#was thinking about this guy using that shovel he mentioned

[nexus-nebulae]

"hey. what the fuck, man"

- one of our fictives coming to front for the first time in eight months and immediately scrolling past fanart of him even though we literally haven't seen content from that fandom much less of that character since we left it eight months ago

[hotchner-edu]

Pandora's Box | Aaron Hotchner

Synopsis: During a girl's night with the BAU girlies, a game of truth or dare may just be the cause of Aaron's odd behavior.

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x BAU!F!Reader

Warnings: mentions of the devil's tango

The smell of freshly microwaved popcorn and cheeto puffs clung to the air of Penelope's apartment unit, the ringing of near-delirious laughter complementing the scent.

Emily is laying flat on the floor by Penelope's sofa, hair splayed out as she clutches her stomach. "Oh my god! You did not do that!" She laughs out, tears gathering in her eyes as JJ blushes a little and shrugs.

You four are gathered in the living room, fingers stained from snacking while playing the team's favorite party game— truth or dare. It was the night of the long-awaited girl's night, and you were all practically bouncing off the walls.

"It's not my fault! Anyway!" JJ chuckles and tries to change the topic, turning her head toward you, eyes glimmering in mischief. "Y/N, truth or dare?"

You groan and shovel some popcorn into your mouth. "Truth."

Penelope and Emily giggle in the background, knowing JJ always had some hard hitters when it came to truth or dare.

JJ grins widely and leans forward a bit. "Who in the team would you do seven minutes in heaven with?"

You let out an outraged gasp. "Jennifer Jareau! What are we? In high school?"

The blonde just laughs loudly and grins. "Oh come on! You only hate the question because you're the one that has to answer."

"Exactly." You deadpan jokingly and groan, preparing to answer when Emily interjects.

"And you can't say any of us!"

Frowning, you narrow your eyes at the woman. "Well, I was going to say you."

Emily smirks cheekily and slides her phone toward herself as she sits up, finally recovering from her laughing fit earlier. "I know, but that's cheating."

Huffing, you watch her throw her phone aside somewhere as they all stare at you eagerly. "Geez... okay, fine! Hotch! I'd do seven minutes in heaven with him." You practically shout in faux exasperation.

Penelope squeals and shakes your shoulders as JJ and Emily raise their eyebrows.

"Really?" Emily asks in shock, chuckling and leaning back on her arms.

"Well, yeah. I mean... hello. Are we all going to pretend he's not sexy?" You ask bluntly, inciting another round of squeals from Penelope as she gets ready to endlessly tease you about your admission.

JJ shrugs with a satisfied smile, pleased that you chose to answer so boldly. "Honestly, I thought you'd say Spence."

"Spencer is cute and I love him, but... c'mon. Like I have to restrain myself from slamming my head into my desk every time Hotch raises his voice at someone. And god! Don't get me started on his arms." You gush, playing up your lovestruck tone but being completely honest.

"Easy tiger." JJ mumbles under her breath with an amused smile.

Emily wiggles her eyebrows and grins. "Oh? Come on, don't skimp on the details."

Rolling your eyes, you shake your head. "You guys are vultures." You say jokingly and throw a piece of popcorn at her.

Penelope munches on a cheeto and shakes her head. "No, no! You never told us you felt this way for him, so we need answers!"

You concede, feeling tired of bottling up your crush anyway. "Alright, alright. Yes, I like him. I mean, it's hard not to." You explain sincerely before becoming playful again, "I think he covered me from an explosion once and I almost died feeling his hands on my waist. Like, how is it possible for someone to have such delicious arms."

"Delicious?" Emily echoes with an amused snort at your choice of adjective.

JJ snickers and nudges your foot with hers. "Careful, you're about to start drooling."

You nudge your foot back against hers and try to suppress the heat that's creeping up your neck. Unfortunately for you, Penelope is just getting warmed up.

"So, would you... y'know... do the devil's dance with him?" Penelope asks coyly, giving you a teasing smile.

"Hey, my turn is over now!" You say and chuckle, shaking your head at their antics.

Though, you should have known that they wouldn't let you get away that easily.

The three of them stare at you with puppy eyes, causing you to squirm on the spot. "Geez, yes, I would. I mean, he seems like he could use the stress relief." You joke before quickly adding, "And I'm only telling you guys because you guys look ridiculous with those expressions!"

"Ridiculous or not, it worked." Emily smirks victoriously.

Luckily, they seem to take pity on you after grilling you so hard, and they move on with the game.

The next morning, you're starting to regret having stayed up with the girls until three in the morning. Your eyes feel like they're being pressed down by bowling balls as you yawn for the fifth time in ten minutes.

Emily is in a similar state as you, head lazily propped on one hand as she sluggishly signs off on some reports in front of her.

“Let’s never do that again.” You grumble just loud enough for Emily to hear, rubbing your eyes.

She chuckles under her breath and nods a bit in agreement, eyebrows raising a bit. “Yeah, or let’s just get drunk and pass out like normal people.” She jokes.

You both snicker softly until you see JJ hurrying toward Hotch’s office with a stack of files in her arms. “Ah…” you say with a slow blink.

“3… 2… 1…” Emily counts down playfully, just as Aaron stands up and leaves his office.

“BAU team— conference room, now.” He calls out smoothly, his eyes catching yours for the briefest second before he’s practically marching off.

You stand up and stretch your arms, watching as your team starts heading over for a new case briefing.

Glancing back toward Emily, you frown tiredly. "How is JJ so peppy today?"

"Perks of motherhood?" Emily suggests and shrugs.

You and her slowly trudge toward the stairs, catching up with Derek who seemed a bit hungover.

The man pauses and glances between you and Emily, grinning playfully. “You both look like hell. Fun night?”

“Not as fun as yours, I’m sure.” Emily chuckles as the three of you walk into the conference room. You’re about to head to your usual chair when you see Aaron sitting in the chair next to it.

You pause in your step and look back at Emily. Of course, seats weren’t assigned, but there had always been an unspoken rhythm of the team occupying the same seats.

Tilting your head a little, you can see some of your team members momentarily questioning it, but shrug it off as they sit down.

“Huh…” Emily says under her breath and hides a smirk, tapping your lower back to usher you to sit down. Aaron had stolen her usual spot, but she didn’t seem all that perturbed by it.

You sink down into your chair, keenly aware of your proximity to his warm body as JJ hurries to the head of the table to turn on the monitor.

As she begins to summarize the details of the case and the descriptions of the victims, you’re only half listening. Aaron keeps subtly shifting in his spot, and his knee even bumps into yours a few times.

You would definitely need to reread the file on the jet.

Aaron speaks up as JJ concludes with the details, voice low and level. “The request is urgent, so wheels up in thirty.”

The team begins moving immediately, and as you’re closing the file in front of you, you feel Aaron’s hand land on the back of your chair as he gets up. You tense a little as you could feel how close his hand was to your shoulder, trying to suppress the heat crawling up your chest.

As everyone files out of the meeting room to go grab their go-bags, Emily is immediately joining your side as she speaks under her breath. "That was weird."

"It was nothing." You try to brush it off, ignoring Emily's uncertain look.

Well. Maybe it wasn't nothing.

The moment the team arrived at the New Haven precinct in Connecticut, the atmosphere was off, to say the least. Of course, it was never enjoyable to have to look at pictures of mutilated victims, or deal with officers acting independently, but the feeling you were getting was a bit ominous.

"Is it just me or does something feel different?" You whisper to JJ as she finishes up a phone call.

She looks at you and tilts her head a bit, eyes filled with concern. "Not really... why? Do you think something's off with the profile?"

You shake your head and look away sheepishly. "No, not with the case. Just... with the team?" Your words come out as more of a question as you try to articulate the emotions swirling inside of you.

"Oh. I haven't noticed anything, but we can talk when we get back to the hotel if you want?" She offers with a kind smile.

"Yeah. Thanks, Jaje..." You say softly and try to redirect your focus back onto the case.

Stepping back, you get ready to return back to discuss the unsub's possible hideout locations with Spencer.

Before you can get far, you hear JJ calling for you again. "Could you tell Hotch that the city's agreed to hold a press conference in two hours?" JJ speaks up, eyes telling you that she had a lot on her plate at the moment.

"No problem. I'll see you in a bit." You nod at her and smile before spinning on your heel to look around for Aaron.

You spot him almost immediately, hunched over a desk and flipping through some papers as the police chief hurries away from him, barking out orders to some of the officers scattered around their desks.

"Hotch. JJ said that a press conference will be held in two hours. Spencer and I have narrowed down some locations, so we'll need to work quick." You practically word vomit, trying to ignore your racing heart.

Aaron straightens up and turns to look at you. "Alright, good. Rossi and Prentiss are on their way back too." He says, reaching back to the desk for his cup of coffee, still steaming as he raises it up to his face.

Your eyebrows rise up a bit and you smile softly. "Another cup? That's like your fourth one today."

The man gives you a small smile and nods, letting himself relax a bit. "Yeah, just for some stress relief." Despite how casual his tone was, the inflection of his voice for the very last words has you freezing on the spot.

You choke on your spit a bit, and he keeps his eyes on you. "Are you alright?" He draws out, mouth twisted in concern, but his eyes swirling with a bit of humor.

"Perfect." You wheeze out a bit and give him a strained smile before hurrying away.

Fortunately, you're not forced to overthink his words and the flashbacks of your girl's night confession to go with it, as the unsub makes a critical slip-up after JJ's press conference is broadcasted.

It's only after the unsub is being transported away for booking that you're able to come back down from the adrenaline. You're sitting beside Emily on the curb stretching your tired legs as she scrolls through her phone.

"So he really hasn't called you back? What an asshole." You mumble with a frown as she updates you about the guy she's been going on dates with for the past month.

"Back to the drawing board, I guess." She sighs with a noncommittal smile. Suddenly, you see her tense up, face drawn into a disbelieving gape as she pauses in her scrolling. "Oh my god."

"What? What's wrong?" You ask and turn to face her in worry.

"I called Hotch." She says blankly, slowly looking up at you with shell-shocked eyes.

"Okay...?" You trail off in confusion, eyebrows knit together.

"On Sunday. It says here that I called Hotch." She shows you her phone screen and there at the third slot of the call log is Aaron's contact. It wouldn't have been alarming to you had you and the girls not been together for the entirety of Sunday, but you all were, plus the call history was timed to have occurred at eleven pm.

"No way... check how long the call was." You whisper hurriedly, watching as she hurries to press the information button, nearly calling Aaron on accident in the process.

"Three minutes..." She breathes out in shock.

"No way..." You lean back and slap a hand over your mouth. "I think he heard my confession about him."

"What?" Emily hisses at you in panic, looking around at your teammates who were scattered around the sea of haphazardly parked Buicks.

You nod and rub your temples. "Earlier at the station, he made a comment about needing a stress relief."

"Okay, but that could mean nothing." Emily tries to reassure you, sputtering a little as she tries to come up with alternative explanations.

"I don't think so, Em." You groan and lean your head against her shoulder. "We've both noticed he's been acting different."

"Oh gosh... Did I butt-dial him?" She asks in shock to no one in particularly, laying her head against yours.

Chuckling dryly, you suddenly remember how she had been tossing her phone around during the game. "Yeah... I think it's even worse because I was sober when I said it."

"If it makes you feel better, I've done far more embarrassing things while sober." She says, staring off into the distance.

"I believe that." A small huff leaves you, tone subdued as a small smile of acceptance takes shape on your face. "Oh, and Em?"

"Hm?"

Your eyes flicker to Hotch's figure in the distance as he chats with Derek, arms crossed across his chest. "If I give you my resignation letter, will you give it to Hotch for me? I think I'm going to flee the country."

Much to your chagrin, Emily bands together with Spencer to convince you to not resign, having the younger agent ramble on about the adjustment process of finding a new job and the statistics of people who struggle with getting acclimated to a new work environment.

So rather than slipping your neatly packaged resignation letter onto Hotch's desk, you've taken to hiding out in Penelope's lair while you finish up your paperwork for the case.

Luckily, your bright-eyed friend allows you to pull up a chair at her desk, not even making a peep when you accidentally knock over one of her figurines.

You're hunched over as you write hurriedly, posture taking on a form that would make shrimps envious. As you're finishing up the last few pages of the report, a knock on Penelope's ajar office door draws both of your attention.

Standing with a hand on the door handle, Aaron is gazing at you with his eyes squinted a little due to the dimness of the room. "Y/N, can I speak to you for a moment, please?"

His voice is calm, giving no hints as to what he's feeling as he cracks open the door a bit more. Penelope gives you a side glance before slowly swiveling her chair back around to pretend to work.

"Sure." You say almost inaudibly, awkwardly making your way out of the door as his eyes follow you.

Once you're both out in the hallway, he shuts the door and nods for you to walk a few paces forward to minimize the chances of your lovable tech genius eavesdropping.

"I'm almost finished with my report, sir." You say softly, stopping when you both arrive at the end of the corridor.

Aaron lets out a breathy chuckle and shakes his head. "That's not what I'm here to talk to you about."

Mutely nodding, you wait for him to continue as your eyes move down to stare at the glossy floor.

"I'm sure you know by now, but Prentiss accidentally called me this weekend while you guys were talking." He says softly, beginning to look a bit shy. "And I just wanted to ask if you had meant what you said that night."

Your face is blistering with warmth as you try to deduce the best course of action. "I... yes. I'm sorry. I know that it must have been weird to hear, especially because I'm your coworker. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Aaron rests a hand on your arm to stop you before you can offer to resign out of shame, a warm smile painting his face. "It's okay. It wasn't weird for me... I just wish I didn't have to find out from a butt-dial." He chuckles and rests his hand on your arm.

You practically melt at the touch and you blink in shock. "Oh..."

"Honestly, I'm a bit out of practice when it comes to this kind of thing, but I was wondering if I could take you to dinner this Saturday." He asks softly, looking shyer than you've ever seen him before.

"I would like that." You respond breathlessly, not sure if you were dreaming.

Aaron grins and looks down at his shoes for a second as he tries to compose himself. "I'll pick you up around seven, if that works for you?"

"Yeah, that's perfect." Whatever future plans you had for Saturday were automatically being scrapped anyway.

"Great." He nods and gazes at you, his hand moving from your arm to your hand. He gives your fingers a small squeeze before he steps back and allows you to get back to work in Penelope's lair.

As you're trekking down the hall with a giddy smile, you hear him calling your name. You turn around and see him smirking at you a bit.

"And just so you know, I like having my arms around you too."

[jaewritesfic]

Everlasting Trio DP x DC Nobody Knows AU Part 8

Part 7

Shockingly, it turns out Danny knows how to cook. He's good at it, even, and when Tucker expresses his disbelief at the practiced way Danny moves in the kitchen Danny snorts.

“You know what the Fenton kitchen was like. When I got out of there and had access to food and kitchens that weren't biohazards, I learned eventually. I have a very distinct appreciation for good food nowadays, and I like being able to make it myself.”

He puts music on through a little Bluetooth speaker on the counter, invites them to participate, and they cook.

It's fun. They dance, they drink, they sample ingredients as they put their pizzas together. There's a minor flour war that sets off rounds of giggling and shrieking - more importantly it makes Danny cackle in a way she used to love and hasn't gotten to hear since they were teens.

It's exactly the same, and she missed it. Pure impish delight and mischief.

For as many things that are the same, there are ones that have changed.

Danny has a grace to him now that he didn't used to, and he moves near silently. He sways easily and elegantly to the music without thinking about it as they talk and make mischief with each other.

The oven and the adjusted thermostat make it much more comfortable in the apartment after a while, but Danny doesn't shed the pullover sweater he wears at any point. He didn't even roll the sleeves up to cook.

Come to think of it, when they entered high school he started doing that too. He wore long sleeves even in the summer - Sam tries not to think about abusive households or self harm. She hopes it's not that, but…

She puts the thoughts aside as well as she can.

Tucker had mentioned it before to her, but with all the grinning and laughing tonight Sam can see that he was right and Danny's teeth are sharper than she remembers. All four canine teeth are almost startlingly pointy.

She doesn't mention it. What she does mention is the apartment.

“This is a really nice place, Danny. You got a secret sugar daddy you haven't told us about?”

Tucker gapes at her and smacks her arm. Danny bluescreens for a moment before he snorts an ugly laugh and descends into near hysterics.

“Oh my God! Ancients, no! No, no sugar daddy. Just a well paying engineering gig lately, and some money I saved up before I left Amity. Holy shit, Sam.”

She shrugs, some tension she didn't know she was carrying leaving her shoulders. “Had to ask. Would have had a shovel talk to deliver.”

Danny starts laughing again, and Tucker groans and puts his head in his hands.

“I cannot believe you actually just asked him that,” Tucker moans.

“I can,” Danny responds with a chipper grin, Tucker's answering snort overlaid by the ding of the oven timer.

Danny knocks back the rest of his drink and waves in the vague direction of the living room area.

“I'll take this out and cut it. Go sit and we can eat it around the coffee table in case we want to watch a movie or something?”

The sitting area is spacious and comfortable, couches black leather. There's a heavy, fluffy white throw over the back of one that looks soft as all get out, but she and Tuck quickly decide to settle on the floor.

The coffee table is low enough that it's more convenient for reaching food and drinks set on it.

Tucker whistles appreciatively at the TV, so it must be a cutting edge new model. Fucking nerd.

Danny trots over not long after with two serving boards balanced precariously on one arm, his refilled sangria in one hand, the pitcher of sangria in the other and another beer held against his side by an awkward elbow.

Tucker and Sam both shoot to their feet to try and mitigate a disaster, but miraculously it all makes it to the table unharmed.

“It's almost like you guys don't trust me,” Danny pouts, his grin ruining it. “Careful, it's hot.”

“You are a perpetual accident waiting to happen,” Sam tells him scathingly, and he snorts with a peculiar look on his face.

“You don't know the half of it.”

As they all reach for slices of pizza, Danny takes them by surprise by taking a piece of Sam's, not Tucker's.

Tucker gapes at him. “Dude. Tell me you haven't betrayed me like that.”

Danny snorts, shoulders shaking with quiet chuckles. “Nah, I still eat meat. It's just sometimes I have spells where it kind of bothers me and I feel a little sick about it? I'm in one of those lately, but usually I'm still a huge burger and steak guy. Don't worry.”

“Huh. That's weird.”

Danny shrugs, taking a bite of his pizza despite his own warnings and cringing when it burns his mouth.

“Been like that since high school, actually. Used to be worse then,” he mumbles through his attempts to cool a mouthful of molten cheese.

Sam doesn't remember him ever having issues with it in middle school. She wonders what happened to change his outlook, but puts it aside. They're here to hang out and catch up. Have a good time. Not interrogate Danny.

They end up spending hours watching trashy TV and heckling the screen, making small talk and letting each other in on bits of their lives all the while. Everyone's well on their way to tipsy by the time they're done eating, though Danny a little more than Sam and Tuck.

He's loose-limbed and happy, sprawled across both of them in the haphazard pile they've ended up in. He seems incredibly content, and it does Sam's heart good to see him so relaxed.

She and Tucker are sitting with their backs against the couch, Danny's legs slung across Tucker's lap and head in Sam's. It's probably why he notices her shiver a little - it's still a little chilly in the apartment.

Lazily, he points up at the back of the couch. “You can pull that down and cover us if you want. It's really warm.”

Sam offers him a quiet thanks and reaches up to do just that, though she's startled to find that though the top is fluffy, the underside of what she'd thought was a throw is velvety and smooth. Like hide.

It's a real fur - hopefully ethically sourced. Decorated too, there are ornaments threaded into the corners and dangling that she can't pin the origin of. They're very pretty, shells and claws and beads.

As she pulls it down, she flips the edge up to peek at the underside and is startled to find the skin a distinct, familiar ectoplasmic green.

“Um. Danny. What kind of fur is this…?”

“Yeti,” Danny replies offhandedly, sipping his drink before freezing like the question and his own answer just caught up to him. “Uh.”

Masterpost

[chelseeebe]

and they said, speak now

18+. mdni. smut. mentions of cheating. femreader!xeddie. no use of y/n!

a little second chance romance story wherein eddie is invited to your wedding, though he’s hopeful that it’ll never actually happen.

a/n: wanted to get this finished so i could start writing a follow up for too sweet (bc i love it and i love mean asshole eddie) so i hope it bridges some sort of gap while i write :p switches pov a lil bit but it’s all marked out 4 ya.

“-gettin’ married to who?” eddie spits, barreling into the living room with a mouthful of cereal.

steve looks up from the paper invite and shrugs, “mark?” mouthing a quiet i don’t know as robin looks between the two.

“and i’m invited?”

“i mean.. it says all of us so..” he looks up at eddie, “do you even want to go?” dubious at eddie’s overly keen questioning.

eddie’s bewildered that he’d even ask, “‘course we’re fucking going,” shaking his head, still gripping onto his bowl of cereal, “i didn’t even know she was datin’ anybody else.. what the fuck.”

robin shares a look with her best friend, thinking eddie hasn’t seen. he knows exactly what they’re not saying. it doesn’t exactly need to be spelled out for him.

perhaps eddie hadn’t ever really gotten over it. it being you leaving to new york for college, breaking up with him in the process.

maybe they were justified in their judgemental glances, it’d been years since you’d left. he should be over it by now. evidently, you’ve moved on. why hadn’t he?

but he wasn’t and now he’s not sure if he’ll ever be.

-

the five of them shovel into jonathan’s car, robin squished between eddie and steve in the back with their bags piled high in the trunk.

eddie stares out of the window, he had started to regret agreeing to go. his ex-girlfriend, whom he wasn’t exactly over, was getting married to some fuckhead he’d never met and now he had to go and wear a suit and pretend to be happy about it all.

“i still can’t believe she’s getting fucking married,” he grumbles into his fist.

robin grins, nudging her elbow into steve’s ribcage, “oh this going to be so much fun,” elated at his misery.

jonathan sighs quietly, throwing his head back against the seat and slyly turning the volume up so as to not hear any more of eddie’s whining.

there’d been months of it, so he’s not surprised.

-

eddie is fucking elated to reach the hotel, gawping at the grand exterior as they get out of the car, stretching their legs after the long trip.

“jeez,” robin utters, staring at the tall building with her mouth hung open, “at least she’s marrying rich, hey?” wiggling her brows at eddie’s less than excited face.

he doesn’t rise to it, ignoring her obvious attempts to get him riled up.

it’s even nicer inside, gold plated ornaments decorate the walls, outdated paintings of old people he didn’t care to know, joining them.

they’re in the process of checking in when a familiar voice comes from behind, a small, meek, “hey guys!”

it’s you.

they spin, sharing tired smiles as you stand looking horrifically awkward. like somehow you hadn’t shared years and years of history with every single person here.

everyone else gets a short, half hug, exchanging niceties while eddie waits patiently for his turn. he doesn’t think you’ll even acknowledge him.

but your eyes lock, that same sinking feeling that he felt all those years ago as he watched your car pull out of hawkins plagues his stomach.

“hey,” you nod, tense as you open your arms for a hug.

it’s more than he’d ever expected, now finding himself stuck, unable to embrace the situation. you’re exactly the same and yet he feels like he doesn’t recognise you. barely touched by the graces of age, still the same girl he was sure he still loved.

eventually he pulls himself together, wrapping his arm around your shoulder to pull you in.

fuck.

you even smell the same. the heavy vanilla scent of your shampoo wafts through the air, transporting him back in time to nights shared in his cramped room, talking about the future together and how you couldn’t wait to get out of hawkins.

it’s utterly ironic, and not to mention heartbreaking, to think about now.

“hi,” eddie musters, sounding as pathetic as he felt.

the others watch on in anticipation, expecting a screaming match only to be met with whatever the fuck this was. dancing around each other like two complete strangers.

“how.. uh, how was the drive?” you ask, fiddling with your fingers, the way you used to when you were nervous.

“long,” he smiles meekly.

there’s too much he wants to say, desperately wanting to just shake you and ask what the hell you’re doing getting married to someone who’s not him.

besides, four sets of eyes watch both of you eagerly, hoping for an argument or maybe the exact opposite.

“there you are!” a gruff voice bellows, coming out of the mouth of the most insufferable looking man eddie’s ever seen.

he walks over with his shit-eating grin, taking you away from eddie’s grasp, leaving an aching in his fingertips.

your brows shoot upward, sighing softly, “everyone, this is mark.. mark, these are my..” your eyes dip, unable to meet eddie’s gaze, “friends.”

mark’s hand extends towards eddie, grinning like a complete fool as he shakes it. “nice to meet you man! heard so much about you,” his grip tight, squeezing the tired bones in his hand.

eddie wonders if he’s asserting his dominance, if you’d told him who exactly he was. about all those years you spent as his girlfriend. about how he used to make you cum in two minutes. or perhaps all the times you swore that if you had to get married, it’d be to him.

eddie doesn’t count on it.

-

eddie waits. and he waits. and he waits.

pacing the floor of his room, contemplating if he truly had the nerve to stalk the halls to your room or if he’d have to sit here and regret it forever.

fuck it, he thinks. there’s no guarantee he’ll even knock on the door, he just needs to get out of here and at least try to.

eddie’s acutely aware that nothing he says to you will change your mind in fact, he thinks you’ll more than likely slam the door in his face.

but he’s gotta try.

- reader’s pov -

it’s a quiet knock, barely audible as you toss and turn.

you debate even answering, too caught up in your nerves to care about some bridesmaid complaining about her dress or your mother prattling on about the floral arrangements again.

but then they knock again, louder this time though it sounds more unsure, a hesitant wrap of the knuckles, pulling yourself from the comfort of your blanket to see what they wanted.

you hardly register who the person is before immediately wanting to slam the door in his face.

“what are you doing?” you hiss through the small gap in the door, noting that it was somewhere between 11 and midnight.

“i wanna talk,” eddie frowns, carefully wedging his foot between the door, as if you wouldn’t immediately notice.

“we don’t need to talk,” you refute, scowling at your batshit crazy ex.

he sighs, looking around the empty corridor, knowing he shouldn’t be here right now. “can we.. i just wanna talk.. that’s it,” his eyes wide and begging.

you take pity on him, you always did when he had that pathetic frown on his face. like a dejected puppy that needed you to cradle him.

something in your head screams out to just close the door, it’s a terrible idea and you know it.

alas, you pull it open a few more inches, giving him the chance to slide inside before it’s shut again, turning the lock immediately.

if anyone were to walk in, your relationship would be ruined, tomorrow would just be a waste of money and you’d be a social pariah in your circles.

“why didn’t you tell me that you were getting married?”

the nerve to ask that question like he deserved an explanation. you haven’t even seen the man in years and yet, he feels as if he’s owed something from you.

“i didn’t know i had to,” you shrug, standing a few feet away from him, hoping to keep the distance.

eddie scowls, brows knitted into a line across his forehead, “you don’t- i thought we were friends.. friends tell each other those things.”

“you haven’t seen me in years eddie!” raising your voice despite being surrounded by your friends and family. “what gives you the right to march in here and ask me that?” stepping closer with every word, taken aback by his sheer nerve.

his eyes harden, jaw tense, “you left me- you did that and then the next time i hear from you, it’s because you’re getting married? s’that not completely fucked up to you too?”

“i didn’t leave you! i went to college, like people our age are supposed to! it’s not my fault that you’d rather sit in jeff’s basement pretending to be a rockstar,” snarling your upper lip, hoping you’ll hit him right where it hurts.

if nothing else, it’s frustrating. eddie was always talking about his big dreams and how he was going to get out of hawkins once and for all, make something of himself and never look back.

but you got tired of waiting for that to happen. years and years of soon and i’m not ready’s had left you pretty hopeless for any kind of future with him.

he shakes his head, scoffing, “oh? so should i have followed you to new york? watched you change everything about yourself for some asshole?”

there’s a lump in your throat now and weirdly, not a speck of anger. at least not about his words for your fiancé. more so about his complete disregard of your feelings, the dreams you put on hold for him.

“i didn’t.. i didn’t change,” bottom lip trembling, “this is me eddie,” nostrils flaring as you skulk closer, “you just don’t know me anymore.”

“i know you better than he does,” he fires back, adams apple bobbing in his throat. a sincere, honest tone.

it only makes you more frustrated, the audacity to come here and act like this, the day before your wedding.

you laugh in his face, a maniacal cackle, “you’re deluded,” gathering all of your strength not to punch him in the face, “you should leave, before you embarrass yourself any more.”

he’s almost frantic now, grasping the air, “i’m not the one embarrassing myself here. the you i know would never want this.. what happened to that girl who promised to marry me? where’s she?”

“people change eddie! you clearly haven’t!” you hiss, prodding your finger into his chest, hoping you’ll somehow set him alight with your fingertip.

he grabs your hand, keeping it close to his heart as his frown sets in. “tell me- tell me that this is what you want, the big wedding and fucking mark and a coupl’a kids, tell me and i’ll leave,” downturned eyes, begging himself not to cry.

you want to scream, ferociously snatching your hand away from him before you turn away. sick to death of looking into his glossy chestnut eyes. loathing the feeling of your past flooding back into your brain.

a few years ago, you would’ve been certain that eddie was the one you were going to marry. marriage wasn’t something you were ever particularly interested in, your parents hadn’t been the best example. but if it had happened, it would’ve been nothing like this, maybe in the tiny chapel in hawkins, a couple years from now, a small, private ceremony with your friends and family. you’d be lying if you said you had never thought about it.

about what could’ve been.

somewhere, buried deep inside, you longed for it.

eddie doesn’t budge, hearing the sounds of his heavy breathing from behind. you can picture that stupid look on his face, pathetic and sullen as he waits for a fleck of hope.

you turn back, praying that you’ll have somehow found the strength to tell him to leave in the two seconds it takes to face him.

it doesn’t come, the lump in your throat dissipating only to be replaced with a fiery pit in your stomach.

and then a moment, where neither of you have the guts to speak any longer, in what feels like the most intense battle of eye contact you’d ever been a part of.

but it’s over as quickly as it started, both of you lurching forward at the same time, lips crashing together in a hungry kiss, finding the side of his head for leverage as his antsy hands grip your waist.

the rest is just a silent routine, one you two have been through a hundred times before.

your back crashes into the desk, pressed into the wood by his torso. a hand squeezing your thigh as you’re helped onto the surface.

the metal on your fourth finger aches, as if some higher power is attempting to intervene, to stop this mistake before it goes too far.

it’s dutifully ignored, spreading your legs to allow him between your soft thighs. the thin material of your shorts meant that you could feel everything. his cock jumping as it brushes against your heat, low grumbling into your mouth at the action.

his jacket slips from his shoulders and onto the floor, your soft hands running down the length of his arms, brushing against the tattoos you used to spend hours tracing.

eddie’s hands roam your body, between your thighs, tucking underneath the elastic of the shorts as your hips lift in unison, allowing him to pull them down.

his throat rumbles at your lack of underwear, rough denim pressed against your cunt, his erection demanding out of his jeans.

your fingers fumble with his jeans, hearing the low clink of his belt somewhere muddled between his grunting and your melodic pants.

the throbbing between your thighs becomes almost insatiable, finding your own release on the rough fabric of his jeans, sighing into his mouth, allowing his tongue to slip into yours instead.

cold fingers grip your thighs, lifting your legs so that they rest around his waist, clothed cock nudging against your heat, growling into your mouth.

your head jerks back, “my mom.. my mom’s next door..” you pant, fingers trailing over his lips, doing nothing to muffle his raspy groans.

“good,” eddie smirks, hurriedly tugging his boxers down beneath his balls, burying himself inside of your soaked cunt, “i never liked her.”

a strangled moan is all you manage in response, grabbing at the desk for a little leverage as his hips meet the back of your thighs. any anger you felt towards his insults towards your mother quickly float away, turning into static as he slides slowly in and out.

marvelling at the sight of your cunt once again envelopes around him. you’d missed that, his damn near infatuation with your pussy.

the wooden frame knocks against the wall, whatever shit you had compiled for the morning all comes tumbling down, clattering to the floor alongside your long mewls.

eddie near enough melts, fingers melding into one with your skin, filling your cunt to the hilt. a certain feeling that had never been replaced, only achieved by him and his undeniable love for your pussy.

your lips catch onto his, attempting to muffle his hoarse groans, hoping to to god that the walls were thick enough.

“missed you,” he murmurs, half into your mouth, the other vibrating against your chin as your lips connect in the most careless manner.

your eyes flutter shut, chest heaving, pressed to his as your fingers begin to loosen their grip on the desk. his pace unfaltering with utter desperation, an exhilaration he had chased for years, to no avail.

“fuck,” you whine, regretting the shaky word the second it slips out. one arm hooks around his neck, forehead resting against his as his hair begins to stick.

it’s so disgusting, so wracked with desire that you’re sure you’ll be thinking- feeling it for months.

eddie’s cock nudges against against the spot only he could ever find, his pubic bone catching against your clit. fuelling the inextinguishable fire in your stomach, only making it rise into your throat.

with every fervent thrust he’s grumbling something;

fuck, shit, love you, love you.

your legs tremble, exhausted as they sit around his zealous hips. naturally, they tighten, drawing him in closer, an incessant need to feel all of him all at once.

“you can’t.. not inside,” you pant, opening his eyes to meet his though they’re not on yours. staring starry eyed at the space between your bodies, watching as they collide in ways your heart had longed for.

he’s close, you can tell. choking on his breaths when you squeeze around him, signalling your own orgasm.

“fuck, i can’t-,” eddie howls, desperately pounding his cock into your quivering cunt, giving everything away for the last thirty seconds.

you cry out, toppling over the edge as your stomach all but bursts, the pleasure reaching every last nerve in your body. clinging to his neck with a white knuckle grip, clutching his clammy skin as your body turns to mush before him.

eddie just about manages to pull out, sliding between your slick folds before his stomach lurches, shooting thick ropes of cum onto your stomach, thighs and the desk.

your foreheads remain as one, gasping into the hot air that surrounds you.

finally, his eyes trail up toward yours, meeting with the most sorrowful look that a man who has just cum, could hold.

it’s as if reality sets in, untangling your legs to shove him away. harsh and untoward as he stumbles back, still reeling from his own orgasm.

“oh my god,” you mumble incoherently, “oh my god, i’m getting married tomorrow,” clenching your fist, shouting as if he were somehow unaware.

his silence is deafening, his release still clinging to your body as you jump from the wooden table, marching into the bathroom, swallowing the urge to cry.

eddie stands with his head hung low, belt still undone as you sanctimoniously barging back past him to redress yourself, muttering ferocious whispers to yourself.

“i’m getting married tomorrow,” you repeat, unwavering anger in your voice. undecided on whether you were telling him or yourself that fact.

“so you’re still gonna marry him?” eddie asks, a slight hint of optimism in his tone. he had reason to be, you suppose. anyone else would assume the same.

you swallow, “what else is there for me?”

getting married had been the next logical step. you had the job, the house, the sweet, timid guy that wouldn’t hurt a fly. why wouldn’t you marry him?

his face crumples, brows stitched together in confusion, “me?”

almost on instinct, your head shakes, smacking your palm into his shoulder, “no. not you. it’s not supposed to be you,” a certain sadness plaguing your tone, “it was never supposed to be you,” palm slapping into his chest.

eddie’s face falls, holding his jacket in his hands wishing you’d take it back, tell him you were lying and that you really did still love him.

buried somewhere under years of regret, you probably still did.

tears weep out of the corner of your eye, quickly wiped away with your trembling finger. “you need to leave,” eyes pointed to the floor, refusing to look at him any longer.

he sighs, hesitantly stepping around the mess you both had made and out of your peripheral view. slow steps, willing for your mouth to open and those three words to dance out of it.

the door clicks shut and you’re alone again. nauseous and wishing you had just let him stay, wanting nothing more than to be held in your insurmountable feelings of remorse.

-

you’ve barely slept, overwhelmed with a sense of guilt and indecision.

six years of work and making something of yourself had come horrifically crashing down in one night, one stupid, moronic mistake.

but was it really a mistake when your heart still aches and your lips still feel the traces of his.

a short knock breaks you from your trance, the noise you’d been dreading all night.

sarah. bright-eyed and stupidly excitable nature, ready for your wedding day.

“woah,” she remarks, eyes darting around the room you’re just now realising you forgot to clean, “crazy night?” she smirks, eyeing the bottles and pens that had fallen from the desk to the floor.

“oh,” you smile, bile rising in your throat, “i’m just..” clambering for an excuse, “clumsy.”

she scoffs, dumping her bag on the unmade bed, “you don’t have to lie to me,” smile growing, “if you and mark wanna.. break traditions then i’m all for it.”

her wilful innocence makes you feel all the more worse. you’re supposed best friend was none the wiser, bouncing around with a proud smile, ready for your wedding day.

- eddie’s pov -

steve notices something’s up immediately.

dark rings accompanying eddie’s eyes after he had gone missing for hours last night.

“you good?” steve’s hand thwacks against his back, assuming eddie’s manner was all to do with the fact that you were getting married and not that only a few hours ago, he was telling you that he still loved you while you were having sex.

the ride to the venue is quiet, which everyone appreciates, having prepared for a litany of complaints and whining.

the church is even more extravagant than the hotel, resembling one of those castles he’d seen in a fairytale book.

he wants that to make him feel better, that at least he wasn’t the one wasting all of this money on a stupid wedding, but it doesn’t.

because irregardless of how much money you were spending, you were still marrying someone else.

sure, it wouldn’t be a particularly honest nor holy marriage but it’d be a marriage nonetheless. something he would never have with you. no matter how hard he tried.

they file into the pew, sitting slumped against the varnished wood as everyone chatters around him.

concerned heads fly around, the groomsmen rushing up the aisle as they’re beckoned by your bridesmaids.

eddie sits up, looking around at the frantic bridesmaids who were desperately trying to get the pastor’s attention. something’s wrong. he can feel it in his bones.

he throws up a quick two with his fingers to steve before sliding out of the pew, ducking his head down the aisle as he searches for you.

slipping past the worried wedding party, opening a multitude of doors in search of you. hoping that you’d at least made it to the church, that you were okay.

he doesn’t expect to find you in here, holding onto your mouth, mascara stains dripping down your cheeks, curled into the corner with your shoulders shaking. eddie slips in, shoving the broom in between the door handle, ensuring that no one else could find the pair of you.

you spend a moment, gazing into each other’s eyes until you squeak, “what’re you doing?” the most soul crushing tone that makes his heart ache.

“i came to find you,” he says, simply.

because he would, he’d do it in every life.

your palm smears the black stains around your cheek, scoffing at his words. “you shouldn’t have.. i’m fine,” trying to convince yourself more than you were him.

“you don’t look fine.”

your bottom lip trembles, threatening to spill over again. evoking a harsh stab of guilt through his chest. eddie surges toward you, placing his palms over yours, “you don’t have to do this.. we can leave right now,” he assures, searching your eyes. he’d whisk you away in a heartbeat, you didn’t even have to ask. just give him that look.

your nostrils flare, a wail constricted to the back of your throat, trying hard not to alert the hundreds of wedding guests sat just a couple hundred meters away. the dark light of the closet does well to accentuate your tearful eyes, his heart aching with every sniffle, every quietened sob that falls from your lips.

then, you growl, rather forcefully slapping his chest, “this is your fault,” fingers grabbing onto his suit jacket, “why couldn’t you just leave me alone?” frustration seeping out of your words.

eddie doesn’t have an answer, at least not one that would make you feel better.

so he stands in silence, letting you treat him like your verbal punching bag.

“i can’t do it,” you cry, burying your face into his neck, “i can’t.. marry him.”

he nods, stood just before you in this cramped closet, “you don’t have to,” assuredly grabbing your sodden cheeks, streaks of black stain his palms, “we can go.. anywhere you want, right now.”

promising the world because really, it was all he had to offer.

he wasn’t rich, hadn’t figured out how to get the fuck out of hawkins yet but he did know that he loves you and he’d do anything to prove that.

you swallow, averting your eyes to the sparkling ring on your hand, curled into the fabric of his jacket. “okay,” flicking back to his eyes, it’s so simple and yet it knocks the breath from his lungs.

nothing really registers, eddie had planned for more bargaining, certain that regardless of his pleas, you’d still end up walking down that aisle, promising yourself to another man.

“really?” he asks, clarifying for both himself and for you. there was still time for you to pull yourself together and go get married, he wasn’t going to deny you that.

“really,” you nod frantically, “i’ll go anywhere,” tugging at the collar of his shirt, “anywhere with you.”

[sophiethewitch1]

What We Want - Chpt. 6 - Round Two. Fight!

In Which A Romantic Breaks The Universe

(Yandere!batboys x f!reader) 18+ MDNI!

SUMMARY

Another lonely birthday, another empty year. You miss your family. You're late for your bills and rent, and even then, you got robbed last Tuesday.

Still, you buy yourself a cupcake, because you need it. I mean, hey. What's dessert for if not to get over cheating boyfriends and dead relatives?

As you blow out the candle, watching the clock switch from 11:59 pm to midnight of the next day, you make a wish.

And because the world doesn't like to make much sense, it comes true. Your life is suddenly flipped on a dime, and you're stuck trying to catch up with it. Fantasy becomes reality. You're a Wayne now, apparently. Or you used to be. You're loved, you're rich, you're talented and powerful.

Well, sort of. Careful what you wish for, right?

(TRIGGER WARNINGS AND MASTERLIST HERE)

PREV - NEXT

Damn. Your indulgent TV stalking of the Wayne’s really doesn’t hit the same once you technically knew them. And you were hiding inside one of their bedrooms, inside one of their clothes, using their TV subscription. It just didn’t feel right. Morally, of course, but that wasn’t what you were talking about. No, you were just pissy your favourite pastime was basically ruined. You shovel another spoonful of cookie dough ice cream into your mouth, glaring through tired eyes at the screen.

There’s an up-close shot of Dick Grayson’s abs. The presenter ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ over his physical form, and you have to agree. You wish you had abs like that. Unfortunately, you did respond to most unwanted experiences with stress eating. As always with these celebrity figures, you can’t really tell if you want to be Dick or be with Dick. Your butt is nowhere near the level his is at.

While you hadn’t really set out today looking for shirtless pictures of the Waynes, it wasn’t like you were going to say no to them. So, when the gossip channel had switched from the reactions of the Waynes to last night’s fiasco to… this… you’d just kept watching.

You wonder if you should stop doing this. It’s definitely kind of creepy, and now you’d technically once been his… step-sister. What a mind fuck. You’ve been crushing on these dudes for a while, and now they were your ex-step siblings. This was like the start of a bad porno, but you knew you were not that lucky. And it wasn’t like you were going to start thinking of him as a brother any time soon. You hadn’t even met the guy. No, he was still firmly in the ‘celebrity crush’ section of your mind. Pretty and untouchable. The way things are supposed to be.

Which was also bad because you would probably have to meet and interact with him at some point. Probably in the near future. God knows you’d absolutely humiliated yourself in front of the fucking Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne,. Twice, in fact. You didn’t even want to think about the display you’d shown for Bruce Wayne or Damian Wayne.

You didn’t really know what to do with your slightly obsessive crushes. And you could see it definitely being a problem in the near future.

…You decide that what you do in your private time is absolutely nobody but your business, and keep watching. It’s a mix of bitter spite and genuine mental breakdown levels of desperation that leads you to that decision. You feel like you’re a child with their toy being taken away, and it’s making you mad. And sad too. Even if you shouldn’t do this anymore, you still want to keep the habit. You’d mentioned before your creature comforts were one of the few things that kept you going. And while you were mostly very good at not being the jealous, heinous creature you really are, you knew you wouldn’t be giving this up.

They’d have to tear your gossip channels from your cold dead palms. You weren’t giving them up, not without a fight at least. Unfortunately for you, the universe seemed determined to wrestle away literally everything you loved.

Guilt’s for tomorrow. Today is for ice cream and purposefully ignoring everything. Speaking of which, you can not remember the last time you had a good Ben & Jerry’s. They were so expensive these days, as all groceries were. You simply couldn’t afford it. The Waynes, of course, had multiple tubs in multiple different options. Alfred had seemed delighted that you’d taken the ice cream, for which reasons you could not perceive.

Oh, yeah! His name was Alfred. Very butler-y. You’d remember it this time, he was a very nice man. And he called you ‘young miss’ which earned him points. He also didn’t seem to hate you on sight or treat you like a two-headed freak, like some of the other people in this household. Not naming names. Yeah, fuck that noise, Damian Wayne obviously has issues and it’s much less attractive in real life.

The woman drones on, and your eyes flick to your phone. Yup, she’s still yapping. It’s not like you don’t appreciate Dick’s abs or anything, it’s just that you think she might’ve been talking about this one specific photo for over half an hour now. Lady should get a hobby. Wait, wait, this is her job. Maybe you should start a podcast where you rant about the Wayne’s exercise regimes. It seems to be quite a lucrative field.

You shriek when the door slams open, nearly tumbling backwards off the bed. Hands manage to grip the bedcovers before you tip over, not making a complete fool of yourself. As it goes, you lose your spoon to the carpet. Bits of cookie dough spread over the floor in a divine sacrifice. And you lose your sanity to the man standing in the doorway. To be fair, he looks just as confused as you feel.

You blink at the physically perfect form of Dick Grayson and then turn your head to the TV to look at the other physically perfect form of Dick Grayson.

…You really wish you had a good explanation for this.

He mutters out your name, lips parted. Dick Grayson seems absolutely shocked to find you here. His eyes flick around the room and eventually land on the TV. Said baby blues widen to the size of saucers when the reporter makes a really, really unnecessary comment.

“And in news that broke the hearts of both ladies and gentlemen everywhere in Bludhaven, Dick Grayson has announced he will be returning to Gotham to assist his family in this difficult time. My cousin in the Blud is probably crying right now. There’s no ass out there quite like his, and there’s no replacement for Bludhaven’s favourite young rich bachelor,” she winks at the camera, and then the shot of his toned stomach phases forward to take up the entire screen.

Well, there’s a lot to say about that. First of all, fuck. Second of all, shit. Third of all, she really couldn’t have said that part about Dick coming back to Gotham sooner? Perchance, before you’d found yourself in this situation?

You said you weren’t that lucky, you meant it.

“But still, ain’t that lucky for us Gothamites? I myself have spent a lot of time on Dick’s Tiktok and Instagram, and his acrobatic videos have been used in a lot of my personal-”

You snatch the remote from the sheets and pause it right there. The silence is tense. You wait for him to say something, but he just stares at you. Completely stunned, mouth-catching flies. You want to pull the covers up and hide under them, but you don’t think that’d make him leave.

“I couldn’t find my room,” you finally manage to say. It’s the worst excuse you’ve ever heard, sounds like a complete lie. And yet, unfortunately, it is the truth.

Dick’s eyes drift to the TV, which you still haven’t unpaused. You can’t tell if it would be worth it, just to get rid of his golden brown abs staring at you judgementally, even if you’d have to deal with the extra embarrassment of the dialogue over them. Maybe if you muted the TV? It wouldn’t make up for the insult of his paparazzi photos on a widescreen.

It takes you even longer to come up with an excuse for… that.

“I was checking the news about last night,” you continue, the panic in you rising like a tea kettle left on the stove for too long. You might start shrieking like one too.

You don’t think he believes you. He looks down at the Beatles shirt you’re wearing. You know what he’s going to say before he does, but you still dread it.

“You’re wearing my clothes,” he mutters, his voice awed.

You want to say, ‘Nooo! No, no, no! Don’t do this to me, damn it! Not anymore! No more, please! It’s enough, enough suffering! This is genuinely ridiculous, damn you!’ but instead you reply with a shaky, “…Didn’t have any of mine.”

Also, you’ve been huffing Eau de Dick Grayson? That’s definitely in character for you. You want to beat your own head in with a stick.

“And I couldn’t find my room, and uh, thought this one wasn’t being used,” you continue, daring a glance back at him. He still looks completely stumped.

“It wasn’t,” he answers, but it sounds like he’s a thousand miles away.

You know, Dick Grayson was supposed to be a lot more charming than this. You’re almost proud you managed to stun the man into near speechlessness. Almost, almost. Almost not going to kill yourself once he leaves.

If he leaves. He doesn’t look like he’s getting up. You eye the gap between you and the door. Your animal brain is telling you to just run for it. But Dick has Olympic level athletics, and you don’t doubt he could catch you if you ran. Would he try though? That’s the deciding factor here.

He doesn’t seem like he’s actually going to fucking do anything though. He just keeps staring, like if he looks for long enough, it’ll all start to make sense. Which, you wish.

“Do you know where my room is? I couldn’t… remember…”

He nods, instead staring at his own abs on the TV.

“Can you take me to my room?”

He nods again. Still doesn’t look back at you.

“…Mr. Grayson?” you say, and almost immediately regret it. ‘You’ wouldn’t have used his last name, even though you might’ve. ‘You’ had been a casual person, as far as you could tell. That was the kindest way you could say it, at least.

His head snaps to you. He somehow looks more confused. You wonder if you should pinch him or something, god knows you’ve done your fair share of pinching yourself recently.

“Yes, right, sorry. Let’s… go,” he gives you a cheery smile, shaking his head, but it seems quite strained. You’re probably matching. This is the most humiliating moment of your life, and of course, it’s with the most beautiful man on earth right beside you.

A break. You want a break.

The two of you quietly shuffle out of the room, and when he guides you forward, you follow him obediently. Your head naturally bows, shame making it hard to look at him. You stare at the wooden floors as you walk. Watching it shine in the morning light that filters through the windows.

Eventually, he comes to a stop in front of a door that has obviously been avoided. Though it’s as clean as every other inch of this house, there are no marks in the rug from the door opening and closing. And even then, it seems… well, it sounds silly, but the door seems sad to you. Too many things seem sad to you these days.

Your thoughts must show on your face because Dick clears his throat and gives you a worried look. Is it rude to say you’re sick of those sorts of looks? That they just make you feel sick and burdened these days? It’s not like you could bring your family back from the dead, or convince your cheating boyfriend to not be a piece of shit. It was out of your hands.

“…Are you alright?” he asks you, blue eyes sincere. You tilt your head to the side.

“No?” you say, but it sounds more like a question. No, you are not alright. Yes, you will be okay. It’s the only option. It’s one of your rules. You have to be okay. You just have to.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

You almost laugh.

“No,” this time your voice is firm, confident. Dick seems like he’s going to push it, but something in your eyes makes him stop. You give him a forced smile and say goodbye, closing the door gently in his face. Once you do, you crouch down and once again, press your face to your knees. Then you press your hands to your mouth and let out a scream that had been bubbling up for a while. After that, you feel you can live with the humiliation that is your existence without jumping out the three-story-height window.

You stand up, turning to the room. The first thing you notice about it is that there’s dust in here. Same as Dick’s old room. Now that you think about it, Alfred doesn’t seem the type who’d randomly leave certain rooms uncleaned, so it must be something he does out of respect for the tenants of Wayne Manor. Or maybe the old you requested it? God knows.

Sitting down on the old bed, your eyes rove around the room. It’s well decorated, as the rest of the manor is, but you can’t see anything that would make it your room. There’s none of the novels you’d collected from the used books store, no dorky little items you impulse bought, no pictures of your family. The apartment hadn’t had those either.

‘You’- she- seemed like a ghost to you. While you’d often felt like you’d barely been alive, simply going through the motions, this girl seemed like she hadn’t even been conscious half the time she was doing it. It made your stomach swim, your face pulls taught.

While you’d had few things holding you afloat, it’d been enough to keep you alive. Molly, your co-workers, the need to work so as to not starve to death. She hadn’t had anything like that. No liferaft. You’d been sputtering and gasping your way through life, and she’d been drowning. Maybe already dead, at the bottom of the sea, hair tangling with the seaweed.

This room feels like a coffin, and this manor like a cemetery. It makes you physically sick.

Showing off your fickle-mindedness, you realise that despite this being the Wayne manor filled with all your idols, you actually don’t want to fucking be here. You need space to clear your head, and the creaking floorboards that echo down the creepy hallways just don’t offer that. The atmosphere at your too-modern, too-minimalist apartment is leagues better than the atmosphere at this gorgeous old house which you’d usually love spending hours getting lost in.

Usually. Unfortunately, this place was more suffocating than the workplace when you knew you were about to get fired again. And you weren’t getting paid to stay here, so why the fuck would you?

Once you realise you’ve decided to run, you’re quick to pack up your shit. There’s not much in the room you need. A pair of sneakers, because you would rather die than put those heels on again. And you’ll grab some shirts because they’re comfy and remind you of home. Hopefully, it’ll make everything… grate… a little less. All of this is thrown in an old ratty backpack, which is then tossed over your shoulder. Shoes slipped on, and tapped against the floor so they’re on comfortably. And then you’re ready. Ready as you’ll ever be. With one hand on your phone, you take a peek outside the door. Coast is clear.

You press call for ‘The Wicked Witch of the West’. Jeanine picks up on the third ring.

“Hello, Jeanine Ryans here,” she says, her voice all business.

“Jeanine, I need an evac, stat,” you whisper to her, creeping down the hallway of the manor. The floor is unbelievably creeky, so it’s pretty fucking difficult to be stealthy about it.

“…What?”

“Get me out of this fucking manor, please,” you beg, now going down the stairs. Almost out, almost out.

“Right, on it. I’ll have a car outside in ten minutes if that’s alright?” Jeanine replies, immediately on the case. It almost makes you cry. You know she’s being paid for this, and very desperate for the job for some reason, but it’s still a hail mary that you are so grateful for.

“Thank you, thank you so much,” you say, turning a corner and-

Oh, fuck. Damian Wayne glares down at you, green eyes cataloguing every single guilty piece of you in existence. He sees your hand tighten around your backpack, hears Jeanine telling you not to worry through your phone, and probably notices the way your eyes desperately flicker behind him to the door. To your goal, to the exit to this labyrinth.

You can practically hear the wind blowing, see the tumbleweed drift by.

And then, he moves past you, twisting his body so no part of it touches you. There’s a moment where your brain freezes, something spicy smelling (cinnamon, maybe?) flowing past you, and by the time you turn around, he’s gone. Your deer-in-headlights tensed-shoulders look falls, leaving you confused in the foyer. He didn’t even say a word to you. You felt like you just got passed over by a boss from a Dark Souls game.

…Well, you’ll take the wins where you can find them! Quickly, you hurry out the front door, skittering down the steps like some sort of rat. It’s a long walk to the gates, and you don’t really know how to open them to let the car in, so you decide to take your time and enjoy the walk. The early morning dew apon the clean-cut blades of grass glint and sparkle, the gravel on the road crunches under your technically-not-stolen sneakers, and even if it’s a miserable life, it’s a pretty day. From the hill the manor lives upon, you can see Gotham’s tall skyline, cloaked in its characteristic fog.

Eventually, you find yourself in front of the gate, where you can see Jeanine waiting with a black car on the otherside. There’s a big green button next to the side gate, which you press, and it clicks open. There’s a moment where your neck tingles, and you glance up at the camera pointed down at you. The red flickering light beside it holds your attention. You can see your bedraggled reflection in its lense.

Shaking your head, you move on, greeting Jeanine. She gives you a quick bow of the head and opens the door for you. You hike the bag over your shoulder, give the Wayne manor one final, lingering look and then you step into the car. Jeanine starts speaking to you about some future appointments you have, and you’re too tired to understand a word of what she says. She realises you’re not processing anything she says, and hands you a pair of headphones with a wire adapter.

You could kiss her right then and there. You don’t because that’d be weird, but you definitely think about it. Headphones on, you watch the rolling hills and luxurious manors turn into highways and honking traffic, to finally the upside part of town which was now apparently where you lived.

Eventually you find yourself being delivered in front of your swanky new apartment. With a passing goodbye, Jeanine tells you that she’ll be busy for the rest fo the day so if you need anything to call the number on the card she hands you. You tuck it in your pocket, certain you’ll lose it like every other business card you’ve ever been handed.

The elevator ride up to your room is contemplative. The music is boring, your reflection is bedraggled and tired, and the gentle feeling of gravity under your feet tugs at you. You rock slightly when you finally reach your floor. The doors open, but you don’t make any move to leave. They shut again, and you’re left staring daggers at your mirrored self.

You’d woken up, still here. It wasn’t a dream. It was reality. And more than that, it seemed more and more like you’d be staying in this reality. You didn’t think you could go home. Sure you were rich but… but your home. Your few things you’d managed to save. Your meagre group of friends and your hard-sought job. It made you nauseous. Where had you lost it all? Why were you here now? Why did you keep having to lose everything?

You manage to snap yourself out of it before someone else calls the elevator. Striding out of the space, you look to the right where you remember your apartment coming from. It’s not hard to find the unit, as there are only three on the entire floor. Rich people.

The door closes with a satisfying thud behind you, and you nearly melt with exhaustion.

This apartment is the ninth circle of hell for you. Scrambling around on your knees, you’re desperate to find the damn phone that won’t stop ringing. You can’t understand where the sound is coming from.

Under your bed? You shine your other’s phone’s light under it. Nope. Behind the dresser? Nada. You search inside the drawers and then peek inside the fancy lamp. Absolutely nothing. You’re ready to tear your hair out when you spot something… odd.

There’s… You think there’s something stuck in your floorboards. You dig at the space with your fingernails and the piece of wood pops open. Inside is… a cardboard box. An awfully familiar cardboard box, actually. The sight of your Mum’s old keepsake box makes you cry out with joy, lifting it from its little enclave. You’d lost a lot in the past few days but at least the old you knew how to keep your family’s stuff safe.

This apartment looks brand new. And apparently the past you dug into it to hide her stuff. You can’t really judge, you have a hidey-hole back at your apartment. It was a brick that had already been loose in the wall, so it didn’t feel quite as criminal as this.

The ringing is coming from inside the box. When you pull the lid up, you find a keepsake box a little different from yours. While yours only ever had your family’s old passports and photo albums, this one had a sleek phone sitting on top of all the mementos. It’s an exact copy of the phone on your bed- or well, it would be, if you hadn’t dropped it.

Two phones? This bitch was greedy. And so are you, eagerly sweeping the expensive item into your gremlin hands. Your thieving high is instantly quashed when you see who’s calling.

Of all fucking… George.

You roll your eyes before hanging up, tossing the phone to the side as you start rifling through the old keepsake box. You flip through family photo albums and lovingly cradle old stuffies. The phone buzzes. You ignore it. You find one of your mother’s old necklaces, and because you’re desperate for anything that can ground you, slip it over your head. The cool heart locket rests just under your collarbone, and you clutch it with one hand as you keep exploring. The phone keeps buzzing. It’s only almost half an hour later when you realise something about this is strange.

Why is George… not blocked? You glance down at the vibrating object like it’s radioactive, a despairing frown pulling at your face. Cautiously, you pick it up, making sure not to open the notifications lest it tell George you read any of his messages.

He’s… apologising for not being there for your birthday. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. And it’s not even a proper apology, it’s one of those ‘I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings’ bullcrap. He keeps spamming you, and eventually, you realise that he’s not going to just stop.

You decide to nip this in the bud quickly because even remembering his cheating face makes you feel like throwing up.

‘You’: Why are you contacting me?

‘George <3’: Seriously? Look, I’m sorry I wasn’t there yesterday. I was busy, you know that.

Stupidly, you reply:

‘You’: ‘No, seriously, why are you contacting me? I’m done with you.’

You wonder how you ever loved this jackass. Even if he was obviously more of a jackass here, than where you’d come from. He was just better at pretending there. You keep scrolling, ignoring the new texts that pop up. Your stomach sours at the number of texts he himself had ignored, of the amount of ‘sorry baby, can’t come tonight’, the begging, the pleading.

No, he wasn’t worse at pretending. He just didn’t care.

You wonder if this could have been you, further along down the line. Abuse happens slowly, right? Like a frog in a pot. You’d have forgiven and forgotten, written away his worse behaviours till you couldn’t anymore. Till you couldn’t leave, till you were trapped.

You think George Lancaster would’ve tried to. He would’ve isolated you from everyone you had left if he hadn’t screwed up and got caught.

You realise now there were a lot of red flags in your relationship with George. Molly always hated him and he hated her. He’d constantly complain about how much time you spent with her, spamming you with texts when you went out.

You were only… only two days since you’d actually broken up with him. Which was sort of crazy to think about. You feel like you’ve lived eons since then. Like that one traumatic incident aged you thirty years. Anyway, you still hadn’t processed the whole George thing. You’d been sort of busy fighting for your life.

‘George’: I’m here, can you at least open the door so we can talk face to face?

Freeze. A knock sounds, and your head snaps up to the front door. You don’t move. You just wish it away. The knocking only gets louder and louder.

You feel like a dumb girl in a horror movie as you walk towards the door, unlocking it and creaking the knob open. George Lancaster stands on the other side, and before you can slam it in his face, he grabs you by the arm and yanks you out of the door. And then he’s pulling you to the elevator, even as you try and get your bearings, get yourself away from him.

“You can’t just ignore me like this,” George says, pissed off to high hell, “We’re going to miss the reservation I booked specifically for you. I told you it was happening today and-”

There’s white noise between your ears, you can’t hear what he’s saying. Told you? It wasn’t in any of the texts. He’s still talking even as the elevator dings, even as he shoves you in a white sports car that’s half parked on the curb. Even as he drives his way through Gotham’s streets, he won’t fucking shut up.

Why are you letting this happen to you? Why aren't you fighting back, wrenching yourself from his grasp? He takes you into a restaurant, one so upscale that normally you wouldn’t be able to get in for months, and your head snaps from staring socialites to watching politicians to gawking celebrities. You have the eyes of the world on you right now, and they’re all watching George yell at you.

And you can’t find your voice.

It's like a scab you can't stop picking at. Like you think this is what you deserve or something. And it's not. You know it's not. And yet you follow obediently, chastised and embarrassed, as he pulls you through the restaurant. When he picks a table in the centre of the room, you don’t protest. When he chooses your meal for you, even though it’s not to your taste, you don’t protest.

Looking at George, scrolling lazily on his phone, your hands clench against the table. They’re sweating, shaking, nails digging into your palms.

You… you didn’t have to break up with him again, did you? You realised it earlier, but you didn’t- it didn’t really sink in. Your first breakup with George Lancaster was a miserable traumatic experience, and it had been in the solitary streets of Gotham’s Narrows. This one, this one would be seen by literally everyone.

Nauseous. You feel so damn nauseous, your mouth dry as you swallow down bile. This was ridiculous. You couldn’t stand seeing his face. Was he texting her right now? God, did she even know? You’d just stormed out that night, running from what you’d seen.

George had chased after you. Had he left her there? Your stomach churned at the idea. You had to hate her on principle but, well, you also had to sympathise with her. Contradictions, that was the average you. You didn’t want to help this random girl. Didn’t want to have to ever think of her again.

…Staring at George, a definitively awful person, you can’t do it. Can’t just leave her to it.

“I’m breaking up with you,” you say.

“What?” George replies, not even looking up from his phone.

“I’m breaking up with you!” you shout. It’s not even intentional, just a result of being pushed too far, of breaking too easily.

The restaurant goes quiet. Guess you’re up for another scandal then. Whatever, it wasn’t like you would’ve lasted much longer anyway. This was all too complicated for your recently traumatised mind to handle. And it was just too damn stupid to bother with anyway. All of this was fucking stupid.

You included.

Just pull the bandaid off, right? You could already see how this version of you had so many scandals to her name. You probably should start giving a shit. Or at least trying to. You don’t think you want to, though.

George puts his phone down face down on the tablecloth, giving you a calm look. That slightly pitying stare activates something in your brain you didn’t really know was there. It’s a type of rage you haven’t known since you were a kindergartner and one of the other girls said you couldn’t play princesses. Since your first service job where your manager felt you up. Just pure, petty, anger. The type of anger ready to burn the world down as long as it burns whoever pissed you off as well. He opens his mouth, probably to say something condescending, and your hand whips out and snatches his phone.

“Hey!” George says instead, his eyes widening.

You turn the phone back on. Hm, passcode. You flip it around and use facial recognition to open it. Despite the fact that George wears the most comically shocked expression, with saucer-wide eyes and a mouth open to catch flies, it unlocks. Nice.

“Hey! What are you doing?” George demands, reaching over the table for his phone.

You twist away from his reach. Password. You flip the phone, and despite George’s comically shocked expression, it still unlocks. He shouts again when it does, probably realising that you might be taking this seriously. That he might actually be in trouble. That his sugar mummy might not take too kindly to the numerous texts to other women on his phone.

…You really can’t believe you’re a sugar mummy. And for George of all people. What a horrendous waste of money, it’s fucking tragic.

He’s got the texts with someone known as ‘Pizza Hut’ pulled up, with some very flirtatious messages. You scroll up furiously, ducking under George as he gets up from the table and tries to get the phone. Still, backing up, the sight of a very poorly shot dick pic of George’s has you grimacing. Your focus on the picture, trying to decide whether his penis looked so unappealing before you’d learnt of his betrayal, has you distracted when one of the servers come around.

And, well, shirt, meet soup. Very, very hot soup. Everyone? Meet a screeching, klutzy moron.

George takes the chance to advance on you, snatching his phone from you. He doesn’t even seem to care you’re currently getting third-degree burns. The sting scorches through the thin fabric of your dress shirt, burning your skin. George grabs you again, his grip harsh enough this time you know it will bruise, and you can’t really say why you do what you do at that moment.

Your aunt used to have a chihuahua. It was an ugly, grumpy thing. She’d rescued it late into its life, and it had been treated poorly beforehand. It didn’t like to be touched at all and used to run from anyone who tried. And if you tried to touch it? Cornered it?

Well, of course, it started biting.

George’s howl is the most satisfying thing you’ve ever heard. His squeal of “bitch!” might be even more so. He slaps you away from him, and the sound echoes in the restaurant. Your face stings. When you land ass first in the puddle of still-too-hot soup, you wonder if you might try and bite him again. You don’t think you even broke the skin, considering you can’t taste blood. The other patrons stare on in genuine horror, like they’ve never seen a messy breakup before. One woman raises a hand to her mouth, and gasps-

You find yourself staring up at a furious George, one with a menace in his eyes you’ve never seen before. You wonder, idly, if he’s ever hit you before. Well, not you, but ‘you’. You realise now that he has the capacity for it, that he probably always did.

“What the fuck!?” he hisses, angry eyes darting from side to side, “Biting me?! In fucking public?! Have you lost it, you crazy bitch?! And you got my phone fucking soaked in soup!”

“Did you buy it?” you ask, wiping your mouth with your sleeve to get George’s dirty taste out of your mouth.

He blinks, confused, thrown off by your question, “Huh?”

“Did you buy that phone?” you repeat, your staring starting to turn into a furious glare.

You don’t think he did. Your George had never been able to afford those sorts of things, he’d been as broke as you were. Of course, you’d seen him lust over those items, but you’d always managed to convince him not to go into debt over silly things like sports cars and fancy phones. And even then, you’d been the one to buy him a PS5.

He looks down at the phone and back at you, and you can see his jaw tick.

“I bought it. That’s mine.”

“It was a gift. You’re going to be such a bitter bitch to take back everything you gave me? Gonna leave me out on the fucking street?” he says, spittle flying with angry words.

This was escalating fast. Maybe before you’d have been cowed by his words, but you were genuinely off your rocker by now and were very much willing to tango with this bastard. Like yes, he did terrify you, but so did everything else. You could handle this much at least. You weren’t ready to back down.

“And if I did? What then George? What could you even fucking do?” you throw back, voice rising to match his.

“It’s not your money either, it’s theirs, you little leech!” says the pot.

“Does it matter?” replies the kettle.

Pushing to your feet, you find George without another answer. He stands between you and the exit. With the plain murderous rage on his face, you think he’ll try to grab you again if you run past. He wouldn’t bite you back, but he might slap you or something. So instead, like any good coward does, you run straight to the girl’s bathroom. It hasn’t failed you yet, and you doubt it will today.

You shove into the bathroom, past a woman doing her makeup. Her head bobs up and down as she takes in your seemingly infamous face, and your stained shirt. You stride as far away from her as possible, darting into the last bathroom stall and sitting on the closed toilet lid. You pull your knees to your chest and hiss out a sound of frustration when that presses the sticky liquid against your chest and pants. Not your brightest idea, but you were sort of running on fumes right now.

The bathroom stall is extremely clean. One thing you were quickly realising about rich people is they didn’t have to suffer shitty public bathrooms. You didn’t think they deserved it. Like customer service jobs, and traffic, they built character.

What were you doing? Right, trying not to cry. You’re doing much better than yesterday. Still, sitting on top of the toilet’s closed lid, your phone pressed to your face, you wouldn’t say you’re doing ‘good’.

But because you knew George was too much of a pussy to ever enter the woman’s bathrooms, you refuse to move a single inch. You don’t want to go out there. At all. At all, at all. You’d tried to call Jeanine, but she hadn’t answered. Some P.A. she was. You still weren’t going to fire her. Then you remember that she told you she was going out later, and that she’d left a card with you. Digging through your pocket, you decide it’s finally time to die when you realise you lost the card somewhere along the line.

So, she wasn’t going to come save you as your knight in shining armour.

You can’t remember Molly’s number. Who did these days? That was your phone’s job. So you were left with… this. You were left with this. Four blocked numbers and a third had sent an automatic reply because he was driving. Alfred was probably busy. Weren’t butlers always very busy?

…Rich people weren’t often very busy. They had butlers and assistants to do all their chores. You unblock all four of the Waynes that you have on your phone.

The first thing you notice is the amount of texts between ‘you’ and Dick. Scrolling and scrolling, you find most of them are him checking up on you and one-word replies from the old you. He’s friendly and accepting, even when you respond in cruel and aggressive tones. The further back you scroll, the kinder your replies are. At one point it seems like the two of you had a good relationship.

You check the other chats. Tim’s message log is filled with coffee requests sent back and forth between you, Damian’s is completely empty, and Bruce’s has had no response from your phone in years. But eventually, you scroll back far enough that you find an actual conversation instead of just ‘Call Alfred’ repeated every few days.

‘You’: I miss them.

‘Bruce Wayne’: I know. I miss them too.

You press the back button, sighing. That felt like you’d seen something you shouldn’t have, like you’d peeked into someone’s diary. Which was unbelievably stupid. All of this is unbelievably stupid. You should just leave, you should just be brave. Two days ago you faced off against one of your worst fears, but today you couldn’t even handle George Lancaster.

You want someone to rescue you. You know no one will unless you ask. It makes you choke on your own self-disgust. This is the second time in one day. God, maybe you should just do it yourself. It’s not like you couldn’t pay for your own Uber.

And still, you find yourself clicking on a name and begging. Skin crawling, you type and retype the text probably a hundred times. You go from long apologies to begging to rants you never intended to send in the first place. Tap, tap, tap, and then you delete, delete, delete.

What you settle on is simple.

‘You’: hey. can you come pick me up? thx

Maybe a bit too simple. You cross your arms and tuck yourself in the good ol’ fetal position. You feel like you’ve spent half your time holding yourself like this the past three days.

‘Dick Grayson’: I’ll be there in five.

MASTERLIST - NEXT

[rainbow-nerdss]

Tease Tidbit Tuesday

Enjoy this hit from the bucktommy pit I've fallen into over the past few days! 💙💙

“Eddie gave me a shovel talk, you know?” Tommy says, next time they get together. They're at Buck's again, and Buck is cooking for them. He drops the spatula at Tommy's announcement, spinning to look at him. “He what? Jesus, I am so sorry, he shouldn't have—” “It's fine,” Tommy assures him. “It was cute. He cares about you.” Buck snorts. “Sure. He hasn't scared you off, at least?” "Nah, trust me, I've sparred with the guy enough times to know I can take him if I need to.” Buck raises an eyebrow. “I wouldn't underestimate him. That guy knows how to fight dirty. Trust me. He's scrappy.” “Scrappy, huh?” Buck turns back to the pot and stirs it again. “Hey, come taste this?” He holds out a spoon. Tommy joins him at the stove, standing far closer than necessary, almost flush against Buck's back as he takes the spoon in his mouth, chews, and swallows. “Delicious,” he announces. “Is that Bobby's Chili?”  Buck nods. "Yup!" “Man, he was always so secretive about that!” Tommy complains. “How'd you talk him into sharing?” “Pays to be the favorite, I guess!” Buck preens. “So, what? Eddie suddenly decided to go all white knight protecting my virtue now I'm dating a guy?” He asks, steering the conversion back around. Tommy leans against the countertop beside Buck. “Nah, nothing like that. He just said that… He reminded me, forcibly, that you're a good guy, and I should probably refrain from hurting you, if I can help it.” Privately, a part of Buck glows at the knowledge that Eddie did that for him, even while he plans to rip him a new one for interfering. “I should clarify, Evan. I'm not… I’ve mentioned Victor, right? My ex?” Buck nods, turning to face Tommy in order to give this his full attention. “He sort of… did a number on me. Meeting you, doing… this, it's great. I'm just not…” “You're not ready for something serious,” Buck realizes. Tommy nods. “But, what we've been doing so far…?” “Is great! The dates, the, uh… other stuff, all amazing, but—” “You just don't want anything more serious than that.” “Exactly. If that's a deal-breaker, I can—” “No!” Buck rushes, putting a hand on Tommy's chest. “I mean, this is good for me too. Takes some of the pressure off, actually.” Tommy visibly relaxes, and Buck takes a moment to turn down the heat on the stove, leaning further into his space. “You said you were a relationship guy,” Tommy says, clearly wanting to make a hundred percent sure. Buck does him the courtesy of taking a moment to consider his answer. “I used to think I was. I thought my options were either ‘serious relationship’ or ‘meaningless sex that left me feeling like crap’.” He steps closer, close enough that he can feel Tommy's breath ghost across his skin. “But lately I've been discovering the joys of things being… somewhere on a spectrum. Keeping things fluid.” “Yeah?” Tommy asks, moving even closer. They might as well be kissing now, but they aren't quite, just a hair between them. “Yeah,” Buck repeats. “Though,” he adds. “For the sake of clarity. When you say other stuff, is that referring to the flying lessons you still owe me, or—” Buck pulls away just a fraction, just enough to allow Tommy the opportunity to reach out and keep him there, pulling him back into a dizzying kiss.

Tags:

I was tagged by @wildlife4life @spotsandsocks @diazsdimples @dangerpronebuddie @wikiangela @exhuastedpigeon and @bidisasterbuckdiaz

And tagging:

@theotherbuckley @aspecbuddie @thewolvesof1998 @daffi-990 @neverevan @loserdiaz @goforkinard @kwills91 @trenchcoatsandtimetravel @devirnis @steadfastsaturnsrings @sunflowerdiaiz @lover-of-mine @liabegins @lovelettertothewise @slowlyfoggydestiny @buddieboos @shitouttabuck @pirrusstuff @jesuisici33 @nmcggg @elvensorceress @eddiebabygirldiaz @your-catfish-friend @eightpackdiaz @gigi-gigi @bisexualbuckleys @loveyouanyway @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @arachanae

[phan3145]

Title: Slippery Slope. Fandom: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Rating: T ( Mentions of blood and previous injuries) Pairing: Eventual Noa x Human!Reader.

***Notes: Not leaving you guys in the lurch, I just have to force myself to break these chapters up. Part 2 will be posted today or tomorrow.

Chapter 8: Gifts Pt. I

You

Hiding Micheal would be a challenge, but just as you told Noa, some repairs and adjustments needed to be made to your shelter today. Said adjustments, would be the answer to your problems. Micheal knew that he could slip in through the front entrance by the rock if it was cracked, or wait for you to open it so he could slip in later. It was dawn, and as he tended to do, Micheal showed up for his morning snack. With great patience, you walked him around the large mass of rocks, pausing a few times as he got distracted. Slowly but surely, you made your way around until you reached the back of the cave where your tunnel existed.

You couldn’t dig over top of your tunnel of course, that would let water in and potentially collapse it. However, you could dig diagonally and have it meet inwards. You found a spot close to the cave wall, about five feet away from your tunnel, and showed Micheal how you began to dig. He watched you for a few minutes, munching on his grapes and cut up apple you had put into in a small pile for him. He left some of it to come over and watch you dig. You used a curved stone to stab and shovel at the dirt until it was loose enough to move.

Micheal circled around you and the budding hole, before sliding in between you and the loosened dirt. You were surprised by this, until he began to dig at a furious pace with his front paws. You watched as his claws made easy work of it, quickly moving out of the way when his back feet kicked at the soil he had loosened. You decided to let him dig as long as he wanted, it would save you the time and energy. You stayed close by though, making sure he was digging in the right direction. Micheal of course, living up to his namesake, was nothing if not very smart. He dug about two to three feet down at an angle in the direction of your tunnel.

He took a few breaks, stopping to check where you were and what you were doing. He would come sit next to you, getting up and returning to his digging once your hands had become a little too brave. He wasn’t one to be pet just yet, but you could occasionally brush your hand over the top of his head without him squirming away from you. On this latest break, he decided to finish his snack, just as the last dull colors of sunrise faded into the vibrant blue of day. When he had dug far enough, where you could barely see his tail anymore, you went back to the front of your cave. You squeezed yourself through the doorway, tripping and tumbling onto your hands and knees, before you began to crawl through your tunnel. You measured the distance with your arm from the mouth of the cave to where you were.

It was always quiet underground, but still you stopped and tried to listen. At first, you could hear nothing but your heart beat, but then very faintly in the background, you heard the sound of shuffling dirt. You were in the right spot. You took your rock, not having a lot of extra space to move, and began to chisel away at the solid earth to your left. Micheal was moving faster than you, but the point wasn’t so much to beat him, as it was to give him a moving point to dig towards.

A half hour later a nose broke through the dirt to meet you, followed by paws and the rest of Micheal’s face. He whined and chirped as he dug through, meeting you on the other side. You quickly backed up, covered in sweat and other things you didn’t really want to think about too closely. Micheal finished the connecting hole, just big enough for his body to slip though before flopping down into your much bigger tunnel. The digging must have taken it out of him as he continued to lay there, panting as his chest rose and fell quickly.

You managed a quick pass along his ears, Micheal whining and shaking his head to dislodge your hand as you did. You chuckled, backing out of the tunnel to grab one of the few bowls you hand. You opened your canteen and poured water into it, and though you were loathe to do it, you also grabbed the fish you were saving for breakfast. You carefully carried the bowl and the fish, shuffling and crawling your way back through to Micheal.

His head rose at the smell of food, but he quickly changed his mind and dove for the water once you sat it down. You supposed this was your life now, gathering food and water for more than just yourself. You didn’t imagine Micheal would move in with you, but like any other animal, he would probably visit often enough if you kept feeding him. For a moment, you wondered if he had a partner, but decided he probably didn’t. Mates usually hunted together, so if he was barely feeding himself, there was no way he was keeping a partner alive.

You sighed, watching as Micheal spun in a circle, curling up in the dirt and closing his eyes, “Looks like it’s just you and me, Micheal. You and me against the world.”

Micheal didn’t react or respond, his front paws twitching as his body dropped into a near instant sleep. You were envious, wishing you could fall asleep that quickly. Then again, foxes were nocturnal, so it was probably way past his bed time. You glanced to your left, looking up through the tunnel where the faintest bit of daylight was visible. To his credit, he had also done most of the digging for the tunnel. He deserved his sleep. You began to slowly crawl backwards, letting Micheal rest as you planned to continue about your day.

You made your way outside, around the cave and rocks, to where the new opening was. It wasn’t obvious, thankfully, but you still worried about other animals coming in. You thought briefly about bringing in another rock, but realized you could potentially trap Micheal or yourself on accident. You would just have to trust for now that the hole was small enough, and Micheal’s scent would keep anything else away. The main point is that is was hidden from Noa and any other ape that might make their way towards your burrow. At least, you hoped it was.

You turned then, deciding to grab your fishing pole, fish trap, towel, and some fresh clothes. You needed a bath in the worst way, and now that the weather had officially warmed, you might go swimming. Hygiene first, fun after. You slipped back into your shelter, noting that Micheal was still fast asleep before grabbing your supplies. Two distinct pieces of cloth caught your attention before you walked out, and you quickly snatched them up to bring along. Blood was so hard to clean from material, but you could do your best to wash it. You owed Noa and Anaya that much.

You left your door cracked, beginning the trek to the creek. You took this time to reflect on everything that had happened in the past few months. Your entire life had been turned upside down once more, but this time, you were the driving force behind it all. You were allowed to make your own decisions with the apes, come and go as you pleased, and were always included, but never pressured into anything. You lamented the fact that your friends, or even your mother, were never able to meet the trio. If they had, maybe things would have been completely different.

You reached the edge of the woods, stilling yourself and listening for any sound of life outside of you. You heard nothing, daring to poke your head above the brush, scanning the edge of the creek on both sides. Nothing. You breathed a sigh of relief, dragging you and your load from the foliage to the edge of the water. You spread everything out in front of you, deciding to set up your fish trap first. It wasn’t difficult, but it didn’t always work unless you left it for long periods of time.

For now, you let your fishing pole remain on the ground, finding that familiar stone by the edge of the water and placing your clean clothes on it. You did one final check of your surroundings before you were practically ripping your clothes off. The water had warmed up considerably, and you wasted no time sliding off the edge of the bank and into the creek. There was tall grass and few other plants to wade through, but you broke through after a few strides into deeper water. Not too deep, just reaching past your waist, but once you found solid rock below to ground yourself, you sunk beneath the stream.

You held your breath, feeling the bits of dirt already peeling away from your skin. You rubbed at your arms and at the base of your neck, hair floating above you and making the task easier. You scrubbed at your legs and your feet, knowing they would never fully be clean but still making an effort. As you contorted under the water, lungs starting to tinge with that familiar burn, another type of pang hit your stomach and you cringed.

Breaking the surface with a small gasp, you placed a hand over your abdomen. You sighed and groaned to yourself, “Not again, not now.”

The pleasures of being a female never ceased. The last time this occurred you hadn’t been close enough with the apes for them to be around when it happened. They just assumed you had been off doing other Echo things. Or, avoiding them all together. Since it was a daily, if not hourly, effort to keep yourself fed and safe, your body didn’t often display its natural signs that it could reproduce…but that was before. Since meeting Noa, Soona, and Anaya, you were safer and more well fed than you had been in years. You were considerably less scared on the daily as well. Your body must have decided to start a regular cycle now in response to your better lifestyle, and wow, that was a cosmic joke if you ever saw one.

How were you supposed to explain this to the trio? You didn’t even know when it would start, only that the phantom pains had begun. You remembered having to explain it to Gol, since he had assumed Micheal had attempted to hurt you and threatened to kill him in response. You shivered at the memory, arms curling around your abdomen and praying it was something else. You were tired of bleeding, of being in pain, and dealing with blood.

You were reminded then, of the arm bands. You returned to the task at hand, dipping your head back into the water and scrubbing at your hair for a minute or two before shuffling back to the bank. A quick glance confirmed you were still alone. You hauled yourself from the water, careful to avoid getting your hands too muddy before crouching within the grass and reaching for your towel. You dried off quickly, pushing the thought of your body and its future out of your mind.

You dressed as if you were a machine, the familiarity of the actions engrained within your muscles to move silently and swiftly. Once your modesty was restored, you used the towel to wrap your hair. You didn’t leave it up long, just enough to squeeze the dripping water out. Your towel was tossed to the side then in favor of your dirty clothes. You would wash the bands last.

You were surprised by the brown that was pulled from your shirt, knowing it was covered in dirt, but not expecting the color to be that vivid. You reminded yourself not to wring it too hard, already thin and thread bare as it was. Your stomach turned, another pang accompanying it as you thought about what would happen when these clothes wore out. Your mother’s jacket was already ruined, and you only had two or three shirts and pants respectively. You had your sleeping sheet you had fashioned into a nightgown, which you supposed you could rip and fashion into clothing if you really needed to. You would not sacrifice your blankets though, that would be counter productive.

The question persisted in your mind though, when would you be able to leave in search of clothing? How would you even go about it? And if you couldn’t find anything, what then? You were relatively young, how long could you keep looking? How long would you survive?

The questions suddenly stopped being about clothes and you swallowed the bile in the back of your throat. This world was not for the people who thought long term, it was for the ones who survived day by day. That’s why you were here now, why you had lasted this long. You shook your pants a little harder than you needed to, laying them on the rock next to your shirt to sun dry.

You picked up the arm bands then, knowing immediately which one was Noa’s. Your thumb stroked over it, reveling in the softness of the material while thinking about its owner. You hoped teaching the trio to read was a good way to repay his kindness and care towards you. It was a start at the very least. There was no debt, when all was said and done, but it was a reason to keep the apes in your life. Every day you spent with them, you felt your bond grow stronger, a tug on that intangible thread inside every time you thought about not seeing the trio.

You shook the thought away, dunking the band into the creek, letting it start to absorb the water. You took a small stone and started scrubbing at the material, mind drifting back to Micheal, sleeping comfortably back in your burrow, wondering if that was why you wanted to domesticate him. You hadn’t even named him until last night, and you knew now that the apes did not approve. It was early enough, you could run him off yourself, stop feeding him, and actually block off your home as you had for so many years. But no, just this morning you doubled down. You made a secret tunnel. Why would you risk breaking the apes trust? Was it because you simply felt bad for Micheal? Or, was it because you didn’t want to rely on the apes and then be left alone again?

You felt the truth within the thought, swallowing hard as you gently laid Noa’s band off to the side. You picked up Anaya’s band then, a smile splitting your face as you thought about the sweet chimp and his carefree antics. It fell a moment later, when darker thoughts clawed their way back to the surface of your mind. Realistically, how long could this friendship last? After all, Noa was the leader of the clan, Anaya obviously his right hand, and Soona…?

You had to stop then, considering her place within the clan. She was smart, probably just as smart as Noa, but in a different way. In your mind, she could do anything, be anything for her clan, and seeing the way she looked at Noa sometimes…you imagined she would probably be his mate one day. They were young-ish to your knowledge, their climb last year to honor an egg and raise an Eagle meaning they were just bridging the gap from teenager to a more mature adult ape.

They would get older, just as you would, and things would go back to how they had been. This peace you found wouldn’t last forever- couldn’t last forever. The ape trio and their Echo friend at the edge of the forest. You chuckled, the thought sounding more like the title of a children’s story. Like all stories though, it would end before you were ready for it to. You would be alone again… but you could enjoy your time with them while it lasted. Just like your parents, your friends, your love for Micheal…the apes could be wonderful memories one day. You were already grateful for all the time you had spent with them thus far.

If God was real, you thought maybe this was his way of making up for the pain and suffering you endured before. It would be just; finding apes you could trust, getting a new Micheal, and living long enough to be considered an adult. You were fulfilled, even happy at times. There was nothing else you could possibly want. At this point, you could die tomorrow and consider your life one well lived.

Well lived?

You continued to scrub at the band in your hands, wondering why that last bit bothered you. You had a golden childhood, real friends that were willing to give their lives for yours, and you had loved with your whole heart. It wasn’t the love every girl dreamed of, but it had been yours for those precious few minutes. It was more true and devout than anything you would have experienced in the vault, more than anything you would find if you went back…and certainly more than you deserved now. Your vision blurred in front of you then, forcing you to swipe at your eyes. You stopped your scrubbing, fingers suddenly feeling raw as you took a moment. One deep breath, and one deep exhale.

Lying to yourself wasn’t doing you any good. There were things you wanted, things you wanted to do but would never be able to. You had accepted that a long time ago…or so you thought. No, you did. You accepted it, this was just an emotional lapse. You tried to rationalize it in your mind, running a hand through your hair as you took another deep breath. There was no use crying about it. There was nothing you could do to change things. Wishing for more now, when you finally found friends, after being alone for so long, was just greedy. Finding Noa, and Anaya, and Soona was a gift in and of itself, wanting more from this life would only be selfish.

It would be human.

That thought surprised you. When did the word human become an insult in your mind? You glanced to the arm bands next to you, maybe you had been spending too much time around the apes? Or, maybe you just knew more about your own species nature. With that, you finished up Anaya’s arm band, surprised how much of the blood you were able to scrub out of it. You left it out to dry next to your clothes and Noa’s band, grabbing your fishing pole and towel.

You carefully made your way back to the edge of the woods, following the creek amongst the camouflage of the foliage. It was a quick walk downstream, where it suddenly opened up and merged with a larger body of water. It could probably be considered a river, but only just, as it collected in a large pond like structure before shrinking and winding its way further down the valley. You saw the rock that you had spent many, albeit nervous, days laying on when the weather warmed up.

You found this place on your search for your mother, not brave enough to veer far from your burrow at the time. You had simply followed the creek. Later, when you had become accustomed to the idea of being on your own, during a very hot summer, you had been brave enough to swim out to the rock. You had sat there and allowed yourself to cry for the first time since Micheal, knowing you were safe to be vulnerable in the middle of the water.

Strangely enough, you returned now, knowing you would feel better if you could only climb onto it and warm yourself. You noticed some rabbits by the edge of the water on the other side, chuckling to yourself as you rested your pole along the bank. You would fish after you were done. You quickly stripped out of your clean clothes, careful to set them down next to your pole, before you grabbed your towel and took off in a mad dash and leapt into the water. You made sure to hold your towel above your head, counting nine steps until the river bottom dropped out beneath you. From there you treaded water, pushing yourself towards the elevated stone in the center. When you finally touched it, you let out a contented sigh, holding onto the side to steady yourself before throwing your towel up and over. You would get it later.

You used your feet to push off the rock then, hands going out behind you to feel the water slip through your fingers. You took in a breath, feeling your body float freely, the sun warming your face. You did this for a few minutes, just breathing and relaxing before you sat up, treading water again and trying to see what might be below you. Occasionally, you could find old human things in the water, if it was clear enough for you to see. You found coins once, and old jewelry another time. Then there were times it looked like human things, but was just beautiful rocks. You usually took those too. Today, you saw something sparkling below you, catching the light of the sun.

You took a large breath, diving forward and towards what you had seen. Your vision underwater was blurry, but you could still faintly see the glimmer. You reached your hand out carefully, not sure what you were grasping at, only that it was clear. Your hand touched the glimmer, feeling something smooth and cool. It was glass. You wrapped your hand around it fully then, pulling up until you dislodged it, lungs beginning to burn from lack of oxygen. You brought it up with you, gasping for breath as you broke the surface.

You wiped hair and water from your eyes, turning to see the large, empty glass bottle in your hand. You swam back to your rock, hoisting yourself up and onto your stomach. As usual, water cascaded off of you and made a large wet spot on the surface of the stone. You pushed yourself forward into a kneeling position, allowing the majority of the water to slide off your body before moving again. After a few seconds, you pivoted, grabbing your towel and wrapping it around you. You found a dry spot to lay on now, stretching out your back and rolling your neck. You held the bottle up to the light, watching it refract left and right as you turned it.

It wasn’t useful, at least not at the moment, but you would give it a purpose. It was something from a bygone era, a survivor like you, so you would find something to do with it. You sat it next to you, closing your eyes and allowing your body to be dried by the heat of the sun. You would stay just for a little bit, just a little longer, enjoying the warmth before swimming back and collecting your things. You still had to meet the apes tomorrow, and you should probably fish before it got dark, no guarantee your trap would pull anything…

That was the plan anyway, until your body jerked itself awake, a noise to your right alerting you of the soon-to-be setting sun. Your face felt flushed, a little hotter than usual too, and your eyes were struggling to open from your nap. The light was suddenly too bright and everything was out of focus. You rubbed at them, sitting up and turning in the direction of another noise. It was a rock, one that hadn’t been there before. You looked up when you heard your name being called.

You pulled your towel tighter around your body, eyes focusing until the image of Anaya came into focus. You relaxed slightly, calling out, “Anaya! What are you doing here?”

“Echo…stuck!” Anaya called back, pacing frantically back and forth, “Is hurt…need help?”

You waved your arms and shook your head, “No, I’m fine! I’m fine!”

His pacing did not stop, voice still tinged with worry as he shouted, “Can…come back…need to get Noa?”

“No!” You yelled a little too loudly. “Do not get Noa! I’ll come to you, just stay there. Give me a second.”

“Okay Echo.” Anaya replied, finally settling down. He was arching his back and stretching on his toes to see you better.

You had to admit, you were impressed he was able to hurl rocks this far out, let alone see you. Speaking of seeing you, you thought about your towel and glass bottle. You looked up, seeing Anaya still focused on your form. You bit your lip, yelling, “You need to turn around!”

“Why…danger?” Anaya said, turning quickly to face the woods before turning back to you.

“No, no danger!” You called, voice scratchy from yelling, and maybe also from dehydration. You cleared your throat before continuing, “I need to swim over but I’m not wearing my clothes.”

You couldn’t see clearly, but Anaya looked annoyed, “Do not care…about Echo body…safer to keep an eye…on you!”

You rolled your eyes, “Anaya! Please!”

He planted his feet then, letting out a screech of, “No!…Water dangerous!”

You groaned, deciding this was not the hill, or rather the rock, that you wanted to die on. You ripped the towel from your body then, wrapping it around the bottle you found as you raised it above your head. You felt your cheeks heat up even more, before you slipped off the rock and into the water. You let out a small yelp, the water much colder to your heated body than it had been before. You saw Anaya launch forward on all fours, in water up to his wrists before you called, “I’m fine! I’m fine! The water is just cold.”

Anaya did not move back, he stayed in place, transfixed by your movements in the water. The closer you got, the more you noticed his open look of shock, his jaw slack. Your foot found the ledge again and you pushed yourself to stand, halfway at least, keeping everything from your chest down submerged. You grabbed the towel from around the bottle, hanging it in front of you as you began to walk forward. Once the water was to your knees, you wrapped the cloth around your body again, pushing your clinging hair back from around your face. Still, Anaya did not move.

You looked at him curiously, asking, “What’s wrong?”

“Echo…” Anaya said, sounding a little breathless. “Echo can…move in water.”

“I can swim,” you agreed.

Anaya just stared at you, shifting onto two legs as he admitted, “Did not know…that was possible.”

You continued your trek out of the water, passing Anaya as you confirmed, “It’s a human thing, we float and swim. Apes have more muscle in their body and sink.”

Anaya followed close behind you now as you made a grab for your clothes, finger pointing as he said, “Face…light red.”

You finished pulling up your pants, hand going to your cheeks as you remembered that you fell asleep in the sun. Thankfully, your body was used to the sun, so you wouldn’t have to worry about blistering. Your face was a different story, but it didn’t hurt, so you should be fine. You rolled your shoulders in a short stretch, “Another human thing. We turn ‘light red’ when we are out in the sun for a long time.”

“Hurt?” Anaya asked, fingers looking to touch your cheek.

You quickly pulled away, turning your back to Anaya to put your shirt on before dropping your towel, “No, just warm. No pain.”

Anaya sighed in relief, “Good…looks like…pain.”

“You and Noa both worry about me too much,” you laughed.

“Echo is…fragile.” Anaya defended, “Compared to ape.”

You sighed, “You’re not wrong. Back to my previous question through, what are you doing here?”

Anaya pointed to his tied horse, holding large amounts of fish and a few baskets of what looked to be black berries. Your mouth gaped, and your stomach growled. Anaya hooted, “Echo hungry…need big strong…ape to feed her?”

You felt your teeth clench, knowing Anaya was only teasing, but the jest struck a nerve. It was a nerve he was unaware of, you had to remind yourself. You smiled sweetly then, “Oh, is Noa around?”

Anaya huffed, rolling his shoulders in a mock of your earlier movement, “Echo…not funny…not like Anaya.”

You smirked, “If I say you’re right, could I have a fish?”

Anaya made his way towards his horse, untying its reigns and walking it over to you. He pulled a fish from one of the nets, holding it out to you before pulling it back at the last second, “Echo…must say…Anaya is her…favorite ape…and cackle at his jokes…on the ride home.”

Your pride had its limits, even if he didn’t know how something like that would bother you. Picking up your pole and glass bottle, towel slung over your shoulder, you scoffed, “I’ll walk and go hungry, in that case.”

Anaya’s cheerful expression fell as he paced after you, “Echo..do not be mad…at Anaya…can have fish…was just being…stupid.”

You stopped in your tracks then, turning on your heel and marching back to Anaya, “You are not stupid, I just told you that yesterday. So, stop saying it!”

You didn’t mean to get so close, or shout for that matter. Anaya was leaning away from your furrowed brow and visibly bared teeth, eyes wide in surprise. You noted his look and relaxed your expression with a deep sigh through your nose, eyes closing momentarily. Anaya watched the change, teasing, “As scary…as Noa…when angry.”

You grumbled, “I’m not angry. I just don’t like when you say you’re stupid, or when anyone says they’re stupid for that matter. I also don’t like when you talk to me like a pet.”

“What is…pet?” Anaya asked.

Shit

You tilted your head back then, taking in a deep breath before bargaining, “I’ll explain if you give me a ride. I’ll trade you something for a fish once we get back to the creek.”

“Can have fish…no need for trade.” Anaya agreed, hands quickly going to your hips, lifting you with ease as your hands scrambled for purchase on his saddle. He did not have stirrups like Noa, so you appreciated the help in mounting. He jumped up behind you, clicking his tongue for his horse to walk. Once it continued down the trail of the creek, he asked again, “What is…pet?”

“A pet,” you began. “It is an animal humans would tame for companionship, something we saw as lesser than ourselves. Something we ruled over. We owned the animal at the end of the day, it was ours.”

Anaya seemed to shrink back, “Anaya…does not think…Echo is pet.”

“Thank you,” you smiled.

Anaya was quiet for a few minutes after that. The silence must bother him though, hearing him start to say something and then stop several times. You looked back to him, watching his face shift with several emotions, trying to decide on one. You turned back around in the saddle, feeling like your attention was only making things worse. Another moment, then Anaya finally asked, sounding unsure, “Can you…belong…to apes?”

Your spine stiffened, hissing, “What?”

“You are..our Echo.” Anaya explained. “You do not have….clan of your own…so you belong with Anaya…Soona…and Noa.”

His explanation softened you slightly, but did not make you feel better. You spoke through clenched teeth, “I don’t think that’s how that works, Anaya.”

“Do you…belong to someone…else?” Anaya asked, another genuine question.

You shook your head, “No.”

“Then,” Anaya started. “Echo should…belong with us.”

You were relieved when you saw your familiar rock and creek edge, Anaya barely stopping his horse before you leapt off. He followed you down, hesitantly edging closer to you, “Echo is…un…comfortable.”

You nodded once, “Yes.”

Anaya lowered his head, making himself smaller again as he confessed, “Anaya is…sorry…did not mean…to upset Echo…care about Echo…want Echo to be…comfortable…with Anaya.”

As you pulled your extra clothes and their wrapped bands up into your arms, you froze. Another deep breath, reminding yourself not to overreact. Anaya was your friend, he cared about you. What’s more, he didn’t know. He did not know about the other apes, or Gol. You ran a hand through your tangled hair, dropping your supplies before lowering yourself to the ground and crossing your legs. You faced the water, turning to glance back at Anaya. He stood there awkwardly, confused as to why you were suddenly sitting. You made a gesture for him to come closer, no hesitation on his part as he shuffled to stand next to you.

“I’m sorry, Anaya.” You said, trying to push as much sincerity into your voice as possible. “I shouldn’t have gotten angry with you, I’m just…jumbled. I was uncomfortable before. Humans don’t like being naked around others, and I don’t like being talked to like I’m lesser than you. I know I am. I’m human, you’re an ape. I know it was a joke, but it just…”

“Bad time?” Anaya asked, watching you turn back towards the creek.

You nodded, “Yeah.”

Anaya dropped down onto the ground next to you, shifting for a moment to get comfortable, before handing you a blackberry he had in the pouch slung across his chest. You snickered, taking it from him with a signed thank you, before popping it in your mouth. It was sour, but you tried not to make a face, since you hadn’t eaten practically all day. Anaya watched you closely, nodding his head and looking off into the empty forest across from you, “You are…not…lesser…you are…like Noa.”

You blew a raspberry, laughing to yourself, “I thought you wanted me to be comfortable around you?”

Anaya puffed his cheeks, knuckles pushing against your shoulder, “Think…too much…but do not…share your thoughts…bad thoughts…make bad feelings.”

You sobered at his statement, staring at the water in front of you, nodding your head, “It’s not easy to share.”

“You…share your food,” Anaya supplied. “Not…easy to do…for Anaya…did not have food once…hungry for…very long time…did not like…never hungry now.”

You turned to face him fully then, seeing another berry in his hand offered to you. You stared at it for a beat too long, hesitating while trying to comprehend what he had just told you. His hand stretched closer, and he let out a few hoots of encouragement, wanting you to take it. You did, chewing slowly and appreciating its taste, before you mumbled, “I didn’t know, how important food was to you.”

Anaya sighed through his nose, “Apes share more…than Echos…but do not…always share everything…Anaya shares…with you now…so you will share…when you are ready.”

You swallowed back the lump in your throat, “I promise that I will tell you. Even if it’s not right away, I promise to always share the truth with you.”

Anaya hummed, “Noa knows?”

You nodded, “Mhm.”

Anaya’s hand came up to cup the back of your head, patting it a few times, “Is enough…for now…Anaya trusts Noa…trusts Echo.”

“I trust you too,” you whispered.

Anaya pushed himself up onto his feet then, spying your fishing trap. He padded softly over to it, pulling it up and showing you it was empty. You sighed, discouraged, until Anaya returned to his horse, taking two fish from a net and placing them within the trap. He smiled at you, hooting in delight, holding your trap up in the air in a victory pose. You did cackle then, standing to take the trap from him.

Anaya hooted, “Mighty Echo…go home now…eat well.”

“Thank you, Anaya.” You exclaimed, “Oh, I almost forgot. These belong to you. Would you mind giving Noa his?”

You picked up the bands from the ground, Anaya making an audible sniffing sound before saying, “Does not smell.”

You rolled your eyes, “I washed them, of course. I know apes do not like the smell of Echo blood.”

Anya looked surprised, “Smart Echo…kind…thank you.”

Anaya re-wrapped his arm immediately, tucking Noa’s into his pouch. You picked up the rest of your belongings then, smiling, “Get home safe, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you…tomorrow Echo.” Anaya said, mounting his horse and clicking his tongue. They continued upstream while you ducked back into the forest.

Of course, as you walked home, you were reminded of Noa and his surprise. You weren’t really sure what a positive surprise from an ape entailed, you just hoped it wasn’t anything too awkward or personal. You should have asked Anaya when you had the chance!

This was Noa though, you were sure it would be fine. You were probably overthinking it. He made something…maybe it was an arm band or rap in case you got hurt again in the future? That was probably it, he cared a lot about your comfort and safety, so that only made sense. That was the most logical outcome.

[cowpokeomens]

Blood Pact

It's me, your favorite monster fucker! Here's another part of my Nocturnal Creatures series, in which you strike a deal with a demon- who goes by Nicholas. Sexy things ensue.

Warnings: Disgusting nasty filthy p-in-v, cunnilingus, lots of mentions of virginity (it's a social construct, but if you got it, flaunt it), Nicholas Ruffilo's monster cock (canon), if you feel I need to add anything PLEASE send me a message! Otherwise, enjoy!

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You still couldn’t believe you were doing this. 

Yet, here you stood, at a crossroads in your hometown. Not just the metaphorical kind, either- an actual, physical crossroads. Mason Avenue and Fisher Street, to be exact. 

Right next to the city cemetery, from which you stole a jar’s worth of dirt.

It sat in your bag, next to some kind of flowering plant you hoped would work, a cat bone (thank goodness for veterinarian friends?), and a picture of yourself, one of the headshots your manager had insisted would help you blow up on TikTok. 

It hadn’t.

You threw everything into a cardboard box, using your shiny, new shovel from the local feed supply store to dig a hole in the center of the dusty dirty roads. The ground was harder than you expected, so your two-foot deep hole had you sweating by the time it was formed. You all but threw the box into the hole, quickly covering it up with loose dirt, and taking a few steps back. Pulling out your phone, you consulted the symbol you saved from a website earlier that week, spray paint in hand. All the stupid Wal-Mart had left was “Cerise Fluorescent,” so you hoped whatever you summoned liked pink. 

Carefully, you sprayed the lines onto the dirt, over where you buried your box. You tried to move quickly, but precisely; Getting caught was almost as terrifying as doing it wrong.

Finally, it was done. You scrolled over on your phone, to the Latin text you hadn’t even dared to read in your head. Stepping away from the circle, you read it aloud now. You could feel your heart about to beat out of your chest, and you wondered one last time if this was worth it. 

“Your Latin sucks.” A voice said suddenly.

You jumped, yelping, and fell directly on your ass.

You were scrambling back when the voice spoke again. 

“Is this a Goetia sigil? In pink? The guys are going to get a kick out of this-”

You stood up shakily, dusting off your pants in the process. You finally saw the source of the voice: Standing in the center of your sigil was the most devastatingly handsome man you had ever seen. 

Long, dark hair; his skin was lightly tanned and healthy-looking. Eyes the color of clouds, that seemed to shift from green to blue to grey before you. He was taller than you, tattoos visible on both hands, and dressed simply: A hoodie, dark jeans, and…

Were those Converse?

You were immediately overcome with confusion. “Um, who are you?”

He fixed those eyes directly on you. “I think that’s my line, doll.”

Your eyebrows shot up into your hairline. “You’re Amdusias?”

He winced. “Yikes, with the Scary-Latin-Demon-Name. You can call me Nicholas.”

You frowned. “You don’t seem like…”

“Like a great duke of Hell?” He finished your thought. “Yeah, only angels really like to make a dramatic entrance, that’s why they’ve been banned to stay behind the pearly bars. Too many eyes, too much fire-”

“You’re wearing sneakers?” You said without thought.

He looked offended. “Did you expect me to crawl out of Hell in loafers?”

You scrambled for an answer. “Well, no, but I-”

“TV is rotting your mind. What do you want?” He cut you off.

You felt the color leaving your face. “Well, um, I read that you were responsible for the music in Hell-”

“‘Music’ is a big word, but sure.” He interrupted.

Giving him a look, you continued. “Well, I’m a musician, too! Only…” You trailed off with a frown.

He mocked you with a faux-wince. “Ooh, not triple platinum yet, huh?”

You couldn’t even bring yourself to hide your disappointment. Shaking your head, your gaze met his again. “That’s where you come in.”

An eyebrow cocked at you. “Think that because you snagged a demon, you get to be famous?”

You shook your head hastily. “No, not at all! I did a lot of research-” You Googled for 30 minutes- “So I don’t get to demand things without a trade, right?” 

He smiled at you lazily. “Yep. So what will it be, your soul? First born? I love a first born, with a little bit of butter, some rosemary and-”

“I’m a virgin.” You blurted. 

He froze, then his entire demeanor changed. For the first time that night, you felt genuine fear as the air around you went still. “Oh yeah?”

Your mouth gaped like a fish, so you settled on a nod.

He took a tiny step towards you. You were rooted on the spot, frozen like a deer in headlights. This was a bad idea. 

Finally, you found your words. “My virginity. For- whatever it is you do. Fame, fortune, I don’t really care, I just want people to hear my music, connect with it-”

“Yeah, yeah, real noble of you.” He snorted, then composed himself. For a second, he almost looked concerned. “You sure about this, doll?”

You nodded, trying to look confident. “Yeah. But- make it organic, y’know, the fame part. I don’t want to look like an industry plant-”

He rolled his eyes, walking closer so that he was directly in front of you. You gaped at his proximity. “You can leave the circle?”

Laughing, he nodded. “I could have left at any point, but you’re pretty-” He leaned in so that he was whispering in your ear, “-For a pathetic little human.”

Your cheeks went hot. You knew it was just to rile you up, make this worse than it already was. At least, you figured, your virginity meant something to someone- it certainly held no value for you. A demon was less than desirable, but he was nice to look at- 

Woah. Not going there, you told yourself sternly. 

Shaking off the feeling, you held out your hand. “Okay, so deal-”

“Uh, no.” He cut you off, again. “I have my own terms and conditions.”

You blinked. “Huh?”

A smirk grew on his face. “My terms. For our arrangement.”

You tried not to let anger well up inside you. “And what would those terms be?” You asked through gritted teeth. 

“You come to me.” He said plainly. Confusion must have been evident on your face, because he continued, “I’m not some monster in the night who’s going to show up for your virginity. When the time is right, you’ll come to me.”

“You’re not going to just… Take it?” The question slowly left your mouth.

He grimaced, an ugly look for such a pretty face. “Ew, no. I’m a demon, not a wild animal. Besides,” he cocked his head to the side, looking directly into you. “Virginity tastes better when it comes willingly.” 

Gulping despite yourself, you managed a nod. “Okay. Fine. I’ll come willingly.” As if. 

Holding out an inked hand, he grinned at you. “Then it’s a deal.”

Taking a deep breath, you took his hand in yours, shaking once. “Deal.”

_________________________________________________________

Six Months Later 

You awoke in a cold sweat, the third time that week. Flicking the bedside lamp on, you walked over to the mini-fridge of your hotel room, grabbing a bottle of water. You were uncomfortably wet- again, and not from sweating. It seemed like every time you tried to rest, you were met by stormy eyes where sleep should have greeted you. You chugged the water, making your way to the restroom for a much-needed shower. 

That night’s show had been sold out- the 13th sold out show of your highly anticipated debut tour. Nicholas had held up his end of the bargain; Your album was projected to sell close to a million units by the end of the year. And you had seen neither hide nor hair of him. 

Well. Not in the flesh, anyways.

As you started the shower, your mind wandered. You knew it was him, sending you these dreams through his weird demon dream channels or whatever. Even as your body betrayed you, you knew it was not your own thoughts causing such a commotion. 

Still, as you slipped in the shower to wash off the day’s grime, you felt your hand slip lower, between your folds to collect the wetness there. A soft gasp escaped your lips as you circled your bundle of nerves, moaning quietly. Despite your best efforts, your thoughts drifted back to long, dark hair and tattooed hands on your body. Your hand moved quicker, moans growing louder as you felt yourself getting closer to climax. You were on the precipice when a familiar voice made you freeze.

“I knew you’d be loud.” 

Yelping, you jumped nearly a foot in the air, almost falling in your panic. Yanking your towel off the rack, you wrapped yourself as quickly as possible as you threw open the shower curtain. 

Nicholas was sitting criss-cross on the expansive bathroom counter, picking at something under his nails. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” You snapped.

“You summoned me, duh.” He said, rolling his eyes at you. 

“Yeah, six months ago. I thought I was supposed to come to you.”

He looked at you then, eyes dragging over your poorly-concealed form. His eyes glinted, looking hungry. “Moaning the name of a demon you promised your virginity to while you rub one out in the shower is a summoning if I’ve ever seen one. Besides,” He looked into your eyes, smirking devilishly. “You were about to come to me, from the sound of it.”

Your face was on fire with embarrassment. “I was not moaning your name.”

He cocked a brow at you. “Uh, you were. Loudly.” 

Rage bubbled up inside you. “I was not!” The words spilled from you now. “I wouldn’t have even been doing that if you hadn’t been sending me all of your weird demonic sex dreams constantly!”

An unnamed emotion flashed across his face, then he grinned. “‘Weird demonic sex dreams,’ huh?”

You huffed at him “Oh, don’t even play coy. Like being dragged back to Hell and tied up by some hot shot demon was my big idea.”

The smile he was giving you was sinister. “Right, right. What else have I sent your way?”

You faltered, unsure of what he was playing at. “Like you don’t know.” 

He shrugged. “I don’t. I haven’t ‘sent you’ shit.” He mimed quotations with his hands. 

Your blood went cold. Suddenly, the bathroom was too small. “You’re lying.” Your voice sounded feeble, even to you.

He shook his head, standing up. Slowly he stepped towards you. “I’m not.”

“But then- that would mean-” Stammering, you stood there helplessly as he crept closer. 

Nodding, he leaned in even closer. “That was all you, doll.” He brushed a stray lock of hair off your shoulder. “What a dirty mind the little human virgin has. You mentioned being tied up- what else did I do to defile you, huh?” 

He was too close, it almost made you dizzy. He smelled like smoke and rain and earth all at once. “Shut up.” You mumbled weakly.

He stepped back, finally. “Well, you know how to find me.” 

There was a crack like lightning, then he was gone. 

You stood there for a few minutes, trying to regain your composure. This was fine, you reasoned. He left. He kept his word. Everything was fine. 

______________________________________________________

Three Months Later

Once again, you couldn’t believe you were doing this. 

Sitting on the edge of the bed in your master bedroom, you gazed out the windows overlooking the city below. You remembered when you first bought the condo- loved how open and light it was. In the deepness of the night surrounding you, the lights looked like tiny fires dancing in the dark. 

Taking a deep breath, you laid down on your pillows, trying to relax your body. Running a hand over the t-shirt on your abdomen, up to your breasts, you felt your breathing start to slow. Your nipples were quick to perk up at the stimulation, so you pinched one experimentally, almost moaning out at the sensation.

Your nerves were on fire these days. The slightest brush against your skin made you feverish. You tried everything, from quitting cold turkey to bringing yourself to climax three or four times a day. Nothing was working. 

So maybe this would. 

You snaked your hand lower, falling into familiar routine. You had come to know your body well the last three months, knew exactly where to rub, where to pinch. As you toyed with your folds through your underwear, you imagined a different set of hands, larger and covered in ink. Unlike the other times, you allowed your fantasy to overtake you, gave yourself to it willingly. 

“Nicholas.” You breathed, back arching ever so slightly.

There was a slight breeze, then a quiet gasp. 

“Quite the show you’re putting on, doll. I suppose you didn’t say my name this time, either?” 

You pulled your hand away from your core, scrambling to stand up. “No, I- I did.”

Nicholas’ face looked shocked for a millisecond, then an eyebrow was raised at you. “Oh?”

“I’m… I’m ready.” It didn’t sound convincing. 

He scoffed. “Yeah, no thanks. Like I said, I’m not interested in forcing anyone-”

“Goddamnit, shut up.” You snapped. “I said I’m ready, okay? You said to come to you, so here I am. Unless you never planned on following through with it.” It was dangerous to goad him, but you couldn’t stop yourself.

His eyes were pitch black in an instant, staring you down. “Don’t joke about a demon’s word, doll. You’re not ready for that fight.”

Your hands shook, but you felt-

Mortification overcame you as you realized just what you felt. 

Those dark eyes narrowed in on the single bead of slick that was rolling steadily down your leg. Cloud-grey eyes returned as realization dawned on him.

“You want me to debase you.” He took a step towards you as his words filled the room. “You want me to tie you up and have my way with you. Isn’t that right?”

You couldn’t bring yourself to admit the truth, but it was evident. 

He inhaled deeply, taking another step towards you. His eyes fluttered shut as he exhaled slowly. “You smell ripe. You want this so badly, poor thing- you just can’t admit it to yourself.”

You pressed your legs together, trying to maintain some kind of decency.

He was in front of you now, close enough to touch if you were braver. “Beg for it. Beg, and I’ll give you anything you want, doll.”

Chest heaving with labored breaths, you gave in. “Please.” You whispered.

His hand- the hands you had been dreaming about for nine months- came up to grip your jaw. “I said beg.”

You crumbled. “Please, Nicholas, please, I’ll be so good-”

His grin was minatory as he brought his lips down to yours. 

Your relief was immediate as you sagged into him, one of his arms wrapping around your waist to support you. He walked you backwards toward the bed, still kissing you furiously. 

“How wet are you already, doll? I bet your little cunt is just soaked.” Breaking the kiss, he picked you up and set you on the bed, lowering himself onto his knees in front of you. “Tell me what you want.”

You panted, unable to form a sentence for a moment. “I don’t- I don’t know.”

He made a tsk-tsk sound with his tongue against his teeth. “Right, you’re just a helpless little virgin who hasn’t spent the last 9 months having vivid dreams about me fucking her.” He looked up at you through his lashes. “Tell me what you dreamed about.”

“Your hands.” You heard yourself say immediately. 

He smirked again. “Oh yeah? What were my hands doing?”

You knew your face was crimson. “They… They were touching me.”

“Where?” The look he was giving you was too intense for you to maintain more than a few seconds.

“Um-” You hesitated. 

“You can say it.” He urged, leaning in.

“My… my pussy.” You finished, staring at the ground.

“Do you want me to play with your pussy now?” He was still staring at you.

“Please.” You breathed, anticipation making your entire body tense. 

“Good girl, so polite.” As you shivered at the praise, his eyes made their way down your body, to where your core was at eye-level for him. “If you want to stop, say so, is that clear?”

You nodded. “Yes, sir.” 

Something dark flashed in his face, then he said, “Good girl.” 

His hand came up to run a single digit along your slit, through your underwear. You shook involuntarily at the contact. 

“Oh doll, you’re starved, aren’t you?” He murmured, almost to himself. “Let’s get these ruined panties off of you.” 

You went to shift your weight so that you could shimmy the garment off, only to freeze as Nicholas tore through it like a piece of paper. 

He didn’t even look apologetic. “Hope you didn’t like those too much.”

You didn’t have time to consider it as you realized your cunt was fully visible to him now, slick with your own juices. 

He sighed as he stared at your core. “Women are the best thing that bastard ever accomplished.” Then he looked up at you. “I’m gonna use my mouth, that okay, doll?”

“Yes, sir.” Your voice was hoarse from disuse. You felt like you were vibrating in your skin. 

He leaned in slowly, as if to not startle you, before running his tongue from your hole to your clit.

The moan you let out was guttural and animalistic. 

“There it is.” He said quietly, before diving back into you. 

Your head fell back onto the mattress as he lapped at your clit, tongue occasionally diving into your hole. Tears welled up in your eyes at the relief it brought, like jumping into a pool on a hot summer day. Your hands tangled in his long tresses, and he moaned against your pussy. Your hips were bucking into him involuntarily, your orgasm so close you could practically taste it. “Nicholas, I’m gonna- I’m so close-” You practically sobbed. 

“Shh, I know, doll. Let it happen.” He said soothingly before going back to his ministrations. You came with a primal moan, back arching off of your sheets. 

 You were still panting when he stood up, surveying you. “All better?”

“Fuck me.” You demanded. 

His expression went stoney. He leaned over until you were caged in by his arms on either side of you. “I don’t fuck demanding brats.”

You lost all your bravado. “Please?”

He sighed softly, but not sincerely. “How bad do you want it?”

You could have cried. “Please, I’m sorry Nicholas, I’ll be good, please fuck me- you don’t know how bad I need it-”

“I just had your greedy little unused hole grinding against my tonsils.” He sneered. “I know exactly how bad you need it.”

Your face went hot at the profane nature of his words- but he was right. He saw firsthand how bad you needed this. “Please.” Was all you said. 

“Well, I guess since you’re asking so nicely.” He mocked as he stepped back, unbuckling his pants as he went. He slid off the trousers, his erection visible through his briefs. You suddenly felt nervous, looking at the size of him. 

He stopped, seeing your expression. “What’s wrong?”

You shook your head. “Nothing’s wrong. It’s just- is it gonna fit?”

He pulled the briefs down at last, finally freeing his cock. It was big- even by supernatural proportions. The tip was an angry shade of red, veins pulsating on the shaft. He huffed a laugh at your face, pulling his shirt off, too. “I bet we can find room.”

Your eyes devoured the tattoos that covered him, tracing the planes of his body as you went. You almost didn’t notice him slinking over to you, crawling onto the mattress in one, fluid motion, landing on top of you. 

“I’m gonna touch you again, okay?” He looked at you expectantly. 

You nodded. “Okay.”

He leaned down to kiss you again, tongue sliding against yours. You whimpered when his fingers were back on your pussy, running along the folds. As you adjusted to his touch, two fingers slipped inside your hole.

“Fuck you’re still so wet,” He muttered, rocking his fingers back and forth inside you. You gasped at the sensation, his fingers so much larger than your own. Moving his mouth down to your neck, he began scissoring his fingers, stretching you out- a preparation you were thankful for.

You felt your second orgasm approaching as he continued his movements, moans growing higher pitched. “Nicholas, I-”

“Think you can hold on?” He asked. It was a genuine question, you knew whatever answer you gave would be correct. 

You considered it for a second. “Yeah, I can- I can wait.” Your legs were still beginning to tremble, though. 

He placed a kiss on your temple, pulling his fingers out. “I’ll go slow, but we can stop if you want to.”

You nodded an affirmative. He stared at you blankly, and you remembered yourself. “Yes, sir.” He tapped your nose, a gesture that was oddly sweet, as he said “Good girl.”

You felt him line up with your entrance, the tip slowly sliding in. It was still a stretch- but you found that you liked it, liked the feeling of being filled up. He went slowly, thrusting shallowly, each time going a little deeper. You could hear the noises you were making, but couldn’t stop yourself from making them. He paused three-fourths of the way in. 

“Doing okay?”

“Yes Nicholas, please don’t stop.” Came your gargled reply.

He smirked, thrusting a few more times until he was fully sheathed in you.

Your back arched clear off the bed as he bottomed out, his tip nestled against something inside you that made you feel feral.

“Like that, doll?” You could hear how smug he was.

“Please, Nicholas, please-” You whined.

“I know, pretty, I’ll give you what you need.” His hands tightened their grip on your waist as he pulled out and slid back in quickly. You let out another carnal wail, your hands coming around to grab at his shoulders. He pulled out again, slamming into you, continuing on until you felt like a puddle on the bed.

“So wet and tight for me, such a good girl.” He grunted as he fucked into you. You nodded pitifully, not sure why, lost in the pleasure. Over and over again he slid against that sweet spot inside you, making you feel like you were on fire. Your orgasm soon approached you like a freight train.

“Nicholas please, I need- I need to come-” You stammered, close to sobbing. 

“I know, it’s so much, I know, you can come, doll.” His words opened a dam as your orgasm overcame you in a powerful wave, making you all but scream as he fucked you through it.

He pulled out shortly after, jerking himself to completion on your stomach. You were gasping for air, legs quivering with the aftershocks of your orgasm as hot ropes of come covered you. 

You felt disgusting, in the most delicious way possible. 

Nicholas disappeared around the corner, returning with a rag to clean you up. He had used hot water, you noted, so it was warm to the touch. 

“So that’s a deal?” You asked when he had finished cleaning you. 

He looked sad, but the expression was quickly gone. “I suppose it is.”

He set the rag on your bedside table, already going to collect his clothing.

“I have a question, before you disappear again.” You called over his shoulder.

“And what is your question?” He turned around to face you as he pulled on his briefs.

“If I wanted a Grammy,” You began, cocking your head to the side. “What would your rates be for that?”

He gave you a grin, understanding your implication immediately as he dropped his pants back onto the floor.

“I’d be open to negotiation of terms.” He murmured as he made his way back over to the bed, lips slotting against yours once more.

[universecorp]

Hearbeat pt.2 Teaser

Summary: After starting a situationship with your best friend from high school, things start to become complicated. Especially when you start to catch feelings.

Jaehyun x Reader Haechan x Reader (In pt2 and 3 )

w.c.: 2.3k

Genre: Comedy, smut, and angst

Warnings: Sexual themes, small argument

PLAYLIST: ♡

Sitting in a Dennys at 2:00 AM is not how you expected your night to end. You and Donghyuck had spent the better part of an hour talking and getting to know each other. He was easy to talk to, and funny, you didn’t feel like you were forcing any of your reactions which made you feel a lot more at ease than usual.

“Wait, you're Haechan? The streamer?” Donghyuck nodded, shoveling a scoop of hash browns into his mouth. “That’s so fucking crazy, my best friend loves your streams. We used to fuck and I remember one time he got the notification for your stream and stopped mid fuck to watch you.” Donghyuck nearly choked on the strip of bacon he was munching on.

“Please tell me you’re joking.” You shook your head. “That’s so sick, did he at least like pick up where he left off while watching?” Another shake. 

“I had to push him on his back and ride him.” Donghyuck laughed loudly, catching the attention of most of the other late night eaters, but it was clear he didn’t care. 

“Now that I think about it, there was this one time I read a comment and it deadass said ‘I was fucking my girl and stopped to watch.’ I thought it was probably a troll, but that might’ve been him.”

You scoffed, shaking your head once again. “There’s no way that was him, he would never refer to me as ‘his girl’ it would be kind of funny if that was him though.” Donghyuck hummed in agreement, it was all he could do since he didn’t even know Jaehyun. 

There was a small awkward silence filled only with the sounds of plates clinking and light chatter from the other patrons. Donghyuck looked like he was having a debate with himself befofe hr finally opened his mouth. “Look, uhm, I don’t usually do this, I honestly don’t usually take my hookups to pre-breakfast either, but I was wondering if I could get your number?” 

You were a bit shocked. You thought maybe this was normal and Donghyuck was just one of those nice guys who treated his fucks to post coiatal meals. Hearing otherwise brought a bit of heat to your cheeks. 

“So uh… is that a no? Don’t leave me hanging here.”

“Oh no, wait no, I mean yes! Yes… you can have my number.” 

“You’ve been smiling at your phone a lot lately. You and big head aren’t fucking again right?” Minjeong was doing your nails on the floor of your dorm, and you were definitely making it hard since you were texting Donghyuck with the hand she was trying to get you to dry. 

“Of course not. I’m texting a new guy, I met him at that party me and Jae went to.” Minjeong perked up at the mention of a new guy. Talks like these reminded you of being a teenager, but they were always relaxing. You seriously owed Minjeong some girl time anyway with how far up Jaehyun’s ass you had been for the past year.

“So what’s his name?”

“Donghyuck, he goes here obviously, also get this, ” Minjeong leaned in “he’s that streamer that Jae likes a lot.”

“No way!?” Minjeong gasped, she accidentally swiped a little polish on your finger, but you didn’t mind.

You nodded, smiling basically ear to ear. “Yes way, and he’s so cute. He’s telling me how he wants to take me on a date this weekend!” You closed your phone to give Minjeong your undivided attention while she swiped acetone over her previous mistake.

“I’m happy for you, I know I was kind of an ass with all the ‘I told you so’, but I really just wanted you to be with  someone who treats you for what you’re worth.” You knew that, but hearing it felt really good. You always knew Minjeong was just looking out for you, but she also knew that whatever you felt for Jaehyun wasn’t going away like magic. Even now you sometimes felt a twinge of what you used to when he did certain things, but it wasn’t as strong as it was a month ago. 

“It’s ok Minnie, I know you only had my best interest.” You brought your nails hand up to blow on the wet polish. “Look on the bright side though, I went through all that and now I've learned my lesson. No more wasting time or energy on people who don’t deserve it.” 

Minjeong jostled your shoulder, “That’s my girl.”

 A week later you were with Donghyuck in his apartment, playing a co-op game called “it takes two” that he specifically bought for the date. He turned on his twitch to stream, but he left his mic off to enjoy the moment with you. He was ticking so many boxes and even Minjeong gave him the stamp of approval when he met her a couple hours ago. Everything today was perfect, he bought you flowers, ordered from your favorite takeout place and even surprised you with slippers for you to wear around the apartment. You had been seeing each other for about a month now so you figured he would be asking you to be his girlfriend soon, but you were in no rush. His gestures meant the world to you and even then just his presence was enough for you to feel satisfied. 

Now the two of you were snuggled up side by side, controllers in hand and your head on his shoulder. Nothing could ruin this moment, nothing except your phone which had been buzzing on the nightstand for a good two minutes. “Hey babe, I can pause if you wanna get that?” You looked up at Donghyuck with a small pout before shaking your head. You felt bad that whoever was calling you clearly didn’t get the memo that you were busy. 

“We can keep playing, I’ll talk and play, m’sorry.” Donghyuck waved it off as he waited for you to answer your phone. You rolled your eyes slightly when you saw Jaehyun’s photo, but still answered the facetime call. “What’s up loser?” You sounded less than enthused, but he should’ve expected that since you ignored his calls for two minutes. 

“God what crawled up your ass and died weirdo and why aren’t you showing your face?” Jaehyun scoffed as if his facetime screen wasn’t paused.

“Just the fact that you’ve been calling me for two minutes. What the fuck did you want? I’m kinda busy.” You cursed under your breath since you and Donghyuck failed the game stage for the fifth time. 

“First of all, I wanted to see if you wanted to grab dinner and come watch a movie, I’ll buy obviously. Second of all, if you’re gonna lie about being busy at least make it believable, I can hear you playing a game in the background.” Jaehyun had some fucking nerve assuming you would lie to him about being busy, but you weren’t gonna fight about it. You were gonna be civil. Even though Donghyuck had heard the way you and Jaehyun talked to each other before, he was a little annoyed that the other man was accusing you of lying. 

“Jae, I’m on a date and we’re playing a game, so I actually am very busy. 

“Wait… are you playing ‘it takes two’?” Jaehyun didn’t know about Donghyuck. He knew you had been on dates, but since he didn’t ask who with, you didn’t bother telling him it was Donghyuck A.K.A. his favorite streamer. 

“Yeah, with my date.” You knew you sounded like a bitch, but you didn’t care. Jaehyun had barely been hanging out with you and even then it seemed like he only wanted to when he was bored. You were trying to follow Minjeong’s and your own advice and stop wasting time on people that don’t deserve it.

“If you’re actually playing a game with your date, show your face and his, then show the tv.” You were so close to hanging up on Jaehyun, but when you saw the screen pause and suddenly your phone was being held up by Donghyuck. 

Donghyuck didn’t look happy. All of the irritation must have been building up to a point where even Jaehyun looked concerned. “Look, Jaehyun, I get it, you’re bored. I’m sure you miss having Y/N at your beck and call because you knew she would drop anything for you before.” Jaehyun opened his mouth to speak, but one glare from Donghyuck had him closing it immediately. “Those times are past and whatever sick game you’re playing at needs to stop. Got it?” The silence on the line was loud, Donghyuck knew he made his point. “Good. Now I’m going to go back to playing games with my girlfriend, enjoy the stream Jaehyun.” With that he pressed the end call button with a sigh and immediately after you were straddling the man.

“Girlfriend huh?” 

Donghyuck set his controller down and placed his hands on your hips, it was all he could do to look cool despite the blush rushing his face. “Yeah uhm… I was going to ask you later during pillow talk after some earth shattering sex, but this is cool too I guess.” 

You giggled, placing a kiss on his cheek. “This is cool too, don’t worry. We can still have earth shattering sex but now as boyfriend and girlfriend.” It was Donghyuck’s turn to giggle now. “Do you want to keep playing, we could even turn on the mic?” 

Haechan shook his head, “No I think it’s time for that earth shattering sex we were talking about.” You bit your lip trying to suppress a laugh, he was so goofy and hot at the same time, you didn’t understand how anyone could be capable of that. 

“I think that can be arranged…boyfriend.”

“He told you off?” Mark nearly yelled, catching the attention of several of the other students in the library. 

“Dude keep it down, we’re in a library.” Johnny reminded before focusing back on his music theory assignment. 

“Sorry, he told you off?” Mark asked again this time in a more suitable whisper.

“Yes, and she didn’t say shit bro, she just let him.” Jaehyun grumbled, taking a chip from the bag Johnny had managed to smuggle in. 

Johnny was pretty unamused with the entire situation, given that he asked if the two men wanted to study in the library, but had basically been talking the whole time. “Have you ever thought that maybe she’s over how you treat her. I know you think you’re like bestie of the year, but you literally evaded her feelings for at least 6 months just so you would have an easy fuck.” 

Jaehyun scoffed, “Remind me to stop telling you about my problems.” Johnny simply rolled his eyes before training them back on the score in front of him. 

“I mean he has a point. You knew she caught feelings a while ago, and your agreement was to break it off, but you kept everything up. Plus you were the one who kept fucking with her and being all domestic, she’s probably traumatized.” Jaehyun shot a glare at Mark; he did not come here to be ganged up on.

“She can’t be but so traumatized since she spends all her time with Haechan, or Donghyuck, whatever the fuck his name is.” Mark and Johnny looked ready to hit their heads against the table, but clearly this was a delicate situation that needed to be nurtured and cared for so that Jaehyun would actually get some sense.

“Jae, buddy, pal, old friend if you will.”

“Get to the point Johnathan.” 

Johnny sighed, “See the point is, she’s in a relationship now. You had your 15 minutes of fame where she basically avoided getting into something because she was holding out hope for you. Now, she’s tired of waiting. She wants something that makes her feel loved and worth it and frankly, your bare minimum effort of taking her back to your place to watch a movie and then fuck, isn’t cutting it.”

“Bars.” Mark fist bumped Johnny, adding an explosion sound effect at the end.

“You guys are losers. She didn’t seem to be complaining about the movie and fuck a couple months ago.” Mark cringed and Johnny simply shook his head at the way their friend could so shamelessly talk about you like that.

“Jaehyun, listen to yourself, you sound delusional. She may not have been complaining, but that’s also because if she did you would’ve had to break all of that off. You’re acting like she broke up with you when the two of you weren’t even together in the first place.” Johnny’s volume was starting to increase, but he couldn’t help it, he wasn’t the closest to you, but he refused to let Jaehyun disrespect you like this. “Also you literally only text or call her now when we can’t hang out. Do you think that makes her feel good?” Jaehyun opened his mouth, but Johnny cut him off. “Don’t answer that because I know you’re about to say some bullshit. You need to get with the program and stop treating her like some play thing that you decide to pick up everytime your other toys are broken!” Johnny finished closing his laptop and packing up his belongings. 

“Dude, where are you going?” Jaehyun groaned before looking at Mark who was following in Johnny’s actions. “You too? Come on!”

Mark just shook his head, slinging his backpack over his shoulder before speaking again. “Dude, you have some serious soul searching to do. We don’t mind if you vent, but the way you talk about and treat her is sick.” Jaehyun just clicked his teeth in response to the younger man. 

“Whatever.” Jaehyun stood up from the table and stormed out of the library.

“He needs to get laid.” 

“Totally.” Mark agreed.

Taglist: @snapcracklen, @peachesmilk

[octuscle]

hey, I think I need some help. I was put in charge of my friend’s bachelor party, but I really didn’t have much time to get things together, so I went online and found a company that offered to plan everything. Had us go with this “mountain cabin” theme. The rep from the company mentioned he needed to talk to my buddy alone and we haven’t seen him since. One of the other guys went to go look for him too and we haven’t seen him in a bit either. Reason I’m asking for your help is because this cabin resort is filled with all these lumberjack types- they all look and sound the same. Plus I just saw them put up a sign about a construction project. Not sure what’s going on, but I’m worried

Buddy, just take a look at it. I would not form an opinion from the pictures on the Internet. However, you already form an opinion on the way to the lodge. In fact, there seem to be quite a few major infrastructure projects going on in the area. Looks like a dam project. In any case, the lodge is not idyllic. The road is churned up by large construction machines. When you arrive at the lodge, your car is splattered with mud. The air is filled with a concert of axes, machine saws and jackhammers. Definitely not the place you want to celebrate a bachelor party.

To your surprise, your friend comes running up to you. So… You assume that it is your friend. The facial features are at least similar. But he doesn't wear glasses. And also otherwise rather little. He shows a lot of skin. And many muscles. Fuck, last week you were just sitting on the couch, shoveling junk food into you and watching hours of Netflix. The fellow hugging you now looks like he feeds on bears he kills with his bare hands.

Bruh, good to see you, he says. Where's everyone else? The party is already in full swing. He and his new friends would have so much fun here already. He whistles impressively loud on his fingers. And your friend Christopher comes running. He also hugs you and almost crushes you. And he looks like a brother if not like his twin brother of the groom. At best, you can recognize him by details of his facial features. Crazy. Absolutely crazy!

Your friend asks Christopher to show you around a bit. He would like to do it himself. But the rocks don't blow themselves up. Christopher and he laugh out loud at the lame joke. And you wonder if your loafers will survive a walk in this muddy landscape. Christopher takes you to the cafeteria first. This is where the party will take place, he says. You look around and try not to look horrified. Bare white tables, long benches, glaring neon light. The only decoration is the hot fellows who are taking a break here. Fuck, do these lumberjacks and construction workers turn you on? Christopher puts a tray with two cups of coffee and some donuts on the table. The donuts are especially for you. Specialty of the chef. The filling is delicious! Well, you first take a sip of the coffee. It is indeed not bad. Strong and hot. Plus a bite of the sugar glazed donut. Fuck, what kind of filling is that? Slimy, white… The taste a bit like… Musk? You suppress the reflex to gag or spit. You rinse with a sip of coffee. Damn, maybe the filling is tasty after all. Christopher looks at you silently, grinning. On the third donut, you suck out the filling. You could get addicted to this stuff.

Fuck, Christopher is still sitting across from you, grinning. Wide-legged. The bulge in his shorts is indecently big. You can hardly take your eyes off it. He stands up and says that he will show you the washrooms next. And then how the donut filling is made.

Hehehe, you guessed it. Christopher makes an excellent filling for the donuts. You wonder if your friend can do it as well. Christopher asks if you would like to see your bunk now. You answer if the number in the washroom wasn't enough for him. He grins and moves forward, you follow and have trouble keeping up with his pace. Fuck, he is really incredibly fit. And his boots are of course simply better suited for the mud than your now completely dirty loafers. Shortly before the barracks, in which your bed stands, you slip in the mud. Christopher helps you up and tells you to get undressed on the verander. The two men who are taking a break there and jerking off don't look as if you should be embarrassed.

Christopher leads you into a wash lock and sprays you with a water hose. He throws you a towel. Your cock is hard as a rock. Christopher gets on his knees in front of you. And for the first time in your life a man gives you a blowjob. And with the load that you cum, two donuts could easily be filled.

Your bunk is simple and cozy. In the bed can easily have two or three men good hard sex. In your closet hang three sets of your work clothes. If you need more, there's a supply closet next to the shower rooms. You're all the same size anyway. Christopher gives you your duty roster. Tomorrow you are scheduled to chop down trees early. And as much as he'd like to spend the night with you, he has to go back to pouring concrete at the dam. It doesn't matter, you are tired anyway and fall naked into your bed.

05:00 in the morning. You don't need an alarm clock, you are a nature boy. Even behind the curtains you know when it's time to get up. A caravan sets out from the barracks in the direction of the cafeteria. If you work hard, you should have a good breakfast. Today you are assigned to the milking for the doughnut production. Some new workers are expected in the afternoon. They are to be welcomed.

And after that, it's finally time to get out into the fresh air and get to work. You love the camp. Lots of hard work for real men. And food, drink and sex. Just like an eternal bachelor party!

A picture of one of the lumberjacks found at @trefoilwombat

[hollowwrites]

Putting the RIP in Scriptorium

Part 2

Summary - I didn’t think this would have a part 2 but after a few people asked for it and I had a cheeky think I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So thanks to you guys @skarathewitch and @samfoley!!

In my little slow burn Ominis and Eve are already very touchy feely and comfortable with each other. I wanted to explore the origins of that

Warnings - mentions of Crucio, little bit of Angst, mostly comfort

Word Count - 1676

~

Evelyn lowered herself onto the long benches flanking the Slytherins’ Feast Table. She ached to her core. Sleeping usually solved all of her problems. Whether it was a common cold or a headache, most of her ills could be resolved with a simple nap.

So why would Crucio be any different?

She was wrong.

Painfully wrong.

Her bones protested against the slightest movement, though she tried not to show it. The scarf she wrapped around her neck hid it’s own secrets, the huge bruise that spread out from the scar left in the curses’ wake.

Imelda and herself spent their morning talking about nothing. At least that’s what Eve heard. Imelda’s musings, unfortunately, just weren’t sinking in. The only thing Eve contributed to the conversation was an unenthusiastic nod and the occasionally hum of faux interest.

Where was Ominis and Sebastian?

She craned her neck painfully to stare at the big double doors hoping to see them. Either of them.

Well preferably not Ominis.

He had told her to rest but she was already so far behind her peers, just one day seemed like too much to ask. She sighed and shovelled more toast into her mouth, her jaw aching as she chewed on it slowly.

Suddenly, a gentle hand rest upon her shoulder. Her body contorted stiffly to avoid putting unneeded pressure on her side.

It was Ominis.

“A word” he said flatly, eyebrows slammed flat over his eyes. The stare of his sightless eyes sent a shiver up her spine.

“Ominis? I-“ she started

“Now” his hand fell from her shoulder and he strode towards the landing overlooking the Great Hall. He disappeared up the stairs and she sighed, defeated.

“I’ll see you later, Imelda” she mumbled before obediently following after Ominis.

He waited, arms crossed and foot tapping, impatiently at the top of the stairs.

“I told you to rest” his eyes somehow bore into her and she found herself shifting under his gaze

“I’m fine, honestly”

“Oh really?” His snippy little attitude was starting to grate on her. She was already in pain, she didn’t want to deal with this as well. “Where did that curse hit you”

“My chest, towards my shoulder sort of-OW!” She yelped as Ominis’ long digits jabbed into the bruise below her scarf

“I thought you were okay?” He asked sarcastically

“Enough, Ominis. I get that your concerned but I can’t afford to just sit around all day because I have a bit of a bruise” she snapped back, ignoring the dull ache from her shoulder as it screamed it’s objection.

“Are you forgetting who you’re talking to? It’s not just a bruise, Evelyn. It’s-“ all of sudden, he could smell the unforgettable scent of fresh blood. She started sniffing waiting for him to continue his tirade, until he randomly reached out and touched her lip. He drew the pool of red onto his finger, using it to punctuate his rant.

“It’s this too” he continued. She gasped rubbing at her face failing to rid the blood from her visage. She tasted the metallic tinge on her tongue as she licked it from her lips.

“Please…” his anger subsided, his true intentions bubbling forth as he held her arms “Come with me to the Undercroft. We can study all day if you’d like just…don’t spend all day in pain, pretending that you’re not”

“Okay” she said meekly, her voice now raspy “Can you help me study for Herbology? I need to write 20 inches on Mandrakes and their uses” he laughed breathily

“Of course”

~

She heard Ominis before she saw him.

He’d left her, momentarily to gather some supplies for their day in the Undercroft. He promised her that he wouldn’t be long, if she promised not to leave. If he had to sacrifice a day so that she wouldn’t do herself a mischief, then so be it.

The clattering of his arrival rang down the entrance corridor and echoed around the Undercrofts empty walls, followed by a string of mumbled curses.

“Are you okay?” She called to him from the crate she perched on top of. He stumbled though the portcullis, followed by a flock of tomes and books, loyally following behind, flapping like birds.

“I hate this bloody charm” he grumbled, dropping the crate he was carrying to the floor, the telltale jingle of potion vials tinkling against one another. He took out his wand, gesturing to the books. They descended into a neat pile at Eves feet.

“What are these?” She hissed bending to retrieve the book closest to her. They were immaculate textbooks covering each and every topic she was studying at Hogwarts, and a few she hadn’t heard of yet. Each were perfect, albeit a single mark upon the top right corner of each tome. Elegant handwriting marked each with the initials ‘OG’…“Are these yours?”

“Mmmm yes” he hummed “That is every notebook, dossier and textbook from my first year here. I’d have gotten my second, third and fourth years too but…having that many books follow me would’ve drove me mad.”

“Why?” She asked flicking through the pages of ‘Charms: a beginners guide to the basics’

“So you can stop worrying about falling behind. You’re a fast learner and a talented witch…you can use these, anytime, to brush up on things you’re not certain about. Or you can compare your notes to mine and see how exceptionally well you’re doing. You need to remember you’re technically a first year. So stop comparing yourself to fifth years. I’ll leave them here for you.”

“Ominis…” she clutched her chest, touched by his consideration. “That’s very sweet of you, Thank you”

He shrugged, summoning multiple blankets and throw cushions around them. If they were going to study, they were going to study right.

“I thought you couldn’t conjure objects inside of Hogwarts?”

“Ah, something I learnt in my third year. There are always exceptions to the rules, Evelyn”

-

Ominis was more intelligent than he let on, despite his moaning about Professor Garlicks’ lack of care or Sebastians’ distracting behaviour in Defence Against the Dark Arts. He had a theoretical knowledge of every possible subject making completing her assignments easy. His Wiggenweld may be rubbish, but he knew the potions origins and how to properly chop dittany better than even Garreth.

They made light work of their shared essays and assignments, and after several hours they decided they worked enough for one day, opting to just, for once, relax.

They leant against each other on their plush picnic blanket, shoulder to shoulder.

Well, shoulder to bicep. Ominis was tall and gangly, there was no way she was ever reaching that high.

Eventually, the fatigue of their long day caught up to them and they settled against each other, Eves head finding it’s way to his shoulder and his cheek found the top of her head.

For a while they were quiet, lulled to a calm and relaxed state by the steady stillness of each others breathing.

The soft tinkling of an enchanted harp sang away somewhere in the clutter of the room. It’s heavenly harmony was interrupted, momentarily, by the distant chime of the bells signalling it was dinner time.

Eve sighed, heavily. And she noticed that no pain shot up her side.

“How are you feeling?” Ominis asked shifting slightly as though he could look at her. No doubt a habit he had picked up to put people at ease.

“Actually? Much better. Those Wiggenwelds worked a treat”

“Can I see?” He leant back fully now, prompting her to remove her head from him. She groaned needily at the movement and earned a wonky smile from Ominis. “Here” he rotated himself and positioned himself directly in front of her “Now this will look…unnerving. But…trust me”

He took his wand off the blanket where they had discarded them earlier in the evening. Almost instantaneously the red glowing tip flared up. She squinted away from it as he pressed his wand closer to her.

“Er…Ominis?”

“Could you guide me to the scar?”

“Yes?” It didn’t mean to come out as a question. But, in her experience, being on the receiving end of a wand, usually ended badly. She wrapped her fingers around his hand, gently pulling it towards her collarbone.

From here, he seemed to gather the information he needed, on his own. The blunt tip of his wand dragged across her skin, the smallest amount of pressure being applied. It was soft and warming and she couldn’t help but close her eyes.

Why was this tingly? Magic?

“This is how I see colour. I’m checking to see if you’re lying to me, like how you lied this morning” he smirked

“Sorry” she mumbled sheepishly

“We agreed no more apologies” he smiled “I understand why you did it” he pulled his wand away discarding it as he had before, seemingly happy with the results of his interrogation. “I don’t agree with what you and Sebastian get up to. Running around the school solving everyone problems. Galavanting off into the Forest…” she opened her mouth to speak but he continued “but I understand why you do it. You’re kind and thoughtful. And it’s why you need to take care of yourself. I can’t stop you running off playing the hero…but I can be here for you when you get back.”

She thought for a second. Everything he said was true. And she didn’t know why. She just wanted to study and explore this new world after she’d been torn from her old one.

It was all getting a bit much.

“Do you ever feel like you’re being pulled away?” She said abruptly letting her thoughts spill out into the real world

“From what?”

“Everything” she laughed “My life. My friends…you. I feel like I’m being pulled down a path I don’t necessarily agree with”

He toyed with the edges of his shirt, fighting with himself. He reached over to her, tentatively, and took her hand in his.

“You won’t be pulled from me…I won’t allow it”

Masterlist

[weixuldo]

Unconditionally Epilogue (pt 2)

Anakin X Reader

a/n: This is the complete end to unconditionally, i’ve been putting off finishing part two but i really just got into it these past few days (nostalgia is a weird thing haha) but i hope you enjoy and i want to thank you all again- i wouldn’t have ever continued to write if you guys hadn’t supported me in the first place- so thank you so much :)

10 years later...

It’s a busy week at the Skywalker household: the twins are turning 18 and you and Anakin are celebrating your 10th anniversary

Warnings: cursing, kids, nudity, no sex but implied, mention of injury and car accidents.

___________________

“Maker!! This is for me?” Leia exclaimed happily when the two of you handed her the smooth car fob. 

“It's all yours princess” Anakin smiled as he went in to hug her. 

“We wanted to send you off to college with a more reliable car; we also got you a bunch of accessories and stickers for the inside, they’re in the living room. I think you’ll really like them” you added. 

She hugged you next, “Thank you so much!”.

“Thank you daddy”  she said, walking towards the sleek auto infront of her.

“Yea. thanks ‘daddy’,” Han teased before going off to join his ecstatic girlfriend.

Anakin’s smile turned to an annoyed scowl; that smug son of a bitch was gonna get it some day, but as of now Anakin refrained from violence.

“I don't know about that Solo kid, he might end up six feet under with me holding the shovel someday” Anakin half joked, half actually meant. 

“Whatever” you rolled your eyes playfully, “as if you weren't a cocky son of a bitch when we first met”

He gave you a smug look with his brow raised.

“You know it's true, “Mr. Skywalker’” you smirked at the formal title you hadn't used in years. 

He huffed out a laugh and pulled you into his side, returning the smile. 

By the car, Leia raved to her boyfriend about the interior and he happily listened with a huge grin (he knew he’d be driving them on dates in it in the near future). 

Luke popped out of the garage with a smile and his safety goggles crookedly laid in his fluffy hair.

“Finally!” he exclaimed, “mom and dad have had me keeping your present in the garage for two weeks now! About time you got it”.

Leia turned to her brother, “you knew?!”.

“Of course I did, I helped pick it out- I got you the newest model with the best safety features. Cant have my sister going to college in a hunk-a-junk” he joked. 

A wide smile plastered itself on Leia's face as she rushed to embrace her brother. 

“I’m so glad you like it honey” you said, hugging her once more.

“And now that your brother finally stepped out of his cave, we can give you your gift,” Anakin said, turning to his son.

All of you walked back into the house and Anakin pulled out a plain white envelope.

“So, I know your sister’s gift is actually useful right now, but I’m sure you'll be very pleased with yours”, Anakin said as he handed the slip to his son.

Luke was confused but happily opened the envelope. You watched his blue eyes scan over the words and once it all clicked, he leapt up from the bar stool he was on. 

“No way! No fucking way!” he exclaimed, making Han and his sister laugh. 

Anakin shook his head with a smile. 

“What is it?” Leia asked, but before you could answer her, Luke practically tackled you in a giant hug. 

You smiled and embraced him warmly before he left to do the same to Anakin (a little gentler). 

“Thank you thank you!!” he said, clenching the paper. 

“Luke, what is it?” Leia asked again.

“They got me that old camaro that's been sitting in watto’s scrap yard. I’ve been wanting to fix that old thing up for years!” he grinned like a kid who just got told they were going to disney world. 

“There's more at the bottom,” you said with a smile. 

Luke shouted again, “NO WAY!”.

“What now?” Leia said, playfully rolling her eyes at her easily excitable brother. 

“Mom and dad got me a pass for next year’s car show- I’ll fix up the camaro and enter it!”. 

“That’s amazing Luke! You’ve wanted to be in one for forever!” 

He smiled and thanked the two of you once more. 

After the excitement of the gifts both of the twins went their separate ways to see their new presents; Leia went to test her car and Han helped Luke bring the other car over to the house. 

_________________________________________

“Be good for your sister and brother, alright baby?” you said as you hugged Rey close.

You and Anakin’s anniversary was tomorrow so you were leaving for the islands today. Anakin rolled the rest of the luggage into the back of his car before coming back to say goodbyes.

“I will mommy” Rey smiled proudly.

“That’s my girl” Anakin said, walking in from the garage.

“Daddy!” Rey exclaimed, reaching her arms up for Anakin.

He bent down to hug her tight and kissed her head, “Hey Pumpkin, we’ll be back in a week, alright?”.

Rey nodded her head before asking her brother to pick her up. He obliged as you, Anakin and Leia gave your parting hugs.

Next, Luke handed Rey over to Leia so he could hug you two goodbye.

“Have fun kids, we love you and will see you next tuesday” you smiled and waved as you headed for the car.

“make good choices- if I come home to a-“

“don’t worry daddy, i’ll keep these two idiots in line” Leia laughed as she pointed behind her at Han and Luke.

“ok- call if you need anything- love you!”

“of course! Miss you already” the twins smiled before going back into the house.

Once you and Anakin were buckled in, you squeezed his bicep with a wide grin.

“Someone’s excited” he laughed before kissing your forehead.

“You have no idea”

______________________

You arrived at your villa and flopped onto the large bed as Anakin put some of your luggage by the dresser on the other side of the room.

It was one that overlooked a private cove and came with pretty much every special amenity you could ask for (full working juice bar, hot tub, complimentary spa, embroidered towels, personalized rooms, you name it!).

“My love, come here” you called, patting the space beside you.

The smile lines in the corners of his beautiful eyes crinkled as the corners of his mouth turned upward, “alright angel”. 

He joined you and kissed you on the temple before asking what you wanted to show him. 

You dug around in your bag and pulled out a photo album you had made for your anniversary. 

“Happy anniversary, Ani,” you smiled. 

He looked at the square book and his eyes softened, “Is this for me?”.

You giggled, “who else would it be for silly?”. 

Your heart skipped when his mechanical hands brushed over yours as he took the book from you; even after ten years he still made you feel like a giddy teen. 

“Holy shit” he exclaimed as he opened the book, “Where’d you dig this one up from?”.

The first photo was a candid photo from your wedding; you were sitting in Anakin’s lap with your arms around his neck as he looked at you adoringly. 

“Rex actually took that one, he showed it to me when I went over there to pick Rey up from her playdate”.

“Maker, we look young- Well, you still look like this… I just look old” he joked. 

You kissed his temple, “no you don’t! You’re just well loved” you smiled. 

“That’s what you’d say to someone who looks old!” he exaggerated. 

You set the book up chronologically so that things from your college days when you first started working for him were at the beginning.

On the next page was a copy of the first check you ever got from him (obviously it was illegal to copy checks- but you weren’t actually going to use it).

His signature was much smoother back when he actually could sign with his hands. 

He eyed the page filled with small mementos from your early days together with a smile, “I can’t believe you kept some of this stuff” he said as he ran his mechanical fingers over the valet ticket stub from your first date.

“What can I say, I’m sentimental” you smiled, kissing his cheek. 

As the pages continued he watched his younger self become more and more happy with each turn. You really did light up his life.

There were photos of you and the twins playing, candid photos of him, ones that you took with him after long nights of love making… Everything was right here. 

“Hah! Look at that” he exclaimed as he came across some hand turkeys and swans you had taught the kids to make the first thanksgiving you were with them. 

“I used to find those damn things everywhere!”. 

He squinted once he reached the next page, there was a gray text message bubble cut out at the top of the page.

I should be home a bit earlier today, maybe we can watch that movie you’ve been talking about. 

“What’s that?” he asked.

“The last text you sent me before you got into your accident” you said, squeezing his upper arm softly. 

The next page had a picture of his completely totaled car as well as the first few photos you had of him when he was in a coma. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a part of him- a part of your journey together.

“Fuck, I forgot just how bad the car looked…” he said as he scanned the photo. 

His black Audi’s front was completely crushed and it barely looked like a car with the amount of dents and scrapes it’s body had collected.

You still weren’t completely sure what happened that day for it to have been so fatal. And Anakin barely remembered anything from the accident up to a few weeks after. 

“Maker- and me!” he said, diverting his analytic gaze to the glossy photos of his broken body lying in the ICU.

You nodded as he continued turning- the next few pages were his recovery period in the hospital; his first picture awake, his first with Ben and Satine, first with Ahsoka, his first with you, and his first with the twins. 

Looking back at the pictures made you really see how far he’d come- there was a time when the doctors didn’t think he would make it. 

Soon the pictures’ settings began to shift out of the hospital and into the house; his first time back home and other pictures from that christmas (there weren't many photos from the period you and him went through a rough patch, only one or two that Ben had lying around).

The next picture of everyone was at your college graduation; all smiles. 

You remembered your graduation like it was yesterday; it was the tail end of your rough patch with Anakin and he was the last person you expected to see in the sea of people. Your massive smile in the photo showcased just how happy you were to see him again. 

“You looked so good in that dress, Angel '' he cooed, nuzzling into your neck to steal a quick bite. 

“haha - stop!” you giggled, lightly pushing him away. 

“You still have it?” he asked jokingly with a smirk. 

You rolled your eyes, “...yes”.

His smirk grew into a lopsided grin, “I think you should wear it for me when we get back”. 

“HAH! Ani, I don’t even know if it still fits me?!”

He set the book in his lap and squeezed his mechanical hands around your waist making you squeal. 

“Ani! That tickles!” 

“Yea, i’d say you’d still fit- well maybe not this” he smiled grabbing the fat of your ass. 

“Ani!” you scolded.

All he could do was laugh, “What princess? I never said I didn’t like it- You know I love your ass”.

You swatted his hands away with a laugh- “Stop it! Finish looking at the book” you giggled. 

He turned his attention back to the album. The next few pages were covered in your wedding photos; a close up on his face when he saw you walk down the aisle, your face when he stood after saying his vows and a nice still photo of your first dance. 

“This was the best night of my life,” Anakin said with a reminiscent smile. 

“Me too, Ani”. 

The next photos were of his return to work, your pregnancy announcement, Rey’s birth, the twins’ first school dance, and other family milestones. 

There was a section near the end full of pictures of the kids; “first day of school” pics, vacation pics, and other moments where they were just being themselves.  

Finally the last page was the most recent picture of the two of you; it was at a rooftop bar for a gala his company hosted, he was dressed in a nice suit and you wore an off-the-shoulder gown- the photo was a candid Ben had taken of the two of you kissing after Anakin made his speech. 

He closed the book lightly and placed it on the end table beside the bed before turning to you with glassy eyes. 

“Y/n Skywalker, I love you more than anything on this earth- you are absolutely perfect” he said pulling you into his lap (which you gladly obliged). 

“Thank you” he said into your hair as he hugged you close. 

You tossed your arms around his neck and held on tightly, “I love you too, Anakin ''.

__________________________________

 Anakin’s gift to you was much more extravagant than yours to him, but the whole time he kept apologizing for his not being able to compare to yours (and you knew he meant it). 

He took you to one of the nicest restaurants on the island and then took you to the aquarium for part of your present. You were always a big fan of conservation and the oceans, so he donated a large sum to have a portion of the local reef named after you.

“Ani, this is amazing! Thank you so much!” you grinned ear to ear as you ran your fingers over the golden plaque with your name on it. 

He shyly cast his gaze away from yours, “It really doesn’t compare to yours- you’ve just always been the better gift giver”. 

You shook your head and grabbed his hands, “no, no Ani! I absolutely love this- and they’ll make sure to watch over the reef right?”.

He nodded with a smile, “Yes, my love. This section is under protection and will now be being sustained and cleaned by certified locals so that it will continue to thrive”.

You hugged him, “Thank you, I love it”.

“Of course. Angel”

The two of you walked hand in hand through the dark aquarium (Anakin had it completely reserved for tonight for just the two of you). 

Walking through the tunnel of brightly colored fish never failed to mesmerize you; their fluid motions, the shapes and sizes, you loved it.

Anakin watched your expressions change adoringly; after all these years, after becoming a mother, after becoming an influential and respected figure you could always find wonder in the smallest things. 

He loved that about you.

You did what he never could, you showed him how to be happy and how to push through the toughest times. That's why he knew you were perfect for him. 

After a few stolen kisses under the watery biomes, Anakin had a driver take you back to the villa.

Anakin began a warm bath for you in the fancy whirlpool tub; he opened the sunhatch, tuned on soft lights, added flower petals and some sweet fragrance. 

Once he entered the bedroom again, you had gotten undressed and were only wearing one of the new silk robes he got you and a smile.

“Hey Ani” you said with a small wave.

Like a moth to a flame, he walked towards you. 

“Hello, my love” he said with his low voice as he placed his mechanical hands on your hips, drawing you closer. 

You stood on your tippy toes and kissed him gently, “I think you should join me in the bath”.

When you leaned back he cocked his head to the side with a smirk, “Oh, should I now?” 

He played with a strand of your hair that you must have missed when you twisted it up. You nodded and began to take his suit coat off.

He chuckled at your determination and allowed you to help him undress; his body hadn’t seemed to change too drastically but there were some definite differences. 

He was more muscular than he was the first years after the accident but still wasn’t at the shape he was when you met him.

He was still slim but he collected some extra fat around his love handles; his crows feet and smile lines were more prominent, but in a way they made him more endearing. 

His scars had mostly all faded but every once in a while would flare up. As for his limbs, they all healed pretty well and his prosthetics were regularly updated. 

He was still just Anakin though… your Ani. 

“I think you’re ready” you said after placing a tender kiss on his bicep. 

His robotic digits danced around the hem of your robe until he pulled the loosely tied bow around your waist; the robe cascaded softly around your feet, leaving you bare. 

Anakin’s eyes admired your body and he sucked in a breath. 

“And now you are too”.

He was not the only one who’s body changed; after having Rey, you gained some light weight and stretch marks, your breasts had grown larger and you seemed to have a bit more fat on your ass (not that Anakin minded at all). 

You too had collected some smile lines but you had no problem with them. If you ever felt bad about your body, Anakin swatted those thoughts away really quick.

He always made you feel like the only girl in the world.

With a loving smile you led him into the large bathroom and helped him sit on the side of the tub before disassembling him. He always preferred legs first because he liked to hold onto you as long as he could.

At this point in life there was no part of him you hadn’t seen and no part of you that he hadn’t seen- so he was much less shy about having you help him.

Once everything was off you helped him into the tub; he sighed at the warm water caressing his body, you couldn’t wait to join him. 

You stretched once more and entered the tub gracefully. Before long you were lying against Anakin’s chest with a content smile- this was the best anniversary yet. 

Out of habit you fidgeted with the gold chain around your neck- you and Anakin had amassed several important dates since you first got each other the pendants. 

Anakin’s had your, the kids, and his first wife’s birthdays on them as well as the date of his accident and your wedding. And yours had Anakin’s, and the kids birthdays as well as your graduation date/when he proposed and your wedding day.

After all these years, after all you had been through together- you couldn’t ask for a better lover.

Only the stars knew that the mousy college student you were and the cold mannered businessman Anakin was, would eventually make it work.

You couldn’t be more thankful- and as you sat happily in Anakin’s embrace, you told him what you always did, 

“I love you so much Anakin…unconditionally”

***

a/n: so now it’s completely finished 🥲 i’ll miss this story but im also glad to have it finished :) i hope the epilogue chapters were enjoyable for u guys!! i tried to tie in the original trilogy and sequels a bit :) now we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming haha

Taglist: @katsukiswrld , @wtf-andys , @angeelcoree , @jetiikote , @khaleesihavilliard , @sxoulchvn, @sakura-amethyst, @dottodottoo , @vader-is-hot , @circuloctm , @jellydodger, @shadowheads-shitshow

[mouwrites]

Omg i Live your writing sm ❤️❤️

I would love to like have a ninjago Kai x fem/reader okay so basically it’s like a good friend of Lloyd in school and they do everything together but Kai has like a crush kn her since idk a year (like pretty long) and Kai’s jealous so he tried to be friends with her but she disagrees (not in his face but she’s like idk how to explane but she like doesn’t really talks to him and everything uk?) but he doesn’t know she has a crush on him too and is too shy to speak to him . But one time she told Lloyd and Lloyd knew Kai loves her too so she like make a date without them knowing idk just like Kai and Lloyd were suppose to meet at the same time as Lloyd and y/n and Lloyd then says to them both he doesn’t have any time so they do sth together and then like it’s a love story u can think of sth here 🫶🏼

Yes ofc!! We need more innocent schemes from Lloyd in this world

Word count: 1.1k

Ninjago - Lloyd Sets You Up with Kai

You closed your locker, nearly jumping out of your skin to find that someone had been waiting behind its door.

Spiky brown hair with warm eyes and a little smirk, you’d recognize hum anywhere. It was Kai Smith, a boy in your grade. You certainly knew about him, but you’d never actually spoken. Perhaps that was why your heart raced nervously at his alarmingly close proximity.

“Hey,” he greeted you.

“Um, hi.” You walked past him, eager to dodge the uncomfortable encounter.

That was weird…

The weirdness didn’t end there. Almost every day after that, Kai would try to talk with you. You didn’t understand why he was so interested; frankly, you were skeptical of his motives. So, you avoided him as best as you could. Luckily you had your friend Lloyd to use as an excuse to leave him.

“Hey, you got any plans for lunch today?”

“I’m sitting with my friend Lloyd.”

You didn’t stay long enough to see the disdain on his face at the mention of that name. Nor did you see his harsh glares at the two of you from across the cafeteria throughout the entire lunch period.

“Hey, you’re friends with Kai, right?”

Lloyd nodded, more focused on shoveling rice into his mouth at the moment.

“Do you know why he keeps trying to talk to me?”

Lloyd froze. His eyes bulging as they locked on his tray in shock. He did, indeed, know why Kai was trying to talk with you. But that wasn’t his secret to tell. Even though you were best friends, Lloyd was loyal to all of his buddies, and he’d never reveal their secrets.

“I mean, I guess I wouldn’t mind if he was trying to get close to me… he is pretty cute, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a little crush on him, but…” You shook your head, cheeks going a little pink. “I’m way too shy for this.”

Too shy, eh? Lloyd thought to himself mischievously. We’ll see what we can do about that.

A couple days later, a sunny Saturday, Lloyd invited you to the arcade. Naturally you agreed, so you met up at his place and headed down together.

Arriving at the arcade, you were perplexed as Lloyd began to wave eagerly. Scanning the area, you spotted the person giving a corresponding wave. Your heart dropped. Spiky brown hair, warm eyes, a little smirk. Kai.

“What’s he doing here?” You whispered hastily to Lloyd before Kai could get within listening range.

“I invited him. It’ll be fine, you’ll see.”

“Hey Lloyd! I, uh, I didn’t know you invited Y/n, too.”

“I guess I forgot to tell you,” Lloyd replied innocently. “Oops.”

Then, with an exaggerated expression of shock, Lloyd whipped out his phone. “Ack! Speaking of forgetting, I totally spaced on my fish’s funeral! Oh, man, it’s in ten minutes! Sorry guys, I really gotta go. You two should have fun together though; don’t let me ruin a good date—er, hangout!”

You both stood dumbstruck as Lloyd hurried out of the arcade.

“Lloyd doesn’t even have a fish,” you grumbled.

“Yeah, and since when does he forget to tell me who he’s bringing to hangouts?”

You shook your head. Clearly he had some sort of scheme afoot, and you were determined to figure it out. In the meantime, though…

“Um, so… what kind of games do you like?” Kai glanced nervously at you.

“I like the racing game they have here,” you responded automatically, forgetting your shyness for half a second. You felt your face heat up when Kai smiled at you, taking your hand and leading you to the machine.

“I knew you had good taste in games.”

“This is something you’ve thought about?”

Kai took one of the two seats on the machine, and in the dim glow from the screen you could see him blushing. “I think about you a lot.”

Unsure of what to say to that, you took the place next to him. You played several rounds, becoming more and more disappointed in yourself as your performance declined. Kai’s words just wouldn’t stop echoing in your mind. You were distracted.

Little did you know that Kai was in a similar state. Why did I say that? He kept asking himself. Stealing fleeting glances at you only further declined his abilities.

“You guys suck at this game,” a child’s voice came from behind you after yet another round. “Let someone with actual talent have a turn.”

You both chuckled awkwardly, scrambling off the machine to let the kid have his turn.

“I’m normally not that bad,” you defended yourself as you browsed the other games.

“Me neither.”

“I guess being with you just made me nervous.”

“I make you nervous?”

“N-not in a bad way! Not in a bad way at all…”

“Does this make you nervous?” Kai brushed his hand against yours as you walked, making you look down with wide eyes.

“I don’t know. Does this make you nervous?” In a sudden bold gesture, you locked pinkies with him.

You could practically see his brain buzzing. “No. Actually, that’s quite nice.”

You looked away with a shy smile, certain that your face was as red as a barn.

It was several hours before Lloyd contacted you next. He said that the funeral (which you both doubted was real) was taking way too long and that you should head home without him.

“This was nice, Kai. I guess I’ll head home now.”

“A lady like yourself? Alone? At night? No way. I’ll walk you home.”

Too flustered to decline the offer, you let him escort you home. You weren’t ungrateful; no, this just meant that you got to spend more time with him. He had proven to be fantastic company in the arcade, and you were eager to see more of him in the future.

“Well, this is my place.” You turned to face Kai, wishing you could prolong the moment for much longer.

“I’ll see you at school on Monday.”

Monday seemed an eternity away. A lightbulb abruptly illuminated in your mind. “Here, just take my number.”

You exchanged numbers, finally bidding each other goodbye with promises of texting in the morning.

You flopped onto your bed, singing in dreamy disbelief. Did that really just happen? Did you really just finally befriend your crush?

A buzz from your phone confirmed it. It was from Kai.

Tonight was fun. Can’t wait to see you again :)

It took everything in you not to squeal as you kicked your feet aggressively. It was real after all!

That night, you both dreamed of futures filled with flowers and kisses, hand-holding and her/him.

Thank you for this awesome request! And thanks for reading, take care guys <33

(divider by saradika)

[thetalltaleteller]

I thought I’d put together a somewhat coherent list of my headcanons for Lies of P as well as few others I’ve seen that go in line with what I’ve been thinking.

When P becomes human

His body doesn’t exactly change to one of flesh and blood. He still has a puppet body, for the most part. But that doesn’t make him any less human.

There are some physical changes, however, like how his hair changes and his shoulders get broader. I’d imagine he’d also develop some other changes internally that would enable him to do things he couldn’t do before. But again, still kinda more on the mechanical side than fleshy.

He would also feel things like pain and even hunger to an extent because of some of these changes. He’d also feel fatigue.

He’d feel pain because his ergo would like remember how certain things are supposed to hurt. Like getting smacked by a shovel would not be pleasant. And the hunger part is because he’s not entirely powered by ergo anymore and so he’ll eat to regain some energy. (Don’t ask me how, I haven’t figured that out yet. Just made sense at the time I thought of it)

Him breathing still isn’t a necessity, but it’s more like a “muscle memory”. Similarly to how his ergo can remember pain, it remembers other subtle things about being human. Things that one wouldn’t actively think about when doing, like breathing and even blinking.

How P feels being human/first time feelings

The first time he feels pain, he’d be shocked at first. He’d just think “What was that?? I did not like that.” And then he’d come to understand it pretty quickly and whenever he gets really hurt or something, he’d almost wish he still couldn’t feel pain. But that’s more of just him being a little dramatic lol

When he feels hunger for the first time, he’s completely unaware of what this feeling in his stomach is and it sort of has him a bit scared. That is, until he tells someone about it and they kinda laugh a little and explain it to him while giving him something to eat.

The first time eating something is so weird to him. Like he kinda has the muscle memory of it so it’s not like he’s being taught how to eat, but that doesn’t mean the overall sensation isn't weird and maybe a bit overwhelming at first. He gets used to it eventually and comes to enjoy trying new foods when he has the chance.

The first time he feels genuinely tired, he’s not too sure what’s happening. He’s felt sort of drained before, but this is a new level. Eventually he just passes out from exhaustion and he’s just on the floor until someone finds him. After that he’s more aware of what it is and is more careful about not passing out on the floor again. But he’ll still fall asleep in various places like in chairs or at a desk/table

Not to mention dreams. P would be confused as fuck about dreams. But he wouldn’t think much of them afterward. However, his first nightmare? Poor guy would be fucking shook.

(This one for the thirsty people including myself lmao) With P experiencing more human emotions, it would make sense he’d feel a romantic attraction to someone at some point. But I’d imagine he’d also experience sexual attraction. However, still having the body of a puppet, he’s missing a certain part to his anatomy to make some of these dirty desires possible. Unless he convinces someone to help him change that.

Note: I left things a little vague about who he talks to about these things, purely for your shipping convenience 💖

[whoahoney]

hi ml, I’m not sure if you’re taking requests! but I’ve seen a few people request work from you. if not that’s totally fine and I’m sorry for the inconvenience! but I have this imagine in my head😭

eddie x best friend, they get tickets to some rock/metal concert (you pick:)) & she gets insanely jealous when she finds him making out with some chick in the pit, so then she finds a random guy to flirt with in the pit, and it all goes downhill from there, then he finally confronts her abt it & they both sorta confess mid arguement😭 I feel like that’s such an Eddie thing to do. “I love you you stupid ass fucking bitch”💀

You’re so lovely, thank you for this!! 😭 this helped my writers block 💖 I’m a sucker for friends to lovers!

Eddie Munson x Best Friend!Reader

Summary: Eddie and Y/n face difficulties and repressed feelings in the pit of a Judas Priest concert.

Content Warnings: 18+ (Minors DNI), fem!reader, drug use (they high asf), toxic friends to lovers, language, angst/comfort, reader pushes Eddie around a lot out of anger but nothing wild, PDA in the pit, groping

Part 2

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Eddie and Y/n had spent the last 3 1/2 hours in the freezing cold, waiting in line for the pit to open at the Judas Priest Concert in Indianapolis. The friends had saved for months to be able to purchase tickets, Priest being apart of the foundation of their friendship.

The two met at the beginning of high school; both outcast for their shared love of a darker aesthetic and louder music, and soon finding solace within one another one rainy day when Jason Carver broke her tape and Eddie happened to notice it was Judas Priest. He quickly offered to give her his own copy, which she happily accepted.

It wasn’t long before the two developed feelings for each other; sneaking glances, hiding the dirtiest thoughts that floated around in their brains when they were alone together in each other’s rooms, not to mention the jealousy they’d feel when seeing the other pay any attention to a member of the opposite sex.

Y/n had gotten used to Eddie’s easy way with words around the girls at the bars in the city they frequented, both of them having their ways to combat the green monster. Eddie had yet to get used to guys offering to buy drinks for his crazy beautiful and dorky best friend and wrap their arms around her front to keep her close to their chests; the way he’d wanted to forever.

Most times they went out resulted in bickering and tension for unknown or unspoken reasons; Eddie getting upset about creepy dudes touching his friend and loudly breaking it up, or Y/n seething in the corner with a whiskey in hand as Eddie leaned closer to some blonde at the bar, only noticing his friends displeasure when she paid her tab and obnoxiously reached into his pants pocket for his keys without a word to him or a glance to the girl he was entertaining.

Of course he’d always go after her, but not without exchanging words.

‘What is your fuckin problem?’

‘Every time we go out you always gotta—‘

‘So you like weird dudes looking at you like that? You think they wanna take you home to mom, really? Think again!’

‘You and sluts, Eddie, what the fuck is up with that?’

‘You could do so much better!’

Always ending with

‘I’m sorry…’

‘I just wanna protect you’

‘You only deserve the best.’

‘I wouldn’t be with anyone that had a problem with our friendship’

‘You’re my best friend’

So the last couple months consisted mostly of the two staying in at their own places, ordering take out, watching movies, and of course smoking and drinking. The evenings they didn’t get together they typically shared a phone call after work, most of the time during dinner.

Y/n would giggle at Eddie’s garbled speech over the phone as he shoveled Chinese noodles into his mouth, ranting about the disappointing ending of his latest novel and listing the ways he could’ve made it better.

Eddie enjoyed hearing Y/n’s stories of her days spent taking classes at the community college, slowly but surely crawling her way to a degree while only doing part time. He enjoyed hearing her spill endlessly about her major, learning from her the more she spoke and reveling in the passionate way she described it all.

They hadn’t been able to hang out in a couple weeks, phone calls coming by more frequently than their physical beings, but this meant the time spent together the day of the concert would be even more fun and special.

Until the cold front moved in.

The two didn’t mind getting closer, playing thumb war as a poor excuse to hold hands. It wasn’t long after that until the doors opened and the two held onto each other tightly, heading through security just fine until they hit the pit.

They bumped and cursed their way through as rogue fans went in hard with elbows. They got about midway before the wiggle room ended, though they were satisfied with their view of the middle of the stage. Eddie looked down at his best friend and smiled fondly at her.

Her eye makeup tonight reminded him of the way she used to do it when they first became friends, thick and dark on the top and bottom lash line, a little smokey on the edges.

She caught his stare and blushed a deep pink before averting her eyes, “What is it? Is my makeup already fucked? Lipstick on my teeth?” She flashed her front teeth as he chuckled and shook his head.

She quickly ran her tongue over her teeth and crinkled her brow in confusion. “Did you take your edible already?” She giggled as they shuffled forward.

“Pfft, no.” He lied.

Y/n rolled her eyes, knowingly.

“If we’re playing that game, I didn’t either.” She stuck out her blue tinted tongue from the gummies they shared. Eddie chuckled and stuck his own out, the matching blue patch sitting in the middle of his tongue.

Y/n shivered at the thought of his mouth tasting the exact same as hers did at this moment. She saw the couples surrounding them, guys holding their girls to their sides or fronts protectively, the way she wanted to be held by Eddie so badly. There was a couple times the instances occurred though it was always after drinks and under jealous pretenses.

It wasn’t real.

Eddie was just protective. Maybe a little territorial. But Y/n didn’t mind it. If anything she wished he would indulge in it more.

By the time the show started, the lights began flashing brilliant purple, blue, and yellow, the crowd was roaring so loud the space between Eddie and Y/n was quiet enough to speak.

“C’mon, follow me, we’ll get closer.” He nodded, spotting a way through a couple gaps. He stepped quickly without grabbing her hand properly—used to her being hot on his heels, when suddenly a girl cut her off midway, following Eddie through the gaps and disappearing as the crowd closed in.

“Eddie! Eddie Munson!” She called, jumping up to try to spot the usually easy to find mop of curls, but lamented when she realized there were a million of them now. She went the way she last saw him go, calling for him the whole way and searching for him in a sea of people who held no interest in her personal space or search for her friend.

“Eddie Munson, you fucking bastard!” She cursed, ducking through wandering hands and bitchy looks while their favorite songs played. She felt tears prickling at her eyes as her limbs became heavy from swimming against the current and groaned when she reached a dead end without finding him.

She leaned against the railing for a breather, a stray tear escaping before she gathered her bearings and decided to continue in a new direction. With a breath she turned to look at the stage and spotted the Dio backed vest just a few feet ahead.

Her heart soared, a laugh of relief coming from her as she took a step towards him, when suddenly a woman’s leg wrapped around his side. Y/n now noticed the fingers tangled in his hair as he stumbled backwards towards the railing. The blonde from before attached to his mouth like a sucker fish, though he seemed to be enjoying it.

Y/n stood gaping and cemented as Beyond the Realms of Death played, the song she had hoped to hear the most. She saw the way her fingers curled around his arm, how his roamed down her back and pulled her closer by her leg. Her chest ached when she saw him practically melt against the girl, his rings digging into her bare flesh.

Y/n choked out a sob when the girl moved to his neck, probably sucking a hickey at the crook of it where Y/n had rested her head many times. Eddie cracked his eyes open as he sighed blissfully, meeting her broken gaze as her makeup ran and ran and ran.

His eyes widened, dropping the girls leg from his waist and taking a step towards his friend. “Y/n!” He called as her eyes turned from hurt to pain and then anger within a second. She marched forward, the blonde’s confusion going unnoticed by Eddie as he took bounding steps away.

“Y/n—“His words were silenced with a shove to his chest and a mighty grunt from his friend, directing him into the pit where she originally wanted to be.

“Fuck you!” She spat on her way past him. He caught her arm and spun to her to face him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to lose you! Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, you looked so concerned with your tongue down that bitch’s throat. Save it.” She shrugged away from him.

“Is that what this is about? Oh, come ON. What is your problem? We’re friends, right? Friends help friends get laid, why can’t you just be my friend? Why can’t you let me have anyone?” He cried.

Y/n’s eyes widened as the fucks fled her body, biting back an unhinged smile stretching on her face at his words. To be fair, she probably looked horrifying, but inside of her a switch had flipped and she suddenly felt eerily calm.

“Y’know what, Ed? Don’t worry about me. Have a good fucking show.” She said with a seemingly earnest smile on her face as she wiped the last falling tears and mascara streaks from her cheeks. Before Eddie could manage a response she turned on her heel and made her way deeper into the crowd, tuning into the noise and choosing to deal with her crumbling heart later.

Eddie followed after her, watching the top of her head swerve through the crowd for almost a whole song until he realized the person he’d spotted wasn’t even her to begin with. Worry began to set in as soon as his edible did. “Y/n?” He called, turning in circles as people chastised his tall figure for obstructing the view.

Before he could finish calling her name again, he heard her giggle. He turned, almost sighing in relief at the thought of her just trying to mess with him by playing a short lived game of hide and seek, when he spotted her under the arm of some punk with a head of fiery curls, the two practically touching noses as they sang Love Bites to one another, making daring little touches against one another’s face and hands.

Eddie seethed as the guys arm slipped from her shoulder to her ass, using his other index finger to tilt her chin to meet his lips. Eddie grabbed her hand that was poised to cup the guy’s cheek right before their lips could meet, and jerked her away and into him, barreling towards the back of the pit and ready to leave.

He could hear her shouts of protest though he wasn’t met with any resistance from her as he guided her through the crowd. He led her out of the arena and into the deserted hallway, the roar of the crowd and the muffled wailing of the guitar sounded through the stone walls.

Eddies face was hard with anger, his jaw clenched tightly as he ran a hand down his face. Y/n finally ripped her wrist away and shoved Eddie again, his back hitting the wall—a stifled groan rippled from his chest as he did.

“You’re such a goddamn hypocrite, you know that?” She barked. Eddie scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Who’s the real hypocrite here? I can’t have the same reaction you did? You just had to try to—“

“You call that the same reaction? I didn’t even kiss the guy and you made us leave the entire concert but you were almost swallowed by a human goldfish and I can’t be a little upset?” She cried, her eyes betraying her anger by glossing over.

Eddie swallowed thickly. “We were just talking, and-and the crowd made us get really close—She grabbed me, I just didn’t—“

“I don’t care to hear about it.” She dead panned, wiping her face and turning to either walk back into the concert or leave the place entirely, she hadn’t decided.

“Oh my god, yes you fucking do!” He cried, hot tears prickling behind his eyes as his throat closed up, the sight of her walking away from him unbearable.

She spotted the exit at the end of the hall and turned to yell to him. “Yeah, I do, Eddie, just not the way you do!” She shoved through the door carelessly marching into the freezing cold.

She ended up in an ally, a couple dumpsters on either side. Y/n groaned and turned in worried circles as she tried to fight the choking sobs that threatened to escape her. Streams of hot tears poured from her eyes as she crouched down by the trash and pressed her fists into her forehead to relieve the pressure of the heartbreak beating into her head as she heaved.

Suddenly the door shoved open and Eddie stomped out, ready to go down swinging if she fought riding home with him, when his face softened at her broken form on the ground in front of him. She peaked up at him, shooting him a glare right before he yanked her up and pushed her against the wall this time.

“Eddie—“

“No. My turn.” He almost spat, the breath of his words hitting her mouth and nose as he spoke. His hands planted on either side of her head as he caged her in. “I have spent so long trying to show you. Trying to get you to decide—that maybe if we did our own things it’d help. I’m—Every time, Y/n. Every time someone shows interest in me, the first thing I do is compare them to you—to my best friend. My… my perfect best friend.” His voice weakened.

“For a while it felt like-like you were just trying to protect me, like you felt I could do better, but now it’s like you just don’t want anyone to have me, and—and I just can’t understand why??” His voice cracked. “Every time I think we’re going somewhere I hit dead ends and I’m okay with being friends, I’d die before giving that up, but if we’re only friends you can’t—“

“What??” Is all she managed. “What do you-what do you mean—Eddie, you’ve practically kept me at an arms length since you started dating people! But lately, it’s like—ugh!” She exclaimed in exasperation. “It’s felt like maybe you might see me differently—but then you just jump on the first chance you get. At our concert?” She hiccuped and looked to the ground when her vision became too blurry.

“Sweetheart…” He cooed.

“Stop it! I do wanna be friends but it hurts every time we—“

“I love you, you stupid fucking bitch!” He took her face in his hands and spoke over her loudly, gently shaking her with urgency.

Y/n’s eyes widened, a soft gasp leaving her at the confession. Her throat closed a as her brain short circuited, her tears spilling down her cheeks. “I—wha—“

He scoffed and crashed his lips against hers, mouthing at her stunned lips until they melted and moved against him. She let out a whine of relief, perhaps all the years of longing pouring out of her when he opened the floodgates.

She leaned back against the wall, his hands cradling her jaw while his fingers wrap around the nape of her neck, gently clenching the roots of her hair.

Her hands started the same, quickly moving down his neck and roaming his chest. His breath caught noticeably when she wrapped her arms around his torso and pulled him flush against her, raking her nails down his back gently and pulling a sigh from him.

They finally pulled away, though Y/n pressed her head into the side of his neck, the opposite side of where the blonde had spent her time. The two sat in silence, holding one another and trying to form whole sentences and figure out where to go next.

“I love you too… I always have..” She whispered, not missing the sharp inhale of surprise he drew in. “You stupid fucking asshole.” She giggled before pressing a long open mouthed kiss to the side of his neck. Eddies eyes rolled back in his head when she began sucking softly.

He was ripped from his trance when she shoved him away towards the door, grabbing his hand on her way past in his dazed state and tugging him back inside. “But we’ve waited too long for Judas fucking Priest to miss it just for you to fuck me behind a dumpster.” Eddie cackled madly and ran after her.

Part 2

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Taglist 🤍

@loving-and-dreaming

[sophiethewitch1]

UwU any spoilers for the next chapter,,

I have meant to do this multiple times but keep forgetting so here's an extra long snippet in apology! It's basically the entire start of the next chapter ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Damn. Your indulgent TV stalking of the Wayne’s really doesn’t hit the same once you technically knew them. And you were hiding inside one of their bedrooms, inside one of their clothes, using their TV subscription. It just didn’t feel right. Morally, of course, but that wasn’t what you were talking about. No, you were just pissy your favourite passtime was basically ruined. You shovel another spoonful of cookie dough ice cream into your mouth, glaring through tired eyes at the screen.

There’s an up close shot of Dick Grayson’s abs. The presenter ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ over his physical form, and you have to agree. You wish you had abs like that. Unfortunately you did respond to most unwanted experiences with stress eating. As always with these celebrity figures, you can’t really tell if you want to be Dick or be with Dick. Your butt is nowhere near the level his is at.

While you hadn’t really set out today looking for shirtless pictures of the Waynes, it wasn’t like you were going to say no to them. So, when the gossip channel had switched from the reactions of the Waynes to last night’s fiasco to… this… you’d just kept watching.

You wonder if you should stop doing this. It’s definitely kind of creepy, and now you’d technically once been his… step sister. What a mind fuck. You’ve been crushing on these dudes for a while, and now they were your ex-step siblings. This was like the start of a bad porno, but you knew you were not that lucky. And it wasn’t like you were going to start thinking of him as a brother any time soon. You hadn’t even met the guy. No, he was still firmly in the ‘celebrity crush’ section of your mind. Pretty and untouchable. The way things are supposed to be.

Which was also bad because you would probably have to meet and interact with him at some point. Probably in the near future. God knows you’d absolutely humiliated yourself in front of the fucking Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne,. Twice, in fact. You didn’t even want to think about the display you’d shown for Bruce Wayne or Damian Wayne.

You didn’t really know what to do with your slightly obsessive crushes. And you could see it definitely being a problem in the near future.

…You decide that what you do in your private time is absolutely nobody but yours business, and keep watching. It’s a mix of bitter spite and geniune mental breakdown levels of desperation that leads you to that decision. You feel like you’re a child with their toy being taken away, and it’s making you mad. And sad too. Even if you shouldn’t do this anymore, you still wanted to keep the habit. You’d mentioned before your creature comforts were one of the few things that kept you going. And while you were mostly very good at not being the jealous, heinous creature you really are, you knew you wouldn’t be giving this up.

They’d have to tear your gossip channels from your cold dead palms. You weren’t giving them up, not without a fight at least. Unfortunately for you, the universe seemed determined to wrestle away literally everything you loved.

Guilt’s for tomorrow. Today is for ice cream and purposefully ignoring everything. Speaking of which, you can not remember the last time you had a good Ben & Jerry’s. They were so expensive these days, as all groceries were. You simply couldn’t afford it. The Waynes, of course, had multiple tubs in multiple different options. Alfred had seemed delighted that you’d taken the ice cream, for which reasons you could not perceive.

Oh, yeah! His name was Alfred. Very butler-y. You’d remember it this time, he was a very nice man. And he called you ‘young miss’ which earned him points. He also didn’t seem to hate you on sight, or treat you like a two-headed freak, like some of the other people in this household. Not naming names. Yeah, fuck that noise, Damian Wayne obviously has issues and it’s much less attractive in real life.

The woman drones on, and your eyes flick to your phone. Yup, she’s still yapping. It’s not like you don’t appreciate Dick’s abs or anything, it’s just that you think she might’ve been talking about this one specific photo for over half an hour now. Lady should get a hobby. Wait, wait, this is her job. Maybe you should start a podcast where you rant about the Wayne’s excercise regimes. It seems to be quite a lucrative field.

You shriek when the door slams open, nearly tumbling backwards off the bed. Hands manage to grip the bedcovers before you tip over, not making a complete fool of yourself. As it goes, you lose your spoon to the carpet. Bits of cookie dough spread over the floor in a divine sacrifice. And you lose your sanity to the man standing in the doorway. To be fair, he looks just as confused as you feel.

You blink at the physically perfect form of Dick Grayson, and then turn your head to the TV to look at the other physically perfect form of Dick Grayson.

…You really wish you had a good explanation for this.

He mutters out your name, lips parted. Dick Grayson seems absolutely shocked to find you here. His eyes flick around the room, and eventually land on the TV. Said baby blues widen to the size of saucers when the reporter makes a really, really unneccesary comment.

“And in news that broke the hearts of both ladies and gentlemen everywhere in Bludhaven, Dick Grayson has announced he will be returning to Gotham to assist his family in this difficult time. My cousin in the Blud is probably crying right now. There’s no ass out there quite like his, and there’s no replacement for Bludhaven’s favourite young rich bachelor,” she winks at the camera, and then the shot of his tone stomach phases forward to take up the entire screen.

Well, there’s a lot to say about that. First of all, fuck. Second of all, shit. Third of all, she really couldn’t have said that part about Dick coming back to Gotham sooner? Per chance, before you’d found yourself in this situation?

You said you weren’t that lucky, you meant it.

“But still, ain’t that lucky for us Gothamites? I myself have spent a lot of time on Dick’s Tiktok and Instagram, and his thirst traps have been used in a lot of my personal-”

You snatch the remote from the sheets and pause it right there. The silence is tense.