#you needed to make them cut their our feet while their family is in gun point by the guy you poisoned you silly

[nthflower]

KILLING IS DISTASTEFUL...

...to me

[hangmansgbaby]

Always Darling | 3 | J.Seresin

B E F O R E T H E S T O R M

Summary: Training for the Uranium Mission begins and while they try their hardest to keep everything under wraps. Not all secrets are meant to be kept.

Pairings: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x OC!Willow "Vixen" Seresin, brief mentions of Pete "Maverick" Mitchell x OC Daughter!Willow "Vixen" Seresin and Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x OC God Sister!Willow "Vixen" Seresin

Warnings: none? Cute Seresin family moments, Ellorie being the best kid every, funeral

Note: you all are the absolute best! 😍😍 ENJOY!

Apr 2024 note: I did end up updating this into an OC as I dont write my series as a reader insert anymore.

Word count: 8.8k words (I'M SORRY! MY BRAIN WOULDN'T STOP!)

Masterlist | Always Darling Masterlist

“So where is my goddaughter?” Phoenix questions as Willow and her sit down in the hanger.

“She’s with her grandparents.” Willow answers, standing next to the table by Phoenix.

“Which ones?! I miss the little nugget!” Phoenix practically whines.

“Well that little nugget is now 7 and a pain in our ass.” Jake groans, plopping down at the table diagonally from Phoenix.

“She is not! She’s just upset that all of her classmates get to see both of their parents everyday. Some days it's one, others it's grandma putting her to bed.” Willow slaps his shoulder, sitting in the seat beside him. “She’s with Sarah and Ice.”

“Life of a double pilot child. Must suck ass.” One after another, the other pilots and WSOs file into the Hanger, taking their seats throughout the room. Rooster is one of the last to enter with Fanboy and Payback. Willow glares at him as he sits behind her and Jake, Bradley returns to glare as Jake turns Willow’s chair to face forward.

“Attention on deck!”

All of the pilots rise, standing at attention. Admiral Bates stops at the front of the room. "Good morning. Welcome to your special training detachment. Be seated. I'm Admiral Bates, NAWDC commander. You're all Top Gun graduates. The elite. The best of the best." Everyone looks around at each other, all noting Hangman's smug look. "That was yesterday. The enemy's new fifth generation fighter has leveled the playing field. Details are few, but you can be sure we no longer possess the technological advantage. Success, now more than ever, comes down to the man or woman in the box."

Hangman looks at Willow and Phoenix, winking at them. Both girls scoff and role their eyes. Phoenix uses her middle finger to rub her temple, effectively flipping off Jake without drawing attention to herself.

"Half of you will make the cut. One of you will be named mission leader." Warlock says. "The other half will remain in reserve." Bates explains. "Your instructor is a Top Gun graduate with real-world experience in every mission aspect you will be expected to master. His exploits are legendary. And he's considered to be one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. What he will teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death."

Everyone glances behind them and Willow immediately sinks into her seat. “Fuck.” She mutters under her breath. Jake reaches over to rest a hand on her thigh, providing all the comfort she needed from him. 

"I give you Captain Pete Mitchell. Callsign, Maverick."

Pete nods to Admiral Bates before turning to the pilots. "Good morning." Everyone gives him a tight lipped smile, mostly Jake and Phoenix. Willow holds nothing but resentment in her glare and unbeknownst to her, so does Bradley. Pete holds up the F-18 flight book. "The F-18 NATOPS. It contains everything they want you to know about your aircraft. I'm assuming you know the book inside and out."

"Damn straight." Hangman shouts, a couple other pilots agreeing.

"Damn right."

"You got it." 

“Obviously,” Willow mumbles, as Pete drops the booklet into the garbage can at his feet. He immediately catches the attention of everyone in the room who didn’t know of him. Willow and Bradley scoff almost simultaneously at the action.

"So does your enemy. But what the enemy doesn't know is your limits. I intend to find them, test them, push beyond. Today we'll start with what you only think you know. You show me what you're made of." Maverick dismisses the pilot to get into their flight suits.

As they all walk onto the tarmac, Pete calls out to Bradley. "Rooster." Bradley doesn't turn around. "Bradley." Still nothing. "Lieutenant Bradshaw." Bradley turns around and Willow glances over from her jet, rolling her eyes at their interaction. 

“Typical.” She scoffs, finishing her final round of preflight checks. It wasn’t long before she could hear her name being called.

“Lieutenant Commander Mitchell.” She turns, glaring at him. “Look, I just wanted to say that I think we should put everything behind us. For the sake of this mission.”

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” Willow scoffs, turning away from him.

“Look Willow, I know what I did was messed up, but if you just–”

“What? Give you a chance to explain? I did. Every single time I called you over a school break, or when I had something important to me come up. You were never there. That’s all the explanation I need.” She seeths. “Am I dismissed, Captain?”

“Yea.” Pete sighs, making his way to his own jet. 

Fanboy, Payback, and Rooster are the first in the air. In the lounge, Jake and Willow sit together on one couch with Phoenix and Coyote across from them. The other aviators fill the room, either by the radio, which Bob currently occupies, or messing with the foosball table.

"Good morning aviators. This is your captain speaking." Maverick calls out over comms. "Welcome to basic fighting maneuvers. As briefed, today's exercise is dogfighting. Guns only, no missiles. We do not go below the hard deck of 5,000 feet. Working as a team, you shoot me down, or else."

"Or else what, sir?" Payback questions.

"Or else I shoot back. If I shoot either one of you down, you both lose." 

“This guy needs an ego check.” Hangman mutters.

“Oh we can do that.” Willow leans forward high fiving Phoenix.

"What say we put some skin in the game?" Payback suggests.

"What do you have in mind?" Maverick asks.

"Whoever gets shot first does 200 pushups?"

“Guys.” Rooster’s voice comes through the speaker.

"That's a lot of push ups." 

"They don't call it exercise for nothing, sir." Fanboy calls.

"You got yourself a deal, gentlemen. Let's turn and burn."

“So, any new pictures of my favorite niece?” Coyote asks, leaning forward a bit.

“There’s always new pictures.” Willow laughs, pulling her phone out. “Sarah sent me these this morning.” She passes it over and both Coyote and Phoenix look. “First day of school pics. Not like we don’t have a million.”

“Also, we don’t mention her, at all.” Jake whispers to their friends.

“They still don’t know?!” Phoenix whisper-shouts.

“Still don’t talk to them.” Willow answers.

“Vixen. Phoenix, Bob. You’re up next.” Hondo shouts into the room.

“Go get ‘em darlin!” Willow turns and blows a kiss at Jake who catches it.

“I can’t believe you two have been together for 15 years now.” Coyote sighs, moving to sit next to Jake. “Still not ready for a wedding?”

“Okay, Javy. I’m telling you this because you are my best friend but you can’t tell anyone.”

“Scouts honor.” Jake pulls his dog tags out from his flight suit to reveal the wedding band sitting between his dog tags. “Holy shit dude! When did this happen?”

“A year after Elle was born. It's all official with the Navy, but as far as anyone is concerned, we're still dating. Except for those who have to know.”

"See him anywhere?" Willow calls out after 5 minutes of being in the air.

“Nothing on the radar.” Bob calls out.

“You think it's gonna work?” Phoenix questions.

“He’s too cocky for it to not work.” Willow answers. They turn slightly to the right and Willow looks up just in time to see another jet heading their way. “3 o'clock, we got incoming.” Willow calls out.

“Breaking left.” Phoenix calls, turning to break off from Willow.

“Come and get me, old man.” Willow shouts, taking off to distract him. With every twist turn and loop, she narrowly avoids Maverick’s lock.

“You’re good, Vixen. I’ll give you that. But you made one mistake.” Maverick calls.

“And what was that?” Willow smirks. She already knows what he’s about to say.

“You lost your wingman.” Suddenly the lock tone rings through Maverick’s cockpit. 

“What was that again?” Phoenix asks, right behind Mav with a lock on him. 

“I think that’s a kill, sir.” Bob speaks up.

“Nice try, old man.” Willow and Phoenix return to the ground with Maverick not far behind. Once on the ground, Pete goes to do his push-ups while Willow, Phoenix, and Bob make their way to the lounge.

“That’s my girl!” Jake shouts, immediately lifting Willow as she walks inside.

“Okay okay, Jake put me down.” She laughs as he immediately does so.

“You, darlin, are one hell of a badass.” Jake smirks, kissing her.

“Keep it in your pants, Lieutenant Seresin.” Willow giggles as he moves to her neck.

“I’d rather be in yours, Lieutenant Commander Seresin.” He whispers in her ear.

“Hangman, Phoenix, Bob. You’re after Harvard, Yale, and Fritz.”

Jake groans as he pulls from Willow. “I can’t wait to get you home.”

“Too bad, hotshot. We have dinner at the Kazansky’s tonight so we can pick up Elle.” Willow pushes Jake back and walks away.

“Damn tease.” Jake mutters, smirking as he watches her walk away. Willow intentionally swinging her hips more than normal. “Shit.”

Willow sat listening to their flight, sighing as her husband’s cockiness showed through. She knew Phoenix would have a few choice words about him when they landed. And sure enough, she was right.

“I don't understand how you like that man.” Phoenix groans walking into the locker room, Willow not far behind.

“He’s quite charming.” Willow laughs.

“It’s Hangman, Vix!”

“It’s the father of my child, Phoenix! And my husband.” Willow says softly.

“NO!” Willow shows Phoenix her rings, hanging from her dog tags. “When?!”

“Year after Elle was born. We got tired of waiting but always decided to keep it under wraps.”

“I understand why you deal with him now.” Willow laughs at her best friend. “I’m still pissed at him.”

“I expect nothing less.”

“Hey, what the hell is up with Maverick and Rooster?” Hangman questions, running into Willow on his way in from his flight with Rooster.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, they both almost took a nosedive into a mountain because there is something going on between them.” Hangman tells her, Phoenix runs towards the tarmac.

“I’ll see you outside. Shower.” She kisses Jake before following Phoenix.

"Breaking the hard deck, insubordination. Are you trying to get kicked out?" She hears Phoenix's question, walking up behind her.

"Don't worry about it." Bradley mutters.  

"Look, I'm going on this mission. But if you get kicked, you leave us flying with Hangman. Talk to me. What the hell was that?" Phoenix asks, squatting down next to him. 

"He pulled my papers."

"What? Who?" 

"Maverick. He pulled my application to the Naval Academy. Set me back four years." Bradley answers.

“Glad you finally got some tough love.” Willow scoffs.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bradley retorts, turning to see Willow behind him.

“My whole life! Bradley this, Bradley that. At least you got some tough shit from him too.”

“I think I had enough tough shit from your father with how my dad died.”

“Bullshit, you don’t blame him for that. You were always the favorite because of that.” Willow groans. “Always playing the orphan card, even before Aunt Carole died.”

“You’re one to talk. At least you still had someone. You just chose not to reach out for years.”

“Cause he chose you, and sent me away because I was upset! He will always choose you.” Willow sighs. “It's just how he is with you.” Willow sighs, walking past them to the parking lot.

“Hey! How was it today?” Sarah asks, opening the door for Jake and Willow.

“Where’s dad?” Willow questions and Sarah can read the frustration on her face.

“He’s in his office.”

“Mama! Daddy!”

“Hi baby girl.” Every ill feeling on Willow’s mind immediately disappeared at the sight of her daughter running towards her. “Did you have fun with Grandma and Papa today?” Willow asks, kneeling to catch her.

“Yea! We went to the park and then I got a new toy and then Papa got us ice cream!” Elle rambles on about her day as Jake kneels down next to them.

“Did he now? What if Daddy wanted to take you to ice cream after dinner?”

“It's okay Daddy! We can always go again.” Elle smiles, moving into her father’s arms as he lifts her up.

“I don’t know. Two ice cream trips in one day? That's a lot.”

“Please Daddy.” The puppy dog eyes. Jake was always a sucker to the puppy dog eyes, especially to his daughter. His nieces, Maddy and Grace, had taught Elle how to do it and Jake was a goner when his 11 year old nieces and 3 year old daughter brought them out on Christmas eve in 2016, all three getting early christmas presents which Nancy and Willow were not happy about. 

“Oh all right.” Jake sighs before tickling Elle.

“No! Daddy put me down!” She slides from Jake's grip and runs back outside. Willow laughs as Jake follows her.

“He’s so good with her.” Sarah smiles.

“He’s an amazing father.” Willow smiles softly, “How’d she do at school today?”

“You know how first day jitters go. But she was brave and had a fun day. Her teacher said she was very helpful, and talkative.”

“She is her father’s daughter.” Willow smiles, seeing Jake catch Elle who immediately sticks her arms out like wings on a plane and Jake flys her around the backyard. “I’m gonna go have a chat with dad.” Willow smiles softly.

“Don’t be long, dinner will be ready in a few.”

Willow nods, walking towards the hallway leading to Tom Kazansky’s office. Knocking, she slowly enters and calls out. “Hey old man.” Tom turns around, smiling, waving her inside. “How are you feeling?”

You know exactly how I’m feeling.

He wasn’t wrong. She was one of the first people Sarah and Ice had called when they found out his cancer had come back. She herself had cried for hours after the call. “I know but I’m still asking.”

I’m fine. Ice begrudgingly writes.

“Did you know?” Willow questions. “About Maverick and Rooster being here?” Ice nods. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Would you have shown up if you had known?

“Obviously not. You know how they are.”

That’s why I didn’t say anything.

“Dad–”

“Do it for me.”

Willow sighs. “You’re not supposed to be talking.” Willow retorts

“I don’t have long.” Ice struggles to say.

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true, little bird. You need this. They need you.”

“He’s not going to pick me, he’s going to choose Bradley like he always does.” Willow sighs.

Ice reaches up to cup Willow’s face, keeping her gaze on him. 

“Prove him wrong.”

“How do you always have a response?”

“Old age.” Ice chuckles. “Willow, I have always seen you like a daughter.”

“No, we're not talking like you’re dying.”

“Willow–”

“No. I can’t do that.”

“Remember when you first called me dad?”

“Yea, It was when I told you I was pregnant.” Willow chuckles.

“No, it was when you were begging for me to find Jake.”

“Right. Still that same day.” Willow chuckles softly.

“I have never been happier than the day my children were born. But the day you called me dad? It topped every moment in my life.” Ice smiled softly. “You are an amazing pilot and an even better daughter. I’m so happy to have been a part of your life and I am so proud of you.”

“No. Dad… you’re going to be okay. Please don’t leave me. I still need you.” Willow cries, falling into Ice’s hold. He says nothing but holds her close, stroking her hair as she cries. “I love you, dad.”

“I love you too.”

“Alright pumpkin, time for bed.” Jake carried Elle through the apartment to the small room setup for her.

“Where’s Mama?”

“Mama isn’t feeling well so it's just daddy for bedtime. Is that okay?” Jake sets the little girl down on her bed.

“Can you read me a story?”

“What’ll it be tonight? Cinderella? Rapunzel?” Jake asks, moving over to the stack of books on top of the dresser.

“Can you tell me about when you and Mama met?”

Jake chuckles. “You know I ruined Mama’s favorite hoodie? Ran right into her and my drink exploded onto her and that stain never came out.”

“Did you apologize?” Elle questions.

“About a million times. Your Mama is so beautiful that the minute I saw her I knew I wanted to marry her. But I was so nervous that she’d never talk to me again.” Jake sits on the edge of her bed. 

“But Mama loves you.” Elle says, climbing into Jake’s lap. 

“Not as much as she loves you. Mama is the most loving and caring person I ever met. And I will spend every day earning that love.”

“I love you Daddy.”

“I love you too, pumpkin.” Jake kisses her head, laying her back onto the bed. “Sleep tight, you have school tomorrow.”

“Good night.”

Tucking her in, Jake shuts the lights out and closes her bedroom door. “Little miss is asleep, we officially have a later start time. I think it's time for a little us time.” Jake says, walking over to the bed only to find Willow fast asleep, the streaks from her tears freshly dried on her cheeks. Jake smiles softly, pressing a kiss to her temple before crawling into bed beside her. Willow shifts as Jake pulls her back into his chest, his arm wrapped around her torso. “Good night darlin.”

“Time is your greatest enemy.” Maverick says from his position at the front of the room. "Phase one of the mission will be a low level attack with two teams." The aviator’s eyes follow the pattern on the screen, watching the swerving flight pattern. "You'll fly along this narrow canyon to your target. Radar guided surface to air missiles defend the sky area. These SAMs are lethal, but they were designed to protect the skies above, not the canyon below."

“That's because the enemy knows no one is insane enough to attempt to fly through it.” Rooster replies. He knows better. He knows there are at least 2 people in the room that are that insane and they’re related.

"That's exactly what I'm going to train you to do.”

Willow’s eyes widened, looking over to Jake. They knew the dangers of their job and they signed up anyway. Jake looked at her and knew exactly what was going through her mind. 

"Today, your altitude will be 100 feet, maximum. If you exceed this altitude, radar will spot you and you're dead. Your air speed will be 660 knots, minimum. Time to target is two and a half minutes." Willow and Phoenix lock eyes. "The time is two and half minutes because fifth generation fighters wait at an enemy air base nearby. In a head to head with these planes in your F-18s, you're dead. That's why you need to get in, hit your target, and be gone before these planes have a chance of catching you. This makes time your greatest enemy." The pilots are silent, the mission being completely different than they thought. "Today, we'll go easy on you. Max ceiling will be 300 feet, time to target will be three minutes. Suit up."

“Hey Phoenix!” Willow calls, running onto the Tarmac.

“What's up Vix?”

“Would you be able to pick Elle up from school during our lunch? She’s out at noon and Ice has another treatment today.”

“Absolutely! Am I bringing her on base or…?”

“Yea. Jake and I have a meeting with Cyclone to set up daycare for her so we’ll meet you in the parking lot when it's set up.”

“Gotcha. Yea it's not a problem. But I’m gonna spoil the shit outta her.” Phoenix laughs, leading Willow out to the jets. 

Willow is first in the air with Fanboy and Payback. 

“One minute and 30 seconds to target, we’re 10 seconds behind Vixen.” Fanboy calls out. 

“Alright, increasing speed to 490 knots.” Willow calls, increasing her speed. “Come on, come on.” Willow follows the curves almost perfectly.

“30 seconds to target, 2 seconds behind.” 

“Increasing to 500 knots.” As her speed increases she miscalculates a turn and suddenly flies off course and above their max altitude. She punches the side of her canopy. “Fuck.” She failed.

“Why did you fail?” Pete asks when they return to the classroom.

“I miss calculated a turn after increasing my speed because we were behind.” Willow answers.

“No, why is she dead?” Pete asks, looking at Fanboy and Payback. 

“We didn’t warn her about the sharp turns ahead when requesting an increase of speed.” Fanboy answers.

“What excuse do you think her family will take at the funeral?” Pete asks. “What are you gonna say when you have to look me dead in the face and tell me my daughter is dead?”

Fanboy and Payback’s eyes drop, mutters are heard about Willow being Pete’s daughter. Choosing to ignore them, she stops Pete.

“Maverick.” Willow calls out but Pete’s glare remains firm. “Captain Mitchell!” Pete looks at her. “That's enough.” She says. Pete finally moves on to Rooster’s group.

“Rooster, why are you dead?" He asks but Rooster doesn’t look up from the table. 

"Sir with all due respect, he was the only one to make it to the target." Phoenix jumps in, defending Rooster.

"A minute late. He gave the enemy aircraft time to shoot him down. He is dead." Maverick starts but Rooster speaks up.

“You don’t know that.” Rooster retorts

“You’re not flying fast enough. You don't have a second to waste.” Hangman groans.

“We made it to the target.” Rooster stands firm.

“And superior enemy aircraft intercepted you on your way out.”

"Then it's a dog fight," He says.

"Against 5th generation fighters?" Maverick questions, heating up.

“We still have a chance.”

“In an F-18?”

"It's not the plane, sir, it's the pilot." Rooster defends.

"Exactly!" Maverick shouts. Willow has to withhold her laughter. She had never heard Pete raise his voice to Bradley so she was thoroughly enjoying this. 

"There is more than one way to fly this mission." Rooster retorts.

"You really don't get it," Hangman says. "On this mission, a man flies like Maverick here or a man doesn't come back. No offense intended.” Hangman says to Phoenix. Willow elbows his side and Phoenix goes to say something but Bob pipes up.

“And yet somehow you always manage.”

“Look, I don’t mean to criticize. You’re conservative, that's all.”

“Lieutenant.” Pete tries to interrupt but Jake continues 

“We’re going into combat, son, on a level no living pilot’s ever seen. Not even him.” Hangman directs to Maverick at the last sentence before turning back to Rooster. “That’s no time to be thinking about the past.” Hangman smirks, looking over at Rooster.

"What's that support to mean?" Rooster asks, tearing his glare away from Maverick. 

“Rooster.” Pete warns.

“Jake.” Willow warns her husband.

"I can't be the only one that knew Maverick flew with his old man.” Hangman answers. 

“That's enough.” Pete interrupts but Jake continues.

“Or that Maverick was flying when his old man—” 

“Lieutenant, that's enough.”

“Jake, quit it.”

Hangman doesn’t finish the sentence before Rooster is shoving him out of his chair.

"You son of a bitch." Rooster growls. Everyone jumps up to stop them from attacking each other. Willow is standing beside Jake, a tight grip on his arm. 

“Hey, I’m cool. I’m cool.” Jake shakes off the other aviators but Willow’s grip stays firm.

Rooster tries to jump at him again but Bob, Phoenix, and Pete hold a tight grip on him. “That’s enough.” Pete repeats.

“He’s not cut out for this mission. You know it.” Hangman grins as Willow drags him out of the room. “You know I’m right.”

“You’re all dismissed,” is the last thing the couple hears before they are away from everyone.

“What the fuck was that?” Willow sneers.

“What?”

“Why the hell are you airing out dirty laundry? Let alone at work?” Willow questions

“You know I’m right, Willow. He’s not ready. He holds too many grudges.”

“So then I’m not ready either, right? I hold so many grudges against them both. Am I not ready for this mission too?”

“Willow. There's a difference between you and Rooster. You don't let your grudges affect your flying.” Jake says softly. “You are always my top choice for any mission.”

“You’re an ass, Jake Seresin.” Willow chuckles.

“You love me Willow Seresin.” Willow smiles, pulling Jake into a hug. 

“I absolutely do. I’m still mad at you.”

“Mama! Look what Auntie Nat got me!” Elle comes running from Phoenix’s car when she sees her mom.

“Look at that. Is that an F-18?” Willow questions, admiring the joy in her daughter’s eyes. 

“Just like what you and Daddy and Auntie Nat and Uncle Yote fly!” Phoenix laughs walking up to meet them

“That's right, baby girl.”

“I wanna fly like you! I wanna be cool like you and Daddy.” 

“I hope you always think you’re dad and I are cool.” Willow hugs her daughter before grabbing her hand. “Do you wanna see an actual F-18?” Elle nods quickly, jumping up and down as Willow leads the way.

“Are you sure that's a good idea? What if Mav or Rooster are around?”

“It's been 2 hours since we were dismissed, I doubt it.”

“Let's go Mama!” Elle starts pulling on Willow, her giggles echoing through the hallways.

“Ellorie! Stay with us please!” Willow shouts as the little girl takes off running.

“Oh, hey there little one.” Willow catches a glimpse of who Elle had just bumped into and groans. 

“Fantastic.” She mumbles under her breath. “Ellorie! I told you not to run off like that.”

“Sorry Mav. She’s a little ball of energy today.” Phoenix says.

“Let's go, Daddy’s waiting for us.” Willow leads Elle around Mav and out the door. “Look over there.” Willow points and Elle gets excited. 

“Daddy!”

“Hey, pumpkin! How was school?” Jake asks, lifting her up.

“Fun! We got to draw pictures of our family today!” 

“That's so fun! Did you have fun with Auntie Nat?” Jake questions walking towards the jets with Nat. Willow stays behind because she cant feel Mav behind her.

“You have a daughter?”

“Yea. You would know if you didn’t abandon me.” Willow scoffs.

“Willow please. You’re really gonna keep that little girl away from her grandfather?”

“She has grandfathers, Mav. And fortunately for her, neither of them would ever dream of abandoning her the way you did me.” Willow retorts.

“I’m sorry Willow. I don’t know what else you want me to say.” Pete apologizes.

“I want you to stay away from me and my family. I think you’ve done enough damage.” Willow says before walking away, interacting with her daughter who asks a million questions about the jets.

“Ellie bellie!”

“Uncle Yote!” 

Maverick watches how Jake and Willow interact, especially with each other and their daughter. As much as he thinks they are exactly what's needed for the mission, he can’t orphan his granddaughter. Or send his daughter to her possible death. If he sends both of them, it’ll be another generation resenting him. If he sends Jake, Willow will never forgive him if he doesn’t come back. And if he send Willow, well, he’s pretty sure Jake will murder him for sending the mother of his child to her death. But he still doesn’t think Rooster is ready. He’s at an impasse and doesn’t know what to do.

“School called. Campus is shut down due to a power outage.” Jake says, walking into the kitchen early Monday morning.

“Dammit. Mav is having us meet at the beach and there’s no one to watch Elle. Daycare is shut down for the week because all the workers caught the flu and Ice has appointments all day.”

“What about Penny?”

“She’s got the bar to run.”

“Hard Deck doesn’t open until 5, I’m gonna call Penny.”

Willow sighs. Working full time and having a 7 year old was not an easy feat. She knew that all too well now but balancing this life and keeping it away from her work life is becoming more difficult day by day.

“Penny said she’d be happy to watch her.”

“You okay Mama?” Elle asks, mouth full of her breakfast.

“I’m okay. Just a little stressed out.” Willow ruffles Elle’s hair as she walks by. “Finish eating.”

“Dress comfy! No uniforms!” Jake shouts, cleaning up the kitchen before he takes Elle to get ready. It's not long before they’re loaded up in Jake’s truck. 

“Alright, Elle. You need to behave for Ms Penny, okay?”

“You’re not gonna play with me?” Elle pouts and Jake quickly drops to her level.

“Mama and Daddy have some work stuff we gotta do first but we promise, as soon as we're done, it's gonna be a Seresin family beach day okay?” 

“Okay Daddy.” Jake and Willow packed up everything and got Ellorie into the car before heading straight to the Hard Deck.

“Hey! Why’s Elle here?” Phoenix questions, seeing the trio walk up.

“School canceled, daycare closed, and Ice and Sarah are busy. Penny said she’ll watch her while we do whatever and then we promise her a beach day after.” Willow explains.

“Auntie Nat! Are you gonna hang out at the beach with us?”

“Oh course I am! I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” 

“Oh my gosh! Ellorie! You’ve gotten so big!” Penny squeals walking over to the group.

“Hi Ms. Penny.” Elle smiles shyly. 

“Go on pumpkin. We’ll be back in a bit.” Elle waves to her parents as they walk towards the rest of the group.

Dogfight football was complicated to say the least even halfway through the game Willow did not understand a single rule about the game but everyone was having fun, cheering, getting along. Even her and Rooster had yet to butt heads all day. But Willow’s favorite part was her shirtless husband running forward to make a touchdown. Occasionally Willow and Jake would catch glimpses of Elle who would be cheering from the deck next to Penny. Everytime Jake or Willow scored a touchdown, Elle’s little cheers could be heard. 

When Penny had heard Mav dismiss everyone she sent Elle running across the beach.

“Mama! Daddy! Beach time?” Elle questions, running into Jake’s arms.

“Absolutely. In fact...” Jake trails off before taking off running towards the water, Elle screaming in his arms. Willow, Nat, and Coyote laugh as Jake plays with his daughter. Willow runs over and as soon as Elle is out of Jake’s arms Willow pushes him into the water. “Oh! I see how it is!” Jake grabs Willow’s ankle and trips her, catching her as she lands in the water with him. All three of them laugh as they play in the water.

“Did that kid call Hangman daddy?”

“Is that even Hangman?”

“He’s so relaxed.”

“Hangman and Vixen are a cute couple though.” Omaha says.

Halo gasps. “Do you think that's their kid?”

“Holy shit I totally see it.” Yale says to his friends. “Look at her. Spitting image of Hangman with Vixen’s nose. That's definitely a Vixman love child.”

“Vixman?” Phoenix asks, walking over to them. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Hangman and Vixen’s love child.”

“Hey Willow!” Phoenix calls and Willow comes walking up, Jake and Elle behind her.

“What's up?” Phoenix gestures to every who stares in awe of Elle.

“Okay.” Willow clears her throat. “Everyone, this is Jake’s and I’s daughter Ellorie. Elle, these are Mama and Daddy’s friends.” Elle waves softly, holding tight to her father.

“Holy shit dude! She’s like 10!”

“7 and watch your language.”

“Who knew Jake Hangman Seresin would settle down.”

“Oh and we got married 6 years ago.” Jake says. Immediately everyone is asking questions. Willow pulls Elle from the sand into her arms.

“So..” Bradley says, loitering around Willow.

“So…?” Willow replies, waiting for Bradley to continue. 

“You were pregnant through all that? When Hangman was MIA?”

“Yea.”

“And you two got married?”

“A year after she was born.” Willow says.

“Just didn’t want to tell anyone? I know your dad wasn’t there.”

“Papa was there.” Elle chimes in.

“Papa?” Rooster questions.

“Ice.” Bradley nods. 

“Look–”

“We don’t have to do this, Bradley.” 

“Do what?”

“Play catch up. You are still part of the reason my childhood was hell and I don't talk to Mav anymore. We can be civil when it comes to the mission but outside of that? Don’t bother.”  Willow walks away from him with Elle still in her arms. “Hey Jake. I’m gonna take Elle to the parlor down the beach.”

“Alright darlin, I’ll meet you down there okay?” Willow nods. “I’ll see you in a bit, pumpkin.”

“Bye Daddy.”

“Nat, tagging along?”

“I’m coming!”

"Good morning. The uranium enrichment plant that is your target will be operational earlier than expected. Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in ten days time. As a result, your mission has been moved up one week in order to avoid contaminating the target valley with radiation." Willow's eyes widened, her lrft hand tightened its grip on her flight suit, knuckles turning white.

"Sir, no one here has successfully flown a low level course," Coyote is the first to speak up.

"Nevertheless, you've been ordered to move on." Admiral Bates steps aside to allow Maverick to go over the mission parameters.

Willow taps profusely on the desk before her. To anyone it would just look as if she was thinking but Jake knew better. It was an anxious tick he had noticed during flight school that seemed to pop up everywhere they went. Jake rests a hand on hers, attempting to settle her nerves.

"We have one week left to focus on phase two. It's the most difficult stage of the mission. It's a pop up strike with a steep dive, requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles." He turned to the board behind him, the screen showing what their planes would do as he spoke. "Two pairs of  F-18s will fly in a welded wing formation. Teamwork. Precise coordination of these aircraft is essential to both the mission's success and your survival," Maverick says. "As you know, the plant rests between two mountains. On final approach you'll invert directly into a steep dive. This allows you to maintain the lowest possible altitude at the only possible attack angle. Your target is an impact point less than three meters wide. The two seated aircraft will paint the target with a laser bullseye. The first pair will breach the reactor by dropping a laser-guided bomb on an exposed ventilation hatch. This will create an opening for the second pair. That's miracle number one."

Willow's breathing halts at the thought, everything that could go wrong running through her mind. But most is the possible orphaning of her daughter.

"The second team will deliver the kill shot and destroy the target. That's miracle number two," Maverick continued. "If either team misses the target, the mission is a failure. Egress is a steep, high G climb out to avoid hitting this mountain."

"A steep climb at this speed, you're pulling at least eight G's," Jake thinks aloud.

"Nine, minimum," Maverick corrected.

"The stress limit of the F-18's airframe is seven point five," Rooster tells them.

"That's the accepted limit. To survive this mission, you'll pull beyond that. Even if it means bending your airframe. You'll be pulling so hard you'll weigh close to 2000 pounds. Your skull crushing your spine, your lungs imploding like an elephant sitting on your chest," Maverick described. "Fighting with everything you have just to keep from blacking out. This is where you'll be at your most vulnerable. This is coffin corner. Assuming you avoid crashing into this mountain, you'll climb straight up into the enemy radar, while losing your air speed. Within seconds you'll be fired upon by enemy SAMs. You've all faced sustained G's before, but this is going to take you and your aircraft to the breaking point."

"Sir, is this even achievable?" Phoenix asks.

"The answer to the question will come down to the pilot in the box."

Willow exits the room. She can feel the shudders from her heavy breathing as she exits the room.

“Willow.” She keeps walking, trying to find an empty room before she breaks down. “Darlin please, slow down.”

She opens the door to an empty classroom and leans against the closest desk.

“Darlin?” Jake questions, entering mere seconds after her. “Darlin, you gotta breathe.” Slowly Willow’s breathing calms, the tears subside and sits in the closest chair, no longer trusting her legs to keep her up. “What's wrong?”

“I don't think I can do this mission.” Willow sighs.

“Are you kidding? Willow you are the best pilot in that room. If anyone can do it, it's you.”

“I’m sure Jake but,” Willow sighs. “I can’t go on this mission and risk Elle growing up without her mother. Or both of us going on this mission and her becoming an orphan. I can’t do that Jake. I can’t subject her to what I had.”

“No one would ever let that happen. I can promise you that.” Jake comforts. “When we go on this mission, because I know we will, we are both coming home to our little girl. I would never dare let anything happen to her.”

“That's a miss. Bring it back in, Vixen.”

“Dammit.”

“Hey don’t sweat it, Vix. We’ll get it.” Fanboy tries to encourage.

Willow sighs, heading back to base. She lays on the couch in the middle of the lounge, her head resting on Jake’s thigh. Jake runs his fingers through her hair, pulling the Navy regulated bun out so he can ease the tension he knows she has in her head. They listen in on Phoenix, Bob, and Coyote’s trial. Willow lays on her side facing the radio they had moved to the coffee table. Jaka softly massages her scalp when they suddenly hear Mav calling for Coyote but no response.

“Holy shit.” Willow sits up quickly, her gaze burning into the radio.

“Come on Coyote.” Jake mutters leaning forward. Everyone holds their breath as they wait for the sign that Coyote was okay. Once they get the all clear they settle down, thankful that what they thought was the worst was over. That was until the bird strike and then they heard Phoenix and Bob eject.

Willow refused to move from the couch. They had been dismissed over an hour ago but Willow refused to leave until she got an update on her best friend and WSO.

“I’m gonna go pick up Elle, darlin. I’ll be back, alright?” Willow nods, fiddling with the zipper of her flight suit that is now tied around her waist, flight gear abandoned on the floor.

It wasn’t even 30 minutes later that Mav had walked in, giving the update to her before leaving the room. With the knowledge that both Phoenix and Bob were okay, she gathered her gear and began the walk to the locker room. She deposits everything into her locker, changing into her civilian clothes and exits the locker room, heading for the parking lot to meet Jake and Elle. She is almost there when she hears Warlock call for her.

“Lieutenant Commander Seresin!’ Willow turns at the call, face dropping when she sees the sorrowful look on Admiral Bates’s face.

“What happened?” She questions.

“It's Admiral Kazansky. He’s passed. I’m sorry for your loss.” Willow froze in the statement. She tries to process the information but all she manages to do is drop to her knees and cry. Jake comes running through the door with Elle in his arms.

“Hey darlin, it's okay. I’m here.” Jake kneels next to his wife, both him and Elle wrapping Willow a group hug.

“It’s okay, Mama.” Elle whispers. “Papa isn’t hurting anymore.”

Willow pulls back and places a hand on Elle’s cheek. “When did my little girl get so smart?” Elle giggles at the act, wrapping her arms around Willow’s neck and holding her mom close. Willow cried softly as she held her daughter, Jake still knelt beside them, holding both close.

Despite how upset Willow was, she couldn’t deny that the service was perfect. Willow, Jake, and Elle had been asked to stand with Sarah and her and Ice’s 2 children, Jackson and Elizabeth. And despite her protests, that's exactly where Willow found herself.

Jake and Willow were in their service dress blues. Ellorie stood between them in a simple black dress, clutched tightly to her father’s leg.

Cyclone walked up to Sarah with the folded flag and attempted to hand it to her. It shocked Willow when she refused and directed him down the line. 

Jack and Lizzie who had been the best aunt and uncle to Ellorie had gone to their mother the day before suggesting that they don’t receive the flag. They both knew that their father loved them unconditionally but he always held a soft spot for his honorary first granddaughter. 

Everyone who previously knew about Ellorie and heard story after story from Ice over the years. So when Sarah gave Cyclone a look. He knew exactly where the flag was going. Jack and Lizzie smile through their tears as the admiral walks past them, knowing their father was smiling down on them.

Cyclone kneels before Ellorie, who was still wrapped around Jake’s leg, and holds the flag out to the little girl. Willow tries to fight back her sobs at the action. Elle gently takes the flag from him as he speaks.

“On behalf of the President of the United States, the United States Navy and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s honorable and faithful service.” Cyclone stands and salutes the flag before returning to his post. 

Willow watches as Maverick punches Iceman’s wings into the casket. As they set up for the 21 gun salute, Willow reaches down to pick up Elle. Jake takes the flag from his daughter so Willow could hold her, muffling the shots fired.

Before long the service was over and everyone started heading back to their cars. As Sarah goes to leave, Willow catches her.

“We can’t take this, Sarah. It goes to the family.”

“You are family, sweetheart. He would’ve wanted you to have it.” Sarah smiles. Elle reaches out to her grandma, Sarah pulls her over and hugs her, kissing her head before setting her down. “Besides, the kids wanted Elle to have it. They got a lifetime of love from him, they figured Elle deserved a piece of her papa as much as they do.”

Tears well in her eyes at the information before being pulled into a hug. “I love you, Sarah.”

“I love you too sweetheart.” 

Sarah walks towards the car where Jack and Lizzie already wait.

Jake leads his family to the car, Willow stumbles still lost in her emotions and Elle rests her head on her father’s shoulder as he carries her, already fast asleep.

“Let's get you both home.” Jake smiles softly after everyone is buckled into the car. He rubs small circles into Willow’s hand for the entirety of the drive. 

This past week was taking its toll of Willow. Between the mission and losing the man she saw as a father, Jake knew she wasn’t okay. But Willow still played it off. When they got home, Jake carried Elle to her bedroom while Willow sat on the couch, pulling out every copy she had of the flight plans and mission details she had, burying herself into the mission.

Jake did their nightly cleaning and made sure everything was locked up and away before he spoke.

“Darlin, let's go to bed.” He says softly, wrapping his arms around her shoulders over the back of the couch.

“Just a few more minutes.”

“You’ve been staring at these papers for over an hour.” Jake sighs, massaging her shoulders to make her see she needs to rest. “We have an early morning.”

“I’ll be up in a bit Jake. You go on ahead.” Reluctantly, Jake made his way to their bedroom. He tried to stay up until she came in but he fell asleep waiting. And when he woke the next morning to Willow’s side of the bed was still neatly made, he knew she never came in. Walking out, he finds Willow asleep on the couch, papers strewn left and right.

He drapes the throw blanket from the back of the couch over her before heading to wake up Elle and get her ready for the day. They didn’t have to be at work until 9 so Jake lets her sleep. Once Elle was ready he took her out for a Daddy daughter breakfast.

“Is Mama okay?” Elle questions.

“She’ll be okay, pumpkin. She just misses Papa a lot.” Jake answers the little girl. Elle had become more observant the older she got. 

“I miss him too.” Elle says softly, picking up a piece of fruit from her plate.

“Me too. Finish your breakfast. We're gonna be late for school.”

When Jake arrived back home to pick up Willow, she was barreling through the house trying to get ready.

“Where were you?” Willow asks, buttoning her khaki shirt.

“Took Elle to breakfast before school. Are you ready?”

“Yea, lemme grab my phone.” 

“Vixen! A word.” Willow turns to see Maverick walking up to her. Jake goes to stand in front of her but she stops him.

“It's fine, I’ll see you in there.” Jake nods walking inside.

“I need a favor.”

“Mav—“

“I need you to run the course by yourself.”

“I haven’t even completed it as a team. What makes you think I wanna run it by myself?” Willow questions.

“They canned me Willow. You are the only person in there that I know can do this mission and should lead it.”

“I can’t—“

“Please, Willow.” She looks through the windows of the doors leading into the classroom just as Admiral Simpson begins speaking.

"Captain Mitchell is no longer your instructor. As of today there are new mission parameters," Admiral Simpson tells everyone as they lean forward paying more attention. Phoenix leans over to Jake.

“Where’s Willow?”

“Maverick pulled her outside.”

"Time to target is now four minutes." Everyone looks around to each other, shocked. There was no way anyone was coming back alive if the time to target was four minutes, and they all knew it. "You'll be entering the valley level at reduced speed, not to exceed 420 knots."

"Sir, won't we be giving enemy aircraft a chance to catch up to us?" Phoenix questioned.

"You have a better fighting chance against enemy aircraft than you do surviving a head-on collision with a mountain," the admiral answered. "You will be attacking the target from a higher altitude, level with the north wall." Just as Admiral Bates continued, everyone’s eyes were drawn to the screen, a beeping came through as two single F-18s fly towards the course.

"Vixen to range control, entering point alpha, confirm green range.”

“Oh fuck.” Bradley mutters leaning forward.

"Range control to Vixen. Uhh, green range is confirmed, but I don't see an event scheduled for you.”

"I’m still going.” Willow calls out.

"Nice," Phoenix mumbled.

"Setting time to target to two minutes and fifteen seconds," Willow said. The previously set time changed and everyone grew more anxious.

"That's impossible," Fanboy calls out just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Vixen is inbound," she says, crossing the starting point.

The time starts and everyone watches on the edge of their seats as the Willow swerved through the course, on her own. “One minute and 35 seconds, coming up on pop up.” Willow calls out.

She immediately began the incline before performing the inverted dive. 

"Bombs away," Willow says, begining her climb out. “Bullseye!” She cheers as she sees impact. Inside the hanger everyone is cheering

By the time she reached the top she was already pulling 9.5 Gs and slowly leveling out, pulling Willow back in as she was close to G-lock. Once she was level the timer stopped. 16 seconds left on the clock. 

“That's my girl.” Jake smiles at the screens that document everything about the trial.

Dressed in their whites, Jake and Willow walk into the Hard Deck with Elle beside them. Normally they would never bring her into a bar but with Penny taking Elle during the mission and this being the last night with their friends beforehand.

“Hey there's my favorite niece!” Coyote meets them at the door, lifting Elle from the ground and walking her towards the pool tables.

“I’m going to get some beers.” Willow tells Jake before walking to where the team was. She had been reprimanded for her stunt that previous day but Cyclone saw exactly what Maverick wanted him to see. Willow was the right choice to lead this mission and actually agreed.

“Hey, 2 beers?” Penny asks as Willow walks up to the bar.

“Yes.” Penny reaches down to grab Willow’s and Jake’s regular, opening them up. “Hey, thanks for watching Elle for us. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

“It takes a village to raise a child in the military. Fortunately for you, you have a whole armada.” Penny points to the group and Willow looks over to see Coyote helping Elle play pool against Jake, everyone cheering when she sinks the 8-ball. Willow smiles watching how excited Elle is as Jake throws her into the air, catching her, celebrating her win.

“Yea. Listen, if tomorrow doesn’t go as planned–”

“You can’t talk like that Willow.”

“If it happens, make sure she goes to Jake’s family. I don’t need Mav doing to her what he did to me.” Willow finishes.

“Your father has grown a great deal since 1997.” Penny informs.

“My father has not proven that to me. I trust you with my life Pen, but I can’t trust him.”

“I understand. But I will be seeing you tomorrow after this mission.”

“Thanks Pen.” Willow carries the beers over, passing one to her husband.

“Hey darlin, Elle just beat at her first game of pool.” Jake tells her.

“Of course she did. Just like her mama. She will never lose to daddy.” She says to Elle, winking at Jake before walking over to where Phoenix and Bob sat.

“So team leader, you got an idea of who your team is?” Phoenix asks.

“If I did I couldn’t tell you. But I wouldn’t go anywhere without my wingman.” Willow smiles at her best friend.

“So who’s gonna be your second?” Jake asks, Elle now playing pool with Coyote.

“Jake–”

“I get it, someone’s gotta come home to Elle.” Jake replies. “I’d do the same thing in your position.”

“If we didn’t have her, I would choose you in a heartbeat. I trust no one more. You are back up though”

“I’ll take it.” Jake smiles.

“Hangman being okay as back up? Never thought I’d live to see the day.” Phoenix laughs.

“Hey, you already know I would do anything for my girls.” Jake kisses Willow’s temple before walking over to play darts.

“Any idea who your second is?” Bob asks.

“No. I think I’m going to decide on the boat tomorrow.”

“Think hard, Vixen. Lives are on the line.”

The Dagger squad stayed until the late hours of the night. Elle had fallen asleep hours ago and slept peacefully in a booth Penny had set up as a bed. Around 1 am, Penny had closed all tabs and cleaned up before meeting Willow and Jake at her car. They had already gotten Elle buckled in and back to sleep after saying their goodbyes to the sleepy girl.

“We can’t ever thank you enough Penny.”

“You guys coming home safely will be thank you enough. Good luck.”

“Thanks Pen.” The couple retreats to their own vehicle, climbing in and heading home.

They held each other a little closer that night as they slept, mentally preparing themselves for the next day.

[kaguya-muneuji]

OH I HAD A FUCKING CRESCENDO IDEA (FOR THISE WHO SIMPLY DO NOT KNOW :tm: ITS OUR ENSTARS RP GROUP EHEH)

MAGICAL GIRL AU

imagine

CRESCENDO but something like Yuki Yuna is a Hero which i TOTALLY forced you to watch

the heros are the members of the “hero club” or some sort of idolistic club and they go around and sing and dance for everyone else but the main premise of the club is to find sacrifices worthy for “god”—whoever that may be. So when Crescendo’s first mission begins, they freak out.

Kiyama, although excited, has never been beyond this side of the world. Where the gods lay. His flower may be something like… a sunflower, and his weapon being a polaram or breakers or something like that. something with high mobility.

Miharu is given something like. a daisy maybe? (wasnt able to find anything on masking) and their weapon is maybe something defense-related.

Kirina’s flower is a white lily. Since Kirina expresses herself through dance her weapon might be something like a fan or some sort of leg brace based on kicking

Sato’s flower is a lilac, since Sato (i think) values family and close bonds. maybe their weapon is something based on chanting and bringing things together— like the vines itsuki has

Katsu’s flower is a Strelitzia since they symbolize a free spirit. Maybe Katsu’s weapon is a straight up electric guitar or a gun of some sorr

Shion’s flower is a white rose, my gay ass loves to focus on shion’s split between her unit and crescendo, since she can only focus on one after the events of ykyk.

Anyways with these, this idol group is tasked with the duty of protecting the world against the “Vertexes” or the wrath of the gods against humanity.

Hehe what do you think so far?

HI. I GO INSANE OVER CRESCENDO. HIIIIIIII I LOVE THEM SO MUCH DID U GUYS KNOW THAT. ANYWAY I WROTE A LOT IT GOT A BIT LONG SO. MORE RAMBLING UNDER THE CUT ^_^

@twowink @lycanthian @shards-of-brilliance @crooked-corvid hope u dont mind me tagging yall but its ur lil guys (gender neutral)

also im sorry i never got around to watching it o7 i think i accidentally closed the tab for it while doing a tab cleanup KLJHFKJSHDKFJ

also FUCK YEAH . MIHARU WITH DEFENSE. GOD. IM INSANE ABOUT THAT. IVE ALWAYS IMAGINED THEM TO BE LIKE . A PROTECTOR OF SORTS. YKNO . LIKE THEYRE CHILL BUT THEYLL ALWAYS HAVE UR BACK AND AOUR(ITDIFYGSDLIFUGSDFLKJG they have a shield and they most definitely have a helmet that they sometimes wear because im all for the "masking" and "putting on a different face" thing they have going on (if this is how you learn about this then. there u go! altho it seems i alr told you about it mostly . yeah i think i did say somehting about that) anyway. miharu sooo has paladin vibes. hgrhgh

i think kiyama (or katsu) should have gauntlets. they deserve to punch people. altho an entire electric guitar is SICKKK anyway kiyama probably would have Some armor (probably leather) on his upper body bc . hes gonna be in the middle of all these weapons ykno. he needs to be at least somewhat flexible and light on his feet right? hm. i dunno . kiyama and katsu are difficult to think about for this. katsu definitely has some lightning effects going on. That will stay.

SHION. I DIE IMMEDIATELY. OAURGHHRGHGRHGJHRGJRHG ourhg. she'd be probably one of the ones dealing dmg too. give em a sword ^_^ classic fighter. also im putting them in a skirt u cant STOP ME. oh if u havent caught on EVERYONE IS GETTING SOME ARMOR. YOU CANT STOP ME. magical girls outfits with just frills and fabric be damned. I NEED TO PUT SOME METAL ON THEM I NEED TO MAKE THEM KNIGHTS (no not en.stars knights sorryy still love them tho ^_^) GOD. IM INSANE. MAGICAL KNIGHTS WITH FLOWERS??!?!?? OUHGHHHH

heheh ok time for kiri~~ she definitely has high mobility!! aaa implementing her dancing ability into her fighting style!!!!! i think shed try to learn how to fight using a halberd at first but she finds it awkward to move around with and then she (or sm1 else helps) comes up with the idea to do what shes used to: dancing. if shes so used to moving gracefully without holding heavy things then why doesnt she just. do that ? !!!! anyway im putting her hair into a high ponytail as we speak. although im having difficulty in imagining her in armor. ill work on that.

satoo waaaa so theirs would kinda be like. immobilizing enemies? kinda?? ough interestingggggg i think their armor would be relatively light (like kiyamas) but im thinking maybeee . ok i lost the thoughts dammit its hard to think about things for sato too :((

tldr i need to draw them all. specifically i need miharu in flowy fabric and armor. with flowers. and a shield. FUCK now im thinking about hades im sorry (i am crazy ok)

[hrh-the-royals]

Transcript Below:

Najwa: Yes, I knew about it. I've known for a while. Abeni: I found out from Najwa the day before the news broke. Jaba: Why didn't you tell me?

Najwa: What was there to tell, it isn't my country. Jaba: This could mess with our relationship with Windenburg. Najwa: We don't have one with them, so it doesn't matter. I have to go out for an engagement, I'm putting Afia down.

Abeni: Understood my Queen.

Ashina: What would this mean for Forgotten Hallow? Velor: Nothing, we don't have a relationship with Windenburg, not even our own people want to visit there.

Waul: It will be interesting to see how the humans work this one out. The house of Wettin, we've watched them over the years and I don't think they'll take this lightly. Velor: I didn't think Luca had it in them though.

Ashina: I guess, people are willing to go whatever it takes for those they love.

Eun-young: Slightly shocking news. His family won't like it. I'd say they'd be ruthless but it's hard to tell what they'd be able to do now.

Eun-Joo: He beat them to the punch. I'll see if I can fish anymore news out of Najwa. Eun-young: You two are friendly, aren't you? Eun-Joo: Mom, we went to college together.

Eun-young: Anyway, this could be good for us. We've remained fairly neutral and I'd like to keep it that way. But, it wouldn't hurt to try and get along with them a little more.

Eun-young: They're popular, non-human and it could help us push along with the idea here.

Eun-joo: You know they'll try to interfere.

Eun-young: And we'll have to stop them, lord forbid if the those that support the Gun family get in. We'll have to move quick. But enough of that, you're being admitted today right? Eun-joo: Yes, Joo-eun is going to tend to dad while you're here.

Eun-young: I'll make sure to visit as soon as the baby is born. Eun-joo: I promise you'll be the first to know.

Carlo: This might mess up a few of our plans…. Marie: What plans. Gianna: Someone's nosy.

Gianna: Anyway, I think it's good. From circles, Prince Luca is different. I think it's time that we lean more into San Sequoia, follow their model.

Marie: I think our relationship with Windenburg, is great. Our shared culture is great. Gianna: Forced culture. Either way, I'm not the Monarch but those are my thoughts.

Carlo: Both of you have good ideas, right now, we won't worry. We will send our private congratulations to the newly minted Crown Prince and continue on with our relationship with Windenburg as now.

Louve: Dad's not here right? I don't want to have this talk with him. Tala: He's out running, he just messaged me about the news.

Louve: Good, I know he doesn't the taste for Windenburg but we need to work with them more. Yes, they have an issue with non-human's but an enemy of an enemy is my friend. Tala: I shouldn't keep your father out of a talk like this.

Louve: You will, I have plans for the future of our Kindgom and that fully includes cutting that other child of his off. Tesu: You know your father love's his cou- Louve: He can love the country but that other girl more.

Louve: And he can love her all he wants but we won't lead down the path of befriending those who killed our ancestors.

Tala: I will listen to your father's thoughts but I won't push anything forward with San Sequoia. We'll talk more about your plans to get cozy with Windenburg later. We won't throw ourselves at their feet.

[jarofstyles]

For mafia harry, I just love the fact that’s he’s only soft for his girl. So something soft!!!! Plss n thxx

He’s literally so soft for her it’s ridiculous.

Warnings: fluff, talk of murder, mafia type stuff

Check out our Patreon!

—-

It wasn’t uncommon for Harry to come home with bruised knuckles. While he tended to have his men take care of business, he couldn’t help but be hands on sometimes.

When it came to certain motherfuckers, he truly couldn’t help but get in on the action and keep his name at the top of the’ who not to mess with’ list.

But his one and true weakness was sleepy eyed and soft as she stepped into his arms. He had gotten home from some business only an hour ago and put on the coffee pot. Being out all night was not ideal in the slightest, mainly because he had Y/N at home. Before meeting her he could go days at a time without sleep, without even being home. But having a woman he loved so deeply in his bed, who truly adored him and looked past his very unusual career path. She was so giving to him, with her time, energy, body, affection. He had hit the jackpot when it came to women and he knew all to well. So did anyone else.

It took a lot to get a man like Harry soft. He was hard and jagged around the edges. Throwing a punch or getting rid of someone wasn’t a big deal to him. Then Y/N stumbled into his life by accident and he found the heart he had covered with ice melted into a puddle of mush that she hand shaped in her own form. It was comical at times to see his attitude change when she would walk into the room.

“H?” She whispered sleepily. She shouldn’t be awake, but her body had somehow known her hero was home. While Y/N was well aware of his faults and his dangerous job and tendencies? He fiercely protected and cared for her. Provided for her. Gave her a home and a best friend and loved wrapped into one. No one was perfect, but Harry was perfect for her. “Where were you all night?” His stomach twinged with guilt as he pulled her into his chest, large hand cupping the back of her head and keeping her body close to his.

“M’so sorry, angel.” He whispered, pressing multiple kisses to her hairline. “We found one of the rats.” He grumbled, making Y/N freeze. Her head pulled up from his chest and her eyes were a dangerous glint. One that, quite frankly? Made him hard. As soft and gentle as Y/N is, she had come to take Harry and his men as family. You fuck with them? You fuck with her.

“And you took care of it?” Her tone was low, Harry still shocked at how fierce his little angel could be. How protective. She made them cookies and tea and brought sweets to the underground clubs, but was willing to put someone on their ass if they hurt Harry. It was fucking hot.

“Y’know I did, sweet girl. M’always taking care of my people.” He was cut off by her lips pressing to his jaw, her head tucking back into his neck. It was early and she hadn’t slept well. Y/N usually didn’t when it came to Harry being out and doing dangerous things. Her sleep schedule had been the worst it’s been since dating him, but it was the easiest sacrifice to make because she was getting to be in his arms. When he was home?

She got the best sleep of her entire life. Especially after getting dicked down.

“Know you do.” She relaxed, hand running over his broad back. The shirt was slightly damp form his sweat but she didn’t mind. The skin under was hot and it did get her mind going to think about how sexy he looked when he was mad. As long as it wasn’t at her? It went straight to her cunt.

Okay. Maybe even when it was at her. But it was very hard to make him angry at her. He was 100% a pushover for his girl. Y/N was the only one ever allowed to raise her voice at him.

~

The first time it had happened around others, they’d all nearly choked. Harry had ate the last of the cookie butter, which Y/N had been saving. It actually pissed her the fuck off, and not realizing he was in a meeting she had stormed down the hallway with her volume on 10. The girl wasn’t one too raise her voice often, but Harry knew how to push her buttons.

“Harry fucking Styles! You better hope to god you’re busy because I’m going to shove this jar up your ass!” She seethed, the stomping of her feet making everyone’s eyes widen. The men he worked closely with usually had a softer version of her. But it was earlier in the day, not their normal time, and gathered in the office in Harry’s large home.

Harry froze, realizing what it was and winced as he watched the door fly open. There, in all her big shirt, no pants and freshly woken glory was his beautiful Y/N. Empty jar in hand. Her eyes cut around the room but the fury she felt was too deep. This was personal!

Of course, they all were tense because No One talks to Harry Styles in a tone like that and got away with it. The shock that crossed their faces when Harry sheepishly got up and crossed the room, hushing her and trying to approach her like a wounded puppy was pure and utter insanity. The big man who always had a straight face, mean punches that knocked out cold, little regard for most people and took care of many a week was letting his woman talk to him like that.

“M’sorry, baby, I meant to get more but we called an emergency-“ he was cut off by a single hand raising, lips snapping closed as he watched his little love step closer to him.

“If you aren’t ready to go to Trader Joe’s in the next 15 minutes….” Her eyes narrowed. “You’ll be cut off.” And Harry knew exactly what that meant.

No sex.

There was no way he was risking that.

“Okay, okay.” He raised his own hands in surrender. “M’gonna finish up. Go get ready, we’ll take the Audi.”

They all learned that day that you didn’t mess with Y/N’s food, and Harry Styles only had one singular weakness.

~

Granted, Harry never was ashamed of it. He always said that his woman was half of his strength. She didn’t need him, but he needed her. Harry loved her so wholly and deeply that he knew that she was it for him. He had bought an engagement ring only 2 months in. So no, he didn’t ever deny it.

If anyone ever tried to use Y/N against him, they ended up in the river. Or in several pieces. He had very little restraint over that, considering all threats he took very, very seriously. The one light in his life was something he kept close, protected, and loved.

“Why don’t we go shower n’then we sleep? Hm? M’sorry to keep you up late, angel.” He puckered his lips down at her to be met with a soft peck, nodding her head at the idea. “And then we can make some ‘brunch’, whatever you call it.”

It got a laugh out of her, so he considered it a win.

“Mhm. If you thought I was letting you into our clean sheets smelling like guns and sweat. It’s sexy for dirty sheets but I’m simply too tired. Got the new ones I got online too.” She sighed, playfully teasing him because she knew it would get him to smile. He saw horrors every day, and if she could get some silliness in him it would lessen his stress.

“Oi. Don’t be callin’ me smelly, little girl.” He pinched her cheek, obnoxious kissing her mouth. “Better get your ass up there and get naked so we can pass out. M’Gonna need those pretty hands helping me wash, I fear… I’m a dead man walking.” He was dramatic, obviously overtired and it got a giggle from her.

“In your dreams, Mafia Man. Let’s move.”

“You’re right, I do dream about that.”

[anxiousnerdwritings]

Helloo! I Love your writing! your a amazing writter!! If you are still accepting request it could be a oneshot,maybe, if jason todd was platonic yandere with damian's twin sister (reader). Perhaps when she was a child she was deemed worthless, even by her brother and mother and ran away. And well, Jason found her and raised her as a sister (or daughter). Years later she meets her brother who lives with her father (bruce) but she doesn't want to know anything about them and Jason is not going to allow them to take her away either🤔🤷‍♀️ Thanks!!

Home

Worthless. Unwanted. Burden. That’s all you were to them. All you would ever be to them. Your own mother and brother, whom you shared your mother’s womb with, who were so supposed to love and care for you unconditionally, were the first to berate and turn their backs on you.

At least your Grandfather had been more tolerable towards you. He saw potential, something neither your mother or brother could see for themselves. He knew you would be exceptional one day; with time, consistency, and intense training, you would have a place amongst the League of Assassins.

But your Mother begged to differ. She knew her children, at least that’s what she said. She knew you wouldn’t amount to anything, not like Damian. And for that you were sure it was only a matter of time before she took matters into her own hands, so you ran.

You ran as far as you could and you never looked back. You never wanted to see the face of the people who hurt you the most ever again.

Never once did you think you would ever feel what it was like to be wanted, to be loved and cared for. To feel protected. To feel a sense of belonging. But that’s just what he ended up having to give.

He was there for you when no one else was and vice versa. He had your back and you had his.

The two of you were a team. A family. You and Jason.

You kicked ass together, taking names along the way. Tonight was like any other; an arms deal was taking place down at the pier. You and Jason were making quick work of all of them and it seemed like things were going without a hitch. That was until a stray bullet pierced through your left side.

You were down. You were bleeding. That’s all Jason needed to see red.

He didn’t hold anything back as he punched, kicked and shot his way to your side. He was quick to tend to your wound, having his own make shift first aid kit on him just in case of something like this.

Anyone who knew Jay would never in a million years imagine him to act so much like a mother hen but that’s exactly how he was with you.

You were always surprised at just how gentle he was with you. Nothing like the people you had left far behind, who would only live on in your more unsavory memories.

“I’m fine, Jay. It’s not as bad as it looks.” You tried to reassure him. You knew he wasn’t going to let you out on patrol for a few days at least. Maybe a week even. If you were lucky.

“I knew I should have had you stay home tonight. Now look at you; you’re hurt. And it’s my fault. I could have taken care of this one on my own.” He seethed, blaming himself like he always did when you got hurt.

“Really, Jay? There was no way you would have been able to take ‘em all out on your own tonight. Besides, we are a team. Remember?”

You didn’t give him the chance to respond before you continued, “I knew what I was getting myself into. I’ve been through worse. I’ve trained through worse. I’ll be just fine, Jay. Don’t go blaming yourself. Alright?”

He looked at you for a good while, staring into your eyes, seeing the life shining through them. But before he had the chance to say what he wanted to, a voice pulled both your attentions away from one another.

“Jason. Y/n. Are you alright?” It was only a matter of time before either of you would have a run in with Batman. You knew Jason had a past with the Bat but you still had yet to meet the Dark Knight. The man who was your father; Bruce Wayne.

Out of your peripheral, you could see Jason visibly tensing. It was almost like he was getting ready for a fight.

And as if things couldn’t get worse, Batman wasn’t alone either. His newest Robin was taking place at his side, much like an obedient dog would.

It was no secret who the all too familiar face belonged too; your brother, at least that’s what you once referred to him as. But now he was just Damian to you. Nothing but a stranger.

“Father, is this really necessary? Can’t we do this another time?” Damian inquired.

“No. We’re doing this now.” Bruce answered, never taking his eyes off you. Jason wasn’t liking this at all. Not one bit.

“Is your side alright, Y/n? If I could look at it, I’m sure I have something to treat it.” He said, taking a few tentative steps closer, reaching into his utility belt, but Jason wasn’t having any of that.

Stepping in between Bruce and yourself, making sure to shield you, Jason replied for you, “It’s already been taken care of. We don’t need your help.”

Pulling yourself up onto your feet, used to pain by now to easily push through it, you choose to speak for yourself, “Jay’s right. We’ve already tended to it. Thank you but your help isn’t necessary.”

It was silent for a while. Tension was filling the air, heavy and thick enough you could cut through it.

It was Bruce who spoke first, “I would like to discuss something of the utmost import-“

“Don’t bother. We’re aren’t wanting any part of whatever you have going on.” Jason interrupted.

Damian scoffed, rolling his eyes, “Like we would want you, Todd.”

“Damian.” Bruce warned. “I wanted to discuss this with Y/n, Jason.” Jason glared at both Bruce and Damian but stayed silent.

Taking a few steps closer, Bruce was directly in front of you now. Not too close for comfort but close enough to still be towering over you. “As your father, I want you to come live in the manor. We want you to be part of the family. Our family. Both Damian and I would prefer you to be with us. We can discuss patrol and everything else later, but right now there is a room already waiting for you.”

You looked from Bruce to Damian, to the hand Bruce had placed on your shoulder during his speech, to Jason’s hand tightly gripping Bruce’s wrist. You didn’t have to think twice about your decision.

“No thank you. Honestly, I don’t want anything to do with either of you. I cut ties with Damian and Talia a long time ago for a reason. Although I will admit there was a time I wanted to meet you, to see if maybe I could be a family with you but I came across Jason instead. And I couldn’t be more thankful that I did. He is my family now. And that is just where I plan on staying.”

Jason couldn’t hide the shit eating grin that had spread across his face, not that he wanted to anyway. The thought had crossed his mind that he may have to use his guns once more tonight ‘cause he sure as hell wasn’t going to just let them take you. He wasn’t going to standby and let his family be ripped away. Not now, not ever.

“Let’s get back home, Little Stunner. I think we both deserve some much needed rest after tonight.”

It was just you and him again.

Just how he preferred it.

[itsthe-neo-zone]

[03:18PM] ~ Park Jongseong x Reader, Apocalypse au

You didn’t want to live with the misery of regretting everything.

But that all went out the window as soon as the apocalypse began.

2 weeks, it’s been 13 whole days and 12 nights since the whole world decided to end itself.

The reason? An outbreak, a malicious deadly disease terraforming the earth in its own way. Killing everyone and everything with it. And when you say terraforming you mean turning us all against each other.

You regretted waking up that Wednesday morning, regretted getting out of bed, not hugging your mother in your arms longer and giving your family a proper farewell.

You were in school when it happened your district sounding the sirens, mid-week morning meaning you were in the dinner halls, you heard the sirens and all hell broke loose, the diners small tv monitor picked up an emergency broadcast.

Shaking your head subconsciously you drifted your mind away from what happened. It had been difficult thinking the past few days, even eating was becoming a luxury at times.

Like now, you’ve been wandering empty suburb streets looking for something to sustain yourself, where you were looked to be like a neighbouring district, but you weren’t sure, the sign posts were all ripped down to make any form of defence weapon, supplies were scarce at this point.

The scent on you was horrid but not as putrid as the stench of rotting corpses filing the earth. You stopped turning to look around you. The street was dusted with ruined houses all damaged and crumbled to the grounds.

Maybe you could crash into an abandoned one, maybe there was food and maybe you’d finally be able to use an actual bathroom. Your stomach grumbled with delight at the thought of food.

As you were about to pull the rusting metal rod in your hand towards the nearest property you heard a shrieking ear deafening pop,

The blood hit your brain, adrenaline began quickly building up inside you, like a band slowly stretching about to snap, your heart rattling in your chest. It tightened slightly. You swayed slightly from the shock of adrenaline hitting your numb body.

You swiftly turned to see nothing behind you but a pelleted bullet, someone around you had a weapon, and their target? You.

You began seeing the blurred edges of your sight return a sign to take response. Fight or flight. You chose the latter feeling weaker than expected. Heading outwards past the last few properties your best hope was to lose your hunter out in the wilderness.

Brushing past leaves twigs and the thicket of the edges of the lush greenery you low down once you’re no longer hearing bullets trailing after you. It was quiet

Almost too quiet to be normal. You push yourself up against a tree, straining your breath to regulate faster than it should. You regretted being stupid to do that too as you felt the persisting tickle at the back of your throat.

It let a much needed cough to begin crawling up your oesophagus. Shutting your eyes for a moment you stiffened your lips slightly holding it back. Why now of all times, you’d been surviving fine…

You could hear a slight crunch of foliage under careful feet, slowly creeping up on you.

You’d be done for this time if they did have a weapon. Trembling fingers dug into the metallic rod in your palms, they’d make indents from how hard you were gripping.

Feeling your chest tighten a little. The metal was starting to feel slippery in between clammy fingers but you held it to your face keeping your stance ready.

You were scared, no, terrified even. But that didn’t mean you were going to give up so easily. You wanted to survive, you had to.

Ironic.

A few weeks you were ready to give up on life itself.

As you sighed, you prepared to turn and show yourself but as you made a move you felt something restrict your breath and pull you away from the edge of the tree. You didn’t have your hand on your mouth though.

It was a foreign feeling but it was something you greeted with open arms, it was warm, and you forgot the caress of another on your cold stiff body.

Caress of another? It wasn’t my hands.

Gunshots sounded across the clearing you hid from. Disturbing screeches of birds fleeted from above. A harsh thump fell to the floor. A limp body.

But it wasn’t yours. You still had a chance.

Eyes widening, you registered the figure behind you keeping you hold in a strong grip.

The surging boost of energy you had left pushed you to kick with your feet. Backwards tripping up your attacker. The gunshots stopped but you were sure it was them, not just one but 2, maybe more…

The figure fell back unable to balance themselves but you were pulled back, you pushed yourself out of their hold, they pulled away regained their stance before attacking you from your side,

the male twisted his arm around your head and the other at your waist holding your arms down. He was agile and had strength but you managed to be faster. Quickly thinking, you moved.

Digging your elbow into their side hitting them right beneath their rib cage.

Bingo,

you heard a slight grunt they pushed away from you trying to recover.

You turned grabbing the rod, eyes shaking to survey the sight before you. It was just one, you swing your arms back getting ready to attack.

“Stop!” A strained call out towards your direction, but you faltered, it wasn’t for you? He directed it behind you falling back slightly. You turned to see another male.

Eyes trained like he was about to pounce on his prey. What was more horrifying was the gun now in his hold pointed directly at you.

“Don’t, Jake, she’s harmless.”

His arms stayed firmly ahead of him holding the weapon. “Harmless my ass, you were about to lose your head,” his fingers wavered.

“Just listen to me.” The guy stood up. You noticed the tattered and beaten up clothes they wore, rips and smears all over each article. Dried blood splattered across parts of their body. Judging by the colour it wasn’t from today.  

The combat boots the two wore made you think twice about setting down your weapon as you remained in your stance.

But their eyes and faces showed different,

They were anxious, in pain, alert like you.

“Idiot.” He dropped his arms. Mumbling before walking towards the other who was now slowly guiding himself down by supporting himself on the tree.

His face was etched with strain. And for a second you felt a pang of regret. You shrugged the feeling away watching the two converse.

“Are you survivors?” you swayed slightly, pressing forward kept your feet stable you regrated the shakiness your voice had, first people you spoke to in a while and you sound like you were about to cry.

“Just barely,” one huffed, “As I said he was about to lose his head.” The one named Jake turned from tending to his friend and shot you a dirty glare.

Jakes eyes were intense and focused, he didn’t flit nor shy away. Pressing further. You subconsciously step back, eyes looking past him and towards his friend.

“I had to protect myself.” You pull your arms downwards stepping out of the position and lowering your guard slightly.

“Mhm, sure.” He muttered. He turned back lifting the others shirt. A long tear in the seamless skin ran down the males side. It wasn’t bleeding, it looked like it was an old scar. Just barely healed.

“You’re, fine,”

“She had, shit, every right to do that.” The other caught his breath then spoke.

“Right.” Jake pressed his lips into a thin line. It looked like he wasn’t having any of that, his jaw clenched, he was stopping himself from speaking any further.

Standing up and walking past you. He glanced at you up and down before moving back to the clearing.

“Sorry about that,” the boy sitting at the bottom of the tree pushed himself to try getting to his feet, you stared cautiously your fingers tingling to help him, so now you were starting to get your humanity back? Where was this feeling a few days ago?

The fliting sound of slipping feet against the rough terrain is what brought your focus back as you moved to assist him. He groaned.

His eyes caught yours, cautious and foreign, was this just the way he looked at people him or was he anxious to be around you.  

“I’ll … uh.” Your hand waivered, before holding his free arm. “I’ll help you.”

“Um… Thanks.” He nodded clenching his jaw he pushed himself up with your help.

“I’m jay.” His lips pressed into a thin line the edges pushing upwards slightly as he nodded, he stayed silent for a second. You figured out this was an introduction a few seconds late, sucking in a quick breath you mumbled.

“Ah i- yeah…. I’m _____ .” your face tensed up. Jay flashed you a lopsided smile.

“Sorry about earlier, I had to make sure you didn’t interfere while Jake finished up with—uh…”

“Were you the—” you paused. How were you going to ask him if he was the one that was chasing you. How do you word that without sounding weird. “the… I was—”

“You mean the gunshots?” he mumbled.

You quickly nodded giving yourself a mini headache at the fast movement.

“No, we were… in the distance, yeah, when we heard the sound. Just me and Jake.” He lead you to the clearing.

You were slowly introduced into the new space, you watched Jake push the body dressed in black to the side. There was someone following you his face hidden beneath the mask.

“Found all this.” He kicked at the floor with his foot. “shit thing is he’s probably a trained assassin.” He nodded towards the pile of weaponry. “All in his bag, some on him,”

Jake stood up facing Jay. “We need to fucking leave, where there’s one there’s always more.” He lifted a few small items. Something that looked like a smaller loaded gun, testing its scope he tucked it into his pocket.

“Here, take that.” He threw a shielded knife at jay and grabbed a larger gun and handed it to the male next to you.

“lets go.” He walked past Jay and farther out.

As Jay turned he caught your eyes, he saw the anxious glimmer, the shiver you tried to hid and the fact that your fingers were digging in to your palm.

“Our chances of survival are bigger…” he stated. It cut you out of the worry trail your brain was starting to follow,

“Together than apart.”

You caught his eyes. Jay was trying to be as friendly as he could, you could see a glimmer of hope, something you lost within the first 3 days.

“Are you-, I’m sorry I’m a bit confused right— shit, I’ll just ask… are you asking me to…”

“You should come with us.” You silently thanked him for putting you out of your misery. Shocked he was asking you this. And relieved to have met people you could somewhat trust.

“What?”

“HEY! Hurry up if you want to fucking live dude!” Jake was already way ahead.

“Gimme a second!” he sighed, calling out.  

“I was wondering if you wanted to join us. That is if you’re not with anyone right now.”

You could almost cry from the surge of relief you felt. It was almost draining the life out of you fending for yourself. And night-time was when it got its worst alone. No more going crazy talking to yourself.

“Yeah, that would be great.” You voiced out, he smirked, hearing your voice so relieved.

“Glad to hear.” He nodded towards the direction they were headed. Leading you further ahead.

“Do you know how to wield a gun?”

You shook your head.

“I’ll teach you don’t worry.”

~~~

(thinking of truning this idea into a fic what do you think?)

Seola - It’s the neo zone © All rights reserved.

[lepusrufus]

As promised, a little thing about Cassandra being well...herself. Plus a sketch to go with it bc I don’t like posting lots of text by itself.

Warning ths one’s gory y’all

"Entertain him for just a bit," her mother had said. "Just take him down to the winery and I'll meet you there shortly." 

And that's how Bela found herself leading one of Alcina's business partners through the castle's hallways. Her mother had to do some urgent calls and leaving a guest by himself would have been quite impolite. And who else to do the task really? Cassandra would probably scare the man to death and Daniela would take him down to the wrong winery. As much as they all reveled in killing and maiming, sometimes they needed to show some face and one such occasion was when the family business was involved.

The man, Emile, has been working with their family for a few years now. If memory serves her right he came from somewhere in France, looking for rare luxury wines. He wasn't exactly a pleasant person, but luckily he didn't talk much when her mother wasn't around, settling for admiring the decorations and paintings adorning their home. 

The long route they were taking, staying well away from the dungeon's entrance, was taking them along one of the castle's outer walls. From the windows you could see the beautiful mountains stretching far in every direction and, down blow, the town bustling with activity. 

"Quite beautiful weather today no?" 

Bela couldn't help a small scowl, invisible under her hood but there none the less, when watching the snow piled on the ground outside. The sun was indeed shining today, but it's warmth didn't quite reach the ground, feeling more like sharp teeth on one's skin. 

"I prefer the warm seasons." 

The man hummed in response, still looking out the large windows while they walked. 

"Come to think of it, I never saw any of you out during winter." 

Bela narrowed her eyes at the remark. His tone came out jokingly, but there was something else in his voice, almost testing the waters to see how much he can poke and prod at a wolf before getting his hand bitten off. Bela decided to fall back in step with him, wanting to keep an eye on his every move. 

"You're just never here long enough," she answered flatly. 

They walked in silence once more, the only audible sound being their boots walking on the hard floor. Until Bela caught glimpse of a quick movement, only to turn and see Emile quickly grab one of the windows' handles and open it fully. 

"What the-"

Bela's surprise died in her throat when the cold hit her, instantly chilling her to the bone. She screamed through gritted teeth out of frustration and pain, feeling the little exposed skin cracking already. Her attempt at backing away failed as her back quickly hit the wall and any logical thought of moving left or right was quickly leaving her mind. 

"Oh, somebody will pay good money for your heads." He barked out a laugh.

Bela wanted to snap back at him, tell him he was so stupidly wrong and no, you can't literally chop our heads off even if you tried. But the pain caused by the cold left her unable to do much more than double over and grind her teeth. 

Until a black blur of robes and insects came slamming against the window, shutting it in the process. Daniela then approached her shivering form while Cassandra materialized from a swarm of insects a moment later. She knelt in front of Bela and grabbed her face. 

"Hey. Hey dummy look at me. Are you alright?" 

Bela only let out a low growl, narrowing her eyes at her. Cassandra pursed her lips, taking that as a no, and got up. 

"Take care of her Dani, I'll be right back."

She moved past her sister, giving her a quick pat on the shoulder and started walking down the hall that Emile had run through a couple seconds prior. Daniela wanted to ask if she needed help, but before she could open her mouth she saw Cassandra whip out her sickle which only meant one thing: hunt's on. 

--

Cassandra's features were hardened into a deep scowl, looking every little bit like the bloodthirsty killer the townspeople feared so much. She wasn't running, as opposed to Emile who just took off. It was pointless. He was heading towards a dead end anyways. 

When she rounded a corner only to see him a little further ahead, she wasted no time in bringing up her sickle and throwing it towards her prey. The blade cut the air forcefully with a quick whoosh and embedded itself into the man's shoulder. He let out a pained yelp and lost his balance, landing face first on the marble floor. He tried to scramble to his feet but Cassandra gave him no time to escape. 

She grabbed the weapon's handle and pulled it free from the man's flesh, turning him towards her in the process. She then planted one foot on his chest, stopping him from getting up. 

Her eyes narrowed and she brought the tip of her sickle to one of the man's eyes, letting out a short chuckle when his expression turned to terror. 

"How did you know?" 

"The real question is how do other people not know? It's pretty obvious once you think about it." 

The answer was anything but satisfactory. Nobody who knew about their weakness was to be left alive, and if killing a bunch of smartasses was what it took to keep her family safe then so be it. Starting with one particular smartass. 

She was snapped out of her thoughts with a loud bang. Looking down at Emile she noticed the gun that he managed to take a hold of and fire up at her. Cassandra didn't move, her eyes merely widening in mild surprise. His expression however contorted from smug to horrified upon noticing that the bullet flew straight through her, only dispersing a small swarm of flies that quickly flew back into her form. 

"You know, I was really considering making this quick and clean since I have other things to do. But you-" she growled, grabbing his face "-you pissed me off." 

He let out a muffled scream when Cassandra's fingers clamped down on his cheeks, forcing his mouth open. After a few stubborn moments she decided to use her sickle too, pushing the blade in between his teeth and prying them open. His muffled protests turned into full on screeches when she suddenly pushed the hooked weapon downwards, it's tip piercing the tongue and neck muscles and poking out through the underside of the jaw. 

The screaming soon mixed with gurgling due to the blood now pooling into his throat and mouth. But that too died down when Cassandra forcefully yanked her sickle back, pulling the bottom jaw that it was still hooked to and ripping muscle and bone with a sickening crack. 

Emile was writhing on the floor for a couple of seconds, unable to make any sound other than the chocked gurgling of the blood now blocking his airways. But soon he stopped moving, dark blood forming a growing pool around his now jawless head. She grabbed him by the hair and started dragging him towards the dungeons. On any other day she would bring him to her mother and have a feast with the rest of her family, but the seething anger that was still coursing through her veins gave her a different idea. 

--

Down in the bowels of the castle, where she even had a space designated as her "working area" Cassandra looked up at her handiwork. Emlie's body was sprawled out on a scarecrow frame, limbs tightly attached to the wooden poles and jaw dangling from his neck attached with a rope. She couldn't go and put the new "decoration" outside herself but she could always have someone else do it. 

With a satisfied smile, she spun on her heels and started to make her way back towards the upper levels of the castle to check on her sisters and inform her mother of what happened. While walking, there was only one thought ringing through her mind. 

Nobody touches my family.

[nebulablakemurphy]

Miss American Pie

Chapter Five: This Will Be The Day (Finale)

Warning: this series features a romantic Yelena Belova x Fem!Reader pairing.

Summary: Everyone has returned but the battle for humanity against Thanos wages on.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

You wake in a coughing fit, the rubble surrounding you sears your lungs. “Natasha.” You call into the rocks and flickering lights. Clearing your throat, you try again. “Natasha!”

“Here, I’m here.” Her voice is rough, pained.

You push yourself toward the sound, through the dust you can make out her hair. “You ok?”

“Mostly.” She’s laying face up, a few scratches visible.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I can’t move.” She nods at the piece of collapsed cement. “My leg is broken, you should go.” Nat says, staring up at the sky.

“I should’ve never let you go to Vormir. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.” You try uselessly to budge the blockage over her leg.

“What is Vormir?” She asks.

“Doesn’t matter.” You swallow the lump in your throat. “How much do you remember?”

“The red room.”

“Do you remember getting out?”

“No one gets out.” She shakes her head.

“We did.” You inform her. “Yelena did.”

“Yelena?” Her gaze finds yours. “You know Yelena? Is she here?”

“Yes, I know her.” You press your lips together. “She’s not here though.”

“The rest of this building is coming down. If you were really trained in the red room you have to know that.” Natasha frowns. “You need to leave.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Don’t be a hero.” She whispers. “Let me go, it’s ok.”

“No, it’s not.” You argue. “I won’t do it again.”

“What about Yelena?” Natasha gives you a pointed look.

“She’ll understand.” This is what she would do.

“Hey,” Natasha pushes herself up on her elbows. “Would it be a good thing or a bad thing if a giant man in a metal suit carrying a smaller man and a raccoon appeared behind your head?”

You turn toward the man in question. Scott Lang. “It would be a good thing.”

———————————————————————

Natasha is taken somewhere safe. She can’t fight.

As the strange doctor and his disciples start opening portals you see that you’re not alone. Through one comes Alexei, Melina and Yelena.

Her white suit is pristine, dirty blonde hair held away from her face in ponytails.

On shaky legs you move toward her, taking your rightful place at her side. Facing what lies ahead together.

Yelena catches your hand, “this isn’t much of a welcome home.”

You can’t help but laugh, “pretty cool way to die though.”

“Very,” she agrees. “Natasha?”

“She is a little worse for wear.” You warn her, “but alive…and safe.”

Yelena gives you a watery smile, squeezing your fingers. “And you?”

“A tower fell on me.”

“Of course it did.”

Thanos’ army is nothing to scoff at. Giant airborne creatures hover over his troops. Larger monsters stand in their ranks, space ship overhead ready to destroy.

Steve is almost unrecognizable, covered in dirt, his shield battered and broken. But you know it is time when he gives the order. “Avengers, assemble.”

Fighting is easy, it’s what you know. What you were trained to do. Fight to stay alive, fight for what you believe in, fight with Yelena; for Yelena.

The two of you move together like a well oiled machine. Like riding a bike, even after all this time you could never forget.

“We’ve got company to the left.” Yelena says through gritted teeth, kicking at the alien creature beside her. Dropping an empty cartridge to the ground and reloading her gun seamlessly, firing several shots.

Despite everyone’s best efforts they just keep coming. “Do we have a plan here?”

“Getting there,” Steve replies. “Anybody have eyes on the gauntlet?”

“Yeah!” Clint rushes past you with the glove in hand. “What am I supposed to do with it?”

“Get it out of here!” Tony insists.

“What’s happening?” Alexei shouts over the chaos. “I still don’t have ear piece.”

“Just keep their army away from that guy in the tank top.” You grunt, falling backwards from the force of one of Thanos’ soldiers colliding with you.

“We have to get the stones back where they came from.” Rhodey reminds everyone.

“The time space tunnel is completely collapsed.” Tony points out.

“That isn’t our only time machine.” Lang cuts in.

“Does anyone see an ugly brown van out there?” Captain America’s voice hums through the ear bud.

“I do,” a female voice chimes in. “But you’re not going to like where it’s parked.”

After grappling for far too long, you manage to knock the creature from you. Using your knife to dismember it.

“Next time, we get the cool laser guns.” Yelena yells loud enough to be heard by everyone on the network, as she hauls you to your feet.

“Friday, please add laser guns for the ballerinas to my grocery list.” Stark gives his smart ass remark.

“What’s the word on the van?” Rhodey wonders.

“Working on it now.”

The ship at Thanos’ disposal begins raining fire, no regard for their own troops.

“We’ve got people going down!” Rocket hollers.

“Clint,” you call into the microphone. “How’s that gauntlet?”

“Moving down the field.” The archer replies, “I’m alright too, thanks for asking.”

“Good.” You bite back a smile.

Hell continues breaking loose around you. Glowing circular orbs unfold in the air above, providing coverage from the missiles. You’re not sure if this is winning or losing. It feels like a bit of both.

———————————————————————- Thanos and his army are dusted away. Leaving you surprised and still swinging as the shock wears off.

You won. You. Won.

And you lost.

You lost Tony Stark. The man you’d barely known, but offered you clarity that will stay with you forever.

You lost the Natasha you’d come to know over the five years that Yelena was gone. Some parts of the redhead stripped away for the price of the stone.

But she’s still here. Waiting in the wings to be greeted by Yelena and their little makeshift family. You share a look of understanding when your eyes meet over the blonde’s shoulder.

Others come, Banner refuses to leave her side. Despite the fact that Natasha doesn’t remember him.

Clint falls to the ground at her feet. Breaking down at the sight of his friend, his family alive and well. She doesn’t remember him either, but welcomes him into her arms somewhat awkwardly.

Her expressions flicker from happy to overwhelmed. Hesitant to open herself up to the possibility that she is wanted, needed and loved.

Too confusing for the girl who only remembers the red room. Adjusting to this life will take time.

Everyone begins clearing out, their jobs finished. Rushing home to reunite with their loved ones. Tomorrow will bring about new challenges. The world is in shambles, and so are you.

Steve decides that he should be the one to return the stones. His goodbye tells you that he has a bit more in mind. But this is his life. His choices, not yours.

“Well, I guess we should head out too.” You say after a while. Your car is gone, lost in the wreckage from the explosion.

The setting sun is eclipsed, causing all of you to turn your gaze upwards just in time to see the ship’s door open.

“Is that a raccoon?” Melina asks, pointing toward Rocket.

“Do you want a ride or not?” Rocket shoots back.

“Not the avenger’s super jet, but it will do huh?” Alexei smiles, this is his dream.

“This is better!” A man’s voice carries down from the interior.

“Well,” Yelena shrugs, “if you say so.” She leads the pack up the ramp and onto the ship.

“Fanny and the pigs will be expecting dinner soon.”

“How are they?” Melina asks, “have you been taking care of them.”

“That was me!” Alexei says proudly, bending at the waist to gather Natasha into his arms. “Aye honey,” he grunts, hoisting her up. “You are only little girl in my heart.”

Nat pushes against his chest in retaliation.

“Do you mind if I hitch a ride too?” Clint asks.

“The extra stop will cost you,” Nebula stares blankly at him from her seat.

“They always do.” He remarks, trotting up the ramp.

Bruce paces at the foot of the metal grate, watching the rest of you load up. “I gotta hang back, make sure Steve gets there in one piece.”

“After what happened with Scott the first time I’d say that’s probably the best bet.” You agree, standing near the entrance.

“Yeah,” he smiles, kindly. “Keep me posted on Nat, will ya?”

“I will,” you return the smile.

“I’ll see you around.”

You nod, “I’ll see you.”

The captain of the ship introduces himself as Star-lord, and after a moment without response, Quill.

“Any requests?” He asks, finger hovering over the control panel.

Alexei creeps over to the younger man, quietly relaying a message.

“Alright,” Quill nods. Stroking the keys until a familiar set of notes ring out.

“A long, long time ago-“ The singer croons.

You let out a chuckle.

“I can still remember how that music used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance, that I could make those people dance. And maybe they'd be happy for a while.”

“We’re really doing this?” Yelena puts a hand to her head, the corners of her mouth turning upward.

“But February made me shiver, with every paper I'd deliver. Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step.” The melody carries on.

“It’s your song.” Natasha turns to her sister.

“I can't remember if I cried. When I read about his widowed bride.” Melina’s eyes are far away, carried back to their years in Ohio. Before the world had been so cruel.

“Something touched me deep inside, the day the music-“

“Died.” Yelena joins in, lulling her head to the side to gage your reaction.

You sigh, all of this beyond surreal. But you allow yourself to live in this moment, because you might not get another. “So bye, bye Miss American Pie…”

“Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.” The roaring chorus of voices fills the silence you’ve grown used to. Fills the parts of you that were empty for so long. “And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye. Singin', “this’ll be the day that I die.”

“This’ll be the day that I die.” Yelena sings, her face alight with a childlike glee.

——————————————————————-

Melina, Natasha and Alexei stay with you for a while. A few weeks as Natasha heals and becomes acclimated to her life.

She claims to hate the attention, but deep down you know she’s full of it.

The Ohio house is bursting at the seams with five adults, nine pigs and one dog.

That isn’t enough to keep visitors at bay. Namely Clint, his wife Laura and their three children.

Things feel a bit off when everyone begins moving out. Alexei, Melina, and their pigs return to the farm outside of Saint Petersburg.

Natasha finds herself drawn to New York, with Bruce and the makeshift building he’s using as a lab.

You adjust to the steady thrum that is daily life, with Fanny and Yelena.

After dinner you load the dishwasher, drying your hands on the nearby tea towel before selecting a cycle.

“So how does it feel?” Yelena asks, leaning against the doorframe.

“Hmm?” You turn to face her.

“Being a hero.” She clarifies, a smile playing at her lips.

“I’m not-“

“Oh cut the crap, Y/N. You saved the world.” Yelena narrows her eyes at you.

“I did it for you.” You say simply, because it’s true.

Yelena closes the space between you, “why?”

“You know why.” You whisper as she cups your face in her hands, gently stroking her thumb over your cheek. “It’s ok if you wouldn’t have done the same.”

“I’d do more for you, and worse.” She assures you. “But do you really want to spend the rest of your life fumbling around feelings in the dark when you could have someone who-“

“I want you. I only ever want you.” You beckon her closer. “Anyway I can have you, that will be enough for me.”

Sometimes wires get crossed and you want things you never have before. And she provides them before you have a chance to ask. You give back to her tenfold, so that neither glass is ever empty. That is love. True love, the only way you’ve ever known it.

“I am yours…in every way a person can belong to another.” Yelena breathes, “and then some.”

Series taglist: @jeyramarie @freeshavocadoooo @ilovewinter101 @3and30aresoultwins @yelenabelovv @miphas-trident @1800-fight-me

If you loved this series as much as I did, you can check out the prequel here!

[cocobeanncteez]

Ateez Hongjoong: Tame (Final Part)

Genre: Fluff, angst, smut, mafia au.

Pairing: Mafia!Hongjoong x OC (written in 2nd person)

Word Count: 17k in total, 2.2k in this part. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Warnings for all parts combined: Mafia themes such as torture, abuse, violence, human auctions, murder, drugs, guns. Mentions of rape, human trafficking, sex slavery, organ trafficking, unprotected sex, pulling out, facesitting.

“What are you guys up to?” you questioned, plopping down on the couch beside Wooyoung. Yunho, Jongho, and San were seated on the opposite couch.

“Just talking about one of our hostages who we will kill tonight,” Yunho replied while playing with a rubik's cube.

“What did they do?” you asked.

“He tried to sabotage our latest drug deal with a secret dealer from Russia. We didn’t know how he found out about it, but he spilled the beans on his gang,” San answered. “So we don’t need him anymore.”

“Well… rest in peace, I guess,” you remarked, making Wooyoung snort.

“Would’ve been better if we killed Yang Daeyoung instead.”

You turned to look at him. “Who exactly is he? I’ve heard his name a few times, but I’ve never gotten the opportunity to ask.”

Jongho gently cleared his throat. “He’s the man who raped and murdered Hongjoong’s sister. Him and three of his men. He wasn’t from a very powerful gang or anything, but he does his work extremely well. He wanted to take us down, and he used Hongjoong’s sister as bait to trap him. Hongjoong refused to give up on Ateez. By the time we managed to track Hongjoong, the damage was already done.” You felt your heart break; you couldn’t even imagine what your boyfriend had to go through.

“Where is Yang Daeyoung now?” you asked.

“Rotting in our torture chamber as we speak.”

Your eyes widened in surprise. “What?! Why haven’t you killed him yet?”

“We are looking for his child,” Hongjoong replied, joining the conversation. “The man has over five trillion won kept in a secret bank account. He also has information, good and bad, on every mafia gang and the corrupted politicians and locals involved. That’s why all gangs are still on the lookout for him even though we captured him eight months ago. He has a secret place somewhere in the world and only his child can access his possessions as he used iris pattern recognition. He has covered up everything though. We can’t find shit on any of his family members.”

“No amount of threatening or torturing works on him. We even told him that we’ll find his child and torture them,” Jongho added. “But he won’t reveal anything to us.”

“Maybe I can try?” you suggested. You did learn how to torture someone for information, but it wasn’t something you really enjoyed.

“Your chances are extremely low,” Wooyoung remarked.

“I’m aware of that. But even a little information could be helpful, right?”

“Go ahead then, sweetheart,” Hongjoong said with a smirk. “I’d love to see my girl torture that filthy bastard.”

You pecked his lips. “Then let’s go now, shall we?”

You made your way to the torture room, Hongjoong, Jongho, and Wooyoung following you. Seonghwa joined you after finishing his work in the interrogation room, satisfied with how much information he was able to obtain. Jongho entered a passcode for one of the rooms, letting everyone inside.

The room was pretty dark and looked like a jail cell. You saw a plate of untouched food on the floor. There was a chair in the middle of the room and a cot at the end of the room where Yang Daeyoung was sleeping, his back facing you all, long chains attached from his hands to a pipe.

Wooyoung moved to the sleeping form, giving the man a kick on his back to wake him up. “Get up, fucker.”

Yang Daeyoung groaned in pain before sitting up, looking at the faces of everyone in the room. As soon as you made eye contact with the man, your heart dropped to your stomach.

His eyes widened. “Kiah?! What are you doing here?!”

The boys immediately turned to look at you. You weren’t able to utter a word due to how shocked you were at seeing your own father there. His hair was quite long and he had a long beard and moustache. There were a few scars on his face and arms.

“How do you know her?” Hongjoong interrogated.

“Run from here, Kiah! They’re gonna kill you,” your father yelled at you.

“Do you know him?” Seonghwa asked you, but you weren’t able to answer. You felt sick. You felt terribly sick that it was your father who raped and murdered your lover's sister.

Tears rolled down your eyes when you glanced at your boyfriend. How could you ever face him now?

“Kiah!” your father yelled, tugging hard on the chains, grabbing your attention. “Get out of here! They’re gonna torture you in front my eyes! They said they will find you and torture you!”

Hongjoong looked at you with an emotionless expression, finally understanding the situation. “You’re his daughter?” You couldn’t respond.

“Are you this bastard's daughter?!” he yelled at you. Before you could answer him, he rushed out of the room. You couldn’t help but cry, burying your face in your hands, feeling your heart ache.

Your father glared at you angrily. “Why are you involved with Ateez?! What is wrong with—"

“Shut up!” you shouted, cutting him off. “You’re fucking pathetic! How could you r-rape someone when you have a daughter?! How could you lie to me all these years that you’re a cop, when you’re nothing but a heartless monster!” you sobbed loudly, collapsing onto the floor. You felt someone kneel beside you, wrapping their arms around you.

“Get away from her, Park Seonghwa!” your father spat.

Seonghwa turned to glare at him. “Shut it,” he said, before helping you stand up, taking you to your room.

You blankly stared at the window of your room from your bed, watching the horizon darker as night was approaching. It has been four days since you last saw Hongjoong. You felt nothing but emptiness and agony. You didn’t know if he was at the mansion or if he went somewhere as you haven’t left your room at all ever since Seonghwa brought you to it. The girls tried to make you eat, but you barely had the appetite to.

You sighed, forcing yourself to get out of bed to take a shower even though you were going to crawl right back into it.

Stripping out of your clothes and entering the shower, you pushed the tap, letting the warm water soak you. Closing your eyes, you could feel a dull ache in your chest when you began to think of Hongjoong. A sob got stuck in your throat, but escaped a few seconds later. You couldn’t hold it back anymore. You sat down, hugging your propped up knees. Your sobs got louder, and your throat was aching, tears mixing with the water running down your face.

After spending a few minutes crying until you couldn’t anymore, you finally washed your body and your hair.

Stepping out of the shower, you wrapped a towel around your body and another one for your hair. You exited the bathroom after putting some clothes on, having no strength to dry your hair with a blow-dryer. You stopped in your tracks when you noticed a figure seated on your bed.

“I'm sorry…” Hongjoong apologized, getting off your bed and moving towards you. He stood in front of you with a pained expression on his beautiful face. You wondered how long he was waiting for you and you really hoped he didn’t hear you cry. Even if he didn’t, he could still tell you were crying as your red, puffy eyes gave it away.

“F-For what?” you stuttered, voice shaky.

Hongjoong sighed, looking down at his feet.  “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I shouldn’t have left you alone when you were going through much worse. It was a shock for you too…”

Your eyes filled with tears. “I understand why you did it. It’s okay…”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not okay, baby. I’m ashamed of how I acted. You didn’t deserve that.”

You blinked, causing the tears brimming at your eyes to slide down your cheeks. Hongjoong reached up to cup your cheeks, gently wiping your tears away with his thumbs. He placed a gentle, lingering kiss on your forehead. “I’m so sorry.”

You closed your eyes, shaking your head in his hold. You pulled away from him, taking a deep breath. “Hongjoong, I-I think it’s best if we end things.” His eyes widened, heart aching due to your words. He opened his mouth to say something, but you spoke before he could. “I’m the daughter of the man who raped and murdered your sister, Hongjoong. I-I can’t…” you paused, sobs taking over. “I can’t live with that fact. I can’t look at you without thinking about it.”

“I don’t care, Kiah,” he reached out to hold your hands, his own eyes filling with tears. “I love you. Do you understand? I fucking love you. Yes, I was furious when I found out that you were the daughter of that bastard, but you shouldn’t have to suffer because of him. You didn’t even know what he does for a living. It’s not your problem.”

You sniffled. “You don’t h-hate me?” you couldn’t help but ask.

“Baby…” he sighed, pulling you into a hug, his own tears rolling down his beautiful face. “I could never hate you. Never. You’re the love of my life. Fuck, I can’t even live without you. These past four days… I felt like I was gonna go insane if I didn’t see you, but I had to give you some space.” You didn’t know what to say.

“There's no me without you,” he continued, gently pushing you away so that he could see your face. “So please… never try to break up with me again. I’d rather die than live without you,” he cried. You wrapped your arms around him, burying your face in his chest while you both cried together. Hongjoong placed soft kisses onto your head, trying to calm himself and you down.

When your sobs stopped, he gently pushed you away so that he could look at your face. He cupped your cheek, titling your head back before he leaned in, capturing your lips with his own in a soft kiss.

He pulled away, resting his forehead against you. “I love you,” he murmured.

You smile slightly. “I love you more.”

Epilogue

 “Oh my god! We’re finally here!” Jiwoo squealed, running on the cooling sand. Ateez managed to find out the location of your father's secret hideout in Fiji with the help of Yeosang who used your iris pattern to track the computer. Ateez managed to receive all your father’s possessions and now you all had flown across Fiji for a mini vacation.

“Jiwoo's dream destination is Fiji and now we’re here,” San said, watching his girlfriend with love and adoration. You chuckled, watching San run after Jiwoo to join her little hyper session.

“We’re gonna go rest for a while,” Seonghwa stated, holding Aeji's hand.

Wooyoung smirked. “I know what that means,” he said, earning a smack on his head from the older man before the couple went to their beach house in the chain of houses.

Hongjoong took your hand in his, intertwining it. “We’re gonna rest too. See you all for dinner,” he said, dragging you along to your little beach house.

The two of you walked in comfortable silence, sandals leaving prints on the sand, observing the various hues of orange, red, blue, and purple in the beautiful sky as the sun was setting. Hongjoong let go of your hand when you reached your beach house, pausing in his tracks. You gave him a questioning look, wondering why he wasn’t going inside.

He cleared his throat, moving his hands to wrap around your waist. “You’re the only one who could tame my temper, as the boys always say," he started, making you giggle. “The only one who could make my heart beat so fast. I’ve never wanted anything more in life than to be with you. You aren’t just my girlfriend, you’re my best friend and the love of my life. But now I’d like to change that,” he reached into his pocket, taking out a small velvet box.

Hongjoong got down on one knee, and you gasped, realizing what was about to happen. “I’d like to be upgraded from your boyfriend to your fiancé.” You chuckle at that and he opened the box, revealing a beautiful oval-shaped diamond ring.

“Moon Kiah, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

“Yes!” you squealed, face beaming with happiness. Hongjoong took your hand in his, sliding the ring onto your finger. He got up and you pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. When you pulled away, he grinned before placing a soft kiss on your lips. “I love you. Thank you for bringing light to my life.”

You wrapped your arms around his neck. “I love you too, Joong. So much.” Hongjoong chuckled, pulling you into a sweet kiss.

You couldn’t wait for this new chapter in your life, spending it with Hongjoong by your side for the rest of eternity.

[vicvpcvke]

That’s What She Said | Pt 2 ✽

| Eddie Munson x Female Reader

It had been a few days since your little interaction with Munson in English, and honestly, you hadn’t thought much of it. He went back to his usual seat. Sometimes you glanced back at him when Ms. Hart made another naive comment, but that was the extent of your relationship with him. 

Today though, you were just concerned about stacking VHSs and managing Family Video on your own today. Robin had dipped last minute and Steve decided to blow you off for another date that would inevitably be unsuccessful; typical. You did the usual, stacking the shelves, turning on the day's movie, and making sure the Tom Cruise cardboard cut-out remained intact. 

You wouldn’t have noticed the customer walk in the door if the music through his headphones weren’t practically louder than the tv behind you. You looked up from your magazine, only to be met with familiar beady brown eyes, “Well, if it isn’t my failed assassin.”

Eddie Munson looked startled that you even acknowledged him. The boy pulled his headphones from his ears and placed them around his neck, looking back at the black van in the parking lot, “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that,” he said ignoring his awful park job. 

You huffed through your nose and proceeded to return to your magazine, “Appreciated.”

You didn’t pay much attention to him, to be honest, you didn’t even want to know what kind of movies he was into. Just as you were about to admire the hunk on the next page, a sudden crash of VHSs startled you. Your eyes immediately darted towards suspect number 1, who managed to catch 4 copies of Weird Science before laughing and setting them back. At least he wasn't a dick. 

Your eyes couldn’t help but follow him around the store, dancing in and out of isles and theatrically examining shelves top to bottom. He wove around the corner coming back to the main counter where he bent down and basically crawled along the floor, looking through all the movies set up by you. Eddie circled around to the front where you remained.

“Can I help you?” You asked raising a brow. You could only see the top of his head. 

The customer stood up from his crouched position,“Ah um…Do you have any Monty Python?” Eddie rested his hands on the countertop, leaning his weight on them and gently rocking back and forth on his feet. You hadn’t seemed to have noticed his detailed rings before, how they were engraved into his hand and made a quiet when they touched an object, 

Your eyes reacted in a squinch, “You watch Month Python?”

“Why, am I not allowed to have good taste?” He clearly thought you were challenging him. 

“No, I just didn’t expect you to be a fan of British sketch comedy.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t expect you to be a Top Gun fan either,” he said pointing to the TV behind you.

You looked back, embarrassed that he would think that’s the kind of shit you watch, “Pft, trust me, I’m not. The amount of testosterone in that movie gives all the dudes more sexual tension than our basketball team,” you laughed. 

He let out a bit of a chuckle too, “No wonder jocks love it so much.”

The room was quiet as you typed the password into the computer only to be met with a failed attempt again and again, “Ah shit. Alright, guess we’re doing this the old fashioned way. Come with me we’ll try the back.” You waved him over to follow you, surprising him by allowing him into such a sacred room. 

“That’s what she said,” He mumbled while he caught up with you. 

“Ha. Ha. Very funny.”

You flicked on the light, revealing a never ending array of VHS covers. You headed straight for “M” while he darted to another section. You probably should’ve been more worried about what he’d get into-

You couldn’t help but physically cringe when another crash came from a few isles behind you, “No way you have Aliens,” he yelled louder than needed, “It barely hit theatres. Mind if I uh….”

“Yes, I do mind actually. Do whatever illegal shit you want just don’t get me involved.”

Eddie popped his head around the corner, the forbidden Aliens in hand, “Okay, what am I going to do with one copy?” 

You glanced over at him then went back to searching, “I don’t know, sell it to your dealer or something?”

“How could you think so low of me Y/n.” It went quiet again until he walked up behind you, just about pressing up against your back. You could’ve sworn you almost got nervous, but swiftly excused that thought, “It’s up there, Holy Grail,” he pointed.

You huffed, then looked around for the step stool but it was no where to be found. Steve must've taken it for something. Refusing to let Eddie grab it for you, you slowly started to climb up the shelf, praying to God - something you rarely did - it wouldn’t snap. You thought you felt Eddie move closer, his hands hovering above your waist as a precaution. You were just about to reach the movie, until the stupid robotic shopkeeper’s bell buzzed, startling you. You grabbed the movie but flinched back, losing your balance. You felt cool metal grab your midriff, slowing your fall and placing you back down on the ground. 

You expected to turn around and see a cheeky smile on his face, but instead, he expressed genuine concern, “You okay?” 

“yeah,” you snapped out of it, pulling the VHS from behind you back and pressing it to his chest, “perfect in fact.” 

He took the item from you, not breaking eye contact, “Sheesh, I was gonna ask if you did wanna go see Aliens some time, but if a doorbell scared you that badly,” he grinned. 

Did Munson just, very indirectly, ask you on a date? Before you could respond, a familiar raspy voice came from the main room, “Y/n? Hello! What if I was trying to rob the place?” Finally, one of your coworkers decided to show. 

“Back here Robs, one sec,” you yelled and waited a moment before jokingly pushing the boy off of you. Eddie followed you out of the backroom, subconsciously eyeing your waist as you walked. When you both stepped out, he cut past you, sneaking around the isles and slipping out the front door without saying a word. You thought it was strange, but Eddie Munson had his reasons. 

He knew what people thought about him. He knew that you probably didn’t want to be associated with that. If Robin had seen the both of you come out together, well, her detective mode would turn on like a light, and big mouth would blabber. Innocently, of course. He didn’t want you to have to tolerate any stupid rumours or gossip, but part of him selfishly wanted people to associate your names with each other.

[anythingwriter]

Vipers

Tommy Shelby x reader

Warnings: language, men being sexest, brief mention of death, a little bit of a slow burn

Word Count: 3,900 of pure trash:)

Requested by: @imthebadguyyy

Summary: Thomas Shelby has been expanding his business for years, making deals with other gangs all the time. But the Vipers, they were a different story. They’re crazy and dangerous, and they are not willing to share their land, so Tommy sets up a meeting with their leader. It was not who he expected.

a/n: Dudley is a city in England kind of close to Birmingham, just so y’all know.

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

Polly was minding her business, walking around the shop straightening up here and there. It was just her and Esme at the moment, the betting shop had not yet opened. There was supposed to be a family meeting in about ten minutes, but by the looks of it Tommy was going to be late as perusal.

Ada had just walked in, shortly followed by John and Arthur. Finn stayed with Isaiah, Tommy had told him not to come because it was an “adult” meeting. They all sat around, conversing and just having small talk and after twenty minutes of waiting for Tommy, Polly was fed up.

“Where the bloody hell is that brother of yours?”

John and Arthur looked at eachother wearily, should they tell her?

Their looks didn’t go unnoticed by any of the women. Ada was getting frustrated too, Tommy called the damn meeting so where the hell was he?

“C’mon boys, Polly and I want to know.”

Arthur sighed, rubbing a hand down his face and itching his mustache, “so you see ladies, he-”

Arthur was interrupted by the door to the shop slamming open and banging against the wall, Tommy coming in with literal blood on his hands.

“What the fuck Thomas? Where in the bloody hell have you been? An- and is that blood?! Christ Tommy!” Polly was so confused, her nephew came into his own meeting late, with blood on his hands?

Tommy ignored his aunts questions and walked around the table, lit a cigarette and poured himself a glass of whiskey, Irish of course. He grabbed a cloth and began to wipe the blood off of his hands, all while being silent. Everyone else had grown quiet too, waiting for Tommy to speak, or at least acknowledge them.

He drank his whiskey in one gulp and poured another. He then finally looked up at his family, now clean from the blood on his hands. Well, at least the blood that you could see.

“I’ve been trying to make new...acquaintances you could say,” he took a long drag of his cig, “and people were not happy about it.”

The three women looked at Tommy, waiting for him to explain more. John and Arthur already knew everything, they were just sitting there, waiting for their aunt's reaction to what Tommys was about to say. He quickly drank his second glass. Polly copied his actions, bringing her drink to her lips as well.

“As you all know, our business is expanding everyday. We’ve already reached London, and now, now I’m trying to get to Dudley.”

Ada's eyes widened and Esme immediately got up to leave. Polly began to ferociously cough on her drink, not expecting to hear such news. Arthur leaned over in his seat and aggressively started to smack his aunt’s back, trying to help ease her drink down. Tommy sat there just watching everything with a stoic face.

Polly began to swat at Arthurs hands, and he pulled them back raised in the air defensively, not wanting to get hit by his aunt.

She rose from her seat, a look of disbelief on her face and pointed her manicured finger in Tommy's face, “Are you MAD Thomas?! You have no business being on their land! Now you've done dragged us all into this! Thomas, what in the blo-”

“Hear me out Pol, I’ve al-” Polly cut him off like he did her, she was furious. He was going to get them all killed!

“No Thomas, you listen to me. You go on their land and expect to make a peace treaty with them? They’re so good at what they do no one’s ever seen their faces Tom! Just you wait, this is all going to come back and bite you in your ass!” Polly stormed out of the shop and into their house, slamming the doors behind her.

They all sat in silence for a few seconds before John decided to break it, “well, that went better than I thought it would.” Arthur snorted at that, raising his drink to cover the sound.

“Whose blood was on your hands, Tommy?” For the first time the whole meeting, Ada had finally spoken.

“Some man came up to me and told me to leave, saying they didn’t want the devil to walk among their streets. He pulled a knife on me, so I shot him. Simple as that.”

“Simple as that? Simple as that Tommy? You’ve shot one of her men! This is war now Tommy.”

Arthur looked up from his drink and made eye contact with Ada, “Her? Who in the bloody hell said anything about it being a woman, Ada? You really think the leader of The Vipers is a woman?”

“Haven’t you lot heard? There's been rumors for months about the WHOLE gang being run by women.”

John and Arthur both barked out laughter, women? Why would women be running a gang, let alone one as dangerous as The Vipers.

Ada’s face turned red, cursing her sexest brothers. Stupid men and their cocks.

Tommy sat there reclined in his seat, lost in his own thought. It couldn’t be women, could it?

His sister stood up from her seat, yelling at her brothers before leaving the room in the same fashion Polly had, even slamming the door a little harder.

Arthur smacked his hand against the table, breaking Tommy out of his trance. Him and John were still laughing their asses off.

“Women? Can you bloody believe that Tom? A bloody woman!” John doubled back over in laughter again at Arthurs words. Tommy still just sat there, watching his brothers laugh. He got up to leave the shop, heading to London to see a certain Solomons.

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

“Tommy, what can I do for you mate?” Alfie was loud, as usual.

Tommy sat in front of Alfie, preparing himself for the conversation ahead of him. “There’s word going around, Alfie, that you are the only ally of The Vipers, is that true?”

Alfie stared blankly ahead of himself before letting out a loud boisterous laugh that had Ollie wincing in the corner. He looked at Tommy and immediately stopped when he saw Tommy was serious.

“Oh, oh you’re serious?” What business could you possibly want with The Vipers Tommy?”

“Is that a yes or no, Alfie? Are you allies with them?”

Alfie eyeballed Tommy before sighing and nodding his head. Tommy smirked at his small victory. “I’m wanting to do business with him, Alfie. I want to expand and put some of my men in Dudley. But, I need help. I’ve heard they’re unpredictable, especially their leader. Would you care to tell me his name, Alf?”

Again, Alfie laughed. He stood up with the help of his cane and leaned on his large desk closer to Tommy, “right, there's two things you need to know Tom. First of all, they are unpredictable and they wouldn’t hesitate to bite your head off if you backstabbed them, yeah.” He paused for a second, debating if he should tell Tommy the second part.

Tommy nodded, waiting for Alfie to continue, but he didn’t.

“What’s the second thing?”

Alfie just smirked down at the brummie, “That's for me to know and for you to find out.”

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

Three days later it was Friday evening and Tommy had invited everyone for a family dinner, it was all Polly’s idea. They were all gathered around the unnecessary large dining table at Arrow house. Charlie sat next to Tommy, Esme and John were next to each other, their hundreds of kids all at home with a sitter, along with Karl. Polly and Ada were sat side by side and Arthur was in the corner of the room pouring himself a drink. It was getting late, everyone had already ate their dinner and dessert.

“Mary, could you take Charlie up to bed? It’s getting late.”

She quickly walked around the table nodding her head, “Yes, Mr.Shelby.”

Everyone had migrated to the living room now, for once not talking about business. Their laughing was interrupted when there was a knock on the door, they all stood up.

“Who could that possibly be this late at night?” The loud knock had put all of them on edge.

The men all drew their guns, walking to the door, telling the woman to stay put. Naturally none of them listened and they all followed behind the boys.

Tommy swung the door open with his gun pointed out, ready to shoot whoever was there. They were all confused when they didn’t see anybody, but they were even more confused when they looked down to see a box with Tommy’s name on it.

Polly smacked Tommy on the back of his head, “Don't just stand there you idiot, bring the box in!” She reached down and grabbed the box, bringing it in and sitting it on the living room table.

John was a little hesitant, why was there a box? Who had dropped it off?

Tommy inspected the box, it didn’t seem harmful, but that didn’t stop his nerves. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he was a little freaked out at the package too. He slowly reached for the box and ever so slowly opened it.

“BLOODY HELL!”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“TOMMY I-”

“WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT?!”

Everyone was screaming and panicking, Tommy had jumped back and almost tripped over his feet, the women had all run to the next room and the men had drawn their guns once again.

Lunging out of the box was a bright green fluorescent Viper, hungry for blood. It striked again, almost catching Esme by the arm as she ran by it. It slithered out the box, its fangs out waiting to catch someone. Arthur began shooting at the floor, steadily putting holes in it. Tommy had finally stood back up, and John reached for Esme to check her for injuries. Arthur kept shooting, still putting bullet holes in Tommy's wooden floors.

A loud bang echoed through the house, and it wasn’t Arthur because he had run out of ammo. There stood Ada with a small revolver in her had, and a bullet lodged in the snakes head. Everyone stopped to stare at her, eyes wide in shock.

“Guess chasing rats finally paid off, huh?”

Polly had walked back in the room and bent down to inspect the green snake before standing up to look Tommy in the eyes.

John hugged Esme to his chest and turned towards his brother, “What in the bloody hell is this Tom?”

Tommy looked at John blankly, he himself didn’t even know. He went to make something up but Pol had beaten him to it.

“This, John,” she reached down and picked up the dead but still squirming snake, “is what you call a Viper.” And with that she flung the snake at Tommy who jumped back in disgust.

Adas head perked up at that, “A viper? But how, they're not native.”

Everyone thought about it a moment, before they put the pieces together. Polly began to laugh maniacally and everyone averted their gaze to her, had she gone mad?

“I told you Thomas! I told you this was going to come back and bite you in your ass!”

Tommy sighed and ran a hand down his sweating face before peering in the box again. Inside was a note and he reached in to grab it and he read it aloud, “Stay off our land Shelby.”

Everyone began to fret again. They were running around like a chicken that got its head cut off, screaming about how Tommy never should have stepped foot in Dudley.

Tommy sat down on his couch, thinking about what to do. What if Charlie had been downstairs? The snake surely would have gotten to him, after all he is just a child. He needed a smoke and a drink as soon as possible, he stood up and marched up to his office to make a phone call, completely ignoring his family's calls of his name

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

Two weeks after the snake incident, Tommy had managed to get a meeting with you, thanks to the one and only Alfie Solomons. When Tommy had told him what had happened that night he shook his head and chucked, telling Tommy you had done the same thing to him all those years ago. But Tommy still didn’t know who you were.

The three eldest Shelby’s stepped out of Tommy's car and landed on the Dudely turf, they all felt a little uneasy about the situation. They began to follow the directions Alfie had given them, the area getting more and more sketchier as they went.

Dudley was very dull, the sky was always grey and the streets were always muddy. The air was foggy like Birmingham, maybe even worse. They were getting looks everywhere they turned, none of them being used to it considering their name.

A loud clang of metal caught their attention and they all turned to look. All three of them pulled their guns when they saw a scruffy man charging them with a knife. Right when Arthur was about to pull the trigger, they all four stopped when someone yell.

Another man came running towards them, screaming at the man that was attacking them.

“Stop Marc! They’re here because Yilan has agreed to meet with them!”

The man stopped what he was doing immediately, turning as pale as a ghost and dropped his weapon to the ground. He turned back around to the Shleby’s and apologized profusely before running off.

The three brothers looked at each other in confusion.

“What the fuck was that about? Who the hell is Yilan?” John was asking too many questions and Tommy didn’t have the answers to them.

“I don’t fucking know John, now shut the hell up!”

(a/n: Yilan means snake in Turkish [which is my family’s native language])

The man who had stopped the other walked up to the brothers.

“I am sorry, sirs. Yilan is what we call the leader of the Vipers.”

Tommy nodded a thanks to the man, asking him if he could take them to their headquarters. The man reluctantly agreed, not wanting to get on anyones bad side.

After around twenty more minutes of walking they stopped in front of a worn down brick building. It had vines growing up the whole thing and two very, very large men were guarding the door. Their escort had scurried off as soon as they got there, Tommy not even being able to thank the man.

The brothers began to walk towards the door and Arthur leaned down to whisper, “Ha, and Ada said they were run by women!”

John chuckled, he couldn’t wait to tell Ada she was wrong. Tommy hushed the two before speaking to the men guarding the door.

They both stared at the brothers, almost as if they were staring into their souls. They didn’t speak, waiting for one of the others to.

Tommy cleared his throat, “We’re here to see your boss. We have a meeting, Thomas Shelby.”

The larger out of the two opened the door, “Third floor straight down the hallway.” Tommy nodded his head before heading in, the two brothers following his lead.

The inside of the building was loud with music and the walls were all painted bright green. Tommy guessed for a viper. They all walked in a little further and stopped in their tracks, shock registering through their veins.

There was not one man inside. The room was full of women from every race you could imagine. Some had a tattoo here and there, some were covered in them. There was women with red curly hair, others with black straight. Any type of woman you could imagine, from short to tall and thin to curvy, was there. And they were all staring at them.

Arthur gulped and John smirked but then quickly frowned when he realised that his sister was right, this whole gang was women. He did have to admit though, it was a little sexy, even though he knew half of them could probably kick his ass.

Tommy cleared his throat before walking ahead, not making eye contact with any of the women. He walked towards the stairs and climbed them until he got to the third floor and walked straight down the hallway. When they reached the door Tommy hesitated for a moment before knocking. A faint “come in” was heard, and they all walked in.

Sitting behind a large oak desk was you, relaxing in your chair with a wicked smile on your face. You were so ready to finally meet the man who wanted your land.

Not making any effort to sit up in a more presentable position, you gestured to the three chairs in front of you, telling them to take a seat.

Tommy and John did but Arthur was still hesitant. What had they walked into?

“No offense ma’am, I think I would rather stand,” he was fidgeting the whole time and you could smell his nervousness. Tommy looked up and glared at his older brother.

You leaned forward in your chair and rested your arms on your desk and sat your chin on your hands. “Please, Arthur, take a seat before I shoot both your knee caps and make you sit.” You pulled a gun and sat it on your desk, smiling up at Arthur.

John was a nervous wreck and Arthur visibly gulped and sat down with shaky legs. Tommy kept staring at you though, he thought you were beautiful, but psycho. You intrigued him.

You leaned back in your chair again, leaving the gun on the desk. “Mr.Shelby, I do really hope you enjoyed my gift the other day. Alfie told me it brought… excitement to your family.”

God you were definitely psycho.

Tommy cleared his throat, “Ms.Yilan I-”

You sat back up again, “No no no, Mr.Shelby, that is not my name. Please, call me y/n.”

For a brief moment there, you almost seemed normal. It scared the brothers how easily your emotions changed.

“Right, okay. Let's not even talk about that, okay? Let's just get straight to business. And please, call me Tommy”

“I like the way you think, Tommy.”

And boy did you like the way he looked too.

“First of all Tommy, I do NOT like you coming on to MY land and shooting MY people.” You were getting angry, your eyes were ablaze and your jaw was clenched.

“That man you shot, Tommy, had a family. He had a wife and two daughters, and now I have to spend MY money on them because YOU shot their caretaker. I could be doing so much more with that money.”

Tommy was taken aback with your forwardness, those were not the words he was expecting to hear.

“He charged me with a knife, it was self de-”

“Nonsense Tommy! You could have simply knocked him out, anything but shoot him! He was an innocent man Thomas!”

Tommy sighed, he knew there was no winning this. “You’re right, and I apologize for my mistake.”

John and Arthur looked at each other with wide eyes, Tommy apologized?

“Thank you, but your apology is not accepted, but I do believe we're even.”

Tommy’s brows furrowed, even? How were you even?

This caught Johns interest too, “Even? How do you mean?”

You smirked at all of them and they became concerned, what had you done?

“On your way here, hope you all had a nice trip by the way, I sent two of my women to your town. I told them to do exactly as you did, but add some Viper charm to it. They took my beloved snake Ebony with them, and they allowed her to pick an innocent man, like you had.”

Tommy was definitely confused now, where was this going?

“She did amazing, really. She struck an innocent man in the streets. And I would say that right about now,” you checked your watch, “her venom is kicking in, and he is dying a slow and painful death.” You looked up at the three, flashing them an innocent smile.

“You fucking crazy bitch! What the bloody hell is wrong with you?!” Arthur lunged for you across your desk, Tommy and John trying to stop him.

He grabbed your gun that you left on the table and pointed it straight to your face. All you did was smirk at him.

Tommy pleadingly begged Arthur to put the gun down, but you held up your hand to stop him. He looked at you like you were crazy. Which to be fair, you were.

“Go on Arthur,” you pressed your head closer to the barrel, “I know you want to. Why don’t you pull it, huh? Do the world a favor and get rid of a crazy bitch like me.”

Arthur stared in your eyes, looking for any sign of fear. He found none. He thought about it for a moment, should he do it? After all, the world would be a better place.

He smiled, and pulled the trigger.

But nothing happened, his smile fell when he heard you laughing. He opened the barrel to the gun and found that there were no bullets, you had played him. He backed away and fell back in his chair when you got up. You pulled a gun from the waistband of your trousers and pointed it towards him, shooting a shot that whizzed by his head so he knew this one was full. John flinched, and Tommy reached for his own gun.

You pointed your gun at John and then back at Arthur, “You two, get out. I want to speak to Thomas. Alone.”

They both got up and scurried out the door like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs. You put your gun away which was a sign for Tommy too as well, and you both sat down.

“Now Thomas, lets talk about business, yeah?”

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

Almost an hour later you and Tommy had finally come to terms and made a small business deal. It wasn’t anything big, but it was a start. Tommy still sat in front of you, drinking his whiskey that you had poured him. Oddly enough he had grown to like you.

Strangely, so had you.

Tommy put out his cigarette and pointed his drink in your direction, “What’re you doing this Friday y/n?”

You pretended to check your agenda, and smiled at Tommy. “Well, hopefully I’ll being going on a date with a very handsome man.”

He smiled up at you “He must be quite handsome for you to agree.”

“That he is Tommy. How about you?”

He smirked at you through the rim of his drink, “Oh you know, I’m going on a date with one crazy bitch.”

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

I hope you like it @imthebadguyyy !! Although, I low key hated it😂😂

Have a great day darlings!!❤️❤️❤️

Let me know if y’all want to be added to the taglist!!

@nothingleftthaticando @shadowfoxey

[songmingisthighs]

[19.06] mafia!hongjoong × reader

⇀ you were interested in hongjoong, a notorious leader of a very successful mafia organization. sadly he didn't see you that way. if only he knew the true you before making a rash judgement

⇁ tw : mafia life, angst, mentions of black market activities, death, violence, dark stuff. read at your own risk.

⇁ disclaimer : the author does not support any and all criminal/illegal acts. the narrative written in this story is purely fiction out of the author’s imagination. the things written here does not portray real mafia life nor is the author aware of how the mafia life is like. the author is a hermit loser.

The door to Hongjoong's office opened and in walked his right hand, with a teasing smirk on his face. Hongjoong looked up from the paperwork on his desk and looked up to the man with a raised eyebrow, "what are you smirking at?" he questioned.

Seonghwa nodded his head towards the door, "there's someone here for you," he said whilst holding onto his laughter. Hongjoong shifted his gaze from his friend to the door and then back to him again, "who?" "your girlfriend," Seonghwa teased.

Before Hongjoong could throw anything at him, though, Seonghwa had run off, laughing heartily.

Not long after, you came into his office with a wide smile. As per usual, you were dressed to impress, head to toe with a black and white vintage channel mini skirt and blazer, adorned with a channel necklace and earrings. As you walked in, Wooyoung, one of Hongjoong's trusted men, looked at your passing figure with mouth hanging low and a starstruck look on his face. But you didn't care, you only had eyes for Hongjoong.

It has been roughly five months since you started dropping into Hongjoong's office. Your dad, an equally highly successful head of the mafia from where you're from, wanted you to get married to expand his business and make more allies. He gave you several options but you were immediately intrigued by Hongjoong, one of the mafia heads he made a partnership with by providing him with weapons. The comprehensive file your dad gave you did Hongjoong no justice so you decided to get to know him for real.

Unluckily, Hongjoong is very secretive and protective of himself and his family (re: his brothers; his most trusted men in the mafia). He had been betrayed so many times before and his thirst for revenge both became his strength and downfall. While he managed to build a highly acclaimed mafia organization at such a young age, he closed off everyone who he deemed not worthy of his attention even after only seeing them for less than five minutes.

Sadly, that included you. You weren't the only one who got a comprehensive file on the other, he too had one of you. A straight-A student from Wharton with hobbies consisting of horseback riding and charity? He wondered whether you were preparing to take over your dad's mafia or to steal the Crown of England and be its ruler.

Hongjoong tried his best to hold in a groan of annoyance but even so, some still escaped him and you heard it. Though you were used to it so you just ignored him.

"Hi, Joong," you grinned widely at him, walking in and putting a medium-sized box of cake on his desk after closing his door. "Don't call me Joong," he grumbled.

In all honesty, your bubblegum personality sickened him. He knows for a fact that no one is that happy-go-lucky and excited and has rainbows shooting out of their asses 24/7. So there has to be something you were hiding from him.

You only chuckled at his response, "You're a sourpuss, you know that? You're gonna have wrinkles before you hit thirty if you keep frowning all the time like that," you said as you focused yourself on opening the cake box.

Inside it was the cake you made for him. All the times you visited him, you never made him something from scratch. You were trained to be the head of a mafia organization one day, not in the kitchen. So that cake was the very first thing you made and you were beyond proud of yourself.

"Look," Hongjoong exhaled sharply, starting to get annoyed even before you did anything, "You came at a bad time, I need to get a hundred thousand things done before tonight, in case you didn't realize, my organization is-" "in the brink of war with Stray Kids, I know, I've read the reports," you simply said, hands moving to cut the cake in front of you to hand to him.

"I have connections with the leader's soft spot, the foreigner one, I can make a deal that would help your case if you would jus-"

"NO!!!!" he yelled out, slamming his hands onto his desk, startling you so much that you accidentally dropped your knife and stepped back a little.

Maybe it was the stress of having to deal with things alone, or maybe it's just him finally snapping from overthinking about you, but one thing's for sure is that he had had enough. He needed to put you in your place.

"You may be your daddy's little princess back home, all dressed in white and pink and lace, showered with Channels, Tiffanys and your hoity-toity prestigious Wharton degree. But here, you're nothing, got me? You understood nothing about having to work your ass off to get the recognition and rewards you deserve, you had your daddy behind you this whole time and that's very convenient for you. But don't come here and act like you know shit, okay? Our worlds are different, you came from a cotton candy palace, I came from the ditch, your opinion means less than shit to me," he spat out so quickly, he didn't realize that your expression changed to something that he had never seen before.

Your eyes were blank and glazed, lips slightly quivering and chest heaving.

Hongjoong thought that he had really put you in your place and he was about to celebrate the fact that he might finally drove you away when you opened your mouth.

"Cotton candy palace? Not understanding having to work my ass off?" you choked out.

At first, Hongjoong thought you were gonna cry. But a sadistic, maniacal laugh resonated in the room from where you were doubled over, holding onto your stomach.

It was Hongjoong's turn to be stunned into silence.

"Oh my god, I thought you were smarter than that," you muttered as you calmed down, wiping tears from the corner of your eyes, "you think that this is who I am?" you asked with a raised eyebrow at him.

Hongjoong was confused about whether or not he should speak. It was the first time anyone had ever stunned Hongjoong and Hongjoong didn't know what to do.

"I was born from a girl who was en route to be sold in a human trafficking ring, I came out premature and was about to be sold to a satanic cult as their sacrifice but my 'dad' 'rescued' me. I was stored in a facility with thirty other children, we were trained to be assassins since before we could walk, brainwashed with ideals that ruined our brains. One by one, each year some of us were taken out if we show a lack of improvement or no promise," as you talked, you took off your earrings and necklace and put them on Hongjoong's desk.

While you ran a hand through your messy hair, you stared into him deeply, "I was seven when I first killed someone, my last competition. She was two years older than me and she was sold by her parents for coke money, or as the warden told us. We were reminded every day of how worthless we are so we wouldn't rebel and escape. But even in despair, I wanted something more. That's where daddy came in. He was impressed with me and he took me in as his daughter, telling people one of his whores were pregnant with me to assure my legitimacy. I was schooled in my own private red room. I had to fight for my right as a human being, I made deals with my dad to be able to go out with bodyguard escorts for only an hour every month,"

Hongjoong's eyes followed your hands that gripped onto the edge of your skirt, "did your little binder wrote that I went on my first official mission when I was just twelve? My dad cut the ballet lesson that I trade in for 120 hours of combat training short to gear me up, put me in a room of adult men and sent me off to plant an active bomb in 5 minutes in an air vent of the headquarters of his rival, crazy, right?" you chuckled humorlessly whilst ripping your skirt off to reveal your black shorts inside, a knife and a gun holstered on your thighs were revealed, making Hongjoond's eyes widened.

He never would have imagined someone like you to carry weapons under your very girly outfit. Or to even have such a traumatizing backstory.

"My whole appearance is compensation for my very dark upbringing, I wanted to hide it all. My dad told me I was stupid, that I belonged in the dark, dark world. But when I went to Wharton, I tried to change myself. I thought that I might be able to be the person I wanna be by marrying someone my dad approved so I don't have to take over wholly, I could just be the voice by the side, lending my skills and help the organization indirectly,"

You looked down at your heels clad feet for a second, letting your toes point and moving them from left to right to see what it looks like.

At this point, Hongjoong felt bad for having blown up at you. You had only wanted to spend time with him and even if he didn't want to see you, he could've said it nicely. Hongjoong never felt like this before, it was very weird for him.

He was about to walk over to you when you suddenly took your heels off in a flash and threw them both at Hongjoong so hard that it embedded deep into the wall on either side of his face.

Your usual smile was replaced with a frown, the eyes that usually twinkled showed nothing but darkness. He barely recognized you and he was on edge about it.

"You made your standing with me perfectly clear, Kim Hongjoong, while my dad is one to stop things before they become an issue, I like to see how things unravel," you smirked at him.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, not being able to process anything.

"It means that your partnership with my dad is off, good luck finding a new weapons supplier," you spat out before turning around to leave the room, leaving traces of yourself behind at his office.

Hongjoong wanted to call after you, try to make things better somehow. But his head still couldn't even wrap around the shocking information you had just revealed.

Not long after you left, Yeosang came in but stopped at the door, scanning the room that was littered with remnants of you. "What the fuck happened here? Did a hooker tried to kill you!?" he asked, still confused at the situation.

When Yeosang looked up, he saw Hongjoong in a way he had never seen him before.

Nervous.

"I-I- I think I just forged a war between us and the largest mafia weapons manufacturer on the eastern hemisphere," he uttered out.

[storiesforallfandoms]

nothing left ~ 10k;z nation

word count: 2229

request?: no

description: he accompanies her back to her childhood home to find nothing left besides the memories of times before the zombies, and they decide to leave some new memories there

pairing: 10k x female!reader

warnings: swearing, smut

masterlist

(Y/N) kept a straight face as they drove past the sig with her hometown’s name displayed in bold, black letters against the stark white background. It was the first time she had been there since she and her parents had escaped during the initial Z outbreak. Since then, she had lost everything, but managed to find a new family within the small group that took her in.

They came to a stop at an empty parking lot of an abandoned supermarket. Everyone got out, weapons in tow.

“This place is a ghost town,” Doc commented.

“Almost everyone vacated when the infection started,” (Y/N) explained. “I don’t even think there would be any Zs here. It’s probably only been ransacked lately.”

“It’s the only town for miles, it’s our best bet for resources,” Warren said. “We search the place where we can and see what we can find.” She turned to (Y/N) to add, “Do you want to go home? Just to see the place if nothing else?”

(Y/N) was dying to get home, but she didn’t want anyone on the team to see her as weak or fragile. Although she knew they wouldn’t think any different of her if she did show some weakness, in this day and age, your biggest threat was to be perceived as weak to anyone.

Before she could respond, 10k spoke up. “I think you should. It’ll give you a break from everything, and you can be closer to your parents for even just a moment.”

(Y/N) had a hard time saying no to 10k, especially when parents were involved. She knew he wanted nothing more than to be close to his own father again, but, like (Y/N), 10k hadn’t been home in nearly a year. He didn’t even know if his own home was still standing. If she turned down this opportunity that she knew 10k wanted so bad in front of him, she’d never forgive herself.

“It would be nice,” she admitted.

“You go then honey,” Warren said, her voice soft and kind. “10k, you go with her for protection. Meet us back here before sundown. We’ll wait a little while, but not too long.”

The two youngest members left in the opposite direction of the group. (Y/N) led 10k down the still familiar roads. They weren’t too far from the house and, before she knew it, (Y/N) was stood in front of her childhood home. Her eyes widened at the sight of it.

All the windows were smashed and the door was practically ripped off of the hinges. They entered with weapons raised in case of a Z attack. (Y/N)’s heart broke to see the place ransacked and destroyed. Every picture her parents had hung were smashed to pieces. Only one remained partially in tact, one of (Y/N) and her parents when she was barley a year old. They were on their first vacation as a family to visit someone in another state. The picture was of the three of them on the beach together. Baby (Y/N) was in her mother’s arms, taken by the sand in her tiny hands while her parents were smiling brightly at the camera.

10k looked over her shoulder as her eyes began to water. “You look a lot like your mom.”

“I got that a lot,” she said. “We were basically twins. Dad said I got lucky with mom’s genes.”

She held the picture close to her chest as she moved up the stairs to where the bedrooms and main bathroom was. Whoever had broken in must’ve found what they wanted on the first floor because the bedrooms were relatively untouched. Every poster and picture (Y/N) had on her walls were still there. Her old laptop was even still there, although she doubted that it worked anymore.

“It’s weird,” she said. “It feels like I’ve been gone for years, but this room looks exactly the way I left it, like not a day has past.”

“Anything here you want to take with you?” 10k asked.

(Y/N) shook her head. “I took most of the important stuff when we left first. There’s nothing but memories here now.”

She was so lost in her own thoughts - memories of when things were good - that she didn’t hear 10k leave the room to walk into the bathroom until he spoke again. “The water still runs.”

She walked into the bathroom to find clean water running from the tap. She put a hand under the water, feeling it go from freezing cold to comfortably warm in seconds.

“The power and stuff must still be running,” she said. “Good news for us. I haven’t showered in ages.”

“You think it’s safe?” 10k asked, but (Y/N) was already placing her weapons on the bathroom counter and shedding herself of her top layers.

“I’m willing to take one for the team if it means I’ll be clean when I die,” she joked. “You can watch the door and make sure no Zs or no more looters come in. I’ll leave my gun close enough that I can use it if need be.”

10k nodded. Before he could get the chance to turn back on, (Y/N) grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. For a split second, 10k saw the black bra she was wearing. It was old and worn, probably one of the only ones she had left. Due to this, it was basically falling apart, so when he got a brief glance of the bra, he also got a glance of one of her breasts.

10k’s eyes widened as he quickly turned his back so that (Y/N) didn’t know. He stood in the doorway, listening over the sound of the shower running for any indication of someone, or something, breaking into the house.

The warm water running over (Y/N) caused her to let out a moan of relief. It had been so long since she had properly bathed. The warm water of the familiar shower felt like heaven to her.

Outside the shower, 10k was shuffling awkwardly. He and (Y/N) had been close since they had first met, but they had only ever viewed each other as friends and Z fighting colleagues. He didn’t understand why he was starting to have this feeling about her. Maybe it was just boy hormones and the fact that she was a naked girl just a few feet away from him. But it felt like more than that. Maybe it had always been more than that but he was just afraid to admit it.

Before he could stop himself, 10k silently placed his gun next to hers on the toilet cover. He began to shed himself of his own clothes, working quickly and quietly as to not disturb her. (Y/N) had her head back with the water running over her hair and body when 10k pulled the curtain back and stepped in. She opened her eyes to look at him, shocked by his sudden appearance. She looked him up and down for a moment, her face giving away nothing.

“Gotta save water,” 10k said, trying to lighten the mood.

A smile broke out across (Y/N)’s face as a small giggle came from her lips. “Come here, 10k.”

She put a hand on the back of his neck at the same time that his hands found her waist. Their lips collided and it felt like the most right thing in the terrible, fucked up world around them. 10k’s lips moved against (Y/N)’s perfectly, as if they were supposed to be there, to be kissing her so deeply. His hands wandered over her dripping body, touching every inch of her soft skin with his calloused hands.

(Y/N) let out a sudden squeal as 10k lifted her effortlessly, wrapping her legs around his waist. She was shocked at his strength. Sure, he wasn’t as scrawny and wimpy as he may have looked, but he certainly wasn’t the strongest person in the world. He’s just full of surprises, (Y/N) noted as his lips connected with hers again.

His hard boner was against her aching core, teasing her ever so slightly with every gently brush against her. She whimpered against his lips when she felt him brush against her opening, trying to ground her hips against his to feel her inside of him. Knowing that she wanted this as much as he did made him even more turned on. He was almost afraid that he wouldn’t be able to make this moment last long enough.

He helped to guide her down onto his hard length, causing (Y/N) to gasp as he filled her entirely.

“Am I hurting you?” he asked her, suddenly realizing that he had no idea what (Y/N)’s sexual past was like.

“No,” she responded, her voice breathless and airy. “I just haven’t had sex in a very long time. I forgot how good it felt.”

10k smiled at her and pressed his lips against hers again. He pressed her back against the nearest wall and slowly began to thrust himself into her. (Y/N)’s back arched against the wall, trying to get as close to 10k as she possibly could.

He was slow and gentle, which drove (Y/N) even more wild. She held on around his neck as if her life depended on it, moaning and gasping against his lips with every thrust he pushed into her. She could barley even think straight, her mind focusing only on the pleasure that 10k was providing her.

“Is this alright?” he asked, his voice soft.

(Y/N) couldn’t help but smile. Sweet 10k, always thinking of the comfort of others, even when he was in the middle of the most intense shower sex (Y/N) had ever had.

“It’s more than alright,” she responded. “God, it feels so fucking good.”

10k had heard (Y/N) swearing many times, but hearing the expletive word slip from her breathless voice in that moment drove him wild. He rested his head against her shoulder, groaning as he pushed his hips against hers again, filling her completely.

“You feel so good,” he told her. “You’re so soft and warm, fuck.”

“Who would’ve thought that sweet 10k had a dirty side?” (Y/N) giggled.

“You must not know me well enough, then.”

“Maybe I don’t.”

Her thought was cut short as 10k pulled almost completely out of her then filled her again. Her mind was clouded with lust as she tried to rock her hips against his, begging for the release she wanted.

Noticing her desperation, 10k wrapped one arm around her lower back and slipped his free hand between them. (Y/N) gasped as his fingers connected with her swollen nerves and began to rub circles in them. She could feel a familiar pressure building inside of her. She clung to 10k’s shoulders, curses falling from her mouth in between moans of pleasure. Her legs began to shake as she felt herself hitting her climax. She threw her head back and called 10k’s name - his real name - in pleasure.

Feeling her walls contracting around him caused 10k to feel his own climax approaching. He held on to her hips as his thrusts became a little faster. Before he knew it, his eyes were nearly rolling back into his head as he felt himself filling her with his warm cum. The feeling of the warmth inside of her was enough to almost turn (Y/N) on again.

They stayed tangled together for a moment, completely forgetting about the running water cascading down onto them. It wasn’t until the warm water started to turn cold that they realized it was probably time for the two of them to get out.

Luckily for them, whoever looted the house also didn’t think to take any of the towels in the upstairs linen closet, so they had a way to dry themselves off. Before she started pulling her clothes on, 10k wrapped his arms around (Y/N) again and kissed her exposed shoulders and neck before placing one last sweet kiss against her lips.

“We should tell the others about the running water,” he said as he pulled his clothes back on. “If this place is relatively Z-less, we could probably get away with staying here for a while.”

“We’ve stayed in worst looking places,” (Y/N) agreed. “I’m sure everyone else is dying to clean themselves, too. There’s enough room for everyone to sleep with all the bedrooms and the couch downstairs.”

The reminder of the wreckage when they first entered caused a melancholy mood to wash over (Y/N) again. Noticing this, 10k brought her into his arms and held her tightly.

“I’m sorry about your house,” he said. “I’m sorry someone did this to you, that they took all the memories of this place.”

(Y/N) shook her head. “They didn’t take the memories. No one could ever take that from this place. Besides, I’d like to make some new memories here...with you.”

10k smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I think we’ve already started with that.”

(Y/N) giggled and pulled away from him. “Let’s go find everyone to tell them before they leave us abandoned.”

[arrowflier]

hi arrow! can i get a fic of ian being jealous on a date (maybe someone flirts with mickey??) and mickey just loves it bc it makes ian all passive aggressive and bossy and saying 'my husband' 283949 times ❤️

Of course you can!  Or at least I tried lol, it got a little random.💖

That Green-Eyed Monster (is my husband)

They never had really gotten in the habit of going on dates, before. Not real dates at least, in public places where you could eat with utensils or sit side-by-side and pretend to watch the entertainment while you were really just watching each other. They had tried, but something always got in the way--the military, jail sentences, arrest warrants, pandemics, family emergencies--they just had shit luck, alright?

So when things got a little less crazy on the aforementioned fronts, they started trying a little bit harder. They had a designated date night, now. Sometimes they planned together, sometimes they took turns surprising each other with heartfelt (or sometimes comical) plans.

This time, it had been Mickey's turn.

“Where are we going?” Ian asked yet again from where he was blindfolded in the passenger seat of Tami’s car.  They’d usually take the ambulance, but Mickey didn’t want to stick out too much today—not in a place where an ambulance could potentially be needed.

“I still ain’t gonna tell you,” Mickey answered, but relented enough to add, “we’re almost there though, you’ll see soon.”

Sure enough, the entrance to the parking lot came up on the right, and Mickey swung in in that ridiculous little car.

As soon as Ian felt the car stop, he was reaching for his blindfold—not one of their good ones, just an old headband they had found on Debbie’s floor—but Mickey grabbed his hand before he could slip it off.

“Hey hey hey,” Mickey chastised.  “What’s the rush there, flash?”

“What, I can’t be a little eager for our date?” Ian pouted, knowing it would get Mickey to give in.  No matter how many times he tried to pretend that he wasn’t soft, Mickey always gave in to the pout.

He was right.  Gentle hands pushed the headband off of Ian’s eyes, which were immediately filled with the sight of Mickey’s own as the other man ran fingers through Ian’s hair in an attempt to smooth it down.

“Alright, come on then,” Mickey ordered, leaving one firm kiss at the corner of Ian’s lips before pulling back and getting out of the car.  “If you’re so eager, you get to pay.”

Ian chuckled as he let himself out and met Mickey around the front of the car.  “Why would I pay?” he asked jokingly.  “It’s your week to woo me, asshole, you get to foot the bill.”

“Foot the bill with your money, sure,” Mickey retorted, and Ian rolled his eyes as he automatically fell into step beside him.

“Our money,” he reminded his husband, getting an arm around his waist.  He was always surprised when Mickey let him do that—he said it felt awkward to walk with the jolly red giant suckered onto his side—but this time Mickey actually leaned into him.

He didn’t even notice where they were, outside a little building in the middle of nowhere.  He let go of Mickey to walk through the door ahead of him, fully intending to continue their playful banter, when he stopped still.

There were a lot of guns in this place.

Paintball guns, that was.

“Mickey,” Ian said slowly as his husband came up behind him, “did you bring me here to shoot me?”

Mickey just smirked as he swanned past toward the check-in desk.

“Maybe, hotshot,” he answered.  “You gonna complain?”

Ian shook his head with a shit-eating grin.  

“Hell no,” he declared.  “You better be ready for me.”

Mickey signed his name on a waiver with a flourish and took the gun handed to him by a worker, tossing it to Ian.

“Am I ever not?”

—

Ian was having a blast, pun intended, as he shot the shit out of everybody else on the range.  Mickey wasn’t faring too badly either; despite being on the opposite team, neither one of them had managed to shoot each other yet.

It didn’t hurt that Mickey looked damn good, either.  He was completely in his element out here, taking guys out left and right with perfect marksmanship and even more perfect form, his shoulders barely moving with the recoil as he shot.  Half the time, Ian missed his chance because he was too busy watching him to fire—the other half, he didn’t even want to if it meant taking Mickey out of the game and losing his eye-candy.

Finally, a break was called, and everyone filed off the course while it was reset for the next round.

Ian grabbed a bottle of water from a long table near the building, guzzling half of it in one go before looking around for his husband.

He found him quickly enough, recognizing his back immediately even in unfamiliar gear with his hair all mussed from the protective helmet they had to wear.

But he did not recognize the man standing next to Mickey, raking his eyes over Mickey’s stocky build.  

The stranger was saying something, Mickey tossing his head back in laughter, and then a hand was on Mickey’s arm and Ian suddenly found himself at Mickey’s back.

“Everything good here, fellas?” Ian asked casually, standing a couple feet away.

“Fine, Gallagher,” Mickey said with a smile.  “Johnny here was just tellin’ me he could give me some pointers before the next round.”

Ian raised his eyebrows, glancing from Mickey’s face to the stranger’s and back.

“Pointers?” he asked, voice going a touch high at the end.  Who the fuck did this guy think he was, offering shooting pointers to Mickey fucking Milkovich?  He had gotten there just in time, it seemed, because there was no way in hell Mickey would let that insult slide.

“Yeah,” Mickey said.  “Says I need to work on my form a little, widen my stance, you know.  Thought I’d give it a shot.”

Wait.  What?

“I was just telling him,” the stranger—Johnny, though how they were on a first name basis already Ian had no idea—chimed in, “that I have a lot of experience with real firearms.”

“And I was sayin’ how much I admire a military man,” Mickey interjected with a smirk, “so I might as well let him show me some moves.”

“Mickey,” Ian hissed lowly, “what are you doing?”

Mickey didn’t answer.

“You ever shot a real gun, Mick?” Johnny asked abruptly, catching on that he was missing something but determined not to lose Mickey’s attention.  

“It’s like nothing else, dude, I swear.  The feel of that smooth metal in your hands,” he continued as he moved closer, lifting a hand to Mickey’s arm again. “The way it moves with you, goes off when you,” he leaned in even closer, and added in a low voice, “pull the trigger.”

Alarm bells were ringing in Ian’s head at this point.

“Nah,” Mickey was answering, “my guy won’t let me play with the real stuff.”

“Sounds like you need a new guy, then,” Johnny murmured, and Ian had had enough.

“He’s taken,” he cut in gruffly, moving to stand by Mickey’s side.  He couldn’t hold Mickey with the gear in the way, but he got a hand on his back, at least, curling fingers into the top of his waistband.

Johnny looked at him askance, and shrugged.  

“I don’t see a ring,” he pointed out, and Ian grit his teeth.  They had taken them off before starting, for safety, and he never regretting following the rules more a day in his life.

“Besides, who are you to speak for him?” Johnny asked.

“Oh, this is Ian,” Mickey introduced quickly.  He was smiling, the asshole, like some guy wasn’t trying to steal him from right under Ian’s own nose.  “He’s my—”

“His husband,” Ian stated firmly, and watched Johnny’s eyes go wide.  “His ex-army, ex-con husband.”

“Hey man, I’m sorry,” Johnny apologized, hands up.  “I didn’t know.”

Ian nodded, ready to let it go despite his urge to send the man packing, when Johnny insisted on talking again.

“You can’t blame me though, right?” he said with a little, nervous laugh.  “I mean, he looks so damn—”

He didn’t finish his sentence, too busy keeling over with his hands on his groin after Ian shot a paintball right at his balls at point-blank range.

—

Two minutes later, Ian and Mickey were racing to the car as employees chased behind them, yelling.  Apparently it was frowned upon to shoot someone on your own team, outside the course itself, during a break.  It didn’t help that Mickey had done the same right after, just for fun.

“Hurry up, you jealous fuck,” Mickey shouted at Ian as he fumbled with the door handle.  “We gotta get outa here before they realize I gave them fake names!”

Ian fell into the car, giddy with adrenaline and laughter.

“The fuck did you do that for?” he giggled as Mickey threw the car into reverse and peeled out of the lot.

“Cause I knew you would do something stupid!” Mickey said, shoving at Ian’s shoulder with one hand when Ian just laughed harder.

Ian gather himself as they drove, and felt his heart-rate start to normalize after a few minutes on the road.  He held Mickey’s hand over the gearshift, finger rubbing over the spot where his ring should be—where it would be again as soon as they had a minute to breathe.  Then, just as he was almost calm—

“Shit, Ian,” Mickey gasped.  “We didn’t return the fucking guns.”

That set them off again, and they had to pull over halfway home until they could stop laughing and hide the paintball guns under the back seat.

Franny and Fred would love them come Christmas.

[ncssian]

A Favor: Part Twenty-Three

Nessian Modern AU

Masterlist

a/n: so yeah this isn’t my best work bc i havent been feeling great lately but i hope you guys can stay patient with me until i get my shit together. we’re almost to the end🤞

***

Sitting crammed between Elain and Feyre on the gray couch in Lana’s office, Nesta has to cross her legs prettily and pretend she doesn’t want to peel out of her skin right there. She doesn’t know what she was thinking when she invited her sisters to one of her therapy sessions, but she’s assuming it would be considered rude to kick them out now.

“Who wants to speak first?” Lana’s bob swings as she looks at each of them. The office is ice cold today, and Feyre and Elain’s presence doesn’t help the chill in the air.

Nesta crosses her arms before she can be asked to speak. “No, thank you,” she says. She knows everyone probably expects better from her, but no way in hell is she going to be the first to open up in front of this crowd. “Feyre,” she turns to her youngest sister instead, “why don’t you say something?”

“Actually, why don’t you set the example, Nesta?” Lana gives her a look, making her cheeks redden with irritation.

“Fine,” Nesta grumbles. She clears her throat. “As you can see, I have made moves to reconnect with my sisters. I invited them here because I hoped that therapy would bring us closer and also make them more… tolerable.”

Elain coughs, “Bitch.”

Nesta smiles tightly. “Elain could especially use this, I think.”

Lana is already frowning. She never frowns this early into a session. “We’ll start with an easy question, then. What’s been on your mind lately, Nesta?”

Nesta purses her lips, pretending to think. “Nothing important. I’m looking at jobs for the summer. I think Azriel keeps sneaking money into my purse, and it’s starting to become more than a little condescending. I caught up with some friends from school, and I was polite enough to pay for lunch.” She mentions off to the side to Elain, “Lucien was there, too.”

“Why would I care?” Elain sneers. She spies Lana’s disapproving look and lowers her head demurely. “Sorry,” she murmurs.

“That’s alright,” Lana says. “Why don’t you go next?”

“Me?” Elain’s head snaps up, and Nesta holds in her snicker.

“Start by describing your relationship with Nesta. I heard you two used to be very close.” Lana uncaps her pen, preparing to write.

Elain flushes lightly and folds her hands. “That was when we were children. The only thing keeping us together was that we shared a home. When we stopped living in the same place, some of us had no problem leaving others in the dust.”

“You can use my name,” Nesta rolls her eyes, “I’m right here.”

From the corner of her vision, Feyre cringes.

“Are you saying you feel abandoned by Nesta?” Lana continues probing.

Elain’s answering silence tells more than enough. Therapy must actually be paying off, though, because Nesta only thinks about interrupting and defending herself for a second before shaking it off. Her mind focuses on the word abandonment instead.

Lana is focusing on the same thing, because she leans closer and says, “Being abandoned bothers you?”

“I never said that,” Elain says indignantly.

“It would bother most people.”

Nesta watches Elain sigh and blink her big doe eyes at Lana. She’s always been able to use those eyes on anybody for anything. “I just don’t understand why I’m the villain for expecting a little loyalty,” Elain says sweetly. “Especially when you take a look at this face.” She cups her round cheeks. “You know psychology. How could you abandon this face?”

Nesta’s jaw hangs open. “Are we still talking about me?” She remembers Cassian telling her the story behind Azriel ghosting Elain, and a pang of guilt and pity hits her. She still hasn’t talked with Elain about why Azriel left Velaris, and she knows she won’t be able to decide whether to spare Az or not until she does.

“So that’s my turn,” Elain finishes up. “Feyre can go next.”

Lana is writing something sharply on her notepad, but she nods coolly. “Feyre, how would you describe your relationship with your sisters?”

“Oh, we don’t have time for all of that,” Feyre laughs awkwardly and waves a hand.

Nesta agrees, but the look Lana gives Feyre tells her that yes, they do have time.

Gulping, Feyre glances around. “Well, I was born last, so I guess that made me the outsider of the family. I never had much in common with my sisters, but now that we’re older I… hoped that we would grow past that.”

Translation: she hoped that once she found her happy ending in Rhysand’s arms, poor little Nesta and Elain would happily assimilate into her new community of wealthy friends, putting the cherry on top of her perfect life. And while Elain did that exact thing, it’s always bothered Feyre that Nesta won’t do the same.

Feyre continues, “I admit I’m not the best at understanding Nesta. Elain and I get along fine now, but Nesta…” Feyre meets her eyes. “It’s like nothing we do is enough for her, but for some reason I can’t stop trying.”

“Whose fault is that?” Nesta mutters.

“You want her approval,” Lana hums, taking notes.

“Is that what it is?” Feyre looks away.

Nesta refrains from saying yes, that’s exactly what it is, and it’s not my problem if you keep looking for something I can’t give.

“What are your feelings about that, Nesta?” Lana turns her focus to her. “Remember that this is a safe space.”

It really isn’t, not with two siblings holding long term grudges against Nesta. But once and for all, she’s going to set the record straight. “I spent most of my life being a bad sister.” Nesta’s voice is apathetic, straightforward. “I let Feyre take the burden of providing for us even though I was the oldest, and I didn’t know how to be anything other than cruel to my family. So once I had the means to do so, I cut everyone off for all of our sakes. I still don’t regret it, because being a stranger is better than being a bad sister.”

In that way, Nesta is a bit like her mother. Nesta was angry after her death, but she knows she would have been even angrier if Magdalene Archeron had lived and continued to be a disappointing parent. In that way, both of them are wise for leaving their families when they did.

“Or you could just be a good sister,” Elain interrupts with a drawl.

Nesta smirks bitterly at her. “I’d rather die.”

Feyre takes in a breath. “Why? Why are you like that with us?” She blinks furiously, and Nesta can see the simmer of her emotions. “It was okay when we thought you hated everybody, but you don’t. You only hate me and Elain.”

Nesta looks to Lana for help, but her therapist is sitting this one out. She sighs through her nose. “I don’t hate you,” she says, even though they might never understand. The next line comes with great difficulty. “I’ve loved you since before I even knew what love was. But I don’t like you very much, Feyre, and you don’t like me, either. Please stop trying to change that.”

When she finally meets Feyre’s eyes, though, they’re glimmering with tears. “How can I stop trying to change that?” Feyre whispers. “How can I give up on us like that?”

For Nesta to give Feyre and Elain the relationship they want from her would require nothing but lies on her part. And as much as she wishes she was capable of lying about this, she can’t do it.

Looking away and down at her hands, Nesta mutters, “It’s not fun for me either, but it’s how I am. I can’t be easy or friendly with you. I hate watching you try to make me be easy or friendly.”

Nobody says anything to that, but when Nesta looks up again Lana gives her a remote nod that Feyre and Elain don’t catch. Thank you for your vulnerability, it says.

“You said something interesting, Nesta,” Lana breaks the silence. “Did you see your sisters as your responsibility to raise?”

Nesta shrugs. “I was the oldest,” she repeats.

“Your father was the oldest.”

“He wouldn’t do shit even if you held a gun to his head, so I was up next.” Though Nesta hadn’t done shit either. Neither had Elain, but the rules have always been different for her. Elain redeems herself to others by handing out sunny smiles and pretending to have the intelligence of a fawn.

Lana stares at Nesta until Nesta’s skin starts to heat. “What?” she says defensively.

Ignoring the other two women in the room, Lana leans forward. “You told me once early into our relationship that part of the reason you left Tennessee was to get away from your sisters. You said you were heartbroken when they ended up following you here.”

Nesta doesn’t breathe or look to see her sisters’ reactions.

“Now I’m going to ask: did you really want to get away from your sisters, or did you want to escape the feeling of failing them?”

Nesta doesn’t know how to answer, because to her they might as well be the same thing. Having Feyre and Elain around is like having a weight tied to her chest. The lingering guilt every time Feyre is in a room, her existence screaming I’m the reason you’re still alive. Elain’s constant expectations of unconditional support and loyalty, whether it’s reciprocated or not. It’s all so heavy. And it all goes back to the fact that the three of them were once just helpless children.

If she couldn’t take care of her sisters, how is she supposed to take care of any child, ever?

Nesta releases a weary sigh. “You’re going to bring this up the next time we have the baby talk, aren’t you?”

Lana’s eyes sparkle. “Don’t get ahead of yourself just yet.” But Nesta can see from where she sits that her therapist’s notepad is covered in bullet points.

***

“I need to use the bathroom.” Feyre is hopping back and forth on her feet once the session is over. “You guys head down to the parking lot without me.” She exits in a rush, leaving the two sisters alone. Nesta hisses in frustration, nearly chasing after Feyre so she won’t have to face the inevitable awkward conversation with Elain.

By the end of the session, it was Elain that broke and pleaded with Nesta, “Don’t do everything we want, then. Just keep doing better, the way you’ve already been doing. I’ll be happy with just that.”

Nesta was surprised that Elain had even noticed her efforts, but she retorted, “And how do you plan to do better?”

To which Elain twirled her hair and murmured something halfheartedly about, “I might be more open to taking criticism or whatever.”

Though it was the absolute bare minimum, it was still a relief for Nesta to hear Elain admit that she has flaws worth criticizing.

Now, Nesta clutches the straps of her purse and turns for the stairwell leading to the parking lot. Elain follows without comment.

Inside the stairwell, Nesta asks, “Have you spoken to Azriel since he left Velaris?”

Elain looks surprised at the sudden question, and doesn’t remember to be guarded when she answers, “No. Why?”

Nesta shrugs, her heels thumping loudly on the linoleum stairs. “Because I know what happened between you two. I know why he left.”

Elain halts midstep, grabbing Nesta’s arm and turning to face her with wide eyes. “What do you mean, you know? He told you?”

“He told Cassian, and Cassian told me.” Nesta hardly cares that she’s being a poor friend to Azriel by spilling all this to Elain, and continues, “If I had known he was such a coward, I would have kicked him out of our place a long time ago… but I figured I would get your input on it first.”

She’s never seen Elain look so genuinely pleading before. “Get my input on what?” Elain breathes. “What did he say about me? Was it something I did?”

At that torn face that borders on heartbroken, Nesta decides that she’ll do more than kick Azriel out of the cabin. She’ll kick him off the whole mountain.

She shoves Elain’s back to get Elain detached from her and moving down the stairs again, and as they walk, Nesta spills everything she knows. She tells Elain about Rhysand’s talent of shoving his nose into places it doesn’t belong, and how one conversation with him managed to convince Azriel to ditch Elain for good. She tells her about how instead of having a straightforward conversation with Elain, Azriel chose to leave the city and hide out in the mountains like a pussy. She might sound blunt, but Elain needs blunt. She needs to know the unfiltered truth of things.

By the time they reach the floor where their cars are parked, Elain is silent. “Did he really say that?” she finally asks quietly. “He said he wants me to hate him?”

“That’s what I heard.” After a moment, Nesta feels the need to add, “You should hate him, though. He fucked up bad.”

When Elain continues strolling for their cars without replying, concern bites at Nesta. “You are mad at him, right? And mad at Rhysand? You’re not going to forgive them, right?”

“I’m not a total pushover,” Elain snaps. She stares at the cement ground as they walk. “I’m just… more disappointed than anything else. He gave up so easily.” She chuckles without humor. “It sounds like he was looking for an excuse to get away from me.”

Nesta frowns. “I don’t think he would’ve spent so long moping around our house if he wanted to leave you.” Though they can never truly know what Azriel was thinking or feeling until he grows a pair and talks to Elain. Still, she shudders at having to defend him.

“I take it he doesn’t mope anymore?” Elain says.

Nesta doesn’t know how to answer that truthfully. She knows there’s more to Azriel than he lets her and Cassian see, and she knows he’s gotten better at keeping his feelings to himself. So she says, “It looks like he’s doing better, but I really don’t know.” They reach Elain’s car.

“Were you in love with him?” Nesta suddenly asks. Or worse, is she still in love with him?

Elain digs around for her keys in her purse. “You know how I am. Of course I was.”

“Not anymore, though?”

Elain looks up, keys now in hand. “It’s hard to still feel love for someone I haven’t talked to in two months.”

Then it wasn’t real love. Nesta is relieved, even though it doesn’t change the fact that Elain is hurting either way.

Elain jabs her keys at Nesta and says sharply, “Don’t you dare punish him for what he did. That’s for me to decide on.”

Nesta’s brow creases in refusal. “I’ll do what I need to do, and you do you.” She’ll have to be careful with her plotting, though, considering Azriel is Cassian’s brother.

“No.” Elain surprises Nesta with the force in her tone. “He’s your roommate and your friend. Keep treating him like it.”

Elain makes it sound easier than it is, and Nesta wants to argue until she sees Feyre heading down the parking lot toward them. “Fine,” she grumbles halfheartedly.

Elain gives her one final long look, not of threat but something else. “Thank you—for inviting us today.” That’s all she says before getting in the driver’s seat of her little red car. At the same time, Feyre catches up to them.

“Where are you parked?” Feyre pants as she approaches Nesta. She sounds a bit out of breath, like she ran to get here before Nesta could drive off alone.

Nesta points down the lot to where her scrappy old car is waiting for her, and Feyre straightens up with a grim smile. “I’ll walk you.”

Nesta knows that arguing isn’t worth it, so she allows Feyre to trail her the rest of the way to her car. Once they reach the old thing, Nesta gives a curt goodbye and heads straight for the driver’s door. Before she can touch the handle, Feyre attacks her from behind with a hug.

“Get off me, freak!” Nesta tries to jostle her way out of Feyre’s arms. She tries being nice to her sisters one time and this is what she gets—

Feyre only squeezes her tighter. “You don’t have to hug back. Just let me love you my way.”

Nesta squirms for another second before stilling. Swallowing tightly, she stares at the reflection of herself and Feyre in the car door window. One of her hands goes to where Feyre’s hands are clasped around her stomach, and she stands there without moving. She can’t remember the last time she shared affection with a family member like this, but it must have been before their mother died.

The warmth at Nesta’s back doesn’t leave, like Feyre is trying to pour all her understanding into the hug. Silently saying, I’m finally starting to get it.

In a way, Nesta is starting to get it, too. After all, how do sisters with such a complicated history begin to forgive each other?

Not by apologizing, but by doing better in the future.

***

On her way home, Nesta remembers at the last minute to stop by Gwyn’s apartment to pick up one of her sweaters. She doesn’t know when Gwyn started raiding her closet like it was a free mall, but she has a school event next week and doesn’t plan on letting her nicest clothes rot at Gwyn’s forever.

Nesta enters using the key beneath the doormat, knowing Gwyn is at work and won’t mind her stopping by. She scans the living and dining areas for a glimpse of brown cashmere, but only finds scattered books and a disorganized mess. Her fingers twitch with the urge to stop and tidy up the place, but she continues hunting for the sweater. Gwyn promised it would be waiting in plain sight for her.

Realizing the scatter-brained girl probably forgot to put the sweater out for her, Nesta pauses in the hallway leading to Gwyn’s bedroom and bites her lip. She doesn’t know if bedrooms are off limits or not, considering how often Gwyn and Emerie have barged into hers, but she knows she doesn’t want to make a second trip here just for a sweater.

Without giving it further thought, she strides into Gwyn’s room—

And yelps to find Gwyn on the bed.

Except she isn’t alone, and there’s definitely another body under the dark green blanket with her, and whoever it is definitely has their head between her legs.

Nesta spins away at the same time she hears Gwyn’s cry of surprise. She braces one hand against the doorjamb and presses the other to her freezing cold face, not having any words for what she just saw.

“Nesta?” Gwyn calls from behind her. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Um, have you seen my sweater? It’s the expensive one.” She’ll just grab it and leave. Or maybe she’ll just leave—yes, that sounds like a good idea.

“Nesta?” a new, deeper voice repeats.

Gwyn hisses, and Nesta freezes because she recognizes that voice. She wants to be wrong so badly, but she has to whirl back around to confirm for herself.

“Azriel?”

***

a/n: i decided to cut this chapter short and add an extra one to flesh out my silly little gwynriel subplot. so if there’s anything specific or random you wanna see happen in the next chapter tell me bc i might have space for prompts!!

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