#who shes been chasing down for in game years trying to convince they belong together

[puhpandas]

gonna make fnaf guys in the sims 3

[shivada-jade]

soulmates!

soulmate!au because im weak. you're weak too.

characters: bennett, zhongli, diluc ➡ mentions: barbara, lisa, guizhong, hu tao, kaeya, crepus warning(s): bennett luck (he gets hurt a lot), wrote this at 2:48am so my writing may or may not make sense

bennett: feels the same emotions from the other, but the emotions have to be strong and genuine

he never understood your sudden bursts of sadness. it would come at the most inconvenient at times.

for as long as he could remember, the emotions that weren't his are mostly sad. he asked his dads about it and gently told him his soulmate system is feeling emotions from the other.

after crying from an unknown pain, he made it his soul purpose to constantly be happy all the time, no matter how unlucky he could be so you can be happy too.

his dads worry when he falls down and scrapes his knee, but he would always reply with, "i'm not hurt! my soulmate is hurt!"

he would then clutch the fabric on his chest tightly, like he's been stabbed with a sword and say, "my soulmate hurts right here."

he heaves a breath, "it doesn't compare to whatever luck i get."

"this pain is bearable," he convinces himself when he comes out a hilichurl camp in cuts and bruises.

"your soulmate needs you to be happy for them," he chastises himself for shedding a tear when another adventurer wronged him.

he visits barbara to heal his wounds and asks how she always looks so... happy, so smiley.

"all it takes is one smile to make yourself happy. it can be a slow process but it works!" she singsongs, "miss lisa showed me a study about it."

ever since barbara explained, he smiles the brightest of smiles in mondstadt. he refuses to let other adventurers let him down, worried he might hurt you more than it is.

soon, he finds out that he feels no sadness coming from you. he feels no weight on his shoulders. he feels happy after Good hunter ran out of food for him.

these are not my emotions, he thinks, a wide grin creeping it's way to his face.

he lets out the loudest laugh, giggles, and various joyous noises. he's never felt so happy in his life. for once, he feels lucky, because for once, you're finally happy in the other end of his invisible red string of fate.

his luck skyrockets when he sees a person around his age, with a gorgeous smile adorning their features. he knows its you, sitting by the fountain making wishes. he knows it's you when he sees your eyes that hold so much emotion.

it was as if his heart was tugging him to where you sat.

he's never felt so lucky to have you as his soulmate.

"thank you giving the best smiles"

zhongli: every time he passes his soulmate, he hears the sounds of bells ringing

now, zhongli never thought he would have a soulmate because of his past title of 'archon.' soulmate systems are a tricky thing. he knows there are so many ways to know your soulmate system.

the common system was their first words tattooed on themselves. many others had the ability to know when they meet them, in other words, a count down.

but zhongli never had those two, nor did he have faith in the soulmate system until the lantern rite festival.

walking by the busy streets, he muses to himself how pretty liyue is under the blanket of the moon and stars. he hears the merchants call to customers, attracting and waving at them to buy their products. he hears the clink of the mora in their bag is loud; the laughter from the children young and old marry a soft smile to his face.

he freezes, hearing something that should not belong in the lantern rite. the sound of bells ringing. it isn't any cow bell, or school bell. it's the sound of echoing, melodious wedding bells ringing his ear.

he vaguely remembers his friend guizhong mentioning about this rare particular soulmate system when she still roamed teyvat.

a soulmate!

zhongli stands straighter, eyes grazing on the sea of people, trying to see if anyone stopped to hear the bells he heard. he mutters a few apologies when people bump into him with lanterns in their hands, but that doesn't matter to him.

fate brought someone for him to love. it's just that... he doesn't know where.

he walks forward, he walks backwards to where he came from. he walks to the docks then to the top of liyue harbour, but he can't hear the sound of the bells again.

he doesn't panic. he doesn't rush, because he knows fate will bring you back together. he just doesn't know how long until he'll hear the bells again.

it came to him a surprise when he hears the bells everyday after that.

everyday when he sits at third-round knockout he hears the sound of bells behind him, but when he turns, he knows you've left already.

he sighs, blowing on his tea before taking light sips. it seems he won't be meeting you today.

one day, the ringing just stops. there's no sign of you, or your presence. zhongli assumes you're just taking a sick day, or you've decided to rest, but after a week of not hearing the bells, he worries.

archons, how he wanted to look for you, but he doesn't even know who you are. hu tao encourages zhongli to take the day off and look for you, so he did.

walking aimlessly in liyue, doubt crosses his mind. what if you were here for a business trip and left? it wasnt until he passes by a stunning figure he hears the bells again. he stiffens and turns to you when you stopped next to him.

"thank goodness," he says, slightly covering his smile with a gloved hand.

your eyes sparkle as you look at him, "thank goodness indeed."

diluc: lost possesions will come to your soulmate

for as long diluc knows, strange things always end up in his possessions: hairclips, pens, coins, and archons forbid- his soulmate's overdue bills.

his father laughs when younger diluc comes home dragging a wagon and the biggest teddy bear in history, because how on teyvat does someone lose a teddy bear taller than a door. crepus watches his son struggling to drag the big toy home and sees his other son pushing the wagon from behind, also struggling.

"what do you have there?"

all the response he gets are grunts. the side of his eyes crinkle with mirth, seeing his two sons having trouble bringing it home.

"father!" diluc calls out with a grin missing two of his front teeth, "i don't know where it came from. it's like it appeared from the sky."

"it actually did fall out of the sky!" kaeya says, "we were at the vineyard and i saw diluc get crushed!"

"i did not get crushed."

"did too," kaeya retaliates, sticking his tongue out.

that was the first time diluc heard of this certain soulmate system. lost things from his soulmate go to his possession; lost things from diluc go to his soulmate's possession.

crepus glances at his boys and gets an idea. he calls for them to follow him, and they do, obediently. he leads them to his room, pulling out a treasure chest full of frilly clothes, dresses, outfits that range from a farmer's outfit to a noblewoman.

"this chest is where your mother kept her favourite things," crepus pulls out a necklace from the bottom of the case. "this necklace was particularly her favourite."

diluc can see why. he's mesmerized by the ruby sparkle it hangs. the gold chain complimenting the red jewel and making it complete.

crepus clutches the necklace, looking at it longingly before placing it back in the chest. he places out all the old clothes from the container and lays it on his bed.

"you can keep your soulmate's things here like i once did. your pops is getting too old anyway, i-"

kaeya interrupts crepus jumps on the clothes that are on the bed, creating a havoc in the room. he jumps on the bed with so much energy even after diluc tells him about the story of the 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed.

though, crepus is having none of that. he picks up diluc by his small arms and flings him to kaeya, looking like a bowling ball knocking down a pin. the two boys gasp for air, shooting dirty looks at their father before they chase him out of the house.

the corner of diluc's mouth twitch up ever so slightly, remembering when he first knew of his soulmate. it would take a very observant person to notice his smile. he polishes the glass behind angel's share's counter. under the filtered sunlight, the glass glints. satisfied with the cleanliness.

the chest his father game him was fill of trinkets his soulmate had lost over the years, and good grief. his soulmate must be the most disorganized person ever. he remembers walking to dawn winery and a sack of mora drop on his feet. it wasn't a pleasant feeling, but the thing that has diluc worried is how his soulmate tends to lose the biggest things like a 7-foot-tall teddy bear.

diluc is about to place the wine glass on a cupboard until SMACK.

a thick paper hits his face from seemingly nowhere and so he knows that is his soulmate losing the tenth thing for the day. he has a room dedicated for the things his soulmate has lost, and he thinks he might need a second room.

he pulls the paper off his face and his eyes widen in shock. this two-inch thick paper are legal documents. loan agreements. overdue loan agreements.

[Name] [Last Name]

he notes the name in his head. [Name] owes the fatui 35 thousand mora as interest. what kind of reckless person- then it hits his mind. that sack of mora that fell from the sky was that 35 thousand to pay off the loans.

he knows where to go. he leaves the wineglass on the counter for charles to pick up and hastily grabs his coat and leaves the door.

"liyue, liyue, liyue, and the fatui." he chants in his head. loans. he greets his maid before ascending to his room. he snatches the mora that dropped on his feet and sprints out the door to retrieve his stallion.

a few hours at most to make it to where his fated partner was at, and so he sets off.

arriving at liyue is strange, seeing diluc's attire did not match the city, and seeing his hands are holding the reins of his horse tightly. a strange traveler from a foreign land... with a majestic stallion. he looks like a prince straight out of a fairytale.

he lightly pats his horse, urging to go a bit faster from the trotting they were doing until he meets the gaze of a distressed person in front of the fatui.

"i swear! i had the money and the papers just today!"

diluc scoffs, knowing who they were now, and they did not have the money today. they lost it a week ago.

"listen," the masked fatui grumbles. "im just here to do my job. if i don't have the money in my hands right now i'll-"

diluc jumps off the saddle and unloads the sack of mora from the side, dropping it on the fatui's hand with a seething glare, yet still polite.

"i believe they owe you 35 thousand? sounds about right, no?" he says, letting his diplomatic side show a bit. "for the sake of it, why not amuse me and take this, david. hmm?"

the fatui goes rigid, hearing his name. he slowly lifts his eyes up, "master diluc." he curtly nods and skittishly walks away. one time david spilled drinks at a mondstadt political gathering. he spilled it on diluc.

the ragnvindr waits for the fatui to walk away before turning to his, supposedly love of his life.

"you're the one who lost a 7-foot-tall teddy bear when i was six," he points out, waiting for your response.

his soulmate sheepishly smiles, "well- i would have a good defense but hey, did you at least enjoy having a 7-feet-tall teddy bear fall on you?"

"i did, along with a glass mug falling on me as well."

"i just cant believe how you never lose your stuff!" they retort, "the only thing i got was a missing tooth from you."

the tip of diluc's ears turn the same colour as his hair, but still wears a stoic expression. "i'm diluc ragnvindr," he greets, slightly bowing his head.

"and i'm yours"

part 2: with ganyu, kaeya and thoma

[askaalaska-vdeppressed]

Seeing Stars and Stripes

18+ ONLY MINORS DNI

This is just porn, I have no excuse for it other than I need the practice

Here you go babes 

You were sure that many would see the upturned lip, the finale of the cacophony of scars that marred his face as off-putting. They’d see the way the injured skin forced his lip up into a permanent snarl as a warning. Yet as you stared at him from across the room you couldn’t help up imagine what it would be like to run your tongue across it. Letting the tip slide quickly over the before quickly jumping back and smirking. Would he grow at you? Call you a minx? Drag your head back to do it again? Put you over his shoulder and take you away to have his way with you? You hoped a version of all three.

So engrossed in your daydreaming you completely forgot where you were or whom you were with till one of your friends—Alma-- cleared her throat.

“Y/n?..... Y/N?” She playfully slapped your shoulder getting your attention. You turned to her, still clearing your head of the vision.

“Are you going to continue to make eyes at strangers or are you going to take your turn?” Your other friend at the table Jordie chimed in.

“Are you saying I have a choice?” you replied. As they both laughed you reached out to grab the dice that were in front of you on the table.

“I say you just go for it” Jordie said looking down at the scores for the game and then back up at your roll,

“Damn Y/n, 650 you gonna take it?”

“What’s my score again?” You asked coyly. Jordie looked down at the board with the scores and back up at you.

“Plenty high” She said not giving you a proper answer. You had been ahead of both the girls for quite some time. Poor Alma having only just gotten on the board about three rounds ago.  

“I’ll take it” you answered passing the dice to Jordie.

“I’m with her on this one” Alma stated splitting her attention between you and Jordie’s rolls “You never go after men on our girls’ nights, if this stranger’s got something that’s getting you going I say chase after it”

Jordie let out a small curse as the dice went cold for her. You waved a server down to refill your drink as you contemplated Alma’s words.

It was true you never were one to go get lost in a man’s arms. It wasn’t that you were prudish or that you lacked offers. It really boiled down to two factors. The first being that your town was small. And any news, especially who slept with whom was bound to get spread as soon as your legs were. The second being that all the men and near all the women for that matter lacked depth. There lives were firmly planted in this village. They were born in this land, they grew in this land, they will die in this land and they will eventually become this land.  Every thought in there heads was of this land. Even your friends were not immune to this. Sleeping with men here felt more akin to sleeping with a very polished rock.

Your mother blamed your wanderlust on all the reading you did. Your family was the only completely literate one in the whole village. You and your mother being two out the three women that knew how to read. The third being Jordie. Together you were trying to teach Alma, though she insisted it was a wasted endeavor.

Altogether the village was simple, routine and safe. You had given up years ago of trying to force yourself to be complacent with it. You soothed your wanders heart by travel for business. From a family of farmers you took up soap making to cure your boredom. During the summer months you would travel to different markets to sell your wares and see the different villages and cities. But one woman can only travel so far on her own, and summer can only last so many months. And then it was back to this. Back to the cage of a home set in stone.

Yet looking at the traveler he seemed to ooze an aura complexity. You imagined he had seen many places, fought many fights and tasted many flavors. For a brief moment when you first saw him you contemplated asking him to tell you of his travel rather than anything untoward.

Then he’d rolled his neck, thrown down his pack with a clamor, and with a voice of gravel ordered a meal, a bed and an ale.

And it was all over for you.

Alma smiled as she rolled a cool thousand points in one role and surpassed Jordie on the board when you put your hands on the table and forced yourself up. Both girls gave you a wink as you passed the server from before grabbing the pitcher he had brought to refill your drink. You sauntered over to the man in the red striped jacket. He was looking absentmindedly at the wall when you approached—the sound of the pitcher landing on the table breaking him out of his daze.

He looked up to meet your gaze and his golden amber eyes hypnotized you for a moment.

“Can I help you lass?” The low tone of his voice mixed with the roughness of it made you weak at the knees. You got control of your legs and broke the spell his eye had cast on you and fixed a smile on your face.

“You looked like you could use some company” You grabbed your skirts and swished them to the side in order to sit on the chair cattycorner to him. He turned his body to you, his eyebrows held high on his head in a face of skepticism.  He looked around the room before addressing you.

“It looks like this place is filled with men that are much more suited for you company” He gave a half hearted gesture to the lively bar.

You gave a snort and rolled your eyes.

“Oh believe me I’ve tried but the whole lot of them is either boorish or simple” You scooted your chair closer to him not touching shoulder. You pointed at a blonde gentleman in a green vest.

“That’s Karlson, he is completely convinced that boiled beaver testicles are curing his wife’s monthly pains” The man pulled a face and your let out a snort.

“She replaces them with boiled eggs when he’s not looking. The real thing helping her is the whiskey she mixes in her tea.” The strangers hand shot up to cover his mouth as he struggled not to laugh.

You turned a bit and pointed at another gentleman. This time a balding man in a shirt much to small for him.

“The man one bend over from busting a seam is Magnus. He once lectured me for two hours on the science behind putting grooves in your teeth to make you a better warrior.”

The man scoffed looking up. His hair fell from his face falling behind his ears in a motion like water.

“Humans will try anything to be more than they are” You fixed him with a look.

“You say that as if you aren’t one” He turned to you perplexed.

“I’m not”

You made a big gesture out of looking him up and down. Inspecting his eyes and hair. You stuck your hand out and poked his arm—careful to avoid the spikes that poked out of his shoulders.

“You seem pretty human to me” You looked over to him smiling from ear to ear. Your cheeks forcing your eyes to squint. He broke your gaze as a small smile crept onto his face for a moment.

“Your too cute for you own good….”

“Y/N” you filled in for him

“Y/n” He parroted back.

“And I don’t know…”

“Eskel” he provided.

“I don’t know Eskel” you started “I think I balance on the perfect ratio of sweet timid kitten and sexy goddess” You waited until he was posed to take a drink to continue. “After all I came over here too see if you wanted to fuck my  brains out”

Your timing had been perfect and Eskel’s hand shot up again to his mouth to try and stop the spray that was currently coming out of his mouth from the shock of your statement.  He wiped his hand with his mouth and gave a harsh swallow.

“Your funny Y/n.” he choked out. You put your arm on the table and placed your head in your hand.

“True, I am masterful in whit” your gaze lingered on his lips, a small amount of ale his hand had missed dripped down his chin. You moved fluidly reaching one hand to wipe his chin and the other to rest on his thigh. You leaned in close as your thumb moved from his chin to his bottom lip.

“But I was being quite sincere with that request” His eyes seemed to take you in for a moment. In his irises he seemed to be fighting something. For a split second he looked like he might start crying before his gaze turned hungry. He leered down your top then back up to the pout of your lips, slightly ajar.

“Eskel” you regarded him, the name low in your voice.

“Y/n” he returned. The combination of his gaze and his voice sent a shiver down your spine and caused your cunt to clench. You caught your breath for a moment, ever so slightly rubbing your legs together.

“You have a room upstairs?”

“Indeed I do” he smirked at you. That damned notch in his lip driving you even crazier. You lifted yourself up going to grab your bag from your friends quickly.  You three had planned on staying with Jordie that night since her husband was away.

You were sure she’d understand.

As you passed they both smiled and winked at you again. Eskel—having gathered his own belongings—met you at the entrance to the stairs. He stuck out his arm, making you giggle. You hooked your hand into it as you made your way up. You looked more like a pair of nobles ready to meet a monarch than you did strangers on their way to hook up in a backwater inn. He lead you too one of the inn’s three rooms. You made your way across the threshold, heading to place your bag in a chair in the corner. When you turned around Eskel had set his belongings down and was anxiously shifting on his feet. A hand behind his head playing with the skin of his neck.

The moment was awkward. Back in the crowded bar you had both been in high confidence. Safety in numbers giving you courage to speak boldly. When the doors were closed and it was just the two of alone it was a different story.

Fearing he may be getting cold feet you strode across the room. A woman on a mission. At the very least you were going to fulfill the fantasy from earlier. Coming this far you were not about to walk away with nothing.

When you reached him your hands sought either side of his face. Pulling him towards you. Your lips met tenderly. The plushness of his lips not being lost on you. Eskel became more and more receptive to the kiss, the two of you now beginning to push against the other. Your thumbs caressed the bones of his cheeks. The sun ravaged skin providing just the slightest bit of drag against your finger pads. He stepped into you deepening the kiss and your hands migrated so that your arms were hung on his shoulders. You rubbed your core against the leg that was nestled there, releasing a small moan at the friction. You broke apart for air for a split second before diving back in. His mouth much more open this time. It was now or never

You swiped your tongue along his bottom lip first. Then migrated up. In a split second you ran your tongue into the divot in his upper lip. Sliding it back and forth before pulling away. You looked at him through your lashes, biting your lip to try and control the giddiness inside you.

Eskel looked wild. His mouth was still agape and his breath was ragged. His brain seemed to need a second to catch up. With a jolt he fixed you with a stare. His pupils blown out and his lips in a snarl. Eskel grabbed your waist and lifted you with no effort. Instinctively you wrapped you legs around his torso as he all but slammed you against the wall. The force of the impact causing a tapestry to fall from it’s place on the wall.

Ravaged against a wall… You were so close.

Eskel pinned you again the wall with his hips. The pressure of it causing you to whimper. With his hands free he violently wrung the jacket from his torso, dropping the leather to the floor unceremoniously. The blue undershirt underneath open and loose on him.  You reached out push open the center. Running your hand down the firm muscles of his neck and into the coarse field of hair on his chest. The muscle underneath was firm and the heartbeat usually slow.  

Eskel leaned into you, his mouth making its way to the junction of your neck and shoulder. He nipped at the spot, forcing a breath out of your lungs. You brought your hands up to tangle into his hair and bring him closer. Pushing him into you. As Eskel began littering your chest with bruises he started to grind you into the wall. You whimpered at the friction, griding back with enthusiasm.

Eskel had made his way to the tops of your breasts, giving one a playful bite as he looked up at you through his lashes. You felt his hand grab your ass lifting you with his arms. He slid down to his knees as you yanked up your skirts to see what he was doing. Eskel fixed your plush thighs on his shoulders, moving his hands up to play with the band of your undergarments.

“You’ve had your dinner, am I dessert?” you asked, quickly scolding yourself for never being able to stop your mouth. Eskel laughed, the puffs of air cooling the damp fabric surrounding your pussy.

“Do you want to be?” he smirked, giving your waistband a quick snap. You let out a high pitched “mmhmm” and it was all the confirmation he needed. HIs large and calloused hand peeling the garment down, flinging it behind him with no regard for where is landed. He moved in closer, at first nuzzling your thigh and placing languid open mouth kisses on it.

You fisted the skirts in your hands, trying desperately to be patient. However as he continued to tease you, you started to inch your cunt closer and close to him, using the wall as leverage. Eskel caught on to what you were doing and gave out a tisk before pushing the pair of you closer to the wall. Using the same momentum he dove head first into you. Flattening his tongue and lapping at the excitement that was dripping from you. You pulled the skirts up higher in your clenched fists as he ate you out like a man starved. Alternating between long broad stokes and precise attacks using the tip of his tongue on your clit.

Eskel shifted on his knees. One hand coming to press your sternum to the wall.  And the other coming to join him at your pussy. He suctioned his lips around your clit and gave a hard suck as he thrust two fingers into you. The double assault caused you to convulse. Moaning out his name, glad that his room was upstairs and not closer to the crowded bar downstairs. You switched to hold your skirts with one hand, tangling the other into his hair. Your pleasure becoming tug of war as he fought to push against the wall and you fought to push away from the wall to get even closer to him.

As the pumping of Eskel’s fingers continued he added a third finger to the mix, causing you to hit your head against the wall as you panted up towards the ceiling. Just as you were starting to look down again he curled his fingers inside you, hitting that soft spot in you head on. The intense pleasure sending your hear careening once again with the wall. Eskel began to hit your g-spot full on increasing the pressure and speed. It only took a minute at this speed before your legs were clamming on his head and you were coating his face in release.

Eskel worked you through your release, stopping as you dismounted your legs to try and stand. He stood up backing up to give you room. The first step was rocky but it didn’t take long for you to reach him and slam up into him in a kiss. You felt the very need to consume him as you tasted yourself on his tongue. Your hands forcefully yanked his shirt from where it was tucking into his breeches. He broke the kiss to toss the shirt over his head to join your undergarments somewhere in the room.

Your hand reached out to him, nails dragging over the chords of muscle and scars. Eskel’s hand traveled over your waist to the back of your dress, unlacing it. As the fabric dropped to the floor his hands stayed in there position beginning to unlace your corset. However after the dress he seemed impatient, because all you heard was a growl and a quick “fuck it’ before a second hand joined its brother and pulled the corset open. The laces violently popping out of the weaving. It would be a pain to relace in the morning, but right now your mind was elseward. Mainly on trying to get him to join you in being naked.  

Your hand fumbled with the belt and Eskel granted you mercy in helping you take it off. Once rid of it you took hold of his pants and underwear and pulled them down in one fell swoop. Caught off guard by it Eskel stumbled back, landing with a bounce on the bed. You knelt down, finalizing your mission in making him naked. You looked up at him and he looked as if his mouth had gone dry. You moved your hands over his thighs, his breath hitching up as if the gentle touch had scared him.

Lifting up even more you threw your arms over his thighs his cock coming into your direct eyesight. Thick was the first word that came to mind. It was thick, the head starting to turn purple as it leaked onto his stomach. You moved you hands up over his stomach you brought your mouth closer. You followed the prominent vein on the underside with the tip of your tongue as you made your way up.

You readjusted his cock with your hand and placed you mouth just so over the tip. You looked up at him and gave him a smile.

“You will have to forgive me Eskel” you started, “I’m quite starved” and that was all the warning you gave as you sunk your lips down over the tip. Eskel let out a groan, bending over slightly as he twisted a hand into your hair. You played with his tip a bit. Giving it a hard suck using your tongue to play with the slit. Trying not to tease him to much you sunk down quickly, using your hand to stimulate what your couldn’t reach.

Eskel seemed to struggle holding back as you sucked his cock. With each pass of your tongue over his head or hard suck on his shaft the string seemed to fray more and more. Eskel moved you off of him, urging you up and onto the bed. He pressed you down onto your stomach with an almost shocking tenderness. As he mounted you he pressed a languid kiss over the back of your neck, breath coming up to tease the shell of your ear.

You felt him spread your lips pressing his head in through the first ring of muscle. Being so close to your ear you cloud hear each and every delicious sound as it escaped his mouth. The gravel of it only deepened as he pushed further into you. The thick cock pushing your further apart and your walls clenched around him. He fully seated himself and pressed his chest into your back. As if Eskel was trying to get as much skin to touch as possible.

Slowly he pulled out, the tip just barely in as he slammed back home, causing your to shriek out in pleasure. He set a brutal pace. Simultaneously sweet and sinister at the same time. His hands gentle as he toyed with you, roaming over your sides. Yet his thrusts were brutal and punishing. His mouth was ajar and pressed into your shoulder.

Eskel’s thrust began to get erratic and your legs began to shake. The sounds he was making into your shoulder going up in tone. He slithered a hand to play with your clit and your body gave a jolt. Bucking up into him his paced increased even more. Suddenly his thighs began to shake and he gave a few hard thrusts before spilling into you. His bottom lip between his teeth as he pressed a far into you as possible. The fingers on your clit continued to speed up and combined with the feeling of his release inside you, you clenched down onto him in your second organism of the night.

Eskel stayed on top of you for a few moments before heaving himself off and onto the other side of the bed. His chest still driving up and down. You crawled your way over to him, grabbing the blanket that lay on the end of the bed with you. You halfheartedly draped the fabric over the two of you as you rested your head on his chest. As the fuzziness of sleep began to over take you, you reminded yourself of one thing.

To ask him if he would be interested in a traveling partner.

[trentaafcsblog]

Take Your Daddy To School Day

Trent Alexander-Arnold

This is my entry for the lovely @footballffbarbiex’s writing challenge 🤍 thank you so much for letting me take part, I hope you all enjoy it and please go and have a look if it’s something that you might be interested in - there’s some lovely prompts still to choose from x

It’s been a good what...seventeen, maybe eighteen, years since Trent was sat on the yellow table in the Hedgehogs Class? The classroom still has exactly the same name and layout as it did when he was there all those years ago. The same blue felt tip stain on the bottom of one of the walls from where the boy in the year above ‘accidentally’ wrote his name in his four-year-old squiggly handwriting, and the water tray still being full of the same plastic dinosaurs that he used to chase his friends with when it was time for creative play. The name pegs by the front windows are still where they used to be too. Teeny tiny wooden hedgehogs glued above the multicoloured hooks, a white label stuck beneath them with all of the children’s names on. And obviously your little girl’s coat and bag hang on the first peg, just like Trent’s used to, because they’re ordered alphabetically, a wave of nostalgia hitting him because he used to love hanging his belongings there as it meant he was the first to leave at the end of the day - and it just so happens that your little girl has also picked up on her daddy’s habits when it comes to wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

“Put your knees under the table, daddy” she’s tutting as T does everything he can to squash them under the yellow-topped desk without accidentally flipping it and sending the pot of scissors, glue sticks and blunt pencils across the room. His cheeks turning a dark shade of pink when your little girl’s teacher spots him shuffling around awkwardly and trying to disguise the fact that he’s in absolute agony, only intensifying when your daughter insists on pointing out daddy’s ‘raspberry face’ to the little boy sat on the table behind. But eventually he’s managing to do it, although the little plastic chair he’s sat on is now threatening to collapse, the metal legs bowing slightly each time he leans more to one side to help your little girl with her work or has to turn around when one of the children gasps and points before not so quietly whispering ‘that’s the man that kicks a football’.

“Daddy, you can do this one” she’s announcing as they plough their way through the worksheet they’ve been given to complete by lunchtime. “But I’ve just done all of these ones” he’s giggling as he points to the group of maths questions he’s just answered because he knows your little girl struggles with her numbers and he’s too soft to let her sit and find the answer on her own. “But you’re cleverer than me” she smiles, hoping that her compliment persuades Trent to write the answer down, not that he needs any sort of persuasion because he’s already scribbling down the answer, but she’s already picked up on the fact that if you’re nice to people, they’ll be nice to you - something she definitely uses to her advantage. 

They’re both managing to finish the work before the bell rings for lunch, a miracle really since they've been interrupted every two minutes by one of other dads having a fangirl moment or one of the mums trying their best to impress Trent with their very limited football knowledge, obviously hoping that he’s blown away by it and runs off into the sunset with them. But regardless, they’re getting it done in time and heading off to the lunch hall together hand in hand. Trent carrying both of their lunch boxes and politely waving to the screaming children in the classrooms they walk past, your little girl still too innocent to understand why daddy attracts so much attention, hence the string of ‘why are they shouting at yous?’ as they make their way into the dining hall.

They’re sitting opposite each other on one of the collapsible tables with little blue seats. The smell of whatever unappetising it is being served for lunch filling their noses and making Trent feel quite sick, acting as a reminder as to why he refused to eat school dinners and instead stuck to his cream cheese sandwiches that were wrapped up in his Spider-Man lunch box. “Cheers” your little girl’s giggling as she smashes her jam sandwich against Trent’s tuna one, both of them cut into tiny little squares which T had begged you not to do, but it’s not really a ‘take your dad to school day’ if he doesn’t eat the same as the children, is it? Which is exactly why the Liverpool shirt shaped lunch box he picked up from the club shop on the way home from training the other night is full of a packet of Mini Cheddars, a strawberry Frube yoghurt (even though he tried to pretend that he didn’t like them), two tangerines to try and balance out the sugar in the Mr Kipling angel cake, and a Capri Sun which he has no shame in admitting that he absolutely loves. 

Their twenty minute playtime afterwards is consisting of Trent taking on the rest of the school in a football match, but obviously it’s not cool to be seen playing football with your dad in front of all of your friends, hence why your little girl is deciding to engage in a very in-depth discussion about last night’s episode of Peppa Pig instead, occasionally turning around to see if T’s still winning, which obviously he is, despite having about a hundred children slide tackling into him and pulling his shirt. “Are you not proud of me?” he’s saying jokingly as he makes his way off the pitch and over to your baby girl who’s pretending that she can’t see Trent leaping around in front of all of her friends, all because he beat a bunch of five year olds at his own job. “Daddy, stop!” she’s giggling, grateful for the few curls around the edge of her face that mask her blushing cheeks because seeing your daddy show everyone up is one thing, but now having him flexing about it is another. 

They’re making their way back to the Hedgehogs Class when the bell rings to signal the end of lunchtime. A few parents leaping in front of the two of them on the way to congratulate Trent on his most recent performances and awards, causing even more confusion for your little girl because since when has the whole world known about daddy and his job? And why is Jacob’s mummy, who always causes a scene in the playground when she sees someone wearing a football shirt because it’s ‘tacky’ and ‘the most pathetic sport’, suddenly so interested in a game that she tells everyone she hates? Or is she just interested in Trent? Who knows.

The two of them are spending the rest of the day doing creative play, flicking between playing with the dinosaurs in the water table, to making you a card for no other reason than because they love you, to creating one another out of red and yellow PlayDoh - something Trent won’t be doing again because he’s convinced himself that he looks like the slightly disfigured model that your daughter has made - one foot three times the size of the other, an unfortunate bulge on the top of his head, and arms that are extremely long and skinny. And his doubts aren’t going away because your little girl keeps reinforcing the fact that ‘it’s you, daddy’, much to the amusement of all of the other parents who giggle away at how disappointed and awkward he looks after being compared to crusty piece of five-year-old PlayDoh.

“I had fun with you being a big boy at school today” she’s saying as she walks hand in hand with Trent over to her peg, his dad instinct coming out as he helps her put her coat on and pack her book bag. “Did you?” he’s asking, his heart melting into a puddle when she nods her head and gives him a little smile. “I had so much fun too, even if you did splash me at the water table” he’s saying, tickling her sides and making her giggle at the memory of the plastic dinosaur ‘accidentally’ dropping from above her head right into the water in front of him. “Shall we go and tell mummy about today then?” he’s saying as he reaches down and takes her hand in his before the two of them are stepping out into the playground together, your little girl bursting with excitement ready to tell you all about their day and how Trent now has a gold star stuck on the wall for being the ‘cleverest at knowing all of the dinosaurs’ names’.

[erin-bo-berin]

My Heroine

MASTERLIST

This fic was inspired by the song My Heroine by The Maine which you can listen to here, if you’d like. The song I’ve come to realize sounds like it can have multiple interpretations, but I was inspired to use the whole “reader is Spencer’s drug of choice” plot. Not gonna lie it was rough writing about his prison trauma cause I consider it to be one of his biggest traumas, but I kinda wanted this to be a journey from his avoidance of it to his eventual acceptance, all while sex is his “heroin” or the reader is the “heroine” in his story. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy. Happy reading!

Spencer Reid/Reader

Rating: M (smut)

Word Count: 4,460

I’m feeling pretty dirty baby

Forgive my sins

I get the feeling you can save me honey,

My heroine

The silver gleam from the sharp blade caught his eye as it hit the light. In any other circumstances, the sharpness of it might actually be considered  beautiful.

This was anything but beautiful.

This was horrifying.

The metal was so closely pressed to skin that even a small flinch could draw blood.

“Never ever mess with a man’s stash on the inside. When you do,” the man paused for a second—a millisecond—before the knife sliced across the skin, ripping the hostage’s throat open.

He struggled against the person holding him, his momentary shock and need to help his friend making him fight the grip of the big man, even more.

“People get hurt,” the first guy said, backing away.

The second man let go of him, his friend falling to the floor, choking on his own blood. While they made their departure from the laundry room, he ran to his injured friend’s side, grabbing a towel to hold against the wound.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” he repeated, kneeling over the only friendly face he’d known in the last weeks.

If he repeated it enough, he’d be okay. He had to be. 

“Guard!” he yelled.

His hands cradled his friend’s face as he lay gasping and wheezing, the fear in his eyes matching his own. 

In all the years, throughout all the things he saw that most normal people didn’t, he’d never been as terrified as he was right now. His heart raced from the fear and he was breathing heavy as he screamed as loud as he could.

“HELP! HELLLLP!”

Spencer shot up in bed, breathing hard.

His face was sweaty, his entire body was sweaty, in fact. His t-shirt clung to his skin.

He kicked off the covers, sitting on the side of his bed, running his hands through his hair. He tried in vain to calm his pounding heart and slow his breathing.

The nightmares hadn’t stopped. If anything, they’d gotten worse.

A rare burst of anger caused him to shove the object that was sitting on his nightstand, off of it with extreme force.

He glared at the journal on the floor where it had landed haphazardly. He didn’t want to write in it like his therapist suggested. It didn’t help him then and it wasn’t going to help him now.

He rubbed his eyes, trying desperately to erase all the images that constantly played behind his eyes, regardless if he was asleep or awake.

It was the middle of the night, but he knew what he needed. He grabbed his phone off the charger and sent a quick text.

I need a distraction.

The recipient would understand, he knew. It was only 1 am and they were known to be a night owl anyway. 

He grabbed a pair of pants to change into and pulled them on in place of his pajama pants. All he had to grab were his car keys and his phone and he was out the door.

-

It’d only been six months since Spencer had been released from prison in which he spent three long, grueling months in.

He had been framed.

That was the first thing he remembered thinking, even under the influence of heroin and cocaine, in which the unsub had drugged him with. He had been sitting in a prison cell in Mexico, but deep down he knew he hadn’t done anything, even if his mind was scrambled and tried desperately to convince himself otherwise.

Fucking Cat Adams. If she hadn’t been such a psychopath, he might’ve admired her intelligence and skills to pull off something so elaborate, but alas, she was.

Her and her female partner Lindsey Vaughn had been watching him, waiting to strike. All because Spencer had arrested Cat and outsmarted her. It’s where she belonged after all. She’d been a

hit woman, operating in the shadows of the dark web that even experts in the area couldn’t even fathom.

She, along with four other assassins had been working for years before any law enforcement even knew of their existence. Spencer and the rest of his fellow Behavioral Analysis team had been the only ones to get close enough to them. Close enough in fact, to take them all down, every last one.

Cat Adams though, had been the hardest one. She was one to play mind games and she hated to lose. Which she had against him; he’d outsmarted her and she was the one who’d landed in a prison cell.

Of course, being the kind of person she was, she wasn’t going to take that lying down. So, she returned the favor.

He had been determined to help his mother—Diana Reid—who’d been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia all his life, but now had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. He was smart, he was sure he could help her, fix her maybe.

There’d been a plethora of drug trials, medicine combinations, diet changes, but nothing helped. So without his teammates—who happened to be the closest friends he had—knowledge, he had been crossing the Mexico border numerous times to get medicine for his mother, one that was definitely not FDA approved.

It was one of these trips that Lindsey—and technically Cat too—had struck. 

She’d dosed him with a spray of scopolamine, pumped him full of cocaine and heroin and murdered the woman he’d been meeting to get the vials of medicine from.

It was bad, really bad. He was the prime suspect in the murder and that is how he ended up in Millburn Correctional Facility pending trial for three months.

Thankfully, the BAU had worked their asses off to clear his name, but in the time spent in prison he had experienced some pretty awful things.

If that hadn’t been bad enough, Cat had orchestrated another evil plan. Lindsey had managed to kidnap his mother.

Less than 12 hours after being released from jail, he was back in another one to face Cat again and play her games. 

She had been executed for her crimes and the additional charges she faced for framing him and kidnapping his mother. He wasn’t the least bit remorseful; if anything, he was glad he’d never have to deal with her again. He dealt with her in his mind enough as is.

Spencer didn’t deal with emotions very well, so it was no surprise to himself that he didn’t stop to process his trauma.

Instead, he found other outlets.

He’d known Y/N for several years but had done an awful job of keeping in touch as the years passed. He’d recently reconnected with her before his arrest and then he’d pulled away again.

He felt bad for never telling her until after the fact, but he’d been embarrassed enough. 

She was a good friend, one who had said she would do anything to help him if and when he needed it.

That’s how the arrangement began. It’d happened once, by accident, but it had helped him forget everything when he needed it the most.

Which is why at 1 a.m. he was headed over to her house, just to forget everything for a while.

Your hips, my hands, you swing and you dance

Yeah, I’m feeling pretty lonely baby 

Just let me in

Just let me in

The door to her apartment opened to reveal her barefoot and in a long, oversized t-shirt.

“Hey,” she greeted him.

He didn’t waste time with the greetings, he kicked the door closed with his foot and grabbed her face, kissing her.

Within minutes he had her pressed up against her door, hands roaming under her shirt as he kissed her hungrily.

He wanted to forget.

Needed to forget.

She moaned into the kiss. Lucky for him, she got horny easily. She was always ready to go at it whenever. Maybe it had something to do with him, although he didn’t know. He never really took the time to dwell on it.

His fingers stroked her bare stomach as his tongue moved against hers. Her hands clutched the bottom of his shirt, pulling away long enough to help him yank it over his head. Her shirt followed suit.

For a while, they stayed there, top halves pressed against one another as their lips moved together in a complicated, yet simple dance. 

They made out for a while, while Spencer forced his brain to empty and focus on her. It finally worked as he felt his crotch tighten, his need for her now more than just something to get him through the night.

She led him back to her bedroom and within minutes was kneeling in front of him, pulling his cock out of his pants.

“You gonna be a good little girl and suck my cock?” he mumbled, looking down at her with lidded eyes.

Normally, he would never fathom talking like this. But something had changed within him in the last six months. He was rougher around the edges, he quite literally didn’t give a fuck anymore. Which proved to be true since he quite literally had a fuck buddy—something the old Spencer wouldn’t even consider.

He cared about her, but like him, she didn’t want anything serious, so he never felt too bad taking advantage of her this way. Weren’t they both using each other anyway?

“Your wish is my command,” she purred, making his cock throb even more.

The moment her mouth touched him, his eyes closed in pure bliss, the feeling chasing the nightmares away.

His hand threaded in her hair, guiding her head as her tongue glided and mouth hollowed out, sucking him like her favorite popsicle. She was amazing at this, he definitely had to give her that.

“Y/N, fuck,” he groaned, his hips bucking up towards her mouth.

Her tongue was his gateway to an anxiety free mind—at least for the time being.

He pushed her away after a few minutes. He wasn’t going to last if she kept that up much longer.

With surprising agility, he’d had her from her knees to bent over the end of the bed in seconds.

Their sessions were far from romantic love making—the type of intimacy he knew she deserved—but more animalistic and frenzied. 

He knew he was selfish and instead of letting her have what she deserved from a man, he held tight to her like she was his lifeline.

In a way, she had become his lifeline. Things got worse the longer he tried to stay away from her. That’s why he always returned.

Her moans and the slap of their bodies were the only sounds heard in the room as he thrust deep into her. Even as fucked up as he was, he had to be an idiot to not admit that sex with her was incredible. She was incredible.

“Spencer, oh my god, fuck.”

Her words came out in a strangled moan as he’d switched up the movements of his hips. Instead of the fast and harsh thrusts, they turned into slow and deeper ones. He may only be her fuck buddy, but he was still gonna be damn sure she got her pleasure out of it too.

His fingers dug into her hips as he tried to erase the images of his earlier nightmare with every thrust. Usually, it worked. Tonight though, he was struggling.

Instead of disappearing, the memories kept flashing through his head like a silent movie on repeat.

The helplessness everyone felt in that prison.

The fear he felt.

The images of a group of white men who pointed a knife in his face his first full night in prison.

Two, sneering and sadistically joyful faces hovering over him as they beat him to a pulp, smothering his face with a rag.

His desperate decision in doing something so awful that it hurt more men than he intended it to.

The constant paranoia.

The fear he had become a monster.

Every single moment inside he’d spent that he had to make choices he’d never fathomed he’d have to—only to survive.

Delgado.

“Switch it up,” he muttered, pulling out of her, turning her around.

His jaw was tense, his body was rigid. All he wanted was one orgasm to erase his nightmare.

Her eyes narrowed, sensing his tension but knowing better than to comment on it.

“Let me take care of you,” she whispered.

She pushed him towards the head of the bed, ordering him to sit against it. He did as he was told, focusing all of his attention on her again.

When she climbed into his lap to straddle him, his breathing had become ragged and he was glad that the stirrings of his arousal were coming back—his sexual attraction to her luring him back in again.

She sank down on him and he exhaled sharply, groaning lowly. The feeling of her tight around him was always like drinking water after being utterly parched.

“You like that?” she purred, her hands resting against his chest, “You like when I take care of you?”

“Very much so,” he growled.

He thread his hand into the back of her hair, pulling her face towards his. He kissed her roughly, his lower half meeting the speed she’d set since she was now the one in charge. Her pelvis grinded against his, giving her even more pleasure, he was sure.

As much as he did this for his benefit, he also had a small sense of pride in knowing he could make her moan and writhe like he did. His hands cupped her breasts, massaging them and she threw her head back with a loud moan. 

He could practically fall apart at that sight alone, but he managed to resist.

His lips attached to her throat, sucking harshly, sure to leave a mark. Their moves were frantic as she gripped the headboard and he bucked relentlessly into her.

They both spiraled into ecstasy, not that far apart from one another.

Sweaty and out of breath, she moved off of him, gathering her clothes and tossing his own to him.

“Want something to eat before you go?”

She asked it so nonchalantly it was as if he hadn’t just spent about half an hour buried to the hilt in her.

“No, thanks though.”

He wasn’t one to stay long after the deed, even though a part of him felt like an ass for it. Y/N didn’t deserve that. But if it ever bothered her, she never let on.

She nodded, watching him as he finished pulling his shirt over his head.

“I’m around, if you need me.”

Spencer gave a nod and headed to the door, grabbing his car keys on his way out.

You’re my heroine, but you’re suicide 

If I let you in you’ll crawl inside 

You save my skin

But you can’t wait to sink in 

My heroine

In a way, Y/N had become his drug.

Whenever things got too hard, he went to her. But lately, it was like every time he fucked her, it only left him needing more.

His PTSD was getting worse, the sex was only distracting him for so long, but he was stubborn. He wasn’t going to give her up anytime soon.

The PTSD was also affecting his work and he knew it.

It’d been six months since his release from prison, but he’d only been reinstated for three months. He worked his ass off to get his position back and he wasn’t about to let his emotions get the best of him.

He was currently trying to focus on the geo profile in front of him, but his vision kept blurring. He rubbed his eye, trying hard to block out everything else but this case.

He was becoming increasingly irritable as well.

It had only been a week since his last visit to Y/N, but he was craving her and her distractions so much. His nightmares hadn’t ceased, he was hardly sleeping and his teammates weren’t oblivious.

They knew he was having a hard time readjusting.

Spencer doubted they knew just how bad it really was though.

The map blurred in front of his eyes again, the sight being replaced with moving pictures, his memories being played before his eyes.

Like the time he was so desperate to survive, he poisoned drugs that he was supposed to move, instead of getting involved with the situation.

He ended up causing several men to get incredibly sick—his guilt over that still haunted him at night.

Prison was an incredibly dangerous place and he had been too good of a person to survive as long as he had.

For a while he’d had two friends; Delgado and Shaw.

One was murdered in front of him.

The other turned out to be using him. Shaw ran the entire prison population. He called the shots and people listened to him. But Spencer wanted no part of that.

Making an enemy of Shaw had been deadly. In fact, it came close to being deadly. Spencer could’ve easily lost his life behind bars.

It had been months since he had been locked up, but the sense of helplessness he felt still haunted him to this day. It smothered him like the sweltering heat on a hot, summer day.

He rubbed his palms into his eyes. He felt like he couldn’t breathe while at the same time his heart rate accelerated. His sense of fight or flight was being triggered and he couldn’t stop the sense of dread that was engulfing his senses.

“Spence, you okay?”

“Yeah, I just need some fresh air,” he answered, brushing past a worried JJ.

The moment he exited the crowded police station and the cool air hit his face, he felt fractionally better, but the anxiety still gripped him.

He gripped his tie, yanking at it and loosening it, so he could breathe. The feel of it around his neck had been making him feel like he was suffocating more so than he already had been.

His therapist had told him panic attacks were normal with PTSD, but he hadn’t had them much. This was an exception apparently.

He leaned against the brick of the building and tried to focus on his breathing to bring his heart rate down. After all he’d endured, he wasn’t about to let a damn panic attack take him down.

His eyes were closed as he tried to calm down, so he didn’t hear Luke approaching.

“Reid.”

He opened his eyes, seeing his teammate Luke Alvez, standing next to him. 

He wondered how he currently looked through Luke’s eyes. A mess, probably. 

Luke didn’t beat around the bush, either.

“Your PTSD has gotten worse, hasn’t it?” he asked, gently.

Spencer shrugged.

“Spencer, if you need to take some time—”

“I don’t need to take time off because I’m fine,” he snapped.

Luke flinched as if Spencer had physically hit him. If anything, he knew that his outburst was just further proof at how not okay he was.

“I need to get back to work,” he mumbled, moving around Luke to head back inside.

He wasn’t sure of anything much lately, but one thing he knew for sure was when they got back from the current case, he was heading straight to Y/N’s apartment.

I feel a little withdrawal baby,

Come pick me up

Took a hit from your level

Now I just can’t get enough 

Your taste, my touch

A little bit of love and a whole lot of lust 

He was back at her door, knocking.

She opened the door, dressed in another oversized t-shirt—due to the late hour of night—and greeted him with a wordless nod. Somehow, he thought she knew that he was having a bad time today.

He looked like shit, that he knew. His hair was a mess of tangled curls, his eyes were bloodshot and deep, dark bags shined brightly under his face, darker than his normal appearance. His cheekbones were more prominent lately as well since he wasn’t eating much, nor was he sleeping well either.

“How do you want me?” she asked.

Her tone was dull and to the point and threw him off guard for a moment. She’d never made it about her, ever. But now, looking at her, he could see her unhappiness. Whether he caused it or not, he was unsure.

This arrangement of theirs had been only to help him forget. Too quickly, it had become like an addiction for him. She was like his drug. He needed her to forget. But maybe, at the same time, she was tired of trying to help him when he couldn’t even help himself.

He promised himself that this would be the last time. Once more and he’d let her go. He’d let her be free of him. She’d be happier anyways.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said.

He tried to be gentle as he pulled her towards him. As he kissed her, he felt her body melt into his. Maybe he had been imagining her mood earlier.

He tried to focus on getting hard, not on all the horrors that constantly swirled in his mind.

His lips moved swiftly with hers in a kiss that was anything but romantic or gentle. It was lust driven and filled with his own desperate need to be distracted.

She knew exactly what to do to get him in the mood, that’s for sure. 

Her teeth tugged at his lower lip gently, her tongue almost the complete opposite of their current actions. It was gentle and hesitant as it met his before continuing its dance with his own.

He pulled her closer, his hand tangled in her hair as he kissed her more roughly, pushing her against the arm of her couch.

In the blink of an eye, he had her turned around and bent over the arm, his hand gliding over the silk material of her underwear. He felt a small swell of pride hearing her moan as he touched her. It also went a long way in helping his own arousal which was now throbbing in his pants.

He was already unbuttoning his pants as he kissed her neck, his hips pressing into hers. The more he got into it, the more he actually felt that he wanted this—that he wanted her.

With one smooth movement, he had her underwear pulled down to her thighs and he entered her with a groan.

But he couldn’t focus. 

Somehow, without him realizing it, the memories had slipped through a crack in his mind.

Instead of being there with Y/N, he was back in that cell.

The countless hours sitting in a cell, trying to remember something he never did.

The desperation, the helplessness in that place.

Familiar faces he dealt with sped across his mind.

Malcolm, Shaw, Delgado, Wilkins. Frazier, Duerson, the two men who gave him a beating meant for Delgado.

The fear he felt in those final days when he had no one to trust, when he had to stab himself in the leg to get into solitary confinement, just to stay alive.

The horrible memories were flashing in his head at the speed of lightning.

“Ow! Spencer, you’re hurting me.”

Spencer snapped back to the present, realizing his fingers were creating bruises on Y/N’s hips from his too tight grip.

“This isn’t working,” he said in way of an apology, pulling out of her.

He was already going soft anyway, the previous arousal now completely gone and replaced by his racing thoughts and memories.

“It’s fine,” she muttered, pulling down her t-shirt and pulling up her underwear.

He had just zipped up his suit pants—he’d come straight from the jet—when she spoke again.

“Actually, no. It’s not okay.”

Spencer blinked in surprise at her harsh tone. He didn’t think he’d ever heard her raise her voice.

“I’m sick of this Spencer! I know we started this a while ago for...reasons,” she flapped her hand in midair as if demonstrating all the unsaid things between them.

“But I can’t do it anymore. I care about you Spencer. Honestly right now I don’t know if it’s as more than a friend or just as a friend but that’s another can of worms to open another time. You can’t keep doing this! You can’t keep coming to me and fucking me to try and rid your demons. You’ve been through a hell of a lot and you didn’t deserve any of it, but I’m not going to stand her and watch my friend destroy himself because he refuses to get the help he so desperately needs.”

Spencer stood, frozen in place, mouth agape. It was then he saw tears shining in her eyes.

“We have a lot to sort out between us, eventually, but you need to help yourself first,” she whispered, as if feeling defeated by her previous outburst.

He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what he could say.

“I know facing everything, processing it all is a scary feeling, Spencer. Even if you tried reaching out to a friend to talk through it, that would be a big step. I just...I just want you to get better.”

A single tear slid down her cheek and he did the worst possible thing to do.

He fled her apartment like the coward he was.

•

He didn’t go home. 

Instead, he walked around the city as the daylight receded and the sun slipped behind the horizon, saying goodnight to the world until the next day.

He spent a lot of time thinking.

He ended up dashing into a busy diner he came across as the night sky opened up and rain began falling in sheets.

He sat in his booth, absentmindedly sipping on the cup of coffee he’d ordered and watched the rain fall in the darkness outside.

In an ironic way, the weather outside was similar to the turmoil he felt inside. 

Just like the completely blackened sky outside, he felt just as dark and empty. The storm was similar to the storm of emotions, memories, traumas he continually tried to squash, all in the wrong ways.

He knew ignoring his problems wouldn’t make them go away; he also knew using sex as a distraction was the worst possible thing to do as well, yet he’d continued to do it and he’d hurt more than just himself in the process.

He’d hurt his friends, who’d only wanted to help, but pushed them away. He’d hurt Y/N, who didn’t deserve to be treated like a plaything, yet he kept coming back, making things worse.

By the time he’d finished his coffee, he decided what he wanted to do. What he knew he needed to do.

I’m feeling pretty lonely baby,

So just let me in

Just let me in 

He’d ran through the pouring rain. He didn’t even bother to try to take any transportation. The rain felt like it was washing him clean from the horrors of the last year.

He was back at her door, but this time, for a different reason. 

He was soaking wet and felt a lot like a dog with his tail between his legs, but he refused to chicken out once again. So, he knocked.

She answered, this time in actual pajamas rather than the attire she was in hours before.

Maybe it was the expression he wore or something she saw in his face because she didn’t immediately slam the door in his face—something he knew he deserved. She stood patiently, almost questioningly, waiting for him to speak first.

He took a deep breath before speaking the words he should’ve uttered months ago.

“I’m ready to talk. I’m ready to get the help I need.”

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[among-starz]

Spring, Summer, and Autumn (Gavin x Kiro x MC)

TW: slight internalized homophobia

-When you met Kiro for the first time, you were immediately enamored with him.

-I mean, who wouldn't fall for a famous pop idol?

-But as you got to know him better, you just fell deeper and deeper into your feelings for him. He's funny, childish, and kind not to mention great-looking you couldn't help having feelings for him.

-And when you met up with Gavin again after all those years apart, you were surprised at just how kind and gentlemanly he is.

-You were always afraid of him, given his reputation and the blood-stained letter, but this man standing before you was entirely different than the image of him you had fabricated in your head.

-You found yourself falling for him too.

-You thought, eventually, you would fall more in love with one of them than the other, but as you spent time with each of them your feelings stayed stronger than ever.

-You didn't know what to do, you couldn't choose.

-One day, though, after a long day of fun with Kiro, he confessed his feeling for you.

-On the one hand, you were so happy that he returned your feelings for him.

-On the other hand, half your heart still belonged to Gavin.

-You were at a loss for what to do.

-So you told Kiro that, while you returned his affections, you had to think about it for a bit. Thankfully he completely understood.

-You spent the next few days weighing the options in your head. While you liked both Kiro and Gavin, you weren't sure if Gavin liked you back. MC, come on open your eyes.

-And if you left Kiro hanging for too long, he may drift away.

-You made a surprise visit to his house and told him you accept his feelings for you.

-You started dating almost immediately after that.

-But of course, Gavin was completely in love with you. He always has been.

-So when he saw your figure on the cover of a magazine under the headline "Kiro's New Partner?" He felt his heart shatter into a million pieces.

-You were the only one he ever loved, the only one he ever wanted, and you had slipped right out of his fingers. If he had only been more forward, maybe you would be smiling in his arms instead of Kiro's.

-He couldn't handle it, before he knew what he was doing he had ridden sparky to a nearby bar and had downed his first beer. Even though he was never much of a drinker, he couldn't help but try to drown out his sorrows.

-He drank beer after beer, and before he knew it, he found himself in bed with a massive headache.

-He wasn't in his bed, though, he discovered after a bit.

-He looked around the strange room, trying to piece his memory from the night before back together. The room was spotless, and when Gavin sat up, he found his clothes hung over a nearby chair.

-He was no closer to finding his lost memories, but Gavin's not that dumb. He could piece together what probably happened.

-Gavin grabbed his clothes and, surprisingly, they smelled like laundry detergent instead of a bar.

-This girl he had hooked up with washed his clothes for him.

-When he finally dressed, he found his way to the door and poked his head out, and was immediately hit with a smell of pancakes.

-He looked towards where the smell was coming from and found a figure a bit smaller than his own. Brown hair pulled up into a bun, she hummed an unknown tune as she cooked.

-Gavin coughed awkwardly, and she turned around.

-No, he turned around.

-Though the long hair deceived him at first, this person was unmistakenly a man.

-And, suddenly, Gavin's memories came flooding back to him.

-Drinking beer after beer, talking to this brown-haired man that reminded him of you, dancing with him, and suddenly their lips were together.

-They came back to this man's house and...

-A hot scarlet blush burned furiously on Gavin's face as he remembered their late-night activities.

-"You're finally awake," the brown-haired man said, placing a few pancakes on a plate and putting it on the counter, "Hope you like pancakes."

-Gavin wanted out, needed out. He needed time to think about what happened, about you, about this stranger that he hooked up with. But ever the polite person, Gavin sat down at the counter and thanked this man.

-They ate in silence for a while, Gavin's thoughts stirring around inside his head until he couldn't take it anymore.

-"I've never done that before," words spilled out of Gavin's mouth like vomit, "I mean," he coughs, "with a man."

-The brown-haired man just laughed, "yeah I could tell." This only made Gavin blush more.

-"I'm not," Gavin started, "I don't think, I didn't think I was," he couldn't find it within himself to say those words.

-"I get it," the man said, leaning towards Gavin, "We've all been there, suppressing ourselves until we don't even recognize who we really are."

-They sat in silence for a few more moments, Gavin completely abandoning his pancakes to stare at the man before him.

-"For me," the man started again, "I really liked this girl, not in a romantic way or anything, I just truly admired her. I didn't want to accept who I was, so I hyper-fixated myself on her. Convinced myself I was in love with her and chased after her until I finally caught her. And when I did, I realized it had all been a sham."

-For the second time in less than 24 hours, Gavin felt everything within him explode. Was that, is that how he felt about you? Fixating all his feeling onto you so he didn't have to look deep within himself to find out what he truly wanted?

-Neither of them said another word for a while until the man called Gavin an Uber. And then Gavin left, never finding out the brown-haired man's name.

-Gavin knew he had a lot of thinking to do, a lot of self-discovery, and to do that, the best first step would be to distance himself from you.

-As much as his heart ached at the thought, he knew he had to do it.

-And you knew you had to distance yourself from Gavin as well.

-You wanted to be happy with Kiro, but while you still harbored feelings for Gavin that happiness would never fully bloom. If you stopped seeing Gavin, maybe those feelings would go away on their own.

-You spent those months without Gavin falling deeper and deeper in love with Kiro. You knew you couldn't live without him.

-Gavin spent those months trying to find himself. He went on dates with girls and with guys, slept with girls and with guys, and tried to make a few more friends.

-Because of his frequent missions for work, however, relationships never became serious, with guys or with girls. But, after a while, he finally admitted to himself that he was bisexual.

-When it came time to come out, the only person he could think of was you. His feelings for you had dulled over the months apart, but you still held a special place in his heart. You had saved him once, and in a way, you pushed him down the path of finding himself, saving him once again.

-You received a phone call from Gavin inviting you and Kiro out to lunch.

-Your feelings for Gavin had dulled over time as well, so you felt safe in accepting his offer.

-You and Kiro met up with Gavin at the ramen shop near your old high school.

-After a bit of small talk, Gavin said what he came here to say.

-You were so happy that Gavin told you. Overcome with emotions, you were on your feet in an instant, enveloping Gavin in your arms.

-And just like that, happiness erupted in Gavin's chest.

-Not only did you accept him, but you were genuinely happy for him, something he definitely did not expect.

-That day, Gavin also learned that Kiro, too, was bisexual.

-Kiro was publicly out and very proud of his identity. He assured Gavin that, if he ever needed someone to talk to about his sexuality, he would always be there for him.

-And the lunch ended with Gavin on cloud nine. Two people accepted him, all of him, there was no feeling better than this.

-The three of you started hanging out more often. Most of the time, you all ended up at Kiro's house because being out in public so often isn't an option for Kiro.

-But you all watched movies together, played board games, or just talked and hung out.

-And before he knew it, the feelings of happiness that had welled up in Gavin because you and Kiro both accepted had morphed into something more.

-He would find himself staring at you like he was in high school again. Your contagious laugh that echoed throughout the room, your eyes that he swore he could see stars out of and just everything about you lit a fire in his heart like never before.

-Even if his feelings for you before were fake, these feelings definitely weren't.

-Confusingly, though, Gavin would catch himself looking at Kiro the same way.

-His beautiful baby blue eyes, his sunshine hair, his melodious voice.

-But what drew him in the most, was the two of you together.

-The way you clung to Kiro, looking at him like he was the most beautiful person in the world. The way Kiro held your hand, letting his thumb explore your palm, and the love that threatened to spill over in your eyes when he did that. The way you whispered things in his ear, eliciting the sweetest giggle from the blonde. He wanted that, from both of you.

-Gavin knew he should distance himself, he couldn't risk breaking up your happy relationship because of his feelings, but the temptation was too much, he just couldn't leave.

-At the same time, your feelings for Gavin came bubbling up once again, but they seemed to come back even stronger than they were before.

-Maybe it was his newfound confidence, his eyes shone just a bit brighter, and that thousand-yard stare of his was a lot rarer nowadays.

-But, the thing you found most attractive in him now was the way he interacted with Kiro.

-Gavin would help Kiro with every whim of his, even if his latest whim was to sneak a whole chocolate cake past Savin into his recording studio.

-In the rare moments the three of you hung out in public together, Gavin was ever watchful for violent fans and was ready to fight to protect the two of you.

-And if a fan were to spot you three, Gavin would take you both by the hand and run you to an alleyway, take both of you in his arms, and fly away. Kiro was immensely impressed by this and begged Gavin to take him flying more often. Gavin accepted.

-You could see yourself being happy with Gavin, with Kiro, the three of you intertwined into one.

-You knew it was selfish, to want these two amazing men in your life, you knew you should probably distance yourself from Gavin, you had chosen Kiro and that was that, but the temptation was too strong. You couldn't imagine your life without Gavin, so you just couldn't push him away.

-Kiro knew that you had once had feelings for Gavin, though you never explicitly told him, he could read you like an open book. Despite this, he never hesitated to allow Gavin into the two of your's lives once again.

-Romantic feelings or not, Gavin was an important part of your life, and Kiro just couldn't keep that away from you.

-What surprised Kiro, though, was his own new feelings that began to spring up inside him.

-Of course, he always loved you, he couldn't deny that, but watching Gavin and you interact, he couldn't help but be enchanted.

-The way Gavin was so protective of you, how his Carmel eyes melted when you did something sweet, and how his face turned bright red at your slightest touch.

-And, to point out the obvious, Gavin was wildly attractive.

-Kiro couldn't help but wonder what it would be like together, the three of you, forever.

-The morning after a particularly late movie night, the three of you found yourselves intertwined in each other's arms on the couch.

-And, all at once, you all confessed your feelings you had been trying to hide from each other.

-And just like that with a little more communication I'm not smart enough to write Gavin joined you and Kiro.

-Not much changed in the three of yours relationship at first, except there was a lot of cuddles shared between the three of you.

-You loved clinging onto one side of Gavin, Kiro on the other side, basking in each other's warmth.

-The slight rumble of Gavin's chest when you or Kiro said something particularly dumb was like heaven on Earth.

-And the way he gave you both soft kisses on the head when he needed to get up after at least 10 minutes of the two of you begging him to stay was sweeter than anything you've ever tasted.

-Gavin never left the two of your's sides if he could help it.

-Savin, being the man he is, desperately did not want this relationship to become public knowledge, thinking it wouldn't last. "what would happen to poor Kiro's reputation?"

-And despite how you all hated to admit it, he was right. Going public too soon could crush this fragile relationship, and you all wanted so desperately to hold onto this paradise. So, for a while, Gavin posed as you and Kiro's bodyguard.

-With sunglasses and a scowl, Gavin played the role well.

-But that didn't stop the two of you from showering him with affection when you were out of the public's eye.

-One day, with his signature bright blush on his face, Gavin took Kiro's hand in his and slipped something over it.

-A bracelet, matching perfectly with the one he had given you, but in place of the ginkgo leaf was a cherry blossom.

-Gavin kept Kiro's hand in his, taking yours in his other hand, thumb grazing over your ginkgo leaf bracelet. "When you started dating Kiro, MC, I thought my life was over. I had always loved you, and I thought, without you in my life, there wasn't a point in living. But that heartbreak brought me to where I am today, embracing who I truly am with the two people I love most by my side. I can't thank you both enough for what you've brought to my life."

-Gavin squeezed your hand in his, "You're my autumn," then squeezed Kiro's hand "and my spring."

-Kiro and you cried, hard.

-After that, Savin could tell Gavin wasn't going anywhere, so he allowed the relationship to go public.

-The reaction was definitely mixed at first. Unsavory things were said by some, but in the end, most people saw how much love radiated around the three of you they couldn't help but support your relationship.

-Gavin brought so much love into your lives that, even if not a single person accepted your relationship, you wouldn't trade it for the world.

-Gavin brought happiness, warmth, and sunshine.

-He was your summer.

[blackcherrykiss]

BLOOD BOUNDARIES - Enhypen OT7 Fanfic (ch.6)

[CH.1] [CH.2] [CH.3] [CH.4] [CH.5] previous chapters

[CH.7] next chapter (unavailable, check back or follow for updates!)

genre: vampire au, romance, drama, mystery, thriller

note: written inspired by enhypen's storyline, given-taken lyrics & teasers. please keep in mind all members are apart of this fanfic and the main theme is mystery/drama!

*P.S swear words are used (i try not to use them often lol but i feel they added to the emotion in the dialogue) the beginning lowkey not proofread sorry happy readings!

"I sensed you were here." He commented sternly as he stood up from the piano bench.

You stepped back, "Y-you just play really well... Didn't mean to be a creep." You get shy with shivers after realizing he knew you were around. From what you recall, you were absolutely silent.

His wordless response was a cold signal to leave. And so you did. Whipping your head back behind you to see people begin to exit their rehearsal rooms. You left Jay alone as he probably wished, mindlessly waiting for your roommates to storm out. The doors along the hall were now wide open so that you could search the rooms. Like a scavenger hunt, you went in and out of each music room, clueless as to which one you would find your friends in.

"Y/N?" You hear Hyesun before you could even step foot into one of the larger sized rooms along the hall. You slung your head up in surprise to see your roommates chatting with faces you were tired of seeing.

"Long time no see." Heeseung visibly bit down on the tip of his tongue causing your emotions to run wild. You were irked to see Nana, Hyesun and Dahee (in case you forgot these are the names of y/n's dormmates) with Jaeyun, Heeseung and Sunghoon.

"Haha..." You laugh uncomfortably at the overwhelming mixture of people.

"We were just thinking about having a party before the upcoming long weekend," Sunghoon plastered a dark smile that you found strangely annoying. He had some corrupt aura and every bit of your gut felt alarmed by him.

"Jungwon is in the next room over, you should ask him to come here," Dahee said calmly and reassuringly. If anything all of your roommates looked unexpectedly comfortable and relaxed in the presence of some of the school's hottest boys. You imagined your friends to be flustered since they had secretly fangirled to you about them during late-night girl talks. It seemed they had become genuine friends instead of fangirls. It made you question your intuition and trust issues. Maybe it was just you overreacting and these boys were friends, not threats.

Nodding your head, you run off to where Dahee had mentioned Jungwon was. Chasing until you met a closed door with a dim light shining through its' crystallized glass. Listening close you could hear Jungwon sing softly through the door, making your heart rate rise a bit. Like a fool, your heart was going in circles. You focus your eyes through the bits of glass that didn't distort your vision to see Jungwon in pure grace.

"He sings pretty well doesn't he?" You felt a whisper brush the conch of your ear. Not even bothering to see who the whisper belonged to, you agreed.

"Yeah... I've never heard him sing before." You blush at yourself, finally taking a look to see who you were even talking to.

Your gaze met a pair of sharp cut out eyes, "If I heard a person sing like that, I'd be convinced I'm in love with them." Kim Sunoo taunted, trying to make it obvious that your feelings of interest were on full display, even to a stranger. "You might get hurt though, being in love with Jungwon." His voice was a deep frequency that hummed in the bloodstream of your ears.

"Why would it hurt?" Your curiosity getting the best of you.

"He's capable of things you don't want to imagine," Sunoo fakely sighed, his breath hitting the side of your neck. "Jungwon's truly a bad boy. Playing around such a delicate flower." And with that said, Sunoo swung the door right open.

Jungwon abruptly stopped mid sentence, startlement creating a pale cast over his face, "Y/N? What are you doing here?" Jungwon laughed a bit to himself, a little embarrassed after the fact you had probably heard him sing.

"She was standing outside since the beginning of the song." Sunoo smiled smugly before walking out, leaving you in the icy room alone with Jungwon.

"I didn't want to interrupt... That's not even the point... I came to tell you that my dormmates are in the other room talking with the guys."

"The guys?"

"You know... Sunghoon and them... I-I'd really appreciate if you were just there Jungwon." You were sincere because, for some reason, he looked lonely. You would also really feel more at ease with Jungwon around and you hoped your sincerity reached him.

Jungwon had put on a concerned face before dropping it, realizing he was overreacting."Oh. Alright... I'll be there in a few minutes." Jungwon got up, shuffling his sheet music stand into a neat stack that hid in the corner. He had responded in a way that was much calmer than you expected. Perhaps you were expecting him to lash out about being around his friends?

"But Jungwon I want to ask you something..." You hated the secrets between the two of you, it was a mystery game you didn't want to play anymore, "Can you just explain what your relationship with Sunoo... Not even Sunoo, the rest of the guys."

He stopped in his tracks, knowing you were tired of his lies. "We're all orphans from the same orphanage. We just never got adopted." He spoke bluntly in a cold and rushed tone. His answer was enough to have you not ask any more questions about their relationship as it seemed too personal and insensitive of you to keep asking. "Since we were all too old to stay at the orphanage, some social workers came and took us to live in a house together. The house is just on the outskirts of the school but we only go there for long weekends and breaks when there is nobody on campus..." The realization of when Jungwon had said Heeseung was his dormmate came back to you. "They're like my brothers. But, some bad things happened to them in an incident we had a couple of years back at this carnival.. We were never the same after that." Jungwon had gotten somewhat emotional blurting it all out. He had choked up as you heard his words full of frustration built up in his throat. When you looked deeper into him, you found your heartache as his eyes glittered with tears.

"I-I trust you Jungwon. I'm so sorry I must've put you in an uncomfortable situation." You felt like an awful human being hearing his story.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm being too protective with you over those guys. I'm sorry about that. I just see you and get worried. They've become bad people..." He slid his fingertips from his forehead up until they tangled with the roots of his hair, closing his eyes to conceal his emotions.

You could've just hugged him right then seeing him in the midst of crying but your mind was a haze, foggy with not wanting to cross the unspoken boundaries between the two of you. The skinship of hugging was still considered too much for your friendship and you weren't openly ready to have the feelings of endearment that come with carrying out such an intimate gesture. You knew by being in such close distance with him would make you a fool for love.

"I think we should go to the others." You darted with a sudden wall forming between the both of you. You shuddered in pain with your cold remark after Jungwon had just revealed something so deep and vulnerable to you. Even if Jungwon had just told you an intimate part of his identity it was like he became more of a stranger to you. It seemed everything Jungwon was saying was quite true but still Sunoo's words had scarred your subconscious of falling in love with him or even merely liking him. Jungwon had said the boys were bad people but what excluded him from them?

You made your way back, leaving Jungwon to be alone and cool down from whatever you had just made him think of. Every second, regretting you didn't just wrap your arms around him and comfort him. Had it not been for Sunoo, maybe you would've trusted there was nothing more to what Jungwon than what he had just said.

"Did you find Jungwon?" Dahee lifted her eyes off of Sunghoon to yours. You got deja vu when you saw Sunghoon staring at Dahee with the same eyes he used during the commotion at the library.

"Yeah, I think he's just packing up his stuff right now..." You gulp awkwardly as everyone had settled into smaller groups. You think your eyes were deceiving you when you noticed Sunoo now in the room, being quick to withdraw from the conversation he was having with Hyesun and Nana to approach you.

"You don't look well. Something happen between you and Jungwon?" A wicked bubble of laughter rising in his chest.

"Not at all..." It was half true half not. Nothing had really happened mentally or physically but emotionally, there was something.

"Interesting because I was just asking those two girls about you and Jungwon. It seems you two are a lot closer than I anticipated."

"We're just friends, we're just getting closer these days."

"Sweetheart, he's not really trying to be your friend, right? He's just using you like how these boys are doing with your girl friends right now."

"Using us? Using me? Our relationship isn't that shallow. Maybe your dimwit friends would do that but I know Jungwon." You were offended by his assumption, who was Sunoo to claim such an idea?

"What makes you think you know him?" Sunoo laughed gravely at your statement. "I've heard a lot about you from Heeseung and Jaeyun, Y/N." Sunoo used your name. It seemed you both knew each other's names without having to directly say it or formally introduce yourselves.

"I'm flattered I'm that pretty enough to them that they would talk about me, Kim Sunoo." You used his name in the same power he had used yours in a sentence.

"More than just pretty, you should watch yourself. The pretty girls of this school don't last very long in this school."

"And why is that?"

"I think you'll find out soon enough." Sunoo snickered while swaying himself up and away after looking at the doorway.

"It looks like a party in here." Jay had entered with an arm hanging around Jungwon. You hadn't realized how packed the room was until Jay mentioned it.

"Yeah and we're planning one right now." Heeseung spat in a jokingly annoyed tone at Jay.

"A party???" He laughed, "If the school finds girls with us outside school grounds or even near the dorm we'll all be fucking expelled." Jay raised his scratched brow in interest as to Heeseung's response.

"Yeah as if the teachers are even awake super late at night. Literally, no one monitors the halls at night." Heeseung let out an airy scoff from across the room. You and your roommates were all flustered at the plan of a party so late at night. You were embarrassed your mind was even in that direction. "Our place is not far from here Jay, calm the fuck down."

"H-hey I think us girls will head off to eat, we'll settle the plans another time." Nana made eye contact with all the girls as a signal to exit. It seemed the mood took a bitter turn when Jay had entered.

It was an awkward scurry out the door as Nana pulled Hyesun with her. You shortly followed, looking behind you to see Jungwon give a lifeless stare at the ground. Your eyes focusing in on Sunghoon who whispers ever-so closely to Dahee. Whatever he told her, it tinted her face a plush pink.

"Dahee let's go." You glared at Sunghoon before putting on a sweet smile toward Dahee. You couldn't just watch Sunghoon act like such a flirt to Dahee, not when you knew something was also going on between him and Kyungeun.

...

Dahee hums beside you as Nana and Hyesun walk in front. The four of you were quiet, not one of you bringing up the encounter with the boys.

"Do you guys actually want to have a party with them?" You interrupt the silence.

"Y/N they are the hottest guys at our school, do you think we're going to pass on the opportunity?" Hyesun answers.

"Jaeyun told me he and Heeseung could get a couple of drinks from the town over the weekend." Nana added.

"Drinks?! How? Were literally all minors?!" You freaked out like a child.

"Not sure... I do admit though... I'm scared we'll get caught." Nana admitted making you feel reassured knowing she was leaning more toward not having a party.

"What else did you guys already discuss about the party?" You asked, hungry for the details.

"Apparently they've got a place really close by to here. I guess they live together?" The thought of what Jungwon had said to you earlier about the boys all being orphans came back to you.

"Where exactly is there place?"

"Somewhere in the woods of school." _________ author here lol just want to check in and make sure everyone remembers everything from the very first chapter :-) i told you guys that stuff mentioned in early chapters have big significance in the later chapters! Also feel so bad there are so many characters to keep track of LOL I will make a profile of all the characters once everyone is introduced.

Please leave feedback if you have any and thank you for being patient!

[delvers-delight]

Outworld Grace Whiskey Company, Part 002

2nd of Jugust, 5500

Hope's Howl, BKR

We've been here nearly a month. Without a comms relay, there's no way to let anyone from home know we're here. Thunder's convinced we should just stay here and make a settlement. The Whiskey Company never took care of us. It just so happens that Margo knows the recipes. If we can figure out how to make the stuff she needs and grow some corn, we could have some liquor to drown our misfortune in. The stars know that I could use a drink.

Thunder's pretty handy! He drew up some schematics and showed us how to build a wind turbine and a wood-fueled generator, so we have electricity now. It's nice to have some lights and temperature control. With the lights on, we repaired the neighboring structure and repurposed it as a common area for eating, relaxing, and planning. Looking through our pods, I found some manuals we could salvage. I think that I might be able to reverse-engineer one of the ship's batteries and make something we could use down here. When I'm not busy trying to stay fed and warm, I will work on that.

Some bits of our ship crashed nearby. Around that time, I found one of the missing crewmates' dogs. Saga's a darling French bulldog, and a snuggly thing. It's nice to have a friend to cuddle up to. Margo and Thunder are fine crewmates, and I can’t think of two others I’d rather be marooned with, but I’m still figuring out where we stand outside of our professional relationship.

Margo’s brilliant, and she is a delight to speak with. She goes on and on about the adaptations crops go through to survive on new worlds. We’ve talked about our favorite vid series, the best ways to train mustelids, and even psychodynamic analysis. My mind is expanded just as my heart is warmed by her conversation.

Thunder’s a little bit harder for me to feel a bond with, but I’m getting there. We often play horseshoes in the morning after breakfast. He doesn’t make much competition out of it, and it’s mostly about recreation for us. He doesn’t share his thoughts beyond the surface. He’s tried his hand at flirting with me a few times, but I’ve turned him down. I’ve got enough going on right now, and I don’t think romantic entanglement with someone who’s been my subordinate for so long is a solution to any of my issues.

I've noticed some local game in the woods. I set up a little butchering spot and went to harvest some berries. We've got a few packaged meals with us, but they won't last long. When I returned from my foraging trip, I saw that Thunder and Margo had thrown together some shelter around my table and started a fire to cook on as well. Margo planted some seeds today. I reckon that's her way of throwing in with Thunder. I guess we're staying. Thunder wants to call this place Hope's Howl, on account of the wolves at night.

We met some people that have lived on this planet for almost a thousand years. Tifrib came from Maons' Clan. Their nearest settlement is pretty far away, so I am not sure if we will see her again for some time. A group from the Edervourian Empire stayed with us for a day. We seem to have landed a few hours' walk from one of their castles. Even if they can't help us get off-world, they could be helpful in other ways.

Not all of the locals are so nice, though. A man tried to charge at our new home with nothing but a knife. My rifle made short work of him. One shot put him in the ground where he belongs. I hope that his friends don't come poking around, looking, but we'll see. A caravan from Cacomea showed up with some people in chains. I can't abide how many groups on these rimworlds approve of slavery. We were outnumbered three-to-one, and we didn't have anything to trade, so we couldn't help free them. This time.

Licinius from the Exodus Empire came next. The Exodus Empire's one of the fractured remains of the old interstellar federal government, and has a nice bit of glittertech left. He was in a bind and needed our help to fight off some wild animals that were chasing him. We agreed and kept him safe. He threw a party for us to celebrate. I guess I put my foot in my mouth as I always do. I commented on his accent, asked him where it was from, and that sent him into a rage. He swung at me, and I countered to bring him to the ground. When his shuttle arrived, we had him patched up and moved out. Guess he must've thought better of me later, because he still offered to recognize me as a freeholder. I'm still thinking about his offer. It might be a way off this world if I can stomach the politics.

The weather's changing outside, and soon it'll be pretty hot and dry. We better find a way to store power soon and keep our food preserved. Howl's Hope is starting to grow on me.

Signed, Mal

[blankie-greenie-anon]

Hypmic High School AU

The inspiration of this AU is the characters’ MC titles. I was wondering how much funnier Hypmic would be if the characters referred to each other by their MCs instead of their names, and then I was reminded of “Oshiete, Galko-chan!” which is a series about high schoolers who only ever refer to one another by nicknames based on their personalities, hobbies or fashions.

Anyway, in this AU, not all the characters ages will be the same as canon.

Buster Bros!!!

BB, MB, & LB: Ichiro, Jiro and Saburo are fraternal 16-year-old triplets. They run a club that does odd jobs for students. The club is unofficial but is well-loved and efficient enough that the headmistress is willing to let it exist.

Saburo is a third-year because he skipped grades. He also takes advanced computer classes outside school. This means Saburo’s days are more packed than the average student but he enjoys the challenge.

Jiro is a second-year because he’s supposed to be. Since the school allows students to participate in more than one club, he’s also a member of the soccer team and is its ace. Additionally, he has the phone numbers of nearly every student as well as is a member of almost every existing group chat in the school, so he knows all the juicy gossip.

Ichiro is a first-year because he got held back. The reason was Nemu, whom he was good friends, classmates, and fellow otakus with. During the holidays as a first-year, Ichiro invited Nemu to a convention in another town. Problems arouse—their phones broke (Ichiro’s fault) and so did the train home (not Ichiro’s fault). Because of that, the two of them had to stay at a hotel. When they finally got home, Ichiro finds out he has to retake his first year, and it was Samatoki’s fault.

MAD TRIGGER CREW

Mr.Hc: The toughest grader who writes the toughest test questions for Mathematics—that’s Samatoki. To be fair, Samatoki does make an effort to teach his students so they can answer those questions and get the best grades, resulting in his students having a love-hate relationship with him.

45 Rabbit: An alumnus of the high school, Jyuto campaigned for student council presidency as ‘a lonely, only rabbit’ who had exactly forty-five supporters. He won by blackmailing his competitors off the roster. Currently, he’s a security guard of his old high school who’s constantly on the look out for blackmail he can use to control the troublemakers in the school. The headmistress, Otome, knows and pays him well for his services, so he’s quite loaded for a high school security guard.

Crazy M: Rio’s one of the food preparators in the cafeteria and serves the craziest dishes. Only Dice and Doppo would ever eat them. Leftovers are shared with Samatoki and Jyuto, to their dismay. Rio is the reason MAD TRIGGER CREW came to be. Every night, he sleeps in a tent on the school field.

Samatoki became a teacher at that school to watch over Nemu. He is very protective of her, to the point that he forbade her from going to a convention in another town because he wasn’t free to accompany her and freaked out when she snuck away and was uncontactable for a night. Jyuto and Rio stayed with him until Nemu came back. Samatoki was going to look for her when Rio showed him a photo of Nemu and Ichiro at a hotel. Samatoki jumped to the conclusion that Ichiro led Nemu astray and ordered Jyuto to use his connections to the headmistress to hold back Ichiro so he cannot be in the same class as her. When Nemu found out what he did, she told him off for being overprotective and moved out of the house.

Fling Posse

easy R: Ramuda earned that name by having an easygoing personality. He never seems to worry or put effort in anything, yet he somehow gets incredible grades. Instead of taking notes, he sketches fashion designs in class and brings them to reality in the tailors’ club that he is the president of.

Phantom: Gentaro shows up in class so rarely, most of the staff is unsure if he actually exists. When he does show, Gentaro might attend classes that aren’t his, which frightens those who realize he shouldn’t be there. His absence is due to his novelist job, which he carries out under a pseudonym.

Dead or Alive: Dice can be absent from classes for a few weeks or a whole month. In those periods, no one knows where he is, or if he’s even alive, until he happily pops up again. He’s a big fan of strip poker, albeit a lousy player.

Ramuda and Gentaro are second-years in different classes while Dice is a first-year. In the miraculous instance that Gentaro and Dice are present at school at the same day, Ramuda invites them to have a picnic lunch on the school’s roof, everything provided by him.

Fling Posse came to be the first time Gentaro and Dice were appeared on the same day. Gentaro crashed Ramuda’s science class. Ramuda noticed him and offered to partner up for the class activity. Aware of Gentaro’s rarity, Ramuda stayed at his side for the rest of the school day, and Gentaro willingly followed Ramuda’s schedule because he felt it was good material for his novels. At one point during their time together, Ramuda caught a glimpse of Gentaro’s notes and found out he was trying to describe a character’s unique outfit, so Ramuda invited Gentaro to the tailors’ club to ‘help inspire him’ (read: show off his creations). When they arrived at the clubroom, they find Dice inside, naked. After some screaming (“Pervert!” “No, I’m not! Honest!”), Dice explains that he’d lost a game of strip poker and his opponents had added a bet that he cannot collect his uniform if he lost. Hence, he snuck into the tailors’ clubroom for extra clothes, which Ramuda happily offered once he’s heard everything. They spend the rest of the day in the club, getting to know one another and Ramuda’s clothes. In the end, they exchanged phone numbers and social media handles, although Dice could only write Ramuda and Gentaro’s numbers on his wrists because he had betted and lost his phone during one gambling game, something that happened frequently so he’s constantly getting new burner phones.

Ramuda was the one who took that photo of Ichiro and Nemu. He never meant any harm. He just happened to be in the same place (that hotel also hosted a fashion convention for up-and-coming designers and Ramuda wanted to promote his stuff). He noticed Ichiro and Nemu and kept trying to call them over but they never heard him and he was too busy to track them down. In the end, he was able to take that photo when those two happened to pass the hallway he was in. Ramuda posted that photo on his Instagram (LOLOLOL whatchu 2 doin’ here??? #[hotelname]) in hopes Ichiro and Nemu would see it, unaware that their phones were broken. Samatoki saw that post, and the rest was history.

Matenro

ill-DOC: The school nurse with delusions about being the reincarnation of a healing wolf deity whose duty is cure the world of all evil, although that side of Jakurai appears only occasionally and he’s a great doctor and counselor for the most part. Because of this, he is seen by students as ‘a doctor who’s a little ill in the head’.

GIGOLO: After starting a popular host club in the school, Hifumi was derided by jealous haters, with ‘gigolo’ being their favorite insult. However, Hifumi was able to turn the tables by happily accepting the title of ‘gigolo’ and encouraging his fans to call him so with love.

DOPPO: When coming up with his nickname, Doppo was so depressed, because of the pressure his parents put on him to be the best student he can be in school, that his suggestions were ‘zombie’, ‘corpse’, and ‘hanged man’. Hifumi convinced him to stick with his actual name because he wanted Doppo to learn to love himself.

Hifumi and Doppo are third-years and in the same class. They live apart and reach school at different times. Hifumi always arrives later because he needs time to prepare a bento for himself and another for Doppo.

Hifumi and Doppo always eat lunch in the infirmary with Jakurai, although Doppo frequently sees Jakurai during school periods besides lunch. When he’s too stressed, Doppo ditches class and runs to the infirmary to rest or vent. Sometimes, Doppo is too depressed to go to the infirmary, so Hifumi carries him there before going back to class and taking notes for him.

Once, Hifumi was chased by a lustful female teacher whom he’d rejected. In his panic, he crashed Doppo’s session with Jakurai to beg for help. When the teacher found Hifumi, Jakurai stood between him and her and fended off the teacher with an IV stand while Doppo called the police. Hifumi would experience similar situations several more times, but continued his host club because his guests always respected his boundaries as per the rules and regulations he set for his club, meaning he was safest in his host club.

Dotsuitare Honpo

Tragic Comedy: Sasara is responsible for teaching history for second-years. His teaching tactics involve making puns of historical figures and retelling historical events in a comedic manner. Tragically, the grades he gets from his students aren’t particularly amazing. If it weren’t for his popularity, Sasara would’ve been fired and there’d be more students playing hooky. Besides that, he likes performing comedy skits at the local playground for any kids to watch. If they like him enough, the kids might share sweets with Sasara.

WISDOM: Rosho teaches all supplementary classes, regardless of subject. He will tutor personally if asked politely. Many times he’s scolded Sasara for his comedic lessons, since a big portion of the students attending his supplementary lessons belong to Sasara. 

MasterMind: Rei is the school’s janitor and has been seen in every part of the school. Because he tended to be present at the scene whenever there’s an incident in the school, Rei has been joked to be the ‘mastermind’ of those incidents. In fact, the students have a meme involving editing Rei into various international incidents and claiming he’s caused them. Little did many know, Rei is responsible for some happenings in the school and outside.

During his first week of work, Rei tricked Rosho into believing the former was another supplementary teacher the school hired. Then, Rei taught the students bogus information for a week and caused them to fail an upcoming test. Those students are then forced to ‘volunteer’ to help perform some school-related activities for extra credit. When Rosho found out what happened, he tried to get Rei fired, except he couldn’t because Rei was ordered by Otome to engineer that flunking. Rei didn’t pretend to be teacher again after that.

Rei runs a side business of selling ‘caffeine pills’ that improve one’s academic skills. Those drugs are actually normal candy rewrapped so their origins are hidden, but the placebo effect does a great job of motivating students to study. When Sasara found out, he thought Rei was hilarious and befriended him.

The Samatoki-Ichiro drama was masterminded by Rei. Ichijiku found it super creepy how obsessed Samatoki was with Nemu and asked Rei to cause a rift. Thus, Rei helped plan that convention (purposefully setting it in another town, near a hotel) before talking about it in Ichiro’s vicinity. He also caused their phones to break and the train home to be out of commission. Ramuda being at the same hotel as Ichiro and Nemu was planned too, and his taking of that photo was manipulated by Rei, whether he realized it or not. When Ichiro got held back, Rei didn’t do anything to help him because he wanted the Buster Bros!!! to get used to being apart (Yeah, Saburo’s grade-skipping was subliminally encouraged by Rei, and yes, Rei is the father of the Buster Bros!!! but is in no rush to tell them).

Bad Ass Temple

Evil Monk: There’s a shrine in the same neighborhood as the high school, and Kuko works there. However, most people are too scared to visit that shrine and are often driven away by Kuko’s rough personality. He’s best friends with Ichiro, to the point of retaking his first year to stay by his side.

14th Moon: Most students mistook ‘14th Moon’ to be Jyushi’s Visual Kei alias instead of the name of the Visual Kei band he started with Amanda the pig plushie. Although younger than Kuko, Jyushi is a second-year and Jiro’s classmate. He’s had Amanda stolen from him multiple times for ransom.

Heaven & Hell: There was once a huge debate about whether Hitoya, the disciplinary supervisor, was good or bad. The school has its fair share of troublemakers who are often sent to Hitoya’s office to have their penalties determined. There, Hitoya will suggest them two ways they could be punished, and the troublemakers must decide which they prefer. The reason students doubt his badness is because he makes sure bullies pay from their actions and helps the victims achieve safety. At the same time, his goodness is doubted because not all the troublemakers were bullies or even serious problems, yet Hitoya punished them quite sternly, if not as harshly as he does with bullies. Eventually, Hitoya had to say something about how “he’s always giving [troublemakers] hell”, and what he said was “I’m giving you troublemakers hell so you’ll make it to heaven in the future!” which got butchered into “I’m heaven and hell” as it was shared amongst students.

Kuko is well-acquainted with Hitoya because the latter is well-acquainted with the former’s father. This connection doesn’t mean Kuko gets free passes though. On the contrary, his punishments are worse because Hitoya wants to help his father straighten him out. However, Hitoya also often employs Kuko when straightening out bullies. One such example was, after Hitoya managed to round up every bully who used Amanda to extort Jyushi, he made them decide between paying back the total amount they took or facing off Kuko. The bullies chose to pay up.

There was a time where the neighborhood the school was in had an influx of gang members mugging people. Due to Jyushi’s own experiences of having money forcefully taken from him, he was too scared to go home alone and kept asking Hitoya to accompany him. Hitoya assigned him Kuko for a bodyguard instead until those gang members were dealt with.

Kuko has a spare key to Hitoya’s office, which he has many uses for. One of them is a place to nap when Hitoya patrols, since no one would think to find him there. The second use is to get his hands on the confiscated electronics (game consoles, music devices, etc.) and play with them while he’s playing hooky. Third, the office is the perfect hiding place for when he brings any prohibited items, or if Ichiro brings anything he doesn’t want Samatoki to confiscate.

Jyushi likes Hitoya’s office too. When the exam season draws near, Jyushi chooses to study with Hitoya, instead of in the library. He’d have lunch there too if Hitoya didn’t eat at the cafeteria. Kuko joins occasionally, to nap.

[brywrites]

Date Night II

Here’s the second part to a TKOW-verse “Date Night”!

Part I | The Keeping of Words

Summary: Three years after leaving the BAU, Dr. Spencer Reid has given up chasing monsters to be a part-time professor and a full-time dad. It’s all domestic bliss - until Cat Adams turns up at the BAU.

Warnings: discussions of miscarriage, abuse

........

And so he took Cat to a roller rink. It wasn’t ice skating, but it was still skating. Walking inside with her like this was all just a fun game. Her fantasy come to life. She made him hold her hand. She kept calling him Spencie and he tried not to cringe, not to snap at the sound of it. It wasn’t a term of endearment. It wasn’t even close to the way it felt to hear Bianca say his name, to whisper my love as she ran her hands through his hair, or the way it sounded when Eliza Lou shouted daddy with the biggest smile on her face. No, any form of his name on Cat Adams’ lips made his skin crawl.

He kept trying to get Cat to slip up, but she refused to answer his questions. “I don’t want to talk about that,” she said after he asked about her baby.

“I didn’t want to talk about it,” he said. “I was actually just trying to see if I could use it against you.”

Cat spun around, skating closer. “Oh, really? What about um… sex?” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. He gritted his teeth as he placed his hands on her waist to steady himself. Her touch felt like burning, in all the worst ways. As she gazed up at him, he had to force himself not to look away. “Why don’t you use that against me?”

It was hard to breathe this close to her, with his thoughts moving too fast and the memories of Mexico, of Milburn coming too quickly. He had to stay calm. He had to play this game. It was the only way to keep Bianca and Elizabeth safe. He was doing this for them. He just had to think of them.

Cat pushed him away suddenly, and the next thing he knew she’d slapped him hard enough to knock him off balance. She skated away and he scrambled off the floor. “Cat, wait! Cat. Cat, wait. Cat!”

“I have spent my entire adult life reading men. I know when they’re thinking about someone else,” she spat. And of course he was. Of course his mind was on his daughter, on his wife, on the two people he would have gone to the ends of the earth for. The only two people who could have compelled him to go on this stupid sham of a date in this godforsaken roller rink. “Do you know what this was for me? I didn’t ask for one last family visit or final meal. I wanted this. And you can’t even give me the courtesy of your undivided attention. So thanks, but this date is over. You can turn off the stupid lights, boys!” she shouted.

“She’s not you,” he blurted out. Cat turned to glare at him. “Ever since you came into my life, it’s like I can’t get you out of my head. There’s some part of my brain, some part that you inhabit and no matter how good or – or kind or attractive my wife is… she’s not you.” And the words weren’t necessarily lies. There had been a time when he couldn’t get Cat out of his head, but because he was haunted by her – not attracted to her. And Bianca wasn’t her, wasn’t anything like the woman who had tried to tear him apart.

“Do you think about me when you fuck her?” Cat asked.

Lie. Lie and make it good. For the first time in a long time he thought of Maeve. Thought of Diane and the warehouse and how he hadn’t been convincing enough to save someone he loved that night. He wasn’t going to lose this time. He looked to the side, hoping the heat rising to his face would look like an embarrassed blush.

Cat laughed, and to his relief it was a laugh of delight. “Oh come on, Spencie. I’m gonna need you to elaborate on that for me.”

He closed his eyes so his microexpressions wouldn’t betray him. “I try not to. But it’s like I can’t help it. She just… doesn’t do it for me anymore. Not like you. And I know she wouldn’t be able to handle the things I – the things I want to do with you.” God, he was going to be sick.

But Cat was threading her arm around his. “If I’m a homewrecker, I want to make it official. Take me home, loverboy.”

Against all his better judgment, he agreed. Cat already knew their address he presumed, given that she’d had Lindsey bring his mother by the day they’d abducted her. They stood on the front porch of the little blue house as Spencer fumbled with the key in the lock.

“Wait,” Cat said, putting her hand on his. “Did you really mean what you said back there?”

“Yes,” he answered immediately. He could feel the questioning stares of Luke and every SWAT agent.

“Prove it,” Cat said. “And make it good. Because I’m this close to letting them die.”

Reid stared at those cold, dark eyes. He had to make her believe it. He had to betray Bianca in order to save her and their daughter. Just pretend it’s her. He cupped Cat’s the face the way he had done to Bianca a million times, closed his eyes and pressed his mouth to hers. It’s Bianca, he told himself. It’s Bianca. He kissed her furiously, the way he did sometimes after they’d spent too much time apart, or she was blushing in that adorable way, or she was begging him for a distraction. The illusion was a fragile one. Anger could be mistaken for passion though, and he was so angry in that moment. He grabbed at her hair tighter, he pressed the weight of his body against her, he sucked harder at her lip. He tried to believe it, but the hand on his cheek was too warm and the hair between his fingers was too long and the tongue forcing its way into his mouth wasn’t hers.

Just when he thought he couldn’t do it any longer, Cat pulled away. He wanted to vomit, but he forced himself to swallow back the bile rising in his throat. He had to make her believe it.

It was only then that he opened his eyes and realized she wasn’t looking at him anymore. She’d opened the door, and he followed her gaze to where Bianca stood in the living room, her mouth hanging open as she stared at them.

His heart plummeted.

He yanked his hand away from Cat as Bianca wrapped her arms around herself, a look of unmistakable hurt plain on her face.

“B, what are you doing here?” he gasped, crossing the room towards her. She clutched her phone in her hand. There was a pattern of bruises, dirt, scratches across her face. A burn visible on her collarbone that he presumed was from the blank that had been fired. He ached to hold her, but she took a step back when he approached.

“Where is she, Spencer? Where’s Elizabeth?” Bianca demanded.

“Get Cat out of here,” Luke shouted at the SWAT team.

“No, no! She’s the only one who knows where my daughter is!” Bianca cried. “Cat doesn’t go anywhere until I know where she is!”

Cat sauntered into the living room, a triumphant smirk on her face. “Well look at that. You’re not as boring as I thought. You’re plucky. Did it make you mad that I was kissing your husband?”

“No.”

Cat pouted. “Why not?”

“Because there are other things on my mind. Where is she?” Bianca demanded. “Where’s Eliza, where’s my daughter?”

“You’re always so serious,” Cat groaned. “Tonight’s supposed to be fun. Like all the games Spencie and I play together.”

“You think this is a game?” Bianca said. “You kidnapped my daughter!”

“The daughter you didn’t even want.”

“What?” Bianca’s eyebrows, knit together in anger, raised slightly as her rage gave way to confusion.

“Oh please.” Cat rolled her eyes, taking a seat in the armchair. “I got the transcript of the arraignment. You’d be surprised how easy it is to bribe prison guards. You didn’t want to be a mother. But boy genius here got you knocked up. I mean, you really think he’d know to wrap it before you tap it.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I? He wanted to be a dad, and now here you are. Really I’m doing you a favor. You see, he’s got everyone fooled. Everyone things Dr. Spencer Reid is this nice, innocent, bookish genius who always saves the day – and has zero mommy issues, right? But he’s not. You know he said he thinks about me when he’s fucking you,” she laughed. Bianca recoiled at the words. “Does he ever get rough with you in the bedroom?”

Her face went red. “He’s never hurt me.”

“But that’s not entirely true is it? You said it yourself. He almost died in front of you. He chose drugs over you. He’s hurt you before. Maybe it didn’t leave a mark, but he’s hurt you. Maybe you know the real Spencer Reid. Just like I do.”

He bristled as she sat there in their chair, in their home, talking as if she owned the place. She didn’t belong here. She didn’t know anything about them. “Who’s the real me, Cat?” he asked.

Cat shifted her gaze to him. “The real Spencer Reid throws women against walls and hisses that he’s going to kill them. Even though you knew I was pregnant. You still hurt me.” She turned back to Bianca. “That’s right – while you painting a nursery and picking out baby names, he was throwing me against a wall and choking me. And the next day I miscarried.”

Bianca turned to look at him. The anger in his chest turned to lead, the weight of her words slamming down on him. “No. No that can’t be right. That’s not true.”

“It’s the truth,” she hissed. “Check my medical records. He might pretend to be a doting father, but he fawned over your little bundle of joy after killing my baby. He’s a murderer. Really no different from me. Or from that brother of yours.” Cat laughed sharply. “Oh, yeah. I did my research. Now that had to be fun to unpack in therapy. But it turns out all men are the same, aren’t they?”

“Bianca, I-”

“You were supposed to be different,” she said, cutting him off. She stared down at the floor of their living room. He was hurting her. He was hurting her right now. He fell back onto the couch in the living room, too tired to stay upright. “But you’re just like them. Like my father. Like Rick. Like Franklin.”

Franklin? The third name didn’t make sense. But Reid was too overwhelmed by her words to pay it much attention. She said it with such disgust and he couldn’t deny the guilt that was threatening to crush him. He wanted to sink into the floor. Had he really done that? JJ had tried to stop him but he hadn’t listened. Oh god what had he done?

“Let’s make a deal,” Cat said, grabbing the phone from Bianca’s hands. “I’ll tell you where your kid is. If you tell him exactly what you really think about him.”

Bianca closed her eyes. He could see her hands shaking. “I hate you. You’re just as bad as the others. But you hurt me. You hurt me so many times and you don’t even see it. And it doesn’t matter what I say or how much I yell at you, you’ll never see it.” He couldn’t breathe. What was happening? Where was any of this coming from? She’d only ever once spoken to him like that before. “My truth I will keep, I will not lie. You should have stayed at Milburn. It’s where you belong. Because you’re no different from any of the people you put away. You don’t deserve to be here.” She turned to stare at him. There were tears in her eyes.

And if he hadn’t known better, he would’ve assumed they meant hatred. But she’d given him a clue. My truth I will keep, I will not lie. That’s where Franklin came from. It was a line from “The Franklin’s Tale,” her favorite part of The Canterbury Tales. She’d told his mother that the day she first met Diana. It was a story she saw the two of them reflected in. Arveragus and Dorigen had a pure love based on equality and mutual respect, and when Aurelius tried to split them up, the strength of their love and their willingness to sacrifice for each other kept them together.

Bianca was trying to tell him that it was all an act. That whatever Cat was trying to do to split them up, it wasn’t going to work. Reid had to bite down on his lip to keep himself from smiling. That was his girl. His brilliant, incredible wife. He was so proud of her.

But he had to play along. “Bianca, please.”

“No. No more. I’m glad you found Cat. You two deserve each other.” She turned to Cat. “Now tell me where my daughter is, please. So I can get far away from him.” Cat typed something into the phone and handed it back. “There you go. Baby girl is alive and well. You’re welcome.”

Bianca turned on her heel and ran out to the team, leaving him stranded as he sat on the couch, staring straight ahead. Playing the part he needed play. “I win,” Cat declared. There was chaos around him as the SWAT team handcuffed Cat and Luke took off in a car with Bianca. He was loaded into the truck to sit beside Cat for the long ride back to the prison. The silence gave Cat’s words plenty of time to sink in. Regardless of Bianca’s reaction, there was a truth to what Cat had said. He’d hurt the woman he loved, and he’d done it more than once. He’d hurt so many people. And he’d caused Cat to miscarry.

He disgusted himself. It was all he could do to keep it together as Cat explained she’d just wanted to see him one last time – to make sure he wouldn’t forget about her.

She was hurting too. And maybe even scared. Her voice shook as she said, “Bye, Spencie. I really enjoyed our date.”

And then the guards were taking her away. And then Garcia and Simmons were there. “We heard you might need a ride,” Matt said. “We got Eliza. They’re both safe. We can take you to them if you want.”

“Yes. Yes, please.”

.....

He couldn’t get into that SUV fast enough. He clambered into the passenger seat, heaving a sigh.

“Rough night, huh?” Matt said, as they pulled onto the highway. Reid just shook his head.

“I thought that might be the case,” Garcia said. “Hey, boy genius. I know that you had to say some super yucky things tonight, but we briefed Bianca on it all before you went inside.”

“What? How?”

“Well, Cat had Juliette drop Bianca in the street. Cat wanted us to find her so you three could battle it out at home. The whole showdown was orchestrated – I’ll explain all the details later but to make a long story short, we figured out her endgame pretty fast. So we picked up my favorite petite poet the moment we got her location, hooked her up with a wire, took her back to your place, and told her to follow Cat’s lead and just lie as much as she had to. She would’ve made Meryl Streep proud with that performance! And then the moment Cat sent that text, we were able to swoop in and rescue little Eliza Lou from the clutches of the big bad wolf.”

“Thank you for doing all of that,” he said. “But I’m still feeling pretty horrible at the moment.”

“Is this about the miscarriage?” Garcia asked. “Because I can help you with that, too. “Cat said check the medical record and I did. She had a miscarriage, but it was months later. It had nothing to do with you. It was just a lie to throw you off. The whole team knows that, and so does Bianca.” She reached out from the backseat to put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re not a monster, no matter how badly she wants you to believe that.”

With that information, Reid’s heart lifted ever so slightly. It wasn’t true. And while it would take a while to shake this terrible feeling after everything he’d heard and said, that much was a relief. And most importantly, Bianca and Elizabeth were safe. That was all that really mattered. The day had ended with the two people he loved most alive and well. Everybody lived this time.

They arrived at the hospital and the three of them walked through the maze of corridors together trying to follow the instructions of the front-desk person. He’d left his phone back at the house so Garcia was frantically trying to text Bianca for her location. Just when he was about to declare that they were hopelessly lost, a door opened and he spotted a familiar face.

“Maybe we should go back?” Simmons asked.

“Oh wait! This should be the right hallway,” Garcia said. “Just one door on the left and Bianca should be there, and we can put this whole day behind us. No more lies or games!”

But he didn’t hear them. Because Bianca was walking towards him with the most perfect smile on her face. Her cardigan hanging loosely from her shoulders, bandages and sutures on her skin and a hospital bracelet on her wrist.

“I don’t know,” Simmons said. “I mean, that kiss – that kind of thing seems hard to fake.”

“Oh Matt,” Garcia sighed. “You haven’t seen them together enough. Watch and learn.”

Reid ran to Bianca and wrapped her in a gentle hug. “Thank god you’re okay. Where’s Eliza?”

“The doctors are talking with her to make sure she feels safe at home before we can see her. But she’s okay. We both are,” Bianca said, “thanks to you.

“You were only in danger because of me. I’m so sorry.”

Bianca held him tight. “This was Cat’s fault. Nobody else’s. And it’s over now. We’re safe.” And so they were. She gazed up at him and those brown eyes were so warm. So inviting. He raised a hand to tilt her chin towards him and then shifted to caress her cheek. A smile spread across her face and she closed her eyes as he leaned in to kiss her. Slow at first, as he tested the boundaries, worried about the bruises she bore. But she pulled grabbed his suit jacket and pulled him closer, so he deepened the kiss, savoring the taste of her lips and the sensation of her fingernails at the nape of his neck. She was still too far away, so he shifted his hands to her waist, carefully avoiding the places he knew she’d been kicked, and lifted her up, holding her against him as he spun her around, never once moving his lips from hers.

He kissed her with a passion typically reserved only for their bed or the sofa or up against the wall of the study late at night, kissed her like he couldn’t get enough of her. He didn’t care who saw them. She was safe. She was alive. He loved her, and he wanted the whole world to know that.

When they finally needed to breathe and she pulled away, he set her back on the ground only to pull her back into a hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I love you so much,” he murmured.

“I love you, too.”

At the end of the corridor, a dumbfounded Matt raised his eyebrows. “I see what you mean now.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Reid?” a nurse asked, poking his head into the hall. They both turned around. “You can come in now, we’ve finished talking with her. You’re all clear.” The relief on their faces were twin expressions as they dashed into the room together.

Elizabeth looked so small in the big ER bed and a hospital gown far too big for her, but she wore a huge smile. “Daddy, you’re here!” she said.

Reid hurried to her bedside, enveloping her in a hug. “I’m here. I’m right here.” He needed tangible proof that she was alright and to hold her in his arms seemed the simplest thing. His child was safe and sound, back with them where she belonged.

Bianca sat down on the bed and the little girl curled into her mother’s side while holding tight to her father’s hand. “You were so brave today, dear heart,” she said, stroking Eliza’s hair. “I’m so proud of you.”

Eliza looked up at her with wide brown eyes that mirrored her own. “I didn’t like the game,” she said. “Not fun.”

“We won’t play it ever again,” Reid promised her. There were no more games to win, no more villains to best. The doctor came in to assure them that they’d run a full exam on Elizabeth and had found nothing wrong. Juliette hadn’t hurt her. Bianca was given instructions to follow up if had any prolonged pain and then the three of them were on their way home. Garcia and Simmons gave them a ride back to their house, where Luke had driven Bianca’s car back to. By the time they arrived, Elizabeth was fast asleep.

They carried her into the blue house and up the stairs, tucking her carefully into bed and turning on her nightlight. Reid and Bianca hovered in the doorway just a moment longer, needing that extra space to remind themselves that their daughter was okay. They tiptoed downstairs where Bianca put a hot kettle on the stove for two cups of tea.

“You know,” Reid said, “I think Cat Adams was right about one thing.”

“What’s that?” Bianca asked.

“In twenty years, I won’t remember her name.” He stepped closer to her, lacing his fingers through her own. “But it won’t be because of Alzheimer’s. It’ll be because she won’t be worth remembering. I’ll have too many other memories – memories of vacations we took together and Eliza Lou’s birthdays and all of our anniversaries. Our life together. Our little girl. Cat won’t be anything but a blip on the radar. Hardly even a footnote in our story.”

“It’s finally over?”

“It’s over,” he assured her. “We don’t ever have to worry about her again.”

She smiled. “I’m sorry for everything I had to say tonight. I didn’t mean a word of it.”

“I know,” he said. “I picked up on that clue about the Franklin’s Tale. You were brilliant in there. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

The tea kettle began to whistle as she wrapped her arms around him. “It’s okay. We’re safe. We’re home. And we’re together.”

“That’s all I’ll ever need,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss her.

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 135: Spinner's End

The whole room felt as large as Lily's entire house. She didn't even immediately see the other seven right away there was so much opulent space and grandeur to take in. The walls themselves seemed to ripple in an expansive opal dragon hide, the green snake banners hung all along the room wasn't exactly an identifying mark in her opinion, she would have one of each house in her room if she knew where to buy it, but she seemed to have landed right next to a cork board with scraps of papers and more importantly, photos that she would have to suss out as belonging to Draco Malfoy.

Lucius and Narcissa watching the five year old carefully but with pride as he laughed for the snow floating around him at some summer park in the heat, chasing ducks and occasionally stopping to lick an ice cream. One of him, Crabbe, and Goyle at sevenish playing some sort of game with apples, the little blonde's teeth oddly crooked, so she imagined it was some time at Halloween and done on purpose. He, Knott, and Blaise in their teens and in Quidditch robes throwing Quaffles around, he and Pansy in a booth at Madam Puddifoots.

Beneath all of these were dozens of rolls of parchment, some with the ink still wet of different music sheets with elaborate tunes and lyrics only half done in. She wasn't well versed enough to even guess at what instrument he could play, but judging by the few she spotted around the room that Frank was sheepishly repairing after crashing into them, the better question seemed what hadn't he been privileged in getting to learn at his leisure.

No one just looking at a glimpse of his obviously loved and carefree life would ever guess he was such an arse to her son, as well as Neville and likely many others. Her ears now rung with the foul word he so casually used that Severus now seemed to agree with.

There were a few daunting hints at such a thing, his picture of a very young Bellatrix Lestrange smiling as he prodded at the tattoo on her arm with childlike delight, he couldn't be more than two. The Sacred Twenty-Eight redone in his neat handwriting near the top corner with little scribbles and notes about each family.

Pettigrew was near the door trying to open it, to no success, the diamond handle in his palm glinting. Regulus Black was spinning a bust of a snake head with black stones in each eye that was likely a thousand galleons or some such, and cursed to boot, that Draco probably used as a paper weight. The lack of a house-elf hadn't much of an impact on their life it seemed, the wide open space felt empty to her in the organized place despite the many things available to look at. This boy had wanted for nothing, even a glance out the wide arched window showed glorious albino peacocks strutting along hedges and acres of pleasure beyond to explore, and yet he'd just as likely kill Hermione and her at the blink of an eye it seemed. He'd showed no remorse for his fathers actions trying to kill her son twice now.

Sirius Black had been offered the same and spurned it all away, Regulus had apparently started asking questions far too late for it to matter and died for it. Severus had been given nothing of the sort but turmoil, and he'd embraced the Death Eater lot, abandoning her and showing no clear signs of regretting it ever since.

She was sick of burying her head in the sand for his whys, it was time to start asking questions, but the problem was the one whom she still wanted to most was not available.

Alice was still crawling off the king sized bed, Potter was holding a signed Snitch with some look of awe on his face for whomever the signature was for, and there was a beautiful occamy skinned rug the length of the room Lupin was gazing sadly down at.

Sirius Black came stumbling out of a closet not too far behind her, enough she could peek inside and see the extravagant clothes inside that was more shaped to a normal bedroom, the teenager himself clutching his throat theatrically and miming gagging for all to see as he 'collapsed' to the ground still sputtering his disgust at getting a look at the underthings.

Regulus wasn't fighting off a laugh as he nudged his brother with his foot before promptly declaring him alive and walking off.

She watched the little one go with a heavy feeling of unease. He'd probably know Severus better than her at this rate, sharing a House and all. He didn't feel as unapproachable now after they'd spent some time together, but that didn't mean she wanted to walk over and just start talking about this.

She would though. She wasn't going to let awkwardness stop her now! She just decided to wait until a better opportunity as he instantly engaged with Pettigrew once more.

Alice had found the book somewhere in the gargantuan bed spread and was now finally plopped on the edge, reading Spinner's End with no idea why Lily would flinch so hard, but stopping all the same to look at her in concern when she noticed.

Frank stopped fidgeting with the instruments, ceasing the background noise and drawing all eyes to her.

She took a steady breath and squared her shoulders, may as well get out with it now. "That's Snape's address. I guess we get to find out what he's up to."

Potter's face was like stone, it was very obvious he hadn't believed a word of Dumbledore's explanation last year about none of the events being in some part Snape's fault, and she couldn't even blame him. She no more believed Severus had done all he could to help.

To her amazement though, he didn't start threatening to curse him, or much of anything. He just went over to the floor next to his best mate and sat beside him, prodding him in the ribs and teasing, "I'm not giving you a treat for playing dead."

"How else am I supposed to learn the good tricks from the bad ones?" He chuckled as he flopped onto his back.

Lupin went over with an indulgent smile for the pair, and the three stayed close to each other as the book started not with their school rival, but Sirius' would be murderer and her sister.

Sirius now looked murderous himself at the very mention of them, far more than ever before just the blood they shared could bring out. It was better than the nothingness he'd been trying so hard before, to pretend he cared nothing of it, but she also knew now it just wasn't in his nature to sit around when there was nothing to be done about them now.

He leapt to his feet with his usual energy and began sprinting around the youngest Malfoy's room, stopping every few feet to filch things into his pockets for no clear reason to her, or even his mates, though they watched in amusement for whatever he was doing.

He didn't stop when her prediction came true and the sisters were shown to be visiting Snape, though apparently it wasn't a mutual thing, Bellatrix was no happier to be around him than any of them right now, but it seemed Narcissa's idea and her elder sister was trying to stop her.

Sirius circled back to his friends and whispered something eagerly to them. Both looked a tad confused, but neither seemed to argue the point as he went back off towards where Peter and Regulus were.

He seemed to have minorly learned his lesson at least, performing a small miracle and not shouting his arrival but instead quivering in anticipation for the two to look at him before speaking. "Who wants to play a treasure hunt?"

"Why does your answer to everything involve some form of illicit activity?" Peter snickered. "This shit is not yours."

"And since when do we care about that?" He looked at him in concern. "Don't go soft on me now Wormy! Regulus can hide the stuff, Marauder swear I won't peek!" He handed all the items from his pocket to Regulus and mock whispered, "you can even stay here and keep an eye on me."

Pettigrew made a soft little noise that was maybe a laugh of annoyance, but Regulus took the stuff and wandered off at once when Peter Pettigrew of all people was apparently sharing a house space with Severus in the book, and all eight of them winced at that interaction! Sirius did have good timing occasionally it seemed as he got his alone moment with the friend he so needed to.

She had never considered herself a shy person, just quiet. She'd had the only friend she ever wanted before all this and so never actively sought out anyone else. So when Regulus came over near her and tried to hide a pair of cuffs with the Malfoy crest underneath some of the papers, she didn't hesitate to engage him now that she made her decision. "Can I talk to you?"

"I don't see why not," he agreed, now holding a gross looking shriveled up hand without concern and eyeing the dripping pearls of the chandelier above her. She waited until he'd levitated it up there and was now pacing the length of the room, eyeing the bed, rug, and shelves keenly as he passed a silver cross in his hands with emeralds the size of her fist back and forth in his hands while she followed his path and tried to convince herself she was being practical rather than pathetic asking someone else about this.

She'd have liked to talk to Frank and Alice, but they had zero experience in the matter, this seemed her only option.

"How well do you know Severus?" She asked uneasily, as the man himself gave a list of believable enough reasons to Lestrange about why he was apparently still in Voldemort's good graces, but then what were his answers to Dumbledore for still being a trusted member of the Order? Why couldn't they have heard about that conversation instead?

He didn't answer right away, visibly thinking hard about something with that tick they'd all noticed by now. When he did answer, there was no self-pity in his voice. "Look, I'm not a fool, I know Sirius sent me away on purpose, and I honestly don't mind, it's nicer than he ever was back in school. Kinder than outright telling me to piss off, right?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Snape and his friends do the same though, Mulciber and Avery you know, even one of my own friends in my dorm, Carrow, they'll set me up to go run errands for them."

They passed by Potter and Lupin having an uneasy whispered conversation watching their friends, whom were clearly at least talking about something. Neither Sirius or Pettigrew seemed angry, but they kept gesturing at Regulus and shaking their heads a lot. At least he really wasn't peeking though, he had his eyes closed the whole time, and she bit her lip to stop herself laughing at the sight.

"Like a test," obviously noticing the same and choosing to let them be too. "Weird shit each time to see my nerve I guess. Follow Macdonald around for an hour to see where she goes, sneak this into class under McGonagall's nose without getting caught." He paused with a look of maybe not guilt, but some regret for clearly never having it in him to ask before any why's.

"That instant Darkness powder-" she suddenly realized, far, far back in that ghastly chamber.

"Was supposed to be checking where Slughorn was and steal some special snake venom form him, ironically," he agreed with a twisted grin far more reminiscent of his brother than he'd ever admit. "Powder was in case he caught me."

He considered her for only another moment before continuing. "I don't know what exactly Snape gets up to, they haven't let me in on that, but I've got a feeling it's coming soon enough when I get back. If all this is supposed to happen when I'm sixteen, they won't wait much longer. Sorry if that's not much help to you," he finished genuinely. "I suppose they could be doing the same to him and I just don't know it."

"That's alright," she promised. "Thanks, it's more than I knew already." Was calling her that foul word a part of their tests? Or had the memory truly hinged on Potter's cruel actions in the crowd? They weren't following in his head to know just what the worst to him was.

Snape had answered for his crimes well enough to appease one of Voldemort's lieutenants, and Narcissa began baring her soul, pleading her case to help save her child. Lily froze over in shock when he agreed to such a thing.

Regulus stopped when she'd fallen out of step with him, now watching her with those liquid black eyes and still obviously ignoring the two idiots obviously having a conversation about him. He bent down and tucked the cross into the folds of the occamys wings and told her quietly, "maybe he'd do the same for another mother."

"I want to believe that," she admitted, rubbing her hand absently over her empty womb. "I just don't know how to ask, I'll probably sound insane."

"Probably," he agreed with a small smile, eyes roving around when Alice called the chapter was almost done, "but it never hurts to ask." He looked back at Sirius though and frowned, instantly regretting his poor choice of words. How many times had Sirius gotten in trouble for doing exactly that? He'd never wanted to endure the shouting matches that occurred when his brother refused to back down without an answer no matter what way mother and father told him to shut up, and he quickly left the room before he found out the answer, it never felt worth it in such loud anger. If he cared enough later about the initial question, he'd ask Kreacher, who was more than happy to answer in his level voice.

"Wait!" Sirius bellowed, eyes snapping open and instantly bolting to the bed to snatch the book away from her now, running around the room like his tail was on fire as he began looking about and haggling to all three of his friends to give him a hint.

His antics got a laugh out of all of them for one reason or another, filching shamelessly through Lupin's clothes like he really thought something would be hidden there, an awkward and poorly done handstand with his feet resting against the wall swearing it would activate some secret door, and finally trying to coarse Regulus himself to give the last up when he still didn't spot the grotesque hand hanging above.

Regulus just gave him an impish grin truly reminiscent of his brother and snatched the book back to finish the last sentence rather than answer.

[boogiewrites]

Never Break the Chain

Part 1 of 5

Characters: Javier Peña x OFC

Summary: The story follows the moments in their relationship in which things change, carrying the story of their romance from being young and in love in Texas at age 18 to the modern Narcos timeline. We follow Esme on her rise to being a top thief and Javier Peña's rise in the ranks. We see how their paths inevitably intersect in Columbia and how they handle coming face to face after a faked death and decades apart. It's dramatic, it's a cop loving a criminal and them being torn between their ways of life and their love. There's a happy ending among the angst.

Warnings/Tags: Argument, Heartbreak, Young love, faked death. 

Click on my icon then go to my Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works and chapters. (Had to do this since Tumblr killed links, sorry.) Please like, comment and reblog if you enjoyed it! It helps out us writers A LOT!

The air was as still and silent as a hot Texas summer night could be. The buzz of the insects and the rustle and call of the nocturnal animals felt familiar to Esme and were a white noise that made her feel she was home. The moon was high and bright, illuminating the rushing and recently risen river below her. Summer storms had made their way through, a brief break to the smothering heat and filling the formerly waning river bed. It made for a great day on these rare summer occurrences, floating about lazily and working on her tan, drinks were plentiful between friends and you could let any stress you had floated down the river after you left. As she gripped the old iron railing of the backroad bridge, feeling the failing paint flaking under her anxious hands, she knew those golden days of youth and summer were falling behind her now. The river would take her trouble away tonight, but in the morning a whole new set would emerge in their place. Even so, this is what she wanted, deep down she knew the conversation she was about to have wasn’t going to be one with a happy ending, and she’d prepared for that. Still, until she heard the words from his lips herself, that last bit of naivete she had left would hope against hope that this night wouldn’t end in tears.

Her upbringing with a single mother, no stability that she could recall, and inheriting her mother’s reputation, only doing what she had to make a living, she knew there were no happy endings. Being a striking Latin woman, hell, a woman at all was enough to teach her the authorities in place were corrupt and broken. She’d been born a criminal they’d said. It was first said the moment she opened her eyes. “Look at this little one, a thief.” her father had said. “Esmeralda we’ll call her, as she’s already stolen emeralds for her eyes.” Her father hadn’t come from a line of fortune-tellers that she was aware of, but he’d unknowingly planted the seed that would grow to become her destiny. One filled with heartbreaking choices and world view shattering experiences she would be told she was strong for overcoming. She didn’t think anyone needed to be applauded for being strong. It came from being broken and filling the gaps with something that couldn’t be torn apart again. Her so-called strength was just the glaringly apparent failures of the power structures in place. And she knew the only way to get ahead, to move from outside their oppressive shadow was to beat them at their own game.

The boy on his way to convince her to not follow her dreams didn’t know that yet. He had his delusions and she wasn’t sure she had the heart to take them away from him. Things wouldn’t always work out, he wasn’t going to save anyone, let alone her. But if you asked her, she didn’t need saving.

The hiss of drying raining on the asphalt under the tires of his muscle car didn’t help distract him from where he was headed. Every rendezvous with her up to this point had been nothing but a flip in his stomach and tension in his balls. Where yearning and excitement once lay there was only dread and uncertainty. He was young, he was full of confidence and despite the chronic bad attitude and bloody knuckles, he kept he still thought he could make her stay. He wouldn’t lose her. He couldn’t. She loved him she’d said. That meant something to an 18-year-old boy still deep in his first love and soon to be last heartbreak. The flashes of running from the cops, late nights spent in the back seat of his car, some laying together next to the dashboard light with the radio creating a soundtrack to their youth unknowingly. He gulps, recalling the way she looked at him when they were alone. They were all burned into his mind and they would be there for many years to come. He couldn’t help but remember the first time he saw her, walking into an abandoned house the local kids used for parties. They held the same beer in their hands, locked eyes that held the hunger of teenage lust. Her in cut-offs and a bikini top, deep brown from the summer sun, bouncy black hair in waves falling down her shoulders and framing a heart-shaped face with eyes greener than he’d ever seen.

They were both attractive and rebellious, it took nothing to make them like each other. They were quick to go to bed, and he was quick to fall with for her independent nature, and his desire to protect her quickly fell in behind. She wasn’t like any other girl he’d met, and he thought it was a compliment. But as the lust faded, love grew in its place, seeing what hardships she faced and trying his damnedest to save her from them. He rode in on his steel horse and swept her away despite her insistence she didn’t need it. But when he spoke softly and touched her the same in the sweat-soaked leather seats, naked and vulnerable by both clothes and emotions, she couldn’t help but cry and let him hold her, both sharing their fears. Their biggest in their lives at that time was simply losing the other.

The familiar sound of his car didn’t help ease the knot in her stomach like it used to. She sighed deeply, letting the headlights fall upon her as he pulled up the bridge. No one ever said chasing your dreams would be easy.

“Hey sweetheart.” his smooth voice, soft only for her, flooded her ears as they closed the space between them instinctively. Her heart ached as he wrapped his scabbed hands around her waist, one rough palm to her cheek as if he were assuring he had her full attention.

“Hola, Javi.” she whispers against his lips. He does as he has before, pretending things are fine for as long as he can. Talking sweet and pushing back her hair, kisses to her temples like he always did when she was emotional. It was inevitable his lips would find their way through the small talk to her neck. And they did. “You know you can’t fuck your way out of this conversation.” she smiles, taking her hands to direct his face to look at hers.

“Worth a shot..” he nods with his signature cockiness she no longer found annoying but endearing. A dangerous feeling indeed.

He looks her over, hands gentle but firm as he ran them over her arms and sides, mapping her out in movements that would drive him to drink later on.

“I know your answer, mi Amor, I see it in your eyes. Just say it so we can move on.”

“Don’t make me Esme.” it wasn’t begging but there was a desperation to his furrowed brow as he looked down and finally met her eyes. “I told you what I have to do. I can’t stay here. I can’t be this girl anymore.”

“I don’t wanna lose you, baby, please.” There was the begging. The desperation was in those almost black-brown eyes as they glassed over, the lump in his throat growing by the second.

“You cannot go be part of a system that wants to enslave me. We can’t be together in this world, Javi. You KNOW this. You can’t be the cop and I the criminal. No way works. One of us ends up in jail...or worse.”

“You’re talkin' like you wanna kill me now all the sudden.”

“Never.” she holds his face with a veil of anger in her eyes. “I love you, Javier. I always will. But you are a weakness. You are the only man that knows me. The only man that could best me. And that is because I love you. I have to be who I am, I am a criminal and you are going to go off and be a part of what wants to keep oppressing people like me? Just because we are trying to get ahead? To make a life for ourselves because your government has failed its people? We can’t be together if you do this.”

“You don’t have to go off and do all this crazy shit, Esme. You’ve been reading too many books, baby, you don’t have to go off and steal and con. You could stay here. With me. Where you belong.”

“And do WHAT exactly? You want me to...work in an office? Be a cashier at the grocery store for the rest of my life? You want me miserable? That’s selfish and you know it. I’m not something you get to control, I’m not keeping myself small for you no matter how much I may love you. That’s a fate worse than death for a woman like me.”

“Not any part of you wants that? A simple life? With a good man? Have a few kids...a house. Just...be happy?”

“You are not stupid Javi, stop asking stupid questions. You know me better than anyone and you know that is not me. I will grow bored and loathsome, I would end up hating you and my choices and we would end up hating each other. I would rather us be in love in our memories than hate you in reality.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. Because I see it every day. In the women that glare at me when I walk down the street. The jealousy...they look down on me saying I am trash but it’s because they wish they had what I have. Drive, ambition, fucking OPTIONS. Those women are trapped by their decisions and I will be too if I stay.”

“You think staying with me is being trapped?”

“It is not you, Javi. It is what you will become. I love this..this Javier right now. But you be indoctrinated. You’ll change into someone else and I am not willing to change for you. I’m sorry.”

“I knew I shouldn't've let you hang out with those damn hippies…”

“This is all me Javi. This is no one else. You are the one being fed lies of being a good guy among the bad, that you can save everyone. It’s a lie. I do not want to tell you this because I know it’s your dream to help but mi Amor ...it is not real.”

“And I don’t think your dream is real! I think it’s a lot of horse shit.”

She stands in silence looking at him, his hands on his hips defensively. “Then we agree.” she nods. “Goodbye, Javi. I love you. Always.” she begins to turn and knows before she feels his hand around her arm that it would happen.

“Don't leave Esme you’re the only good thing I got.” he shakes her by the shoulders.

“And if you don’t think I feel the same you’re mistaken.” she almost spits out. “I do not WANT to leave. But to become what I must I have to. And I’m sorry it has to be this way. But it does.”

“If you leave I’ll find you. You know I will. I’m not gonna let you go. I can’t.” he chokes out.

“I know.” she sighs. “Which is why I must take such a drastic measure. To me... staying is a fate worse than death. I know you would find me.” she chuckles and he looks at her with wet confused eyes. “You are my weakness, Javier. You are the only man I know that could ever find me. Ever best me at my own game. And you will not stop looking for me.”

“I never would.” he whispers.

“Which is why I'm so sorry. So.... so sorry mi Amor.” she begins to cry and kisses him, pressing against him hard, his back hitting up against his car and a muffled struggle to embrace one another ensues.

There’s a swift movement and click. Javi’s head jerks to look down, arm tugging against the cuffs she’d just slipped on him and through his vehicle door. “I’m sorry Javi. I am.” she says as his anger grows.

“ESME?!” he barks. “Let me GO! Are you fuckin’ CRAZY?”

“Maybe.” she sighs and walks a few paces away, to the railing of the bridge, looking down at the water. ‘There is only one way you will let me go Javi. I cannot have you being my weakness, or my capture, or my pursuer. I would spend my life looking over my shoulder.”

“What the FUCK are you talking about?!” his voice breaks, a shout scaring the animals in the brush nearby.

She stands on the railing, wind through her hair and a feeling of true freedom being just outside her grasp. She hears him struggling behind her, the desperate grunts and whimpers, his words and shouts join the shite noise of the water as she closes her eyes. She turns only her head to meet his wild eyes one last time, a snapshot in her mind to carry with her into her new life. “I love you, Javier Pena. Never doubt that. I’ll see you in the next life.”

And with that, she was gone. Over the railing as Javi screamed until he was hoarse, his wrist fractures and bruised from the force of trying to free himself. It would break him, and he would be born into a new life. Just like her.

She knew it was drastic, but the only way she would be able to escape not only his love of her but of hers for him. He had to think she was dead.

@likedovesinthewnd @jaegeeeeer @biharryjames @ladamari68​ @past-romantic​ @weliketomoveit 

[poptod]

The Dead Heed No Lies (Ch. 1)

Description: Your job isn't as simple as it was when you first started out. Before you know it, you're hunting down an old God who happens to be a kleptomaniac with an overgrown sense of justice, alongside a 4,000 year old corpse who occasionally commits first degree murder.

Notes: This is an older fic that I’ve decided to continue! I called it the ‘untitled NatM 4 movie’ so think of it like that. I have plans for this and I really hope I do this storyline justice because I just love it so much. Word Count: 2.3k

Chapter One: Life’s a Sham

You loved your job. No, truly, you did - working in a museum was one thing you knew you actually wanted in life. Still, keeping this in mind, you hadn’t exactly signed up for needing to complete a reorganization of every file in the whole goddamn museum within the span of a week.

How long had your boss worked at the place anyway? High time to retire, you thought, heading to the A section. And just because you worked at night didn’t mean he could abuse you any way he liked.

Long night ahead of me, you thought, wishing that you’d bought some sort of energy drink before clocking in. Instead, you took a bite of the scone you’d gotten, looking through the first box.

Aaron Copland, American musician, died 1990. You wondered why that was in there, it was pretty recent after all.

Aaron Burr, you understood that.

Oh, they were out of order.

You fixed them.

Moving on…

A few (more than a few) minutes later, actual exhibits in the museum.

The giant Anubis statues guarding the King Ahkmenrah exhibit, those needed to be reordered. AH came before AN. Even though the Pharaoh exhibit had been moved away.

‘Anubis, an ancient Egyptian deity is connected mainly with the underworld, being the guardian of the underworld, referred to as Duat. He protects the dead, ushering them into the underworld, like a modern day reaper. He is also the god of embalming, and is believed to have invented the process. He has two forms - one, man like, with the head of a jackal, ears alert and sporting a red ribbon. His other form is that of a jackal or a black dog, the fur color a stark difference from the brown of jackals.’

Why am I reading this? I know this already. I have a goddamn major in Egyptian mythology.

American Civil War, that was in the right place.

Ancient Egypt.

Ancient Greece.

Anglo-Saxons, what was that doing there? Belonged in the British museum of history. Though, you supposed it didn’t hurt to have a little European history in America.

Anne of Cleves.

Austro-Hungarian Army.

Bayeaux Tapestry.

Boleyn, Anne.

Booth, Charles.

British Empire.

A wretchedly loud sound came from upstairs, like the stomping of hordes of elephants, all intent on making you crazy. You groaned to yourself, taking a deep steadying breath before continuing. Noises were none of your business. That was the security details’ issue. Though… looking to the side, you found a plastic knife, thinking it couldn’t hurt to be… armed? Could you consider a plastic knife being armed? You grabbed it anyway.

Calvin, John.

Caribbean History.

Castles of Britain, followed by Scotland and Wales.

Catherine of Aragorn.

Cattle Industry of America.

Charles the First.

China.

Civil War, America and English.

Cold War.

Crime and Punishment.

Danish Holocaust.

Dresden Bombing.

A loud honking of a horn, followed by a cacophony of party music. What the hell was going on up there?

You stood, fuming, the papers in your hands falling to the ground you were previously sitting on. Dealing with your lousy job was one thing, but having terrible upstairs neighbors at the same time? That was a whole other deal, and certainly not one you signed up for. With clenched fists still grasping the plastic knife you stormed towards the door leading to the stairs, which would take you into the break room, which in turn would lead to the lobby.

The trek up the stairs took a little bit out of you, but you continued, panting lightly and still fuming with anger. Before you could open the door to the main room though, McPhee entered the break room, laughing to himself.

“Sir?” You stopped, unclenching, hoping to not make a bad impression.

“Oh! Uh, you. What’s - what’s going on?” He asked, fumbling over his words like usual, playing with his hands in a dainty sort of way.

“It’s loud out there, I was wondering what was happening, sounds sort of…” you peeked out the half open door, trying to see what was out there, but he shut it far too fast to be considered ordinary. “Abnormal.”

“Yes, well, um, we’ve got uh, guests.”

“I know. From the British museum? Isn’t partying at midnight sort of… against the rules?” You asked cautiously, never knowing when he’d go full speech without knowing words on you.

“Right, it is, but -“

“McPHEE?!” A loud, female voice you didn’t recognize came from the other side of the door, loud pounding fists as its’ partner. “DEXTER STOLE THE KEYS AGAIN!” She panted for a moment, the pounding stopped. “I can’t find the bloody monkey and now he’s let out all the lions and they’re the only ones I don’t know what to do with.”

McPhee closed his eyes, letting out a quiet, tired breath. His facade, if you could call it that, and been broken, and it only left you more thoroughly confused than you had been  before.

“McPhee, are you in there??”

“Yes,” he hissed, prolonging the ’s’.

“Doctor, could you explain what exactly is happening?” You asked, starting to not care that he was now having two separate conversations with you and the woman behind the door. Apparently, someone had stolen the keys, and you had live lions in the museum which was COMPLETELY against regulations, and why did McPhee know about it? The man you knew would never allow animals into the museum.

“Is there someone else in there?!” The woman from behind the door rapped on it three times, presumably with her knuckles from the sharp sound. In the distance, you heard someone scream ‘goal,’ followed by an uproar of cheers.

“Are you playing soccer in there?” You asked him incredulously, not caring if he was the curator. No matter his rank, no matter how much you needed a job, you couldn’t stand for such misuse of a museum.

“Uh -“

The door opened before he could explain himself, the woman from the British museum stumbling through. She left the door wide open as she entered, keys grasped tight in her hand, letting you see outside.

A whole lot of people in costumes were running about, throwing a party. How in the world had McPhee authorized that?

“It’s not what it looks like,” he said quickly, his eyes rapidly switching between the woman and you.

“Really? Cause it looks like you’re throwing a party in a museum,” you said, eyes wide and your anger fully returned.

“Who are you?” The British woman turned to you, still out of breath and looking just about as confused as you were.

“I’m the archivist, and you are holding an illegal party, you’re not supposed to invite people onto the premises after -“

“Honestly, would you shut up and let me show you? We’re not holding a… party, or whatever you called it, it’s… something else,” McPhee said cryptically, obviously trying to hold back information. You were miffed, crossing your arms, and doubtful at his intentions. Still, he was your boss, and you ought to give him the benefit of the doubt. He hadn’t failed you yet. With a deep breath you slowly nodded, allowing the two of them to lead you out the door.

A dinosaur.

Made of bones.

An actual, live dinosaur was staring at you, and it wanted to play fetch.

“That’s, uh, Rexy, I believe Larry called him. Harmless, mostly,” McPhee explained, waving to the dead yet animate animal. It only stopped for a moment to notice the three of you before continuing to chase after a toy car, one of its’ bones tied behind it. Your mouth fell open in disbelief, eyes wide with a general panic that you knew consciously wasn’t deserved, but you couldn’t convince yourself of it.

The whole room was filled with historical figures, ones whose statues you’d stared at for so long as a child, in wonder and curiosity but now you no longer wondered, you no longer imagined - they were there. Whether you wanted it or not, they were there, and they were loud.

“That’d be the Huns, apparently it took your old night guard for-ever to get them to get along,” the woman said, shaking her head.

“Who… what…” you mumbled, in a daze of disbelief.

“The Tablet of Ahkmenrah,” the woman said in a dramatic voice, using jazz hands to accentuate the wonder, but it didn’t do much for you. You’d heard of the tablet, sure, but it wasn’t at your museum anymore. It had been transported to the British museum -

Oh. It all clicked together, why you hadn’t heard the noise before, why McPhee knew what was happening, what the cause was.

Of course, that’d be if magic was real.

“Show me,” you said, not wanting to completely discount their story. The woman looked utterly delighted, while McPhee looked mostly uncomfortable, fiddling with the bottom of his jacket, an awkward smile on his face. Your eye twitched as the two of you made eye contact. In less than a moment, you turned back, following the woman towards wherever she was taking you.

“What’s your name anyway?” You asked as she led you through a crowd of historical figures.

“Tilly. Yours?”

“Uh -“ You were quickly interrupted by Tilly, who ran into Christopher Columbus.

This can’t be happening, you thought to yourself, as Tilly apologized in Italian to Columbus. Columbus, made fully of silver black stone or steel, bowed his head with a smile, returning to his soccer game with the Neanderthals, who seemed quite excitable in the presence of Tilly.

“I, uh, this is -“

“A lot? I know. My first night taking care of my museum was, well, a disaster,” she laughed to herself, rolling her eyes in an ‘oh, you,’ sort of way. “Anyway, here we are!”

An empty, closed off room. The room mean to house the Pharaoh, who had been delivered to the British - what was she thinking?

“Oh, right,” she mumbled to herself, rubbing her chin methodically as she stared at the ground. You waited patiently, admiring the art of the room.

“Guess we’ll have to find the King himself, should be somewhere,” she said, pulling you by the wrist down the hallway. A few more turns and you were at the balcony of the lobby, and at the halfway point of one of the stairs, on the platform, was a man dressed in ancient Egyptian garb, golden robes flowing in a way unlike any cloth you’d ever seen. After all, a whole lot of old cloth was like that, well made, thin and light yet warm.

She led you down the staircase, stopping behind the King, who was apparently manning a DJ station.

You felt yourself get lightheaded. It simply wasn’t possible. It couldn’t happen, not physically. It disobeyed everything you ever knew, every wish you convinced yourself wouldn’t be fulfilled.

“Oh, hello!” The King turned around, having just been alerted of your presence by Tilly tapping him on the back. His gaze first landed on her, then on you, tilting his head to the side with a curious smile.

“My friend here is, uh, new. Doesn’t believe that all this is real,” Tilly explained, and the King gave her a knowing look, bending down to pick up what you assumed was going to be the tablet.

“I’m just an archivist, I don’t think I’m supposed to be here,” you said over the loud music, suddenly feeling quite like you were going to be sick. It felt too much like a fantastical story. You just read and studied fantastical stories. You didn’t star in them.

Yet, here you were, being handed a tablet made of pure gold.

“Uh… cool,” you breathed out, holding something in your hands that costed more than your life. As soon as opportunity let you, you gave it back to the King.

“I am Ahkmenrah,” his eyes flickered over to Tilly before coming back to you, resting soft and welcoming on yours. “What shall I call you?”

“Uh, (Y/N),” you stuttered, blinking furiously, as though it’d wake you up from a dream come true.

“Well, (Y/N), welcome to the party,” he laughed, turning back around to choose another song.

“I’m gonna sit down,” you whimpered, collapsing onto the steps behind you. Tilly looked like she was going to stop you, but decided against it, her hands coming back to her sides.

“I’ll let you catch your breath, okay?” She said with a smile, patting your back and leaving down the steps. You watched as she left, joining one of the Neanderthals in dancing.

“It’s a bit overwhelming, isn’t it?” The King said, sitting down beside you. Despite being dressed in royal clothing, and speaking in a rather posh manner, he acted human. In that moment, you appreciated it.

“Yeah… why, um, how do you speak, uh, English?” You asked, turning to face him.

“I went to Cambridge. As a display,” he said, quickly correcting himself. You nodded, turning to face forward again.

“I’ve never been to England,” you murmured. 

“It’s nice. Cold,” he joked, laughing to himself. You joined in weakly, still feeling overwhelmed. You continued staring forward for a while, letting yourself wonder if this was reality, or if you were hallucinating, but he must’ve noticed your silence as he cleared his throat.

“Would you like some water?”

“What?” You asked, turning to him, pulled out of your thoughtless trance. “No, I’m alright. It’s a lot.”

“I know. Imagine waking up in a coffin every night,” he joked, but it fell flat. It sounded flat out miserable.

“I’m going to go lie down,” you mumbled out, your voice cracking as you stood.  He immediately stood with you, before pausing, hesitant to follow you.

“Uh - I hope you, uh, feel better!” He called to you as you left down the stairs. Before he was out of earshot you heard him curse to himself, but you didn’t care to think what he was so troubled with. Was that a little cruel? Sure. Selfish? Definitely, but you’d just found out that all the exhibits were going to come to life at night, and that magic definitely existed and all those fictional Egyptian Gods you’d studied for so long were most likely real.

You needed time to process… and maybe to scream a little.

[kalypsichor]

five’s a crowd [ beatles x reader ] chapter nine

summary: George fancies himself to be Sherlock and drags you along with him, determined to figure out why Ringo’s been acting so weird lately. What you find changes everything.

warnings: 2.7k of an emotional rollercoaster

i’m sorry. notes at end of chapter

You float through the next few days on a bit of a cloud. George doesn’t see Maureen again, which you know you should be bummed about since he’s your friend and all, but… okay, you admit it. You don’t like them together. It’s nothing against Maureen, of course, and everything due to you being a shitty friend.

Wait… that’s it. You’re sitting on the steps leading up to your building and, jumping up, you almost hit your head on the railing. That weird, acidic feeling that sat in the pit of your stomach and reared into your throat whenever Maureen had laughed or George had put an arm around her… that was because you didn’t want to lose George’s friendship. It all makes sense now. And sure, although you admit that it’s not healthy to be so possessive of a friend, it’s better than the idea that you could possibly be… possibly be in…

“Love? What’re you doing out here?”

You know who it is before you turn around. Still, your heart catches in your throat, and you can’t help feeling like you were just caught doing something you shouldn’t be.

“Just enjoying the nice weather,” you say, smiling at George as he joins you on the steps. Are you smiling too wide? Is it too forced? Fuck, you’ve forgotten how to smile, what’s happening to you??? “How ‘bout you?”

George bumps his shoulder lightly into yours. “Was wonderin’ where my friend went. Have you seen her? She’s about yea high, can’t play Clue for shite-”

“Hey! I’ll have you know that I’m very good at Clue. Better than you, at least.”

“Hm, but who was it that won Monopoly at Game Night?”

“You were cheating!”

You grin at each other and it’s so… natural. Yes, this is natural, this is just good ol’ banter between good ol’ friends. And being so jealous of Maureen had been stupid; how could you have possibly doubted the bond between you and George? The bond which has kept you together through thick and thin, through all your ups and downs…

Ever since that first night you met him.

***

Uni was nothing like the movies.

For one, there were no cliques or anything like that. People were generally nice and welcoming.

Which made the fact that you were feeling so out of place at this party even more pathetic.

Your roommate, a bubbly theatre performance major named Jane, had convinced you to come—well, her exact words were that you needed to “stop sitting on your arse and get out of the dorm a little”—and you weren’t having a bad time. You just weren’t having much of a good one, either. The music was loud yet also unintelligible and the flat, which belonged to some third years, was stuffy and packed with way more people than should be legally possible.

So, there you were, nursing a cup of Sgt. Pepper and trying to find somewhere that didn’t smell like B.O.

People kept on bumping into you, making your drink slosh around dangerously close to the top, and you kept on apologising for some fucking reason. Eventually, a set of double doors caught your eyes. It led to a porch of some sort, and just the thought of fresh air was already making your breathing easier. With quick, careful steps, you made your way through the throng of people and into the warm summer air.

It’s so dark out that you don’t notice there’s someone else on the porch until he turns, melting right out of the shadows and startling you a little.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you…”

The stranger just blinked at you, looking as though he was about to scowl but suddenly forgot how.

“Er, I’ll just find somewhere else to, uh, sulk.”

You made to leave but froze at the feeling of a grip on your wrist. Your gaze followed the long, almost elegant fingers to a tense shoulder. A bobbing Adam’s apple. Dark eyes which widened comically when he suddenly snatched his hand back as though burned.

“Stay. Sorry. I thought you were someone else.” When he noticed your shocked expression, he quickly backpedaled. “I mean, you don’t /have/ to stay. You can. I’m not tryin’ to tell you, uh… I’m…” The boy sighed and slumped forward, his next words more to himself than you. “Jesus Christ.”

Normally you’d sprint the other way if you accidentally found yourself alone with a complete stranger, but something drew you to join him, drew you to stand shoulder to shoulder and drape your arms over the railing. Something, something… you weren’t sure what. You would figure it out eventually, probably.

“Well, it’s an honor to meet you, Jesus. I’m a big fan of your work.”

His head turned slightly, dark mop of hair shifting and parting in the breeze. When your eyes met, you both started laughing, the sound carrying over the din of the party behind you.

And when he told you his name, and you told him yours, they fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

***

George brings you out of your reverie, calling your name softly. You shake your head and try to swipe away the cobwebs of that fond memory.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about something.”

He grins and shoves a hand in his pocket, bringing out his phone. “I’ve been doing a little thinking of my own, too. Have you noticed how Ringo’s been sorta sus recently?”

Huh. You think back to Ringo's odd behavior last Sunday, and how he’d come back from supposedly walking dogs with a grin that lasted til dinner. Dogs are cute, obviously, and you’d die for one in an instant, but you’ve never seen them have that kind of an effect on Ringo.

“Yeah, I guess. Do you know why?”

“No, but!” George accentuated the ‘but’ with an adorably excited wag of his finger. “I know how we can figure it out… using the wonders of technology!” George’s phone is shoved in your direction and you blink at the familiar yellow app glowing right back at you.

“... Snapchat?”

“Ringo left half an hour ago to do some more ‘dog walking’,” cue air quotes, “and I was thinking we could try and figure out what he’s really up to.”

It takes your brain a few seconds to process this. “Wait, but—shouldn’t his location be turned off?”

“Yeah, it should be. I tell him to do it all the time, 'cept he doesn’t know how. Anyway, it’ll come in handy now.”

“Wait wait wait.” You bring up a hand and slowly move the phone out of the way so you can meet George’s eyes. “You’re talking about stalking your friend.”

“Our friend,” George corrects. “And it’s not really stalking if he’s so easy to find.”

“Say that a little louder, Geo, I don’t think the police heard you.”

“Listen, there’s no harm in it. If Ringo’s really telling the truth, we’ll get to see some cute dogs. And if not, we can catch him red-handed doing… something sketchy!”

You want to say no, partly because this is a crazy plan and partly because you weren’t too keen on spending your afternoon on a wild goose chase. But with your exams over, you really haven’t got anything else to do.

Also, you just can’t bring yourself to let down that adorable anticipation on George’s face.

“Fine. But!” This time it’s your turn to jab a finger in his direction. “If it’s the mafia or something, I’m using your skinny arse as a human shield.”

George frowns. It’s more of a pout, really, and you privately think that it puts Paul’s to shame. “First of all, it’s not skinny. Second,” he grabs your hand and starts pulling you along the sidewalk, “we’re losing daylight! The game is afoot, dear Watson!”

You can’t help but laugh, even as you’re being unceremoniously dragged along. “Why do you get to be Sherlock?”

George lets go of your hand (you are not disappointed, you’re not) and turns up the collar of his jacket, sending you a sly grin. “It’s the cheekbones. Benadryl Cucumber could cut glass with those things, y’know.”

As you look at George’s side profile, platonically admiring his sharp jawline and defined nose, you can’t help but agree. Personally, though, you think that his cheekbones put Beelzebub Cabbagepatch’s to shame.

***

The problem is that Ringo keeps on moving. Sure, you have Google Maps, but you can’t exactly put in a destination because Ringo doesn’t even seem to have one. George isn’t any less directionally challenged than you, so for the past half hour you’ve both been just walking in the vague cardinal direction of Ringo’s last location.

“Consider this,” you say, huffing a little from the endless walking. Okay, so maybe you should get out of the apartment and, god forbid, exercise more. “What if he’s actually walking a dog? He’s moving around enough to be doing it.”

George comes to a sudden stop and you smack right into him, nose squashing momentarily against the back of his jacket before. Before you can withdraw from the warmth of George’s body, though, you catch a whiff of something—clean laundry, fresh linen, George—and you’re overwhelmed by a sudden, ridiculous urge to press into him again.

“There’s got to be something going on,” he insists. “Ringo can barely wash his hands with that cast on, much less walk dogs. Don’t you think?”

You nod, but really only because you’ve suddenly forgotten how to speak.

“Wait, look! He’s walking around in circles now… think he’s at some sort of park. Come on, before we lose him!”

And then George is taking your hand again, sprinting across the street with no warning. You can’t bring yourself to mind. His palm is so warm against yours, fingers intertwining perfectly as though they were made for each other. He lets go when you reach the sidewalk, of course, which is absolutely normal. Friendly. Your fingers don’t suddenly feel cold, not at all.

God, you wanna hold his hand.

You get to the park pretty quickly, which the stitch in your side is grateful for. It’s your run of the mill ordeal: benches, trees here and there, a nice duck pond in the middle of it all. Before you get the chance to look for Ringo’s mop of hair, though, George pulls you into a clump of bushes. Your knees hit the dirt and send a jolt of pain up your leg, making you hiss.

“What the hell, George?”

“Sorry, sorry!” He gives you an apologetic look and his hand finds one of your knees, rubbing little circles where there’s a smear of dirt. Suddenly, you don’t care at all about falling down. “Just wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be seen.”

You huff and glance around. Thankfully, there aren’t any passersby to give you weird looks. “This Sherlock thing is really going to your head. Don’t you think we’re making a big deal out of all this?”

George goes to make a retort—looks a little sheepish, though, so you’ll give him that—but then he freezes. He doesn’t even have to say anything for you to know that he’s spotted Ringo… and that something’s wrong.

Ringo’s walking around the bend of the path that circles the pond, laughing about something. He looks so happy, his laugh so lighthearted, that your own lips twitch upwards at the sight. But then you see what’s making him laugh and the grin disappears.

It’s Maureen.

Ringo’s got his arm around her and they’re looking at each other like nothing else exists. You’ve seen that look many, many times, having to suffer through it whenever John and Paul get very, well, JohnandPaul. It’s not friendly, like you and George, it’s… it’s like love.

You want to pull George away, cover his eyes, anything that could possibly undo this, this… whatever this is. But the damage has already been done. You can see it in how his jaw clenches, how his eyes flash vulnerable before settling on guarded, and how his posture is stiff when he stands up and walks right through the bushes you’re crouched behind.

“George, wait-”

It’s too late. Ringo’s head turns to the sudden commotion and his smile slips away so quickly it’s like it’s been slapped off. He stops in his tracks. Maureen is a second behind, takes another step forward before jolting back when her partner doesn’t move. And when her gaze lands on George, who’s barreling towards them, the emotions on her face are so visible that you almost cringe. Shock, fear, and then, overwhelmingly, guilt.

You don’t have to see Ringo to know he looks the same.

Your feet are carrying you towards them before your brain can catch up, but something stops you a few feet away from the scene. It almost feels like you’re eavesdropping because this has nothing to do with you. Except, you realize, everything concerning George concerns you, too. Because you care about him.

So much.

“Ringo! We were just walking through the neighborhood!” George gestures in your direction and Maureen’s eyes snap to you. You flinch, partly at the motion and partly at the false cheeriness George has inflected into his voice. “You know, she said to me, she said ‘well isn’t that Ringo?’ And I thought, no, it couldn’t be. My best friend wouldn’t go behind my back and take out the girl I was seeing.” His voice cracks halfway through ‘best.’ You know that George notices, because his cheeks have turned a furious, embarrassed pink. “But I guess it really is you.”

Ringo’s eyes stay on George the whole time. They’re really so, so blue and light enough that a part of you fancies you could see George’s reflection in them. They don’t look away, not when George points at you, not even when he’s done speaking. You know, then, that Ringo really cares about George. Loves him, even. And George must know that, right?

“George.” Quiet, restrained. “How did you find us?”

It’s like George doesn’t hear a word. “Did you already have your eyes on her at the bar? The morning after, you were already texting her, right? God, you took her out. The morning after.” His voice breaks again at the last sentence, catching on something sharp and stumbling out of his throat.

There’s nothing to say. Everyone knows the answer, really. It’s obvious—yes, yes, and yes. The silence that stretches between George’s shuddering intake of breath to Ringo’s next words is heavy.

“Did you follow me?”

The atmosphere becomes paper-thin, now. Changes so quickly you feel the breath rush out of you. And George tears right through it.

“Does it fucking matter?” You’ve never heard George sound like this and you know you’ve got to stop it, got to slam on the brakes before it all breaks. But how?

“George-”

“Stop. Just stop, Ritchie.”

That’s when something cracks in Ringo’s eyes. Only his closest friends call him that, Ritchie, and hearing George say it like that, practically spitting it out… even Maureen feels the venom in his tone. She takes a half step forward and Ringo stops her, hand grasping her arm and tugging her back. George sees it and his face falls.

“I’m sorry, George, he was just—being nice to me, that’s all.”

“Nice? Is that what you call it?” George laughs bitterly. “God, I couldn’t even keep you for a day, huh? This is pathetic. I’m-”

He doesn’t finish his sentence, takes a deep breath instead. Runs a shaky hand through his hair. George is angry, trembling with it, but for some reason you almost feel like it’s more towards himself.

“I guess you really were dog-walking, Ritchie. Just didn’t think she’d be a bitch.”

Whatever holds the four of you in place shatters. George stumbles backwards and the regret is already painted all over his face, the shock evident in his wide eyes. Maureen gasps, tearing her arm away from Ringo’s hold to clasp a hand over her mouth. And Ringo—Ringo doesn’t stop her this time. They both know he doesn’t mean it, even you do, but the word still hangs in the air between them. Ringo has always been the slowest to anger, the hardest to rile up, but this time is different. You see a fire rise to his eyes, a line harden around his mouth, a subtle change in his stance.

Still, nothing prepares you for when he rears back and strikes George right across the face.

- - -

notes: 1) i know nothing about college (or i guess “uni”) in england, so some of this is probably so wrong. Like i guess you guys only have three years?? And apparently NO GPA??? So, that was def a mistake on my part in ch six. Also, I guess midterms aren’t a thing. That brings me to 2) this story is taking place during the first semester of their third and final year at uni. Which means they are in… the middle of October! IDK i’m making this tf up rn. Mostly bc I really wanna write a halloween chapter (dee here! We’re making an executive decision to set this before halloween because we NEED christmas feels)

taglist: (wanna be added? dm me or @spaceyantique!)

@1-2beeble @beatlevmania @theclassicsl @withthebeables @thasbooooooi @geostarr @report-abuse

[benichi]

I played Chou no Doku (so you don’t have to) - Mizuhito’s Route Part 3

I had planned for this to be the last part but I can’t cut everything down as much as I wanted to so the suffering shall end not just yet. Since I took such a long break I actually had to replay the latter half of the game cause my brain has rejected most of those memories to save at least a bit of the sanity I have left lol. But I promised to do this and I’m commited to see it through! I am the top Chou no Doku blog after all 😂 Also SPOILER warning. I put it under the read more last time but since it’s a thing they talk about constantly now I can’t do that anymore.

When we left off the last time Majima and Yuriko were having a ... sensual? moment in the garden with some vegetables. Apparently their... activities left her feeling invigorated.

After coming to the conclusing that that the vegetables made her feel alive (and definitely not the BJ instructions Majima gave her on a cucumber) Yuriko retreats to her room. While thinking about her brother she’s interrupted by a visitor: and who else could it be but Shiba. Mizuhito has also come to entertain said man (or rather to mark his territory) As usual the two men end up bickering like 5 year olds as Mizuhito tries to display how poor the family is doing in order to ward Shiba off. Since Yuriko tries to smooth things over at least a little bit her “brother” decides to run off to a Brothel once again.

Yuriko is irritated since he’s about to break his promise and ends up chasing him down. As I said this is like watching a bunch of children squabble.

If only it were just siblings being dramatic.

Here’s where the magic happens. Yuriko spends paragraphs explaining that her brother is still her family - even if they’re not related by blood and so on.

Can’t I just become a single old cat lady

I love how she calls him Brother in the same sentence that’s supposed to sell me that she loves him romantically.

But one choice later she’s all over him and saying stuff like “I’ve finally caught him” I mean wtf girl you promoted him from family to Lover in under a minute. So they end up huddling close together and Yuriko once again has her “mmm gotta talk about smell” moment. I think this gives us a pretty good idea what the sax scenes in the original are like lol.

Shiba eventually stumbles upon them and is obviously not happy with what he’s seeing. He parts ways with Yuriko by whispering into her ear that this Brother of hers is her biggest flaw. I mean he’s dishing out the truth, let the man talk.

I felt that.

I’m gonna puke. Cue gross moment of “Ohhh I’m a bad big brother because I want to kiss my little sister” “Noo we can’t to that Onii-chan” “Aww let’s at least try to see if we feel ~g u i l t y~” like my dude wtf. Honestly this scene was gross imo because he totally coaxed her into this and she just kind of convinces herself that kissing him is so  a w e s o m e despite initially being totally against it like yikes.

WELL MAYBE CAUSE YOU LIVED AS SIBLINGS FOR  Y E A R S

Voila, I told you.

Despite what one may think he doesn’t want to draw her nude yet. Since he makes such a big deal out of her being his ~innocent~ little sister Yuriko survived this encounter with her innocence still intact.

On the next day their Grandma pays them a visit to assess the current situation. Obviously the 1. solution to every problem in this game is either murder or getting hitched to someone that’s wealthy. Grandma proposes the latter.

They can’t decline her proposals immediately to avoid suspicion but to the two of them it’s clear that they want to keep their “relationship” going. Or maybe it’s not so clear because Mizuhito starts acting like a jelly 5 year old again.

Maybe it would help if you stopped calling him Brother with every breath you take.

Afterwards Yuriko models for him, but Mizuhito soon becomes distracted because he knows that even if they reject the current marriage proposals there will always be new ones incoming. He says that it will ~break him if Yuriko were to marry another Man (my dude let me tell you: you were just fine in the other routes I’ve played so far).

This shit so stupid even the game can’t take all of it.

A few days later Kyoko invites the two for dinner at her house. When Mizuhito leaves the room for a bit and after Yuriko whines about that:

Seriously why does everyone here have the mind of a child.

Kyoko takes the chance to tell Yuriko about the Geisha that her ... Brother... Lover?! what do I even call these two lol. The one her BroLover had been visiting frequently. Apparently she still posseses something that belong to Mizuhito and Kyoko wants to (find out if Yuriko and Mizuhito are facking) figure out how to relay this information to him. Obviously Yuriko with her 5 year old mind doesn’t want her lover visiting the Geisha so she asks Kyoko to keep it a secret.

On the way home we are subjected to another make out scene because Mizuhito got h*rny from Yuriko’s gaze. This scene is more “intense” to tell us that the frick frack is coming up soon but not quite yet.

If I took a shot every time she says Brother or Family then maybe I wouldn’t have to suffer like this.

I don’t know about you but I certainly don’t exchange gentle kisses with my older Brother.

After calming his raging... emotions Mizuhito says that they shouldn’t go too far since he thinks of Yuriko as special. Yuriko however feels “betrayed” by this like heavens forbid he didn’t rip her clothes off and bonk her in a dark dirty alleyway. How dare he.

In order to prevent Mizuhito from potentially bonking that Geisha who still has one of his “things” in a dark dirty alleyway instead Yuriko concludes that sending someone else to visit the Brothel is a great idea. She decides to ask Majima, her first love in case you forgot, and goes to visit him. When Mizuhito questions where she’s going in the middle of the night she comes up with the most convincing excuse ever:

Marvelous.

We’ll leave things here for now. So how will Yuriko’s first love react to this odd request? And how does this clusterfuck of a story end? You’ll find out in the (this time for real) final next part!

(The last part will definitely be up before Thursday cause I’ll be focused on Collar x Malice Unlimited then)

[spacesuitsforemergency]

I Got You, Duchess

Word Count: 3.2k

Pairing: Luke Cage x Frost! Fem!Reader

Summary: You join S.H.I.E.L.D thanks to your mother, and meet Power Man. He gives you an annoying nickname, which you definetly hate

A/N: literally no one asked but I love Emma Frost to death and I totally ship a Frost! Fem! Reader with Luke. Also I know people with the X-Gene gets passed down by the dad but Y’know. This is fiction for a reason

‘This’= speaking telepathically

“This”= speaking verbally

You were a desired woman. You were from a wealthy, dangerous, very powerful family. Your mother had built a business empire, after being Headmistress of Xavier Institute and Massachusetts Academy, a therapist, CEO of Frost International, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, she had become one of the richest mutants in the world.

You were Y/N Frost, and unfortunately, that meant you were in danger nearly 24/7. Your mother had made many enemies over the years, business and X-Men wise, which resulted criminals sought after you to get revenge.

You somehow found yourself in trouble all the time. If you walked anywhere by yourself you were guaranteed to get robbed, stalked or threatened. You inherited the X-Gene from your mother, and her exact powers. You were just as skilled and precise with your powers as she was, but still, thank god for Luke Cage.

•

The first time you met, you had been on your way to a dinner with your mother and some board executives or something. You honestly didn’t care about your mothers work, your goals were more centered around developing your powers and becoming an X-Woman.

You had been running down the sidewalks of the busy streets of Manhattan, trying to get to the restaurant on time.

Some villain noticed your designer wear, and quickly snatched your bag from you. You chased after him, trying to use your telepathy to force him to stop. Of course, you couldn’t focus enough on it, and he quickly got away from you.

All of your daily essentials were in that bag. Your wallet, your phone, your homework, makeup, etc. You were pissed, you were tired of having to replace everything so many times just because you were wearing high end clothing. Sure, it may sound like rich people problems but...okay, so it is a rich people problem.

“This yours, miss?” A voice said behind you.

You turn around, seeing a guy your age, but much bigger than you. He had dark chocolate skin, plump lips, and he was at least a whole foot taller than you. The gaudy yellow actually worked for him, and his shades added a ‘disguise’ apparently. He had a nice yet confident smile on his face as he held out your stolen bag.

“Um...yes, how’d you know?” You asked as he handed it to you, your fingertips brushing.

“It’s a white Chanel. I assumed this could only belong to the pretty girl in the white Chanel.” He chuckled.

“Well, thank you...?” You raise an eyebrow in question.

“Power Man.” He held a hand out to you.

“Power Man?” You giggle as you shake his soft hand. “What’s your power, then?”

“Intangible skin, miss.” He grinned proudly.

“Impressive.” You smile. “Well, thank you, Power Man.”

“I got you, duchess.” He nodded.

“Don’t call me that.” You narrow your eyes.

“Whatever you say...duchess.” He winked before rushing off.

The whole time at dinner that night, you couldn’t stop thinking about Power Man. He was attractive, charming, and also had powers like you did.

Sure he had called you duchess, and that annoyed you. You didn’t like being seen as just a little rich girl, but when you dressed like you did that’s all people saw.

You weren’t a spoiled brat in any way. You and your mother donated tons of money to charities and she funded the X-Men. Yes you liked extravagant clothing and accessories, and you paid a lot to get luxurious spa treatments, but that’s what you liked.

‘Dear, what’s on your mind?’ Your mother raised an eyebrow at you from across the table.

‘Why don’t you just read it?’ You quipped.

‘I already did. Just thought I should ask. I know this Power Man, I could do something for you.’

‘Mother you better not.’

Mother didn’t listen. Like usual.

Not even 24 hours later, you were picked up by the white Frost limo after school, and it didn’t go the usual route. At first you thought maybe the driver was kidnapping you, but then you read his mind and realized that your mother had told him to take you to the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier.

You weren’t surprised your mother hadn’t listened to you, but this time you were glad she hadn’t. Being a hero one day was your dream, and you knew S.H.I.E.L.D had hero programs. Sure you could always become an X-Woman, but that was too easy. They’d let you right in, you wanted to be wanted for your capabilities, not your mother.

You arrived at a small helicopter pad, where they flew you up to the Helicarrier. Nick Fury himself was there to greet you, another man with a very rectangular hairline next to him.

“Director Fury, pleasure to meet you.” You greeted him, then read the other mans mind. “Agent Coulson, you as well.”

“So, your mother tells us you’re interested in joining the hero program?” Agent Coulson asks you.

“Yes.” You nod simply as they lead you inside.

“You’ll be on a team, other kids your age.” Fury clears his throat, then goes on about the program and such.

You don’t pay attention much, since you already know plenty about their programs. You quickly scan agents’ minds as they pass you in the halls, just for basic information like how to navigate the Helicarrier and who the important people here were.

You finally arrive at your destination, a meeting room of sorts. You see a long table in front of a floor ceiling window, and a control panel on the other side. You see 5 teenagers your age, and your eyes widen when you recognize one of them.

“Duchess! What’s up?” Power Man beamed at you.

“That’s ‘duchess’?!” A shorter Hispanic boy exclaims, jaw nearly dropping. You read his mind, this was Sam Alexander.

“Power Man!” You turn back to your acquaintance. “So you talk about me, I see?”

“How could I not?” He winked, shades off so you can tell better this time.

“That’s enough of that.” Fury narrowed his eye at him. “Everyone, please welcome your new member.”

“Wait duchess, you have powers?” Power Mans eyes widened.

“I didn’t say I was officially joining.” You turn to Fury, ignoring the question for now. “My mother arranged this, there has to be repercussions of some form.”

“No ma’am, there aren’t. She only told us that you wanted to join and I’m not passing you up.” Fury said sternly. “As much power as she has on the world, she doesn’t have any here, I promise you that.”

You read his mind to make sure he was telling the truth, since you never really believed my mother would do something 100% out of the kindness of her heart. She was a lovely mother, but still a business woman. Who knows what kinds of deals she could’ve made. Once you were satisfied with your ‘research’, if you will, you sighed.

“Fine. I believe you.” You give in.

“Great. So who are you?” A boy in hideous red and blue spandex asked. Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, AKA Webhead, nicknamed by the Sam Alexander guy.

“I am Y/N Frost.” You introduce yourself. “Don’t bother giving introductions, I’ve already checked.”

“Checked?” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“She’s a telepath.” A guy with chin length blonde hair and the Iron Fist symbol across his chest answered for you.

“And you know this how?” Sam crossed his arms.

“You would also know if you read any S.H.I.E.L.D files.” He responded.

“Again, you’ve got powers?” Power Man, or Luke Cage, repeated.

“Yes, and this is being brought to my attention once again because?” You put you hands on your hips.

“Uh, cause you could’ve saved your purse yourself? Right?” He asked.

“First of all, I couldn’t focus then. I don’t have training. Second of all, I’m not a licensed hero so there could’ve been legal trouble.” You justify.

“Isn’t your family, like, super rich?” The girl in the white catsuit, Ava Ayala, inquired. “You could afford any lawyer.”

“Yes but I am a mutant.” You explain. “Doesn’t matter how rich I am, mutants are discriminated worse than if I acquired the powers from, for example, a mystical amulet like you.”

“Oh.” She shut up.

“Yeesh, what’s with all the big words?” Sam scoffed.

“Acquired isn’t a big word, stupid.” Ava swat him across the head.

“Now. Miss Frost, will you be joining your teams training session?” Agent Coulson asked, after glaring at them. According to his thoughts, he wanted to make a good impression with you. How cute.

“Yes, I most certainly will.” You offer a small smile.

“Great. If you need anything, ask somebody else.” Fury grumbled before leaving.

“Alright team, let’s show Miss Frost what you’ve got.” Agent Coulson ordered.

“You need a codename!” Spider-Man shouted.

“How about Duchess?” Luke snickered

“Absolutely not.”

•

Over the next few weeks, you had grown pretty close to Luke. You two were basically best friends now, you were almost never seen without the other anymore.

You two went on spa days together, and you paid for the luxurious treatments. He resisted at first, but you eventually wore him down and he gave in. You even convinced him to get his nails done with you one time.

He would come over to the Frost Mansion to do homework or watch sports games. You usually had the house to yourself and maybe a housekeeper or two, since your mother was always working. You were grateful for that now, so she wouldn’t pester you or intimidate him.

You were close to the rest of your team too of course, but Luke was different. You had already thought he was attractive, but now had started to develop a crush on him. He was alluring, considerate, selfless, diligent, valiant, reliable, you could go on.

You wanted to read his mind to see if he felt the same, but you couldn’t abuse your powers like that to invade his privacy. You two had built up trust in one another, he trusted you not to pry in his mind and you trusted him enough to not do so. Still, you were curious and it took a lot of will power to not do so.

•

Luke didn’t really get crushes on people, but when he did, he made sure not even Danny could tell. Or so he thought.

Of course Danny knew, he wasn’t blind or stupid. He knew his best friend definitely had a thing for you. He understood of course, you were attractive, intelligent, and disciplined. So what to do with this information? Confrontation of course.

“So Luke...” Danny approached his best friend during a lunch break during weekend training. “What do you think of Y/N so far?”

“What do you mean?” Luke raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the short blonde.

“Y’know, what do you think of her as a teammate so far?” He asked casually, not fazed by Luke already catching onto his plan.

“I mean...she has a better handle on her powers now. And I guess she’s very...useful?”

“I agree.” Danny nodded, grinning, then took a sip of his tea.

Luke narrowed his eyes at him. Danny never asked these questions when Spider-Man joined the team. He was sneaky and smart, Luke will have him that. It seemed like a casual conversation so far, maybe that’s all it was.

“She’s pretty, huh?”

There it was.

“I mean, uh...I mean, sure.” Luke cleared his throat nervously.

“You two spend a lot of time together. Saw you guys go to the spa.” Danny chuckled, amused at his friends reaction.

“What do you want, Daniel?” Luke set down his food and fully turned to face his friend.

“Nothing.” He shrugged. “I’m just wondering-“

“Cut the crap. What are you up to?”

“Hey, I am not one to pull shenanigans.” Danny raised a finger at him as he set down his tea. “But. You obviously have a thing for her.”

“What?!” Luke laughed. “No I-no. No I don’t! You are-You’re crazy! You sir. Are crazy in the head. No! No I don’t.”

Danny smiled, almost laughing as Luke stumbled over his words. He wasn’t as slick as he thought.

“Okay.” Danny went back to his food.

Luke sharply inhaled, also turning back to his lunch. He saw you across the room, chatting with Ava about...whatever it is you two talk about. You were drinking soda with your pinky sticking out, which he figured out was just one of your mannerisms. You were wearing your pure white X-Suit, your legs crossed and head held high.

Danny was clearly right, he definitely had a crush on you. How could he not? You were clever, generous, passionate, honest, resourceful, elegant, and hands down the most gorgeous girl he’s ever see in his life.

“Fine, you’re right. What do I do?” Luke sighed, giving in to the tense silence that finally broke him.

“Leave it to me, my friend.” Danny pat his shoulder.

“Oh no, you are not playing matchmaker.” Luke snapped. “Remember how that went last time?”

Danny thought back to their first year of high school, when Luke had a crush on this cheerleader. Danny only interfered a little, and by a little, he outright told her about the crush. Then she went onto expose it to the whole school and even went as far to make fun of him.

“Okay...so that was my fault.” Danny nodded slowly. “But this is Y/N.”

“Exactly. She’s way outta my league.” Luke shook his head as he glanced back to you and Ava, who were now arguing over whatever you had been talking about.

“She’s not out of your league.” Danny reassured him.

“How is she in my league, exactly?” Luke crossed his arms. “She’s rich, beautiful, powerful, popular.”

“Dude, you don’t have to be rich to be liked. You’re great, man. What’s not to like?”

“Aww, are you saying you have a crush on me?” Luke said sarcastically.

“Yes yes, I’ve hidden it for years but now that I have competition, I confess my love for you.” Danny laughed. “But seriously dude, you’re cool. You’re really nice, you’re a superhero, you’re dependable, you’re not half bad to look at.”

“I know I’m hot stuff, you don’t gotta feed into that one.” Luke chuckled. “Thanks, man. Maybe I’ll tell her.”

“You should.”

“I will. So no meddling.” Luke said sternly.

“Alright, alright.” Danny agreed.

•

“He is so out of my league though.” You told Ava as you sipped on your soda.

“Y/N, are you dumb, blind, stupid, or a complete ditz?” She stared at you as if you’d just said the most idiotic thing in the universe.

“First, you just used basically the same word 3 times. Second, I am not!” You said, actually kind of offended.

“But you are stupid!”

“Thanks.”

“I mean-!” She sighed. “I mean, you’re stupid, because it’s so obvious he likes you.”

“What? He likes me?” You gawked at her.

“You can literally read minds, why are you surprised?” She asked, dumbfounded by your cluelessness.

“I don’t want to invade his privacy like that. Besides, we’re just friends.” You insisted.

“Okay sure.” She scoffed. You raise an eyebrow at her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You asked, loudly setting down your soda, making it slosh and nearly stain your white gloves.

“Y/N, come on. He goes out of his way for you. He cancels plans with us to go shopping with you or something. You think he likes baseball? He thinks it’s a boring sport, but he comes over to your place to watch them, right?” She asked.

You realized he came over everyday there was a sports game on. You never really paid attention to what the sport was, but you do remember seeing baseball a few times.

“Well, yeah.” You nod.

“People don’t do that unless they like you.” She explained, as if you were some empty headed ding dong.

“He’s...just being nice.”

“For someone claiming to be smarter than me, you are truly an idiot.” She facepalmed.

You glared at her, but only because you completely agreed. Now that you thought about it, Luke did do all of those things. He went out of his way to do things like open doors for you, he would use any excuse to come over, he accompanied you on your spa or shopping trips.

You looked over and made eye contact with him. You smile and wave, and he simply grins back. Maybe you would make your move.

•

“Nova, behind you!” You shout to your teammate, just before he gets knocked down.

You and the team had been ordered by Fury to go take down the remainder of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which currently only consisted of Avalanche, Pyro and Toad. They had robbed another bank in downtown Manhattan, and were now escaping along the rooftops of skyscrapers.

You were familiar with them, since you grew up watching the X-Men go off on missions while you stayed back. You gave the team a run down on how to beat them before you left, but you were somehow still getting your asses handed to you.

Spider Man and White Tiger were fighting Toad, Avalanche was shaking the ground so that Iron Fist and Power Man couldn’t even stand, and Nova had been taken down by Pyro, who was now charging at you.

You quickly focus your attention on him, taking over his mind to make him stop in his tracks. You force him to turn and use his powers on Avalanche, causing him to loose focus on his powers.

Iron Fist and Power Man quickly pursue him, now able to walk properly. You kept control over Pyro, so that he wouldn’t attack again.

You cry out in shock when the ground shakes, making the building you were on sway. You look over and see Avalanche glaring at you, probably mad that you made Pyro burn him. You didn’t have time to mind control him, the building crumbling where you stood and making you fall. You quickly shift into your diamond form, hoping it was enough protection.

“Y/N!” You heard Luke cry.

You saw as he jumped from the building, not thinking of the consequences.

‘What are you doing?!’ You shout at him telepathically. ‘You could get hurt!’

‘Don’t worry about me, I’ve got unbreakable skin for a reason!’

You call out to Sam, and thankfully he’s back up. He barrels down and catches Luke, then uses his weight to go faster.

Luke grabs you and holds you to him, as Sam gently sets you both on the ground. You hug onto Luke, shaken up about how close you were to impacting the ground.

“Thank you.” You pull back to face him.

“Yeah.” He nods, out of breath as well.

You both look into each other’s eyes with deep adoration. You didn’t need telepathy to know you were both thinking the same thing.

You both crash your lips together in a desperate, hungry kiss. His arms tighten around your waist, and you grab the sides of his face. Your lips fit perfectly against his, and they taste like the orange chapstick he used on the daily.

You both slowly pull away, your noses brushing as you stare into the others eyes.

“Thank you.” You pant out, heart racing partly from falling 900 ft in the air and partly from the breathtaking kiss.

“Um, you’re welcome?” Sam speaks up from behind you two.

“Shut up, Sam!” You both snap.

He scoffs, then flies back up. You notice people staring at you and Luke, but you don’t really care at the moment. You turn back to Luke, smiling before kissing him again.

“Thank you.” You emphasize by kissing him on the forehead.

“I told you, I got you, duchess.”