#starting with 'i love you millie'. that really pushed me over the edge

[thebirdandhersong]

I know a movie's good when I have to pause the movie for a WHILE because I'm bawling too hard to hear the dialogue

[magicfootballstuff]

Sick Day (ona batlle x reader)

“You have to stay in bed.”

“But the match…”

“You’re too sick,” Ona insists, sweeping a few of the loose wisps of hair around your face out of the way. “No way Marc lets you play like this. He’ll see you and send you straight back home.”

You’ve woken up this morning with a fever and a thumping headache. It’s been coming on for the last couple of days, starting with a little tickle in your throat that you hoped you’d be able to get rid of by staying hydrated and going to bed earlier than normal. None of it seems to have worked, because you’ve woken up this morning aching everywhere and barely able to breathe through a stuffy nose.

“But it’s our first game of the new year and I’ve been looking forward to it all week,” you say, shooting Ona a pout, though you know you won’t be able to convince her to change her mind no matter how much you bat your eyelashes at her.

“I know, baby,” Ona says, with a sympathetic nod. “But you need to rest. The harder you push yourself, the longer it will take to recover.”

You concede, slumping back against your pillows.

“You talk so much sense and I hate it,” you tell Ona.

“Go back to sleep,” Ona says, getting up from where she has been sitting in her pre-match gear on the edge of your shared bed and leaning down to press a loving kiss to the top of your head. “I’ll bring you water and some flu tablets and ring Marc to tell him you’re too unwell to play today.”

“And the tv remote?” you ask, with a hopeful smile, pointing at the screen hanging on the wall opposite the bed. “If I can’t play then I want to watch the game later.”

“What’s that English phrase about little fingers?” Ona asks, though she does as you asked as she collects the tv remote from on top of the dresser and brings it over to you. “You’ve got your little finger on me, or something?”

“You’re wrapped around my little finger?” you correct her, grinning because it’s true.

The girls like to tease Ona about it at training - Millie even went through a phase of imitating a whip cracking whenever Ona offered to clean your boots or carry your stuff, which led to an awkward conversation where you had to explain to the Spaniard that being “whipped” wasn’t a sex thing, as she’d first thought.

But Ona likes doting on you and though you’re not normally one to take advantage of that, in your current state you’re definitely not going to complain if she wants to play nurse.

“Yes, that’s it,” Ona nods, humming in agreement. “Do you need anything else?”

“No, I think that’s all. Thank you, by the way. I really appreciate you taking care of me.”

“It’s no problem,” Ona says. “I’ll go and ring Marc for you but I’ll come and say bye before I leave.”

Ona dials Marc and lifts her phone to her ear as she makes her way out of the bedroom.

“Hey Marc, it’s Ona. Yes, I’m good thanks. But…”

The bedroom door closes behind Ona as she explains the situation to Marc, leaving you alone. Feeling drowsy, you roll over in bed and pull the covers over your shoulders, your eyelids already starting to flutter shut.

———

You’re not sure what time it is when you wake up, but it’s no longer light outside. You reach for the glass of water next to the bed to soothe your scratchy throat and pop one of the flu tablets that Ona has left out for you, then glance at the screen of your phone to check the time.

It’s nearly six thirty. You’ve been asleep all day.

“The match!”

You jolt upright, knocking your phone onto the floor with a clatter in the process, and your head goes woozy at the sudden movement. You hear footsteps down the hall and Ona appears in the doorway, changed out of her football gear and into a comfy pair of sweatpants and a hoodie you recognise as your own.

“Oh, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“I didn’t watch your game! I’m so sorry!”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Ona reassures you, picking your phone up from where you knocked it over and sitting down on the edge of the bed beside you.

“What was the score?” you ask.

“We beat them six-nil,” Ona fights off a smile as she tells you the good news.

“Six? Who scored?”

“Lucia, Hayley… we scored so many I can’t remember them all. And I got two assists.”

As happy as you are that the team got the win without you, it sounds like a great game and you’re a little bit gutted that you didn’t even get to watch it, let alone be a part of such a big win.

“I can’t believe I missed it,” you say, reaching for Ona’s hand, which she takes and tangles your fingers together. “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t apologise. You needed to rest. Are you hungry by the way? I’m making soup.”

You feel overcome with emotion for the girl beside you. You have a normal routine after a match day, which usually involves doing as little as possible, maybe ordering a takeaway and watching a movie. Ona must be tired from the game, and definitely needs to eat something more substantial than soup, yet her first priority is still to make sure that you’re well taken care of.

“I love you,” you blurt out. “Thank you for looking after me.”

“No problem. You’d do the same for me.”

And you do. Because two days later, when the worst has passed and you’re ready to return to light training, Ona ends up bed bound herself after catching your bug.

After all she’s done for you, you don’t mind repaying the favour and taking care of her too.

[mrs-march-ahs]

Kai Impregnating You As a Punishment

Summary- When Kai finds out you’re planning to avoid pregnancy behind his back, he acts immediately to make sure his plan for a new and better future isn’t ruined.

Warnings- Dub-con (I think), breeding/impregnating, car sex, unprotected sex, sexual punishment, daddy kink, arousal from crying, Kai Anderson. Words- 1.6k

This was a left over idea from Kai Week that I had planned based on a request, and I wanted to do it! Returning to car sex, fun! :D

Enjoy<3

--

“What is it Y/N?”, Kai forcefully asks.

“No honestly nothing”. You try your best to lie, but Kai always knew when you were nervous or worried. He also knew when you were keeping secrets from him, which is why right now you were completely screwed. Kai often looks through your belongings and does regular pinky power meetings to ensure that he knows absolutely everything about you. You know how some people say a little mystery is good in a relationship? He was certainly not one of those people.

With you now moved into Kai’s parent’s house with him and Winter, there is no place for you to hide your belongings. Not that you need to, usually. But sometimes when you get him a gift or have something to hide temporarily, you put it in your car, knowing he wont think to search it. But what you were hiding was no gift, but a stab in the chest.

He started being suspicious right away, when he walked past your car to get to his and your heart started pounding. He must’ve heard your heart almost escaping your chest and he instantly knew there was a reason you’d prefer to drive in his car instead of yours.

Kai sits in the passenger seat of your car, letting you drive for once, and stares at you as you start up the car, pretending nothing’s happening.

“Are you gonna tell me what’s going on or am I going to have to force it out of you?”

You look at Kai and shake your head timidly, but try to look and sound confident.

“No honestly I’m not hiding anything”

You mentally slap yourself the second those words come out of your mouth, revealing drips of information to Kai, knowing he’ll keep going after the truth no matter the cost. You look in front of you and put your foot on the acceleration for just a second, before Kai snaps at you to stop.

“Stop. Get in the back”. He unbuckles his seatbelt and puts his foot to the side, ready to climb in the back, but stops when he looks at you frozen.

“Kai’s there’s nothin-”

“Now Y/N”, he yells, making you flinch, and hops into the back middle seat. You quickly unbuckle your own seatbelt and follow him, wanting to sit by his side but instead being immediately bend in half over his lap. Kai grabs your face forcefully.

“Since you’re having so much trouble being honest with me”. Kai pulls your jaw down.

“I’ll help you spit it out”. With that warning said, Kai shoves two fingers deep in your mouth, making your lips wrap around the cold metal ring on his middle finger. After one quick thrust to the back of your throat, he takes his fingers out when you gag and keeps them on your chin.

“Are we gonna speak yet?”. You take a few deep breaths, taken back by his sudden, and new, actions.

“Kai everything’s fi-”

Not even letting you finish your words, he plunges his fingers back in your mouth, or throat, rather, and keeps them there for a few seconds. Your eyes begin to water as you accept your fate, knowing that Kai has a thousand different ways to get things out of you, and you must accept whatever punishment you get for making decisions behind his back.

“When I take my fingers out, you’re gonna tell me”. You cry out in response and he pulls his fingers out, holding your face and twisting it to look at him. He raises his eyebrow at you, making you speak.

“Glove compartment”, you manage to choke out, still slightly shaken from the brutal throat invasion. Kai pushes you off his lap, making you squish on the floor of the car, not daring to get up on the seat if Kai doesn’t want it. He stands up and leans towards the front of the car, opening the glove compartment and shoving out all documents in there onto the floor and seat, without a single care in the world. He rummages through your things, noticing your driving license and car documents, nothing too suspicious, before looking at a small green pharmacy prescription. He takes it and plops back down in the middle seat, reading it closely. Your stomach churns and your previous tears return as you’re torn between looking away from Kai, scared to make eye contact, and not wanting to peel your eyes off him to know his reaction. After a few seconds of angry reading, he rips the paper up and throws it around like confetti. Without even an angry word, he grabs a fistful of your hair and pulls you up on the back seats, laying you down. He climbs over you, and watches your tears fall closely, completely captivated and aroused at the sight of you in distress.

“Oh, so you don’t want to get pregnant?”, he barks in your face, enjoying the way you flinch every time. “You don’t want to make a Messiah? And contribute to the fucking cause? You want to be useless?!”, he yells. You’re left under him, whimpering at his harsh words and shaking your head manically, hoping to make your situation better in any way you can. Even if it meant you had to agree with him.

Kai clenches his jaw and takes a deep breath before speaking again, calmer this time.

“Have you taken any contraceptives yet?”. You immediately shake your head no, and try to blink all of your tears away. Kai whips his belt open and unzips his pants.

“I just got a prescription to buy them… I hadn’t even got them yet”, you whimper out quietly, not sure whether more details will make him calmer or even angrier. He lowers his pants before grabbing your legs and pulling you closer to him, and undoing yours silently and ripping them off. Crying always awoke something inside of Kai, but this was different, like a mixture of a punishment for you and a treat for him.

He leaned down and moved your head to the side, attaching himself to your neck and sucking on it harshly. Although the rough side of Kai scared you beyond words, his tough love still made you feel special, and him sucking hickeys on your neck, no matter how unaffectionately, made you feel like he was marking you as his. Therefore, he must’ve cared about you, even if he chose to show it in an unusual way.

He puts his arms on either side of your head, towering over you, making you feel both intimidated and protected by him, before sliding your underwear to the side. He pushes himself against your crotch and groans in your neck.

“This… this is really special”. He groans, as he lines up with you, putting his tip inside of you without warning.

“Daddy’s never done this with anybody”. A rush of arousal runs through your body as a strong reaction to the new nickname. Kai wasn’t new to nicknames, Sir, Divine Ruler, even Master. But he never called himself daddy, and he could feel the affect it had on you immediately, as he slid in you with ease. Although he pushes in slowly, the charade of softness and love quickly fades away as he slithers his cold hand under your shirt and grabs your boob, kneading it and squeezing it in his hand.

You gasp at the action, making Kai smile and kiss you, just once. He continues to talk to you with his lewd words as he begins to thrust. You submit yourself completely to him, wrapping your legs around his waist, and your arms around his chest, bringing him as close as possible to you so you can feel his warmth. He gracefully accepts your invite and puts his chest to yours, still with a tight grasp on your boob, rubbing your nipple with his thumb.

“Daddy’s gonna massage them so much when they’re all full of milk”, he whispers in your ear. You open your eyes and look at Kai with a blank expression, expecting an explanation to the weird statement, but he doesn’t provide one. Instead, he looks at you with a smirk and speeds up, keeping up the pace of the thrust and the roughness of his touch on you equal. Involuntarily you gulp, accepting the very appropriate punishment.

“God, I haven’t masturbated in- oh fuck… - in days… this is perfect”, he speeds up his thrusts, and closes his eyes, no longer caring about watching you tear up or orgasm. His sole focus shifts to fucking you as deep as possible, and ensuring he can empty as much of his balls as possible, filling you up to the brim. To guarantee your Messiah.

The new pace makes you clench, and panting and gasping as he fucks you restlessly, going deeper than ever before. He pulls your legs up higher and folds you in half, so he can fit his whole cock in, hitting your cervix with every single thrust. Just as the grip on your legs gets tighter and his moans get louder, you’re overcome with pleasure, your first orgasm coming over you and completely distracting you from how uncomfortable of a position you are in. The feeling of you clenching and cumming around him brings Kai over the edge, settling in the first load of the night deep inside of you.

Kai groans as he cums and rests with his cock deep in you, and you wrap your arms back around him and try to pull him closer for a quick kiss before he pulls out. But instead, after a few stationary seconds, he puts his leg on the ground and thrusts again, at a different angle. You whimper at the sensitivity and as does Kai, but he doesn’t hault and instead looks down at you cockily.

“I hope you’re not tired yet, there’s many more where that came from”

--

taglist, dm or comment to be added or taken away, it’s no issue to me:)

@milly-louise  @amourtentiaa  @kitwalker02  @tatestripedsweater  @therenlover  @maria-akira         @tatesimper  @thxc0untessesgl0ve  @mossybank  @ahsxual  @mxlti-fand0m-imaginess  @mrs-march-ahs-biggest-fan  @kitwalkerangel  @kitisagoldenretrieverboy @darlingkitt  @blackbat2020  @elaineygrace  @kaiandersonskoolaid  @undeadcortez @whiiiiplaaaaash

[supernaturalgirl20]

Taking a Chance

Part 11

Pairings: Marcus Pike x F!reader

Warnings: Angst, cursing, mentions of stalking, mentions of mental illness/break, hospitalisation, mentions of gun use, finally some fluff.

Summary: After an amazing night with Marcus you discover you’re pregnant. What happens when you go to tell him and another women opens his door?!

A/N: ok ok so, we’re moving away from all the angst, I know finally. On to the fluff we go😉

Comments and reblogs really appreciated 🥰

Maria’s eyes were scrunched closed, the tiny baby held close as she turned away from the gun, her only thought was to save the baby. The sound of the gun going off echoed along the roof and she thought that this was it, but the shit never came. Slowly opening her eyes she looks around to see Theresa screaming in pain on the floor, Tim standing over her with his gun pointed at her head.

“Theresa you’re under arrest for attempted murder and kidnapping. You have the right to remain silent, anything you do say can and will be used against you.”

Maria started crying, the adrenaline wearing off and reality finally setting in. Josh helps her up off the floor and wraps her in a blanket bringing her back into the hospital.

“You better go down to the baby ward Maria, Marcus and Y/N are frantic.”

“I told that guy not to say anything.”

“Wasn’t him that said it, but all the same I think Marcus is gonna have a heart attack so please hurry.”

The tiny baby in her arms is crying at the top of her lungs and Maria does her best to sooth her but nothing is working. Walking through the emergency door she’s greeted by the sight of you and Marcus looking nervous. Maria can’t help the flutter her heart makes as they spot her holding their baby, the look of pure relief. Marcus whispers something to you before running towards her, pulling her into a hug.

“Thank you so much Maria. We owe you everything.”

His gaze shift to the baby in her arms and he thinks his heart is going to stop. She’s beautiful, with her fluffy head of brown hair and eyes the same colour as his. He takes her gently from Maria before walking over towards you and handing her to you. He kneels down beside you both and kisses your forehead as you gaze lovingly down at your beautiful daughter.

“She’s perfect Marcus!”

“Just like her mama.”

You look up at him and he leans in to kiss you softly, pulling away your eyes meet Maria’s and you mouth a thank you to her as she is questioned. A quiet falls over the edge hallway as Theresa is pushed through on a gurney. Marcus stands, hatred and anger in his bones as he walks towards her.

“How could you? I almost lost my family because of you! You’re not getting away with this, if I have to sell my soul to the devil to see you pay I will.”

“Marcus please…”

“Don’t! Take her away I can’t look at her.”

She trashes on the gurney screaming for Marcus as the nurse sedates her.

Sitting up in your bed, little Millie suckling at your breast, Marcus with his arm wrapped around you, your heart feels full.

“Can you believe we made her? She so tiny and perfect and she is the image of you.”

“We make beautiful babies, we’ll have to make more.” You nudge him slightly with a smile on your face.

“Jesus Marcus at least give me a few months.”

He laughs for what feels like the first time in a month. Millie’s little hand is grabbing at your breast as she slurps away.

“Someone’s hungry! I think I’m gonna have some competition for those now.”

“Will you stop. Besides once she’s fed you can have them all you want.”

“Really?”

Marcus has sat up beside you staring you dead in the eyes, excitement rolling off him.

“Yeah, seriously.”

“Uh I love you so much baby.”

“Love you too. Has Maria said anything about Theresa?”

“Eh yeah her trial is next week, they searched her apartment, she eh…”

“What? I don’t like that look!”

“Apparently she had pictures of me all over the walls and the pictures she had of me and you, you…eh…”

“Marcus it’s ok, I’ll find out eventually.”

“She either cut you out, stuck her face on yours, she even had a board where she threw knives at your face. I’m sorry baby, this is all my fault I should never have helped her that night, should have known she wasn’t over me.”

“Hey look at me…it’s not your fault! You didn’t know she was a psycho, I’m just happy it’s over now.”

“I can’t wait to get you both home, and I promise I’m never gonna let anything like this happen again.”

“I know! Oh looks like someone’s finished. Hello our little angel.”

You both coo at her as she just stares back, brown eyes falling heavy with sleep.

Maria sits in the back of the courtroom, waiting for her turn in the stand. The evidence is stacked high against Theresa, there isn’t a hope she’s getting off, and if by some miracle she does Maria has plans.

“Hello you.”

“What…what are doing here?”

Maria is shook as she looks up at Patrick Jane, a smug smile on his face. Sliding in beside her he crosses his arms over each other, his gaze directed towards Theresa.

“Please tell me your not here to get her off, she ���”

“Oh no on the contrary, I’m here to make sure she goes down. Ever since she saw Marcus back at the office that time she’s become obsessed with him. I knew she was up to something and when I confronted her she started fighting me and left.”

“Well good! Not that she did that to you..”

“I know what you mean. How’s Marcus and Y/N holding up?”

“There ok thank god and so is baby Millie, their getting out of hospital today, I’m going to see them after this.”

“We’ll send them my well wishes.”

“I will.”

It’s not a long trial, the evidence is stacked high against her and she’s sentenced to life in prison. Maria texts Marcus just to let him know the outcome and that she would be around later. Theresa spot hers as she’s being taken away and shouts at her.

“Maria! Maria! Tell Marcus I love him, I did it because I love him….please…”

Maria just scoffs and turns to leave, closing the door on that entire debacle.

Sitting on the couch with Millie at your breast Marcus is running around trying to do things for you. He’s been adamant that you don’t lift a finger, that you’ve done enough carrying and birthing Millie along with what happened.

“Marcus baby, please will you just sit with us. The house will still be here tomorrow.”

“I know I know but I don’t want you to worry about anything ok, besides Maria is on her way so I want to make her some lunch.”

“Well when that’s done your daughter says she wants her daddy.”

“Did you say that my little princess, daddy will be with you in a few minutes I promise.” He kisses her head before kissing you and running back into the kitchen. You smile as he leaves and look down at your daughter who’s the image of her daddy.

“We are two very lucky women Millie, your daddy is such a good man and we love him so much don’t we.”

A knock at the door startles you and you call to Marcus who shouts that he’s got it. Maria barrels in with bags of presents and a smile wide on her face.

“Aahh there’s she is, ooh oh ok no I did not want to see your boobs. Why am I still staring I’m turning around now.” You laugh and luckily Millie is finished so you pull your top down.

“It’s ok all good.”

“Ok let me have her.”

“Oh so that’s how it is.”

“Oh you know it, she’s my little monkey. A very cute monkey.”

You hand Millie to her and she rocks her gently cooing at her. You can’t help the smile that spreads over your face, the thought that Maria is the reason your both here, alive. You share a look with Marcus before nodding at him.

“So we were thinking, what if you were Millie’s godmother?”

“Shut up! Are you serious right now? Because if you are I’d be honoured.”

“We’re serious. So that’s a yes then?”

“Yes yes yes!”

Standing up you move towards Marcus, “ok so since Millie is well fed and Maria is here I think I’m gonna have a bath.”

“Go you need to relax we’ve got it covered.” Marcus stares after you and when he turns back around he’s met with Maria looking at him with a smirk.

“What?”

“You know if you want to join her I’ll be ok here, she’s falling asleep anyway.”

“I…I don’t..”

“When’s the last time you had alone time?”

“Eh..”

“Exactly so please just go we’ll be fine won’t we, yes we will.”

“Ok if you’re sure?”

“Yea now go.”

Standing looking at your bare body, you feel disgusting. Your bump has only gone down slightly. Your body is covered in stretch marks and bruises from the accident, you wonder how Marcus can stand to look at you.

“Because I love you and you look beautiful.”

Your jump at the sound of his voice, you hadn’t realised you said that out loud. He makes his way towards you and wraps his arms around you from behind.

“Your just saying that to make me feel better.” He moves his hand under your chin and lifts your head up so your both looking in the mirror.

“I love you! All of you. These stretch marks are a reminder that you grew our daughter and gave birth to her, these breasts feed her and these bruises are are a reminder that you went through hell and survived.”

“Marcus…”

“No Y/N, you need to hear this. I loved when we first got together, I love you now and I’m going to love you until my last breath.”

You have tears falling down your face now, how did you get lucky with this man.

“If you needed more prove, this guy can provide it.” He pushes his hips into your ass and you can feel how hard he is.

“Now come on let’s have that bath.”

Part 12

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[onceupon]

London Boy - Part 4: Just friends

summary: You wake up to find Rafe Cameron in your bed. Even though nothing happened, you’re still left trying to make sense of it all.

pairing: Rafe x reader (slowburn)

warnings: swearing, drinking

word count: 5k

a/n: thank you so much to all of you who have been reading along <333 sorry in advance if you want this to progress faster haha, it simply must be this slow, sorry I don't make the rules (even tho I do lol). Not canon Rafe!! 

masterlist

Your eyes slowly flutter open as the early morning rays wake you up. You didn’t even remember falling asleep. As you slowly gain consciousness you’re startled by the weight of Rafe’s arm draped across your body. What the hell? When did that happen? He spent the night in your bed?

Your mind races at a million miles an hour as you slowly slip out from under his hold. You were careful not to wake him up, not wanting to face any awkwardness. You throw on fresh clothes and grab your backpack, desperate to make your escape. You had wanted to get to school early today to work on some homework anyways, never before so eager to trade in the comfort of your bed for the library. 

After a quick pit stop to pick up a coffee and a croissant, you swing the heavy wooden doors open. You liked campus at this hour, the morning light still soft, the air crisp, and the atmosphere silent. As you scan your eyes for a spot to sit, you notice the unmistakable sight of fluffy brown hair hunched over a table. 

“Liam?” your whisper. “What the hell are doing here?”

That classic cheeky grin spreads across his face as he looks up to find you standing in front of him. “I go here, Y/n. Forget already?”

You roll your eyes, “I just didn’t know you were the studious type.”

“Not gonna lie to you babe, I’m not. But Rogers is already all the way up my ass over this class, and I’m not letting that prick hold me back a year.” 

You pull out the chair across from him and go to sit down, spreading your books out on the table. 

“Who said you could sit with?” he asks, and you shoot him a look. You’re not in the mood. “Geez alright, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed… you good Y/n?” he slows, taking in your disheveled appearance. You hadn’t so much as brushed your hair. 

“Can you promise not to tell anyone,” you stare dead into his eyes. 

“On my life,” he extends his pinky, and you accept. 

“Rafe… slept over last night…”

“Oh shit!” he exclaims, and your eyes widen at his echoing voice. 

“Not like that,” you hiss, not wanting to draw anymore attention to the two of you. “Nothing happened… like he just came over to watch a show and then we talked for a while and just accidentally… fell asleep. I panicked when I woke up and realized he was still in my bed so I ran out of there as fast as I could and now…. well now I’m here.” You nervously chug your coffee, heart racing. 

“So he hung out with you all night and didn’t make a move?”

You nod, nervously awaiting his analysis as you take a bite of your croissant. 

“Damn, boy must really like you,” he muses. 

“What? Definitely not,” you scoff. 

“Y/n, let me tell you a little something about guys. If we really like you, we’re gonna make the time to hang out with you, no matter what. The fact that he’s coming over your room to watch a show and hanging out with you until he physically can’t stay awake - I mean I can’t make it any more obvious to you.”

“I don’t know I just don’t think so… You don’t know Rafe like that, he’s a total player back home. He can pull any girl he wants, so if he liked me like that he would’ve done something by now. This is probably how he is with all his friends and I’m just reading too much into it. I’m sure Lily Colts will be in his bed soon enough,” you mumble. That last part stings in particular, you had already thought it, but saying it out loud made you feel… icky. 

“I may not know Rafe like that, but I know guys like him. I am guys like him. He likes you Y/n. So what if he pulls a lot of chicks, he doesn’t actually care about them. But he cares about you, probably can’t even understand why, and now it’s like bam Uno reverse. He can’t pull the cards he normally does, and now you’ve got him confused and he doesn’t know what to do. Man’s down bad. Give him time though, he’ll come around,” he explains to you calmly, stealing your coffee cup from you and taking a sip. 

“Honestly can I just start paying you to figure my life out for me. You make everything seem so simple.”

“Because it is simple. You insist on complicating it. But I know how you could pay me,” he adds with a wink and you shoot him a glare. You know he’s just joking (partially), he loves pushing your buttons. 

“Well whatever. I’ll believe it when I see it,” you resign on the Rafe matter. You wanted to believe what Liam was saying but it didn’t quite make sense to you. You were only going to drive yourself crazy trying to read between lines that you weren’t sure existed. Rafe was just used to situations like this with girls. To him last night was probably no big deal. It was to you though. You would never let ‘just a friend’ stay over like that, with his arm around you no less. But Rafe didn’t need to know that, you decide. 

—-

You manage to avoid Rafe all day, not having any classes with him on Friday’s. As soon as your last class is over, you sprint home, relieved when you’re the first back at the flat and can quickly slip into your room undetected. You set down your bag and sit on the edge of your bed. Your hand slowly runs over your comforter, still ruffled from where Rafe had been laying the night before. The indent of his head is still on your pillow; you can almost smell the scent of him lingering in your room and hear the sound of his soft whispers. You wonder what his first thoughts were when he woke up in your bed alone - was he confused? Embarrassed? He probably thought nothing of it at all. You can just picture him casually getting up with a stretch, like it’s the start of any typical day.

You slip into the shower and let the water wash over your body. It’s warm and soothing, and it’s reminding you of Rafe laying next to you, of his arm wrapped around you. God if there was only a way to shut your brain off once in a while. As much as you tried to suppress it, there had been a tiny part of you that was happy to have woken up in his embrace, giddy like a school girl with a crush. You’d always wondered how a moment like that would feel, or how a moment like that with him would feel. You had conveniently failed to mention the “arm” detail to Liam, maybe because in the back of your mind you knew it would only help prove his theory right.  

When you make your way back to your room, your phone buzzes and the Royal Fam 🇬🇧🇺🇸 group chat appears. 

Olivia: who wants to go out tonight 😈

Topper: me and Rafe have to be up early tmrw for soccer - rain check on this one ladies 

Olivia: :( 

Olivia: girls night out??

Millie: you know I’m there!

You’re a little bummed that Rafe won’t be there tonight. But a girls night sounds like just what you need to get him off your mind. 

Y/n: I’m in :)

Not even a few minutes later Olivia and Millie are barging into your room, causing you to let out a startled yelp. 

“My god, heard of knocking,” you exhale with your hand coming to your chest. Your statement falls on death ears. 

“Which jeans with this top,” Olivia asks, holding the clothing items against her body. 

“Should I curl or straighten my hair with this,” Millie follows, holding her outfit up. 

“Uhh,” your mind scrambles, “those jeans Liv. And straight, Mills,” you reply, shocked by your own decidedness. “But now you guys have to help me, I have no clue what to wear.”

“Say less,” Olivia flashes a smile. 

Within minutes they tear through your closet, picking out your outfit. Things were always much more clear with a fresh set of eyes. The three of you discuss the night’s logistics before making your way to the kitchen - couldn’t go drinking on an empty stomach. Rafe and Topper are already there, and you try your best to act natural even though your stomach ties itself in a knot the moment you catch a glimpse of his face. You haven’t seen him since you ran out this morning. 

“Uh hey I’m gonna run to Sainsbury’s real quick, I wanna get a chaser, anyone need anything,” you ask, avoiding eye contact with Rafe. Your nerves get the best of you and in terms of fight or flight, you were ready to flee. 

“Hey wait I’ll come with you. Gotta pick something up for dinner,” Rafe stands grabbing his jacket, and before you can interject, he’s leading the way down the hall and out your shared flat. 

“So what are you chasing tonight?” 

“What?” you ask startled, his question pulling you back to reality. Your mind had been running in a loop, trying to read him and the thoughts in his head. You wished now more than ever that you knew what Rafe was like behind closed doors back home, so you could somehow make sense of it all.

He chuckles at you, lost in your own world. “You said you needed a chaser?” Those intimidating blue eyes have found their way to yours again and you hastily look away, focusing in front of you instead. 

“Oh yeah- uh just for the vodka,” you laugh nervously. 

“Basic,” he mocks. You scoff in surprise and lightly hit him on the chest as the laughter leaves your lips. He’s sporting a shit-eating grin, having successfully egged you on. 

“You’re funny if you think I’m gonna do shots of whiskey before going to a club.”

“Well you do owe me one…” he says.

“Oh so he remembers?” you reply, amused.

“Of course,” he states so calm and so sure. Your head swirls at that, his cool confidence making you melt. The automatic doors slide open in front of you, fluorescent lights stealing your attention from the boy you were finding dangerously more attractive by the second.

“I thought we’re supposed to take it together? But someone’s being lame and not coming out tonight,” you say sarcastically, playing it as cool as you can manage. Rafe’s confidence seemed to come naturally, but you were more of a fake-it-till-you-make-it kind of gal.

“Hey you know I have soccer,” he defends. The Kook Prince was not one to turn down a party without cause.

“Excuses excuses,” you shake your head.

“Actually, speaking of soccer, you uh- you and the girls should come tomorrow. If you’re not doing anything. Or not too hungover I should say. Game’s at 12.”

“Can’t make any promises Cameron, but we’ll see,” you smile, earning a satisfied smile from him in return. 

You make your way to the frozen food aisle, Rafe explaining to you how they call a soccer field a football pitch here, as you laugh at him grabbing 5 frozen pizzas (dinner solved for the next week, of course). You ask him which chaser you should pick. He points out a cola, so naturally you decide to get blackberry seltzer water, Rafe twisting his face in disgust (who would voluntarily drink that tv static). You always felt so nervous at first, to be in Rafe’s presence, but all it ever took was a few minutes for you to completely relax around him. He was intimidating, yet inviting. Mysterious, yet open. He was somehow the cause of your anxious nerves and yet the source of your comfort. The fear of facing Rafe after running out this morning had paralyzed your thoughts all day, and now you could hardly remember why. He hadn’t mentioned it at all, as if nothing happened. His normalcy confirmed for you that him sleeping over was in fact no big deal, and you almost want to laugh at yourself for how much you had worked it up in your head. You two were just friends, and perhaps Rafe was used to being… a friendlier friend than what you were used to. But that was okay, you could learn to be friendlier too.

—-

Rafe and Topper had decided to accompany you guys in the kitchen as you pregamed. They slowly sipped beers as you, Millie, and Olivia pounded back shots, laughing at the way you guys got progressively drunker and progressively louder before finally heading out. And much to your surprise, the boys were still seated in the same spot hours later, when the three of you stumble back into the flat, McDonalds in hand.

“Oh look who’s still up,” Olivia slurs, taking a bite of her cheeseburger. 

“We can’t go out, we have soccer,” Millie mocks, almost falling to the floor as she trips over her heel, Topper and Rafe not making any effort to hide their clear amusement. 

“Fun night huh?” Topper quirks his brow. 

“The funnest,” Millie holds her head high, sinking down against the wall until she’s sat on the floor. You had made a beeline for the dining room table, silently admiring your chicken nuggets. In that moment, they were the best thing you had ever tasted. 

“I want Jake,” Olivia pouts, and before anyone can say a word she’s turned on her heel, burger in hand, off to crawl into her boyfriend’s bed. 

“Alright you drunk, let’s get you to bed,” Topper laughs, scooping an incoherent Millie up to her feet by her elbows. 

“M’not drunk,” Millie protests, even though she’s leaning her full body weight against Topper who sarcastically nods at her, escorting her down the hallway. Rafe sits on the couch, silently playing with the cards in his hand again, not the least bit uncomfortable with sharing your company in silence. 

“I’m mad at you,” you say matter of factly, taking a bite of a french fry. At this point, the alcohol is doing the talking. 

“Mad at me?” Rafe stops shuffling the cards and raises his head to look at you, intrigued. 

“Yeah because you didn’t come to the club,” you furrow your brows, chucking a fry at him. He catches it instantly, laughing to himself with a shake of his head. 

“Don’t worry I saw all your guys’ snaps, I feel like I was practically there.”

“That’s not the same,” you frown, throwing another fry which he catches yet again.

“I’ll try to be there next time,” he laughs.

“That’s better I guess,” you grumble, eating another chicken nugget. The room grows quiet, Rafe training his attention back to the cards.

“When are we watching the next episode Cameron,” you break the silence, chucking another fry. He barely has to look up to catch your latest throw, shaking his head with a chuckle. He puts the cards down and makes his way over to the dining table, standing right above you now. 

“Come on, time for you to go to bed,” he beckons you toward him with his arm, to which you only furrow your brows in indignation.

“I’m not done with my food,” you protest.

“Now you are,” he says, grabbing your last fry and finishing it with one bite. “Now c’mon.” You reluctantly grab onto his extended arm to help you get up. You walk down the hall together and he opens your door for you, letting you in as he leans against the frame. You immediately fall back and collapse on to your bed with a gasp, you didn’t remember it feeling so soft when you were sober. 

“Goodnight L/n,” Rafe laughs, staring down at you. 

“Goodnight Rafe,” you mumble, seconds away from passing out. He smiles to himself at the sight of you still in the outfit and shoes you had been out in, bent in surely the most uncomfortable position possible, legs half way off the bed, yet somehow already asleep. He’s about to head back to his room, but he hesitates, turning back to you with a sigh. As slowly and quietly as he can, he pulls your shoes off for you, lifts your legs onto the bed, and covers you in your blanket. And just as quick, he slips out of your room and back into his.

—-

You wake up the next morning, letting out a groan when you realize you’re still in the outfit you had worn clubbing. Your head dully aches and your throat is desert dry so you force yourself up and to the kitchen. When you see the aftermath of McDonald’s containers on the table, vague memories start flooding your brain in horror. You couldn’t have… could you? Did you actually throw french fries at him? You close your eyes and slowly run your hand over your face in realization. Great, you think to yourself, Rafe probably thinks you’re an annoying idiot. Good grief.

You hear the door of the flat opening and Olivia appears in the kitchen, holding a plate of breakfast sandwiches, your mouth watering at the sight.

“Thank the lovely lads in apartment 4E,” she laughs, placing them on the table. “Oh god, we went hard last night didn’t we,” she says, taking in the sight of the flat.

“A little too hard…” you remark.

“No such thing, darling! Now eat up and get dressed, we’ve got a match to catch,” she declares before disappearing down the hall where you can hear muffled groans of Millie being reluctantly dragged out of her bed. You sigh and sink down into a chair, grabbing a sandwich and taking a bite. Heaven. You make a mental note to thank Jake for his chef skills. You had completely forgotten that you and the girls were supposed to go watch Rafe and Topper’s match today. Your worries about having to face Rafe yesterday had been quick to melt away, but today they were back with a new vengeance.

—-

“Okay no one wander off when we get there. Y/n, fair warning, these games get… rowdy,” Millie says, as the three of you walk toward the field, arms linked.

“Things get pretty crazy at Kildare too,” you laugh, “so yeah, don’t fucking let me out of your sight.”

The three of you shake off your fits of laughter as you stumble toward the stands, finding a spot amongst the already packed crowd. You’re finally able to take in your surroundings, glancing at the field ahead. The opposing team is warming up on the pitch, clad in red. Westheath’s team is off to the side, the boys stretching and getting ready in their white uniforms. The dirty blonde immediately catches your eye. He’s jumping and jogging in place, headphones in as though he’s tuning out the physical noise around him, and probably the mental noise too. You wonder if he’s listening to one of the songs he showed you the other night. 

He pauses his jogging to stretch out his arms, his eyes glazing over the stands, when suddenly they lock with yours. Your cheeks flush pink, embarrassed at having been caught staring, but his face just pulls into a wide grin and he gives you a wave. You wave back, and he does a quick hand motion that everyone does at Kildare games back home. You laugh and do the responding gesture, as he smiles cheekily at you before a teammate comes up to him, pulling his focus away. The exchange was brief, but oddly intimate. There was a whole field and a couple dozen people between you, and yet you two were the only witnesses to the interaction. You smile to yourself, relief in the fact that maybe getting a french fry chucked at him wasn’t enough to make him hate you after all. You wonder briefly if Rafe spends half as much time overanalyzing things the way you do. Liam was right, you do insist on overcomplicating things. 

“Hey, earth to Y/n!” Olivia laughs, waving her hand in front of your face. “The game is starting!”

—

The final score flashes on the screen: 4-2, a win for Westheath. The students are going nuts, rushing the field. Olivia and Millie lead the way, pushing through the crowd until you guys reach Rafe and Topper.

“Let’s go boys!!” Olivia yells, jumping up and down with the sea of bodies and beer around you. Rafe and Topper react with equal enthusiasm, pulling each of you in for a hug. You and Rafe are the last to hug, him pulling you in brief but close against his large sweaty body, arms wrapped around you. You don’t even mind the stickiness of the hug, feeling deja vu at the warm feeling of being in his embrace again; a feeling that is foreign yet familiar, one you hadn’t felt before. 

“Did you guys see Rafe’s goal in the second half!?” Topper asks, clapping his friend on the back.

“Of course we did, super star!” Millie cheers, giving Rafe a high five as he humbly shakes his head and laughs at his friends. The mental image of his goal was burned in your head, one that your mind would certainly play for you involuntarily over the next coming days. 

“Alright we gotta go do some stuff with the team, but everyone’s going to Central Bar later. See you guys there?” Rafe asks.

“You got it,” Olivia replies, and they jog off with quick waves, you meeting those blue eyes in silent acknowledgement once again. It was that gaze that always made the rest of the world seem to disappear while his eyes met yours, making your heart skip a beat. He’s just a friend, you remind yourself. Just a tall, attractive, soccer-playing friend…

—

“Y/n! Liv! We’re doing a round!” Jake calls you and Olivia over to where him and Liam are already at the bar, four shot glasses ordered and lined up.

“On three! One, two-“ Liam chants, as the four of you down the alcohol. Central Bar had been buzzing with what felt like half of Westheath’s student body all day. After the game, you and the girls had gone back to your flat to nap and eat, before meeting up with Jake, Liam, and the rest of their boys to head to the bar. Rafe and Topper were already pretty buzzed when you guys got there, playing a round of table tennis with you before the rest of the soccer team and their other friends pulled their attention away. You couldn’t help the way your whole body tensed when Rafe greeted Lily with a tight hug, humbling you with the confirmation that Rafe’s actions toward you weren’t anything special. You resolved yourself to a night of drinking and dancing your worries away with Liv and Liam instead.

“Alright, round of table tennis? You two against me and Y/n?” Liam challenges.

“Please, I saw Y/n playing before, you guys have nothing on us,” Olivia flashes an evil smile, her competitive side coming out.

“Oh it’s on Liv,” you laugh, as your foursome stakes your claim at the pong table. While Olivia and Jake gather the balls and paddles, you notice Liam grimacing off into the distance. You follow his line of sight, landing on Topper and Millie drunkenly dancing together across the bar, a bit too close for comfort.

“What is she doing with that geezer,” he mumbles.

“Liam! Jealousy is unbecoming of you,” you gasp in mock disbelief.

“I’m not jealous,” he scoffs, and you quickly realize that he actually is, even though you had just been joking. Your jaw falls slack as you put two and two together. Liam and Millie were always by each other’s side, at school, at the pub, when you were all watching a movie at his apartment a few nights ago. He would tease her relentlessly and his own words rang in your ears If we really like you, we’re gonna make the time to hang out with you, no matter what. 

“Shut up! Shut up!,” you whisper yell, hand coming to your mouth. “I should have realized this whole time… of course you like Millie! Everything you’ve been telling me you think exists between me and Rafe has actually been about her! She’s your Uno reverse card!” You’re shocking even yourself at these revelations.

“No no no, you can’t use my own words of wisdom against me, that’s not how this works Y/n. So what, maybe I slightly give a shit about Millie? Who cares. Her and I both know that’s never gonna happen. I still stand by everything I said about you and Rafe so don’t think your getting off so easy on that.”

“Then tell me why you’re staring at Millie while Rafe hasn’t so much as glanced my way since the minute Lily Colts got here, hmm?”

“Oh Y/n, Y/n Y/n Y/n,” Liam tuts, shaking his head laughing as he turns to the game your group of four is about to begin. You don’t have the energy to argue with Liam over the matter right now, oblivious to the fact that Rafe had indeed been glancing your way, several times. In fact, he was glancing at you right now, as Liam reached his arm over yours to help you actually hold the paddle the right way. You just hadn’t been glancing back to notice, scared of what you may or may not see between him and Lily if you did. 

—

The night dies down and it’s time for the pilgrimage back to your building. You’re walking with Millie when Liam quickly falls in step with you two. You give him a knowing smirk, to which he responds with a glare behind Millie’s back, but you let the two banter as you fall behind, now walking alone. You stare ahead, eyes mindlessly settling on Lily walking in between Callum and Henry at the front of the pack. You don’t notice the pair of legs that begin moving in pace next to your own. 

“Tonight, by the way,” Rafe’s voice startles you as you jump next to him. He chuckles at the confusion written all over your face. “You asked last night when we’re watching the next episode. And my answer is tonight, L/n,” he states.

“Haven’t you been up since like the crack of dawn? Aren’t you tired?” you ask incredulously.

“Too tired for Game of Thrones? Never,” he scoffs, Liam’s words ringing in your ear. If we really like you, we’re gonna make the time to hang out with you, no matter what.

“Well then tonight it is,” you smile. “Sorry about the french fries last night by the way,” you say meekly, looking down at the sidewalk in front of you, cheeks burning.

“Seriously L/n, talk about a horrible throw. Room for improvement,” he jokes with a comforting smile, saving you from yourself.

“Good game by the way,” you add, grateful for the way he was letting you off. 

“Thanks,” he looks at you, shoving his hands in his pocket. You turn to look at him too, and after a few moments laughter is taking you both apart. Nothing funny was said. Neither of you knew why you were laughing. And yet it felt natural, not an ounce of awkwardness in the air.

As your whole group walks into the building, people begin to peel off, splitting towards staircases and off elevator stops. 

“I’m fucking beat,” yawns Topper, as you and all your flatmates file into your hall. 

“I’m gonna sleep like a baby tonight,” Millie yawns in agreement. One by one everyone files off into their rooms. You open your door, backing into yours, Rafe across the hall from you backing into his. Laughter tugs at both your faces once again, as you let your doors close. You manage to change into your sweats and brush your teeth before you hear the light rap on your door. Rafe enters, in a t-shirt and gray sweatpants, your weakness. But you feel comfortable being alone with him now. The Rafe jitters had finally began to subside. 

“Alright L/n, episode 4, you ready for this?” he asks, plopping down in his spot next to you. 

“Oh I’m very ready,” you reply, sitting up to reach for your laptop which was resting by your feet. As you lean back, you find yourself in Rafe’s arm. He had extended it out before you sat back, effortlessly catching you against him. His hand rests casually on your arm, and you gulp, pressing play. You pray he can’t feel the way your heartbeat quickens and your body flushes. So much for those jitters being gone. 

The episode plays, you and Rafe making comments here and there before your chatter eventually dies down, leaving just the sound of the show to fill the room. You can feel Rafe’s body lean further and further down, becoming heavier and breathing slower. You very slowly turn to check, and sure enough he’s fast asleep. You sigh, and shut your laptop, careful not to stir him. You could easily shake him awake, tell him to go to his bed, but for some reason you don’t. You don’t mind him here. In fact, you almost prefer it, his body heat keeping you warm. He had already slept over once before and it clearly hadn’t been a big deal, so what was the harm in letting it happen again? You’re just friends after all, you remind yourself, not sure who you’re trying to convince. And so, the two friends fall asleep in the same bed again. 

---

🏷: @hopebaker​ @pogueslandia​ @mardema​

[billyrussohaven]

My sweet Emilly

Billy Russo / Reader

Rated: PG (for now)

A/N: So I’m feverish and been feeling like absolute rubbish since getting my 2nd covid shot last Thursday. I can’t sleep and my brain came up with a cute Dad!Billy story. I might do a second part if you guys like it, we shall see!

Credit: @mainlysubmv​

Follow me!

“Just where do you think you’re going dressed like that exactly?” Billy asked his daughter sternly, looking up at her over his glasses. Glasses that he was still getting used to by the way. You kept telling him he looked like a hotter version of Clark Kent but it still seemed to hurt his pride. Billy Russo needing glasses, insane right? What was even more insane was just how much his sweet Emily looked all grown up these days. Her seventeen birthday last month had hit him like a train. He stared at her and let a long sigh out.

Emily reappeared, taking a few steps backwards, tugging down on her green hoodie dress and rolled her shoulder nervously the doorway of the living room. A little nervous gesture she shared with her father that always made you smile.

“It ain’t that bad Billy,” you said looking up from your crochet project on your lap to his daughter’s outfit, your step-daughter.

“It is on the short side but she’s smart and careful, isn’t that right, Millie?” You said, giving her a quick look with a wink.

She grinned back at you before turning to look at her dad.

“It’s still warm out Da…and I have a pair of leggings if it gets colder later,” she said, opening up her backpack and showing him a black pair of leggings, smiling back at him. He snorted at her innocent-like face, he knew better, she was after all his own daughter.

“Fine. No heels. Wear those ridiculously worn-out converse of yours,” he said letting it go and dismissing her with a smirk. She zipped her bag up and ran to give her dad a quick kiss on the cheek. She was out of the room as fast as she entered it.

“Back at midnight! I’ll be with Devin!” Emily said loudly already halfway to the front door.

“11PM!” Billy yelled right as the front door closed with a loud thud. He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Wait, who? The fuck’s Devin? Wasn’t it that Jay-” he said with a deep frown turning to look at you.

“Jeremy,” you corrected him going back to your crocheting.

“Jeremy…last week?” He continued giving you a stern look for correcting him that made you chuckle. He rolled his eyes heavenward, taking his glasses off and rubbed his tired face with a groan. You reached to caress his soft hair and smiled. You didn’t comment, you knew he could be a bit overprotective of his Emily sometimes but dads were often that way with their daughters. It reminded you of your own dad and  the shit you did in your youth. It was a wonder he still had some hair left…

*****

Billy woke up abruptly and sat up yawning, looking at the alarm clock on his nightstand next to the still turned on lamp.

1:25AM

He had fallen asleep in bed reading while waiting for Millie to come home. He turned his sleepy face to you sleeping soundly next to him. He smiled gazing at your serene face and caressed the side of your face softly. He heard a loud thud. He frowned and turned around instantly to the door, listening intently. He quietly got out of the bed, tiptoeing to the door, silent as a cat.

“Ow!” a hushed voice said after another loud thud. Billy yanked the bedroom door open and walked face to face with his daughter. His daughter who definitely wasn’t in her pajamas, dressed exactly the same as earlier and who reeked of alcohol and cigarettes.

She looked up at her dad glaring at her with disappointment etched all over his face. Her dark brown eyes filled with tears and hurt behind her drunken state. She broke down in sobs and hid her face in her hands. Billy’s heart broke at seeing her cry like that. He was very angry and disappointed at her for coming back home so late and drunk on top of it. He sighed and walked to embrace her tightly as she cried. She held him tightly, her warm tears running down his chest. He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back.

“You know better than that, Millie. Walkin’ home drunk instead of calling me or Y/N,” he said softly yet sternly. He cradled her head in his hand and moved to look at her tear stained face. Her chest was racking with sobs and her lower lip was quivering as she looked up at him. He had a feeling she wasn’t crying only because he caught her drunk and way past her 11PM curfew.

“What happened? Talk to me princess,” he asked with a sad frown, brushing her hair back from her face. She broke down into even louder wails and he had to hold part of her weight to help her stay upright.

You put your mid-thigh satin robe on and walked to see what was going on. The light of the bedroom pooled in the darkened hallway as you opened the door wider and you gave Billy a sad smile. The poor thing was so upset and in no state to think clearly. You took a few steps and rubbed her back.

“It’s okay princess, why don’t Y/N help you get ready for bed and we can talk tomorrow,” he said, giving Emily a concerned look. She nodded as he rubbed her tears away with his thumbs. He gave her a kiss on her forehead and let you take her to her bedroom. You grabbed his hand on the way and gave it a squeeze before letting go.

You walked a wobbly and sniffly Emily to her bedroom where she flopped and sat down on the edge of her bed dropping her bag with a loud thud. You walked to her own connecting bathroom from her bedroom and grabbed a small square towel. You ran it under the cool water and wrung it. You took a bottle of tylenol knowing she was gonna need it in the morning and a tall glass of water too.

You walked back to Millie who was undressing and putting on her pajamas. You were somewhat impressed she didn’t fall on her butt taking her leggings off before stepping into her pajamas shorts.

“Here, drink this you’ll feel better,” you said softly, handing her the glass of water. She nodded and drank half of it before putting it down on her nightstand next to the two Tylenol for tomorrow morning. You rubbed the cool wet cloth on her forehead and neck and she sighed before letting another sob out.

“I’m-I’m sorry I woke you up. I didn’t mean to get home alone so late…Da looked so upset,” she said, hugging you and cried on your shoulder. You hushed her soothingly and rocked her a bit, hugging her back.

“He still loves you, Millie. He’s just disappointed you came home so late and in a very vulnerable state I might add. Now, I’m not gonna scold you, it’s not my place but something could have happened to you baby,” you said brushing her hair back.

“We much rather have you wake us up late to pick you up than having you stumble drunkenly home alone. What happened? I thought you were hanging out with Devin?” You asked, helping her get in bed. She started crying again at the name and you knew right away the poor girl was heartbroken.

“W-we went to this party together a-and it was really fun. Everything was great, we’re great friends and I love when Devin’s around, you know?” She mumbled, looking at you with her father’s dark brown eyes filled with hurt.

“B-but we drank and I-I I thought Devin liked me a lot too and we kissed but-” She didn’t have to finish her sentence, you knew. You sighed and cradled her small frame in your arms.

“She abruptly stepped back, pushing me away a-and calling me names and stuff. S-she left a-and I didn’t have money for a cab because I paid the fare to get there. She was supposed to pay the cab fare back a-and then I didn’t want to call Da and have him angry at me.” She said, wiping her wet face in her pillow. You nodded, brushing her soft hair soothingly.

“Get some good sleep now, we’ll talk more tomorrow, alright? You suggested standing up and tucked her in. She nodded with a sniffle and closed her eyes.

"Thank you Y/N…Nini,” she said softly, watching you walk away to the door. You turned and gave her a warm smile,

“Anytime Millie. Good night sweetheart,” you said before flipping the light switch off and closing her bedroom door.

You tiptoed out of her bedroom and back to your own where Billy was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for you. He looked up at you, his face conflicted and tired.

“How is she?” He asked standing up to give you a tight embrace. He really appreciated how you were with Emily, the special bond you had developed with her. It made him love you even more as he kissed your head.

“She’s young, in love and broken-hearted I’m afraid,” you said with a long sigh, resting your head on his chest. You gave him a brief summary of what she had told you. You felt a bit guilty at reporting it all back to Billy but he’d probably know sooner or later too.

“I’m gonna beat the shit out of him when I find him,” he snarled pacing in front of you. He brushed his hair back and thought about the best way to throttle the asshole.

“Devin is a girl, Billy.” You said with a small smile, wondering what his reaction was gonna be.

He stopped pacing abruptly and his eyebrows shot upwards as he looked back at you dumbstruck.

“Oh! Oh,” he said, rolling his shoulders and clearing his throat. You looked back at him with one eyebrow up wondering what was going on in his head at the moment.

“Well, I guess I won’t…punch the brat then,” he said somewhat sheepishly and a bit confused. Not that it mattered to Billy if his little Millie liked guys or girls. It’s just…

“She never really talked about it. She always showed up with  boyfriends before so I guess I just…took it for granted really,” he said with a frown sitting by the bed. After a long silence he looked up at you with a vulnerability that broke your heart to see.

“Am I a bad father for it?” He asked, his voice wavering slightly, he cleared his throat and rolled his shoulder, looking at the picture frame of her on his nightstand.

You took your robe off and stood in front of him between his legs. You cradled the side of his face and tilted it up so he’d look at you.

“No, Billy. It doesn’t make you a bad father, baby,” you brushed a strand of hair away from his eye.

“I guess you two just never really brought it up. I remember when I was seventeen myself, a young woman still in high-school, afraid of being bullied for being any kind of different,” you said with a sigh, remembering how cruel high-school was.

Billy scoffed and sneered at his own memories of it. Lonely guy from the group home with no family or friends beside small pets he’d keep in jars. He smiled warmly with a silent snort remembering how Emily had her own pet snail for a while and how much she took care of the little one.

“She might still be figuring herself out too,” you added with a shrug.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to her tomorrow anyway, maybe she’ll want to open up and chat about all of this,” he said, rubbing his tired face with his hands. You kissed him slowly before breaking the kiss and crawling back in bed in your short satin nightie. He groaned looking back at you, suddenly very awake for almost 3AM. He rolled over on the bed and pulled you flat against his body with a sly smirk. You chuckled at the attention he gave you and kissed him languidly with a moan.

“I’m still gonna scold her ass,” he mumbled over your lips, reaching over you and turning off the light.

A/N: Random Fact. My fiancé’s name is Devin. I remembered him telling me he had a girl classmate once in school named Devin. 😋

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR TODAY'S EPISODE OF HELLUVA BOSS. ALSO FOUL LANGUAGE USED IN THIS EDIT. IF EITHER OF THOSE THINGS AREN'T FOR YOU THEN THIS POST WON'T BE FOR YOU EITHER. THIS EPISODE RUINED ME AND I OH SO BADLY WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.

Okay is everyone gone? Excellent!

"Look I'm hard on you because I know what you're capable of Mox. You care too much about what everyone thinks, except for you know me because my opinion is correct, but just keep doing a good job.

Okayyy I've had one too many emotions for today. Guys let's fuck these fuckers up!" (Blitzo Helluva Boss.)

Throughout much of my life I've been known as that one "sweet" and "innocent" friend. But in my humble opinion everyone has a dark side. My dark side happens to reside in dark cartoons. Invader Zim, and anything that Viv makes. Helluva Boss took me almost completely by surprise. In fact, in some ways I prefer it to Hazbin Hotel. I love the bonds and relationships between the character and I'm going to be talking about one character in particular, Blitz.

When I first started this show last year after the first episode came out, I almost immediately loved Blitz. He was interesting, but most of all he was funny. Probably the funniest character on the show if you're asking me (I still do his "got the book, got the book, got this fucking heavy book" sometimes because I was laughing so hard I cried.) He also had this protective edge to him. He cared about his workers a lot more than he let on and we got confirmation of that today. He so clearly would do anything for the three people that matter more to him than anybody else.

The major strength in this show is Blitz's relationship with everyone and with himself. From his relationship with Stoliz finally getting some nonsexual development, to his adorable father/daughter relationship with his hellhound Luna, to his individual bond with Moxxie and Millie. Before today's episode I thought that he was overly cruel to Moxxie for really no sensible reason. I knew that there was some deeper hidden issues to why he acted that way because it's Blitz there's always deeper issues. Even though their interactions before this episode were genuinely hilarious I couldn't help but look at their relationship differently after all this episode entailed. Blitz is the protective dad that is always looking out for both his subordinates and his daughter. He also clearly cares about Stolas more than he lets on. That's another thing that I loved about the character development done with this episode (we'll talk more about Stolitz later on).

When you really think about it, everyone in Blitz's life has either let him down or left him at some point. This obviously left him mentally and emotionally scarred in more ways than one. He decided eventually that he should use his smart mouth to push everyone away from him. That way he could never get hurt again. That's actually one of my favorite character tropes other than the goofballs. And Blitz is a goofball but he's also foulmouthed, guarded, a little bit more than a bigoted asshole but it's not without reason. If we get to learn more about how Blitz's life really started. There was so many good character moments in this episode for him and I think that it really helped move his arc forward.

My favorite relationship thus far after this episode has to be Blitz's relationship with Moxxie. I'm so looking forward to where this friendship goes. Obviously they are both musical theater geeks who have that part of their lives in common but I think that after this episode they'll be so much closer. (Can I just talk about theater both of them pls that would be so fun! Just to compare notes about favorite shows. I have the same opinion about Cats Blitz btw highly overrated show.) But my second favorite has to be his relationship with Millie. Their relationship is just so cute and funny how he's always knowing exactly what she needs and offering her water in the middle of the battle and guns when she's using that halberd scythe style weapon. I love looking at the platonic relationships for Blitz because in my opinion they are just as important if not more so important than the main relationships. This entire show is about the element of family. Family can come in every shape and size and that's something that I love about this show. It's not just about a murdering group of imps that are killing people and swearing every five minutes. It's about a group of characters that love and rely on each other for various reasons. It's about the elements of family even if it's broken and bruised that is still your family.

The relationship between Stolas and Blitz to me was a bit of an anomaly before today. I thought that they were funny together but that it wasn't exactly consensual. That was until today's episode. Watching the one that came out today, I found that I was taking a different stance on their relationship. When Stolas came to rescue his Blitzy (never piss off Stolas okay that's just a warning because that shit was terrifying), for the first time I saw a relationship that was consensual on both ends. We saw Blitz actually flirt with the owl prince and it was hilarious to see Stolas go from most terrifying thing in all existence into absolute sub for his lover. I'm looking forward to seeing where this relationship is going because I'm a huge fan of both characters.

Helluva Boss is one of those cartoons that has changed my life over the last year. It's a show that never fails to make me laugh so hard that my sides are aching. My parents are always like what are you laughing at every time that there's a new episode. It's just such a ridiculous show but at the same time my heart broke seeing Blitz in pain. I know that we're going to to definitely see him suffer a lot more since he's going to be the angst development for the show. I'm dreading it but at the same time I'm looking forward to seeing it at the same time. I hope that Blitz does eventually get his happy ending with Stolas and the rest of his found family.

[collecting-stories]

Rain - JJ Maybank

Request: hello💛may i request jj x reader, they are bestfriend’s and lately jj has been seeing reader in a completely different way and he doesn’t know why? like he‘d get mad at the boys interested in her and whenever rafe or topper tries to hit on reader it always ends in a fight? maybe he abruptly kisses her one day and then does he realise he’s inlove with her? FLUFF & A JEALOUS JJ PLS😭❤️

Request: could you do a jj fic with a rain kiss? i don’t really have a plot in mind but maybe one where they’re arguing in the rain or something💖

Outer Banks Masterlist

✰ ✰ ✰ ✰

JJ sat on his board, ignoring the growing waves and Pope telling him to hurry up and paddle the rest of the way out to surf. He was too far away to hear anything you were saying but he was close enough to see you, standing there with your board, talking to Topper at the edge of the water. He squinted against the sun, trying to get a better look at your face as stood there. Were you smiling or was he imagining that? Did you like Topper? You had never mentioned anything about the kook to any of them, unless you just hadn’t mentioned it to him.  

Pope called JJ’s name again and he waved his other friend off, still trying to decipher what was going on with you and Topper on the beach. He would never admit it out loud but lately JJ had been feeling different about you. It wasn’t just some lust fueled, empty flirting. It was more than that. He couldn’t explain it and he’d definitely never felt like it before but he couldn’t sit there and watch you flirt with Topper. He paddled back toward the shoreline, getting off his board when he was close enough and walking to where you and Topper were talking.  

“Hey.”

You looked surprised to see him when your eyes met his but you recovered pretty quickly, “hey, what’s up?” You asked.  

“Thought you were coming out...it’s gonna storm soon.” JJ pointed out. You and Pope had been talking about going out to catch waves all week and there was finally a break in what felt like seven days straight of rain.  

“Yeah, I will, I’m just...” you looked back at Topper, still standing there. He raised his eyebrows in question, “I’ll be right there I’m talking to Topper.”

“Yeah...about what?”

“What?” You asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“How about, none of your business?” Topper commented, glaring at him.  

“How about you get the fuck off our side of the beach.” JJ said, stepping forward. You were quick to get between them, holding a hand out to JJ to stop him from coming any closer. Everything had been fine two minutes ago before he decided to come back to shore.  

“I’ll be right out J,” you said, “just go.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Please.”

“She told you to leave.” Topper cut in.  

“Seriously,” you rolled your eyes, “I got it.”  

“I can’t believe you’re seriously choosing him over me.” JJ said.  

You clenched your fists, trying not to lose your cool right here on the beach in front of Topper. This was the same bullshit that JJ had been pulling for weeks now. Interrupting any conversation that you tried to have with anyone that wasn’t him. He’d been antsy and unusually clingy just the other day when you were hanging outside the Chateau with John B. Now he was embarrassing you in front of Topper.  

“Can you not do this right now?” You practically begged before turning back to Topper, “I’ll talk to you later?”

“Text me.” He replied, nodding. He glared at JJ one last time before heading off down the beach, away from both of you. If only you could have gone with him.  

“What the hell is your problem JJ?” You laid your board down and started to gather the rest of your stuff. Shorts, sandals, shirt, all went in your bag.  

“My problem? You’ve been bitching all week about going out to surf and we finally get a few good hours and you waste them standing around on the shore twirling your hair and flirting with Topper.”  

“Fuck you! I’m allowed to talk, and yes flirt, with whoever the hell I want to.” You snapped.  

“Topper though? Get some fucking standards.” He replied, dropping his board down beside yours and grabbing your bag before you could finish packing it.

“Give me that back!”

“No!” He held it away from you when you tried to reach for it, “I’m trying to talk to you and you’re standing here packing up so you can run away.”

“Run away? You’re so fucking dramatic JJ! I’m leaving because you’re being a dick and you ruined  my entire afternoon.”

“Oh sorry you didn’t get to suck his-”  

You slapped JJ, hands immediately covering your mouth, eyes wide as you stared at him. You knew about Luke and you’d always been carefully of the way you acted around JJ. You’d never so much as jokingly nudged him.  

“Oh my god...J-”

JJ shook his head, holding his hand up. “I was out of line.” He replied. The moment he heard the words coming out of his mouth he knew he had taken his anger too far. He wasn’t surprised you’d slapped him, he wanted to hit himself too. He was being stupid and he knew but he didn’t know how to fix it.

“I shouldn’t have-”

“It’s okay.” He insisted.  

“I wasn’t flirting with Topper.” You clarified, “I didn’t deserve the accusation but I wasn’t flirting.”

“You were just out here talking to him and I saw you and-”

“I can’t just not talk to people because you don’t want me to...I get the whole kook pogue thing but I’m allowed to talk to whoever I want, without some six degrees from you.” You replied. You hadn’t meant to slap him but you weren’t going to let him get away with his behavior because of that.

“It’s not a kook pogue thing.” He looked away for a moment as a drop of rain hit his cheek. You looked up as it started to rain again, the umpteenth time this week. As you turned your attention back to JJ you saw Pope coming in out of the corner of your eye. At least someone got to enjoy a few waves.  

“Then what is it, because I’m so sick of this shit with you JJ. It’s every party, every beach trip.” You said. “I can’t talk to anyone without you right there. I don’t get it.”

“I just-” JJ let out a breath, frustrated with himself mostly. He was terrible with words as it was but he felt like he was incapable of just explaining to you what was the matter. Why couldn’t he just tell you that he liked you?  

“What?” You asked, “you just what?”

“I just-” He tried again, the rain overhead getting worse as he pushed wet hair out of his eyes. Without warning he leaned forward, knowing he’d either be slapped again or you would reciprocate. He kissed you, hand laying at the back of your head but trying not to seem like he was holding you there.  

Your eyes went wide and then quickly closed against the rain. JJ was kissing you, mouth on yours as if it was the most obvious reason of all and somehow you had never even considered that the reason he was so pissed was because he was jealous. You kissed back, grabbing at his waist to pull him closer, hands slippery on wet skin. He was jealous of Topper or John B or any nameless touron at a party and you couldn’t even fathom that because it was completely unbelievable. What did he even have to be jealous of?

“Guys!” Pope called, coming up the beach to where the two of you were standing. JJ pulled way, turning to look at his best friend.  

“What?”

“I’m real happy for you but can we get going? Now isn’t the time!” He insisted, looking back to the darkening sky over the water.  

“Sorry, sorry,” you apologized, grabbing your bag from where JJ had dropped it on the sand and sliding it over your shoulders, “JJ was yelling at me over Topper.”

“I wasn’t yelling at you!”

“No, totally, of course. You were so calm and collected.”  

“I would’ve been if you hadn’t been talking to Topper when we were supposed to be hanging out!” JJ replied, that slight crack in his voice back as he followed you and Pope up to the car.

“I’m joking J, god I kissed you didn’t I?”  

-

taglist: @maplelattes22 @poguesrforlife  @freckled-and-daydreaming  @chasefreakinstokes @millie-753 @fangirlwithme @alex12948 @katherine097 @tangledinsparkles @carbonated-beverage @mariofgreengables @damonsalvawhore27 @dopedoodes @dolanfivsosxox @belledutchess @poguelifeeee @faded-blue @parkerpetertingle @thebookwormlife @summer-clouds-and-long-days @jellyfishbeansontoast @minigranger @hoewkeye @love-someone-special @tiredfeels @strangerthanfanfiction713 @the-only-nana @tomzfrog @mozz-are-lla @vindictive-hearts @poguestyleskye @ssprayberrythings @jenahbell @beautyandthebleh @gothackedalready @teenwaywardasgardian @sarahcxmeron @haha-fuck-you-thot @stillbelieve398-5 @rewindlr @queenniccimicci @kissessforharryyy @thedarkqueenofavalon @alytavzla @bqmblebee @nerdypartytrashpsychic @xxchxrryxx @spencer-reid-is-a-cutie @danielladreaming @obx-saltlife @youngestxhearts @spnobsessedmemes @wowitswondergurl @mybnkjj @pineappleandcherries @mysterious-adventurer @justawilddreamerchild @rhyetaylor62 @calm-rejects  @oh-annaa @aiifandomsunite @x-lulu @ceruleanjj @wicked-laugh @obxwriterfan @allie-mcginn @pcterparxer @literarycharleton @khiaraaa-in-spacee @crushe-s @teamnick @daydreamlilys @collectiveuniverses @activist-af @mdgrdians @buckys-sunflower @vindictive-hearts @copper-boom @talksoprettyjjx @5am-cigarette @smiithys @dontjinx-it @outerbanksbro @mysticsthinking @heavenlymama  @rudy-pankow-needs-an-oscar @babymatilda @raekenliar @lemur46 @under-a-canyon-moon @calums-betch @jolomez @summerkaulitz 

[hb-writes]

My Person

Some people have been asking for some Clara and Isiah and a little something came to me while listening to ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?’ by Arctic Monkeys. Once I started writing, it strayed from that a bit and I’d still consider this very much platonic but I hope you like it!

Summary: From the Little Lady Blinder universe. It’s 1925. Clara and Isiah haven’t talked in weeks but after a drunken night filled with a break up and scrapping in Small Heath, Isiah insists on going out to Arrow House to see her. 

Featuring: Clara Shelby, Isiah Jesus, Tommy Shelby, Finn Shelby, Charles Shelby

-----

Because Clara was awake far later than was wise, reading by the light of the small lamp on her bedside table when she should have been asleep, she heard the rumble of a car engine out on the front-drive, the sound distinct and seemingly louder because of the quiet that descended upon Warwickshire at this time of night.

She’d made it down only two steps when Tommy crossed the foyer, giving her a quick glance as he kept moving to the door, Clara’s eyes drawn to the gun in his hands.

“Go back to bed.” 

“Who’s—?”

“Clara, get up the fucking stairs,” he answered, the words inching towards a shout. 

Tommy kept walking, turning his head towards Clara once again, this time only long enough to see her lift her foot, finding enough satisfaction in that small movement that his sister would cooperate with his command.

Clara couldn’t see anything from the foyer, the hall leading to the front door much too dark, and in Tommy’s absence, she drifted down a few more steps, leaning over the rail for a better look.

She started when the front door slammed against the wall and Tommy stalked back into the room, locking eyes with Clara for a moment, shaking his head as he went to put the gun away. Clara took a few more steps before Tommy came to the bottom of the staircase.

“Who’s—?” she started.

“Is that upstairs, then?” Tommy asked, hand extended to gesture towards the spot where she stood.

Clara glanced at the placement of her feet and then back to him, shrugging. “I’m up the stairs from you.”

Their eyes pulled from one another to the boys, to Finn and Isiah, as they came through to the hall, stumbling a little, the both of them clearly a bit drunk.

“See, Finn, told ya she’d be awake,” Isiah said, pointing up to her and leaning an arm over Finn’s shoulder. “Put us off for a night with your stories, eh Clara?” 

They were the first words Isiah had directed at her in weeks and Clara wasn’t sure how to respond. She had indeed passed the evening after her nephew was asleep alone in her bedroom with a book, that much was true, but it wasn’t why she’d declined Finn and Michael's invitations in the first place.

Clara cleared her throat and settled her eyes on Finn, decided on speaking to him rather than Isiah. “You two idiots had a cup too much an—”

“Enough. Charles is asleep. Get the fuck to bed,” Tommy said. “All of you.” 

“We came for dinner, Tom,” Finn said. “We’re fucking starving.”

Tommy raised an eyebrow as he glanced at his younger brother. “Well now, you’ve missed that by about nine hours, Finn.”

“Chef’s probably left something,” Clara answered Tommy, taking a step. “At the very least there’s a bit of chocolate cake. I could—” 

“They boys can feed themselves,” Tommy waved them on before turning to his sister. “You go back to bed. And actually do it this time, eh?”

“Why have I got to go to sleep if they haven’t?”

Tommy was growing impatient with the kids, impatient with this particular interruption to his evening because even being as close as it was to two in the morning, and regardless of whether he was usually awake at this time or not, these hours were the hours he filled with distractions entirely of his choosing. And he’d certainly not chosen to be dealing with his sister’s smart mouth and the boys’ whiskey addled brains. 

He was about to give her an answer, ready to tell her that his giving an order didn’t require her to ask any questions, but they were saved from the shouting match it would have quickly devolved into by Charles’s arrival at the top of the stairs. 

“Dad?”

Tommy took a deep breath, rubbing his face with one hand as he beckoned the boy forward with his other. “C’mere, my boy.”

Charles came down a few steps but never made it to his father, stopping to hug Clara’s side, her arm fitting over his shoulders.

“Who’s here?” Charles mumbled as he settled his head against her.

“It’s just Uncle Finn and Isiah,” she answered.

Charles glanced around her looking for the older boys. “Why?”

“Well, my sweet sleepy boy,” Clara squeezed him a bit as he yawned. “They came to spend the night because they want to play with you bright and early tomorrow morning,” she said. “You should wake them extra early. Lots of shouting and jumping, eh?” 

Charles grinned as he looked up to her. “You think they’ll want to ride horses?”

“Hmmm, you know, I think they’d love that, Charlie. A brilliant idea.” 

Charles looked to Tommy. “Can we, Dad?” 

Tommy glanced at his sister, snorting a bit at her smirk, the small bit of devilment she’d shown in planting the seed in her nephew’s head, the seed which would result in a bit of hell for the boys in the morning when Charles called on them. 

“We’ll see about that in the morning,” Tommy answered. “Let’s get you back off to bed.” 

“Can Aunt Clara come for a story?” Charles asked. 

“One story,” Tommy answered, grateful his sister didn’t fight when Charles tugged on her hand, grateful she left her arguments and defiance on the staircase. 

-----

It had taken two stories to get Charles back to sleep and though Clara wasn’t tired, she hadn’t gone back to her book, instead electing to lie awake in her bed and stare at the small sliver of moonlight passing through her windows while she listened to the boys come down the hall, finally finding their way to their rooms after several moments of hushed chatter.

She was unsurprised when her door was pushed open though it was nearly an hour later. It was why she was so intent on resisting sleep, because she wasn’t just lying there with no purpose. She was waiting. 

“You shouldn’t be in here,” she said as Isiah came through, his eyes immediately finding hers in the dim room.

He didn’t seem so drunk now, the couple of hours and the food he’d probably consumed settling him a bit, the effects showing on his composed features.

“I want to talk.”

Clara snorted. “You came all the way out to Warwickshire for a chat?” she said. “Doesn’t your girl talk to you, Isiah?”

“She’s not my girl,” he answered. 

Oh. The word was only a thought in Clara’s mind but Isiah read the understanding in her face, her lips subconsciously taking the shape needed if she were to voice it, and he twisted the knob before pushing the door closed, nothing more than a soft click sounding off as he did it.

“Well, I’m sorry to hea—”

“You’re not,” he answered. “You never even tried to like this one.” 

Clara shrugged. “Either way, no reason for you and Finn to drive out here drunk. We could’ve waited, chatted about your woes with the girls of Small Heath without endangering your life and risking one of you getting arrested.” 

Isiah sat down on the edge of her bed. “One of the new boys drove us.” 

“Well, good. I’m glad to hear it.” Clara nodded, pulling her robe tighter. “But you really shouldn’t be in here. Tommy’ll kill you.” 

“Will he?” Isiah asked. 

Tommy hadn’t yet, though he hadn’t ever really come across Isiah and his sister together in quite that way either, every instance of them being caught together someplace her family would probably kill any other boy for being had been so innocuous that the Shelbys had nearly come to believe what the pair consistently insisted, that there was little more than a close friendship between them. 

“Why is it whenever you can’t find a girl to bring home from the pub, you come find me?” 

“We needed to talk.” 

Clara met his eye and took a deep breath. It had been a long couple of weeks without talking to Isiah. She slid across the bed, offering him some space by the headboard. Slipping off his boots and dropping them to the floor with a solid thump, he joined her at the head of the bed, picking up the book on her nightstand and glancing at the title in the small bit of light through the window. 

“So this is why you couldn’t come out with us, then?” 

Clara shrugged, focused on the braid over her shoulder as she sat cross legged facing him. “Didn’t think you’d really want me there.” 

Even before they’d rowed, Clara hadn’t wanted to be around the boys so much, not when all they wanted was to go out with the girls from the factory, with Millie and her friends. She’d been avoiding Isiah in general, claiming an extra bit of school work and Tommy’s insistence that she spend more time with Charles was keeping her home at Arrow House when in truth, she just wasn’t feeling up to facing him. 

Clara wasn’t often like that after an argument with him, wasn’t often distant or aloof after the initial flare of emotion subsided, but then again, she was often the one who did the shouting, the one who left the other person a bit peeved or hurt, the one who needed to take the first step and do the apologizing. 

And though she’d done her fair share of shouting the last time they spoke, it was Isiah’s words that stung and it was Isiah’s tone that left Clara’s heart a bit melancholy. 

“You were right.” Isiah glanced at her. “What you said about Millie.” 

The tightness in Clara’s chest released a bit as she took a breath. 

“You won’t believe me but I am sorry, Isiah,” she said. “I know you liked this one.” 

Isiah shrugged.

“Not like it’s your fault,” he said. “You tried to warn me off of her. I should have listened when you told me there was someone else. Would’ve saved myself from this.”

Isiah flexed his hand and Clara caught sight of his knuckles. 

“Christ, Siah.” She leaned over him to switch on the lamp and pulled his hand into hers, looking it over.

“They’re just bruised,” he said, nonchalant, his hand left there, the fingers of his right hand draped over her palms though he flinched when she drew her thumb over the tender skin. “You should see him.” 

Clara glanced up and saw the red mark on his cheek. “I hope he looks worse than you.”

“Of course he looks worse than me.” 

“You shouldn’t go picking figh—”

“I didn’t,” he said. “Not that it wouldn’t have been deserved, but it was actually Millie who brought it all about. I was ready to let it be.” 

“It’s good I didn’t come, then.” 

Isiah raised an eyebrow. 

“We’d both have bruised knuckles,” Clara answered. “I don’t know I’d have been able to stop myself.” 

A light snort escaped before Isiah sucked in his bottom lip, tilting his head a bit as he met Clara’s eye. “You know, I didn’t mean what I said that day, right? I was just mad.” 

“You did mean it,” Clara answered, looking away from his face, down to the hand she was still cradling in her lap. “And you were right, I suppose… Well, half right, at least. I said what I said because it was true and I didn’t want you hurt but...”

Isiah smiled. “Miss Clara Shelby, are you in love with me?”

Clara pushed his hand away and glanced up to him at the end of her eye roll. She’d wanted to say something clever in return but instead found herself just missing the warmth of his hand as she mumbled. “Siah, you’re my…”

They both struggled to find a word to describe what they were to one another, even after all this time, a decade or so of various labels unable to do them any proper justice because nothing seemed to catch all of the different elements, all of the moments, all of the meaning. 

“Person?” Isiah finally said and Clara gave him a small smile. 

“I suppose,” she answered, because she did suppose that was it. Isiah was her person, a little bit of everything to her, as he always had been, a bit beyond her best friend, not quite like a brother though she considered him family in every way that mattered. “Even when you’re so infuriating I’d like to have one of my brothers chuck you in the cut.”

“You’d miss me if you did,” Isiah said. “Just like I miss you when you decide to hole yourself up all the way out here.” 

“You were avoiding me too.” 

Isiah shrugged. “I shouldn’t have said it. Shouldn’t have yelled at you.” 

“I was jealous though,” she answered. “Always am when you find yourself a new girl, a new...” 

Clara focused on picking at the covers of her bed.

“Person?” he said, guessing again. “You really think one of those girls could push you out?” 

Clara shrugged. 

“I imagine someday one of them will,” she said. “I just hope it’ll be the right one when it happens. Someone I can get on with well enough. A nice girl who’ll help keep you in line and let us stay friends.” 

“Christ, Clara,” he answered, grabbing for her hand, squeezing once despite the pain it caused. “Don’t be worried about that.”

He had been annoyed when he called her jealous, put off by her constant derogatory nagging about Millie Clarke, a bit triggered by her telling him she was seeing someone behind his back.

“I never should’ve said it.” Isiah tugged on her hand. “Come here.”

Clara shifted so she was sitting beside Isiah against the pillows, her cheek resting against his chest as his arm fit over her shoulders. 

“It will happen someday, Siah,” Clara said. “And it should. You’ll fall in love and things’ll change.” 

“Yeah, well, whatever happens with that doesn’t change this,” he answered. “It’d be a bit of a waste, yeah? To let some girl push you out after all the nagging and sassing and trouble you’ve put me through?” 

Clara elbowed him. “Don’t be a prat, Siah.” 

“See what I mean?” he continued. “Why would I just toss out ten years of elbows to the stomach for a girl who doesn’t even know how to properly push me about?” 

Clara glared up at him but took thing no further, settling against his chest once again. 

“And I can’t imagine there’s another person on the face of this earth who looks at me like you do.”

“Like you’re an imbecile I can’t believe has made it to the age of nineteen on his own?” she answered, though that wasn’t right, not nearly close to being it, because the way Clara and Isiah looked at each other, whether it was a glare or accompanied by a laugh through crinkled eyes or with a pooling wave of tears, was something different altogether. It communicated something that no one really ever put words to, something neither of them ever really tried to describe. 

“Like you’re my person,” he said. “A right pain in my arse, but my person, nonetheless. and I’m sorry for shouting at you and for not properly hearing what you were trying to tell me.” 

Clara didn’t answer him right away, thinking over his words, contemplating the relief she was feeling for the first time in weeks.

“I think I’m meant to be comforting you,” she finally mumbled, her head still there against his chest. “You’re the one who’s been dumped.” 

Isiah’s body rose and fell beneath her as he took a slow, deep breath and Clara looked up to watch his face though he was deliberately looking to the ceiling. Isiah played at being the cheeky womanizer, played at wanting nothing more than fun and chaos and lust but Clara knew there was a bit more to Isiah than that.

“I’m alright, Clara,” he said.

“You’re not. You’re upset. You want to talk about it?” 

Isiah finally met her eye and shook his head. “Not right now. How about we just read a bit?” He reached for the book on her nightstand, holding it open between the two of them. “You can go first.” 

“I don’t think you’ll like this one,” she offered. “It’s a bit romantic.”

“What’s wrong with a little romance?”

“Nothing. I just thought what with Millie and all, it might not be the best choice of material,” she said. “Seeing as you’re a bit-”

“Enough deduction. Just read to me, eh?” 

“Fine, but you’ll let me know if you want to talk about it?” she asked. 

Isiah nodded, shifting a bit to get more comfortable against the pillows. Isiah closed his eyes as he settled, resting them for a moment, and Clara still studied his face, continuing with her investigation in peace now that he’d closed his eyes.

Isiah squinted an eye open at her. “You gonna read that book or just sit there staring at my beautiful face all night?” 

He coughed as her elbow once again found his side.

“So much for you comforting me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you liked me throwing elbows and pushing you about.” 

“I never said I liked it, just that I’m too invested at this point to go tossing you out.” Isiah sighed, rolling his eyes. “Though maybe I should reconsider, let Mickey and Finn fight it out to be my best mate. Michael’s probably as good of a reader as you, probably got more better taste in books anyway.”

“Give me that.” Clara snatched the book from him and started reading without offering a rebuttal, the two of them falling asleep atop the covers before the chapter came to a close.

-----

Read more Little Lady Blinder here.

🏷:

@beautycinders

@buckybluebarnes

@cecii22me

@lovemissyhoneybee

@midnight-dreams-23

@mo-onstarrs

@pollyrepents

@unicorndetective22

[superspookywombat]

falling {j.h} chapter six

Warnings: blood, everyone still acting weird, not my best writing

A/N: hey, just wanted to say before you start reading that I know this chapter is kinda meh, I wrote and rewrote this many times and it just feels off. I’d appreciate any constructive criticism :) also, I hope I got the taglist right this time oops

Taglist:  Sleepy-whore geekysimmerthings mauvette268 treestarrrrrrrr kaleigh404 krazykatkay456 meganlikesfandoms darknacademia hi-my-name-is-riley vdtwsupernatural selmeuuh raindancer2004 wondersandtempests royale-trash-slytherin im-hella-bright bootylimpics livfg It-is-rebel-owl-ma-dudes peacemusicinch coffeeslut16 bvbwestfall Actuallyedythecullen stan-joonies Peacebuglove Millie-753 Frozenhuntress67 i-tried21 seaevans femflorals arseofrivia trashysara vulgarfuckinvirgo sleepysnapesnake hey-bulldogs mental-breaker-74 pansexual-and-eating-pancakes

“Y’all go on ahead, I’ll take her home.” Jasper says. Bella looks at Edward who’s looking at Jasper. Edward takes Jasper’s arm and pulls him into the house. Bella looks at you. 

“Why are you guys acting so weird.” You ask. Bella stays quiet, probably thinking of a response. You raise your eyebrows. 

“We aren’t acting weird. If anyone’s acting weird, you’re acting weird. I’m not acting weird. What does that word even mean? Weird. It’s kind of a relative term if you think about it-” Bella rambles. 

“Bella.” You interrupt. She sighs. The sound of the garage door opening stops any future words before they escape your lips. A sleek sports car backs out, and the windows are so tinted, you can’t see who’s driving. Edward walks out after the car, a disbelieving laugh falling from his mouth. The car stops by you and Bella, and Jasper exits the driver's seat. He stalks over to the passenger seat and opens the door. You give Bella an expectant look, but Edward murmurs something into her ear. 

“Well have fun, you kids don’t stay out too late.” She gives you a wink. Your eyebrows knit together. 

“Wha-” You start. She waves you off and her and Edward get into his Volvo. You look at Jasper, who’s now back in the driver seat. You look at him, then back at your sister who just abandoned you. 

“Guess you’re stuck with me.” Jasper jokes. Your stomach does flips. You’ve never been alone with a boy like this, a very, very attractive boy. 

“Heh.” You force a laugh. “Do you, uh, do you know where to go?” 

It was hard to ignore the quiver in your voice, or the tapping of your leg. He nods, then puts the car in reverse. An overwhelming sense of calmness fills the car, and you find your eyelids getting heavier and heavier. You turn to glance at Jasper, only to find him already looking at you.

“Eyes on the road, cowboy.” You tease. Scenery rushes past until you pull onto a familiar road. A tickling sensation in your nose makes you jolt back to awareness. A sneeze manifests in your chest, and Jasper watches you, amused. Tightness fills your throat until- “Achoo!” 

A violent sneeze rips through you, but as much as it hurts, it also feels really good. That is, until you feel a tear. Jasper pulls into the driveway as you reach your hand up to touch your forehead. Sure enough, you pull your hand back to find streaks of red running down your fingers. You look at Jasper, remembering how he doesn’t like blood. You go to unbuckle your seatbelt, only to be stopped by an ice cold hand. You shiver, but you’re more worried about the blood you just smeared on his skin. 

“Oh! I’m so sorry, you can come inside and wash your hands.” You offer, feeling guilty. The air around you feels tense, unnerving. Jasper retracts his reach, both hands forming tight fists on his lap. You look up at his face, only to see that his lips are pulled to a thin line and his pupils are three times the normal size. Uh oh. He looks as if he’s not breathing, his face illuminated by the moon, making him seem like he’s frozen in a painting. You don’t dare breathe, trying to make yourself invisible. He closes his eyes, then after a moment, reopens them and shuts off the car engine. You nervously swallow, watching his jaw tense out of the corner of your eye. He then calmly opens his eyes, and plasters a reassuring smile onto his face. He opens his door and steps out, and before you can reach to open yours, he’s already opened it for you. You unbuckle your seatbelt for real, now, and step out into the chilled spring air. You shiver, but a split second later, a jacket is draped over your shoulders. You look up to see Jasper staring down at you, so you give him a thankful smile and open the front door. 

“Bella?” You call out. As you walk over the threshold, you feel Jasper’s presence right behind you. You glance over your shoulder. “The kitchen’s in there.” 

“Thank you.” He nods, walking past you. Bella walks down the steps and her jaw drops at the sight of your wound. 

“Wha- How-” She stutters, then swallows visibly and shouts over her shoulder, “Edward!” Edward comes racing down the stairs, then after taking one look at you, races into the kitchen. You walk past Bella to go to the bathroom on the second floor. 

“Are you gonna help me clean this up or are you just gonna stand there and gawk?” You say. She sighs and reaches for a damp washcloth, gently pushing you to sit on the edge of the bathtub and wiping the blood off of your skin. “Is Jasper okay?” 

“He’s fine, just isn’t a big fan of blood.” Bella answers. She presses down harder to scrub off some of the dried blood.

“So he’s like- Ow- like you.” You tease, wincing. She furrows her eyebrows and bites her lip. 

“Yeah. Like me.” She says, a small smirk pulling at the corner of her lips. She rinses out the washcloth and hangs it over the faucet. 

“Where’s Charlie?” You ask, walking into your room. Bella walks in as you pull your bloody shirt over your head. She walks carefully to avoid the glass pieces on the floor. 

“He’s down at the station, practically calling for someone’s head on a pike.” Bella nervously chuckles. You nod, pulling a pj shirt over your head carefully. You pull down your pants and replace them with soft sweatpants. Pulling your hair up, you follow Bella back downstairs where both boys are sitting at the table. 

“Oh, you’re still here.” You say, surprise tainting your voice. Bella elbows your side, and a small ‘uhn’ escapes your lips. “I mean, I’m glad you are, I just figured you guys had to get home or.. Something.” You look at Bella, silently begging her to stop your foot from going into your mouth any further. 

“Charlie’s gonna be gone for awhile. You guys are welcome to stay.” She invites. Not what I meant, Bella. 

“I can put in a frozen pizza or something.” You offer. 

“We already ate, but thank you.” Jasper declines politely. Bella stares at you expectantly. You look at Edward and it clicks. Oh.

“Um, well, I think there’s a new episode of Criminal Minds on tonight, if you’d like to join me?” You ask Jasper. Edward looks at you, then Jasper. 

“He’d love to.” Edward answers. Bella grabs his hand and pulls him up the stairs, the door slamming shut behind them. Your heart races as Jasper stands and follows you to the couch. You turn on the tv, but you can barely pay attention due to the marble carved statue lounging next to you. 

“How are you feeling?” Jasper asks. You keep your eyes glued to the tv as you answer, wiping your palms on your sweats. “A little tired, to be honest.” You answer. He looks at you, concerned. “I’m fine, really. Doctor Cullen said I might feel dizzy or tired, I hit my head pretty hard.” 

“I can go- so you can rest- if you’d like.” He offers. You think back to the night’s events, and the heart-dropping feeling you felt when you saw that person in your room returns. 

“No!” You gasp. You screw your eyes closed. “Sorry. I mean, you don’t have to leave. I.. please don’t.” 

His cold hands make you shiver as they engulf yours. “I’ll stay as long as you need me to.” You nod, and settle back into the couch. Your body is inches from Jasper’s, and your hand still clenches his tightly. He doesn’t flinch. A sleepy feeling oozes over you, and your eyes get harder to keep open. You don’t realize that you’re falling asleep until your head hits something cold and hard, yet comfortable at the same time. An arm wraps around you and pulls you closer, stroking your hair as you lose consciousness. 

[walkthegale]

First Lines Meme

Tagged by @obstinatecondolement - thank you! :)

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less  than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose  your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 authors!

1. “Fancy a threesome?” (Not Thunder)

2.  Millie wonders what her family might think of her now. (All the World to Me)

3. Ada wakes a little more tired than she would have preferred, and with a few pleasant reminders of the previous night - the gentle ache of her legs, the scattered marks Hecate’s mouth left across the tops of her breasts. (where i want to be)

4. “Happy birthday,” Ada murmurs, leaning over the back of the armchair Hecate is sitting in and kissing her cheek. (we’ve been here all along)

5. They’ve had difficult terms before. (here’s to stars aligning)

6.  Every time still feels like something completely new, and yet they’re building a certain familiarity, a distinct kind of comfort as they learn each other’s bodies, reactions, particular pleasures. (among the trees)

7.  Yasha hates being woken before she’s ready. (between dreams)

8. “Ada, we’re going to be late.” (Hours Away)

9.  The next time the Nein show up at the Archive in Zadash, Dairon’s there. (Equals)

10. Jean knows she shouldn’t have accepted that last drink. (for what i know, will i be loved)

11. Ada loves Hecate’s eyes. (all she needs)

12. Ada is aware that it’s somewhat early in the day to call on Hecate, but she also knows that Hecate tends to be a morning witch, and is likely to have been awake for some time already. (Silk and Lace)

13. Millie drops to her knees in front of Jean’s chair. (Rather Obvious)

14. Ada steps forward, pushing Hecate back against the wall of her office. (Wait)

15. “Please don’t cry. I can’t stand seeing you cry.” Millie pulls an embroidered handkerchief from her pocket and dabs at Jean’s face before Jean can object. (what a life is for)

16. “What is it this time?” Ada perches on the edge of Hecate’s desk, tucking her skirt about her knees. (meet me here by moonlight)

17. “...Long time, good, good long time.” (Incredible)

18. “It’s raining,” Hecate says. (the one worth taking)

19. They're not there yet. (me, my love, i trust in you)

20. “My broom has, um, stopped.” (listen, the snow is falling)

Favourite opening line: I am not sure! It might be Millie drops to her knees in front of Jean’s chair. or perhaps “What is it this time?” Ada perches on the edge of Hecate’s desk, tucking her skirt about her knees.

Patterns: This was interesting! One has some dialogue from a prompt in it (15), and a couple (1, 17) are lines from the shows they’re fic of. Both of which, plus quite a lot of the others, are linked into my general tendency to have a short piece of dialogue or blunt sentence that I’ll then spin off of into something that explains it in the following paragraph.

The main other things I’m noticing are that good lord I’ve written a lot of Worst Witch fic over the last year. Also my attachment to writing in the present tense is certainly coming to a middle. I’m interested that in most of them I mark out the viewpoint character in the very first line, and there are only a few where I don’t (5, 6, 9, 18, 19).

First lines are very much not the thing I give the most thought to in fic, and I don’t think they’re a particular strong point, as a result. They’re often the first thing that pops into my head when I start writing, perhaps with a few of the following lines, and then I’ll usually do more planning for everything else. And while I go back and edit a fic a fair bit overall, it occurs to me that I’ll rarely edit the first line, and I have no idea really why - it’s not a conscious decision I’m making.

Tagging: @cassiopeiasara @kaleidoscopes-and-carousels @mithrilwren @parcequelle @ktlsyrtis @riotbrrrd @throughtosunrise @fanchonmoreau @emiline-northeto @always-theocean or everybody who would like to, please!

[boat-dock]

“Snapshots” Chapter 1

Hello all! this is chapter 1 of my first ever Her Royal Highness fic. this is going to be a collection of oneshots which will start before they are together and will continue past the end of the book. I hope ya’ll enjoy and as always any and all feedback is appreciated and enjoyed

Chapter 1 “Her traitorous heart” is set between the visit to Skye and the surprise Thanksgiving. 

Millie laid on her stomach in her bed, with her laptop open staring at a blank screen where her essay was supposed to be. She’s been sitting there for half an hour trying to do her homework and not getting anywhere. Flora was in the room with her, not helping her distraction levels. Instead of trying to do work, Flora was rolling around the room in a rolly chair, the scraping of the wheels against the floor and her swishing blonde ponytail constantly pulling at Millie’s focus. It was a strangely childlike activity for a princess to be doing and brought a smile to her face.

“Can you please be a little quieter?” Millie groaned, causing Flora’s head to snap towards her, “I’m trying to work.”

Now the chair was being rolled toward her bed so Flora could rest her chin on the edge of her bed, so that she was only inches away from Millie. “But I’m bored Quint,” she whined, a strand of hair falling in front of her eyes. 

Millie rolled her eyes at that,” You could try doing some homework,” she offered, trying to nudge her away. Flora huffed at her and scrunched her nose. She was not deterred, however, she seemed even more determined to get attention. 

“Quiiiint,” she dragged out, poking her lightly on her arm. Millie ignored her and tried to bring her attention back to her essay, letting her fingers run quickly over the keys even though no useful words came out of it. “Millie,” she whispered and a shiver ran up her spine. She was so used to being called Quint that hearing Flora say her name caused her mind to go blank and her breath to hitch. Millie looked at her and blinked back to reality. 

“Yeah Flo?” she asked. The nickname she had heard Seb call her so many times, slipped out without her evening thinking about it. 

Flora’s face lit up, but she couldn’t tell if it was from the nickname or just from her attention in general. “I would like attention please.” 

It would have been so easy to drop everything and hang out with Flora, in fact she’d been doing that more and more these days and that was doing nothing but fan the flames of her pesky little crush. It was easy to follow Flora, she was powerful and confident in a way that only a princess could pull off. It was dangerous, because Millie found that her feelings were not nearly as aware that a relationship with Flora would only end in heartbreak as her brain was. “I can’t, “ she pushed back,” I have to write this paper.” 

The look Flora gave her could only be described as a puppy dog look and Millie’s resolve almost broke. They sat in silence as she tried to keep working, but Flora stayed next to her, watching with her large golden eyes. “Can I have your phone?” she asked. Normally Millie might have questioned this but she was desperate to actually make progress on this paper so she handed it over no questions asked. 

With a grin she rolled away from the bed to mess with Millie’s phone. A strange weight was lifted off of her shoulders and she could breathe again. Being that close to her old roommate, now friend, shouldn’t be this hard. The princess was now taking various selfies and saving them to Millie’s phone. “Couldn’t you do that on your phone?” 

“Perhaps, but I couldn’t use the fun snapchat filters,” she answered, shooting her a sly grin and snapping another photo. She forgets that Flora isn’t allowed to have social media by her family. 

“Go crazy then,” she says, leaving her to enjoy her selfies.

Flora flashed her a dazzling smile and left her to try and do her homework. Even with the new found quiet she still found it hard to concentrate, her mind wandered and all her thoughts seemed to find their way back to her ex-roommate. Somewhere along the way, her fingers stopped typing and her eyes glazed over. She’s snapped out of it when Flora’s voice disrupts the silence, except this time it wasn’t aimed at her. 

When she looked she found Flora talking to her phone, “Hi Americans,” she sang, waving at the camera. It was then that Millie noticed the blinking red button on the bottom of the screen that showed it was recording,” I’m..”

“What are you doing?” Millie cut in, scrunching her eyebrows. She shifted her weight so she was fully facing Flora and the camera. 

Flora turned toward her and spoke, while sliding the chair back closer to the bed,” I’m talking to the Americans and I’m going to post it to your story,” she said blatantly. She almost snorted but stopped herself, she had at most 20 friends on snapchat, four close friends, her aunt Vi and the rest were random kids she used to go to high school with but never really spoke to. 

She leaned forward and rested her head in her hands making eye contact with the camera,” and how many people do you think are going to see that?” she asked. 

“Don’t really care,” she commented,” I’m just bored, love.” she now turned back to the camera,” Amelia here, is very busy writing her essay and I have nothing to do.” Millie huffed and gave a small eye roll. 

“You could go do your homework ya know,” she was deliberately ignored. 

The door to her room flew open as Sakshi and Perry came in carrying snacks and coffee laughing with each other. Flora flipped the phone camera with ease, so that their friends were now in the shot, “ Say hello to the Americans,” she announced, startling them. 

Saks regained her composer quickly and answered,” Hullo Americans,” she grinned, waves of super model charms flowing from her. 

“Hi,” Perry murmmured,” we come bearing snacks.” 

Millie’s stomach growled loudly at the mere mention of snacks. The camera switched back to her and Flora and the filter snapped back into place, giving their skin a ethereal glow that made her kind of uneasy. Not that Flora needed any filter to be beautiful, she always seemed to glow all on her own. 

“Time to go,” she said waving,” Anything to say before we leave Quint?” 

She thought for a second before smirking and answering,” Send help,” she deadpanned, letting her eyes slide to Flora to see how she reacted. 

“Oi!” she exclaimed, in what Millie assumed was mock outrage. 

“Kidding,” she grinned,” Bye y’all,” she quickly grabbed the phone, effectively ending the video. Accepting a muffin and coffee from Perry, she tried to forget the video, knowing that Flora definitely was not going to. 

“Are we going to ignore the fact that Millie just said y’all,” Saks’ asked through a mouthful of muffin, in a surprisingly unlady-like manner for her. 

“...I’ve probably said it before,” Millie answered as Saks sat on her bed on the opposite side of the room. Flora abandoned her chair to join Millie on her bed so that Perry could have it. She sipped her coffee and scrunched her nose, in an annoyingly cute way, before setting it to the side. “I’m from the American south, it’s part of my vernacular.” 

“I like it, “ Flora replied, “ it’s got a cute twang to it.” 

Millie’s cheeks burned against her will and she ducked her head, avoiding eye contact with everyone. She had gotten used to hearing the Scottish accent around her now, but sometimes it still shocked her. It was strange to think that they might think the same things when they heard her talk. She didn’t have a good way to respond to this, so instead she just kept her head down, ignoring the weight of Flora’s eyes on her and the knowing look Sakshi was giving them. 

Her paper now forgotten, Millie closed her laptop and moved to put it on the desk simply so that she would have something to do with her hands. There was officially too much attention on her and she did not know what to do with herself. She was used to being in the background, not the center of attention and right now there was no doubt that all eyes were on her. 

Her phone dinged next to her annoyingly quickly indicating that someone had messaged her. She sighed knowing that it was about the video Flora had posted of all of them. The princess eyed the phone but before she could make a move to grab it Millie snatched it and clicked it on. 

She had a list of people from her old high school that she did not want to talk to and while the person she caught Jude cheating on her with was not on the top of said list he was definitely on it. Mason’s name sat heavily on her screen and she almost didn’t open it, but her curiosity got the better of her. 

She tried to make her fingers move but they sat stubborn and still. This was ridiculous, Mason didn’t know anything about her and Jude, there was no reason for things to be weird between them. Taking a deep breath, she clicked the message. 

Damn Millie who’s your friend? 

A distressed sound escaped from her throat, it started off as a yelp then turned into a groan. On instinct she threw her phone onto the bed face down trying to erase the words from her mind 

No. This was not happening. Not again. 

No. No. No. 

“What’s wrong with you Quint?” Flora asked, picking up the phone. Millie could see her eyes scanning the message. An all too familiar smirk formed on her lips and Millie could barely keep herself from staring, “Oh,” she says and an emotion that Millie couldn’t place flashed across her face, but disappeared as quickly as it had come,” Some American lad thinks I’m attractive. I don’t think that requires that level of a reaction.” she teased, her smirk returning causing Millie’s cheeks to heat up. 

By this point Saks and Perry were peering over Flora’s shoulder to read the message too. “It’s not the message as much as the person that sent it,” she backtracked. 

“Who is he?” Perry asked. 

She took a second too long to answer, “ his name’s Mason,” they all stared at her, waiting for more information. “He’s who I caught Jude cheating on me with.” she murmured and lowered her eyes. 

Saks gasped and before she could blink the phone was in her hand. “I want a picture of this boy,” she announced only to find that there was nothing for her to see. With a disappointed huff she and Flora glared at the home as Perry wheeled the chair across the room to join them. 

“Check his instagram,” he announced and then Saks’ fingers were flying over the screen. 

“Give me that,” Millie growled, taking the phone back to respond to the message. 

I thought you were with Jude?

Mason typed and deleted his reply at least three times before it finally came through. 

We broke up about 2 months ago.

I thought she would have told you

Her stomach knotted. She wasn’t happy about that, she wasn’t. But there was some sick satisfaction in knowing that the relationship had not worked out. She pushed down those feelings scolding herself. 

We haven’t talked much recently. 

Her friends were watching her intently but she made no move to let them read the messages. She deserved some privacy after all. 

That sucks

This conversation had turned painfully awkward fast. She started looking for ways to end it. 

For you too

She thought that would be the last of it and they would both go back to not speaking to each other for the next three months, until she was back in Texas for Christmas. Sadly she was mistaken. 

So is that a no from your friend? 

Just like that Millie closed the phone without answering and tossed it, determined to forget the entire conversation had ever happened. Sadly her friends didn’t agree with her. “Well…” Flora pushed, her eyes sparkling with the prospects of new gossip ,” What did he say?” 

“Nothing important,” she said bluntly, trying to put an end to this whole thing. They all moved in closer to her and she realized that the only way to end this was to give them what they wanted,” he just said that he and Jude aren’t together anymore and then he asked about you again.” 

An annoying smirk was again graced Flora’s face, she was relishing this, she was relishing how Millie was reacting to this. Millie hated how she was reacting to this situation, she hated that she wasn’t mad at Mason because of his relationship with Jude, she was upset because he was interested in Flora. Except she had no right to be possessive over Flora, Flora was not her’s. They were ex-roommates and barely even friends, nothing more. 

If only she could convince her traitorous heart that. 

[hazbincalifornia]

Sip

Chapter 14: Blitzo tells Stolas something new.

Likes, replies, and reblogs are all appreciated, both here and on ao3!

Warnings: Mpreg

Ao3 link

Blitzo flopped back on his bed with an annoyed grunt as his shirt refused to tug down far enough to cover his stomach. The only things that actually fit properly were his hoodies, actually- everything else was too damn tight. Curse his fashionable sensibilities!

Stolas had insisted on meeting in person again for today. Unfortunately, Blitzo had only fully realized that he was starting to get too big for his closet when one of the buttons had popped on his jacket, and Millie had pointed out that his turtleneck had started riding up. He couldn’t really tug his pants up to cover it without looking like a dweeb, so…

Blitzo sighed, sorting through his hoodies before settling on the pink off-shoulder sweater. It was loose enough to make the bump much less obvious, without having to draw too much attention to himself or wear something Stolas gave him. It was a Wednesday, so hopefully, the café wouldn’t be too busy.

_________________

“Ah, there you are!” Stolas waved, grinning as Blitzo nodded back at him.

“Hey.”

“So, any news?” He lifted a small fabric bag. “I brought some teas, to help with nausea.”

Blitzo snatched the bag, peering inside. “Considering the coffee I can drink has been watered down to piss, I might as well give it a try to have something.”

“That’s the spirit!” Stolas dropped down into a booth in the back corner. There was a general bustle around them, but other than a few glances at Stolas, nobody really seemed to be paying them that much attention. Blitzo had a pair of handguns in holsters just in case anybody got any funny ideas, though. “Now, what’s the news?”

“Well…” Blitzo glanced around before tugging on the bottom of his sweater. “The kid’s started getting weird-ass cravings.”

“Oh? What kind?” Stolas waved over to an employee.

“Flesh, mostly,” Blitzo said, picking at the dirt under his nails and flicking it under the table as a teenager in a stained apron came over. Stolas ordered some fancy-sounding drink for both of them, and when the employee started to say something about how they were supposed to order at the front, Stolas waved a fistful of bills. He grabbed them and stuffed them in the apron pocket, hurrying over to the counter.

“Flesh? Interesting… well, tell me if you need any recipes, the chefs have some fascinating ways to cook meat. What kind of flesh?”

“Any, but human especially.”

Stolas couldn’t help a little laugh. “I take it you take care of those urges after you finish a job?”

Blitzo’s fingers tightened into a fist, and a low growl started in his chest. “It’s not like-”

“No, no, I’m not insulting you- it’s quite lucky you have the job that you do if that’s what they want, that’s all!” Stolas looked down at Blitzo. “I’d love to see those humans scream if you chose to just rip their throat out instead of taking them out how you usually do.” His eyes flashed. “You can get quite wild when so inclined.”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t already know.”

“Why don’t you?”

“Why don’t I what?” Blitzo raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms, and Stolas tapped his forehead right on the symbol with a slender finger.

“Tell me something that I don’t already know,” Stolas replied, bemused. “That’s what these meetings are for, aren’t they?”

���Oh, right. Right!” Blitzo cleared his throat. “Well-”

“Here you go!” The employee set down two lidded cups, and Stolas shooed him away.

“You were saying?” He raised the cup to his beak.

“Before that pimple-faced puberty bomb interrupted us, I was going to say that the kid started moving.”

Stolas spat the scalding-hot tea directly into Blitzo’s face, slamming the cup down on the table. “They what?”

Blitzo scrubbed at it, tongue slithering out as it soaked the pink fabric of the sleeve. Peachy. “Give a guy some fucking warning, won’t you? I don’t need your birdy backwash!”

“They- they moved?” All four of Stolas’s eyes were blown wide open and he shifted in the booth, feathery ass squeaking as he scooted down the shiny seat until Blitzo was about to be squeezed off the edge. Considering he’d started sweating again, his slippery ass just might have if Stolas hadn’t managed to stop himself in time.

“Personal space, much?”

“I- I assumed they’d be an egg, but of course, imps are live births, aren’t they?” Blitzo wasn’t sure if there was any disappointment in Stolas’s tone, but his hands were shaking before wrapping around the bump, pressing the pink fabric firmly around it to mold to the shape. Not for the first time, Blitzo realized just how big those hands were- everything about the guy was huge, including the manic grin spreading across his face as Stolas bent over him. “Can you make them do it again?”

“They do whatever the hell they want, I can’t control- oh, huh.” As if summoned, the little squirt nudged outwards, and Stolas’s fingers tightened. “Don’t pop ‘em, I am not making another one.”

“They’re moving… that’s incredible,”  Stolas breathed. Blitzo glanced around- people were definitely staring now, and he reached around Stolas’s stick arms for one of the guns, waving it at anyone who ogled for too long.

“Don’t you all have your own fuckin’ lives to ruin?”

“Oh, Blitzy, don’t be so melodramatic, this is good! It means they’re healthy!” Stolas’s grin turned cheeky. “I notice you’re in a new outfit. Are your old clothes not fitting? I do like seeing you in something fresh…”

“Yeah, well, I have a specific fashion taste and baby gut doesn’t exactly play nice with clothes that show off my bod.”

“I think it looks darling,” Stolas said, snapping the strap of the black tank peeking out from underneath.

“Stolas!” Blitzo hissed.

“Blitz,” Stolas replied, setting his chin in his hand. “Is there anything else you’ve been keeping from me, my little imp?”

Blitzo furiously re-adjusted the strap. The tank rode the hell up now, but it just felt too weird to wear the sweater without it. “That was the big one.” After Stolas had offered tea for the nausea, there was no real need to bring up the vomiting. He tried to think of it as little as possible the second after it ended anyway.

“Why didn’t you tell me on one of our calls?”

“Figured you’d want to hear the ‘big news’,” (here Blitzo waggled his fingers) “In person.”

“Oh, Blitzy...” His smile melted a little, earnest.

Blitzo grabbed his cup, chugging about half of it in one go before sputtering. “What is this?”

“Oh, it’s a favorite of mine! Do you like it?”

Swallowing down the rest of it in his throat, Blitzo swished saliva around in his mouth before taking another tentative sip. “Well, it tastes better the second time.”

“You’re not supposed to drink it all at once.”

“I don’t need a fussy-ass drink.”

“Some things are more rewarding if you’re willing to wait,” Stolas said, taking a sip of his own. “How goes your job otherwise? Anything interesting besides cannibalizing your kills?”

“There was this one guy who ended up slipping in a puddle of his own piss…”

The rest of the meeting ended up being Blitzo just laughing about particularly idiotic targets and how IMP took them out, but at least Stolas was a half-decent listener. Blitzo already knew that he was a regular client sometimes, but he really seemed invested in the nitty-gritties of just how they went through the process of elimination. Stolas ended up scribbling the drink order down on a napkin ‘in case you ever decide you want some while thinking of me, Blitzy’, and the kid didn’t kick at all on the walk home.

By the time Blitzo was settled back on his bed, they made a single little push outwards, and he found himself absently rubbing his side next to the bump. “Yeah, yeah. I hear you, kid. We’ll get some popcorn later.”

A smile twitched at his face as he imagined the movement afterward was from their hand and they were giving him a little high-five.

[alicedrewbanks]

alice + jj / summer flashback

                                                 you can call me al – july 19th

Alice had never been denied books before and so she didn’t know how enraged she should be at these circumstances. Politeness took over her and she delicately repeated,

“But I’m going to be starting here after the Summer, so -,”

“As I’ve already said, it is only available to current students.”

“I can’t get books out from my school now though.” Alice persisted, speaking in an urgent whisper. “Please? I really don’t want to go to the community library.”

The thought of the lack of the books they had there made her shudder. The librarian sighed, turning to another customer, obviously growing bored of Alice. She stared sadly at the three books that sat on the desk – one on paranormal activity, one on planting and The Invisible Man.

“You can take them out on my card.”

Her head flicked in the direction of the voice and saw an older boy not even looking at her properly. She wasn’t used to speaking to older boys apart from Matt and his friends, so she didn’t even know how to take part in the conversation.

“Oh, no, I can’t do that.” She replied with an awkwardly polite laugh and a shake of a hand.

He finally looked at her and Alice was taken aback by the fact that not only was he an older boy, he was beautiful. She never really had an interest in boys before this, but could always appreciate someone’s beauty and he possessed beauty in abundance.

“No, really, it’s fine.”

He spoke in a low voice, but a little louder than Alice’s whisper.

“No, I mean, that would be against the rules.” She said with slightly raised eyebrows, smiling all the same. “But thank you.”

He smirked at her and the librarian turned away from her computer, speaking in an even tighter whisper than before.

“You are 160 days overdue on this book. The charge is £75.”

There was a silence and Alice looked between this boy and the librarian with great bemusement.

“What?” He said with no attempt at speaking in a low voice now. He laughed. “I just found this in my room and thought I was doing a good thing.”

An uncontrollable giggle left Alice. The librarian gave her a stern look causing Alice to try and get a handle on her laughing, but all she really noted was that the boy was looking at her with equal levels of bemusement. Now she was left with an uncontrollable blush.

Embarrassed at the colour, she pointed at the books, picking them up to return them to their correct places.

As she was placing the last of the books, The Invisible Man, back, she jumped at a face appearing behind the shelf.

“Sorry, sorry, I just wanted to let you know I’ve paid my debt to the library.” Alice smiled, turning her face down and away from him.

“Quite a high price tag for a book. I hope it was worth it.” He let out a small laugh.

“Can I speak to you without the shelf between us?”

They now had less space and shelves between them as Alice walked out the library, not wanting to break any more rules in her little place of worship.

“I’m Jay, by the way. Or JJ, lots of people call me that.” Jay announced when they were outside the library with the sun hitting his face and making it comparable to a statue in an art gallery glistening in the light. She took a breath.

Despite them living in a tiny village, she wasn’t familiar with this older, mysterious boy.

“I’m Alice. You can call me Al, but not many people do.” He laughed at her poor joke and it made her heart beat wildly.

“Like the song?”

Laughter sang between them and she nodded wildly.

“Just like the song.”

let’s hear it for the boy – july 29th

“A boy? A boy!”

All that George received for that was exasperation from Alice.

“Yes, a -,”

“Oh, shut up, George,” Millie hit his arm and turned back to Alice. “Tell us EVERYTHING!”

Normally it was Millie telling them everything about a boy she had met at a party or George privately telling her about his undying love for Millie. There was never anything Alice had to say about other people, it was always about her books or subjects or tea or music. This was so very different and she didn’t even know where to begin.

“Yeah, start with what boy it is.” George continued, rubbing at the spot where Millie had hit him.

“Well, his name is JJ and -,”

“JJ? As in Jay Jhaveri?” George asked, looking more alert.

“You know him?”

“Know him? He is dreamy and so much older than us – Ally, you like an older boy? Where would you have met him? At a party? If you’ve gone to your first ever party without me then I will SCREAM -,”

“Mills -,”

“We met at the library.”

“That day you were supposed to meet us at the library?”

Alice provided George with a sheepish smile, them both knowing now that she had ditched their planned true crime documentary marathon, so she could spend the day with JJ.

“So it’s been two weeks?”

“One week and three days?” Alice responded, carefully trying to sound like she hadn’t keeping track.

“What have you guys done? Are you still a virgin?”

“Millie, heck, of course I am!”

Millie shrugged.

“Being older he’ll want sex sooner than guys our age.” She said matter-of-factly. She turned to George, “How long would you wait?”

“I’ve been waiting 16 years. I’m good at waiting.”

Millie raised her hand as if he had proven her point.

She wondered if Millie was right. ‘Boys’ was not something Alice had any knowledge on. Maybe she should find a book on them.

“Anyway,” She changed the subject, suppressing her fear on how these things worked. “You both know of him? What do you think?”

George filled his air up with cheeks and puffed them out slowly.

“I think this is so cute! You seem like an unlikely couple, but if you like him – we need more details! Spill, spill, spill.” Millie squealed, but Alice kept her eyes focused on George causing Millie to turn and stare at him too. He felt both sets of eyes on him and waved his hands wildly.

“Yeah, well, he is cool, I guess… but he is much older than us? What, like eighteen?”

“Nineteen…” Alice said in a small voice. “Nobody else knows about us right now and I’m only telling you two, because we know about the age gap. When I turn seventeen, which is very soon, then we won’t hide it. He’s just… lovely.”

George eventually nodded.

“Well, if you’re happy.”

                                                i think we’re alone now – august 3rd

They skipped the song by Joy Division and it went to Africa by Toto. They only listened to the happy and silly songs together.

One earphone each.

Her head was resting on his shoulder with his arm wrapped tightly around her. The sun was beating down on them. This was how summer slipped away – in the space between his arm and torso.

“Can I ask you something?” She softly edged her head up so he knew she was listening. “If the rules were different with the library, would I have even stood a chance with you?”

She laughed so much that she shook his chest and then his laughter shook her. That was how they moved, one after the other.

“Maybe in a parallel universe I did get those books and we never even spoke.” She mused softly and he let out a long sigh.

“Oh, I’m glad I live in this universe then.” He shifted slightly, moving to his bag. “I did note though that one of the books was this? Hopefully it was this anyway.”

She pushed herself up to be leaning on her elbow and took The Invisible Man out of his hands.

“I didn’t realise you were paying such close attention…” She stared at the book in amazement.

“Yeah, yeah, you’d think I just wouldn’t remember anything about the day I met you.” She laughed again, feeling suddenly shy and embarrassed.

“I think even in the parallel universe where I get those books, you would still have an overdue book and I would still laugh at you…”

“So I wouldn’t be replaced with a library?”

“Wait, no, nobody replaces a library for me. Libraries are my holy ground, my church, my safe place. All people are second place.” She laughed lightly, leaning back into his chest, feeling something tighten in his body ever so slightly.

“I don’t really have a safe place like that. I guess my flat is now, but it’s not really a home.”

It made Alice feel sad. Very, very sad.

He just wanted a home.

She understood that JJ had a hard life and it was one she would never be able to relate to. She also knew there were rumours about the life he had been leading and company he was keeping, but again she couldn’t relate to that. She did know that the person he was with her was who he was or wanted to be and sometimes people were put in hard positions in life.

She put her hand on his chest and circled the general area of his heart.

“This can always be your safe place. Right in the middle of a field, listening to music and, if you like, being with me.” She looked up at him and watched as his eyes moved to focus on hers. Something told her that the answer touched him.

She could never understand a life as difficult as his, but she wanted him to know an easier life even if it was just when they were together.

                                                              drive – august 16th

She had never even touched herself before and now his hand was on her. It felt like pure ecstasy and she didn’t want the feeling to ever end. Eventually her hand was gripping at his shirt and her eyes were closing, the last image of his lovely face in her head, as she moaned out, shaking out the feeling of the joy. Her eyes opened again and she was gasping again.

“What the heck?” She asked all breathy and bewildered. He searched her face, his smile reaching his eyes as he kissed her softly.

“You uh… liked it then?”

She shook her head, still unable to get over the shaking in her toes.

“I… have no words.”

He removed his hand from underneath her summer dress and touched her tingling skin.

“Are you cold?”

“A little.”

He kissed her again and rolled over pulling a sweater out for her. She sat up, pulling it over her head. Another present from him.

He groaned putting his head in his hands as she untucked her hair from it.

“What’s wrong?”

She furrowed her eyebrows in equal parts confusion and amusement.

He peeked out from his hands.

“You have no idea how perfect you look right now. Ugh… I just… I like you in my sweater.”

She laughed.

“I like being in your sweater.”

“I’m sorry, my place does not deserve to have you in it.”

She took his face in her hands and shook her head.

“I’ve told you before, I think it’s charming.”

They stared at each other, their faces so close. It was something they were doing more frequently these days. Staring at each other in intense silences. Whenever they did it Alice was tracing the outline of his features so she could remember them perfectly for when she went to sleep. She liked to think he was doing the same.

“I want to make you feel as good as you made me feel.”

He groaned loudly, breaking all the silence.

“Ah fuck, Al, I’m going to take you home before I get carried away.”

Alice bit down on her smile. She had never spoken like that before and felt suddenly powerful over him. She did really want to make him feel good as well, even though she had no idea how to do that. His reaction made her want to try.

                                                        -------------------------------

As they sat in his car, parked around the corner from her house and with the windows all steamed up from them kissing, she was sure nobody would see them.

He pulled away and then moved back in for another kiss and then another and then he finally sat back properly in the driving seat with his hands on the wheel and shook his head.

“You really should go in, because I don’t want to be the guy who keeps you past your curfew.”

“Okay, okay, dad.”

He rested his head on the wheel watching her carefully again and she thought they might fall back into staring at each other, but then he spoke.

“I meant what I said earlier, you know. You’re fucking – I mean, you’re perfect. You’re just an angel and I don’t know what the… heck… what the heck you’re doing with me, but you are.”

“JJ, you’re -,”

“I love you, Alice Banks.”

She stopped and stared right into the face of this beautiful boy and this felt like all the romantic classics she had read and read and now it was happening to her.

“I love you too.”

                                                   you can’t hurry love – august 25th

“You want to take it outside?” Matt was in the doorway of her room pretending to punch the air. When she looked up from hurriedly hiding away her lip gloss that she had been applying, she saw he was holding a book in front of him.

“Mmm… I can’t today – I’m going over to Millie’s for this thing.”

Matt let out a low whistle, stepping further into the room.

“You know you’re the world’s worst liar, right?”

Wringing her hands in her lap and then hitting them against her forehead, she nodded.

“I am completely aware of that fact.”

Matt took a seat next to her, almost giddy in his energy.

“Well, I thought I was coming here for a traditional summer afternoon, so you now must pay the price of your secret.”

He spoke in a dramatic voice and ended it with an evil laugh. She rolled her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she readied herself for telling him the only secret she had ever had to keep.

“Firstly, we just got back from our holiday two days ago, so I am not buying the disappointment,” She took another breath, looking at Matt directly, so it didn’t look like there was any reason to be nervous. “Secondly, I’ve kind of been dating someone this summer and -,”

Matt gasped.

“George?”

Alice’s face contorted into pure confusion.

“What? No?”

“Come on, that’s going to be the natural assumption.”

“Hmm… I don’t see how… Anyway,” She had to ready herself again. “I’m dating this boy called Jay, well, JJ, and he’s -,”

“What?” Matt’s face was now far from being excited about this news. Maybe George was the only acceptable person for Alice in his eyes. “JJ?”

“You know him?”

His face tightened and he took some time to reply.

“I know of him. He’s the guy who hangs around Owen Summers?” He put his head in his hands and sighed.

Alice did know that he was friends with him as she had looked at his Instagram and there was that time when her Dad was driving her back from Millie’s one night and she saw JJ and Owen in a car. She had noticed him immediately and he looked like a completely different person to the one she knew from summer walks and bedroom talks, but then he saw her and softened around the edges. She smiled at him then and he did the same, getting softer still.

“How did you even get caught up in that?”

She looked down into her lap, feeling small all of a sudden.

“And how old is he?”

“I’m going to be turning seventeen in a week; it’s only a two year difference.”

“Yeah, sure, that makes it all fine!”

Alice shook her head at Matt getting up from the bed in anger.

“Matt, he’s a good person, no, a great person. Just because he has a few bad friends doesn’t make him a bad person – he’s not like that. I love him and I thought you would be able to trust my judgment. Have I ever been wrong about someone before?” She stopped, pleading with her eyes, imploring Matt to respect her decision. “Do you know something about him?”

Matt sighed, turning away from her and then immediately coming back, kneeling at her feet.

“No, no, I don’t, I just -,”

“Then listen to me.” She spoke with a firmness that she was sure Matt wasn’t used to hearing from her unless they were in a heated political debate and it was never directed at him.

He nodded his head slowly.

“I will, I trust you.” He softened, pulling her in for a hug. “Come on, you know it’s my job to protect you.”

                                                love will tear us apart – august 30th

She walked up to JJ in the playground that surprisingly didn’t have any children in it despite it being a hot day. There was an unshakable giddiness in her stomach at all of this. It was the first time they were meeting in daylight so close to possible people who could see them. How could she not think of their future together and how this could be them all the time? It was almost her birthday and she was hoping he would come to the celebration with George, Millie and her family.

He was sat in the swings as she practically skipped up to him.

“Hello, beautiful,” She giggled, delicately taking one of his hands. Suddenly she felt very shy being in public with him.

“Uh…” He looked up at her and her face immediately changed to one of concern.

“What’s wrong?”

There was a silence that could have lasted a little while longer for Alice. In the silence, he was still hers.

“I need to talk to you.” She let go of his hand and took a step back. How could she not see this coming? “I just… I don’t want to be with you anymore.”

It didn’t make sense.

There could be so many reasons why he would want to end it or the reasons why he couldn’t possibly want to end it, but she could only think of one.

“You said you loved me -,”

She was already crying.

“I didn’t mean it.”

She exhaled sharply. He wasn’t looking at her. There was nothing else she needed to hear from him.

He didn’t mean it.

With tears she didn’t try to wipe away, she turned and stormed off. He didn’t deserve to hear anything else from her and she didn’t deserve to be lied to by him.

“Alice, I -,”

At the faint sound of his voice calling after her, she walked faster so she couldn’t hear what he was trying to say.

He didn’t mean it.

[flamehairedwritings]

The Fire In Your Eyes: Chapter Twenty Eight

Characters: Arthur Morgan x Original Female Character

Rating: The whole series will be E, 18+ ONLY for violence, gore, character deaths, animal deaths, parent deaths, swearing, grief, sexual themes and unprotected sex, mentions of miscarriage, hanging.

Summary: Saved by Arthur Morgan when her town is attacked, a young woman’s past comes back to haunt her when she has no choice but to join the Van der Linde Gang.

Some scenes and dialogue have been taken from the game!

Read on AO3

The Fire In Your Eyes Masterlist

Please don’t copy, steal or re-post my work; credit does not count.

—

Absolution

“You’re a God damn idiot.”

Clenching her jaw, Ada raised her eyes to the woman whose life she was trying to save.

“Excuse me?”

Shaking her head, Sadie raised her eyebrows, practically wheezing out her breaths. “You’re an idiot. You’re not gonna go with ‘em? Gonna stay here with the sick and dyin’?”

“You’re not dying,” Ada muttered, the words cutting at her again as she pressed the scarf hard against the wound.

Sadie hissed out a sound that was a jumble of a curse and a prayer, having to take a few breaths before she spoke again. “Well, I’m gonna go.”

Christ, she’s even more stubborn than Millie.

“No, you’re not.”

“Yeah, I am. Was gunna go even if you hadn’t’ve stayed. Just thought it’d get y’all off my back if I agreed with ya.”

The hand Sadie pushed her away with was gentle, but she also used the grip to help herself up, inhaling a sharp breath. Ada’s mouth dropped open as she looked at her, releasing an exasperated breath. Meeting Charles’s gaze incredulously, she raised her eyebrows.

“Charles, please help me here.”

The wounded man, leaning against a rock and sat in the snow, just shrugged his good shoulder as he shook his head. “You know we can’t stop her.”

She looked to Sadie again and found her smiling faintly as she reloaded her guns.

He was right and Ada hated it.

Licking her lips, she released another breath, this one resigned. “Fine, all right. But please just let me tie this around you.”

“Fine.” Sadie raised her arms to give Ada space as she rose up on her knees, winding the scarf around her torso and tying it tightly.

Once she was satisfied, Ada stood, wiping the blood from her gloves onto her coat. She hoped Abigail wouldn’t mind too much, all things considered, and, well, if she even survived. Glancing at Sadie, she didn’t know how the other woman was still standing. She was leaning against the rock, but the determination and fury she could see on her features must have been what was keeping her going. Ada wished she felt even a small drop of that. She still just felt nothing. Even when she’d watched Arthur and John go ahead, no emotion had overwhelmed her, no fear, no anxiousness. She knew she was pushing it all away, that at some point she’d break, if she didn’t die.

She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that, too, as they’d made the journey to the mountain and up it.

I could die at any moment.

The thought of something so final, so shattering to those that she loved, happening just... it was just a possibility. Not something that she would endeavour to avoid, just... something that might happen. And she didn’t know why. Numbness just overwhelmed her.

“You comin’?”

Sadie’s voice brought her back to the mountain, her eyes darting up to her. Her friend’s eyebrows were raised but concern was starting to seep into her gaze. Ada didn’t want to see it. Nodding, she cleared her throat as she looked to the path ahead.

“Yeah. Sounds like they’re making their way through.”

Shots echoed up from wherever the men were, a small comfort to them.

“That it does. Charles?”

Ada turned just in time to see Charles nod as he got to his feet with a jagged breath. “Yeah, I’m comin’. Don’t know what good I’ll do, though.”

“Just watch our backs,” Sadie said with a small smile, gun gripped firmly in one hand. “Now let’s go.”

They came across the three dead men in the snow, uncomfortably close to where they’d been, and moved over them, Charles hanging back for a couple of moments to take what ammunition he could find. Bodies littered the way as they followed John and Arthur’s boot prints in the snow, crimson blood staining the white, though they were still cautious, glancing up at the cliffs every few moments; Ada wouldn’t put it past any of Micah’s men to be lurking around, waiting. They could still hear the faint sound of gunshots, too, though they were growing closer.

Sadie stumbled, her boot falling further than she thought it was going to in the snow, and she cursed as the movement pulled at her side. She waved Ada off, however, as she approached to help. “I’m fine, I’m fine...”

They continued on, making their way through a narrow pass, and from the sounds of the shooting, Ada knew they had to be close now—

An explosion erupted, making the mountain shake.

“Fuck...” Ada gasped as she leaned against the rock, gripping onto it.

Sadie and Charles were doing the same, desperately hoping no fragments would break off and rain down on them. It held, though, and as the land settled, they glanced at one another.

They quickened their pace. Sadie moved surprisingly quickly ahead of her, but Ada hated the sound of her breaths, laboured and pained.

She hated more that the mountain was now quiet. They couldn’t be dead. They wouldn’t be dead.

They’ll be fine, they’ll be fine, they’ll be fine.

It wasn’t until, as they moved up a hill to an empty camp, they heard John’s voice that she felt herself take a proper breath, her shoulders dropping. He was calling for Micah, and as they came over the main peak of the camp and saw the watchtower, she saw the two men approaching it, alive and well, John continuing to call out.

“Ada.”

Tearing her gaze away, she looked to Sadie who was pointing to something in front of her. Following the direction, she found a sniper rifle propped against a crate. Shouldering her Repeater, she grabbed it, swiftly checking the condition and if it needed reloading.

“All right, good,” she murmured once she was satisfied, licking her lips and glancing up at Sadie. “You two stay...”

She trailed off at finding Sadie’s and Charles’s backs to her, their bodies rigid. Moving closer, her heart stuttering, she followed their staring gaze down towards the watchtower, and saw him.

Micah Bell stood before a firepit, arms lifted as he spoke though they were unable to hear his words.

“Oh, God,” Ada breathed, her grip tightening on the rifle. “He’s really here.”

“Yeah, he is,” Sadie murmured, a bite to her tone. “And he’s all alone.”

Ada’s gaze darted about the small camp down below and oh my God, he is.

She could feel a strange excitement starting to radiate off of Sadie as she shifted her stance.

“We could take ‘im alive,” she murmured to them, nodding. “We could take ‘im alive and let people see ‘im swing for his crimes. Get us all a decent reward, too.”

Ada glanced at Charles, who although he looked like he very much needed to sit down seemed to still be alert as he met her gaze, and she realised they could. They had the advantage here; it was five against one, no matter the state two of them were in, and there was no way Micah wouldn’t have sent his men out to face Arthur and John before he did... they could see him brought to justice and so could many others.

Nodding slowly, Ada licked her lips again. “Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I have an idea.” Turning to them, she held the rifle out. “You two stay here and keep an eye out with this, I’ll go down and—”

“Nah, lady, I’m goin’,” Sadie cut in, one side of her mouth lifting. “You’re stayin’ up here and keepin’ us safe.”

“Sadie, you can’t—”

“You got the steadiest hands here, Ada.”

Ada opened her mouth, then closed it as her gaze darted down to theirs. She wasn’t wrong there. Sadie’s were shaking slightly and Charles could barely hold his own gun now.

“Right, fine, I—”

Gunshots suddenly broke out down below and they flinched, their eyes darting to the men. They were firing at one another, John and Arthur taking for cover as Micah moved backwards, firing relentlessly at them.

“Shit...” Sadie hissed as their eyes fixed on their friends. “Ada, we don’t got time to argue about this, I’m goin’ down there now so you watch our backs, all right?” She continued even before Ada nodded, “If you need to take a shot and kill ‘im, do it, but we can take ‘im alive.”

“Okay, please be careful.”

“Oh, I will.”

Ada and Charles watched her duck low and move swiftly down the hill towards them, heading to the edge of the cliff. Gritting her teeth, Ada lowered to the snow, settling on her stomach, and aimed the rifle, peering through the scope at Micah.

Exhaling a long, slow breath, she settled her finger over the trigger.

—

Arthur’s heart, which he thought had stopped moments ago, was now racing.

Dutch was here. Alive. And with Micah.

He hadn’t changed, except for now having a full beard, and he, too, had a thick coat on. The large rings Arthur could have drawn from memory were still adorning his fingers, and his guns, one pointed at him and John, the other at Sadie, were the ones he had always had and prized. Arthur didn’t know to say, what the hell to do, but he didn’t have the chance to think anyway.

It happened so fast.

Micah spun, knocking Sadie’s arm aside and grabbing her. They grunted as they wrestled with one another, but Arthur would have been ashamed to have admitted later, if he’d had the chance, that he hadn’t been able to tear his gaze away from Dutch to see how she was doing. He felt John beside him, tense and hissing out curses as he watched, but Arthur just looked at Dutch, and Dutch looked at him.

The older man must have heard Micah greet them, must have had a few, private minutes as they’d shot at one another to process that he alive, so Arthur hated that his own feelings must have been playing out on his features now for all the world to see. His lips were parted, his eyes were wider and his gun wasn’t even raised. 

Dutch’s own features were expressionless.

Arthur had convinced himself, about a year or so ago, maybe even before, when Millie had been born, in a moment of pure happiness and contentment, that he’d forgiven Dutch, that, yes, he’d fucked everything, not handled it well at all, but he’d been doing what he’d thought was best for everyone around him.

Time had a fucking awful way of softening memories.

He saw now, despite everything that had happened, he’d still been trying to justify Dutch’s actions, to give him the benefit of the doubt... yet here he was, with Micah the rat still, and pointing a gun at him.

Dutch was the first to look away when Sadie released a yell through gritted teeth as Micah hauled her up from the snow where they’d been grappling and held her tight against him, his gun pointed at her head.

John was aiming his own gun at them, furious energy crackling through him as he just about managed to stop himself from lunging forward.

Micah knew this, a smile pulling at his lips as he gestured his gun at them. “Now, boys... Now... What were you sayin’?”

John swallowed hard, not knowing what the hell to do. Glancing briefly at Arthur, he found the other man frozen still, his fucking gun not even pointed at either of them, and not saying a damn word, just staring at Dutch. Looking himself towards the older man, John jerked his chin at him.

“What the hell are you doin’ here, Dutch?”

He just had one gun raised now, at him and Arthur. “Same as you, I suppose.”

He sounded so... unlike Dutch. Weary, John would have even said, like none of this mattered.

Micah, on the other hand, was drinking in every single moment. “Dutch and I are teamin’ up once more... We got money... We got dreams...” Glancing at Dutch, his gaze returned to John, his smile widening. “... Join us, boys... Join us.”

Arthur still wasn’t saying a fucking thing and John’s heart was pounding against his ribcage. He was aiming at Micah, the man’s arm still tight around Sadie, but he didn’t trust that Dutch wouldn’t fire at any moment and just kill him, end what he’d tried to let happen in those last few days. Licking his cracked lips, he exhaled a short breath.

What the hell was he supposed to do?

— 

Ada could hear her own breathing as she stared through the sniper-scope, her blood running cold, body frozen, and it wasn’t because she was lying in the snow.

“Is that...” Charles breathed beside her, “... What the hell is Dutch doing here?”

“I don’t know...” she heard herself whisper, “... I don’t know... I don’t know...”

This changed everything.

The fact he was still with Micah, after everything... She’d watched him walk away from Micah on that mountain, that was the one thing he’d done right in those last few days, the one thing that had given him a shred of redemption in her eyes over the years, yet here he fucking was... and he was aiming at Arthur.

She looked at her husband, saw how rigid he was and knew it wasn’t from the cold. There had been some dark days after the mountain, when he’d been recovering both physically and mentally. Days when he’d convinced himself he could have saved Dutch, that it had been his fault for not noticing the change in him sooner and the terrible things it had led to. She’d had to hold him, tears in her eyes and on his cheeks, and tell him over and over that he’d done all he could and it wasn’t his fault. It had taken some time, years, even, but on a quiet night soon after Millie was born, as they sat on their porch watching the sun set, he’d told her he'd forgiven Dutch. She hadn’t understood why or how he could, but she saw how at peace he was then at having done so, how relieved he was... and now that had been completely undone.

She didn’t think it was possible, but she’d never hated Dutch van der Linde more than she did right now.

Charles’s jagged gasp tore her from her thoughts and she watched as Micah drove Sadie into the snow, trying to wrestle the gun out of her hand. 

Lifting her head suddenly, Ada shoved the sniper rifle towards Charles, her heart racing.

“Stay here,” she murmured as she pushed herself up, “Don’t hesitate to pull the trigger.”

—

He wished he was just a few inches closer to Arthur so he could elbow him out of whatever had overtaken him without it being obvious. If he’d had time to think about it, he would have thought Arthur would have been enraged at the sight of Dutch, would have been demanding to know what the hell was going on, would have at least been aiming his gun at him, finger on the trigger.

But no, his brother was still silent.

Adjusting his grip on his gun, John kept it fixed on Micah. “Let her go.”

Sadie was staring at the ground, and probably wouldn’t have been upright if it hadn’t been for Micah’s grip, and the man just continued to smile.

“Now, I can’t do that, John.”

John could feel himself growing desperate and that was the last thing he wanted to show right now. “Dutch... Dutch, c’mon now!”

Dutch gazed at him, still expressionless. “You shot at me, son.”

“You shot at us first.”

All their eyes darted to Arthur as he finally spoke, his jaw clenched, voice tight.

Here was the anger now, and it seemed it had instantly provoked it in Dutch, too, his words bursting out of him.

“You betrayed me!”

“I could say the same thing. You left John for dead, me for dead. Didn’t even look back, after all them years.” Arthur’s tone was as cold as the silent air around them, though his gun remained by his side.

Dutch pressed his lips together, taking a few moments before he spoke. “I was tryin’ to do my best... you... you just cared for yourselves.”

“I think differently. All I ever did was care about you. I gave you my life, twenty years of it. Nearly died tryin’ to save you from this rat, yet here you are.”

The two men gazed at one another, silent as Arthur’s words lingered between them. It was Micah who broke the quiet.

“Join us, boys, c’mon... It doesn’t have to be like this...”

His arm was slightly higher around Sadie now, practically choking her, and she released a stuttered groan, trying to pull at it.

“Let her go!” John demanded, trying so hard to not take a step forward. “She ain’t well!”

“Do as he says.”

Micah’s barked laugh died on his tongue, and John felt relief wash over him as Ada appeared a short distance from his side, her Repeater raised.

Her gaze darted from the blond man to Dutch, and she saw nothing cross his features as he stared at her. 

And then a muscle in his jaw twitched and he raised his other gun to her.

“You—”

Arthur’s revolver ‘clicked’ as he aimed it at Dutch, the older man stilling instantly as his gaze shifted from the gun to him.

“I see,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” was all Arthur said, gaze fixed on him.

Micah’s laugh returned, long and exuberant. “Ooh, well, well, well, if it ain’t her majesty herself, still alive and kickin’!”

“Let her go.” Ada ignored him, echoing John’s words.

He sighed, grinning. “C’mon, now, I don’t wanna kill any of ya when we’ve just reunited. Join us! You can come, too, Miss Prissy Missy! If you’re good...” He tilted his head, leaning it against Sadie’s, the blonde woman gritting her teeth as she snarled. “Or are we just gonna stand around glarin’ at each other?”

“Dutch...” John’s voice silenced them all, even Micah falling quiet. He shook his head slightly as the older man met his gaze. “... Dutch, we all did our best for you. Ain’t our fault things turned out the way they did.”

He was silent.

“Killin’ us won’t solve anythin’, Dutch,” Arthur murmured, pulling Dutch’s gaze back to him. “John’s right, we did our best, and... Well, we came here for Micah, not you.”

Micah chuckled lowly, holding Ada’s gaze as he tightened his arm around Sadie. Ada grit her teeth, her finger hovering over the trigger.

Dutch looked between his two former gang members, former sons. It felt like a lifetime before he spoke.

“Do you remember the last time we were up in the mountains, all of us together... How long ago that was...”

John shifted slightly, unease weighing heavily on him like a rock. What was the point in this?

Arthur shifted, too, resting his weight on one foot as he nodded slowly. “Yeah, long time ago. Lot of things have changed since then, though, huh. Now John and I, we got families. He’s got Abigail and Jack, and Ada and I... we got a kid of our own, Dutch, and we wanna get home to her.”

Dutch gazed at him.

Micah barked out a laugh, raising his eyebrows at Ada. “You let cowpoke over there reproduce? Hell, the Lord save us all. What’s her name? Oh, go on, tell me,” he prompted at her silence.

Ada felt her lip curl as she stared at him, not knowing how she wasn’t pulling the trigger. 

"Amelia.” Arthur answered Micah, though his eyes remained on Dutch. “We call her Millie.”

Dutch still didn’t say a word.

“Ooh, well, congratulations on little Millie. Can’t wait to be introduced...” 

Micah laughed as Ada tried to take a step towards him, but John had swiftly reached out and grabbed her arm, keeping her in place.

"You fucking son of a bitch...” she hissed, her grip so tight on the Repeater her hands were almost shaking.

“You there when he killed that little girl, Dutch?” Arthur asked quietly, like it was just the two of them on that mountain.

Silence.

Ada and Micah weren’t looking away from one another, and Sadie was staring at her, too, wheezing out her breaths. John had released Ada’s arm but kept his hand slightly raised, just in case she went to lunge again, though he had half a mind to not stop her, while his other hand kept his gun trained on Micah, too. Arthur was still to the other side of him, so still... and Dutch... Dutch was silent still.

It enraged John, how passive he was, how unfeeling, and that he was here with Micah. He just couldn’t believe it. After all these years, after what Arthur and Ada had told him happened on that mountain...

“Say somethin’, Dutch!” he snapped suddenly, tired of the older man just standing there, like he hadn’t chosen this. “Say somethin’!”

Dutch glanced at him. “I ain’t got too much to say no more...”

They barely had time to take a breath.

Raising his other hand, Dutch aimed the gun held in it at Micah and fired.

The bullet tore through his torso as Sadie lunged out of his grip, falling to her knees. They should have gone to help her, but Ada, who had inhaled a sharp breath, and John and Arthur were frozen in their positions, eyes wide, lips parted.

Yet no one was more shocked than Micah. He stared at Dutch, watching the man holster his guns as he swayed slightly. Touching his gloved fingers against the hole in his chest, as if he couldn’t believe it was real, he marvelled, “You shot me.”

Then, he laughed, the sound horrible and low. Sucking in a breath, he nodded, teeth dragging over his lower lip.

“You shot me pretty good.”

His head rolled to the side, his eyes fixing on her, and Ada knew it was going to happen. Micah swiftly raised both of his beloved guns and aimed them at her and John. She didn’t hesitate. He was fast, but she and John were faster.

The sound of their bullets echoed across the snow, and not one of them was Micah’s. They buried into him and a spluttered, stunned groan slipped from his lips. He suddenly pressed them together tightly, confining strange sounds to the back of his throat as his arms dropped to his sides, his guns clattering on the rocky ground as they fell from his grasp. He gazed at them and his body turned a few moments later in a strange, jerking motion. His back to them, he took a few steps forward as he nodded again, raising his hands slightly, questioningly, and then his legs gave out. Collapsing forwards, Micah Bell died a second before he hit the ground.

Swallowing hard, it was several moments before Ada lowered her gun, her hands shaking.

She couldn’t believe it... she just...

“Thank you...” John said suddenly, stumbling over his words, no one else knowing what to say, the gesture awkward, but... Dutch had saved them. “I... I, uh...”

Her eyes darted to Dutch, who was gazing at John, then to the two men. They looked so utterly lost. They were boys again, for the briefest of moments, looking to their leader, father and friend in where to go from here. Arthur’s gun was by his side, as was John’s, and neither of them knew what to say. Was there anything to say?

Dutch didn’t seem to think so.

As John tried to find words, Dutch started to walk. When he passed the men, something akin to... disappointment shrouded his features, or maybe even faint contempt, anger. Or all three.

“Dutch.”

The older man paused at Arthur’s voice while John holstered his gun and hurried over to Sadie who was trying to get on her feet with a grunt. As Dutch turned to him, Arthur held the gaze of the man he’d have once died for, weariness overtaking him.

“We’re doin’ you a mercy here.”

Dutch didn’t react to the gentle warning, and for a few moments Arthur thought he wasn’t going to reply. 

“Maybe it is I who is doing the mercy.”

The warning had been reciprocated.

He turned away again as Arthur wet his dry lips, his heart pounding. He watched the man continue on, not looking back once.

Ada watched him, too, stepping to the side slightly so he could pass her. He paused before her, though, his eyes meeting hers. She didn’t look away and didn’t react, even though she had no idea what he was searching her gaze for. She didn’t know what possessed her to say it, either, as the silence went on. Perhaps it was the manners her mother had drummed into her.

Licking her lips, she cleared her throat. “I hope you can find happiness.”

She could have yelled at him, could have demanded justice for the death of her father but... what good would it have done? What would have been the point? Dutch was leaving without a fight, and he’d done them a favour. It would almost have been cruel to challenge him then, to execute him. She’d come to terms with the events of her life anyway, and killing this man wouldn’t bring her father back. Part of her told her she was just trying to be superior.

He gazed at her, mouth in a thin line, and she thought she saw a shine to his eyes.

She thought it was regret.

It was too late when she saw the rage that flooded his features.

Dutch lunged. 

He drew one of his guns in the same moment that he reached out and gripped the front of her coat, yanking her forward against him as yells erupted behind him. Her eyes were wide as she gasped, the Repeater falling from her hand, and she couldn’t look away from his furious gaze as he pressed the barrel of the gun against her chest.

A gunshot rang out and she flinched with a sharp gasp.

Dutch stared down at her, face inches from hers, exhaling short, harsh breaths. Tears slipped from his eyes as he blinked.

And then he choked as blood trickled out of the corners of his mouth.

He used his grip on her to steady himself now as he turned his head to look behind him, a quiet, strained sound coming from the back of his throat. 

Arthur didn’t move, his gun still raised, his breaths, visible in the cold air, coming slow and long.

Dutch released another strange sound, and his legs gave out. His gun fell from his hand as he dropped down to his knees, and he now gripped at the bottom of Ada’s coat. Wheezing his exhaled breaths, his other hand went to the hole in his stomach, as if, like Micah, he couldn’t quite believe it was real yet. He made another faint sound at feeling it. His hand resting over it, he gazed at the white snow behind her, his breathing jagged. His eyes moved after a few moments, trailing their way up towards the sky. A bird flew across the grey vastness of it, and when he blinked again, following it, tears dripped down his cheeks. The sun was trying to break through the thick clouds, a few shafts of light illuminating the dark feathers of the bird, before they were gone, vanishing as soon as they had come. His hand slid from her coat as he grunted, his body hunching over slightly, and his eyes fell shut. 

It was another moment or so before Dutch van der Linde collapsed onto the snow, dead.

Arthur stared at the body, finally lowering his gun. He exhaled a shaking breath, his shoulders dropping. Glancing at John, he found the younger man looking at him as he held Sadie up, eyes wide, but not shocked or saddened. He just nodded, and Arthur returned it, relieved beyond words that the guilt he had expected wasn’t coming. He returned his gaze to Dutch’s body, and he felt like he could breathe properly for the first time in a very, very long time.

It was Ada’s heaving sob that finally made them all tear their eyes away from the body.

Tears ran down her flushed cheeks as another sob escaped her, her hand pressed against her left side, just above her hip.

Blood was spilling through her fingers.

“Oh, shit...” he heard Sadie gasp.

Arthur felt like a knife had pierced his heart as he swiftly holstered his gun and strode towards her. “Ada... Awh, shit, oh, sweetheart...”

Reaching her, one hand gripped her shoulder as the other pulled hers away from her side, and he froze, staring at the wound that was bleeding profusely. Pressing both their hands firmly over it, his eyes darted up to meet hers, his chest twisting unbearably.

She was crying so hard she was barely able to take a breath but she was mumbling over and over in between her sobs something he couldn’t make out.

“What’s that, sweetheart? Are you okay?”

“Fuck, shit, here, take this...”

He watched her try to take a breath as John suddenly appeared at his side, holding out a strip of material he must have torn from his shirt. Arthur took it with blood stained fingers and nudged her hand away before pressing it over the wound. 

She hissed as her features crumbled, and managed to take in enough of a breath to say clearly, “... it’s over, it’s over... it’s over...”

Her gaze dropped to Dutch’s body beside her as she sobbed, every feeling she’d suppressed in the last several hours overwhelming her.

It was over, it was truly, truly all over.

Arthur’s hand went from her shoulder to her cheek, cupping it and stroking it gently with his thumb as he tried to meet her gaze. “Yeah, they’re both dead, sweetheart, it’s okay...” He swallowed hard as he felt the blood against his fingers. “... Oh, my darlin’, shit, I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t mean for you to get hurt, I thought with the angle you were at— Woah, hey, hey...”

Her legs had buckled and he caught her. Murmuring low, soft words, he swept her up into his arms, holding her against him.

The motion had pained her, he had seen it, and she gazed up at him, tears falling thick and fast down her cheeks. He swallowed again, having to blink to clear his vision.

“I’m so sorry, Ada, you’re gonna be okay, though, all righ’? We’re gonna get you some help.”

Her lower lip was trembling. “I’m fine... It hurts but...”

“All righ’, okay, we gotta get you to a doctor, though, all righ’? You, Sadie and Charles, okay?”

She nodded, one hand gripping at his coat as the other pressed the strip of John’s shirt against the wound. “I’m fine...”

He knew she was lying.

“Money...”

Blinking again, the voice almost startling him, he looked over at Sadie who was leaning against the wooden shack, looking so drained.

“What?”

She nodded at the watchtower, raising her eyebrows as she coughed. “Money from Blackwater should be in there...”

Arthur’s gaze darted to John’s before back to Sadie. “Really?”

She tilted her head, arching an eyebrow. “You think I’d say somethin’ like that if it weren’t true?”

Running his tongue along his teeth, Arthur exhaled a breath. “We gotta get off this mountain and find a doctor.”

Sadie chuckled, standing upright. “I ain’t leavin’ without it, we deserve somethin’, don’t we?”

Arthur glanced at John again, watching him already heading towards the tower. Adjusting his grip on Ada, he shook his head.

“You can do all the searchin’ you want, I’m gonna get back to the horses and you should be righ’ behind me.”

Sadie waved her hand, nodding. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, right behind ya.” Taking a breath, she looked to Ada before back at him. “She okay?”

He nodded as he turned, heading for the hill. “She’s gonna be fine.”

His heart was thumping against his ribcage. Strawberry was miles away and he wasn’t familiar enough with the land anymore to know what ranches were around and if they would have a doctor, so that just left—

“Arthur.”

He paused at Sadie’s voice and turned back to her, having to bite back a snapped retort as he raised his eyebrows.

Her lips were pressed together, the weariness having returned, and sympathy with it. “Closest town is Valentine.”

His jaw moved. “I know.”

He continued on up the hill, gritting his teeth as he pushed through the snow. Had enough time passed? Would they have forgotten about him and the gang? Would a new sheriff have taken over?

Truthfully, he didn’t fucking care.

Gazing down at his wife, his chest tightened as he found her eyes closed.

“Sweetheart...”

Mercifully, they opened at his voice, though not fully.

He managed a smile, his thumb stroking against her arm. “You keep those beautiful eyes open, okay?”

Her tongue drifted across her dry lips. “It’s so cold.”

“Yeah, you gave your scarf to Charles, you remember, to keep ‘im warm? Then I gave mine to Sadie to help her, and John doesn’t have one but he gave you some of his shirt. Looks like we’ve all been swappin’.”

 “You haven’t got anything.”

He smiled again, feeling his eyes sting. “Oh, I get to have you for a few more decades, all righ’? You gonna give me that?”

He thought he saw the faintest of smiles on her lips as she nodded.

“Well, you keep those eyes open, then.”

“Okay.”

Reaching the top of the hill, he found Charles sat on a crate, a rifle in his hands, staring at the snow. Lifting his head, he suddenly rose to his feet at the sight of them and was shaking his head before Arthur could open his mouth.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t find a safe shot, I tried to but I just couldn’t find it—”

“It’s okay, Charles, it’s all righ’.” He didn’t stop walking. “C’mon, we’re gonna get you both to a doctor.”

Charles followed by his side, gripping at his shoulder again. “Ada, are you okay?”

She hummed out a sound as her reply, and glancing down at her again Arthur found her eyes still open and fixed on the sky. Tears were trailing down her cheeks, and he knew she was trying to breathe steadily.

He hated the memory it dug up from the furthest corner of his mind.

Holding her tighter, he broke into a jog, fucking grateful that it was just downhill from here. Charles kept level with him, most likely grateful that it was just declines, too.

“Where are Sadie and John?”

“Back there. She said the money from Blackwater’s in the tower.”

“What?”

“I know.”

“How the hell did Micah and Dutch get it?”

“I don’t know.”

Charles fell silent, knowing his mind was elsewhere and there would be time for questions later... he hoped. His gaze dropped to Ada, watching her stare up at the sky. He had watched through the scope as Dutch had done the same, taking in his last few moments of life. He wanted to ask Arthur how he was feeling, if he himself was all right, but... questions later. 

They were silent the rest of the way down the mountain, barely glancing at the bodies they passed. Charles stumbled once or twice on the descent, but Arthur didn’t see, having taken the lead. Charles didn’t call out to him to slow down either, knowing he wouldn’t, and Charles didn’t want him to.

They found their horses grazing near the trees they’d left them at, their heads lifting instantly at the sound of them. Charles fumbled for something in his saddlebag as Arthur strode for Titan. Noka approached idly at scenting her mistress, but Arthur wanted to hold her as they rode because he didn’t trust that she’d stay upright. Even thinking that practical thought frightened him. Valentine was closer than Strawberry, but it was still quite a ride.

“There you go...” he murmured as he raised her in his arms, settling her on Titan as he gritted his teeth.

She gasped, her lips swiftly pressing together cutting it off.

The hand that had clutched his coat now gripped the pommel, her knuckles whitening, and he glanced up at her as he took Titan’s reins in one hand and prepared to mount and sit behind her.

His heart shattered.

She looked terrified.

��

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Pets

If You’re Lonely, Wake Me

Pairing: Peter Parker/Tony Stark (Starker) Rating: Mature (M)  Word Count: ~3.3k Notes: I’ve had a few of these hit the inbox and I’m here for it. I love puppies, so I hope another dog story is okay with you guys! Warnings: none, other than cute dogs being used as plot devices. Summary: 

After having to transfer to NYU from MIT, Peter is a little distraught. Things turn around when he finds a stray dog behind a trash can. Her presence in his life brings Tony the RA around - what’s the worst the could happen? 

do the thing, send in all the prompts 

As a wide-eyed freshman, Peter enjoyed the greatness of being away from home and the total anonymity that gave him. MIT was his dream school and every day he was there was a better day than the one before. The curriculum was exactly what he wanted from a Biomedical Engineering degree program. The labs were well equipped and the opportunities were endless.

Which is why, his sophomore year, when he was forced to transfer to NYU to be closer to home, Peter found himself kind of depressed. His academic track record was enough to get him a full ride scholarship at NYU – he’d gotten a partial to MIT and May was helping him pay for the rest. After losing her job, she couldn’t do that, anymore. It only made sense, transferring somewhere that gave him the chance to focus solely on his education – it just came at the weird price of having to give up something he wanted for a long time. Education was education, however – so he tried not to fret.

The one thing he didn’t compromise on was staying in the dorms – he loved the hell out of May and her antics but wanted to be able to live his own life. Including bringing people back to the single room he managed to acquire. He transferred later in the summer when the roommate pool was very slim. Of course, it took the actual moves to acquire a date to bring back to his room – but he’d get to that eventually.

Peter was, unfortunately, too preoccupied in his wallowing to really pay attention to anyone or anything. For the first month of classes, Peter couldn’t remember much about what happened. When he checked his grades, he was happy to see that he’d at least been keeping up. Sometimes the trek onto campus from his dorm room was too much – for once, the big brain in his head was keeping him afloat.

A little bit of motivation came on the walk back from May’s apartment on Friday afternoon in October. It was just starting to feel like fall, so he decided to save a few bucks and make the journey on foot. Luckily, she moved into the city a little after he went to MIT the year before, so it wasn’t too crazy of a commute. With his headphones in and his head down, Peter enjoyed the time to himself. Only this time, he was interrupted by small eyes staring at him from the edge of an alleyway tucked behind a trash can.

Taking his earphones out of his ears, Peter approached slowly – at that point, he couldn’t decide if it was a dog or cat; and he hoped it wasn’t something worse. He crouched down and moved the box keeping whatever owned the eyes hidden. Peter sucked in a deep breath when he laid eyes on a very skinny, seemingly homeless gray pitbull. Sticking his hand out, Peter waited until the dog approached him before moving any closer.

It took a while to coax her out of the little shelter she created for herself, but once he did, Peter knew he needed to take care of the precious little creature. The more he held her, the more she seemed to warm up to him. Peter knew he couldn’t have a dog in the dorm – he’d read the fact over and over when he accepted the keys. He also knew he’d never be able to be happy again if he didn’t nurse the dog back to health and give her the life she deserved.

Peter turned around and headed back to May’s apartment – she wouldn’t take the dog, but at least she’d let him use the tub to get her clean. When he walked back in, she didn’t even blink an eye. He’d been taking in stray and injured animals his whole life. His lips pressed against her cheek when she agreed to watch the dog for a while so he could go out and get necessary supplies.

During his trip to the pet store, Peter decided to call her Millie – Peter heard the name in one of his classes and remembered liking it. Now that he named her, he couldn’t do nothing but keep her. Smiling to himself, Peter appreciated his own justification; for the first time all semester, he actually felt excited about something.

The excitement faded about 20 minutes later when Millie splashed him from the tub for the 5th time. In all of her time on the streets, her only interactions with water probably came from the rain and whatever people would leave around for her. The concept of the bath was more than likely foreign – so he forced himself to stay patient. Once he got her clean, Peter let out a sigh of relief; she snuggled into his lap as he toweled her off and hit her coat with a flea treatment. In the next few weeks, he’d get her to a vet – tonight, though, the efforts he already made would have to do.

Since he was there around dinner time, Peter stuck around and let Millie get used to him a little bit more before taking her into the dorm. He needed to hide her, and any loud barking would totally give them away. He hadn’t met the RA yet, but the rules seemed pretty simple – pets weren’t allowed. Peter felt elated to finally have a challenge. The move back from MIT blew the wind out of his sails. Maybe caring for Millie would be the thing he needed.

----

For the most part, Millie adjusted to living in the dorm pretty easily. Peter set an easy to keep routine for walks and getting outside to do her business. When he was around, she sat by his feet or laid at the end of his bed looking at him as he worked. The fact that he rescued her was apparent and she was more than willing to make sure he knew how much it meant to her. He quickly gained a gray shadow that walked on 4 legs instead of 2. Peter loved it – having a purpose felt better than he expected.

The only thing that wasn’t going well was his time away from the dorm. To avoid any problems, Peter knocked on the doors around him a couple days after bringing Millie home to let them know he had a dog in the room with him. He figured honesty was the best policy and if they knew about it beforehand, he might not get turned in. Of course, he didn’t take into account that Millie would whine the entire time he was gone for class. With his labs, sometimes that was all day.

It lasted a lot longer than he initially expected, so Peter wasn’t surprised when he heard a knock on his door, followed by – “It’s Tony, the RA.” His dickbag next door neighbor, Flash, bitched at him for the past couple of days about the noise. Unable to really do much about it, Peter tried to ignore him – but that obviously wasn’t going to be enough. Grabbing Millie’s lead, Peter tugged until she was resting under the bed. It didn’t make sense to hide her completely, there was a 99% chance that Tony the RA was here to talk to him about Millie’s very presence.

Opening the door, Peter tried to keep his face neutral – he’d never been very good at lying, so he probably failed miserably. It didn’t help, either, the fact that Tony the RA was a very nice-looking human person. Peter immediately recognized him from the Physics labs and wondered what he was studying. He’d mooned over the dark hair and smooth cheeks that gave way to a well-shaped goatee surrounding pert lips. His style consisted of running his hands through his hair and putting on jeans and a flannel – just Peter’s type.

He forced himself to take a deep breath and actually say something. “Hi, Tony the RA. What can I do for you?”

Tony wrinkled his brow and grinned, he crossed his hands over his chest and nodded towards Peter’s room. “Mind if I come in? I had a couple of complaints from one of your neighbors. Thought I’d come check it out.” Peter thought he was trying to sound serious, but the smile on his lips made it hard for him to take it that way. Stepping back, he let Tony in without a word.

Millie didn’t even try to remain under the bed – she walked right out and looked at Tony curiously. He reached a hand down and let her approach, her nose bumping into his palm without much hesitation. At least the time living on the streets hadn’t jaded her. Peter caught Tony’s eye and grinned, his hands coming up in a helpless shrug.

“Please don’t make me get rid of her,” Peter begged. He squatted down and opened his arms for Millie to walk into them. “She’s the only thing that’s keeping me going right now. I’ll find a way to keep her from whining.” He put on his own puppy face and did his best to mind meld the insanely attractive man looking at him with curious interest.

“I’m not going to take your dog away from you. I’m not that heartless.” Tony laughed a little at himself, the sound pulling Millie’s attention back to him. She gave his hand a long lick, her openness with him making Peter’s heart melt a little. His eyes widened when he heard Tony’s next words. “When do you have class? Maybe I can take care of her while you’re occupied.”

Peter lit up, his mouth prattling off his schedule before he could really think about what it all meant. The only thing that mattered was keeping Millie safe and sound – and with him. They developed a bond and he wasn’t willing to give her up. He would’ve found his own place if he had to. “Could you do it, Tony?”

“I’m in the lab whenever I want to be, so I’ve got lots of wiggle room. I can take – what’s her name?” Tony asked, his hands pushing up the glasses on his face as he did. Peter had to bite into his lip to stop from letting out a long ‘awe’ sound at the gesture.

“Millie. Her name is Millie. And I’m Peter.” He figured that Tony probably knew that already, but he couldn’t stop himself – his mouth was running on nervous energy and the first thing that came to it.

Tony didn’t seem to mind, he laughed again and stuff his hands into his jeans – Millie probably would have licked him to death if he didn’t. “I’ll gladly take Millie for you, Pete. Just bring all the stuff she needs when you drop her off. Give me your phone,” Tony commanded, his fingers wiggling in his direction.

Without a second thought, Peter pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened it, his fingers quickly getting to the phone book. Tony worked quickly, putting his number in it. Glancing down at it, he smiled when he realized Tony put his name in as “Tony the RA”. He’d probably never live referring to him that way down.

“Text me your schedule so I have it. I’ll make sure I’m around for you.”

Before he realized what he was doing, Peter walked forward and wrapped Tony in a quick hug. He was barely there long enough for Tony to reciprocate, but the fingers he felt against his back were unmistakable. With a big grin on his face, Peter stepped back, cheeks on fire.

“Thanks.”

Tony shot him a soft smile over his shoulder as he walked backed towards the door. “Sure thing, Parker.”

----

After his run in with Tony, Peter wasn’t sure about how things with Millie would turn out. He shouldn’t have worried, though – the simple fact that Tony offered to not only cover for him, but also help him out spoke louder than the doubts that tried to creep in. It took a certain kind of selflessness to risk a job for another person – Peter wasn’t ignorant of that.

Peter figured it would be weird, basically sharing his dog with someone he really wasn’t all that familiar with, yet – Tony made it easy. He wasn’t shy about anything and went out of his way to make sure Peter felt comfortable. More often times than not, Tony invited him in to have whatever food he’d been making in the small kitchenette of his room whenever he stopped by to pick Millie up. The dog was so comfortable in his place, she didn’t even stay in the room while they ate. Slowly but surely, Peter found himself really vibing with Tony.

Right around winter break when everyone else was packing up to go home, Peter put in with the housing office to spend the break in his small dorm. He wanted to spend time with May throughout the time off, but he didn’t want to spend all of his time with her. It didn’t hurt, either – the fact that Tony was also staying in his room. In their time together, Peter learned Tony didn’t have any family and often spent the holidays volunteering and doing research to pass the time.

Without either of them having to initiate it, Peter and Tony spent most of the break together. Tony’s room was decked out in all of the latest technology and gaming systems and Peter’s old DVD collection was to die for. Between taking Millie for walks and binging whatever vice they chose for the day, Peter was totally swept up in all the time they spent together. When May commented on his smile when he went home for Christmas dinner, he shrugged his shoulders and gave Millie a scrub behind the ears – he was happy; and there were a lot of reasons for it.

Instead of going out for New Year’s Eve, Tony grabbed them some booze and ordered a bunch of food so they could spend the night watching the extended versions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The drunker they got, the funnier the stupid quips and early 2000’s editing and image creation got. Peter hadn’t spent much time under the influence and quickly found himself getting very touchy with the object of his desire.

Tony didn’t reject any of the touches – in fact, Peter found himself being pulled closer by him as the night went on. By the time they started Return of the king, Tony opened up the futon and they were snuggled up against each other. With the booze as an excuse, Peter let himself get lost in the warmth against him. He found himself pressing kisses to Tony’s neck, the sleepiness and lack of inhibitions giving him a little extra courage. The touches continued until he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer.

Blinking awake, Peter wandered what the whimpering sound was. His brain was still a lot fuzzy from the alcohol that was still probably in his system. He didn’t think he’d ever put that much of the stuff in his body ever again – the way his head hurt made him not want to deal with it ever again. Groaning a little, Peter registered the fact that there was something heavy pressed against his chest, a something that smelt pretty familiar.

He forced his eyes to focus, his breath hitched a bit when he realized that Tony was snuggled up in his arms. The dark brown hair he’d been staring at for weeks now fanned out against his bicep, the strands tickling the skin slightly. Peter let himself take in the feel before he realized two things simultaneously – his erection was pressed snuggly against the crease of Tony’s ass and the thing making the whimpering noises was the dog looking at him with the biggest pouty eyes.

Peter pulled his hips away from Tony’s warmth like he touched fire – his erection throbbing from the loss. Getting up as quietly as he could, Peter wobbled around until he found his shoes, jacket, and Millie’s lead – she needed a walk and he needed to not make a fucking fool of himself before he could tell Tony how he really felt.

Millie’s impatient claws on the door had him opening it and walking out – his phone and the rest of his stuff still scattered around Tony’s room. Maybe the fresh air would help to clear his head. For the first time in a while, Peter took Millie on a long walk. The huffs of her breaths and the steady emptiness of the streets around him helped a lot. By the time he got back, Peter felt resolved to at least try and start a conversation with Tony about things between them.

Of course, Tony beat him to the punch. Peter saw him sitting on the bench outside of the dorms before Tony saw him. He was wrapped up in a long coat that covered him from neck to foot – his thick boots stood out only because his legs were crossed in front of him. His arms were spread wide across the back of the bench, his posture insanely relaxed. Peter envied him – the confident way he held himself was something he strived to one day master.

The serene way he got to look over at Tony was ruined by Millie tugging at the leash to get over to the other man a little quicker. The click of her nails must have caught his attention, because Tony was looking in their direction before Peter felt ready. The beaming smile he sent in their direction just about knocked him on his ass. The dark glasses Tony wore covered the crinkle at the corner of his eye, but Peter could imagine it – the greatness of it quickening his steps.

“You should’ve woken me up – I would’ve come out with you two,” Tony said in the way of greeting, his gloved hands already moving to pet across Millie’s head. “It’s cold as shit, but I bet the streets were totally empty.”

Peter reached out to let Tony have Millie’s leash – the hand off bringing their fingertips together in a tantalizing graze; even through the leather of Tony’s gloves, he could feel the man’s warmth. “I needed a bit of fresh air – and you looked so cute sleeping.”

“I looked cute sleeping? You passed out on my shoulder and started to drool before they made it to Mount Doom. It was disgustingly adorable.” Tony put a hand on his arm, the two of them just close enough for him to reach. “I liked falling asleep next to you.”

“Me too,” Peter admitted almost immediately. He used his free hand to pull Tony’s hand off of his arm so he could hold it – the bulkiness of their gloves making the grip the slightest bit awkward. His eyes stayed on Tony as he looked down at their joined hands. When he didn’t try to pull away, Peter let out a huge breath.

“Good – don’t run off so fast, next time. Sleepy sex is some of the best kind.”

He didn’t miss the wink Tony sent him behind the dark glasses. Grinning, Peter used the hand between them to pull Tony against him. Their lips met in a soft kiss – the lightness of it just perfect. “Want to see where mid-morning sex ranks?”

The yank on his hand back towards the dorms was really the only answer he needed.