the confidence boost you needed. You take a seat in one of the chairs outside of the office and keep yourself distracted with your fidgeting hands.

A few moments later the door opens and you hear a man speak. “Thanks again for your help Esme. You always have the best marketing ideas.” Without trying to be obvious you glance up to the man. Hes a man of similar height and build to Josh. ‘Man is everyone around here built like him? Must be a Nashville thing.’ You think to yourself before observing him further. He has shoulder length brown hair and a very attractive face. Your eyes trail down his body and you take in the outfit hes wearing. A black button up that is barely buttoned and some black skinny jeans. His chest is adorned with some necklaces and he's wearing the same exact shoes as you.

“The pleasure is mine Jacob, I cant wait to start preparing my team for your next tour!” Says the older woman he is with, who you presume is your potentially new boss, is just as beautiful as Summer. She has gray hair thats done in beautiful curls and has a stunning face structure. ‘Damn, is everyone here supposed to look like models?’ While in your head about your seemingly boring appearance, Esmerelda and the man called Jacob have now noticed your presence.

“Hello dear, are you my 11 o’clock interview?” Esmerelda asks. You quickly stand up, dusting off your jeans. You stick out your hand for a hand shake. “I am, yes. Im Y/N. Nice to meet you.” Esmerelda shakes your hand firmly and eyes you up and down. “Esmerelda, but everyone calls me Esme.” You swallow thickly thinking you might have been right about your less than model like appearance. She then smiles and nods almost approvingly. The man next to her clears his throat, causing you to look at him.

“Oh right, sorry Y/N I was just finishing up a meeting with Mr. Kiszka here.” Your eyes widen at the name. ‘Kiszka? Like as in Josh Kiszka? Theres no way.’ Both Jacob and Esmerelda notice your body language. “Have you already met dear?” Your body stiffens. “Oh um no actually. His name just sounded familiar thats all.” You let out an awkward chuckle trying to not let your face turn red. Jacob smirks and extends his hand out to you.

“Jacob Kiszka. I know we havent met before because I would remember someone as beautiful as you.” You body flushes at his statement and you offer a clammy hand to shake. You hold almost an intense eye contact before you cowardly break it. “Well Y/N, now you have met one of my best clients. He and his band are about to tour and need a photographer and someone who has experience in writing. You have experience in that, yes?”

You quickly nod your head. “Yeah actually photography is what i'm passionate about. I went to school for Journalism and social media marketing.” You beam. The pair beam back at you and exchange glances. “Thats excellent! Youll be perfect for the job then. Lets take you to my office and get you started.” You almost gasp at the way you were just handed this job. You quickly nod and follow behind Esmerelda into her office. You turn around and offer Jacob one last glance before she shuts the door.

You spend the next four hours inside Esmereldas– Esmes office. She fills you in on company policies, the type of work you will be doing and all of that nitty gritty. It turns out the band, which you learned is called Greta Van Fleet, is writing a book about their lives and needs someone to help them complete it. You were hesitant about being handed such a large role for your first project on the job, but Esme reassured you that you are the perfect fit.

As you drive back home you cant help but reel in the days events. You got your dream job in Nashville without even having to interview for it! One thought that keeps lingering in your mind is Jacob. As soon as you collapse on your couch, you pull out your phone and open Instagram once again. This time to search a different J name. Finding his account was easy and it was a little less shocking that he was famous considering why he was at Flashbulb journals. What was most shocking is that he not only is related to Josh, but that theyre both in the band.

You cant help but feel a little butt hurt that Josh didnt want you to know about his career, or should you say fame. You decide to follow Jacob and the rest of the band as well. You learn their brother Sam is also in the band along with his best friend Daniel. You spend the next few hours researching them and their band. You check out their music and scroll through their social media. After a nice dinner of chinese take out, you decide to hit the hay.

After tucking yourself into bed, your phone chimes.

Josh: Howd it go today? Did they love you??

You: It went amazing! I got the job without even having to interview!

Josh: I knew you would knock em dead.

You: Haha. Thank you Josh :)

Josh: Just the truth mama. Can I take you out tomorrow to celebrate your new career?

Your heart skips a beat. ‘Josh is wanting to take you out? Like a date?’ You can't believe it. With nervous hands you try to muster up a casual response. You’re not really the dating type as past lovers haven’t been the kindest to you or your heart. You can’t even remember the last time you went out on a date. You usually have a casual hookup every few months.

You: Of course! I get off at 4:30. So maybe something around 6?

Josh: You got it. Send me your address. I want to pick you up.

You send him your address and wrap up your conversation. You plug in your phone and look up to the ceiling. You cant help but smile. Everything is going so well for you right now. It doesnt take long to fall asleep dreaming about Josh yet again for the second night in a row.

*Ding ding*

Email from Esme: After talking it over with Jacob, he agreed to have you come aboard their team for their new tour!! I will set up a meeting for us and his band tomorrow at 12pm. Jake and I both think you will be the perfect fit. Can't wait for you to start your new project!

[scooptroopfanfic]

Cas with a C CH 4

Note: Please look to the Chapter Select for warnings and general notes. I hope you enjoy!

Cassie sighs to herself as she walks back into the mall with a plastic bag of her makeup, clothes, and hair products. She got so much shit earlier from her brother who she begged to bring her hair care to the mall.

“You ruin my chance at happiness and the universe seems that you get a date.” He says with his hand on his hips looking a bit disheveled from the chase earlier as he scoops some chocolate ice cream for Cassie.

“I mean I wouldn’t call it a date. Just two friends hanging out and watching a movie.”

“Where you have to fix your hair?” Steve interrupted giving her a judgmental look. 

“I just want to look nice. Just because you lost your King status doesn’t mean the Princess has to fall too. I still have a year left in that hellhole and I would rather do it in decent standing.” 

“Fine, don’t make this a habit though.” Steve sighs as he hands her the ice cream she ordered.

Cassie goes to one of the employee bathrooms and gets ready. She makes herself look like how she does at the beginning of the day as best she can adjusting her glasses to see the results. When she is satisfied with the result, she throws on an outfit consisting of a striped darker neon blue top with darker pants. She nods to herself in approval as she puts her uniform and the rest of the items, she used to get ready away into a backpack which she brings with her outside to wait for Eddie.

As Cassie waits for Eddie she sits on a bench and reads a book as others pass her by. She can feel the cold feeling on her neck and rejects it immediately and it goes quiet. She continues trying to read but the sense of unease she gets from just how easy it was to just stop the process makes her eyes wander on the page without understanding a word. 

“I didn’t think you would be seen reading in public,” Eddie says as he plops down next to Cassie on the bench causing a few odd looks from the teenage population. 

“Well, I can afford to make a few social blunders.” She says with a laugh. He then finally notices she is wearing something different and it is fairly obvious to her, even without the unintentional mind reading. “Did you really expect me to go out in my work uniform?”

“I mean… yeah. I didn’t expect you to dress up for little ole me.”

“I have to keep up the Pretty Princess persona.” She says with a little hair toss causing him to laugh and she puts the book into her bag.

“Did you want me to put that in the van?”

“That would be amazing. I was worried I would have to smuggle it into the theater.” Cassie's eyes flash with an idea as Eddie runs off to his van and puts her bag in the back. When he returns Cassie has a mischievous smile. “You just gave me an idea. I’ll sneak us in and you get the snacks. Deal?”

“Woah. I didn’t know you did things against the rules.”

“You’re gonna be more surprised the more you get to know me, Eddie.” She gestures for him to follow her along the outside of the mall. They mostly blend into the darker corners of the quieter side of the mall. Movers continue to run around them and heed them no mind which they return in favor. Eventually, they get to the side door that Cassie has in mind and she starts rummaging around in her pockets before she eventually produces her spare key. “You can thank Mary for this.” She then turns the key and they enter the building, unaware of the Russians with guns loading things meer yards away. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eddie peeks his head out from behind the door right next to the theater to make sure that there are no more eyes. When that happens he nods and Cassie pops out with him as he sneaks over to the snacks and she sneaks into the theater to find some seats next to each other. 

Luck seemed to appreciate the duo as Cassie quickly found two seats a row or two down from the middle and in the center. She sees the jocks to the left and some soon-to-be freshmen on the right and decides to sit next to the jocks. 

“Hey there Cassie. What are you doing here alone?”

“Oh. I’m not alone. My friend is just grabbing some snacks.”

“Really?” The guys look at each other. Cassie tries to keep a straight face as she sees the two conspiring and Eddie walking towards the group trying not to trip on the stairs. “Well, how would you feel about a double date after this?” Cassie awkwardly laughs. “What’s so funny?”

“The fact that you two think you have a chance with the two of us,” Eddie says with a cackle as he springs into his seat from the row above causing the freshmen next to him to jump. 

“You’re friends with the freak?” The jock looks disgusted. 

“Well…” She draws out her words and Eddie looks at her unsure. “Yep!” She nods to herself as she awkwardly puts her arm across his shoulder to pull him closer. “As far as I can recall he is in fact my best friend.” He is shocked for a few moments before he leans into it sliding his arm under hers to lean closer to the jocks and make a face at them. They give him a disgusted look as they get up and move. Eddie waves goodbye to them and gives a mock kiss before the duo laugh and settle back normally into their seats. 

“Nice acting there Cassie. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought you were serious.” Eddie pats her on the shoulder as he retracts his arm and Cassie gives him a look as she tries to find her words. 

“Well. considering I don’t count my brother’s friends and his exes you kinda are my only actual friend.”

“Really?”

“I mean have you seen anyone show up that wasn’t after me going to a party they were throwing? Like stay at work and hang out with me? Other than you.”

“Well, shit sweetheart.” He forks his fingers in his hair. “I’m honored.” They exchange a gentle smile until the previews start. 

“Now while friendship is good and all I would like some food.” Eddie then pulls out a popcorn and some candy and shakes them around in awe causing him to drop some of the popcorn which Cassie discretely catches with her powers and pops into her mouth when she assumes no one is watching. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cassie and Eddie walk out of the mall as it closes its doors to the public, having seen the last show of the night. They walk slowly to the car, tired from the day and the sugar high dying down, but also from just a fun time. Eddie rushes up to the van first and opens the door giving a grand gesture for her to enter which she does in suit. Eddie then rushes around to his side of the car and hops in carefully starting the car… and violently peels out of the mall parking lot back to Hawkins. 

“Thanks again for inviting me out. I had a lot of fun.” Cassie drums her fingers on the dash in time with the music. 

“I should have done it sooner.”

“I mean we did kinda just recently go from never in a million years would we talk to each other to what I hope is the start of a nice friendship.” She shrugs as she looks out into the night not noticing the slight look Eddie gives her… or the girl in the middle of the road.

“SHIT!” Eddie quickly slams on the brakes. As he does this headlights of a familiar car turn on and Cassie freezes. 

“Fuck…” 

“Where did the girl go?”

“I don’t know Eddie but we need to get the fuck out of here.” As she says this both sides of the van are slammed into by bodies. Well, they look like people but Cassie can sense something off. “Eddie please!” Cassie sees the figure in the car get out. Eddie quickly reverses the car trying to avoid hitting the people on either side of the car and quickly guns it forward, but not quick enough. 

One of the jocks from earlier shines brightly in the headlights of the van as he blocks their exit with his body and something is wrong with him. His eyes look dead but also deranged. 

“What the fuck?!” Suddenly the passenger door and the driver door unlock without either of them doing it and Cassie quickly grabs the door but Eddie doesn’t notice until his door is open and he is getting dragged out.

“Eddie!” Cassie cries out as he is quickly pulled into the darkness and a few hands reach out from the driver's side and grab her shoulders, arms, and neck and drag her too into the darkness.

She can feel binds being applied to her arms and legs and a gag being applied as she is getting dragged off towards Brimborn. 

The next time she can see is when she is carried down the stairs to the basement along with a person in front of her squirming and freaking out with muffled words. Eddie! She is placed beside him but in a concerningly long line of adults and teenagers lined up on the floor in front of a dark room. The people who brought her here are controlled by this thing which Cassie has still yet to see. 

The two are placed next to each other on the floor as they watch one of the people up front get dragged away by a fleshy appendage from the dark causing Eddie and Cassie to both panic and draw near to each other. Eddie tries to shake his binds and says something through the binds and Cassie’s eyes flicker around trying to ground herself for Eddie. 

The factory is pretty bare. It is abandoned after all. Not a lot around. Not on the ceiling. Not on the floor. Only people. At this thought her eyes go wide as she quickly closes them and her eyeballs flicker around as a second transparent version of herself gets up from where she is to look around. It looks in everyone’s pockets, both mind-controlled and not for something of use. All hope is seemingly lost as she feels the only pair of scissors get dragged towards the monster until she hears the sound of a blade which summons her to investigate. In the corner is a girl she recognizes as a cheerleader cutting the bounds of those who have been converted. 

Cassie’s eyes flash open and she locks her focus on the blade. The girl sets it on a nearby table as she waits for the monster to continue. Cassie’s nose begins to bleed as she discreetly moves the blade from the table towards her. Eddie’s eyes go wide and he goes quiet as his eyes snap towards the movement and Cassie elbows him to keep making noise. The blade jerks about in the air unsteady and Cassie shakes a bit bitting her lip to fight noises from coming out. Eventually, the blade ends up dropping next to her and she quickly reaches over for it and gestures for Eddie to move closer. When he does she grasps the blade firmly and slices him out. He stays on the ground and takes the blade to cut her free as well, slightly cutting her causing her to hiss and draw attention from those nearby. 

The two quickly get up and run for the stairs and a shriek from the darkness calls out as movement can be heard. Cassie rushes forward towards the stairs with Eddie right behind her. The two make it towards the top and Cassie starts to run for the car but hears Eddie scream behind her. She looks back to see the creature grasping Eddie’s ankle and those freaks rushing up the stairs. Cassie lets out a scream as she pushes a hand forward, causing the beast to cry out as the appendage on Eddie disintegrates away. Cassie starts to stumble away and Eddie scrambles up after her and helps guide her to the van and throws her in the back as he peels away with purpose. 

“What the fuck was that?!” Eddie screams as he presses the gas pedal all the way to the floor. Cassie looks around disoriented a bit as she gets thrown around in the back.

“What part?”

“All of it!” Eddie shrieks in panic as he quickly makes a left. 

“Go to your house,” Cassie says as her eyes begin to close a bit. “I’ll explain what I can but Steve can’t know.” 

When she opens her eyes again she is in the middle of a trailer park. She hears a car door slam and the door behind her opens and the warmth of the summer breeze flows in. She looks back and sees a concerned Eddie flash a nervous smile as he offers her a hand which she gladly takes to get up. Eddie then carefully guides her into the home and thankfully his uncle is not home at the time as he gets her set up on the couch. She feels the fabric under her hands and closes her eyes. Eddie grabs two glasses of water and brings them back to the couch, sitting next to her but avoiding putting his leg against it that was grabbed by the monster.

“So where should I start?”

“The beginning.”

“That is going to be too long. Long story short this thing it is.” Cassie then begins playing with her fingers. “So surprise. I am also a freak but in a different sense. Like the has powers sense. I don’t know how or why. I just know I have always had them. Steve doesn’t. Have them or know about them.” Cassie tries to string together coherent sentences and words. Eddie then gives her a look of bewilderment. “I’m not making sense am I?”

“No. It’s not that. It is just a lot. I found out that monsters like the things out of DND exist and there is at least one person with powers in our town...and I think I almost died.” Cassie then winces. “Or at least in a sense.”

“Yeah. Ever heard of Invasion of the Body Snatchers?” Eddie nods. “Imagine that but it is still your body, and your soul goes bye-bye.” She then takes a sip as she starts to blush a bit.

“What?”

“Umm… I didn’t want to bring this up, but they have been trying to get you for the past day or so. I’ve been throwing books and things at them to turn them away.” 

“Wait you were the one who knocked books down on those customers?” Cassie nods. “I thought they were too precise to be random.”

“Yeah. Well, you see. How do I put this? That thing wanted me as a host. Like you know when you picked me up on the side of the road?”

“I stopped you from that,” Eddie says shocked.

“Yep. Consider us even.” She laughs. 

“So you can just lift shit with thought right?”

“I don’t think so. I can do a lot of weird psychic stuff. Including reading minds.” She looks queasy as she says so. “And it is hard to turn off. Especially emotions. Especially when strong.”

“Prove it.” Eddie then stares her down. 

“In your room back there you have an amazing-looking guitar that you call sweetheart hung up on the wall. You keep your drug stash that you sell to the popular kids down below it and…” She stares him down as her nose begins to bleed a bit. “You are running low but need to find another person to buy from because Rick is in prison.” 

“Well, shit.”

“Yeah. It can get really annoying and hard to turn off sometimes. Mostly I just get emotions on the surface or I can tell when people are lying.” Eddie gets up to get a tissue and comes back. Cassie takes it and presses it to her nose. “Now onto the other things. I knew of them for a few days. Didn’t really do much but now they are multiplying like rabbits. I think they are just husks of people because I can’t sense them like a normal person.”

“Huh?”

“Like I can track people. Actual people. Not these things though. They are hiding themselves. The only thing I may catch is their souls being dragged into the abyss.”

“Fuck.”

“Yep. Welcome to the world of Pretty Princess Harrington. Actually. Never call me that. Please.” She rubs her head trying to alleviate her headache. Eddie looks at Cassie with sadness in his eyes as he gently moves to pull her into a hug.

“Must be a lot to deal with. Knowing everything but not being able to tell people.” Cassie seems to melt into the hug. “Especially in high school.” He then laughs. “I guess the freaks found each other in the end though.” Cassie doesn’t respond as she just keeps her position her head tucked into his shoulder into denim fabric. After a few minutes, she speaks up.

“Please don’t tell anyone about this. Not even Steve knows.”

“How does he not know his sister has powers?!”

“He’s sweet but not the sharpest knife. He just thinks this is all from the hospital visit I had a couple years back.” Cassie laughs and leans back to allow her to catch her breath. 

“Oh yeah. That was around the time that your terror persona died right?”

“You remember that?”

“Of course I do. Why do you think I had a buzz cut? I didn’t want these locks burned away from your improvised flame thrower.” He looks shocked and cradles his hair.

“I would say that is an overkill, but from one hair person to another I get it.” She sees him wince and her eyes flick down to his leg. “Everything good Eds?” 

“I mean I got stabbed or bit or whatever by some sort of Mind Flayer-like creature when it tried to drag me back.”

“Eddie! You should have led with that. You could have some weird rabies or something.” She says as she steadies herself to get up and go to the bathroom.

“Did you read my mind for that?”

“No. It’s just common sense. Where else would you put it in this place…” She then ponders. “Maybe the kitchen. Ok, I’ll give you that.” She then rushes back to him and whips out a first aid kit and starts rummaging through.

“How do you know how to do this stuff?”

“Steve is a dumbass who will either get hurt or continuously lose fights.” At this Eddie chuckles as Cassie prepares to dab peroxide on his leg. “And this is going to hurt.”

“What is going- OWWW!” Eddie tries to back away but Cassie has a strong grip on him and doesn’t let him move much as she dabs it.

“Do you want to die from a monster disease?” Eddie shakes his head. “I didn’t think so. Stay Still.” She continues to dab at it as carefully as she can. It seems practiced. 

“OWOWOWOWOWOW!” Steve screams out as Cassie holds the peroxide to his wound. 

“Sit still and maybe this wouldn’t hurt as much!” Cassie moves her hand away but as he is about to give a comeback she presses down again.

“You’re doing this on purpose.”

“No shit Sherlock.” Cassie then sighs, fighting off the chill at the base of her neck, the massive headache, and the heavy drag of tiredness. “You keep showing up back at home with worse and worse injuries that you won’t explain. This one you told me was Billy but I know this couldn’t have always been him.” Cassie closes her eyes with a sigh. “We used to tell each other everything. What happened?”

Steve seems to contemplate his next words, opening his mouth and closing it slightly on a loop. Cassie scoffs as she finishes up her work quickly and helps him to his room. “Just don’t die on me. It would be quite lonely without you Steve.” Before he can say much in response Cassie walks back to her room and surrenders to sleep.

Eventually, Cassie is satisfied with her work and finishes the wound off with a simple bandage wrapped around it. As she finishes up they sit in silence for a few moments before Cassie slowly gets up.

“I should head out.”

“Like hell you are. Those things know we know about the whole.” He then makes a gesture of a monster.

“Steve is gonna be worried sick.”

“How many times did he stay out and not tell anyone where he was and appear magically the next morning?”

“…you have a fair point. Kinda feel like this is also a legitimate reason to stay out...” Eddie slowly gets up and together they work to quickly make a bed out of the couch with some blankets and pillows. Eddie starts to head towards the couch but Cassie stops him.

“Nope. I got it.”

“But…”

“I am not sleeping on that bed considering when I was poking around earlier you couldn’t even remember the last time you washed the sheets.”

“You don’t need to say more. I, on the other hand, will gladly take the bed.” Eddie walks towards her. “Sleep well sweetheart. And don’t go rummaging through my mind in my sleep. I know it may be tempting.” Cassie laughs as they meet in the hall by the bathroom. “I just realized I never said thank you earlier.”

“Don’t mention it. I am not in the habit of letting my friends die.” Cassie says as she smiles at him. He makes it back to his room and as he shuts the door the smile on Cassie’s face drops and is replaced with guilt as she moves to lie down on the couch. It takes a while but with the sound of Eddie’s loud snores grounding her, she is somehow able to at least get a few hours of sleep.

[lavender-long-stories]

Spoilers for Guarding Affections | Chapter 1 | Rated T

Hinata bowed her head as she left the meeting room and headed back to her office. 

“Miss Hyuga!” Hinata stopped and turned her head as the clerk from the front desk caught up to her with a gift-wrapped box. “This arrived for you.” 

Hinata’s face fell. “Don’t open it. Send it to security. Along with any other package that comes for me.”

The clerk looked at the book with confusion and then fear as she held it further away from her body. 

It wasn’t the first suspicious package to come her way, and Hinata only had to open one and find something horrific to never want to open another gift ever again. She received gifts from investors and other companies to show their appreciation for working with them, but now she couldn’t feel that small blip of approval and kindness even when the package was cleared because she was worried about what the next might be.

Hinata continued to her office to find Neji sitting turned toward the TV, watching the news. He turned it off the moment she opened the door. “It’s fine.” She waved her hand.

“Business deals fall through all the time.” Neji sighed. “This reaction is ridiculous.”

“Not all failed deals cause hundreds to lose their jobs.” Hinata reminded him. This wasn’t the first time they had this conversation, but there wasn’t much else to say, and it felt better to repeat their thoughts than suffer in silence. “I sent another package to security.”

Neji’s head popped up with concern on his face. “Did you touch it?”

“No, but we need to send more emails to the front desk so everyone knows not to touch them. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.” Hinata sat down in her chair and looked at the time. “I have to be back across town in an hour.”

“You should take a lighter load with all this going on.” Neji waved his hand at the blank television.

“That would be showing them weakness.” Hinata parroted. Neji's face twisted in annoyance. He didn’t like it when she quoted her father. “If I start canceling meetings, it will scare investors. If I am not keeping a brave face during all this, then I am not doing my job.”

Neji sighed and got up. “Just… go out the back.”

Hinata turned her chair to look out the window. She was too many floors up to see the protesters, but they had been outside the building for days, and they showed no sign of stopping. On one hand, they had a right to be upset. They thought canceling a deal as far into negotiations as they were was going back on promises made. They thought that the Hyuga company didn’t care about them, and to be fair, it didn’t. 

Because they weren’t Hyuga’s employees, technically, they had no obligation to them or their jobs. Deals got dropped for all kinds of reasons, most of them to do with money, but it was rare that it was shown loud and clear what happened when someone else was banking on that deal being their lifeline.

Hinata's heart went out to them, and she felt guilt even if she hadn’t done anything. She wasn’t even in any of the meetings with Kumo, but she understood why her father stopped the deal. Business that didn’t benefit them as much as it cost them wasn’t worth the time.

Maybe it was a good thing that she would never sit in her father’s position because she didn’t have the heart to do the things he did for the betterment of the company. She couldn’t do things that benefited herself half the time.

Hinata sighed and got up. She had work to do.

--**--

Kisame punched in a date and time on his calendar. He was getting a lot of work with people refusing to work at events that the Hyuga appeared at. Personally, he couldn’t expend the energy to care. Nothing he was going to do was going to make a corporation give a shit. Loyalty wasn’t in their vocabulary.

“Damn it.” Itachi cursed, pulling his hand away from his spilled drink. His hand held a slight tremble that probably was what knocked the drink over. 

“I got it.” Kisame dumped some napkins on the table. “We need to get you a sippy cup.”

“Hilarious.” Itachi spat back, twisting his hand into a fist to stop the shaking.

“Laugh then.” Kisame countered, swiping the wet mess onto one of the empty plates.

Itachi sighed. “I need to go anyway. Apparently, I am being shipped out of the country this week to get a new experimental treatment.” 

“Off to be a human pin cushion?” Kisame joked.

Itachi rolled his eyes. “Yes. If it keeps my mother happy.”

“I guess you should be happy they care to try.” Kisame shrugged. Honestly, there was an entirely different conversation that could be had that his family had the money to try.

Itachi picked at the last on the plates. “Sometimes it seems more like they are just trying to prolong the inevitable.” 

“You’re depressing.” Kisame frowned at him.

“I am realistic.” Itachi waved his hand.

Kisame had to admit it was probably hard to see past the hospitals. He could barely see past his next job. If you didn’t look past what you had now, you didn’t get as hung up on what you didn’t have. 

--**--

Hinata stood with her head up but her eyes down, next to her father as he did his usual song and dance of playing up her sister's achievements while ignoring her existence, standing in his shadow like a good daughter. Quiet unless spoken to, patiently waiting for permission, expected to anticipate his reaction, but accepting of punishment if she anticipated incorrectly. 

Hanabi deserved her praise, but was it arrogant or selfish to want to hear it for herself as well? Hinata wished she could believe that he just wasn't praising her while she was there, but she knew full well he talked about Hanabi’s achievements in front of her. There was no reason to suspect that he was ever talking about her positively unless forced to.

She turned her head to skim the party. 

Events like this had themes or ‘purposes,’ but really, it was just to network. Putting something on the schedules of the busiest people and using something like the lore charity or awards for their egos or taxes so that they would have more reason to attend. If they had enough high-ticket attendees, the rest would follow with the bait that they may get to organically get into their circle.

Hinata would usually mingle away from her father if she could help it. Getting caught into awkward conversations with some investor who wanted to have a chance to pitch to her or a lengthy tell-all in one of the socialite wife's gossip circles were preferable excuses not to stand with her father and be excluded from a conversation that she couldn’t use today. She had a direct order to stay at his side, so she couldn’t be asked the hard questions everyone was too afraid to ask her father.

Unfortunately, she was too numb to be affected by the distrust he had to think she would do if unsupervised, like she didn’t know what damage she would cause, even making an unofficial statement to the public hellscape that was happening right now. Maybe she could be delusional and believe that her father was just ‘protecting her.’

She couldn’t even make that work in her imagination.

Hinata zoned back in as her father suddenly took a step back. She looked back to see why and shrieked as she was doused. Security snagged up the man who threw the full glass of wine. He yelled profanity at her father as he took out his handkerchief to wipe off any of the blast that got past her. 

Hinata couldn’t make a better analogy for what she was to her father if she wanted to.

Neji appeared with his suit jacket off and around her shoulders but waited for her father to nod his head to tell them they were allowed to leave.

Even her most loyal supporters asked her father for permission.

Neji led her out the back door and handed her his handkerchief so she could pat herself dry. Hinata reeked of alcohol. It could be worse. It could have been red wine.

“I’ll be back with something better to dry off.” Neji disappeared back into the building.

Hinata wasn't that worried about it. It wasn’t going to come out completely. She was going to feel sticky no matter what. 

She pulled the suit jacket closer around her and trailed by the door, waiting for their car. Hopefully, this day would end with a nice bath and getting to bed before her father could make this her fault.

--**--

Glitz and glamour. Rich and famous. Champagne and cakes that were stupidly small. Another snob event, another decent paycheck for basically being muscle to lift around speakers and crates, and being the occasion backup security if someone needed to be literally lifted out of the room. 

Kisame knew it was a good gig for the pay, but he saw the looks he got. Staff uniforms or not, people didn’t think he belonged there, especially with these events where the people could drop their entire year’s expenses and not feel it worth bending down to pick up.

“You want one?” A cigarette was held out to him. He didn’t usually smoke, but that one lady who passed the kitchen door as he was walking by that looked at him like he was a bear had pissed him off.

Kisame took the light and leaned on the side wall. Smoke billowed out of gills as he exhaled, looking toward the lavish party through the back door. Staring back at him was a small, pretty face standing outside the door from the party. Her head dipped away when he caught her staring.

Go ahead and look. He wasn’t moving until his break was done. 

She took another look in his direction before taking tiny steps back and forth, clicking her heels to the side of the door as she waited.

Kisame huffed, dropping the butt and stepping on it, and turning to go inside when her heel clicking stopped, and she screeched. Her cry for help was muffled by a hand, and before he really thought about what he was doing, he was barreling for them. 

One man was trying to pull her into a car, and another was in the car. Kisame shoved her attacker off and pulled her to stumble behind him. He turned to ask her if she was okay and flinched as he felt something sink into the side.

Kisame clamped his hand down on the knife and the hand that held it. 

This piece of shit was not getting away from him now. 

He only stopped throwing punches when security pulled him back, and by that point, the car and the driver had abandoned his partner.

“Let him go, he’s defending me!” The girl shoved on the security, who took a moment to register who she was talking about as she balled up the suit jacket she was wearing to hold under his rib cage. “Call an ambulance.” She frantically called.

“I’m fine.” Kisame tried, but she forced him to sit down and hold the jacket, keeping her hands over his to make sure it was being pressed in place, at which point he was feeling light-headed. Okay, maybe he was not fine.

“Hinata-sama, come inside.” Her companion tried to pull her up.

“I’m taking him to the hospital.” Hinata pushed him away with her free, blood-soaked hand. 

Her companion let go but continued to demand at her. “Hinata-sama. This is the threats becoming attempts. You need to get to safety.”

“Get him water.” Hinata snapped at him, but he didn’t budge. “Stop looking at me like that, and go!” Despite her demands, her eyes were filled with tears.

Kisame felt like if anyone would end up stabbed sitting on the curb waiting for an ambulance, it would be him. He just didn’t picture the girl in the evening gown blubbering. Maybe she was drunk. She smelled like a wine cellar.

Hinata tried to wipe the tears from her face but stopped when she realized she would smear blood from the back of her hand across. “I’m Hinata Hyuga.” She introduced herself as she tried to wipe her face on her shoulder. “Tell me if you feel like you need to lie down.”

Hyuga… that explained this. Kisame didn’t pay much attention to cooperation scandals on the news, but people had been complaining about the Hyuga-Kumo business deal that Hyuga pulled out of, bankrupting the smaller company, and now hundreds of people employed by Kumo were suddenly out of a job. Kumo claimed it wasn’t the end of the company, but it was hard to come back from something like that. He had friends who had made his ear bleed with their complaints about what Hyuga did. He couldn’t be surprised that there were crazy people who were making treats, but the attempted kidnap seemed a bit far for even people really trying to make a point. “Kisame Hoshigaki.”

“You are going to be okay.” Hinata breathed, but in her state, it seemed more like she was convincing herself.

Guarding Affections

Pairing: Kisame x Hinata Rating: T

Description: After an attempted kidnapping, Kisame is hired to protect Hinata. Cute ensues.

Tags: Romance  |  Fluff  |  Friends to Lovers  |  Healthy Relationships  |  Happy Ending 

Image by Pascal Meier

[angstyaches]

For a short hunger drabble, how about someone figuring out how to make their shitty paycheck last the month, then walking by a delicious smelling food establishment and the hunger really tearing through them, but knowing they can't afford to go in. Bonus points if a kind employee notices and offers something, but pride/embarrassment keeps them from accepting, only to come back a week later worse off and hoping the kindness remained.

(I deviated from the "walking past the establishment" bit because this felt right. And the next week part is implied, or maybe I'll come back and do a part two sometime. Thank you so much for the prompt!!)

CW: financial difficulties.

___

It was lashing rain outside, and Asher was starving, when he got the text to say that Jayden was standing him up. Again.

For fuck's sake.

Asher let his phone clatter onto the coffee table, with an immediate stab of regret. He couldn't exactly afford to be flippant with his belongings; if something happened to that phone, he'd have to go begging for a loan of someone's old one.

He couldn't believe he'd just spent €3.50 on coffee, which could have scored him a few multipacks of baked beans, or two whole weeks' worth of dry food for Sparks, for the sake of waiting around to see Jayden.

The black liquid was burning a hole in his stomach.

Then again, Asher couldn't be sure it wasn't burning anger that was doing a number on his insides.

At least he was entitled to a free refill; might as well stretch his already-spent money as far as it would go, he thought bitterly, picking up his cup and wandering up to the barista.

They had been cleaning down the foamer, but they turned to him with a smile when they saw him approach.

"Another?" they asked, smoothly taking his cup.

"Please."

Why not? My social life and financial stability are falling to shit all around me. I may as well be highly caffeinated.

"Can - could I get it to go, actually?"

"Yeah," the barista nodded. "That's no problem."

The barista turned away to replace Asher's mug and pour him a fresh one in a paper cup.

He couldn't help but let his eyes wander towards the menu - why were there so many kinds of coffee anyway? For people like Jayden, so they can sound smarter and more sophisticated when they order - and the food display cabinet.

It was late in the afternoon, but they had just put out a new spread of sandwiches, muffins, and scones. Everything looked so much more appealing than the two frozen waffles that Asher would carefully remove from the packet, and place inside the toaster until they weren't sickening pale to look at.

His stomach let out a pitiful whine at the thought, already dissatisfied with the stature of its main meal. The cramp that slid through his organs was so painful that he couldn't help but press a hand to his belly through his thin hoodie, breath shuddering as he struggled to compose himself.

"I can..."

Asher jumped, realising the barista had come back to him with his coffee in a to-go cup. They cleared their throat.

"I can do a sandwich up for you," they said quietly. They sounded like a secret agent preparing to hand over nuclear codes. "It's no problem."

Asher blinked, his brain refusing to put together what was going on. He was officially dishevelled enough (was it his fault the hot water had been shut off while the building's landlord was out of town?), and had paid earlier in small enough change, that the barista at S.A. had figured out how badly he was struggling.

It was almost enough to bring him to his knees, if the hunger cramps didn't beat it to it.

"Oh... no, no, that's - I'm not - th-that's okay." Tears sprang to Asher's eyes as he wrapped his hands around his coffee, praying the cup wouldn't become too soggy by the time he made it home. "Thank - thank you."

It's okay for now, he thought, as he headed towards the door, towards the storm. He...

Damn it, he would really need to get a new bag of food for Sparks next week, and his next injection was coming up too, not to mention rent...

He took a delicate sip near the door, hoping the hot, thickly fruity liquid would calm the churning ache in his stomach for now.

He couldn't help glancing back over at the barista, intending to cast them a grateful half-smile, should he find himself in need of being in their good books this time next week, but they had already gone back to cleaning up.

[whimsicalworldofme]

Saving Grace: Chapter Seven

Grace heads into the city to spend a Saturday working on her latest project for Stark Industries, since Pepper's out of town, and Tony & Steve are away on Avengers business. And then aliens start dropping out of the sky.

(This is during the events of the Battle of New York)

Content Warnings: Mentions of violence & death.

The Tower was pretty empty when Grace arrived, a latte from a nearby shop in hand. There had been some business Fury called on the Avengers to deal with, so both Tony and Steve were out of town, as far as she knew. News coverage and internet videos were going absolutely wild over two things; the first was that Captain America was alive and actively saving the world again. The second, was that some lunatic with a golden horned helmet, claiming to be a god, Loki of all things, had killed a man at a charity gala somewhere in Germany and terrorized the crowd outside, that is until Steve and Tony had shown up.

Gabe, one of the regular security guards, gave her a little salute as she pressed onward to the elevators. Since the bulk of the building was used for Stark Industries, the main areas elevators only went up to the eightieth floor for employees but Tony had JARVIS programmed into every inch of the building, so if Tony, Pepper, or Grace requested, they could get up to their family’s private levels from any elevator in the building. Grace hit the button for the fifteenth floor and took another sip of her latte.

“Good morning, Dr. Turner,” JARVIS greeted her, since Tony had trained the program to recognize her when in the building.

“Morning, JARVIS,” she replied, still thinking it absolutely wild that she belonged to a family that essentially had an AI butler running their house. “Hey Tony isn’t back by any chance, is he?”

“I’m afraid Mr. Stark has not been in the building for several days,” JARVIS told her. “I can contact him if you like.”

“No, no,” Grace shook her head. “He’s busy, I don’t want to interrupt him. Just…you would tell me if he was in danger, right?” She thought about the mad man in Germany. He didn’t seem all that dangerous, but she still worried. He is my dad after all. And he’s just a guy in a metal suit.

“In the event of an emergency, I am programmed to notify you, Dr. Turner,” the AI stated.

“All right, thanks, JARVIS.”

Grace polished off the last of her latte as the elevator dinged and she stepped into the reception area of the medical robotics lab. While most employees had security badges to gain access to secure areas in Stark Industries, JARVIS kept tabs on her and unlocked doors for her as she needed. There were a few other employees there already, but since it was a Saturday, it was mostly empty. Grace made her way to the station she’d been working at for the last few weeks and took a seat on her usual stool, examining the various components for the prototype her team was working on for their stabilizing braces. Grace wanted to spend the day running a few more tests on materials, but before she could get into it, her phone began to ring.

“Tony, is everything ok?” She greeted her father as his face appeared on her screen, and it became evident that he was video calling from inside the helmet of his Iron Man suit.

“Gracie, you’re at the office,” his brow furrowed with concern.

He wouldn’t be calling while doing Avengers stuff if there wasn’t something wrong, her stomach knotted.

“Tony, what’s going on?” She felt her mouth go dry, her heartrate picking up much faster than could be credited to the caffeine she’d just consumed.

“Uh…” he hesitated. “There might be a Norse god hellbent on world domination headed your way, in fact I’m ninety percent sure of it. We’re on our way, but you need to get yourself and anyone else in the building somewhere safe.”

“Shit,” Grace popped up from her seat, knocking the stool over. “Ok,” she felt her heart slamming against her chest. “Tony?” She paused for a moment, committing her father’s face to memory, terrified it might be the last time she spoke to him. “Try to stay safe.”

“I will,” he nodded. “I’ll find you when this is all over.”

With a nod, Grace watched as her father’s face disappeared from the screen.

“This is not how I saw my Saturday going,” she muttered to herself.

“Grace is everything ok?”

Jennifer came over to check on her when a strange rumbling shook the whole building. Running to the nearest window, Grace looked out and up, only to see what appeared to be a wormhole opening in the sky directly above Stark Tower. Alien monsters on flying vehicles dropped rapidly from it towards an unsuspecting New York city.

“Dr. Turner, there are intruders in the penthouse,” JARVIS’s voice came alive in the room.

“What the hell is that?!” Jennifer shrieked as she caught sight of the aliens zipping by the building.

“Get away from the windows,” Grace pulled her back and retreated towards the center of the building. “JARVIS shut down access to the stairs and elevators on floors eighty and above. And restrict access to employees only on all other floors.”

“Right away Dr. Turner,” the AI complied.

“Are we under attack? Is this Independence Day?” Jennifer’s eyes kept darting around to every wall of windows in the area, her whole body trembling.

“Jennifer, you need to listen to me,” Grace took both of her friends’ hands in hers and gave them a squeeze, trying to draw her back in, ground her. Their eyes met and Grace wondered if her own pupils were so wide, if her fear was that evident. Soon a group of other employees had gathered around, about six of them.

“What’s happening?” One asked.

“Do we call the police?” Another gulped.

“We should make a break for the subway. If the trains are still running, we can get out,” someone else suggested.

“Everyone, listen to me,” she drew herself up authoritatively, knowing someone had to take charge. “I’m having JARVIS lock down the building. The best thing we can do right now is find a safe place to sit tight, so grab something that you can easily beat the shit out of someone with,” Grace instructed, catching sight of some metal poles and crowbars nearby. It was a robotics lab after all. Plucking up a steel rod for herself she hefted it in her palm. “JARVIS are the intruders still contained to the penthouse?”

“Yes Dr. Turner.”

“All right, everyone, get to the elevators and go straight to sub-basement five,” she ordered. “JARVIS, I want an alert sent to the phone of every employee who swiped into the office today. Tell them to go to sub-basement five immediately.”

“Of course, Dr. Turner.”

“The old weapons testing facility?” Someone questioned.

“It’s a bunker,” Grace stated. “We don’t have time to argue. Go!”

She herded them through the doors and out to the elevators. Since the Tower was powered by an arc reactor, independent from the grid, she knew the power would stay on and get them down safely. Time was of the essence but only so many people could use the elevators at a time, so once all the employees on that floor were in the elevator, she darted for the stairwell. As she went, she heard the sound of glass shattering.

“JARVIS?” she called out again.

“There are breaches on multiple floors Dr. Turner,” JARVIS stated. “All level fifteen and above.”

“Are there any employees on those floors today?”

“There are currently thirteen employees above level twenty, but they are all in the stairwells or on the elevators.”

“Good,” Grace felt the tightness in her chest ease only slightly. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and used voice command to call Gabe’s cell phone at the front desk. “Pick up, pick up,” she muttered as she continued to run down the stairs.

“Dr. Turner this isn’t a good time,” Gabe answered.

“Gabe, as safely as you can, bring any civilians that might be running by into the building and get them to sub-basement five.”

“I’m already ahead of you, Dr. Turner. Don’t worry about me. You get everyone else and yourself down safe,” he insisted. “Get in here, in here,” he hollered obviously to some people on the street running for cover.

The line clicked dead and Grace blinked, trying not to cry in the panicked fear that he’d been killed, rather than having just hung up. As she made her way down the stairs, she heard the hurried, pounding footfalls of others trickle into the stairwell, moving with urgency, every footfall echoing against the concrete walls and steps. But more than the footfalls, she heard the crying, the repetitive exclamations of “oh my god, oh my god” and strings of expletives. Someone burst into the stairwell, screaming just as she was about to hit the ninth-floor landing and one of the alien things was right on their trail.

“Oh, fuck no!” Without hesitating, Grace swung the metal bar in her hand, smashing the alien right in the face and sending it stumbling back. She kept swinging, bashing it in the head, not giving it a chance to react before the next blows connected.

“Fuck,” whack. “Off,” thunk. “You,” crack. “Alien,” squish. “Fuck.” Squish again.

Her chest heaved with panting breaths by the time the thing finally crumbled to the floor. She gave it one last good whack to make sure it was dead.

“Jesus,” a man in a lab coat jumped slightly as he stepped onto the landing, seeing the dead creature and Grace, splattered in alien matter and blood.

“Keep going,” Grace instructed, pulling in ragged breaths. “Just keep going.”

He didn’t bother arguing as there were thunks on the door beside her and strange noises, which she figured were probably the aliens trying to get into the stairwell.

“JARVIS?”

“Yes Dr. Turner?” The calmness in the British voice brought her a tiny sliver of comfort.

“Please tell me all my employees are either in the stairwells or the bunker?”

There was a momentary pause and Grace figured he was probably running a tally and calculating.

“There are currently six other employees in the stairwells and the other thirty-three who came into the office are currently in sub-basement five, as well as fifteen civilians.”

“Ok, good.” Grace jumped back when she heard a more violent thud against the door which left it rattling a little. “C’mon Grace, this is not how you die. Not today.”

She caught her breath and kept running down the stairs descending as quickly as she could. The turns left her dizzy, since the stairs were essentially a spiral, just with right angles. She yanked the door to sub-basement five so hard that it slammed against the wall, sending an echoing rattle through the now empty stairwell. She saw a few other people popping out from the other stairwells, running for the heavy, multilayered steel door that cut off the actual weapons testing site from the landing.

“All employees are now on sub-basement level five, Dr. Turner,” JARVIS told her.

“Good,” Grace nodded to the last person to bolt through a stairwell door. The heavy metal bunker doors began to slide slowly open, just enough to allow them through, with Grace going last, still clutching her metal bar so tightly her knuckles hurt.

Inside was a massive, though sparse space that hadn’t been used much since Stark Industries moved away from weapons manufacturing a few years prior. The employees and people off the street were all huddled together, most of them holding improvised weapons. Some of the women had their pepper spray keychains in hand, fingers on the trigger and ready.

“Is anyone injured?” Grace called out as the heavy door finally shut behind her.

Everyone shook their heads no, and she let out a sigh of relief. Glancing around, she took stock of their surroundings. Right in the immediate lobby of the area, there were bathrooms and a row of four vending machines, two for snacks, two for drinks, all fully stocked.

Well at least we have provisions enough for a little while and bathrooms, so there’s water and facilities. Hopefully we won’t be down here too long though.

“How long do you think we’ll be down here?” Someone asked.

“Did you see those things?” Someone else chimed in. “There was an army of them. Falling out of the sky. I don’t think we’re getting out of here alive.”

“Let’s not jump to the worst possible conclusion just yet,” Grace tried to quiet the spreading wave of panicked murmurs. “My dad is coming with a team to fix this.”

“A team?” A woman in a labcoat crossed her arms and let out a scoffing laugh. “A team of what? What could stop that?”

“Superheroes. They’re called the Avengers.” Grace knew it sounded ridiculous and her confidence in saying it wavered. “I know it sounds crazy,” she heard more than a few incredulous laughs, “but I believe in them. So, we’re going to sit tight down here,” she found her confidence again. “In the meantime,” she went over to the vending machines and used her pipe to break the glass on each of them, knocking the entire panels out. “Have a snack, but uh, watch your step.” She kicked some of the glass shards under the machines before reaching in and grabbing herself a packet of Reese’s cups. “I recommend we find whatever outlets we can and charge our phones if anyone thought to bring a charger. Other than that, let’s find some stuff to distract ourselves.”

Reluctantly, people began to shift, queuing up to get snacks, a few made their way to the restroom. There was a conference room with chairs and a few people moved in there to sit and eat. Someone who, in their panic, had grabbed their work laptop and charger set it up on a chair and began watching a movie, which drew a crowd, all of whom sat or laid on the floor.  Another woman pulled a new card game called Cards Against Humanity from her purse and soon a large circle was setup of people playing. As far down as they were, and with all the protective layering around the bunker, they couldn’t hear anything going on outside, which Grace was glad for. Soon, the furtive glances at the door were fewer and further between. A few people actually fell asleep, their adrenaline rush wearing off and leaving them to crash.

Grace couldn’t relax, choosing instead to pace back and forth by the door, metal pipe still in hand. The candy she’d grabbed, she slid into her back pocket, telling herself she would eat later. Time passed slowly and fifteen minutes felt like an hour. Soon her stomach began to grumble, so she slipped into the bathroom to wash her hands. It wasn’t until she saw her reflection in the mirror that she realized how much viscera was left on her from the alien she’d killed, making her stomach turn. She shuddered and suppressed the nausea as she cupped water in her hands and began washing her face and arms.  

Oh god, there’s stuff in my hair even, she gagged, forcing herself to step away from the mirror. Just don’t think about it Grace. Don’t think about it. She began pulling paper towels out of the dispenser and wiped down her hair, trying to toss the used ones in the trash without looking at them. When she finally felt like she’d gotten most of it out, she washed her hands again, refusing to look in the mirror, then stepped out of the bathroom, struggling to take deep breaths. Pulling the chocolate out of her pocket, she went back to the door and ate while she carried on pacing, her metal pole tucked under one arm. She lost all track of time, not willing to look at her phone.

Then there were voices outside the door. Human voices, not panicked or begging to be let in, but calm and authoritative voices. The heavy door began to groan open, making her leap back.

“Grace!” Steve’s bright blue eyes locked on her from a crack in the door. His face was bloodied, covered in grime, and dripping with sweat. “Thank god.”

“Gracie?” Tony’s voice echoed in question, relief and joy evident in his tone.

He appeared beside Steve, dressed in his Iron Man suit still, which had terrifying gashes and dents in it. His brown eyes went a little watery when he saw her but then he twitched, almost like his face had short circuited and he turned to Steve with a questioning glare.

“Grace?” He directed it as a question to Steve, who blanched slightly, realizing the mistake he’d made. Steve flashed her an apologetic look, but she was too tired to care. “Grace.” Tony sounded disappointed as he looked back to his daughter, having clearly put together that Steve was the mysterious client she’d been living with for the last year.

“Is it over?” Jennifer came up to the door.

Casting a glance over her shoulder, Grace saw people getting up from their seats, staring at the group of people now stood at the open door. Iron Man, they were used to, but Captain America, with his red, white, and blue getup, Natasha in her tactical gear, and some enormous long-haired blonde wearing a long red cape were all new and odd.

“It’s over,” Natasha confirmed. “The city is secure, the trains are running. We’ll escort you all to the nearest station. Is anyone injured?”

“No, we’re all fine,” Grace found her voice and Nat nodded in approval.

As the employees hurried to get out, Tony stepped off to the side and scooped Grace up in a hug, lifting her off the ground, the metal of his Iron Man suit warm against her body. She didn’t care though, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, resting her chin on his shoulder. Steve caught her gaze as he ushered the last person out of the room. With a deep breath and a nod to her, he stepped out of sight.

“I’m so glad you’re ok, Dad,” Grace started to cry.

“Oh, you know your old man, I’m hard to get rid of,” Tony tried to laugh it off, but his usual level of humor wasn’t entirely there. “Hey,” he perked up a little. “You called me dad.”

“Yeah,” Grace sniffed as he put her back on her feet. “I did, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t just do it to distract me from you not telling me you’ve been shacking up with the Capsicle did you?”

“Dad!” She couldn’t help the shocked laugh that came out of her. “No! Oh my god,” she shook her head. “He’s my client. Nothing more.”

“Mhmm,” Tony turned to throw more dirty looks at Steve, but at that point it was just the two of them left in the room. “And here I was just starting to consider liking the guy.”

“Dad,” Grace put her hands on either side of his face, turning it back to her. “I love you. I’m so glad you’re ok.”

“I love you too, Gracie,” he smiled brightly. “But you look and smell terrible,” he stated in his trademark humorous deadpan. “Let’s get you upstairs so you can shower.”

Chapter Six

Masterlist

Chapter Eight

[sillypinkboy]

Jake Lockley

Characters: Jake Lockley

Word Count: 1.1k

Notes: rambly sense of one, I wrote this awhile ago and have no idea what was going on. This is based on my friend's separate body au for moon knight. So, yeah. Enjoy

──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

The cold glass pressed against warm skin. The rain outside thumped against the floor-length windows of the meeting room. The table was occupied- not that Jake needed it. The conversation he was supposed to be part of sounded less like words by now. It was much more a buzzing of voices. When was the last time he had a smoke? His fingers inched towards his coat pocket. His pockets were empty. He knew that. It’s a bad habit. He knows that. How much harm could a single cigarette do? Plenty. He had tried quitting some time ago, back when he first joined the team. It didn’t last all that long, if he was honest. Maybe he should try again. That would be good. Probably. Where were his cigarettes again? In his room. Right. They were on a completely different floor. He could leave… if he needed it. What were they supposed to be talking about again? It didn’t matter anymore. The sun’s setting. It’s right behind the clouds- hard to see. Was he working tonight? When’s the last time he called his brothers, again? Focus. What’s Tony going on about now? Focus on the meeting, Lockley. Just focus on them. You know they’re trying to talk to you. When did he lose the topic again? He hopes it’s not important. It can’t be that important. What was Steven working on again? Some history movie? Wasn’t Marc acting in that? He should call them. Soon. Where’s his phone? Upstairs with the cigarettes. Right. He could go get them. A smoke sounds nice. It matches the rainy weather in front of him. The nicotine would be a nice boost. Maybe. He shook his head.

“Sounds like an addict,” he said. The talking buzz stopped and eyes fell to him. Had he said that aloud? Shit.

“What was that?” The voice wasn’t upset. Clear and confused. Oh. The weird trance broke.

“Nothing, Boss,” Jake answered quickly and shook his head again, “Mind if I take my leave?”

He got a nod after a moment. Jake pulled from the window- wow, it was colder than he realized- and headed off. He walked down the halls. Expensive things looked at him as he went. Employees nodded at him. Teammates offered waves- even a few verbal hellos. He responded when he caught it. The halls felt long and hollow. Jake always preferred smaller spaces. Places with less windows. Places that felt crowded. Maybe that’s what drove him to move out as soon as he had enough. Why did he agree to come here again? That was a long time ago. Long enough to not be part of his worries anymore. The elevator dinged. Oh. He was going where again? His room. Right. He needed to call his brothers. He wasn’t going to be doing that. He wanted a smoke. Hadn’t he quit? No. Why not? It felt good to keep going.

It was still pouring. The drops are harsh and cold. He’ll be soaked pretty soon. Where was he going again? The park? It’s raining. He should be inside. Oh well. He continues to walk. Soon, he’s soaked to the bone. Maybe he should head home. No- head back. His home isn’t the tower. His home is some shitty apartment that loses power when it rains hard like this. He turns the corner. The path is familiar. He’s walked it plenty before, just another left- go straight. His apartment building. That’s not where he needs to be. He doesn’t even have a way to be contacted. He walks in and waves at the front desk. It’s someone new today. A young lady with brown hair and eyes. She doesn’t wave back. Jake shakes his head a bit and heads up to his room. He’s still got the key. It’s in the door frame. That’s where he left it last, Good. He walks in- the apartment smells unlived in. It hasn’t ever had that to it. It must have been longer than he thought. What was he even doing here? He hasn’t lived here in a bit. Wasn’t he supposed to call his brother? Yeah. Where’s his phone? In his room next to the cigarettes. Oh. Right.

They’re on the other side of town. Crap. Maybe he should head back? His hand reaches for the lightswitch. Steven will have to wait tomorrow. He sighs. Why was he always pushing this off? He knew the answer. He was scared his family wouldn’t take him back. It’s- not exactly like they cut him out. He did that himself. It wasn’t purposeful! He just liked being on the ground level. Those two weren’t. Maybe he should call them. He can’t now. Why did he leave his phone, again? Right. He didn’t want to end up with a cigarette. Dammit, Lockley.

He slowly moves to the bed. It’s dusty. He sits on it regardless. He starts to undo his boots to take them off. The laces unwrap slowly- little black snakes awakening from their slumber. Around once…twice. The boots fall with a thud. Jake stretches out his legs and feet. It takes a few minutes for him to get back up. He’s got to change the sheets.

He’s standing in the kitchenette now. There’s some canned soup warming on the stove. It won’t be the best. He knows it, but it beats anything else he has. He’ll throw in some spices to try and help- a store trip in the morning is needed. He’s not staying here for long. No reason to spend money on food you won’t eat. Part of him knew he wasn’t going back just yet- knew he’d stay here. He’ll change the bedding after he eats. Maybe just grab some blankets. Thunder cracked and the lights flickered. He puts the lid on the soup and goes to get the few extra blankets he has. He’ll have to deal with a dusty bed. It won’t be the worst thing for a night. He tosses the blankets on the bed and goes to check on the soup. It’s done by now. He pours into a ceramic bowl- the one Marc brought back from one of his outings.

The soup was alright. The lights flickered more throughout the late dinner- by the time he finished the power was gone. He moved in the familiar area and set the bowl in the sink. He’ll clean it when there’s more light. He went to sleep after that.

It was one of the best rests he’s had in awhile. That’s the joy of your own bed, isn’t it? The rain had stopped by morning. The clouds still lingered, though. He slept well for the first time in months. He missed his own home. His own bed.

[shadedempsey]

NEW VOICEMAIL FROM SETH:

"Uh... fuck. Okay. Hey. Hi. Hey, Dempsey, hey. It's Seth, um..." He sounds out of breath, like he'd been running, and it's a few seconds before he speaks again once he's caught his breath. "Fuck, it's fucking cold out. Anyway, uh, I'm not sure what you're, like, doing right now or whatever but I wanted to let you know... that... it's, uh... time. Got the hellhounds on my ass and motherfucking..." There's a few more curses muttered under his breath. "Fuck, sorry, I, uh, I left my car in Market Square outside the pet store. Had to get Circe food so she doesn't starve. It's in my trunk if you could somehow get that up to her tonight or tomorrow morning, please. But, um, that's not why I was calling. I just... I wanted to hear... your voice one last time, and..." He chokes on the words, his voice starting to break as he goes on. "I wanted to say thank you for... everything. For helping me with car shit and cooking and and making me laugh and putting up with me in general for all these years. And for trying to help save my soul in the first place. I'm just... really fucking glad to have met you and had you in my life, everything good and bad and in between with us. And..." There's a brief pause as he sucks in a sharp, shaking breath. "Fuck. Okay. Gotta go. Take care of yourself, a'ight? L-Love you."

Shade had seen Seth called but pushed it to voicemail. He'd been working and service had been busy as hell that night, few calling off with it being the start of heat and coming up on a full moon so short staffed and over booked. By the time he had a lull in shit to head out back for a smoke break and to listen to it about three hours had passed. He tried not to roll his eyes at the start of it. The fuck did Seth think Shade was going to think it was. It was a fucking cell phone. It told him who called. Still he listened wondering what the hell Seth wanted and why he was so breathless. Dude wasn't the exercise type.

Course it all made sense when the whole, it's time, part hit. Shade's hand tightened on the device. Wasn't like he didn't know it was coming, but he was still pissed about it. Having to listen to something else he fucked up and still the idiot loved him. Shade's phone met the wall with enough force even he wasn't going to be able to put it back together again and nothing in the area near him was safe from his wrath that wasn't part of the building.

It wasn't until someone came out to get him because they were getting dangerously behind in the kitchen that he reluctantly went back inside. Shade had two personalities, the chill fun one and the less chill fun one. Needless to say what came back into the kitchen wasn't fun. Shade losing it on more than one of his employees in an unforgivable way before he left to head to the last fucking place he wanted to go.

Seth's car was where he said it would be. Breaking into it was easy for him and he drove it to the castle. Circe was familiar with him and liked him well enough so easily came to him though he doubted she was going to enjoy his place, which was much smaller than Seth's. Still he fed her, grabbed a bag of her things, and headed out.

She hopped in the car looking at him. "Yeah, this ain't ideal for me either." He sighed shutting the door and got in the front. "Wasn't how shit was supposed to fucking go." He grumbled glancing in the rear view trying to quell that rising tempest trying to burst out of him again as he gripped tightly to the steering wheel remembering he needed it to make it back to his place.

"Fuck." He grit to himself starting the car and heading back to his place with his new dependent trying to figure what the shit he was going to do with a fucking dog. He could barely keep himself alive.

[the-saloon-2069]

dog with a job

i like to joke that i only write sad stories. i also like to joke that i need to take a break from sad stories and write a story about a dog with a job. i’ve no doubt i would have ignored my own advice and wrote another sad story for you today, but today, i met Archie.

i wasn’t having a good day. November is always tough for a lot of sad reasons, catching a theme here? anyways, it was one of those days where you wake up already tired and shit just keeps going wrong. felt like i had knocked over the first in a line of dominoes and there was no stopping this shit day, until i met Archie.

my spouse and i decided we’d go visit our favorite greenhouse because it’s warm in there and it sure as hell isn’t outside today. i walked my grumpy ass through the doors and was greeted by a wall of warmth and greenery. i felt a little bit better already, at least i wasn’t effing cold anymore. i started wandering the aisles and aisles of tropical house plants and succulents. saw a few favorites and some showy new arrivals. i stopped in front of a section of Umbrella Tree Figs. it’s a type of ficus so i don’t know what’s going on with that dang name, but you ever seen one of these things? they look like a set dressing for a film about fairies. tall, skinny trunks with these huge (in comparison to the trunk) green, heart-shaped leaves jutting out, every which way, all the way up it. i mean, if you were gonna make a tree house outta this thing, you might as well build a whole apartment complex with transportation and services.

anyways, i’m standing there mesmerized, or whatever, kinda checking to see if their might be a damn family of fairies hiding under the green umbrella, when all the sudden this mass of floof appears at my feet. he just came in so fast, i had to do a double take. turns out it was a big old labradoodle standing right in front of me. i immediately start petting the guy, softest fur you’ve ever felt, and look around for where he might have come from. my spouse showed up a few seconds after the floof found me, just as delighted as me. after we got some good scritches and hugs in, the fella waggin his tail like crazy, one of the workers came around the corner of our aisle and said, “oh! that’s Archie. you saying hello, buddy?” 

i mean… Archie is the perfect dog, the smiliest, the waggiest. we spent another minute or so soaking in his sunny disposition before the worker said, “Alright, Archie, time to go back to your office.” with a final goodbye pat, Archie trotted to the back of the greenhouse and hopped a little chain and plopped down right behind the “employees only” sign. i’m not quite sure what Archie’s job description is but he sure makes a great plant salesman. we bought one of the umbrella fig ficus tree things, that i’m still not convinced isn’t harboring any fairies, and left the greenhouse a whole lot more chipper than we entered it. Thanks, Archie. you made for a pretty good story, even though it isn’t sad.

[dzpenumbra]

9/13/22

There's gonna be a day where I realize that the dates that I'm putting on these journals is, for me, the next day's date. That's gonna be an interesting day.

Today was frustrating. I got news from the apartment place, got the application emailed in and everything. They want a deposit before looking at the application, which set off some alarm bells. I was scammed in the past in a similar way, but that was ages ago. That time, I got an apartment with a high school friend. I was switching colleges to be closer to my bandmate, we had a duo project, we made a concept album that we recorded in his bedroom. I went down to check out the apartment and some dude met me there with his wife who had a thick accent. He showed the place, and asked for a check deposit right there in the parking lot. I'm pretty sure my roommate was there too and we just gave this dude a check right there in the gravel parking lot. A few days later, we got wind that the dude just like left the state or some shit and the building got taken over by a management company. So that was sketchy... I don't remember how that played out in the end, but I wasn't there long.

So I was reminded of that, I got a weird vibe from the landlord. They wanted cash real quick and up front, they were saying they choose the units first come first serve or something? I don't know, it felt kinda forceful and impersonal. I don't know what the fuck is with people anymore, this whole like "I'm gonna act like a corporation aka not human" ambition. Like, when the fuck did not talking to an employee or tenant or whatever become "good business"? I tried really hard to get an opportunity to chat with the landlord and explain my situation, because I feel like it reads better conversationally and it's definitely not conventional. And then, I can get a better read of their situation, how many units available, how many other applications I'm competing against, etc. Nope. I even wrote a cover letter specifically for them. They just sorta insisted they do NOT consider incomplete applications and wanted a deposit. I got pretty hurt by that, I felt like it really reflected on them poorly, it's pretty insensitive. I clearly make an effort and try to demonstrate an interest in this place, and some motherfucker who downloads a pdf, lies to you and has money gets treated... better? That makes me fear not only for my relationship with my future landlord, but also fear who my neighbors may be.

I got cranky pretty quick, and I got this news the second I woke up. I was on the phone with my mom for at least 40 minutes before I even got out of bed. I was expressing how I wasn't sure I could get the rest of the form filled out because only the husband of my landlord pair was at home last I checked, and that motherfucker has been mowing my lawn for 3 days. I never got the vibe he likes me at all, and I really just didn't want him to fill out the damn form. He doesn't seem to trust me, so I really don't feel like I should trust him. This friction caused a conflict pretty quick.

My frustration, my stress, my anger - those set off panic bells for my mom. She defended herself, though I was angry at two other people and the situation itself. 3 hours this time. But she became receptive somewhere about halfway through it and got some helpful tips on how to deal with panic -> get it to do a check. It says "there's a bear outside", so seek further information, don't just shoot wildly out the door. People teach this in survival classes, but I doubt she's ever been to one.

My pissed-off-ness at my landlord's husband was expressed moderately loud, and my bed is right next to an open window. Which was why the lawn mowing sucked... But they had set up a few lawn chairs about 5-7 yards outside my window. Not really that far. And after getting up and moving, I realized they were there the whole time. Not creepy at all, btw, been living like this for a while now. I have no idea if they heard me talking, that could've been pretty bad. I found out that my landlord was home, she had been gone a few days, and I did get the last bit of the application filled out. I should get some news on that tomorrow, and hopefully a time frame. Then I ate dinner and immediately hopped on stream. It's been a busy day.

Stream was slow-paced. It's basically just two people. I had some friends and family drop in my first day back, but this time it was just my old regulars, which isn't bad, it's just... 2 people. But at least they're talking. I'll tell ya this right now, it's really fucking hard to do a stream intro catching people up on what happened in the last episode of the TV show when your viewer count is 0. It feels very odd to start a stream with no one in it. You wanna say "yooo hey you guys, hows it goin tonight?", but that would 100% not get an answer, and the VoD would capture that too, btw, it definitely captures chat too. Or what, you just stay silent? Naw, super awkward, doesn't work. So... you just sorta treat it like a YouTube video? "alright, we're back with the Rimworld colony. In case you missed it, this is what happened last time..." You kinda have to default to that. But if someone comes into the room half-way through that mode, you have to just switch gears, which can get disorienting.

Ugh, it's just stressful. I fucking wish I just had a few friends who I can rely on to be there at specific times of the stream, to keep conversation going. I understand how hanging out for 4 hours might be a bit much to ask. Well... I mean... if they were hanging out one-on-one with me, it would probably end up being more than 4 hours though, right? And they can also multi-task if my stream is on, couldn't they? So... how is being at my stream more inconvenient? Wait, now that I think about it...

I've thought for a while now that I'd probably appeal to a bigger audience and be promoted more if I didn't swear, if I didn't have an adult fucking sense of humor. If I made family humor shit. But that's just not the way I think really, it's not the language I use. Like, I'm most likely going to be swearing around my kids, if/when that shit ever happens. Better be soon, I ain't gettin any younger... I know that if I try to censor myself it's just going to be much less funny, less freeing, less spontaneous, it's gonna throw off my flow. I can't get into a commentary groove when I'm editing my thoughts, or even constantly monitoring my thoughts. It sucks. It just fucks up the rawness of it.

But hell, if I have to actually change the way I speak and the subject matter of a lot of my commentary, how much of that left over is even fuckin me. It's just what people want to hear, so... like... how much of that is even mine. If I'm just telling people what jokes they want to hear, I'm just imitating. If I just alter my language to their standards, I'm just imitating. It makes you wonder... if they just want to change the way I speak, the way I think, the way I express myself, and some of the content of what I speak about... why are they calling themselves supporters? They're not even fans. Weird shit.

I wish I had better friends, who would actually incorporate me into their lives a bit more. I understand it's difficult to adjust to that for some people. It's just a bit hurtful. I try to put aside everything for people in my life, but they simply don't do the same in return.

Wanna know something interesting I just noticed? I type really weird. My left hand is normal, asdf and using all of my fingers. I can even go to x and z with somewhat appropriate fingers. My right hand... it's basically just the pointer finger jumping wildly all over the fucking place. I find my way back to jkl; but I don't really use my other fingers at all except for backspace and enter. Weird. No idea how I never noticed that. That might be something I learned from fucking cell phones. I used to just type with my pointer finger on my phone because using my thumbs was really fucking weird to me. I did a lot of texting so I just got used to it and got really fast. I think that might have been translated over to typing on keyboard, or maybe it's always been like this, I don't know. Weird.

Guess I don't wanna linger on the thought of not having friends. Who would blame me. Oh well, hopefully that changes soon when I move. And here's hoping tomorrow brings me news that isn't "I'm getting scammed." That'd be the icing on the cake now. -_-

Bed before dawn tonight, I'm seizing the opportunity. Fingers crossed tomorrow is a nice calm day full of good things, and hopefully I can get outside a bit to go skate or go be in nature, whichever calls me.