#the fucking chapter 40 cover. god

[corrucyst]

HELLO?

[deadsetobsessions]

To the mf who had my house before me, if you see me on the street, turn around and run the other way. Because if I see you, know that it’s going to be on sight. Who even puts tile like that?? Anyways, I'm kind of sick, so that's why I've been kind of inactive.

But good news (ish) I got me a house! Yay! Let’s hope I can keep it. To celebrate, y’all can have this! And a few chapters! So technically this is a chapter update post?

——

Danny’s most favorite thing to do with Alfred Pennyworth is groundskeeping. While he might not be Sam, Danny could still appreciate the serenity and beauty of nature.

“Ow, fuck!”

“Master Danny, please refrain from using explicit language.”

“Sorry, Alfred. I got stabbed.”

“Oh dear. Will you be needing a bandage?”

“Nah, it’s okay. I think…” Danny hummed, peering closer at the reddish brown thorns sprouting from the ground. “That might be the rose bush?”

Alfred paused his snipping, turning around and coming closer to inspect the plant. “How peculiar. It seems to have grown a branch beneath the soil.”

In unison, Danny and Alfred lifted their heads to look at the rose bush, innocuously sitting three yards away.

“Huh. Weird.”

“Indeed.”

The door to one of Bruce Wayne’s many gardens, all opulently gothic to hide their vigilante disturbances, opened. The hinges swung without a single creak, as Alfred the butler always carried WD-40 on his person and a squeaky hinge in this mansion was an affront to his professionalism.

"Hey, guys! Whatcha doing?" Duke greeted, followed by Jason.

"Gardening! You wanna help?"

"Nah, I'm a Gothamite, not Poison Ivy, man. I don't do grass." Duke replied, plopping down on one of the lawn chairs with his drink. "But I can totally give you moral support... from over here."

Danny snorted. "What about you, Jason?"

Jason shrugged. "Sure, what are we doing?"

"There's a rose bush that grew all the way over here."

"Woah, crazy."

"Indeed, Master Jason. I shall go get the shovels."

"Okay, Alfie," Jason absently agreed, focused on finding where else the rose bush had grown to. "You wanna keep the bush, right?"

"That would be preferable."

"Duke, can't-" Jason paused, throwing a quick look at Danny before visibly changing tracks. "Can't you get us some drinks?"

"Kitchen's right over there, Jason." Duke pointedly leaned back and took a sip.

Danny piped up. "I'll get it! What did you want, Jason?"

----

Two hours later, covered in all manners of dirt and blades of grass, Jason and Danny sat back to survey the messed up garden.

"You sure we can't hire Ivy to move the plant somewhere?"

"She'd just make it worse," Jason grumbled.

"You guys can do it!" Duke cheered, scrolling through his phone and cherry picking the most hilarious pictures of Jason and Danny to send to the group chat. He chose the selfie, where he was grinning into the camera as Jason fell on his ass as Danny pulled up a long section of thorns.

Duke gets nailed in the face with two clumps of grass from his disgruntled brothers.

"I believe it is time for a shower." Alfred Pennyworth smiled, content. Days like these made him glad that his grandchildren found their way back.

[loveshotzz]

Hi Leighanne 🩷 can I please request on the balcony in early morning,  where neighbors might see,  but no one will likely look. with Colours Steve please? 👀

So fuckin excited to revisit the Foxy Lounge for Halloween!

Hi baby 💗 thank you for your request, I know how much you guys love colors!steve and how much I always avoid him 😂 so here is my gift to you for always being so sweet.

A/N: This blurb comes from my series Colors, you can read this as a stand alone if you want. Steve is in his 40’s and you’re in your 20’s and his daughters (her name is Jenny) best friend from college. For those that read the series, this takes place right after chapter three. enjoy 💗

WC: 1k

Warnings:18+ age gap (Steve is in his 40’s, R is in her 20’s) Best friends dad (affectionally known as colors!steve) semi public smut, dirty talk, cream pie all the time.

Older!bestfriendsdad!steve x fem!reader

You knew what you wanted saying yes to Jenny when she invited you on an impromptu trip to visit her Dad for a long weekend. Just like you knew what you wanted when you found yourself at his bedroom door at 4am despite calling it quits after New Year’s Eve, you just didn’t know he would give it to you.

The dark violet sky starts to burst with hues of oranges and pinks, the golden sun breaking through the last bit of night that has warm rays shine against already heated skin. The grip you have on the railing of his balcony is just as hard as Steve’s grip on your hips. Sleep shorts forgotten down by your ankles along with your oversized shirt. His gray sweatpants are pushed halfway down his hairy thighs, while the pads of his fingers dig into your soft flesh hard enough to leave bruises you’ll have to lie to Jenny about later.

The blunt ends of his nails dig crescent moons with each desperate roll of his hips, the sound of your slick growing loud enough to have you scared of waking her up with her bedroom window not that far from his on the second floor. The silver chain he wears runs cool up the dip of your back when he leans forward, pushing himself even deeper, trailing open mouth kisses wherever he can reach, your eyes rolling back when he hits the spot that makes you flutter around him.

“God, this pussy.” He groans, teeth nipping at your spine, the auburn and salt scruff that covers his jaw rubbing rough against you. “Always so tight honey, fuck - perfect.”

His words come out around huffed breaths, muttering against your sweat slick skin while his thrusts get slower - deeper, relishing in the feel of your silk wrapped around him like a vice grip, like you were close. He’d already pulled two out of you, one in his bed when his fingers curled just the right way to make you see white and another one with his face buried between your thighs when you came outside for a smoke break.

You were supposed to go back to your room before Jenny woke up.

He pulls himself all the way out, smirking when you whine a little, your own hips pushing back to try and chase him. His cock twitches in his hand when he sees the mess he’s made of you, how your walls seem to seem to beg for him with his fat tip pressed against your entrance.

“Yeah?” He chuckles darkly, watching how you drip more for him.

He doesn’t wait for you to answer, one rock of his hips burying himself all the way to the hilt of you again, the stretch burns making your jaw go slack. Big hands swallow yours around the railing, fingers intertwining as he folds himself over so the dark curls on his chest are pressed wet with sweat against your back. His thrusts become more controlled like this, shorter, more precise. The sweetness of your arousal still lingers hot on his breath that huffs against your neck, you feel surrounded by him like this.

“Couldn’t stay away could you? Those college boys don’t feel like this do they, baby? She missed me huh?”

Words get lost on your tongue when the tip of him reaches the place inside of you only he can find over and over again. All you can manage is a shake of your head, eyes screwing shut and knuckles flexing against his palms when you grip the metal bar harder. His hips stutter when he feels your cunt do the same.

“Steve - please.” You sound wrecked when you plead with him, while the tension building deep in your gut starts to come to a head, the beginnings of your third orgasm making itself known.

“Shit - I know, I know.” He hisses releasing one of your hands so the pads of his fingers can find your clit, the sun getting higher up in the sky is a reminder of the time, “gonna take care of her all weekend, fuckin’ dream about you and this pussy all the time. Missed it so much.”

His words and the circles eight’s his index and middle finger rub against your bundles of nerves rips a moan that borders the edge of too loud from your chest, making you both freeze for a second. The heavy length of him twitches deep inside of you and it has you grind your hips despite the consequences. His head drops, eyebrows marrying in the middle when you squeeze around him with purpose, a loose strand of hair falling against his forehead when he nods, meeting your movements with fingers that become determined.

“Need you to fall apart for me, we don’t have much time.” He whispers, lips brushing against the shell of your ear, “let me get another one, come on pretty girl.”

His hips circle, hitting angles he wasn’t before overwhelming you, becoming too much. He thrusts hard enough to have you on your tippy toes, getting you to do exactly what he wants. Sucking your bottom lip between your teeth, you bite down to try and stay quiet and you’re scared it’s going to draw blood, walls spasming around him so much that the intensity of your orgasm rings in your ears.

You squeeze his length like you’re trying to push him out, but it only makes him bury his cock deeper fighting against the velvet of your walls. It doesn’t take much to have him follow your lead, hot ropes spilling out of him warming your insides when he comes. The grip he still has on your hand turns his knuckles white as he dips his head into the crook of your neck, letting his moans come out muffled against your soft skin.

The stubble on his jaw threatens to rub you raw while his jaw tightens trying to calm himself down, while you flutter relentlessly around him in your aftershocks. He holds you to him, both of your chests heaving as you try to catch your breath. The birds chirping outside are loud enough to tell you it’s fully morning now, and you hear the sounds of Jenny’s bedroom door open and shut. Your heart threatens to beat out of your chest until you hear her shuffle to the bathroom leaving you just enough time to sneak out.

“Come to my room earlier tonight, honey.” Steve finally whispers, smirking against your neck.

[speedycoffeedelight]

An Animalistic Disaster

CH-17: Mr. Cottontail

Masterlist

Summery:

Where you recollect more of your memories and open a bunch of trading cards. And a duo might have figured out the reason behind transformation, but we'll see.

A.n : There's going to be some heavy lore drop here. So just brace yourself a little. Also from now, the animal's dialogues will be in italics so it's easy to understand. I'll get to editing the previous chapters as well.

"I swear to god...one of these morning I'm going to have a heart attack."

You grumbled while sitting and held your head in your palm. You looked at Cherri who was in a makeshift cage made from a big plastic basket, trying to shake it and screeching. She had to learn her lesson some way. Your head was still pounding right now.

Then you looked at Husk who was trying his best to fit into the biggest shirt you had. The buttons on his chest were holding on for dear life. Honestly, it kinda made you jealous.

Husk was a black man who seemed to in his late 40's or 50's. He had black hair pulled back with white streaks on them as well as a small goatee. He had light yellow eyes that looked tired as hell. And the muscles in his hand, holy shit, it looked like he could easily carry you up like a feather. Husk was easily the best thing of this morning.

He of course also had feline features like before. A pair of black cat ears and tail adorned his form. He also had slitted black eyes. His nails were a bit sharper too.

And of course neither of you were prepared for him to transform in middle of sleeping, nobody was. God the embarrassment and confusion you felt when you opened your eyes to see an old handsome man staring at you with sleepy eyes, just as confused as you were.

You would have immediately swooned if not for the fact that you didn't know this guy and the fact he was shirtless, on your fucking bed, cuddling you.

So you did the first thing that came to your mind. You let out a loud scream and pushed him off the bed. He landed on the ground in front of Charlie and others with a big thud. "Oof, what the hell-" Cherri burst out laughing beside you. 'Now that's more like it!'

"Husk are you alright?" Charlie immediately kneeled down to check for injuries. "Husk??" You pulled the cover to your chest and looked down to see him properly. But you quickly averted your gaze when you saw he was shirtless with just a pant on. But that image will forever be engraved into your simp brain.

So after that was all over, you learnt what happened and caged Cherri. She was grounded till she learnt her lessons. You rubbed your head in frustration as Niffty brought you a cup of coffee.

"Here you go miss (Y/n)!"

You thanked her and took a sip. She still looked at you like she was waiting for something. Confused, you raised an eyebrow.

"...Do you need something Niffty?"

"You didn't pat my head." She said it like it was obvious and kept looking at you with wide eyes. You got surprised at this answer. 'She wants to be petted??' but then you remembered she was part dog now and that's probably the reason she was acting like this.

You reached out and patted her head making her smile happily as she wagged her tail. 'Adorable~' you thought in your mind.

Last night's memory was a bit hazy to you. You rubbed your head in frustration trying to remember it. Angel climbed onto the table grinning at you.

'Toots, didn't know ya were such a lightweight. Haha, but you gave quite a show last night, I'll give ya that." Niffty translated it, making you more worried. You asked her to recount the things to you. Pentious joined you since he wasn't there last night as well.

" I did what?"

Last night's memory came flooding back to you bit by bit as you listened. You, you finally petted Alastor's ears! You couldn't believe it.

'What's with the screaming, my dear?'

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. You grinned as you turned to face the stag. "I finally patted you, you smiling bastard!" You mentally cheered as you looked at him with a prideful smile. Alastor felt his face get hot again at that memory and he bonked you on the head with his antlers.

"OUCH what was that for!"

After you finished eating, you drove Charlie off to the cafe. Apparently Vaggie knew how to drive so she went with you two so she could memorize the roads. Once she memorizes she could drive Charlie sometimes as well.

After waving her off at the shop, you quickly departed. You let Vaggie take the wheel this time while you gave directions. Vaggie was an excellent driver. You were quite impressed.

Charlie took a deep breath as she got dropped off and watched you two drive away." This is it Charlie. You gotta make them proud. Right, let's do this!"  she entered the store after mentally cheering herself.

"Oh hi there Charlie. Good to see you back."

Adrian gave her a warm smile as he was middle of cleaning. He put the broom he was cleaning with aside and guided her to the counter. He gave her a new apron to wear that had the cafe's name on it.

"Alright, I'll show you the ropes first time. Then it'll be up to you."

Charlie nodded and took the apron.

"Also won't you take off those horns and ears? You're in middle of work now."

She gulped, right, these weren't normal. But she hadn't practiced what to say during this. She thought it would be okay since they didn't question it before.

"Uh...can they please stay on? I promise you they won't cause any trouble!"

"Huh? Oh..okay then. I just thought it might be easier if you took them off."

Just then a ring sounded out from the door, signaling someone entered the shop. Adrian flashed Charlie a quick look while smiling.

"Come on, it's showtime!"

At evening, you went to go pick up Charlie. As Charlie was about to get into the car, Adrian called out to her.

"Charlie, wait!"

You and Charlie both looked at Adrian who rushed to you guys with a small bag.

"A small gift for your first day at work." He handed Charlie the bag and grinned.

"There's a piece of strawberry cake inside. Have a safe return home."

Charlie delightfully thanked him and got back into the car. While you were driving she told you about her experience which you listened to happily. It seemed like the day went pretty well. Even though there weren't much customers, Charlie enjoyed her time there. Plus from what you heard and saw, Adrian seemed to be a good boss.

The next day, you drove Charlie again as Vaggie sat with you. Pentious joined you this time as some of his works were done. Husk came as well to buy some clothes and as well as take a look at the human world. During the drive, Husk remembered something.

"Hey kid, I forgot to ask you this before but who the hell is cottontails?"

Those words hit you like a lightning as you brain started to overwhelm with memories. It's been a long while since you heard that name.

"W-where did you hear that name?"

"When you were holding me a day ago. You whispered you missed whatever it was."

"That was my pet bunny...I lost him when I was six. That night, my parents had a huge argument after dinner and we moved to my uncles house the very next day. In the end, I never knew what happened to it."

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You weren't allowed to keep pets when you were a child. Your dad claimed it would be a waste of time and it will take your attention away from your duties. One day, while you were walking outside on your lawn, you stumbled across a small frail baby bunny. There was only one and it looked like it didn't even have the energy to move. After looking around, you found no signs of any other rabbits around.

You found yourself in a pickle. Your heart cried to take it home and care for it. But another part of you warned that if your father found out, you'd be in big trouble. You picked up the small thing, lost in thought and whispering "What am I going to do with you little bunny? "

The bunny moved a little and sniffed your hand, making your heart swoon. You decided immediately "Heck with it! Having a small bunny will be fine! Plus they won't make any noises like kitties or doggies! I can do this! I'll just need to be careful!"

The bunny again stopped moving in your arms and seemingly fell asleep. Your eyes glazed over it, trying to think of a name.

"I think I'll call you....mr.cottontails!"

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Several months went by after getting mr.cottontails. You kept him under your bed. You always cleaned your own room by yourself so it wasn't a problem. You would let him run around your room once you locked the door and quickly hide him when someone was coming. Your dad was quite suspicious at how you looked so cherry recently but didn't question it. On the other hand, your mom was quite happy with this change in you.

Then one day, while you were on your way to your room after finished studying with your tutor, you spotted your dad. He seemed to be amused by something. He spotted you as well and gave you a smile.

"Isn't it a nice day today? Are you doing alright (Y/n)?"

You were taken aback by his sudden change of attitude but nodded and said everything was fine. Something was clearly wrong, you could feel it in your gut.

You rushed to your room after that and looked for your rabbit. It was gone... "Cottontail? Mr.cottontail??" You called out yet you couldn't spot the familiar ball of fluff running towards you like usual.

You spent the rest of the day trying to find him but no avail. There was no sign of him anywhere. And you couldn't even ask anyone else if they've seen him cause you're not supposed to have one in the first place.

Then your mind went to your father earlier, it had to him! That's why that damn man was smiling at you.

At dinnertime, you were fighting to keep your tears from coming out. You couldn't afford to let yourself be broken in front of him. You knew that he knew about you knowing what he did. He was just waiting for you to burst so he can properly punish you for going against his rules.

While your mom was serving you the stew for that night's dinner, she could sense something was wrong.

"(Y/n) dear, is everything alright?"

"Y-yes, mom, everything's fine. Don't worry."

"Of course everything's fine with her. (Y/n), today's stew is extra delicious, go ahead and try." Your dad said from across the table, grinning at you. You couldn't bear to look at this man's face properly. The rest of the dinner was quiet with you almost crying in the middle.

After you finished eating, you went straight to your room and locked the door and started crying. Sometime later, you heard your parents fighting over something. You pulled a pillow over you head to stop hearing to those as you sobbed harder.

You hated this. You hated screaming and fighting. You hated living here. You hated your dad. You hated it, hated it, hated it.

You wanted to go out and be with your mom. But you knew better then to do that. The last time you did, you just made things worse. You don't know after how long, it could have been several minutes or several hours, but your mom knocked on your door to tell you to pack and that you're leaving. The rest of the time went down in a haze and before you knew it, you both were standing in front of your aunt's house.

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After dropping off Charlie, you and Pentious went around shops to try and resell those fixed products and let Vaggie show Husk around a little. You successfully managed to resell some of the products.

After that, you bought some cloths for the bartender. Husk had been nagging you nonstop to buy some booze since the beginning. So you did, but you made him use his puppy eyes first. Husk hated every second of that but he swallowed down his pride for booze. He was too far gone at that point.

After coming home, you received a delivery of the cards you ordered. You immediately got down to opening them after squealing in happiness.

"Please give me an Alastor card.. please give me an Alastor card..."

"You really want Alastor's card that badly?" Charlie said laughing and sitting next to you.

"Of course I do! He's my favourite character!" You mumbled while collecting the packs from the box. Suddenly you could feel eyes on you from the back. You sighed.

"Alastor I can feel your smugness from here, stop it." You turned around at the deer behind you.

'I didn't do anything dear. I'm just standing here and observing ' Alastor had shit eating grin in his face. 'Though I am very much charmed you consider me as your favourite.'

"Someone tell me what he's saying. I know he's enjoying this too much." You picked up a pack and finally opened it.

Niffty translated it for you. "Yeah well I liked you better when you were in a cartoon, not annoying my ass off."

The first holo card you got was of Charlie's. Charlie's face lit up seeing it and immediately showed it to Vaggie. You got Angel, tom treanch and a new character called lute in too. After opening  three more packs, you were presented with holo Angel, Vellevette and razzle and dazzle. And you also found an ultra rare card of Lilith. Yet there was no sign of Alastor.

You were lucky enough to get normal cards for most of the cast present with you though. You handed them their own cards. Sighing you picked up the final pack and looked Alastor dead in the eye.

"You better be in here deer boy."

'Oh she means business this time angie.' Cherri chuckled leaning onto the spider. 'yeah and this shits hilarious to watch.' Both of their own cards were in front of them. Angel with his holo card and Cherri with the normal one.

"Is that a fucking condom you're holding there?" Husk was leaning down looking at Angel's card while pointing at it. Angel shot him a smug grin while wriggling his eyebrows. 'Yeah, it is. You like what you see here kitty?'

Husk didn't say anything and just knocked Angel away with a flick of his fingers. The corner of his lips turned up seeing how easily he can move angel away now.

'What, hey! What the fuck Husk?!'

"You deserved it."

With your heart pounding, you opened the last pack and pulled out the holo one. Others looked at you eagerly to see your reactions.

"I fucking got Alastor! Let's go!"

You jumped up on your bed from the excitement, surprising everyone.

"Look! Look! Alastor it's you!" You practically shoved the card in front of his face, making him take a step back. Before he could see clearly you took back the card to see it again while fangirling.

"Look at my little boy with all these creepy symbols around him! He's so pretty!" You were so happy that you couldn't care less that the real Alastor was right in front of you. Until Alastor nudged you on your head with his antlers and grabbed the card with his teeth.

"Hey, give it back!" You streached your hand to grab it but he turned around and placed the card on the table before you could do anything. He finally took a good look at his card. 'Hm, not bad.' You finally went to the table and snatched it back.

After you carefully stored the cards, you began preparing dinner while humming. Angel and Cherri was lazily sitting on the counter while looking at you.

'Hey Angel, how come we didn't transform yet? It sucks being in this form..'

'You tell me toots. That snake boy and kitty cat got to transform before I did. Now that's some bullshit right there.'

'There's gotta be some kinda link somewhere right?'

'There have to be! Wait..if we think about it... when they all transformed...they were all with (Y/n) right?'

'Shit, Angie you might be onto somethin'

You gave the guys their food. You had to drag Husk to the dinner table since he was passed out drunk on the couch. You called Pentious from outside as well. Recently he took on a new task. He volunteered to fix the shitty wooden sofa set you had. You were truly grateful for that.

During dinner, Cherri climbed on top of your right shoulder and Angel on left. You paused eating to look at them with confusion.

'We decided that we want to stay as close to (Y/n) we can from now on!'  Cherri said making everyone squint their eyes at them.

"Uh, guys...can y'all tell me what they're saying?"

Charlie translated it for you making you even more confused.

"But why?"

'Because we want to!'

Everyone just shook their head thinking this pair was just being their usual chaotic self. But you realised they weren't joking when you went to sleep and they both cuddled up to you, declaring they'll sleep there. Normally you'd think this was cute, however there were two problems.

One, is that, you might move in your sleep and accidentally squish these small creatures. Especially Angel.

Two, they were laying on your chest....

"Angel..Cherri...can I ask why you decided THIS would be a good place to sleep on?"

'What? Ya got nice pair of tit's and they make a nice pillow.'

'Plus Husk slept too did't he?'

Niffty who was sitting beside you translated it making you go blush madly. You quickly shoved them both away and pulled the cover closer to yourself.

"Fuck no. Pervert! I was drunk that time! Either sleep on a pillow next to me or get out of my room!"

At last they both slept next to you after you scolded them for some time. Next two days went the same way. Angel and Cherri were with you everywhere. They even tried to sneak into your shower before you found out and kicked them out. Currently they were both sitting on top of your kitchen counter, munching on nuts and fruits lazily. Husk was making himself a burger currently.

'Nothin's working...where did we go wrong?'

'We definitely missed something. Our plan was bulletproof! We're just missing one key point...'

'We spent the whole last two days with 'er twenty four hours. I think we have seen and know everything about her already! We even know how she almost cried while editing her news'

'Or how she tilts her head when she doesn't understand something?' Cherri piped in.

'or when she sings when she thinks no one was listening.' Angel said laughing. 'Oh her face is priceless when she gets caught. She still sometimes forgets that she lives with a whole bunch of demons now.'

'Have you noticed the BL manga's of her's-'

They continued chatting like this for a while, pointing out small details that you do, things that you like or dislike and laughing amongst themselves.

'Haha...that girl really is something..'

'Yeah, She's completely my type.'

'Ya might want to confess quickly then. Otherwise I might just steal her first ' Angel said winking. Cherri scoffed and bumped him with her tail.

'Hey what gives? I thought you were gay?'

'I am, But who am I to resist a sweet thing like her. She's an exception.'

' You already have Alastor and Husk to fawn over. Leave (Y/n) to me bastard.'

'No can do sweetheart. First come, first serve'

They both looked at each others eyes for a second then burst out laughing. It might seem like they were joking from the front, but they both knew they were seriously attracted to you.

Suddenly they both got engulfed in golden light. Husk stopped in the middle of biting his burger and looked at them wide eyed. Now in place of the spider and the squirrel, there were two humans.

Angel and Cherri looked at each other, wide eyed. Angel opened his mouth first.

"Shit I think I know the key behind transforming!"

A.n: Now I know there are tons of fanarts of human Husk with White skin but I'll always headcannon Husk as a black man, the same colour as his VA. And I'll die on this hill defending that.

Plus it's refreshing to have different veraites of race and colour presented (⁠~⁠‾⁠▿⁠‾⁠)⁠~

Also might go on a little break since some of my important college exams are coming up. Hope ya enjoyed the chapter ~

Tag list: @legostars @glowinthedarkbones1150 @darifes @aria-tempest @rainbowcake1212 @luxylucylou

[shunin-gumis]

As Master Joe Wishes - Track EP

Seasonal Team Event - L4mps

Thank you Myun for handling this chapter!

Location: Tokyo Metropolis International Airport – Arrivals Terminal

Samejima: Thank you all so much for your assistance. 

Samejima: Thanks to you all, I was able to cover up my blunders in this operation.

Hiramei: Joe is safe and the Anonymous members were taken into police custody!! The dignity of JPN’s police force, and my career, are safe and sound!!

Daniel: Treat us to some of the good stuff this time.

Netaro: But, didn’t the guy dressed up as Sammy get away~?

Samejima: Who, and what now? I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Yodaka: Samejima-san, do you have a moment?

Toi: Master, we’ll definitely meet again, so when the time comes we’ll serve you once more.

Joe: Very well, then~! 

Toi: Ah, but I won’t let you have Ani-sama!

Joe: Ufufu, how unfortunate.

Nagi: Master, please call us anytime you feel lonely. Also, anytime you might need your laundry done, Flower Laundry offers overseas delivery.

Joe: You have done well as my laundry maid, Nagi. 

Joe: I will most certainly be in touch.

Ryui: …..

Ryui: Ahh, sorry. For real. 

Joe: ? Whatever for?

Ryui: I left you behind in the bedroom. Sorry.

Joe: … Ryui.

Joe: Look…

Ryui: Hm? Oh, it’s that candy-themed pin badge.

Ryui: You didn’t throw it out?

Joe: Could I ask you to put it on my ear, please?

Ryui: ……

Ryui: … Yeah, sure.

Toi: ……

Nagi: Toi, do you want me to help you pierce your ears sometime? 

Toi: Nagi-kun, you’re younger than me.

Nagi: Oh, right. Sorry, you’re right. 

Ryui: — There ya go. It’s a little crooked, though. 

Joe: Ryui, I owe you an apology as well for all my rudeness. 

Joe: I’m terribly sorry. Furthermore, thank you very much for saving me.

Ryui: (.....) 

~~~(Flashback)

Sakujiro: When a person senses that they are not being valued, that is when they experience true anger. The duty of a servant is to find the true meaning hidden within their master’s demands, and act accordingly.

Location: Tokyo Metropolis International Airport – Arrival Terminal

Ryui: Joe, if you don’t wanna go to Germany, I’ll help, if there’s something I can do.

Joe: Ryui… Thank you.

Joe: I see you worry about me dancing along to my new owner’s tune. But there’s no need for such things.

Ryui: You’ll be fine?

Yodaka: Joe-sama, sorry to keep you waiting. We were talking with the detective.

Toi: Danny-san and Samejima-san, too.

Nagi: What were you talking about?

Yodaka: Joe-sama’s owner has changed to a new individual. The details were arranged by me, and fully discussed behind-the-scenes.

Yodaka: Just now, we’ve settled on various agreements after scoping out the new owner’s management system. It’s now been made official that Joe-sama will be sent to this new party.

Joe: Rather than an “owner”, “partner” is much more fitting.

Joe: It was myself, after all, who scoured the auction sites and dating apps in search of a companion.

Samejima: This would've been impossible to achieve if it weren't for JPN’s relative leniency surrounding AI rights. I’m glad it got taken care of just in time.

Ryui: You’re saying she’s not gonna be locked up in some safety box? 

Netaro: Eeeeexactly!

Ryui: (I see. Thank god.)

Joe: Once again, thank you. Everyone… No, you are all honorary members of the Senba Family. 

Location: HAMA House – Kitchen

Ryui: (Time to make some tea…)

Sakujiro: Oya, are you perhaps taking a tea break?

Ryui: Yeah, I guess.

Sakujiro: These tea leaves should be steamed for precisely 40 seconds to maximize their flavor.

Ryui: Yeah, yeah. Whatever.

Ryui: I’m not officially a servant anymore.

Sakujiro: Indeed so.

Ryui: …But.

Ryui: I guess I learned a lot. 

Sakujiro: Oya. Oyaoyaoya…!

Sakujiro: Rules of the Oguro Family’s butlers, “Butler Oblige –108 Commandments” —  Pledge, “one must be willing to sacrifice themselves!”

Ryui: Can you fuck off–!?

Location: HAMA House – Living Room

Sakujiro: I implore you to stop! Pledge, “one must not speak!”

Ten: Eh, a PeChat… 

Ten: Ugh, how does this guy have my contact info?

Kuguri: Oya? Could it be a stalker?

Ten: Who knows~

Ten: "Get a load of this treasure I got recently."  Eh, don't really care… into the trash, aaand blocked.

Location:  HAMA House – Boar Room

Ryui: Toi, I made tea.

Toi: Yaay♪ I’ll open the cookies I bought earlier. 

Toi: Netaro-san, do you wanna have some with us?

Netaro: I bet there’s no tea for little old me~

Ryui: Take it. 

Netaro: Ohh~! Ryui, you’ve finally decided to quit your rebellious phase and become a good, upstanding boy~!

Ryui: Fuck off, it's as thanks for the jelly ok? The jelly!

Toi: His jelly-bullet saved you, after all.

Netaro: Yupp~. It was suuuper sticky. 

Ryui: Just this once. I made you tea. 

Ryui: And? What were the results of your fortune-telling?

Toi: Oh, yeah!

Toi: It said that somewhere a bit to the west from here, she would have a chance meeting with a wonderful partner.

Netaro: Joe seemed so happy. Isn’t that great, Ryui!

Ryui: Yeah, I guess. 

Ryui: Eh- Oi! Don’t fucking drink my tea!!

Netaro: I want a refill. Reeefillll.

Ryui: Don’t care. Get it yourself.

Toi: Ah. I’m thirsty too, I drank all of mine.

Ryui: I’ll go make more. Wait here and eat your cookies. 

Netaro: What blatant favoritism~~~!

Ryui: …Shut up… 

Ryui: (But I guess making someone happy outta your own will every once in a while isn’t all that bad.)

Ryui: (Though, nobody matters as much as Toi.)

[superego-imagines]

OMG it was so nice to read about your blog! I'm on my knees praying to you like a god for some Polka-dot man x reader headcanons. preferably romantic or smut (whatever you feel comfortable writing) I just wanna give him the love he deserves <3

((He's my fucking MAAAAAAAN! I'm so glad other people like him!

Polka-Dot Man Relationship Headcanons SFW + NSFW

SFW Headcanons

So I’m not going to get too into the weeds of how you guys got together because I already covered that in OT3 fic. But suffice is to say that it’s gotta be slow-burn friends to lovers 30k words 40 chapters. So when you finally do start dating you’re already pretty comfortable with each other. In a lot of ways that makes things easy. But knowing when to take it slow and how exactly to transition your relationship from a platonic one to a non-platonic one takes time. You spend the first week or so dancing around each other trying to bait the other into making first moves, like him nudging his hand against yours during a movie, or you leaning in so you can “get rid of an eyelash”. Eventually he breaks and asks to hold your hand and you both hopefully learn that you have to use your words to get what you want!

Living with the virus outside Belle Reeves is difficult. He can’t go more than six hours before the initial symptoms start to show. There's very few safe places for him to expel his dots without major property damage. The safest option, albeit not the most environmentally friendly, is a backyard or a private place in a local park. Anywhere where large amounts of matter can be displaced with little damage to infrastructure. Maybe you can cut a deal with the city's waste management department lol. There's also the physical side effect. As much as he desperately wants to fit in, it can be hard when there's a big glowing hazard sign threatening to burst out of his face. It can make going out in public anxiety-producing, which doesn’t help anything. He was given a more subtle power dampening collar as part of his parole. This helps him sleep through the night but comes with its own unpleasant side effects like headaches and nausea. Not to mention that any sort of medical equipment or restraints are mildly triggering. Like a lot of chronic/long term medical problems, there's no easy fix, you just have to establish care plans, stick to what works and try to be patient when things don't work out.

For related and unrelated reasons, dates can be kind of hard. So many years of only seeing the same four walls until eventually seeing a different same four walls have left him desperate for any and every experience he can. But that can easily swing back the other direction, leaving him overstimulated from all of the noise and bright lights and people all bearing the face that haunts him. He wants to do all the things he could only read about in books or watch on TV when he was younger. He wants to try new foods and go to new places and just have fun for once. But sometimes it’s just too much, especially in particularly loud, crowded, or otherwise overwhelming places. And then that leads to a new wave of frustration and anxiety because he wants so badly to do normal couple things with you but it feels like he always ruins it. He doesn’t of course but it’s hard to not feel frustrated. Though that isn’t to say there aren't plenty of fun things to do together, you just have to work your way up to the big stuff. His favorite date you’ve been on was probably the trip to the aquarium. It was so beautiful and peaceful! Although he did insist that you just move on past the Echinoderm exhibit. Also fun pseudo/at-home dates include Mystery Meal Nights in which you try to find a new take-out place or at least a new food from one of the classics. And, while he won’t instigate it, he does really like dancing with you. He likes it in general, but unless he’s mildly to majorly drunk he won’t dance in public. So you can have little living room dance parties with just the two of you~ He doesn’t dance particularly well, but that just makes it more fun. Dance comes from the heart and that, he has plenty of.

So sort of paralleling the sensory issues I’ve already mentioned. He is simultaneously extremely touch-starved and desperate for affection, but will also sort of out of nowhere get touched-out and just kind of need space. For the first half of his life he was pretty much exclusively around family, and then was put into solitary for most of the rest of it. And now he has you! Someone he loves so so much and wants to hug and kiss and cuddle and all the other things boyfriends are supposed to do. Sometimes it’s just still too foreign and overwhelming, although the longer you two date, the easier it gets and the less often these moments occur. But on the flipside, when he does feel touchy, he might as well be made of Velcro. Every time you cross a new line of acceptable relationship behavior (hand-holding, kissing, etc.), he just adds that to the list of things he’s constantly trying to do. Sometimes he’s just so happy it doesn’t feel real, like he’s going to wake up and it will all be some crazy dream. Nothing in his real life could actually be this nice. He doesn’t articulate it when he feels like that, but you’ll know it by the way his breath shudders when he holds you close, or he holds you extra tight, murmuring an apology in your ear but not letting go. Not yet. Just in case.

NSFW Headcanons

(Under the Cut)

So related to the above, that touch starvation definitely translates sexually. While he eventually mellows out, especially early on in the relationship there's a sort of barely restrained desperation in everything he does. He doesn't ever instigate or suggest something new but the second you suggest or okay something he jumps on it. He just doesn't want to scare you off or push you, even if you want him just as badly. Whenever you're making out, he tries to press as close to you as humanly possible. His kisses are uncoordinated and a little sloppy but his eagerness is sexy in its own right. He's just been so pent up with no outlet or even privacy until now. And he was pining after you for so long. Can you blame him for trying to make up for lost time?

This man is sooooo desperate to please. He's just head over heels in love with you. You've brought so much joy and love to his life, he wants to show you how much he loves and appreciates you. (At a less sexy time, it'd probably be good to talk with him about that feeling of debt and how you love him for who he is, not what he can do for you. But that’s a whole other demon.) So that being said, he’s pretty flexible. While he’s not exactly adventurous, he is open to suggestions. If you want him to take charge, he’ll do his best! Or he’s happy to follow instructions and let you take the lead. Service-Vers. Though, while he’d never ask for it because pleasing you is at the forefront, he’d really enjoy getting to be a pillow prince every once in a while. Just smothered in affection while you take care of everything and spoil him. He’d probably die of happiness.

To be perfectly honest, he’s pretty vanilla. But that’s not a bad thing! He likes gentle, romantic love-making in a bed with the lights dimmed. While he’s not opposed, per say, to trying something new every once in a while, he doesn’t really need anything other than you to make him happy. No matter how many times you two have sex it never gets old or feels less special. If anything it just gets better the more familiar and comfortable he becomes with your body and his own. He likes missionary best but is also a fan of really any position where he can hold you close and see/kiss your face. The one sort of kink he has is praise, though I’d argue everyone likes praise a little. Please tell him how he’s doing and how good you’re feeling. That he’s handsome and good and most of all: that you love him~ He never gets tired of hearing you say it~

[zealouscanonindeer]

Dangerous Games 4

Synopsis: If you win, good. If you don't, even better.

(It's all fun and games until things get real.)

Category: Fluff.

Previous chapter Next chapter Series masterlist

I groaned as I shifted my weight onto my left side, my sore body and aching muscles complying hesitantly. I squinted at the bedside clock, the fluroscent 5:40 hitting my eyes. I felt for my phone, switching off my alarm, which was gonna go off in another 10 mins.

Ethan was dead asleep next to me, his heavy breaths cutting through the silence of the bedroom. I curled further into the duvet, the Egyptian cotton soft against my naked body before forcing my body off the bed.

A little clumsily I made my way to the shower, my legs wobbly. After all, we had only gone to bed 3 hours prior. Ethan's reasonable words of needing rest echoed as I fought the creeping exhaustion. But wasn't it his fault that he was so hot that I could barely contain myself?

I dressed quickly, putting on a pair of scrubs, grabbing my things and an apple as I exited the apartment, lucky enough not to wake up Ethan or Jenner and made my way to the nearest subway station.

Work continued as usual with new patients at the clinic and a few new entries for the diagnostic teams which Baz and I dealt with pretty quickly. Lunch rolled around and I made my way into the resident lounge.

I stopped in my tracks as all my friends turned towards me, staring. Sienna looked a mixture of horrified and slightly amused. Jackie broke into a laugh, whistling.

"What? "

"Whare have you been all night, huh? Who was this new guy? "

"There's no... " I stopped, better her believe it was some one night stand than realizing I was sleeping with my much older boss. I reverted my answer.

"Just some rich philanthropist. " I said dismissively. They eyed me skeptically, Jackie opening her mouth to say something when Elijah stopped her. She nodded to him, steering the conversation away from the current topic.

After lunch, Sienna and I hung back. She still looked abashed, slightly flushed.

"Did you not drive them home yesterday? I left you the spare key. Did they suspect something?"

" Of course I did. Well..they didn't until this morning. "

"What happened this morning? "

"You walked in wearing Ramsey's scrub top. "

I looked down, my eyes widening in horror as the words Dr Ethan J Ramsey MD stared back at me, the white lettering against the blue fabric suddenly very prominent. The top suddenly felt oversized against my shoulders. It also smelled faintly of him.

"Fuck. Now? " I breathed out.

"Guess you should go talk to Dr Ramsey. " She replied, her sincere worry evident through her tone.

"He's gonna be real mad at me. "

"I doubt it. "

I rolled my eyes, opening up his chat and texting him whether he was in. On receiving his reply I scurried up the back stairs, his scrub top in my hand, having changed into a spare one I left in my locker in case of emergencies.

I knocked before entering, slowly peeking into his private office, finding him sitting on the desk, glasses reflecting the light of the computer screen in front of him, his hand running mindlessly over his beard.

"Hey."

"Penny, come in. What can I do for you?"

Stop using Penny and being professional in the same sentence.

"So.. This happened. " I held up his scrub top, waiting for him to figure it out.

"Rookie.. You did not! "

"It was really dark and I grabbed the first one I found." He ran his hand over his face, huffing in annoyance. A moment and he promptly slipped into damage control.

"Who all saw you? "

"I have been at the free clinic for 2 hours after which I met with Baz to discuss the new dignostic cases, although I don't think he realised, atleast he didn't let on that he did. Then I bumped into.. Oh god!.. the interns just before lunch where I met all my friends. " I rambled, embarrassed that the entire hospital probably knew by now.

I sat onto the couch, covering my face with my hands, I had made one big mess of everything.

"Penny, listen to me. " Ethan pulled my hands away, holding my chin in place to meet his gaze.

"It's not the worst thing to happen. In fact, I'm a little glad it did. "

"You are? "

"Yeah. Atleast no one will ask you out now, they know you are mine. Besides, June still hasn't found out, so we'll be fine."

"Are you making a joke right now? "

" I was trying to. " He chuckled fondly, tender eyes meeting mine with a lopsided grin

I laughed, pecking his lips as I relaxed onto the couch, teary that Ethan was so committed to us that he really didn't seem to care.

"I'm gonna head to the cafeteria to get lunch. I'll see you later. " I nodded as he reached for the door.

"Ethan? "

"Hmm.?"

"Your place, same time as usual? "

"Do you even need to ask? I believe I need to teach you a lesson..about mindfulness"

***********

I'm debating whether to continue the series further. Would you like to read a part 5 where Ethan teaches Aspen a thing or two about mindfulness?

************

@liaromancewriter @potionsprefect @jerzwriter @cariantha @peonierose @kyra75 @rookiemartin @queencarb @tessa-liam @genevievemd @coffeeheartaddict2 @tveitertotwrites @openheartfanfics @choicesficwriterscreations

[darklydeliciousdesires]

The Dark Passenger - Chapter Twelve.

Okay besties, because I just know that this is going to make you all like “WTF is happening??” when you get to the end, I am prepared to release the next chapter as soon as I notice this one pass 40 notes, rather than leave you waiting until after the weekend! You want it? You know what to do!

Previous chapters - One  Two  Three  Four  Five  Six  Seven  Eight  Nine  Ten  Eleven

Words - 3,988

Warnings - 18+ content throughout, minors DNI!

Tag list - In the comments. Please DM to be added/removed

“Yeah, look at the way you take it, god damned sexy girl. That’s the best cock in the world, isn’t it? Mmm, no one gives it like I do, do they?”

Slow, slow, quick, quick, quick, slow. With a slight hip rotation on the slow, while holding her leg to his chest, head dipped to kiss her ankle, his thumb dragging sparks at her clit.

Yes. EZ Reyes was the fuck the century to Camille, who he was making a continued huge effort with. That effort mostly consisted of keeping her so damned dick drunk and in a permanent state of love bombed that his need for control flew right under her radar. She did, as she had many times before, mistaken these actions for adoration, rather than manipulation. He also continued this by visiting with her family, making friends with her father, who seemed to adore him, Marge a little cooler, EZ planning to charm her into some warmth.  

For that moment, though, it was her daughter who was his sole focus.

“Yes, yes it is! Ahhh, fuck I love you so much, you and that perfect, big cock.” Her words of confirmation had his self-satisfied grin broadening, leaning to kiss her with ember and honey edged passion, panting hard as he felt the edges of himself catching fire against her. “Tell me I’m your baby, tell me you love me.”

“You’re my baby, and fuck, how I fucking love you.” His body fell to cover hers then, railing her into the bed, the viscid clench of her cunt tightening on him as she wrapped her legs around his waist, crying out as white-hot pleasure crashed over her, her very bones glimmering, EZ filling her with cum as his own release charged through him like wild horses.  

They lay curled around each other, both sleepy with bliss, pleasure ebbing away slowly, wishing they could just lay there and return to slumber. Unfortunately, with it being a Monday morning, Camille had work to get to, and EZ and appointment with Ramona Sanchez, his therapist, whom he’d been visiting for the last month in order to get a hold on his issues.  

The diminutive psychologist was incredibly proficient at her job, but unfortunately for her, she had no clue that the only thing she was facilitating the help of was EZ being able to somewhat keep his darkness more covert, the techniques she was teaching him for getting a hold on his anger being directly applied to his shadow self, to keep it hidden more cleverly.  

One of the things she was teaching him was how to control his reaction to what had triggered him, and whether the triggering stimulus was truly an accurate assessment of reality. “In these moments where you feel yourself losing control from a reactive point of view, it is imperative that you stand back and question the justness of the reaction. In doing so, a calming place can be achieved, which is what you must focus upon, Ezekiel. Finding the calm means that the anger does not win, and you thus regain your control of the situation. Our goal is, as ever, to supress the urge to choose anger.”

She had also been assisting him in finding the root cause of said anger, which, in his more candid moments, he did find honest interest in getting to the bottom of. Well, truly, he knew why he became so angry, it was triggered by his loss of control in a situation, but understanding why he needed that control in the first place was something he found to be beneficial.

When the darkness within him allowed for it.

While he was doing the whole journey of discovery bit, Camille was on one of her own, too, but hers was to do with outward aesthetics rather than inner workings of the mind, and not her own either.  

“Okay, smile really wide for me,” she spoke, Tallulah doing just that. “And keep smiling even though I know this is going to suck!” In the needle went, her friends smile turning to more of a grimace as the botox was syringed into her smile lines, grumbling and gritting through the pain.  

It had been an appointment Camille had been putting off for three weeks, on account of the fact she didn’t want anyone to see her so up close after the damage she’d been left with in the wake of EZ punching her. The bloodshot eye alone had taken four days to calm down and turn back to white, and the rest she’d hid under heavy makeup, taking time away from both jobs so that she wouldn’t be asked any uncomfortable questions, explaining her absence on a sprained ankle. Very few people knew about the incident, just the guys in the club, Amelia and Bella.  

She intended for it to stay that way as well, because she knew only too well what people like Tallulah and Mai would have to say about it. They’d question her sanity in staying with a man who had displayed controlling behaviour over the course of their five-month relationship, and one who had now turned physically abusive as well. She just had to hope that the incident could be chalked up as singular, because if he did it again, she was gone. Her mind was made up there, but shit, how she did not want that ever to be the decision she had to make, hopelessly in love with him that she was.  

He was trying now, though, really trying. He no longer left her hanging on him for one thing, usually always getting back to her quite quickly if she’d called and he hadn’t answered, making more time to see her, being attentive and present. A lot of it was to bring her back under control, although he did acknowledge that some of it was because he did genuinely love her. But, sadly for Camille, there were some bad habits he had absolutely no intention of putting behind him.  

“Missed me, didn’t you?” he asked, Dina bouncing on his cock, having met her back at the clubhouse after a morning of outlaw endeavours.  

She gave him a smouldering look, leaning down to kiss him with filthy heat. “God, yes. You know I always miss you. I dunno why you have that other girl, you know. You could just be with me. I know you like me better.” Because he could, that’s why he did.  

“I don’t, but nice flex, babe.” He was all sarcasm and ego, because again, he knew he could be. Dina wouldn’t say anything about it, because if she did, he’d stop fucking her.  

“Then why do you keep coming back between my legs, EZ? What is it that I have that she doesn’t? I mean, come on. There has to be something. I know I’m better than her.”

He snorted, hands gripping her hips. “Wanna know why I fuck you? Because you let me, that’s why. You’re a means to an end, that’s it. As for being better? Don't kid yourself. You’ve seen Camille. Do you honestly think you’re anywhere close to being in her league? She’s a knockout, and you’re gutter trash with a decent pussy. That’s it. I mean, I can sit here and bounce you on my cock while insulting you to hell and back, because you won’t stop me. Nobody has dick swinging game like I do.”

He grasped her throat when she went to protest, his eyes darkening, chuckling to himself. “You’re a whore, that’s your job, so shut up and do your job.” She did, and it fed his ego beautifully, EZ getting off on the fact he had complete control over her, his hand grasping her throat tighter, pulling her down so she was level with his face. “And if you ever dare tell her, I’ll make you sorry. You’ll only be sorry once, too.”  

Dina gulped, knowing the connotations very, very clearly. He was president of an MC, after all. He could make her disappear with minimal effort. She felt sick at the way he smiled at her all the way through, frightened by him truly for the first time, of what he could do to her, what he would do to her. As soon as he was finished, she was off him and out of there before he’d even had chance to pull the condom off.  

He could have dictated she didn’t get to leave, but he was bored of her by that point. He’d only needed something warm and convenient to blow his load in, his preferred source of that working until late at the salon and then going out with her mom. He had his own affairs to iron out that evening, him and the guys riding out to deal with some further shit thrown at the by the Sons. Meanwhile, Camille was having a lovely time with her mom.

“So, Candie called me this morning, and I don’t know how abreast you are of the situation, but her professors have all stated she’s on track for her PhD once she’s finished her bachelors. How amazing is that?” Marge revealed with pride, her eldest’s eyes widening.

“She was always the smartest, and I’m so thrilled for her. I really am,” Camille enthused, Marge reaching for her hand with a little frown.

“Hey, now listen,” she began, a gentle hand touched to her cheek. “All three of my kids are smart, you hear? Candiace is the academic, you’re the business brains in money making, and Cody is anything relating to tech. I won’t hear you put yourself behind her, just because you chose a different path. Not on my watch, Camille Teresa Smith.”  

She nodded, but still, her inferiority to her younger sister shone through. “Yeah, but Candie is doing it in the way that makes you and daddy proud. I can’t imagine my route has filled you with quite so much of the same.”  

Marge’s frown deepened. “You stop that right now. True, daddy and I were a little concerned when you began dancing at the club, but I’ll tell you this, my girl. You walk out of that place some nights when the going is good with over a thousand dollars in your back pocket, and for what? Giving a few guys a fantasy, a bit of a tease. You hold the power, and that shows you’re smart.  

“So, you flash ‘em a little T and A, so what? It isn’t forever, you have your dream and you’re working towards that. Also, how many other twenty-five-year-olds out there drive such a gorgeous car and only have twenty years left on their mortgage, huh? Pretty soon, you’ll have your salon as well, then your chain, and you’ll be doing all you’ve ever dreamed of.”

Her mom always had a way with her words, to reassure her when Camille felt a little less than. Marge had seen it in her always, though, the way she automatically felt inferior to others, having issues with her confidence. “Speaking of the club, I have to ask. What does the boyfriend think about you working there? Some guys, they can be a little... unenthusiastic, shall we say.”  

“Well, since that’s where he met me, he’s always known what I do for an extra income and been fine with it,” she began, sipping her drink. “We had a, ah... a heated exchange about it once, but that was more because he was upset that I’d decided to go in on a day I’d booked off to spend with him in order to help Martin out.”  

Sharp as she was, Marge detected it, a tiny little play on her daughter’s face that revealed a lot more than her words did. Whatever that heated exchange had consisted of, it had stayed with her. She knew Camille wasn’t a fighter, though, and hated conflict of any kind, so put it to the back of her mind. For then, at least.  

They’d just finished their desserts when Marge suddenly saw her daughter’s face light up, feeling a presence behind her.

“And how are the most gorgeous women in Santo Padre this evening?” EZ questioned with his usual charm, Marge turning with a smile, making the effort. There was still something she felt from that was off, but she knew she had to be friendly for Camille’s sake.

“If I see them, I’ll ask,” she quipped, welcoming him with a little hug, returning his cheek kiss. “How are you?”  

“Tired. I did plan on going home and getting an early night, but I saw Camille’s car outside and quickly remembered the name of the restaurant she said you guys would be at as I was on my way back, so thought I’d show my face.” Sitting down, he greeted Camille with a kiss, stopping a passing waitress and ordering a round of drinks with her. They eventually moved into the bar area when the restaurant needed the table back, all the while with Camille ignoring her persistently ringing phone, not wanting to be rude.  

“Might be important,” her mom nodded, when it rang for the sixth time.  

Camille still looked bad as she pulled it from her bag, polite to a fault as she was. “It’s Martin. I won’t be long.”  

Marge noticed right away, the change in EZ’s demeanour, his chest widening as it stiffened, watching his girlfriend intently.

“Really? God, that much for just a lap dance? And that’s all I have to do, no schmoozing with the party or anything?” Continuing to listen, she nodded, excusing herself to Martin when EZ pressed a hand to her shoulder.  

“What does he want?”  

“Erm, I’m...”

“Camille? We’ve talked about this before, that guy thinking he can call you up at the last minute and make you drop your plans.” Instantly, Marge saw it, her eyes darting between them. Fear.  

“Martin, I’ll call you back.” she hung up quickly, turning to her boyfriend, taking his hand. “There’s a party in tonight, and one of the guys is a regular, a wealthy one too, asking for me specifically. Marting explained that it was my night off, but he’s adamant that he wants me. He’s offering me five hundred for a private dance. I’ll be in and out of there, so it seems like too much of a good offer to pass up on. Mom, do you mind?”

Marge shook her head. “Not at all, chickadee. Five hundred bucks is five hundred bucks. You’d be a fool to turn down that kind of quick cash.”  

“I mind,” EZ began, his words delivered emphatically. “You can’t just go running when he whistles for you, Camille. You need to set some boundaries on your free time.”  

“But baby, it’ll only be a short time,” she reasoned, EZ not looking pleased at what her stance was appearing to be.

“I had hoped you’d come back to mine tonight.”  

Marge sat back and viewed it, thinking that the guy who had the problem here wasn’t Martin at all. Camille needed to excuse herself to one person. Her. The person she was out with. EZ had only popped by because he’d happened to be passing.  

“Well, I still can. After I’ve called in at the club,” she spoke fairly, trying hard to placate him. “Don’t be mad at me, baby. Hey, come on. Remember what you’ve been discussing with Ramona.”

His glare made Marge stiffen, her body on high alert. “Do not mention that in front of your mother. Don’t, Camille.”  

“Hey, EZ,” she interjected with, wanting to de-escalate the situation. “I don’t know who Ramona is, or what you’ve been discussing with her, but what I do know is that I won’t sit here idly while you’re being so sharp with my daughter. Now, the only person she needs to excuse herself to is me, since I’m the one she had the plans with, plans that we are more or less at the end of now. She can still go over to your place afterwards, so I fail to see why you’re getting pressed about her taking a few minutes out of her evening to go and earn herself a tidy little wedge of cash.”  

That dark glare was then directed right at her. “Stay out of it.”

“No.”  

He raised his eyebrows. “You really, really should, you know.”  

“EZ, freakin’ cool it!” Camille exclaimed, rubbing his arm. “Don’t talk to my mom like that!”

Marge merely leaned forward in her seat. “Is that a threat? I don’t threaten well.”

He gathered himself then, realising the control he craved was slipping. “I apologise, Marge. I just have your daughter’s best interests at heart, but perhaps I overreacted.” He nodded, turning to Camille with a smile. “Go tell him you’ll be there. I can wait a little longer for you to get to my place, it isn’t a big deal. I’m sorry if I made it out to be.”  

She excused herself to go outside and call Martin, the restaurant loudening as a birthday cake was brought out, the huge group of people beginning to sing to the woman sitting with her hands over her face. As soon as Camille was gone, Marge eyed EZ sharply.  

“I appreciate the apology, but what I do not appreciate is you trying to control my daughter like that. She mentioned earlier to me that you’d gotten upset in the past about her being called in at short notice. I don’t understand why you consider that to be a problem. It doesn’t affect you at all,” she stated, not prepared to leave things where they were.  

Marge Smith never let it go, if someone was hostile with her for no reason. Even if they had a reason, she still defended herself if she knew she wasn’t the one in the wrong. In this case, she was defending her daughter, too.  

He paused for a few seconds, feeling the dark wave within him rising. To his credit, he actually did try and supress it. Not hard enough, though. “My reasons are my reasons. Now, I advised you before to stay out of it. That’s what you need to do here.”

She leaned forward in her chair, her blue eyes staring at him unflinchingly. “Or what? You know when I said I don’t threaten well? I don’t scare easily either. Don’t think you can frighten me into submission like you probably do with my daughter.” A little twitch of his eyebrows gave it away. “Oh yes, that’s right. I’m perceptive. I know control when I see it.”

“You don’t know shit. Back down. And believe me, I should frighten you.” His anger was only inflated more by Marge’s entertainment, laughing softly, completely unshaken.  

“Ezekiel, have you ever heard of the Beneventi crime family?” she put to him, her smile widening.

“Of course, I have.”

“Good. It’ll spare me a long explanation, then, as I know Camille won’t have told you, we don’t advertise it. My father, Vincenzo Randazzo, was underboss for that family. You might have heard of him, then again you might not unless you’re a mafia geek. Anyway, I digress. Tragically, I lost him to that world, it’s the reason why I moved out here, to get away from it all after what we think was his murder. Of course, we’ll never know. Mob hits don’t tend to be publicised. All I know is that one day my dad was there, and then he wasn’t. So yeah, I grew up in that life, and believe me, I know scary.  

“Those guys, they’re the real deal, shoot-you-as-soon-as-look-at-you types of mean, cold, Italian American gangsters. You? You’re a thug with a Harley, a semi-automatic on your hip and a real fucking big chip on your shoulder about showing everyone who the boss is. You ain’t no boss, son, if you think trying to control a naïve twenty-five-year-old with a soft heart is how you go about flexing that authority. And threatening me because I stood up for her? Please. Don’t make me laugh.”

He reciprocated her lean, nearing her, his face twisting into a smirk. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with, Marge.”

“Incorrect,” she spat quietly, never blinking, never flinching, reaching into her purse beneath the table. “I know exactly who you are, Ezekiel. But you? You have no idea who I am. Wanna know who I am?”  

He scoffed, the gold in his eyes seeming to burn red. “Tell me, other than a bored housewife with a flimsy link to a crime family she ran away from.” That’s the moment he felt the unmistakable press of a gun against his knee.  

“My surname might be Smith now, but buster, I’m Marjorie Randazzo to my very bones, and if you so much as harm a single hair on my daughter’s head, I will find you, and I will finish you. Don’t think I won’t serve serious time for any of my kids, because that’s the kind of mother I am. I’m also my father’s daughter, and you? You’d do very well to remember that.”  

EZ saw it in her eyes, the fact that she had his number, and no, she truly wasn’t afraid. This was somebody he could not control, but Camille? She was different. He was out of his seat without further word, heading outside, making a turning motion with his finger when he saw Camille coming back in.

“EZ, what’s wrong?” He was all agitated vexation; she could see it clearly in the way his jaw muscles flexed and tightened.  

“Your mother just threatened me. I don’t fucking take kindly to anyone poking their nose in my relationship with you, or holding a gun to my knee beneath the table. Go do what you have to do, and I’ll see you back at my place. And tell your mom to keep her goddamned opinions out of our relationship. I fucking apologised, I did right, and she pulls that shit?” Reaching for his face, he wiped a trail of blood from his nose, grumbling to himself. Another stress nosebleed.  

“She what?” Camille yelled, trying to halt him. She knew her mother carried a firearm with her at times, especially in instances like that night where she’d be driving home alone, but honestly, she hadn’t expected her to pull something like that. “EZ, wait.”

“Just go and do what you have to do Camille!” he roared, jogging over to his bike, looking a little shaky on his feet. Just then, her attention was distracted by her mom coming out, her eyes wide and pissed off.  

“That man, Camie? That’s a bad, bad man. I see it in him, and I’m telling you, get away from him now, while you still can.”  

That wasn’t what she did, though. She couldn’t, after turning back to see him suddenly fall to the floor, shaking violently.  

“Oh my god!” She ran as fast as her boots would take her, across the road, dropping to her knees by his side, the horror of seeing him in a full-blown seizure making an Antarctic chill rip right through her. “Mommy! Help me! Call an ambulance!” she screamed, having no clue what to do, stroking his head, remembering somewhere from something that those under the duress of a seizure ran the risk of swallowing their tongue, just about able to turn him onto his side as her mom arrived with her, gently stuffing her jacket under his head while she gave the 911 operator their location.  

“I don’t know if he has epilepsy, but he’s on his side and I just put my jacket under his head,” Marge spoke, looking to Camille.

“He doesn’t, no,” she confirmed, turning back to him. “It’s okay, baby. I’m here, it’s alright.”  

But it wasn’t alright. Before the night was out, they’d all find out just how far from alright it was, too.  

[bratshaws]

through the hourglass 71. brb x oc

a/n: GOD im sorry I LOVE WRITING ROOSTER BEING A DAD

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: fluff, Rooster being dad(dy) material

goodness gracious (pls read this one to know more what this fic is about!!)

chapter

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/

25/26/27/28/29/30/31/32/33/34/35/36/37/38/39/40/41/42/43/44

45/46/47/48/49/50/51/52/53/54/55/56/57/58/59/60/61/62/63/64

/65/66/67/68/69/70

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-

Imagine his surprise when Beatrice let him know that the blanket was actually folded and they could lie down and cover themselves with it? The weather got a bit colder but neither of them planned on leaving yet, they were just looking up at the night sky, her head on his shoulder and his hand brushing up and down her bare back, his middle finger following the line of her spine slowly.

Their clothes were safe from sand since they were all in the basket, so they didn’t have to worry too much about those things right now. He blinked when her voice quietly called his name, turning to face her only to see her gentle smile and red cheeks, “Are you okay?”

His eyes soften as his hand continues it’s up and down trailing, “I am. Are you?” she nods with her cheek still resting on the curve of his broad shoulder, cheeks flexing the more she smiled, “You really overdid yourself.”

“Thank you.”

“You are welcome,” he taps the tip of her nose when he says that, watching as she scrunched it up with a giggle, “Your ideas are always welcome, you know that.”

Beatrice hummed happily, nuzzling his skin and curling more against his body under the blanket, now the cold finally touched her body like cold needles piercing her skin, “I’ll remember that.”

“Do you want to go home?”

She just nuzzled him even more, “Not yet, we have a little bit of time before leaving.” she whispered, “Let’s just…enjoy this.”

Bradley smiles down at her, kissing the top of her head and sighing when his head falls back on the dark blanket, he could feel the sand moving under his head’s weight but nothing touched his body or hers for that matter.

It was probably the most romantic they’ve been if he had to admit, after all…when was the last time he made love under the stars? The answer would be never. “You know,” he begins, “I was thinking about this for a while.”

“Hm?”

“Outdoor stuff.” he mutters, still caressing her back, “I was thinking of doing this while we camp or something, now that I know you like stuff like this,I think we should enjoy the possibilities.”

Beatrice lifts her head from his shoulder to have a better look,holding herself up by folding her arms on the blanket, “We did plan on hiking and going camping.” he nods, “...well…should we keep the idea for the near future?”

He just chuckles, rubbing her chin with his thumb, brushing it over her lower lip, “I think so…fuck you are so beautiful.”

Beatrice smiles more, her eyes doing an almost perfect half moon shape when he says that, even if she was no longer sweating there was a beautiful sheen that made her look like she was covered in glitter. She kissed the pad of his thumb when he used it to brush over her mouth, leaning into his palm when he touched her cheek, “You are still planning on making me blush,huh?”

“Always,gorgeous.” he says, “There’s no better feeling.”

She laughs quietly, dropping back down against his shoulder, drawing random shapes on his chest as she inhales the mix of cologne and sex clinging to his skin, “You know.” he hums, signaling he was paying attention, “I never shared stuff like this with anyone…well,maybe Shells sometimes but…I don’t know,I felt weird saying it.”

“Because you felt people would judge you?”

“Yeah.” she whispers, “As you know I’m not…experienced. So most of the things I know I saw in movies or books…or fics online, so when this idea popped up I just kept it hidden deep inside of me…but you help me deal with those thoughts.” he gave her a knowing smirk, one that made Beatrice scoff, “Not like that. I mean you make me feel safe sharing them with you.”

If there was one compliment he was never tired of hearing was how Bea felt safe around him. “You know, I feel the same about you,gorgeous.” he kisses her forehead, “Because there are things I never shared with anyone either…I guess I wasn’t comfortable just as you were.”

Beatrice smiles again, leaning down to kiss him only for her phone to buzz. She sighs into his mouth, pushing herself upwards with an apologetic smile, “I think that’s our cue to leave.”

“Yeah,I guess so,” he grunts, pushing himself to a sitting position as she leans forward to grab her phone, blowing some grains of sand that stuck to the TMNT phone case before checking the messages, “I’ll get our clothes.” he says, rolling on his stomach and stretching his arm enough for it to reach the handle of the basket, pulling it towards him so he could grab the balled up clothes inside.

He carefully placed her dress first next to her, then grabbed his own pants and underwear, followed by his shirt, “My mom said Nicole is watching tv.”

“Yeah? What sort of kid shows are on this time of night?”

“Oh,none.” she smiles, “She is watching some Disney Classics, like Robin Hood.” Beatrice places the phone aside to grab her dress, quickly slipping it over her shoulders and down her arms, before she rummaged in the basket and pulled out a small black bag that he was sure only contained their napkins…but he shouldn’t be surprised when she pulled out a pair of panties from inside.

“So you had everything planned.”

Beatrice giggles, standing to her feet to put on the red panties, letting the elastic snap against her hips, wriggling a bit to get it snug against her ass, “I did.” she says, “I had to. I wasn’t going to my parents’ house completely commando.”

He laughs, putting on his underwear and pants, “Fair.” he stands up to put on his shirt, running his hand through his hair as it passes through the collar, “That’d be strange.”

“You’d love it.”

“I would love it.” he agrees with a smirk, “But the situation…wouldn’t be the best.”

They shared another laugh as they cleaned everything up, making sure to leave absolutely nothing in the sand as they left - Bea even turned on her flashlight to check if there were any trash left behind, picking up even pieces of paper that weren’t theirs - before they made their way to the car.

As she placed the basket in the passenger seat, she slapped her forehead, “Oh no! The dessert!” she hurriedly opened to check, the squeak of a styrofoam box opening making him look her way and stop walking to the driver’s door, “Oh…oh it’s okay, oh thank goodness.” he stepped behind her to see what it was seeing that Beatrice was almost crouched with relief.

“...is that…” he blinks, “Mr.Scoops’ logo?”

“Yeah.”

“You got us ice cream?”

“It’s not ice cream.” she begins, “It’s an ice cream cake with hazelnut brittle and belgian chocolate. Thank God it’s still intact.” and he muttered ‘that’s just ice cream.’ as Beatrice slowly turned around to give him a playful glare, “Keep doing that and you won’t get a piece.”

“What? Hey,come on.”

Beatrice giggles, his pout happens so naturally she wasn’t even sure if he was aware of it. She wraps her arms around his neck, meeting that pretty pout of his with her lips and smiling against his mouth, “I’m not that evil.” she whispers, “Now come on, we have to go before my parents set out a search party for us.”

Bradley kisses her one more time, taps her ass and then they enter the car, making their way over to the Schiavonis to pick Nicole up.

-

After they got Nikki they slept like a rock, there was no need to stay awake since it was also past their daughter’s bedtime. They were so tired that the night went by a flash, with Rooster waking her up with kisses to her neck and shoulders, making Beatrice smile with her cheeks flushed red, “Morning,gorgeous.”

“Mmmm,it is.” she giggles, rolling around to see his face, “How did you sleep?”

“Great.” he says, “Even better because I can still smell the ocean air  on your skin.”

She just smiles more, cupping his face with her hands to kiss his lips repeatedly,”Can you check on Nikki? I’m going to prepare our breakfast.” She,amazingly,manages to get out of the bed without Rooster trapping her with his arms. He just smirks at her, following the sway of her hips as she walks to the bathroom, fixing the underside of her panties much for his absolute adoration, “What are we having for breakfast?”

“I don’t know,” she says from the bathroom,”What do you want?”

“I can make us some pancakes.” he shrugs even though she couldn’t see it, “To celebrate.”

Beatrice just laughs again, peeking her head out of the bathroom, “You drive a hard bargain, but I wouldn’t mind.”

Rooster pushes himself off the bed,kicking the covers and running his hands through his hair to calm the sandy brown strands down, then walks into the bathroom to hug her from behind and kiss her cheek repeatedly, “Just because I can’t get enough of you.” one final peck to finalize his words and he steps away towards Nicole’s room.

He feels amazing, if there was any way to describe how he was feeling was ‘stepping on clouds’. He stretches his arms above his head, smiling when the joints popped, sighing in pleasure and pain when he feels the scratches from Beatrice’s nails sting as he lifts his arms, “Battle scars.” he tells himself, walking into Nicole’s nursery to see his daughter was sitting up.

“Oh my God! Hi pretty!” Nicole smiles at him, gurgling a laugh, “Hi! You are sitting on your own? Oh my Gosh,I didn’t even think that was possible yet?” she was four years old though,he remembered, there was a chance she’d do this according to some books he read. Eleanor and Jack both climbed out from under the crib to stretch themselves, standing besides Rooster as he picks Nicole up, “Hi baby,hi,” he kisses his daughter’s cheek, then playfully sniffs her neck, making her laugh even more, “Come on,let’s get cleaned up to have breakfast! Are you excited?”

Nicole lets out a shriek-like laugh while shaking her closed fists, cheeks turning rosy and green eyes appearing blue because of the morning light peeking through the curtains. He was humming all the way he was changing her, his humor was so good he knew there wasn’t anything that would put it down, “There you go.” he smiles, kissing her cheek one more time, “All clean and ready for the day,Birdie.”

She smiles that gummy grin that had such a hold on his heart it made him weak. Beatrice was already downstairs, he could hear her messing around with something in the kitchen, “Oh,mommy is up, let’s go greet her, yeah?” Nicole babbled back,almost as if she said ‘yes’, before hugging his neck to put her head on his shoulder.

“My favorite girls in the same room,” he says once he gets close to Beatrice, “Aren’t I just so lucky?”

His wife smiled,kissing his lips and then picking Nicole from his arms, “You are very lucky…coffee is done, by the way.” she nods to the coffee maker, “And I’m going to feed Nikki over there, okay?”

“Sure gorgeous.”

Beatrice looked down at her daughter who was already looking up at her, cheeks red like little cherries and eyes bright, “Hi,Nikki,yeah we are going to have breakfast!”. Beatrice’s phone was face down on the table, knowing no one was going to message her this early in the morning but having it close was good in case someone did.

Aka Shells. Who loved calling her even before she was even half awake.

“What’s the plan today?” he asks, grabbing a few pots and pans from the cabinets, “You going to be at the bar later?”

“Yeah,I’ll help Penny and Shells clean it.” she says, adjusting Nicole in her arms so her daughter could have her breakfast comfortably, brushing her thumb on the side of her face, “Penny is considering hiring someone else.”

“Wait,really?”

“Mhm, at least for the days me and Shells aren’t able to go. Jimmy is fun but he can’t really come every time…so we might help around the new person, just so they know what to do.”

The sizzle of the fresh pancake batter on the pan, followed by his humming was the answer she got. She looked up at him with a smile, “Smells good.”

“Course it does.” he smirks, “Bradshaw Pancakes,gorgeous. The best you’d ever have.” and it was incredible how hearing that again after the time they’ve been together felt so cathartic. When he first cooked her the pancakes they were just a few months into the relationship, never she’d imagine they’d keep the tradition…and now with a baby.

“What about you? What are your plans for today?”

He sighs, tapping the side of the spatula on the edge of the pan as he thinks, creating a little rhythm, “Sleep again, maybe.” he mumbles, “I really,really missed our bed.”

Beatrice laughs, tilting her head to the side in an almost ‘fair’ gesture, looking down at Nicole and gently holding her hand, “No gym today then?”

“Nope.” he chuckles, “I think I worked out enough last night.”

Beatrice gasps, covering Nicole’s ear with her brows furrowing, “Rooster!” he just gives her an innocent look and a shrug, but the obvious boyish grin on his face only makes it obvious he didn’t really worried too much, “...well, I’d want you to rest too, you just got home and…well,there are things to do. Halloween is in a few days! And the neighborhood has a lot of kids! So I need to go treat shopping.”

Beatrice rambled and he just watched her while flipping the pancakes, plating the ones already done - he knew she liked hers a bit more golden with a bit of crisp on the sides - and setting it in front of her, kissing her head, “Good idea,honey.”

It didn’t take long for him to join his girls on the table, sometimes ripping a piece of the fluffy pancake and tossing it to Jack who’d catch it in midair and sit back down hoping to get something else. Rooster then groans, rubbing his eyes, “Fuck…just remembered.”

‘What?”

He inhales tiredly,”I promised Mav I’d help him with his bike. It’s sputtering and coughing like an old man from the 1800’s.” he leans back on his seat, rubbing his eyes, “And I know if I don’t show up he’s going to come here and drag me out.”

Beatrice slowly chews her pancake, Rooster reaching for Nicole once she was done eating, gently patting her back so she’d burp, “It’s been a while since you saw him too.”

“I know.” he says, the gentle ‘thudding’ from his hand on Nicole’s back and his daughter’s quiet babbling added to the conversation, “And I promised him. I can’t back out.”

Beatrice holds her chin up with a hand,looking from him to Nicole, then back at him, “Why don’t you take Nikki?” she asks, seeing his brows furrow, “It’s been so long since Mav saw her too. You can take her there and set her on a safe spot.” she immediately added when his face scrunched into a worried frown, “It���s not like it’ll be that bad,right?”

“...I guess.” but he didn’t seem thrilled, “But I feel like Mav will leave me to work on the bike so he could ‘focus on Nikki’.” he air quoted with the hand burping Nicole, looking back when his daughter finally let it out, thankful for the fabric on his shoulder, “And you know how he is.”

His wife grinned, still holding her chin up, “I do…and I also know you. I know you’d want Nikki to experience different things, Roos…plus, she loves spending time with you, don’t you, honey?” Nicole lifts her head to gurgle a laugh, Beatrice cleans her face with the cloth on Bradley’s shoulder, “It’ll be fun!”

Bradley hums, lips pouting as he sinks a bit into his chair, “I’ll…think about it.”

“Plus…well,maybe there’ll be similarities that Mav will comment about.” he gives her a confused look, “Compare Nicole and you when you were a baby.”

“Oh no.”

“It’ll be really cute.”

“No,no. I’d rather step on glass.” she gives him an amused look, “Listen,I was a dumb kid…okay? I don’t want Nikki to get ideas.”

“She’s four months old,Brad!”

“So?” He holds Nicole tighter against him, “I’ve read that sometimes kids can mirror parents’ activities when they are older…I don’t want Nicole to climb trees and jump from the highest branch!” Beatrice widens her eyes at him with her mouth opening in surprise, “...it happened once.”

Beatrice shakes her head, standing up from the table to grab their empty plates - and the cloth from Bradley’s shoulder- to put everything in the sink, “You don’t have to worry about that because it’s very possible she won’t remember anything bad that Mav has to say about you.” she says, air quoting just like he did, “I think it’ll be fun…come on Roos. Nicole is old enough to learn things-”

“That reminds me, we need to buy those mind toys we saw online, they are very-” Beatrice crosses her arms and smiles, arching her brow at him, “I’m not trying to avoid the subject.”

“Really…then you won’t mind me telling Mav you’ll be taking Nikki with you.”

“There’s no need for that.”

Bea hums, “Right…then maybe we should ask Nikki.” Nicole looks up at her when she hears her name, smiling at her mother, “What do you think Nikki, do you wanna see grandpa Mav?” Nicole smiles more, eyes crinkling and her little hands moving excitedly, “Yeah! You love grandpa Mav, don’t you? And you miss him a lot!” her husband groans, throwing an ugly look over the shoulder towards her.

“That’s cheating.”

“It’s not.” she says, stepping closer to kiss Nicole’s forehead, “You know what’s going to happen? You two will have loads of fun!...Roos, these things will be important to Nicole, she won’t remember them but she’ll have the feeling inside.”

Rooster frowns, running his fingers over his mustache. It’s not like he didn’t like the idea, but…there were a lot of things there, what if she touches something? What if something just gets loose? What if she finds what a wrench is? What if she somehow presses a button? He looks down at Nikki only to see her head tilted towards him, her soft cheek on his shoulder and the precious little smile on her face…

Oh,he was so doomer.

“I swear,green eyed brunettes are my ruin.” he chuckles, sighing heavily, “Ugh…fine. I’m going to take her but Mav better not use her as an excuse to leave me there. You hear me,little missy?” he wags his finger to Nicole’s face, watching her eyes cross as she keeps it within her vision, “Your cute looks might be genetic but don’t use those pretty eyes on Mav. He won’t be carrying you all the time.”

Beatrice smiles from behind them, leaning down to kiss his cheek, “You are an amazing husband.” another kiss, “And an amazing dad…you’ll do great.”

“Thanks babe…” he smiles, “You are doing great too.” they kiss and Beatrice walks away, waving at Nicole one more time before she’s finally walking to the staircase, announcing she was going to take a shower. That left Rooster and Nicole…and the obvious hesitance of calling Mav and letting know they were coming.

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Immortal Thor #7 Reactions

Again, I feel like I've been waiting for this forever.

Spoilers for Immortal Thor 7 and prior.

God. I'm never not gonna be so into Loki as the Teller. They're lovely.

Past Loki continues to be whiny and no fun

Thor calling Loki stupid, a coward, and adopted in the same sentence is fucking rude and uncalled for, even if 2 of those things are currently correct

So there's this Winnie the Pooh movie (and chapter from the book) where Pooh eats too much honey at Rabbit's house and gets stuck in the door trying to leave and there's definitely if not an illustration then a shot from the animation that looks exactly like this panel.

I get it, Ewing, you saw Endgame. Clever "America's Ass" reference, good job. I'm gonna get on a plane and fist fight you over this.

FLAMING!!! SKELETON!!! FUCK! YES! LET'S! FUCKING! GOOO!!!

So I knew it was Utgard-Loki, but when he gave himself all those nicknames, I was like, Hey! The magpie calls Loki that, don't say we won't know his name. Some riddle that would be.

So at first I was like I'm gonna roll with the punches, but Marvel Loki (at least currently, I can't speak for prior to like early/mid-2000s) isn't really known for his eating prowess, so trying to out-eat fire like in the myth doesn't really make sense characteristically. I like this myth so I was willing to overlook the possible out of character behavior, but I just realized: he's hungry. He hasn't eaten in like three days! He doesn't want to sit though a bunch of trials they might lose and then still be hungry (and possibly also dead). He wants food now.

I've gone back and forth about Thor's constant smacking of Loki. On the one hand, they're siblings and most of the hits have seemed like (to me) acceptable level of sibling violence, like how my siblings and I would have smacked each other around as kids. (Not saying it's okay to do, necessarily, just that it's more typical sibling behavior, especially for siblings this close in age.) And given how long Asgardians live, technically they're probably closer to the equivalent of 14 or 15 here, so this kind of behavior seems "age-appropriate." On the other hand, they do look like a couple of 30/40 year old siblings beating the shit out of each other over petty nonsense, which is weird. And then you have panels like THIS.

This is not smacking your sibling upside the head because they said something snarky. This looks like he intends to BREAK something. Damn, dude, and you wonder why he turns on you every other week for like a hundred years.

I take it back. I don't need to see this myth in pictures. Logi is off-putting.

Little disappointed we've erased Thialfi from this retelling. Loki shouldn't run on a full stomach.

Loki, I need you to fuck with Amora

Thor that's rude. Even if it's true.

Best panel in the whole issue.

I'm gonna need to do a separate post discussing the cover because it's fantastic and so detailed

Also the poem gears are turning already!

[sylviacxt]

SAVIOUR – LEE JENO

Chapter 1 - The First Meeting

Genre : car dealer!jeno, office worker!reader, crushes to lovers, slowburn, fluff, angst.

Word count : 1.1k 

Playlist : No scrubs – TLC, SUGAR - Brockhampton

Where y/n decides whether she wants to get involved with a man who has an interesting background. 

120 km/h

100 km/h

70 km/h

40 km/h

0 km/h

Shit

Just as you were thinking if you had any spare tyres in the car boot, you looked in the rear view mirror and saw a rough man approaching. He looked pretty intimidating so you didn’t dare budge. You’ve heard of stories like this before, where someone purposely punctures your tyres to rob you. The man aggressively knocked on the window of the car, demanding your attention. You slowly turned to look at him, instantly panicking and grabbing your phone. Thank heavens your windows were heavily tinted. With shaky hands, you dialled your dad’s number, pressing 1 on the speed dial.

“Ma’am, I just want to have a word with you” the man on the opposite side of the door said.

Knock knock knock.

“Ma’am” he repeated, this time louder.

This time you heard your heartbeat instead.

Three more seconds go by before–

“MA’AM!” you flinched.

“Hello?” the familiar gravelly voice appeared on the other end of the line.

Instant relief came over you as you sighed out.

“Dad…. I think someone’s trying to rob me and I have a flat tyre and I-I’m pulled over on the side of the road” you rambled quietly.

The knocking stopped momentarily. You saw the man retreating back to his car, for what purposes you do not know.

Dad’s authoritative tone instantly came on. “Okay, don’t panic sweetheart. Just tell me where you are and I’ll be right there with the cops.”

“Umm…..” you squinted at the signboard ahead of you.

“I’m t-two kilometres away from OH MY GOD DAD HE HAS A METAL POLE” you screamed as you saw the man approaching in the side mirror with his new weapon in hand.

Just then, Jeno, on his way to work saw two cars pulled up ahead on the left side of the road, thinking it was an accident. Driving slowly, a threatening man holding a metal pole came into view.

What the fuck ?

Jeno instantly stopped his car in front of both of the cars, locked the doors and got out. He hurried onto the scene, anger consuming him as he got closer.

Just as the man was about to shatter the window with the pole, Jeno pushed him off balance, standing between him and the car. The metal pole fell out of the man’s grasp onto the ground.

“What do you think you’re doing ?” Jeno raised his voice.

“None of your business. Get out of my way.” the man told him, simultaneously looking for the weapon that fell.

Jeno quickly skimmed the front driver seat and made out a vague shadow of a woman on the phone.

“You bastard” Jeno growled.

Jeno went up to the man and punched him in the face, hurting his knuckles just as much as the man’s jaw did.

The man groaned, blood seeping through his teeth. “Suit yourself” he spoke after collecting himself.

The both of them sparred punches at each other, Jeno getting the better of the man after kicking him in the balls and knocking his head out.

The man fell cold, dirt covering his clothes from the tarmac.

Jeno then contacted the police, conversation kept short.

You gasped, watching the scene unfold before you.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” your dad’s voice came through hastily, laced with concern.

“Yes, dad. You don’t have to call the cops anymore. Someone is here” you breathed out and assured him.

Your dad, sensing your steady tone replied, “Okay, text me when you get home. I’ll see you tonight.”

You hung up the phone, slipping it into your pocket. You got out of the car, ready to thank your saviour.

Jeno glanced up at the sound of a car door being shut. A young brunette ran over to him, greeting him cautiously.

“Um, hi” you waved at him, avoiding eye contact. You grew nervous before thanking him to which he brushed off.

“Its no problem, he had no business doing that” he said, voice raspy from the violent workout.

“Will he be okay?” you tentatively asked, looking at the ground.

Jeno raised an eyebrow, amused at your concern for the man that tried to attack you.

“Yeah, I just put him to sleep for a bit. Don’t worry, I already called the police. They’re on their way.” Jeno said, now feeling his head pounding.

Jeno winced at the bruising pain he was starting to feel on his face.

You slowly looked up at him, noticing he had a cut on his left eyebrow and blood dripping on the side of his face.

“You’re bleeding” you sucked in a breath and pulled him by the hand towards your car, taking Jeno by surprise.

You opened the car door of the backseat, gesturing for him to get in before pulling the first aid kit from under the seat. You opened the box and used the cotton to stop the bleeding as best as you could.

Jeno hissed at the pressure applied to his wound, grabbing your wrist as a reflex.

“Sorry” you mumbled, then noticing his knuckles were also bruised and cut.

You gulped, feeling guilty, the adrenaline wearing off slowly. Looking at his injuries, you were starting to get to grips with the situation and felt yourself getting emotional over what could’ve happened had the guy in front of you not appear sooner.

You sniffled, trying your best to not cry in front of the stranger while working on his face. Blinking away your tears, Jeno took notice of the change in atmosphere.

“Hey, hey. Look at me” Jeno held your cheek.

“He’s gone now, okay? You’re safe”

“But I hurt you” you blurted out.

“No, angel. Don’t blame yourself for something that was out of your control.”

You could only nod your head at his words.

You finished patching up his injuries in silence, waiting for the police to arrive.

Tension filled the space, with you glancing at him only just realising your saviour was a handsome young chap with ripped jeans and a navy-blue sweater adorning his body. Metal rings decorating his slender fingers.

Flashes of blue and red interrupted your thoughts.

Soon after, the place was cleared up and the attacker was taken by the police into custody.

“Thanks officer” you said.

“Just doing my job”

“Need a ride?” Jeno asked, referring to your car being towed.

“I guess so” you glanced back at your car.

Jumping into his sleek black lexus, you wondered what his name was. So you asked him.

“It’s Jeno” he glanced at you over the steering wheel.

“I like it” you smiled.

You caught his first smile of the day. It was adorable.

“And yours, angel?”

“Y/n”

[thepaintedlady00]

Nightshade

Chapter 8 | Chapter 10

Chapter 9: The Peach Soiree

Dress Inspo for this chapter

TW: Simone's a bitch (we know this), and Olive's right up there with her (so surprising I know xD), mentions of smoking and drinking, mild mentions of nudity & allusions of sex, some mild descriptions of physical pain, mild panic attacks, dirty thoughts, the crew at 22West are THIRSTY! Quinn's running the show and she's wild, truth or dare, and a mild cliffhanger for y'all This chapter is almost 40 pages long so settle in and remember to drink water!

Jake didn’t know what to expect when he’d finally made his way home from the odd, relaxed day with Lena and her mob of family and friends. But he certainly wasn’t expecting Simone and Olive to be waiting at his door. “Fuck,” he cursed quietly.

Simone’s smile was utterly bitter as she looked him up and down. “Finally! So good of you to come home.”

“Relax, Simone, I just took a day.”

“Took a day?” She scoffed. “That’s not exactly what I’d call skipping work and getting fucked up on god knows what all night long.” Olive stayed quiet as she shifted out of the way of the two. Jake opened his apartment door, silently moving into the messed up space while Simone followed hot on his heels. She took one look around and shook her head. “This is just pathetic, Jake.”

He picked the clothes up off the floor before starting on the empty bottles and cans of beer. “Oh fuck off. I didn’t say shit when your apartment was covered in empty wine bottles.”

That made her lips press a tight line as she examined his things, most likely searching for clues about what had set him off. Her eyes went to the little green frog that lay abandoned by his bathroom door, and as she bent over the pick it up, Jake felt a twinge of fear and embarrassment fill his gut. She looked the little thing over momentarily before rolling her eyes and tossing it to the side by the garbage. “So, are you going to tell me why you skipped work?”

“It’s not a big deal,” he replied.

“Not a big deal?” She echoed. “Suddenly, you almost getting fired from the job I have fought so hard for you to keep is not a big deal?”

Jake sighed, quietly wishing he had a beer left to chug. “I’m sorry. It was dumb and reckless, and I shouldn’t have done it. Okay? I know it was stupid, Simone. I just…” He sighed, meeting her pale gaze laced with concern and frustration. “I just needed a day.”

Slowly the blonde woman nodded, though none of her anger or tension lifted. “Well, that’s good. At least you know how ridiculous it was. Where were you?”

“Here,” he replied tensely. “I drank what I had and then went to Home Bar.”

“Do not lie to me, Jake,” Simone seethed, nodding at Olive. “She saw you at Home Bar for thirty minutes before you just left.”

Jake looked the girl up and down, taking in her nervous posture and the slight flush to her cheeks when he looked at her. His memory was hazy at best, but he didn’t remember seeing her. "We fuck or something? That why you’re here?"

"No…” She stammered. “I mean, we kissed a bit..."

"Huh, must not have been very good,” he replied, rolling his eyes and turning his back to the wide-eyed woman. 

He heard the soft noise of shock she made before he listened to Simone usher her out with a roaring applause of thanks and well wishes. His door closed behind her, and Simone sighed. "You just have to be unbearable, don't you?"

“It’s part of my charm,” he retorted, glancing at her as she moved to stand beside him.

“Where were you, Jake?” she asked again, softer this time, vulnerable.

Fucking… She wasn’t going to take this well. “I was safe. That’s what matters, right?”

Simone’s face curled into immediate anger as she shook her head. “You were with her, weren't you?"

"What if I was? Is that really so fuckin horrible?"

"YES, I've told you how I feel about her." She shoved herself away from him with a huff. “You just run around like a stupid dog yapping at her heels and begging her to fuck you!”

"Simone, it wasn't like that.”

"It is exactly like that," she hissed. "It is always like that with you. Because you don't hold anything sacred." She threw her hands up into the air with tears in her eyes. Then, she asked, “Is what we have SO unimportant to you that you can’t do just this ONE thing?”

For a second, he considered bringing up that it wasn’t just one thing… that it had been everything, anything she asked of him for years before now. For one tiny second, Jake considered telling Simone he was doing what he wanted for a change for one tiny second, but he held his tongue and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Simone. I know you don’t trust her and that you’re worried about me. But… Lena’s my friend.”

Simone didn’t like that word, not when Lena was involved. “She is not your friend, Jake. She doesn’t know you! Not like I do!”

“I never said she did,” Jake tried to argue.

“That girl doesn’t care about you. She’s only interested in using you to get what she wants so she can feel better about her sad little life.” Simone’s eyes were wide and tearful as she continued, “She is just going to use you and abandon you.”

This time, he didn’t hold his tongue as he said, “She could have already done all that.”

“What?” Simone asked a little bit, breathlessly.

There was no going back now. “Lena could have done whatever she wanted to me from the start Simone. She could’ve fucked me, stolen my money, got me fired… she could have done anything she wanted from the moment she got here. And… All she’s done is offer to be my friend.”

Simone bit her lip. “That doesn’t mean she’s a good person, Jake.”

“I’m not saying that it’s just…”

“I’ve read her file.”

“FUCK THE FILE SIMONE!” He yelled with an exasperated sigh. “Look, I get where you’re coming from. After all the shit Tess put both of us through… I know how you feel about her and her feelings about you, but please, just leave me out of it.”

“You would choose her over me?”

Jake’s whole face scrunched up as he shook his head. “You and I are… we’re us, Simone. We’re always together, and that’s not gonna change because I have other friends. It never has.”

After a minute of silence, Simone sighed, “I know you, Jake. No one will ever know you the way I do.”

“I know,” he replied softly. “I know that.”

“Good,” she said, composing herself. “Well, if you want to get your heart broken by some redheaded floozy, I clearly can’t stop you.”

“Thank you.” It was likely the best he’d get, so with the air still tense with everything both of them hadn’t said, Jake asked, “So, do I still have a job?”

She nodded. “Of course you do. Tomorrow and no more showing up late, Jake. I mean it.”

Jake nodded, setting his head against hers with a sigh. “Thanks, Simone.”

She only leaned into him for a moment before she pulled away and headed for the front door. “Get some sleep. You’re going to be in for a long few days.”

Bending down, Jake picked the stuffed frog up off the floor and collapsed onto his bed, shutting his eyes with relief. Work was going to suck the next few weeks, knowing Howard and his already strong dislike of the bartender. But Jake didn’t mind too much. He lifted his phone and snapped a picture of the dumb frog, sending it to Lena with a quippy message.

I think she’s happy to see me.

He waited in silence, taking in the nervous tingle of anticipation that filled his gut as he waited for her reply. Then, a moment later, his phone lit up with a shitty picture of her frog, a cigarette poorly taped to its mouth, and Patrick’s bare ass in the background. 

He was looking grumpy, so I gave him a cigarette. P.S. I’m so sorry about my brother's ass blinding you. He strips when he gets too drunk. >:(

He chuckled, shifting to bury his head into his shitty pillows and slowly letting sleep take him.

*

I threw my head back into the mess of pillows as his lips skimmed down my body, tongue darting out to taste the tattoo that lined beneath my breast and down my ribs. His teeth grazed down my sides as he shifted further, burying his face between my thighs and connecting his lips to my throbbing core without a second thought.

My back arched off the bed as his tongue swirled my clit, and his fingers dug into the meat of my thighs, keeping them open for his feast. I moaned as the pressure began to build in my gut, quickly and with no signs of stopping. Then, as my vision blurred, my hands dug into his short hair, tugging at the roots until he was forced to pull away. Then, with a deep chuckle, his teeth bit into my inner thigh, drawing out a loud and uncontainable moan of his name. “Jake!”

His tongue smoothed over the angry mark he left with his teeth as he raised himself over me with shining lips and a smug grin. “Get comfy, 'cause I’m just getting started, princess.”

A loud bang echoed from the bathroom door, pulling my brain out of the hazy heat-filled dream as I sat upright in bed and groggily looked around my room. Patrick cracked my door to the bathroom open slightly and, still half asleep, grumbled. “Sorry, sis. That leprechaun bastard was givin’ me that look again.”

“No problem,” I answered, throwing myself back onto my pillows and staring at the ceiling. “No problem at all…” Fuck.

I didn’t sleep well after that, waking up every hour after from the same dream or one far more heated. When the sun finally rose and lit up my windows, I rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to prepare for a long, exhausting work day. Patrick and Peter groggily joined me shortly. All of us huddled around the sink to alternate brushing our teeth before they headed into the kitchen to make breakfast while I showered. Every time I closed my tired eyes, I could see dream Jake’s smug grin and feel the weight of his body settled over mine. It was infuriating. 

Work tonight was going to be weird. You're not some lovesick schoolgirl! I scolded myself as I got dressed and pulled my hair back. Jake is still Jake. It was just a dumb dream. A dumb dream he doesn't even know about! I looked into the mirror and ran my hands down my tired-looking face. "Pull it together, Lena. It's not a big deal."

Patrick and Peter were well into the swing of their morning by the time I headed downstairs. "Feelin' okay, girly?" Pat asked, looking around a punching back to examine my face.

Peter, holding two cats in his arms, looked closer too. "You look like shit."

"I didn't sleep well, that's all," I answered.

"I thought I heard you last night," Patrick replied. "Bad dream?"

It was ridiculous how my heart instantly fluttered. "He was fine - IT… IT was fine."

Peter smiled, leaning back against the front counter with a lanky finger in my face. "I know that look!"

Patrick's bellowing laughter echoed off the walls as he grinned ear to ear. "Ohhh Lena had a sex dream!"

"Shut up," I grumbled, petting one of the cats as I approached the front door.

"Weird, I thought your little boyfriend would have been better than fine."

"Shut up!" I hollered at them again, hurrying out the door. "Nosey assholes."

The restaurant wasn’t too busy, judging by the normal-looking pace of the kitchen. Still, Will quickly informed me I’d be a server as Mr. Hiragana would be dining tonight. It was bittersweet. On the one hand, I looked forward to seeing an old friend; on the other, I had to be a server for the night. So, I went about my routine, stuffing Jake’s jacket back in his locker - after hunting down Sasha for the new combination - and getting changed to look presentable for the guests.

I set the tables and polished the salt shakers, somehow keeping my head down enough that the sassy bartender hadn't noticed me yet. Simone seemed to hover closer to the bar than usual, making small talk with Jake and instructing Olive in that tone that made a chill run down my spine. She sent me cold, unmasked glares every time I passed by, but I could glare too. There was no hiding between us now. I knew what she was, and she knew it. What was odd was how Olive seemed to hop on board with Simone's hatred of me.

The brown-haired girl kept Jake busy enough so no conversation could be had between us, and soon service was in full swing. Once the guests arrived, and no one was around to distract Jake, I could feel his eyes on me as I worked. On a typical night, I would've just brushed it off. But with the vivid dreams still lodged in my brain, every look he gave me made everything tingle and burn. It was pathetic.

Fifteen minutes before Mr. Hiragana's reservation, I was helping stock the bar as everyone else was tending to the guests. Jake watched me refill the ocean with a smirk. "You look tired."

I nervously laughed it off. "Yeah, Patrick's a handful when he drinks. Always thinks leprechauns are messing with him."

"That sounds like a very entertaining sight," he replied. "Mind going down to the cellar and grabbing some more champagne?"

"I've got a few minutes," I answered, moving around Nicky. 

"Thanks, princess," he called out, continuing to mix the drink he was making. My heart hammered, and that stupid feeling, hot and needy and definitely NOT what I wanted to feel, swelled in my gut again. "Get comfy, 'cause I'm just getting started, princess." I could see the dream as if it had been real, as if I'd watched some movie centered around Sasha and Ari's deprived notions of Jake and me.

Thankfully the chilled wine cellar alleviated some of my discomfort. I grabbed the champagne and lingered for a minute before returning to the bar. Jake's smile didn't help, and the way his fingers brushed against mine as he took the bottle from me made things much harder to ignore. Jake had brought a blush to my cheeks with a cute tilt of his head and a crooked smile. 

How did this happen? I asked myself as I watched him flip glasses in the air and twirl a knife or two between his fingers to give the guests seated in front of him a good show. I used to be battle-hardened. It took far more for pretty bartenders to make me blush than a damn smile. I wanted nothing more than to slam my head into the top of the bar because the answer was blatantly obvious. 

Those other pretty bartenders weren't Jake. They weren't nearly as funny, caring, or pretty as he was.

"Lena," Roslyn - the hostess - called out, nodding to the door. "Your VIP is here."

"Thanks," I whispered, approaching Mr. Hiragana at the door. Then, with a deep bow, I greeted him fondly. "It's a pleasure to have you back so soon, Mr. Hiragana. Your table is right this way."

He bowed with a deep smile, gently taking hold of my arm as I led him through the commotion of the restaurant up to the second floor. "It is good to be back among familiar company."

Once he and his guests were seated, I took their wine order and recommended food Scott had added to their custom menus. He chose a Japanese wine and one of our more expensive bottles. Then, with a humble grin, he nodded to the woman beside him. "My wife has a taste for French vintages. A taste my daughter and son seem to have developed as well."

"The French vintages are quite flavorful. We have some of the best in our cellar."

"And, tell your chef to make us whatever he desires." Mr. Hiragana smiled. "I wish to see what one forged from this… Place has to offer."

As I slid through the kitchen doors, Scott sighed. "What's the order?"

I shrugged. "He says he wants you to cook whatever you want."

"Seriously?" Scott deadpanned. "Anything I want?"

"That's what he said," I replied. "Give 'em hell, Chef."

For the first time in a while, I saw Scott smile. "Alright, listen up!"

The wine cellar was quiet, the only place one could describe as peaceful during the insanity of service. I grabbed the two bottles of wine and headed back to Mr. Hiragana's table to find Olive talking next to them. If it hadn't been for the tight face of Mr. Hiragana's wife, I would have let it slide. But, instead, tapping her shoulder, I asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm just ensuring our guests are cared for," she answered. "They didn't have any food or wine yet."

I held up the bottles, “I was getting them from the wine cellar.” I moved to pour them when Olive took one out of my hands and uncorked it quickly and clumsily, trying to pour some into one of the tall glasses. Mr. Hiragana beheld the lack of technique and lack of his traditions with a sad look. "Olive," I hissed. "The kitchen probably needs a follow."

She looked at me with a scoff, bumping the table softly and sloshing wine all over Mr. Hiragana's wife. Then, with a startled noise, she apologized, lifting a napkin to try and clean her off. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the unhappy woman. Then, I held the rag out to her with a deep bow. "My most humble apologies. Our new trainee can get carried away." She took the rag with a quiet thanks. "There is a restroom just down this hall if you wish for privacy."

"Thank you," she whispered. 

After showing her to the bathroom, I led Olive back to the kitchen, soaring Jake a frustrated look and shaking my head, and slammed the dirty tablecloth onto the counter. "What the hell was that?"

"I was just trying to help."

"Help who?" I demanded. "You made them uncomfortable and insulted them. And now you've embarrassed a soigne guest. Who does that help?"

She shifted on her feet, blinking rapidly as she tried to find a justification for her actions. "Simon says every guest is soigne and that the only way to learn is by doing."

I rolled my eyes. "You are not a server. You are a back waiter, and you are supposed to follow your trails and learn. You shouldn't be doing anything without supervision."

"What's going on?" Simone asked, regarding Olive with a gentle look.

"Your trail just royally fucked up on one of the VIP tables." So I grabbed new place settings.

Simone Questioned Olive gently before she shook her head. "Mistakes happen. I'm certain you are perfectly capable of placating your guests."

"Just as I'm certain you're capable of teaching your trail how to pour a glass of wine properly," I retorted, moving past them and quickly resetting their table. "Forgive me again for the blatant misjudgment of our new trainee. Please accept our humble apology for a complimentary bottle of wine to take home."

Mr. Hiragana bowed his head slightly. "Very generous of you. Please, relax, Ms. Harrow. We understand the intricate workings of this enterprise and thus understand there are bound to be some… Fuck ups."

I laughed at his abrupt switch to English and smiled. "I'll go check on your food."

Scott was hunched over the plating take when I returned to the kitchen. He didn't look up when asked, "The fuck was all that about?"

"Olive," I replied. "She decided my VIP table looked neglected and took it upon herself to badger them."

"Fuckin idiot." Straightening up, he tossed a rag over his shoulder and motioned to the plates. "Your VIP ticket."

"Thanks." I grabbed the plates and moved swiftly up the stairs, only to find Olive again looking over Mr. Hiragana's table. She was profusely apologizing as she set random plates in front of them.

Mr. Hiragana shook his head as he spotted me. "I do not believe this is for our table."

I set the correct plates in front of them without a word to Olive, explaining the custom dishes while now holding whoever's food this was and bowing. "Please enjoy your meal, and let me know if there's anything else we can do for you." Then, with a thin smile, I motioned Olive toward the stairs. "Follow me. Let's figure out where this food goes."

Jake shook his head and rolled his eyes from behind the bar as Olive and I started down the stairs. The slight bump against my back was enough of a shift to knock my feet out from under me. My vision blurred as the edges of the world flew past. It felt slower, as falling always did, dragging out the sheer adrenaline rush as the body prepared itself for the incoming pain the ground had to offer. 

The plates shattered first, loud and attention-grabbing. I hit the ground only seconds later, my ankle twisting as I tried and failed to catch myself on the railing. Instead, my side slammed into the edge of the stairs, jagged and breath-stealing as I tumbled the rest of the way down, landing almost face-first in the mess of food, broken glass, and cutlery. Still, for a split second, the pain rattling through my bones was one of cold snow soaking through my clothes and the harsh sting of my skin skidding along the pavement.

"Lena!" His voice echoed in the quiet night, colder than the snow beneath me. I forced myself to my feet, ignoring the blinding pain to push myself toward the blurred images of burly men and shining metal. Behind me, I could hear his car door slam shut and practically feel his footsteps closing the distance between us. "Get back in the fucking car, or so help me god, I'll break every bone in your fucking body!"

Blood ran down my chest as I pushed myself to move quicker, swallowing the dry lump in my throat and using my pain to call out. "Dom!"

The hazed figures all moved, but my eyes were focused on one among them. The one I knew was going to put an end to this. The raw, animalistic growl that echoed behind me brought tears spilling from my eyes. "LENA!"

Once the ringing in my ears faded, I could make out the fake concern of the customers as they all rose from their seats to get a better view of me on the ground. The second sound I heard was the clattering of abandoned objects at the bar as Jake rushed to my side. I could make out my name on his lips, but I didn’t hear it the first time. He looked over my arms and hands, checking for blood before he turned with a deep scowl toward the brown-haired girl that stood frozen on the steps behind me. “What the fuck was that?”

“I-I…” She stammered. “I’m sorry I didn’t-”

“Watch where you’re going!” He yelled. I grabbed his arm, still breathless and dizzy, as he pulled me to my feet. I tried to shake it off, to smile at the guests, and play it cool like all these people didn’t just watch me fall on my ass, but the second I tried putting weight on my foot, pain shot up my leg and nearly took me to the ground again. “Put your weight on me.”

Ari brushed past us, smiling and waving off everyone's concern. “She’s alright, everyone. Please return to your meals, and your servers will bring by a bottle of champagne compliments of the house.”

Jake shoved the kitchen door open, towing me with him. Scott turned and looked at my hobbling self before tossing his knives. “What the fuck happened?”

“Dumbass new girl pushed her down the stairs,” Jake answered, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. He cursed quietly and shifted to bring an arm beneath my legs, swinging me up into his arms.

I winced, the aftershock of my side hitting the steps sending a jolt of pain up my ribs. “Fuck!”

“Sorry,” he said, moving quickly up the stairs and carefully toward the break room to set me on the couch. I forced myself to breathe evenly, forced the unpleasant memory of that night to fade back into the deep recesses of my mind. Jake's hands moved closer, and it took every ounce of control I had not to flinch. 

He took hold of my face, and his blue eyes examined mine, probably trying to see if I’d hit my head. Once he seemed satisfied I wouldn’t pass out, he moved, propping my foot up on the coffee table and unlacing my shoe. “Anywhere else hurt?”

Fumbling slightly, I pressed a few fingers to my ribs, testing the bone beneath the very obviously bruised skin. “Just my ribs. Nothing’s broken, though.”

He carefully peeled my sock off and held my swelling ankle in his hand with an angry shake of his head. “Stupid fuckin bitch.”

“It was an accident,” I told him, trying to get him to calm down enough to avoid trouble the remainder of the night.

“Sure as fuck didn’t look like one from where I was standing.”

“Jake,” I said softly, tugging on his shirt to get him to look at me. “I’m okay. Just a few bumps and bruises. Nothing I can’t handle.”

Will walked briskly through the door with concern creasing his face and making him look older. “Anything broken? Any bleeding?”

“No, and no,” Jake replied tensely.

“I’m fine," I said again, though it was more to Jake than Will.

Will shook his head. “Howard’s dealing with Olive right now. Obviously, you’re cut for the night, so you can rest up here til the end of service, or we can call your brothers-”

“No.” I shook my head and chuckled. “They’d just blow this all out of proportion. I’m fine. Really. I’ll just hang out til after service, and we can all head to Ozzy’s and deal with it there.”

“Okay. I’ll grab you some ice.”

With a bitter laugh, I looked down at my clothes, thoroughly covered in food and sauce. “How do you like my outfit?”

Jake chuckled, still tense and very obviously angry. “It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Grab my spare clothes out of my locker?”

He opened the locker and fished out the small bag of clothes I kept in case of an emergency like this one. Then, tossing me my shorts, he set the regular shoes and socks on the table next to my feet before he clicked his tongue. “Looks like you’re short a shirt.”

I grabbed the bag from him and dug through the extra socks with a frustrated sigh. “I must’ve taken it home to wash. Fuck!”

“Relax,” he urged, moving to his locker and pulling his shirt out. “You can just wear mine.”

“You only have one, though,” I said.

Jake smirked, raising his eyebrow at me. “Been rifling through my locker?”

I bit my bottom lip and shrugged. “I did kind of steal one of your cigarettes a while ago. Noticed then that you don’t keep a change of clothes lying around.”

“I live on the edge,” he replied, tossing me the shirt. “I’ll just wear this shirt home tonight.”

“Thanks.” I accepted his offer, not having other options besides walking around topless. His shirt was soft beneath my fingers. I took one quick moment to appreciate the gesture before realizing just how intimate it was. With that came the blushing and the slight uptick in my heartbeat. I extended my arms out to him, trying to push past the pure elated feeling that came when his eyes met mine. “Help me to the bathroom, please?”

He helped keep me on my feet until I reached the tiny bathroom off the side of the locker room, where the sink would suffice while I changed. Unfortunately, once I peeled the sticky shirt off and wiped the sauce splattered onto my skin, it became evident that my bra was fucked for the night. "Fucking…" I grumbled, unhooking the same thing and tossing it into my pile of clothes.

It felt good to finally change into a comfortable pair of shorts and Jake's even softer shirt. His cigarettes and spicy cologne almost smelled like citrus filled my senses as his shirt hung loosely on my frame. You're here, I told myself. You're safe. I looked at myself in the mirror for a minute, silently cursing how obvious his black shirt made my nipples look, but it'd have to do.

When I hobbled out of the bathroom, Jake moved off the wall and helped me back to the couch, where he drank in the sight of me in his shirt for a minute or two. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Before you say it, I'm not wearing a bra. Damn sauce soaked through my shirt and ruined it. So yes, those are my nipples, and no, we will not make any comments about it."

He bit his lip, clearly keeping the wide range of choice words to himself. "Alright." He sat down next to my foot and propped my leg up with the old cushions of the couch. “That feel any better?”

With a content sigh, I melted into the couch. “A little.”

“Ice,” Will announced, tossing the bag to Jake, who situated it on my ankle. Then, with a nervous look aimed at the bartender, Will cleared his throat. “We should get back to work.”

Jake looked up at him and scoffed. “You’re fuckin kidding, right? She just fell down the goddamn stairs, and we’re just gonna leave her up here for another two hours?”

“Hey,” I hissed at him, leaning over to shake his shoulder. “You, of all people, need to be worried about your own ass.” Jake rolled his eyes. “Please, Jake. I don’t want you to get fired because of me.”

We stared one another down for a minute before he finally nodded. “Fine. But if you feel like you’re gonna pass out or anything, fuckin yell to someone, okay?”

I smiled at him, squeezing his arm. “I’ll be sure to scream your name.”

That broke the tension. He chuckled, eyes flickering down to my chest and my obviously peaked nipples beneath his shirt. “You won’t hear me complaining.”

Being left to quietly rest in the still bustling and insane workplace felt weird. As I sat there, counting the scuff marks on the lockers, I couldn’t help but feel bad that I was forced to sit out because of some dumb accident. The ice slowly numbing the pain in my ankle was a nice distraction from that feeling. My eyes closed after a while, the smell of Jake’s cologne slowly easing me into a relaxed state while I waited out the rest of the service. Of course, my brothers were going to be pissed. Peter especially.

He never really got into why he held such a deep resentment of this place and Howard, but this wouldn't exactly make it better. I always assumed it was just the memory of the side of our family that didn't want him. When our parents divorced and custody came into discussion, my mother told my dad she only wanted me. Said she'd leave him everything else if he gave her majority custody over me, or she'd take everything he had, including my brother.

It was a decision my dad held a lot of guilt about. One I didn't know he'd even had to make until I was almost eighteen. But whatever the reason behind my brother's attitude toward it all, I just had to trust he'd tell me if or when I needed to know.

"How's the ankle?" Howard asked, startling my eyes open and up to the doorway he appeared in with hardly any noise. Slowly he stepped into the locker room with a tight smile and his hands clasped in front of him.

I sat up and offered him a shrug. "Nothing too bad. It should be fine by tomorrow if I'm careful with it."

Howard nodded, his eyes fixed on my leg propped up on the old coffee table and a bunch of cushions. Before they moved up, seemingly settling on my stomach or chest. "And the ribs?" His long fingers extended down, running lightly over my foot, down toward my ankle, moving the ice pack and applying light pressure as he tested the swelling. It sent an uncomfortable shiver up my spine. "Well," he said, pulling his eyes from my chest to my leg. "You've had worse."

"Yeah…" I replied stiffly. "Don't worry, I won't sue or anything."

"I wasn't worried about that."

I smiled a bit tensely. "I'm alright, Howard."

The commotion of the others clamoring up the stairs seemed to snap him out of his daze-like state. Howard made his way out the door, nodding to everyone as he passed them. Ari and Jake looked after him with deep-set frowns. Finally, Jake turned to me and gestured to Howard. "What'd he want?"

Shrugging, I replied. "Dunno. Probably wanted to check in to make sure I wasn't thinking about suing."

"Well, if he's ever bugging you, just say the word."

"Yeah, 'cause beating up the manager that didn't fire you is such a solid plan." 

Jake rolled his eyes as a quick look filled them as if he'd just remembered something. "I've got you to thank for that. The asshole said it was you that changed his mind."

My eyes furrowed. "When was this?"

"This morning at my disciplinary meeting," Jake said, looking over his shoulder to smirk at me. "So, thanks for having my back, princess."

God damn, that fucking nickname. I smiled back, praying that I wasn't blushing too hard. "Well, it wouldn't exactly be fair if I didn't use my Glover reputation to pull some strings every now and then."

Everyone changed into their casual clothes quickly and started filtering downstairs for drinks. Ari plopped down on the couch next to me, shaking a bottle of pills. “Need something to take the edge off?”

“No thanks,” I answered. “Will’s ice pack helped with most of the pain.”

Will gave me an awkward finger-gun motion before he shook his head. “Why did I do that?”

Jake was the last to emerge from the bathroom, now dressed in his simple jeans, work shirt, and jacket. He grabbed his cigarettes from his locker and stuffed them into his pocket before standing beside me. I smiled and opened my arms wide. “Ready to carry me down the stairs?”

“Come on,” Jake replied, hoisting me up. “Let’s go get you a drink.”

Simone and Olive rose from the stairwell the second we walked through the doorway. The blonde woman regarded me in Jake's arms, wearing his shirt, with a tight face and fully clenched jaw. I could practically see the words I'd spoken swirling in her eyes. Jake stepped off to the side, mumbling something about being careful on the stairs to make Olive avoid eye contact with both of us. To my surprise Simone kept her mouth shut as she passed through to the locker room with Olive behind her. If Jake had been bothered by her cold attitude, he didn't express it.

The bar erupted with claps and sarcastic quips as soon as we entered the kitchen doors. I rolled my eyes and flipped everyone off as Jake set me in a chair before he joined Nicky behind the bar to make my drink. Sasha slid in next to me, throwing an arm over my shoulder. "How is your little baby ankle, Tiger Bitch?"

"I'm fine," I replied, pointing to everyone else, clearly being back more sarcastic quips at my expense. "You have fifteen seconds to get it out of your system before I start smacking people for bringing this up."

They all shouted their jokes over one another and let laughter fill the room. Roslyn tapped my shoulder and quietly gestured to a man, one I recognized as Mr. Hiragana's assistant. Bowing, I began with another apology, "Please offer my most sincere apologies to your employer."

"Mr. Hiragana does not fault you nor the establishment for the… Turn this evening took. He was more concerned with making certain you were alright."

I smiled at the enduring kindness of my old friend. "I am. Thank him for his concern for me."

"I will," the man said. "However, this is not the reason for my visit." He pulled a card out of his pocket and extended it to me with a deep bow. "My employer tasks me with delivering this to you."

The business card was simple and elegant, with a wild rainbow koi fish drawn on the back with a date, time, and address. "What's this?"

“Mr. Hiragana would like to speak with you when he visits next month,” the man said. “The date and time are on the back of this card. You may bring whomever you wish, but please ensure they know this is a meeting to discuss potential business.”

"Thank you," I said, bowing as the man turned and left.

Nicky watched him leave. "Everything good, Red?"

"Yeah," I answered, running my fingers along the edges of the card, my eyes flickering over to Scott, who drank with the kitchen staff at the end of the bar.

Jake slid a glass of vivid red liquid garnished with two cherries across the bar to me with a smirk. "Your drink."

I lifted the glass to my nose with a smile. "Is this a bourbon cherry old-fashioned?"

"Yep. But, I'm thinking of calling it a bourbon cherry Lena."

"That's really bad," I giggled, taking a sip. It was perfect. The flavors blended together to highlight the cherry without losing the classic aspects of an old-fashioned. With an appreciative hum, I pointed to my drink. "This is really good, though."

Jake bowed, sarcastic and over the top with that shit-eating grin. "Your persistent lack of confidence in my bartending skills is astounding."

"Well, someone's gotta keep you humble," I teased, relaxing in my seat with my drink in hand as Scott stood next to me, asking for a refill of his drink. I looked at him for a minute before nudging him. "Hey, have you ever thought about opening your own place?"

Scott's expression didn't change as he nodded. "Yeah. Almost did a few months ago," he looked back at Jake with a glare, "But someone pussied out last minute."

The bartender just shook his head and flipped Scott off over his shoulder. "Wow, so you two were actually gonna do it?"

"I thought we were," Scott replied, slowly turning to look at me. "Why?"

I flashed the business card. "I think I might have an opportunity coming up. If you're interested in joining me."

As Scott took the card, scrutinizing it, I watched Jake. He'd gotten stiff at mentioning the past would-be business venture and grew even more so when I'd mentioned my upcoming meeting. “I’ll come,” Scott answered after a long pause. “The worst thing that happens is I tell him I’m not interested.”

“Jake?” I asked, trying to gauge his thoughts beyond the tense, tight-faced look of skepticism.

He shrugged, that standard mask of uninterested boredom covering whatever he really felt. "I dunno."

“You have time to think about it, so chill out with the grumpy glare.”

He rolled his eyes, pouring another drink for someone else. “I'll think about it."

Scott rolled his eyes, quickly copying the information on the card onto a piece of paper. "Yeah, whatever."

I decided not to push it, hoping to change the subject to the drink he'd made until everyone was ready to head out for the night. Between Sasha and Jake getting out the front door and beginning the trek to Ozzy's was pretty simple. Waving at Howard as we passed by, I said, "See you tomorrow!"

The walk was challenging when my Russian crutch got distracted by arguing with Heather. After falling behind the group, Jake stopped to shrug his jacket off and help me into it. "Jake-"

"You're shivering," he said simply, leaving no room for arguments. Then he turned his back to me with a pat. "Hop up."

"What?" I asked with a breathless laugh.

Jake raised a brow and nodded to his back. "Hop on my back. I'll carry you."

Fighting against the smirk, I asked, "Are you offering to give me a piggyback ride? Isn't that a bit… Childish?"

"Fine, walk then," he said, straightening up and moving forward to catch up with the group.

"Wait, no!" I stumbled toward him. "I don't wanna walk."

"Now you gotta say please," he taunted.

Giving him my best pouty lip, I looked up into his eyes with a big watery look, hopping closer to him. "Please, Jake… Please gimme a piggyback ride."

He shook his head but turned back around. "Hop on, freak."

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was for me to climb onto Jake's back and for him to carry me. His long legs quickly caught us up with the group, and he never faltered or lost his breath. Then, without warning, Jake spun around, forcing me to tighten my hold on him. "Asshole!" I laughed, laying my head on his shoulder, my arms squeezing him tighter around his middle, and cherishing this rare moment of joyful childish fun that made him laugh.

Once we'd gotten to the bar, phase two of firm reassurance that I was, in fact, alright began. Quinn and Prue jumped into sisterly shit talking. Patrick vanished into the alley to recruit Dom's help. Peter and Ozzy examined my ankle and looked over my head in a dizzying mess of hands and questions.

"I'm fine," I insisted, grabbing and squeezing Ozzy's hands. "Seriously, Oz, it's not a big deal."

The old man wasn't convinced. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two." I smiled. "Oz, breathe. It was just a little fall. I didn't even break anything. I'm okay."

He pressed a soft kiss to my head. "I'll get you more ice."

Peter carefully set my leg back into the booth. "I'll run upstairs and grab some pillows."

"That bitch is lucky she didn't follow you guys tonight." Quinn shook her head. "She woulda gone from moon eyes to missing an eye real quick."

I was glad Will had managed to distract Prue to keep the two of them from fueling Quinn's fire. "Breathe, please. You're getting that angry knot in your neck."

She kicked the booth seat with her foot. "Would you just get mad with me for once! You're never on my side with angry shit."

"Uh, the four months I slept missing my eyebrows after your little fire show begs to differ!"

Rolling her eyes, she slid out of her seat to get another drink just as Dom slid into the seat beside Jake. "Hear, you got pretty fucked up by some stairs."

I shrugged. "Or maybe the stairs got fucked up by me." He slid a little pill across the table. "Dom, I fell down a few steps. That's hardly relapse-worthy."

"You think I'm gonna waste the good shit on your sober ass?" He chuckled. "It's a mild painkiller. Stronger than the over-the-counter shit, but nothing addictive."

"You really are the best babysitter," I replied, taking the pill and chasing it with a chug of water.

Dom pressed his fingers to my pulse point, quietly taking note of my still irregular heartbeat. "Call it the Lena special. Holler if you need me." He nodded to Jake with a simple acknowledgment, "Tough guy."

*

After about thirty minutes of sitting, Jake noticed Lena relaxing next to him. Since her fall, she'd been tense with moments of far-off looks and a still, concerning silence. When Dom set the pill on the table, Jake was ready to toss him out of the booth. What kind of dick puts drugs in front of a corner addict? But, when the man explained it to the redhead, and she believed him, Jake dropped it. 

Lena hadn't hesitated to trust the drug-dealing biker when he told her it was a simple painkiller. She'd taken the pill without any signs of worry and had thanked him with one of their inside jokes he didn't fully get. Whatever it was, it helped her relax, putting Jake at ease even just for a minute.

He'd been so angry watching Olive's wide eyes tear up when he yelled at her. Truth be told, Jake was still pretty damn angry. Lena might've believed it was an accident. Still, Jake had noticed Olive's seemingly determined targeting of all Lena's tables throughout the night. In fact, it seemed wherever Lena went during her shift, the "moon-eyed bitch" as her brothers had called her, wasn't far behind her. She had shitty people skills and even shitter serving experience the whole night. That bump that caused her to fall was intentional. He just knew it.

Lena shifted, laying back in the booth they shared and settling with her head on his thigh, looking up at him with a smile. "Comfy?"

"Very," she answered. "You have very luscious thighs."

"Thank you," he shook his head. "Most girls just focus on the raw sex appeal."

Her eyes sparkled at his teasing. "Lucky for you, I'm not like most girls."

Jake couldn't help but admire her looking up at him. His heart skipped a beat. "Yeah, lucky me."

"God, just fucking make out already," Quinn whined across the table.

Lena quickly lifted her hand and flipped her off as Sasha strolled in from the dance floor. "Tiger, come dance with me!"

"Uhh, ankle," she reminded him.

Sasha pulled the redhead up out of the booth with a wide smile. "Come, little cripple, daddy will carry you!"

As he skipped away with Lena tossed over his shoulder, Jake couldn't help but laugh at the Russian's insanity. But, of course, Lena played into it, having fun with Ari, Sasha, and Heather as they bounced around beneath the shifting lights. Her breasts bounced more noticeably in his shirt, free of her bra. She was mesmerizing, especially in his clothes.

“You’ve got it bad,” Quinn said, pulling his attention from Lena to her watching him over the table with knowing eyes.

Jake shrugged, trying to keep himself from looking back at the redhead and the Russian. “I don’t-”

“Oh, stop trying to deny it,” she begged with a groan. “You two are literally the biggest fucking liars!”

He appreciated the strippers' honest bluntness but hardly needed her to point out the obvious. Not when he’d remembered bits and pieces of his drunken night, or more specifically, how he’d thought of almost nothing but her the whole time. He remembered waking up in her bed with her soft, warm figure curled up beside him. Her arms draped over his waist, hands occasionally dipping beneath his pants to settle onto the warm skin of his hip when they apparently got too cold. That morning was the best of his life, and it only further cemented the truth he’d realized trying to entertain Olive. He wanted Lena. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything. 

It was a terrifying truth to come to terms with, but how could he deny it when she was always there? "Sorry."

"Just… Tell me something, honestly, for a change." Quinn nodded toward Lena. "What do you want from this friendship? Casual sex? Some heavy petting?"

"Nothing," he said, the words… The full realization slipped out without second thought. "I just want her. In whatever way she'll have me."

Quinn smiled. "I was wrong about you. When she first brought you up I thought, great, here comes another dick looking for some quick, easy pussy." She shook her head with a smile. "But Lena was right."

He tilted his head. "Right about what?"

"The night she got shit-faced and gushed about you," she clarified. "One of the things she said was that she was convinced you’d turn out to be a big old softie beneath that assholish exterior."

“I’m hardly a softie,” he grumbled.

She just shrugged. “Thanks for being honest. I’ll make sure it’s rewarded when the day of the peach comes.”

He shook his head at her odd phrasing but still muttered quietly, “Thanks.”

When everyone had drank their fill and slowly began filtering out of the bar for the night, Dom sat down next to Lena, who was half asleep at their table. He nodded to the door. “You can head out. I’ll make sure she gets home.” Though he had no reason not to trust Dom, Jake felt an uncomfortable, anxious feeling rise in his gut at the thought of leaving her alone. 

As if Quinn noticed, she patted his shoulder, “Don’t worry, Prue, and I will make sure she survives the night.”

Jake brushed her hair out of her face and smiled down at her. “I’m heading out. Try not to fall down any stairs while I’m gone.”

Lena made a face but smiled at him and gave him a salute. “See you later, alligator.”

*

My ankle was perfectly fine after a few days of lightwork and a fancy seat by the bar with the ever-important task of polishing the glassware. Olive hadn’t attempted to talk to me, not even to apologize, and Simone, oddly enough, kept her distance as well. Jake seemed somewhat concerned, but he never said anything about it, and even though I was tempted to ask, I let it slide in favor of honoring our rule. No talking about Simone. 

The day before Quinn’s big soiree, I woke up to a text message from her. Change of plans. Dress shopping today at 5. Meet at Nana’s for dinner and stay the night at your place?

I groaned from my living room with a coffee in one hand and my phone in the other. Dress shopping with Quinn, in particular, was always fun, but when her party was on the line, our dresses had to be perfect. Sounds good. See you two there.

I spent most of the day cleaning my apartment and pulling my extra pillows and blankets out from my closet to ensure my bed, which we’d all most definitely end up sharing, had plenty for everyone. My little grumpy green Jake sat on my bed while I moved in a flurry of cleaning sprays and dishrags before I eventually paused to dress him up in a little makeshift cleaning outfit and snap a picture to send to Jake. 

He’s not very happy it’s cleaning day.

Dancing to my music, I barely heard my phone beeping as I vacuumed my living room carpet and dusted off my furniture. Jake was at work already - not wanting to get fired really did something for his sense of time - so there was no picture of his matching frog, but rather of Nicky, who looked at his phone with a deep quizzical look and his mouth half open in what I could only assume was gruff “what the fuck are you doing”. Nicky’s equally unhappy about cleaning day.

Texting at work? I’m so disappointed!

Shouldn’t you be cleaning, smartass?

Turning my phone around, I snapped a very shitty, too close, picture of me flipping off the camera with one of my cleaning gloves. I am cleaning, dumbass.

Lookin good in that ugly ass yellow. 

Get to work, Jake.

You texted me. He reminded before sending another message. Have a good day off. 

When it finally came time to meet Quinn and Prue, I hurried out my front door and started walking toward Nana’s. My apartment wasn’t too far from the old neighborhood. I enjoyed walking the crowded sidewalks and experiencing the city's life, which always made it feel so consuming. Everyone walked and talked to those with them or those on the other end of their phones. Businessmen and strippers and con artists, and regular-ass people all walked together in a way that made the city one of a kind. 

The loud roaring of an engine nearly made me cover my ears as my peaceful walk quickly turned to panic. I kept walking forward, eyes now scanning the crowd and the street for both the car and the man I knew drove it, but I couldn’t make out much in the thick group. I hurried my pace until I made it through Nana’s door with a relieved sigh. Tony was bold, but even he wouldn’t risk coming for me at Nana’s, not when at least six of Dom’s guys were here twenty-four-seven. Just to make sure, I looked to his booth and smiled at Ryker and Fluffy before moving to my seat by the wall.

“My Habibi!” Nana cheered, setting glasses and a water pitcher down at my table. “Where are your counterparts?”

“On their way, I’d assume,” I answered, kissing her cheeks as she did mine. “How’s your day been?”

She sighed, wiping sweat from her covered forehead. “Busy! But, as we say, all business is good business!”

Abdul, the large, slightly balding cook with a huge mustache and eyebrows to match, came out from the back and spoke with Ryker for a minute before he stopped by my table with a pat to the head. “There’s the red one!”

“How’s the back, Abdul?” I asked.

“Not so good,” he answered with a deep chuckle. “But I’ll live a few years longer, don’t worry.”

"Sorry, it’s so last minute, but Moe just got in a whole peach-colored shipment that’s going to be to die for, and I couldn’t resist!” Quinn said, sliding into the chair across from me. She looked around for a minute before asking, “Where’s Prue?”

I shrugged. “I thought she’d be behind you.”

We both turned our heads just in time to catch her and Will through the window. Prue’s cheeks were flushed, and Will’s whole face was bright red. Both of them were smiling like idiots. When they parted with a sweet kiss and our little Prue slid through the door, Quinn and I hopped into signing comments to her. She just rolled her eyes and sat down next to us. “Hello, my lovelies!”

“Someone got laid!” Quinn signed, bumping Prue’s shoulder. “How was he?”

Prue smiled sheepishly, the blush on her face deepening. “He was very good.”

Quinn and I made cooing noises at one another as we giggled. “Very good or veerrrryyy good?”

“Veerrrryyyyy good,” she answered. “Let’s just say I was right about that massive snake in his pants!”

We caught one another up about how the rest of our week had been before Quinn smiled evilly. “Whose excited for tomorrow?”

Prue raised her hand. “Me!”

I shook my head, glaring at my friend. “I know you’re up to something. You’ve got that look in your eyes.”

“I always have that look in my eyes,” Quinn argued. “But, you’re right. I do have quite the event planned out. Dresses, dinner, a limo.” She noticed how I visibly stiffened at the mention of the long, hideous car and stopped everything. “Shit, I totally forgot.”

“It’s okay,” I assured her. “I haven’t freaked out over riding in cars for a while.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Yeah, but cars aren’t limos, and I know you’ve got a lot of bad memories in those. I can find another car.”

I smiled. “Quinn, don’t worry about it. I’ll be alright. You two will be right there with me.”

“And Jake will be there too,” Prue noted.

“Yeah, and- wait…” I looked at Prue and signed. “Why would Jake be there?” She bit her lip and looked at Quinn, who sipped her drink. “Quinn. Why would Jake be there?”

“Because I’m going to invite them,” she answered casually.

“Them?”

She nodded. “Yeah, all your coworkers are gonna come with us.”

“Oh my god,” I whined. “Why would they all come with us anywhere?”

“Coney Island is more fun with a big group!” She insisted. “Besides, don’t you want to spend time with your sweet little Jakey?”

I rolled my eyes. “Are we doing this again?”

“Oh, we’re always doing this. Especially since you’re so adamant about lying to my face about how badly you want him.”

“It’s pretty obvious, Lena,” Prue replied.

For a split second, I remembered the dream I’d had a week ago, a colossal mistake on my part as Quinn could sniff out a sex dream miles away. Then, she stopped everything and pointed at me. “Oh my god, you’ve been thinking about him in a not, so we’re just friends way, haven’t you?”

“No!” I lied.

“Give us the deets!”

“It was one sex dream.” I paused. “Okay, maybe like four, but it’s just a dream. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Quinn cackled. “Oh, sweet child, it means everything!

I glared at both of them. “Fine. Invite all my coworkers. It’s your day. What you say goes.”

“Damn right,” Quinn agreed with a grin. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fun.”

“That’s what I am worried about.”

After we ate a quick meal - quick by Nana’s standards - we walked a few blocks up the road toward Moe’s. It was a small dress shop meant to be cheaper than practically everywhere in the city, but most people didn’t glance at it. I’d be the first to admit Moe’s was run down. It had water damage and old dusty decor in the windows, not to mention the smell of old boxes and dust that Quinn liked to call “the mothy smell”. But, despite its run-down appearance, Moe’s was a hidden gem. Oddly enough, the mechanic that sold dresses on the side knew how to find upscale dresses for next to nothing. She was also oddly good at sewing. 

Quinn frequented the small shop often as she was always on the lookout for decent finds she could use in her strip shows. The little bell dinged as we entered through the sticky front door. “Moe!” Quinn hollered into the thin rows of dresses.

“Bout time!” The woman replied, emerging from a sea of red gowns near the back. “I’ve been fending people off those boxes all day!”

Quinn smiled. “There that good then?”

“Of course they are,” she said with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “This is my stuff we’re talkin’ bout.”

“Let’s see them then!”

The woman with a slightly hunched back and long braided grey hair waved us to the back. “I’ve got 'em hanging up to get the wrinkles out.”

Past the multiple racks of dresses, both slim fitting and so poofy I could hardly push past them, was the tiny back room with four small changing areas. A multitude of peach-colored gowns were hanging up a rack shoved against the wall. Some were silk, others were satin, and some were soft materials I didn’t recognize. All of them were beautiful, though. 

Quinn smiled widely and wrapped an arm around Moe. “You’re the best.”

“I know. Now hurry up and take your pick so I can get the others priced and out on the floor.”

Since it was Quinn’s day, she got to pick out each dress she wanted Prue and me to try on. It was a long-standing tradition we all enjoyed, but none more than Quinn. She handed a pile of dresses to Prue. “One of these is definitely for you.” She shoved one dress in my hands and winked. “And this one’s yours.”

Looking down at the gown, I could already tell it was going to be revealing, which I wouldn’t have minded much if it weren’t for that look. But she had something planned; I just knew it. We tried on the dresses, and Quinn and Prue gushed over my gown before Moe carted it off to be bagged up for me to take home. Prue’s gowns were flowy and elegant, but the one we both could tell she liked most was a long silky dress with two thin straps and a slightly low-hanging neckline. It accentuated her skin tone and drew attention to her shoulders and back, which we knew Prue liked about herself. Quinn’s was tight with a very chest-heavy corset top and hip-hugging satin material that drew attention to her ass, obviously a winner in her eyes, given the theme of her party.

We brought the dresses to my house and settled on my bed, eating deserts we’d picked up from Nana’s on the way back. Quinn lay in the middle, nearly swallowed by the thick pillows behind her head. Prue was already dozing off next to her, face down into the cushions with the blanket pulled up high over her head. I was lying on my side, facing Quinn, who’d occasionally feed me a bite of the decadent chocolate dessert she’d gotten. I was exhausted after a long day of cleaning and a night of dress shopping. Still, I felt relaxed and even excited about whatever Quinn had in store for us.

My phone beeped at me, another text message from Jake, who, if the picture little green frog leaning back with a too-large beer in its little hands meant anything, had just gotten home. Nothin better than a nice cold drink after a shit night dealing with rich assholes.

I smiled, the simple act drawing Quinn’s attention in an instant. She watched my face as I typed out some simple reply before I looked up at her and laughed. “What?”

“Nothing,” she replied. “Just thinking about how long it’s been since I’ve seen you smile like that over a boy.”

“It’s not over a boy.”

“Oh, so that’s not Jake, then?” She wiggled her eyebrows with a knowing smirk. “What is it with you and that pretty bartender that makes both of you so adverse to just admitting what’s obvious?”

I could have easily deflected, as I had been for months, but as I smiled down at the simple goodnight message from him on my phone, I sighed and decided to lean into the stupidity. Closing my eyes, I finally admitted, out loud to another living soul, “I want him.”

Quinn laughed and ran her hand through my hair. “No shit.”

“It’s different, though,” I said softly. “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything this much, and it’s… terrifying.”

“I know,” Quinn replied. “But it’s all gonna work out.”

Looking up into her bright eyes, I chuckled. “Is it now?”

“Yeah,” she whispered. “I, the Peach Queen, declare that you will have your bad boy bartender.”

*

I’d spent hours getting ready for yet another reservation at my workplace, but unlike the last time, I was actually nervous this time. The dress Quinn had picked for me was a lot. I wouldn’t be able to blend into the other outfits of black. I was sure to have eyes on me tonight. More than likely, those of my colleagues as well as the rich assholes dining tonight. I focused on my makeup, following the instructions Quinn gave me at breakfast before she left with Prue to get ready. I lined my eyes and smeared the soft shimmery pick over the lid, adding a few dots to my blush to achieve the glow Quinn insisted we needed. After fussing with my hair for an hour and a half, I settled on a simple half updo pinned into place with a peach clip Quinn gave me.

After I got into my dress and smoothed down a few wrinkles, I admired myself in the mirror as I fixed the simple necklaces I’d picked out the other night. It was truly a beautiful gown; the color was soft, the perfect peach tone, and while my whole chest and shoulders hung out, tits threatening to spill from the bodice of the corset top, it was weirdly perfect. Stupidly I found myself excited to see everyone’s reactions to it… mainly to see his reaction. The whole cab ride, I found myself fixing my hair and checking my makeup and everything in between with this giddy sense of anticipation building in my gut.

It was another busy night as I walked through the doors with a smile. Roslyn’s mouth dropped as she greeted me. “Heelllooo! I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone pull off this much tit in such a classy way.”

“I’ll take it as a compliment,” I answered, turning my head to greet Howard as he swiftly approached.

“Lena,” he said, eyes taking in my outfit momentarily before he smiled. “You look wonderful. I can show you to your table before the rest of your party arrives.”

My eyes flashed to the bar that was absent a dark-haired man. “That sounds lovely; thank you, Howard.”

He offered me his arm, and once I took it, he gracefully led me through the dining room. Every single one of my friends caught a look at me and nearly dropped their server masks. Sasha’s mouth hung wide open for a minute while Ari froze completely, eyes drinking in the sight of my chest. Howard gestured up the stairs, hand squeezing my arm as he whispered, “Careful not to fall.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “No one’s gonna let that go, are they?”

“It’ll die down soon,” he assured me with a chuckle. “Just not tonight.”

He showed me the table beside the railing, set with custom peach themed in color and in the literal sense. Candles were lit, illuminating the small basket of peaches and the pink flowers in the center of the table. It was far enough away from other tables that I knew the girls and I would be safe to talk freely about the company we were in. All while also having a perfect view of the bar, which wasn’t important at all. “It’s perfect, Howard. Thank you.”

One of his hands settled on my back as he smiled. “Only the best for our esteemed guests. You know that.”

“Still, thank you for letting me inconvenience you not just once but twice.”

“You’re welcome to inconvenience me whenever you’d like, Lena,” he replied.

I smiled again, ignoring the odd feeling that settled inside me. “I’m going to go wait for the rest of my party. Have a good service, Howard.”

From the top of the stairs, I could hear the hushed whispers of my coworkers around the bar, all talking about me. Ari groaned. “God, she’s so fucking hot.”

“What are we talking about?” Jake asked as he slid back behind the bar with a new bottle of wine.

“Lena,” Sahsa replied. I smirked, leaning against the wall for a minute to listen to their conversation before rudely interrupting.

“Caught a glimpse. She looks good.”

“Good?” Heather scoffed. “She looks fuckable in like the classiest way I’ve ever seen.”

Ari giggled. “When she looked at me, I thought I was gonna pass out.”

“Yes, it’s too bad our tiger bats for the other team.”

“And that she has a vagina.”

Jake’s voice cut above the rest, “Wow, you guys are really laying it on thick about Lena tonight.”

Perfect opportunity for a grand entrance.

*

“What about Lena?” Her voice carried down from the top of the stairs. Jake smirked at their coworkers, ready to spill all the filthy ways they’d expressed their feelings about her outfit tonight before he turned his head to look up at her. Even with their comments in mind, he still wasn’t ready to admit that they were right and bit his tongue to keep from saying the same things they had. Finally, standing at the top of the stairs beside the bar Lena descended, Jake’s mouth did with her.

It wouldn’t have surprised him if she’d grown wings right in front of him or if she was truly an angel in disguise. She always looked beautiful and sexy and everything in between, but here, now, in that dress… Jake couldn’t look away. He didn’t want to, not ever. 

The peach-colored dress hugged her body in a way that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Her shoulders were bare; the dress was held onto her by two drooping pieces of fabric that caressed her upper arms as she moved to take hold of the railing and the sheer will of god. The corset top was simple, though it wasn’t the top he was looking at, but rather the deep plunge of the neckline that lifted her breasts ever so slightly. It flowed behind her as her long legs moved down the steps, the fabric bunched at her waist, lifting it up to further accentuate the near hip-high slit.

Lena smiled at him as she stood in front of the bar and leaned on it, causing her half-down red hair to spill over her shoulder. She tilted her head. “What about me?”

Sasha came to his rescue with a grin that was far too smug. “We were just talking about how badly we wanted to fuck you tonight, Tiger Bitch.”

“Oh,” Lena laughed, the sound only tormenting him more. “Thank you… I think?”

Ari looked at her breasts and shook her head. “No, thank you.”

Nicky shooed the group away from the bar. Jake couldn’t bring himself to move… couldn’t look away from her for even one second. Lena’s eyes trailed down, fixating on his chest. He saw her lips move, but he didn’t hear her the first time. Blinking, he shook his head. “What?”

“Your tie’s loose,” she repeated.

“Oh,” he lifted his hands to try and move the stupid thing, but his mind was a blur. All he could think of was her in that dress, was that damn smell of cherries. God, pull it together. It’s just a dress. Just a damn smell. He scolded himself.

Her hands came up to stop him before he could ruin his tie anymore. He hadn’t even noticed her walk around the bar. She smiled up at him, sweet and absolutely too much right now. “Here, let me.”

“You’re a guest tonight,” he said, his voice wavering slightly. “You’ll get in trouble.”

“I’ll be quick then,” she replied with a wink. God… fuck!

She was right the other night. She could have him whenever she wanted; however she wanted. Jake swallowed thickly as her bright eyes flashed up to his. He'd take her here in front of all these guests… all their coworkers, if it's what she wanted. His whole body hummed at the very thought of what she’d look like, that dress hiked up to her hips, bent over the bar, or even better, sitting on top of it so he could see her face. All he wanted was to hear her say the words. He wanted her to want him just as badly as he wanted her.

*

After I fixed Jake’s tie, I ducked out from behind the bar before Howard could scold me. Quinn and Prue arrived shortly after, looking drop dead gorgeous in the dresses they’d picked. Prue’s hair was half down with the top portion braided into a bow, and Quinn’s was loosely braided down her back. They both slid beside me at the bar with big grins. Quinn smiled at Jake. “Having a good night, Jake?”

“Oh, just the best,” he answered.

“Well, let’s go. I’m starving.” She took hold of my arm and tugged me away from the bar and the lingering eyes of the bartender.

We sat down, receiving peach-themed drinks as compliments from the bar, or rather the entire staff that gathered around to bicker about who got to serve our table. Scott took it upon himself to make us an entirely new peach-themed menu that I was ecstatic to try. His talent, with any and every ingredient, no matter how random, never ceased to amaze me. The girls and I gossiped about the rich people around us, playing games centered around making up conversations between tables.

Even with my back to the bar, I could feel Jake’s eyes on me, lingering for a long minute before having to look away to make a drink or schmooze a customer before they were right back on me. It was thrilling, though I’d never admit it. Shifting in my seat, I felt the fabric of my dress dip lower, exposing more of my leg as I took a drink of the sweet peach cocktail and finished my food. “I’m kind of glad you decided to come here. This was amazing.”

Prue nodded, practically moaning with delight as she carefully wiped her mouth. “This was the best meal I’ve ever had.” Her eyes followed Will as he moved across the floor, sparing a wide-eyed, blushing look up at her. “And the staff is just adorable.”

Quinn nudged me. “Go sit at the bar.”

“What?” I asked. “Why?”

“Because I’m the Peach Queen, and I say so.”

Prue giggled. “You did finish your drink. Good thing you know a cute bartender that’d make you another one.”

I shook my head and settled further into my seat. “I’m not going to go harping Jake for drinks while he’s in the middle of service.”

Quinn rolled her eyes. “Fine, you forced my hand. I, Peach Queen, banish thee Cherry one to the bar!”

“Oh yeah?” I taunted. “What if I don’t go?’

“Then I’ll just have to make a fuss and embarrass you.”

She would do it too. She had plenty of times before. And so, I relented, standing up and offering her a mock bow. “As thy queen commands.”

I walked down the stairs carefully, not wanting to risk falling again, and made my way to an empty seat at the bar with a smile. “What are you doing down here?” Nicky asked.

“I’ve apparently been banished,” I answered, drawing Jake’s attention in a second.

“Banished?” he asked, switching places with Nicky. “That doesn’t sound too fun.

I shrugged. “It could be worse.”

He tilted his head. “Worse than banishment?”

“Quinn can be creative.”

“Well, what can I get you?” He leaned against the bar with a glass out, ready for my answer.

“Should I see how many free drinks I can get out of this dress?” I asked with a grin.

Jake’s eyes trailed away from my face, and his eyebrow quirked. “Not if you wanna be sober enough to enjoy the rest of the night.”

Leaning forward on the bar ever so slightly, I tilted my head to the side, only further enticing him. “Oh? You think I’d be that popular?”

“You already are that popular,” he answered, looking around at all the eyes focusing on me both around the bar and deeper into the maze of tables and wealthy people. “Have been since you walked in.”

“Well,” I said, setting my head in my hands. “You’ve got my full attention, grumpy Jake.”

“Do I?” He smirked, tilting his head.

“Yep. So, impress me, master bartender,” I teased.

Jake lived for the challenge as he pursed his lips slightly and leaned toward me. “Just clap when you’re impressed, princess.”

I rolled my eyes but kept them fixed on him as he gathered ingredients and mixed drinks for the guests lining the counter. Sitting on this end of the bar felt surreal, watching him mix drinks with that roguish smile and the flamboyant technique. For a minute, it almost felt like it was my first week again when Jake was fixed on trying to impress me enough to get me naked, only now he didn’t need to mix drinks, force contact, or even flirt with me. The truth, as much as I’d tried to avoid it, was Jake didn’t need to impress me, not when it only took one look… one stupid look to make me melt beneath his gaze. A week ago, I’d teased him about not having to be jealous… about how I could have him whenever I wanted, but only now did I realize that Jake held a similar power. 

He could have me whenever he wanted.

As the guests slowly began to leave, the girls joined me at the bar, Prue taking up Will’s attention even when he had to go do manager things, and Quinn distracting Ari with nothing but her eyes. Isaac’s face pressed against the glass of the kitchen window as he held up Jake’s jacket and waved me inside. I smiled at my plan coming to life, quietly excusing myself to slide into the kitchen. Isaac held it out to me. “Dom just dropped it off. Remind me again why you’re smuggling jackets around?”

“It’s Jake’s,” I answered, heaving toward the stairs. “He keeps giving it to me, so I have to keep sneaking it back into his locker.”

Isaac rolled his eyes. “Or you could just fuck him and keep it.”

“Is the rest of it in my bag?” He nodded. “Thanks for your help,” I whispered down to him as I hurried up the stairs and sneakily made my way to Jake’s locker. I struggled for a minute running through the list of combinations he’d started rotating to try and deter me from sneaking his jacket into his locker.

"So," Jake's voice came from the doorway, so suddenly I jumped, dropping his leather jacket onto the floor.

"Shit!" I yelped, turning to glare at him. "Don't sneak up on me!"

He chuckled, eyes dragging down my body, fixing on my bare shoulders, the deep plunging neckline of the dress, and then finally on my leg, the one exposed by the high slit of the gown. When he finally took notice of his jacket on the floor, his head tilted. "Are you really taking time out of your dinner to sneak my jacket into my locker?"

I scoffed, kicking the jacket behind me with my heel. "No! That'd be crazy."

He laughed, nodding to the still, obvious fabric. "Well, go on, don't let me stop you."

Fucking… I bit my lip and bent over to retrieve it, fully aware of how he drank in the sight of my boobs threatening to spill out of the corseted top. I turned back to his locker and stuffed it inside, slamming the door shut with a grin. "Did you need something? A jacket, perhaps?"

"No, I'm good. Very toasty." He replied, taking a step forward, the wicked smug look in his eyes never fading. "So, the hip, right?"

"What?"

"Your mermaid tattoo," he clarified, taking far too much pleasure in how my face fell with the realization. "It's on your hip."

My hand slapped over the too-high slit that did indeed showcase the tail of my tattoo. "God damn dress!"

Jake leaned back against the locker nodding to my leg. "Show me."

"No!"

"You said you would if I guessed where it was," he argued.

I shook my head, laughing nervously. "I actually didn't. All I said was you didn't already know where it was."

Jake moved even closer. "Technicality. Show it to me."

"No!"

"Oh, come on, princess."

My face burned the closer he got until I finally cracked under the weight of those pretty blue eyes. "Fine, you get five seconds!"

I moved my hand and carefully lifted the slit of my gown to show the intricate mermaid that curved up my hip, tail curling a little over my thigh. Then, in my head, I began to count. One. Two. Th- Warm fingers grazed along the curve of my hip, and every thought stuttered to a halt. Jake was on his knees, eyes taking in the sight of my tattoo with an appreciative gleam. I could feel his breath fan along my thigh as his fingers moved to skim over the inked skin.

"Well, it does certainly look better than mine," he said, looking up at me through his thick eyelashes. I wonder what he’d look like looking up at me from between my- Fuck. 

I cleared my throat and let my dress drop back down. "Yeah, I told you Prue's the best."

"Why a mermaid?" He asked, slowly rising to his feet.

"It's gonna sound stupid," I laughed nervously, scratching my head. "When my mom would… leave me to swim back to shore I... I used to pretend I was a mermaid." There was a soft look in Jake’s eyes, one that made my heart ache. "It made it feel less real... If that makes any sense."

"It makes sense," he assured me, his voice shockingly tender. "And it's not stupid."

“Thanks.” I spared him a quick glance before clearing my throat and asking, “So, is service officially over?”

He nodded. “Yeah, that last table finally decided to leave.”

I laughed. “The very obvious escort date?”

“No, they left just a little bit before the cut-off. The last table was a group of old people that had been complaining all night about every single detail of their service.”

“Damn,” I replied. “Glad I wasn’t working tonight, then.”

He held a quarter up in his hand. “Yeah, that’s the tip I got for the seven drinks I remade.”

I laughed. “It’s certainly a tough time being a pretty bartender.”

“So, what’s next for your little party?” He asked, moving to his locker to change.

I turned my back to him, offering him some privacy, though I knew he didn’t care if I looked. “That’s up to Quinn. But, from my understanding, we’re all going for a limo ride to Coney Island.”

“Sounds fun,” he replied. “You goin' in that, or were you planning on changing into something a bit more practical?”

“I had Dom drop us off some clothes,” I answered, looking over my shoulder to admire his bare back. “So, guess you get to keep your shirt this time.”

He smirked at me. “How relieving.”

After he was decent and putting on his shoes, I slipped into the bathroom with my bag and changed into a simple tank top and shorts with comfortable shoes. I left Quinn’s clothes in the bag and grabbed Prue to take downstairs to her, knowing full well that Quinn and Ari would likely try to fuck in the break room. We headed back downstairs together, Jake letting Nicky leave early. Slowly, everyone changed into regular clothes and gathered around the bar for drinks.

“Now that all of you don’t look so freaky, do you want to come with us to Coney Island?” Quinn asked, wiggling her brows. “The limo rides on me.”

The uproar of the group agreeing to a night of fun was louder than even I expected. Nodding toward the back, I addressed Quinn. “The bag with your extra clothes is upstairs in the locker room.”

“I’ll show you the way,” Ari said with a wink as she dragged Quinn toward the kitchen. 

Will shook his head. “They’re definitely going to fuck in the break room, so,” turning to Prue, he signed. “I can show you to the manager's office so you can change if you want.”

She blushed and bit her lip, grabbing the clothes I’d brought down to her. “Maybe we can do a little more than change?”

I made a face and immediately turned my eyes elsewhere, which just so happened to be where Jake stood across the bar. “I’m guessing it’s gonna be a minute before we head out?”

“Oh yeah. No one go upstairs or in the office for a while,” I warned.

Twenty minutes later, both couples returned, readjusting their clothes and slightly more sweaty than they’d started the night out. We all clamored to Quinn’s limo, where I stayed close to Quinn and Jake to keep myself from giving into the nauseous and painful feelings that made my chest feel tight, and my body want to shake. Though I didn’t participate much in the conversations going around through the group, each one was a welcome distraction, as was Jake’s hand resting next to mine on the small space of seat between us.

*

The thirty-minute car ride was certainly not the worst I’d ever had to live through, but as the limo stopped and we all filed out of the car, I’d never been more relieved to breathe in the slightly salty air. All the anxiety and old memories faded away in the bright lights of Coney Island. We paid for our tickets, and all rushed inside to indulge in the obviously rigged booth games and stalls of delicious food. Will and Prue branched off toward a ball game with stuffed animal prizes, and to my surprise, Jake followed them. 

I stayed with Sasha and Heather, laughing at the Russian’s poor attempts to participate in a shooting game. He cursed the stall attendant out in Russian before we pulled him away. Next thing we all knew, thirty minutes had blown by, and everyone was slowly reconvening at a small area of picnic tables. Sasha, Ari, and I bent over our photobooth picture, laughing at each other's dumb faces when Will and Prue found us, Will’s arms full of stuffed animals. “Look what we won!”

“Did you leave any prizes for the other kids, Prue?” I signed, dodging her attempt to slap my arm.

“Of course,” She replied.

Looking around, I asked, “Where’d Jake go?”

Sahsa smirked. “Knowing our Jakey, he probably found some dirty carnival hooker to fuck.”

I rolled my eyes as the bartender's familiar figure followed just after Prue and Will with a giant stuffed tiger in his arms. “I’m right here.”

“Holy shit,” Quinn laughed. “Where the hell did you find that?”

“One of those cheap-ass games,” he replied, setting it down on the table I sat on top of. “Figured it was only right to win it for our resident tiger.”

“How many tries did it take you to win this?” I asked, admiring the cute face of the animal. “Do we need to chip in on your rent?”

He shook his head and grabbed a cigarette from Sasha, moving to sit down at the table across from me. “It wasn’t that hard.”

When the group had settled down a bit, Heather asked, “Now what?”

Quinn’s smile quickly turned sinister. “We could always play a little truth or dare.”

“God, no!” I pleaded.

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun,” she insisted.

Sasha blew a plum of smoke toward me. “Come on, Tiger Bitch, have fun with us!”

“Fine,” I huffed. “But don’t come crying to me when she’s daring you to strip for her.”

The first round was tame, most people opting to pick truth over dare, but after the third or fourth round, things quickly descended into Quinn’s madness. She smirked at Jake. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” he answered.

"I dare you to take this marker and give Lena a tattoo on her hip." 

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head at her. "Seriously?"

Quinn giggled and grinned while sipping her drink. "What? It’s not like I told him to write whore across your forehead."

“That was one time, and we were sixteen!”

Jake pulled the marker from her fingers and motioned me forward. I lifted my shirt getting ready to pull the waistband of my pants down just enough for the tattoo. Jake tutted. "Other one."

"There's already a tattoo there," I replied.

"Just give me the other one," he insisted with a smile as he took off the lid of the marker with his teeth.

I complied, pulling my waistband down enough to reveal the top half of the mermaid. Jake wasted no time taking hold of my hip in his warm hand and pulling me closer. Quinn winked at me, and I had to fight the urge to throw something at her. The marker tickled against my skin as Jake focused. I shifted slightly, causing him to squeeze my hip. "Hold still."

"Hurry up," I insisted, forcing my voice to stay steady.

He smirked up at me, blue eyes shimmering with smug mischief. "Want it to look good or not?"

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. "It's just marker, dumbass. It'll come off in like two days."

"Then I better make it good enough for you to savor, right?"

When he finished, I looked down at the heart drawn in the center of the mermaid's chest with the little J in the center. The sight made every inch of my body tingle as I looked up at him and smiled. "Really?"

He shrugged. "It's a classic."

“Your turn Jake,” Heather said with a smile.

“Sasha,” he called out. “Truth or-”

“Dare. Give me your best shot, Jakey!”

Jake smiled. “I dare you to kiss Isaac.”

Isaac’s cheeks flushed quickly as Sasha wasted no time turning and grabbing his face to press a kiss to his lips. He pulled away, wiping his mouth with pride and settling back into his seat beside Isaac with an arm around the blushing man's shoulders. “Easy! Tiger Bitch, truth or dare?”

“Dare,” I replied with a sigh.

He giggled. “I dare you to show us your dirtiest photo!”

“That’s not so bad,” I replied, pulling my phone out to find the old picture of me lying in bed in a lacey bra with a cherry between my lips. “I sent this to a guy I hooked up with years ago.”

Sahsa took the phone and purred in delight, passing it around the group. Quinn nodded. “That was a good picture.”

“The guy you sent it to sure liked it.”

Once it got back to Jake, he looked at it with an approving nod before handing me my phone. “Not bad, princess.”

“Okay, Ari. Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” she answered with a grin.

I hummed for a moment before asking. “Who here would you most like to sleep with?”

She tucked her hair behind her ear. “You, of course, beautiful.”

Quinn scoffed. “Excuse me!”

“I’ve already slept with you,” Ari replied, kissing Quinn’s lips. “And I’m gonna do it again later.”

“Fair point.”

The round continued for a while, eventually landing on Prue and then on me. “Have you ever fantasized about a coworker?”

Oh, you fucking bitch, I thought to myself. “Yes, I have.”

“Who?” Quinn egged on. 

“Sasha, of course,” I deflected, pinching the Russian’s cheek. “Quinn, truth or dare.”

She bat her eyelashes. “Truth.”

“Describe your first kiss,” I said with a grin.

“You’re a cunt,” she replied before diving into the very awkward story of her first kiss. "Truth or dare," Quinn asked with a newfound gleam in her eyes I'd seen one too many times before. She was up to something big now. And if the wink she sent me meant anything, it was something I would have to kick her ass for.

Jake shrugged, blowing a plume of smoke out the side of his mouth. "Dare."

Leaning forward, my friend smiled even wider, wicked and deeply pleased with herself as she declared, "I dare you to kiss Lena."

My heart stopped beating for a moment, only kickstarted when the ocean blue of Jake's eyes slid to mine. "That's-"

"It's-" we stammered at the same time.

Sasha laughed. "I think the stripper wins."

"No," Jake told the Russian, eyes never leaving mine. "I'll do it. That is if it's alright with you, Red."

I swallowed and shrugged. "It's just a game. I don't mind."

He handed the cigarette to Scott and slowly approached me, moving to stand at the table's edge. His hands curled around my hips, pulling me closer until I was flush against his chest. A sharp gasp echoed between us as my dumb body arched into him. Rough fingers lifted my chin, forcing me to look deeper into his eyes.

"Don't get too excited, princess," he whispered. Oh fuck. On instinct, my legs moved, trying to press my thighs together and alleviate some of the burning pressure that shot right down to my core. Unfortunately, Jake's waist made that problematic.

My legs squeezed his hips, bringing that smug smile to his face as he stared me down. His fingers squeezed my chin as he leaned in close. Our lips nearly brushed one another as the smokey tint of his breath fanned across my face. At the last second, his grip on my chin tugged, and my head turned ever so slightly to the side as he kissed my cheek.

Sasha booed loudly as air finally filled my lungs again. Jake pulled away, his eyes looking me up and down for a moment, the dark, blown pupils drinking in the sight of me, blushing cheeks and still slightly arched back. God, this is just getting pathetic. He slid out from between my legs and smirked at Quinn. "You never specified where I had to kiss her."

"Cheeky boy." She shook her head.

Jake looked off toward the food stalls. “As much fun as this game is, I think we should indulge in some food before they close.”

Everyone but Ari and I jumped up to grab food. Isaac promised to bring me back food if I saved his seat, while Quinn offered to get Ari’s food for her with a loving look and a gentle kiss on her cheek. Once she turned away, I saw Ari’s face drop slightly. “Hey,” I called over to her. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Ari,” I pressed gently, patting the table beside me.

With a sigh, she moved, sitting beside me and looking up at Quinn. “How long before she gets sick of me, realistically?”

My brows furrowed as I turned to her. “What do you mean?”

“Quinn is… She’s amazing. Beautiful and talented and smart and funny. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted.” She shook her head. “And I don’t have a lot more to offer her.”

“You don’t have to offer anyone anything to be important, Ari,” I said with a smile. “Quinn doesn’t give two shits what you can offer her. She likes you because you’re you.”

Ari shook her head, wiping the tears away from her eyes long before they could fall. “No one likes me because I’m me. Not even my own parents.”

“Fuck your parents.” She laughed, looking at me with sad eyes. “Sometimes our parents are the ones with the problem. My mom’s a cold, stuck-up, perfectionist bitch that didn’t give two shits about me no matter what I did. Back then, the best thing I ever did was let go of what she made me feel I lacked.”

“How do you do that, though?” Ari asked softly. “How do you let go of the years of pain and neglect and…”

I shrugged. “With a lot of reassurance from good friends. And, lucky for you, there’s an entire mob out there willing to reassure you every second of the day.”

Ari laid her head on my shoulder and smiled. “Thanks, Tiger Bitch.”

“You’re welcome.”

She and I sat there for a while, waiting until the rest of the group got back with their cotton candy. Quinn instantly took notice of Ari’s downtrodden mood and came to lift her spirits with a kiss and a bite of the sticky sweet sugar. Jake sat down next to me, holding a giant ball of cotton candy. He held it out to me. “Want some?”

I looked at the sheer size of his treat and laughed. “I guess. Did you pay extra for them to make it as big as Sasha’s head?”

“I heard that!” Sasha shouted.

“No,” Jake replied, taking a finger full of the fluffy candy. “They just really liked me.”

“Ah, so it was a group of women then?” I teased.

With a scoff, he said, “I’m attractive to every gender.”

We laughed together, sharing the shitty spun sugar until Prue pulled me from the table and quickly signed. “The girls are riding the Merry-Go-Round. Come on!”

“Okay, stop pulling!” I turned to look back at Jake. “Don’t let Sasha steal the tiger!”

He shook his head but pulled the giant stuffed thing closer to him anyway as he watched me get dragged off toward the enormous horses. Ari and Heather chose the ugliest horses they could find, while Quinn, Prue, and I gravitated to ones a few rows down. Prue’s was a unicorn with little rainbow flowers in its hair. Quinn’s was hot pink with giant eyelashes. And mine was a simple black horse with a little blue saddle. Prue sat beside me while Quinn’s was slightly in the front, forcing her to sit backward on it to look back at us. 

I narrowed my eyes and looked between the two of them, saying and signing, “Why do I feel like this is an intervention?”

“Cause it is,” Quinn replied. 

“It’s about Jake,” Prue continued giving me that look.

I sighed, slumping into the pole. “Guys, how many times do we have to do this?”

“You want him,” Quinn said, leaning over to grab my pole to steady herself as the ride began to move. “You told me you did. You know you do. So stop fucking around and go get him!”

“It’s not that simple,” I argued.

“Yes, it is,” Prue interjected. “You are always telling us to go after what we want in life, even if it’s hard or gets messy or doesn’t work out how we want it to. This is no different.”

Quinn grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “If you don’t give whatever this is with you and him a shot, you’re gonna regret it for the rest of your life. You know that.”

With a low groan, I shook my head and sighed. “I hate when you two use my own logic against me.”

They both shrugged, smug and self-assured, as we got off the ride and rejoined the bulk of the group. Sasha practically collapsed into Heather with a giggle. “Well, I think this amazing night of filth and fun is coming to an end.”

“Yeah,” Scott agreed. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Anything else anyone wanted to do before we head out?” Quinn asked, slightly elbowing me.

I looked up at the giant Ferris Wheel and shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve always wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel.”

“Never been on one before?” Jake asked, emerging from the group next to Will and Quinn, still holding the big stuffed tiger he’d given me that I’d shoved into his arms when I’d rushed to join the girls on the Merry-Go-Round. 

“Nope,” I answered. “No one ever wanted to come with me.”

Quinn rolled her eyes. “Those things are death traps! I refuse to be a statistic!”

Tossing the tiger to Will, Jake headed toward the giant wheel. He looked over his shoulder and smirked. “You comin' or what?”

I ignored Quinn’s urging whispers and fell into step beside Jake, the two of us quietly getting in line and waiting our turn. It wasn’t a long wait, being so late into the night, and before I could change my mind, we were being strapped into the slightly too small seat and told a rush of basic rules before the jaunty music began to play, and the wheel started to turn. The lights and laughter echoed up to us as the wheel screeched to a halt with our cart near the top. This is so cliche, I told myself, quietly wondering if Quinn and Pure would go this far to get me to act. They would. I knew they would. What was irritating, though, was how well it worked.

From up here, everything and everyone seemed so small. The noise was distant enough that I could only focus on Jake sitting beside me, thigh pressed into mine. His blue eyes lit up so beautifully as he stared out at the sea of activity below. I cleared my throat before saying, "This turned out to be pretty fun, all things considered."

He nodded, eyes still taking in the sights below us. "Yeah, I think the most questionable part of the night was truth or dare." Then, chuckling, he shook his head. "I knew Sasha was deprived before, but wow, I severely underestimated him."

"Yeah," I agreed, laughing with him. I took a deep breath and just decided to commit. Fuck it. "You know, for a minute, it seemed like you were actually gonna kiss me."

Jake turned, and those gorgeous eyes met mine. Tilting his head, he shrugged a shoulder, trying to seem unphased. "For a minute, it seemed like you wanted me to."

"I did." Okay… There it is, I guess… My heart hammered in my chest as the casual look on his face shifted. My mind immediately started reeling, searching for a way to backpedal the conversation and take it back. Jake, however, seemed to have another course of action in mind.

He leaned forward, hand gliding against my jaw as he lifted my head ever so slightly and pressed his lips to mine. A surprised noise squeaked out of my throat, one I would have been embarrassed about had I been able to focus on anything but his damn lips. They were softer than they looked if that was possible, and firm against mine. 

Both of us were tense for a moment, anxious at the sudden fulfillment of both our fantasies in a matter of seconds. After the initial shock wore off, we both eased into one another, our lips moving in harmony as we accepted that this was reality. The kiss was gentle and urgent while still holding back. Jake pulled away, allowing me a second to breathe.

His eyes were wide, pupils nearly drowning the blue as his chest heaved with quiet breaths. All I could do was look at him with equally wide eyes and equal breathlessness. All I could do was take hold of the collar of his shirt and, subsequently, the silver chain around his neck and pull him back into another, far needier kiss.

It was sloppy and messy in a way that only made us want more. He tasted like smoke, and the cotton candy he had earlier as his fingers on my jaw coaxed my mouth open so he could mingle the odd combination against my tongue with his own. One hand buried itself into my hair as he groaned into my mouth while the other ran down my back, his dull nails dragging against my skin. My hand wrapped around the silver chain and pulled, keeping him from moving away from me, and the other pressed into his thigh, my nails digging into his jeans like my life depended on it.

A groan echoed through the metal as the Ferris Wheel spurred to life again, shifting suddenly and breaking us out of the heated trance our lips had entangled us in. Our cart started moving, lowering us back to the ground. We stared at each other for a second before slowly detaching our hands from one another and straightening our clothes and hair. 

The silence was almost as deafening as my heart pounding in my ears. Finally, Jake and I got off the ride quietly, walking side by side back to the group we’d left nearby. Will handed me the stuffed tiger Jake had given me, and my heart burned. Prue smiled at me from the crook of Will’s arm. “How was the Ferris Wheel?”

“Good,” I said, tucking my now loosened hair behind my ear. “It was good.”

The loudest among the group rushed into conversations, but all I could hear was the Ferris Wheel whirling to life again behind us. Looking over my shoulder at Jake, who’d put not a large distance but a noticeable one in between us, I realized just how fucked I was - we both were. That one kiss wasn’t enough, not even close. My heart throbbed, and my body tingled with a hum of pure desire. A want, no, need for more. Jake’s blue eyes were filled with the same thing as mine. That kiss wasn’t going to cut it. Shit.

*

Her eyes mirrored his. Swimming in a sea of black, blown-out pupils that made him want to close the distance he’d put between them the longer he looked. The want, no, the need that had been burning in his chest from the day he met her was now raging so hot and desperate that he knew he wouldn’t be able to ignore it any longer. That kiss wasn’t enough. Not for either of them. Fuck.

[kyogre-blue]

Chapters 40-50 complete. That's almost 10% of the novel, hahah

Anyway, this covers the whole Aquarius press conference and missile crisis business.

Clarified in these chapters: the 10 stars. The manhwa has this term appear in the background, but it's never really explained. I even thought this was a rank within the cadre structure, since it's listed in between Saints and cadre captains. In fact, this refers to 10 specific people who are such amazing super disciples that having one versus not having one has a notable impact on a god's power/influence. Yooha is one of them, and she's extremely competent even when bogged down by low faith.

Speaking of which, Yooha is introduced properly, and she definitely feels very different compared to the manhwa. Now, this might just be because the manhwa hasn't gotten to her stuff (her arms, etc), but the novel does give a very different impression. For one, her competence is played up (meaningless as it is, given the power scaling), and she's presented as being smarter or at least more levelheaded compared to Sungjae.

In the manhwa, Sungjae is noted as understanding about Lee Geon being a god faster than Hugo and Kevin, plus he has several moments of thinking well on his feet, so he comes across as being fairly smart. But in the novel, he completely loses his head when Lee Geon is involved, and you get the opposite situation -- Yooha guesses about what happened in the Demon Tower just from seeing Lee Geon in action and understanding how strong he is. She's able to immediately make that mental jump. Additionally, if we assume the author didn't just forget, she's even able to guess that Lee Geon can extra data by hitting Aquarius (since there's no reason for him to have stopped to explain this to her). So she's presented as both very strong and very smart.

Aside from that, I'm a bit surprised how much Aquarius goes to bat for Sophie, seemingly concerned not just with her survival but her overall well-being. Since Lee Geon pov talked a lot of shit about how Saints are basically servants to the divine gods, it's a surprising angle for a minor villain (of sorts).

With that said, I do want to complain a bit.

First, we got what is the first instance where I genuinely wonder if the translation fucked up because it's quite hard to understand the background details about Yoon Shiwoo during his appearance. The descriptions seem to get confused between him and one of the guys in his group, in a way that I assume the author wouldn't have been unclear about? Yoon Shiwoo was mentioned way back in the first few chapters, so he must have been planned at least to some extent. The translation does have occasional issues, especially with genders of characters who haven't appeared yet (Haize had male pronouns for quite a while, and so do all the gods, including Freya and Aquarius), but this is the first case where I just can't even tell what is going on.

Second, I have to say that the author's worldbuilding is sometimes just so... painfully slapdash... In particular, it's like he wants to have his cake and eat it too with regard to Lee Geon's reputation. It's repeatedly discussed that Lee Geon's achievements have been played down or co-opted by the other Saints, the general consensus is that he was only B rank and that he only won because the Saints were buffing him, etc, BUT then we constantly get told that basically everyone is secretly a fanboy for him. Like at the press conference, lots of cadre captains (generals) were gathered from different temples, but once he appears, everyone is awed because they're all his fans but like... which is it? Having is be so exaggerated both ways is kinda hard to understand.

I mean, Lee Geon in general is pretty ridiculous, but... yeah.

[thebigsl33p]

Canary In A Coal Mine

Chapter One: You And I Are Friends of Empty Graves

Next Chapter

Summary: Y/N gets dragged into something unexpected all from her unusual connection with a special teenage girl. Joel Miller X Reader. Ellie Williams X Platonic!Reader. Gif isn't mine.

Series Masterlist. AO3.

he first thing Marlene tells her is that there is a girl handcuffed to the radiator. She sends people to get her: at first, it’s notes through her letterbox, then she notices the people following her throughout the QZ, and finally, they apprehend her at the end of the day.

She’s going home, preparing to sit in silence and chain-smoke half a pack she’s been saving for a rainy day, perhaps dulling the world with a bit of Hooch like anybody else in this damn QZ, when a man and a woman grab her wrist and pull her into an alleyway. She curses and hisses at them, “What the fuck?!”

The sun is just setting and she’s very aware that the curfew will be in effect soon, and she does not want to get caught out. The last time that happened she’d ended up in a F.E.D.R.A Cell for a few days, and by the time she got out she was beaten black and blue.

“Y/N L/N?” The woman who grabbed her is now holding her still and checking her face. She’s a black woman, maybe mid-40s, her hair tied up into a loose ponytail or bun - it’s hard to see in the dark - she’s wearing a jacket, and a hoodie underneath that. Jeans and a vest and… that fucking necklace. It’s tiny, a little silver circle but the emblem pressed into it has Y/N pulling away from her instantly,

“I’m not interested in any of your Firefly bullshit.” She says, spitting at the woman. She would much rather not be wanted by F.E.D.R.A. “No. We’re not trying to recruit you.” She says, “We need you to come with us, please.” “Look, I’m just trying to go home. I’m sure you’re all very nice people - well, no - but I just want to-.”

“Listen to me.” The woman stops her, “We have a girl at our base, called Ellie. We’re hoping you know her because she certainly knows you.” “Yeah.” She nods, “Yeah, I know her. Is she okay?” Y/N’s concern for the teenage girl is obvious.

“Yes, she will be. At the moment she is handcuffed to a radiator because she is refusing to speak to any of us. But, she keeps on calling for you. We’re hoping-” “Take me to her.” She says, not hesitating.

-

“You keep smoking those-” “I know, Punk, I know.” Y/N sighed and looked over at the girl sitting on her sofa.

The apartment she lived in wasn’t nice, and if she had to bet it she would say that Ellie’s room in the military school was better. The walls had holes that were covered with newspaper, the lights didn’t work, it was always slightly cold and it smelled of damp. But whenever the girl got a day off she would come here…sometimes. Other times she was out running around with friends, doing stuff that would most likely get her into trouble. But most of the time she was sitting on Y/N’s sofa, scolding her with her twelve-year-old wisdom.

“How’s school?” Y/N asked, leaning towards the dining table and snubbing out her cigarette in a small glass before standing up.

“Shit.” She said, sinking further into the sofa, the comic she was reading falling from her hands and into her lap. She looked up at the woman, “How old are you now?”

“I… don’t know.” She smiled at her as she pulled two cups out of her cabinet and a packet of crackers and tinned meat, “Must be fifty-something. God, I’m getting old.”

“You don’t look it.” Ellie smiled cheerfully, mischievous charm filling her expression. “Ha, ha.” Y/N rolled her eyes, poured some water from a bottle and opened the tin of meat.

“Y/N?” “Yeah?” “Will you tell me about before?” “Sure, what do you wanna know about this time?”

-

The floorboards creaking is what makes her look up. Ellie is preparing to stand up, hold her hands out and count to ten. They’re all tests that the Firefly’s “doctors” have been doing to make sure that she isn’t infected, despite the three-month-old bite on her arm suggesting otherwise. But the woman’s grating voice never comes, not the sound of her pen on paper or the slight rustling of her clipboard.

Instead, it’s all an all too familiar voice, one that makes her head shoot up and… there she is. Ellie can’t quite believe they actually went and found her. She smiles, shoulders heaving slightly as she shakes her head, “What you got yourself into now, Punk?”

“I don’t know-” She mumbles and wipes her nose with her sleeve, sitting back against the radiator she’s chained to and glaring at the Firefly guards in the doorway, “They won’t let me go. No one here knows what my purpose is or why they wanna transport me halfway across the fucking country.”

She grinned suddenly, “But… I did tell them I’m not going anywhere or talking to anyone without you here, so.” She shrugged.

“Let them talk to you, Ellie. Okay?” “Okay.”

The next morning Marlene came. Y/N was escorted out of the room and was waiting outside. But the door was practically hanging off the hinges and therefore was not doing much for privacy.

Marlene had come in and sat across from Ellie, legs crossed on the floor, body leaned back all relaxed. The first words were so clear, “If you’re not scared of me then how about you unlock me?”

“How about we start with “Thank you?”

“For what?” “For saving your life.”

The conversation only progressed from there, Marlene revealing she was the one who had placed Ellie with F.E.D.R.A, the mention of Riley which Y/N felt was uncalled for, and the slight mention of Marlene’s plans for Ellie. Y/N had thought the entire conversation was rude, that Marlene had no consideration for other people and was too caught up in her Rebel-Rebel bullshit. She wasn’t taking the chance to consider that all Ellie was, was a teenager. All she took to win over was a bit of love, a warm smile, and maybe some food.

Marlene came out from talking with Ellie, took one look at Y/N standing against the wall with her arms crossed and sighed, “We need to take her west. As you know she’s not going anywhere without you so-” She looked away, “We need a car. We’ve got the body we need a battery. There’s a guy selling one so we’re gonna go and get it. Get the girl ready to go.”

-

The deal was shit and turned sour too fast.

The car battery was coming from a guy called Robert, and it was dead. And now, so was Robert. But not before getting a few bullets into Marlene and her second-in-command. And then his guys and the Fireflies decided to have a little shoot-off, at which point Y/N grabbed Ellie and pulled her into a hallway, tucked her behind the wall and behind her body.

The girl protested, with a “Hey!” And tried to pull over Y/N. “Will you stop it?” She had hissed over the bullets, “I am trying to keep you alive, Punk.”

The gunfire had ended just as soon as it had started and when Y/N pulled away to see if it was safe, she found the hallway littered with bodies, blood everywhere. But Marlene was alive, she could see that much because she was limping away to the end of the corridor while telling her second to stop, “Kim, Kim, stop. We can’t leave them. We can’t leave her.”

Y/N was about to call out to Marlene when she heard the footsteps behind her and she whipped around, being careful of where she was standing. There stood a man and a woman, about her age give or take, both with guns in their hands. Marlene had noticed them too, just after she had, and apparently recognised them, “Joel? She squinted and winced slightly.

“Marlene..” He sighed and the woman next to him swore while running a hand down her face, “So this is who Robert screwed us over with?” As he said his eyes went to Robert, dead on the floor just to the side.

The woman added to the conversation, “The Che Guevara of Boston? I mean, war must be goin’ pretty shitty for you to be buying from scumbags like him.”

“Yeah,” Marlene nodded, hands going to her gun, “It kinda has been. The merch was bad, and he obviously didn’t take “fuck off” for an answer.”

There was a sudden movement and before she could do anything about it, Ellie had jumped out from beside Y/N, knife ready, gut steeled. The look on that girl’s face as she jumped for the man was unlike anything Y/N had ever seen, but the way Joel hit her down with ease caused Y/N to flinch and run to her side. Ellie crumpled into a pile by the wall, knife skidding away and under Joel’s boot, Y/N by her side helping her sit up.

“What did I tell ya’ girl, I’m trying to keep you alive here!” She wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying, instead, her eyes were glued onto where Joel’s boot held onto her knife. And so she hissed up at him, “Gimme my knife.” he ignored her and instead turned the gun to face her, at which point Y/N covered her with her body. If she died protecting this asshole, she’d die an alright death.

“What do you need a car battery for?” The woman asked, but she was ignored. Marlene had seen the interaction between Ellie and Joel, and there were alarms going off in her head so she called out, “Don’t. Not her. Point it at me… And to answer your question, I need it for a better reason than you do.” She sighed, “No offence, but Tommy’s just one man.”

And when he pulled a face at her knowing what it was for, she said, “It’s our business to know things.” “To Know things.” Joel mocked, sliding the gun into his jeans, “You’re the cause of it. You turned my own brother against me.”

“Okay, Joel,” Marlene said, slightly more aware now of the blood leaking out of he body and into her clothes or the flooring.

“That was a lot of gunfire…” Y/N moved off of Ellie, “F.E.D.R.A.’s gonna be here any minute.” She was looking around as if they would bust through the door but so far she couldn’t hear sirens, yelling or running.

Marlene sighed, a resigned sign from blood loss and a not-so-sharp idea, but one that would have to do, “We were gonna move Ellie out of the Zone tonight, but we won’t make it anywhere like this, not for a while.” She looked at Joel, “So now I’m thinkin’.... you’re gonna do it.”

A/N: There is an official playlist and pinterest board for this fic on the masterlist page.

[thygoddessouijathicc]

Phone Dave Chapter 3: Steven

(Steven in this AU is such a bitch I love him)

Jack had been trying to interact with Dave for a week.

Neither had been successful.

The restaurant was in a back alley part of Reno, the customers who came were committed but with no employees… they had made all of $100 the entire week. 40% made up Dave’s paycheque for an hour.

The phone was a hard worker, for sure. Jack had never seen a phone who… well did half as much. But he couldn’t do everything.

There was only one option with how Freddy’s was run. Animatronics. They needed workers but couldn’t afford them until they had any actual income. Any animatronic would do.

And for that, they needed funding. It would be easy if they could just scavenge, but Freddys was so profitable that there wasn’t anywhere to get them.

The restaurant was doomed. That much was clear.

“Mr Kennedy… Mr Kennedy wake up…” Jack shot back into the present.

“WHUH!?!”

“Mr Kennedy, you zoned out like an idiot in the middle of my question.”

“Sorry… s’ good weed.”

The phone sighs in exasperation. “Sir, we have a member of upper management coming in an hour, get ready.”

Right… Dave set up a meeting without asking to try to get funding.

Jack stands up, scattering the empty pizza boxes, cigarette packs, blunts, and empty bottles that covered his body on the ground.

Dave suddenly makes a dialup noise.

“What?”

“MR KENNEDY WHAT THE H-HECK!?”

“Hmmm?”

“SIR… SIR YOU’RE-!”

“I’m what?”

“YOU’RE HECKING NAKED!!!!!”

“What I’m… SHIT FUCK I’M SORRY!!!” Jack says, quickly covering himself with one of the boxes.

“J-just be decent for when they get here.”

…

Jack walks out of the office in his usual horrible outfit of a green coat covered in sequins with both a tiger and leopard pattern on it, skinny jeans, cowboy boots, no shirt, and a terrible blonde wig that looks like it could have been alive.

Dave glares at him with no eyes.

“What I’m decent.”

“YOU’RE SHIRTLESS.”

“I’m wearing a tie.”

“ITS GOT HOT-WHEELS ON IT!!!”

“My finest garment.”

“AT LEAST STRAIGHTEN IT OUT!!!”

“Ahem.” Another Scott voice says. Both of them look to see Steven himself leaning against a doorway. “I hope I’m not interrupting… whatever this is.”

“Eeep! No- no worries Sir! We were just finishing our discussion… w-what brings the Company Representative himself down to our objectively terrible location?”

“Both of you used to work for me. Oh and my memory could be a LITTLE fuzzy but I also distinctly remember you both left me to burn to death in the wreckage of my location.”

“I… don’t remember that sorry. Quite fortunately I have yet to remember-“

“I don’t care.”

“Who pissed in your coffee…” Jack mutters. He remembers Steven not being a great boss but he seems to have gotten worse.

God he wished Steven died in the fire-

“I heard that.” The red phone states.

“Good because-“ Dave shoves his hand over Jack’s mouth.

“Hahahahaha… funny joke sir but let’s not insult the company representative. I’ll kill you if we go bankrupt Mr Kennedy.” He whispers the last part.

“Well. It’s good to see one of you has a brain. Now, are you going to keep bickering and wasting my valuable time or are we going to do something?”

“Y-yes sir I’ll show you around. Mr Kennedy will follow us and say nothing because I don’t want him to ruin everything and if I lock him in the janitorial closet he’d just escape.”

“I’m very slippery.”

“Right.” Steven sighs in exasperation.

…

“And here’s the Saferoom. You’ll notice a stark lack of blood! This is because we just opened, the quantity will rise.”

“Uhuh… and the moss.”

“It ate my cleaning supplies sir.”

“Seems like you hardly tried.”

“Uhhhhhh… moving on! This is the dining room. Mr Kennedy has employed… some kind of ghost? I didn’t question it because he didn’t question the lack of pay.”

“Ah yes, ghost Ronaldo. How predictable.”

“Y-yes sir! Next up we have the prize corner!”

Matt stares intently at the 3 of them.

“That concludes our viewing of the prize corner.”

“Thank god.” Steven says, seemingly actually genuinely thankful.

Understandable. Matt is horrifyingly.

“N-next is the dining area! It’s only got a few people right now… Mr Kennedy says they’re his friends. I think they are trash and are scaring away better customers.”

“Eh you just don’t get it Davey.” Jack says, throwing his arm over Dave’s shoulder.

“I barely tolerate this bizarre nickname you have given me in the first place, don’t push it by using a nickname of this nickname.”

“Davey~”

“Sleep lightly tonight Kennedy, sleep lightly.”

“If you two would stop having your lovers quarrel for 5 hecking minutes, thank you.”

“We are not lovers sir, I am the manager and he is the terrible owner, it would be highly unprofessional.”

“I’m technically your boss you know-“

“Rule one, you are not my boss, you are my friend. I do not see you as a friend however I will take this to mean that you are in fact not my boss, and are my subordinate.”

“COULD YOU TWO CONTINUE THE TOUR NOW!?”

“Don’t worry Phoney, I go this.” Jack says, cracking his knuckles.

“Oh no…”

Jack leads them down a hallway.

“On your left you’ll see our world class one of a kind Foxy Stripclub. There used to be more but they got closed. I was the reason they got closed. Now, as you’re both phones I’d bet-“

“Hahahahahaaaa Mr Kennedy is kidding. IGNORE HIM.”

“Well I mean you two could get up on stage yourselves if-“

“Pardon?” Steven questions.

“HAHAHA JUST KIDDING! One more word and you never walk again.”

“Anyway moving on from that is the ballpit! Music man has nested here.”

“Music man?” Steven asks, disgust in his artificial voice.

“He’s a beloved member of the Fazbender’s family.” Jack explains. “Next we have this little shitty playground full of tetanus that we stole from McDonalds.”

“It’s not that much tetanus… just enough to kill my annoying as heck “friend” here Mr Kennedy if he doesn’t shut the heck up.”

“Next is the bathrooms! They haven’t been cleaned since the 60s!”

“I… can smell that.” Steven says… phones can smell… noted… well I mean it’s not the first time.

“Ooookay… and our final stop… the stage! As you can see there are no animatronics! We need some. Can you please give us the money?”

A moment passes. “Hmmmm… no… no I can’t.”

“Oh that’s ok sir I-“ Dave starts.

“And why not?”

“See I don’t see this location being successful.”

“Dave’s a pretty good phone.”

“You know what… let’s be real here… IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW GOOD HE IS. This is a back alley location full of crackheads run by a pothead who’s recent twitter posts indicate-“

“Phoney do you follow my twitter?”

“-INDICATE THAT HE IS MAKING $100 A WEEK AND THINKS THATS GOOD. There has never been a less successful location.”

“What’s the harm in giving us one animatronic!? FUCKING BALLOON BOY! GIVE US FUCKING BALLOON BOY!!!”

“I wouldn’t give you a stick of gum.”

Jack glares at the phone, he glares back… then the door is kicked down by a man dressed as Candy a The Cat, he is carrying a gun.

“VENGEANCE FOR CANDY’S!!!!!!!!!” The man starts shooting at them, Jack manages to grab both phones’ arms and starts to bolt down the hallway to his office.

As soon as he makes it to the room he shuts and locks the door.

“Let me out there I can fight him.” Dave says.

“I’m not letting you get shot.”

“Life and Limb for the Fazbender’s Brand Mr Kennedy, that’s my motto.”

“I’m not letting you get shot.”

“I have a rocket launcher. I could-“ Steven starts

“I’m not letting you get shot.”

Jack starts to dig around in a large pile of takeout bags and rats until he finds a locker covered in Lightning McQueen stickers.

“Mr Kennedy, do you just really like race cars? Because if you do that’s fine but you could just admit that.”

“I will admit nothing.” Jack says as he starts inputting the code, getting it wrong.

“What… what’s your plan?” Steven says, still trying to sound intimidating.

Jack manages to open the safe and pulls out a gun. “I’m going to go get shot for your sorry asses.”

“Mr Kennedy I highly doubt-“

“Shhhhhhh.” Jack puts a finger over where Dave’s mouth should be.

“You know my mouth is under my dial r-?”

“Shhhhh… I’ll be back.” Jack blows a kiss at both phones and kicks down the door while yelling.

“He’s doomed right?” Steven asks.

“Oh yeah totally. Heck…”

…

“Hey bitches.” Jack says, entering the room covered in blood.

“Mr Kennedy! You’re… covered in blood.”

“It’s not mine don’t worry.”

“Did you ACTUALLY beat that Candy the Cat freak?” Steven asks.

“Didn’t kill him, it’s been like 12 years since I’ve killed anyone and I don’t want to break that streak.”

“But you did stop him?”

“Oh yeah I did.”

“Well… in light of recent developments I…. Ahem… have decided to grant you two unrestricted access to the condemned animatronic warehouse. It’s free… technically illegal… but hey you know the old Fazbender’s motto, Sweep it Under The Rug It’ll Probably Be Fine.”

…

The two wave as Steven gets into his car which Jack is totally not weird about.

“I see this not being the last time we interact. I’m sure you’ll be in dire need of help again.” Steven says. “Catch you on the Flipside.”

The man drives away, and Jack sighs and sits down in the parking lot.

“You know, I wouldn’t mind seeing him again Mr Kennedy.” Dave says.

“You know what Dave? Me neither.” Jack sighs, before passing out.

[threebooksoneplot]

Episode 15: "Happy New Tear" (Show Notes)

listen along here

Yes, G was sick when we recorded this episode. And what about it

[00:04:25] An example of the type of Rhink youtube compilation Appa is talking about

[00:04:49] A definition of "ficlet," for anyone unfamiliar

[00:06:15] Appa writing 500k words of Rhink fic

[00:09:13] The Twilight book covers in Finnish: Temptation, New Moon, Doubt, Breaking Dawn, Midnight Sun, and Life and Death

[00:10:53] The Good Mythical Morning episode about the "Finland doesn't exist" conspiracy

[00:14:02] “Speaking of chapters” has to be the world’s worst transition from summary to summary I'm moving to Antarctica goodbye

[00:14:30] Shannon’s summary:

TGITC everybody! Thank God for the Cullens, they are truly the stars of this chapter in so many incredible ways. Alice gets to meet her best friend even though she has never once actually had a conversation with said best friend. Rosalie promises to try not to tell Bella she’s a dumb shitbitch for both finding Edward attractive and willingly being around vampires. Emmett is off doing damage control because Edward has upset Rosalie again, and Jasper is keeping his distance but somehow still having a great goddamn time fucking around with everyone’s emotions and laughing at Edward. Carlisle and Esme are just relieved that Bella isn’t scared shitless, and Bella is thirsting for some more of that sweet vampire info, baby. And Edward’s there too I guess.

[00:26:06] An example of an attempt to imagine the khaki skirt as tolerable

[00:32:17] Edward be like

[00:40:49] Turns out there actually were witch trials in Finland, notable because most of the accused were men. Also note that in this case the witches were strangled before they were burned 😬

[00:41:16] A few historical witch hunt misconceptions, including hanging vs burning

[00:43:18] Tumblr user @panlight's debunking of the "sewers in 1660s London," complete with a few sources and a better potential explanation

[00:42:57] Hear/read more about the origins of vampires in folklore in Episode 7 and its Show Notes

[01:24:31] “Doing like a Benjamin Button thing”

[01:47:35] Follow Appa on tumblr here and check out Rowan Menerva's children's books here!

Thanks for continuing to tune in to our wacky little podcast in 2023, y'all!