#taz just--he's got me kicking my feet

[gingernut1314]

AHHHHHHH!!!!

OUT HERE MAKING ME FEEL ALL SORTS OF WAYS!

I--I love him 🥹

[chaos-chloe]

A helping Southern Hand

Summary: Kris Statlander isn't available? Don't worry AEW's Southern Belle is always available to help.

OC: Dixie Fae/ Scarlette Price

TW: Descriptions of wrestling, country drawl, possible cursing (I don't remember) hook x oc {if I'm missing anything lmk}

I’m rushing, running my way to the curtain after Kris texted me that she got stuck in traffic, and needs a cover in the match. She definitely owes me a good dinner for working my night off. I catch my breath as I signal the sound guy to play my music to cut off Anna.

“Aw, did Orange and Hook not find a pretty enough partner?” Anna Jay teases while Angelo and Matt laughed.

“I guess it a handi-” Anna jay gets caught off by music

“I’m a Buckle Bunny

Drive my own truck, got my own money

Bangin' with the chaw, so I talk funny

Rhinestone hat says, "Kentucky"

I'm a buckle bunny.”

"AND THEIR TAG TEAM PARTNER, WEIGHING IN AT 126 LBS FROM FORT KNOX KENTUCKY, THE SOUTHERN BELLE DIXIE FAE!" Justin announces my name.

I come out around the corner with my hands holding my big buckle that is a floral background with a ribbon in pink text saying “COWGIRL UP”. I stopped at the top of the ramp, to tip my hat to the crowd while they were cheering. I sauntered my way down the ramp, slapping some fans' hands, to the ring. I started to climb the steel stairs, but Hook stuck out his hand to help me up the stairs gracefully, I grabbed his hand winking at him.

“Thank ya, Darlin’.” I greeted him and Orange with a small nod, Orange nodded back

“Well, Well, looky there Taz, your boy has some manners with our Southern Belle Beauty here.” Excalibur claims

“He knows how to treat the women roster.” Taz agrees.

I got behind the ropes, taking off my show buckle as Hook wanted to start the match with Matt. As they are circling around the ring Matt decides to scream in Hook's face.

“LOOK AT THIS IDIOT, HUH!? WHAT YOU GOT HUH?! WHAT YOU GOT? YOU WANT A SHOT? I DON'T THINK SO!” Matt has his arms raised taunting Hook, but he looks confused about where this little speech is coming from. Matt backs up to let Angelo tag himself in the match.  Angelo hops in to start circling around Hook, like a hunter scaring its prey. 

“He’s got this, doesn't he?” I inquired about Orange, he just nodded with a little smile.

“Alrighty darlin’, let's get this match started then.” I commented a little cockily.

Then, Angelo steps back to his corner and reaches his arm back towards Matt to tag in. Anna just stands there clapping to the crowd as Angelo tries to mess with Hook, but he turns things around with a hip toss to get Angelo off of him. Hook looks up to see Matt in the corner waiting to charge at him. Matt rushes him but Hook turns it to a drop sayanagi. Matt ends up with his back turned to Hook, redrum is in place but it's too weak to hold Matt up. Matt scrambles to his corner to tag in Anna, Hook backs off of Matt as Anna enters the ring. Hook starts walking backwards as Anna starts walking towards me. I sat on the second rope with my hand held out to Hook with a smile, he slapped my hand and now it’s time for some Cowgirl Chaos.

“Oh here comes our Southern Belle, entering the ring with Anna Jay.” Tony describes.

“Look at the wicked smile on her face, she is ready for something.” Excalibur wearily says.

As I got into the ring, Anna and I started circling each other waiting for something to happen.

“So you’re the pretty belle in the back, who's gonna get her ass kicked by me.” Anna taunted with a sneer.

“Oh, really now hun?” I questioned her.

Anna then kicks me in the stomach with her left leg, I bent down to play as that kick hurt. She grabs my right arm to try to launch me to the corner, I countered it by slamming my feet to the ground in a squatting position. I shake my head with a smile and then toss her in the corner behind me away from her corner accompanied by a yell of “NO!”. 

I show off my non-show buckle with my hip popped out to the side taunting Anna, I try to go for an elbow strike to her face but she moves out of the way. The funny bone part of my elbow ends up hitting the top turnbuckle, with that static fuzzy feeling going up and down my arm. Anna rushes at me hitting me with a spinning high heel kick to the chest over my breast. I winced and tried to leave that corner, from further damage happening. Anna grabs my right arm again looking for her Jay kick, but I grab her leg to reverse the move. I slightly panicked, reversed into a suplex, but without a struggle I held Anna for 6 seconds then let us drop hitting the mat in the middle of the ring. I got back up to my feet, looking out to the crowd waving my invisible lasso; I darted my eyes over to our corner seeing Hook and Orange clapping for me. The referee runs in front of me to the other corner, realizing that Angelo was getting in the ring, causing a distraction letting Jack Hager come out of nowhere and hit Orange in the face. 

I rush over to see if Orange is okay, grabbing the top rope and observing Orange on the floor holding his head. I turned around to Anna superkicking me to the face, I rolled over to our side trying to gain back awareness. I see that Orange is still down and Hook is walking threateningly over to Jack, who is walking backwards around the ring and Anna ends up getting a tag to Angelo. 

Matt jumps off the apron running towards Hook hitting him with a mean clothesline. I slump down off and out of the ring by steel steps. I watch in pain as Matt picks up Hook and throws him into the barricade. Hooks falls down to the ground only to get picked back up and thrown into the ring to Angelo. Angelo grabs his hair forcing Hook to get up, Angelo pulls Hook into a suplex. He tries to cover Hook, thankfully Hook kicks out at 2. 

I finally collected myself and had my arms on the apron watching Hook getting beat by Angelo with some forearms to the head. Parker then hits another suplex on a dazed Hook, holding his back in pain moving away from danger. Parker follows Hook and grabs his hair again with his right hand, dragging him over to their corner, slapping his left hand with Matt. Matt jumps in and hits a back breaker to Hook, letting Angelo rebound off the ropes running drive by to Hooks head with a god awful sound. 

Orange and I jump up on the apron watching this all go down wincing in sympathy for Hook. Matt goes for the cover, Orange preemptively getting in the ring, but Hook kicks out at 2 again. I cheer and whoop that Hook is still alive with us in this match. I see that Hook looked over to us, I reached my hand out to give him a little bit of encouragement to tag one of us in to save him from this onslaught. Matt slaps the back of Hooks head/ neck, he stumbles over to the ropes to gather himself. Matt then grabs Hook, but Hook is fired up now, he delivers a big knife chop to Matt's chest three times. Matt is tumbling backwards but he kicks Hook in the abdomen to throw him to the turnbuckles. Hook’s back smacks the middle turnbuckle so hard that he falls to the ground. 

“Come on Hook darlin! Let's go!” I yelled over Matt's “Yeah!”

Hook hears me and starts crawling over to Orange and I with help of the bottom rope, yet Matt kicks him down. Hook keeps crawling, but Matt decides to hit Orange with an elbow. 

“YOU ARE DEFINITELY GETTING THE PIG FARM NOW, HUN!” I threatened Matt 

Matt continues his annoying onslaught to Hook, keeping him away from me. I turned half of my attention to Orange to get a good look at him.  I turned my full attention to Anna Jay, and the ring.

“You ain't nothin’ darlin’, bless your heart!” I yelled over the ring to her with my full southern drawl. 

“STOP!” Anna banshees a response to me as Hook gets whiplashed into their corner.

“We are getting a whole new view of our Southern Belle tonight guys.” Tony Comments on my scream.

“I think we are just seeing her natural response to her new friends getting beat down.” Excalibur responds

Hook falls back down to the mat, as Menard slaps his left hand to Parker's right hand. Matt places his foot on Hook's neck and grabs his left wrist to keep him still , as Angelo gets in the ring. Angelo enters and kicks his left hip hard, I walk over to the left side of the ring trying to rally Hook to give him energy to get to our corner. I walk back to our corner and see that Orange is back, I give him a nod to greet him back. We watch as Hook holds on the bottom rope trying to gather some energy. Angelo then copies Orange’s kicks with his hands in his pockets. 

Orange and I try to start rallying the crowd with slaps to the turnbuckle and claps, most definitely out of beat. I tune back into the match as Hook gets thrown into the ropes, rebounding into a dropkick. We wince and cover our face in slight shock. Parker goes for the cover, I stand on the bottom rope looking over the referees shoulder as Hook kicks out for a count of 2. 

“GET DOWN!” I look up to Anna Jay giving me a look.

“Honey, I think you need to fix your face!” I clapped back and Anna made a noise of frustration. 

I step down off the ropes seeing Hook is in some type of trouble, he ends up doing a back body drop on Angelo Parker. It sends Hook to the ground holding his back in pain. Parker grabs his ankle dragging his whole body to their corner and tagging Matt back in, again. Matt starts delivering kicks to Hooks head, Hook is covering his head trying not to get injured from their vicious attack. Matt again throws into a corner and falls to the ground in pain after trying to get away. 

“COME ON DARLIN’! BRING IT ON HOME!” I try to scream encouragement to Hook. 

I start slapping my right hand to the top turnbuckle, rallying energy from the crowd for Hook to make his escape. Matt has a different idea and keeps his nasty attack going on Hook with Jack Hagers watching proudly from the floor. Hook delivers a surprise left hook to Matt's jaw, giving him some breathing room. Hook starts hitting Matt with out-of-nowhere forearms. Matt found a brief pause in Hook's attack to strike back with his own forearm, sending Hook back to the corner.

Hook ends up finding energy as Matt and Angelo are tag-teaming him in the ring, he takes both of them down with a lariat after rebounding off the ropes. Hook uses his last bit of energy tagging Orange in the match, while falling to the mat away from the match. I crouch down with a hand on his back, checking up on his well being after that awful onslaught. I caress his back till he is out of the ring, either on the apron or on the floor. 

“You gonna be okay, darlin’?” I check on his health 

“Yeah, I'll be okay in a few” Hook groans in pain.

I am slightly shocked that he spoke to me, knowing he has a reputation of being silent, not caring, and eating chips. I smile down at him letting him recover in peace while Orange is in the match. 

Orange takes control real easily of Angelo grabbing his arm then moving his hand to his neck and slamming his head to the top turnbuckle causing him to become slightly dazed. Matt tries to attack Orange as Angelo stumbles away but ends up with the same fate. Just like clockwork, they kept coming back for more and more like they were stuck in a loop. Orange climbs to the top rope ready to deliver a dropkick, but Angelo and Matt cowered away. Orange jumped down and the boys turned around to watch him put his hands up and stuff them in his pockets. Matt and Angelo rush him with a double clothesline but Orange dodges them with a ninja roll. 

Orange turns around to meet them both with a dropkick, to the upper body. I stand back up in our corner just as a caution or escape route for Orange. I see that Hook is struggling to get back up, using the ropes for leverage, I came over and grabbed his free arm to walk him over to post to lean on. 

“Thanks Belle.” I heard Hook whisper, I nodded back to him with a smile and an innocent wink. 

As Orange gets back up to his feet, Angelo rolls out of the ring, Matt is struggling to get back up to his feet; Orange makes a decision to rebound off the ropes and run to hit Suicide dive on Jack Hager. Orange, rushed back into the ring meets with Matt, tries for a tornado ddt but gets blocked by Matt as Angelo rushes back in and attacks Orange's left shoulder. Angelo and Matt go for a double suplex but Hook rushes in and pushes Orange's feet back down to the mat. Hook attacks both Matt and Angelos shoulders, to weaken them for a double suplex of their own. Anna tried to be smart and block Hook’s and Orange’s suplex. I rushed in with a hand on both Orange and Hook to find Anna, I wrapped my arm around her and counted to 3, delivering a suplex to all three of them. 

Hook and I hurried out of the ring with each other, I noticed that his hand was on his abc again. My mom-like instincts came over me and I wrapped my arm around his back, letting him lean on me until we got back to our corner. As I helped Hook back to our corner, I watched Orange take off his sleeve going for an Orange Punch. Angelo sidestepped and snaked his arm around Orange's abdomen letting Matt come over and take him down with a leg sweep. Angelo ran from the corner, stepped up on Matt's back delivering an elbow to Orange's back. 

Orange rolls out of the ring, as Hook runs in and carries through a T-bone suplex to Angelo, catching him off guard. Hook turns and launches Matt through a T-bone suplex as well. He then sees Angelo holding on the top rope in our corner, he inflicts another t-bone suplex, but he throws Angelo onto Matt. They both roll out of the way, out of the ring, just as Anna gets in the ring yelling nonsense towards Hook. 

This causes the referee to get distracted again, so Jack Hager hits Hook with a running clothesline over the top rope. Orange pops back up to hit Jack with his famous Orange punch, knocking him down to the ground with a nasty fall. I clap and holler “yee-haw” to my boys for taking control of the ring again.

“Now you know, think of your actions, hun.” I said menacingly to Jack.

Anna then jumps on Orange Cassidys back trying to lock in the queen slayer, but I come in behind Orange to get her legs behind my head and I hold onto her arms to keep her from hitting me. Matt tries to rush at orange but he side steps sending him to Hook, locking him in redrum. I planted Anna down with a new move called “Muck em”, Matt started fading in Hooks redrum. I pushed Anna and myself out of the ring as Angelo rushed in but was hit with the Orange Punch. Orange rushes to cover Parker and counts 3 as the bell rung.

“THE WINNERS OF THIS MATCH; FTW CHAMPION HOOK, FRESHLY SQUEEZED ORANGE CASSIDY, AND THE SOUTHERN BELLE DIXIE FAE!” Justin announced over the speaker system 

Orange, Hook, and I all gathered ourselves in the middle of the ring, Hook getting his title. Orange reaches for my hand, I let him grab my hand, bring it to his mouth, kissing the back of my hand and pulling me into a hug. 

“Thank you Southern Belle, for coming to our aid.” Orange thanked me as if I was a princess. I laughed and shrugged my shoulders stating that it was no problem. Hook walked over and grabbed my other hand doing the same gesture as Orange but kissing my hand twice. The crowd is going absolutely wild for both vacant emotion wrestlers thanking me in a very emotion based way. Hook pulls me in a hug that lasts way longer than Orange’s hug did.

“Thank you so much for covering Kris and coming to help us. Meet me in the back, in 30 minutes?” Hook asked as we were pulling apart looking into each other's eyes while I was smiling brightly at him. 

“Of course Darlin’, just come by my locker room then.” i invited hook with a wink

Hook and I pull apart so we can raise our hands together with Orange Cassidy, to celebrate our win.

“Look at what a celebration from a very surprising team that came together very easily.” Tony stating the obvious.

“The boys are just showing our Southern Belle the proper amount of gratitude and respect for her to come out and help them.” Taz explains to the world

“Will we see more romance in the future from them? Is the question, look at how Hook looks at her.” Excalibur points out too

“We don't know, but we will see how this builds in front of us.” Taz commented back. 

Would y'all like a Part 2? Y'all have idea? Let me know!! <3

I don't own AEW, the wrestlers, the music nor the pictures.

I own Dixie/Scarlette and my work of writing.

Re-blog, like. comment and etc.! No Hate please!

Do Not copy my work and repost it as your own.

[thesupreme316]

I’ll never be over with Jungle boy turn on hook

Therefore I’m in need for something, anything with either

- the reader being at ringside/ JB side when he turn ( in shock ex:when Seth turned on the shield and the reader having the same reaction as Dean/Jon did)

- Reader’s backstage reaction plus Anna Jay next to them ( reader could be angry and Anna having to hold them back;Confused( Reader and Anna are tag partners in this one); or no reaction as they felt that this was gonna happen

- Reader joining in on turning on Hook

- Reader taking it to Twitter like how Bowers and Danhausen did(love them for that😌)

- Reader being at the announcer table with Taz and him having to hold them down

- Or (personally my favourite) reader beating the ever loving shit out of Jungle Boy either the same night or the following Wednesday

The reader can be any gender, can be a champion

Much love ❤️

SHIT I DID ALL THE ABOVE AND YALL GONNA READ IT choose your adventure bitchesssss

You Reacting to Jungle Boy Turning on Hook:

Word Count: 1.5K

Supreme Speaks: hiii, i did all the above! I left Y/N gender-neutral and entirely up to the reader's design (i hope). Thank you to @hookerforhook for requesting this ❤️. I did both a heel and face reaction. Please know that you are loved and appreciated.

Warnings: things that are said about Jack Perry are not true and come from a very deep (AND HURT AND INSULTED) place within me, fake twitter pic, not proofread.

Taglist: @hookerforhook @hooks-martin @wwenhlimagines @sheinthatfandom

If you wanna be a heel:

You were backstage with your best friend, Anna Jay (who’s a part of JAS ew)

The two of you were watching Jack’s (Anna’s boyfriend and your other best friend) match against Sanada on the monitor

You were also watching Hook; a person you didn’t have any particular way of feeling towards

Nothing against him, just particularly didn’t care for him (imagine that) or this little partnership they have

At times you would help them out, evening the odds with JAS or other teams; but still no attachment to Hook (despite the media calling you the 3 Amigos)

Over the course of weeks, you knew something was gonna happen…you could just feel it

Jack was getting nastier and more aggressive over the past month

Maybe it was Christian getting under his skin, or the comparisons to Hook, or maybe even the doubtful opinions of the fans

But one thing is for sure, something was bound to happen this week

After Jack lost to Sanada, they were walking back up the ramp when Jack tackled Hook; resulting in the entire arena booing him and gasping

“Holy shit!” Anna exclaimed, not believing what she saw. She looked over at you for a reaction, but you didn’t have one. 
Not a single emotion ran through your body.

“Y/N? Are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. I’m not surprised.” You said as Jack stood over Hook’s body. Then, an idea came into your head, making your eyes gleam with mischief. “But I’m gonna do something.” You started to walk away from Anna, towards the stage.

“Y/N! Be careful, and don’t be stupid!” Anna yelled as you went through the curtains.

And as if a switch went off in you, your emotionless face was replaced with a concerned one, making the crowd grow antsy yet sad. You looked at Jack with fear as you went over to “check” on Hook.

You got him up on his feet to the crowd cheering…but then the audience grew with anger as you delivered a roundhouse kick to Hook, knocking him back down again. Looking around the arena, you heard and saw all the negativity that was being thrown at you. You turned around to see Jack with a smile on his face, you two high-fived each other. Both you and Jack raised your hands in victory. As you two walked to the back, Taz was screaming at you and vowing that Hook would get his revenge.

You didn’t care.

It was just business….

nothing personal.

If you wanna be a face (this is much longer my bad):

You were in a tag team with Anna Jay (who was freed from the shackles from JAS)

The two of you held tag team championship gold (either a women’s tag team or a mixed tag team championship; whatever you choose)

On the other hand, you were really good friends with Hook and Jack Perry

Going to the point where JungleHook would team up with you and Anna to take on various teams

For Jack’s match at Forbidden Door against Sanada, Jack invited you and Anna to observe his match while Hook accompanied him

After your title defense earlier that night, you and Anna decided to take that offer

Instead of crowding the ring, you and Anna sat at the commentary table with Taz, Hook’s dad

After the match, you and Anna were gonna go up to Jack to comfort him

Until he attacked Hook, leaving everyone speechless and you with a beyond shocked look on your face (that also became a viral meme in the wrestling community)

Sidenote: like everyone and their momma referenced your picture like that one dude when Undertaker’s streak ended

Even though you were shocked and blindsided, you had to contain Taz, who was begging to punch Jack

“Nah! Nah! Lemme beat his ass! I’ll show him what’s up!” Taz said trying to get out of his seat. You took off your headphones and tried to hold him back. But as you turned around, you saw Jack gloating and making fun of Hook to the audience. Immediately, anger rose within you, making you jump out of your chair and almost over the table to get to Jack. But you were held back by Anna as Jack ran backstage.

Looking at her, something clicked in your mind, “Did you know?” You asked with betrayal and disbelief in your voice. The thought of one of your best friends would keep a secret this hurtful from you made you sick. Anna’s eyes widened as she shook her head.

“No! No! I didn’t know anything! I swear!” Anna said with her eyes pleading for you to believe her. You sighed as you and Taz walked over to Hook, who was making his way to his feet. The four of you went backstage as Hook put ice on his neck and Taz stared daggers into the floor. “Guys, I’m so sorry about that. I honestly didn’t know, and if I did I would have told you.”

You nodded your head, as you know that her words rang true. You just sighed before looking at Hook, who was fuming mad. “What do you wanna do now, Hook?

“I’m gonna kick the living shit out of him.” Hook said before turning to Anna. “I want to apologize to you in advance, cause after I’m done with him, you won’t be able to recognize your little boyfriend.”

Anna shrugged, “He has it coming. I just don’t want this to drive our friendship apart.” She looked at you for reassurance, but you were typing away on your phone. “Y/N?”

“Oh yeah, we’re good. I was tweeting something, but Anna, we’re okay.” You said putting your phone down. Immediately (just like your initial reaction) your tweet went viral as you told Hook that you have an idea. Hook turned to you, motioning for you to continue. You smirked as Taz and Anna both leaned in.

—Time Skip: Wednesday, AEW Dynamite—

Granted, seeing Jack like this was horrible (given the circumstances) but what is worst is this promo he was doing. He was dissing the audience and Hook all in one breath. To you and Anna (who was standing right beside you), it was unnatural, as if he was paid or brainwashed into doing this. Since Sunday, Anna hasn’t talked to Jack like they normally do. She’s still in love with him but is just confused and angry about the fact that she is placed in the center of the feud.

You on the other hand was mad as hell. If your face didn’t show it, your Twitter page sure did. You and Jack had a quick yet heated exchange on Twitter, with your tweets going viral just like your initial reaction.

It was safe to say as of right now it was you had 1 point and Jack also had 1 point.

“I’m still banging the hottest bitch in this place!” Jack said, making the crowd gasp and slightly cheer.

You shrugged your shoulders, quickly glancing at Anna. “I mean-he ain’t wrong.” You said making Anna giggle. “I don’t know why he had to refer to you as bitch.”

“Right! When I get to him, he’s gonna wish that Hook killed him.” Anna said through her teeth. As if it was right on cue, Hook’s theme song hit the arena and Hook quickly shuffled past you and Anna. “It’s go time,” Anna whispered.

Hook ran down the ramp and slid into the ring, right after Jack slipped out of the ring and started to run around the arena through the crowd. Hook was right on his tail, as he was a D1 athlete. They both made their way backstage where you quickly got into position. You told Anna to stay out of the plan as you didn’t want to complicate things for her.

Jack ran backstage and started to knock things down to trip Hook, he turned around to see if it worked (and to no one’s surprise, it did not). When he turned back around to start running again, he was met with your boot as you gave him a bicycle kick out of nowhere. The audience cheered very loudly for you as Jack laid across the concrete. Hook looked at you before he started to stomp his ribs. With no hesitation you joined him, hitting Jack with elbows, forearms, and eventually a steel chair.

You were separated by security briefly before Hook went around and duplexed Jack through the snack table. You delivered the final blow by performing a spinning back kick to Jack’s face before throwing him into the car he was gonna make his getaway in. You slammed the door and gave Hook a fist bomb. The crowd cheered even louder as you two walked out of the frame.

You and Hook started to trend as people really liked you teaming up against Jack. Now, one can only hope that this really doesn’t conflict with your friendship with Anna.

But until that moment comes, the score is…

You- 2

Jack- 1

[dirtywrestling]

Double Duty - Hook

Pairing: Hook x Female!Reader

Summary: Your friend accidently double books babysitters for one night.

Warnings: None, Fluff, Babysitting, Horror Movies, Asthma Attack, Kissing

Word Count: 2,108

Note: So sorry I didn't publish this on Friday!

Follow My Side Blog!: @dirtywresling102

Hook jogged up the few steps onto the porch of his sister’s house. Raising his fist his knuckles collided against the wooden door echoing throughout the house. Hook smiled hearing the pounding sound of feet running towards the door, he braced himself to get tackled by little children. 

The door swung open revealing two small kids. “Uncle Hook!” They both screamed, rushing towards him. 

“Hey you little boogers!” Hook bent down picking his five year old nephew, Nicky and three year old niece, Taylor up. His biceps flexed as he held the children in each arm. “You two causing any trouble?” Hook entered the house, kicking the door shut behind him.

“Nooo!” Nicky had a grin on his face as he giggled. 

Hook entered the kitchen seeing his sister rush around. “No my butt, they’re both little trouble makers.” Hook smiled as his sister was fixing her ear ring.

“I’m so sorry to contact you on such short notice.” She looked through her purse making sure she had everything.

“You’re fine, Ash.” Hook bounced both kids in his arms making them squeal in giggle. “I’m just glad you caught me on a day when I wasn't wrestling.” Hook dances around the kitchen, making the children giggle at his movements. 

“I owe you one, it’s been awhile since I’ve been out.” She paused looking at her children. “By myself.” She mumbled the last part. 

Hook frowned, he knew where his older sister was coming from. She didn’t have the freedom like he did, traveling everywhere and going to bars almost every weekend. It also didn’t help that she too had to take care of him when they were growing up. With their father being Taz, he wrestled all throughout their childhood and mom was somewhat around if she wasn’t on a bender.

“You don’t have to owe me anything, sis.” Hook set the little ones down, having them rush about chasing one another around the kitchen counter. “I mean, I was going to come and visit you guys anyways.”

“I wanted you to come and visit when I’m not out trying to get drunk and have a one night stand.” Ash huffed, applying another coat of lipstick on.

Hook only shrugged, still understanding that she was a woman with priorities and being a single mother Ash wasn’t at clubs or hanging out with her friends at coffee shops. She was mostly at doctors appointments or doing some type of baby stuff to make the kids learn and grow. 

The doorbell rang throughout the house making Hook arch his eyebrow looking over at his sister. “You order pizza?” Hook stomach growled at the talk of food. 

Hook heard the door being open and the kids squealing loudly. “It’s Y/N!”

“Oh shit.” Ash said, face palming herself.

“Who’s, Y/N?” Hook asked, following his sister into the living room. 

“Hi guys!” You got down onto your knees, hugging the two kids that rushed into your arms. “I miss you two.” You smiled as they giggled and told you they missed you too.

“Shit, Y/N. I forgot that you’re babysitting.” Ashlyn said, making you look up at her with an arched eyebrow. 

You got up from your knees, standing. “Forgot?” You questioned, your eyes shifting behind her to see a slim built male and messy brown hair behind your friend. 

“Yeah, my brother here is babysitting the kids tonight, he’s in town and I forgot to text you to cancel. Maybe you can come out to the club with me?” Ash smiled widely and wiggled her eyebrows. “You can be my wing girl and help me get laid.”

You smiled at the thought, it has been awhile since you’ve been out and being out of a two year long relationship you did need to blow off some steam. “That actually sounds-”

“No! No! Y/N, stay!” Taylor tightly hugged your leg, pressing her cheek against you. You looked down at the little girl then back up at your friend.

“Taylor, I’m sure Y/N here has other plans for the night. Your uncle is here now.” 

“Uncle?” You asked under your breath.

“No! Double babysit, both stay!” Nic pouted, stomping his feet. 

Ashlyn pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a loud sigh as her children were now pouting and on the verge of throwing a tantrum. “I don’t mind staying.” You smiled over at Ashlyn’s brother who seemed to not have his eye leave you for one second. “I’m Y/N, by the way.” 

“This is my uncle Hook!” Nic rushed towards Hook and hugged his leg, giggling. 

Hook cleared his throat and extended his arm out for you to shake his hand. “My friends call me Hook, but my real name is Tyler.” 

You grabbed onto his soft hand, giving it a shake and him a smile. “Nice to meet you, Tyler.” 

“Please, call me Hook.” He flashed you a smile.

“Hook.” You nodded, saying his nickname as it rolled off the tip of your tongue. “Nice to meet you, Hook.”

“Okay, well. I am leaving. You two have fun on double duty and I’ll be out until early morning or whenever I feel like coming back.” Ashlyn slung her purse over her shoulder, bending down and kissing her childrens forehead. “You two will be good tonight, understood?”

“Yes mommy.” Both children said at the same time and hugged their mother before she left.

“There’s money on the counter to order a pizza, don’t let them stay up too late or too much sugar!” Ashlyn waved goodbye, snagging her car keys as she was out the door. 

“So, what shall we do first?” You asked the two kids who grinned widely at you.

“Tag!” They both said at the same time. 

Nick slapped your thigh showing that you were ‘it’ as he started to run as fast as he could away from you. Taylor squealed loudly as she ran away from you too. 

You looked at Hook with a smirk on your face as his eyes widened and he bolted out of the living room. Chasing after him, you jumped over toys and other obstacles around you.

The back door burst open as Hook, Nicky and Taylor all screamed running to the backyard. You tapped at Taylors shoulder running past her only for her to giggle and squeal loudly. Her eyes went to Hook who was running in slow motion for Taylor to tag him. 

“You’re it!” She laughed loudly, slapping the back of Hook’s leg, not knowing her own strength. 

“I’m gonna get you, Nicky!” Hook jogged behind the younger boy. Nick laughed and screamed trying to run away from Hook. His laughter soon became heavy coughs as he stopped running. “Tag, you’re it!” Hook tapped Nick on the top of his head. 

Nick stopped in his tracks, coughing hard as he was trying to catch his breath. Your attention went to Nick as you quickly rushed towards him. “What happened?”

“I- I don’t know. I was chasing after him and he was laughing and then he started to cough.” Hook sounded worried, he didn’t know what was wrong with his nephew. 

“Shit, hold on. Nicky breath, okay? Keep breathing.” You ran towards the house, leaping over the few steps of the back patio and ran inside. You looked through the medicine cabinet in the kitchen and grabbed an orange inhaler. Rushing back outside, you slid on your knees in the grass to Nick. “Open bubba, open.” You ripped the cap off and placed the inhaler in Nick’s mouth. Pressing down a few times you rubbed his back. “Breath, slow breaths.” You did a few more times until you knew he was breathing easily. 

“T- Thank- Thank you.” Nick breathed out.

“Nicky has asthma, he can’t really run too much or it triggers it.” You tousled Nick’s hair. 

“I- I didn’t know he had asthma.” Hook frowned, looking down at Nick. “Is he going to be okay?” 

“Oh yeah, he’s a tough boy.” You got up on your feet and smiled at Nick who was already running around again playing with his sister. “He just needs to take it easy now, so it’s probably best we don’t play tag anymore.” 

Hook nodded with a frown still settled on his face. You bit the inside of your cheek, the tension of Hook feeling guilty about not knowing his nephew had asthma lingered in the air. “Should we order that pizza?” You asked him with a smile, trying to change the subject. 

“Pizza sounds great.”

Two large pizza boxes laid out on top of the coffee table. Children plates with half cut eaten pizza laid on the surface of the table. Your feet were propped up on the edge of the coffee table while you were watching the cartoon movie play on the flat screen. You turned your head to see Nicky and Taylor in between you and Hook fast asleep.

“Full bellies and their favorite movie on, easy night for us.” You smiled at Hook who nodded. 

“I uh, I wanted to thank you for helping Nick out.” 

You cocked your head to the side. “Well of course, I look at him like he’s my own nephew.” 

You could see Hook sucking the side of his cheek. “No, you don’t understand. I…” Hook paused only to inhale a breath and exhale out. “I didn’t know Nick had asthma.” 

“Oh.” You looked at the sleeping boy who mumbled a few words in his sleep.

“If you weren’t here to help him I wouldn’t have known what to do.” 

“It’s alright Hook.” You tried to reassure him.

“My job, I’m a professional wrestler so I travel all the time. This is the first time I’ve seen it in over six months.” Hook watched the two siblings. “They’re getting so big.” 

“Yeah, it seems like that’s all they do is grow.” You teased. “Come on, let's get them to bed and we can put on an adult movie.” You stood up, easily grabbing Taylor in your arms in a slow and soft manner so you wouldn’t wake her. 

“You mean like a rated R movie.” Hook had a smirk on his face that made you blush.

“If you want it to be.” You gushed, you didn’t plan your wording out right, you just meant something that wasn’t a cartoon.

With the two little ones to bed, Hook picked the movie. “Friday the 13th? Really? What are we middle schoolers?” You snickered as you watched the movie.

“Hey this is a classic.” You jumped as the music got intense and Jason came out of nowhere doing a jump scare. “Seems like it still lives to its expectations.” 

“It just caught me off guard.” You lied, basically hiding underneath the blanket. 

Hook laughed at you, wrapping his arm around your shoulder he pulled you close to him. “Come here.” He whispered. You laid on his chest, hearing his heart pumping against his ribs as your eyes were glued on the screen. 

“Seems like you’re scared too from the way your heart is thumping.” 

“Not from the movie.” Hook mumbled.

You pulled away from him only to look up at him, he was already looking down at you. His brown eyes shone as the movie in the background became white noise. His face leaned down further towards you as you leaned towards him. Your lips collided against one another in a soft manner. 

Moaning softly against his lips, Hook’s tongue slid past yours and explored your mouth. His tongue grazed against yours as you moaned slightly louder. Hook was the first to pull away. “Shh. You don’t want to wake up-”

“Are you two married now?” A tired voice yawned out. You blushed, quickly pulling away from Hook while Hook grabbed the blanket from you and tossed it over his lap. You looked at the blanket and up at Hook whose face was a deep color red and gave you a shy smile. You had no idea you had this effect on him and it was just a kiss.

“What are you doing up, sleepy head?” You asked, quickly pausing the movie so Nick wouldn’t see anything bad. 

“TV is too loud.” Nick shuffled towards you and climbed onto the sofa and into your lap. 

“Oh, okay Nicky sorry.” You grabbed the remote and put it on a different channel. You clicked Bluey on for the young boy to fall asleep to. 

Once Nick’s eyes were shut and his breathing was steady you looked over at Hook. “We can finish what we started later.” You winked at him, making Hook’s face brighten.

Hook's Masterlist

[mrs-toohot]

Omgggg bestie THTH3 dropped and Jirayu got me kicking my feet, singing that's my man my man my man! He's so fine and I love the intimate moments with him! Carmen will not keep me away idcccc 🤭🤣. Also Bear was such a lovely surprise! And Isla is so sweet, I think she's gonna be who I replay for 🤭💕✨ hope you enjoyed the chapters!

Babe I’m sorry. Taz. TAZ.

My fucking god I just-

Holy FUCK.

I’m getting that glitch rn where it’s stuck loading T 5% but right before that we were playing badminton. It hit me in the head and he got so fucking protective like “I swear to god if he hurt you I’ll end him” or something and I AM !!!!!!!!!! Beside myself!!!!!????!!!!!!!!!

Already having a great time annehfhehehehehhe

Also Isla is so cute, I SCREAMED at bear I love a dog with a job. I picked her to get to know a little better and she’s so cute.

Sean cracks me the fuck up I don’t care, I find him absolutely hysterical.

Gahhhhhhh I love this game

[noodyl-blasstal]

TAZ Bingo time!!! From @taznovembercelebration Prompt: Joking or Serious  _________________________

Kravitz had lived with Taako for three years. He had been in lust with Taako for two years and three hundred and sixty five days. He had been in love with Taako for one year and forty seven days.

Taako, thankfully, didn’t seem to have noticed.

The lust part was easy to explain. Kravitz isn’t dead, he has eyes. The love bit was more of a surprise. It crept up on him until, deep in the throes of music practice, Taako dancing along wildly inappropriately for Britten’s First Suite for Cello, he thought ‘I love this idiot.’ After that, it was obvious.

Kravitz and Barry’s “I’m In Love With a Tacco Twin and All I Got Was This Lousy Whatsapp Chat” provided some comfort. It turns out there was, in fact, a gif for most situations. At least now if he screamed into the void when Taako made him eggy bread because he knew he missed home, or walked around the flat in nothing but a towel, the void yelled back about how it loved Lup.

Tonight, Taako had decided to 'borrow' one of Kravitz's t-shirts and was wearing a particularly tiny pair of shorts. The chat was busy. Barry was suffering a similar fate apparently. It was getting harder to reply though, Taako seemed intent on taking over the entire sofa whether Kravitz was on it or not. Usually Taako would kick his feet into Kravitz's lap, or even snuggle up beside him… but now the man was lying across his lap and Kravitz was panicking. Surely he couldn't see the screen from there?

His phone vibrated on the arm of the sofa, the name of the chat appearing on the lock screen. Kravitz angled it away and tried to remember exactly how to breathe. It was fine, that was only visible for a split second, Taako couldn’t have read it in that time, he definitely didn't see.

Taako moved fast. “You have to tell me right now, is this serious?” He demanded, grabbing Kravitz’s phone.

Every ounce of moisture left Kravitz’s mouth. Was there an opposite to flash flooding? Flash drying. Why did they not see this coming? Barry had so many PhDs, Kravitz was generally pretty smart… He could just have set his messages not to preview, he could have stopped messaging Barry and focused on the hot boy in his lap wearing his shirt, he could have named the chat literally anything else.

“Krav? Kraverino? Kravatappi? You have to do words now, my guy.” Taako was looking up at him, barely containing a grin.

"It's… I." Kravitz said with grace and decorum. Great start. Nailed it. Master of love confessions! At least Taako hadn’t run away and locked himself in his room.

Taako snorted. "Okay Stud, that one's on Taako. You have to do words relating to the question." Taako raised his eyebrows and waited.

"It's not a joke." There, an answer without any direct admission. That didn't actually count as telling him!

"You're in love with Lup????" Taako gasped, horrified.

"No, I'm in love with you, you idiot." Kravitz rolled his eyes and shoved Taako's shoulder, grinning at how ridiculous the accusation was. Then the realisation of what he’d just said hit. That fact was supposed to go to his grave. That was not supposed to be actual words he said at Taako. At least not without flowers and macarons, maybe some sky writing? Okay, back on task, he could fix this. He could make this okay. "Like, in a… a friends way?" He added, convincing no one.

"Oh, okay, a friends way, so you wouldn't be interested in, say, smooching this beautiful face?" Taako asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"No?" Kravitz said, staring very intently at Taako’s lips. Fuck. He buried his head in his hands. If Taako couldn't see him then this couldn't be embarrassing. That was science. Immutable fact.

"Oh, okay, so you also wouldn't be interested in a WhatsApp chat I may or may not have named "I'm in Love with my Oblivious Roommate and Therefore I Live in Hell"?" Taako asked, mildly.

"I might, maybe, be interested in that." Kravitz said hopefully, peeking past his fingers to be sure Taako wasn't joking. He winked at Kravitz. Smug bastard.

"Interested in that in a friends way?" Taako asked. Kravitz was going to expire. Taako was never going to let him forget this.

"Could we forget this happened and I'll surprise you with flowers tomorrow?" It was worth a shot. Taako liked flowers!

"Nope" Taako popped the p viciously. "You can still buy me flowers though." He added. Kravitz pretended to roll his eyes. "Now, about that smooching, handsome?"

"Hold on, just got message Barry first." Kravitz grabbed his phone and just about managed to send 'torture=flirting' before a throw pillow thudded into the side of his head. “Right, where were we?”

[mcnuggyy]

TAZ Graduation Smile For Me au 1000% inspired by the ever funny and wonderful @fitzroythecreator​ <3 (idk how she comes up w such brilliant ideas smh)

Curious about the AU? Have a read more 😌✌️

( these are just copy and pasted from our convos cause I’m lazy and also cause Michelle just says shit best JAJAJA  so this is ALL Michelle!!!!  Just imagine me screaming and crying in response to all of this LMAO)

Fitzroy ( imposter syndrome )

-you can find him in the lounge

-fitzroy's first quest is you have to find his glasses, even though his glasses aren't real

-fitzroy's second quest sorta divulges why he's there in the first place (imposter syndrome type beat) and you actually have to get argo and the firbolg to both talk into the megaphone abt how cool he is just As He Is in order to actually cheer fitzroy up for good

Argo ( grief )

- argo actually shows up in the fishing hole before marvin, and then when marvin shows up he moves to wherever fitzroy is (im imagining in the lounge)

- argo's first quest is just about getting him some food (since there Is no food in the habitat you find like a tennis ball that jimothan makes to look like a lime) and argo gets it and is like "aw thanks man! wait...this aint food. well you tried"

-but then when he gets kicked out of the fishing hole by marvin he divulges to you that the reason he was in there is bc the first day he was at the habitat he lost his mother's sapphire necklace (includes my own fucking argo lore in here for flavor) and he's been swimming down there for Days trying to find it but it's just...gone. he's Very distraught about this and you can tell that the reason he's at the habitat is to tackle his residual grief over not being able to help his mother

- so once u get the fishing pole from marvin you just keep casting it into the hole, and it doesn't happen Immediately (in fact i think it'd be interesting if this was another one of those "it only happens at night" missions like w catching the yowl) but eventually u fish and get the necklace!!! and when you bring it back to argo's he's relieved but then he admits that what's Really helped him was being away from his grief aka being with fitzroy in the lounge but once u give him the necklace he becomes cheered up for good

The Firbolg ( fear of being without a clan )

- the firbolg is in the back room with wallus and trevor!!! he got locked back there and he's really bummed bc there's no light, so you get an extra flower seed from trencil to grow him a little flower!

- so the firbolg's next task is you have to convince him to leave the backroom bc you can tell that, even with the flower, he's still miserable being all alone (sure he could talk to trevor but trevor is Loud and probably thinks the firbolg is some kinda werecow)

- but he doesn't think anybody he knows misses him, so you first have to lure him out with music!!! like how wallus needs the lounge music to be changed in order to move further in his quest. you change the song to something a bit softer and the firbolg decides to move out to the main room to hear it better but for some reason he isn't too willing to go down to the lounge, even though he knows argo and fitzroy are there

-you can tell the reason he's there is because he doesn't feel like he has a place amongst his friends, and that (much like ssoss firbolg) he fears the reality of losing the people he's become so attached to so you actually have to go downstairs and talk to fitzroy and argo and they're sad to hear the firbolg feels this way (they both have to be fully cheered up before you get this dialogue option), and then argo remembers he has an old photo of the three of them together and he gives it to you to show the firbolg to remind him he will Always have a clan to come home to you give that to the firbolg, he thinks on it fondly, and then the next morning you see him down in the lounge fully cheered up (like how parsley does it)

When all tasks are completed:

argo is seated on top of the bar, fitzroy is next to him, and the firbolg is seated comfortably on the ground next to the jukebox. he Would join his friends at the bar, but their energy is quite...homoerotic. plus, he feels comforted knowing they are just a few feet away, and he likes to sit and doze to the music

If you don’t cheer them up:

fitzroy's object head becomes a pair of gold-framed glasses with no lenses, argo's head becomes a photorealistic fish and his hands become limes, and the firbolg literally turns into a mound of dirt :-)))) just for the angst factor :-))))

[itjazzbicch]

The Big Bang

Pairing: Hook x Fem Reader

Summary: Hook and the reader have been friends since high-school, making it together in pro wrestling and a part of Team Taz. The problems within Team Taz become too overwhelming for them, they try to ignore it and when Ricky explodes on the reader, Hook explodes on him…

Warnings: The reader gets shoved down, but that’s about it

Requested by: No one, but I hope you all enjoy! (This is my first time I’ve written for Hook, so I hope I did well!)

Word Count: 2224

Tag List: @demonqueen29 @jessiebean00 @new-zealand-chic @crowleysqueenofhell l @justamess44 @thatpanpal @hungmanhorsecarriage @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @linziland13 @xxx-jazz-xxx @writtingrose

I DO NOT OWN THIS GIF

“I’m not going to tell you guys again!” Taz yelled, coaching Ricky, Brian, and Hobbs, “We are a team! The best team and you all are gonna start acting like it!”

Being a member of Team Taz was killing me right now. The whole team was a ticking time bomb, except for Hook and I.

[You trying to get out of here? I can’t stand this rn] I texted to Hook who was sitting next to me.

He looked up at me with a small smile, texting back:

[I was going to ask you the same thing. Let’s get out of here]

I quickly looked to see Taz still lecturing the guys , none of them paying attention to us.

Exactly when they had their backs turned, we snuck out. Whenever we made it far down the hall, I let out a deep breath, huffing:

“I don’t know about you, but all their arguing is getting on my nerves.”

“Welcome to the club,” Hook sighed, “They are being so childish like just shut up and wrestle.”

“Yeah no kidding,” I murmured, walking slowly next to him, “Wanna go to the football field?”

“Yeah,” Hook smiled, “I’m down.”

Hook and I have been best friends for a long time, trained together and now, in AEW together.

We thought it would be awesome to be a part of the same team, but the only team there truly was, was Hook and myself.

When we made it to the football field, I went into the center and just laid in the grass.

“I just wish we could wrestle our own matches and get away from all the guys’s bullshit,” I groaned, looking up to see Hook standing next to me.

“Wanna wrestle?” Hook teased, “Then let’s wrestle.”

“A sparring match?” I smirked, sitting up.

“If that’s what you want to call it,” Hook murmured, looking away when he said, “More like a test for you. I’m obviously stronger.”

“Oh?” I chuckled, standing up, “You’re gonna get it now.

“Bring it on!” Hook encouraged, going into stance whenever I came at him with a lock up.

At first, it was a challenge to overpower him, but to gain the advantage, I stepped on his foot, then put him in a headlock, quickly doing a snap headlock take down, putting him in the grass.

“What was that about being stronger?” I teased, rubbing my knuckles against his hair, “Come on, Hook! Bring it on!”

At first, I thought he was crazy when he started laughing, but then he start tickling me!

“HEY!” I yelled out with laughter. I was trying to fight it off, but I couldn’t handle it for very long, I was way too ticklish.

“You cheater!” I screamed over his laughter, the tickling becoming too much.

I let go and ran away, but Hook jumped right up, chasing me.

“Come on! What about our match?!” He laughed, sprinting to catch up with me.

It didn’t take long till he caught up to me, both of us laughing when he wrapped his arms around my waist, reeling me in.

“Hook, stop please!” I laughed, trying to break his force, but he was too strong, tightening his grip.

“This is what you get for running away!” He laughed, somehow still tickling me.

I needed to get out of his grip and finally, I was able too. I was able to squeeze my arms down, slithering away, crawling backwards between his legs then jumping on his back, putting him in a sleeper hold.

“Time to go night night,” I chuckled, not really trying to put him to sleep.

We would play fight like this all the time, we met in high-school and our friendship never really changed. Hook was always the quiet type, but when we became friends, he opened up to me and we always had fun like we were little kids. It was only with me because of how strong our bond was, still play fighting now as young adults.

Like usual, Hook found a way to reverse. He used a lot of strength to swing me and I screamed because I almost fell off of him, but with one arm, he pulled me back up, swinging me around and holding me in both arms.

We were both out of breath, but smiling when our eyes met, staring into each other’s eyes deeply.

“Can we call it quits?” I huffed, still laughing a bit.

“When are you gonna grow up and stop being so ticklish?” He teased, tickling me one last time.

“What do you mean?” I scoffed, “You just can’t stop being ticklish!”

“Take a joke!” Hook groaned, but smiling, his voice a little deeper when he whispered, “I don’t mind. Your laugh is cute.”

“Is that why you tickle me so much?” I said nervously, feeling my cheeks heat up.

“Maybe,” He smiled, his tongue darting across his lower lip.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I chuckled, about melting in his arms when I saw his head leaning towards mine a little.

I even let my eyes close, but we both jumped when we heard:

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO OUT HERE FOR??”

It was Taz. I forgot how loud he could yell and he about scared me half to death.

“We have to get out to the ring now! Come on!” Taz yelled louder and we just ran, following him.

When we finally made it to the stage, I wasn’t surprised. Ricky and Brian were fighting, AGAIN.

Ricky had the FTW title for some reason and at the same time, they were distracting Hobbs, which made him lose to Adam Page.

They didn’t even care about that. Brian was yelling in Ricky’s face, demanding he give him back the title. Then Hobbs came over and none of them would listen to Taz.

I had enough of this. I couldn’t stand it anymore. So, when Ricky’s hand swung back, the FTW title swinging along with it, I grabbed it.

They all stopped, staring at me and I stood in front of them all, pleading:

“Guys, this needs to stop! We’re a team and a good one when you guys aren’t bickering like children. Please, just stop! We are better than this. We really are!”

“Y/N is right,” Hobbs agreed, nodding his head.

It felt like a moment of peace between us, for the first time in what felt like forever.

Hobbs made me smile with that comment and now that everything was silent, I sighed, “Here, Brian. You’re the champ.”

Brian was smiling too, going to take his title whenever I began to hand it to him, but when I did, Ricky shoved me, knocking me to the ground.

I got slammed right into the titantron, hitting my head hard. I held my head quickly, looking up to see Ricky scared shitless because they were all ready to kill him.

“You son of a-“ Taz began to yell, but all I saw was Hook, knocking Ricky to the ground, throwing punches.

“Hook! Hook!” They all began yelling, Ricky yelling and clenching his injured neck.

“Hook! I said stop!” Taz yelled, but there was no stopping him.

I have never seen Hook so enraged like this before. Hobbs was the one able to contain Hook , turning him to Taz so he could say:

“Son, I don’t blame you for being angry. I know how you feel about her and I’m proud of you for whoopin his ass, but you need to stop.”

Finally, I snapped out of it, Brian kneeling in front of me asking, “Y/N, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I groaned, watching Hook.

His chest was heaving, his eyes animalistic and the moment Ricky picked up his head and looked at Hook, all hell broke lose again.

Hook must have had a crazy adrenaline rush in order to break free from Hobbs grip, going right back to Ricky and about punching his face in.

There was so much yelling and commotion, Hobbs and Brian now trying to hold Hook back, one of them had each of his arms. Hook was still fighting and that’s when I realized that I needed to do something.

Quickly, I jumped to my feet, running at Hook and hugging him.

“Hook,” I stressed, holding his face so he would look me in the eye, “I am just fine, okay? Please just stop. Ricky is not worth the energy.”

Finally, Hook settled down, but was still ready if Ricky even dared to stand up.

“Guys, let him go,” I asked politely, Brian and Hobbs listening.

As soon as they let go, Hook’s arms latched around me, one of his arms around my head, his hand rubbing right where I hit my head.

“You sure you’re alright, baby girl?” Taz asked, “You hit your head hard.”

“I’m fine,” I assured, “I promise.”

I laid my head on Hook’s chest, hearing how hard and fast it was pounding, that increasing when we both looked to see Ricky on his knees.

“We have to go,” I sighed, looking up at Hook, “We can go back to the football field, somewhere.”

Hook still had his eyes set on Ricky, but he quickly looked to me and nodded his head, but before we left, he gave Ricky a death stare, then he kissed my forehead.

“Let’s go,” Hook whispered to me, hearing all of the anger in his voice that deepened.

“Brian, take them to where ever they’re going,” Taz commanded, then pointing to Ricky, “And you?! Your ass is coming with me! Get the hell up!”

Brian came to our side, walking through the tunnel with us and once we were far away enough, Brian said:

“Good job out there, Hook. I enjoyed watching him get his ass kicked.”

His comment made me chuckle, it even made Hook smirk a little despite how angry he still was.

We began to go towards the football field and once it was in sight, I stopped walking, my eyes meeting with Brian’s.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but can Hook and I have some time alone?” I asked sweetly.

“You’re fine!” Brian smiled, “Take your time. I won’t be far if you need me.”

“Thanks, Brian,” I smiled back, “And thanks for walking us out here.”

Brian gave me a simple nod with a smile, then began to walk away. When I turned around, I saw Hook stepping on the football field, kicking at the grass.

I had to jog a little to catch up, but I caught up with him, his pace slowing down once he noticed I was behind him.

“Hook,” I sighed, taking a deep breath when he turned around, a blank expression was on his face, but I smiled, “Thank you.”

Hook looked at me as if he was surprised, curious as to why I was thanking him, at first is expression gave off the feeling that He was ready for a lecture.

“You’ve always had my back,” I smiled, “And I love you for it.”

When I said the word love, a bright smile he was trying to fight appeared but there was no fighting it.

He took a few steps towards me and I thought he was going to say something, but his arm hooked around my hip, pulling me in and his lips crashed right into mine.

It was like the big bang theory blasted in my mind when I felt his lips against mine. A kaleidoscope of colors turning behind my eyes when I felt all the sweetness, a lot of built up emotion, like he had been waiting forever to do this.

My whole body broke out in goosebumps, all of those emotions rolling right off his lips onto mine and every bit of it was so strong.

I made sure I kissed him back with the same amount of passion, so much of it built up inside because there was no trying to hide the truth. The truth that I’ve been dreaming about this for years, happy that we finally gave in and crossed the barrier of friendship and turned into something more.

When my hand stroked his cheek, they were so warm, finding his jaw line and keeping it there, holding it a little tighter when our lips parted and we both gasped quietly.

Our lips were just an inch away, Hook titling his head up just a bit so he could look into my eyes. Slowly, I pushed the little part of his hair that was blocking the view of his eyes, his eyes glowing, brightening when he whispered:

“I wouldn’t have done what I did if I didn’t love you, Y/N.”

I couldn’t stop smiling when he kissed me again, whispering against my lips, “I love you.”

After one more kiss, he hugged me, keeping my head to his chest. I had never been happier in any other place like I was in his arms. Even after that huge fight, our night ended up being beautiful.

“You’ve always had my back,” Hook sighed, looking down at me, “And I will always have yours. You are my girl after all.”

Just when I thought I couldn’t smile any brighter, I did. My cheeks hot again and being raised by my smile, saying to Hook, “Wouldn’t want to have it any other way.”

[slashingdisneypasta]

Sylvester the Cat x Toon!Reader || Drabble

Plot: I'm just experimenting with the Looney Tune idea so possibly enjoy some cute Sylvester Jr wanting you to be his new other parent.

Warnings: Toon violence?

You're just tying up the ends of Wile E's bandages into a tight little knot, prompting a wince from the coyote and a little board sign saying 'Ouch!'. Immediately you wince, stepping back. "Ohh... sorry, Wile E... I'm not exactly certified... " Daffy made you do this job, seeing as you're worse at sports then any of them- and that's saying something.

His head falls forward slightly and his ears wilt as you step back.

"Okay! Who's nex- " Turning around - picking up some more bandages and band aids in one fist, and an industrial sized tube of Acme branded antiseptic cream tucked under your other arm, - you look about for your next patient.

- And droop as soon as you see what kind if work load is waiting for you. It looks like every toon you know is lined up for medical attention!

The bandages and band aids slip out of your hands and scatter across the floor. "Oh boy." Quickly taking a deep breath to refresh yourself, you perk right up in order to get to it. Okay! "Sly! You're first, what's wro- Uh, hah. Nevermind."

Looking at him... maybe you don't have to ask...

Tweety flies through the giant gaping hole in Sylvester's tummy and the cat gives great sigh, slumping forward. "Why are the only times he's in there are when he can get out!!"

"I know, I know, woe is you. Sit down." You have no time for sympathies right now, you can allocate Sly only 2 minutes- and that's because you like him. The other patients coming get only one. "Okay, Sly!... um... " Oh brother you're stuck. Why do you do with an ailment like this?? Sylvester patiently sits, waiting for you to finish as you set your paws on your hips with a huff... wondering where exactly to go from here. Hm. "Do you maybe... know where your insides... are? Like, presently?"

"Uhh, they were... disintegrated... "

You two share a concerned look. "Maybe... spackle?- "

Just as Sylvester is gulping down his fear at your crazy suggestion, a certain black and white kitten comes speeding out of the crowd at the two of you. "FATHER!" Sylvester Junior stops at his fathers side, eyes wide with worry. "Father! Is he okay, Y/N??"

As you start rifling through your medical kit for something actually useful, you waive a dismissive paw at the kitten. "Oh, don't worry SJ. Your dad has recovered from worse- you know that."

Oh- that gives you an idea! It may not be strictly medical... or orthodox in the least, but its worth a try! Come on- you guys are toons. Straightening up, you look to the court; Searching for the little yellow speck you know is flying around somewhere.

Sylvester Jr nods slowly, pouting. His eyes are big, and round, and adorably full of worry. "Do you think I can sit on his lap safely, Y/N?"

Oh he's just the cutest. You turn back to your patient and raise your brows at him. "Can he?"

Sly perks up at the chance to get some much needed affection - rather then shameful berating, - from his rugrat. "Of course he can- come on, son- oww... " Unfortunately Sylvester Junior throws caution to the wind, and launches his little body at his father- almost going all the way through and causing you to seriously wince, but luckily Sylvester has a good grip on him and sets him in his lap rather then inside the cavern that was his belly. "Aghhh... thanks, son... I feel a lot better now... oof!- "

Sylvester Junior has thrown his arms around his father, and your heart leaps at the adorable scene...

Except- you wouldn't have, if you had heard what was really going on in that hug.

Sylvester's eyes widen and he deadpans at his son, hearing the words that come out in a rushed, hoarse whisper as soon as the hug he thought was genuine closes around his neck. Of course... this is his son, after all...

"How am I doing, Father?? Is Y/N looking?? I've been told that other cats become more inclined to date a cat who's good with children!, and since you're hopeless at that, I've elected myself, your darling baby son, to help you! So, are they looking father??"

"Junior!"

"Yes father???"

"I do not need your help to woo anyone, and I'm working on Y/N... " Sly tries to assure Jr, not sounding totally sure as his eyes fall downcast. "Its, uh, just a slow process, is all... " After a moment, he proudly lifts his chin, and he would puff out his chest, if... you know.. it was there... "I got your mother on my own, didn't I??"

Sylvester's proud moment is cut off quickly as his son pulls away from him to give a very deadpanned, sassy expression at the mention of his absentee mother cat. "And where is she, may I ask, father??"

A loud 'Aha!' comes from you a few feet away as you jump up, and grab something right out of the air.

Deeply rolling his eyes, irritation flickering inside him at the antics of his son, Sylvester Sr plonks him down on the bench beside him, angrily crossing his arms. Jr follows suit, looking like an exact replica of his father... except, smaller.

Blinking blankly around to see the two, with Tweety now wriggling around in your paws, you giggle at the sight. "What happened to you two? You were having such a heart warming father-son moment a second ago!"

"I'm full of shame, Y/N. Oh woe... "Sylvester Jr sighs, shaking his head as Sr turns his head slowly to look at him. "How am I to face my friends at the playground... My father- a loser!"

Sylvester pointedly looks away, angry eyes pointing towards the court. "My son... a spoiled brat. How am I ever to show my face in society, again?" An even heavier sigh comes out of Sylvester Jr at that remark, and Sylvester Sr immediately jumps up from the bench, pointing a stern finger at his son. "Oh no ya don't- Don't you dare get out that bag!!"

"But Father! I'm full of shame!" Sylvester Jr whines, holding the paper bag in his lap as you watch the two in wonderment. How they can bicker like this, and still have such an adorable, open relationship you have no clue - some kids are too scared to talk back to their fathers, - but the state of these two's relationship is truly, really endearing to you.

Oh how you love Sly... You catch yourself swooning at the thought of him, and immediately stop yourself. Stop it, Y/N! This is not the time for that. Taking a deep breath, you shake yourself. Okay, back to the task at hand.

Meanwhile, Sylvester snatches the paper bag away from Jr. "Oh, cut that out, wouldja?!"

While there's a pause in the argument, you jump and take your chance to hold up Tweety in front of Sylvester's face- his pupils shrinking at the sight and his teeth growing sharper, somehow.

"Oh no oh no- You mean old puddy tads- using me like this!" Tweety exclaims, wings pressed firmly to your paws and pushing, struggling to wiggle up and out of your tight grip. Yeah yeah, you think. Tell it to the choir.

Hopefully when I let Tweety go, Sly will give chase... and be all better!

Heh... isn't that how it works? It is, right? He'll 'perk right up'! you could say.

"Alright... here goes nothing!" You squeak, closing your eyes and letting Tweety go, hoping to god that Sylvester doesn't trample you in his endeavour to snatch his favourite little yellow bird.

Feeling a wind blow against you side and ruffling your fur as Sylvester springs to action, you slowly crack your eyes open again- first seeing Sylvester Jr as he still sits on the bench in front of you swinging his legs over the side of the bench, before peaking over your shoulder, and... "Yes!" You cry out as soon as your keen feline eyes catch sight of Sylvester looking good as new again on the court, chasing Tweety through the still-roaring basketball game. Clasping your hands together, your tail wiggles excitedly behind your back. "It worked!"

"What?" Sylvester hears your cheering and immediately halts in his tracks, looking at you then down at himself- a big, toothy smile spreading across his face when he see's he's all better. "Y/N! You did it! Thanks!"

"Of course!" You call back, then point at the scoreboard and wink. "Now kick those Monstar's butts for me!"

The green Monstar turns a squinty looking evil eye on you at hearing your words but you don't care- you're far too busy burning the image of Sly giving you a thumbs up into your mind.

"Heheh, no problem... " That trademark evil grin slips across Sly's face again as he rubs his paws together, turning his attention back to the game as you sigh, paws on your hips; Happy with your job well done.

"Uh, hello??" Someone speaks up from behind you, and you jump, suddenly remembering the mile long line of toons that still need medical attention.

Ohhh... great. You slowly turn around, seeing Elmer giving you angry eyes and quickly look extremely apologetic, paws awkwardly behind your back and spine as straight as a plank. Oops!

You might seem help... you think you tilting your head to see the rest of the long... long, l o n g line. "Uhh... SJ? You wanna help me play nurse, maybe?"

"Oh, yes Y/N!" He exclaims enthusiastically, hopping off the bench and taking up your medical kit in his short little arms- which is way too big for him. You giggle and take it from the kitten, patting his head. "I'll be happy to be your assistant!"

Fist bumping each other, you wink. "That's the kinda attitude I like to see! Lets go."

~

A couple hours and countless injuries later and the game is coming to a nail chewing close. Truly, this is a new level of anxiety you're feeling as you leave Sylvester Junior, now exhausted and up past his bedtime, curled in Granny's lap with a blanket strewn over him. Then you sit back down to watch the game beside a very injured Sly, as Witch Hazel defibrillates Taz.

If Michael doesn't make this shot - with but seven seconds to go, - he has to move to Moron Mountain in your place. You all dragged him here for help and now h's the one with everything on the line.

You cant help but feel a massive load of guilt.

"Oh I cant watch!" You squeak suddenly amongst the thunderous sounds of the audience at 4 seconds, and cover your eyes. "Tell me when its over!"

.

.

.

3 seconds later, the buzzer screeches and you hear the toons around you cheering, and peak out nervously from beyond your paws. ... What happened?

Your gaze flickers to the score board.

Oh my god. A deep, relieved breath comes out of you. "We won!?"

"We won!" Sylvester concurs, jumping up from the bench and throwing a fist into the air. Then he puts his paws on your arms and beams down at you. "We're not gonna be slaves!!"

You wonder what you could say in response, but the one thing your body is telling to you to do is throw your arms around him- so you do. And he doesn't think twice before squeezing you back, picking you up and swinging you around.

Then the world comes crashing down around Sly, as his son opens his eyes to see the scene- and gasps. The kitten sits up quickly in Granny's lap and points. "Oh, father! You did it! I knew you could do it!"

Immediately Sylvester puts you down, his paws retreating from you and a definite sense of nervousness - and maybe embarrassment? - settles over him. You raise your brows, confused, but still swimming in the joy of the game being won and just tilt your head as you confusedly smile. "What did he do??"

Sly Jr doesn't even think a second before gleefully elaborating- despite his father very nearly shaking his soul free waving his hands at him in a doomed endeavour to shut his son up. "No- stop, Junior!- "

"Asked you out! Didn't he?" As the wide eyed bewilderment on your face and the utter horror on Sylvester's dawns on Jr, his shoulders drop and he turns disappointedly at his dad. "Didn't you?"

"No!"

"Oh, father!- "

Sylvester Sr's tail, shoulders, and head slump forward as he turns his kitten around so he faces away from the two of you, embarrassment replaced by exasperation. "You're tired, son. Go to sleep. Night night, sleep tight, sweet dreams, don't let the bed bugs bite and we'll talk in the morning." Then he slowly, meekly turns back to you.

And you're practically glowing. "Sly... what's he talking about?"

"Father likes you!- " Sylvester Jr tries to speak up again, turning his head but Sr twists his head carefully back, a reprimanding tone in his voice.

"Sleep! Hah hah... " Sylvester (Sr) turns back to you, arms held carefully behind his back as he chuckles nervously. "My son is... troubled... a little- "He point at his head and swirls his finger; A gesture reading 'Loopy'. As soon as the meaning behind that word and his gesture occurs to you, you visibly droop. Oh. Okay... I guess SJ was just messing with us... Sly watches this reaction, and his ears perk up quickly; Sensing some dissappintment. "I mean, uh... unless you liked the i-idea?"

You peak up at him again from the floor, seeing his face slowly going red. "... D-do you?"

"Wha- I asked first! You answer the question."

"Hey." Setting your fists to your hips, you look stubbornly at him. "You were just taking it all back! So you tell the truth. Which is it??"

"Yeah- but I asked the question first!"

"Sylvester James Pussycat Senior!"

"Pfft... if you think pulling full name on me is going to change anything... " He rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. "You've got another thing comin'!"

Your eyes narrow, and so do his, before suddenly Taz jumps up from the bench he was resting on and ZOOMS past Sly so fast and so hazardously, that he's caught off guard and jumps forward with a yelp- accidentally knocking you.

"Oh!-"

"H-hold on, I got ya!!" Sylvester's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates and he grabs you just before gravity manages to drag you down to the ground; Pulling you back up to your feet- which just so happens to bring you two extremely close together.

Two sets of eyes widen and faces go red.

Everything seems to go a little quieter around you, the deafening sounds of the auditorium seeming to get plunged under water as the crazy all just slows down for just a moment. Enough for you to enjoy the few seconds you foreseeably get before he jumps back like someone sprayed him.

But to your surprise, he doesn't move. Just stands there and looks shocked... but does not move even an inch away from you. Doesn't even let go of you.

Finally, after a few good moments, you sigh and give in. "... Sly, would you like to go out sometime with me?"

"Ah... " His ears flatten against his head as he looks bashful, with a cute little smile that makes your stomach do backflips as he curls his tail around yours. "Yes, I'd like that very much."

You lean up and give him a feather light kiss on the cheeks- and he goes even redder.

[a-bang-for-your-bucky]

Welcome Home Part 4

Summary: Winter is here. Peyton has her match against Shida, Kenny has his match against Moxley, Brandi shares some information with Peyton.

Pairings: Cody Rhodes x OFC (Sister), Brandi Rhodes x OFC (sister), Kenny Omega x OFC

WARNINGS: 18+, explicit language, allusions to smut, a heated make out sesh, heel turn.

Word: 1,957

A/N: y'all i'm sorry this took so long. I hope this is as good as the other parts. <3

Tonight was the night. “Winter is Coming” had an action packed card. There was a rumor going around that someone was making their AEW debut, but only a certain few knew who. (Here's a hint: IT'S STIIIIIIIIIING).

My match against Shida was after Cody’s tag match with Darby against Team Taz. Brandi and I watched the AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring Battle Royal as I prepped, put my gear on and stretched. I rolled my eyes watching as MJF weaseled his way into a win. “One day, Wardlow is going to kick his ass.” I bet as I turned to Brandi. She nodded in agreement. She had been acting different lately. “You alright, sis? You seem off.” I asked her, genuinely concerned.

Brandi looked around the office space we were in, before getting up to close the door. “You can’t say anything, especially to Cody.” She made me promise before continuing. She was starting to scare me. “I’m pregnant.” She beamed, pulling a scan photo out of her bag.

My jaw dropped, eyes wide open. “I’m gonna be an aunt again?!” I all but squealed, taking the black and white photo from her. “Brandi, that’s so exciting! I know how much you guys have been wanting this.” She enveloped me in a hug.

“I haven’t came up with the best way to tell Cody yet, but it’s gonna be this weekend. So, you won’t have to keep the secret for long.” Brandi was positively glowing. This was the best news to get right before my match.

“Thank you for trusting me. I can’t believe this. It’s gonna bring me good luck, I just know it.” I smiled, hugging her again. A knock on the door pulled us back to the night at hand. “It’s open.” I yelled.

It was Cody. “You’re up, Pey.” He said as he walked in over to Brandi. “Hi, honey.” He whispered sweetly, giving her a kiss. I mock-gagged telling them to get a room before I left. It was time; My time.

A twenty minute long, extremely physical match later and I did it. By the skin of my teeth, I was able to get Shida in a roll up. For good measure, I used the bottom rope to my advantage, leveraging more pressure on the pin. Luckily, Rick Knox didn’t see it.

“Here is your winner, and new AEW Women’s Champion, The Dream Killer, Peyton Rhodes.” Justin bellowed into the microphone. The crowd was split between cheers and boos. Tony had met me at the stage.

“Peyton, any comment on the match?” He asked, obviously hinting at the rope thing. I smiled and shook my head.

“What Tony? You mean the match I just won? The one where I became champion? I think it went great.” I flashed him a toothy grin.

“But the rop-”

I cut him off. “Let me stop you right there, Schiavone. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I won that match, fair and square, with blood, sweat, and tears.” I growled into the mic, “Excuse me, I have a celebration to plan.” I stalked off down the heel tunnel. I only had about fifteen minutes before spot with Jon and Kenny.

Shit, I thought. I almost forgot about the conversation a couple of weeks ago. When Cody said he wanted me to turn on Jon, really solidify my heel turn, I didn’t think he’d want me to help take his title. Tony Khan wanted Kenny and I to play a ‘Power Couple’, basically take over the show.

I quickly changed out of my ring gear, back into my street clothes. The black skinny jeans were distressed and paired well with the grey tank top and tight leather vest I had pulled over it. My feet were clad in black combat boots.

I stood at the Gorilla monitors, watching Kenny’s match. I was still feeling high from winning my match and becoming AEW Women’s champion. I was waiting for my cue from Kenny to rush out. The last few weeks, Kenny had been dropping hints that he was turning heel. Tonight, I was sealing that turn and helping him win the AEW title.

Kenny had climbed to the top rope, looking like he was about to attempt a moonsault, but Jon rushed him. Kenny noticed and jumped to the outside of the ring. I gasped, worried he had landed wrong on his knee. Only relaxing once I saw him jump back up on the apron. Jon hit him with a forearm, knocking him off balance long enough for Jon to slide out of the ring and pull a foot out from under him.

Kenny went face first into the apron. Jon grabbed him, looking like he was going for the paradigm shift, but did a slightly awkward snapdragon into a speaker. Kenny laid there, defenseless. I grabbed my mic, and got ready to run out onto the stage. The ref was trying to keep Jon back, while the ringside medic checked on Kenny.

More referees came out to assess Kenny, and I could tell Jon was getting pissed. He stalked back over and tossed the extras out of the way, trying to get to Kenny. Jon rolled him back into the ring and began pounding on his head. Kenny brought his hands up to protect his head, shooting a signal that only I knew to look out for.

I rushed out the heel tunnel, mic in hand. “Jon, stop. Please, stop.” I begged as I got closer to the ropes. Jon paused, confused as to why I was out there. “He’s down, Mox, stop.”

He moved off of Kenny, walking over to me. “What the hell are you doing?” He asked, throwing his hands up. He turned his back to me, doing Kenny’s signature finger gun gesture. I reached over the top rope, grabbing at his shoulder. He turned angrily, causing me to jump back, strategically dropping the mic into the ring for Kenny. “Get out of here, Peyton!” Jon yelled at me before turning back to Kenny.

I had the referee distracted long enough for Kenny to grab the mic, and smack Jon in the head with it. He had busted Jon wide open, the blood staining his face. Kenny pulled down his knee pad, hitting a V Trigger one, two, three, four times. I was sure Jon was unconscious. Kenny pushed him into a corner, fatigue settling in. He used the turnbuckle as leverage to lift Jon up, preparing for a One Winged Angel. He slammed Jon into the mat with such force, that the entire ring shook. Kenny grabbed one leg, all but laying over Jon, pinning him.

“Here is your winner, and NEW AEW world heavyweight champion, Kenny Omega.” Justin Roberts announced, and the crowd booed. I slid into the ring, taking the title from the ref, giving it to Kenny. I went to raise his hand, instead Kenny pulled me close. One of his hands grabbed the back of my head, pulling me toward him. I froze as his lips met mine. Quickly, after recovering from the shock, I pulled away. Kenny kept me close as he raised the belt. My mind still blank from the kiss, he moved us towards the rope, carefully holding them open for me to step through.

Once we were backstage and out of sight, I turned to face him. “Care to explain what the fuck that was?!” I fumed. Kenny’s face went beet red. He swiped a hand down his face. I knew he was exhausted, but I needed answers.

“Look, I promise I will explain, but Callis has a chopper ready to get me the fuck outta here. Come with me.” He swore, gesturing to the back door. I nodded and let him lead me outside. As we neared the chopper, Alex Marvez stopped Kenny to ask what happened. Callis stepped out of the chopper, telling him that he, along with everyone else, can find out Tuesday on Impact.

They must have anticipated my joining them as I found my duffle, along with my title and phone on the floor of the chopper. The pilot flew us to an undisclosed location, which I soon found out was the landing pad at Kenny's hotel. Callis ran straight to his room, hunkering down from the fall out of tonight's show. Kenny opened the door to his room, gesturing for me to come in. I walked inside, getting comfortable on the couch.

I quickly pulled out my phone, letting Cody know I was with Kenny. He immediately responded stating they were about to send a search party. I huffed out a laugh and Kenny looked over at me.

"I guess I have some explaining to do huh?" He sighed, running his fingers through his blonde curls. I nodded sharply. "I want to apologize first. I shouldn't have kissed you, especially without your permission and I'm truly sorry." He amended, " second, I really wish our first kiss would have been under better circumstances." He smiled sweetly. This man always finding a way to melt my heart.

"I accept your apology, this time Omega." I teased. "What made you do it though?" I asked, unsure if I wanted the answer.

"You know, the adrenaline was coursing through my veins, and there you were looking like a damn angel. And I thought to myself, the only thing that would make this better would be to kiss you. Before I could stop myself, my lips were on yours." Kenny blushed, explaining himself.

The man looked like a damn dream. Still clad in just his wrestling tights, blonde hair a mess of curls, chest red from the hits he took. And to top it all off, his lips looked down right kissable. Only Kenny Omega could look this good after a grueling wrestling match. I thought, smiling to myself. And even though I was upset that our first kiss happened on Live TV with millions watching, I wanted nothing more than for it to happen again.

“Can we get a redo?” The words fell from my lips as a whisper. Kenny’s head snapped up to look at me. He took three big strides to the couch where I was sat, pulling me up to my feet. One of his hands, which I never noticed were so big until they were cupping my face, tilted my mouth up toward his.

Torturously slow, Kenny brought his lips to mine. My eyes fluttered shut as my hands came up to tangle my fingers in his curls. Impossibly, Kenny pulled me closer, causing a small gasp to leave me. He took the opportunity to slide his tongue against my own.

The kiss was sweet, passionate, and full of emotion. When we finally parted to breath, Kenny was the first to speak. “That was,” he stopped, trying to find the right word.

“Breath-taking.” I finished his sentence and he nodded in agreeance. “Ken,” I started. He cut me off by kissing me again. I quickly melted into the kiss. My hands began to roam his body, slipping under the tight T-shirt, feeling the taut muscles of his back.

I pulled away from his intoxicating kiss and pushed him back toward the couch. Once back in a seated position, I straddled him. “Fuck, Pey.” Kenny moaned as my lips attacked his neck. He pulled my face back so that our eyes met. His blue eyes were almost black with desire . “Can’t have you leaving any marks there, princess.” Kenny growled. I cocked a brow and ground my center down on him. Kenny immediately flipped us, so that he was hovering over me. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Princess.” Kenny had started to unzip my vest when we were interrupted by banging on the door.

Tags: @rach-supreme93

[luobingmeis]

maybe i’m my own greatest fear (a taz grad/fitzrain fic)

A/N: i'm still trying to get the grasp of writing taz grad fic, but after episode 6 i couldn't not fic this. also my brain just keeps bouncing back and forth between loving fitzroy/argo and fitzroy/rainer so i guess i multiship now!!! reblogs are greatly appreciated!!!

also title from sorority noise’s “art school wannabe”

summary:

“This promotion? Great, wonderful! A villain? Not so good.”

“And… why?”

“Because I’m not one of the bad guys?”

(Fitzroy goes to Rainer's dorm to talk about his "new assignment" and instead realizes that he can't avoid talking about his feelings and fears any longer.)

read on ao3!!!

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

Rainer’s dorm was charmingly her. It was in the space between messy and tidy; the floor was spotless and the bed made, but stacks of books and jewelry and papers (and maybe a small skeleton or two, though he was never actively looking for those) covered the surface of every desk and dresser. The door off to the side, which was to remain locked until Rainer chose her permanent hench, was covered in posters and drawings tactfully placed, and a lone calendar filled to the brim in a quill she charmed to write in whatever glittery color she desired.

Very charmingly her.

Fitzroy had rarely been here long enough to actually pay her decorum any mind. Most of the time they had alone was spent on the outskirts of campus, or in the minutes they had between classes; more often than not, them “hanging out” involved at least three other people venturing to a much more crowded place.  

Still, though, he couldn’t quite stop his feet from walking to her dorm. Rainer had no roommate, no hench, and, well… Hieronymous told him to keep his program change a secret, but when has he ever been able to keep a secret, anyway?

“I half expected you to already be at the tavern,” Rainer was saying, her back to him as she sorted through one of her notebooks (probably looking for the report she’d have to write on their field experience, or more so a report on how promising the kicks and henches seemed). “Maybe even bickering with Argo over who’s paying for drinks.”

She looked around the high-back of her chair and shot him a smile.

“Please, Rainer,” he said, hoping that his smirk and posture maintained his poise and not the thoughts that were racing through his head. “I’m enough of a gentleman to know to pay for my friends’ drinks.”

“I know you are,” Rainer said, softly, and Fitzroy was thankful that it was then that she turned back to her desk so she wouldn’t have to see the red rising in his face.

Of all he expected to find at Wiggenstaff, he didn’t expect Rainer.

Or, more so, of how much he expected to detest Wiggenstaff, he didn’t expect to find someone who gave him a reason to consider sticking around. He had Argo and the Firbolg, of course, and he appreciated his friends (perhaps even best friends, though Fitzroy hadn’t had any prior experience with that level of friendship), but what he had with Rainer was… different.

Which only made everything more complicated, because of course it did.

“I actually came here to talk to you,” he continued, looking up at the small lights she had hanging with the tapestry around her bed. 

Rainer snorted. “No, really? I thought you came to talk to Gary.”

Fitzroy rolled his eyes, barely trying to hold back a smile, and was about to make some witty quip about Rainer’s own when he was interrupted with a, “Hey! Rainer! See you’ve got guests up ���ere!”

Both their eyes flashed to the now-animated gargoyle in the corner of Rainer’s room, and Fitzroy suddenly felt like he was trapped in a tank at the reminder that not only were the Garys listening, but also a hivemind . That shared information. Information that could be private.

“Yeah, Gary, it’s-”

“Is there a way that he could actually be turned off?” Fitzroy asked, thankful that his voice remained level. “Apologies for the interruption but this is, well-” He swallowed, forced a smile “-this is kind of important.”

Rainer, spinning around to face him, arched an eyebrow before, with a flick of her wrist, a small, nearly-translucent bubble formed around the Gary.

“Silence,” she explained. “My Gary isn’t a nark so it’s probably fine.”

“Perfect,” Fitzroy nodded, allowing himself a relaxed grin.

“And I’ll admit, Fitz-” and she tapped her fingers against the arm of her chair “-You’ve got me kinda nervous here.”

“Well, no, you see- it’s fine, really.”

“That’s a lot of filler words for fine.” Still, she smiled and cocked her head.

“A lot of filler words for great, actually!” Fitzroy assured, to her and himself. “I’ve actually moved up in the so-called hierarchy here! Our dear Headmaster wants to put me into the hero-villain tract!”

Rainer’s glee was almost enough to make Fitzroy think that perhaps this wasn’t the complete end of everything. “Fitz, that’s amazing!” she exclaimed, moving her chair closer in so that she could tightly grab his hands. “We can all have classes together! You and me and Buck and Rolandus and his crew—don’t worry, they’re really all super nice—it’ll be so much fun!” She then furrowed her brows, suddenly serious, and, if possible, she squeezed his hands tighter. “What about Bud and Argo, though? Where are they going?”

“Oh, they’ll be fine,” he said, smiling. “They’ll be coming with me! As my- well, we all have to talk soon, but I assume they’ll be by my side.”

“Oh, like sidekicks!”

Fitzroy then sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, grimacing. “And that , my dear, is when things start to get a little complicated.”

“What do you mean?” Rainer asked, frowning. “Don’t tell me- they’re not leaving, are-”

“Oh, no!” Fitzroy shook his head quickly. “No, not at all. They’ll be coming with me, but as… Well, you see, when good ole’ Hieronymous bumped me up, he didn’t… bump me up to being a hero.”

“Oh, so you’re a villain!”

Fitzroy was proud of himself for holding back a flinch. “Apparently so.”

“Oh, Fitz! That’s so cool! It’s honestly really fun. A lot of the professors are actually super cool, which is nice because some of the content , oh boy, and-”

Fitzroy worried his bottom lip, trying to hold back the nerves and… aggravation that bubbled up in him. “But-” he interrupted “-but do you see the… issue… here?”

Rainer paused, studying him for a moment. “No?” she finally responded, equal parts confused and suspicious.

“This promotion? Great, wonderful! A villain? Not so good.”

“And… why?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Because I’m not one of the bad guys?”

Rainer froze for a moment and, while she gaped at him and then over at the stacks of textbooks and notebooks, it was then that Fitzroy realized that, perhaps, he fucked up. 

Dropping his hands right back into his lap, she huffed and moved herself back. “Wow, Fitz, super cool.”

“Rainer, wait,” he sighed. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?” She asked, annoyance coloring her own voice. “Because, honestly, if you think I’m a bad guy-”

“No, it’s-” Fitzroy found himself fumbling for words as his eyes darted around Rainer’s dorm to focus on anything but the scowl on her face “-it’s not that.”

“Then what?”

“It’s just-” An exasperated sigh left him again and, in resignation, he threw his hands up “-the villains are the ones we fight against!”

She narrowed her eyes. “Who’s we? ”

“The Maplecourts!” he exclaimed. Once, simply stating the family name would make one think of knighthood. “We’re- we’re a long line of knights who are trained to fight evil and that is what I am meant to do!”

“Okay.” Rainer pinched the bridge of her nose, shutting her eyes tight. “You know equating villains with evil is pretty archaic, right? Like, there are heroes who are capital-E evil who just, I don’t know, fudged the budget, and then there are heroes who are capital-E evil because they actually did some really bad stuff. Like, I know that you know that.”

His head fell back as he huffed again. “You’re not getting it.”

“No, I’m really not!”

Looking back down at her, he shook his head. “I can’t be a villain!”

“Why? Villains aren’t automatically bad people!”

“I know! It’s just- the Maplecourts- we’re knights! ”

It was Rainer’s own turn now to throw her hands up. “You can still be a knight!”

“But not really! ” He snapped, his temper beginning to creep through as he struggled to restrain his volume.

“Why, Fitzroy? Why?”

“Because- because everyone expects me to be a knight so that’s what I need to do and-”

“Enough about everyone else!” Rainer snapped back. “I don’t care about everyone else! Only you! So, what do you think, Fitzroy? Why is this an issue for you? ”

“I’m terrified that this is all a mistake!” Fitzroy finally rushed out, unable to find it in him to care that he was near shouting. “I’m terrified that my time here is just derailing the future that I’m supposed to be taking! And- And this place isn’t the worst, okay? Argo and the Firbolg are my best friends and I love you but I am also so scared that I’m going to get out of here and there’s going to be nothing left for me! My family isn’t going to want a villain, Clyde’s Knight School isn’t going to want a knight who fought against the good that they strive to maintain, and- honestly, it felt like this school didn’t want me either! I just don’t want to keep going from nothing to nothing while everyone else gets to have the lives they all fucking hoped and dreamed for!”

Fitzroy, his breathing almost as shaky as his hands, looked pointedly away from Rainer. He blinked quickly, trying not to pay too much attention to how his eyes burned and, instead, tried to take down his anger—at Rainer for seeing through him, at himself for letting his temper burst out—before his magic decided to go wild. 

He could already feel it thrumming through his veins, hot and chaotic, and the last thing he wanted was to destroy anything else.

He really didn’t like fighting with Rainer.

Suddenly exhausted, with every bone in his body weighing a ton, he let his head drop in his hands and roughly pressed his thumbs into his temples.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice much quieter now. “It’s just-”

He was interrupted by a hand rubbing gentle circles on his back, and he looked up to find Rainer sitting next to him. Quickly, he ducked his head back down. Rainer didn’t deserve to see him like this: a small, scared animal lashing out in a final act of defense.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, quiet and, in his knightly opinion, pathetically fragile.

“It’s okay to be scared,” Rainer said, her hand finding its place of rest on his shoulder. “It’s okay to feel lost, even. But also… don’t run away from opportunities just because they scare you. That’s not you.”

He let out a weak laugh and finally picked his head up, flashing her whatever he could muster of a smile. “It’s pathetic though, isn’t it? I’m trained to be at the front-line in battle and I’m- I’m losing my cool because of academics .”

“Don’t just dismiss yourself like that,” she sighed. “It’s not pathetic, and obviously you’re upset over more than just some classes.”

“I just…” He released a breath, shoulders sagging. “Not to be incredibly dramatic, but it feels like my life keeps falling to pieces.”

“And I wish there was something I could do.”

He smiled slightly and rested a hand on her knee. “You don’t have to go through that trouble for me.”

“Maybe not.” Rainer shrugged. “But I want to.”

Fitzroy swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat.

“I think… I think you’re going to be okay,” Rainer continued. “I think things are going to be normal again, and I think you’re gonna like the new program-” Her voice then quieted “-Plus, being a villain isn’t so bad.”

The heat of shame rushed to his face and, trying to find the right thing to say to make up for that , he shook his head.

“I shouldn’t have said any of that to you,” he whispered.

Rainer shrugged with a half-hearted smile. “It’s okay.”

“No-” Fitzroy shook his head again, taking her hands “-it really isn’t.”

Rainer looked away for a moment, worrying her bottom lip. “I… well, okay, yeah, the whole villain comment hurt, but it’s- it’s fine.”

“But it really, really wasn’t okay,” he said, catching Rainer’s eye. “That was a major asshole move of me. You… you are nowhere near a bad person, Rainer. Not only are you a great person, a good person, you… you’re one of the best.” She smiled, a true one this time, and Fitzroy gently cupped her cheek. “It was unfair of me to… to generalize and take my frustrations out on you. And I- I really am sorry.”

“It’s okay, really,” Rainer said, placing her hand over his. “You’re forgiven.” 

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

A smirk dashed across her face. “You just might have to retake a class or two on chivalry.”

He gave her a smile. “A small price to pay.” 

Rainer’s smirk turned into a smile as well and, for just a moment, she studied him. “Are you going to be happy here, Fitzroy?”

He faltered.

If he had been asked that at orientation, the answer would have been short and simple: absolutely not. Happy? At Wiggenstaff’s when he was just attending Clyde Nite’s Night Knight School? How could he be?

Now, though, the answer wasn’t so easy.

“I want to be,” he finally said, sighing. “And, push comes to shove, I really do like it here. I have you, and I have our friends. It’s just… I want to be happy. But-” he scratched the back of his neck “-I think it’s obvious I have some stuff I need to work on. Nothing the school can fix… Honestly, I should be grateful to have this offer. It’s just… me-stuff, you know?”

Rainer nodded. “And we’ll be here to help you out. We all want you here, love you being here. I love you, Fitz. And I think you should take this opportunity. I know it’s not what you expected, but it can still get you a foot in the door. And… I’m not gonna pry, and I don’t know what I can do to help with all the family stuff and the Clyde’s Knight school stuff but… I think they would all just want you to be happy. Want you to do what you want to do. And if that’s being a knight, great! But if you end up doing something else and loving it? Then they should love that for you.” She then leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “And… if anything, we’re your family, too. And we’ve got your back.”

Fitzroy smiled, and found himself very lucky to have Rainer in his corner. “I love you, too,” he said. “And I’ll do better next time at… actually talking instead of skirting around it.”

Rainer smiled, too. “I think you’ll be okay.”

“I’ll do it for you,” he said before leaning in and giving her a kiss. His hand rested gently at her hip, one of hers ghosting over the back of his neck and, when they pulled apart, he smiled. “You and a good grade, of course. As a villain, I probably have to do a lot of talking, right? Gotta freshen up on my monologuing.”

Rainer rolled her eyes with a laugh. “ So much monologuing. And you gotta do it with a hero, too. Buck’s the worst to do it with. He’ll do a monologue while you’re monologuing to try to out-monologue your monologue.”

“Well, I’ll just have to talk really loud, I guess,” he said, laughing, too.

“I think you’ll do fine.” Rainer smiled. “I think you’ll do good. Do well … and some good, too.”

Fitzroy took her hands back in his own. “Not as good as you.”

“Who would’ve known that you were such a sap?”

“Don’t tell anyone,” he said with a wink. “I have a reputation.”

Rainer smirked. “You once lost an arm-wrestling contest with a hologram.”

He scoffed. “That was supposed to be a secret .”

“That you told everyone!” Rainer laughed before leaning forward and kissing him again. “But I can actually keep a secret, so you’re fine.”

“Your confidence is greatly appreciated,” he said, “Oh, and! I was not supposed to tell anyone that I’m a villain now, either, so keep this on the DL as well.”

“Fitz!”

“But hey! Now that we’re gonna have classes together, we can pass fun, secret notes to each other! Dish the goss and share secrets!”

“We already do that!”

“Yeah but now we can be super sneaky about it!”

Rainer, shoving his shoulder, laughed. “I swear, if you make my GPA drop-”

“I would never!”

“I already have to deal with Buck trying to talk to me all the time! And sometimes Rolandus, too, when he’s feeling particularly fight-y… with Buck. So-” She jutted a finger at him “-I have my eye on you, Maplecourt.”

He winked at her. “I know you do.”

Rainer stared at him, shaking her head, though she was only able to hold off a smile for so long. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Love you, too,” Fitzroy said, pressing a kiss to her forehead before standing. “Well, I guess I have some roommates I need to, ah, break this news to.”

“Good luck,” she said, smiling up at him. 

“Much appreciated,” he said. 

With his hand on the doorknob, he gave Rainer one final smile over his shoulder. “See you around, my lovely partner in crime.” 

Rainer grinned. “Try not to get into too much trouble,” she said, shooting him a wink.

“I’ll try my best,” he said with a soft laugh before stepping out of her dorm.

[anotherdndblog]

Fictober Day 7: 31- “I trust you”

Title: Drinking Lies Part 3

Words: 1355

Fandom: TAZ Amnesty

Characters/Pairing: Sternclay

Rating: T

Tags: Canon divergence, the truth is I’m not that far into amnesty yet I just wanted to write this, mild angst, language, angst with a happy ending

Summary: Barclay is determined to get Stern back, but at what cost?

Authors note: I’m obsessed with Sternclay at the moment

Link to AO3 

____________________________________

Barclay turned and looked down at Stern with the slightest glimmer of hope in his eyes. He touched the hemp bracelet on his wrist with one hand, gliding his fingers over the rough texture. All he needed to do was take off that one thing, and the secret would be out. That would be it. 

And Stern would leave him. 

God, of course, Stern would leave him! What kind of human would want to date Bigfoot? 

Barclay faltered, stumbling back, his hands hitting the counter. “I… I’m scared.” He finally admitted. 

Stern stepped closer, kicking a stray piece of glass that Barclay had missed and sending it sliding across the kitchen floor. “What are you afraid of?”

“That you won’t… you won’t love me anymore,” Barclay admitted, his words weak with fear. He averted his eyes, and Stern reached a hand up to Barclay’s cheek and gently turned the man’s attention back.

“Is it really that bad?” Stern didn’t seem too concerned, but Barclay was sure that was because Stern didn’t know yet. Stern looked deep into Barclay’s eyes, and Barclay’s heart began to race again. And it raced faster and faster until eventually, he had to pull away. 

He gently pushed Stern’s hand off his cheek and walked toward the living room, where Stern had all his Bigfoot photographs and evidence laid out on a glass table. Barclay’s hand clenched, and he bit his lip. “It’s not bad it’s just… it’s big.” Barclay had to stop himself from scoffing in irony. Yeah, big was one word to describe it. Another word was ‘foot.’ Talk about an elephant in the room. 

Stern ran his fingers through his hair. “Whatever it is, Barclay, I’m sure we can figure it out. I’m not asking for much, I just want to be in the loop.” 

“Being in the loop is a much bigger ask than you think it is, Joe.” Barclay sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. He couldn't tear his eyes off of the photographs--some pictures of him, others a hoax. Stern was going to freak out. But somehow, Barclay didn't think Stern would tell anyone. Not if he knew how important the secret was. Hell, if Barclay could trust Ned freaking Chicane...

“Don’t you trust me?” Stern gently ran a hand down Barclay���s back.

Tingles streamed down Barclay’s spine, and he took in a shaky breath. “I trust you. I do, I really do, Joe.”

Stern frowned deeply. “Ok, what is it, then? Are you running from the law?” 

Barclay pulled a hand out of his pocket to rub the back of his neck, turning around to face his ex. Shit. No more lies. He promised. “I guess you could… say that. It’s not like I’ve done something wrong, it’s just...”

Stern’s face went pale. He pinched the bridge of his nose and put his other hand on his hip. “Why would you be running from the law if you didn’t do something bad? What is it? Arson? Hacking? Did you date me because you thought I could get you off or something?” Stern’s voice began to grow louder.  

“What? No! God, no, I could never… I would never do something like that.” And there it was. Exactly what Barclay was afraid of. That anger. That panic. That distrust. Panic rose in Barclay’s throat, and he instinctively took a step back. 

“Kidnapping? Murder?” Stern’s voice rose steadily as he was naming off various crimes, and with every decibel, Barclay grew more and more uncomfortable. 

“No, no, I told you, I didn’t do anything!” 

“Then why are they looking for you?” 

“Because I’m him!” Barclay gestured vaguely at the glass table and then paled. There it was. The truth. He said it. He actually said it. To Stern. 

And now, it was all over. 

Stern stopped, finally lowering his voice. “What?” 

“I’m him.” Barclay turned around and gestured to the table again, at all the photos. The stills from the video. And he squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m sorry.” 

“You’re… You’re the person in Ned’s video?” Stern stumbled backward, catching himself on one of the counters. His eyes were wide and unblinking, mouth open. But that was about the expression Barclay would have expected from someone who just found out they had been dating bigfoot. “So it was all a hoax? And you knew? The whole time you knew?” 

Barclay opened his eyes and looked at Stern. He didn’t know why, but he was crying. “No, Joe. It’s not a hoax. That’s… that’s me. That’s what I really look like.” 

Stern looked up at Barclay, shaking his head. “You promised me, no more lies.” 

“I’m not lying.” Barclay held up his wrist, pointing to the bracelet. “You once asked me why I never take this off. Well…” He breathed “...now you know.” In one movement, he removed the bracelet and dropped it on the ground. And he grew. And he grew and grew, his head bumping on the ceiling. His body grew hairier, his feet--well, you can guess. He had to lean over to fit in the tiny apartment, as he was a good 8 feet tall in his true form. 

And there he was. 

Bigfoot. 

The thing Stern had been searching for all those years was finally in front of him. And to top it all off, the thing was in love with him. Really, truly, irreparably in love. The kind of love that lasted lifetimes--real and true.  

And they could never be together. 

Stern walked forward, and Barclay instinctively stepped back, but Stern looked up with an almost unreadable expression--but it wasn’t fear. It wasn’t disgust. It wasn’t even anger. “It’s okay,” Stern promised, and he stepped closer again. Stern ran his fingers through Barclay’s fur, pressing his hand to Barclay’s chest. And then his forehead. “Holy shit.” His breath was warm against Barclay’s skin.

“Surprise?” Barclay shrugged, completely at a loss. He expected fear. Yelling. Running away. Taking him away to some lab where they would run painful, painful experiments. But Stern almost seemed… happy. 

Stern bent down and picked the bracelet up off the ground. “And this… This makes you human. At least, it makes you appear human?”

Barclay nodded and shrugged slightly. “Yeah, that’s the gist of it.” 

Stern lifted Barclay’s wrist and gently placed the bracelet back, watching in awe as Barclay shrank back to his usual giant size. Stern’s eyes gleamed with curiosity. “You’re really him.” 

“In the flesh.” Barclay gestured to all of him, smiling that crooked, nervous smile that he got whenever he was around Stern. 

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been looking for you?” Stern took Barclay’s hand again, intertwining their fingers. 

“Yeah, that’s sort of why I avoided the whole thing. Aren’t… aren’t you scared? Aren’t you going to take me in or something?” Barclay’s attention turned to their hands. He gently began to rub the back of Stern’s hand with his thumb, heart pounding.  

Stern shook his head. He pulled Barclay close, his head resting on the other man’s chest as he sighed in contentment. “No. I’m not.” 

“But… your job. You did it, you succeeded… you found me.” Barclay ran his finger’s through Stern’s hair, but found himself unable to push the other man away. He was acutely aware of the fact that Stern could probably hear his heart racing, but didn’t bother to do anything about it. 

“I found something else too.”

“And what’s that?” 

Stern looked up into Barclay’s eyes. “A boyfriend. Hopefully.” 

Barclay felt his cheeks warm, and he looked away. “You… You’d really date me? After seeing what I look like and finding out I’m not even human?” 

Stern raised a hand to Barclay’s cheek. “I love you, Barclay. That hasn’t changed.”

Barclay placed a hand over Stern’s, eyes watering yet again. But for a different reason. Good reasons. 

“So, what do you say? Boyfriend?” 

Barclay nodded, unable to answer because his voice was caught in his throat. 

Stern grinned, and he kissed Barclay’s cheek. Once again, he leaned on Barclay’s chest and just sighed. “Wow.” 

“Wow what?” 

“I can’t believe Bigfoot is my boyfriend.”  

[lillotte17]

The Sword

Next part of the SPOP AU!! It didn’t end where I wanted it to, but this got real big REAL quick, and this was a good place for a break. 

Uthvir, Tasallir, and Venavisimi belong to @feynites

Elana belongs to @lycheejellytea

~

More than ten years pass, and in that time the Horde grows, and Aili grows, and yet somehow the war keeps dragging on. No matter how hard their soldiers push the rebels back, the Princesses keep finding ways to stir up trouble. Harassing their outposts, destroying supply lines, and instigating fights in territories already under the protection of Lord Dirthamen.

Disturbing the peace.

But not for much longer.

Aili is a senior cadet, and her team is an exemplary unit. Her squad is fast and efficient, and once they graduate and start getting real assignments, they are going to turn the tide. Monstrous amounts of magical firepower against them or no, they are going to wipe those Princesses off of Etheria once and for all.

And at last, the world will be safe.

For now, though, it is just another day of fighting drills.  

She pulls her hair back into its customary ponytail as she trots out of the locker room and down the hall to the simulator that her team has been assigned today. The rest of them are already geared up and in position. Elana is focused, fiddling with the specs on her training goggles. Venavisimi is eager, shifting on the balls of his feet. Tasallir looks…like he does not want to be here, which is typical. And, of course, her best friend is…

Aili groans internally.

"Pst," she whispers at Ana, "Have you seen Uthvir?"  

The redhead shrugs.

"They're your shadow, aren't they?" Vena snorts.

Aili runs a hand over her face in exasperation. Uthvir has dealt with a lot of trials and tribulations growing up in the Horde. Not least of which was trying to live down the moniker 'Applesauce', once they had realized that it was, in fact, a ridiculous name for a child. She gets that they feel a need to press boundaries now and again. Not in rebellion, precisely, but as a means to test the limits of how far they can reach in any particular direction before someone shoves them back in line. She gets it. Maybe better than anyone else.

But she still wishes they would try to show up to training on time.  

"Uthvir is missing again?" the drill sergeant frowns is disapproval, scribbling something down on the clipboard in their hands.

"They're just running a little behind," Aili assures them hastily, "They'll be here any second now, I'm sure of it."

The officer hums in disbelief, rolling their eyes.

"Alright cadets," they continue a moment later, "Today you'll be on a stealth mission through the treacherous Whispering Woods that surround the Rebel fortress Bright Moon. Keep your guard up! The terrain shifts at random intervals, and the Princesses will attack you without warning or mercy. Your mission is defeat the Queen, and liberate Bright Moon in Lord Dirthamen's name."

They turn to press a few buttons on the keypad behind them, sending the door to the simulator open with a hiss.

"Begin!"

The team moves into the room the same way the always do. Aili rushes ahead to take point. Vena and Ana slide into their usual positions behind her, each one covering a flank. Taz brings up the rear, a ranged fighter by both preference and necessity. A rare mage in the Horde. Typically, Uthvir is her right hand. Scouting ahead so that Aili can safely lead the others through their intended course.

But today it looks as though she is going to have to do without.

She grips the staff in her hands. Annoyed.

Still, things move along smoothly enough. They have all done this before. Her squad sticks to the relative safety provided by the cover of 'trees', keeping a sharp eye out for the bots designed to play the part of rebel insurgents. A bit of the scenery shifts, but nothing too drastic. Vena steps on a floor tile that blinks red and falls away, but Ana catches hold of his arm and yanks him back to safety. No harm done.

And then everything goes quiet.

Aili holds up a hand to halt the rest, sensing something shifting above them in the shadows. It does not seem like a bot. Or at least, not like any bot they have encountered before. She narrows her eyes at the fake metallic canopy, weighing her options. There is something oddly familiar about the way the thing following them moves. If she could just-

A laser blast fires behind her, followed by a loud shriek.

"Tasallir!" Vena exclaims, exasperation and worry mingling in his voice. "Why are you always the first one down?"

"It is hardly my fault we were just standing around waiting to get shot!" Tasallir protests, glaring down at the blinking red X on his chest plate.

"Oh yeah?" Venavisimi grins as Ana helps their comrade back to his feet, ever careful to only touch him where his skin is covered by armor, "And what was your excuse the last three times it happened?"

"I do not-" Taz begins before Aili cuts him off, her eyes still fixed on the trees.

"Guys! This is really not the time for-"

The laser fires again, and Aili barely manages to raise her shield in time to block it. The others turn to see a swarm of spider-like bots descending from the branches, each one projecting the twisted snarl of a feral princess. There is a general outcry of dismay.

"Run!" Aili shouts, leading them further into the room and away from the barrage of gunfire.

Ana turns and tosses a grenade at their pursuers. Vena manages to get a grappling hook around the leg of one bot and tug it down out of the trees at Aili's feet. Their de facto leader promptly jams the end of her staff into its core processor before kicking the wreckage to one side.

"We're almost there!" Ana pants out.

Sure enough, a clearing opens up a few moments later and a huge robot descends from the ceiling, the cackling face of the wicked Queen of Bright Moon leering down at them.

"Don’t let her pin you down!" Aili commands, leaping into the bot's direct line of sight in order to distract it from her squadmates. As instructed, the other two fan out, doing their best to flank it. However, the bots from the fake forest burst into the clearing behind them shortly afterwards, drawing Ana and Vena away.

Aili grits her teeth. Right. Up to her, then.

She targets the bot's numerous spindly legs, ever the weak point on this model, and continues to dance just beyond where its turret lasers can fire on her. Several of the tiles beneath her feet begin blinking a warning that they are about to fall away. Darting past them, she quickly uses her staff to vault up on top of the robot's head.

With all her strength, Aili kicks the turret closest to her, snapping it off from the rest of the bot's body and sending to crashing to the floor below. Then she turns and jams her staff into the groove where the head pivots from, prying away armor and wiring as she goes. The robot falters. Sways. Makes a few sputtering beeps as though it might be in its death throes.

And then a spear comes flying out of nowhere and hits the robot dead-on in its optic's unit.

There is an angry crackle, followed closely by an explosion that tosses Aili halfway back towards the trees, yelling and cursing all the way.

She hits the ground hard as the bot crumples in on itself. A dozen of the tiles on the floor beneath it begin flashing red. Gasping and sore, Aili scrabbles away from them on her hands and knees as they begin to fall away, taking the 'Queen of Bright Moon' with them. Her hand tightens one her staff.

The bot might be down, but she still has some butt to kick.

"Uthvir!" Aili growls in irritation as a figure in red jumps lightly down from the simulated canopy, "You dirty cheat! That was a cheap trick and you know it!"

The dirty cheat in question saunters over to her with a smirk that speaks of anything but contrition.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Aili demands, struggling to get back to her feet.

Uthvir merely grins wider, revealing a mouth full of very sharp teeth, and points at the tile she is standing on.

Aili looks down just in time to see the lighting flashing beneath her feet right before it vanishes. She turns her staff at the last second, propping it against the edges of the pit to catch herself, but it is a near thing. She curses under her breath.

Uthvir laughs. Delighted. Coming to the edge of the hole she has fallen into and peering down at her with an expression of unabashed amusement.

"Aw, look at you hanging down there like a little bat," they snicker, leaning over the edge and looming over her. "Hey Aili."

"Hey yourself," she grunts. "And just how long were you lurking in the shadows while we did all the real work?"

"The entire time, naturally," they smirk, inspecting the sharp points of their nails. Nonchalant.

"Hmph. Typical." Aili frowns.

"Always such a sore loser," Uthvir tuts, still smirking unrepentantly.

"I didn't lose," Aili insists loudly, "You cheated. You waited until I had it on its knees, and then you stole the kill shot!"

"The ends justify the means," Uthvir shrugs, "Isn't that what they're always teaching us? It doesn't matter how I got the shot, only that I did."

"It was supposed to be a team effort, Uthvir," Aili rolls her eyes.

"And you all played your part as my distraction marvelously," they commend with a chuckle, extending a hand to pull her up, "Now come on and get out of there. You look absolutely ridiculous hanging down in that hole trying to scold me."

Aili snorts.

"Ass."

~

Back in the locker room, Aili puts away her gear and wipes away traces of sweat with a damp towel. Uthvir tosses her jacket at her face, and she catches it with one hand. Still frowning at them in disapproval.

"How long are you going to sulk?" Uthvir wonders smilingly, walking over and playfully poking at her cheek. "If it is any consolation, I was prepared to step in and assist you all, if the situation had called for it."

"Oh yeah?" Aili says, folding her arms across her chest, "You mean like when Taz got shot?"

"Tasallir is always getting shot," they reply with a dismissive wave of their hand.

"You can't just throw people away like that!" Aili insists.

"It was just another dumb training exercise," Uthvir says with a roll of their eyes, their amusement draining away at her tone, "Besides, some people are expendable. Others are not. That's just how the world works."

Aili sighs.

"You're right," she concedes, "I shouldn't get so worked up about a drill. I know you wouldn't abandon us in a real fight."

She lightly shoves them in the shoulder.

 "Don't start quoting things the Commander says, though," she sticks her tongue out in mock disgust, "It's creepy."

"Maybe I want to be creepy," Uthvir grins.

She laughs, and they join her.

"Well, Creeper, the shot you landed on that bot was awesome," Aili beams at them, "Your aim just keeps getting better all the time."

Their chest puffs up a bit. Clearly pleased by the praise, but not quite willing to admit it.

"Well, of course it is," they say with a proud tilt of their chin, "Someone around here has to carry this team."

"Psh, good luck carrying us when you're hiding in the treetops," Aili snorts, throwing an arm around their shoulders and mussing their hair a bit, "Besides, we both know that in a fair fight, I'd totally beat you."

"Perhaps," Uthvir hums, their expression verging on mischievous as they lightly push her away, "But if that were true, it would hardly be an incentive for me to fight fairly, would it?"

Aili takes note of the gleam in their eye and preemptively begins backing away from them.

"No," she tells them firmly, "No, no, no. Uthvir, don't you dare-"

But it is too late, they have already surged forward, grabbing her about the middle and tossing her over one shoulder like a bag of flour. Aili squeals in protest. Uthvir laughs, running the length of the locker room with their prize as she attempts to wriggle her way to freedom.

"Argh, when are you going to stop doing this to me?!" Aili complains, reaching down and pinching their waist. Uthvir jerks slightly, but only tightens their hold on her. They start another loop around the locker room benches.

"Maybe I will stop toting you places when you stop being so absurdly small," they snicker.

"You're only two inches taller than I am!" Aili reminds them hotly.

"Two whole inches!" Uthvir agrees happily.  

"Aili," a soft cool voice calls from the door.

Uthvir immediately drops her on the floor and goes rigid.

"Ow!" Aili grouses. Then she sees the person who has come through the door and leaps to her feet, right hand automatically rising in a crisp salute. "Commander Ghinan'nain!"

"You are a senior cadet now," Ghilan'nain reminds her, gliding further into the room, "You did well today. I heard you completed your course in record time. But you should curb your penchant for indulging Uthvir's childish antics."

"Thank you, Commander," Aili replies with a nervous grin, face flushing with pride, "But you know, I can't take all the credit. My team worked really hard, and Uthvir landed the kill shot on the Queen!"

"Oh yes," Ghilan'nain drawls narrowing her eyes at them, "Believe me, I was informed of the way they neglected to arrive on time for their training session and then proceeded to disrupt your team's entire battle plan in some misguided attempt to earn themselves some shred of glory. Pathetic."

"That was not my intention," Uthvir insists in a low voice, eyes on the ground, "I was just thinking that maybe if we implemented a different strategy, we could-"

"Silence!" Ghilan'nain hisses, the dark coil of her magic curling around Uthvir's wrist and twisting painfully, "You were doing what you are always doing- impeding Aili's progress! I have been generous up until now, but do not be so foolish as to think that my patience with your floundering is without limits."  

They wince as the magic tightens further and they begin to lose the feeling in their fingers, but they know better than to cry out.

"…I apologize, Commander Ghilan'nain," Uthvir says, bowing their head, "It will not happen again."

"See that it does not, little thing."

The magic recedes and they stumble a half step away.

"Aili, walk with me," the Commander beckons, turning to head back out the door.

Aili looks uncertainly between her mentor and her friend for a moment. Uthvir shrugs. Despondent. She reaches out and takes hold of their uninjured hand, squeezing briefly in apology and commiseration before trotting out the door after their commanding officer.

"You wanted to speak with me, Commander?" Aili asks once she has managed to catch up.

"Lord Dirthamen has been watching you," Ghilan'nain informs her with an air of cool pleasure as she continues down the hallway, "He sees what I have always seen; that you are an exceptional cadet with great promise. A perfect candidate for Force Captain."

"Force Captain?" Aili gasps in surprise and delight.

"That's right," Ghilan'nain replies, golden eyes crinkling in what might even be a smile, contorting the odd star-shapes of her pupils in a most unpleasant way, "He has decided to grant you the honor of leading the attack on the Rebel fortress of Haven."

"You mean…my team is finally going to see real action?" Aili presses eagerly, grinning from ear to ear. "That's so great! I know they're all going to be so excited. Just you wait, Commander, you won't regret giving us this chance to-"

"Aili," the Commander cuts off her chattering, "The chance is for you. Not your team."

"But…I have been training with them my entire life," Aili frowns, caught off guard by the revelation, "With all due respect, Commander, how can I be expected to lead a squadron full of soldiers I barely know?"

"You will adapt," the Commander shrugs, "Your team is not ready. Hardly a training session goes by where Tasallir is not incapacitated in some fashion. Elana and Venavisimi are loyal, but sloppy. And Uthvir… Well, their litany of deficiencies are hardly worth listing."

"I know Uthvir could do well in the field," Aili assures her, "They just want a chance to prove themselves. I think it's just that they're just so smart, and they get bored doing the same drills all the time, so…"

"If they were really so clever, they would have worked harder and proven that they were capable of following orders," Ghilan'nain says dismissively.  

"But…" Aili frowns.

"Is this promotion not what you have always wanted?" Ghilan'nain asks, reaching out and carefully brushing a few stray curls back from Aili's face. "Have you not been striving to reach these heights for as long as you can remember?"

"Yes," Aili admits with a long exhale of breath.

"You have earned this, my child, " the Commander coos, pulling a badge with the symbol of the Horde on it from one of the many pockets in her robe and holding it out for her to take, "Do not allow Uthvir, or anyone else, to stand in the way of reaching your full potential. If you hold on to a sinking ship, it will pull you down to the depths with it. Do you want to drown?"

For a moment, Aili wavers. Her face blanches slightly with uncertainty. But then she glances out of a nearby window, taking in the twisting maze of smoke and hulking buildings of the Fright Zone. Her home.

Her expression hardens with resolve.

"No," she says, taking the badge in her hand and gripping it tightly, "I will not drown. I'm going to become a force captain, and help Lord Dirthamen save Etheria."

"Good girl," Ghilan'nain nods in approval, "I knew you were special from the moment I took you in as a baby. I knew you would be the one to rise up through the ranks. I knew you would make me proud."

Aili smiles, still a little unsure, but some of her earlier excitement beginning to bleed back through.

"Report to force captain orientation tomorrow morning to be briefed on the details of your mission," Ghilan'nain orders, starting off down the hall again. Heading back in the direction of her labs. "And do not disappoint me."

Aili salutes her retreating form.

"Yes, ma'am!"

~

A half an hour or so later, Uthvir finds her out on one of the numerous balconies. One of their favorite haunts. She is leaning out over the railing and into the wind, blonde curls blowing gently about her face. Pensive and silent.

"So…what did the Commander want to see you for?" they wonder.

Aili starts a little, but turns to flash a grin at them, looking a bit sheepish.

"Well, it's kind of crazy but-"

"Is that a force captain's badge?" Uthvir cuts her off, plucking the item in question off of her jacket and holding it up to the light. Their eyebrows shoot up towards their hairline. "Did you get promoted?"

The guilt on Aili's face seems to increase.

"Well, yeah. I guess…but-"

"This is so great!" they exclaim, taking her by the shoulders, "We are finally going to leave the Fright Zone! See the world! Beat the shit out of all those Rebel Assholes!"

Aili hangs her head a bit, not meeting their eyes.

"Commander Ghilan'nain says…I'm the only one moving up," she confesses.

"What?" Uthvir balks.

"She told me that the rest of you still need more training," Aili says, her expression apologetic.

"More training?" Uthvir scoffs, "I could train for a hundred years, and she would still insist I was not good enough. My time was just as good as yours today, and I even got the kill shot. But it just wasn't enough. …It will never be enough for her. She hates me."

"She's…hard on all of us," Aili tries, reaching out and putting a hand on their shoulder, "She wants us all to be the best that we can be. She just expects a lot from you because-"

"She wants me to be you," they snap, swatting her hand away, "She does not want me to be my best, she wants me to be your best! Little miss perfect!"

Without another word, they turn on their heel and beat a hasty retreat, carving a long sweep of claw marks across the walls in their wake.  

"Uthvir!" Aili calls after them, "Come on, you know that's not fair!"

There is no answer. She wraps her arms around herself and sighs. She knew they would take this badly, but she had not expected them to lash out like that.

The Commander has always singled them out for punishment and criticism. Aili knows that they deserve more credit than they get. They might not be suited for a command position, but they are certainly a capable fighter. It is no wonder they got so frustrated.

They always expected that they would get their first assignment together. They always do everything together. Ever since they were little.

Aili is just as disappointed by the prospect as Uthvir is, but…

She cannot give up this chance.

She will impress Lord Dirthamen and Commander Ghilan'nain. She will earn the right to ask to use her own squad on future missions. And then she and Uthvir can fight together again. Run the Horde. Save the world.

Just like they always dreamed.

But for now, the best she can do is try to think of a way to ease the sting of unavoidable separation and upset.

She smiles to herself as an idea strikes her, turning and heading out to one of the garages.

~

This time, it is Aili who comes looking for Uthvir. Climbing up to one of the highest perches in the Fright Zone, were the city sprawls out below in every direction. The sickly red and yellow lights from the buildings blink through the ever-present haze of smog like fireflies.

Not that either of them have ever seen a firefly.

Still. It is about as scenic a view as one is likely to find in the Horde. And hard to get to besides.

It has always been one of Uthvir's favorite hiding places.

Aili looks at them for a moment. Sitting out on a ledge with their bare feet swinging in the open air. Curled in on themselves. Miserable.

Not so different from how they looked when she first met them.

"Hey," Aili calls out to them softly, "Mind if I join you?"

"I suppose there is not much I could do to stop you," they reply, still sounding bitter, "After all, you are my superior officer."

"Look," she begins, walking over to sit beside them, "I agree with you. It sucks that I'm the only one who got a promotion. I wanted to move up with all of you. Really. But…this is what I've been working for my whole life. I can't just turn it down. I understand why you're upset, but…I was hoping you could try to be happy for me, too?"

Uthvir glances over at her, brows furrowed. Considering.

Then they sigh.

"Fine," they grumble, shoving the badge they stole earlier back at her, "It is not as though I was really gunning for promotion, anyway. I don't care about that stuff. It would just be nice to get out of this miserable dump for once in my life."

"And you will!" Aili exclaims, "This is a setback for our plan, but it's not too bad. I'll just have to move up by myself for a little while, and once I've earned some clout, I'll request you on my team specifically. Then it'll be you and me against the world, just like we always planned."  

She leans over and playfully nudges her shoulder against theirs.

"Think you can live with that?" She smiles.

"Well. I guess it's not the worst idea you've ever had," Uthvir smirks, still not looking completely happy.

"Oh, I can come up with a much worse idea than that," Aili laughs, holding up the keys to a skiff, "See?"

Uthvir blinks.

"Are you crazy?" they wonder, "You want to bust out of here after they just made you an officer?"

"Oh, come on," Aili shrugs, "One little joyride is hardly a reason to demote me. Besides, we'll only get in trouble if we get caught."

Uthvir snorts.

"Okay," they agree, "But I get to drive."

~

Uthvir is a terrible driver.

It isn't even that they are particularly bad at handling the skiff. Aili almost thinks she could deal with that. They are just moving unbearably slow.

"Come on!" Aili complains, "Open up the throttle on this thing or we're not even going to make it half a mile outside the Fright Zone before daybreak."

"I will go faster once there is nothing around for us to hit," they promise.

"There's nothing around us right now!" Aili points out, gesturing to the badlands surrounding them, "There's just sand and rocks! And more sand! It's not a joyride if you're not having any fun!"

"I am having plenty of fun!" Uthvir retorts sourly.

"Yeah, well, if I'm getting demoted for this, I'm going to at least take this thing faster than five miles an hour," she declares, snatching the steering rudder away from them and pressing down on the accelerator.

Aili screams in delight as the skiff speeds off across the deserted landscape.

Uthvir screams for a very different reason.

"What are you doing?" they demand, trying to grab the rudder back from her.

"I'm living my best life!" Aili replies with a manic sort of giddiness, still struggling to keep control of the skiff to herself.

"You are going to get us both killed!" Uthvir hisses, finally wrenching the helm back from her.

"Uh…Uthvir?" Aili says, sounding suddenly nervous.

"What now?" they snap.

"TREES!" Aili shouts, ducking down to avoid getting hit full in the face with a branch.

Uthvir curses, just managing to turn the skiff in time to keep it from running headlong into what seems to be an enormous forest.

"What is this place?" they wonder aloud.

"It must be the Whispering Woods," Aili gasps, sounding just the slightest bit afraid, "No Horde Patrol that has gone in there has ever come back out again…"

"The what now?" Uthvir frowns.

"Oh, come on, Uthvir," Aili hisses out in exasperation, "This is why you shouldn't skip out on the orientation before the drills. We just had a review on this place this morning."

"Well, who knows what all they make up for those stupid things," they retort defensively, "All those Princess names sound way too dumb to be real. Sparkle Palace and La-la Land. Right."

"Dumb name or not, we should probably stay out of this place," Aili says.

Uthvir shoots her a grin.

"I thought you wanted to have fun?" they ask, grabbing hold of the controls again and steering the skiff into the trees.

"And I thought you wanted to stay alive!" Aili shrieks back at them, trying to wrestle the steering rod back under her control.

The skiff veers wildly back and forth through the trees as the two of them squabble and try to get the other to yield their hold on the driving mechanism.

It is, perhaps, less than surprising when the skiff makes a sharp turn to avoid one especially large tree trunk, and Aili catches a vine across her throat that tugs her violently from the relative safety of their vehicle and sends her plunging down into the dark shadows of the foliage below with a terrified scream.

"Aili!" Uthvir yells back to her in a panic, still trying to get control of the skiff as it rushes through the woods haphazardly.

She does not know how much time has passed when she opens her eyes again on the forest floor, but the soreness in her limbs and a egg-sized lump on her head would suggest that she likely hit several objects on her way down.  

She groans as she sits up, spitting out a few leaves. There is no sign of Uthvir, and the trees all look more or less the same to her eyes. She can barely see the light from the moons down here, let alone use them to figure out which direction she should start walking in.

Well. This is not good.

There is another light, though. A blue-white brightness shining through the leaves up ahead.

Aili moves quietly towards it. It does not seem to be making any noise, so the light is most likely not emanating from some huge magic beast or something, but this is still enemy territory. For all she knows, it could be one of those murderous princesses.

Further investigation reveals no rebels or monsters, however. The light leads to a small clearing. For a moment, its radiance is almost to blinding to endure. But then it subsides, and Aili sees the object that must have been emitting the light.

A sword.

A broadsword by the looks of it. An intricate golden handle with a strangely wide crystalline blade. A single gemstone at the base of the hilt the same bright blue as Uthvir's right eye. It is stuck in deep into the ground and overgrown with vines.

"Cool," Aili grins, already thinking about the numerous ways she is going to rub it in Uthvir's face that their stupid prank nearly killed her AND got her an awesome weapon that she has no intention of sharing.

Well. Maybe. If they ask really nicely.

She reaches out a hand to pull the sword from the vegetation that has encased it.

And the world goes white around her.

[xicarcalii]

Babysitter in training (Billy Hargrove x Henderson!reader) preview

“Billy, thanks for doing this again it really means a lot.”

“No problem, darlin’... you ask I come, I’m easy like that.” Billy smirked, looking around the small family home. You rolled your eyes with a grin appearing on your face as you closed the door when he stepped inside. “Michelle your babysitter’s here,” you called out. Billy furrowed his brows, “babysitter?” That was Harrington's name around town not his. “And few things before I go...” You ran into the kitchen only to come back with a list of things your daughter did as a nightly routine. This didn’t come as a surprise to Billy. Always organized; the perfectionist that had everything mapped out almost like a game plan. If you didn’t have it written down on a piece of paper ahead of time, you were a mess. That was just one of the many things he loved and missed about you – still thought it was cute as hell. You peered over your shoulder towards the clock, it read 5:58.

“Okay, it’s only 6:00 which means you're going to have to make her dinner. Don’t worry though, she’s not a picky eater the girl loves food.” Billy smiled to himself – you were the same way, “she will try everything in her power to swoon you into giving her have ice – cream for dinner and I'm pretty sure you already know the answer to that.”

Billy nodded again and mumbled a “yep.”

“She can have it for snack but only three small scoops, too much and you mind as well call her Taz. Her bedtime varies: if she has a bath, she’ll usually clonk out by 8:45 but she had one last night so you’re good with that. Her normal bedtime is 9:30 on the dot and please don’t forget to have her brush her teeth –”

“(Y/N) calm down, I got this. I mean, how hard can it be?”

“You haven't met my daughter yet so hold your tongue, Hargrove.” You knew Michelle was in good hands with Billy. He was no Steve Harrington when it came to being ‘Babysitter of the Year’ but you could tell he wanted to help and that he was dedicated no doubt which you appreciated. You let out a sigh, looking down at your feet. Billy watched you as you kicked around at the rug by the door and rubbing your sweaty palms on your jeans. He was making you nervous which made him smirk to himself. It made him happy to know he still had that effect on you; he just hoped it was the good kind of nervous.

You know? The one you get around a crush.

“Look, I know you’ll be okay with her. It's just I've never left her with a stranger before. It’s only Steve, Dustin, or Nicky that usually watch her for me and I’m just worried about how she’ll react.”

Of course, you and Steve still kept in touch. After everything that happen how could you not? He was there for you when Billy wasn’t. He didn’t want to be mad or upset about that – you guys weren't together but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little pissed. If he hadn't fucked everything up, you’d probably be still with him. Maybe had even started a family of your own in California but a man can dream right? Right. Billy would just have to be content with what he had right now. Sure, it wasn’t all what he wanted but he still got to see you which was better than nothing. He just hoped you were single and the girl's father wasn’t in the picture. A little selfish on his part but a part of him wanted that. Maybe he could fix things and start fresh...hell, he would even help you raise Michelle.

Maybe. Just maybe.

“Michelle, come one babe, Aunt Jackie will have my butt if I'm late,” you called out. Billy broke out of thought when the faint sound of pitter – pattered footsteps quickly approached the front door from the living room.

“I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming!” And in came in a five – year – old Michelle. Her blonde hair draped down softly curling along the ends in pig tails held by two red bows. A striped red and purple dress accompanied with black leggings, and sneakers; red socks peeking through at the bottom. She was the cutest thing he had ever seen. Though, it might have just been because she was yours.

“And Billy, don’t forget her bedtime story. For my sake or I’ll never hear the end of it after tonight...”

He smiled, “I won’t Henderson. If she’s anything like you, which I’m pretty sure she is, she’ll reminded me every hour until my head spontaneously combusts.” Michelle’s footsteps faulted as she got closer. Blue eyes went wide and filled with curiosity at the sight of the unknown man by the door, “whoa mister, you are one very bulky man.” She examined him with genuine amazement: she had never seen such a big guy before. Yes, she was little, and used to having to look up at people. But this was probably the first time she had to take a step back first. Your eyes widened at the little girl's impulsive behavior and choice of words. “Michelle, was that necessary?”

@hargrovesprincess @80steenmovie @hotstuffhargrove @thatonecurlygirl

[rewrentless]

TAZ Maxfuncon East Live Quotes

- (in the intro voice) well... griffin had a baby... so iiim mr low voice this time... loow voiiiiiiiice... are you ready for adventure?

- who here played dungeons and dragons today? *like 3 people cheer*

- i slept in a lot and blew off as many activites as i possibly could

- who stops serving pancakes at 9am i missed the whole thing. I had to get cheetos ~fantasy cheetos,~from the store

- 'i rolled a 12 in cursive' dad with that 12 in cursive you write morple on the board

- pobodys nerfect

- dont be afraid im just here to help you become a better us

- his father was brad the bloodthirsty, his grandfather was brad the bonebreaker... so his enemies know him as brad the motivater

- im curious if you all have met brad before 'i keep getting notes from somebody named brad but its a mystery to me' 'there was one office christmas party that i think we both want to forget it right now'

- if we kill anybody is it canon?

- you heard it here first clint mcelroy will kill a child for humour

- do you want to shove a tent in your ass??

- dont yuck his yum

- are you like an exicitable man or a monarch butterfly

- well the boards are pretty narrow so you gotta be careful or else youll step in the laaaava

- its laaava baby laava all over

- youre gonna jump 30 horizontal feet?

- do you know they just set a new world record in the olympics for the long jump for like fucking 8??

- to jump 30 horizontal feet clinton!

- i cast fucking levitate on myself and i float across the lava like a grown man

- do you need different eyeballs??

- is this what its like to play dungeons and dragons with a competent person

- oh were so gonna let you die. nothin personal 'if thats my truth so be it' oh god!

- i literally, not a joke, kick merle in his fucking ribs im so angry at him

- you land on some gum on the floor anf it gets in your ponytail

- i quickly pull some peanut butter out of my pocket 'you dont have any items' oh no my magic peanut butter?? 'Its loose peanut butter'

- listen, magnus will chop your ponytail off for ya if ya want

- i feel like sometimes you cast spells without any consideration of whether or not it might injure me specifically

- i just want to remind you this is our daddy 'hey justin. Its our daddy though'

- your spells... can... be used... to heal wounds. So maybe... give 'er a shot

- i think that i would worry a lot less in those times when im pondering the fate of you, if maybe you didnt rush into every situation like a giant horses ass

- i swing railsplitter at the guy in a costume??

- 'should we trade costumes too?' Youll use any excuse to strip' thats true thats how i got through college

- im not gonna get any older 'are you gonna die today???'

- i never really appreciated how beautiful i was when i was in my body and now im in this misshapen lump, this abbaration, this body that god forgot, this sin, this living sin against aesthetics

- oh man he did a weiner joke on you!

- i cast reduce on garyle and put him in my pocket

- i pat him on the butt 'brad files a report on himself'

- die a thousand deaths

- i grab merles short but really well sculpted body and i notice hes been working out and i throw that lil pecker over the wall

- (during the trustfall) i keep my position and i start humming arms wide open under my breath

- i resist the urge to give him a lil friendly kiss on the cheek

- i feel like the taako body instinctivly reaches for it (a ruby) but like the magnus mind is like i dont care so do i need to do like a battle with my own body

- i cast zone of truth on myself youre fucked

- i cant play two characters at once i mean admitidally i would still be better than dad

- i loosen my tie now its brads time to shine

- youre ready to express your own truth without magic arent you ribcage?

- the ceiling is lowering down to kill all 4 of you, do you have any final words for each other? 'This is your fault brad'

- taako just takes out the ruby he stole and cradles it like the old couple in titanic

- im back in my beautiful big dicked body!

[moonbeambucky]

The Price of Gold (Part 3)

Pairing: Lance Tucker x Reader Word Count: 3019 Warnings: flashbacks within flashbacks, fluff

Summary: As a sports journalist you’ve traveled the world interviewing famous athletes. You’ve loved your job up until you find out your next article is on the last person in the world you ever wanted to talk to, Lance Tucker.

A/N: This doesn’t follow The Bronze canon though some film details are mixed with real world events. Written for @green-eyeddragonfanfiction Dragon’s 3k Follower Creative Content Challenge. My prompt was “I can’t be in love with you!” gif source (x)

PART 2 | THE PRICE OF GOLD MASTERLIST

Logging off your computer you looked around your desk to make sure things were in order, quickly unplugging your phone charger from the USB port before stuffing it into your bag. Heather caught up with you near the elevator, she was still overjoyed for your trip which you needed to get home and pack for.

“When was the last time you went back to Florida?” she asked.

Your mouth pulled to the side as you scanned your memories, “About three years ago, when my parents sold their house.”

They downsized to a condo in St. Petersburg near the water so your father could finally buy a boat and enjoy his retirement. You remember the trip vividly, coming down for a long weekend to assist with packing and finally clearing out your old bedroom.

As the cab turned down your block all of the memories of Spring Hill you had left behind suddenly hit, making your stomach uneasy. You couldn’t help but gaze over towards Lance’s old house, shuddering as you pictured the countless times you spent there.

Running inside your house quickly you hugged your parents, choking back tears as you saw how your childhood home was packed away into boxes stacked up in the living room. You looked out to the pool, a luxury you did not have access to in New York.

It had been retiled some years ago but otherwise it remained the same. It was the place you could go to de-stress, floating on an inflatable chair as you soaked up the sun’s rays, the place you had fun, laughing with friends as you jumped into the pool splashing everyone with a cannonball, and all of the times you spent there with Lance.

“One, two, three, go!” you said, kicking off the wall, moving your arms and legs in tandem as you swam across to the other side of the pool. Reaching the wall you saw Lance had stopped midway. “Come on!”

“I… I can’t!” he quivered, swimming back to the starting point of your impromptu race.

Lance stood up, reaching his arms back on the edge of the pool and pushed himself to sit, his feet dangled in the water as his head hung low. Swimming back towards him you did the same, nudging your wet arm against his. “What’s wrong?”

Lance wrestled with his emotions, he was ashamed, feeling too scared to swim in the deep end of the pool. He was ten years old, he wasn’t a baby anymore so why did he feel like one? He wasn’t sure if he was more embarrassed over the fact that he was scared or that you would find out the truth about why he’s insisted on playing games and swimming in the shallow end of your pool. He was certainly glad his father wasn’t there; he would have slapped him, told him to be a man and thrown him into the pool without regard.

Lance turned to face you, insecurity swirling in the blue of his eyes that matched the water below. The corner of your lips pulled into a little smile that matched the tilt of your head, the pleading look in your eyes reminded him that he could tell you anything and so he did.

“Trust me, I won’t let you drown,” you said, plopping back into the water and reaching your hand out for him to follow.

With hesitance Lance slowly slipped back into the cold water, swallowing a nervous gulp as he stared at you. Dipping his shoulders below the water he prepared himself to swim but quickly lost his nerve again.

“Lance I promise. If you panic I’ll help you.”

Fear took hold of him and Lance nervously chewed his lip. “What if you can’t?”

You firmly gripped his bony shoulders, speaking with the conviction of someone twice your age, “Trust me.” You loosened your grip but kept your hands on his cool skin until he nodded, a nervous smile making its way to his boyish face. “Besides, I’m a mermaid, remember? I’m Ariel and you’re Prince Eric.”

“But Eric drowned,” he added.

“Nooo,” you sarcastically said, “He almost drowned but Ariel saved him just like I’ll save you.”

His fear was still present but the kindness in your eyes helped Lance gain a bit of confidence and he was ready. You swam beside him, looking over to make sure he didn’t stop halfway or panic. When he made it all the way across he gripped the edge of the pool with one hand, wiping the water off his face. Pulling him in for a congratulatory hug he yelped, not wanting to slip away from the edge where his fingers were turning white with his forceful hold, but despite his minor panic Lance smiled. He was able to swim across because of you.

When entering your old bedroom you were surprised to see how it changed. Your parents had converted it to a guest room and office. Your furniture was in the same spot but now childhood trinkets that previously occupied the space were boxed away in the closet, replaced by decorative items like globes and vases.

It was the boxed items you were there to sort through. Pulling them out of the closet you opened them one by one, coughing as the dust scattered in the air. You made three piles; things to take back to New York, things to donate and things to throw away.

You set aside some stuff you hadn’t taken during your initial move from home, like old photo albums and your yearbook. You tried on a couple of clothes, and spent more time than anticipated as you read old notes you and your friends had passed during class before throwing them away.

The notes reminded you of the box you had yet to encounter, the one you remembered throwing everything in as tears streaked down your cheeks. There you were, face to face again with it– the Lance box. You stood unmoving, staring it down as if you were in an old Western shootout. Your heart beating rapidly as you faced your enemy, a stupid cardboard box, and yet it had the power to hurt you more than any bullet ever could.

Your fingers itched as you contemplated the box. You could just throw it out, place the whole thing in the garbage and never look at it again. It’s not like you needed anything in there, what could you do with Lance’s old shirt? Yet part of you yearned to open it, to travel down memory lane one last time no matter the consequence.

Sitting on your bed you placed the box in front of you, tugging open the folded cardboard to reveal the contents inside. Lance’s shirt was in there, crumbled up and covering most of items. It had an old smell to it as you took it out, shaking out the wrinkles to see Bugs Bunny and Taz in street wear, a ridiculous trend that had you laughing to yourself. Tossing the shirt into the donation pile you looked down at the box again and lost your smile.

An endless pile of photos of you with Lance stared back at you. You flipped through them quickly, not wanting to linger too long on the memory of each. The rest of the box was filled with random things, old notes, movie ticket stubs and even some old McDonald’s Happy Meal toys. Your heart sank however when you looked at your old teddy bear with Lance’s first gold medal around his neck. You remember how proud he was, not to have earned first place in the competition, but to give it to you just to see the smile on your face.

Tears stung at your eyes and you felt that was your cue to stop. You threw the photos back in, not bothering to move the toys to the donation pile, you wanted this box closed and thrown out. You hugged the bear, feeling the cold medal press against your skin as you silently said goodbye. A pang of guilt rang through you for placing the bear in the box with the rest of the memories to be thrown away. The bear’s dark plastic eyes stared back at you, silently screaming its innocence. You knew it had done nothing wrong and yet you couldn’t separate a silly teddy bear from the memories of Lance. A tear slipped out, running down your cheek as you sealed up the box and brought it outside.

Your mother recognized the box you carried and questioned if you wanted to throw it out. You scoffed at her. Really? She knew what happened and she has the audacity to question if you want to keep these memories? You grabbed large garbage bags to take back into your room for the donation pile, insisting you did not want or need anything in the Lance box.

After finishing your own items you helped your parents pack away the last of their things before you said a final goodbye to the place you grew up in. Your dad was ready to drive you to the airport, taking your suitcase to the car as you and your mother finished saying goodbye. She glanced over towards the large pile of garbage, her lips pressing together into a tight line as she eyed the box you had thrown out.

“Dorothy still lives there you know,” your mother said.

Your shoulders slumped down at her words, exhaling a heavy sigh. You were headed back to New York and with your parents moving you would never be back in Spring Hill again. If there was any time to say hello to Dorothy Tucker it was now.

“I can’t see her mom,” you said, struggling to keep your voice from faltering. It broke your heart to say it; Dorothy was like a second mother to you but after Lance that was all over.

Your mom wrapped her arms around you, rubbing your back comfortingly before you got into the car with your dad, saying goodbye to Spring Hill forever.

Your apartment was upside-down as you packed for your trip. Two weeks. You’re scheduled– no, being forced into spending two weeks with Lance Tucker. Two days would have been enough for the story as you insisted to Sue, though two minutes would be too much for your liking.

With ear buds in you dialed your parents, slipping your phone into the pocket of your hoodie as you roamed about the apartment gathering things together to pack.

“Hey mom. How’ve you been?” you said, waiting for her response. “Yeah I’m good. I’m actually coming to Florida… Yeah an assignment,” you answered her, stopping in your tracks as she asked who you would be interviewing.

“I can’t say yet,” you lied, a trait you’ve been doing a lot lately.

You didn’t want her to rehash the past. Your mom had been the biggest supporter of you and Lance and though she was there to comfort you at your lowest point she also encouraged you to talk to him. She knew you were hurt but she didn’t think you should lose each other over what happened. Lance was immature but so were you, making a snap decision to end everything instead of talking through things. Your mother saw the big picture and she always thought you would end up with Lance, watching you grow up together, seeing your friendship blossom into romance, she was just as hurt when it ended.

“Maybe we can get together on my birthday,” you suggested as it would occur during your trip. You were hoping to get away from Lance for a bit to see your parents, anticipating yourself becoming upset by having to see him.

“Oh honey, if Dad and I knew you were coming down we would have switched our cruise,” she fretted.

“It’s alright, this was last minute,” you sighed, trying to hide the disappointment in your voice, “I forgot about the cruise, where are you headed?”

You finished packing as your mom excitedly discussed her upcoming trip, pulling your suitcase next to the front door and staring at it with disdain. You travelled quite often for this job spending more time out of the office than in it, looking forward to every trip up until now.

Landing in Tampa you felt the heat the moment you stepped off the plane. The sun was stronger than you remembered, especially for the morning. You made your way to the transportation floor, having previously arranged a car service to pick you up for the drive to Spring Hill.

You felt overdressed as you walked through the terminal, seeing groups of people in casual clothing, shorts and flip flops. You would be making it to your hotel with just enough time to check in, drop your things off in your room and meet Lance for your interview so you had dressed accordingly, a beige blazer and skirt with a sleeveless rose colored blouse and heels to match.

As your driver kindly placed your suitcase in the trunk you took off the blazer, folding it neatly beside you. You pressed yourself back into the cool leather seat of the car, shutting your eyes to try and focus. You felt your stomach twisting itself into knots the closer you got to your destination. This was really happening and you dreaded the thought.

After arriving at your hotel you had a few more minutes to spare than expected so you quickly brushed your teeth, reapplied your lipstick and made sure you smelled good, not for his sake you told yourself. Grabbing your bag and laptop, you looked over yourself once more in the mirror, smoothing out your skirt and blazer. You can do this.

Lance had suggested meeting at a restaurant for the interview but you insisted meeting him at your hotel. Not that you were really keen on the idea of him knowing exactly where you were staying but you hoped things might progress faster if you just got right to business, not wanting to make any nostalgic detours if you ventured anywhere else with him. You were also hoping that the buffet area of this lovely Holiday Inn might make him a little uncomfortable, and thus concluding your time together at a much faster rate.

A wicked grin spread across your face as you entered the area. A deep red carpet with a muted gold design spread across the floor with an array of cheap wood tables complimented by green vinyl cushioned chairs surrounded the area. Generic artwork of flowers in vases hung around the room.

You marveled at how the hotel looks lost in an undetermined time, not quite the ‘90s and yet not quite modern either. It was the perfect setting to make Lance Tucker itching to get this over with, as you’d be subjecting the pompous “God of Gymnastics” to the meager value hotel graciously provided by your job.  

Only one table is occupied, by a family of four whose exhausted parents look like they have been drained of their energy and can no longer attempt to calm their rambunctious children. Perfect! You leave a table in between yourself and them, not wanting to be too obvious with your plan. If Lance killed the interview completely maybe there was a shot you could recoup the interview with Neymar. You grabbed two bottles of water, specifically Zephyrhills, Florida’s “unique” tasting water, setting them down on the table, though you wished you could replace yours with Vodka to get through this.

Be short, be curt. Stick to the facts. This is business. Just business, you reminded yourself as you waited for his impending arrival.

Lance had an agenda as well as he had felt the bitter coldness of your words during your correspondence to set up this interview; you had clearly not forgotten the past. Lance hated thinking about that. He threw himself into being the best, gaining the spotlight, seeking the attention of others when deep down he only wanted yours. He spent plenty of nights alone with his thoughts, regretting what he did, what he didn’t do and what he should have done. But that was the past.

His future was uncertain in many ways and he had become too wrapped up with something that weighed heavily on his mind to worry about your hatred of him. So he decided to put on a show, be Lance “The Fucker” Tucker as he was previously regarded. If you continued to hate him that would make this easier, you would write your article on him and he would get the attention he needs for his gymnastics center.

His plan was easier said than done because the moment he caught a glimpse of you sitting at the table, standing out like a diamond amongst dull rocks, he almost broke down. He wanted to run to you, throw himself at your feet and let apologies pour out from his mouth as fast as the tears that threatened to fall.

He moved back, hiding behind a wall as he regained his composure. Remember Lance, remember the plan. He began to sweat, unzipping his blue track jacket to reveal a crisp white t-shirt. He dragged his hand down his face wiping harshly at his skin. Remember. He erased his frown with a cocky smile, putting on his sunglasses, unnecessary for the fluorescent indoor lighting but it helped him hide the truth he might not be able to hide. With his shoulders up and his back stiffened he took a few deep breaths before walking towards you.

Lance strides in confidently, swaying towards the table as his voice catches your attention, “Well, well, well, look who’s back in town.”

Suppressing an eye roll (and a profanity) you bite your tongue, scrunching your nose at the overpowering amount of cologne he wore. Forcing a tight smile you remain seated but gestured for him to join you at the table.

“Thank you for meeting me Mr. Tucker, I–”

“Cut the bullshit Y/N. Let’s get down to why you’re really here,” he smirked.

PART 4