#to realising I have just over a week left and the anxiety kicking in full force so yeah turns out i still respond to stress

[exopelagic]

i am now entering finals mode so very sorry i’m gonna be dead for approximately 12 days

[charg3rs0ck3t]

“From now on”

TASM! Peter Parker x reader

Tw: Angst, lots of angst, strained relationships, depictions of verbal abuse, depictions of bullying, depictions of depression and anxiety, character goes to therapy for once

It got to a point when I was writing this that it was actually hurting my heart and I had a whole debate wether I should change the ending or not.

———————————————————————

Peter was perfect, and you were an anomaly

———————————————————————

Meeting Peter was possibly the best thing that could have happened to you, but you would have never known that the first day you met him.

He was some ‘happy-go-lucky’ dork, into photography, Maybe not so much a dork, just not so popular.

You were within the ‘middle class’ of high school hierarchy, mainly because you were new, popped out of nowhere with weird clothes and weird slang, everyone just decided “yeah, I want them as my friend.”

Something happened around school one day and Peter seemed more confident in himself, and flash steered clear for once. It was nice to see him walk with a little kick in his step. That was until you realised his walk was leading him straight to you. Looking up to see his face, you confirmed it, his eyes set on you.

And he did walk over, and sit in the empty seat adjacent to you. So you talked, and talked and talked until there was no time left to say anything more ‘lest you want to be verbally abused by Doreen from the kitchen.

“Hey,” he started, staring into your eyes with a huge smile plastered on his cheeks, “let’s be friends from now on!” You nodded and he laughed, you soon followed, this continued until you were both caught in an endless fit of giggles whilst staring at each other. Only interrupted by the hoarse sound of Doreen clearing her throat.

Running away to avoid the onslaught of enraged squawks, neither of you could contain the breathy chortles wracking through your bodies.

Maybe, that was it. Maybe that was the moment you had fallen for him, just as you had into this world.

———————————————————————

You had become part of this world midway through his first year at high school. Dropping from the sky and straight into some poor man’s fruit stall.

You hadn’t known what had brought you here, nor could you remember why, but you remembered your world, your life, your school and so you began to seek it.

Everything was stranger in this world, older, dimmer and frankly a little askew. Learning to live was tough, tougher than it aught, but you made do.

Here was where you found shelter,

Here was he who made it a home.

———————————————————————

You both fell in love, once he had gotten over his puppy adoration for Gwen.

The world was beautiful. He made the northern lights the dimmest thing in your world. You loved each other.

There was never a moment where you could bare to be apart from one another, and so as you aged, you found ways to live as one.

A beautiful apartment, not far from what you hoped to be your dream home. The rolling fields visible from the back windows, the city life in the front now blocked by thick curtains. You found work at home, and had learnt of his heroic endeavours long before your moving in together, and trust that you had soon learnt the knack of sewing.

But something changed, he went out for a swing to clear his head and never returned home. Time stopped, literally stopped.

The world was at a standstill, the world revolved around him and he seemed, now, to be no longer in it.

It seemed to last for weeks, separation anxiety kicking in at full force and worst of all? No one to talk to, a world gone silent. In reality, it was a few hours or at most a day, but he returned back a changed man.

You received a single text, from a number that didn’t seem to exist, a short answer to what had happened, and an “I’m sorry.”

Peter had known you weren’t of this world, he knew whatever this supposed ‘wizard’ was going to do would affect you. But in reality, it seemed to have some opposite affect.

He forgot you.

———————————————————————

Something within him knew you, knew of a life with you, but it was all so fuzzy.

He remembered his time in another world, and his missing of someone, a physical pain from their absence. That feeling always quelled some now though, whenever he was around you.

He thought that maybe it was that you were just his roommate, from the story that you had told him. Although he knew something was wrong, you should have forgotten him, you should have forgotten the existence of Peter Parker, why were you so special?

His return home saw you in a frantic rush to remove personal objects from what he could only assume to be the bedrooms.

After that, tensions were high.

He hated that.

It seemed like for days you couldn’t bare to look at him, but he’d always sneak a glance at you and see you staring longingly at him.

Why were you so confusing?

He thought, he thought long and hard, but the longer and harder he thought, the louder his head got. It hurt to try and remember you.

So instead of remembering his past life, he decided to create some new memories.

Over breakfast one day he confronted you. “I think that whoever we were to each other before must have been very important, so let’s be friends from now on!” He stated as he gave a smile.

You smiled back, and his heart erupted. But then started to cry, long drawn sobs and you ran, faster than he could grab your wrist.

His heart hurt to see you sad.

Everything about him seemed to have a painful longing when around you.

So he decided to distance himself. It didn’t ease the pain, but he managed to rekindle with Gwen. For awhile, she filled that endless void.

They loved each other.

———————————————————————

In that time that Peter and Gwen ‘rekindled’, you shut yourself away. You became bitter before you became mellow.

Peter hated it, you were friends, so why couldn’t you just be happy for him? When you were sad it hurt him and so it but a damper on his love for Gwen. He hated it.

He hated you.

Seeing you were becoming a liability for him, you gave up. He did not need to remember you, and he seemed happier, lighter.

You tried to move on.

Gwen noticed it more than Peter. His immature puppy love was cute but it felt wrong and misled. She hadn’t known what had gone on between the two of you, last she knew you were deeply in love with some guy, but somehow you lived with Peter. Whatever had happened, someone had hurt you.

Gwen was all you had.

When you had begun the relationship with Peter, everyone else seemed irrelevant and so you hadn’t made any friends to confide in.

In the beginning, it was like everyone forgot you, including Peter. Then came Gwen, a blessing and a curse. She became your bestest friend and worst enemy all in one. But she never hurt you, not in the way that Peter had.

You had lost all hope, and so watched him become happier as the days went by, happier than he’d ever be with you.

Him and Gwen moved into your dream house together, just across the hills and visible from the apartments balcony.

Every morning you’d stare at the cottage, heart shattering. Until they took to eating breakfast on the porch, every single day, as though they were mocking you.

Now both sides of the house have thick, closed curtains on the windows. You needed to block out the world, so that’s what you did.

Isolated and paler, the world was caving in, walls crumbling. This is what he did to you.

So you began to get therapy, learnt to get over him. It hurt, it hurt badly. Every step of the way you’d have Gwen. She was ever-sweet and understanding, but you could never tell her what was truly happening, what you truly felt.

Visiting Gwen sometimes made your therapy feel redundant, because you’d see him there, typically doing some mundane task. Then, You’d fall for him all over again.

———————————————————————

He hated that being around you felt so good.

He didn’t understand why he still longed for your company even though he already had Gwen. It was just something about you. But it made him angry, and so he took it out on you.

Whenever Gwen would leave, tensions would be high. Peter had taken to starting petty fights or indirectly insulting you.

It hurt him. It really did, but at least it was a different type of pain, at least it wasn’t the deep rooted longing he kept under lock and key. He hated himself, but he kept doing it, desperately hoping you would understand what he was trying to tell you.

But you never did. In fact, it helped, and soon enough you had reduced that burning desire to him to nothing more than a soft dying ember.

———————————————————————

One day, he did remember.

By then it was too late.

That day you had decided to leave, leave the apartment you owned together, the memories you had made. You were going to make something of your life, something that didn’t involve him.

You had the plane tickets booked, the bags packed and your taxi arriving in 8 minutes.

You were going to leave this false life you had childishly hoped would come back and embrace you once again.

But it all came to late.

The apartment was the same as it was when you had lived together. But he could no longer feel the love radiating from the very bones of the place, it was cold and dusty.

He didn’t realise how dark it was until he turned to stare longingly at your dream house, the house he now lived in with another girl, a girl who’d never be you.

He had just had something click a week ago, and everything fell into place. He lashed out at Gwen and she had left. Everything was destroyed and it was all his fault.

He had found a letter on your desk. A last stitch effort from you to say goodbye, even though you were sure the Peter you now knew would rather burn it than read it.

He had barely got past the point in which you said that you were going to the airport, before he was already hopping in his car, praying to make it before you left him for good.

He has made too many mistakes in his life, he couldn’t tell if loosing you would break him or kill him entirely. The pain he felt right now alluded to the latter.

He found you and his heart expanded and burst all at once. You looked tired. So he thought, on all the times he remembered you coming to the house, all the times he hurt you. You were sick. You had been pale and gaunt and he had made it worse.

You looked better now, much better, but looked so tired, so desolate, he couldn’t bare it.

He came up to you and fell to his knees. Blabbering apologies you had wished to come months ago, apologies that would have bent your life back to him, if only they had came a day sooner.

You stopped him, and he looked up at you with helplessness in his eyes. But you couldn’t do it, you couldn’t put yourself through this again.

“I’m sorry, but let’s be friends from now on, actually no. Your friendship has made me up and broke me down. You were vile to me, all in the name of love and not understanding what you were doing. You deserve this and I don’t. So, Peter Parker, let’s be strangers from now on. Goodbye.”

It hurt, he had to prevent himself from balling on the floor and waiting for death to take him.

Heavy sobs wracked his body as he watched you walk away, not sparing a glance. If only to hide the pitiful tears that had escaped your own eyes.

Peter had always thought he was a whole person, at least, until he saw his other half walk away from him.

As he watched them walk away, he swore he heard a pledge of forgiveness to him, but so wrapped up in his grief, he knew it could only be a manifestation of you, somewhere in his head trying to keep him from drowning in his crippling loneliness.

He was disgusting to you, and if that’s who he was when he did not remember you, he didn’t deserve you at all.

[missymurphy1985]

The Consolidation - Part One (Cillian Murphy X Fem!OC)

Warnings - angst / heartbreak / relationship breakdown

Requested? Yes, but I can't remember who by, so I'm sorry!! Your request was regarding Cillian pining for an ex girlfriend, who he reconnects with during filming Anthropoid abroad. Let me know if it was you and I'll add you to the taglist!

It's an OC fic because it works better for the story.

Masterlist

Taglist @queenshelby @margoo0 @being-worthy @peakyscillian @peakyciills @janelongxox @elenavampire21 @ysmmsy @cloudofdisney @lauren-raines-x @misscarolineshelby @screemqueen @peaky-cillian @misselsbells06 @datewithgianni @heidimoreton @jardinsecos @bitchwhytho @gypsy-girl-08 @queenofkings1212

Two years earlier...

Cillian was looking out the window while his girlfriend of two years, Mila, napped on the couch opposite him. She'd got home from a long night shift at the local hospital only an hour ago, and as he watched the birds flying around outside in their garden, he was trying to clear his mind.

An impossible task while it was full of so much uncertainty. So much concern. Insecurity. Anxiety.

Ultimately - distrust. He couldn't trust her.

How could he?

He'd only been away for a few months filming the latest series of Peaky, and she'd had another man in his house. In his living room. In his bed.

She didn't know he knew. She didn't know he'd seen the photos. Of her arms around this man on his front doorstep. Leading him through his front door. Up his stairs. The photo of his bedroom light flicking on.

The photos ended there, but he had enough evidence, and enough common sense, to know they were not likely to be doing anything else in his bedroom.

The bedroom of the house he welcomed her into with open arms, after being together for nearly a year, meeting in a London bar not long after she'd moved here from Prague after completing a medical degree.

The bedroom of the house he had shared with her for the last two years.

Three years of his life, lost to a woman who had been unfaithful to him how many times? Just this time? Or every time he'd been away? He'd been home to Ireland a few times in the last year - she couldn't get out of work, so she stayed behind. Was she at work?

And who had sent him the photos? The email address used didn't reveal anything about the identity of the sender, and when he replied he had a message to say the address was no longer valid.

The photos were all he had. And it was enough to trigger doubts in his mind about her fidelity...

The platinum and diamond ring he had upstairs in his bedside table was now worthless. The holiday he'd booked for them that summer in the south of France was a waste of time.

His relationship with Mila was over.

Present Day

He kicked her out that day. Blocked her number, refused all contact, erased her from his memory. She'd been hysterical, claiming some crazy ex boyfriend from the Czech Republic was stalking her, sending her threats, apparently the photos had been faked... All bullshit. Who the fuck would believe that?

He sold the house, and moved to Dublin for a fresh start. Heard through mutual friends that she'd moved back to Prague not long after he left London. Probably only stayed with him for the money, couldn't afford to live in London without his pay packet.

And all was going just fine, until that role.

He'd already signed up for it, alongside Jamie Dornan. The media had been notified. The original plans were to film Anthropoid in Ireland, but the director had changed his mind a week before filming was due to begin.

They'd now be filming in Prague. A few streets away from where he'd been told, unwillingly, she lived now.

And Cillian suddenly realised something, when he allowed himself to remember that day two years earlier, having blocked it out for so long...

He still loved her.

[joyfulhopelox]

"I've never cried over a broken dryer before"- "and you better not start now"

gif not mine cr. belongs to owner

Part 1 | Part 2

A/N: got nothing to say for myself really, just listened to a song, the idea hit me and i haven't written anything non science related in a decade so i gave it another go....that being said i realised i am awful at emotions lol. Side note i am from the UK so if some things seem off i apologise

Copyrights @joyfulhopelox

Pairing: Jungkook x reader (College!AU/ University!AU)

Warnings: ? mentions of skin? terrible fluff and flirting attempts

Word count: idk, it would not stop ~4k

A bop. A bop and some alcohol. That is all you needed after a long tiring week of studying for finals and cramming for your practical assessments. This week had been the last week of exam season and you were more than grateful that it had ended. You did not particularly care about how you’ve done on the assessments. That was not your present self’s problem, that was something for future you to worry about. Presently you just wanted to take a nap and head out with your girlfriends on a night out to just dance and drink all the stress away.

You weren’t a drinker, not by a long shot. You barely touched alcohol once or twice a month, and that happened mainly when you would have a get together with your friends. It was hard not to get sucked in when everything around you was so loud and chaotic it made you want to be part of the chaos not just an observer. You’ve done the whole ‘being sober whilst your friends got drunk’ and you swore to yourself it would never happen again. Funny how nights out looked disgusting and cliche when you were actually awake to witness them. From the group who ended up dancing on the tables, to the group who dispersed to hunt for one night stands, to the group who decided to pass out at the bar or in the toilets and then you, the sober one left to pick everyone up and send them back home safely and make sure than no one got into a fight. You sometimes wondered how the hell you got home alright when you ended up actually drinking on these nights out as none of your friends seemed willing to stay sober and watch over you. For once, you were not going to question your luck and just roll with it.

Before you settled for a nap though you knew you had to go downstairs to do your washing. Being a student during exam season meant you were surviving on microwavable food, lots of caffeine, sugar in all sorts of forms and that your tiny dorm room looked as if a hurricane has passed through it with dirty clothes all over the place and bedding that has been left unwashed for at least 2 weeks. You felt disgusting and unfortunately the neat freak in you kicked in, unsuppressed anymore by your pre-exam anxiety. With a sigh you started undoing your bedsheets and stashing them in a basket along with other bits and pieces of clothes. Making sure that you got your laundry detergent and your key card you started lugging the basket out of your room praying to the Gods that the lift was not broken.

Living on the 8th floor had its perks, but not when you were in a sleep deprived hurry. All you could do is check the numbers going down to the lower ground hoping that the lift would not stop at any other floor. But of course your luck would run out, on 3rd floor the lift slowed down and stopped, making you release an angry huff. ‘Of course it would’ you muttered to yourself as the doors opened only to reveal a tall men impatiently tapping his foot. Huffing he too got into the elevator making you aware of his stature. He may have not been as tall as some of the men you’ve seen but he was clearly working out as his muscles made him look way broader than his stature permitted. A gym rat, you rolled your eyes and tried to move the laundry bag and yourself into the corner, the space feeling too cramped for your liking. The dragging sound of the bag made the person turn around and give you a curious glance which you dismissed quickly. You weren’t interested in conversing with strangers on a normal basis let alone a gym rat. Nothing against them, you just had nothing in common and your tired brain did not want to make up a polite small talk.

‘Lower ground?’ the person asked you, surprisingly the voice was soft and clear, something you had not expected of him. It made you glance at him, ‘yeah’ you nodded after composing yourself. The person nodded making their long bangs fall into their eyes which prompted the next two surprises for you; in an attempt to settle his bangs out of his face he not only revealed a muscular defined arm which you’d have to admit was kind of attractive- you’d have to be blind not to notice, but also an array of random tattoos all over his arm and hand. The other surprise hit you a moment later after you realised you’ve been staring at him for a second too long and you sniffed and turned your face away. The smell of alcohol was coming off of him strongly as if he’s been drinking for a few days straight and his pores exuded it. It took you all you had to not cough. Frat boy, gym rat- this guy was ticking all the ‘no no’ boxes and so regardless of how good looking he was he did not deserve second thoughts.

Your prayers being answered, you reached lower ground quicker than expected and you prepared yourself to rush out of the lift. However, the clothes basket was heavier than you’d thought so instead of a swift exit like you’ve planned, you closely resembled Santa dragging his toy sack.

‘Would you like some help with that?’ the guy who’d turned around and observed you amusedly as you struggled extended a hand in your direction. You huffed and dropped the basket on the floor and couldn’t help but notice the basket he held in one hand and how the effort made his muscles and veiny arms that much more noticeable. Hot.

‘’S all good thanks’ however, you were not going to accept his help. You just wanted to get these damn clothes in the wash so you could go and nap away the remainder of your post exam stress. The guy held your gaze for a second too long before he raised an eyebrow and looked unconvincingly at your basket and your face, which was red by now you’d presume. Then shrugging he carried on walking towards the laundry room getting further and further out of your view, and you could have sworn there was an extra spring in his step. That fucker.

After monumental efforts you managed to drag everything to the laundry room only to notice that it had been left propped open by an empty bottle. Entering with difficulty you made your way to the closest washer available and dropped the laundry basket on the floor with a relieved sigh. Bending down to start putting your clothes in, you could definitely hear a snicker behind you. Whas that….? Of course it was, you were the only two souls in there. Everyone else was probably either enjoying some much needed sleep or partying the evening away already. Deciding to ignore him you continued to pile your clothes into the machine and soon enough you got distracted so much so that you did not realise you had started humming.

‘Nice voice you got there, but do both of us a favour, leave it for when you’re on your own will you?’ another snicker from behind. Flustered you whipped around, ‘what?’ his gaze on you held a smouldering effect making you feel as if you were pinned down by just its sheer force. His dark eyes, whilst amused, were also narrowed on your form as if commanding you to listen to what he was saying. Your breath hitched and as much as you’d tried to shrug off the feeling and the temptation to not listen to him and turn around, you found yourself unable to. Trying to hold his gaze your eyes wavered for a split second when the tip of his tongue peeked out from between his lips to wet the lower one. A gesture so fleeting, done as if by habit, but paired with the intense gaze it had your throat constrict and your instincts had been to follow his moves, your own tongue coming out to lick your own suddenly dry lips.

Had you intended to do this to toy with him? No. Has it worked? Judging by the way his eyes travelled slowly and purposefully down your face towards your lips, you could swear it has. Refusing to give him more vulnerability than that you turned around with tremendous efforts and continued pilling clothes into the washer completely missing the way he stared at your ass that was now on display. Biting his lip he gave you another once over before returning to his own washing.

You couldn’t help to glance his way every time you would turn around to pick up more clothes out of the basket. He was sporting a concentrated face, his lower lip caught between his teeth, his broad shoulders and the way his arm muscles were defined by the effort were making you breathless. However, what made your head spin and your heart to skip too many beats for it to be healthy was what happened next. You blame your bad luck - or good luck- for glancing at him only to catch him grab his shirt and give it a tentative sniff and a shrug. So he knew he reeked, but your snicker turned into a hiccup as soon as he had grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head.

Normally a situation like this wouldn’t phase you, you have seen plenty of men naked. But this one, this one was a special one. His bunny like features, defined nose bridge, jawline and floppy but rugged hair were a complete contrast to his defined jawline and...oh lord….were those six or eight abs??

‘What in the name of abs are you doing?’ sputtering you turned to fully face him. What a mistake. He did the same so now you had a full frontal view, first row, VIP seat to his naked upper body. That was definitely a six abs package. Shrugging, which by lord made everything tense up in ways you did not need to see, he threw the longsleeve into the wash and slammed it shut. All that did not take more than 5 seconds but to you, it seemed like a slowed down eternity in which your eyes got a good view of a muscular anatomy.

‘What, it’s dirty and i’m doing my washing?’ he stated as if it was plain as day and absolutely normal to get naked in the laundry room.’In the name of abs? Should i be calling you a peeping Tom?’ A slow forming smirk that made him look dangerously mischievous made its way onto his face.

‘Pffft, what? I said in the name of gods, what are you on about? Why would I be looking at you, whilst you think it’s perfectly fine to strip in a public place??’ he laughed at your clear distress but chose to not to mention your choice of words. ‘Hardly public is it? There’s just you and i in here’ he rebutted whilst turning around to scan his laundry card onto the machine and pressed start. You scoffed indignantly, ‘what am i chopped liver? I’m not goddamn blind’ you mumbled, not for his ears but instead chose to say out loud, ‘what about the poor souls who will see you in the lift back up? Is that not a public place?’

Unbeknownst to you he had clearly heard your previous statement, his smirk once again widening, so you had actually been looking. Good. Clearing his throat he put on as much of a serious face as he could ‘I think it’s unfair to call them poor, this is not cheap accommodation, if they live here it is clear that they are anything but poor’ he knew what you’d meant by poor, but just the annoyed tick in your eyebrow that appeared at his statement was worth it. Choosing to stay silent instead of taking the bait, you returned to your laundry. Only to curse out loud- you had finished it and upon scouring your belongings haphazardly you realised your card was missing. Vaguely remembering you had only taken your room card you groaned, this was not how you’d intended to spend your afternoon before the party.

Without a second’s notice, a tattooed hand with a card appeared before your eyes and the washing machine burst to life. Indignantly you whipped your head around to look at the owner of said hand, ‘what are you doing?’ only to come face to face with the end of a defined collarbone and jawline. And by all that is saintfully just, the line of his throat was just as attractive as the whole of the man. Being this close to him rendered you absolutely useless, jumbled thoughts ranging from ‘i need to pay him back’ to ‘what is he even doing’ to settle in the end to a single thought which you also voiced out loud without even thinking. ‘Your moles are pretty’. You had managed to get past the expanse of his neck to the outline of his lower lip when you noticed his mole, and to your defense- it was cute, but with the whole package, cute is the last word you had in mind. More like- it added a completeness that you would not think he needed but there it was.

He swallowed thickly, enjoying for a second too long the glazed look you had on your face as you said that. ‘And you have nice eyes’ he retaliates even though this is the first time he’s had a closeup look at them. Bright and sparkly, unknown to the both of you, a mirror of each other’s. Sparkly with a promise of something. Something which would have to wait for….if you had your way, forever, if he had his way- a second. You finally willed your legs to step aside and away from the unclothed man.

‘Uh-thanks’ you never stutter, but something about the heavy and thick air around makes it hard to take controlled breaths. ‘For the washing i mean’ you correct yourself. You will never admit to him out loud that him complimenting your eyes made your heart stumble and your brain freeze. You turned around to escape the situation, completely missing the amused expression on the man’s face. ‘You are welcome’ he extends his hand out walking to your side not missing the way you try to put some distance in between the two of you.

‘I’m Jungkook’ he smiles, a complete 180 from his appearance, his smile was warm and genuine, the type of smile that is reflected not only in his eyes but his whole face. His nose scrunches up too cutely, you think to yourself. He somehow resembles a bunny? Mustering up all the courage and bravery your heart still had, you grasp his hand. Hm, soft, odd for a gym head. You knew what he was asking for, but you would not give it to him. As cute as he is, you still tried to tell yourself you were unimpressed. ‘And i’m a poor soul who lives in this block of flats’ you mutter ‘i will pay you back for the washing’.

As soon as you reached your tiny cramped room and settled down for that nap you’ve been craving, you could not help but replay the last words he said to you, sounding way too smug for his own good. ‘Is that you telling me to put a shirt on for your sake?’

[englishrosewritings]

Title: Three Outta Six Ain’t Bad

Main Pairings: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson (Past), Steve Harrington/OFC, Mike Wheeler/Will Byers, Max Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Robin Buckley/Vickie

Tags: Future Fic (and Flashbacks) Bisexual Steve Harrington, Mom!Steve, Angst, Romance, Visual Impairments, M/M, F/M, F/F, Will Get Fruity Later On. 

Rating: Mature

Summary: Do you ever wonder how long it takes to change your life? What measure of time is enough to be life altering? Is it four years like high school? One year? A unknowing length of time rock tour? Can your life change in a month, or a week, or a single day? We're always in a hurry to grow up, to go places, to get ahead. And when you're young, one hour can change everything.

Vecna was slain, Eddie survived and the rag tag team of teenagers and adults could finally breathe. In the words of Dustin, "And thus it was, the New Age of Hawkins began, and the Fellowship of the Upside Down, though eternally bound by friendship and love, was ended."

Or

Eddie left Hawkins soon after the battle. Leaving a devastated Steve and Co. Four years is a lot of time, anything could happen. But now Eddie’s back- but where are Steve and Max? 

Notes: HERE’S SOME SLIVERS OF AN IDEA I’M WORKING ON. PURE ANGST AND SADNESS AS WE LOVE. IT CAME IN A FEVER DREAM. ALSO MAX DESERVES ALL THE LOVE AND FAMILY.

THOUGHTS?

“Where- where’s Harrington?” the question fell from his lips, looking around the older teens with slight confusion and realising he wasn’t the only one missing from the welcome party. Max was gone as well. “And Red?” 

“Steve? Long gone, man.” Dustin spoke up, fidgeting a little in his seat as obvious discomfort flittered onto his face. 

“Gone?” Eddie repeated, feeling a little stumped. Did something happen? Was there another round of the upside down he hadn’t known about on his travels? 

Mike nodded alongside Dustin, his arm tightening around Will’s shoulder. “Yeah, he left not long after you.”

“Max went with him.” Lucas added, looking downcast at the knowledge of it. 

Eddie felt a wave of sadness hit him, his confusion building on why he had left and taken Max and no one else. It fell into an uneasy silence, Eddie’s right hand swivelling a ring on his left as his mind was full of thoughts on why. And as if they could read his mind, his thought track was interrupted-

“What did you expect dude?! You just left-”

“Dustin-” Will kicked him harshly under the table, shaking his head furiously to get him to shut up. 

“No- No I won’t. Sorry not sorry, he’s gotta hear it-”

Mike groaned as Will ran a hand over his face. Lucas had become intensely interested in the pattern of the table top as Eddie’s eyes darted between the boys quickly. 

“-Hear what?” Eddie could feel the heat of eyes on him, anxiety beginning to build in him alongside an anger at Dustin- the once quiet fourteen-year-old who had idolised him now a taller, moodier eighteen year old with an apparent grudge. What had happened to the quick as a whip smarty pants who had looked up to Eddie?

The look he was shot was full of revulsion as Dustin threw up his hands. 

“You’re the reason he left!” 

Meanwhile:

March 1990 - Thousand Oaks, Ventura County, California.

Sunlight drifted into the kitchen, Waiting For A Star To Fall gently trilling from the radio as he made his way around the kitchen. A melodic hum came from his mouth as he placed two plastic plates in front of the awaiting grabbing hands of two little boys. 

"Bananas for Wesley, Strawberries for Theodore- your meals are served young sirs." he teased, giving them a large, over-exaggerated bow as giggles followed. 

"No fighting, okay? You both have the same amount of waffle- what do we say?" he prodded, raising a brow. 

"Sank you, daddy."

"Tanks." 

Steve beamed, before turning his back and picking up another much larger plate. He put it on the breakfast counter before pouring himself some coffee. Mornings were part of his favourite time before the hectic day started and his household was all over the place. 

The time for reflection and silent thoughts, enjoying the moment he found himself in and nothing made his morning more than seeing his boys. Already dressed in matching shorts and Ocean Pacific t-shirts -a gift from Argyle and Jonathan for their third birthday- happily shoving fruit in their mouths and sipping juice. 

"Mmm, there better be some for me." a voice came behind him, making him swivel his torso to take in the sight of Tiffany standing there with a grin. His own grew as he handed over the cup gladly. "Morning, sweetheart. How'd you sleep?" he asked, before grabbing another mug for himself. 

She smiled her thanks, taking a grateful sip as she ruffled the boy's hair. "Extremely well. Certainly makes a change from other times-" she pointed to the boys with a chuckle. 

It certainly was rough in the beginning, there had been many sleepless nights, and the terrible twos of the constant waking and running around their bedroom and refusing to rest had definitely caused Steve's first grey hair. 

But in their three-year mark, it seemed routine was now beginning to take effect. "Well, I'm glad you got some rest. There are waffles if you want some and fresh fruit-"

"-You know you're doing my jobs, right? I should be making breakfast and getting these two knuckleheads ready for pre-k." she insisted, despite walking over and sliding beside him to grab a waffle and a spoonful of strawberries. 

"Yes, but I was up early and thought I would treat you. Problem?" he countered, taking a sip of his coffee as his other arm came up to wrap around her shoulders. 

"I mean, I'm not complaining. It certainly makes my morning easier." she replied, popping a strawberry into her mouth. 

"Oh- heads up incoming-" as she spoke, he felt a piece of banana hit his cheek and he pulled away from Tiffany with a bemused look towards the boys. 

"Really Wes?" he was met with raucous laughter and even Tiffany let out a snort. He rolled his eyes, wiping a thumb across his cheek to remove the sticky sweetness from his skin. "I heard banana is really good as a face mask, they're just trying to make their daddy even prettier, isn't that right boys?" they were met with amused nods, little teeth showing mashed up food. 

"I'll allow it because I am indeed pretty." he muttered, preening just a little. 

"Ugh, don't feed that ego please- his head is big enough as it is." another voice joined them and Steve looked over to the latest arrival, a fond smile on his face despite the mean dig as Max walked further into the kitchen. 

"Morning grumpy head." he greeted, eyes remaining on her and watching her navigate her way towards the breakfast counter. 

“Waffles on the left hand side, strawberries and blueberries on the right and syrup is to the left of you.” Max threw a smile in his direction, hand coming out to gently wrap around the indicated syrup bottle as her other felt around for the edge of the plate. “Thanks, Steve.” she added, generously pouring it over the waffle stack before placing it back on the counter-top once she had judged the distance.

“I’m going to drop you off today, I need to give the office your robe size- are you alright coming home by yourself? If not, I can get Tiffany to pick you up. You don't mind, do you?” Tiffany shook her head. 

"Nah, it's fine. I have errands to run but it won't take too long." Max nodded, using a fork to pierce some of the fruit. “Yeah, I can manage. I have my stick. I got this, mom.” She teased, shoving the fork into her mouth and sliding the fruit off, chewing happily. 

“You’re lucky you’re cute.” Steve muttered darkly, walking over and placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “Oh please, I don’t even need to see to know you stand at school with your hands on your hips- probably tap your foot and jingle your keys whenever you’re waiting for me. Proper mom vibe.” She continued, before popping in another mouthful as Tiffany stifled her laugh. 

“If I’m the mom then Tiff is going to have to settle into being the dad. I’m not sure how that won’t screw with the twin’s head.” He added with a chuckle. “They’ll cope. It’s not as if we’re the most conventional. Even if on paper I am your daughter. Still weird as hell, not going to lie-”

It was weird. At least in Steve’s eyes to begin with. 

TBC.

[justnerdthings]

New Beginnings Ch. 15

F!Reader x Liu Kang/Kung Lao

Bit of a timeskip here. Also this chapter contains nsfw!

I know at least one reader is going to want to shank me after reading this. It's okay. I promise I'll make it up to you.

@ancientowlgirl @poor-unfortunate-soul-85 @shang-hung

Weeks had passed. You were in full training mode. You had learned the layout of the temple. You were much more familiar with the customs of the monks. You were comfortable.

Well, almost.

Your muscles were sore from training. Lao and Liu had put you on a fast track. The tournament was still five years away, but you had so much to catch up on. As for the boys…

You had put a wall up. They’d both been pinning for you. Of course you knew they would be. Ever since that kiss with Liu… Ever since Lao admitted his feelings for you… It had been one wild ride after the other. But you had made it clear to both of them: You were not ready for any relationships.

God, you hated telling them that. What were you thinking? They were both incredible choices. You’d never have options like them back home. Were you crazy for telling them both to back off? Probably. But did it help you adjust to temple life? Absolutely. You had enough to worry about around here. A relationship with one of them would have been nice, but the rivalry between them would have destroyed them. You couldn’t risk that.

Raiden had commended your approach to this issue. He’d been pleasantly surprised by your restraint. He’d even offered to help. You still had no idea how Raiden could help, but the offer was nice. You’d opted for ol’ faithful: staying so busy that you didn’t have time to think about relationships.

Of course at night that didn’t work. You’d spent nights staring at the ceiling, or tossing and turning, being drowned in loads of inappropriate thoughts. And of course, you’d taken it upon yourself to relieve some of that tension. Other nights, you thought about what life would be like with one or the other. You’d gotten to know them both so well over the past few weeks that you had pretty clear visions of what relationships would be like with them.

You weren’t sure you could choose between those two visions. But, it didn’t matter. You had no time for that. Five years. You had five years to turn into a lean, mean, killing machine!

A nudge to your shoulder brought you out of your thoughts. Looking up, Lao was watching you with concern. He stopped you in the hallway.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

“Yeah. Sorry. Just lost in thought.” You yawned then and stretched your arms out over your head.

“What are you thinking about?” Lao asked curiously and followed along with you as you began walking again.

“You. Liu.” You shrugged. You didn’t see the point in hiding these thoughts anymore. They both knew how you felt. They both knew how each other felt.

Lao lifted a brow. “Yeah? What about us?”

“Just… kicking myself for telling you both to back off,” you sighed.

He seemed to perk up then. “Yeah?”

“I feel like an idiot. But I know it’s the right choice.”

“How do you know?”

“What do you mean, how do I know? I got five years to turn into you and Liu. I can’t be distracted. I need to buckle down. I have to stay focused.”

He sighed. “If we die in the tournament, then we won’t get the chance later,” he reasoned. And you’d thought of that. He was right. If you died in the tournament, and let’s be honest, which was highly likely, you wouldn’t get the chance to choose later. But if you did choose now, then you would mostly likely be too distracted to keep up your training. The tournament would come. You wouldn’t be ready. You’d be killed… But at least you’d have loved. Right?

You sucked in a breath. This sucked. All of it sucked.

Lao noticed that familiar look of conflict on your face. He frowned at you. “You’re allowed to enjoy yourself, Y/N.”

“I can do that after the tournament.” God that was an awful excuse. You weren’t even going to survive the tournament. How could you enjoy yourself afterward?

He sighed. Did he think you telling him and Liu to back off was stupid? No. He’d admit you had very valid points. But he wasn’t a fan of how you were handling yourself. Before, you could relax and enjoy yourself, even if you did throw yourself into panic attacks. But now… This ‘buckle down’ attitude you had adopted… Both Lao and Liu had watched you busy yourself to exhaustion every night. He hated that.

“I need you two to keep pushing me,” you told him. You’d told them both this plenty of times over the past few weeks. Keep you busy. Keep you distracted. Make you stronger. Whatever it took.

Ordinarily Lao would be happy to keep pushing a student… But you weren’t just a student anymore. You were the woman he had eyes for. The woman Liu had eyes for. And even though they’d both been told to keep a level of distance, they both hated it.

He hated it.

And over the past few weeks, Lao had noticed a change in you. Liu chalked it up to you finally being free of your medication and withdrawal. That this was the real you. That this overly focused, morbid, husk of yourself was the real you. And not only did that medication keep you from panicking everyday, but that it made you happy.

Liu had done some research on the medication you were on. Sertraline, he’d said it was. Not only was it for anxiety. But it was for depression as well.

Was that what they were witnessing? Depression? This didn’t seem like any depression Lao had seen before. Depression was supposed to be sadness, wasn’t it? Moping around? Hating yourself? Maybe even suicidal? You didn’t seem sad… But you weren’t very happy either. You weren’t suicidal that he could tell. Maybe you brooded, but he wouldn’t say you moped. And hating yourself?... Yeah, he’d seen that when you grew frustrated. You’d talk down to yourself. You’d cuss yourself out… Was this what depression really looked like?

He hated it.

Stopping at your door, Lao offered you a smile, which you returned, but Lao could see that it was forced. He hated that too: That forced smile you always gave him and Liu now. But it was a battle he didn’t want to fight. He’d continue to let it go.

You stepped into your room and left the door open. He’d hesitated before following you in. Your room was a mess. Clothes everywhere. Cups and plates left all over. You didn’t seem to mind it, but it annoyed him. It’d grown worse and worse over the weeks. He watched as you kicked aside some clothes carelessly, then you suddenly froze.

His brows knotted as you stood so rigid. He followed your fixed gaze. His own body stiffened.

Now, Lao wasn’t an easy man to frighten. Some had even claimed he was fearless. He could slice and dice his way through hordes of enemies. He could reach through someone’s chest and tear out their still beating heart. He laughed in the face of danger. But one fear he had never managed to conquer… was what he was looking at right then.

Without a word, he slowly backed out of your room. You didn’t notice until you backed up and reached behind yourself for him, only to grasp air. Turning, he was gone. Your brows knotted. He was just there. He was just there. Where did he—

You noticed him peek around your doorway cautiously. Confusion was practically dripping from your features. “Is it dead yet?” He asked. For the first time that you could recall. Lao’s voice had shaken.

Oh. Great. He was afraid of it, too. Him. A killer like him. Great.

You looked back to the source of both of your fears. Your heart skipped several beats. It was gone. Where did it go?! You looked around frantically. Where did it go?! Where did it go?! You weren’t going to sleep in your room until you found it! You weren’t going to sleep here at all unless you saw it leave, or it dead! Preferably dead! It and its whole family! Dead!

Movement caught the corner of your eye and you screeched and swatted at your shoulder. You ran out of your room, flailing, beating yourself, hyperventilating. “Get it off! Get it off!” You shouted. But Lao was backing away with fearful eyes.

“You get it off!” he shouted back.

He wasn’t going to help you?! You were freaking out! You shook your gi out and swatted yourself all over as Lao watched on at a distance.

You stopped as Liu came over, face full of concern. He must have heard your shouting.

“What is going on?” He asked, looking you over, looking for whatever you were trying to rid yourself of. He didn’t see anything. You realised, by his complete confusion, that you were fine. It wasn’t on you. You breathed a sigh of relief, then joined Lao in peeking back into your room.

Liu’s brows were about as knotted as they could get as he stepped in the doorway and looked in.

“It’s still in there,” Lao said.

“What is?” Liu asked.

“That eight legged bastard,” You answered.

Liu let that sink in for a second before he turned his head to you and Lao. A spider? All this over a spider? He knew Lao didn’t like them. He knew you didn’t like them. But both of you scared of them? He almost laughed at the two of you. “It’s just a spider,” he reasoned. Honestly, what was the worse it could do?

“Don’t say it’s name!” You hissed at him. “You’ll anger it!”

Liu couldn’t help that chuckle. He shook his head and stepped into the room, ignoring the mess for the moment.

“No, don’t!” You called after him.

“It’s just a spider,” Liu said again, grinning as he looked around your room. “Where is it?”

“I don’t know,” you answered. “It was on the ceiling. Then I thought it was on my shoulder.”

Liu looked up at the ceiling, but he couldn’t see any spider. His eyes looked over the walls, the corners, the floor. He even pulled your sheets back to see if it had crawled into your bed. Nothing. He couldn’t find that spider. “I don’t see it,” he finally said with a sigh.

“I do,” Lao said. His voice was distant. You turned to look at him. He was down the hall several paces. He lifted his hand and pointed at you. You felt the icy chill of anxiety wash over you. “It’s on your back,” Lao said.

Your body tensed up. You were shaking. A whine left you.

“Hold still,” Liu said behind you. You had fought against every fiber of instinct to beat yourself again. You stood rigid as Liu’s hands came to your back. You held your breath. When you felt his hands leave you, you sucked in a shaking breath. “Is it gone?”

Liu came around you. He showed you the spider in his hands.

Oh, fuck that. You backed away frantically and tried to hide behind Lao, but Lao was trying to hide behind you as well.

Liu watched you two with such amusement. He chuckled and shook his head again. “I’ll go release it elsewhere,” he told you both before walking away.

Once Liu and that eight legged bastard were far enough away, you shuddered the rest of your nerves off. Lao was watching you. He grinned sheepishly.

You shoved at him as anger came over your face. “YOU ASSHOLE!”

“What?” Lao said, lifting his hands defensively.

“Some friend you are!”

“I don’t like spiders!” He shouted back.

“Neither do I!” You screamed.

“I would have helped you!” He shouted with hesitation. Lying.

“‘You get it off!’” You repeated his words, mocking him.

“I thought you could!”

“Fucking asshole!”

“Hey!” His brows knit in anger. “If you had kept your room clean, then the spider wouldn’t have been there in the first place!” He accused you. “Ever since you told Liu and I to back off, you’ve been miserable!” He shouted.

“I’m trying to focus on the tournament!” You defended yourself.

“Stop pretending this is all about the tournament!”

“It is all about the tournament!”

“No, it’s not! It’s about us! Me and Liu!”

Your face was turning red in anger. You hated him. You hated him so much. You hated him because he was right. You were so flustered. So frustrated. It was about them. You couldn’t bring yourself to choose, so you threw up a wall to keep them out. You hated it! But it was working!

“I’m right, aren’t I?!” Lao shouted.

You were glaring daggers at him. “Fuck you,” you hissed at him.

“I am, huh?!”

“Fuck. You!”

“Fuck me yourself, coward!” Lao shouted, his own frustration was getting the best of him. And you could see he was just as surprised by his own words as you were.

You two stared at each other. You were daring each other to make the first move. Like hell would you make the first move.

And you didn’t. In a few short moments, Lao came to you. He grabbed hold of your face with firm, yet gentle hands, and pulled you right into a hot and rough kiss.

You went rigid again as your lips connected. Every bit of you was screaming to push him away. But your body wouldn’t move. You couldn’t even breathe. Your head was flooding with hormones that had been denied the past weeks. The angels on your shoulders were arguing. And just as quick as it had happened, Lao had pulled away.

You stared at each other in silence again. Your eyes were locked on each other’s. Your chest was heaving now with shallow breaths. Your heart was pounding so hard that you could hear it.

But that kiss… You could groan. You’d wondered what kissing him would be like. You knew what kissing Liu was like. You wanted to know what kissing Lao was like. It wasn’t at all the same, but the situation was vastly different. With Liu you had been scared and curious… Then later on it was like fireworks as you both grew comfortable. But with Lao… It was out of nowhere and you were both frustrated and angry. The kiss was short and rough… And you wanted more.

You shifted your weight. Reaching up, you grabbed his stupid hat off his head and dropped it to the floor very unceremoniously. You then pulled him back into a kiss. It was sloppy and hard. It was full of spiteful passion. And as Lao backed you against the wall, it grew hungry.

Lao pressed himself against you, pinning you against the stone wall as his hands gripped your waist. You could feel his own heart pounding against your chest. Your fingers curled into his hair. You tugged. His top knot came loose, but neither of you cared. He growled into your lips and the sound almost made you submit your entire self to him. You pushed your hips into his, earning another gruff sound from him. You tried to push him back, but he simply shoved you back against the wall. You grunted and broke the kiss to look up towards the ceiling.

Lao’s lips moved down your jaw and to your neck. You couldn’t help the little moan that escaped you. He’d shifted. His hands moved down your backside. They lingered on your ass for a few seconds before they moved lower, then gripped the back of your thighs. In one smooth motion, he’d lifted you off the floor and wrapped your legs around his waist. Oh, shit, was that hot. You tugged at his hair, pulling his head up so you could kiss him again. This was a mistake. This was a horrendous, lovely mistake.

Lao pulled you from the wall and carried you into your room. He’d managed to kick the door shut behind him without breaking your kiss. You blindly reached behind him for the door, searching for the lock. Once you felt it, you yanked it to latch. Lao heard the harsh clash of the iron lock and carried you further in, to your bed, and dropped you onto the mattress.

You stared up at him with wide eyes. You were catching your breath as you watched him begin to remove his clothes. Your heart was skipping all kinds of beats as you finally realised the situation at hand. You had to stop. You had to stop right now. This wasn’t right. You couldn’t do this. You had to stop right now. But as Lao removed his top and revealed those well chiseled abs, your mind went blank. Ah, shit.

He climbed over you with a famished look in his eyes. Lao was starved. He’d been fighting his feelings for weeks, just like you. And also like you, he was tired of it. It was distracting. You’d been lying to yourself. You’d been telling yourself you didn’t need this. Didn’t need him. Didn’t need Liu. Not like this. You’d been telling yourself they were just teammates… What a load of bullshit. You wrapped your arms around his neck as he lowered himself for another kiss.

You couldn’t choose between them. And you were sure that if it had been Liu who had grabbed you and pulled you into a kiss just minutes ago, that he’d be the one laying over you right then instead of Lao. But Liu wouldn’t have pulled you into that kiss. When you’d told him and Lao that you didn’t want a relationship weeks ago, he didn’t protest. He backed off. He gave you space. Liu always respected your boundaries. But Lao always pushed them.

Lao let a hand roam down your side. His fingers slipped under your belt. He simply pulled it free. He pulled open your gi. He was starting to undress you like an impatient child unwrapping their present on Christmas morning. You rolled your body against his. His hand dragged along your bare stomach. Goosebumps plagued your body at his touch. You could feel his excitement as he grinded it against you.

You groaned into the kiss. He grinned against your lips. You tangled your hand into his hair again and pulled his head away so you could catch your breath. He gladly went to kissing and sucking on your neck as he moved his hand up… up… and he grabbed a handful of your breast still confined in your bra. You moaned and rolled your hips against him.

There was a knock at your door.

Both you and Lao froze, staring at each other, barely breathing. Maybe if you were both quiet, whoever it was would think you weren’t there.

Another knock, and Liu’s voice called from behind the door. “Y/N?”

You sighed. Dammit, Liu. This was not the right time. Lao was giving you a look and shaking his head. He wanted you to ignore Liu, and to encourage you, he began to trail some soft kisses along your throat. You tilted your head back and sighed contently, letting your eyes close. But as Lao nipped your skin, a cry escaped you.

“Y/N?” Liu’s tone was full of concern. “Are you alright?” He must have heard you. Dammit.

Lao hid his face in the crook of your neck. His frustration was only growing now. You stroked the back of his head gently, silently reassuring him before you squirmed out from under him. You grabbed your belt from the floor and quickly tied your gi closed. You ran your fingers through your hair. Then you unlocked your door and opened it only a few small inches--just enough to peek out, but not enough for Liu to see past you.

You caught his warm brown eyes and that gentle smile came to his face. “Y/N,” he greeted, despite seeing you only a little while ago.

You returned his smile, again it was forced, but now for a different reason than simply wanting to distance yourself from him. “Liu.”

“I released the spider on the north end. I figured that would be far enough away,” he told you. You felt your nerves fire up. You’d forgotten all about that spider. You could have gone the rest of your life not remembering that spider. But you were thankful Liu had told you where he left it. Now you knew where to look out for the little bastard. Luckily, you didn’t spend much time in the north end of the temple.

“Thank you,” you breathed, then nodded.

“Are you alright?” His voice was full of concern again. “I thought I heard you crying?”

“No. I mean, yes. I’m fine.” You shook your head. “Just still a little shaken, I guess.”

His eyes scanned over your face, taking in every detail not blocked by the door. And you noticed how his eyes lingered on your lips. He’d done that so much since you’d both had your first kiss with each other. And you wouldn’t lie, you’d found yourself doing it as well. You noticed his breath hitch slightly as you bit your bottom lip gently. You were thinking about kissing him again. About feeling his hot lips engulfing yours.

Rustling from behind you reminded you that you’d already had a pair of lips to kiss--ones that were just all over you a second ago. Dammit. This is why you put up that damn wall. You let your forehead fall into the door frame and sighed at your own dumbassery.

“Are you alright?” Liu asked again, stepping closer.

You nodded and looked at him out the corner of your eye. Dammit, he was so cute looking at you like that. “Can we talk later?” you asked him. “I’m just exhausted right now.”

He smiled again. He bowed his head. “Of course.”

“Thank you.” You smiled back to him and stepped away from the door to close it. After a few seconds, when you thought Liu was out of earshot, you hissed curses under your breath. You turned and leaned back against your door, covering your face. This was a complete disaster.

“Hey…” Lao called over cautiously. You could hear him climb off your bed and step towards you. You let yourself slide down your door. When you pulled your hands away from your face, Lao frowned at the sight of you. He knelt down in front of you and reached out to hold either side of your face. His thumbs wiped at your tears.

“I can’t do this anymore,” you’d finally admitted as you began breaking down. Lao’s eyes were desperately searching yours, but it was a futile effort. There wasn’t anything else to see. You weren’t hiding anymore.

“It’s okay,” he told you gently.

You shook your head as the tears flowed freely down your face. “No it’s not,” you sobbed. “I can’t do this anymore.”

“Yes, you can.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.”

“I don’t want to.”

His jaw hardened. Lao didn’t know what to say. That was the one thing he didn’t want to hear. That was the one thing Liu was worried you’d say in the beginning. And you were saying it now because of them. Dammit.

He shifted to his knees and closer to you. His grip on your face tightened only slightly as he looked at you with such guilt you’d never seen. “Don’t go,” he said--he begged. “I’ll back off. I promise. I’ll even tell Liu to keep his distance.”

You were shaking your head again. “It’s not going to work. This is just going to happen again.”

“You can’t leave…”

“Is there anyone else who can train me?”

“Y/N…”

“Any women? Warrior nuns?”

Lao’s frown deepened. “Please…”

You pulled your head from his hands. “I want to be alone,” you told him as you wiped your face with your hands.

Lao looked so defeated in that moment. He didn’t know what to do. His brows knotted as grief washed over him. Why did he have to kiss you? If he’d just walked away, you wouldn’t be wanting to leave. Why did he have to screw this up? Why did Liu have to come back?! He was clenching his teeth as he stood and grabbed his top from the floor. He slipped into it as you got to your feet and retreated into your little bathroom. Lao opened your door and stepped out. He closed the door behind him. He turned to walk away.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

Liu was leaning against the opposite wall, staring at him with a knowing look. Lao stiffened.

“How?...” Lao began, but didn’t get to finish before Liu pointed to the floor. Lao followed the gesture and there it was: his hat, still laying carelessly on the floor where you had dropped it. Dammit. He sighed and reached out, summoning it back into his hand.

But how much did Liu know? Did he just assume what had happened in your room, or had he heard your crying just on the other side of the door?

“I think we need to talk,” Liu told him, and the tone Liu had used told Lao that Liu had heard the crying. That wasn’t the ‘I’m disappointed in you, Kung Lao’ tone. Nor was it the tone Liu used when he was angry with Lao. It was the bad news tone. It was the ‘we fucked up’ tone. It was the tone he had when they needed to admit something to Raiden.

Lao had sucked in a deep breath. He nodded to his brother.

[writings-by-blondie]

~If The Stars Could Speak~

Soap Mactavish x F!Reader (teaspoon of Angst)

She was way too good for him and he knew that yet he couldn't forget the way her (h/c) hair fell over her shoulders, her laugh and a bit cold, but glittery look of her (e/c) eyes when their gaze met for the first time..it was like he could see universe in them.

He was in cold, gloomy, Russia, on a mission that was to be last, scribbling down words on the peace of paper, counting down hours till he get to hold her forever...

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

His most trusting man, and friend, Simon and him decided to lay back and enjoy some free time they were granted away from their ever noisy and ever busy camp.

They were at downtown, walking and talking about how tonight is their night - they will leave job at office and they will just enjoy strong alcohol and good music.

The night was a bit chilly, but nothing unusual for the late September.

That just meant that John will finally have chance to wear that nice black spitfire jacket he bought not long ago, and he looked well in it.

As the two men walked they spotted the bar they wanted to be in for the rest of the night, right outside of it, sticking out like a sore thumb was parked some expensive car that John didn't know how to indenify as. He wasn't a big car head like his friend.

"Look at this mate. Its Porsche, bet some meat heads are in this place",

said Simon chucking and eyeing the car and tilting his head slowly towards the bar.

Mactavish smirked and pushed his friend gently as he started walking in, "You have a problem with that or you're just scared of guys who drive expensive cars, eh?".

Inside of the bar you and small group of your friends were in VIP lounge. Infront of you, on small glass table was a bucket filled with ice that kept some red bulls and couple of Baltica beers cold.

You were drinking Jack Daniels, your glass half full. Being tipsy already, you fake-laughed at some perverse joke friend next to you finished telling.

Tonight, you really felt down. Truth to be told, you've been feeling under the weather last couple of months, nothing seemed to go the right way and nothing you did could change that feeling. On top of that your stupid poosh boyfriend broke up with you over text last week, and even though you understood that your friends cared for you and wanted you to forget about that fool and enjoy yourself, you still couldn't shake away the bitterness and just wanted to curl away in your bed, eat some strawberry ice cream and watch ‘Casablanca’.

But here you were, in a black dress that glittered under the light, your hair styled in lazy but not messy curls, and your over-expensive white heels. You looked like the IT girl that every man would want for them selves, to put you on pedestal and admire you.

(Y/n) leaned back in the black leather seat before she took a deep sigh that was followed by pouting and throwing down rest of the Jack that was in her glass down her throat. It burned for a bit, but the sweet flavour of alcohol made her want to drink more, so she opened the half empty bottle and poured more of the honey-coloured liquid into her glass.

She leaned in close to her friend on the left and whispered,

"I need to go and check my make up. Save a seat for me, and dont touch my bottle, I will know if you do.",

you almost groaned last words since you knew well that your friends loved to mess with you.

The (h/c) girl now stood up, taking her light coloured purse that matched with her heels, in her hands and started walking towards the washroom of the bar.

The floor was wooden, hard wood, after all the bar was made to accommodate high class people and to draw in tourists who had a lot of money to spend. Her heels making a little bit noise as her steps collided with the floor. It was a southing sound, like when rain hits the metal.

Her hips swayed as her dress didn't quite hug her whole neatly shaped figure, so it swayed with her movements, glittering under the dim light of the noisy bar.

She had to watch every step since she felt that the alcohol was indeed kicking in, but the song playing on stereos drew her attention and just for a tiny moment she forgot completely that she had heels on.

"Shit-", you muttered loudly as your purse left your hands and you could see the dark wooden floor getting close to you now, but you weren't colliding with it, instead you felt stern grip on your waist, feeling the coldness of someones hand that went straight to your skin, under the dress. You furrowed eyebrows before looking up, facing a, without any exaggeration, handsomest man you ever laid eyes upon.

His eyes, blue as the sea in mid July in the noon, almost glittering like a waves when they shine under the hot sun. His smell now invaded your nostrils touching your senses, stimulating them, wanting more of it. It was pine mixed with old brand of ‘denim’, manly but still subtle, just enough.

He smiled at you softly looking into your eyes, not breaking eye contact once.

"Careful now lass, we don’t want any broken bones yet, the night is still young eh?..", he spoke with thick and extremely attractive (for some reason) Scottish accent and she took deep breath in, as the man slowly placed the girl in front of him back on her legs, parting his hand with her waist. The girl licked her lover lip, realizing now that she was blushing way more than it was appropriate for this kind of situation and softly muttered, "Sorry.. The heels..", under her breath before she walked pass the man and disappeared into woman's washroom.

Mactavish however trailed her with his eyes, her long and subtly toned legs, and the way the subtle cutout on her dress reviled a bit of her thigh. She was clearly in distress and he couldn't help but chuckle a bit to himself as he picked up her purse from the floor and sat down in the nearby booth with Simon.

"What the hell was that?", Riley said as he took off his black leather jacket, placing it next to him.

"It was like some scene out of those old movies mate. Its like, in that one moment, universe existed to put us together.", John smiled to himself, also placing his jacket next to him, being a bit surprised at his own words, he wasn't cheesy, but romantic? He was that.

And he would never let any of his friends know that since well, it was an army and he didn't need Ghost going around the base telling everyone that their captain was softie.

"Since when are you that cheeky eh? Maybe Price doesn't make you do enough pushups at morning." Simon smirked at his friend and raised his hand to call the bartender,

"Its a quote, some of us are literate cinema vise mate", Mactavish smirked back at him leaning over the table, trying to reach for his cigars in his back pocket, "But she is bonnie, nonetheless.".

In washroom you tried to steady your breathing. You put your hand on your chest and closed eyes, but the only thing you could see was the man's eyes and his face. Girl quickly opened her eyes and looked at her reflection in big mirror that was placed on black and white tiles. (Y/n) looked at her face, noticing few spots where her make up was messed up, she pouted a bit and reached down on the sink for her purse, but her palm was met only with cold marble sink.

You quickly shot your gaze towards your hand, with your eyebrows furrowed. Eyes darting across the sink, around it and eventually around the whole washroom then the realisation hit you like a heavy boulder- you dropped your purse when you tripped, when he grabbed you.

"For fucks sake..", you muttered under the breath. It was enough humiliating that probably whole bar watched you stumble around like a new born deer and almost kiss the floor, but now you had to go retrieve your purse that was probably still on the ground and go back to washroom again looking like a lost highschool girl on the party.

You shook your head and realised that stupid anxiety attack got your judgment clouded- people fall every day, and they drop stuff everyday too.

The girl now straighten her posture, fixed her hair a bit and opened the door, exiting the cool room she was in before heading to the booth were she dropped her purse, but to her surprise the purse was not on the floor instead she heard familiar thick accent from the booth next to where she was standing,

"Looking for this lass?", the man waved with her purse smiling at her with one of his brows raised, his friend watching her, waiting for her next move.

You swallowed a big gulp, approaching the booth were the men were sitting slowly, taking your purse from the blue eyed man,

"Yes, thank you. Saving me from embarrassment.. Very noble of you.", you said with a now confident voice, not breaking eye contact with him. There was something about him, something unexplainable. It was like that with every second she looked at his face, at his slightly parted lips as a little smile formed on his face, you were losing grip on the time it was like a whole universe worked for you and him.

"Glad I could help ma'am. Those shoes do look dangerous, better watch your step.", the man spoke and she smiled at him, shyly nodding and turning around, breaking the eye contact with him, slowly walking towards her own booth where her friends were loud and drunk.

But every step you took was heavier than the last one, you didn't want to go there, you wanted to sit with him, smell that invading pine again, feel his touch again.. Was this alcohol that was in your bloodstream?

You stopped suddenly and took a deep breath, before turning on your heels and going back to the two man who were now smoking, their drinks were on their table as well.

"Oh screw it. Universe, dont make a fool out of me!", you thought internally as you approached back their booth, and both men looked up at you again.

"Do you need some help lassie? Are you feeling well?", the blue eyed man asked. You actually just now noticed that he had his hair styled as a mohawk and it suited him so nice, the scar over his eye stuck out as well.

You snapped out and shook your head in denial,

"Would you mind if I joined you for a drink?",

Ghost cleared his throat and looked away with a huge smirk over his face, avoiding John’s stern look. Mactavish moved himself to the left, leaving vacant place for the girl to sit and nodded his head down while putting out cigar that was already burned.

You sat next to him, smiling and biting inside of your cheek, leaving your purse on the edge of the table waving to the bartender to get his attention, you showed him universal sign for ‘another bottle’ and the man nod to you.

You returned your attention towards two men who were gazing at you the whole time.

"So, who wishes to start this AA meeting? How about you sir?", you pointed at men across from you. Both men cracked at your joke before the one you pointed at started talking,

"Name's Simon, that’s Soap- I mean John..", Simon barely held in his laugh looking away from the pair. You looked at men next to you and his jaw was clenched, he obviously didn't like that one.

"Y/N, nice to meet you fellas. This night needed some life in it. I was dying of boredom over at VIP's. Some fresh environment is nice..",

you smiled at John who was downing his beer, slowly he nod at the girl and the bartender finally came with your new bottle of Jack and three glasses for each of you.

"Put it on my bill, thanks.", you said and John eyed you as you opened the bottle of whiskey and poured everyone about a half of the glass, raising your own towards him as you finished. You smirked a bit, leaning towards him, unintentionally, your thigh subtly brushed against his light blue denim jeans.

"Cheers to not breaking bones and to concerned strangers.”, you said the words, slowly looking up at his eyes yet again.

John looked down at you, slowly colliding his glass with yours.

"Well, cheers to me I guess..", Simon muttered to himself and downed down the glass. You couldn't help but laugh sincerely, John joining you while rolling his eyes at Simon,

"Ghost getting ghosted, this will be the story to tell the mates back at camp for sure..".

You raised your eyebrow in confusion, leaving your glass on the table and crossing your legs, leaning back,

"Camp? What are you two like some secret agents or something?", you asked and John and Simon talked to you about their job deep into night. They explained their line or work as subtle as they could and shared some of the funniest moments from their missions with you.

John enjoyed your laugh, the way you blushed when you caught him looking at you, avoiding his gaze, how well your lips were glossed and your perfume that made him want to invade your neck and collarbone with small and soft kisses. He also noticed how soft your skin was when he "accidentally" touched your hand as you were reaching for the bottle, wanting to pour another drink.

It was about 3 in the morning when you turned around towards the bartender who was next to you, telling you and your new friends that the bar is closing in about five minutes. Your friends left long time ago, too drunk to even notice that you were gone or that you were now sitting elsewhere.

"Oh come on Gorge! Cant you see how much fun we are having here? Can’t you just lock us in or join us?", you blinked innocently at the bartender and it made man blush, ofcourse that didn't go unnoticed by Mactavish who cleared his throat subtly and put his hand around your shoulder. You turned your head, raising eyebrow at him and questioning what the hell he was doing.

"Come on lass, man has a job to do, a boss to answer to. We will get you to your hotel eh?", you chuckled at him, now relaxing into his touch, and he loved it. He softly rubbed exposed skin on your shoulder with his thumb and you inhaled sharply, smiling at him reaching for your purse and pulling out keys from your car,

"I drank a lot.. Who is driving lads?",

You closed the door of your Porsche and could hear Simon in the back seat whistle,

"It even has leather inside and tv in the back of the seat. Of course it does.. For gods sake (y/n), you could've just told us that you are rich. We would've distanced from you.", Riley made a joke and you laughed, turning around in your seat looking at Simon, as John started the car, slowly advancing towards the main street.

"I wouldn't trade time I had with you boys for nothing in this world. I haven't laughed like that in ages..",

Riley now looked at Mactavish on review mirror smirking,

"Soap, drop me off first and then take (y/n) back to her place. Base is just around the corner it will save her some gas.".

You eyed man who was driving now, waiting for his response, he groaned in response then he nodded slowly looking at you, before returning eyes to the road that was empty. The city was in deep sleep.

John parked infront of some old looking house and Simon chuckled, "Well this is my stop. I'll see ya in the morning mate, don't forget to freshen up, we will need you frosty eh?",

Simon said before he slammed the doors shut and swiftly disappeared into the house.

You looked at John and pouted a bit, he looked and you and wiggled his eyebrows playfully,

"Where to miss?", he put up his best British accent and you couldn't help but laugh at how silly he sounded.

"With you? To the stars.." you leaned on his shoulder and kicked down your heels, tucking your legs under your tights.

Mactavish took a deep breath, inhaling the sent of your perfume, before he started driving again, he reached for the radio and turned it on.

A soft tune of "Midnight" song was on it and you hummed in approval.

"You know, I feel like I should've met you long ago instead of wasting my time around, not knowing where am I going, what am I doing. I wish this night could last forever John, I wish I could be stuck in it forever.."

The man smiled and reached for one of your hands, locking his fingers with your smaller ones, his eyes never leaving the road.

"I want to show you one place, if you are not up for sleep yet lassie?"

You parted your head with his shoulder to look up at him, his face being illuminated by dim street lights, he looked so soft and like he didn't have any worry in the world.

"Aye sir, I am in your hands for the rest of this trip." you joked and he let out a huffed laugh, bringing your hand closer to his lips, kissing your knuckles, you watched him carefully, biting your lower lip as you felt the warmth spread throughout your entire body from just that tiny exchange of affection.

John parked the car, pulled the break and turned the machine off. He leaned back in the leather seat and looked at you, smile creeping around the corners of his mouth.

"Take my jacket, it can be windy up here."

He said and reached in the back seat for his jacket, handing it to you. You took it into your hands and looked around you, it was quiet and dark all around. Not single lamp post or anything was in the vicinity, only the headlights that John left on, and the soft tune of radio that still played.

"There is nothing here, and honestly it feels like a horror movie. Am I about to be murdured  and thrown from this cliff John?"

Mactavish just chuckled and opened the car doors on his side,

"Do you trust me lass?", he asked as he leaned on the car roof, peeking inside and looking at you.

"Do I trust man I just met in local bar to exit my car, my only way of escaping, and obey him to walk into my own funeral? Sure yeah, here I come.." you said with playful tone as you stepped out of your car, flinging his black jacket over your shoulders and sliding your arms into it. It smelled like him and you buried your nose into the collar of jacket, closing your eyes and getting lost in the man's perfume mixed with aftershave. You were about to close the doors of the car when John cut you off,

"Don't close the doors, we won't be able to hear the music".

He was now behind you, towering over your smaller frame and your heart skipped the beat as you turned around to face him.

He slowly reached for your hips and without any hesitation or struggle, swayed you off your bare feet and lifted you up. You instinctively warped your arms around his neck smiling at him.

"You need to stop watching that many horror movies, they will rot your pretty brain"

He smiled at you with his eyes, looking down at your parted lips. Your face being right infront of his, possibly few inches away since he could feel your breath on his skin, and you could feel his. Blush creeped around your cheeks and he put you down on the hood of the car that was still warm from the engine. Your hands left his neck, but he still remained between your legs, not letting your hips just yet. You could've swore that his eyes were shining that night, you knew it was not possible, that your brain was seeing tings the way it wanted to, but you still chose to believe that impossible was possible in that moment.

His shadow that was casted due to headlights now moved, and with deep inhale his grip left your hips and you bit your lip. You felt disappointed and empty, you wanted him to lean in closer, you wanted to taste him and to seal the deal, but he moved away, hopping on the hood with ease, next to you, and leaning down on the windshield, one hand behind his head and other stretched out across the hood. He wiggled his eyebrows at you and slowly nodded towards his hand.

You pouted but soon enough curled against him, resting your head on his arm and softly gliding your hand over his chest, feeling his heart beat under your palm.

In response he softly put his fingers in your hair, massaging your head in circular moves.

"Look up lass, the sky is beautiful tonight. No clouds, just stars blinking and shining somewhere out there, far, far away. Haven't seen this in a while."

You listened to his words and followed his gaze up towards the sky. He was right, it was indeed beautiful. Dark blue mixed with dozen blinking lights looking back at you and him. Moon was nowhere to be found however. And then it struck you, the whole moment was inscribed into your memory- his soft breathing, the glitter in his eyes, the soft music that was playing from inside the car, the murmur of water somewhere in the distance, the ruffle of the leaves and grass that were moved by soft breeze and your eyes watered a bit, you really wanted to live in this moment forever, to lie on his arm forever and to gaze at the same stars forever.

John noticed the hard breathing next to him and faced you with soft smile "Dont cry lass, I more like you smiling, it suits you better. Can't say the same for those shoes.. Those didn't work for you that well eh?" you chucked through the tears and felt his thumb on your cheek as he wiped one stray tear.

"I just want to be here forever.. Like this. With you next to me. If I had one chance to freeze the time it would be right now, right here with you so I could look at your eyes filled with thousand stars forever, counting them slowly one by one, never getting bored of you." the girl said softly pulling herself closer to him. John smiled and kissed her hair softly.

"Funny how you are telling me the words I should be telling you bonnie. Maybe this is just a dream eh? Maybe we will wake up from it feeling empty..I know that I will miss you when I am gone.. Now, tell me who broke your heart?"

John said with whisper, still gazing up at the stars, slowly closing his eyes.

"Life did. But its nothing you can't fix.." you said quietly, blushing and looking up at him. He opened the eyes and looked back at you, his eyes trailing every line of your face, trying to remember all the features of it as he leaned in and slowly kissed your forehead.

"Dance with me?" He asked and you smiled up at him.

"I dont have any shoes on." you replied as with one swift move he pulled you off the car .

"That is nothing I can't fix." he smirked a bit and lifted you up from the car, telling you to stand on his shoes.

"John no, I am heavy." you chuckled as his hands held you close to him, his hands under his jacket, one placed on small of your back and one firmly held your hip, your feet now on his shoes, and he started moving slowly in tune of "Gloria" by Midnight that was on radio station at the moment.

"Bollocks, you are light as a feather, I can't even feel you. Do you even eat something or you just drink every day?" He joked and you laughed, throwing your hands over his head, locking them behind his neck.

"Captain Mactavish, stop teasing me and kiss me. I demand that action." you ran your hand over back of his head, feeling the tingles on your palm from his fresh shaven hair cut.

He looked down at you, lingering his eyes on your lips that were smirking a bit, slowly closing distance between the two, teasingly.

He pressed his cold lips on yours and you closed your eyes, wanting to remember every single moment and every move he made.

He slowly moved his hand up and down your back, inviting you to deepen the kiss which you accepted. He kissed you slowly, with passion with every move. He was spilling all of his emotions right then and there, he held you like was afraid that you will disappear from his arms, like he wouldn't be able to touch you or feel you. Your heart feel heavy, and you swore he could hear it since it was crashing against your ribcage. 

John slowly parted with your lips, looking into your eyes, his forehead resting on yours,

"After I am done with next mission, I will steal you and take you away so we can count all of the starts together, alright?" He asked and you nodded in approval slowly.

"Promise you wont forget?" You blinked up at him and he softly leaned in and kissed your lips again, kiss that was assuring and warm.

"I will be back in two days, wait for me here and be ready for a trip.", he softly brushed his nose on yours and you smiled wide at him, the universe was on your side, fate was on your side. It gifted him to you, to keep him and to cherish him, that whole night was like a fever dream, it almost didn't feel real- but it was. He was there and you were with him, swaying to the music slowly, kissing and feeling each other praying that sun wont come up just yet..

In two days you were at the same spot, your truck filled with all your stuff you needed.

You paced around the car excited, wanting to have his arms around you again, wanting to kiss him again... But he never showed up.

You never saw him again. You visited the bar often, you went to the house where you left his friend that night but the house was not there, it was demolished not long ago.

John disappeared without the trace, just the way he came into your life, unnoticed.

You never heard from him again. It was like that whole night was just a distant dream you had, and you would believe it if it wasn't for his jacket that was in your closet, his smell still lingering on it.

Years have passed, you never quite moved on, settling for a man who was nothing like John, but he cared for you, he really did.

Treating you right, bringing you flowers for every 14th of February, never forgetting anniversary or your birthday.

He didn't have stars in his eyes, he never took you to that place, never made you fall in love with him in bare hours, but he was enough. You had a nice house in nice neighbourhood and you lived a nice life with him.

You were at kitchen, preparing a lunch for your husband and you, when you heard a bell ring of your doors. You swiftly cleaned your hands and rushed to open the door.

"Yes?" You said as handle turned and the door opened.

Man who you never met before stood before you. He had small blue eyes, his beard was a bit weird but it suited him nice. He had a brown hair, and looked like life never treated him with ease.

"Can I help you sir?" You questioned the stranger and he nodded affirmative

"You are a hard one to find (y/n). Took me long enough.. Name's John Price, I have something for you.", he said and pulled white small envelope from his pocket handing it to you

"What is this sir? How do you know my name?" He smiled sadly at you and turned around being ready to leave when he stopped in his tracks, not facing you still.

"I am sorry. Wish I did more." .

He said and you were more confused than ever, you watched as man left your property and you closed the door, looking at the envelope that was in your hand. It was a bit heavy, but only on one side of it.

You rushed to the living room, where you sat down and opened it.

Dog tags fell out from them, they were cleaned recently, but the rust on them was noticeable still.

"John Mactavish"

ARMY

Some numbers and rest were scribbled from them.

Your heart dropped and your lips parted, eyes already filled with tears that slowly left your eye, falling down your cheek.

In the envelope was also a paper, it had blood stains on it. You tried wiping your eyes and reading it.

"I want to invite you for a walk,

To a quiet place; In the moor.

When the breeze sings midnight,

One if those nights- the moon is full.

A restless pounding invades in my heart,

When I think of my confidants-

The stars.

If they could only speak ,

What would they say?

If you could hear them talk.

For they know of my fondness for you,

And that in my thoughts

There is no other one.

If only the stars could speak

They will tell you that I love you,

They would ask you,

To love me back."

You hugged the peace of paper like it was John himself and let your tears fall freely whispering to yourself and to the paper like he could hear you, like he was the one in your arms instead of this bloody peace of paper.

“I do love you John.. I never stopped.”.

A soothing closure fell over you. Now he was the star somewhere up in the sky, looking over at you every night you faced the sky, waiting for you to join him one day.

[castthy-nightedcolour]

One-Shot: One Good Day (written as part of my series ‘don’t worry about a thing’ on AO3, link can be found at the bottom of the notes as it won’t let me embed it)

Fandom: Good Omens

Characters: GN Reader, Aziraphale

Warnings and Tags: anxiety, depression, social Anxiety, implied S/H, swearing, aziraphale loves your soul, mysterious soft guardian angel breaks into your home, soft comfort

Summary: life hasn’t been going great for you. every single thing which could have gone wrong in the last week has gone wrong and you’re reaching breaking point. miraculously, something appears in your room to guide you to safety.

Word Count: 2459

Link to original: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31055930/chapters/76720253

You stumbled through your front door, the handle of your shopping bag snapping in half as your foot made it over the threshold. You watched blankly as the bottle of lemonade rolled down the hallway and the other groceries poured themselves all over the floor, rain water dripping from your hood down your face. As you slammed the door shut behind you, the smell of disinfectant rose up from the place where the groceries were sitting and you quickly realised that there’d been a leak.

Deep breath in.

The breath makes it halfway into your diaphragm before it stumbles into a sob.

Burning in your throat as you pull down your hood and hear the water shake off onto the floor.

One wrong thing in your life always managed to form into two wrong things, then before you knew it you were drowning in a cascade of completely wrong things. Everything in the past week had gradually been getting more difficult and you now felt that if you couldn’t even go to the corner shop without everything going horribly wrong, there wasn’t much point in leaving the house at all.

Work was hell; customers were rude, you were in constant pain from walking the shop floor and folding and re-folding items that people threw onto piles, and your manager seemed to hate you more with each passing day. Because you were always working, you felt incredibly isolated from any of your friends, and your unsociable free hours prevented you from messaging anyone in complete fear that you were taking up their time.

Everything just felt dull. A pressure behind the eyes, numb hands, dead legs, a complete inability to produce even one tear. You hadn’t felt this bad in a long time and you could feel yourself spiralling quickly towards catastrophe.

You stepped over the pile of groceries on the floor and edged towards your bedroom, completely ready to fall down backwards onto your bed and think yourself into a pain of solace. Water was still falling from your coat down onto your floor, leaving a trail behind you before slowly pooling together on the lino.

As you pushed your bedroom door open, you ran your right hand along your left arm, collecting freezing cold water on the tips of your fingers and in the palm of your hand. You took this hand to your face in an attempt to feel something on a face which felt like brick.

Not cold enough. Try harder.

A swift slap to your cheek had you letting out a small gasp.

Still not good enough.

You lunged towards the bed with the full intention of collapsing onto it and never getting up again. As you propelled yourself forwards, you suddenly felt a hand on your shoulder, one with a gentle but commanding touch. Although you stopped dead in your tracks, you weren’t at all scared or concerned about this other presence in the room. There was absolutely no hint of threat at all. Slowly, you turned your head to look at the hand, glancing up the arm which was clad in a pale beige overcoat. A warm voice whispered from behind you,

‘Now, don’t tell me you were going to get into that lovely warm bed in this coat?’

There was no other way to describe the voice but hug-like, embracing the dull ache in you and injecting just a hint of warmth. You didn’t reply, but slowly turned fully to get a glance at whoever the man smelling vaguely of cinnamon was.

He is almost luminous.

One hand resting lightly on your shoulder with the other holding the rogue bottle of lemonade with support from his underarm.

You took one glance at the fluffy white blonde curls on his head and immediately branded him as something ethereal, the rosy pink cheeks and beaming smile were just more evidence for this. You shivered under his light grasp, partially because you were freezing and partially because you were very overwhelmed by the sight in front of you. If this was as you thought, a visit from an angel, then surely your life would never be the same.

Or maybe you’d died?

As if reading your mind, the glowing being jumped in to reassure you.

‘I know you may be wondering what’s happening here but fear not, I’m here with good intentions. In fact, they’re the only intentions I can possibly have.’

You zoned out slightly listening to his honey soaked voice, your eyes practically glazing over at the idea of whoever this radiant being was being present in your flat which had become a complete black hole over the past week. You struggled to form any kind of sentence to articulate this, but eventually came out with one word.

‘Y/N.’ You breathed, immediately feeling like an idiot for saying it. The angel didn’t hold the same opinion on this matter, though.

‘Well, that is a simply beautiful name. It’s an honour to be in your presence, Y/N.’ He spoke. You couldn’t quite fathom why he was being so nice to you and an ominous, inky black cloud inside you was attempting to convince you that this was all some joke.

Noticing fear creeping into your eyes, the angel tightened the grip on your shoulder in reassurance.

‘It’s okay, I promise. I’m Aziraphale , I’m here to look after you for as long as you need.’ The voice, like nectar, coated your very being in what felt like love.

The angel placed the lemonade on the floor and then very slowly pulled your coat off your shoulders, constantly looking at your face for any hint of discomfort. All you could do was stand there like a lemon, a look of disbelief plastered on your face as Aziraphale lifted the coat and threw it behind him, with it seemingly now miraculously dry. As you leaned to try and peek behind him, he looked concerningly at your shivering body and took a step towards you, running one of his hands down each of your arms.

You could suddenly feel heat radiating off him as you realised that all of your clothes were sopping wet, it wasn’t just your coat. The storm outside had hit just as you’d left to go the shop, which was just the icing on the cake of the perfectly played out horrible circumstances of the week.

As the hands were run down your arms, you noticed everything become dry and fluffy, like you were suddenly dressed in fleece, but they were definitely still your clothes.

Some kind of miracle?

The reassuring voice of Aziraphale returned to the room, echoing off every wall.

‘There, now I think that’s a lot better. Won’t you sit down, Y/N?’ He gestured towards your bed and immediately, you fell backwards onto it, following his instructions as though they were law. Sitting up, you peered up at him as he moved to sit down next to you, a comforting smile still on his face. The feeling of safety was so overwhelming for you, especially compared to the chaos swimming around your body only five minutes prior. Instinctually, you kicked off your shoes, curling your legs up to the bed and sitting cross legged, turning to face the angel. You weren’t sure how to make conversation with the ethereal, it wasn’t exactly a day to day occurrence, but you ran with the situation.

‘So… well… wow I guess. This is… well it’s…. oh my god sorry, oh GOD I shouldn’t be saying God should I, not around you. I couldn’t have done this more wrong, could I?’ As the words trickled out your mouth, the familiar sense of embarrassment began to worm its way back into your soul, overriding whatever comfort Aziraphale had placed there previously. You were slightly shocked to glance at his face and notice the smile still plastered on it.

‘Please, lovely Y/N, there’s no need to apologise. Say whatever you need to say, I’m here to listen. I’m all yours.’ He beamed.

Something still isn’t adding up. There isn’t a chance that someone would be this nice to you out of choice, this must be a joke.

With your thoughts beginning to spiral again, your breathing was working its way into something between a pant and one long, continuous breath. Aziraphale noticed this sudden change, and placed one hand on your back and began to very gently rub.

‘Shhhhh, it’s okay now. What’s going on here? What’s happened?’ His voice rang like a bell in your head. Your breathing came to a complete halt.

No one’s every asked you that before, have they?

The angel realised that your ribs were no longer rising and falling. All he had to do was say the words ‘please breathe’ before you took one big sigh. Glancing down at the floor, you weren’t really sure how to even answer him. Did you mention your manager? Or was he more bothered about the fact that you’d barely eaten for three days, and the only shopping that you had managed to get yourself was now doused in disinfectant? Maybe he’d be able to help with your missed messages and emails.

Then again, with 43 notifications looming over you, maybe not.

As you lifted your gaze, all of your debilitating troubles culminated into two words.

‘I’m fine!’ A false chipper tone rang through your response as the angel furrowed his brow.

‘Well, now, and please don’t think me rude here Y/N, but I think that may be just a teeny-weeny lie.’

You both sat staring at each other for a few seconds as you let that sit with you. Interestingly, you swore that you could see sunlight on his face despite the fact that it was absolutely pissing it down outside. Eventually, you worked up the courage to respond.

‘Well, yeah. A little bit maybe but on the whole, I’m okay! It’s just my manager is really onto me at the moment which means that I can’t really concentrate so I’m having to stay long hours at work…’

As you spoke, the chain of events spilled out your mouth in a fountain of truth. You got to the point where you couldn’t stop talking, laying out an entire map of problems for Aziraphale to navigate his way across. By the time you were talking about the build-up of notifications on your phone, tears were running down your cheeks, with Aziraphale swiftly reaching across to wipe them away. He watched on as you spoke, an almost pained look in his eyes. He couldn’t bear to see a human soul so torn up, especially because of other humans.

With words falling out of you so easily, both you and the angel were a little taken aback when you stopped yourself mid-sentence.

‘I’ve been coming home and I’ve just been sitting here and thinking, and thinking before eventually-‘.

Aziraphale looked as though he expected you to carry on for about a second, until he grasped exactly what you were talking about. He couldn’t help but getting choked up at the idea of such a beautiful soul being driven to destroying the vessel which was carrying it, and this was all he needed to hear. With both force and care, he threw his arms around your shoulders, allowing your head to rest in the crook of his neck.

‘I’m going to sort this all out for you, Y/N. I can’t bear to think of you being so unhappy when you deserve the world, and everything beyond it.’

Before you could even protest with any idea that he may have been exaggerating, you felt a whimper leave your body which felt like it had been sitting there for centuries. Being held, being listened to, being cared for was something so alien to you, so overwhelming.

As you sat still in the angel’s grasp, you could physically feel worries lifting off your shoulders. You wondered for a moment how this was even possible, before remembering that you were spilling your problems out to an angel.

—

Turns out, Aziraphale really did sort it all out for you. A cheeky little rat infestation in the local shopping centre meant that the shop where you worked was forced to close for a few days, plus your manager had been taken out by a freak case of a rare tropical virus so they weren’t going to be able to leave their house for a couple of weeks.

Your fridge was fully stocked, every surface in your house was shining and a glass of lemonade complete with ice and a little slice of lemon was sitting on the side waiting for you when you returned from a bath which had driven every ache from your body. The angel was leaning against the fridge, reading a copy of Frankenstein which you’d forgotten that you even owned. You stood in the doorway of your kitchen in a fluffy robe, feeling a smile sit on your face for the first time in a while. The angel suddenly noticed your presence and glanced up, beaming at you.

‘Enjoying that?’ You asked, pointing your head towards the book. He held it up.

‘Takes a while to get going, doesn’t it?’ He responded, a quizzical look on his face. You giggled at this, slowly walking over to take the glass of lemonade. The angel watched on as you took a sip from it, the bubbles rising to your nose and making you sneeze. As you put the glass down, you fully turned to him.

‘Thank you, Aziraphale. For everything you’ve done for me.’

‘Oh, we’re not done yet my dear. I’m here for you until the end. Unfortunately one good day won’t be enough,’ he walked closer to you and grabbed both of your hands.

‘But it’s a brilliant place to start.’ He finished. You beamed up at him, but still with some concern sitting on your face.

‘What about when my manager gets better? I’m really not sure I can ever face them again, I-‘ Before you could begin catastrophising, the angel gently placed one finger on your lips. He then squeezed the hand entwined with his.

‘As I said, I’m here for you until the end. There’s many miracles for you, dear Y/N. Let’s just get through today, okay? We can battle tomorrow when it arrives. For now, I think that it’s time my food expertise should come out and that you should take a seat while I prepare the best meal of your life. Now, let’s see…’ He moved away from you, beginning to rummage in each cupboard and your fridge for ingredients. Naturally, you seemed to drift towards your sofa, as if being led.

Must be a miracle. For an angel, he sure can tempt you.

[domesticblisss]

Nice to Meet You

Jay White x Female Reader Requested Prompt: “Hello! Thank you for opening requests. How about one with Jay White where he’s in New Japan and reader is in WWE and they end up following each other on ig or something and after awhile of messages and such they finally meet and get together? You can change things up if you want I just love the idea of 2 people from separate companies getting together lol ❤️ ” Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 1306 Warnings: Nothing, fluff as fuck with a tiny little bit of angst and some between the lines pinning and a little cursing. Summary: Mutual friends aren't enough for you to meet, but the internet is. A/N: Sorry it took me so long to post it, work has been crazy, then writer's block hit and when the inspirations finally got back to me, I had the shittiest week ever so I couldn't bring myself to write it. I hope it's at least a little bit good, and that my dear requester and you all like it. 💕

He always heard about her and she always heard about him. Only good things.

Shelley always gushed about how their styles were similar, Sabin went off countless times on how they should wrestle as a duo, and against each other, and Candice kept mentioning how they would look cute together.

But the friends in common weren't enough to make them meet each other and their hectic schedule never coincided. Soon, Jay shipped off to Japan full time and she finally got her NXT contract signed.

Jay was the one to take the first step. It was on a late saturday night, one of his few days off, when he finally decided to watch her debut match against Asuka after seeing it trending across social media and different news outlets.

She lost the match, but she gave the NXT Women’s Champion a run for her money. Hard kicks after hard kicks, asuka locks being countered several times, and the most incredibly performed top rope DDT he had ever seen. It was the hardest hitting women’s match he had seen in a while and he was amused with her talent, so amused he had to let the world know.

“@thisisfuryWWE nxt debut match was the best one I’ve seen in a long time. Can’t wait to see more of you 😉”

The message made her smile, the recognition from someone she always thought so highly of warming her heart.

“@JayWhiteNZ thank you! this means a lot coming from the #switchblade 🔪❤️”

With that came the mutual following on social media, then the likes, the casual comments turned into dm’s, turned into phone number exchanges, and soon, they didn’t know a life without each other.

Every day a “good morning” text would be sent by whoever woke up first and “sleep well” texts closed off the night. The time zone was messy, but they always found a way to talk to each other, losing count of how many nights were poorly slept and the amount of coffee they drank on the morning after.

Little “this made me think of you” messages were sent whenever a dog picture or a meme came their way, friends' dinner/lunch dates through FaceTime became a thing and every Instagram post got commented with an inside joke. Friends and fans started to notice the change in their relationship and soon their mentions were bombarded with speculating questions.

“Are you guys together?”

“When are the two of you getting married?”

“@thisisfuryWWE and @JayWhiteNZ get a fucking room already”

“I would if she was near me 🙄”

She was the one who took the second step. After a lot of talk with Candice, she finally realised her true feelings towards the kiwi. It wasn’t easy accepting them at first, she took longer to respond to his messages, the “good morning” texts were no more, and her answers were always short, until the fateful day where she completely stopped answering him.

→ I don’t know if I did something wrong, and I am so sorry if I did, but please talk to me.

She knew that ghosting him was wrong and that she needed to tell him the truth, even if her anxiety got the best of her.

The clock on her phone announced that it was 12:45pm, meaning it was almost 2 in the morning for him and that he probably had just gotten back from the monday tapings, tired and wanting to sleep. “Fuck it, he texted me. It’s now or never.”

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

He picked up on the third ring, his long, dyed black hair wet, sticking to his forehead, the droplets of water running down his chest.

“Hey! Sorry it took me a while to pick it up, I was just taking a shower. How are you?” He panted like he had just ran a marathon to pick up the phone. “I missed you.”

She had never seen him so vulnerable, the small tone of his voice shot a tinge of pain to her heart. “Can we talk? I need to talk to you.”

“Sure, just let me put some pants on.” Jay laughed.

He sat the phone down on the nightstand and she kept staring at the cream ceiling of his hotel room, thinking about everything and nothing at the same time.

“Is everything okay, I was worried about you.” Noises of shuffling fabric were noticeable in the background, paired with a string of curses after what she was pretty sure was him bumping his pinky on some furniture.

“Everything is fine. Is your toe still alive?”

“Yeah, yeah…”

She looked at him, really looked at him. The dark hair dryer, messy and no longer sticking to his forehead, probably the work of him aggressively running the towel over it. His fair skin pink after a hot shower, blue eyes shy, almost anxiety ridden with anticipation of what could happen next. She let out a modest smile, running the words she had thought about telling him countless times in her head.

“What is it, honey?”

“Jay, I- I need to tell you something. I don’t know how to say it but just let me finish first or I’ll die.”

He only nodded.

“I like you. Really, really like you. That’s why I’ve been off these past few days, I’ve been trying to understand my feelings and I ended up scaring myself because I’ve never felt this way for anyone.” she stopped for a few seconds, hands running over face and hair, taking a moment to breath. “Jay, I– fuck, I appreciate our friendship so, so much and I don’t want to ruin it, but I get it if this makes you uncomfortable and if you want to cut ties.”

Jay kept quiet, staring at her through the small screen, smile getting bigger and until it turned into full, hearty laughter.

“Jay, this is not funny. I’m not–“

“This is why you vanished? God, can’t you see I fucking love you too, you idiot?!”

Silence engulfed the pair again as they looked at each other, not believing what had finally happened. They exchanged smiles and lingering stares before continuing the conversation.

“I’m crazy about you, honey.”

“And how are we going to do this, Jay?”

“I am constantly going back home, you can come over when you have some free time. We will figure it out, baby.”

Three weeks of messages and video calls, three weeks of “I love yous” and “can’t wait to see you”, three of the longest weeks of their lives until they finally meet each other.

Jay opens instagram, her story bubble being the first one to show up. He clicks on it and is met with a picture of her in a red envelope dress and white converse, the same one he was wearing, and a caption that said “today is going to be a great day! ❤️🔪”.

🔥 reaction and a “see you in forty, love” reply sent, her phone vibrated in her purse just a few meters away from him. Little did he know she was waiting for him in the landing room, holding a small poster with “Mr. White” written and little switchblades drawn all over it.

She grew anxious as everyone but Jay left the plane, checking the time and if she was on the right gate constantly.

Five minutes passed, five minutes that felt like hours, and Jay finally came out, with sunglasses covering his eyes and his denim jacket in hand. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her, a smile growing on his face as she ran to him. He engulfed her in a tight hug, kissing her lips in small pecks that grew into one big slow kiss.

They touched foreheads after, smiling and laughing, not believing they were finally in each other’s arms.

“Hey, stranger.”

[sserpente]

A/N: Let us kick off autumn season with everyone’s favourite pirate! This Imagine is based on requests from @manymanycupsoftea and two anons. This is probably not entirely historically accurate or more than a fluffy piece of even more fluff but… Have fun! 🎃😋

Words: 1913 Warnings: fluff, anxiety (fear of thunderstorms)

The first thunder ripped you from your light sleep, growling in the grey sky. It was so loud you could feel it vibrating in your chest. Sweating, you sat up, your limbs shaking.

One of the more considerate crew members had offered you a hanging mat but you had opted to build yourself a little nest behind some heavy wooden boxes full of ammunition and cannon balls instead, on top of a pile of fishing nets. It was surprisingly comfortable but most of all, it was safer.

It was for the first time now that you regretted your decision. Thunderstorms did not usually scare you this much—but on a ship, in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight… your anxiety stirred like a rousing lion ready to devour you.

You whimpered, unable to stop the pitiful sounds escaping your lips as you curled up in the corner. You had long gotten used to the way the ship kept rocking on the strong waves of the sea—but today, it made you sick to the core. The Captain had promised land soon, if anything to stock up on the crew’s rum supplies. If you were not mistaken, you were sailing somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean. Jack had told you about an island where the British settled and harboured many treasures and expensive alcohol. He had only been once, in his drunken state, however, barely remembered any of the experience.

Another thunder. You flinched once more, pressing your forehead against your knees until you felt a stinging pain spreading on your skin but only pulled away to look up with tear-stricken eyes when you heard a barrel being knocked over, and the Captain cursing under his breath.

Closing your mouth shut, you sank against the wood, wishing you were a mouse. Unlucky for you, he noticed you regardless.

“You alright there, missy?” He leaned over one of the boxes, his dreads hanging down and making the beads woven into them clatter.

“No. Yes. Go away!”

Jack pouted. “That was… an unhelpful answer.”

“I’m just sea-sick.” You choked out, unwilling to meet his brown eyes. They were, so you had to admit, far too captivating.

“In which case you should hop on deck and not cower in the dark.” On deck. That would be even worse. And in this weather… what was he thinking? Probably nothing at all, given the amount of alcohol on the Black Pearl.

“H-How… how close are we to land?”

“’Bout half a day’s journey if the storm doesn’t blow us off course.” Jack leaned in even closer. You could smell him now. A wondrously intriguing mixture of rum, a little bit of sweat and the tangy soap he had stolen from a British mercenary last week—and strangely… having the infamous pirate so close to you calmed you down. A third thunder echoed through the endless sky above the ship, so loud this time even the sleeping crew stirred a little in its slumber. A scream escaped your lips before you were unable to stop it.

Captain Jack Sparrow was many things but he was certainly not stupid—and he did not quite manage to wipe the shit-eating grin off his face when he said, “You’re afraid of the storm?” It was not a question; and even though you felt the urge to slap him for mocking you for your anxieties, what he did instead startled you to the core.

He reached out for you, offering you his hand. Utterly confused, you stared at it, counting the many precious rings on his fingers and wondering what had caused the long scar right above his knuckles. A sword, perhaps?

He was a pirate. Pirates should not behave this way. You had not expected a life where you were being respected by your comrades when you joined this ship for no other reason than to escape the social conventions of your own family, to flee having to bend to rules you fundamentally disagreed with. Rules like forced marriages for the sake of society and reputation. Ugh.

And now here he was, taking your hand into his, pulling you off the ground and leading you over to one of the hanging mats. You stopped dead in your tracks when you realised what his destination was.

“I am not going to sleep in a hanging mat with you!”

Jack’s upper lip twitched slightly. “I wasn’t gonna sleep, I was gonna drink.” He said matter-of-factly, pointing to the bottle of rum on another wooden box next to the hanging mat as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Jack let go off your hand and made himself comfortable.

You presumed you had two options now. You could either jump in at the deep end and join him or you could return to your little nest, letting your anxiety get the better of you. The next thunder made you decide quickly. Before you could change your mind, you climbed up to him, realising only when it was too late that this hanging mat did not provide enough space for two people. You ended up using him both as your pillow and your mattress and Jack had the audacity to groan and then chuckle as he took a greedy sip from his rum.

“Sorry. This isn’t going to work, I’ll…”

“I’m not complaining about havin’ a beautiful woman sleeping on me, missy.” He cut you off.

“I won’t sleep. I’ll just… wait until this stupid storm is over.” You retorted, ignoring vehemently how the pirate had just called you beautiful and made his comment sound ambiguous. It was oddly flattering.

And then there it was again, his intoxicating smell, the alcohol more prominent now that he was sipping on his rum. You almost smiled to yourself. What would your mother say if she knew you were currently resting on top of a fearsome pirate who had more or less just non-verbally promised to protect you from a storm? This was more than your husband-to-be ever could have done for you.

Against all conviction, you fell asleep.

-

The next morning the crisp October air was fresh, as if cleansed by all the rain that had poured into the ocean and on deck of the Black Pearl overnight. The dark and threatening storm clouds had gone, the sun rising on the horizon. Jack had been right. There was land in sight—and the haven was busy, full of merchants and traders wearing… exceptionally strange clothes, their carriages full of pumpkins.

A frown decorated your forehead. Pumpkins? It could not be… had you been sailing for so long now?

“It’s Halloween.” You whispered—both euphoria and grief washing over you all at the same time. As a child, you had loved Halloween. Your father had brought Turkish Delight all the way from Eastern Europe to be eaten and you had been allowed to dress up as a fierce pirate girl with a wooden sword.

Jack leaned over, his lips slightly parted in an irritated manner. You shivered when his hot breath brushed against your ear.

“Uh… do you know why they’re all dressed like that?”

“They are wearing costumes.” You responded, smiling faintly at the memory. Jack looked at you as if you had grown two heads, eliciting a giggle from you. You didn’t know why but somehow… you kept growing to like the cocky pirate.

“It is an annual celebration to scare away nasty spirits. So this might be the one day of the year you will not look conspicuous being dressed like… well, a pirate.” You concluded, your voice more confident now. Perhaps it was not so bad after all. Jack had shown you nothing but kindness so far. “I wish I had a costume.”

“That can be arranged. Master Gibbs!” He called out, without ever taking his eyes off of you.

“Aye, Captain?”

“You’re in charge! I’m takin’ this lovely lady out for a drink!”

“Aye, Captain.” Gibbs repeated, raising his eyebrows just a little at being left with all the work while Jack was amusing himself with a woman. Heavens, what were you thinking? He was a pirate. You would not be amusing yourself with him… like that.

“Why?” You asked, as soon as you had followed him across the wooden boarding ramp and past a few merchants offering you fresh and big pumpkins. It was almost short of a miracle Jack’s ship did not attract any attention—but then again, this island was different—and it was Halloween.

“’Cause I’m thirsty.” He replied.

“You’re always thirsty. I mean, why are you taking me with you?”

“Cheer up, luv.” Love? Did he just call you love? It did in fact distract you so much you did not realise he never bothered to answer your question. “They serve the best rum here! But don’t tell that me mates on Tortuga. Ah, wait.” He stopped dead in his tracks and spun around, the sudden movement having you knock straight into him. He chuckled when you blinked.

You were standing in midst of a rather busy alley now. Market stands and laundrette services caught your attention, across the dusty ground a few chicken ran for their lives, being chased by a butcher with bloodstains on his white apron.

Unceremoniously and without any shame, Jack plucked a surprisingly well-made suit from a nearby clothesline. It was a British sailor’s uniform.

“You wanted to dress up?” He grinned, his golden teeth glinting in the rising morning sun.

“As a British sailor?” You asked, reaching for the appertaining hat but unable to stop yourself from reciprocating his grin in the process.

“As a freebooter!” He protested as he took the hat from your hand and put it on your head. Heavens, could this get any more bizarre?

Apparently it could, for about ten minutes later you found yourself sitting in a dimly lit tavern in a stolen costume, sipping, for the first time in your life, on a mug filled to the brim with rum. Jack had already half-emptied his while you were struggling not to end up completely drunk after only two sips.

If all this wasn’t strange enough already, you were the only woman in here—a circumstance which the other men, pirates or whatever they might have been, did not fail to notice. And when one of them gathered up his courage to approach you in a both eager and suspicious manner, the infamous pirate Captain simply slipped an arm around you, pulling you against his strong body and hence, scaring the stranger away.

Rum, sweat, tangy soap… you could get used to this.

“Jack? Thank you.” You blurted out before you could stop yourself. To say he was startled did not quite capture it.

“What for?”

“Everything. I think… I think you’re a good man.”

He frowned, hesitating. “I’m a pirate.”

“Yes, you are. But you have a good heart. You could have left me behind laughing at me when I begged you for shelter on your ship upon fleeing from my family. You didn’t… and now this is more than I could have ever imagined.”

“You’re livin’ a pirate’s life now, luv.” Love. There it was again. Smirking smugly, he raised his mug. “Take what you can.”

You laughed, more men turning their heads your way��right now, with Jack by your side, you couldn’t care less. “And give nothing back!” You clinked your glasses and drank. “Oh, and Happy Halloween!”

-

A/N: If you enjoyed this story, I would appreciate it so much if you considered supporting me on Kofi! Caffeine is essential as a writer, I guess. And red wine. A lot of red wine. ko-fi.com/sserpente ♥

[mollymauk-teafleak]

Noise

It was the ever incredible and wonderful @minky-for-short's birthday yesterday so I wrote her this fic! Thanks for being such a good friend and also for coming up with this brilliant Artist AU for Thanatos and Zagreus!

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Please consider leaving a comment on Ao3 if you liked this!

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Thanatos wasn’t used to coming home to a quiet house.

When he was younger, he’d always walked in from school or training classes to the racket of a house full of his siblings. There would always be someone yelling, someone arguing, something crashing to the floor, a handful of brothers and sisters sprinting past. And something inside him would sink under the weight of it.

Even for the size of the house of Nyx, there were very few quiet places, driving Than up onto the roof if he actually wanted some peace after a long day. But then there would be Zagreus, on the good days, sitting beside him and telling some story to cheer him up when he could see Than was tired and getting run down. He was there waving his hands in the air, gesturing wildly as he walked across the spine of the rooftop, eyes bright and wild and full. There was all the life and joy inside him bursting out as noise the way, later in life, it would burst out in his art.

Was it any wonder Than had fallen in love with him? He was the only kind of noise that had filled him up rather than worn him down.

And then he’d moved out but you’d really be surprised how much noise Sleep Incarnate could make when it was just the two of you sharing a cramped dorm room. And when your boyfriend was over half the time, bumping his elbows on everything and playing his guitar very badly as you tried to study, making you laugh, or sketching you as you typed an essay and throwing balls of paper at you when you moved and changed the light.

And you’d smile and you’d realise this was the man you were going to marry.

Now they had their brownstone, perfectly placed between Thanatos’ office and Zag’s studio and there was more noise contained in those walls than the mansion and that little dorm room combined. At first it was music, bright, cheesy music blasting as they unpacked all of those boxes and fit their two lives together for good. It was Zag singing in the shower on a morning, it was Than clattering pots and pans as he recreated his favourite recipes of his mothers, pared down for just the two of them. It was Cerberus barking at the birds on the fire escape or whining and kicking in his sleep, sprawled out across the sofa Than had definitely asked he not be allowed on.

And then Theodora happened. When neither of them had been looking, their bright, beautiful baby girl had come into their lives with one green eye and one gold one and all of her daddy’s spark and her papa’s brains and if Than had thought his life was noisy before, he was a fool.

But his life felt fuller than it ever had.

So when Thanatos walked through the door that evening, he immediately froze, overwhelmed with the sensation that something was very wrong. Because his house was silent.

Frowning, he hung his keys on the hook and shrugged out the heavy black coat he’d been sweating in for the last few days of warm weather. He’d had meetings with potential clients all over the place today and it felt like each one had required at least a block’s worth of walking. Of course he could just have taken the heavy thing off, as Zag often suggested, but he didn’t feel quite right without it. But drowning in sweat or not, he’d sold three of his husband's paintings today and he really felt like it warranted at least a welcome home kiss from said husband, followed by his daughter hauling herself onto her wobbly little baby legs, begging him to pick her up. And any other day, he’d have that wall of noise washing over him, loud and comforting and familiar.

So where were they?

The living room was eerily silent too, Theo’s toys lying in boneless patience for the next time she came along to play with them, the radio normally permanently tuned to Zag’s favourite station voiceless. Than frowned, the sense of disquiet getting a firmer grip on him as he passed through into the kitchen. The pots from breakfast were still in the sink, the dregs of Than’s coffee he’d hurriedly downed on the way to his office now ice cold sludge in the bottom of his favourite mug. Normally he’d be coming home to Zag attempting to cook dinner, it was his job to calmly survey the knife edge of disaster it was balancing on and diplomatically extract his husband from the stove so he could turn it into something edible. It was the thought that counted. But there wasn’t so much as a pot of tea brewing, the normally warm and raucous room cold and still.

Than’s frown deepened and he looked for a note, something to explain they’d gone to the store or the park, Zag often scrawled something on the back of an invitation to the latest gallery showing or letter asking for him to submit some work and stuck it onto the fridge. Thanatos had rescued commission requests worth thousands from the front of their fridge before, still valuable even with a request for eggs and milk scribbled on the back.

But he couldn’t see anything. The fridge only held a now week old reassurance that Zag had picked Theo up from his parents’ and taken her to get ice cream. Not much comfort to Thanatos, his heartbeat now increasing significantly.

Zagreus never left him worrying like this, he knew his husband's anxiety was only ever waiting for the slightest little nudge to topple over into overdrive. Hands starting to tremble now, he groped for his phone in his pocket, unsure whether to first dial Zag, his mother or the National Guard.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to work that out because just as he was about to yank his phone free, he heard a noise from behind the back door, something muffled coming from their tiny little walled garden. Laughter. Two kinds of laughter and he knew both of them well.

Relief settling over him, Than tried not to look like he’d been panicking that much as he pushed the door back and walked into the golden late afternoon sunlight. Their little yard wasn’t much, just a square of concrete tiles, but the borders were overflowing with greenery and flowers in sheer defiance to the lack of soil, all thanks to Than’s mother in law. In was in the sparse shades of these towering grasses and flowering vines that Zag and Theo were giggling. They were both grinning the same crooked grin, both pairs of eyes alight with that same joy.

And they were both covered in paint.

“Good evening,” Than found himself smiling too, before he even really knew why, “And what are we up to exactly?”

If Than was still a little miffed at his lack of a welcome home, it was quickly made up for when both his husband and daughter gave unison cries of delight and rushed towards him.

“Than!”

“Papa!”

Than laughed, bracing himself so he wasn’t completely knocked off his feet by their hugs, wrapping his arms around them. He accepted a lingering kiss from Zag before Theo loudly interrupted it with a retching noise, tugging on the bottom of his coat and demanding his attention.

“You gross!” she declared loudly, “Daddies gross!”

“Oh are we now?” Than chuckled, scooping her up and covering her pudgy little face in kisses until she squealed, “Is this gross?”

“No but your shirt might be going that way,” Zag grimaced apologetically, noticing the paint smearing from Theo onto her papa, “Sorry.”

Than glanced down, eyebrows raising, “Ah. And why exactly is my daughter covered in paint? I know a small amount is normal but this rather looks like she’s been rolling in it.”

Zag’s face brightened, “You’re not far off! I had this incredible idea, you see…”

“One that involved an awful lot of mess?” Than’s smile quirked fondly.

“All my best ideas do,” Zag winked over his shoulder before stepping to one side so Than could see the large roll of paper spread out across the ground.

Already it was filled with multicoloured smears and a few handprints, some footprints too, a cacophony of shape and colour. There were a few in different palettes hanging and drying on the back wall in the sun.

“You see, little Teddy’s going to be my new collaborator!” Zag spread his arms grandly over their work, “She starts them off and she can use whatever she feels like, just really moves with the energy of it all, y’know? Then I come in and tie it all together! She’s a phenomenal abstract artist!”

Than looked over the paintings they’d made together. Part of why he was such a good art dealer and such a good agent for Zagreus was that he found more to love in his work than anyone and he was good at making others see it too as he sold it to them. His love for the man spilled into the art, in the shapes and colours and textures he saw the person he’d loved since he was a kid. It was like Zag’s art spoke a language Thanatos was fluent in.

And looking at this art, the art Zag and their daughter had made together, it took his breath away. It was familiar and it was new all at once, it was bright and joyful as the two of them clashed and flowed together in the paint. If he looked long enough he could start to see what was Theo simply having fun splashing around in the colourful stuff she saw her daddy getting to play with all day and what was Zag fondly stitching her marks into something cohesive, something musical and formed.

And in it Thanatos could see his family. He could see noise.

“What do you think?” Zag’s eager smile had started to dim, his eyes getting a little anxious as he searched his husband’s face, tumbling into a nervous ramble, “I will clean her up, I promise, I put her in clothes she doesn’t love love, y’know? I will get the stains out, I swear and I can wash your shirt too if you want? I’ll use the special stuff that works really good, I mean, you might have to show me how but if there’s instructions I’ll just read those...”

Than took a step closer, careful not to damage the painting, reaching over and putting a hand on his shoulder. As it always did, the touch alone was enough to calm Zag, his nervous stumbling coming to a stop, turning into a self conscious smile.

“Zag, it’s beautiful,” Than murmured gently, moving the hand to brush his cheek affectionately. Fortunately, Theo didn’t deem this unacceptably gross, just pressing her face to Than’s neck and nuzzling contentedly, “It’s really, really beautiful.”

Zag beamed, tilting his head hopefully, “Beautiful enough that you wanna help us make another one?”

Than smiled back, already maneuvering Theo so he could shrug out of his work jacket and let it fall to the floor, Theo giggling and squirming with excitement as she helped him push his sleeves up.

“Well, I’m not a phenomenal abstract artist like you two but it does look like fun…”

The works from this new series would go across the country, thanks to Thanatos. He really was a good agent.

They didn’t sell them, Zag didn’t want them to be sold for money after the initial exhibition. Instead they were donated to art schools and children’s hospital wards and after school clubs. But the one that all three of them had done together, the one with the two sets of bigger handprints in varying shades of red and purple and the flurry of tinier ones, the smudges and smears and bright splashes of eye watering colour, that one stayed firmly where it belonged, hanging in their living room. Over time they would take it down and add to it, especially when they had two more sets of tiny handprints to add to it.

And around it, their house would never, ever be quiet.

[depressedacadamia]

Fight Me Part 2

Summary: Nico prepares for his date but it seems someone has forgotten.

Warnings?: Nothing much. A bit of kissing. Some fluff.

A/N: FJLKJLHGK, I completely forgot that i wrote this and that i was gonna write a part 2. Anyway, my exams are next week and i haven't revised so wish me luck. Little tribute for @thebigqueer and their old blog description of ‘people make fun of me because I’m short but I can reach their knees’ because lateron, Nico embodies that. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! <3 from me!

Read Part 1 on tumblr       Read parts 1 and 2 on A03

It was 7:30

Will was late.

“Hello?” Nico turned around. “Anybody here?”

The sun was going to set in around an hour and half and somehow, the sky was already getting darker. Nico could feel the sun's rays getting weaker and the warmth slowly draining away.

He had a small bag clutched in his hand with a collection of his favourite mythomagic cards and a couple of sandwiches and some bottles of juice. It certainly wasn’t a banquet but at least it was something and Nico had assumed that Will would have had a tiring day after working in the infirmary during a day of capture the flag ( The Ares kids were always involved).

He lifted his wristwatch to his line of view to glance at the time, noticing that the time was moving annoyingly fast. If it continued like this, it would be sunset and Nico would have officially been stood up. He could feel his chest prickling in anxiety from the idea- that all along it was a sick joke, made only so everyone could make fun of him.

“Hello? Anybody?” It was almost eight and Nico was getting agitated. Sure it was normal to be a bit late, even if it was a date that Will had asked him on but 45 minutes? 45 minutes late to a date? Nico was finally so sick of pacing behind his cabin like a loser, he worked up the nerve to march over to the infirmary to give Will a piece of his mind.

As Nico entered what he believed to be the infirmary, he questioned if he was in the right place. Then it hit him. The infirmary was so crowded, Nico couldn’t even recognise it. It was full of campers, from many different cabins, all covered in injuries and blood. This room, to surgeons, was like candy but with blood, which as Christina Yang had said- was way better,

That was only, of course, if you weren’t meant to be on a date with your cute ex-patient.

To Will, the sudden influx of patients infuriated him. He was meant to be having the best date of his life with Nico but instead, he ws here treating all these stupid injured buffalos who were too incompetent to prevent themselves from being injured.

“Next time, if an Ares kid threatens to break your leg, you should take them more seriously,” Will sighed as he finished the cast on the Athena camper’s leg. Weren’t these ones meant to be smart, Will thought.

His eyes searched across the infirmary, for the next most urgent patient; as head of the Apollo cabin, he was in charge of the infirmary which at first had sounded great. Now, he realised, it was not.

He was about to assist on setting a broken arm but he saw another healer get there first and simultaneously, he saw a very recognisable set of onyx eyes that came with a stunning appearance.

Nico was wearing black skinny ripped jeans with a chain hanging by the waist of it. His stygian iron sword that never left his side was being held to his waist with a skull strap and Nico’s eyeliner was absolutely perfect. Winged and angelic, his eyes were standing out like never before. Nico had been a bit nervous about wearing eyeliner outside of his cabin, but after much persuasion from Hazel, Jason and Percy, he had agreed to wear it.

Will thought he felt his mouth drop. But then, he felt his heart drop. Why was Nico in the infirmary? Was he involved in the fight? Was he hurt? Will rushed over to Nico, pushing through the injured masses, ignoring their shouts and snaps of discomfort. He waded through them like thick oceans of blood until he managed to spot Nico’s hand, decorated with expensive looking rings.

“Nico,” Will gasped, his eyes running up and down, scanning his body for injuries. “What are you doing here? Are you okay?”

Nico’s winged eyes squinted. “ What am I doing here? Did you forget?”

Will’s mouth opened and then closed again, his brain clearly racking for what he had forgotten.

“Our date. You were meant to meet me an hour ago,” He mumbled, raising his wrist to his face, checking the time once again.

Will’s face dropped, his expression ghostly. “ No! No, no, I can’t have forgotten- it wasn’t today. I could have sworn it wasn’t today.” He turned to Nico. “ It wasn’t today, right?”

“It was today.”

“Fuck.”

“That’s a good response, at least,” Nico murmured, kicking his boots at the bloodied tile floor.

“I'm so sorry. I got hoarded with patients, like hoarded. The Ares kids had some new weapons made today and the Hephaestus kids thought it would be fun to mess with them. Somehow the Athena kids got involved and I think there are some Dionysus kids who got involved just for the drama.” Will grabbed Nico's hands, squeezing them with such intensity, Nico feared they might break.

When Nico looked at Will’s face at that moment, he knew he was going to say ‘yes’ to whatever was about to be asked of him. Whether Will just wanted some gum or if he wanted to burn the entire world; there was something alluring in those eyes that Nico could simply never deny. “Nico, fuck, please give me another chance. I know I shouldn't have stood you up like that and I really wasn't planning to. It’s just, we got so many patients all at once that it completely slipped from my mind and-”

“-I’m not mad. A bit annoyed, yes, but I get it. You have people to fix. Go do your job.” Nico paused for a moment. “But one thing. Next time you almost stand me up, a note or a messenger would have been nice.”

Will frowned. “I thought I sent a note?”

Nico paused again. Did he send a note? Nico’s memory racked- did anybody come to give him a note? He couldn’t distinctly remember it.

The only thing he remembered was someone running to his cabin, panting and him slipping himself into the shadows, avoiding whichever body had come wandering into his domain- he had not been in the mood to interact with anybody other than Will (Or maybe Hazel or Annabeth because they always knew what to say and when to say it).

Woops.

“Oh, That note you mean. I might have hidden from the messenger in the shadows…” Nico trailed off, looking everywhere but Will. Expecting a loud scoff or perhaps a jeer, Nico could feel his hands clenching up, ready to get him out of this situation. But when he heard a little giggle and saw Will giving him a genuine little smile and holding out his hand, he couldn’t help but be surprised.

“I know that I’m currently meant to be working but I guess taking a little break couldn’t hurt. Besides, I haven't eaten a proper meal all day and those sandwiches look delicious.”

Nico happily let Will lead him to the room reserved for the staff who were in this case, just the Apollo kids. But then he stopped.

“You haven't eaten all day? Will, what the hell? You were nagging me the entire of my stay here to eat and you don't even do it yourself?”

“I do eat, it’s just sometimes, I forget to because everybody is being stupid and trying to fight their healers,” Will huffed as he grabbed a sandwhich and stuffed a bite into his mouth.

“What idiot tries to fight their healers?” Nico asked as he took a sip of juice. They were sitting in the corner of the ‘staff room’ which in reality was just the back room. It just had 2 bare beds for quick resting and back up medical supplies. There was a bare sink and a couple of cupboards which were most likely empty. The freezer however, had several pints of ice cream.

“Oh who tries to fight their healer? Must I remind you of your behaviour every time you're in this infirmary?”

Will opened a pack of chips that he had managed to snag from one of the other healers; he doubted they’d notice. Well, he hoped they wouldn't notice.

“I can’t be that bad.” Nico batted his hand in the air, his hand reaching over to Will’s pack of chips and stealing one. Will smacked his hand and gasped, showing his mock offence.

“Oi! Those are mine!”

“Says who?” Nico argued. “ I happen to know you stole them!”

“Yeah but finders keepers!”

“I will fight you for those chips,” Nico snarled. Will, smiling wickedly, held his front; not in the least intimidated by Nico's violent demeanor.

“Perfect, now we finally fight. After all, I did tell you that I’d fight you later when you were recovering.”

“I’ll turn you into ashes.”

“Nu uh, I don’t think so. Remember I have regeneration,” Will boasted. They were both now standing, their food abandoned on the table.

“If I remember correctly.” Nico moved forward for the attack, “You told me you wouldn’t fight me because you knew I would win.”

Will gave a smirk. “You were ill. I couldn't tell you the truth.”

Nico squinted his eyes and waited for Will’s punch. He didn’t expect for Will to be waiting for his; Oh right, Will always fights defensive

But then he realised that this could be used to his own advantage. He went in for an attack, his leg going round to kick the back of Will’s knees, making him buckle to the floor. Nico was aiming to disable him from moving, not hurt him.

I may be short, but that just means I can reach your knees.

Will let out a rueful laugh, the game was on. Just as when Nico went to grab Will's arm, Will used his other arm to grab Nico and used all his strength and Nico’s momentum to flip Nico onto his back so that when Nico looked up, He saw Will's smiling face.

Nico rolled away, quickly forcing his way up. They both stood facing each other, none of them throwing a punch or a kick. They were dancing around each other, around their feelings. Nico ran into Will and used every force in his favour to force Will to fall onto the bare bed behind him. They landed safely with an oomph and immediately Nico got to work in immobilising him.

Nico quickly straddled Will, trying to grab his arms but Will, while not the fastest, was relatively strong. He managed to grab Nico’s arm, stopping him from being trapped. He then used all the strength he could summon from his abdominal muscles and managed to flip Nico so that it was him holding both of Nico’s arms above his head, effectively pinning him to the bed.

Nico struggled but Will was too strong. He had tried to flip Will back onto his back but it was too hard so he settled for trying to wrestle his wrists out of the blond boy's grasp. They were panting and their faces were close enough that they could feel each other's warm breath on each other's face.

Nico felt his eyes being drawn to Will’s lips and then his ocean blue, like eyes. It was a magnet being drawn across Will's face and Nico had no choice but to follow it everywhere. From the perfect slant of his cupid’s bow at his lips and the fullness of his lips to the half lidded eyelids that covered his deep eyes. The eyes that we're currently analysing Nico’s face, in the same way he was doing to Will’s, right this moment.

Will felt Nico’s wrists stop resisting as much in his grasp as his eyes slowly drifted to his own. Their eyes locked. Ocean Blue met Onyx. The sea had met the depths of the earth and it was only the roaring sound of their own blood being pumped ferociously by their hearts that acted as the soundscape of the ocean as Will lowered his lips to meet Nico’s in the most tentative of kisses.

Their lips brushed gently, as a taster and then, Nico slipped one of his supposedly trapped wrists out of Will’s hands and slid it around Will’s neck, pulling him to deepen the kiss. Will’s face felt heated as he moved his hands from above Nico’s head to cup his face; he could feel the heat radiating from it.

They broke apart- only for a second- but alas, even that felt like too much. Their lips found each other again, even in the darkness of the room, due to sunset and yet they were only in the dark for a matter of seconds. Nico, despite having his eyes closed, could feel the soft glow of Will’s skin.

“Hey Will, Where did ya g-” The startled young healer was stunned before cringing immediately at their older brother.

“-Oh god, Will, My eyes! My eyes have been scarred, dear, good gracious Gods, Help me!”

Nico’s hands flew to Will’s chest, pushing him off while Will himself made an attempt to scramble off Nico. They keyword there being attempt, because the next thing he knew, Will had stumbled and managed to trip Nico into falling face first into Will’s chest, straddling him and thus making their situation so much worse.

“What do you want?” Will groaned at his younger sibling, as Nico climbed off him, slowly burying his face in his hands out of embarrassment.

“You have another patient to fix.” The kid was now holding his hands over his eyes- something that deeply irritated Nico.

“Oh calm down, it’s not like we were doing anythi-”

“-Nico!” Will cried. “ Go out and find someone to cover for me. Tell Kayla she’s in charge; I’m off for the night,” Will declared as he grabbed Nico’s hand, kicked open the back door and fled into the early night with Nico, hand in hand.

[deanstead]

Stalked

Pairing: Kelly Severide x Reader

Requested by anon: Could I get 13 and 19 on the prompt list, please! Kelly x reader where the reader is a bartender at Molly’s and ends up with a stalker. Maybe a sprinkle of Jay helping out, too.

Warnings: mentions of stalking, anxiety, mild cursing

A/N: Prompts were meant for drabbles but…. It became too long to be labelled as a drabble so tagging this as a one-shot but I used the prompts! Just felt there needed to be a bit of a build-up for a stalker backstory. Hope you like it! Would also love to hear what you think!

---

You had been getting the feeling that you were being followed for the past few weeks.

There were just a few moments in your day when you felt that you were being watched. It started off at Molly’s when you were pulling your bartending shift, the hairs on the back of your neck had stood but you couldn’t pinpoint it in a crowded bar.

Yet during the past few weeks, it had progressively gotten more frequent. You hadn’t told anyone about it yet because there was nothing to tell. There wasn’t a stranger you saw frequently. Molly’s was usually full of firefighters from 51 or police officers and detectives from 21, or even the medical staff from Med. But no one jumped out at you so you didn’t mention anything to anyone.

You felt it again as you walked the short distance from Molly’s to your apartment building after finishing your shift but you shook it off. Maybe you were too tired.

You jogged up the stairs, squinting when you noticed a package sitting in front of your door.

You smiled. Kelly must have left something for you. You turned, looking up and down the empty corridor. The only thing that smelt a little funky was that Kelly usually left a note or stuck around.

You flipped open the box, frowning at the contents.

What the hell was this?

You stood in front of your door, picking up the stack of photos inside the box. Photos of you – laughing at Molly’s, at the store, at the pharmacy, photos through the window of this very apartment. Photos that you were now sure weren’t from Kelly.

The box dropped to the ground with a clang, the photos slipping from your fingers and scattering onto the floor. You took a shaky step backwards.

You didn’t even realise your hands were shaking until you fumbled with the clasp on your bag to try to call Kelly.

There were just two rings before he answered. “Hello?”

You swallowed, trying to steady your voice before speaking.

“Y/N?” Kelly’s voice again.

“Kelly…” You failed at keeping your voice steady, your voice breaking a little as you called out his name.

“Babe? What’s wrong?” Kelly had picked up on your shaky voice immediately.

“Kelly… something… someone…” Your brain was fogging up.

You could hear Kelly moving around. “Where are you?” When you didn’t respond immediately, Kelly pressed again. “Y/N, where are you?”

“Outside my apartment.” You finally found the words.

“Don’t move. I’ll be right there, okay? Stay there.” Kelly instructed before he hung up.

---

You weren’t sure how long it was you had been there. Once the line had gone dead, you had sunk to the floor, drawing your knees close to your chest, your head down. The box was lying open in front of you, the photographs scattered around. You only looked up again when you heard footsteps, followed closely by Kelly’s voice.

“Y/N!” Kelly called, making a beeline for you.

“You okay?” He demanded. You nodded your head but looped your arms around Kelly, pushing your face into his chest.

You felt Kelly reach over to hold you before you heard a third person’s voice. “Let me clear the house.”

You hadn’t even noticed that Jay was with Kelly.

“Kelly, we’re good.” Jay nodded, tossing your keys back to Kelly. You hadn’t even noticed that Kelly had taken them from you.

“Come on.” Kelly helped you up and guided you inside, Jay following close behind. Before long, Kelly was pushing a hot cup of tea into your hands as Jay pored over the box.

“No promises but I’ll try to pull security footage, maybe we can even dust for prints.” Jay said, glancing over at Kelly.

“Thanks for coming over with me.” Kelly said, getting up.

“Don’t sweat it, Kelly.” Jay smiled.

You looked up. “Thanks Jay.” You smiled.

“You hang in there, okay? I’ll do what I can.” Jay called, waving as he left.

“I can stay here tonight.” Kelly said, as the door closed behind Jay. You didn’t say anything but reached for his hand and he smiled, kissing the back of your hand.  

---

It had been a month and a half since the box had shown up on your door and then nothing.

The best Jay could come up with was that it was a white guy in his thirties, wearing a hoodie and baseball cap. The cameras caught nothing and there were no prints they could match him to.

“Everything’s been okay, though?” Jay asked, as you slid him his drink.

You nodded, “Yeah, it’s been quiet.”

Jay nodded. “Hey, you know if you need anything…”

You smiled, “Thanks Jay. Drink’s on me.”

He smiled, raising his glass in thanks as you wandered off to restock the supplies.

By the time you had finished tidying storage, Molly’s was almost empty, save for a few more people from 51. “Hey Y/N, you can take off early. There’s not much to do, I can handle it.” Herrmann called as you walked out.

“You sure?” You asked, scanning the room. “We’re not exactly closed yet.”

Herrmann smiled. “Yeah, go on.”

“Thanks Herrmann!” You called, going for your bag.

You dialled Kelly’s number but it went straight to voicemail. It still wasn’t late, technically Herrmann was letting you finish shift early. You sent Kelly a quick text to meet you straight at your apartment and calling out byes, slipped out the back door.

You were halfway to your apartment when your phone rang.

“Y/N, I told you I’d pick you up.” Kelly said, the moment you picked up the phone.

You sighed, “Kelly, I’m almost home. I’m just around the corner, I just…” You were cut off midsentence by someone grabbing you and you gave a short yelp before you dropped your phone and got pulled into the adjacent alley.

---

Kelly sighed as he heard you justify why you had left the bar early. He knew this was coming, he just didn’t expect it to be this soon. You had always been feisty and independent, so he knew you’d start to let your guard down soon.

“I’m just around the corner, I just…” There was a pause before you gave a short yelp.

“Y/N!” Kelly called but the line had already gone dead.

Fuck.

Kelly fumbled with his keypad as he ran down the street. “Jay, I think she’s in trouble, one street over from Molly’s. I need your help.”

Kelly pumped his legs, pushing himself faster down the street. It had always seemed like a short street when he had walked you home but now it didn’t feel so short.

---

You had the breath knocked out of you as you were thrown against the concrete wall in the alley, your head hitting the wall with a clang, stars dancing in front of your vision.

“Now, no one can tear us apart.” A voice drawled in your ear. You could feel someone hovering above you, his hot breath tickling your ear, as his hand found your neck.

You could feel the bile rise in your throat. You had no idea who this person was, or what they wanted. All you knew for sure was that he was the owner of that creepy box you had received and he was way too close to you.

You had a scream stuck in your throat and you struggled to get it out. You needed to get it out or Kelly would never be able to find you.

“Hey!”

You sank to the ground as you felt his hold on you loosen.

Kelly’s face contorted into a look of rage as he looked down the alley. Without pausing, Kelly pounced, pushing the man off of you. He saw you sink to the ground out of the corner of his eye but turned his attention back to the man in front of him.

Kelly could feel his heart pumping in his chest as he landed a punch on the man’s face. The man threw a punch, causing Kelly to stumble backwards but Kelly threw himself forward again, pushing him deeper into the alley, so as to put as much distance as he could between you and the man.

Kelly threw another punch, knocking the man off his feet. Kelly growled but this time heard footsteps.

“Kelly!” Kelly stepped backwards, avoiding a kick from the man who lay on the gorunf before Jay came running up. 

“Don’t move.” Jay snarled, taking out his gun.

Jay glanced at Kelly who was now holding onto this guy on the ground firmly, before holstering his gun and bending down to take over and handcuff the man. “I got this.”

Kelly nodded and hurried back to where you were sitting on the ground.

“Y/N?” Kelly approached, noticing the way you stiffened as he reached out for you. “Babe?”

You snapped your head up as you tried to shrink further backwards. “Y/N, it’s me. It’s me. It’s okay.”

You finally saw him, Kelly standing over you, his hand stretching out towards you. “Kelly?” Your voice shook a little.

Kelly bent to your level. “Baby, breathe. Just breathe, okay?”

You took a shuddering breath; a breath you didn’t know you had been holding as Kelly pressed you into him. “That’s my girl.” He whispered.

“It’s okay, you’re okay.” Kelly whispered, as you heard the sirens.

“Kelly, We’ll take him in. You think she’s up for a statement?” Jay’s voice now.

Kelly hesitated but you looked up. “I can talk to Jay.” You said, although you hadn’t loosened your hold on Kelly.

Jay nodded, “Kelly can stay with you. I just need an official witness statement, okay?”

You recounted as much as you could remember to Jay, glad that it was Jay who was taking your statement. A friendly face, someone you knew you could trust.

“Thanks Jay. I…”

Jay smiled, reaching in to squeeze your shoulder reassuringly.

---

Kelly had gotten you back to your apartment, and you were now sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket.

“Hey, you doing okay?” Kelly asked, coming down to eye level with you.

You smiled and nodded. “Now, I am.”

You reached for Kelly’s hand. Kelly took your hand in his and sank into the couch next to you, gently pulling you towards him and holding you close, planting a kiss on your temple..

“Can you stay? You make me feel safe.” You whispered.

Kelly didn’t respond immediately, instead just tightening his arms around you. “I’m not going anywhere.” 

You closed your eyes as Kelly shifted to make you more comfortable. “Kelly, I…”

“I know.” He whispered, “Me too.”

---

KELLY SEVERIDE TAGLIST

@keenmarvellover | @securityfriendly-jay | @winterberryfox | @bestillmystuckyheart​

If you would like to be added to a taglist, you may request here or send me an ask!

[heloisedaphnebrightmore]

Busted [Sirius Black x Reader]  - Requested 18+

Title: Busted Pairing: Sirius Black x Hufflepuff!Reader Word count: 4k Published: 4 August, 2020 Author: Heloise Daphne Brightmore Warning: Smut! 18+ If you are under 18, please do not read! Notes: I got this request almost two weeks ago and I am so so so sorry for being late with it, but smut writing is not really me and so it took me longer to think it through. I really am very much sorry for taking so long with this one, but I hope it's good enough. (Even if I feel it's not. I don't think I have done the best I could.) Disclaimer: Both characters are of age! Summary: You and Sirius have always been close, but in the last year you have been even more involved with each other. However you didn’t want others to know about it, so you kept it a secret. Up until you both made a mistake. Request: [x]

Hey babe💓 I love so so much Fluffy supporter🥺 Now I thinking about A Smut Sirius x hufflepuff!reader Where Sirius and Reader are best friends, but have a secret relationship, (everyone suspects) but one morning after they spent the night together, the whole dining room see how they enter with the wrong ties Please🥺 - Anonymous

Harry Potter Characters Masterlist | Masterlists

If you enjoy my stories, please consider donating and supporting me on Ko-fi. Of course, it’s completely your choice, I will continue updating for free anyway :) Thank you <3

The Gryffindor common room was unusually loud. The newest hits of the year were blasting loudly from the radio. People were drunk, barely able to stand, still they kept drinking their firewhisky as if they drank water. Some people stood in the corners, chatting about the Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor match, which Gryffindor just about won, some were making out in a more secluded part of the common room, forgetting about the crowd. Of course there were others who were just a tad bit tipsy, dancing in the middle of the room, barely feeling the effects of alcohol.

You were one of those.

You danced with a huge grin across your face as you have been invited by Sirius to join the celebration. Not many Hufflepuffs were invited, only you and your friend, Y/F/N. You slightly felt privileged that Sirius never missed an opportunity to show you off. Even if they only knew about your friendship and nothing beyond that.

Sirius was someone who meant more to you than anyone combined. He was beside you in your darkest times, he was making you laugh when you felt lost. Sirius was a light that shined through the walls you built up carefully around yourself. He knocked them down as if they were never even there.

You loved the boy, you adored him. His carefree attitude made you smile constantly. There wasn't even a second you didn't enjoy spending with him.

You danced in the common room, forgetting about the drink in your hand, swaying your hips to the rhythm, almost spilling the content of your glass. You felt an arm around your waist, but you didn't stop. You knew who he was. His touches sent little shivers through your body, alarming you of his presence. You smiled happily, moving your hips in sync with his.

"Are you enjoying yourself, sweetheart?" He asked as he turned you around in his arms, letting you link your arms behind his neck. His grey eyes were attached to yours, forgetting about anyone else in the room. Your smile grew as you ran your gaze through his handsome features, stopping to glance at his full lips a bit longer than you deemed appropriate.

He realised the way your eyes wondered lower which made his usual cocky smile appear. He bit into his lower lip seductively, knowing how badly it affected you when he did that. It was utter torture for you, watching as his teeth sank into his plump pink lips. You felt the need to grab his neck and pull him down, wanting to feel those cushions against your mouth.

"Stop doing that!" You warned him as you turned around and focused back on dancing. He wrapped his arms around your waist as he let out a cheeky laughter. He leaned down to you, whispering into your ear.

"I will see you later, sweetheart." He hinted a tiny kiss in the crook of your neck, before he turned around and left you dancing with your friends. You looked up at them, finally feeling in control of your Sirius filled thoughts, just to meet two pairs of sceptical eyes.

"What?" You asked as you stopped dancing and took a swig of your drink.

"Friends, right?" Lily asked and you shook your head with an eye roll.

"Are we still on the same subject?" You questioned with a bored expression.

"I don't know about you Lily, but my friends don't look at me like that nor do they start kissing my neck." Y/F/N shrugged, her sceptical look unfazed.

"Interestingly my friends don't do that either." Lily replied, making you groan.

"He didn't start kissing me, he gave me one kiss and as I have told you numerous times before, we are just friends." You threw your arms in the air, feeling agitated all of a sudden. The same conversation has been happening over and over again and you were painfully tired of it.

"Yep..." Y/F/N said, her eyes not even leaving you for a second. You huffed in an annoyed tone, trying to keep your cool. But then you could see her gaze move behind you, settling on a spot. You turned around and your eyes met two dark grey orbs watching every little move of yours. A cheeky little grin appeared on his face and you returned the expression involuntarily. "Is he aware of you being only his friend? Because it certainly doesn't seem like he is." She raised a brow as you turned back to her.

"Just stop it." You told her, downing the glass of drink in your hand.

"Will he?" She asked, making Lily chuckle, which you simply ignored.

"He isn't doing anything. He is standing in a corner, talking to his friends." You huffed, annoyance clear in your voice.

"Yeah, he is simply ogling you. I am telling you, it's not a friendship." She shrugged and you groaned, giving up and leaving them behind. You walked up to Sirius and grabbed his wrist pulling him out of the common room, your rushed steps hitting hard against the concrete floors.

"What is going on?" He asked, but you didn't speak. You kept dragging him along like a playtoy. Although he didn't mind, he loved it when you took control and found it to be a turn on, he was rather concerned for you.

You stopped in front of the Room of Requirements, walking back and forth, before a dark brown door appeared. You walked in, seeing the exact copy of your bedroom as you grabbed Sirius' wrist and pulled him in, closing the door behind him.

"Sit." You said firmly, waiting for him to take a seat on the small couch in front of you. He didn't argue, he simply kicked off his shoes and laid down on the couch, following your order-like request.

"Can I ask what happened?" He spoke with a raised brow, being completely oblivious as to why you dragged him away.

"We-" You pointed at him and then back to yourself." are supposed to be a secret. Why are you staring at me so obviously?" You questioned, which earned a low huffing sound to leave his lungs.

"Can't I admire my girlfriend?" He asked with a bewildered look.

"Believe me, I love the looks you are giving me." You walked up to him, bending down in front of him, cupping his cheeks. "But you can not keep doing this, if we want to keep it a secret." You explained.

"It was your idea in the first place to keep it from others and I still don't get why. Everyone already knows, we just keep denying it." He rolled his eyes, heaving a deep sigh as the conversation repeated itself once again. "I'm tired of hiding it."

"I told you. I'm scared." You spoke lowly, feeling your anxiety resurface. You loved him to the moon and back. He was your everything and every time he was around you, your heartbeat went frantic. But you were scared. You knew how mean his fangirls could be. You feared to make it official in front of others, knowing you would not be able to survive the heartbreak you eventually would get from him. You didn't want others to feel pity for you.

Sirius was watching you with curious eyes, trying to figure out your thoughts, when finally it all clicked. You did make your worries clear before and he had no problem reading your facial expression after having been with you for so long.

"Have I ever cheated on you?" He asked and your eyes grew wide at the sudden question. You quickly shook your head as a response. "Do I show you enough how much I love you?" He spoke again and you nodded quickly, reassuring him. "Do you love me?" He pulled you down to him, forcing you to straddle him as he rested his arms around your waist. You breathed out a firm 'yes' before hinting a small kiss on his lips. "So what are you worried about?" He questioned and you knew you should be sure of him and your relationship, but those stupid little voices in your head confused you. You awkwardly played with the end of his tie, keeping your eyes away from him.

"Nothing is forever. I'm scared to feel weak and pathetic when you break up with me." You spoke weakly. You looked up into his dark grey orbs to see them growing wider by the second.

"Why on earth would I break up with you?" He asked, pulling you closer, keeping his gaze on you.

"I don't know. There could be multiple reasons. Maybe you will find someone better or-" You wanted to continue, but he interrupted you. He placed his hand behind your neck and pulled you down to him, pushing his lips against yours firmly. You melted into his embrace, enjoying his warm lips on yours, making all your worries disappear. As he pulled away, he didn't let you go. He placed his forehead against yours and looked into your loving gaze.

"Was I clear enough? Noone is better than you! I love you and you have to accept that. I want to show others that you belong to me and I belong to you. I want others to know that they will never have a chance to get close to you because I will break them into tiny little pieces." He grimaced, making you chuckle at his tad bit possessive behaviour.

"Give me a bit of time and I guess we can do it." You smiled sweetly, hoping for it to turn out well. You just needed time to get yourself ready. Sirius' wild grin was fixed across his face as he pulled you down for another heated kiss. You wrapped your arms around his neck, wanting to feel his closeness, whilst his hands wandered under your blouse, his palm running through your soft skin. "Where are those hands?" You chuckled into the kiss.

"Where they should be." He smiled as he wandered down to your neck, hinting sweet kisses along your neckline, teasingly biting into your skin to make you moan. He ran his tongue across your sweet spot, gently sucking on it as you ground in his lap. He groaned at the friction you created, grabbing your hips to steady you. "Stay put, sweetheart." He moaned against your skin, causing goosebumps to appear on your arms.

"What if I don't want to?" You whispered into his ear, stopping him in your skin's appreciation.

"Don't play dirty, I know your weaknesses." He growled in a low tone, his grey irises turning darker, filled with lust.

"And I know yours." You pulled his face closer as you started grinding in his lap once again, making him moan, trying to stop your hips, unsuccessfully. He placed his arms under your butt, lifting you up, whilst walking over to the bed. He threw you on top of the mattress, making you squeak as you landed harshly on the duvet. You didn't have time to complain, Sirius was already crawling above you, kissing you harshly, claiming his territory.

His hands didn't waste time, he was already working on your last button by the time you came to realise what he was doing. You sat up, pushing your chest to his as he took off your shirt, and undone the tie, with a swift movement throwing them on the floor.

You hurried to remove his tie, unbuttoning his shirt, wanting to feel his body against you finally. Your hand shook in anticipation, causing him to chuckle lightly as he ran his eyes across your half naked chest, playing with the string of your bra.

Finishing with the last button you yanked it off him, throwing it next to your blouse, before cupping his face to kiss him again. You linked your legs around his torso, pushing yourself up to turn the position, straddling his hips in the process. You looked down at him, running your fingertips through his toned upper body, stopping at the edge of his trouser. You grinned playfully as you bit into your lower lip, your mind already craving his closeness.

You hovered above him, kissing him firmly, before wondering down to his neck, making him moan at your actions. You left tiny kisses on his torso, gently running your nails across his chest, reaching his trousers with a cheeky smile. He returned your expression, watching every movement of yours as you unzipped his trousers and slowly pulled it down his legs, leaving the piece of clothing on the floor.

He was beautiful, mesmerising. He was an eighteen year old teenager, but he looked like a grown man who captured every thought of yours with his mere presence. You kneeled above him, kissing his collarbone, before once again you started going down to his most sensitive area. You looked up at him as you left open mouth kisses on his torso, his eyes lustful, his lips parted in anticipation. You pulled down his boxer, his erection standing proudly in front of you.

You got hold of it, slowly moving your hand up and down on its length making him growl as his eyes closed down. He was heaving deep breaths as your hand picked up a faster pace. You smiled at his satisfied state, before you took his member in your mouth, hearing his breath hitch. He growled at the warm and wet feeling, running his fingers through your messy hair. He gently controlled your movements as your head kept bobbing up and down between his thighs, making his breathing pick up a faster pace. Loud groans left his lungs as you played with your tongue around the head of his member, whilst fastening the pace of your hand around his shaft.

You squeaked as he pulled you up unexpectedly, firmly attaching his lips to yours, his kiss uncontrolled, slightly sloppy.

"That's enough sweetheart." He breathed and pushed you down on the bed, removing your shoes and stockings, before kissing you again. He started taking off your skirt impatiently, almost ripping your clothing off in the process.

"Someone is eager." You chuckled, making him groan lightly. He trailed down your neck, leaving wet kisses across your upper body. He pulled you up to his chest, kissing your neck, nibbling on your sensitive spot, whilst unhooking your bra. He took it off you, sending it to the other side of the room, his gaze attached to your chest.

"Merlin, you are so beautiful." He breathed, making you chuckle.

"Merlin?" You questioned giggling, which he simply responded by biting your breast gently. Your breath hitched at the unexpected sensation, making you fall back onto the bed. He massaged one of your breasts with one hand, whilst spoiling the other with his tongue, making you squirm under him. Your breath quickened as his tongue drew circles around your nipple, nibbling on the sensitive area.

He kept his hand working as he wandered down to your belly, kissing his way towards your underwear, before pulling down the black lace thong.

"I want to rip it off." He breathed against your inner thigh, pulling down the material as slowly as he could manage in his uncontrollable state. He wanted to feel you around him, he wanted to feel you as close to him as possible. But he liked to take his sweet time.

"But you won't." You replied as he gave you a cheeky smile and an eye roll, removing your panties and dropping it on the floor.

He kissed his way back up your inner thigh, leaving you a moaning mess as he kept away from your most sensitive area on purpose.

"Who is eager now?" He questioned, but you couldn't answer. You heaved a shaky sigh as you felt his breath against your slit, the cool air hitting hard against the warmness between your legs. He smiled proudly, before licking across the small ball of nerves, making your hip buck up in anticipation.

"Please." You breathed involuntarily, making him chuckle. He leaned closer, running his tongue across the area once more, your hips coming up to him involuntarily. He placed a hand across your lower abdomen, holding you down as his tongue took you on a rollercoaster ride of sensations, making you cry out as his fingers joined in on pleasuring you. You didn't know what to concentrate on. His playful tongue, his lips sucking on the little ball of nerve, his thick digits inside of you, the movements of fingers in and out of you or the sensation of the warmness forming a knot in your stomach. You didn't think long as you felt the inside of your walls contract, leaving you a mess of moans and screams, before releasing you to let you ride your high out.

You kept heaving heavily as you ran your fingers across your hair, your eyes concentrating on the inside of your eyelids, enjoying the satisfaction you just received.

You didn't have time to rest much as you felt Sirius' lips on yours, his tongue meeting yours as you tasted yourself. You pulled him closer, locking your legs around his hips, urging him to take you finally. You felt him chuckle into your neck. He kept kissing you, whilst aligning himself with your entrance. You gripped his hips, wanting to feel him already, firmly grabbing his skin, but he didn't move. You wanted to groan at his behaviour, but your sound was cut short as you felt him fill you up. He didn't give you time to adjust, he started pounding into you enjoying the friction between his member and your walls.

His groans were low and shaky as you watched his long black hair sweating under his heavy movements. You grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him down for a kiss, wanting to feel him even closer. He quickened the pace, making you moan his name into the kiss. His lustful eyes attached to yours as he cupped your face, watching you, feeling your walls close around him. Your breathing became uneven, your lips dried out. You felt the sensation wash over you, making your back arch, your breasts pushing against his chest, a loud scream leaving you in pleasure. Sirius kissed you, nibbling on your bottom lip whilst you got lost in ecstasy. He quickened his movements, reaching you with a loud growl leaving his lungs, before falling on top of you.

You were taking deep breaths to organise your breathing, whilst Sirius laid on top of your chest, listening to your heart beating uncontrollably. You ran your hands across his hair, playing with the ends. He hummed in satisfaction, causing you to giggle at his child-like behaviour.

"I love you." He breathed as he pushed himself up to be able to look into your eyes.

"I love you too." You whispered against his lips.

He rolled off you to go and clean himself up, leaving you time to do the same and drink a small vial you placed in the pocket of your skirt just in case this was to happen. You drank the potion, protecting you against any unwanted pregnancy and laid back on the bed, pulling the cover over you as you waited for Sirius to return.

He crawled under your cover, pulling you on to his chest, hinting a small kiss on your forehead.

"Good night, sweetheart." He spoke in a tired tone.

"Good night, love." You replied with a small yawn, snuggling deeper into his arm.

Morning came fast. When you woke up and looked at your watch, you jumped out of bed, trying to collect all of your clothes as quickly as you could. You picked up one of Sirius' shoes and threw it at the snoring boy, who shot up with a tired, but surprised expression.

"What?" He asked, not even aware of where he was for a second.

"We have to go, breakfast is almost finished." You replied quickly. Throwing all of his clothes on to the bed.

"So? We can go to the kitchen later." He said, as he fell back onto the bed.

"You know I hate eating in the kitchen. Now get yourself up." You instructed him and he finally decided to do as you so kindly asked him, whilst whining constantly.

As you stepped into the Great Hall, the place went silent. You looked around, searching for the source of surprise that came over them, before you realised everyone was watching you and Sirius. You looked up at him questioningly, but his eyes were running across the room with a suspicious look and a deep frown, just like yours seconds before.

He looked at you with a questioning look, before his eyes wandered down to your chest. A huge grin took over his expression, before a loud laughter exploded from his lungs. You still didn't understand what was happening, but then he took your red Gryffindor tie in his hands, waving it in front of you. Red... Your eyes grew wide, your lips parted as you realised he was wearing your yellow Hufflepuff tie. You raised your palms to your face, hiding yourself from the curious looks.

"Sweetheart, look at me." He tried to remove your hands, but you didn't let him. "You said you would want to reveal us anyway. It just came a bit earlier." He chuckled, not helping your embarrassed situation.

"Not like this though." You cried into your hands.

"Come on, sweetheart. Everyone suspected it already." He said as he kissed your forehead and finally removed your hands from your heavily blushing face. "Come, sit with us." He said as he pulled you up to the Gryffindor table. You could feel the intense stares you have received from the other students, whilst walking up to Sirius' friends.

"Let me guess-" James stood up with a huge grin. "this has been ongoing for a while." Sirius chuckled at his friend and waved him down, not to tease you.

"Friends?" Lily joined the teasing, making you blush even darker. You sat down beside Sirius as he wrapped his arm around your waist, keeping you close to him, reassuring you.

"Yes, we have been together for a while, we just wanted to keep it a secret." Sirius spoke up, seeing your unresponsive state.

"How long is for a while?" Remus asked with a raised brow and a half smile.

"Maybe a year." Sirius replied, causing his friends to gasp.

"Wait what? You kept it away from us for a whole year?" James questioned with a slight annoyance in his voice.

"I made him." You interrupted. "I'm sorry, I just wasn't sure. I was worried. I didn't know how others would take it or how it would affect us if others knew." You explained, looking at his friends.

"I mean, it wasn't really a secret. We kind of suspected it." Peter spoke with a shrug.

"Shut up Wormtail, you were the most oblivious one." James chuckled as he punched his friend on the shoulder. "I'm glad you finally got it out there, although it was certainly a coming out to remember." He smirked and you took a piece of carrot from the plate and threw it at him. "Hey!" He whined.

"That wasn't funny." You said as you blushed even harder, hiding in Sirius' protective arms.

"It was though." Sirius said nuzzling up against you, hiding his face in your neck as you felt his quiet laughters. You shook your head, but you couldn't hide the tiny smile creeping up on your face anymore.

Tags: I didn’t tag anyone as I wasn’t sure of the ages.

Notes: If you enjoyed it, don't forget to like and/or reblog the chapter. Thank you :) 

If you enjoy my stories, please consider donating and supporting me on Ko-fi. Of course, it’s completely your choice, I will continue updating for free anyway :) Thank you <3

[21burritoseavey]

Like Everybody Else - daniel seavey imagine

a/n: I hope you like this, i didn’t want to make it too sad lol. Also, kinda random but how many of you use :), :( or :/ in texts? cos I do. Let me know what you think.

Song: Lennon Stella, Like Everybody Else

Run fast, run away, run straight into the loneliness

It isn't only home I miss

 “How's tour?” Y/n asked excitedly, taking a seat on the cushioned floor next to Anna. 

 Daniel smiled gently, “It’s...great.” Daniel spoke gingerly. “It would be so much better if you were with me” He continued easily. 

 “Aww, Dani” Y/n’s cheeks flushed bright pink at his sweet words, and she giggled timidly. 

 “Aww, you two are just the cutest” Anna said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. Him and Y/n chuckled lightly on opposite ends of the FaceTime call. 

 “How are you two doing then?” Daniel asked with a tight smile. 

 “We’re doing great! Keri’s gonna take us snowboarding tomorrow with your family!” Y/n spoke positively. Daniel’s eyes lingered fondly on Y/n’s. He happily relished in the feeling of love that played in her toothy smile and soft gaze. 

 Daniel’s blurry, muddled mind cleared as memories of past family adventures emerged at the sight of innocent kids playing in the distant snow from out the window. The snow fell as gracefully as feathers. 

 Daniel turned back to his phone after what seemed like ages. “That’s great. I’m glad you’re having so much fun.” He said quietly. “I miss you guys so much.” He breathed, his voice slightly wavering. The girls didn’t notice the slight sadness etched in his voice. He rushed to end the call, not wanting to fall apart in front of them. “I gotta go. I love you guys!” He rushed out before hanging up. He tossed his phone to the edge of his bunk and set his face in his hands morosely. 

 Like the night all my friends got together

Heard about it afterwards

Didn't think was gunna hurt so much

Daniel trudged out of the interview room tiredly. His bandmates followed close behind with faces full of energy and voices dripping in excitement. The boys’ brand-new freedom allowed for tons of new adventures in the unexplored town and while the other guys almost sprinted out of the building, Daniel wanted nothing more than to be alone with his thoughts. He pulled out his phone from his back pocket and tapped Y/n’s name on messages nearly unknowingly, like it was muscle memory. “Daniel, come on, we’re waiting outside.” Jonah called gently from a few paces away. Daniel lifted his gaze and let a small smile play on his lips as he spoke. “Yeah, just a sec.”

 “Hi” He typed quickly, shuffling his feet slowly toward the elevator. His screen illuminated after a few seconds. 

 “Hey:)” Y/n responded. Daniel’s tense body relaxed at the simple message from his girlfriend, and he let the corners of his lips pull upwards to form a faint smile. 

 “What you up to?” He continued. A moment later he received a photo from Y/n and opened his hesitantly. The image loaded to reveal Y/n with a couple other friends of theirs. The dark atmosphere sparked his memory and he remembered Oscar’s birthday party. Their happy faces shone bright even in the nearly non-existent light of the club. Daniel’s smile faltered at the sight of them and he couldn’t help but feel a great amount of envy swallow his mood. He wanted them to be happy, but he wanted to be happy too. 

 “Daniel,” Jonah whispered sharply again. It was only at that moment that Daniel realised he had barely moved from his initial spot, and he chuckled lightly at his friend’s serious expression. He jogged over. “What’s got you so glum?” Jonah asked teasingly as they headed into the empty elevator. He turned back to see Daniel truthfully upset and his expression quickly broke. “What’s up, man?” He asked earnestly, setting a comforting hand on Daniel’s back. 

 “Y/n...and the others...” Daniel said simply, dropping his gaze to his pink sneakers. 

 Jonah looked a little bewildered. He narrowed his eyes, “What? What do you mean? Did they do something?” He rushed out. 

 “D-don’t worry about it.” Daniel dismissed with a gentle shrug. He averted his gaze to the sign above the door and watched it light up silently as they reached their floor. 

 Why if I'm doin' so well

Did I build a wall between me and the world?

Daniel was sitting up on his bunk bed, leaning against his single pillow with his legs stretched out and ankles crossed lightly. He was still dressed in his outfit - too tired of even changing into something comfier. He stared blankly at his Instagram timeline on his phone, scrolling mindlessly through photos etched with fun and adventure. The high, creaking noise of the door swinging open shot Daniel out of his faint trance, and he looked up expectantly. 

 “Hey, the guys and I are going out to dinner? Wanna come?” Zach asked, making his way further into the narrow hallway of the tour bus. Daniel shook his head lightly. 

“Nah it’s fine” He muttered as casually as he could. He felt a swell of emotion wash over him unexpectedly.

“You sure? You said no last week as well.” Zach asked, peeking a brow at the boy across from him. 

 “Yep” Daniel said quickly, swallowing back the lump in his throat. He pulled a tight smile, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling in his stomach. Zach nodded gently, turning away towards the door, but just before he came to it, he looked over his shoulder one last time to Daniel. He let his eyes linger on his downcast eyes lit up by the screen in front of him before walking forwards and shutting the door behind him. 

 Daniel sighed in relief and dragged his palm over his face tiredly. He kicked off his shoes and watched them drop carelessly on the floor. He tugged the throw blanket at the foot of his bed closer and pulled it right up to his chin tightly, letting his eyes linger to the dark night sky aglow with city lights. He glanced at his cheery bandmates sauntering out of the bus and onto the footpaths with nothing but joy in their step. Daniel wanted to feel like them too, more than they could ever comprehend. 

 Been drilled in my head forever, be better, turns out

I'm just like everybody else

 Daniel burnt the midnight oil often. He usually found daytime band rehearsals too overwhelming to focus. His gentle piano playing broke the serene silence of the night, coaxing a beautiful, soothing melody until it was interrupted by the wrong note, caused by the slip of his finger. Daniel huffed deeply, resting his head aggressively on the keys in annoyance. It produced a muddled sequence of notes and Daniel felt the vibrations buzz through his head. He lifted his head, slouching back on the bench. He finally felt a great swell of anxiety drown his mind. The previous, harsh critiques from Randy reverberated in his head continuously and he couldn’t get his mind to stop spinning with self-doubt. 

 Daniel sighed deeply. He bit his lip in an attempt to stop his frustrated tears from pouring down his face. He looked around the empty and gloomy rehearsal room and let it all go. He hid his face in his hands tiredly while he cried. The dull ache in his heart was all he could think about, but he merely let himself feel the pain he thought he deserved. A few long minutes later, when Daniel thought he’d cried all the tears left in him, Daniel lifted himself up stiffly from the piano. He rubbed his temples gently before flipping the sheet music to the next page and continuing. 

 Don't even go near a mirror, it’ll kill ya

Trust me, you don't wanna see yourself

“Guys” A crew member came back into the dressing room. “You’ve got three minutes.” He reminded before rushing out into the hallway again. Daniel turned back to the mirror as he adjusted the cuffs of his dress shirt again. 

“Does this look alright to you?” He turned to Jack, pointing to his black and white suit. 

“Yeah,” Jack laughed lightly. “It’s fire...for the five - hundredth time” He joked, “why?” 

“Oh, I don’t know.” Daniel started, glaring over his shoulder to Jack again. “Maybe it’s ‘cause we’re going to a red-carpet event.” He said nervously. 

“Don’t sweat it, dude. We’ll be fine.” Jack reassured. 

Daniel nodded. His gaze persisted on the smudged, full length mirror standing in front of him. In truth, it wasn’t just his appearance he was worried about. It was also his talent. The thought of being in the presence of A list celebrities and artists he greatly admired sent everlasting shivers down Daniel’s spine. 

Fuck the noise, It's too late, It's the choices

Now I don't even wanna be someone

 “Dani.” Jack called gently from across the table. “Daniel.” He said blankly after a moment. 

 “Daniel.” Zach’s hand slammed hard on the table causing a loud thump to echo through Daniel’s whirling mind and he looked up from his downcast gaze to his bandmates cluelessly. “It’s your turn” Zach said, gesturing to the Monopoly board set on the table. 

 The dim light of the lamp casted a warm glow to the lounge room. Daniel sat lazily with his legs tossed on the coffee table. Daniel’s face broke into a soft smile. “Oh right. Sorry.” He chuckled. He leaned over, picked up the dice in one hand and rolled it. 

 “You okay, man?” Corbyn inquired honestly, eyes flickering to Daniel.

 “Yeah...you haven’t really…been here tonight.” Jonah asked carefully. His face was brimming with concern. Daniel’s gentle smile faltered, and his eyes wandered nervously before landing on his bandmates again.

“Y-yeah, yeah. I’m just tired.” He shrugged hesitantly, “don’t worry,” he added. He dropped his gaze back to the board and rested his chin in his hands. 

 That's nice, champagne, what a shame, It doesn't work on me

So don't go wastin' your money

Everybody in this room is too hard, too pretty, I'm tired

I just wanna be nobody

Daniel sat awkwardly at a circular table in the fancy, high end restaurant. The cacophony of polite chatter and clattering of fine cutlery filled his ears and he could barely focus on his own table’s conversation. “Daniel.” The sound of his name being called had Daniel diverting his stare to the older man opposite him. His sharp, strong features only complemented his staid personality. 

“Yes.” Daniel spoke as elegantly as he could. He tried not to let his nervousness peak through his calm facade and he wiped his slightly dampened forehead with the back of his hand. 

“Your managers over here tell me you’re quite the song writer.” He stated the faintest hint of a smile present on his lips. Daniel’s face flushed with nervousness. He cleared his throat with a slight chuckle and dropped his fork onto his plate. 

“I try my best.” He grinned. “But yea...I really enjoy it.” He finished shyly. He washed down the tension flooding his body with a sip of his champagne. 

The older man glared at Daniel before honestly saying, “you know, this opportunity is extremely selective. We only pick one applicant a year.” Daniel glanced at him expectantly, trying to ignore the tightening twist of his stomach. “There are many artists that enjoy writing.” He finished. 

“I understand-” Daniel tried but he was interrupted. 

“He’s a great writer, take it from me” Randy intervened swiftly. He shot a glare to Daniel before leaning his elbows on the table to converse gravely with the other man. Daniel reluctantly focused back on his nearly full plate - he barely ate because of his anxiety. He shoved a forkful of food into his mouth. 

What made me think I was special? I'm not special

Turns out I'm like everybody else

This song sounds exactly like 5SOS

They are just a like 1D

Their music sounds the same

Daniel typically took criticism with grace and modestly, but this time was different. The rims of his eyes were red from glaring at Instagram comments under his music announcement post for almost one hour straight. His fingers readily hovered over the word ‘reply’, prepared to sincerely explain how different his band’s songs were and how much work went into producing them. 

In the back of his mind, Daniel couldn’t help but believe their hurtful words. He set down his phone on the floor to the side in an effort to stop his mind from whirling out of control. He drew up his knees in embarrassment and hid his face against them tiredly. He let his anxiety-stricken face relax and tears flowed gently down his face. 

[writingsbychlo]

let me down slow (03)

word count; 6723

summary; mitch comes over to see you, and while teh day may not go as planned, it leads to some pretty important revelations on your behalf.

notes; this is a little softer, but its a good transitional part.

warnings; none, really. just period cramps, and all that sucky stuff.

Since that night, your phone had never been silent for too long. Apparently, you and Mitch had a lot to talk about, and a lot to debate. You may have had your similarities, but you had your differences too. Like that fact that despite both him and Stiles being on lacrosse teams, you still thought football was more entertaining, but weren’t actually a huge fan of either. 

You had spent more nights up late in the dark, fingers moving over the keyboards as you talked to him, more than you had spoken to someone new in a long time, and yet it was only ever relaxed and calm. You never had that anxiety you got when staying up late into the night to talk to a boy on the phone, you were just talking to your friend, and getting to know him in a way that you never thought you would. You had each other’s numbers but had quickly swapped snapchat names too, and you almost regretted it when he began to send a lot of long video messages as he told you what was going on at every point of the day, before realising you actually liked knowing what he was up to, even if it was just three minutes of watching him walk through the supermarket to find milk and complaining about queues. 

Those videos had quickly become late nights calls, the two of you video chatting or sitting on a call for hours, until the night was late and you went back to texting, before falling asleep. On more nights than you could count in the last three weeks, you had woken up with your phone in your hand or on the pillow beside you, and had to plug it in to charge in the middle of the night before falling asleep again.

The sex had been ongoing too, the two of you taking every chance you had to sneak around, and every time had been completely and utterly earth-shattering.

Sometimes that included you showing up at the Stilinski household at times you knew Stiles was going out, claiming to forget and say you’d just head home, waving him off like the dutiful best friend on the doorstep before letting Mitch drag you into the house and have your clothes off before you reached the bedroom. Or, it involved that mysterious and fittingly sexy SUV he owned pulling up outside of your house just after your parents had left for work in the mornings, so that he could press you into the kitchen counter and fuck you over your dining room table, before the two of you crashed on the couch to take a break. 

Mitch knew exactly what he was doing, and the two of you had indulged in a fair amount of experimenting. You’d let him blindfold you with one of the smart ties from the back of his closet door that was saved for special occasions, and he’d shown up smirking and pressing a pair of handcuffs into your hands that he’d taken from his father’s office.

Your world had gotten a whole lot bigger since Mitch Stilinski had stepped into it, and it was a whole lot brighter too. It was like the sun had been brought closer just by his presence, he felt like summer; warm and bright and full of promises.

Which is exactly why you felt so awful when you swung your door open, looking at him standing on the other side optimistically, a bright smile on his face as he held up a bag of Chinese food in one hand, wiggling his eyebrows at you suggestively. 

“I brought dinner. I was feeling gentlemanly tonight, figured I’d feed you before fucking your brains out.” You let out a gentle laugh at his words, but didn’t step out of the doorway, your hands clenching around the wood a little.

“I can’t. Not tonight.”

His face fell a little, and you shifted yourself, your face screwing up a little at the pain that spread along your body, starting at your lower back, letting out a low sigh as the worst of it passed, and he raised his brows a little. “Is it because I didn’t call first? I just figured it would be alright because you said you were spending the day inside today, and I didn’t want you to be lonely, and I kinda’ figured that was a hint, which I guess it wasn’t, but s-”

“It’s not you, Mitch, I promise.” His jaw snapped shut, and he looked adorably confused for only a moment, before his eyes moved down your body, settling on your stomach before flicking back up, gaze fixing on yours in silent question, and you nodded your confirmation, rubbing at your lower stomach and letting out a pained whimper as a particularly rough round of cramps set in.

You figured he’d just leave, and so you fixed him with the best smile you could, despite the pain, but instead, he was taking a half step closer to you, the smell of food reaching your nose as the bag rustled, and he held it out a little closer to you, offering it out for the taking. “How about I let you have the extra spring rolls, and I’ll rub your stomach for you. We can watch some movies if you want.”

“I.. um, you know there will be no sex, right?” He let out a laugh at your words, shaking his head and rolling his eyes in a way that made you smile too.

“I know. Periods seem like they suck, and I was looking forward to seeing you anyway, so it doesn’t really matter what we do. We can even watch a romantic movie like ‘The Notebook’ or something, whatever you want.” 

“We can watch an action movie.” Taking the bag from him, you opened the door up a little wider to let him through, not missing his mumbled ‘thank god’, at not having to watch something sappy, simply stepping out of the way as he moved into the house, and taking the familiar path he had learned well towards your kitchen as you followed. 

“Want me to get plates and cutlery, and you can go sit back down?”

“That would be awesome.” You sighed, not even bothering to see his reply before you were making your way back to the stairs and up to your bedroom, the heating pad you’d left discarded on your bed was waiting for you, calling you back to it as you crawled back under your covers, grumbling to yourself as it made your body ache from the change in positions, before you were settling in the pillows and lifting the heated bundle back up to press to your abdomen, a happy sigh leaving you.

“Really bad, huh?” Mitch nudged the door shut behind him with his foot, carrying plates and cutlery in one hand, with two glasses in the other and a large bottle of chilled water under his arm. “I didn’t know if you had a drink but I figured you’d want one.”

“Do you know that you’re an angel? Like a blessing. A saint.”

He grinned, placing the plates before you and taking the bag from where it was left discarded beside you, kicking his shoes off as he came to sit next to you on the bed. Opening up all of the containers and balancing them in the bedding carefully so they didn’t tip over, he listed off each thing he got, your eyes fixed on him as he did, until he was screwing up the bag and looking up at you expectantly as he held an empty plate that would be yours once it was filled. 

“You got all the things I like.”

“Not entirely true, the noodles have peas in, because that’s how I like them.” He held the container up for you, showing you the little green veggies sitting inside, but you took it from him and a fork, dishing some up onto your own plate as you ignored his failed deferral of the claim you’d made that he’d actually put a considerable amount of thought into the meal.

He followed suit, the two of you dividing up the meal and discussing all of the elements until the wrappers and boxes were all tucked back into the bag and kicked from the bed, left to sit on the floor as the two of you settled down to eat, his body beside yours in the pillows, and the remote in his hand. He scrolled through the movie choices, offering you different ones he thought would be good, until you settled on something between an action and a comedy, wanting the light-hearted energy to surround you while you were feeling down.

Once you’d finished eating, he’d cleared all of the plates away for you both, taking them downstairs and discarding of the rubbish too, rewarming the pad that had begun to lose its heat. As promised, when he returned, he had positioned himself behind you instead, pressing your back to his front and replacing the head pad on your stomach, rubbing your stomach soothingly every time you got cramps.

Each time you let out a sound in pain he would press a kiss to your head, or your temple, and mumble sweet things in your ear to make you feel better, and each time you shifted and apologised he told you that it was okay, moving himself to make sure you were comfortable, no matter what position you moved yourself into. When the pain in your lower back became worse than that on your front, the pair of you shifted with his guidance until you were laying down, your cheek pressed to his chest as you lay atop him, his hands tucked under your shirt and fingertips pressing into the muscle to soothe you, chuckling each time you let out a sigh of satisfaction when he pressed to the right spots.

It was in those moments that you decided you could absolutely get used to this. You could get used to affection, and love, and being cared for when you weren’t well. It was in those moments that you decided you wanted to have someone you could lay with like this when you weren’t on your period, when you were just feeling a little emotional, or tired. You wanted to be able to shower someone else with love and appreciation too, you wanted to have someone who woke you up in the mornings with breakfasts in bed, and someone who kept you up late at night to watch stupid movies and share funny posts on Instagram, and or the first time in longer than you could remember, that image didn’t revolve around Stiles.

It was no longer his face that plagued your mind and his name that weighed down your heart. It hurt to know that he didn’t love you, but it didn’t hurt as much as it did. For the first time you could recall, you could swap his face out with someone else’s and believe it.

Squeezing the man underneath you a little tighter, his hands went flat on your back, simply rubbing soothingly instead of pressing into the muscles, and you nuzzled down into his chest a little more, the soft cotton against your skin making you feel comfy and warm, the steady movements of his hands lulling you into comfort and clearing your mind. 

“You sure you’re going to be okay to go in tomorrow?”

You let out a groan, his voice deep and rumbling underneath you, and it had slipped your mind that it was Sunday, and that you still had an assignment to do, your face pressing into his shoulder to muffle your growl of irritation before you were pushing yourself up above him, whining a little when you body flared up with pain again, but he simply watched you, setting his hands on your hips as you sat back on his thighs, rubbing at your eyes and glancing around the room.

“What’s up?”

“I have an essay due, tomorrow. Extra credit boost before graduation, just to bump up my GPA and all that.” You waved your hand a little, sighing out a groan before getting to your feet, padding across the room to find your laptop, and you heard the mattress creak as he propped himself up in the pillows. You considered not completing it, and just explaining to your teacher tomorrow that you didn’t need the extra credit, but the truth was, you did. You knew you wanted this, and once your period passed you’d hate yourself for not doing it just because you didn’t feel great at the time. 

Scooping up the device and taking it off of its charger, you made your way back to the nest of pillows and blankets you had created together. He was holding his arms out for you, the covers moved out of the way, so that you could get beneath them, and you could cry at the welcoming image he painted as you collapsed back into his touch. 

Snuggling back into him, his hands found your stomach again after he had tucked the blankets around you, and you positioned the laptop across your lap, turning it on at the power switch and waiting for it to load up. His chin was sitting on your shoulder, cheek pressed to yours as your head fell back onto his shoulder, and your legs tangled together under the covers. Shifting one hand to his, you squeezed at them in a silent thank you for him being there for you, and looking after you. 

You knew you’d be fine alone, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable to actually have someone else with you, looking after you and making you feel better.

The device loaded up, the bright screen making you wince as you typed your password in, your home screen coming up and you immediately turned down the brightness, rubbing at your eyes now that it was darkened in a hope that it would soothe the pounding inside of your skull. “Can you even see that screen now?”

He meant it as a joke, and you knew he did, but it didn’t stop the sigh that slipped past your lips as you pulled up an empty document to start typing into. “I have a headache, and the brightness was not helping.”

“If you have a headache, are you sure you don’t want to just take a nap?”

“I wish I could, but I want to get all the boosts I can before I graduate.” He hummed into your ear, moving to press a kiss to your shoulder through your top, before his hands came up to close over yours on the keyboard as you typed in your name and the title of your essay, stilling as his hands stopped the movement. 

“Why don’t you let me type, then? You can shut your eyes so you don’t have to look at the screen, tell me what you want to put.”

“Are you serious?” You pulled away to look at him again, and he nodded, before you closed your eyes, feeling like you may break down at the offer, and tapping your forehead against his chin as you leaned in to bump against him in gratitude. “You’re amazing.”

“It’s literally just typing. I don’t even have to think of the words.” You pulled your hands away, curling on your side into his body instead as he moved the device to balance across both of your laps, wrapping his arms a little tighter around you and turning up the brightness so he could see the screen, getting himself ready and giving you a little hum in prompt to begin once he was set.

You listed off the words to him, speaking effortlessly as you moved through the introduction, and he typed what you wanted without complaint. It was when you began the actual study basis that he spoke, offering his own points and challenging your knowledge at times, asking you why you thought something as relevant to include, or what it was adding to the essay. 

The two of you worked in perfect harmony to create the piece of work, and you knew that with his added knowledge and the benefit of having another person contribute to it, that it would be one of the best pieces of work you had ever turned in. You had also never felt more relaxed while working, the sound of his voice as he spoke to you, reading back each paragraph for editing and ensuring it was correct, the rumble of it in his chest beneath your cheek. 

It took longer than you thought, but was more enjoyable than any other piece of homework you’d ever completed, and you made the decision then and there that you wouldn’t care if you were drowning in work for the rest of your life if Mitch, or anyone else, would hold you like this and make it feel more like a hobby than a chore.

Upon finishing it, he went to the effort of printing it off for you, leaving the bed after fluffing the pillows for you and handing you one to curl up with, before he was making his way over to collect the pages from your printer, digging through your desk drawers to find a plastic cover to slide them into, and tucking the essay into your bag, ready for tomorrow. 

You were watching him move carefully, your leg propped up on one of the pillows to ease your cramps, and he peeled his jumper up and over his head, throwing it away to sit over the seat at your vanity. The action had pulled up the light cotton tee he wore underneath, exposing the toned muscles and dark happy trail to you, the path of hairs that dipped down under the skinny jeans he wore. 

You were nibbling on your lip, trailing your eyes over him carefully, moving from his abs to his biceps when he pulled the material back down, and he was smirking by the time you eventually managed to drag your lingering gazes up to his eyes. 

“As much as I truly love the fact that you were just eye-fucking me - big ego-booster by the way, so thank you for that - we’re going to have to save that for another day.” 

You let out a huff, but knew he was right, and instead he came back over to you, picking up the pillow you’d tucked between your legs and laying himself down on the bed beside you instead, getting under the covers with you and letting you shuffle up beside his body. Swinging a leg up and over his waist, you rested your head on his shoulder, his arms wrapping around your body to hold you to himself protectively. 

“Do you want to sleep? We can take a nap, if that’s what you want.”

“It is, but we can talk for a while first.” You felt around for your head pad, resting it against your lower back, and his hand came down to hold it in place for you without even having to ask. 

“Okay, what do you want to talk about?”

It took you a minute to think, before your lips were flicking up at the corners, and your hand was tightening in the material of his t-shirt a little, before you rubbed your hand over the spot. Pressing your face into his neck, you pressed a kiss to his skin, and then another, just simple pecks to the space that you could reach, but he held you a little tighter instinctively each time. “Tell me about college. What it’s like, to live alone and be independent, I want to hear it all.”

“It’s pretty fucking awesome. I didn’t get to experience much alone, a lot of it revolves around Katrina. We tried real hard to make it work, at first, so a lot of my experiences are different, because of that.”

“You don’t have to talk about her, if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t mind.” He let out a sigh, running a hand over his face before returning it to your body, tucking it under the edge of your shirt to sit on the bare skin of your waist, rubbing circles with his fingers carefully. “She was a big part of who I was back then, I feel like I’m someone else now. I like who I am now. I dated her for more than half of my high school experience, and the first two years of college. She never forced me in a certain path, but I naturally wanted to follow her.”

“I didn’t date Stiles, I don’t think I ever will, but loving him changed me a lot too.”

“Love has a tendency to do that to you.” He paused, pressing a kiss to your hairline, before taking a deep breath. “College was scary at first. It’s so far away, it takes days to drive down, with all the pauses you take and the sleep time, so, I didn’t get to come home very often. It was odd, not listening to Stiles fall over things, or hearing my dad complain about work. I didn’t get to visit my mom on her birthday because I had exams, and that was the first time I didn’t take her flowers.”

“I miss your mom.”

“Yeah, me too.” He twisted you both a little when you began to squirm at the position, moving you so that you were on your side and he could press up to your back, your hand taking his as you dragged it over your body to sit across yourself. “Better?”

“Yeah, much.”

“So, I think on the first time I really felt like myself at college was actually the weekend I realised things with Kat were going downhill. It had been a whole month since we’d last seen each other, or even video chatted. Of course, we called and texted, but not as often and when I told her I loved her, it certainly didn’t make me feel as warm and fuzzy as it used to. I didn’t plan my weekends around seeing her and having virtual dates, but I started planning on keeping them open, and going to the college pep rallies, and going to the clubs and restaurants with my roommates. I had free time, and I liked that. It hurt when we officially called it off, and I realised I was going to need new friends, but if I’m being really honest here, a large part of the reason I came home again was to reconnect with myself, as well as move on, because I never knew myself and college as one.”

“You’re deeper than I thought.”

“What, did you think I was a kiddie pool of emotions?” He nudged his foot into the back of your leg, cackling a little when you grumbled at the jab. “I will have you know that I possess a deep ability to get hurt, and to do hurt, and that whole feelings shit. Blah, blah, blah, whatever you want to call it, I can do that.”

You laughed, muffling yourself by bringing his hand up to your mouth, kissing the back of his knuckles, and he flexed his hand, before gripping your chin and tipping your head back, pressing his lips to your cheek in a wet kiss in return. “I know you can. You cheered me up after Stiles left me on movie night, twice, and you’ve spent the whole of today caring for me. You’re deep as the Mariana Trench.”

“That’s some pretty high compliments, kitten.”

“You deserve them. So, tell me about having roommates.”

The conversation followed along much the same lines, and he let you shift every time you needed to, your position changing constantly as you tried to get and stay comfortable, but he told you everything you needed to know, without ever growing impatient. In return, you told him about everything he missed, you told him all the antics and stories that coach had endured since he left, and you told him about the funniest crimes his dad had been shutting down too. 

You talked for what felt like hours, before the conversations had fizzled into a serene quiet, which in turn had eventually become the sleep you had promised, the two of you drifting off into a comfortable quiet that made darkness overtake your senses. 

You had never slept as well on your period as you had with Mitch holding you. 

Your sleep was normally filled with tosses and turns, unable to settle for too long as different parts of your body ached and flared with pains, but this time you were happy, and you snoozed, and when you had woken up hours later, it was with darkness filling the room at the window instead of the sunrays you’d fallen asleep to, but you were still in the same position you'd drifted off in, and you realised you hadn't had a fitful night with constant wake-ups, but instead, you’d slept right through for hours.

The man underneath you was still asleep, snoring lightly was each breath, and you ran the tip of your finger over his nose, watching him twitch in his sleep and twist away from the source of your tickling. You’d never seen him asleep before, but you had seen Stiles, and even unconscious the two were opposites.

You were used to Stiles falling asleep around you, he kept himself up so late doing unnecessary research and keeping his mind busy until he crashed that he often fell asleep at other times too, slumped against the nearest surface, which often meant you. He drooled from the awkward ankles, and snored loudly, and twitched in his sleep before jerking awake. Mitch was calm, and clingy, and a deep sleeper. Even the slightest movement would wake his brother, and yet with all the subtle shifts you’d made, he was just adapting to you. Though, you assumed that might be down to his high activity lifestyle, all that sports must take a toll on him, even if he wasn’t keeping it up right now.

Pressing kisses along his jaw, he made a soft noise in his sleep that made your heart clench as you silently cooed over him, before he was shifting, letting out a little groan and pushing on your shoulder to roll you over, his body following until he could press you into the mattress and cover his face with your neck. 

“G’ back t’ sleep. Bit longer.”

“I would let you stay, but you dad will wonder where you are, and I have school in the morning, and I’m not sure how you’d like to explain to my parents what you’re doing here.” He huffed out at that, pushing himself to sit up, before shaking his head to clear the sleep away a little bit as he cracked his eyes open. “Hi there.”

“I haven’t taken a nap in fuckin’ ages.”

“It was a good nap.” You confirmed, standing up yourself and taking the blessed few moments of pain-free movement to stretch out a little bit. He leaned over, brushing his lips to your forehead, and you walked across to the window. “It’s later than I thought, both of my parents are already home from work.”

“I should get going.” You nodded, never looking away from the window as he remade the bed with the blankets you both had messed up, before coming over to find you. “You gonna’ be okay?”

“I’ll be fine, I just need to have a shower and get myself ready for tomorrow so I can sleep in. I have a period every month, I’m well used to dealing with it, even if it does suck.”

He rolled his eyes, taking your hand in his and pulling you away from looking outside, but not before you had closed the curtains and locked out the streetlamps bright rays. “Why don’t you walk me out instead of being sassy, huh?”

“I thought you liked me when I was sassy?”

“That’s when you’re fucking me. I like you most when you’re being cute.” You rolled your eyes, but took his hand in your own and headed towards the front door, as he sat on the bed to pull on his shoes that he had discarded by the door so long ago. 

“I’m going to go and unlock the door, and make sure my parents are in bed.”

“It’s been a while since I had to sneak out of a pretty girl’s house, I kinda’ missed the thrill.” He smirked, nodding to you as you went, and you were sure to hide the blush crawling at your cheeks. 

The darkness that had grown to replace the light in the room was thick and heavy, only making you more tired as you rubbed gently at your eyes, trying to wake yourself up a little from your nap so that you could have a shower and get yourself ready for a day at school, before eventually going back to bed again. The downstairs of your house was vacant, your parents clearly having come in and gone about their night without disturbing you, before going straight to bed themselves. 

You could hear Mitch padding down the stairs softly as not to wake your parents, and so you opened the door quietly, turning it in towards you and letting the cool night air sweep into the house. There was a note left for you by your parents, and you picked up the piece of card, flipping it over to read what it said, smiling at the handwriting scrawled onto it.

‘Figured you were getting an early night, didn’t want to wake you last night. Have a good day at school.’

There was a heart drawn at the bottom, and you assumed they didn't think you'd see it until you woke up and headed out in the morning, and you were grateful they hadn't come into the room, because you weren’t too sure how you would explain being curled up in bed and clinging to your best friends older brother as you slept side by side. Probably not the best way to introduce a guy to your parents.

Placing it back where it was, you could thank them for it tomorrow, and Mitch was standing beside the door patiently, watching you carefully as you finally turned back to him. 

“I’m sorry today didn’t go how you were planning, but thank you for sticking around anyway.”

He lifted a hand, brushing stray hair away behind your ear and settling the palm over your cheek, pulling you forwards gently until you were standing so close to him that you could pick out the lighter flecks of colour in his eyes, despite the darkness of the night surrounding you both. “My plan today was to come over and see you and have food. Sex is just what we usually do, but I wasn’t disappointed any less.”

You weren’t sure what to say, so you didn’t bother saying anything at all, instead choosing to reach out and lace your fingers with his other hand, to which he eagerly accepted, spreading the digits for you to slip your own between before he was squeezing your hand tightly. 

“I want to kiss you again. Is that okay?”

You lifted your face back up, your sights moving from your connected hands to instead find his own eyes, before you were leaning in a little closer, a smile pulling on your cheeks. “Another goodnight kiss?”

“Yes.”

“You can consider this blanket permission to kiss me whenever you want, sex or no sex.” You promised, and you barely caught sight of his smile before he was leaning in to press his lips to your own in a tender connection. It was slow, and sweet, your mouths creating a rhythm of their own as you fell in closer to him, wrapping your free hand around his neck as your fingers played together from where they were connected at the hand and pressed between you both, squeezing tightly as you clung to one another. 

“I have to warn you, I may abuse that privilege.”

His words were exhaled breathily into your mouth, and you only chuckled in response, nodding from where his forehead was pressed to your own, before indulging yourself in a few further quick pecks to his lips, which he was happy to reciprocate. “You planning to kiss me a lot, Mitch?”

“Maybe I am.” He leaned back in, smiling against your mouth as the whispered confession faded out into silence, and you let him, leaning over him as he stepped back over the threshold and down the step onto the garden, his head tipped up to face yours, the hand from your cheek slipping down to your hip in order to stabilise you. When you pulled back from him, his lips chased your own for a second, pouted and needy before he finally rocked back onto his feet, fishing into his pocket for his keys, but never taking his hand from yours.

“I’ll see you soon, I’m due college application letters back some point next week, and Stiles and I have always said we’d open them together.”

“I look forward to it, kitten.” He gave your hand a final squeeze, before finally releasing it and stepping away backwards in the direction of his car, the lights flashing as it lit up on the street. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

You nodded, watching as he turned away and climbed into his car, never leaving the doorway until he'd driven past, winking at you as he went, the lights fading as he moved further down the street until he had rounded the corner and was out of sight. Closing the door once again, you pressed your forehead to it, feeling embarrassed about the size of the grin on your face, before locking up and flicking out the lights, making your way back upstairs.

When you made it back into your bedroom, your eyes immediately closed in on the jumper that was left on your bed, the same one he’d shrugged off before the two of you had fallen asleep, but it was now folded neatly and placed on the straightened bed sheets, a purposeful offering that made warmth bloom in your chest and ebb out across every part of your body.

Grabbing your phone from where it was sitting, you snapped a picture of the garment, sending it to him and knowing he would reply when he got home.

you left me your jumper.

With that, you dropped the device, peeling off the clothes you’d spent the day in and dropping them into the laundry basket, before heading towards the bathroom. Switching on the shower, you lined up the towels on your counter before stepping under the warm water and letting out a happy sigh as the heat flooded over your body. 

Periods always made you feel icky. They made you feel dirty, and tired, and unattractive.

Today, though, you had felt nothing but peace and tranquillity, being in the arms of someone who cared about you. It was odd, the feeling of moving on. You could sense the shift in your own soul, the way you felt a little detached from yourself, floating aimlessly like you had nothing anchoring you down anymore. You no longer felt like you were bound by the ties you felt to Stiles, the same guilty jealousy that had once possessed you anytime you thought about Lydia - or anyone else - being the one who stole Stiles’ heart instead of you was no longer. The idea of being with someone other than Stiles was no longer met with disdain, but rather your attempt at optimism. You didn’t want to let it go, you didn’t want to move on, and your heart still held a place for him that you weren’t sure would ever go away. 

Stiles was the first boy you had ever loved, but now, it didn’t seem so impossible to say he wouldn’t be the only one you loved. There was space for more, there was room for trial and error and heartbreak because, finally, you were allowing yourself the opportunity for the childish infatuation to be released so that you could move on to something more.

Something mature and meaningful. Something that revolved around more than just the chance of affections but something that was built on dedication and understanding and deep-rooted love. 

Washing out the suds from your hair, you wiped at the soap on your face, washing off every thought and emotion that had passed over you in the day, and letting your worries and heartbreak slip away down the drain with the soap, feeling completely and utterly refreshed. When you stepped out, steam billowing into the room around you, your first call was to find some new and comfortable clothes to cuddle up into. Once you had done, you spent a little longer rubbing your moisturiser into your face, and drying your hair off before you could get into bed, your eyes closing as you listened to the hum of the machine, the simple but steady note letting you relax yourself as you matched your heartrate to the subtle and steady clicks each time the blades turned over.

Finally, feeling clean and comfy and satiated, you picked up the jumper that had been left for you and pulled it over your head, the longer sleeves swamping over your hands as you balled them up and lifted the neckline to your nose with the tips of your fingers that peeked out, taking a deep inhale of the scent that clung to it.

You felt wrapped up in it, the smell of his cologne that was on your pillow and your blanket, the dip on the bed from where he’d been sitting. No matter what happened when he came over for more physical activities, you were never left with the smell of him clinging to your sheets. After that, your room would smell of sweat and sex, but the smell of his aftershave and his shampoo pressed into the fabric came from a day of cuddling and sleeping, a day of doing nothing but holding on another close, until he was leaving a ghost of himself behind even when he had left. 

Lifting up your phone, your latest notification was from the man who was swamping your thoughts, only a few minutes old, and you swiped it open, rolling onto your side and propping a hand under your head. 

[Mitch 🔥] saw my syracuse one was over the back of ur chair, u said it smelled good. thought I’d leave u another one.

Taking a quick picture of yourself, your face partially covered by the hand over a jumper you had up and over your nose, you sent it to him, typing out a thank you underneath, and expressing just how much you loved the gesture. 

[Mitch 🔥] u look fucking adorable. I like u in my jumpers.

Heat crawled up your cheeks, and you nibbled on your lower lip, flicking out the light and preparing yourself to settle back down to sleep. 

maybe next time you come over, i’ll be wearing only the jumper. 

Hitting send, it went through the ‘read’ immediately, and the grey bubble at the bottom of the screen was popping up only a second later but he took him a moment to reply, the bubble disappearing and reappearing a couple of times, before a text finally came through, and for a moment, you worried you’d crossed a line of some kind.

[Mitch 🔥] ur a tease, can’t believe i'm this worked up at midnight.

You rolled your eyes, thumbs moving quickly over the illuminated screen, before hitting send, and quieting your own giggle of amusement by burying your face in the pillow. 

i’ll make it up to you when i next see you.

The next text came only a second or so later, a yawn taking you over as you prepared yourself for sleep, and it didn’t require a response.

[Mitch 🔥] can’t fuckin wait.